“Tin Man”
Written by Dennis Putman Bailey & David Bischoff
Directed by Robert Scheerer
Season 3, Episode 20
Production episode 40273-168
Original air date: April 2, 1990
Stardate: 43779.3
Captain’s log: While in the midst of a mission, the Enterprise has an unexpected rendezvous with the Hood. They are bringing a first-contact specialist for a mission that might cause issues with the Romulans, hence the secrecy regarding their arrival.
The specialist is a Betazoid named Tam Elbrun, who was responsible for a disaster at Ghorusda during a first-contact situation with the U.S.S. Adelphi. The Adelphi captain was posthumously held responsible during the board of inquiry, but Riker—who numbers two of his friends from the Academy among the 47 who died in the disaster—wonders what Elbrun was doing there if he couldn’t sense such hostility.
Elbrun is also an old friend of Troi’s. She met him at the university on Betazed when she was studying psychiatry there, and he was a patient. This does not fill Picard with warm fuzzies.
Neither does Elbrun, whose telepathy is as powerful as anyone this side of Troi’s mother, and he’s constantly anticipating what people are going to say before they can say it. He seems like he has a permanent headache, and he’s impatient and short with everyone—except, that is, for Data, whom he can’t sense due to his android nature, something Elbrun finds fascinating.
Their mission is to travel to Beta Stromgren, a star on the verge of going nova that has a living ship orbiting it. The bio-ship has been nicknamed “Tin Man” by Starfleet scientists. Attempts at communication have failed, so they are going to meet it.
The problem is the Romulans, who claim Beta Stromgren as their own, though it doesn’t actually fall within their borders. They’re sending two ships to Stromgren, but the Enterprise should arrive first.
Elbrun’s first response when Data brings up the Romulans is that he almost forgot about them, which once again neglects to fill Picard with warm fuzzies toward their first-contact specialist. He does, however, endear himself to the audience when he snaps at Riker and calls him “Billy Boy.”
Troi explains to Picard—worried about the continual lack of warm fuzzies—that Elbrun is a rare Betazoid who was born fully telepathic instead of developing psionic abilities at puberty. Such Betazoids never live normal lives, and Elbrun’s a textbook case. He complains to Troi that the thoughts of thousands of people crash in on him all the time. Data is the only one he can stand to be around.
He’d been on Chondra V, the lone Federation representative on that world of quiet, peaceful people. (They have a three-day ritual for saying “hello.”) But he gave it up because he was drawn to “Tin Man,” an alien that lives in space and feels so lonely.
Troi realizes that Elbrun’s been in subconscious contact with the alien ship this whole time. Nothing solid yet, but he’s getting a feel for the creature.
When they arrive at Stromgren, one of the Romulan vessels decloaks. They ran engines at 30% above standard so they could get there alongside the Enterprise, and their weapons damage the Enterprise enough so that the Romulans will get there first.
Elbrun gets pretty hysterical at that notion, but Picard points out that arriving first at all costs isn’t always the point. They undergo repairs and observe Tin Man some more—a plan that works right up until the Romulans, after failing to communicate, arm weapons to fire on Tin Man on the if-we-can’t-have-it-nobody-can theory of first contact.
Fearful for what will happen, Elbrun goes into a fugue state, sending a telepathic message to the alien. Tin Man responds by letting loose with a massive energy wave that destroys the Romulan ship and badly damages the Enterprise. With another Romulan ship on the way, La Forge works overtime to get everything up and running.
Meanwhile, Picard has now despaired of any warm fuzzies regarding Elbrun, who admits that he’s been in contact with Tin Man—whose real name is Gomtuu—all this time. It’s very old, and has been roaming the stars for ages, but it hasn’t seen another of its kind for millennia. Its crew was killed by a radiation wave, and it’s come to Stromgren to commit suicide when the star goes nova.
Elbrun wants to beam over to Gomtuu. Picard is reluctant, as he doesn’t trust Elbrun. He asks Troi and Data their opinion. Troi fears that Elbrun will lose himself in a telepathic merging with Gomtuu. Data offers to beam over with Elbrun, serving as an intermediary and reminding Elbrun of his responsibility.
The other Romulan vessel decloaks, and makes it clear that they will destroy “the star creature” out of vengeance for the other ship’s destruction. Now desperate, Picard beams Elbrun and Data to Gomtuu. The living ship then puts up a shield that keeps O’Brien from getting a lock on them.
But it’s just as well, because the Romulans are about to attack. Elbrun communicates more directly with Gomtuu while on board. Gomtuu creates a chair in the control center for Elbrun, who explains to Data that he and Gomtuu can save each other. It has been without purpose since its crew died, and Elbrun has sought peace, which he has finally found on board Gomtuu.
