Editing Lonely Among Us

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{{Infobox television episode 
| image          = 
| caption        = 
| series         = [[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]
| season         = 1
| episode        = 7
| editor         = 
| production     = 108
| airdate        = {{Start date|1987|11|02}}
| teleplay       = [[D.C. Fontana]]
| story          = Michael Halperin
| director       = [[Cliff Bole]]
| photographer   = Edward R. Brown
| music          = [[Ron Jones (composer)|Ron Jones]]
| guests         = 
* [[John Durbin]] – Ssestar
* [[Colm Meaney]] – Transporter Chief
* [[Kavi Raz]] – Assistant Chief Engineer Singh
| prev           = [[Where No One Has Gone Before]]
| next           = [[Justice (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|Justice]]
| episode_list   = List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes
| season_article = Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1
}}
"'''Lonely Among Us'''" is the seventh episode of the American [[science fiction]] television series ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', which originally aired on November 2, 1987, in [[broadcast syndication]] in the [[United States]]. It was written by [[D. C. Fontana]], based on a story by Michael Halperin. It was the first episode of ''The Next Generation'' to be directed by [[Cliff Bole]].

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the   [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|Federation starship Enterprise-D]]. In this episode, as the ship is en route to an interplanetary conference with delegates from the Selay and Antican races on board, a non-corporeal alien entity takes possession of various ''Enterprise'' crew members, including Captain [[Jean-Luc Picard]] ([[Patrick Stewart]]).

This episode marked the first appearance of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' recurring cast member [[Marc Alaimo]] in a ''Star Trek'' series, as well as the second appearance of [[Colm Meaney]] who would later play ''The Next Generation'' and ''Deep Space Nine'' character [[Miles O'Brien (Star Trek)|Miles O'Brien]]. The Antican and Selay make-up was created by [[Michael Westmore]] from designs by [[Andrew Probert]]. Following the airing of the episode, fans wrote in to complain about a scene referencing [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]]. Reviews were mostly negative, with criticism directed at the writing in particular.

==Plot==
The [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|''Enterprise'']] is en route to the planet "Parliament" with delegates from two warring planets in the Beta Renner system, the reptilian Selay and the canine Antican, when the ship encounters a strange energy cloud. Unseen by the crew, Lt. [[Worf]] ([[Michael Dorn]]) is hit with a strange energy discharge as the ship passes the cloud, causing him to become violent. Doctor [[Beverly Crusher]] ([[Gates McFadden]]) sedates Worf and brings him to the [[sick bay]], but is also infused with the energy as she examines his body. Crusher begins to act oddly to those around her and goes to the bridge, asking questions about the ship's navigational functions. When she questions Lt. Cdr. [[Data (Star Trek)|Data]] ([[Brent Spiner]]) at one of the science stations, the energy sparks between her and the console, leaving her confused as to why she is on the bridge.

The ship suddenly begins to malfunction and Captain Picard sends Assistant Engineer Singh ([[Kavi Raz]]) to investigate the cause. Singh is later found dead near a computer link, and Picard orders a murder investigation, considering the alien delegates to be prime suspects. Data investigates the murder in the manner of fictional detective [[Sherlock Holmes]], and determines that the delegates were not responsible. Meanwhile, Counselor [[Deanna Troi]] ([[Marina Sirtis]]) uses hypnosis on both Worf and Crusher, finding that both recall being invaded by some entity during their blackouts. The ship suddenly drops again out of [[Technology in Star Trek#Warp drive|warp]], and as Picard investigates the readouts at a bridge console, the strange energy transfers into him. The bridge crew becomes suspicious of Picard's actions after noting that all ''Enterprise'' systems are back to normal and that Picard has ordered them to return to the cloud.

The senior officers attempt to plead with Picard to undergo a medical examination and to step down from command, but he refuses. When they return to the cloud, Picard announces that they had picked up an entity previously when they passed the cloud, and now Picard and the entity are one. Under its influence, Picard plans to [[transporter (Star Trek)|transport]] his energy back into the cloud, and he shoots energy at the bridge crew when they try to stop him. The crew are unable to prevent Picard from beaming off the ship. The crew spend hours trying to locate Picard to no avail, so they are forced to accept he is beyond recovery and prepare to leave.  However, Troi senses the Captain's essence nearby, and Picard manages to signal the crew through the ship's computers. Data is able to reverse the transport, reconstituting Picard without the entity. After determining that Picard is himself again, lacking the memories since he was taken over by the entity, the ''Enterprise'' continues on to Parliament.

