"Ugly Bags of Mostly Water we try at peace, you do not listen. Bag who drill in Sand Of Home had to die." That has got to be one of the most interesting ways to describe a human that I've ever heard. In my humble opinion, this is another jewel of season one. It also gets you to thinking about a few things.

Home Soil is the first TNG episode that features terra-forming and provides a very good description of the process. An observation: Unlike most star bases and even planetary stations on Star Trek, the terra-forming station in this episode was dismal with no amenities at all. It goes with the landscape though so I can understand why.

To me this episode seemed to features Troi using her abilities in a way that we really haven't seen since Encounter at Farpoint. Here and there Picard would say "Councillor?" And she would say "I'm sensing.." and that would be the extent of it. In this episode Troi used her abilities to help find out the truth which I think really establishes one of her most important roles in the show.

One thing I thought was cool was Data's drill scene. That was priceless! His dodges were very realistically android. Geordi runs to the rescue to find the doors have closed? What to do? Is Data alright? Suddenly the drill stops, the door opens, and Data struts out. Then when the engineer enters the room he finds a drill that has been totally destroyed. There is a serious yet comical atmosphere here because although what happened was serious, Data has a look on his face like. "Ooooppppps! O well, time to talk to the captain!" Well...I thought it was funny.

A few other critiques: Wesley really annoys me. "It's so beautiful!" That was his one line in this episode! What a waste of a character! I liked how Worf yelled at the computer saying "I wasn't talking to you!" Worf fighting the computer is always funny. They couldn't come up with a better name for the aliens than "Microbrains?" I thought the crystal the life forms turned into was pretty cool.

One thing this episode leaves you with are a few good points. No matter what the brightest minds on earth think, you never know what consequences your actions will have on the big picture. This episode also spells out the main vice of humanity. Arrogance! Many of us believe that we are the be all and end all, but don't realize there are many people and things, and possibly even societies in the universe that matter just as much as we do and are worth the same as we are. Humanity can be a great force for good and extreme advancement. We just need to realize this potential and evolve to master it.

This episode is one of my favs from season one. Great plot, acting, point, moral, you name it. I'll give this one a 5. I'm not very liberal with my giving of fives, but this one I feel deserves it.

RATING:

out of 5