Data is intrigued by what has happened. He is returned to the Enterprise after Gomtuu uses its energy to send both ships far away.
Can’t we just reverse the polarity?: Gomtuu is a living ship, born in space, but bred to have a crew, complete with interior atmosphere and workings and living quarters.
Thank you, Counselor Obvious: Troi is concerned about Elbrun, whom she obviously cares deeply about as a friend. She withholds his communication with Gomtuu from Picard (which doesn’t have any consequences, as Elbrun doesn’t rat her out), and tries to convince Picard not to let Elbrun beam over to Gomtuu for fear that he will lose himself. Instead, he finds himself, proving her wrong, but her instincts are understandable, given Elbrun’s behavior to date.
This episode also establishes the rather bizarre notion that Betazoids don’t develop telepathy until puberty, a very humanocentric notion that immediately makes them less alien and, by extension, less interesting.
If I only had a brain : Elbrun describes Data as restful. Troi diplomatically refers to that viewpoint on Data as unique. In the end, Data is fascinated by Elbrun and Gomtuu’s joining, and also realizes that the Enterprise is where he belongs.
I believe I said that: “I should’ve brought up the Romulans earlier, but I was—distracted.” (looks at Riker) “And no, Billy Boy, I wasn’t ‘distracted’ on Ghorusda. If Darson had listened to me, no one would’ve died.” (Riker looks away, dubious) “No? Well, I don’t care whether you believe that or not!”
Elbrun having a conversation with Riker’s brain.
Welcome aboard: Tony Award winner Harry Groener has always been a great character actor, often playing eccentrics, from the neurotic Ralph on Dear John to the scarily whitebread Mayor Wilkins on Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Gunther the Chef on Las Vegas to Ted’s hippy dippy stepfather on How I Met Your Mother, and he is simply stellar here as the neurotic, acerbic über-telepath. His reactions are perfect, from his finishing of people’s sentences to his constant state of fatigue to his being completely startled at Data’s presence. Just a great performance.
Also of note is the brief appearance by Michael Cavanaugh as the oft-mentioned-but-never-before-seen Captain Robert DeSoto of the Hood, Riker’s former CO and Picard’s old friend.
Of less note is Peter Vogt’s one-dimensional portrayal of a Romulan commander. Where’s Andreas Katsulas when we need him?
Trivial matters: DeSoto had previously been mentioned in “Encounter at Farpoint” and would be mentioned again several times, notably in “The Pegasus” and Deep Space Nine‘s “Treachery, Faith, and the Great River.” He also appears in several tie-in novels: Losing the Peace by William Leisner, The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett, Paths of Disharmony by Dayton Ward, Homecoming by Christie Golden, and the novel that established the most about the character, The Brave and the Bold Book 2 by your humble rewatcher.
In Data’s quarters, Elbrun looks at one of the android’s paintings, which appears to be of the spatial anomaly from “Time Squared.”
The episode was based on the short story “Tin Woodsman” by Dennis Russell Bailey and David Bischoff, which first appeared in Amazing Stories in 1976 (and was expanded into a novel in 1979, which was reprinted in a new eBook edition at the end of last year). In collaboration with Lisa Putman White, they reworked it into a teleplay, with Bailey and White using the pseudonym Dennis Putman Bailey.
Both the original story title and Gomtuu’s nickname derive from L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its assorted adaptations over the years, though the nickname relating to the mechanical man who only wants a heart would appear to truly apply to Data, not Gomtuu. (Of course, that analogy has been made before, in “Skin of Evil” and “The Schizoid Man.”)
Make it so: “It seems you have awakened your Tin Man.” This almost automatically ranks as a strong episode due to the double whammy of being a true science fiction story and a superb guest turn by Groener as Tam Elbrun. Gomtuu is a wonderful example of a new life and a new civilization. The notion of living ships wasn’t even a new one when Bailey and Bischoff wrote “Tin Woodsman” back in the mid-70s, but it’s one Star Trek never really did much with prior to this (though I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Moya, the living ship on which most of the action on Farscape took place, a show for which Richard Manning—at this point, a co-producer on TNG—was one of the main writers).
Still, the episode is far from perfect. The Romulan threat is perfunctory at best, and the logistics of the confrontations with the Romulans and with Gomtuu are kind of silly. The first Romulan ship disables the Enterprise with appalling ease—not aided by Picard never once giving the order to fire back—and then it takes the second Romulan ship forever to attack Gomtuu for no reason except the plot calls for it.
