Angel One

TNG Season 1 Episode 14
Air Date: January 25th, 1988

Plot

The Enterprise finds the remains of a long lost freighter with three escape pods missing. They calculate the most likely planet they could have gone to is a planet called Angel One. The planet is pre-warp and society developed where the women were the dominant gender, generally bigger and stronger then the men. Counselor Troi takes lead in the first half of the episode to negotiate for help finding the survivors. When it is discovered that they are alive but fugitives sentenced to death, Riker convinces their leader, who he had relations with, that killing them would make them martyrs. They get sentenced to living in exile instead.

Commentary

This episode is clearly trying to do a gender flip to make a sociological point. Watching the episode today it seems to have fallen flat as many of the issues they bring up almost seem to be siding with men on Earth rather then trying to show how sexism is bad. But I can see how it might have been considered a valiant effort for it's time.

Quotes

"It's not my function to seduce or be seduced by the leader of another world." - Riker
"It's not the reason." - Beata
"No, it's not. But will you still respect me in the morning?" - Riker

"Mistress Beata invites you to witness this morning's reaffirmation of Angel One's moral imperative." - Trent
"Is that the civilized word for 'murder' on this world?" - Yar

"When you spoke of the prisoners, you used the term revolutionary. Indeed, death has been known to stop revolutions. But I suspect it's not a revolution that Angel One is hoping to stop. It's evolution. Mister Ramsey and the Odin survivors did not initiate the waves of dissent that are rippling through your planet. Their presence here merely reinforced the change in attitudes between men and women that was already well under way. They became symbols around whom others who shared their views could gather. You may eliminate the symbols, but that does not mean death to the issues which those symbols represent. No power in the universe can hope to stop the force of evolution. Be warned. The execution of Mister Ramsey and his followers may elevate them to the status of martyrs. Martyrs cannot be silenced." - Riker

"It looks horrible. Tastes worse. But it's absolutely guaranteed to make you feel better." - Doctor Crusher