star trek tng loud as a whisper

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

“Loud as a Whisper”

Air date: 1/9/1989 Written by Jacqueline Zambrano Directed by Larry Shaw

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

Review Text

The Enterprise is assigned to transport renowned mediator Riva (Howie Seago) to a war-torn planet so he can broker a peace between two warring factions trying to overcome 15 centuries of bitter conflict. Riva turns out to be deaf, and he communicates through a "chorus" of three telepaths who speak for him, each one representing a specific facet of his personality.

This is an episode that seems like it was sold on a promising concept that ultimately no one could build enough of a story for. The early scenes set up the story in what by now comes across as formula TNG : lots of exposition, some of it interesting, some of it not, all of it taking up screen time in a very slow-moving story. Then we get back to the Enterprise where we have to sit through another round of introductions to the crew. Given that Riva is so well-known, I don't understand why everyone is surprised to find out he's deaf. (Maybe because if they already knew, the story would have no excuse for its exposition.)

Riva is very confident in his abilities to broker a peace agreement. So confident, indeed, that when a member of one faction tries to sabotage the talks by killing Riva's chorus, Riva's confidence is shattered almost beyond repair. We then get a series of scenes (too many, in my opinion) where the Enterprise crew tries to coax Riva back to the peace process he's supposed to be brokering. Only Counselor Troi is able to get through to him, in part because of their previous romantic overtures.

I'm sorry, but the solution just doesn't work. Riva's argument is that starting from zero and teaching sign language to both sides will become the common ground that will allow the communication and negotiations to flourish. Call me cynical, but I find it more likely that someone's going to pull out a gun and shoot up the place out of sheer frustration during such an arduous process. If these people have been fighting for 15 centuries (shouldn't they all be dead by now?), how is Riva and his simplistic solution honestly going to make a dent? I'm all for TNG optimism, but this is pushing it.

Previous episode: The Outrageous Okona Next episode: The Schizoid Man

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Comment Section

62 comments on this post.

It's a daring episode, and it's also an influence for the to-be sitcom "Herman's Head" that would be created some 4 years later... Some conflicts on Earth have lasted decades or longer as well - nobody's managed genocide quite yet... I do agree; Riva's solution is too simple... But the overall concept was novel and innovative for sci-fi, right down to the name of Riva's trio, that of "Chorus" (which could have had been influenced by Greek myths)... Yeah, it could have been better... 2/4 stars is definitely a good rating, but something about the story hits not the wrong spot for me as well...

It was hilarious that one energy blast vaporized three people, as if they were fused together. And they all reacted in complete unison.

At this point, TNG was still "Bad Season 1" when it dared to introduce unorthodox ideas, that means that no matter how good the initial concept was, they couldn't pull it off. "Loud as a Whisper" was just boring and featured a lot of Troi counselling, which is never a good thing, imo. But the worse is the ending, as Jammer said. It is totally bananas and unrealistic. "Let's all learn sign language. Future world peace. The End." @ Jay: They were so tuned with Riva that they became one :P

One thing which really annoyed me about this episode, and it has been a recurring theme as I make my way through Seasons 1 and 2 on Blu-ray - the use of Counsellor Troi and her empathic abilities. In this episode, she practically humiliates Worf in front of Picard and Riker in the transporter room by openly confronting him about his strong discomfort towards Riva. It just strikes me as completely inappropriate for Troi to be describing people's feelings in front of other people. For one, why would anyone trust her as a confidential and non-judgemental therapist if she's willing to disclose people's emotions whenever she sees fit? Secondly, it opens up a bit of a can of worms in terms of her role on the ship. We know that the Doctor can relieve the Captain if she feels that he or she is not fit for duty. But the way Troi has confronted Picard in the past about the feelings she has sensed in him makes it seem as if she also has a similar responsibility. Fair enough if she detected feelings of utter despair or loss in a crew member, that might indicate suicidal ideation or trauma, but to question Worf on a personal dislike of someone was very nosy and unprofessional. Picard's comments in "The Drumhead", about reconsidering the use of an empathic counsellor when Crewman Tarsus is under suspicion based on a Betazoid's intuition, actually make a lot more sense now. There has been a substantial number of episodes in Season 1 and early Season 2 where Picard has consulted with Troi about a person - even muting the viewscreen so that he can see what she senses in the person. There's something quite under-handed about that, and I don't think I ever realised it until I've gone back and observed the sheer number of times it happens (and I know it continues in later seasons). I liked this episode for trying something different, but I agree that the solution was a bit much to stomach and it's hard to believe that Picard would have so much faith in such a plan given that Riva's Chorus were blown away in under 2 minutes of negotiation. I give Riva a day before he's disintegrated by one or both factions (hey, that might actually bring them together!).

@ ChrisM I'm a bit skeptical that empathic powers would work over viewscreens anyways.

Jammer says he doesn't see how Riva's plan will "...make a dent". So guess I'll explain. Whenever people have problems, alcoholism, drug or porn addiction, etc. the key is the person who has the issue has to WANT your help. If they want help, you can help them, and if they don't, you can't. The people of that planet specifically asked for Riva - they WANT his help, a key pre-requisite for success. Therefore, they will do what Riva asks, and he's right, doing something co-operatively will help them learn to live together (though surely Riva isn't saying you don't still have to address various grievances,, land/resources/prisoner exchanges, etc.). If they DON'T want Riva's help then yes, his death would seem to be forthcoming. I also think it's rather irresponsible of the Enterprise not to leave communication equipment capable to reaching Federation planet/outpost/starbase and some security personnel, no matter what Riva says. If Riva does end up dying, and Picard could have left security but didn't, and Riva is as famous as the episode says Riva is, won't that be massive egg on the Federation's face? Anyways, Marina Sirtis acting didn't bother me here, so overall I give the episode 3/4 stars.

Like Corey, I think that Jammer underrates this episode. I also think that what is crucial is that the people on the planet do want to end their peace, but can only see themselves interacting with Riva. The other important thing is that Riva now has a particular stake in this planet that he didn't before. His chorus was killed by a person on this planet -- and the lead negotiator from the side of the conflict who tried to kill Riva has made it clear that this was an anomaly and punished him immediately. Tragedy has a way of bringing people together, when they recognize that the tragedy is shared. By staying even after his chorus was killed, Riva demonstrates a huge commitment to the peace talks which no one could have anticipated, and so, I think, does the lead negotiator from the side that attacked Riva, by shooting his own. Riva, by indicating that he is willing to move past his chorus being attacked, also removes the excuse that the side who did not attack Riva might otherwise have for pulling out of the negotiations -- if Riva can get past it, than so can they. Certainly, this was not stated, and I think it's fair to criticize the episode for acting as if only Riva's sign language can seal the deal. But I find that *myself*, watching the episode, I am very impressed by Riva's ability to get past the death of his chorus and not holding a grudge. The episode is certainly slow-paced. That said, I think that the ideas present in this episode are worthy, interesting, and unusual. The relationship between Riva and his chorus, and Riva's realization that he can move on without them and as a person himself, suggest to me issues of both the difficulty integrating different perspectives into one; the relationship between royals and their followers (Riva is identified as a royal, and his willingness to continue his diplomacy without assistants represents a royal recognizing that despite their belief they have the 'right' to have servants following them around all the time, they have to work like others do); and the way disability and apparent "lack" shapes identity. Some of these themes clash in unfortunate ways -- I think that the ideas of Riva-as-nobility with servants whose whole identity is geared toward him, and Riva-as-disabled-person (akin to Geordi-with-visor) interfere with each other. It's hard to know whether we should view the chorus as Riva's friends, or as a lower-class group of people bred to 'serve' royal Riva, or as basically an equivalent to Geordi's visor, and the treatment of them certainly varies depending on which we take. But the episode ultimately produces a fair amount to chew on as well as an optimistic message that I find credible, at least within the confines of a TV narrative where exaggeration (like "warring for 15 centuries") is the norm. I do agree with ChrisM's point about Troi humiliating Worf in the transporter room. That is deeply unprofessional and uncalled for. It also has no apparent plot purpose. I also don't quite understand why Worf is so angry that the Klingon/Federation treaty was negotiated, because, hello, he's a Klingon Starfleet officer. Still, I think this is counterbalanced by Troi throughout the rest of the episode -- I like the way she responds with a bit of coyness to Riva's aggressive flirting, the way she and Riva start to communicate as equals in a way that foreshadows the way Riva will connect to others, and the way she turns him around at the end by focusing in on Riva's best qualities (his consideration for others, his ability to find common ground with others). I think that she did a good job of letting Riva know he should stop feeling sorry for himself without saying those exact words. )It's too bad she couldn't use that insight for herself in "The Loss," but I'm getting ahead of myself.) I think this is the best use of Troi doing her job up to and including the episode. (I like Troi in "Haven," but that episode had nothing to do with Troi-as-Starfleet-officer/Troi-as-Counsellor.) 3 stars from me, though maybe on the low end.

"We! Are all in this! Together!" Sorry, Picard, but this is Riva's show. There are zero stakes for the regular crew. They're not even responsible for bringing peace to the planet; they could leave immediately and nobody would care. Contrast this with "The Host," where the regulars are roped more directly into an otherwise superficially similar plot.

The woman chorus in this episode is married to the actor who plays the Q character in this series. Just a bit of fun trivia.

SkepticalMI

I wasn't as skeptical as Jammer and others were on Riva's final solution. The whole point was to force the two opposing sides to put some effort into the peace treaty. By spending all their efforts trying to learn to talk to Riva, it would make the mediation problem easier. Well, at least easier in the Trek sense. I don't buy that two factions who have been waging war for so long just needs to talk to each other and then will become friends no matter how awesome Riva is. Tolerate each other's presence with a cease fire, perhaps. But ideological differences exist in the real world. And actual grievances exist in the real world. And just telling people they need to communicate with each other will not make other problems go away. But that's not Roddenberry's vision, so whatever. I'll accept it in the confines of the show. In general though, I found this episode boring. Sure, it's a sci-fi-ish concept, but once again it seems the writers didn't know what to do with it. We had quite a bit of awkward exposition (thankfully very little on the actual conflict, which was irrelevent to the show), particularly in the beginning when Riva explained how his chorus worked. As an aside, if Riva is so freaking famous, wouldn't Picard already know about his chorus? Wouldn't it be in the 24th century Wikipedia article on him? So the episode moves slowly. Notice that the stinger ended with Picard et al walking around an empty room. Oooh, exciting.... And so because it moved slowly, the conflict (chorus' death) didn;t happen until literally 60% of the way through the episode (I checked). That leaves little time for Riva to deal with his problem, which probably makes the final resolution feel rushed. Maybe that's why so many don't buy Riva's final solution. Another problem I have with this episode (and many others, honestly), are all guests on the Enterprise sex-obsessed? Riva, an accomplished diplomat, starts hitting on Troi in the middle of an official meeting. Such conduct would be completely unbecoming, even today. Can you imagine a diplomat doing that today? And yet it happens all too often in TNG. The one good aspect of it was that Marina Sirtis' acting in response was pretty good as trying to be as diplomatic as possible. Personally, I also thought Data's demonstration of sign language to Picard was pretty funny. He seems to be the go-to guy for comedy so far this season. Not as much as the last two episodes, obviously, but it was a good moment.

A really interesting episode. It really intrigued me with the way Riva communicated with everyone else and that part of the story was, in my opinion, executed very good. The entire concept of his chorus was both well thought out and performed, and I was interested to see what was going to happen. However, the episode is obviously not without its problems, some of which damaged the episode as a whole. First was the part already mentioned by Jammer and some other people in the comments - how didn't anyone know about Riva's condition before they met him? The comment about that being on 24th century Wikipedia made me laugh. But OK, that wasn't really such a big problem. However, the scenes on the planet were. Everything up to the point where they beam down to the planet was done really good, and after that, things just started to make no sense. Why did Riva beam down to a rock in the middle of nowhere? It gave the impression that the planet was about 500 square meters big and that the rock where the planet scenes took place was pretty much all there is to it. Then, the scene where his chorus gets killed. Oh my... To say that it was poorly acted would be an understatement. Furthermore, it was more like I was watching a theatre play which relied on the viewer's imagination to colour up the scene instead of watching a TELEVISION show. I didn't get that sense of alarm when Riker jumped to save Riva, everything about that scene was just bland, slow, and empty. I realise that they had a 42 minute time constraint for the whole episode (and that it was 1988 after all) but come on... It could've been done way better. And the final scene when they leave him on the planet also made little sense. Someone already said that it wasn't smart to leave him there without any means of contacting the Federation. I'll add this: what was he going to eat? Where would he sleep? Where would he go to the bathroom and wash himself? Again, it leaves the impression like they were on some rock traveling through space, Riva and three of those guys, sitting at that table for months learning sign language. Literally doing only that and nothing else for months. Come on... If you ask me, if the planet scenes had been done better, this would've been a truly great episode. It is still good, I guess the whole aspect of his chorus really sparked my interest.

