Note: This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.
The Enterprise is sent to find the source of a distress call. When they
arrive, they find a planet endangered by solar flares. There are only
about 200 people there, all the descendants of a ship that left Earth
hundreds of years ago, but lost in the bureaucracy. Captain Picard is in
for a surprise when the colonists insist on bringing their livestock
with them. These people seem like stereotypical Irish people. The men
seem to like to drink and the women are portrayed as being strong. The
real surprise comes when one of the colonists asks what happened to the
other group.
The Enterprise finds a nearby planet that’s
suitable for life. Since it’s the only one within a short distance, the
head there to find the rest of the colonists. When Commander Riker beams
down with an away team, he finds a different sort of problem. They’re
all clones. Apparently, just before arriving on the planet, the ship
suffered a hull breach; only five people survived. Three men and two
women weren’t enough for a stable gene pool, so they resorted to
cloning. It turns out that after so many years of cloning, the genetic
material they have to sample isn’t so good. Within a few generations,
they won’t be able to clone any more.
The two groups seem to
have different problems. However, Picard decides that they really need
each other. The first group needs to be resettled and the second needs
fresh genetic material. The two groups agree to help each other out.
Each person will have a child by three different people (presumably with
a clone pairing off with a non-clone) for three generations. This
should provide for a diverse-enough gene pool.
When I first
watched this episode, my father asked what would happen if the clones
got too old. Wouldn’t the resulting clone be the same age? The truth is
that the clones all look the same presumably so that the producers don’t
have to hire lots of actors to play clones along varying stages of
development; one person can play however many clones are needed.
The clones are the result of five templates. This means
that they’re genetic code will have a lot of influence on the
population. Also, the clones are admittedly a few steps away from being
genetically unfeasible. I would think that this would create a few
problems later on. It would be interesting to go back in five hundred
years to see how things turned out.
I’d give the episode two
stars. This is one of the few two-star episodes that I’d recommend. Part
of it was that I felt that the two groups were a bit much. The
non-clones were too ridiculous and the clones were too serious. I’m
surprised that no one complained about it. My cousin and I would often
make fun of the non-clones for a few years after first seeing this
episode. I also didn’t get the title. What does “up the long ladder”
mean? Being memorable and being great require a different set of skills.
“Up the Long Ladder” may not be a great episode, but it was one of the
more memorable ones. This one is memorable.
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