History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E4WhoWatchesTheWatchers

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Mintakans are apparently a Bronze Age society, and their most advanced piece of technology is the bow. It's considerably more advanced than anything else they have, as the bows shown are clearly late 20th Century sporting bows, made of composite plastics rather than wood, and with a dedicated arrow rest on the left which makes them unsuitable for hunting or warfare.

* AbsenteeActor: Wesley doesn't appear.

The ''Enterprise'' crew dismantles the observation station as Picard explains to the Mintakens what happened. He tells them that it's forbidden for him to teach them anything that would interfere with their natural development, but they thank him for showing them what they might achieve in time. Picard promises them that he will never forget them.

* AGodIAmNot: Something Picard is forced to go to extreme lengths to make the Mintakens understand.

---->'''Nuria:''' Picard speaks the truth. I have visited his people. I have seen how they live and how they die. When death takes one of their loved ones, they are as helpless as we are!\\

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Picard states that belief in superstition and the supernatural were achievements that both the Federation and the Mintakans made centuries ago. He takes it very poorly that the Mintakans are building a false religion out of belief in him. Indeed, very quickly they start suggesting blood sacrifices to be made to appease him. Previous episodes suggest that Picard has no problem with people having personal, philosophical beliefs about the unknowable, such as the afterlife.

* BreakTheHaughty: Picard sticking so stringently to the Prime Directive comes back to haunt him.

* ContinuityNod: When Picard asks that Crusher wipe Liko's memory, Crusher notes that she understands Dr. Pulaski's methods, which we last saw in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E15PenPals Pen Pals]]."
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Troi explains that in Mintakan society, "men walk behind their wives" and will negotiate with other women who can use their "services." In their society itself, though, the men don't seem have any less power than women, so Mintaka III isn't quite a LadyLand.

* HandWave: The Mintakans' body chemistry makes it impossible to erase their memories, allowed the rest of the episode to happen.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight:
** Beverly beams Liko to Sickbay after he's electrocuted by the malfunctioning duck blind, and angrily rebuffs Picard's assertion that she should have let him die to prevent cultural contamination.
** Took you long enough, Jean-Luc!

Liko awakens and sees Picard standing over him in Sickbay, giving orders and being treated like a boss by everyone around him, and comes to the conclusion that Picard is some kind of god that raised him from the dead. Unaware that Crusher’s memory wipe didn’t take, they send him back to where they found him and assume that the problem's solved. But they still have another problem: One of the workers from the station, Palmer, is missing, and the sensors can’t pick him up. To find him, Riker and Troi beam down disguised as Mintakans.

The leader of the research station tells Picard that, with the damage to the Prime Directive already done, the only way to minimize the chaos is to appear before the Mintakans as a god and give them guidelines for their new religion to follow. Picard refuses categorically. Instead, he selects Nuria as a voice of reason and beams her onto the ship to show her that he is simply a man with advanced technology rather than a god. Nuria comes to understand Picard's message but is still in awe over his technological powers. She begs him to raise several of her recently deceased villagers from the dead. Picard allows her to watch a patient die in Sickbay to show her that he and his kind are just as mortal as she is.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Minatakans are apparently a Bronze Age society, and their most advanced piece of technology is the bow. It's considerably more advanced than anything else they have, as the bows shown are clearly late 20th Century sporting bows, made of composite plastics rather than wood, and with a dedicated arrow rest on the left which makes them unsuitable for hunting or warfare.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Troi explains that in Minakan society, "men walk behind their wives" and will negotiate with other women who can use their "services." In their society itself, though, the men don't seem have any less power than women, so Mintaka III isn't quite a LadyLand.

* ClarkesThirdLaw: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Picard to explain to the Mintakans why he would appear god-like to them. To a Mintakan caveperson, Nuria's ability to hunt from a distance with a bow-and-arrow would be strange and frightening.
* ContinuityNod: The mind-wiping technology used in [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E15PenPals "Pen Pals"]] is brought up again here. This time, however, it fails miserably, forcing Picard and company to deal with the consequences.

