Captain Picard (Kamin) Watching the launching of the probe that finds him in the future

Star Trek The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 25 The Inner Light

[@its_Jere]

one of the most beautiful episodes of star trek

[@mikebasil4832]

One of the most beautiful indeed.

[@chucksimonton2969]

Yes. Achingly poignant.

[@billc6087]

Absolutely, one of my all time favorites.

[@Tim_Takacs]

how does it end?

[@amramjose]

One that makes me cry every time...

[@larrywalsh9939]

What I loved about this episode was that there was not grandiosity in their aims - they didn't send the probe out to save themselves or get rescued, they didn't send it out as a message like "We were great, observe how great we were" - it was just a humble "We existed, please know who we were." There's something very beautiful in that.

[@larrywalsh9939]

@@SelfEvident it’s not vainglory as they didn’t glorify themselves at all - they simply showed “this is who we were”. Nor does it equate to something as vapid as people posting pictures of their meals - that is sharing empty, pointless, trivial information. “We would like for someone to remember who we were” is far from trivial.

[@robertfindley921]

The best Star Trek Next Generation episode, and perhaps the best Star Trek episode of any series. Masterfully written and acted.

[@carolinehirst4921]

Hard to say it is the best as there has been some great episodes like Conspiracy / Q Who? / The Survivors / Yesterday’s Enterprise / The Best of Both Worlds / The Wounded / The Drumhead / Relics / Schisms / Chain of Command / Face of the Enemy / Tapestry / Frame of Mind / Parallels / Lower Decks / Journey’s End / Preemptive Strike. They are all great for differing reasons and to compare episodes is unfair.

[@dianecummings7922]

I absolutely agree. One of my favorites.

[@mhughes1160]

Peter Griffin family guy on family feud answer Picard’s. flute 🪈 LoL 😂

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

And it was one of the first (or actually the first) episode submitted by someone from outside, not one of the writers for the show.

[@RamblingRodeo]

Indeed, such a GREAT episode, yes one of the BEST Episodes EVER.

[@staceyknoell6339]

When he's back on his ship and Riker brings him the flute...he holds it to his chest...I couldn't help but cry.

[@spud13x13]

One of the most poignant and beautiful moments I've ever seen on film.

[@KevinSchwinkendorf]

Me too - what a heart wrenching moment ❤

[@jjhpor]

And for the rest of the series he would periodically be seen playing that flute in his office. I don't rememeber if it ever appeared in the movies.

[@igorschmidlapp6987]

The idea that Picard "lives" one lifetime in 25 minutes, then gets to experience the rest of his own lifetime is mind-blowing. Just the thought is amazing...

[@eliseives9574]

Agreed. Storylines like these are the reason Star Trek is amazing.

[@victorpradha9946]

The notion that a long dead civilization without the capacity for space travel to escape their sun going supernovae striving in someway to capture the essence of who they were and have that be passed on, so as to be remembered, is hauntingly beautiful and heart-wrenching.

[@chrisd1746]

And then it's right back to work as a full time starship captain again. He could have at least taken a few months off to meet with historians and sociologists to try to document as much of the culture he's now the lone vessel of as possible. But nope, he's just his old self again, but this time with a flute.

[@healthandsurvival4461]

This episode and the DS9 episode Hard Time with O'Brien are my favorite episodes. Both really hit hard

[@RamblingRodeo]

Oh yeah, what a wonderful episode.

[@schrodingerscat1863]

This was Star Trek at its absolute best, such a great episode.

[@pumelo1]

seek out new lifeforms and new civilizations to boudly go where no man /noone/ has gone before💯❤

[@magsteel9891]

I thought it was heartbreaking. Lost his entire family in a flash

[@temptemp-cu4cq]

I like the one where the Q like being kills an entire alien race because they kill his human wife.

[@kbanghart]

​@@magsteel9891 and then reset back to his "real" life. Damn

[@tanman99]

THE greatest hour of television IMO. The story transcends Star Trek. You don’t have to have watched a single minute of Trek to love and appreciate this episode.

[@sammencia7945]

It helps to know that Picard set aside family for his SF career.

[@ohger1]

They got this right - Captain Picard lives a complete lifetime in 20 minutes, and when he "returns" to the Enterprise, struggles a bit to remember the ship and personnel he last "saw" some 70 years earlier. Brilliant writing.

[@russbilzing5348]

Beyond all the other wonderful scenes, I hold most dear the one at the end where he is alone playing his piccolo/whistle, re-experiencing the love and togetherness of his lost and imaginary 'past'. To have loved and lost is heartbreaking. To have loved and raised a family and lost them all, is of a magnitude far beyond. To be the living forebear of a handful of ashes and dust...😭

[@jackheslin5237]

Was his past "imaginary"? Well . . . yes . . . and . . . maybe not.

[@sigh2say]

Having Asperger's I'm anything but emotional, generally. The melody Picard plays on the flute at the end is one of very few things that brings a tear to my eye, even just thinking about it.

[@wilsonle61]

And he gets to see his wife one last time. Heart-wrenching!

[@russbilzing5348]

@@jackheslin5237 Do our hearts not try to protect us by tinting and fading the pain of loss? Is not the loss of that pain more painful, then?

[@russbilzing5348]

@@sigh2say

[@TD_JR]

One of the greatest 45 minutes of Sci-Fi ... real Science Fiction... ever aired on TV. This whole episode is the pinnacle of all that is Star Trek.

