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From: freagul
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  • man the creature in this used to freak me out so bad, and it still does. :)

  • Dar-MOK and JALAD..... at..... Tanagra!

  • One of my favorite episodes. 20 years later & have never forgotten of the the epic of Gilgamesh. Stories like these, retold in pop culture, enrich us all, inspire literacy & shares culture. Don't see that much today do we? Sure History channel might showcase something of ancient civilization. But you don't see allegory like this anymore. Thanks to all who made this series so valuable for so many people. I often hold DSN in higher regard, but episodes like this one makes me think again.

  • I really wish Pikard would have said "Taamak, when the punch landed!", LOL

  • this tells of how just because you dont speak same language there is always a way of communication.. beatiful episode

    star trek creator was ahead of his time and if he ran for president i would vote for him

  • had to watch this in english class because we're studying gilgamesh...

  • Captain Picard, the man who says he's not much of a storyteller, then does a remarkable and touching retelling of the Gilgamesh legend.

    Gotta love it.

  • Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this, but though this episode may be touching, it has some plot holes as big as the grand canyon. As someone said earlier, if this race's language is a primitive set of metaphors, how in God's name would they be able to create a starship with transporters? And why can they say "simple" English sentences like "when the walls fell", or "his arms open", etc. if they just communicate through metaphor? They wouldn't ever use those words, just actual names.

  • when i come here to watch this, and i come here at least 6 times a year, it brings a tear to me eye....

    

  • A true classic.

  • The Children of Tama were some of the more interesting societies in The ST : TNG universe. They should have had a few more episodes with them.

  • The best!!!!!!!!

  • 5 people got pwned by the beast.

  • Just saw this again. Paul Winfield, great actor.

  • @snooters - Winfield and Stewart, best episode, ST : TNG ! I love the way they wove an ancient story ( The world's 1st epic ! ) into a Star Trek episode.

  • MY first Star Trek episode was this one. Just watched it today. I love it yo

  • Pastor9764 you are just awesome. I read you're word and got chills and had to clap aloud. I certainly agree that this episode is no longer entertainment, it has crossed over to be living art.

  • balls.

  • This episode and the one with the Vulcan related race that ends up thinking that Picard is their god are the best episodes in TNG. They represent the essence of Star Trek.

  • @FadeToBlack181

    You refer to "Who Watches The Watchers". Also "Inner Light", "Drumhead", "The Measure Of Man" should also be shortlisted. VOY: had one such magnificent episode - "In The Blink of An Eye".

  • All stories will now be read in Patrick Stewart's voice.

  • Abrams movie is just as much canon as anything else, it shows what happened to spock years after Kirk died with picard. So it is a continuity and sequel if you look at it that way

  • 5?  Shaka, when the walls fell

  • Darmok and Jelad with Heineken !

  • This sequence ranks right up there with stuff like the chess sequence from The Wire. This isn't TV entertainment, it's art.

  • EVERYONE deserves to watch this episode

  • This episode is great, but would have made more sense with an encounter with a non-space faring species. How could you build and operate a starship with only a language of metaphors? I guess all it really takes though is disbelief, by suspension raised.

  • @TheBigGSN5 The easiest way would be for the building of the starship to be a trade, passed down from one generation to the next through hands on experience, through imitation, through trial and error.

    Think of how Chimpanzees, who have no language, still have the ability to teach their young how to craft simple tools, how to hunt, how to survive.

  • @krim7 Yeah, that would be kinda like the orks in 40K who can build advanced weapons and space faring technology by instinct due to genetic engineering, even though they don't know a Waaagh! from a warp drive. They could also have some sort of tech that they don't understand, somewhat like the real life cargo cults, but that builds and runs automatically instead of being wood replicas.

  • 4 People couldn´t find Tanagra at the ocean

  • The subtlety of the music timed precisely with this segment during the telling of the stories is quite astounding.

  • I can't understand why this episode didn't get more attention from the media. Does anyone know if this got an Emmy? It deserved one if it didn't.

  • Well said...this is art, writing that lasts a thousand years. I use this to think in metaphors, and it comes to my mind a lot.  Thanks for this clip and happy holidays.

  • I miss TNG. Television today doesn't have this kind of pacing anymore. Everyone is too damned impatient to allow scenes to develop emotionally like this.

  • @zenmachinefilms

    lol I agree.

  • Television today doesn't have this kind of pacing anymore. Everyone is too damned patient to allow scenes to develop emotionally like this. 

  • Tamak. THE RIVER TAMAK! In winter!

  • 5:31 ENKIDU!!!!! WHERE IS ENKIDU!!!

  • Washington at Valley Forge.

    His Army, cold.

    Washington and Von Steuben at Valley Forge. 