==Production==
===Writing and casting===
[[image:Marc Alaimo (2).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Marc Alaimo made his ''Star Trek'' debut with "Lonely Among Us".]]
The original story by Michael Halperin contained a different subplot involving a problem with the [[Dilithium (Star Trek)|dilithium]] in the warp drive of the ''Enterprise''. The diplomatic conference was added by [[D.C. Fontana]] when it was developed into a teleplay.<ref name=nemecek39>[[#Nemecek2003|Nemecek (2003)]]: p. 39</ref> Fontana had previously worked on ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'', including the episode "[[Journey to Babel]]". "Lonely Among Us" was subsequently compared to "Journey to Babel", which Fontana denied, saying, "I wrote 'Journey to Babel' and I wrote this too, and I feel there is a difference. There's a definite delineation and separation here, both in intent and content."<ref name=gross159>[[#grossaltman1993|Gross; Altman (1993)]]: p. 159</ref> Director [[Cliff Bole]] did not recall much of the episode later, but did not think much of the script, saying "The subject matter affects the end product. There's some better written shows, obviously."<ref name=gross159/> It was the first episode of ''The Next Generation'' to be directed by Bole, who had previously worked on shows such as ''[[V (1984 TV series)|V]]'' and ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]''.<ref name=nemecek39/>

[[Colm Meaney]] made his second appearance in ''The Next Generation'' after he originally appeared in the pilot, "[[Encounter at Farpoint]]", as a conn ensign on the bridge. In this episode he played a security ensign, as it was not until season two that he began to play the recurring character of [[Miles O'Brien (Star Trek)|Miles O'Brien]], who would later become a series regular on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''. Another ''Deep Space Nine'' actor who made his first ''Trek'' appearance in this episode was [[Marc Alaimo]], who played an Antican who was unnamed on screen, but referred to in the script as Badar N'D'D.<ref name=nemecek39/> Alaimo went on to play several other roles in ''The Next Generation'' including as the [[Cardassian]] Gul Macet in "[[The Wounded (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|The Wounded]]",<ref name=nemecek39/><ref name=decandido>{{cite web|last=DeCandido|first=Keith|title=Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch: "Lonely Among Us"|url=https://www.tor.com/2011/05/26/star-trek-the-next-generation-rewatch-qlonely-among-usq/|publisher=Tor.com|date=May 26, 2011|access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref> before being cast as [[Dukat (Star Trek)|Gul Dukat]] in ''DS9''.<ref name=nemecek39/> [[John Durbin]] appeared as the Selay leader, and would also go on to appear as a Cardassian later in the series, as Gul Lemec in "[[Chain of Command (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|Chain of Command]]".<ref name=decandido/> Kavi Raz played Assistant Engineer Singh, although as he was unavailable for a re-shoot, in one scene he was replaced by a wig on a chair.<ref name=nemecek39/>

===Make-up and costuming===
The Selay and the Anticans were nicknamed the "snakes and the dogs" by the production staff.<ref name=westmore58>[[#westmorenazzaro1993|Westmore; Nazzaro (1993)]]: p. 58</ref> The designs were created by [[Andrew Probert]],<ref name=reeves50>[[#Reeves-Stevens1998|Reeves-Stevens (1998)]]: p. 54</ref> who had previously been responsible for the design of the ''Enterprise''-D.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fischer|first=Dennis|title=Designing the Enterprise|journal=The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine|date=April 1988|volume=4|pages=29–37}}</ref> The makeup used on them was created by supervisor [[Michael Westmore]], which involved full headpieces and hands for two Anticans and five Selays. Because of the limited space available, the Anticans were made internally in the Paramount makeup studio while the Selays were outsourced to a different studio to sculpt the head. Once completed, a mold was made of the Selay head and the unpainted pieces were cast in latex and sent to Westmore to complete. It was intended to cast them out of lightweight [[polyurethane]], but the first batch of Selay heads came out very heavy.<ref name=westmore58/>