However, it’s a rare episode that truly lives up to the voiceover during the opening credits, and we get a nifty guest star on top of it. Fine stuff.
Warp factor rating: 7
Keith R.A. DeCandido was rather shocked to realize that none of the many billions of pieces of Star Trek tie-in fiction has looked in on Gomtuu and Tam Elbrun. That should probably be rectified at some point. However, he had fun fleshing out Captain DeSoto in The Brave and the Bold. Check out his web site for ordering info on his newest novels, plus links to his blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
I guess your feelings on this episode comes down to how much you like Tam. Me? Not so much. The whole story involving him was too “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” for me. Sitting through that once was enough, thank you (although at least this episode is 90 minutes shorter).
Although it was not used as a “Wizard of Oz” analogy, Data was also called Tin Man by Armus, the “Skin of Evil.”
Ugh! I cannot stand Tam Elbrun. There’s just something about the character or maybe the actor who plays him that gives me the creeps. It’s a difficult episode for me to watch because of that.
Double post – sorry.
I like this one, mostly because, as Keith says, it’s a Real Science Fiction story. His point about Betazoids not being telepaths until puberty weakening them is a good one, though – they should all be like Elbrun, just less neurotic about it.
I love this episode! To me, it’s such a rare, original story that stands on its own merits, and I’m so glad you mentioned its sci-fi roots (coming from the short story/novel). I think this was the first episode where I noticed full-blooded Betazoids have completely dark irises.
I know Tam can be a bit hard to take, but I think anyone who’s had a friend or family member suffer with a condition or disease can relate to his discomfort and apparent hostility.
Ah, kudos to Jay Chattaway and his score on this episode! This is one of my favorite scores, and I wish I had it on CD…the theme for Tin Man is hauntingly simple and beautiful.
Did not care for Tam. The unhappy prodigy stereotype was pushed to 11 by an actor who’s way too used to emoting all the way to the box seats in the back of the room.
I wonder about your opinion that the Betazoids become less interesting the moment they’re less “other,” less exotic. Do you find humanity generally boring? It’s a typically argued anthropology question, actually. Some anthropologists think that anthropology is too obsessed with the “other” in ethnography, that it works too hard to find differences between peoples instead of comonalities. Personally, I think one needs to identify and eliminate the differences in order to discover commonalities, but that’s my POV. What you seem to be saying, though, is that in a ficitonal character we should try as hard as possible to make the alien, well, alien -that creating commonalities is somehow subjecting the character to some sort of normalization. Well, if one is the writer, then one is subjecting the character to everything.
Personally, I don’t see how Betazoids are any less ESPerish for having their ESP at an older age. It might explain why they’re not id-driven maniacs who killed each other off in the rocks-and-digging-sticks phase of cultural development. I can see the first gatherer’s interior monologue now, “Oh no, he wants my root vegetables! I’d better kill him before he-” WHAM!
I should’ve explained in more depth: by making Betazoid telepathy something that develops at puberty, it makes them less like aliens and more like humans with super-powers — the telepathy just becomes the equivalent of the bumps on the forehead to show that they’re alien. I’d rather my aliens actually are really really alien, I guess. *shrug*
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
As I recall, they established that most Betazoids, developing telepathy around adolescence, have the time to learn how to screen out the constant thoughts of others, whereas unfortunates like Tam don’t ever have the chance. It’s pretty hard to imagine a scenario in which natural selection could lead to a species of angry, neurotic, and especially contact-averse people like Tam. A gene (or set of genes) that makes an individual never want to spend time around others of his own kind isn’t going to make it very far.
Keith: The writer credits at the top of the column contain a typo — “Putnam” instead of Putman. (And the reason Bailey and White combined their names is because WGA rules at the time wouldn’t allow paying more than two people as a single writing team.)
@@@@@#8: Wouldn’t it actually be the other way around — that someone who developed psi powers sooner would, by definition, have more time to learn to screen out thoughts?
This is a good episode, though I wish Gomtuu could’ve been explored more fully. It was also my introduction to Harry Groener, and he did do a good job.
The episode is also notable as the Trek debut of composer Jay Chattaway, who would replace Ron Jones in the regular rotation the following season and continue as one of Trek’s regular composers through the final season of ENT. His work here is much more in his normal style than in the more subdued, wallpapery style Rick Berman preferred, so it’s one of his most interesting scores.
