Darmok (TNG episode)
Encyclopedia : D : DA : DAR : Darmok (TNG episode)
"Darmok" is an episode of the television science fiction series Star Trek: . It was first broadcast in the United States on September 30, 1991
The plot involves Captain Picard's attempts to communicate with an alien captain, with whom he has been stranded on a hostile planet. The story exemplifies the problem of communicating with someone who uses a metaphorical language.
It features Captain Picard, played by Patrick Stewart, and Dathon of the alien Tamarian race, played by Paul Winfield. The Tamarian language, although "translated" by the universal translator device, is still unintelligible, because it is too deeply rooted in local metaphor to communicate ideas. Eventually Picard grasps the similarities between the alien's references, and makes connections to story references in the alien's literature.
The title of the episode comes from one of the metaphors Dathon uses: "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra". This apparently refers to a situation where heroes must learn to trust each other so that they may work together to defeat a common foe, as Picard and Dathon do on the planet.
Quotes
- "Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra" (meaning working together against a common enemy)
- "Shaka, when the walls fell." (meaning Failure)
- "Temba, his arms wide." (meaning Gift, or to Give)
- "Mirab, his sails unfurled" (meaning travel or departure)
- "Khidir beneath Momouteh" (cluelessness, possibly unwillingness to understand)
- "Sokath, his eyes uncovered" (understanding, revealing truth)
- "Zinda, his face black, his eyes red" (war, violence)
- "The river Temarc, in winter" (Stop, cease)
- "Kiazi's children, their faces wet" (death, mourning)
- "Kalimash at Baha" (storytelling)
- "Uzani, his army with fists open" (to lure the enemy away) — "...with fists closed" (to attack)
- "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" (a new metaphor added to the language at the end of the incident)
- "Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk" (Picard's metaphor about ancient Babylonian legends from Earth)
- "Ri and Jiri at Lunga. Ri of Luwani, Luwani under two moons. Jiri, of Umbaya. Umbaya of crossed roads, at Lunga. Lunga, her sky grey" (greeting)
- "Callimas at Bahar." (Don't worry, calm down)
- "Darmok on the ocean." (Alone)
As the alien captain (Dathon) lays dying from wounds received as he and Picard fought together against their attacker, he appears to ask Picard to tell him a story from his own culture. Reluctantly, Picard agrees, telling a highly condensed version of part of the Saga of Gilgamesh that underscored the universal theme of their encounter and became one of the most memorable speeches in the series (in spite of the simplified language used to match the linguistic style of the alien):
Gilgamesh, a king. Gilgamesh, a king. He tormented his subjects. He drove them to anger. They cried out, "Send our king a companion! Spare us from his madness!"
Enkidu, a wildman of the forest, entered the city. They fought in the temple. They fought in the street. Gilgamesh defeated Enkidu. They became close friends. Gilgamesh and Enkidu, at Uruk.
The new friends went into the desert, where the Great Bull of Heaven was killing men by the hundreds. Enkidu caught it by the tail, Gilgamesh struck it with his sword. They were victorious. But Enkidu fell to the ground, struck down by the gods.
And Gilgamesh wept bitter tears, saying, "He who was my companion through adventure and hardship, is gone forever ..."
Trivia
- Paul Winfield who played Dathon in this episode previously played Captain Clark Terrell in .
- The premise of this episode is occasionally compared favorably to the motion picture Enemy Mine, which may have inspired it. A closer parallel in science fiction is the Ascian language in Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, who once they reach adulthood speak only in quotes from their equivalent of Mao's Little Red Book. Also similar to the Darmok language is the idiom of Dak'kon of Shrak'tlor in .
- Quotes from the episode are included in the internet hit The Picard Song by DarkMateria.
- This episode is featured on the Star Trek: The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard Collection DVD set. It is one of seven episodes featured on the two-disc set.
See also
External links
- [Darmok] at StarTrek.com
- [The Darmok Dictionary – a discursive exolinguistic analysis] — by Raphael Carter
- [Toward a Tamari Vocabulary, by Jean-Luc Picard] — by Thomas M. Peters
- [A forum thread featuring a Tamarian conversation] (see 4th post)
- #redirect
| Preceded by: "Redemption, Part II" | Followed by: "Ensign Ro" |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.