Westmore had time to re-cast two of the heads from soft foam rubber, but as each took five hours to make, there was not enough time to re-make all five. The heavier versions of the Selay heads were worn by actors in the background of the scenes, although Westmore described them as being "very uncomfortable".<ref name=westmore58/> The Antican mask did not allow for any movement at all with the exception of the actors being able to poke their tongues through the mouth opening.<ref name=westmore58/> Although this is the only major appearance of either the Anticans or the Selay, they continued to be used as background extras in other episodes of ''The Next Generation'' and ''Deep Space Nine''.<ref name=nemecek39/> Westmore repainted the Selay masks prior to reusing them in order to give the scales more of a three-dimensional look.<ref name=westmore58/>

This was the first appearance of ''The Next Generation'' era [[Starfleet]] dress uniforms. They were based on those used by the [[Royal Navy]] in the 18th century but would be slightly altered when they re-appeared during season two. One piece of a costume introduced in this episode which never returned was the surgical cap and eyepiece worn by Doctor Crusher.<ref name=nemecek39/>

==Reception==
[[image:BrentSpinerAugust2005.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Brent Spiner received both positive and negative reviews for his Sherlock Holmes impression while portraying Data in this episode.]]
"Lonely Among Us" originally aired in [[broadcast syndication]] on November 2, 1987.<ref name=nemecek38>[[#Nemecek2003|Nemecek (2003)]]: p. 38</ref> It received a 12.1 rating, meaning that it was seen by 12.1 percent of all households. This was an increase from the previous week's "[[Where No One Has Gone Before]]" which received a rating of 10.5.<ref>{{cite web|title=Star Trek: The Next Generation Nielsen Ratings - Seasons 1-2|url=http://treknation.com/nielsens/tng/season12.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001005185203/http://treknation.com/nielsens/tng/season12.shtml|publisher=TrekNation|archive-date=October 5, 2000|access-date=March 31, 2013}}</ref>

Following the broadcast, the producers received a significant amount of mail from fans criticising the apparent [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] on the part of the Anticans in this episode.<ref name=nemecek39/> Several reviewers rewatched the episode following the end of the series. [[Keith DeCandido]] reviewed "Lonely Among Us" for [[Tor Books|Tor.com]] in May 2011. He gave it a score of three out of ten and was uninterested in the episode, finding the alien delegation subplot to be "mostly just silly", and the majority of the episode was a "weak-beer mystery that's mostly an excuse for Gates McFadden and Sir Patrick Stewart to act weird and for Brent Spiner to be a silly Sherlock".<ref name=decandido/> James Hunt thought that Spiner's Sherlock impression was "completely brilliant",<ref name=denofgeekreview>{{cite news|last=Hunt|first=James|title=Revisiting Star Trek TNG: Lonely Among Us|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/revisiting-star-trek-tng-lonely-among-us/|access-date=January 25, 2022|newspaper=Den of Geek|date=October 19, 2012}}</ref> in his review for ''[[Den of Geek]]'' in October 2012. He thought that the episode shared a lot with some of the [[Star Trek: The Original Series#Season 3 (1968–1969)|third season of ''The Original Series'']] episodes, saying, "By which I mean it looks cheap and appears to have been written by a child, in yellow crayon."<ref name=denofgeekreview/>

Cast member [[Wil Wheaton]] rewatched the episode for [[AOL TV]] in November 2006. He criticized the writing of Fontana in this episode, saying that around this time she appeared on a panel at a convention about how to solve "The [[Wesley Crusher|Wesley]] Problem", but when rewatching the episode he thought that "maybe instead of sitting on this panel and trashing me, D.C Fontana could have written intelligent dialogue for me and helped solve the 'Wesley problem' herself. I don't know, maybe she tried to do that and didn't get a lot of support from the rest of the producers and writing staff, but even I know of Dr. Channing's theory of not writing clichéd dialogue for kids in science fiction, and then blaming the actor who is forced to deliver it."<ref name="wheaton">{{cite web |last=Wheaton |first=Wil |author-link=Wil Wheaton |title=Star Trek: The Next Generation: Lonely Among Us|url=http://www.aoltv.com/2006/11/14/star-trek-the-next-generation-lonely-among-us/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831023403/http://www.aoltv.com/2006/11/14/star-trek-the-next-generation-lonely-among-us/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-08-31|publisher=AOL TV|date=November 14, 2006|access-date=March 7, 2013}}</ref> Overall he criticized the "very stiff" dialogue throughout the episode, and called the set-up "incredibly forced".<ref name="wheaton" /> He did highlight that Data acting out as Sherlock Holmes laid the foundation of future episodes which would expand on this.<ref name="wheaton" />