A bit of trivia: The special effect of the chair forming out of Gomtuu’s “flesh” was done by melting a wax model and running the film in reverse. This was how the producers originally wanted to achieve the emergence of Armus in “Skin of Evil,” but they couldn’t quite get the effect to work within the time and budget they had, so they had to resort to the cruder methods they ultimately employed. Here they were finally able to get it right.
Eeep! Thanks, Christopher. Typo duly fixed. (I do so love the edit function….)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Hmm, I’d better make one clarification on my earlier post – when I say ” […] identify and eliminate the differences in order to discover commonalities,” I mean eliminate them as factual points from a list of characteristics. I definitely do *not* mean eradicating cultural differences in the real world.
And thank you for your reply, krad.
Regarding living ships, don’t forget the wraith ships on Stargate-Atlantis.
On the antiquity of living spaceships (or “bioships”), one of the earliest uses of the concept is “Specialist” (1953) by Robert Sheckley, in which a communal/gestalt spaceship needs to replace its “pusher” (FTL driver) and finds that humans fit the bill. Conversely, the story also implies that human social problems are likely a result of a lot of frustrated sapients on Earth who lack an outlet for their special talent.
Which brings me to Betazoids and the emergence of their telepathy/empathy. I agree with Mr. DeCandido that the notion of their mental power emerging at puberty does seem to lessen their alien-ness; on the other brain lobe, having that same power from birth would likely make them much more alien in behavior – they might not see any need to screen out thoughts at all and fail/refuse to distinguish between one another’s thoughts instead, going all “hive mind” on us, which could be a bit hard for the TV audience to cozy up to. Completing each other’s sentences would be the least of it; they might interleave their conversations word-by-word, phrase-by-phrase around the room.
Nice review, thanks.
We carried the “telepathy developing at adolescence” over from the original short story, in which the telepath is a human; Troi and her folks never have struck me as the least bit alien even when they’re dealing with one another – I suppose that’s just a consequence of having to write dramatic scenes for human actors – so I didn’t think much about transposing the characteristic to the Betazoids. As far as Tam’s charming personality…I didn’t expect people to like him, really. Why would you? ;-)
FWIW, the original novel 1979 is now available as an ebook for the Kindle and Nook from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester does an interesting turn at describing conversations involving telepaths and normals, includin an ESPer-only dinner party. It’s a great story and worth a read.
I’m hard-pressed to think of any examples of truly alien beahavior in Star Trek. Probably because the writers and producers were constrained by having to use human actors and tell stories that a large audience could relate to with minimal difficulty. In Darmok, the two crews couldn’t communicate, but they had essentially the same motivations and values. The horta was a mommy protecting her young. For all the cultural development of the Klingons and Romulans, they would fit right in with certain Earth cultures. And developing TP at puberty instead of birth can’t really make Betazoids less alien because they weren’t alien to begin with (naked weddings notwithstanding).
It would be interesting to see the Betazoids or some telepathic species basically “putting on” individual human-like personalities when dealing with human beings, using feedback from the minds of the humans they’re dealing with to fine-tune their responses and reactions. Of course they’d become Klingon-ish when dealing with Klingons, etc. When they are interacting with one another, they wouldn’t speak at all; if their telepathy is active at birth (kind of a naive concept itself; one would expect it to slowly develop from gestation on) they’d all have a universal “internal language” and perhaps no spoken native tongue at all.
That doesn’t fit into Star Trek’s way of doing things at all, of course – at least, not Trek TV or movies.
Star Trek did have one alien who was empathic and adopted the personality of whomever it was with. Of course, it was a pretty lady guest star love interest, which definitely is Star Trek’s way of doing things.
There was also a telepathic species, the Cairn from “Dark Page,” who had no spoken language and didn’t even use verbal “thought-speech.”
It makes perfect sense that Betazoids’ telepahthy would not be present at birth. Imagine the chaos of babies and children being fully telepathic! It really would mess with their minds. On the other hand, a fully telepathic species could be born with some ability but such a species would probably have lost the ability to use asound-based communication at all way back in their evolutionary chain and telepathy would be their primary means of communication, no doubt developing with age, much as our speech develops with age. The fact that Betazoids have a complex and fully developed spoken language / speaking ability at all implies that they are not born telepathic. Doesn’t make them any less alien to me!
Dennis: you’re welcome, and I see your point regarding Betazoids. :)
Also I mentioned the new edition of Tin Woodsman, going so far as to provide a link so folks can purchase it. We are a full-service blog. :)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Thanks.
I like this episode, especially because of the living ship. I also loved Farscape, and was pleased to read the mention of it in this review. I also didn’t know that the same person was at least involved in both shows, although I always suspected. Thanks for a great review.
