It seems pretty cute now to think about those first dozen or so episodes of
The Next Generation. Laboring to establish its own identity and figure out who its characters were, the young series occasionally stumbled into various retro-cliches from hokey, sci-fi B movies. The hardbody paradise of the planet Rubicun III in "Justice" is one example: the peaceful sensualists (known as the Edo) living there are interested only in, uh, pleasure. But when Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) violates an arcane law and is sentenced to death, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is faced with a conflict over following the Prime Directive or saving the boy.
The evolution of this story is almost bizarre. Beginning with a script by John D.F. Black set on a colony called Llarof, the drama concerned Enterprise personnel caught up in the colonists' antiquated and unjust infliction of instant punishment. The Prime Directive became Picard's barrier to helping the planet's progressives change things. In any case, Gene Roddenberry and writer Worley Thorne did a radical rewrite, perhaps pulling a convenient element or two out of the classic Trek playbook by inventing the sex-obsessed Edo. Still, Stewart and his co-stars leave their imprint on the episode, and the ethical struggle to balance Federation duties with higher obligations--a struggle that helped define TNG--has its roots here. --Tom Keogh
