On this day in 1992, The Inner Light (S5E25) premiered. It is Sir Patrick Stewart's favorite episode.

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GQDragon@reddit

It’s one of the best episodes of TV ever. Period.

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It is not my fave TNG episode, but it may be the best. It’s true sci-fi. I posted a few years ago about how Starfleet allowed Picard to take command again. He lived a life. How can he just drop back into Starfleet/Federation life? There should be at least months of psychological evaluation and testing to make sure he remembers starship operations.

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Thwipped@reddit

A hypospray will fix him right up

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Barbie-Satin@reddit

A few drops of cordrazine and he will be right as rain. Unless he runs into a big stone doughnut.

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ManicRobotWizard@reddit

My head cannon always treated that scenario as one that fell into the “what happens on the enterprise stays on the enterprise”. Fleet command is only going to know what got reported to them and if he’d truly shown signs of problems reintegrating, Troi and Guinan and Crusher would have been all over his ass about it.

I believe Picard would have known when it was time to step back or away following this, but as someone that dedicated his very existence to Starfleet I think had he been pulled away for rehab he would have never recovered.

The stability of commanding his ship with the crew that trusted him above all else was the healthiest place for him to be, again with the support system he already had of Troi, Guinan, Crusher, etc.

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_DAD_JOKE_@reddit

Starfleet let him be Captain right away after he killed thousands of people as a Borg at Wolf 359. Badmirals just didn't give a shit.

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wtfreddititsme@reddit

That’s a different scenario, and one that was addressed. Some admirals did not completely trust Picard post Locutus. Losing decades to living in a simulation? There has to be some loss of functionality to the captain of the flagship.

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Lunacriss@reddit

The episode "Hard Time" from DS9 does a really good job at exploring the theme of reintegration after 20 years of virtual incarceration. I always felt that episode was a dark mirror of TNG's Inner Light.

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brownhotdogwater@reddit

Exactly, the pstd of just poof the last decades did not really happen would fuck a person up.

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naikrovek@reddit

Any space probe that can remotely put a person into a simulation like that can put him right back where he was mentally when it’s over, I say.

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wtfreddititsme@reddit

I’ll accept that. That probe wasn’t meant to ruin a life, but to keep a civilization remembered.

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Donjeur@reddit

They gave him two days off to visit his brother…

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lemmy1686@reddit

They didn't even do that, he had to call in sick to make it to a job interview, just lucky it is as in Great Britfrance. Lol.

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ElGuano@reddit

Or just a quick scan: “oh, a lifetime of memories but that is all stored in the sub space-hypercardioid region of the brain, which doesn’t displace original short term memory from before the beam.The aliens really wanted to make sure not to cause any psychological trauma!” Poof, one and done.

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regeya@reddit

The story doesn't make a damn bit of sense but it doesn't matter.

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Abdul-Ahmadinejad@reddit

Flute therapy works wonders.

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I_lenny_face_you@reddit

This one time, at band camp…

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Puzzlehead-Dish@reddit

gif

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Acceptingoptimist@reddit

Thank you for putting it this way. I actually feel this way about TNG vs DS9. I can acknowledge that DS9 is "better" vis-a-vis the writing, the progressive story approach and how it finishes strong. But TNG is my favorite. (And I feel like TNG crawled, took the lumps, then grew for the writers to learn how to make DS9 good.)

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PangolinMandolin@reddit

I think the in-universe answer as to why Picard was able to keep command after Inner Light is maybe simpler than you're thinking. Whilst it affected him profoundly, it really did just feel like a very intense dream after he'd realised he was back aboard the Enterprise.

Have you never had a dream that felt so real you thought it was?

The Inner Light people did a Matrix style memory upload into Picards brain, but it didn't erase anything that was already there. They wanted their existence to be passed on, so they would have been extra careful not to fry the brain of whoever their probe met. Making Picard unable to perform his job as normal would definitely have been a bad outcome from their perspective.

And then on a more practical basis of ships operations, his bridge crew know both him and these very well. If he'd been unable to perform they would have known about it and could have acted accordingly.