    Their Army trained.

  • indeed 2010 time machine

    /watch?v=ukMNfTnI5M8

  • This episode is part why TNG for all it's silliness is still hailed as one of the best SF series of all times.

  • favorite tng episode!

    

  • Gilgamesh, a king, at Uruk. Enkidu, a wild man, at Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk. Gilgamesh. Zinda, his face black, his eyes red. Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Uzani, his army with fists closed. Enkidu. Shaka, when the walls fell. Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Darmok and Jelad on the ocean.

  • This is one of my 3 favorite Next Gen episodes ever.

  • That is THE single greatest re-telling of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Earth's first great epic story...

    Both the episode itself, a modern re-telling of it in kind, and Stewart's reciting it...

    It is amazing, truly, that six thousand years after it was written, we still care, and remember...

    Darmok and Jelad at Tenagara!

    Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk!

  • "If only all TV was this good".

    Did you cut off your cable after 1995? Have you ever watched anything outside of Star Trek? There *has* been a lot of good television since then, some better than this. Studios have no choice: internet and short attention spans demand only the best productions on the grey box.

  • @1:47s: I think he says "he has his children, and their faces are wet". That is some creepy stuff.

  • @ac1dman

    "Kiazi's children, their faces wet."

  • @ac1dman

    The children are crying for the lost ones.

  • @anniemcu

    I always thought it meant crying for no reason because he motions to Picard not to worry.

  • This episode encompasses everything that's *right* about the science-fiction genre, everything blowhards like Bay and Cameron get wrong. Every aspiring screenwriter ought to be forced to watch it over and over. It's about sharing humanity, touching the present and past and future all at once. Pure awesomeness.

  • One of the finest moments in all of Star Trek. Patrick Stewart took this show up to a level never seen before in Star Trek. This is Babylon 5 quality drama.

  • Deep. Fortunate to have had Picard influence my morals as a kid.

  • @AesirV same

  • No doubt one of the best moments on TV... ever.

  • It's too bad they didn't keep this jacket. Apparently the shoulders were made from pig skin and it stunk so Patrick Stewart needed something a bit less smelly to act in. That jacket is one of my favorite pieces on the show though.

  • Timba.. his arms wide..! great episode.

    my favorite nex gen moment tho is data sacrificing himself in the movie! sooo sad

    Data has to be thee best !

  • Brilliant. Scenes like this always remind me why TNG is my favourite of the Treks.

  • DARMOK AND JAHLAD , AT TENAGRA

  • I actually shed a tear when Dathon died. :'(

  • His eyes open!

  • Rick Astley, at youtube, his misleading link.

  • @redsawdom I've been mentally rickrolled by the Children of Tama.

  • His arms wide.. His eyes open. I love this episode best!

  • I don't remember anything in the Next Gen movies as good as this 7 minutes.

  • This scene just shows how great Star Trek really is.

  • That is a cool-looking CO's jacket!

  • This episode and the part in "Family" where Wesley "meets" his dead father always leave me misty-eyed.

  • the definition of Star Trek

  • Huh, I'd actually like to see this as a one-act, simple play.

  • omg i loooved this episode! just like all of them pretty much

  • I love the story of Gilgamesh. One of my favorites. Yay Star Trek for incorporating it into an episode!!!

  • always loved this episode, always watch it when its re-run on tv

  • Spoiler: Dathon vaporizes himself in Star Trek II.

  • Darmak and Jelad At tenagre,,,make make m-m-m-m-make it so!

  • GILGAMESH! GIRUGAMESH!!

  • One of the best TNG episodes in the entire series

  • @SigmaPhiAlpha indeed it was.

  • I hate all those fucking falling walls at Shakaah.

  • @Doliath

    Doliath, your butt uncovered!

  • Someone should write a slash fanfic about this episode!

  • @Doliath

    Some say it is already in edit.

  • Sometimes the universal translators just don't quite work and it takes the personal interaction to understand one another. The moral of the story. One of them, anyway.

  • You just wish they made the movies as compelling as this. Instead they have to take out all that makes Trek good and throw in bog standard action nonsense.

  • @yootoobnewbie There does seem to be a feeling that "science fiction"+"feature film"="action blockbuster" but it doesn't have to be that way.

  • Now that's how you write Star Trek.

  • He who was my companion - through adventure and hardship - is gone forever.

    Work like this no longer exists in our world.

  • This episode was brilliant but it drove me fucking nuts the first time I watched it.

  • Shakka, when the walls fell!

  • Sokath, his eyes uncovered!

  • Kailash. When it rises!

  • The Frigging Walls fell!!!

  • By metaphor!!!!!!!!