Dennis Bailey used to do a terrific slideshow on the making of this episode at conventions.
I too enjoyed the score, but always thought the “tin man” theme was an homage/ripoff of a riff from peter gabriel’s “Rythym of the Heat”
A ship, a living ship!
Seems I have the rare privilege of dissenting from the majority this time. This is one of my favorite episodes of TNG in general. It’s guest character is not immediately best friends with every member of the senior staff (which made it all the more enjoyable) and Harry Groener’s portrayal of Elbrum is just wonderful.
I guess you have to be kind of an outcast to fully appreciate a wonderfully realistic character like Elbrum, but I fully enjoyed watching Picard and Riker’s disdain for Elbrum, and his mutual disdain for them (take that you “normals.”) The score is also amazing, adding to the tension of the episode. Its one of the best scores of the whole series. As far as the Romulan part of the plot, it just added to the tension and mystery as to to why the Romulans would even care enough about Gomtuu to send one ship, let alone two. That is explained by Worf: “The Romulans claim all that is within their field of vision.” A great ride from start to finish, made all the more fun and different by Elbrum. I’ll agree with the rating of 7.
Right off the bat I will admit to being pretty abnormal, because from its original airing, I’ve always been drawn to this episode. It’s my favorite of all TNG.
I guess I perceive it differently from most folks. To me, the subject of the episode isn’t the “living ship,” it’s the alienation of Tam Elbrun. An alienation so profound and nearly complete that he can only achieve a sliver of peace and happiness by living for years with creatures so alien they take three days to say hello. Yet, his alienation isn’t absolute, because he does realize that he needs someone to care for. Upon sensing Gomtuu’s presence, this need doesn’t seem completely hopeless, perhaps for the first time in his life. That’s reason enough for his being an asshole. It seems to me that anyone who has felt an inkling of this could relate.
Also, I’m not sure about Betazoids being less alien because they must reach puberty before becoming telepathic. Imagine being able to read your children’s thoughts from the time they’re born and know them intimately, while they couldn’t read yours at all until puberty. Doesn’t sound like a typical human family to me.
Reading these comments made me understand why this was my favorite Next Generation episode. There is genuine, plausible character conflict here in a series so devoid of it that numerous possession scenarios needed to be concocted over its long run. Plus you have a Fed who is unpleasant without having to either be taken over by some malevolent “other” or have obnoxious behavior as a racial trait.
Both the script and the performances walk a splendid fine line between valid points of view. This too was unusual as the series lapsed into the cliché of fictional substitute family that most television series become. It goes so far as to rebel against this tired notion.
Thus ST:TNG never had its City on the Edge of Forever. But it had many good efforts, this and The Inner Light among them.
I was expecting a 9 rating for Tin Man. 7 is too low.
I find it interesting that a few of the commenters express a dislike for the episode because they dislike the Tam character. I think we’re supposed to dislike him, at least at first. He’s rude, abrasive, dismissive, and impatient, which I suppose might be expected from someone who is being constantly bombarded with the minutiae of other being’s thoughts. I thought it was a good well-acted episode (bonus points for excellent furrowing of Tam’s bushy eyebrows) except maybe for the predictability of the ending. 7 is about right.
Tin Man reminded me a lot of Lexx, the ultra powerful living ship, and a great sci-fi show (if you like camp). Of course, TNG came long before.
Puberty onset telepathy makes more sense to me personally. You really need those early years alone to develop your sense of self. If you know what’s coming from you, then you can block out what’s not coming from you.
Tam Elbrun seemed to me to be very similar in his portrayal to how a schizophrenic (or other mentally ill person who experiences auditory hallucinations) would react when faced with a large group of people. This episode is very close to my heart as it aired the year my mother was first diagnosed with mental illness. She was in the mental hospital when it aired. Whenever I see “Tin Man” it always reminds me of my mother, and how hard it can be for people like her to interact with other people.
For me, his agitation and short fuse are perfectly reasonable for his position. The character gets nothing but sympathy from me.
A decent and entertaining episode. I don’t care much for the writer, having clashed with him over the course of five years. While Dennis Bailey may be a good writer and SFX person, he certainly lacks good manners, courtesy, and respect in others.
His troll like rudeness and uncooth behavior on the trek bbs is a prime example of such negativity.
Yeah, I think Tam is a proxy for mental illness. You’re not supposed to like him so much as feel sorry for him. He acts the way he does because he’s just constantly overwhelmed. And, in the end, he finds peace.
I am surprised no one tried to explain what happened with Data. I assume he was beamed back through the partial shields before the Enterprise was pushed away. But I’m not sure why he wouldn’t have checked in as soon as he arrived.