I have one nitpick. Riva is not human and has never been to Earth but he communicates with ASL? How did he learn American Sign Language?

@Mary: Practicality, I'd imagine. The actor playing Riva, Howie Seago, is deaf in real life (and American, therefore he very likely knows ASL), so they were using the resources they had available. It doesn't make sense in-universe, admittedly, but then neither do all the aliens speaking English (yes, universal translator, but why do their lip movements match the English words?).

I mostly just like watching Howie Seago sign. It's (mostly?) ASL. I'm not sure if the signs I don't recognize are because "I learned sign language from someone with a small vocabulary because her parents were abusive little shits" or because Howie's tweaking ASL to make it "futuristic". He almost never goes anywhere near the upper half of his face, and that's... weird. Like the sign for "listen" just seemed off to me. I liked is sign for Ramatis, his planet. It's the ASL letter "r", inside a planet. Clever!

Season 2 started off on a bit of a promising note with The Child and Where Silence Has Lease, after a rather dismal Season 1. Then along comes what I thought was a bad episode about the holodeck going haywire with one of its characters threatening the ship (yawn), followed by that utter disaster The Outrageous Okona (which should have been called The Beyond Annoying You Just Want To Freaking Beat The Sh*t Out Of Him Okona), and then finally this extremely boring, not creative thought whatsoever episode, replete with a bad plot, bad writing, bad acting, and bad directing... I remember by this point in Season 2 I was starting to believe there would be no Season 3, no matter how many letters Trekkers might send in. It was so bad.

Diamond Dave

As others have noted, this episode has no stake for the crew of the Enterprise and in the end adds up to a slow placed and ultimately inconsequential episode. There were some nice ideas here - the chorus in particular, and I liked the clear implications of when the libidinous chorus member speaks. And the scene where Geordi describes how he embraces his disability, only later to have Pulaski offer him a risky route to sight, sets up a nice tension for his character. But in the end it adds up to a fairly simplistic conclusion - communication is good. 2 stars.

grumpy_otter

I thought the plotting of this episode was excellent; this was slow sci-fi with an exploration of an interesting idea--the chorus. My problems with it were that Riva With Chorus was so arrogant he wasn't very likable. I much preferred his personality when he lost the chorus and had some self-doubts. I also thought the solution of teaching the antagonists to speak sign language was inspired. I remember being thrilled with it the first time I saw this episode. We Trekkers might take it for granted, but for most of the world, a violent solution is all they can consider. I also didn't like the chorus because Mr. Sexy Pants really creeped me out. When a flirtation begins, the mystery of "is he flirting or not?" is part of the fun. With Riva, when Sexy Pants chorus guy speaks, you know Riva is feeling hot--no mystery. It also wasn't a really good move for Riva to have his passion chorus be better-looking than he was! Riva wasn't unattractive, and I loved his eyes, but having the Latin lover standing next to him all the time made it difficult to appreciate Riva. One small thing I liked about this episode was that Troi was going to try and manage the negotiations. That felt like a real and tough effort on her part. She knew she didn't have the experience but she was going to give it her best shot. It felt sincere--and Picard thanking her at the end was a nice touch. I agree with Filip about the absurdity of the rock where the negotiations were to be held. No food, no mini-fridge with some beer--it was odd. But I am willing to forgive that because I know the budget constraints of the show. What i didn't like was making the aliens so gooey-looking. Their faces looked like they were about to pop. But overall, I think this is one of the better of the early TNG outings. Riva is one of the most memorable guests they have ever had on the show. In response to Shannon, who mentioned The Beyond Annoying You Just Want To Freaking Beat The Sh*t Out Of Him Okona--ROFL! You aren't kidding! How any woman would find that overgrown child appealing is beyond me! (And a small bit of fun trivia--I went to the same high school as Billy Campbell--he was a few years ahead of me. But all the buzz was that he was a really nice guy, and there were still girls who swooned when mentioning him! Probably guys, too--we just didn't talk about it that openly yet)

Another example of them writing Troi to be grossly invading people's privacy that would never ever work in the real world. I can live with her pulling someone aside privately (which I still don't like because unsolicited counselling based on reading someone's mind is still an invasion of privacy).... however, openly revealing your thoughts among your associates and commanding officers is just a disgrace. I wish I could ask the writers back then why they wrote Troi this way. In the real world, nobody would trust her or want to be near her for fear their deepest emotions would be revealed publicy. And the best she does for the ship is tell everyone the alien of the week is hiding something or not being honest.

nothingoriginal55

I remember liking season two a lot than I am right now (re watching alk episodes), the scene between Troi and Worf in the teaser realley bugged me for some reason.

In a different kind of episode the Troi-Worf 'moment' of professional misconduct could serve as an interesting jumping-off point to study the profound cultural differences that would exist between a species of isolated individuals, and a species of empaths & telepaths. It's almost impossible to fathom how the nature of privacy, social boundaries and even 'self' vs 'other' would develop in a race of beings who can read the true thoughts and feelings of the person their dealing with (and visa versa). Lwaxana kind of embodies this friction whenever she steps on board the Enterprise, and ironically it's Deanna who has to remind her how different the social and behavior standards are among humans -- Which is a long way of saying that the good Counselor definitely should have known better in this episode. Thankfully she does seem to redeem herself as the episode develops. But setting aside previous character precedent (and a lack of discretion and common sense on Troi's part), one could imagine just how jarring it would be for a Betazoid to adjust themselves to an emotionally 'blind/deaf/dumb' culture. I suppose in a Betazoid culture, a reaction like Worf's would be immediately evident to everyone...including Worf. He would never think to 'hide' his feelings on this issue, he wouldn't even try. If you are an open book to others, you would have to become an open book to yourself as well. Honestly and openly dealing with your emotional foibles, hangups, prejudices, anxieties and so forth would be 'de-rigeur' as there's no hiding from the judgement of others. I guess a very stretched parallel is the development of monolithic Social Media in today's 'always connected' society. Virtually everything anyone thinks on a given topic can be transmitted instantly to a huge number of people, who in turn transmit that information to their circle of friends, etc, until everyone 'knows' about a given topic, incident, misdeed, etc. At least in 140 characters or less. How are you feeling at this moment? In the past you may tell a co-worker in the cubicle next to you...now you can 'Share your thoughts' to half the planet with a few clicks of a virtual keyboard. Along with that has come an erosion of our boundaries of what information is private and what is public (much to the benefit of certain corporation's bottom lines). Young people today are growing up in a more 'Betazoid' style world where everything is shared, and is expected to be shared, with everyone else. In many cases whether you like it or not (the Internet never forgets...). Of course many members of 'older' generations look at this development with a mix of confusion and horror. Boundaries are being broken or at least mutated in ways we could hardly imagine even in 1989. Full disclosure, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Troi and I try to avoid dumping on the character every time she tells Picard she's 'sensing something', or 'doesn't think so-and-so is being totally honest'. She's an underdog type and I try to root for her, despite her frequent 'hicups'. Ultimately I think the incident in this episode was just the writers trying to shoe-horn in another joke "Worf is a bad-ass warrior who cares little for 'peace'. And did we mention he's Klingon? Rawr!" Hamfisted and a disservice to Troi, unfortunately. Hmm maybe Lwaxana, a full telepath and hillariously oblivious to Human social standards, should have been made the ship's counselor so we'd have awkward moments like this every episode. The crew would lose their minds, and Lwaxana would be there to provide a running commentary as it happened....

"It's a daring episode, and it's also an influence for the to-be sitcom "Herman's Head" that would be created some 4 years later..." I'd like to see some actual proof of this.

I am all for slagging off season 1 and 2 episodes but ,for me, this episode shone as a beacon for what TNG could be. It transcended the sterility of/ poor execution of ideas that permeates all that preceeded it. I cannot accept Jammer's rating -this was massively better than Elementary Dear Data for example. Of course one can be critical of aspects of the plot-Troi flinging herself at Riva, the intrusive interrogation of Worf's feelings in the transporter room( which has no plot purpose whatsoever), the single laser blast conveniently killing all the chorus members but these are nitpicking points. Troi really did do well in this story.

I agree that Troi might seem wrong to question Worf about the emotion she reads from him before they all step onto the transporter. But only a few episodes earlier, in Where Silence Has Lease, Worf had demonstrated that he possibly had not yet completely mastered control over his Klingon impulses. Thus his unchecked state of mind could have had a bad effect on their diplomatic mission. Since there was no time to privately consult with him, Troi might have believed it to be her duty to immediately confront him.

Some interesting ideas in this episode - Riva speaking with a chorus, even his ideas on negotiating made logical sense to me. But to be honest, this was a boring episode: spent far too much time understanding Riva and his chorus and how he operates, and then his breakdown. I think you really have to appreciate psychological episodes to like "Loud as a Whisper". And I think there are much better psychological episodes in TNG. For me, the best part of the episode is Data describing sign language to Picard. All that "here is the sun, here is the ocean, here are 2 people walking on the beach..." That was LOL funny. And what was the point of Pulaski saying she can give Geordi his sight back? Anyhow, at the end I couldn't believe the episode ends with Riva all alone on the planet with an idea to teach both sides sign language after the incident when his chorus got zapped. Highly optimistic in my opinion. I'm with Jammer on that one. This was just a poorly designed episode that didn't make the best of some interesting ideas. Sounds like an oxymoron but I rate it a strong 1.5 stars out of 4. Perhaps harsh but a lot more bad than good without a doubt IMHO.

I very seldom find an episode boring, but this one was for me. And I thought the ending was incredibly unrealistic. Before Riva came down to the planet, the two sides were shooting lasers at each other. And it took just one renegade who opposed peace to throw a big wrench into the negotiations by shooting the Chorus. What was going to maintain the peace--and stop those who didn't want peace from messing it up--while a few individuals from each side struggled to learn sign language over many months? 1 1/2 stars for me

Just caught this randomly on a TV recording from last week. Wow it's very "early TNG"... they're so overt with "this is the one who reads emotions" and "this is the warrior" etc. I like the disability messages. I have a good friend with physical disabilities and whilst obviously I can't speak for him (unlike Riva's Chorus!) I think the point about addressing them directly is spot on, at least with someone whose mind works perfectly well. The anger was expected. You have no idea how often when I'm with my friend people talk to him "through me" or just talk to me and refer to him in the third person. His brain is fine, talk to him! Shame he came across a bit of a creep. I could understand a romance blossoming naturally, but he just basically.... not to be crude but figuratively speaking he's shoving his doodah down her throat from the moment they meet. It's super creepy the way it's so 'forced' I like the "Darmok" style moment between him and Troi when they have their date, though. Worf commenting on sign language being tactical was interesting -- I know they're a bit "brute force" but they never thought of doing things the SAS way, even as if to say "go"? Picard should be advised NOT to interrupt Data's attempt to teach him sign language - you'll be needing this for Darmok in season 5! Ah yes it's the season with Pulaski in it. I thought she was pretty good in this one. Very much herself in terms of her determination to make Geordi "normal", but I liked how she showed offer her professional abilities while also outlining the risks and uncertainties. I actually like the resolution, yes it's a bit simple but I have enough optimism in me for it to seem like something that "could work". I love that Picard knows when to say "well done" - nice touch and good leadership. The main problem is it ends too soon. How did it go?!!

