So Entertainment Earth recently posted for sale a prop replica of the Ressikan Flute from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, specifically the episode, THE INNER LIGHT (season 5, episode 25), and I was instantly reminded of how much I loved this episode.
A little refresher for all you Trekkies, here’s the flute:
Now for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about when I mention THE INNER LIGHT, well… SHAME ON YOU! Haha. But be warned, gonna get into “spoiler” territory here.
But this episode was by far my favorite of the series. It was just so engaging at a human level, it still resonates with me today. Like I said, gonna get into spoiler territory, essentially the Enterprise encounters this archaic probe on their travels, and all of a sudden links with Picard, and transports him at a mental state into a new world.
Of course, at the outset, he believes he’s been kidnapped. But he ends up living a life time in this world. Falling in love, having children, losing loved ones… then, all of a sudden he’s pulled out of it by the efforts of his crew to sever the link to save their Captain.
And as Picard lived a lifetime in this world, becoming part of their culture, he was only under for like an hour. And definitely experiencing a lifetime, and all that would entail, only to return to the world you remember… it can be quite jarring.
But we learn in the episode, that this world, their Sun was going to go supernova, and ultimately destroying their world. Though they were not advanced enough for space travel, they were advanced enough to send a probe, programmed to share their world, their way of life, so they weren’t forgotten.
And that’s just such a powerful idea to me.
But where does the flute come into play? Well, it plays such a huge part in the Ressikan culture. One Picard struggles to play at first. But learns through the lifetime he spent there. And when Picard came out of the link, the probe was brought into a shuttle bay, and the crew finds the flute inside. A tangible memory from a life lived virtually. Like a dream becoming real.
The episode ends with Picard in his quarters playing a Ressikan tune. And it definitely leaves you with all the feels.
And seeing this prop replica for sale, much like Picard being presented with the flute at the end of the episode, definitely brought back memories, and giving something tangible that was experienced virtually, or in this case, television.
When I saw this, I just wanted to share that memory. Not gonna lie, if I had the coin, I’d be pre-ordering it now! Haha. But look like I’ll settle on firing up TNG on Netflix. Haha.