Darmok (TNG episode)

Darmok is an episode of the television science fiction series Star Trek: .

Related Topics:
Science fiction - Star Trek

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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.

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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 Picard's 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. It is not clear how a species could develop starships with a language based entirely upon metaphor given the exactitude required for mathematics and physics.

Related Topics:
Captain Picard - Patrick Stewart - Paul Winfield - Universal translator - Metaphor

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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 a hero must learn to trust another so that they may work together to defeat a common foe, as Picard and Dathon do on the planet.

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