Faith in Humanity Restored

Creating the Vision
Encounter at Farpoint – S1E1&2

The Mission

This episode is the beginning of the first season of the new Star Trek Series known as The Next Generation (TNG), originally aired from 1987 to 1994. It develops the new characters in the episode and begins with a visit from an omnipotent being known as “Q” who accuses the crew onboard the Enterprise as being a savage race. Q decides they must be tried in a post-apocalyptic court where they may be sentenced to death. Domt, Domt, Daaaa...

It is decided that they will be given a chance to prove that their race has changed.

In Part II, the crew encounter a civilization that has vast energy reserves, but it becomes evident that something seems not quite right. The energy is being derived from the capture of a sentient being capable of transferring energy into matter. The crew of the Enterprise free the being from its capture and then it becomes re-united with its mate and the energy of pain emanating from the being is transformed to one of joy. Through this act of freeing a feeling entity, the crew of the Enterprise have provided evidence to Q that they are no longer a savage race and are capable of great acts of compassion and kindness. 

A positive vision of humanity

In this episode, TNG starts with an uplifting social commentary on the progress of humankind. We, as a species, are making progress from being a savage race toward one that is capable of acts of empathy and compassion. And this is not science fiction.

There is a large global trend forming to bring compassion into all of our endeavours from the individual to the level of communities, corporations and governments. ST starts the TNG series by creating a positive vision of our capacity, progress, and our future. And the future is now.