Sarjenka's Little Brother

I wouldn't say this episode changed my life, but I took an important lesson from it that has served me well over the decades. "Turn disadvantage into advantage." I'm naturally a half-glass empty kind of guy. I see what's missing, what's going to be hard. That's where I want to go emotionally when bad things happen to "my chorus." I have to work hard sometimes at staying positive and working with what I've got, not what I wished I have. And I have to say, there have been times in my life where "turning disadvantage into advantage" has actually worked well for me.

boorish caveman

Omfg! Them crew iz luvez sekz & reevy iz da idyot & shutin’ & fightin’ iz nat soo booorin’ ROFLMAO! Ah wanna seee som shootin’!!! waaah!!!

Prince of Space

For a caveman, you’re really not all that boorish. Rather affable, actually. I disagree with reevy iz da idyot, but otherwise I am on board with your conclusions.

The universal translator helps people understand other languages being spoken. Riva can read lips, but how can he read the lips of people speaking English? How will he be able to read the lips of the aliens when they speak? They'll spend forever just trying to get across the message that he wants to teach them sign language. And then it will still take forever to learn. A 'fast' way to learn sign language would be to say "what is the sign for X word?", Riva reads their lips, and shows them the sign. But he can't read their lips, he doesn't know their language...

The only reason I can see for this story is that they were trying to make Troi seem useful. All they succeeded in doing was to show how boring she was. They would have been better off just letting her be pretty and telling good stories where she is virtually useless. Let's face it, the consensus is that she was virtually useless anyway. She was pretty though.

I am going to call Jammer cynical on this one. This episode is without a doubt, not enough story to fill the time allotted, but I don't think it's a wasted effort. It presents a new way of looking at things and I agree with Troi's line that Riva's method of communication is quite beautiful. The ending works for me even if the prospect of these people achieving peace by learning sign language is dubious. Star Trek itself is overly optimistic at it's core (before the later seasons of DS9, that is); and that is the point. Will Earth ever be an absolute paradise? Unlikely, but we can hope and strive for it just as the Solari can with Riva's help.

That scene where Troi reveals what was on Worf’s mind, may have been there to act as a foil to the scene, also on the Enterprise, where Data vocalises the thoughts of Riva. Worf and Riva are, after all, very different characters. The place given to Data, and to Riva’s reactions to him, show how Data is growing as a character, and proving, yet again, how versatile and important he is. Troi is clearly secondary to him in this episode. Whatever its flaws may be, some important things happen in it. The episode also provides some “personal growth” for Riva. I think this episode is a lot better than it’s given credit for being. 3 stars out of 4 seems about right.

SPEAK TO ME!!" For such a supposedly great negotiator he sure loses his temper easily.

Some notes made while watching: - Picard contemplating weird orbital dynamics in a planetary system they had visited, using a hologram at his desk, doesn't really go anywhere. Was this simply for the purpose of establishing that all of Starfleet's best possess keen intellect and scientific curiosity, even if they don't wear blue? I suppose it's no different from what we saw from Janeway later, but taking it to the point of doing orbital dynamics for fun (but with *no* actual calculations) when you're 1) not an astrophysicist and 2) are the Captain, are on duty, and presumably have a lot of other things you could be doing, seems a stretch. - So Worf is uneasy about Riva *because* he negotiated treaties between the Federation and the Klingon Empire? Am I missing something here?? Worf presumably thinks the alliance is a *good* thing, right? He was saved by humans, and he's a Starfleet officer. And we saw in Heart of Glory that unlike Korris and Konmel, he sees no honour in fighting the wrong battles in the wrong places, and pitied them for being unable to adapt to peace with the Federation. So why is he now acting like Riva forcing the Klingons to negotiate and to create a Klingon word for "peacemaker" was some grave attack on the Klingon warrior psyche? (Side note: I am dubious that they did not have such a word before). This writing/characterization makes no sense, as though the writers still hadn't figured out what the hell they were doing as far as defining the nature of the Klingons (and Worf), even *after* Heart of Glory. - The teaser ends with Picard's away team beaming down to an empty room, not finding anyone, and not saying anything. Did anyone else find this to be really poor editing? Even if you have nothing dramatic to end on, at least have the characters *say* "we were supposed to be greeted by Riva's entourage. Where is everyone?" As it stood, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel uneasy after the teaser, because something was amiss, or whether everything was normal, and the director just decided to have the teaser *stop* in mid-scene for some reason. - At first, we aren't given an explanation for why Riva would be excited to meet an empath, and it just ends up seeming like he's perving on Troi (EDIT: nevermind, because he *does* perv on Troi for the rest of the episode...*and* it's always blatant because it's the libido/warrior chorus guy who addresses her and requests her presence as an escort, not the scholar one. Ugh.) - PICARD: "There are aspects of Riva of which we've not been informed." Which seems absurd! How could Starfleet not brief their officers on the fact that one of the Galaxy's most famous mediators, whom they've been charged with transporting to a critical negotiation, is deaf? How could it be a secret, for that matter? - The expository dialogue is atrocious, both from the 'scholar' and from Riva's other chorus member, the guy who says "I am passion, the libido, the anarchy of lust." - Despite it being a very narrow, directed beam, the Solari's weapon somehow disintegrates all three of Riva's chorus members in one shot. And despite it supposedly being a laser, its effect is to vaporize someone from the outside inward, peeling away their tissue layers uniformly over their whole body so that we are treated to some really bad CGI tomography. Okay...sure. Also, this attack happens in the first minute or two of negotiations. This "experienced" mediator has never faced a threatening situation before? Why was there no backup plan? Basically there are only three people in the Galaxy whom Riva is relying on for all communication with other individuals... - Picard's approach to consoling and getting through to Riva is to grab his head and shout in his face "LISTEN TO ME! YOU ARE NOT ALONE!" This was a ridiculous scene. - Riva's character arc is like the trajectory of NASA's "vomit comet" (the plane that flies in parabolic arcs to simulate weightlessness). He goes from being so self-assured that he doesn't even bother briefing himself on the situation, to so doubtful and self-pitying that he tells Troi "you don't need help from someone like me" when she tells him she's going to attempt the mediation herself. Then he goes back to being confident enough to be left alone on the war-torn planet for months, assuring people that he will be fine. I understand that the death of his chorus and ensuing guilt and grief could create a crisis of confidence and identity. But it isn't portrayed realistically. - The resolution of this episode is, of course, absurd. These Neanderthals with ray guns are supposed to have the patience to learn sign language *and* sit down and negotiate with their bitter enemies? They're just going to meet on the top of this stone cliff face that is completely unsecured? Why couldn't the negotiations have taken place on the Enterprise or a dedicated diplomatic vessel? I.e. in a neutral location, where weapons have been removed in advance? Why couldn't they beam down some computers so that the Neanderthals would at least have access to the *the same pictographic dictionary that Data used* when he learned the sign language?

My main nitpick with this episode is just, how does Riva read lips so accurately, especially when the people saying things aren't even always speaking in his direction? I understand that having people repeat themselves a bunch doesn't make for good television, but he was really so on top of things it often seemed like he was just mute, rather than deaf and mute.

I was going to dismiss this one as a hohum episode in the TOS style without the charm of the TOS characters. However that changed for me when the three interpreters were killed. My partner is Deaf and I recognized the anguish of Riva both in how anguish is communicated but also the anguish of not being able to communicate. (Deaf people have been treated badly on this continent with the banning of ASL for decades, bad science used to justify this and other misguided treatmentetc. The needless isolation is heartbreaking.) I speak ASL so I think it was well acted. I thought there were other subtle touches to this episode (like Geordi saying he wouldn't change himself as he liked himself.) that I (and I assume a lot of able bodied folk) ldidn't understand until I met my partner. So 8/10 for that aspect and the first half 5/10

Watching and commenting --Peacemaker. Why should it bother Worf that Riva negotiated Klingon-Federation treaties? --Riva's bee line for Troi is very creepy. He's just generally creepy, though the presentation of those three communicators is nicely done. --It's hard to buy the idea that Troi is returning the feelings, but I guess she is. --Very boring. I literally fell asleep. Will have to try to finish this later. Buona Notte, Trekolini.

So I finished this, but aside from the nice shock of the deaths of the trio, it was truly a snoozer. I think this week's continuing Season 2 exploration of "the nature of being alive and being human" was probably about identity - the need for relationships but the need to have our own independent identity. Lots of stuff about what makes you, you. My favorite part was Data doing the "two people at the beach" in sign language.

I've been enjoying Jammer's review site for years - about 8-9 years ago I watched the entire series of TNG and read every review here as I went along. This is my first time commenting, though. I don't want to get political, but I do want to say that as I've started re-watching this series as a way of entertaining myself during this global pandemic and my self-isolation, "Loud as a Whisper" spoke VERY loudly to me. It resonated with me during a time when "different" can be seen as "evil", and the United States is more divided than any time in its history since the Civil War. This episode may be naive in some ways, and I would subtract a star for a very weak and awkward cold opening. However, two factors made this very relevant and powerful for me. One is the use of a disabled actor - Howie Seago is actually deaf - in a time when very few differently-abled actors were being hired. This was very forward-thinking and added a great deal to the episode for me, especially when Data is learning sign language. I do believe that in the future more accommodation for disabilities will occur, and the scene where Picard is struggling to understand Riva seems dated. Couldn't the Universal Translator also translate sign language? But the concept is still very much ahead of its time. Second, Riva's final solution got me thinking about the situation in our country. There is so much anger and fear right now. What is the common thread that brings people of all races, religions and beliefs -- or non-beliefs -- together? Obviously a deadly virus wasn't enough to do it. (Where's Dr. Crusher - or Pulaski, for that matter -- with a vaccine when you need it?) I don't wish to start a political discussion or who's right or who's wrong. I simply want to state that during this time, in this year, that this episode merits a very strong three-star rating from me.

If these people have been fighting for 15 centuries, shouldn’t they all be dead by now? We’re still here.

I hated the start of this episode and the whole "Troi only does rape or romance storylines" thing. I get the idea behind having someone who communicates through others but it just came off as incredibly goofy watching Riva tilt his head constantly while others spoke. The episode actually got much, much better after his chorus got lazered because using sign language got rid of the goofy chorus stuff.

Frake's Nightmare

For some reason I started thinking marry, shag avoid ? And another candidate for Next Gen ultimate sleazoid list - do you mind if my slave watches ? Wesley's jumper - yep he's firmly established in the grey ribbing jumpsuit - 'Ensign'.

S. D. Martino

I think it would be a good idea to teach the country's sign language in primary or high school as a subject, if only to give the hearing person a basic vocab when encountering a deaf person. We must learn more languages in school. It brings us into other people's mindsets. The theme of this episode.

This is very fascinating sci-fi concept, though delivered in a rather slow-moving episode. Personally I think it would make a very readable sci-fi novel rather than a time limited segment in a sci-fi adventure series. The parts where Riva talks to Geordi, and the frustrations of being unable to communicate when his 'chorus' had - in a very stupidly written moment - been killed en masse. I can understand Troi's role in this, but I can't help feeling that Guinan could - if the two sides had been transported to Ten-Forward - have sorted them out with her natural wisdom and a few bottles of Betelgeuse Brandy. :)

Riva lookin' like the frontman of a Kenny Loggins cover band.

Great comments Davywiz (08/02/20). I agree. 3 out of 4 stars for this episode. I would also mention that the music was beautiful.

So in the 24th century no one in the federation is conversant in Any kind of Sign Language? When his chorus got killed they couldn’t find someone else at Federation headquarters or Starfleet academy to replace them and warp them out to the planet to be interpreter? In the 21st century lots of people are conversant in ASL but everyone in the 24th is flabbergasted by Rivas deafness and unable to communicate with him? Riva never learned sign language himself? So he’s crippled when his chorus is killed? Only Data can figure out a way to communicate with him? Sorry I’m not buying it, that’s a stretch even back in 1987.

@ Kyle, "Riva never learned sign language himself? So he’s crippled when his chorus is killed? I suspect what they were going for was something like Hellen Keller, where telepathy was the only way for him to communicate. I think it would have been clearer had he been blind as well, but that might have made production too obtrusive. When he loses his chorus I think they want us to understand that it is now so difficult for him to communicate that he has to invent a new way of doing so. The script obviously fails to use much imagination in setting up this premise for us, so it's understandably muddled when a person who is merely deaf and mute acts as if he's cut off from all communication...including writing! But I understand what they wanted, and I think it's fair for us to just accept that premise and evaluate what they do with it...which isn't all that much :/

I liked it but it definitely feels undercooked. Maybe some sort of hand grenade would have been better that the quite comical way the chorus was killed. And one of them surviving could have been interesting. Also, Spiner's sign language was obviously half assed at times. Annoying considering how little actually occurs here. Good points above that the tragedy could paradoxically increase the chances of this working. The situation on the planet is obviously massively simplified, but hard to do much more in an episode. Though I puzzle at how they agreed to bring in Riva if the two sides were unable to even communicate.

