Up the Long Ladder
- Episode aired May 20, 1989
- TV-PG
- 45m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
An antiquated distress signal leads to two lost 22nd century Earth colonies, each facing doom in different ways, one by fire, the other by prolonged cloning.An antiquated distress signal leads to two lost 22nd century Earth colonies, each facing doom in different ways, one by fire, the other by prolonged cloning.An antiquated distress signal leads to two lost 22nd century Earth colonies, each facing doom in different ways, one by fire, the other by prolonged cloning.
Wil Wheaton
- Wesley Crusher
- (credit only)
Jon DeVries
- Prime Minister Granger
- (as Jon de Vries)
Majel Barrett
- Enterprise Computer
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Dexter Clay
- Operations Division Officer
- (uncredited)
Tim McCormack
- Ensign Bennett
- (uncredited)
Richard Sarstedt
- Command Division Officer
- (uncredited)
Lainie Sims
- Bringloidi Colonist
- (uncredited)
Michael Stanhope
- Bringloidi Colonist
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhile filming the scene where Picard, Riker and Worf investigate the fire in the cargo bay set by the Irish settlers so they could cook, Patrick Stewart found the dialogue so hilarious that he started laughing uncontrollably, and forced himself to turn his back to the camera to continue. With cameras still rolling, Jonathan Frakes approached him in-character as Riker, and Stewart, still laughing, turned back around and improvised the line about bowing to the absurd.
- GoofsIf the Bringloidi have a primitive agrarian culture complete with spinning wheels and domesticated animals, they would appear not to be able to send a distress call to Earth; however, this is a way of life by choice. As their ancestors launched from Earth in 2123, together with the technologically versed Mariposan colonists, it stands to reason that they would at least have had or borrowed a distress beacon for the event of an emergency.
- Quotes
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Sometimes, Number One... you just have to... bow to the absurd.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Shades of Gray (1989)
- SoundtracksStar Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage
Featured review
Accommodating, the name of the game.
This TNG episode had many amusing moments in it as the Enterprise answers an
old fashioned earth distress call in an area of space where it was thought noi earth colonies were established.
The first colony was one that followed a back to basics simple life style and it's led by a man who swallowed the Blarney Stone, Barrie Ingham. The colony is whisked by transport before a solar flare wipes them out. From Ingham, Patrick Stewart learns of another colony from earth in the same part of space.
This colony is headed by Jon DeVries and it ;lost most of its members when their ship crashed. They have survived by cloning, a practice that Dr. Pulaski says is bad in the long run. This colony is in need badly of an infusion in its gene pool. In fact they steal DNA from Jonathan Frakes and Diana Muildaur.
It's up to Patrick Stewart to reach an accommodation and what he does is most agreeable to Inham's group and accepted reluctantly by the DeVries group.
Ingham and his Irish brood are really scene stealers here.
The first colony was one that followed a back to basics simple life style and it's led by a man who swallowed the Blarney Stone, Barrie Ingham. The colony is whisked by transport before a solar flare wipes them out. From Ingham, Patrick Stewart learns of another colony from earth in the same part of space.
This colony is headed by Jon DeVries and it ;lost most of its members when their ship crashed. They have survived by cloning, a practice that Dr. Pulaski says is bad in the long run. This colony is in need badly of an infusion in its gene pool. In fact they steal DNA from Jonathan Frakes and Diana Muildaur.
It's up to Patrick Stewart to reach an accommodation and what he does is most agreeable to Inham's group and accepted reluctantly by the DeVries group.
Ingham and his Irish brood are really scene stealers here.
helpful•52
- bkoganbing
- May 19, 2020
Details
- Runtime45 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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