Darmok by: Joe Menosky from a story by: Joe Menosky and Philip LaZebnik and directed by: Winrich Kolbe

 

“Darmok” is written by: Joe Menosky, from a story by: Philip LaZebnik and Joe Menosky, and is directed by: Winrich Kolbe.  It was produced under production code 202, was the 2^nd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, the 102^nd episode overall, and was broadcast on September 30, 1991.

 

“Darmok” is an episode of television that could not be aired today.  This is not because of some element of blatant bigotry as the cornerstone of the show, but because the way television and film are written and produced does not allow the blatantly absurd to be played completely straight.  It is, coincidentally, a brilliant episode.  Gene Roddenberry’s ethos towards Star Trek, at least its best aspects, is on full display in “Darmok”, developing a plot based in a future humanity free from interpersonal conflict and focusing on the Enterprise crew’s difficulty in communicating with an alien species that the universal translator devices cannot communicate.  The initial fascination the episode proposes is the fact that communication does not come from not knowing what the words are but being unable to parse any meaning from them.  The words are translated into English, or whatever future language humanity is speaking in the Star Trek universe, but they are meaningless.  Structurally, they are phrases with clear emotional meaning behind them.  This is also not the first time the Federation has already made contact with the Tamarians, previous ships have judged their society as incomprehensible yet advanced enough to provide contact and a place in their society.  Communication is the only thing stopping their integration into the Federation.

 

Joe Menosky writes the script and was responsible for the original idea of his and Philip LaZebnik, however it took over two years to bring “Darmok” to screen.  Executive producer Rick Berman had concerns about the possibility of realizing the drama in an engaging manner.  His concerns were for once not without merit, while Star Trek as a franchise had already created one alien language, Klingon, at this point in its history, creating one out of English and distinctly alien sounding proper nouns is a gamble.  The words must be constructed in a way that over the course of the episode they change from incomprehensible to the viewer to the point where it scans like English.   Now, I am not a linguist, nor do I possess the ability to speak a language other than English, however, there are clear choices being made in constructing the Tamarian sentences.  The most repeated statement of the episode is “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” which is the easiest to analyze the linguistic choices of.  It contains two English words, the conjunction ‘and’ and the preposition ‘at’, both functioning within the sentence as conjunction and preposition.  ‘Darmok’, ‘Jalad’, and ‘Tanagra’ are proper nouns, the two former functioning as names while the latter is a place.  The specific naming convention keeps people referred to as two syllables while places are allowed the flexibility of three.  Names also end in a harder consonant, in this case ‘k’ and ‘d’, while places end in a vowel or soft consonant, in this case the ‘ah’ sound.

 

As the plot is constructed around Picard’s understanding of the language, it is important to explain how the language works.  It’s a language constructed around stories integral for understanding the culture.  The episode describes it in the best way of constructing language around ideas like “Juliet on the balcony” referring to William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  That immediately communicates romance to the characters and to the audience, it is a universal reference and likely will remain so to the end of humanity.  The language expands by building on that imagery to bring others into the culture through acceptance and building the language.  The actual help that they want from Picard is defeating some sort of beast that is invisible.  The episode depicts it as a shimmering outline, and the Tamarian with Picard is injured and dies.  The connection between the languages is Picard’s sharing of The Epic of Gilgamesh constructed in that specific form.  The choice of Gilgamesh as the connection is an intentional switch of the language construction of the Tamarians.  The phrase becomes “Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk”, the names ending with vowels and soft consonants while the place ends with a harsh consonant.  It’s a subtle indication of the Federation and Tamarians coming together through the uniting powers of storytelling.  That’s what the language is, storytelling filtered down to its most basic form.  That form then determines the function as a language, Menosky’s script not relying heavily on the development of said language, it is suggested that this was a simplification of a more traditional language to explain the fact that it is only these storytelling reference points that comprise the language.  The breakthrough is also not the resolution of the episode, it only becomes the emotional climax of understanding.

 

While the script itself is strong and the plot is perfect for “Darmok”, the episode could easily be broken by its performances.  The Tamarians having to speak in an incomprehensible form of English could easily have poisoned the performances with winks and nods to the camera of irony.  This is why the episode could not be made today.  A modern production would not commit to this particular type of constructed language to hang the episode upon.  The idea is almost too goofy at the core to properly engage with, but Star Trek: The Next Generation was incredibly lucky in casting the Tamarians.  The background Tamarians with no dialogue are still under heavy prosthetic makeup, more extensive face and hand prosthetics than say the standard Klingon bumps.  There are two speaking Tamarians in “Darmok” with Richard Allen playing the unnamed first officer character which is a smaller but vital role.  This is not a role that is in the spotlight for the episode, but it requires equal commitment to selling the language which Allen does quite well for the two major scenes that he takes part in.  Paul Winfield plays Dathon, the Tamarian Captain who beams down with Picard to the planet, Picard being kidnapped and forced to learn the language through trial and error.  Winfield’s performance is complete commitment to putting emotion into each line of dialogue and an equal emphasis on body language without exaggerating the body language.  Dathon’s confusion at English is also clearly part of the script even if the viewer does not immediately recognize it, as most of the confusion is given to Patrick Stewart as Picard.  Stewart gives Picard this mounting frustration with an interesting ebb and flow as even the little advances in language are met by Picard with wonder.  The first advancement of understanding that Dathon wishes to give him fire for protection at night is this breakthrough that is only a temporary abatement of frustration for Picard, Stewart playing it as joy before immediate realization that this is only a tiny step.  It makes the emotional payoff of “Darmok”, Picard giving a speech in Tamarian to the first officer after the beast is defeated and Dathon has succumbed to his wounds, the most effective emotional payoff possible.

 

Overall, “Darmok” is particularly atypical for an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and that is what makes it particularly special.  It is a different take on a character and cultural study, the culture being fictional but presenting communication between cultures not from a colonialist or imperialist stance.  It is coming from a genuine place of the Federation wanting to help but having to overcome that language barrier as it does not conform to the human rules of languages.  This is an episode that rests on its script and on successfully getting the cast to play each line straight.  It creates the reality of the language for the episode that makes the viewer go on the journey with Picard and slowly pick up on the unspoken rules of a conlang that does not even have a fully drawn history.  Rick Berman’s legitimate reservations as executive producer were countered at every possible moment, this becoming one of the most interesting and rousing successes for Star Trek: The Next Generation.  10/10.