Zack Handlen reviewed the episode for ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' in April 2010. He too thought that the alien delegation subplot was poorly executed in a comedic fashion, and said that this "combined with the slow pace and a number of dialog scenes that can be charitably described as 'character development' (or more accurately as 'padding'), this is an unmemorable episode that shows a series still unsure of its greatest strengths." He gave the episode a grade of "C−".<ref name="avclub">{{cite news|last=Handlen|first=Zack|title="Where No One Has Gone Before"/"Lonely Among Us"/"Justice"|url=https://www.avclub.com/star-trek-the-next-generation-where-no-one-has-gone-1798164775|access-date=March 7, 2013|newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]]|date=April 16, 2010}}</ref>

==Home media release==
The first home media release of "Lonely Among Us" was on [[VHS]] cassette, appearing on April 1, 1992 in the United States and Canada.<ref>{{cite web|title=Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 8: Lonely Among Us [VHS]|url=http://www.tower.com/star-trek-next-generation-episode-8-patrick-stewart-vhs/wapi/109139367|publisher=Tower Video|access-date=April 13, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130630110126/http://www.tower.com/star-trek-next-generation-episode-8-patrick-stewart-vhs/wapi/109139367|archive-date=June 30, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The episode was later included on the ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' season one [[DVD]] box set, released in March 2002.<ref>{{cite news|last=Periguard|first=Mark A|title='Life as a House' rests on shaky foundation|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-84129654.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610075750/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-84129654.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|access-date=April 13, 2013|newspaper=The Boston Herald|date=March 24, 2002}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> The episode was released as part of the season one [[Blu-ray Disc|Blu-ray]] set on July&nbsp;24, 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last=Shaffer|first=RL|title=Star Trek: The Next Generation Beams to Blu-ray|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/04/30/star-trek-the-next-generation-beams-to-blu-ray|access-date=January 25, 2022|newspaper=IGN|date=April 30, 2012}}</ref>

Episodes from "Encounter at Farpoint" to "Datalore" were released in Japan on [[LaserDisc]] on June 10, 1995, as part of ''First Season Part.1''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=LaserDisc Database - Star Trek Next Generation: Log. 1: First Season Part.1 [PILF-2005]|url=https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/00117/PILF-2005/Star-Trek-Next-Generation:-Log.-1:-First-Season-Part.1|access-date=2021-02-18|website=www.lddb.com}}</ref> This included the first season episode "Lonely Among Us", and the box set has a total runtime of 638 minutes across multiple 12-inch optical video discs.<ref name=":2" />

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Gross|first=Edward|author2=Altman, Mark A. |title=Captain's Logs: The Complete Trek Voyages|year=1993|publisher=Boxtree|location=London|isbn=978-1-85283-899-7|ref=grossaltman1993}}
* {{cite book|last=Westmore|first=Michael G|author2=Nazzaro, Joe |title=Star Trek: The Next Generation Make-Up FX Journal|year=1993|publisher=Titan|location=London|isbn=978-1-85286-491-0|ref=westmorenazzaro1993}}
* {{cite book|last=Reeves-Stevens|first=Judith|author2=Reeves-Stevens, Garfield |title=Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Continuing Mission|year=1998|publisher=Pocket Books|location=New York|edition=2nd|isbn=978-0-671-02559-5|ref=Reeves-Stevens1998}}
* {{cite book|last=Nemecek|first=Larry|title=Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion|year=2003|edition=3rd|publisher=Pocket Books|location=New York|isbn=0-7434-5798-6|ref=Nemecek2003}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Speculative fiction|Television}}
{{wikiquote|Star Trek: The Next Generation#Lonely Among Us .5B1.7.5D|"Lonely Among Us"}}
* {{IMDb episode}}
* {{Memory Alpha|Lonely Among Us|"Lonely Among Us"}}

{{Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes|1}}

[[Category:Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 episodes]]
[[Category:1987 American television episodes]]
[[Category:Television episodes directed by Cliff Bole]]
[[Category:Television episodes written by D. C. Fontana]]