Edo fashion, in all its barely-there glory.
Original air date: November 10, 1987
Wesley breaks an idyllic world's trivial law by accidentally stepping on flowers and faces the death sentence.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Alien Non-Interference Clause: Picard wrestles with how to apply the Prime Directive to the case; it calls for allowing Edo laws to apply without interference, but (he says) was never meant to require the sacrifice of a Federation citizen in such a circumstance. Ultimately he decides to violate the letter of the law, but attempts to make the Edo and their god understand his point of view; whether this constitutes less interference than simply jail-breaking Wesley (as the Edo themselves suggest) is a matter for debate.
- All Crimes Are Equal: Crimes on Edo are only punished if you happen to be spotted by the police, who are few in number, but the punishment is always death no matter the crime. This leads to people scrupulously avoiding any conduct that might break a law.
- Broken Glass Penalty: On this planet, it's death.
- Captain Obvious: "Sir, my sensors read it. Well, it's half there. It does look as if it were partly transparent."
- Crapsaccharine World: Edo society is peaceful, idyllic, and filled with pleasure and happiness... but any transgression, no matter how minor, is punished by death.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The Edo laws sentence death for any infraction, no matter how slight. As a result, Wesley is sentenced to death for tripping into a flowerbed.
- Dystopian Edict: Commit any crime within a certain area and the punishment is immediate death by injection. These areas are chosen randomly each day so that no one risks any crime at all. At the same time, these areas are clearly marked by white barriers. Too bad no one bothered to explain the significance of the barriers before sending Wesley off to run around.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- The Edo appear to be pre-warp, which would mean the Enterprise was violating the Prime Directive just by going to their world without any form of disguise, let alone subverting their system of justice.
- When Worf hears "When in Rome" from Riker, he is unfamiliar with both the saying and the city itself. It's later revealed that Worf was partially raised on Earth by human foster parents.
- Eldritch Abomination: The "god" that the Edo worship is this and an Energy Being. It is so advanced that it exists in multiple dimensions at once, and is so far beyond human life or culture that its thoughts, desires and values are extremely difficult to understand and can only be roughly guessed at. Unlike most, it can be reasoned with, though it takes effort.
- Eldritch Starship: The Edo "God" appears like a strange, ghostly collection of floating parts that's only partially materialized in normal space, and is referred to as a dimensionally transcendent entity. At one point it sends a probe or scout (its exact nature is left unclear) which resembles a ball of light that shakes the entire Enterprise when it "speaks".
- False Utopia: Edo is a paradise for the natives, and seems that way to visitors, but it can be downright dangerous for any not familiar with its customs.
- Fanservice: The Edo women. Holy god, the Edo women. And the Edo men. If their skort-y things were any shorter or that one guy getting a massage any more oiled...
- Free-Love Future: The Edo hat. As quoted in the report of the planet, "they make love at the drop of a hat. Any hat."note Supposedly, the Federation itself is also such a society to a lesser extent, and they don't seem put out by the Edo at all beyond their very friendly greeting hugs.
- Human Aliens: The Edo look completely human, as far as physical appearance goes; in fact, they might actually be more so than most examples on the show.
- Humans Are Cthulhu: Rivan becomes convinced the Enterprise crew are gods after seeing the ship in the same orbit as the multi-dimensional entity that her people worship.
- Idiot Ball:
- Tasha failed to learn what the actual punishment of the Edo was, despite her claim that she reviewed their laws. At no point does she ever try to assume responsibility for completely failing at her job.
- At no point does anyone bring up that Wesley didn't intentionally step on the plants...he tripped and fell, thus it was completely accidental. The most anyone says is "he had no warning his act was criminal". If they had brought up that it was accidental and the Edo said it didn't matter, fair enough, but no one even attempted to make the argument.
- Ill-Fated Flowerbed: Tripping and falling into one of these gets Wesley the death penalty.
- The Needs of the Many: Discussed. When Picard observes that violating the Prime Directive to save Wesley may result in the Edo "god" punishing the entire crew, Data asks whether Picard would choose one life over one thousand. Picard refuses to let arithmetic decide the issue. (Later, when Wesley himself learns of this possibility, it's implied that he wouldn't be willing to risk the crew's lives for his sake.)
- Oh, Crap!: Wesley's friends when he falls into the flower bed, and when the mediators show up.
- Papa Wolf: The entity flies into a rage simply by seeing its "child" on the ship, demanding they "release" her, even though she had volunteered to come. (Picard wisely does what it says.)
- Patrick Stewart Speech: This is how Picard talks the monster to death.
- Pleasure Planet: Rubicun III is a world where the population wear barely any clothes and spend most of their time having sex.
- Plenty of Blondes: Every one of the Edo is blond. Also toned, waxed and bronzed to perfection.
- Protocol Peril: The Edo can't see anything wrong with capital punishment for any and all crime, since it serves as a perfectly effective deterrent among themselves. Picard has to try and honor that viewpoint and the Federation's own rather rigid code while saving Wesley's life anyway.
- Reasoning with God: At the end, when the away team is prevented from returning to the Enterprise by the Edo god, Picard pleads with it that justice cannot lie on absolute law, and any truly fair system requires considerations and exceptions. It appears to agree, as it allows them to return to their ship.
- Repressive, but Efficient: The Elos defend their draconian and merciless legal system under the reasoning that it has kept their society happy, safe, and stable for centuries.
- Stripperific: Every resident of Edo, both male and female, wears only a few straps over their body.
- Sufficiently Advanced Alien: The Edo "god" is an inter-dimensional ship that appears translucently in orbit near the Enterprise. When they scan Data's mind he picks up that they used to be flesh-and-blood creatures in the distant past, but have evolved beyond such forms. Data practically quotes the principle while discussing the Edo "god" with Picard.Picard: Did you learn anything about the relationship between that and the Edo? Why are they so certain it's a god?
Data: Any sufficiently advanced life-form would appear to others to be that, sir. - Superweapon Surprise: While the Enterprise crew at first seems able to force their way through the Edo legal system, the advanced aliens whom the Edo worship as God intervene to ensure that they cannot simply do so and escape by threatening them with destruction if they try.
- Talking the Monster to Death: When the transporter beam is interdicted by the multi-dimensional entity, Picard gives a short speech regarding the lack of justice inherent in absolute law (both that of the Edo and the Prime Directive). A comment from Riker seals the deal, convincing the Edo god to allow the crew to leave with Wesley.Picard: There can be no justice so long as laws are absolute. Even life itself is an exercise in exceptions.
Riker: When has justice ever been as simple as a rulebook?
Picard: [as they begin to beam up] Seems the Edo Lord agrees with you, Number One. - Tempting Fate: The initial away team report on the planet sounds too good to be true, and Picard says as much.
- Vapor Wear: Apparently a common form of traditional dress on Edo, for both men and women. If they were wearing any less fabric, there would be no need to bother with fabric at all. (A bit of Fridge, especially for older and athletic viewers: those slippers they're wearing have no support whatsoever, and they're all running on hard-surfaced pathways. )
