“Who Watches the Watchers” is episode four of season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise is en route to Mintaka III where a three-man Federation anthropological team is studying the inhabitants, to resupply the outpost and repair their reactor. Geordi has manufactured the parts but asks why an outpost would require such a powerful reactor. One of the uses Riker gives is a hologram generator; Geordi realises the scientists are using a duck blind. The inhabitants are Bronze Age proto-Vulcans, peaceful and rational. They receive a transmission from the outpost. The reactor is inoperative and they’ve got a few hours of batteries. Data sys that at warp 7 they can be there in 23 minutes. There’s then an explosion from the outpost and energy surges everywhere. Two of the scientists are knocked down; the third tumbles out of the observation slit as the hologram disappears. The transmission is lost and Captain Picard orders speed increased to warp 9.
The away team beams down and Dr Crusher checks out the injured whilst Geordi warns them the framework is still charged. Outside, a girl and her father are heading to read a sundial when the girl, Oji, sees a reflection from the outpost. Dr Crusher has revived one of the scientists and Data has got the holographic generator working. Geordi is working on the reactor. The father, Liko, heads up to it and looks in through the slit. Two people beam away then Data notices Liko. Liko gets shocked and tumbles down the cliff. The doctor heads to check on his and beams them both to sickbay. Geordi has fixed the reactor and the hologram is back up. Oji checks where the window was and discovers it feels solid.
Captain Picard is not terribly happy to find a native in his sickbay. Dr Crusher tells him that, before he quotes the Prime Directive, Liko had already seen them. The damage was already done; she had to bring him aboard the ship or let him die. And they were responsible for his injuries. The captain wants Liko’s memories erased; it’s been done before. The doctor is aware of the technique Dr Pulaski – the first time she’s been mentioned this season – used in “Pen Pals” but isn’t sure it will work on a Mintakan. Dr Barron wakes and asks about the other two, Warren and Palmer. Liko wakes and sees what’s happening and notices Captain Picard.
Liko is beamed back down and calls out for Oji. She thought she’d never see him again after he and the woman vanished. She thought he was dead. So did Liko, but he was brought back to life, his wounds healed. It seems the memory erasure didn’t work. How? Long ago, they believed in beings that had great powers. How else to explain what happened? Everything has changed. A major oops.
On the Enterprise, Data is suggesting that Palmer could be in some nearby caves, which is why they haven’t detected him. He must be found; Troi doesn’t want them to interfere with the Mintakans’ cultural development. Possibly too late already. The captain wants to avoid further contamination. Commander Riker has a suggestion. This involves the commander and Troi beaming down disguised as locals and equipped with subcutaneous communicators. They’re going to assess the cultural contamination and find Palmer.
They arrive at the Mintakans’ settlement where Liko and Oji are asking about stories of the Overseer, who had the ability to disappear at will and heal the dead. Liko believes he has seen the Overseer. he is called… The Picard. Riker and Troi catch that. They realise the memory erasure didn’t take. Liko tells the others he isn’t saying all the old beliefs are try, but he did see The Picard and was brought back to life.
Troi introduces herself and Riker and suggests that what Liko saw was a dream. Liko and Oji are related, so it could have been a shared dream. That’s a more reasonable explanation. Then Palmer is brought in. Liko says it must be Palmer, the one The Picard wanted to find. Things are getting worse. Riker contacts the captain and tells him that the contamination is worse than they suspected. The Mintakans are starting to believe in a god. Picard.
Barron wants Palmer rescued, even with the Prime Directive. Liko is suggesting that Palmer is one of the servants of The Picard. The Picard has many servants. Perhaps Palmer ran away after failing The Picard. They must bind him. The Picard may grant them favours. Perhaps he will bring back their dead who have died – Liko recently lost his wife. Troi claims to see another like Palmer, leading the others away so that Riker can get Palmer beamed away. This is seen, but Troi isn’t able to get away too. Which puts her in a rather awkward position. Dr Barron wants the captain to pretend to be their god – a rather odd decision for an anthropologist – so that, when the Mintakans inevitably develop a religion, it follows the right path. Captain Picard really does not approve of or like that idea. So, how do they undo the cultural damage they have done?