Half a Life
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 6 May 1991
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 44805.3
- DIRECTED BY
- Les Landau
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 196
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Peter Allan Fields; story by Ted Roberts and Peter Allan Fields
Lwaxana Troi falls for a gentle scientist trying to save his planet's dying sun, but Dr Timicin's world has a tradition that threatens any future together.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
The sun of Kaelon II is dying, and the Enterprise welcomes Dr Timicin, a scientist testing a way to revive it. Lwaxana Troi, visiting again, is instantly smitten, and the shy Timicin is charmed in return. His experiment on a similar star, using modified photon torpedoes, seems to work until the star explodes. Timicin then confides that he will soon turn sixty, the age at which every Kaelon undergoes the Resolution, a ritual ending of life. Lwaxana is appalled, but Picard will not interfere in Kaelon custom. Inspired by her and by promising new data, Timicin asks for asylum so he can finish his work. Kaelon warships surround the Enterprise, and his daughter Dara comes aboard to tell him he is shaming his family. Timicin realises that he cannot change his whole society alone and decides to go home. Lwaxana, though she cannot accept the custom, beams down to stay with him to the end.
- 01Peter Allan Fields' first Star Trek credit. He later joined the writing staff and co-wrote “The Inner Light”.
- 02Michelle Forbes impressed the producers as Dara, which led directly to her casting as Ensign Ro Laren the following season.
- 03Sensor displays numbered 4077 are a nod to M*A*S*H, in which David Ogden Stiers played Major Charles Emerson Winchester III.