History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E2Darmok

* BittersweetEnding: Picard becomes friends with Dathon, picks up the basics of his language, and establishes the foundation of a trusting relationship with the Tamarians, but Dathon succumbs to his wounds from the battle with the predator on El-Adrel. In the end, the ''Enterprise'' and Tamarian part ways, not necessarily as allies, but nonetheless on friendly terms.

* AttackPatternAlpha: Evasive Maneuver Sequence Delta, which means turn slowly so the Tamarians can [[PopTheTires take out your starboard nacelle]].

* LetsSplitUpGang: Invoked; Dathon wanders off during the night, presumably to [[TheBait draw the creature close]]. He then gets Picard to stand apart from him to lure the creature into attacking, so theyaidaidcan strike at it from opposite directions.

* EurekaMoment: Picard finally figures out that the Tamarians communicate purely through metaphor.

* PopculturalOsmosisFailure: Picard has to deal with aliens who communicate by exchanging (their) pop-culture references--none of which Picard has heard of.

* NonUniformUniform: This episode introduces Picard's captain's alternate uniform, comprised of a jacket in command colors that he'd wear over a gray shirt. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness In this episode, the jacket has padded leather shoulders, whereas later episodes gave the jacket suede shoulders]]. It was made both to help Picard stand out from the rest of the crew and also addressing complaints Creator/PatrickStewart had about how uncomfortable the standard uniforms were.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E18Arena Arena]]". Both episodes deal with well-meaning human and alien captains stuck on a planet separated by cultural differences. The difference is that Kirk and the Gorn captain have to fight it out, while Picard and Dathon have to diplomacy it out.

* LetsSplitUpGang: Invoked; Dathon wanders off during the night, presumably to [[TheBait draw the creature close]]. He then gets Picard to stand apart from him to lure the creature into attacking, so theyaid can strike at it from opposite directions.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The first attempt to beam Picard out only makes the situation worse, with the creature mauling Dathon while Picard, trapped in the transport beam, is unable to come to his .

* LetsSplitUpGang: Invoked; Dathon wanders off during the night, presumably to [[TheBait draw the creature close]]. He then gets Picard to stand apart from him to lure the creature into attacking, so they can strike at it from opposite directions.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The first attempt to beam Picard out only makes the situation worse, with the creature mauling Dathon while Picard, trapped in the transport beam, is unable to come to his help.

* LetsSplitUpGang: Invoked; Dathon wanders off during the night, presumably to [[TheBait draw the creature close]]. He then gets Picard to stand apart from him to lure the creature into attacking, so they strike at it from opposite directions.

* DueToTheDead: Picard lays Dathon's body to rest while [[TalkingToTheDead commending him for his efforts]]. Dathon's crew then mourn their captain's death.

* YouWontShootMe: Riker bets the Tamarians won't go as far as shooting down a shuttle, so sends Worf down with an away team. They take out a nacelle with a precision shot, forcing the shuttle to return to Enterprise.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The first attempt to beam Picard out only makes the situation worse.

* {{Invisibility}}: The creature on the planet has this ability. Picard and Dathon can only see it by the occasional InvisibilityFlicker.

* HardToLightFire: Picard gets a fire going by the rubbing sticks method, only for it to go out again. Dathon, watching nearby from his successfully lit fire, finds it amusing, but on seeing Picard shivering in the cold, tosses him a lighted brand.

* HardToLightFire: Picard gets a fire going by the rubbing sticks method, only for it to go out again. Dathon, watching nearby from his successfully lit fire, finds it amusing.

* RewatchBonus: The episode is a ''very'' different watch after you mostly know what the Tamarians are saying. For example, Dathon's argument with his first officer. You can clearly hear the latter say, "Mirab, with sails unfurled," in frustration at one point, which would likely translate to, "This is a waste of time, let's get out of here," while Dathon replies "The river Temarc, in winter" which more or less means "We can't." or "Stop"

* BigShutUp: Translated into Tamarian, "The river Temarc, in winter!" or simply "Temarc!"

* RewatchBonus: The episode is a ''very'' different watch after you mostly know what the Tamarians are saying. For example, Dathon's argument with his first officer. You can clearly hear the latter say, "Mirab, with sails unfurled," in frustration at one point, which would likely translate to, "This is a waste of time, let's get out of here," while Dathon replies "The river Temarc, in winter" which more or less means "Silence, I don't want to hear any more of your arguing."

* TranslatorMicrobes: A standard ''Star Trek'' trope, which this episode deconstructs by introducing a language composed entirely of cultural metaphors. The crew's translators are working fine, but they still can't understand the Tamarians because half their words are proper nouns that mean nothing to them.