It is hilarious that the teaser ended with the away team in an empty room. Another symptom this wasn't fully cooked. Still, overall, I think this flows pretty well considering the casual plot. I never find it boring at all. It was interesting to see Riva hitting on Deanna and I liked how Sirtis played it-- seriously creeped out. It kind of makes you wonder how many of those alien women Riker/Kirk jumped in bed with felt. The murder of the chorus is really the biggest blight here. It's just so hilarious. All three in one blast, all frozen mid pose while the beam burns off their skin then their skeleton, etc. if ever there was a case for just a flash of light, this was it. Also, the dude pulls a gun, then Riker runs over, grabs Riva, pulls him over to Worf, then the dude shoots the chorus, THEN they call for beam out. It's all so goofy. Worf does absolutely nothing but should have had plenty of time to stun the dude. And Riker should have jumped on Riva and knocked him out of the way, not go grab him and turn around and pull him away.

Oh and I'm being a total dork here, but in the final scene with Deanna and Picard, when it cuts to closeup, the 3D planet thing disappears a frame or two too early. I verified in slow motion. ;) Fortunately, they eventually stopped with 3D displays because they always looked goofy and had that "ooh, look, we have 3D fx!" vibe.

Another thing that would have helped is if Worf wasn't on the away team because Riva absolutely forbade it. Because Worf looks really flat footed here and does nothing even though he notices the one party is freaking out. Worse, his utter inaction might be read as caused by his discomfort with Riva. It would have been better if instead of Worf, Deanna joined the away team. She could have empathicly noticed the traitor's unease and this would also strengthen the later scenes where she considers attempting being mediator. She could even have pointed out that she read the other three aliens as being absolutely sincere in wanting peace. After all, it's acknowledged by Riva himself that his arrogance prevented him from properly reading the situation. That could have even led to a scene where Riva and Deanna talk about how reading people works.

The answer is picard

The end scene. Picard is thanking Tori. It seems he's thanking her for putting up with the creeper. Then they smile about it, like they played Riva to get what they wanted, by using her charms. Creepy.

Projekt Kobra

@Silly. LOL...thanks I had to pause-play, pause-play for 5 minutes until I could land on that frame with the missing solar system you mentioned! This is a cool episode for me, cuz Riva is my surname (different spelling), so its FULL of awesome answering machine fodder.

This is another episode where everything Data does is motivated by feelings and emotions...blowing up the weekly narrative that androids can't feel anything.

Oops wrong episode. I was referring to "Pen Pals" when Data was determined to save an alien world.

I'm not sure, on this viewing, if I agree with the many who find Troi's revelation of what her empathy has told her about Worf's discomfort an unethical violation of privacy. I mean, yes, it's a violation of privacy, but this is Starfleet, not civilian life. I could imagine it being understood by all concerned, including her and Worf, that she has a duty to reveal whatever may affect the success of the mission or the safety of the ship and crew. If that's embarrassing, uncomfortable, or painful to a crew member, that's just too bad; it's their own duty to accept that she must do her duty. And if a member of the away team is going into a diplomatic greeting with troubled emotions she has previously only known him to exhibit when about to do battle, I can see how she would have such an obligation. "You seem to know something that could put us all in danger. Spill it, Worf." There's no time for calling him aside for a private conference. Who knows? I may see it differently on my next viewing.

Another thought I had on this viewing: Troi at first looks to me as if she's uncomfortable with Reva's attentions to her. That's not romantic.

@Trish I don't think Troi is uncomfortable. I think she's not romantically interested in Riva, but is willing to spend a friendly evening with him in conversation. For what it's worth, I think Troi looked far more uncomfortable around Ral in "The Price".

yes Troi's "Speak to me, SPEAK!" was probably something of the worst things she ever done. Even for her standards. I mean this is like the mind of a five year old. Who in heavens name had even the slightest thought that Troi would be a good counsellor.

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Den of Geek

Revisiting Star Trek TNG: Loud as a Whisper

A famous Klingon peacemaker causes trouble on the Enterprise in this episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation

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This review contains spoilers.

2.5 Loud as a Whisper

You know how some episodes of TNG are so nondescript that you can barely remember seeing them? Yeah, this is the exact opposite of that.

The Enterprise is dispatched to collect the famous mediator, Riva, so that they can transport him to mediate a dispute on Solais V. Before the away team beams down, Troi senses Worf’s inner-turmoil. He denies it, although the ever-tactful Troi drags the truth out of him, and he reveals that before Riva negotiated treaties between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, there was no Klingon word for “peacemaker” (trivia: there are still no Klingon words for “slippers”, “decompress” or “fringe”).

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When they meet Riva, the away team is surprised to discover that he is deaf and mute, and communicates through a “chorus” of three aides, who represent different parts of his psyche: passion, intellect and token woman. Riva, ever the professional, instantly demonstrates what a massive creeper he is by ignoring Picard and Worf and going on about how attractive Troi is.

Back on the ship he continues in much the same vein, basically abusing his diplomatic powers to get her to go to dinner with him. Eventually she relents, although it’s still creepy. This is full-on sexual harassment in the workplace! He even dismisses his intellect and wisdom aides, which is essentially the Riva equivalent of saying “let’s skip dinner.” Luckily they don’t, and mid-meal Picard calls Riva to the bridge to chat with the warring parties, who have broken their ceasefire.

Riva somehow talks them into laying down their weapons until he arrives, and picks a place to meet them. Unfortunately, as the talks begin, one of the faction members flips out and shoots Riva’s chorus. They’re vaporised! In an unusually graphic manner (you see bone and everything). The shooter’s mate then kills him, crying for forgiveness, but Worf and Riker are already hotfooting Riva out of there.

Back on the Enterprise, no-one can talk to Riva (who either can’t or won’t write) so Picard forces Data to learn sign language. Riva’s feeling both angry and guilty that his friends died, and declares that, as impressive as Data is, an emotionless robot is unable to serve as his voice. He withdraws from negotiations!

Meanwhile, the episode was apparently running short because Pulaski hauls Geordi into the sickbay and offers to try and give him more organic-looking eyes, and even give him his normal eyesight back using cloned eyeballs. Geordi, who mere MINUTES ago was telling everyone he was happy to be who he was (and already turned down free eyeballs from Q once before) says he needs some time to think about it. Don’t take too long, says Pulaski, it’s a one-time only operation (for some reason). Geordi heads away to think about it, and it literally never comes up again for the rest of all TNG . Presumably that means he decided not to go through it with.

Back with Riva, Troi says she’ll do the negotiations in his place, and asks for his advice. He tells her to turn a disadvantage into an advantage, at which point a lightbulb goes on above his head and he decides that teaching the factions to communicate with him through sign language will be the path to peace. Okay then! The talks resume and before the Enterprise leaves, Picard calls Troi in to congratulate her actions. (Presumably he means not slapping Riva in the face when he made yet another pass at her. I’m speculating, but come on! There are rampant dogs that show greater subtlety.)

TNG WTF:   There are only a few mildly bizarre things in this episode. The chorus is a somewhat offbeat idea, but they follow through on its execution so it never becomes too hard to believe. The scene with Pulaski offering Geordi back his eyes comes out of nowhere and never goes anywhere. But the real WTF moment comes when the evil faction member shoots Riva’s chorus and they completely disintegrate, skin-first, right down to their skeletons. What the hell kind of gun is he using?!

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TNG LOL: This episode has possibly the worst pre-credits cliffhanger ever. Most of the time something big happens to keep you hooked through the over-long title sequence. In this episode, Worf, Troi and Picard beam down to Riva’s home and stand around silently looking slightly awkward. Riva isn’t even there. Literally nothing happens. It’s so strange that I actually laughed out loud.

Other amusing moments: Worf excuses the distorted signals from the warring factions by saying “the quality of the transmission is very poor”. Which probably had a lot of TNG fans nodding in agreement with imagined subtext (although to be fair, the last few episodes have been far, far beyond Season One.)

Time Until Meeting: 16:13. A briefing! Although the prepared discussion is interrupted about two lines in by Riva, who declares the backstory unnecessary and runs off to meet Troi for dinner, leaving Picard to utter a rather forlorn “Meeting adjourned.” Poor Picard.

Captain’s Log: Hey, how about that. The third actually coherent episode in a row. I think that’s a record! There’s quite a lot of depth here as well. Riva isn’t very likeable as a character – he’s self-assured to the point of being arrogant and overbearing, but that backfires on him later in the episode when his chorus is killed. Even just the idea of the chorus is very memorable, even if they don’t do a huge amount with it, although the exploration of Riva’s deafness is well managed and addresses certain concerns felt by people with disabilities (i.e. his anger at Picard speaking to his helper, rather than to him).

That said, it does occasionally get a bit heavy-handed. Riva’s chat with Geordi veers dangerously close to being “a very special Star Trek scene” where he can finally feel that being blind doesn’t make him any less of a person. And if it wasn’t clunky enough, it’s completely undermined by his later turmoil at being offered the chance to maybe get a pair of real eyes, in a scene that goes absolutely nowhere.

Still, as episodes go it’s got very little in the way of obvious weaknesses, although I do wonder if it wouldn’t have been helpful to know a little more about the parties he was trying to mediate between. As it is, we barely learn a thing about them, and that makes the stakes for the episode lower than they could be.

Watch or Skip? Again, in terms of Trek’s overall mythology, it’s skippable. But let’s be honest: this is what Star Trek is about. Diplomacy, communication, mutual understanding, all that stuff. If you don’t like this kind of episode, then you’ve hitched your wagon to the wrong series. Watch.

Read James’s look back at the previous episode, The Outrageous Okona, here .

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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 2, Episode 5

Loud as a whisper, where to watch, star trek: the next generation — season 2, episode 5.

Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation — Season 2, Episode 5 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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Cast & crew.

Patrick Stewart

Capt. Jean-Luc Picard

Jonathan Frakes

Cmdr. William Riker

LeVar Burton

Lt. Geordi La Forge

Michael Dorn

Marina Sirtis

Counselor Deanna Troi

Brent Spiner

Lt. Cmdr. Data

Episode Info

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• Star Trek: The Next Generation

Loud as a Whisper

A deaf mediator's mission to a warring planet is jeopardized when his chorus of interpreters is killed.

Diana Muldaur

Randy Oglesby

Howie Seago

Marnie Mosiman

Colm Meaney

Richard lavin, chip heller, john garrett, cast appearances.

Patrick Stewart

Jonathan Frakes

LeVar Burton

Michael Dorn

Marina Sirtis

Brent Spiner

Wil Wheaton

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

Loud as a Whisper

Cast & crew.

Howie Seago

Marnie Mosiman

Harmony/Balance

Randy Oglesby

Scholar/Artist

Colm Meaney

Chief Miles O'Brien

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Star Trek The Next Generation: Loud as a Whisper

Picard: There are aspects to Riva of which we have not been informed. Riva/Chorus: Precisely. Our way of communicating has developed over the centuries and it's one that I find quite harmonious. Picard: Then Riva the mediator... Riva/Chorus: Is deaf. Picard: Deaf? Riva/Chorus: Born, and hope to die.

9 comments:

I enjoyed rewatching this one. I liked the idea of the three different interpreters. I noticed that the handsome guy got to do the romantic interpretation for Riva. :) One detail I particularly liked was that the interpreters had white costumes but each was detailed and unique. Nice touch. I had a similar reaction when Riva was unable to communicate in some sort of written form, because any culture as advanced as his would have to have a reliable way to physically record knowledge, or they *wouldn't* advance. (Human advancement sped up after the printing press.) Riva immediately pursuing Troi also made me uncomfortable; it seemed out of character. And when Picard left Riva on the planet and he was just standing there waiting, I thought, um, does he have food, water, a place to sleep? Is there a nice hotel nearby in that stony outcropping in the middle of nowhere? :) Excellent review, Joseph. What a fun read.

