YMMV / Star Trek: The Next Generation S5E2 "Darmok"

• Applicability: One of the reasons this episode is very popular is just how applicable it is.
  • The fact that the language is made up of references, in-jokes, metaphors, and memes that people aren't in on really rings true or people who aren't on "meme culture".
  • It also rings true for translators as well - as many who worked in translation & localisation can tell you, languages aren't just copy-paste words / change sentence structure, but also try to accommodate for cultural references and even tropes.
  • For those who are neurodivergent, attempting to communicate with the Tamarians mirrors the daily struggle of trying to communicate with people who expect you to just "know" what they're talking about.
  • Even trying to communicate with people who assume you're in on their references and line of interests.
  • Multiple people have commented that this is very much like their parents or assuming that people can read their mind.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Captain Dathon routinely appears as the only non-Starfleet entry on fan polls about your favourite Star Trek captains. Not bad for a one-shot character.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Lower Decks reveals that the Tamarians have joined the Federation and there are Tamarians serving in Starfleet. Dathon's Heroic Sacrifice opened up the galaxy for his people.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Vocabulary, the episode.
  • As the Trivia page states, the Tamarian expression for "To tell a story" is "Kira at Bashi". For want of an "r", this is almost the same as the names of two of the main characters of Deep Space Nine.
  • It has been pointed out all over social media that the use of memes, gifs (including TNG gifs), and television/film analogies has effectively made this episode prophetic.
• I Am Not Shazam: The Tamarian captain Picard works with is called Dathon, not Darmok.
• Memetic Mutation: "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" is occasionally used to lampshade a particularly dense reference. It has also shown up as a mock concert poster and t-shirt. Even more, "Shaka, when the walls fell" is referred to as a way to describe Epic Fail.
  • The Tamarian format for communicating through memes has itself become a meme, appropriately enough. For example, "Philip J. Fry, his eyes narrowed," or "Captain America, at the meeting."
• Narm: Picard knows that communicating with the Children of Tama has been extremely difficult, but his opening hail to them is a complete reading of the UN charter.
• Retroactive Recognition: A young Ashley Judd plays Ensign Lefler, who re-appears (as Wesley's crush) a few episodes later, in "The Game".
• Special Effects Failure: Did the Enterprise fire phasers out of her torpedo tube? This was finally fixed on the Blu-Ray release.
• Spiritual Successor: To "Arena". Both episodes deal with well-meaning human and alien captains stuck on a planet separated by cultural differences. The difference is that Kirk and the Gorn captain have to fight it out, while Picard and Dathon have to diplomacy it out.

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