But I do agree with you that TNG did fall down a little in its storytelling when considering the future impacts of things like this. For example, the episode where Geordi is abducted by the Romulans and made into a sleeper agent ends with Troi talking to him in therapy about how it will take years of hard painful work to get his memories back, yet we never see that have an impact on him (or even be mentioned!) ever again!

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More_Image_8781@reddit

This episode is as good as TV gets

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huntingwhale@reddit

Commenting a year later. I first saw this episode over 30 years ago when it first broadcast. I've never stopped thinking about it. Yesterday I saw a thread on /r/AskReddit asking your favorite TV episode and this was the top comment. Decided to rewatch again last night. Glad I did. Amazing episode.

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Substantial_Big_8165@reddit

I find this episode borderline traumatizing, although I envy Picard for the fact that he lived an extra 45 years or whatever. It really does bother me that the experience never really comes up again for him. I know his flute reappears in another episode and he kind of hints that it means something to him, but other than that, the fact that he had a wife, kids, and grandkids is literally never brought up again, and that really really bugs me!!!

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AbrocomaUnusual3399@reddit

The episode was written by Morgan Gendel who says that it was inspired by the Beatles' song 'The Inner Light', the B Side to 'Lady Madonna' (1968) written by George Harrison who in turn had based the song on a verse from the Tao Te Ching.

The Inner Light By George Harrison Lyrics:

Without going out of my door I can know all things of earth Without looking out of my window I could know the ways of heaven The farther one travels The less one knows The less one really knows

Without going out of your door You can know all things on earth Without looking out of your window You could know the ways of heaven The farther one travels The less one knows The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling See all without looking Do all without doing

From 'The Tao Te Ching':

“Without going outside, you may know the whole world. Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven. The farther you go, the less you know. Thus the sage knows without traveling; He sees without looking; He works without doing.”

Paul McCartney is on record talking about sensing God during a DMT experience in 1967.

The experiences of Picard in the episode are quite similar to a DMT experience I read about where the users 'trip' which lasted about 10 minutes in 'real' 'time' was experienced as falling backwards into a puddle, sinking to the bottom where he met a puddle lady, got married, had a puddle daughter, brought her to puddle kindergarten, was at her graduation from puddle University, walked her down the puddle aisle, held his puddle grandchildren and then 'came to' and was 'back in the room' having lost his puddle family.

Now, this is one guy (me) relating something some guy (puddle guy) claimed somewhere on the Internet but as soon as I read it, I thought of the TNG episode.

My guess is that the episodes writer, Mr. Gendel, may have licked the proverbial toad (or lighter fluid soused mimosa bark as the case may be) himself and wrote the episode as catharsis or expression of his own possible lost puddle people.

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StuartGotz@reddit

I've heard accounts of people using the hallucinogen Salvia divinorum say that they had an experience like that, where they believed they lived an alternate lifetime or portions of one during the brief trip. I've never heard of it with any other hallucinogen or psychedelic, and salvia seems to work differently than all the others. I don't know whether or not I believe it, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless.

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felinelawspecialist@reddit

Dude salvia hella does that. The last time I ripped a bong with salvia in it (and this was sixteen years ago), I went into an eternal dimension. I swear it felt like I was in there for an eternity, a literal eternity. Came out of it like how did that all happen in a matter of moments

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RedApple-Cigarettes@reddit

I’m on my first watch through, and I’m on like S6E16 and every now and then this episode crosses my mind cause Picards technically like 160

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dreniarb@reddit

I love every single scene of this episode. Even the few scenes on the Enterprise. Just an amazing piece of work.

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daisy0723@reddit

This is my favorite episode. I especially love that it wasn't really a one off. He kept playing that flute and even talked about his other life and his family to the woman he was dating.

That moment when he wakes up at the end and finds out he had lived an entire life in only 20 minutes.

Damn, I'm getting emotional just thinking about it.

I think it's time for me to go to sleep.