I enjoyed the episode more than most recently. It was an interesting concept and I agree props to someone who is deaf saving the world. The scene I found uncomfortable was Picard yelling at Riva, which is a somewhat common, ignorant response to people who are deaf. I would have hoped that he, future type Renaissance man that he is, would know better. Thanks for the fun review Joseph and I'm sure there's a Bedrock hotel just around the corner Billie.

Billie - I love writing for this site! People lead me to new points even unintentionally. In the "real" world, ASL interpreters almost always wear black or dark colors. I think you caught that the producers were playing with that fact! Drnananmom - yep - I felt Picard was really thrown by someone being Deaf for some reason. Often, people who put a lot of their personal "power" into speaking verbally tend to have that reaction. JRS

Often, people who put a lot of their personal "power" into speaking verbally tend to have that reaction. I've never seen this episode, or even any episode, but now I'm tantalized by what my own personal, interactive-with-others power might be (in the way that you mean, which I've never thought about before). Hmm...

Nice review -- I haven't seen that episode for a LONG time -- maybe not since it first aired. I'd have liked to see some more discussion/analysis of the crew's "pushiness" -- Seems to me it's a fairly common thing for Hearing people -- Deaf people's feelings are typically disregarded, but since they NEED this particular Deaf person for something, they try to force him into some mold or force him to communicate their way or something -- I haven't quite articulated what I mean or am thinking on this, but it does strke me somehow. As for Data's signing/interpretation, well.... Mandela Interpreter, anybody?

Data was good just got ahead of Riva's signing. He was saying words Riva hadn't signed yet, but we can put that up to android.

Great review! I really want to watch this episode again. I thought the corpus that Data used to speed-learn sign language was interesting. It only showed handshapes, no dynamic pictures/references or facial expressions. At the same time, they references varying sign language, recognizing that there isn't just one intergalactic sign system.

I love watching this episode coz I am trying to learn ASL and when I was trying to see the signs when data was looking up signs and could not keep up but was glad they made a episode for the deaf.

It's difficult for those of us who aren't deaf or blind, or have other such challenges to know what those who do have to deal with. That being said, I did enjoy this one, and found Riva to be a very engaging and sympathetic character. They run roughshod over his grief which I find hard to reconcile with how the crew should have actually reacted to it. Losing people close to you, and who aid you with your important diplomatic work like that would be extremely traumatic. Troi was great here, and I do wish they would have avoided the rather cringe-worthy way Riva initially interacted with her, it is definitely on the creepy side. Barring that, I felt not only was the best option for such a communication, but that she was great as how she handled it too.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation S2E5 "Loud As a Whisper" » Recap

Original air date: January 9, 1989

The Enterprise gets orders to transport a renowned mediator named Riva to Solais V to bring an end to a bitter war. Upon meeting him, the crew learns that he is deaf and speaks through three interpreters who communicate with him telepathically. Riva immediately finds himself taken with Counselor Troi and bonds with her over dinner.

Upon reaching Solais V, Riva beams down to settle the dispute with only Riker and Worf as security, reasoning that bringing anyone else will only increase tensions. But only moments after arriving (before they even have the table set up) one of the natives becomes angry and fires at Riva, somehow killing all three of his interpreters with one shot when Riker pulls him out of the way. After beaming out, Riva becomes despondent and loses faith in his ability to mediate a peace. Even after Data learns his sign language, he insists that he cannot be an effective mediator without his interpreters.

This episode provides examples of:

• 10-Minute Retirement : Riva's refusal to return to the negotiations lasts a few hours.
• Aborted Arc : One scene features Dr. Pulaski offering to grow new human eyes for Geordi, who leaves saying he'll think about it. This is never brought up again. The reason for this was to allow for the possibility of removing Geordi's need of the visor, which was due to a request from Levar Burton to be allowed to use his expressive eyes in the series. The plot point was dropped after the episode, however.
• Aliens Speaking English : Despite him being from another planet, Riva's sign language is seemingly identical to American Sign Language — which is understandable, as it's Howie Seago's native language, but doesn't make much sense in-universe. Since the Universal Translator doesn't really work as an explanation, * it might be designed to work on sign languages, but why translate a language the user doesn't understand into another one they don't understand? we can only guess that Translation Convention may be in effect.
• Armor-Piercing Question : When Troi asks Riva why he can't do what he does in his negotiations with himself - turn a disadvantage into an advantage.
• The royal house status goes by male line only ; haemophilia, being a recessive X chromosome gene, almost always goes only by female line (but only affects males), the exception being that a male haemophiliac who has children (which was rare until the mid 1900s) pass the gene to all his daughters and none of his sons. note  The above explanation of the genetics of Haemophilia doesn't apply to type C, the rarest type. However, the family tree indicating who had Haemophilia does match the genetic information above. So haemophilia could not possibly go down a royal house.
• There actually were several haemophiliacs in European royalty. The source was a mutated gene in Queen Victoria , who was from the House of Hanover. It did not affect her; however, it did affect one of her sons (even he wasn't a Hanover), one of the sons of his daughter, and 7 grandsons and great grandsons of Queen Victoria through 2 of her daughters. None of them were from the House of Hanover.
• Although it can't be proven that the mutation was new with her, no members of her extended family, except her matrilinial descendants, had the disease.
• Queen Victoria wasn't even the first British monarch from the House of Hanover. She came after George I, George II, her grandfather George III , and her uncles George IV and William IV.
• Bilingual Bonus : Riva's signing is all genuine ASL. This unfortunately causes some issues during the scenes of Data's translating, as the differences in sentence structure mean he occasionally says a word before Riva makes the sign for it.
• Break the Haughty : Riva isn't a bad guy at all and likes the entire crew, but he was pretty overconfident in his abilities to defuse a war (especially considering the warring factions in question had been at it for fifteen centuries ). Either way, once his entire chorus gets wiped out right in front of him, his confidence and cool veneer is completely shattered.
• The Charmer : Riva turns on the ol' charm immediately upon seeing Troi.
• Despair Event Horizon : Riva is horrified after his chorus gets killed, pacing around the briefing room like a madman. Troi and Picard try desperately to calm him, but of course, that's not happening.
• Disability Superpower : Riva, who's deaf, is also telepathic. This is apparently a trait of his family, and possibly linked to their deafness (both are hereditary among them).
• Fee Fi Faux Pas : When meeting Riva, Picard attempts to address the chorus instead of Riva, offending him. He later explains to Riker to treat the chorus as interpreters and thus address Riva directly.
• Forever War : The Solari factions has been fighting for fifteen centuries, leading both of them to the brink of extinction.
• Freudian Trio : Riva's psychic chorus literally represent parts of his mind. Superego Interpreter: I am the scholar. I represent the intellect, and speak in matters of judgement, philosophy, logic. Also, I am the dreamer, the part that longs to see beauty beyond the truth, which is the first duty of art. I am the poet who... Id Interpreter: Artists, they tend to ramble, neglect the moment. I am passion, the libido, I am the anarchy of lust, the romantic, and the lover. I am also the warrior, the perfect line which never wavers. Ego Interpreter: I am that which binds all the others together. I am harmony, wisdom, balance.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! : Picard to Riva, by grabbing his head so Riva can read his lips and tell him he's not alone, after Riva's chorus is killed. With a bit of Translation by Volume with Picard shouting " LISTEN TO ME!! " to a deaf guy.
• Hive Mind : Consisting of only four people. Riva's chorus represent his Ego, Superego and Id , with each speaking Riva's thoughts that most closely correspond to those aspects of his mind. It can also be turned off and on at will—Riva brings only the Id voice to his dinner date with Troi, then dismisses him to communicate alone.
• It's All My Fault : Riva blames himself for his chorus' untimely deaths.
• It's Personal : Riva tells the Enterprise crew not to even bother investigating the reasons for the war provided in the background they've been given. It'll say that it's about some piece of land, or wealth, or something, but it doesn't matter. After fifteen centuries of fighting, nobody really cares about the original reason anymore. It's just personal now.
• Just Think of the Potential! : Worf is intrigued by the concept of sign language, observing that a form of communication which is both silent and covert could have other uses. (Of course, he's hardly the first person to have this thought.)
• Language Equals Thought : Before Riva negotiated several treaties with the Klingons, the Klingon language had no word for peacemaker.
• Mood Whiplash : The episode takes a deliberately slow pace in the first half to build up the mystique around Riva and his chorus. The result is that the tragedy that happens in the first negotiation attempt becomes that much more of a shock.
• Never Learned to Talk : Riva is deaf due to a congenital defect among the nobles of his planet. He has a group of interpreters who are telepathically linked to him, but otherwise can only communicate through sign language.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending : Riva isn't the same after his chorus is gone, but he does decide to give the peace negotiations one more try - by teaching the two factions sign language. The theory is, while they learn to speak to him, they'll learn to speak to each other. It's clearly going to be a process, but that's fine with Riva.
• Reading Lips : Riva certainly has no problem with this.
• Reconcile the Bitter Foes : After fifteen centuries of war, the Solari calls for Riva to lead the peace negotiations. The episode ends with Riva intending to teach both sides his sign language to communicate with him, and hopefully with each other.
• Renegade Splinter Faction : The representative that shoots at Riva to try and prevent peace is apparently from one of these. He is immediately shot dead as a traitor by the other representative of his supposed faction.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something : Riva is a member of the ruling family of Ramatis, and is also a renowned and experienced peace mediator.
• The Speechless : Riva's deafness is hereditary, and having grown up with his chorus, he doesn't speak. In the script it's said he doesn't even know how to read or write either, which is why he ignores Picard's suggestion that he write his thoughts down.
• Super-Speed Reading : Basically how Data learns all known sign language for Riva.
• Voice for the Voiceless : Riva's chorus telepathically conveys his thoughts. It's a hereditary position for them, corresponding to the equally hereditary condition of Riva's family.
• Wham Shot : When one of the tribesmen suddenly goes AWOL and shoots, instantly killing Riva's entire chorus.
• What Could Possibly Go Wrong? : Averted. Riker expressed some concern about allowing Picard to beam down to the planet to meet Riva. Picard points out that he's just going to greet a dignitary and there's no danger. It seems like the perfect set up for something to go horribly wrong. But other than a minor faux pas that was immediately forgiven, nothing went wrong at all.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S2E4 "The Outrageous Okona"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S2E6 "The Schizoid Man"

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Loud as a whisper (1989).

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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Loud as a Whisper (Review)

To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation , and also next year’s release of  Star Trek: Into Darkness , I’m taking a look at the recent blu ray release of the first season (and a tiny bit of the second), episode-by-episode. Check back daily for the latest review.

At the very least, Loud as a Whisper has its heart in the right place. At least of most of its run time. Essentially an issue-driven (and guest-star-driven) show that is determined to prove to the audience that a disability need not define a person, it’s a little undermined by a subplot where Pulaski and Geordi discuss the possibility of making the Chief Engineer “normal” again. However, once you get past the earnestness of it all, Loud of a Whisper seems a little clunky as television drama, with all manner of potentially interesting ideas that are never really explored. The result is a massively disappointing story that feels a bit like a clumsy after-school special.

What goes around…

To be fair, the idea for the show was actually proposed to the producers by the guest star, during the Writers’ Guild of America Strike of 1988. According to The Next Generation Companion :

Howie Seago, who is actually deaf, met with the producers during the writers’ strike to suggest a show built around a deaf actor as a guest star. This episode is the result, and in it Seago helped to change what he felt was a dangerous myth regarding deaf people: the first draft’s premise had his character learning to speak overnight after the failure of a mechanical translator he used to communicate with his chorus. The day before shooting he suggested an alternative scenario, where after the killing of his chorus Riva stays on Solais V to teach the combatants sign language. To his surprise the idea was eagerly accepted; the supportive mail from both deaf and hearing people seemed to bear out the wisdom of that idea.

We can all agree that the ending Seago suggested is at least superior to the one proposed in the script. After all, there’s something quite sinister about the idea that you can “fix” a disability like that. Unfortunately, the scene between Geordi and Pulaski that remains in the finished episode contains the same connotations.

