Television Review: Angel One (Star Trek: The Next Generation, S1X14, 1988)

Angel One (S01E14)

Airdate: January 25th 1988

Written by: Patrick Barry
Directed by: Michael Ray Rhodes

Running Time: 46 minutes

The inaugural season of Star Trek: The Next Generation remains a curious anomaly within the franchise’s legacy, almost universally regarded as its weakest outing. This assessment stems from numerous factors: a cast and crew still groping towards a coherent identity, the immense pressure of stepping out from the colossal shadow cast by The Original Series, and a narrative timidity born of uncertainty. Yet, beyond mere growing pains, some of Season One’s most notable failures paradoxically arose from earnest, albeit profoundly misguided, attempts to rectify perceived shortcomings in Star Trek’s own past. Gene Roddenberry’s vision, while groundbreaking for its era, faced increasing scrutiny in the 1980s regarding its portrayal of women – accusations of residual sexism, exploitative costuming, and an underlying assumption of female inferiority within the supposedly utopian Federation. Angel One, the thirteenth episode, stands as the most telling exemplar of this phenomenon: a well-intentioned effort to confront contemporary feminist critique that spectacularly backfired, resulting in a narrative muddled by poor execution, regressive tropes, and a fundamental misunderstanding of the issues it sought to address.

The plot commences with the Enterprise-D investigating the seven-year-old disappearance of the freighter Odin. Discovering its derelict hull, the crew tracks three missing escape pods to Angel One, a Class M planet whose technological level roughly mirrors Earth’s mid-20th century. Crucially, Angel One is defined by its rigid matriarchal structure; women hold all positions of political and social power, while men are systematically subjugated, relegated to domestic roles and denied basic autonomy. An away team comprising Riker, Troi, Data, and Yar beams down to confront Beata (Karen Montgomery), the planet’s leader, whose initial frostiness towards Starfleet representatives quickly curdles into outright hostility. She first denies knowledge of any Odin survivors, then reveals they are fugitives wanted for rebellion. Undeterred, Riker remains to investigate, swiftly embarking on a sexual liaison with Beata – a development that facilitates his discovery of the truth. The survivors, led by the charismatic Ramsey (Sam Hennings), initially embraced Angel One, even forming families, but ultimately rebelled against the systemic oppression of men, viewing it as fundamentally incompatible with Federation principles. Beata’s government responded with brutal suppression. Riker locates Ramsey’s group, now fugitives, and secures their arrest. Facing execution, they are offered repatriation aboard the Enterprise; Ramsey, however, having forged deep ties to the planet and its people, refuses to leave, accepting death. Riker, unwilling to stand by, prepares to violate the Prime Directive by beaming them up forcibly, but diplomacy prevails as Beata concedes exile on a remote continent as a compromise.

This primary narrative is awkwardly intercut with a secondary crisis: a virulent, fast-acting infection sweeps the Enterprise, incapacitating Picard, Worf, and La Forge. Data, immune as an android, assumes command – a development creating significant continuity dissonance when contrasted with his susceptibility to the polywater intoxication in The Naked Now. Simultaneously, Dr. Crusher races to develop a cure while the ship receives urgent intelligence of Romulan battlecruisers massing in the Neutral Zone, demanding the Enterprise abandon its mission to bolster Federation defences. While Crusher’s eventual success averts disaster, this subplot feels entirely extraneous, a transparent device to inject urgency and showcase Data in command, yet it contributes nothing meaningful to the core themes of the Angel One storyline and serves primarily as distracting filler.

Angel One must be understood as Roddenberry’s direct, albeit clumsy, response to the feminist critiques levied against his original vision. Facing accusations that Star Trek perpetuated subtle sexism despite its progressive veneer, the episode attempts a blunt inversion: making women the dominant, oppressive class and men the subjugated minority. Ramsey and his fellow survivors are positioned as the 24th-century equivalents of 20th-century feminists, demanding equality for the oppressed gender. Producer Herbert Wright reportedly intended the script as a pointed allegory for Apartheid-era South Africa, highlighting the oppression of the Black majority. However, scriptwriter Patrick Barry delivered a disappointingly simplistic and bland scenario, leaning heavily on the overused science fiction trope of the matriarchal society without the necessary depth or nuance. The producers, to their limited credit, attempted a pseudo-biological justification through Beata’s diminutive male secretary, Trent (Leonard Crofoot), implying Angel One’s women are naturally larger and stronger. Yet this feeble explanation reduces complex socio-political oppression to crude physical determinism, utterly failing to grapple with the systemic, cultural, and historical roots of real-world inequality. The result is not a thoughtful exploration of power dynamics, but a shallow caricature that inadvertently replicates the very objectification it sought to critique. Just as The Original Series was criticised for exploitative female costuming, Angel One offers blatant fan service for females, featuring both Riker and Picard (during the infection sequence) bare-chested, reducing the male characters to objects of visual titillation within the narrative’s own framework of oppression – a deeply ironic and counterproductive move.

Riker’s characterisation here is pivotal and revealing. Functioning as the de facto lead, he embodies a TNG analogue of Captain Kirk: decisive, willing to bend or break the Prime Directive for perceived moral imperatives, and effortlessly seducing the alien leader. His passionate speech to Beata, urging compassion for Ramsey’s plight, is presented as the catalyst for her compromise, reinforcing the trope of the white (or in this case, Starfleet) male saviour intervening in a primitive culture’s affairs. While Frakes brings his usual charm, the episode’s core flaw undermines this. The promised chemistry between Riker and Beata fizzles; Montgomery’s performance lacks the necessary gravitas and complexity for a leader facing internal rebellion, resulting in flat, unconvincing love scenes. Similarly, Sam Hennings fails to project the requisite charisma and conviction as Ramsey, making his refusal to leave seem less like principled defiance and more like stubborn obstinacy, weakening the episode’s central moral dilemma.

Furthermore, Angel One holds historical significance beyond its thematic failures: it marks the Romulans’ long-awaited debut in The Next Generation. This is no minor detail; it signifies Roddenberry’s pragmatic abandonment of his initial, ill-fated insistence that the Ferengi replace the Klingons (and by extension, the Romulans) as the primary antagonists. The Ferengi’s comical ineptitude in early episodes like The Last Outpost had rendered them utterly incapable of filling the Romulan void. Their appearance here, even as background tension, confirmed the franchise’s return to established, credible threats – a necessary course correction born of Season One’s missteps.

Ultimately, the episode’s few redeeming qualities are purely technical. The matte painting depicting Angel One’s capital city is undeniably impressive, a high-quality piece of traditional artistry that would be recycled effectively for numerous alien worlds throughout the series’ run, showcasing the production team’s resourcefulness even when the writing faltered. However, this visual achievement cannot compensate for the narrative’s profound shortcomings.

Angel One represents a critical failure of intent. Roddenberry’s desire to address legitimate feminist concerns was, in theory, commendable. Yet the execution – reducing complex social critique to a simplistic, biologically deterministic matriarchy, relying on tired tropes, introducing jarring fan service, and featuring subpar acting – resulted in a message that was not only poorly conveyed but actively regressive. While Season One’s growing pains are understandable, *Angel One stands as a stark reminder that good intentions, without thoughtful execution and a deep understanding of the issues at hand, can produce results far worse than simple mediocrity. It is not merely a weak episode; it is a well-meaning crusade that lost its way, becoming an object lesson in how not to engage with the progressive ideals Star Trek was founded upon. The shadow it casts is not just one of a bad story, but of a missed opportunity to genuinely advance the conversation Roddenberry himself had begun.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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