Home Soil
- Episode aired Feb 20, 1988
- TV-PG
- 46m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
3.5K
YOUR RATING
On Velara III, Geordi and Data discover a microscopic life form responsible for the death of an engineer stationed on the base.On Velara III, Geordi and Data discover a microscopic life form responsible for the death of an engineer stationed on the base.On Velara III, Geordi and Data discover a microscopic life form responsible for the death of an engineer stationed on the base.
Majel Barrett
- Enterprise Computer
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
James G. Becker
- Youngblood
- (uncredited)
Dexter Clay
- Operations Division Officer
- (uncredited)
Susan Duchow
- Operations Division Officer
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFirst time there is a reference to a rest room (bathroom) on the Enterprise. As Riker and the engineer are talking, she mentions that one of the colleagues is stuck in the restroom due to the aliens taking over the ship. (It's not a restroom but, in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Kirk does sit on a retractable toilet, with the warning 'Do not use while in spacedock'. This was released in 1989, after this story.)
- GoofsEveryone (including the ship's computer) acts like this is the first non-carbon-based life form the Federation has ever encountered. However, in The Devil in the Dark (1967), the obvious inspiration for this story, a silicon-based life form (the Horta) was discovered on a Federation mining colony and identified by Mr. Spock.
- Quotes
Inorganic Life-form (voice): Ugly. Ugly giant bags of mostly water.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Bags of mostly water?
Lt. Commander Data: An accurate descriptions of humans, sir. You are over 90% water surrounded by a flexible container.
- ConnectionsFeatured in re:View: Star Trek The Next Generation Season One (2021)
- SoundtracksStar Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage
Featured review
Very unusual but entertaining.
The Enterprise has been ordered to go to a planet that is being terraformed into new planet. For some odd reason, the planet has been ignoring contact from the Federation and they need to investigate. When the Captain contacts the base's leader (Walter Gotell), he is very evasive and unfriendly and it's obviously he does NOT want them coming to the planet's surface. Once there, it's obvious SOMETHING is up, as a laser seems to come to life on its own and kills one of the workers. Then, it tries to kill Data. Someone or something is controlling the laser--and Picard is determined to investigate further. Eventually the root cause is discovered--and inorganic life form! Gordi and Data bring the small speck-like being to the ship for examination--and soon it begins to grow, refuse to stay in containment and takes control of the computer systems. Obviously it IS intelligent. And, obviously the leader of the base was trying to create a new planet by destroying the inorganic life form--which clearly violates the Prime Directive.
In many ways, this episode reminds me of one from the original "Star Trek" series--the one where miners inadvertently are killing the eggs of an inorganic creature, the Horta. Here, the entity is of a much different form but the concept is quite similar. Overall, a very interesting episode and one that manages to be entertaining despite a very simple idea and a very non-traditional alien!
In many ways, this episode reminds me of one from the original "Star Trek" series--the one where miners inadvertently are killing the eggs of an inorganic creature, the Horta. Here, the entity is of a much different form but the concept is quite similar. Overall, a very interesting episode and one that manages to be entertaining despite a very simple idea and a very non-traditional alien!
helpful•62
- planktonrules
- Nov 11, 2014
Details
- Runtime46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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