  • This is the best scene of any Star Trek episode ever, in my opinion. This is why I tell people that I don't consider the J.J. Abrahms film canon, because that's not Star Trek. This is Star Trek. Star Trek signifies something larger than itself, thereby making it's characters and stories not about solely Trek characters, but about all of humanity. Their struggles become our struggles; we become one with strangers, thus demonstrating our kinship and unity with our fellow man.

  • right on brother!

  • i completely agree. nothing annoys me more than when i mention star trek and someone says, "oh ive seen that movie!" its just not what its about, and its sad that this generation wouldnt appreciate the real star trek.

  • I'm glad to see that some people agree. It's really a shame that so few people watch Star Trek and many of those who do don't get it at all. The Abrahms film wasn't even about anything, it was just two hours of special effects and Kirk running around like a clown.

  • You're right. But unfortunately people don't want substance anymore, they want something fun to watch. They might as well have put Megan Fox in it.

  • @jimmyboy,

    LOL, yes, agreed.

  • @jimmyboy99 These days people don't care about good story. If it doesn't have random crap blowing up or half naked women, nobody cares about it! Just shows how downhill our society has gone.

  • It was about sacrifice, friendship, teamwork, loyalty. All of those things are great Trek values and were in that film. Stop crying fanboy.

  • @darmokandgalad And dangling from shit. How much shit did he dangle from in that absurd movie?

    All of it.

  • @darmokandgalad Sorry dude, but you are in the minority on this one. As a die-hard Trek fan, Abrahms version was the best ever. The movie also broke the "Odd Numbered Trek Curse".

  • @ChrisCa1601

    I'd say - you are. Star Trek XI by Abrahms broke everything, probably by such idiotism like exhaust from warp nacelles...

  • not to mention kickass sci-fi concepts-somehow the JJ Abrams "black hole back in time" didnt quite cut it

  • It's sci-fi, it doesn't really have to make sense. Besides, Star Trek has dabbled a lot when it comes to not quite making sense.

  • @darmokandgalad AGREE! I think this and the series finale were in the spirit of TOS.. the humanty you point out!

  • Comment removed

  • @darmokandgalad Yeah, sorry, but the Abrams film is just as "canon" as anything else. And all of the nerd tears won't change that.

  • @darmokandgalad A-MEN. JJ's "Trek" purposefully avoids any moral content because today's kids feel they're above morality plays. If the new Trek wanted to speak to us now, Kirk would've been a real military guy like the many we send all over the world, not some smart ass.

  • Rai and Jiri at Lungha. Rai of Lowani. Lowani under two moons. Jiri of Ubaya. Ubaya of crossed roads. At Lungha. Lungha, her sky Grey. Kadir beneath Mo Moteh. The river Temarc in winter. Shaka, when the walls fell. Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Zima, at Anso! Zima and Bakor! Mirab, his sails unfurled! Kiteo, his eyes closed. Chenza at court. The court of silence. Chenza... Temba, his arms wide. Uzani, his army at Lashmir. Uzani, his army, with fists open. His army with fists closed.

  • THIS IS STAR TREK!!

  • This is PURE Trek -- one of the best examples of what the Trekiverse is all about: Intelligent people of goodwill (of whatever origin) seeking to understand each other.

  • @Kirok yeah origin only matters when blood is the only way to power! did you consider such?

  • This episode actually inspired me to seek out the epic story and read it. What an amazing story that I had never heard about. Very long but I finished it. Very hard to find in an English translation.

  • I did the same thing. :-)

  • I actually purchased this episode on DVD which also had another favorite episode of mine, "The Inner Light" as for Gilgamesh, well just look at my screen name, Gilgamesh and Enki Du, the original action heroes ! hehe

  • This is quite possibly the best ten minutes of television ever made. I say that with absolutely no tongue-in-cheek. There's so much that's right about this scene that I can't explain it all in 500 characters. Suffice it to say that this is one instance where television transcended the medium and become something great.

  • I couldn't possibly agree more.

  • @clokverkorange No doubt- best episode of any Star Trek, as far as I am concerned.

  • I agree 100%. This scene touches me in universal ways. Tears and joy.  Humanity at its best.

  • @clokverkorange Possibly my favourite scene from Star Trek:TNG. 

  • Darmok and Jelad on the ocean.

  • Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk

  • I knew a sociology professor who taught this episode as means to illustrate how, dispite launguage barriers, we can still learn to speak to each other. As a result they not only learn the lesson but many of her students come away as fans of Star Trek.

  • My confidence in the collective intelligence of YouTube has been restored.

  • Darmok on the Ocean

  • Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

  • Wow, watching this makes me miss Paul Winfield who died on 3/7/04.

    Himself and Patrick Stewart created some of the "Best Ever" Star Trek memories and Darmok is their gem! What an excellent show indeed!