* {{Hypocrite}}: The Federation preaches ideas of openness, tolerance, and respect for other cultures, but Picard's speech about how any culture that accepts religion is living in ignorance is surprisingly closed-minded and intolerant. Especially considering a member of his own crew, Worf, practices a religion that to some degree embraces the supernatural. Downplayed in that he's not against religion in general--just the idea that a religion could overtake everything else they believe in, and potentially lead to disastrous results without guidelines (dictating such would be against the Prime Directive, as would posing as a deity). And in this case, such a disaster would be their/the Federation's fault.
** In season two's "Where Silence Has Lease", it's implied that Picard might believe in some form of afterlife.
* LadyLand: Mintakan men walk behind their wives, who have the right to negotiate over who can use the men's "services". Riker seems to be into it.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Riker and Troi being altered to pass for Mintakans. Doesn't the ''Enterprise'' have Vulcan crew members who could pass more naturally than they would? Although that line of logic leads to Starfleet having hold of the IdiotBall, since the Mintakans are nearly-identical to a Federation member species with a fondness for scientific inquiry. The "duck blind" probably should have been staffed by Vulcans, rather than humans, in the first place!
* InformedAttribute: For their supposed logical-mindedness, the Mintakans are rather eager to jump to supernatural explanations for the events that unfold. It's party justified in that Liko was rather desperate to convince himself and the others that "the Picard" could bring his wife, who had died in a flood the year before, back to life.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: The writer of the episode apparently felt that not only had the entire Federation done this, but that every society should and must do so as early in their development as possible. The natives had actually done this already, and only start to revert to their beliefs for lack of a better explanation of events. The irony being that the Mintakans are a "proto-Vulcan" species, and actual Vulcans ''do'' practice a religion--complete with temples and prayer! They also possess PsychicPowers, which are poorly-understood even by Federation science!
** The Federation's stance is justified given the events of the episode. It's more akin to influencing a culture that has not yet matured enough to comprehend the universe in such a way where they can make such a decision. The Vulcans are already a spacefaring race, so whatever personal beliefs they have are their own so long as they wouldn't take actions that would violate the Federation's policies. Also, the Vulcans' powers are likely accepted as form of science, albeit one the Federation doesn't fully understand yet; it's not treated as pure magic.
** Star Trek fans who are religious can appreciate Picard's tirade as being against superstition, as distinct from religion. The Mintakans are on the verge of re-adopting superstitions they had earlier abandoned, with no real moral code other than "try to please the gods so they don't smite us", which isn't much like modern religion at all. Also, there's a world of difference between allowing a culture to have their own beliefs (which can't necessarily be actually disproven) and accidentally deceiving them into believing outright ''impossible'' superstitions like Picard being an all-powerful god.

In what might be the strangest blurring in the series of what the Prime Directive is supposed to be, the ''Federation'' has set up a secret observation station on a primitive Vulcan-like planet named Mintaka III to observe the inhabitants without their knowledge. The ''Enterprise'' is delivering supplies to said station when its reactor breaks down and it becomes briefly visible to the outside world. Two of the Mintakans see it within that window of time, and one of them, Liko (Creator/RayWise), is injured while trying to investigate. Doctor Crusher has no choice but to beam him up to the ''Enterprise'' to tend to his injuries. Picard is unhappy with her decision, but allows it on the condition that she erase his memories afterwards, as Doctor Pulaski did to Sargenka in “[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E15PenPals Pen Pals]]”. Crusher clearly doesn’t like the idea, but agrees.

Liko awakens and sees Picard standing over him in Sickbay, giving orders and being treated like a boss by everyone around him, and comes to the conclusion that Picard is some kind of god that raised him from the dead. Unaware that Crusher’s memory wipe didn’t take, they send him back to where they found him and assume that problem’s solved. But they still have another problem: one of the workers from the station, Palmer, is missing, and the sensors can’t pick him up. In order to find him they need to send an away team, but without interfering with the local civilization. Riker suggests disguising themselves as Mintakans, and beams down with Counselor Troi.

The first thing they see is Liko recounting his tale of the mighty Picard to his friends and neighbors. The others are skeptical, especially a woman known as Nuria, but when the villagers find the unconscious Palmer, who is clearly not of their world, even she is convinced. Riker covertly contacts Picard and tells him that the worst possible scenario, a society believing in God, is about to unfold. Picard tells them to get Palmer someplace out of sight and beam back. Troi creates a distraction, and Riker grabs Palmer, but the Mintakans see him as he escapes and capture Troi as his accomplice. Liko immediately says Troi should be punished to appease the Picard. Nuria says they have no reason to hurt anyone just yet, but they might if they can’t find Palmer.

The leader of the research station tells Picard that the only way to contain the chaos is to appear before the Mintakans as a god and give them guidelines for their new religion to follow. Picard refuses, quite correctly pointing out that that would be the absolute worst sort of violation of the Prime Directive, and then going on to deliver [[AuthorFilibuster a rather uncomfortable tirade about how believing in God is just the worst thing ever]]. It’s really sort of amazing that Q doesn’t show up right then and there to mock the hypocrisy of it all. In any case, Picard’s barely-less-outrageous counterproposal is to bring Nuria onto the ship and show her how their technology works, because the others trust her and she can convince them Picard isn’t a god. Though of course, instantly teleporting her from one place to another against her will isn’t really the best way to start.