Goodnight

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Z3r0Trace@reddit

I bet it’s his favorite episode. He wanted the light all to himself which explains the abomination of Picard season 1 and 2

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nmann14@reddit

And mine as well

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Loco76@reddit

And mine too. I named my boat Inner Light and got a flute replica in its honor. The episode captures the beauty of life, friendships and family in such a unique and powerful way. The ending of the episode gets me every time and for some reason I always get emotional. JLP killed that role and brought such humanity to the character that it makes you believe his journey is real. Finally the vulnerability of the race and their everlasting message to keep their culture alive - wow!!!! I am geeking out just thinking about it. Thanks for the post OP.

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Agoura_Steve@reddit

I too think of this as a favorite episode.

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Yitram@reddit

"Show me Picard's flute!!"

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the_big_turbo_moist@reddit

One of my favorite little details is that he keeps the flute and is shown practicing with it later in the series 🥹

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Hewholooksskyward@reddit

Which leads to one of the best episodes of TNG, in my humble opinion, S6E19 "Lessons", and this memorable exchange:

PICARD: "Do you remember that folk melody I played for you this morning?"

NELLA: "Yes."

PICARD: "I learned it on a planet called Kataan."

NELLA: "Never heard of it."

PICARD: "No, I'm not surprised. Its sun went nova more than a thousand years ago."

NELLA: "I don't understand."

PICARD: "The Enterprise encountered a probe that had been sent from the planet before it was destroyed. It had scanned me, and I lost consciousness, and in the space of twenty-five minutes, I lived a lifetime on that planet. I had a wife, and children, and a grandchild. And it was absolutely real to me. When I awoke, all that I had left of that life there was the flute that I had taught myself to play."

NELLA: "Why are you telling me this?"

PICARD: "Because I want you to understand what my music means to me... and what it means for me to be able to share it with someone."

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BoldlyGoinEverywhere@reddit

Those darn onions getting to my eyes again.

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Hewholooksskyward@reddit

... it's a terrible day for rain...

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Total_Roll@reddit

Got me in the feels for sure

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BonesChimes@reddit

With his hands or someone else's?

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Scrapla@reddit

Oh that scene where it's clearly someone else's hands playing the flute lol

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MellifluousManatee@reddit (OP)

I love this as well, such a moving callback 🪈😭

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Wretched_Earth@reddit

I AM HERE TO GIVE DOWN VOTES TO ANYONE WHO SAYS ANYTHING BAD ABOUT THIS EPISODE!

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IndividualistAW@reddit

The inner light was bad because it deserved to be more than 40 minutes of TV.

That’s the only criticism I have of it. It should have been a 2 parter at least, if not a full length feature film.

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Wretched_Earth@reddit

YOU ARE CORRECT BUT I AM A MAN OF MY WORD

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PicadaSalvation@reddit

And I will balance it even though I agree with you

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Abdul-Ahmadinejad@reddit

Welp, here I am lol. It was indeed awesome but I've always wished they could have found a different way to edit in the parts back on the ship so we didn't know what was happening so early.

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rseery@reddit

I cry at this one. When he offers to build the nursery. When his wife dies. When he sees her and Batai at the end. When he figures out “it’s me!” I basically bawl all the way through it. And I love that. Oh, also when Will brings him the flute. Feh. Whoever wrote this is a genius.

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enginedown@reddit

Wait so this aired one day before the DS9 finale? What a time to be alive

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KingRaht@reddit

I love this episode, but I wish they didn’t spoil the fact he was in a coma so early in the episode. The reveal would have been so good.

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lordoftheBINGBONG@reddit

Cuz he gets to show off his sick guns 💪

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OJimmy@reddit

The author is on reddit sometimes

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Qaz_The_Spaz@reddit

I’m a grown ass man and that song brings a tear to my eye.

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Donjeur@reddit

How did you become an ass man?

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Qaz_The_Spaz@reddit

Always have been. Boobs are nice to but definitely an ass man😏

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lemmy1686@reddit

Growing a proper ass man has a lot to do with nutrients and soil acidity, so I've heard.

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BirdmanHuginn@reddit

This and the episode of Voyager, Memory Alpha, were way beyond typical television

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lenojames@reddit

My favorite part wasn't even in the episode.