Alternatively, the ship dropped Data off after pushing them away, following the Enterprise so Data could be returned, but under some sort of cloak–or taking advantage of the “push” which probably temporarily disabled what was left of their sensors.
I wish the latter were the only option, so it would be clear that they did not commit suicide. While Data seems optimistic that they did not, you do have to infer it. If they’d just shown an effect when Data arrived, it would be definite.
I actually like this episode, and agree on the rating of 7. I disagree with your issue on pubescent telepathy. It makes perfect sense. If they were telepathic from birth, then why develop speech? They would merely solely communicate telepathically.
I liked the Tam character. He was crazy. He was flawed. So he wasn’t the perfectly moral, calculating character that the entire crew seems to be. I like that he had the Romulan ship destroyed. He met them on their own level. He is also longing for a place to belong, and his interactions with Data are fantastic.
I was was surprised that no cross-episode discussions of this alien and the alien from “Galaxy’s Child”.
darthdoggydogg: But by that argument, the power of speech would atrophy after puberty, as that ability would diminish with the onset of telepathy. Why continue to talk after that?
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Wouldn’t they still need speech to talk to children?
I thought the story had some similarities to Le Guin’s “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow” — telepath is annoying to shipmates, rubbed raw by their thoughts and feelings, finds peace with a vast alien organism (in her story a telepathic forest). In both cases it brings to mind living with mental illness and feeling too different to ever fit in.
An interesting sci-fi turn that a person presenting a serious anti-social disorder is too much connected to others rather than too little. His enjoyment of speaking to Data was a good touch as it proves he isn’t just a misanthrope.
A very good Data episode and not a bad Troi episode (in short supply!) even though it was more focused on a one-shot character. Data’s apparent nervousness as Tam inspects his artwork and the generosity and concern he shows Tam at the end (whereas nearly everyone hates him) do a good job showing his humanity and Troi’s ambivalent reaction to learning Tam wouldn’t return adds complexity to the story,
It’s also nice to see Geordi working with some of the other engineers for once, although they remain oddly silent (since they would have to pay the extras more if they spoke).
@34: I presumed Tin Man teleported Data at an incredible distance. One last amazing trick.
krad: “it takes the second Romulan ship forever to attack Gomtuu for no reason except the plot calls for it.”
To chew on a not very important point, the fact that Enterprise picked up the second ship’s cloaked approach with sensors means that it had started over-driving its engines as the first ship did (see also that it arrived much quicker than the day or two Tam quoted) whereas before it was traveling at a safe speed. This means that when it arrived it had also damaged itself and perhaps they wanted to get back to full strength before attacking the powerful Tin Man. What did they have to lose by waiting? They made sure to put Enterprise in check before biding their time.
As a side note living ships were a ubiquitous feature of extremely advanced races on Babylon 5.
I rather enjoy this episode even though it dpes seem like it falls short of “classic” status. A big reason for me why I really like it is Jay Chattaway’s debut score – big and bombastic in parts, mysterious and alien in others. It really is of feature film quality. I can only imagine Berman being alarmed by it and thank God his influence on the music which basically became evident from season 5 on at least didn’t affect this lovely score.
Otherwise, I really like the tension and race against the Romulans aspect, the Enterprise being tossed around and getting beat up on by both Gomtuu and the Romulans, the true sci-fi story though very derivative of Star Trek: TMP (coincidentally the Gomtuu energy wave FX is borrowed from the V’ger energy wave FX from that movie), Data’s prominence in the story, and also for Troi who finally feels useful and we get more of her backstory and of Betazoids in general (the whole telepathy being developed at puberty thing). Interesting how people are divided on Groener’s performance/Elbrum’s character. Yes, he’s annoying but that’s the point. He’s a rare (for this show) seriously troubled person so he stands in stark contrast to our lovable/perfect Starfleet cast so he didn’t really bother me that much.
@41/GarretH: I love this episode. Probably my second favourite in the third season.
Interesting that it reminds so many people of TMP. When I recently rewatched it, Elbrun instead reminded me of Miranda Jones from the TOS episode “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”, who couldn’t stand human emotions although she had studied on Vulcan and learned “how not to read minds”, and who preferred to spend all her life with the Medusans in order to avoid them. But I think the best comparison is the one made in comment #38 – it really is like “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow”.
I don’t think that our Starfleet cast is all that lovable and perfect here. Data and Troi, yes, but Riker has become appallingly self-righteous. I liked him better in seasons 1 and 2.
