Season Two

Pen Pals

TECH SPECS
Production #			141
RATINGS DATA
Iotia:DS93 Rating (/5):
Visitor rating (/10):		[an error occurred while processing this directive]
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AIRDATE DATA
Aired Week Of:		1 May, 1989
Order in Season 2:	15	Order in TNG:	41
Order for all Star Trek series:			146
STARDATE DATA
Original Stardate:		42695.3
Order in Season 2:	15	Order in TNG:	41
Order for all Star Trek series:			149

Synopsis - On a geological survey mission, Wesley gets his first command as head of the survey team, and Data violates the Prime Directive by opening communication with a young girl whose planet is dying and whose people don't know about interstellar life.

Pen Pals covers two facets in detail. Firstly it deals with how one should handle a first command; particularly when the people under you are older, and more experienced, to a degree. The second, and more important facet deals with the Prime Directive; how absolute is the letter of the law? The facets are intertwined, not just because Wesley's team is studying Sarjenka's home planet, but also in that Wesley expresses a fear of failure and bad judgement; something which Data does, by maintaining contact with Sarjenka. This is the first time in the Next Generation that we see a horse, granted a holographic one; the second time for Trek (the first time was in the first, unaired, Classic Trek pilot, The Cage and its subsequent reuse in The Menagerie). Pulaski's technique to wipe Sarjenka's memory, is referred back to several times later in Trek, starting with the third season episode, Who Watches The Watchers.