‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘Silicon Avatar’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

One important lesson that each and every one of us learn growing up… is to be objective when we look at situations that are emotionally upsetting. Because it is very easy to become caught up in the moment and when that happens, dumb decisions can be made on our part, the kind that can motivate us to harm someone in a fit of anger or hang onto the negative feelings that come forth from something that was quite frankly out of our control. But when we take a moment to step back and take a deep breath and process what’s happening, we see the situation and the potential consequences of our actions with clarity and that allows for us to avoid any kind of trouble. And while this lesson isn’t always easy to abide by since emotion is a powerful thing, more often than not we hold to it, and it helps us greatly in life as we head out into the world on our own.
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But sadly, while the majority of us do indeed take a moment when something is troubling us, there are some folks in this world who never learned this lesson or choose to ignore it and their lives tend to be in a rough place because of that. To the point where they are either haunted and/or enraged by a particular moment that didn’t go their way or they are quick to indulge in the emotions of the moment and really, this is relevant to our discussion today, because of the fact that this notion serves as the focal point of the next episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. For ‘Silicon Avatar’ is that a story that dives deep into how holding onto a moment can do a person great disservice mentally and emotionally, and it accomplished this particular feat… by bringing an old villain back into the mix, since this story features the return of the Crystalline Entity. 

In fact, that fierce creation nearly robs the Enterprise of four key crew members since Commander Riker, Lieutenant Commander Data, Lieutenant Worf and Commander Crusher are planet side when it attacks. But thanks to Data’s quick thinking, they and a handful of colonists manage to survive the attack, and, in the wake of its attack, Captain Picard decides the time has come to go after this aggressive creature and learn more about it and he calls in some scientific help to make that happen. Which brings a Doctor Kila Marr aboard, who just so happens to be a specialist in the Entity and well… that’s when our thematic exploration gets underway. Because it doesn’t take long for us to learn that the good Doctor’s interest in the creature isn’t scientific in nature, but emotional. For long ago her son was on a world where the Entity attacked, and of course… he died in the ensuing chaos that the creature created, and well, when she reveals to the captain her plans for modifying the photon torpedoes to destroy the Crystalline Entity… it becomes clear that revenge is her true intention for chasing the creature about the galaxy.

An act that Captain Picard wasted no time in quashing, by pointing out that revenge was not and would not be a viable option. And that, perhaps if the crew could communicate with the Entity, perhaps an understanding could come to fruition, and he ordered her to work with Data to figure out a way to speak to the creature. But alas, being this close to enacting her vendetta for her baby boy and being able to hear his voice through Data’s databanks… was more than she could bear and eventually she killed the Crystalline Entity and ruined her career in the process and therein lie the lesson. In that, by not taking a moment to step away and understand that the creature was in fact, a wild space animal that fed as it saw fit, and only agreed to work with Lore because he could provide for it akin to a pet… Doctor Marr in essence ruined her life and her career by dedicating herself to revenge and the darkness of the moment.

Making this a grand tragedy in the end and a story that clearly offers up a heavy-handed warning to the viewer, and that makes this a fairly satisfying episode when all is said and done. For its message is indeed timeless. But all of that aside, it was nice to see the series revisit a villain we haven’t seen since ‘Datalore’ and resolve its plotline at last since it really did just disappear after Lore was sent into the depths of space and oddly enough… its end here is rather bittersweet. Mainly because there was a chance that this being could have found some measure of redemption since it spoke to the crew through that unique line of communication, and who knows what would have come about had this creature been able to finally communicate with man and make peace with it. But alas we will never know and in the spirit of this story, it’s best we simply process that tragedy… and move forward with the crew to their next mission. Until next time.

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