Who Watches the Watchers

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For the Latin phrase, see Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?.

Star Trek: TNG episode
"Who Watches the Watchers"

Episode no.	51
Prod. code	152
Airdate	October 16, 1989
Writer(s)	Richard Manning & Hans Beimler
Director	Robert Wiemer
Guest star(s)	Kathryn Leigh Scott, Ray Wise, Pamela Segall
Year	2366
Stardate	43173.5
Episode chronology
Previous	"The Survivors"
Next	"The Bonding"

"Who Watches the Watchers" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation first broadcast on October 16, 1989. The episode is based around the Prime Directive.

[edit] Plot line

In this episode, the Enterprise is called to Mintaka III to resupply and repair a Federation outpost used to monitor the Mintakan society, who are a Vulcan-like race who seem to be at the Bronze Age of evolution. An accident at the outpost causes the observers' concealment to be discovered.

One of the Mintakans, Liko, notices the outpost while away from the village with his daughter. An explosion causes the holographic rockface that concealed the Federation observers to disappear, revealing the outpost to the outside. Liko climbs up to investigate the occurrence and is then hurt by an electrical discharge. Dr. Crusher comes to his aid and beams up to the Enterprise with Liko, an action construed to be a violation of the Prime Directive.

To keep the interference with the Mintakan culture as minimal as possible, Crusher attempts to wipe Liko's short-term memory before sending him back. After being sent back, it becomes clear the attempt did not work, and Liko recalls vague memories of seeing Picard being addressed by a distant voice. He infers that he has seen the afterlife and that Picard is in fact their overseeing god. He informs the other Mintakans that 'the Picard' saved his life.

Since one of the Federation observers, named Palmer, is missing, Picard sends Riker and Troi, altered to look like Mintakans, down to the planet to retrieve him. Upon arriving, they realize that the villagers have adopted 'the Picard' as their god, and they also learn that the Mintakans have found a gravely injured Palmer. Determined that he is an agent of 'the Picard,' they choose to keep him in their custody.

Riker is able to spirit Palmer away and beam him up to the ship, but the Mintakans, who up to this point have respected Riker and Troi as distant visitors, turn against Troi as a non-believer and take her into custody.

When Picard is told of the Mintakans' beliefs, he is aghast and brusquely rejects the suggestion that he guide their society by giving them a set of commandments to follow. Saying he has no desire to send them back into the "Dark Ages," Picard is determined to repair the cultural damage as much as possible while not further violating the Prime Directive.

After much debate, Picard finally decides he has no choice but to confront the Mintakans head-on, and he beams up the village leader, Nuria. She immediately bows to him as his subject, but Picard begs her not to. He gives her a tour of the ship, and she is astonished at their technology. However, Nuria still believes Picard has incredible power and asks him to bring back to life those who have been killed in recent floods. It finally takes the witnessing of the death of a human at sickbay for Nuria to realize Picard is just as mortal as she is and that his godlike powers are nothing more than a technological advancement.

Meanwhile, the village is being hit by a violent thunderstorm, which Liko takes as a sign that 'the Picard' is angry with Riker's actions and that they must kill Troi to satisfy the overseer's vengeance. He and his daughter wrestle with what the overseer expects of them until Picard and Nuria show up. Liko bows to Picard and begs for forgiveness, while Picard tries to convince him that he is not all-powerful.

Liko decides he has to prove Picard's godhood to everyone by firing an arrow at him. Nuria tries to stop him, but Picard finally states that if his death is the only thing that will convince the Mintakans that he is not a god, then Liko must fire. Liko does, and Picard falls to the ground. Nuria then sees that Picard is bleeding and shows the blood to Liko, who has a sudden realization.

After Crusher treats Picard, he returns to the planet for one final visit, when he confesses everything that went wrong with the observational post and explains the Prime Directive to the Mintakans. He tells them that they must develop under their own power. Before he leaves, one of the children gives him a sash as a gift.

[edit] Production Notes

The sash given to Picard at the end of the episode is seen several times throughout the remainder of the series, hanging from the desk chair in his quarters. It is seen again in the opening ready room scene in Star Trek: First Contact and in several scenes of Star Trek: Insurrection, hanging from the back of his ready room chair on the Enterprise-E.
The title of this episode is a translation of the Latin phrase "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" However, the on-screen title did not end in a question mark.