Paramount auctioned off the props from the show. They were bidding on the flute and there was a scene where the bidding got heated. I don't remember the final price, but the bidding went like $20k, then $25k, then $30k, then $35k...then SOLD for $35,000!

Cut to Patrick Stewart looking confused and surprised, and he just says "It doesn't play! It's not a real flute!"

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JnnfrsGhost@reddit

My husband and I used the flute song as our recessional music (exit song) at our wedding. It's such a lovely piece of music. K

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Titanscape@reddit

I’m convinced we are living this episode in real life. Maybe we should start developing our own probe.

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Titanscape@reddit

I’m convinced we are living this episode in real life. Maybe we should start developing our own probe.

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CibrecaNA@reddit

Teen Titans Go parodied it and it was brilliant. Robin gets probed and tells them how he lived another life and learned an instrument, so the rest of them got probed to learn and retrieve a free instrument then created a band!

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CrescentMoon70@reddit

Oh this was so beautiful. Just seeing a picture from it is giving me goosebumps.

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Wrong-Music1763@reddit

Idk why but that episode was a heartbreaker. “I always believed that I didn't need children to complete my life. Now I couldn't imagine life without them.” Dang man.

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GrandmaSlappy@reddit

I understand that's a real feeling people get but it's kind of a toxic sentiment towards childfree people. Lots of people have kids they regret too.

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Gnarly-Gnu@reddit

I unashamedly feel the same. Don't know what my life would be like without my brilliant daughters to make it better.

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This-Garbage-3000@reddit

Agreed

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Acceptingoptimist@reddit

OK so as someone with kids, I totally appreciate it. Until I had kids I would have been totally cool with restarting my life with the new information to do it better. But when I had them, knowing they would very likely not exist on my second go around, completely changes things. If you don't want kids, it's totally OK. We need to normalize that. But if your only holdup is you're unsure because you don't like some of other people's kids, it's very different when they're your own.

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Billy1121@reddit

The Kataanians invested their entire tech tree into highly durable mind control probes that can last 1000 years

I always wondered if the probe is sitting on Earth in a museum lobotomizing visitors one at a time

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CuddlyBoneVampire@reddit

Recently I rewatched the movie Inception. I think the experience on Katan should have messed him up as much as it did DiCaprio. Never really sure if this is right life or that other one was. The flute should have been more of a symbol of his uncertainty like the totems were rather than his normal reaction which is like “this thing happened to me and they told me to tell their story but I can’t express feelings so I keep it all to myself thus making me the worst possible person this probe could have found”

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pendingreview22@reddit

I mean, yes, but the entire main non-android crew should be broken by now from PTSD, among other things.

Crusher falls in love with a parasite and “falls in love” with a ghost alien with an aggressive nose who has been inflicting crap on her whole female line.

Geordi turns into a glowy alien shadow thing and is mind controlled by some Romulans on his way to nerd out.

Picard had the “there are four lights” torture time with the Cardassians, then the whole Borg thing.

Riker has the alien torture sanitarium in “Frame of Mind”and also keeps on being abducted in his sleep by some other clicky f**kers.

Troi gets either mind-raped or mind-controlled so regularly she probably puts it on her calendar, and then she eventually wanders around her mother’s mind? memories? emotions? to discover a secret dead sister.

Wes almost dies from touching the forbidden grass while frolicking with the youth in the plant of the scantily clad.

Guess Worf is mostly ok though. Should see a therapist that’s not Troi about his father issues. And the whole devolving episode. And Alexander.

In conclusion to my unintended rant, we are all watching a show featuring the most resilient humans who will ever exist ever. Considering he didn’t turn into anything or get tortured, Picard should be thrilled he got let off with a new appreciation for flute and family in “the inner light” (which is actually a favorite episode of mine).

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andrewlrodriguez@reddit

And Alexander

Who?

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brightside1982@reddit

Guess Worf is mostly ok though.

Klingon culture is practically built upon trauma. They're used to it.