@42, I recalled a review of the episode all the way back in 1990 by Star Trek expert Mark A. Altman in his annual Star Trek: TNG season retrospectives in Cinefantastique Magazine in which he compared “Tin Man” to “ST: TMP” so that’s stuck with me all this time. But I think the comparison is apt because in both cases you have a space-faring lifeform that a Starfleet crew must find a way to communicate with and ultimately that life form ends up melding with humanoids, Tin Man with Elbrun and V’ger with Decker and Ilia.
I haven’t yet seen the TOS episode you mentioned and much of TOS actually but it’s on my to-do-list! I grew up in the 80s so I began my Trek experience with TNG and TOS films.
And I meant that in general the TNG crew were perfect and loveable because they rarely had interpersonal conflict with each other and they’re the best at what they do. Yes, Elbrun is misunderstood but Riker has justification for his preconception of him because of that incident Elbrun was in involved with that got some of Riker’s friends killed. If anything bothered me in the episode it was Picard’s reaction to Troi’s revelation to him in the teaser that Elbrun was her patient. Seems awfully judgmental of Picard! Lots of people are psychiatric patients; it doesn’t make them horrible people!
@43/GarretH: True, Picard isn’t at his best here either.
I mentioned Riker’s behaviour because it bothers me (as does Picard’s). I’m currently rewatching TNG, and I’m under the impression that both Picard and Riker are written as rather self-righteous, at least in this season. They are frequently rude to others, and they never apologise. I grew up in the 70s watching TOS, and the main cast there are much nicer. In a TOS episode, Riker would have apologised to Elbrun at the end or at least admitted ruefully that he had misjudged him. I didn’t notice this difference in characterisation when I watched TNG for the first time.
Concerning TMP, I didn’t mean that it’s a bad comparison, only that there are many stories like that and it wasn’t the first that occurred to me. But perhaps it’s the best known.
@44, it’s pretty much the norm in the military, at least in the U.S., that your commanding officers can be in the wrong but they won’t apologize to the subordinate because that would weaken the CO in the eyes of others. Like in “Datalore”, Picard pretty much humiliates Wesley on the bridge and never apologizes when it turns out Wesley was right. The best Picard can do at the end of the episode is restore him to duty. Perhaps that characterization was intentional on the part of the writers.
@45/GarretH: Good thought! I used to think that TNG was even less military-minded than TOS, but that may not be true after all.
I remember watching this episode some 20 years ago, which means it must have left quite an impression.
In fact, I think this episode is what got me hooked on Star Trek in the first place and I used to watch it quite often when I got home from school. This means, from here on out I propably have seen most of the episodes. Will be interesting to see how much I still remember.
I once read, the sounds we hear on Tin Man is from a stomach, digesting a pizza. Don’t know if this is true or not, but it sure seems possible.
No mention of the living ships in Encounter At Farpoint and Groppler Zorn’s apparently telepathic communication with them? They could have been the same species as Gomtuu.
This is one of my all time favorite episodes of TNG and a go to when I need a little ST pick-me-up.
I work around a lot of creatives and I meet people like Tam quite frequently. They can snap and be overbearing and lack social niceties which can stem from an inability to read others or think along the lines of social norms, yet deep down are really good people with a heart and just want to be understood. I really empathized with the ending where Tam found what he was looking for and a place to fit in, and how it was cleverly crossed over with Data acknowledging that he fit in where he was. That was a nice almost emotion moment where his development is handled well and the closing scene with Data and Troi is one of my favorites in all the series. Hugging an android like you really mean it is a very human to human moment.
How did I miss that Tam was the mayor on Buffy? How?? Good acting I guess! I never caught that Armin Shimerman was the same actor on DS9 and Buffy either until it was pointed out on the blog. Aliens fool me.
I loved the moment where Tam suddenly notices Data and it completely freaks him out for a second. Nice edit too.
@43 The “he was a patient”…dun dun duuuuuunnn! commerical break! was the one bad moment for me in this episode. However, given when it was filmed, even common mental illnesses were still stigmatized (People were regularly told things like “Don’t ever put it on paper that you had depression – you’ll never get a job!!”)
I really enjoyed the music in this episode and thought it was especially poignant in the choice and timing when Data is returned to the bridge just as Picard thinks he has been killed. The whole timing and filming of that scene was just amazing.
@47 Hahaha – that would be amazing if it was pizza digestion. I was going to comment how great some of the sound effects were. I particularly loved Gomtuu’s sounds as they sounded like animal “speech” and I thought maybe they had manipulated something like a lion’s smaller roar, or morphed another large mammal sound like vocalizations from an elephant or camel. Or maybe a hippopotamus.
