Stardate: 43152.4
Original Air Date: October 9, 1989
Writer: Michael Wagner
Director: Les Landau
“An entire planet obliterated except for a few acres of trees and grass and one building…”
Three days after receiving a distress call, the Enterprise cautiously enters the Delta Rana system, specifically the fourth planet in the system where a Federation colony exists. Per the garbled transmission, the colony has been under attack by an unidentified space craft. This could either be a rescue mission Enterprise or a possible hostile conflict. But when the Enterprise arrives, there is minimal communication from Rana IV. There should be 11,000 inhabitants in this colony, but Counselor Troi senses no living beings are present. From a distance, the planet looks utterly devastated, although Wesley spots a structure and Worf spots only two life forms, possibly human. Otherwise, the entire planet appears to have been obliterated except for some trees and grass and one standing building.
A landing party of Riker, La Forge, Data, Worf, and Dr. Crusher beam down to investigate. The lone standing building appears to be a typical settlement structure. But Riker is quickly ensnared by a makeshift booby trap, and the landing party meets Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge, the only apparent survivors of a massive planetary attack. The Uxbridges are botanists originally from the aquatic city of New Martim Vaz in Earth’s Atlantic Ocean. They have been residents of the Rana IV Colony for five years and have been married for 53 years. Curiously, after being offered transportation away from this destroyed planet, they do not wish to leave. There is something fundamentally strange about them (Counselor Troi gets a strange feeling). To add to this creepy mystery, inside the Uxbridge’s house, waltz music emanates a little glass dancer that has been a family heirloom. Counselor Troi cannot get the waltz music out of her head. She is driven mad and put in a coma by Dr. Crusher.
What is going on here? They speak with the Uxbridges, offering them one more chance to leave. In the attack, we learn that an unknown alien race arrived in a spaceship so huge it could be seen from orbit and then it took apart their world piece by piece. Somehow the Uxbridges alone managed to survive. And now they are refusing to leave.
As the crew returns to the Enterprise, a huge unknown ship suddenly arrives (it may have been riding a Lagrange point while hiding behind Rana IV’s furthest moon). The ship is five times the mass of the Enterprise. Could it be the Borg? Out of the blue, the ship turns and fires on the Enterprise, but it appears to be toying with the Enterprise. Picard decides to visit Rana IV to speak with the two survivors. They have tea together, Picard brings Worf with him, but then back aboard the Enterprise, the mystery ship returns and fires 400 gigawatts of particle energy at the Enterprise, it downs the ship’s shields and starts causing further damage.
The Enterprise leaves, but then Picard immediately orders the crew to turn back to Rana IV. As it turns out, the mysterious warship is actually protecting Kevin and Rishon, and Counselor Troi’s mind is being warped by a form of telepathic intimidation. Picard watches as the warship apparently fires on the Uxbridge house and then the Enterprise fires on the warship. Both have seemingly been destroyed, Picard still remains unfazed. He tells the crew that he believes there was only one survivor of the war on Rana IV. Later, they spot the undamaged house right where it was before; Kevin and Rishon have not been harmed. Picard follows his hunch and beams them both aboard the Enterprise directly onto the bridge,
As it turns out, the Uxbridge house is nothing more than a reproduction, or illusion, and the warship is also another recreation. Picard reveals that Rishon died defending the colony during the attack, and, in despair, Kevin then recreated Rishon just as he recreated the house to assuage his grief. How was he able to do all of this? Kevin is actually not human though he looks human. He says he is a “Douwd,” an immortal being of many disguises and false surroundings. He has lived in this galaxy for many thousands of years. Luckily for every one, he is a creature of conscience, he spares Counselor Troi from the maddening waltz music playing in her head.
The colony on Rana IV was attacked by a race called the Husnock, a “species of hideous intelligence that knew only aggression and destruction.” Kevin could have destroyed them with a mere thought, but he did not do so. He refuses to kill, and instead tried to fool them like he fooled the Enterprise. But he mourned for Rishon who died with the colonists, then Kevin destroyed the Husnock in an instant of grief. He massacred the Husnock, killing all of them, destroying their entire species. He didn’t want to tell the Enterprise this fact. In the end, Picard grants Kevin freedom.
My Thoughts on “The Survivors”
“The Survivors” sets up a nice little mystery episode filled with creepy, echoing waltz music from a little music box and a disturbing couple who are seemingly involved in their own planetary destruction. The whole plot rests on Picard acting on a reckless assumption, and it struck me as a bit of a deus ex machina that Kevin simply turns out to be a mostly omnipotent non-human alien (a “Douwd”) with special supernatural powers that allow him to create realistic illusions. This just seems to be the go-to answer for mysteries in Star Trek. And the ending is unsatisfying by simply allowing Kevin to return to his planet without repercussion, since as Picard notes, there is no law in existence to punish his crimes. We pity Kevin, to a certain extent, for having a bout of grief-stricken rage.
And I still wonder about the genocidal alien race known as the Husnock who came to Rana IV and wiped out nearly all life on its surface. Who were they? Apparently, we will never see them again since Kevin killed every single member of their race in existence. They are only ever spoken about in this episode, so they remain elusive.
Apparently, many TNG fans had a much more favorable view of this episode than I did. To be fair, it’s not that I disliked “The Survivors,” I just found it predictable (it presents a troubling mystery that is simply answered by another godlike alien with otherworldly powers). We’ve seen this plot over and over in Star Trek. But once again, in this episode the TNG team does a fantastic job with the set design and artwork of the planet Rana IV!
Credits:
- Director: Les Landau
- Writer: Michael Wagner
- Cinematography: Marvin V. Rush
- Guest Cast:
- John Anderson…..Kevin Uxbridge
- Throughout his career, he worked on films like Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and a variety of television shows like Have Gun – Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Lieutenant (a show created by Star Trek founder Gene Roddenberry), Little House on the Prairie, and The Outer Limits (“Nightmare”) as well as four episodes of The Twilight Zone (“A Passage for Trumpet,” “The Odyssey of Flight 33,” “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville,” and “The Old Man In The Cave“). Anderson’s wife, Patricia, had died about a year before he worked on this episode of TNG. He later described it as one of the hardest roles he ever had to play. He would die three years later of a heart attack at his home in 1992 at the age of 69.
- Anne Haney…..Rishon Uxbridge
- Whereas John Anderson played “California Charlie” in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), Anne Haney played Eliza Chambers in the 1998 remake of Psycho. She also appeared in comedy films like Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and Liar, Liar (1997), as well as the DS9 episode “Dax.”
- John Anderson…..Kevin Uxbridge
Star Trek Trivia:
- Apparently, tea grows wild on Rana IV.
- A Lagrange Point is a positions in space where the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
- The Uxbridge home is a real building in Malibu. It was built in 1981 and designed by California architect Ellis Gelman for his own use.
- When Captain Picard and Worf beam down to Rana IV the first time, Kevin is using a tool on the grass with a lighted pole and the top unit with handles has circular lights. This same tool would later be found by Picard when Vash comes on board in episode 20 of Season Four “QPid.”
- In this episode, Dr. Crusher says she can induce “delta sleep” which can block out even the deepest dreams.