Be sure to let him know when you a-Riva at your destination…

It is possible for Star Trek to do great issue-driven storylines. For example, Symbiosis was one of the better episodes of the first season. Classic episodes like The Outcast and Rejoined would tackle homosexuality in clever ways. However, these episodes also have a tendency to take themselves too seriously, to rather clumsily manhandle the issue at hand, and to forget that a television series like this must first tell a story – and the way to explore these issues is through the story, rather than trying to awkwardly graft a story on to an issue.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the episode is Riva’s chorus, which is killed off about half-way through in order to generate drama and suspense, forcing our character to start from scratch. The chorus is, on a purely visual level, a fascinating concept. However, it raises all manner of logical questions. It seems appropriate that this show focuses around Troi, as a lot of the issues raised by the chorus apply to her as well.

Is he just hoping hostilities will evaporate overnight?

We’re told that each of the three members of the chorus speaks to one side of Riva’s emotional spectrum. “We serve as translators,” one explains. “We convey not only his thoughts, but his emotional intent as well. I am the Scholar. I represent the intellect, and speak in matters of judgement, philosophy, logic. Also, I am the dreamer, the part that longs to see the beauty beyond the truth which is always the first duty of art.” Another observes, “I am passion, the libido. I am the anarchy of lust, the romantic and the lover. I am also the warrior, the perfect line which never wavers.” Finally, the third states, “I am that which binds all the others together. I am harmony, wisdom, balance.”

It seems a bit arbitrary that Riva’s emotional spectrum can be conveniently divided into three sections. It seems a bit reductive. I would imagine that emotions are somewhat broader and deeper than that. Still, Riva seems to place great emphasis on using these three voices to communicate with his audience. After they are killed, he dismisses Data’s ability to fill the void. “When Data speaks for me, can you hear my anguish, my despair?” he asks. “Data is a fine machine, but he cannot take the place of my chorus. It took years to develop a communication. That cannot be easily replaced.”

Yes, of chorus…

Here’s the thing, though. It seems a bit arbitrary that all the worlds in all the universe have the same emotional capacity as we do, and that emotions translate on a one-for-one basis across the galaxy. I know the chorus represent Riva’s emotional range, but he seems to emphasise how important that is to the people he addresses as well. It’s a bit of a problem I have always had with Troi – the idea that emotions can somehow be mapped on a one-for-one basis, particularly across cultures. It seems to reflect a human-centric view of the universe, with the idea that all species must rigidly adhere to our perception of the universe.

Of course, a later episode in the series, The Chase , would seem to explain why the Star Trek universe was populated with so many bipedal human-like aliens, and perhaps the same explanation accounts for how emotions tend to map the same across countless different species that evolved light-years apart. I can understand how that would make sense, but I’m still a little uncomfortable with the idea that there’s very few forces out there so alien that they don’t feel exactly the same way that we do.

Carrying the torch…

That said, if they didn’t, then we wouldn’t need Troi as the ship’s empath. Since Guinan seems to have quickly become the ship’s de facto counsellor (helping Wesley decide what he wants in The Child and helping Data investigate humour in The Outrageous Okona ), it would seem a bit harsh to take that away from Troi. She seems to have unfortunately little to do on the show at this point in its run, so I suppose we should be thankful that she can still state the blindingly obvious for the bridge crew.

This idea that everything must conform to humanity’s ideals and expectations is actually raised in the opening scene, and I’m a bit disappointed that the episode never really addressed it. Worf seems hesitant to welcome Riva on board. Picard explains, “Ah. Riva negotiated several treaties between the Klingons and the Federation.” Worf replies, “Before him, there was no Klingon word for peacemaker.”

A Riva Derchi…

This seems to reflect what we saw in  Heart of Glory , where human values couldn’t necessarily be applied to the Klingon Empire. We’re told that this cultural assimilation “bothers” Worf, and it’s great that nobody takes the opportunity to lecture him on the virtues of peace. The application of human ideal to the Klingon Empire was arguably one of the factors that contributed to its decay and corruption, proof that you can’t just apply human value systems across the board.

Unfortunately, this seems to be the one concession the episode makes, and we’re quite clearly back in “human superiority” mode. Picard hovers the Enterprise over Solias V and notes in his log, “We are monitoring increased military activity on Solais Five. I fear that without Riva, we will be unable to keep the Solari from destroying themselves.” It seems creepily paternalistic. It doesn’t have to be, but the script makes it seem like the inhabitants should be kissing the feet of the Enterprise crew.

No bones about it…

Before I move away from the chorus as a concept, the script itself has some clunkiness. I feel a little uncomfortable about the fact that the script identifies the two male members of the chorus by their roles and archetypes, but has to label the woman as “woman.” How come the men aren’t similarly classified according to the script?

There are three of them… each a distinctive personality and physical archetype — the SCHOLAR/ARTIST, the WARRIOR/ADONIS, a CULTURED WOMAN.

I’ve written before that The Next Generation has some serious gender issues, and this seems like another example. Also, how come every Troi-centric episode so far (and quite a few to come) are based around the guest star of the week trying to get into her skin-tight jumpsuit? I mean none of the male cast are so consistently objectified in such a manner in their own stories.

“I knew it was you, Riva… and it broke my heart!”

Finally, apropos of nothing, I do find it a little hilariously awkward how Riva’s libido works, and how incredibly awkward and transparent it is. When he wanders off with Troi, he leaves “Scholar/Artist” and “Cultured Woman” behind, prompting them to rather awkwardly ask to be shown to their quarters. They seem to stop short of saying they’ll have a few hours off. “At times like this,” one states, “we become an encumbrance.” Man, I hate it when two out of three of my emotional chorus tend to ruin my dates.

There is also, unfortunately, the rather awkward way that Riva’s disability is portrayed as inherently alien. I know that the gender issues of The Outcast and Rejoined aren’t exact parallels for issues of modern sexuality, but Riva is deaf and dumb – and the episode stresses that these are pretty much the exact same disabilities that we see everyday. As such, treating Riva’s inability to hear or speak as something exotic and alien seems to undermine the point a bit.

A civilisation at its peak…?

I’ve always felt that Geordi was the best way to handle that sort of issue in Star Trek . His blindness isn’t a secret – he isn’t treated as if he’s a character who can see, but with a funny comb on his face. Geordi is portrayed as different than the crew around him, and that difference stems from his inability to see. His blindness isn’t treated as something that makes him less capable than those around him, just something that means he perceives the world in a different way. The opening section of Heart of Glory might have seemed like clumsy padding, but it at least illustrated that Geordi comprehends the universe in a manner distinct from the rest of us.

So the episode is somewhat undermined by a scene between Pulaski and Geordi where she discusses “fixing” him using the magic technology of the replicators. Of course, the scene doesn’t use the word “fix” , but it uses words like “normal.” During a routine check-up, Pulaski reveals it is possible for Geordi to see again. “I can attempt to regenerate your optic nerve, and, with the help of the replicator, fashion normal eyes. You would see like everyone else.”

Seeing eye-to-eye…

This is where the show runs into problems. That’s a fairly massive decision to put in front of anybody. It’s a massive and important character subplot for Geordi as a character. However, it’s all clumsily crammed into one short scene. She asks Geordi, “Why are you hesitating?” He replies, “Well, when I came to see you, it was to talk about modifying this. And now you’re saying it could be possible for me to have normal vision?”

There’s no discussion of what “normal” means or what “like everyone else” is truly about. After all, much like the emotional spectrum above, it suggests that the human perception of the universe is an absolute rather than a subjective interpretation. At its worst, it seems to imply that Geordi has a problem that should be rectified so he can conform to human standards, that somehow seeing the universe as most humans do is the very pinnacle of perception.

A bit of a blind spot…

The scene was apparently written to provide actor LeVar Burton with the possibility of removing the VISOR and allowing the actor to emote with his eyes. I can understand the appeal of that proposal to a performer, but I also think that it would diminish the character in a very significant way. It was, at the time (and it still is), very rare to see people on television living with disabilities in a manner that doesn’t sensationalise or exploit. Geordi was blind, but that didn’t define him.

Geordi was a blind character whose characterisation didn’t really rely on that disability at all. It was just part of who he was, and it didn’t limit or restrict him in any way. He was surrounded by characters who respected and trusted him, and his inability to see didn’t reduce him in their eyes in any way shape or form – it didn’t limit his ability to contribute. I can’t help but feel like giving him “normal” eyes would send the wrong message to those watching and enjoying the series.

Real men fire pink lasers…

The scene was never touched on again, making it stand out even more than it does as part of the episode itself. You’d imagine that Geordi would have to digest and think about the proposal, and that it would weigh heavily on him. Instead, it is never mentioned ever again, which makes this feel like an especially surreal diversion. And positioning it in a story about another character coping with their disability makes it feel even more misjudged.

Finally, there’s Troi. It’s clear at this point in The Next Generation that the writers are trying to figure out what she is supposed to be doing. You’d imagine that the departure of the other two female leads might have inspired the producers and writers to do something dynamic or interesting in the character. Instead, we get this episode in which she is clumsily inserted into the story of a guest character, all so the episode can end with Picard bluntly telling the audience what a great character she is.

Going around in circles…

“You read me well enough to sense how I feel about you and what you do on this ship,”  he states. “But I just wanted to say the words. Thank you. Well done.” It’s hardly the most subtle way of trying to convince the audience that Troi is a valued member of the crew, and it hardly seems earned. I mean, Wesley’s advice to Okona averted a potential war last episode, and he didn’t get a nice little speech – and he doesn’t even have the advantage of being able to read Picard’s thoughts. Ah well. How far way is Face of the Enemy ?

The Next Generation could do great issue-driven storytelling. Unfortunately, it could also bungle the concept completely. Unfortunately, As Loud as a Whisper feels more like the latter than the former.

Read our reviews of the second season of  Star Trek: The Next Generation :

• Supplemental: Phase II (1978) – The Child
• Where Silence Has Lease
• Supplemental: Embrace the Wolf
• The Outrageous Okona
• Loud as a Whisper
• The Schizoid Man
• Supplemental: Deep Space Nine (Marvel Comics) #3-4 – The Cancer Within
• A Matter of Honour
• Supplemental: Myriad Universes – Echoes and Refractions: Brave New World by Chris Roberson
• Supplemental: The Measure of a Man (Extended Cut)
• Supplemental: Masks by John Vornholt
• Time Squared
• Supplemental: The Lost Era – Deny Thy Father by Jeff Mariotte
• Supplemental: (DC Comics) Annual #2 – Thin Ice
• Supplemental: Strange New Worlds VI – The Beginning by Anne Reed
• Supplemental: Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who – Assimilation²
• Supplemental: The Newspaper Strips – Beware the Omnimind! (aka Restructuring is Futile)
• Samaritan Snare
• Up the Long Ladder
• The Emissary
• Peak Performance
• Shades of Grey

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Filed under: The Next Generation | Tagged: Data , Federation , Heart of Glory , Howie Seago , jean-luc picard , Klingon , Outrageous Okona , Sign language , Star Trek Next Generation , star trek: the original series , StarTrek , Troi , William Riker , Worf |

3 Responses

Reblogged this on cienciayconcienciaccd .

I’m sorry but the entire concept of one of Riva’s chorus’ standing in as his talking libido just makes me think of Anastasia Steel’s ”inner goddess” or Harry Potter’s ”chest monster”.

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Star Trek TNG: Season 2, Episode Five “Loud as a Whisper”

Stardate: 42477.2 original air date: january 9, 1989 writer: jacqueline zambrano director: larry shaw.

“Turn a disadvantage into an advantage.”

The Enterprise-D has been diverted to the Ramatis Star System to ferry an agreed-upon mediator to negotiate a peace between two opposing factions in a bitter planetary conflict on Solais V that has lasted for fifteen centuries. Starfleet has ordered the Enterprise to only transport the mediator –no interference is allowed. When the Enterprise arrives at Ramatis III, the ship maintains standard orbit and Data is given the bridge. Riker is “uncomfortable” with Picard leading the ceremonial away team to pick up the mediator (why Riker was concerned about Picard is never actually clear). Apparently, the Enterprise has recently left the Lima Sierra System and Picard has been puzzling over why the third planet in the system has such an unusual orbit pattern. Strangely enough, this little investigation is never again revisited in the episode.

