episode #07: Lonely Among Us

LONELY AMONG US episode #7 / Air Date: 11/2/87
written by D.C. Fontana, Michael Halperin; Directed by Cliff Bole

The Enterprise hosts 2 sets of some unappealing ambassadors (there's much talk about eating live animals). One group look like evolved cobras while the other are.. biped mongoose? Whatev. The ambassadors despise each other (seems like diplomacy has gone backwards since TOS; they were fighting each other in the 23rd century; here, they even stoop to eating each other - funny, what?). So now TNG is copying Journey to Babel from TOS? - so much for trying to be original during this first season.

Data, meanwhile, starts to imitate Sherlock Holmes as a mystery about another invasive alien force is afoot. This subplot would lead to future episodes on the holodeck, pitting Data against the holo-Moriarty program.  In this one, several crew members are briefly taken over by this alien force, until the captain himself is taken over. He begins to behave as an even bigger douchebag than he normally is. Abruptly, he quits Starfleet and beams off the ship. The End.
No?  Well, it could have been. But, no... we were stuck with him for 7 more seasons and a few films. This is all awfully derivative of other stories concerning aliens merging with a human or possession by an alien entity (Metamorphosis; Return to Tomorrow). It's also very dull, unable to decide if it's a comedy or a thriller and plain pointless. BoG's Score: 3 out of 10