This is generally a fantastic episode, but I was very disturbed and astonished to see Troi so wantonly break counsellor-patient confidentiality. The idea of someone who is essentially a psychotherapist revealing the identity of her patients, except under legal compulsion or extreme circumstances, is abhorrent in our time, and I must imagine that in the Federation, so caring for the rights of individuals, this norm remains very strong.
As someone on the autistic spectrum, I immediately felt a kinship with Tam Elbrun, not least because I (and many others like me) have similar reactions to unwanted stimuli which are overly intense (in my case, noise). I entirely understand how he feels, living in a world not designed for him, at once valued for his unique talents, but detested for his difference.
(As an aside, as part of my lockdown self-improvement quest, I have been only watching tv/movies in French, and watched this episode, which I hadn’t seen before, entirely in French. The dub on Netflix is excellent, and I must say I am enjoying hearing Picard speak in his native language!)
I’m glad you also got the ND analogy in this episode. I felt it 100%. The way he was stimming in the briefing room, rubbing his forehead, was just perfect.
I also cringed at that “No, he was a patient” shock-reaction-fade-to-commercial moment, thinking we were in for a horribly cliched portrayal of a “mentally ill” straw man. But then when Troi told Picard that he’s simply “not what you’d expect” (not “he’s a walking photon torpedo” or something like that), I realized that maybe the story would explore what, in fact, Elbrun and Data ended up talking about when their discussion got around to “difference” not necessarily being “a sin,” no matter what one may have heard. And in fact, I think we’re not SUPPOSED to “like” Elbrun in the usual sense; that’s kind of the point. We grow to accept and empathize with him, and — at least in my case — feel relief that he’s found peace and “what he was looking for” even if that meant double-suicide in the bosom of Gomtuu (which I believe probably was the case).
As for the Betazoids developing their telepathic skill at puberty — I guess this is as good an explanation as any for the fact that they also communicate verbally, and — if Troi and Lwuxanna’s interchanges are any indication — they seem capable of switching back and forth between the two modes of communication at will. I’ve always wondered if they actually “switch off” their telepathy when they’re communicating verbally (and, possibly, at other times as well); that might explain how they avoid the “echo chamber” cacophony of voices in their heads that derives Elbrun to the brink of madness here.
39: You’ll get to see more of LaForge’s Engineering staff in the following episode Hollow Pursuits, and how they all work on a problem to save the Enterprise. 45: I was once suspended from work and threatened with disciplinary action after an accusation of negligence from my employers. It took some digging, but I managed to absolve myself of any wrongdoing. I was allowed back to work without a single apology from anyone. 51: First Tin Man, and now “straw man!”
How many times have the Romulans fired without provocation on the Enterprise and Picard has never ordered return fire? In this episode, the Romulans get 8 shots on the Enterprise while passing. They were at red alert with all weapons ready and Picard just sits there…
It never occurred to me that they might have died. Ebrum wasn’t suicidal, and he’d said something like “will die unless we save it” in the med bay. And that bit at the end about the purpose of existence, implying the purpose had been found again? I think they cruised away happily ever after together.
I was going to ask if they appear in Star Trek again, but I guess not.
This is one of the episodes where I thought that TNG used the Romulans the way that TOS used the Klingons in episodes like “Elaan or Troyius” or “Friday’s Child.” They’re just kind of there to add an element of danger to an otherwise unrelated plot.
“the nickname relating to the mechanical man who only wants a heart would appear to truly apply to Data”
I thought Elbrun became Tin Man’s heart. Gomtuu had been wandering for too long rather literally empty inside.
That screenshot with a swooning Elbrun as Picard stares is excellent.
Once Tam joined with Tin Man, the ship turned away from the star and headed in a new direction while tossing the Enterprise and the Romulan ship away from it. I can’t see how anyone could read that as still wanting to commit suicide.
I quite liked this episode and even identified with Tam. I think in a lot of ways he’s a proxy for neurodivergence. He has an inability to turn of perceptions which makes him respond in ways considered abnormal or antisocial. I do not have ESP of course, but I have synesthesia, and I’m unable to turn of perceptions of light, color, etc, and the feelings produced. In another ND trait, I can also have difficulties in situations because I inherently understand everyone’s point of view and can’t create a hierarchy. Again, not ESP, but it’s a difficult thing to turn off. And I often can’t mirror effectively.
As to the Betazoids developing their ESP in puberty, it makes a lot of sense to me. Hormones trigger all kinds of changes, and it could be that their ESP is primarily useful in selecting a suitable partner.