Star Trek: TNG episode
"Darmok"
"Picard and his alien companion battle an invisible enemy in "Darmok".
Episode no.	102
Prod. code	202
Airdate	September 30, 1991
Writer(s)	Joe Menosky, Phillip LaZebnik
Director	Winrich Kolbe
Guest star(s)	Paul Winfield
Year	2368
Stardate	45047.2
Episode chronology
Previous episode	"Redemption"
Next episode	"Ensign Ro"

"Darmok" is an episode of the television science fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was first broadcast in the United States on September 30, 1991 Image File history File links ST-TNG_Darmok. ... September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 92 days remaining. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... A television director is usually responsible for directing the actors and other taped aspects of a television production. ... Paul Winfield (May 22, 1941 – March 7, 2004) was an American television and film actor. ... A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ... Stardate is one of the dating conventions used in the fictional Star Trek universe. ... Redemption is the name of a two-part Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Ro Laren. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Star Trek refers to an American science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series and ten feature films, in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories, and other works of fiction. ... The title as it appeared in most episodes opening credits. ... September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 92 days remaining, as the final day of September. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The plot involves Captain Picard's attempts to communicate with an alien captain, with whom he has been stranded on a hostile planet. The story exemplifies the problem of communicating with someone who uses a metaphorical language. Metaphorical language is a term referring to the use of a complex system of metaphors to create a sub-language within a common language. ...

It features Captain Picard, played by Patrick Stewart, and Dathon of the alien Tamarian race, played by Paul Winfield. The Tamarian language, although "translated" by the universal translator device, is still unintelligible, because it is too deeply rooted in local metaphor to communicate ideas. Eventually Picard grasps the similarities between the alien's references, and makes connections to story references in the alien's literature. Jean-Luc Picard is a character in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the commanding officer (having the rank of Captain) of the USS Enterprise-D and the USS Enterprise-E. He was played by English actor Patrick Stewart in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) and resulting... Patrick Stewart, OBE, (born July 13, 1940) is an English film, television, and stage actor and Chancellor of Huddersfield University. ... Paul Winfield (May 22, 1941 – March 7, 2004) was an American television and film actor. ... The universal translator is a fictional device common to many science fiction works. ... In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin) is a rhetorical trope defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. ...

The title of the episode comes from one of the metaphors Dathon uses: "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra". This apparently refers to a situation where heroes must learn to trust each other so that they may work together to defeat a common foe, as Picard and Dathon do on the planet.

Quotes

• "Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra" (meaning working together against a common enemy)
• "Shaka, when the walls fell." (meaning Failure)
• "Temba, his arms wide." (meaning Gift, or to Give)
• "Mirab, his sails unfurled" (meaning travel or departure)
• "Khidir beneath Momouteh" (cluelessness, possibly unwillingness to understand)
• "Sokath, his eyes uncovered" (understanding, revealing truth)
• "Zinda, his face black, his eyes red" (war, violence)
• "The river Temarc, in winter" (Stop, cease)
• "Kiazi's children, their faces wet" (death, mourning)
• "Kalimash at Baha" (storytelling)
• "Uzani, his army with fists open" (to lure the enemy away) — "...with fists closed" (to attack)
• "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" (a new metaphor added to the language at the end of the incident)
• "Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk" (Picard's metaphor about ancient Babylonian legends from Earth)
• "Ri and Jiri at Lunga. Ri of Luwani, Luwani under two moons. Jiri, of Umbaya. Umbaya of crossed roads, at Lunga. Lunga, her sky grey" (greeting)
• "Callimas at Bahar." (Don't worry, calm down)
• "Darmok on the ocean." (Alone)

As the alien captain (Dathon) lays dying from wounds received as he and Picard fought together against their attacker, he appears to ask Picard to tell him a story from his own culture. Reluctantly, Picard agrees, telling a highly condensed version of part of the Saga of Gilgamesh that underscored the universal theme of their encounter and became one of the most memorable speeches in the series (in spite of the simplified language used to match the linguistic style of the alien): According to the Sumerian king list, Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), the son of Lugalbanda. ... Enkidu and Gilgamesh, cylinder seal from Ur III Enkidu appears in Sumerian mythology as a mythical wild-man raised by animals; his beast-like ways are finally tamed by a courtesan named Shamhat. ... Uruk (Sumerian Unug, Biblical Erech, Greek Orchoë and Arabic Warka), was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates, on the line of the ancient Nil canal, in a region of marshes, about 140 miles SSE from Baghdad. ... Babylonia, named for its capital city, Babylon, was an ancient state in the south part of Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... According to the Sumerian king list, Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), the son of Lugalbanda. ...

Gilgamesh, a king. Gilgamesh, a king. He tormented his subjects. He drove them to anger. They cried out, "Send our king a companion! Spare us from his madness!"

Enkidu, a wildman of the forest, entered the city. They fought in the temple. They fought in the street. Gilgamesh defeated Enkidu. They became close friends. Gilgamesh and Enkidu, at Uruk.

The new friends went into the desert, where the Great Bull of Heaven was killing men by the hundreds. Enkidu caught it by the tail, Gilgamesh struck it with his sword. They were victorious. But Enkidu fell to the ground, struck down by the gods.

And Gilgamesh wept bitter tears, saying, "He who was my companion through adventure and hardship, is gone forever ..."

Trivia

• Paul Winfield who played Dathon in this episode previously played Captain Clark Terrell in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

• The premise of this episode is occasionally compared favorably to the motion picture Enemy Mine, which may have inspired it. A closer parallel in science fiction is the Ascian language in Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, who once they reach adulthood speak only in quotes from their equivalent of Mao's Little Red Book. Also similar to the Darmok language is the idiom of Dak'kon of Shrak'tlor in Planescape: Torment.

• Quotes from the episode are included in the internet hit The Picard Song by DarkMateria.

• This episode is featured on the Star Trek: The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard Collection DVD set. It is one of seven episodes featured on the two-disc set.

In the Star Trek science fiction universe, Clark Terrell ( ? - 2183) was a Captain in the United Federation of Planets Starfleet. ... Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Paramount Pictures, 1982; see also 1982 in film) is the second feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ... Enemy Mine is a science fiction story by Barry B. Longyear. ... The Ascian Language is a fictional language invented by Gene Wolfe for his Fantasy series “The Book of the New Sun”. The language is spoken by the inhabitants of the “northern continents” of the future earth, the Ascians, who are enslaved by their masters (the Group of Seventeen) in a... Gene Wolfe (born May 7, 1931) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. ... The first two books of The Book of the New Sun, 2000 omnibus printing. ... Cover of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung with Chinese words Supreme Directives Quotations on a wall Chinese poster saying: Chairman Mao is the Red sun of our hearts. ... Planescape: Torment is a computer role-playing game (CRPG) that takes place in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Planescape setting. ...

See also

• Metaphorical language
• Biblespeak
• Epic of Gilgamesh

Metaphorical language is a term referring to the use of a complex system of metaphors to create a sub-language within a common language. ... Biblespeak is a euphemism for a kind of discourse which frames concepts and language in highly Biblical or otherwise religious terms. ... The Epic of Gilgamesh is a literary work from Babylonia, dating from long after the time that king Gilgamesh was supposed to have ruled. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Darmok

• Darmok at StarTrek.com
• The Darmok Dictionary – a discursive exolinguistic analysis — by Raphael Carter
• Toward a Tamari Vocabulary, by Jean-Luc Picard — by Thomas M. Peters
• A forum thread featuring a Tamarian conversation (see 4th post)
• Darmok article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki