Stardate: 416136.9
Original Air Date: January 23, 1988
Writer: Patrick Barry
Director: Michael Rhodes
“Women, by our very nature, want what is best for men.”
“Men are not objects to be possessed, Mistress Beata.”
The Enterprise-D has recently examined a derelict, seven-year-overdue Federation freighter called the Odin which was disabled by an asteroid collision. However, three escape pods got away which leaves the possibility of survivors. The nearest planet is Angel One, a Class-M planet rife with carbon and populated with intelligent life forms –it is similar in technological development to mid-20th century earth. The Enterprise has traveled 2 days in order to arrive in orbit around Angel One, but if the Odin escape pods made it this far, it would have taken them about five months (or as Data notes, five months, six days, 11 hours, 2 minutes… and 57 seconds).
To complicate matters, Starfleet is adamant that the Enterprise keep positive diplomatic relations with Angel One (why?). Starfleet’s hope is that one day this world may become part of the Federation. Politically, Angel One has evolved into a constitutional oligarchy with a parliamentary body composed of six elected mistresses, headed by one single female known as “The Elected One” (this is apparently akin to the home planet of Counselor Troi, and Worf awkwardly remarks that Klingons appreciate strong women). Since this is a female-dominated matriarchal society, Counslor Troi first makes contact with Beata (the Elected One on Angel One), but she is still met with hostility. Eventually, Beata reluctantly allows a “brief visit” which will be “tolerated.”
A landing party consisting of Data, Tasha Yar, Riker, and Counselor Troi is greeted by the Elected One, but she deflects the question about survivors of the Odin until the council had some time to deliberate (in particular, Mistress Beata and Mistress Ariel do not seem to agree). Meanwhile, back aboard the Enterprise, Picard prepares the ship for warp six once the away tam has completed its mission since Romulan battle cruisers have been detected near a Federation border outpost and assistance has been requested for the USS Berlin. However, many crewmen begin suffering from a strange respiratory illness on the Enterprise.
On Angel One, Beata allows the Enterprise crew to track down the four survivors, providing that they forced the survivors to leave Angel One. Beata warns the Odin survivors are dangerous and went against the “natural order.” The landing party finds the survivors living in a cave, led by a man named Ramsey, while Riker makes love to Beata. And as it turns out Mistress Ariel is secretly in love with Ramsey (hence her opposition to tracking down the survivors, and also why he refuses to leave).
In the end, Beata condemns the survivors to death but she is persuaded at the last moment by a flimsy speech from Riker about evolution. After a brief moment of reconsideration, Beata changes her mind and allows the survivors to live, albeit only in exile. Meanwhile, the mysterious virus seems to have been fixed with Data serving as the sole functional person aboard the ship so the Enterprise can finally provide support allies on the edge of the Neutral Zone.
My Thoughts on “Angel One”
Overtly sexual and also blatantly sexist, “Angel One” is another low point in season one –an episode which is clumsy, awkward, and preachy. It is highly reminiscent of “Justice” in its on-the-nose social commentary of a society wherein men-hating women rule like dominant matriarchs over their small-minded, small-statured male counterparts (at one point, the women openly forbid men from reading documents in their library, because the men are too stultified). Meanwhile, Riker prances around in a shiny tunic while being aggressively seduced by Beata. However, in this episode the acting across the board is simply pitiful. On the plus side, I found Dennis McCarthy’s score to be inspiring.
Several unanswered questions still linger for me with this episode: Why would the Odin survivors insist on remaining on the planet Angel One among its hostile women instead of departing with the Enterprise crew? Also where did the virus come from aboard the Enterprise? What caused it? Is the crew fully inoculated in the end?
Writer/Director
Writer Patrick Barry drafted the story for this episode as a social commentary on Apartheid in South Africa, with gender roles reversed.
Michael Rhodes directed this episode as part of a deal with The Bronx Zoo, another television show filmed at Paramount Studios.
Star Trek Trivia:
- In this episode, Wesley Crusher and a friend head to the holodeck for some skiing on the “Denubian Alps.”
- At one point, Worf and Picard smell night-blooming throgni “from home.”
- When agreeing to wear the apparel of Angel One, Riker notes that in the past on Kabatris he had to wear furs to meet with the leadership council, and on Armus IX he wore feathers, as well.
- Riker gives an “Albeni meditation crystal” to Beata as a gift.
- This is the first time the Romulans are mentioned in TNG (as far as I can tell).
- Amidst the chaos and constant turnover in the TNG writers room, “Angel One” was one of two episodes in Season 1 in which production was shut down for a few days because scripts were not ready. The other being “The Arsenal of Freedom.”
- Apparently, Patrick Stewart tried to reverse the sexist tone of this episode while the script was being written.
I must say that when it comes to another world where the gender-based prejudices and oppression are reversed, an episode of Sliders seemed to do it much better than even Star Trek could with this one. It’s always curious when another sci-fi show can do something better than Star Trek. I’m glad that TNG would get much more sophisticated with its sci-fi drama as it progressed. Thank you for your review and trivia.