‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘A Matter of Perspective’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Something that is truly fascinating about our favorite television shows, is that we tend to believe that the big episodes and stunning surprises that popped up from time to time, served as the defining moments of the series in question. Which is a line of thinking that has some serious merit. Because if it wasn’t for those important moments, people wouldn’t buzz about the show in the slightest. But the fact of the matter is, that’s the wrong way to think about a television series. Because more often than not, consistent and quality storytelling is what really helps to bring a show to its apex and for proof that there is truth to everything we’ve just discussed… then look no further than season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Because year three of this storied franchise, is often glorified and remembered and revered for two key episodes; ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ and ‘The Best of Both Worlds’. But while those stories indeed are game-changing in their own right and powerful for certain, it’s the stuff that preceded them that really established the wonder of this series. Because these powerful stories allowed for the writers of this incredible series, to properly examine the human condition and our modern world and what it stands for. While at the same time, these tales also allowed for the writers' room to properly get to know the characters and what they could and could not handle. And having that knowledge and being able to write challenging stories makes everything we've discussed to date, foundational in nature. Since it allowed for the writing team to take risks with their stories and challenge the crew of the Enterprise like never before by way of those aforementioned, iconic episodes. 

If anything, all of this is relevant to today’s discussion, simply because the next episode of this storied franchise features another foundational tale. Because ‘A Matter of Perspective’ is a story that allowed for the talented writers of this series to examine a heavier aspect of our modern society that we don’t dig into enough in science fiction. Specifically, what justice will look like in the future and how technology continues to make the judicial system better as time goes on, and it accomplished this particular analysis, by putting Commander William T. Riker on trial for murder. For a sour visit to a research station, resulted in the end of said station and all hands aboard it, by way of an explosion and it truly seemed as though the evidence pointed to Riker’s libido as the cause of a crime of passion, and that prompted Captain Picard to figure out how to clear his first officer’s name. 

Which allowed for the Holodeck to come into play, since it was able to accurately recreate the station and the testimony of those involved and well, while this definitely helped to paint a picture, the sour nature of this whole meeting didn’t quite clear things up the way that Picard was hoping for. Which meant that this trial needed stone-cold science in order to clear Will Riker’s name and thankfully, there was an abundance of that available and it wasn’t long before the facts did their job and proved Will’s innocence in the matter. But what truly made this story so memorable, is that it relied upon science and evidence in order to acquit Riker of any wrongdoing and what makes that so important is that once again, this franchise was looking toward the future in such matters. Because using a Holodeck to recreate the crime scene and the events leading up to it, alongside the use of digital testimony and forensics to exonerate Riker, speaks to how technology is going to make murder investigations more efficient in the future and already we’re seeing some of that come to fruition now, by way of advanced forensics and the admissibility of DNA.

But while it is wonderful to think about tomorrow and how TNG may have influenced it yet again, what matters more, is that this story has a lot to say about justice and the importance of facts and evidence over anything else and how we must hold true to those at all times. Because without them, the justice system would fall to pieces, and in many ways perhaps this episode features inadvertent commentary on how we need some reforms in the system right now… to keep it on the right path. But regardless of what one takes away from this tale, we can all agree upon the fact that it is another quality story through and through, one that helped the writers to further hone their skills in writing powerful and poignant tales and oddly enough, the first big payoff when it comes to these foundational episodes is about to come to fruition, since 'Yesterday's Enterprise' is the next stop on our journey through season three of TNG.

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