Cheap Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 117: The Outcast (Video) (Larry Shaw, David Carson, Gabrielle Beaumont, Timothy Bond, Kim Manners, LeVar Burton, Richard Compton, Jonathan West, Marvin V. Rush, Michael Vejar) Price

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Customer Reviews of Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 117: The Outcast

Commander Riker ends up working closely with Soren (Melinda Culea), a skilled J'naii pilot. Soren is very curious about species with gender, and asks Riker and others about the differences between their genders.

Geordi has to retrofit the exterior of one of the Enterprise's shuttles so that it will not lose power in null space while on their rescue mission. Riker and Soren work on adjustments on the inside of the shuttle when Soren drops a bombshell. She finds Riker attractive. Riker has felt there was something but had dismissed it. Soren shares that once in a while, a member of her species is born as a "throw-back" to when they once had gender - she is one of them, in this case, female.

Soren explains that in her culture, those with gender are perceived as less evolved and the concept of gender is even reviled. When one of them is "found out," they are forced to go through psycho-tectic "treatments" to remove all remnants of gender and to change their minds about their feelings

Riker falls for her - which reveals a new aspect to Riker's character. Everyone that Riker has had relationships with has been buxom and attractive. Soren is plain, flat-chested and has a chili-bowl haircut. Riker falls for her mind and her heart.

Soren, who has kept her secret hidden her entire life, makes an incredibly stupid error -she shares an intimate kiss with him on her own planet and is discovered by a suspicious J'naii who has been watching the two of them.

The story tries to get a little preachy during Soren's speech to the court that is deciding her fate, so it briefly loses its way as it tries to hard to push the point, as though the even most casual observer could not detect the underlying story.

In the end, however, this is a very memorable episode. We see Riker truly fall in love (not in lust) with someone who doesn't look like a jazz lounge singer or a cocktail bunny, and we see his heart get crushed and broken in two.

The Issue of Gender Indentity in the Star Trek Universe
The Enterprise is helping an androgynous race called the J'naii to search for a missing shuttle that apparently has disappeared into a region of null space. Commander Riker spends time aboard a shuttle with a J'naii named Soren, mapping the edges of the region. Soren finds Riker attractive, however there is a big time cultural taboo involved here. Soren explains that the J'naii sometimes have tendencies towards maleness or femaleness, but that their culture views this as deviance and subjects those individuals to psychotectic treatments to "cure" them. Because Soren is manifesting gender, she is arrested. Riker, of course, cannot tolerate the idea of Soren being cured.

The Star Trek universe rarely touches on the idea of sex in the future, but when it does try to deal with the issue it certainly does so in a provocative way. In "The Host" (Episode 97), Dr. Crusher fell in love with a Trill, not knowing that the object of her affection was a parasite that could start off in a male body and end up as a female by the end of the episode. In "The Outcast," Riker proves himself admirably more open minded in dealing with Soren, whose race is apparently structurally and functionally both male and female. Underlying their relationship is a standard Star Trek dilemma, that of respecting the cultural integrity of other beings whose views we do not want to accept in the present let along in the future. Given the current political subtext of the acceptance of homosexuals in American society, this is a remarkably even-handed episode that gives both sides their say. This is also one of those episodes that makes me realize how much I like the character of Riker, even though in many ways he is the least interesting character of the show since he is only the second in command, not an android, not telepathic, not Klingon, not a kid and not blind. Even with all these handicaps Will Riker is a fully fleshed out character.

Bigotry Lost
This episode not only contained metaphoric references that I am still pondering, but it did much to assist me in my quest to understand relationships other than heterosexual. It has compelled me to be more open-minded and sensitive to all levels of love, regardless of gender. Intensely powerful, moving, and insightful wisdom I have gleaned from "The Outcast." It's a mover and shaker, a real "sleeper" of a movie.