We learn that Worf is feeling uneasy about meeting the mediator named Riva because he negotiated several treaties between the Klingons and the Federation in the past. Is Worf angry about peace between the Federation and the Klingons? Why would he be included in the landing party if he is uneasy about it? At any rate, Picard, Worf, and Counselor Troi beam down to Ramatis III while Riker helms the bridge. On the planet surface, they meet an oddly silent and stoic Riva. We learn that he is deaf and has learned to read lips, but he primarily communications through a trio of translators called his chorus. They have developed a “harmonious” mode of communication wherein the translators read his thoughts and intentions in order to speak on his behalf –they are the embodiment of a “scholar,” a “passion,” and “that which binds all the others together.”

Riva comes across as self-assured, condescending, and haughty. Why is he deaf? The gene for hearing is not present on this planet’s ruling line –similar to the House of Hanover on Earth who all had hemophilia, or the leaders of Fendaus V who were all without limbs.

Riva and his chorus beam aboard the Enterprise, and while en route to Solais V, he attempts to seduce Counselor Troi. And strangely enough, she seems quite taken with him over dinner. When they arrive at Solais V, Worf and Riker join Riva and his entourage down on the planet (which is somewhat reminiscent of Vulcan in TOS’s “Amok Time”). But despite Riva’s confidence, the negotiations immediately turn hostile and Riva’s chorus trio are killed. They beam back to the Enterprise and Riva grows irate as the crew struggles to find a way to communicate with him now that he is without his chorus of interpreters. Unfortunately, Dr. Pulaski cannot help him but Data quickly learns five different modes of sign language in order to speak with Riva.

The factions on Solais want to renew negotiations, but Riva declines to participate until after much resistance, Deanna Troi finally convinces him to return and turn his disadvantage into an advantage. Riva changes his mind and beams down to Solais V along with a requested table and torches. As the episode ends, he plans to turn a disadvantage into an advantage by teaching the Solari how communicate via sign language. It will take many months, but Riva claims to be committed to the cause so the Enterprise simply leaves him on Solais V and the episode ends.

My Thoughts on “Loud as a Whisper”

“Loud as a Whisper” is such an odd episode with lots of little plot threads that are never resolved. Why in the world would Worf be compelled to join the landing party on Ramatis III if he is uneasy about picking up Riva? Why is he even uneasy in the first place? Isn’t Worf a supporter of peace between the Federation and the Klingons? In addition, there is a strange subplot in the episode concerning Geordi’s eyesight which is never resolved. And also Picard begins the episode with concerns over an unexplained planetary orbit but this is never again addressed in the episode for some reason.

With that being said, the introduction of a deaf negotiator who requires a chorus of interpreters is a fascinating idea, even if Riva is busy using awkward hand gestures throughout this episode. Riva’s character is fairly unlikelable and to top it all off, when his chorus is killed he seems merely distraught but not in mourning at losing his prized friends who are also a part of him. One would think a mediator would be a better communicator or at least more of a sympathetic, trustworthy figure. And why wouldn’t the Enterprise be informed of his deafness and chorus in advance of shepherding him to another planet? Some critics have made the argument that Riva can clearly hear because he turns his body when called by other characters.  

What stood out to me in this episode, was the brief appearance of the Solari creatures. There was something campy and charming about the effects of the Solari shooting Riva’s chorus causing them to disintegrate into skeletons.

Writer/Director

This episode was directed by Larry Shaw and was written by Jacqueline Zambrano.  

Star Trek Trivia:

• Worf notes that prior to the arrival of Riva, there was no Klingon word for “peacemaker.”
• If you zoom in on an Enterprise screen in the episode, it reads that Solais V was the site of the historical Battle of Zambrano. This is likely a reference to writer Jacqueline Zambrano.
• Data says the use of gestures and hand signals predates the spoken word in most cultures, the major exception being the Leyrons of Malkus IX who actually developed a written language first.
• In this episode, Dr. Pulaski offers Geordi options for replacing his visor with a regenerated optical nerve with help from the replicator, something she has accomplished twice before.
• Howie Seago, who played the mediator Riva in this episode, is deaf in real life. He is a Shakespearean actor. His wife Lori is reportedly a Star Trek fan. The idea for him to appear in this episode was the idea of his wife, so he approached the show’s producers with the idea of a deaf mediator. The writers originally wanted Seago’s character to learn to speak after his chorus is killed, but Seago was opposed to the idea, as it could perpetuate the practice of forcing deaf children to speak.
• One of Riva’s chorus members was played by Marnie Mosiman, wife of John De Lancie who is famous for playing the recurring character Q in TNG.
• Another member of Riva’s chorus is played by Randy Oglesby, best known for his recurring role as Degra on Star Trek: Enterprise .
• Levar Burton apparently hated Geordi’s visor in TNG.
• According to rumor, there is a story that Will Wheaton met a very rude William Shatner around this time in the series.

Click here to return to my survey of the Star Trek series.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation : "The Outrageous Okona"/"Loud As A Whisper"/"The Schizoid Man"

"The Outrageous Okona"

People used to give me a lot of advice on how to relax. They were trying to help, of course, but there's no helpful way to explain, "Don't try so hard," because it draws attention to your self-consciousness that only serves to reinforce it. I wanted everybody to love me, I didn't think anyone possibly could, so I   put every ounce of sweat and concentration I had towards making myself acceptable, pleasing, and, as is relevant to this week's first episode, hilarious. Now, I can be funny in person. I'm not any great wit or anything, but at my best, I get by. The trouble that it's hard to be funny when you're  trying  to be funny—some people can pull it off, but most of us can't, and when you're stuck in a position of desperately wanting to blow everyone away, you mostly end up fizzling out. Nothing kills comedy quite as dead as visible effort.

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This delightful personal revelation comes as a way to try and explain why "The Outrageous Okona" is so goddamn painful. It's not the worst episode we've had, because the story makes a rough amount of sense, there's no blatant racism or sexism, and only one actor makes a fool of himself. It's lousy, though. The first warning sign hits you in the opening credits: "Joe Piscopo as The Comic." You have to be a certain age to see that name and be horrified, but even if you don't recognize the presence of one of the eighties worst break-out comedic actors, your heart is sure to break once you realize  why  "Okona" needs a "The Comic." Data wants to be funny. And now he's going to take lessons.

Before we get to that, the main plot of "Okona," the plot that inspires Data's latest attempts to be become human and also provides us with the only relief (here used in the loosest possible sense) from those attempts, centers on a guest star, William O. Campbell, aka Bill Campbell, aka The Rocketeer. ("The Rockawho?") Campbell plays a Han Solo-ish scoundrel who gets picked up by the  Enterprise  when his engine dies mid-trip. Troi clears him in advance, explaining to Picard that he's a good guy and a "rogue." (I actually wrote down "rogue" in my notes about ten seconds before Troi said it, which shows you how, um, distinctive Okona is.) Okona beams aboard, and immediately starts hitting on the super hot teleporter engineer. Played by Teri Hatcher, who I guess had some kind of a contract that required her to make at least one guest appearance on ever eighties genre show.

Anyway, Okona's charms work on Hatcher. And not just on Hatcher; we get the impression he's basically screwing his way through the female portion of the crew. It's hokey, and more than a little absurd, given that we have not one but   two jokes based on someone watching an attractive woman hanging over the guy in their bedroom, but unlike the comedy sections, it's not painful. I'm not completely convinced that Okona's easy-going charisma is what's getting him laid. Campbell is a good-looking dude, and it probably gets boring on a space-ship, so while I'm not sure I buy the  Enterprise  is full of Leisure Suit Larry characters, I do think it's reasonable to think there'd been some screwing going on. If we choose to ignore the somewhat silly presentation (and we'll be doing more of that soon), I can appreciate the ethos behind it. This isn't a morality play. Okona doesn't turn out to be a bastard, and none of the women regret hooking up. I dig that. I dig the optimism of a free love society which still encourages committed relationships.

Sadly, this isn't just a mildly tone-deaf attempt at a sex romp. (While  TOS  had some great lusty sequences,  TNG  really isn't a sexy show. It's too deliberate, too reasonable, too polite. It's at its best when the characters discuss problems and work together towards solutions in a thoughtful, conscientious way. I'm not knocking that, either—I think it's one of the things that makes the show stand out, and one of the big reasons why the Borg threat is so effective when it arrives. The only problem is, it's really hard to want to rip the clothes off somebody when you have to fill out forms in triplicate first.) If that's all it was, "Okona" would be middling, a forgettable forty minutes of fluff notable only for the presence of two up and coming guest actors, and for Okona's  Ice Pirates -style outfit.

Instead, after talking with Okona, Data decides he wants to learn how to tell jokes. He's been struggling with this before, but this is the first time we've spent scenes watching him make the effort. Theoretically, it's not a bad idea. Data's quest to become human has dramatic potential, because it offers writers a chance to get philosophical ("What does it mean to be human?") without losing the grounding of a likable, intelligent character. I've talked before about how break-out characters are often the ones who question social conventions that everyone else takes for granted, and that's essentially what Data  is;  the difference being that Data's questions are respectful and curious, which actually makes them harder to answer. Having him put some effort into understanding what makes a joke work could've been a great opportunity to show how impossible it is to explain some things, and how that translates to Data's quest as a whole, the way "being human" is such a nebulous concept that achieving it is as much about asking questions as it is about answering them.

Technically, they do try this, and I very much liked Guinan telling Data at the end of the episode that there's more to humanity than just an ability to tell jokes well. The real problem here is that it's an episode about humor with no good laugh lines. Worse, it's an episode about humor with no good laugh lines that  thinks  it's really, really funny. Data's attempts at stand-up are supposed to fall flat, (although I don't think they're supposed to be quite as wince-inducing as they actually are; once again we're reminded that Brent Spiner trying to act "human" is really loud. I think, as a friend reminded me, it's because Spiner's background is in theater, and none of the episode directors have made an effort to tone him down) but the scenes with Piscopo are equally terrible, and there's a bit with Piscopo and Data both pretending Jerry Lewis that kind of made me want to die. The idea that Piscopo, who's basically just Jay Leno with muscle tone, is one of the best comedians of the 20th Century is, well, horrifying. Was there some kind of apocalypse that left the future with nothing but thousands of copies of  Dead Heat ?

At least we have Whoopi Goldberg on hand, and I heard she might have done some stand-up at some point. Data goes to Guinan for advice, which is a nice meta-moment that the episode never overplays. (Actually, that may have less to do with subtlety and more to do with me occasionally forgetting that Goldberg made her name as a comedian. I'm old, sometimes I forget things.) That's ruined, though, by the fact that Guinan's few attempts at humor are as bad, if not worse, than Data's. "You're a droid and I'm a noid"? Seriously? It's hard to remember this show ever being intentionally funny. Whimsical, sure, endearing, definitely, but intentionally hilarious? I'd say it happens occasionally, but right now, the idea of a purely comic episode (like, say,  TOS 's "Trouble With Tribbles") here gives me the shakes. I suppose "Okona" could've been worse. The discovery at the end that the title character isn't quite as immature as he appears to be is a nice twist, and, even better, it indicates that the writers are getting a handle on how to tell a story that's paced reasonably well. Too bad so much of that pacing is given over to pain. Data learns a valuable lesson that humor can't be forced, and we learn the same, albeit in a far less friendly way.

"Loud As A Whisper"

There's something about  TNG's  tone that always makes episodes like this harder to take. I've been trying for years to figure out the best way to describe it, but every time I do, all I can think of is one word: pastel. That's not enough, really, but it's close. I love  TNG , I love the cast, and I love the great stories we eventually get, but right now, so many of these episodes are like getting stuck in a doctor's waiting room, flipping through copies of  Readers Digest , staring at renderings of landscapes and abstract designs hanging on the walls, lost in a sea of light brown, gray, pink. Great ideas are important, but the wrong presentation can make even the greatest idea fall flat, and sometimes that's what these early seasons sometimes feel like: smart writing and some great acting buried under a sea of surface mediocrity.

For an experiment, I tried to separate "Loud As A Whisper"'s concept from its execution. It's not a bad episode for that approach. "Whisper" is often painfully earnest in its philosophical meanderings, and it's nearly impossible to watch without snickering in places, but it's also thoughtful, sincere, and, if you can stop rolling your eyes long enough, inspiring. I'm not saying it's  successful  at those things, at least not completely. I am saying, though, that this is the kind of storytelling that will eventually develop into true greatness. Sort of like "We'll Always Have Paris." (Note to self: Try and come up with a different way to be optimistic for next week. They may be catching on how much of these reviews are copy and paste.)