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Skookum_kamooks@reddit

Worf is so routinely beaten in one on one combat that getting “Worfed” becomes an expression for the TV audience. His trauma is shame and self doubt masked by hyper-conservatism and toxic masculinity… and he’s a shitty father and he knows it. Again, it’s not till DS9 that he’s able to work through his trauma with traditional Klingon warfare therapy and deeper connection with his cultural roots. I don’t think the Klingon civil war had the same effect because it was a purely Klingon divisive affair that the part of him that is “Starfleet” would have a hard time with. The Dominion war on the other hand helped to unify the Klingon and Starfleet aspects of his self. Or he just got better writers 😂

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CuddlyBoneVampire@reddit

That’s really not the point though.

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Skookum_kamooks@reddit

God, imagine if the probe had selected Barclay… we’d have ended up with a weird holo-novel where all of the main cast where people from his life and it would have screwed him up even more. As interesting as it could have been, I don’t think it would hold a candle to DS9s Far Beyond the Stars so this may actually be one of the rare wins for this timeline.

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FrogofLegend@reddit

A result of pre-internet/DVD style television. You can't be sure that a viewer would have watched an episode 3 seasons earlier to understand the reference so you kind of need to ignore it.

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CuddlyBoneVampire@reddit

Yes. pedantic. I’m talking about the story and the character.

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tommygunz23@reddit

God just the flute song itself is enough to make me sob uncontrollably. The episode is just a cathartic release about life in the saddest and best way possible.

If you want a good cry, check out the inner lite portion of this concert. You know it's a good episode when just the flute song elicits emotion like that.

Star Trek Prague Concert

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cymonium@reddit

Time stamp? I couldn’t find it. Fine concert anyway!

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tommygunz23@reddit

12:05 is when the inner light part starts. The time stamps are buried in one of the comments.

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cymonium@reddit

I didn’t even think to look at the vid comments. Durp. Thank you!

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Extravaganzas@reddit

wow, i watched this last night!

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UltraMegaKaiju@reddit

it's his favorite episode because hes the only one in it, actors amirite?

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darlo0161@reddit

I'm currently on a rewatch. And I just rewatched it, it's such a great episode. It's definitely in the top three, along with "Darmok at Tenagra" and the Remlar array episode (I don't remember episode names)

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Shejidan@reddit

I love this one and the follow up with the piano. I really wish they had found a way to keep Commander Daren around. Picard deserved happiness, not boring Beverly.

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HumpaDaBear@reddit

I had a dream exactly like Picard. I woke up wondering where I was.

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brightside1982@reddit

A lot of folks take away that it's about how we should appreciate life in general, how fleeting it is, etc.

I believe this, but for me there's another layer. It's about living life with intention, despite what it throws at you. You wanna make God laugh? Tell him your plans.

After the initial period of bewilderment, denial, and finally acceptance, Picard just makes the best of the situation. He embraces love, children, and a mission to save his adopted planet.

If like throws something at you, sometimes the best thing is to catch it.

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jhuff24@reddit

Also reminds me of how shallow much travel can be. You truly know a new place/culture when you live there and build meaningful relationships.

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Boreas2864212@reddit

I saw this episode about five minutes into it so I had no idea what was going on... Bawled my eyes out at the ending.

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Iron_Bob@reddit

Rightfully so. This episode is a masterpiece

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my23secrets@reddit

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jtrades69@reddit

such a great episode!

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Galliagamer@reddit

The flute playing instead of the regular music at the end credits slayed me

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darklinux1977@reddit

One of the best, or even the very best, episodes of the Star Trek universe and a tragic work of science fiction with this cruel ending.

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Tamborin2@reddit

I try and watch it every year on my birthday. It is a reminder of the fleeting nature of life, of the joy that can be found if you open your eyes to see it, and that life really is beautiful

I watch it to remind myself of my own life, and everything that I have to be thankful for.

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Tamborin2@reddit

“Seize the time... Live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again”

A guiding quote

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GuyWithTheGoods@reddit

There’s a sequel comic somewhere, written by the same writer. TNG powers that be didn’t want to produce it as an episode, saying “we don’t do sequels” 🙄

Untrue, many follow ups were done to episodes over the years, while not direct sequels.

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