Actually, all kidding aside, Nuria’s awe at the wonders of the ''Enterprise'' and Picard’s poetic appeals to her sense of reason make for some scenes that are quite moving. Nuria begins to understand that Picard isn’t a god, but she still has it in her head that he should be treated like one and still believes he can raise the dead. It isn’t until she sees a patient die in Sickbay that it clicks for her. She and Picard return to the village just in time to prevent Liko from killing Troi as a sacrifice. Liko requires some more convincing, however, and attempts to prove that Picard is immortal by aiming a bow at him. Though the others try to stop Liko, Picard prepares to sacrifice his life to convince the Mintakans of his mortality. Liko's daughter throws off his aim, and he hits Picard in the shoulder. The sight of red blood convinces Liko, and of course thanks to Dr. Crusher the injury is merely an annoyance to Picard.

The ''Enterprise'' crew dismantles the observation station as Picard explains to the Mintakens what happened. He tells them that it’s forbidden for him to teach them anything that would interfere with their natural development, but they thank him for showing them what they might achieve in time. Picard promises them that he will never forget them.

* AnachronismStew: The Minatakans are apparently a Bronze Age society, and their most advanced piece of technology is the bow. It's considerably more advanced than anything else they have, as the bows shown are clearly late 20th Century sporting bows, made of composite plastics rather than wood, and with a dedicated arrow rest on the left which makes them unsuitable for hunting or warfare.
* {{Brownface}}: The Mintakan makeup involves an uncomfortable amount of bronzer. Troi specifically states that she and Riker have had their skin tones altered to blend in.

* {{Blackface}}: The Mintakan makeup involves an uncomfortable amount of bronzer. Troi specifically states that she and Riker have had their skin tones altered to blend in.

In what might be the strangest blurring in the series of what the Prime Directive is supposed to be, the ''Federation'' has set up a secret observation station on a primitive Vulcan-like planet named Mintaka III to observe the inhabitants without their knowledge. The ''Enterprise'' is delivering supplies to said station when its reactor breaks down and it becomes briefly visible to the outside world. Two of the Mintakans see it within that window of time, and one of them, Liko, is injured while trying to investigate. Doctor Crusher has no choice but to beam him up to the ''Enterprise'' to tend to his injuries. Picard is unhappy with her decision, but allows it on the condition that she erase his memories afterwards, as Doctor Pulaski did to Sargenka in “[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E15PenPals Pen Pals]]”. Crusher clearly doesn’t like the idea, but agrees.

* InformedAttribute: For their supposed logical-mindedness, the Mintakans are rather eager to jump to supernatural explanations for the events that unfold.

* {{Hypocrite}}: The Federation preaches ideas of openness, tolerance, and respect for other cultures, but Picard's speech about how any culture that accepts religion is living in ignorance is surprisingly closed-minded and intolerant. Especially considering a member of his own crew, Worf, practices a religion that to some degree embraces the supernatural. Downplayed in that he's not against religion in general--just the idea that a religion could overtake everything else they believe in, and potentially lead to disasterous results without guidelines (dictating such would be against the Prime Directive, as would posing as a deity). And in this case, such a disaster would be their/the Federation's fault.

** The Federation's stance is justified given the events of the episode. It's more akin to influencing a culture that has not yet matured enough to comprehend the universe in such a way where they can make such a decision. The Vulcan's are already a spacefaring race, so whatever personal beliefs they have are their own so long as they wouldn't take actions that would violate the Federation's policies. Also, the Vulcan's powers are likely accepted as form of science, albeit one the Federation doesn't fully understand yet; it's not treated as pure magic.

** Star Trek fans who are religious can appreciate Picard's tirade as being against superstition, as distinct from religion. The Mintakans are on the verge of re-adopting superstitions they had earlier abandoned, with no real moral code other than "try to please the gods so they don't smite us", which isn't much like modern religion at all.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Took you long enough, Jean-Luc!

* {{Precursors}}: Apparently, the Mintakans are this to the Vulcans, and by proxy, Romulans.

* BrokenAesop: Picard going on and on about how dangerous religion can be is a bit hypocritical when you remember that the Federation by the 24th century tends to dogmatically adhere to the Prime Directive, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything often proclaiming that it is an invariable truth that is]] ''[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything always]]'' [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything right and must]] ''[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything never]]'' [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything be questioned]].
** Except the Prime Directive is never treated as an "invariable truth" but rather the best practice the Federation can hold given the alternatives, and is readily questioned and debated, even in this very episode. Given that inadvertently breaking the Prime Directive led to the events that could have harmed people due to religious superstition, it only bolstered the reason why it is the preferred practice.