The  Enterprise  is on transport duty, assigned with bringing a diplomat named Riva to Solais V to negotiate a peace between two warring factions. Riva is a really big deal, although no one seems to know much about him, except that he has a reputation for resolving seemingly irresolvable conflicts. While this mystery does give us a chance to figure out the situation at the same time as Picard and the others do, it's implausible. Riva's "secret" is so fundamental to his character, and so immediately obvious to anyone who meets him, that I can't believe it hadn't come up before. Like, I dunno, Starfleet saying, "Hey, could you go pick up this guy? Oh, and FYI, he's deaf, and he's got three friends who communicate for him." It's a small point, and I won't harp on it for much longer, but this sort of thing does damage to the show's universe, because in trying to oversell a twist, it undercuts continuity. In order for surprise situations to be be effective, we need to feel like the  Enterprise  crew generally knows what's going on. As it is, too often Picard seems to be wandering into someone else's play.

Right, Riva's "secret." It is, no denying it, goofy. Riva can't speak for himself (y'know, "deaf" doesn't automatically mean "mute"), so he's got two guys and a girl to do the work for him. Each member of the trio represents a specific element of Riva's personality. One guy's the thinker and artist, the other guy's the warrior and lover, and the woman is harmony and balance. (So, the two men are active, while the woman just sets a reasonable bedtime. Sounds fair to me!) Each can read Riva's thoughts, and which ever one is most indicative of his emotional state is the one who expresses those thoughts aloud. So if he's musing, it's the Dork, if he's horny, it's the Stud, and if he's, I dunno, in sort of a warm-milk-and-tedium mood, it's the Mom.

Troi calls this form of expression "elegant," which is one of the more ridiculous things she's said lately. It's certainly interesting, but there's no simplicity to it, and it's hard to imagine how such a system would develop naturally. Yet the concept is dramatically interesting for what it tells us about Riva's intentions, and just plausible enough that you could sort of see it working. It raises questions—how are the people chosen? Does he work with the same three all his life? Do they get time off when he's not on diplomatic missions, or is this a lifetime gig?—but leaving those questions unanswered means we've got less plotholes to worry about, and more encouragement to figure it out for ourselves. Also, it makes sense that this could help Riva make peace, because the communication is so striking and odd that it could serve as a distracting from heated emotions. In order to understand what was happening, the feuding parties would have to pay attention, and that's the first step towards a dialog.

Of course, in practice… Riva is immediately attracted to Troi, and she to him, so when he starts putting the moves on her it's supposed to be romantic. I think. It plays as creepy and overly forceful, possibly because there's something unpleasant about a large, full-bearded man staring at you with a smile that wonders if your empathy goes all the way up. The relationship becomes more palatable as the episode progresses, which is good because it's fairly important to the plot, but that initial vibe lingers, and I think that's because Riva's intentions are so blatant from the start. Whenever he "speaks" with Troi, it's the Stud who does the talking, and it's like they're ganging up on her. Things only really work once the Stud exits the room, and Riva starts speaking to Troi via sign language. At least then, they're equally matched.

Apparently the Solari agree with me, because when Riva and the Rivettes beam down for some negotiating madness, somebody shoots and kills the Rivettes. It's a really smart twist, too, the kind that in retrospect seems obvious (how else could they raise the stakes?) but comes as a shock at the time. Given the whole pastel-vibe, I hadn't been expecting this, and the deaths are appropriately disturbing, very quick, but you see skeletons and stuff. (Makes you wonder of the bad guy had stole a laser from a  Mars Attacks  Martian.) Riva's self-confidence is shattered, which means for the first time in the episode, it's possible to actually kind of like him, and Troi gets a chance to be active and tell Riva to man up. Oh, and Data learns sign language.

I don't precisely like "Whisper." There's that tone problem again, and Riva himself annoyed me, but once I was willing to look past my initial reservations, I can at least respect what I saw. Again, this episode is well-constructed, and lacks the egregious padding we've seen in some earlier first season work. We are presented with a scenario, we arrive at the scenario, the scenario becomes something else, and everything is resolved at the end. I'm not sure how well Riva's "I'm gonna teach them sign language!" plan would actually work, but I believe that it  could  work. Oh, and this is our second episode in a row where the guest star essentially does all the heavy lifting, story-wise. Troi gives a pep talk, but it's Riva who drives the action here, much like Okona did. That the show can do this, and not have the main crew seem like passive observers, is essential.

"The Schizoid Man"

It's becoming readily apparent this week that Data-centric episodes are much more difficult to pull off than I'd thought. "Elementary, Dear Data" was quite fun, although not entirely because of the android's presence, and "Okona"'s forgettable goofiness suffered whenever Data took central focus. "Schizoid" doesn't exactly deal with the Robo-Pinocchio's quest for real live boydom, but it does give Brent Spiner a chance to go over-the-top, and that's never good. He's supposed to be creepy here, at least, but the result is more cringe-inducing than suspenseful or thrilling, and we've got a climax that, while somewhat justifiable character-wise, comes to a conclusion that falls to pay off dramatically.

Ira Graves is a very smart man. He's so smart that he has a whole planet named after him, but now he's dying, which means his vast intellect isn't really much of a comfort anymore. (The smarter you are, the more difficult it becomes to lie to yourself that everything will work out okay.) When he gets his terminal diagnosis, he considers downloading all this knowledge into a computer, but with Data around, maybe there's a better option. Maybe he can put not just his brains but his heart into this Tin Man, live a second life, and get a chance to put the moves on the young hottie who he's been crushing on for years.

There are things to like here. After hearing the distress call from Gravesworld, the  Enterprise  also gets a call from a ship with a hull breach, and Picard is forced to decide between attempting a rescue for one of the great minds of the age, or addressing a more immediate, clear problem with a higher potential body count. What's cool here is that the problem isn't presented as a one or the other scenario. Writers often try and squeeze drama out of putting characters in situations with impossible choices: save A or save B, but you can't save both. It's a very powerful structure, and when it's done effectively, it can be pretty brilliant. (Recent last week's  Breaking Bad  for a complicated, but astonishingly rich example.) The problem is, those scenarios have to be earned. You can't cheat, since the entire point of the dilemma is its inexorableness. If an audience can easily see a third solution that solves both problems, the question falls apart. So here, instead of trying to manufacture false conflict, Picard and his crew find a reasonable answer to both distress calls. It requires a "near-warp transport," which is a neat sounding idea, and there's a little danger in it (Troi, who's never experienced it before, talks about how she thought she was beamed into a wall for a second), but everybody gets what they need.

We get a hot female Vulcan doctor, Lieutenant Selar, who Pulaski has "complete faith in." I'm not sure I agree. Her doctoring skills are passable, but she's not a very good actress, and has a tendency to overplay her condescending smiles. With Sela in the away team that beams down to see Graves is Worf, Data, and Troi. I don't really know why Troi is there. Given that the  Enterprise  was speeding off to rescue a ship with hundreds of potential casualties, you'd think her psychological gifts would've been better served at crowd control and handling a major crisis, rather than hanging out and getting leered at. (Admittedly, at this point in the show, that's kind of her thing. Every other episode it seems like somebody's trying to get in her uniform. I guess with Denise Crosby out of the picture, and with Pulaski as the doctor, Troi is stuck as the token hot chick.)

Graves is irascible and pissy, and pretty much exactly what you get if you tried to imagine "stereotypical super genius living in isolation with his hottie assistant." He's played by character actor William Morgan Sheppard, so at least the cliche is real enough that don't mind it so much. It's wonderful that, even with the attempts to raise the number of women in the regular cast,  TNG  is still sticking with the fifties stereotype of male mad scientists who get the job done despite the nattering of their loving but ineffectual female help. Well, not wonderful, actually. More like inane. Graves' co-worker, Kareen, is pretty and pleasant and terribly concerned, and Graves is in love with her. When Troi tells Kareen this—okay, hold up a second, did anyone on the writing staff ever take into consideration how insanely invasive Troi's empathy powers really were? Here she's revealing a long-hidden crush. In "Whisper," she badgers Worf about his frustration with Riva, despite Worf's clear unwillingness to discuss the issue. We've seen her bug Picard before, too. Look, being a person, or a sentient life-form, or whatever, means that you're going to feel things occasionally that you don't want other people to know about. What gives Troi the right to decide when and to whom to share that information with? She doesn't even take Worf aside to talk to him!

Ahem. Back on point. Kareen says maybe if Graves were younger, something might've happened between them, which is a lot less icky than her suddenly falling for the old bastard. Thankfully, there's ickiness to come, because once he realizes he can't escape his mortality, Grave downloads his essence into Data's positronic brain, and takes over. It's… I'm not really sure what it is, but I don't think it works. Data-Graves starts hitting on Kareen, he gives himself a hilariously unctuous eulogy, and then he gets really really pissed off at Picard. What's weird is how this all seems so  predictable . I've seen my share of movies and shows where good people go bad, and there's nothing unexpected about Data-Graves' actions, and nothing all that exciting. Despite the attempt to play things on the down-low, it's obvious early on what Graves has done, and that means there's no real stakes here. Data himself isn't in danger, and the damage he does is easily fixable. We don't really care enough about Graves to worry about the actions of his post-mortem avatar. So really, it's just a series of checklist scenes, until Picard tries to talk Data-Graves down.

We've got an episode coming up, "The Measure Of A Man," that calls into question Data's rights as a sentient being, and I'm hoping that'll deal with some of the potential fall-out from what we see here. If "Schizoid" can be used to try and prove that Data as a machine is a potential danger to those around him (he's more vulnerable to this sort of attack, and he's more physically powerful than organic folks), at least then it could've served some purpose. As is, it's not that fun to watch (although Sheppard's enjoyable), not that interesting, and way more uncomfortable than it really ought to be.

Stray Observations:

• "That's a joke. It's funny." No. Not really in any way, honestly.
• There are probably a lot of typos in this one—it's been a weird week, and the write-up was already late. Enjoy!
• So, ladies: just how dreamy  is  Okona? Be honest, and show your work.
• Guinan claims that laughing is "uniquely human." It is? 'Cause I'm pretty sure we've seen other species laughing. In fact, isn't Guinan herself another species?
• We get some rare over-acting from Patrick Stewart in "Whisper." His pep-talk to Riva, post-Rivettes, is really oversold.
• I really liked Picard's last scene with Troi in "Whisper," though. He thanks her for her work, and it's rather sweet.
• Graves' "If I Only Had A Heart" whistling would've been cooler if the episode hadn't gone out of its way to explain the reference. (And I really don't buy that Data wouldn't be familiar with it.)
• Wesley has become a standard feature of the bridge crew, and I gotta say, he's doing a decent job. I especially liked him mocking Data's eulogy in "Schizoid."
• I'm bowing to the will of the collective: from now on, the grade at the top of each recap will be the average of the three grades episodes.
• Next week, it's "Unnatural Selection," "A Matter Of Honor," and, whattaya know, "The Measure Of A Man."

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - S2E5 [VHS]

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Loud As A Whisper Stardate: 42477.2 Original Airdate: 9 Jan, 1989

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Howie Seago

Howie Seago ( born 15 December 1953 ; age 70) is the actor, director, and producer who played Riva in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second season episode " Loud As A Whisper ". Like his character, Seago is deaf.

Born as Howard W. Seago in Tacoma, Washington he joined the National Theatre of the Deaf and acted in various plays around the world including Peter Sellar's "Ajax" and David Byrne's "The Forrest". He also worked as an actor at the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Festival. Today Seago is a well known member of the American Deaf Community and is working as author and teacher.

Seago appeared in episodes of Hunter (1988, with Kavi Raz ) and The Equalizer (1990, with Keith Szarabajka ) and received international acknowledgements for his part in the German drama Beyond Silence in 1996 which earned several film awards and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998.

In 2008 Seago appeared in the short documentary The Deaf Man and portrayed Grandpa Dale in the family movie The Legend of the Mountain Man .

External links [ ]

• Howie Seago at Wikipedia
• Howie Seago at the Internet Movie Database
• Seago (as Riva) on the cover of Deaf Life , Issue #10 (April, 1989)
• 1 Daniels (Crewman)
• 2 USS Voyager (NCC-74656-A)
• 3 PRO Season 2