  • btw i would have love to hear what Joseph Campbell thought about this episode

  • If I was to make a compilation video of some of the best moments of TV ever, I would include the ending scenes from "The Two Cathedrals" (West Wing), scenes from "Last Exit From Springfield" (Simpsons)... and this scene from Darmok will definitely be in that compilation. It's great writing like this that makes me want to watch TV and movies, even though these moments are too few and far in between.

  • omg. This is the very first ST episode I ever saw and the one that got me into Star Trek believe it or not. Great story and a great past-time memories. thanks for posting! <3

  • I really wished they had gone back and explored this race a little more - I was always curious about more of their history. A race that communicates through an oral history would have been a rich story fountain.

  • Freagul his arms wide.

  • Yes, a truly fantastic episode. It contains ideas about communication and companionship. I love this series. It has such heart.

  • Star Trek in general shows that we don't have to lose touch with our humanity as technology progresses. It seems to bring us closer as a people.

  • One of the very best TNG episodes. Such a deep meaning...

    If only all TV was this good.

  • This is an amazing episode. I also find it incredible that they made this in a TV series; movies with budgets that are beyond belief can't even have this much substance and message. A great series.

  • I find that TV shows frequently surpass full-length movies in plot and message. Keep in mind, in a movie you have to introduce all the characters and a setting, whereas in a TV series these are already established. Also, due to the ongoing nature of TV shows, they can take more time to focus on individual subjects and characters, and not have to worry about wrapping up every loose end. Think of a movie as a whole novel in 90 minutes vs. an episode of a show being a single chapter in 44 minutes.

  • this was brilliant

  • The Next Generation, always.

  • One of the most ancient of earth's stories, remembered and passed down, on into the far, imagined future... on another planet, told to yet another culture. And remembered here...

  • One of the best comments I've read on Youtube. Fantastic.

  • Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra!

  • Yes. Yes, indeed. A companion. The mad King needs a companion. Please send a companion.

  • I could use one of those myself!

  • freagul can you download the rest of the episode plz

  • Definitely one of top three all time episodes of TNG.

    This should be required for all introductory communications classes. Also any of those loony literalist 21st century interpretors of The Bible should be made to watch this to illustrate their poor interpretative methodology. Linguistic, grammatical cultural and historical context matter.

    A great lesson to be learned in this episode.

  • Good point. This should also be shown to anyone whose job deals with interpreting the U.S. Constitution. Rather than taking the document literally word-for-word, people need to understand its historical significance and the fundamental principals it represents: freedom, individual representation, civil liberties, and a desire for social progress.

    This clip is very sweet. I love how as the story of the connection between Darmok and Jalad unfolds, the same connection forms between these two.

  • Interestingly many of the individual rights not talked about by the US Constitution were immediately addressed with the Bill Of Rights some of founders would not agree to it unless the amendments were added. Ironically one could read the USA Declaration of Indepedence and substitute the names of the last seven presidential administrations for the 'King' and the vast majority of it would be accurate - that's the saddest thing of all

  • This is what they should have aimed for in the Enterprise series. Communications and cultural problems being resolved without too many space battles.

  • Holy Crap, I didn't realize that, I just finished reading the story, and seeing this. I never knew :(

  • One of the best episodes ever! Not a high budget but a truly wonderful story.

  • I really agree. This is what Star Trek is about.

  • one of the best scenes in star trek, ever

  • "Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra". "Uzani, his army with fists open". "Shaka, when the walls fell". "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". jeje xrulasekisx

  • My favorite episode ... wonderful!

  • Best TNG epp. Out of all the epps i can watch this one again and again no problem.

    But then i am a nut case.

    Temba his arms wide!

  • 3:20 is one of Stewart's best moments.  V. subtle.

  • I hadn't noticed that. Very cool.

  • Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel. Picard, his eyes open. Picard and Dathon, their arms open. Dathon, his eyes closed. Picard, his eyes cried.

  • Shaka, when the walls fell. Dathon, in the sands. Picard, on the ocean. Picard, his face wet.

  • Rai and Jiri at Lungha. Rai of Luwani, Luwani under two moons. Giri, or Ubaya. Ubaya of crossroads, at Lungha. Lungha, her sky gray. (opens arms for a hug)

  • Picard and Dathon on the ocean, their arms open.

  • In my opinion, this is one of the best star trek episode.

    Probably second only to the one in which piccard travels in time --the young, middle aged and old piccard...i forget the name of that one.

  • That would have been the two-part series finale, All Good Things..

  • Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel

  • I so loved this episode. When I saw it the first time, I cried. It was so touching how they found this way to communicate, to work together. He so wanted to find a way to understand each other.

    Lovely.