[@sandal_thong8631]

Perhaps comparable to _The City on the Edge of Forever._

[@adamdresch]

Even after all these years, this episode, especially this scene, still gives me goosebumps.

[@gawainethefirst]

And that sad flute solo at the end…😢

[@SRQGuitarGuy]

Not just THE Best Star Trek TNG episode, but one of the best TV episodes period. This is what entertainment was meant to be. Perfect from start to finish when Captain Picard picks up the flute and plays it...

[@zog382]

I miss this Star Trek so much, I am afraid it will never be this good again.

[@April-dv2pb]

I agree with you.

[@davidmitchell4299]

This scene always brings a tear to my eye.

[@tanman99]

Kind of like Kirk’s speech commemorating the launch of the Enterprise B?

[@robhaskins]

me too. I'm tearing up and I've seen it so many time.

[@noreligion2]

i WAS THINKING THE SAME THING!!! Thank You for posting those words.!!!

[@richardbradley2802]

I am not prone to crying at television programmes, but this episode managed it.

[@spsniper1170]

Every single time...

[@excrono]

The final lesson the Kattarian probe taught is that our ideas and experience may not be fulfilled within our natural lives, but will live on in others.

[@Dej24601]

Yes, quality of life is not measured in quantity of years.

[@josenavas9968]

Indeed, it is a very well written script. Thanks to you for high lighting the meaning.

[@zvimur]

Story won 1993(?) Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

[@AndyHoward]

Yes 1993 Hugo Award (Memory Alpha Wiki)

[@stevendavis1243]

I did not know that. Although I'm not surprised.

[@OptimusWombat]

Well deserved.

[@CVSoprano]

"All Good Things..." would also win two years later. Television series winning this category was an uncommon thing - films usually won the award. It was split into long form and short form categories in 2003.

[@pac1fic055]

I didn’t know.

[@barnabyallen5796]

The best episode of any Star Trek series. Ever.

[@robhaskins]

as heartbreaking to me now as it was when I first saw it. "Tell them of us, my darling."

[@ritzg98]

Heartbreaking and poignant. These actors were amazing, as was the writing. Brings tears to my eyes even watching it more than 30 years after it first aired.

[@chadley25]

The emotional reveal never fails to move me. Such a beautiful, wrenching story, and Patrick Stewart and Margot Rose (Eline) both just knocked it out of the park. Even Richard Riehl (Batai) brought his A-game, especially in this scene. Amazing.

[@stabbb1299]

By far in my opinion the best episode of the entire series. Watching Picard go through an entire life and raise a family through the probes influence was an incredible story and the ending actually made me quite emotional to realize that all those people in his manufactured life had been dead and gone a thousand years. As usual, Stewart portrayed the role perfectly.

[@harrypalmer4857]

Patrick Stewart is brilliant. Listen to his autobiography on Audible. A nice man.

[@user-pg2kj7ps7o]

Star treks finest . The inner light is the most perfect and profound hour of television ever produced.

[@avengermkii7872]

No matter how many times I rewatch this, it will always make me tear up.

[@rubiks6]

A heart-wrenching, wonderful episode. The best.

[@andrewwaldock]

My favorite episode of my favorite show. This moment always makes me quietly weep.

[@andrewroberts7428]

so beautiful, powerful and affecting. the inclusion of the flute as a plot device, as a skill he could only master while consciously experiencing the requisite length of time to master the instrument, was brilliant. his experience may have only lasted for 25 minutes, but the fact he retains his knowledge of the instrument is a wonderful aspect of the story.

[@scopex2749]

My favourite episode very emotional. This and 'Darmok' another superb episode.😢😭 INCREDIBLE writing and imagination.

[@tanman99]

I think one of the reasons why this resonates so well is we’ve all kind of experienced this. We’ve all woken up from a dream that has felt so real. Like living a different life. Waking up feels like ripping ourselves away from a life we love as it dissolves away revealing our real life.

[@bryancash9051]

thats a great point and oddly enough I just had that exact feeling an hour ago after waking up from a dream, it was soo real and I can describe everything about the people around me and how I looked and where I was, but then I wake and its all gone. And I liked this dream, I like who I was in it. Sad to not be that sometimes

[@williamhickock1203]

probably the single best science fiction story every told... from ANY genre....

[@peterzavon3012]

Really? Have you ever read Nightfall, by Asimov?

[@williamhickock1203]

@@peterzavon3012 yes... an amazing story. obviously my opinion is subjective, but I stand by it.

[@windfire5380]

Wow, a reminder of what good science fiction was like. Creative. Meaningful. No agenda other than entertainment and memorable stories.

[@genem2768]

A physicist and a phycologist could team up and do an entire semester just on this episode. One of the most mind bending and thought provoking episodes of any TV series I've seen.

[@Beachdudeca]

One of the most heartwarming episodes , I had thought this episode would have been the catalyst for Picard embracing a family

[@BarryH1701]

Absolutely one of the best episodes across ALL incarnations of Star Trek. This episode is a gem!

[@zvimur]

And now that story (hopefully) lives in us.

[@jaydenvengeance]

And yet here we are, pedal to the floor, accelerating towards climate collapse.

[@Catmom-gl5nt]

You do realize the climate on this planet’s only consistency is one of constant change, don’t you? Oxygen was a toxic gas when plants first produced it. Central California, now one of the richest agricultural producers in the world, was a barren wasteland of attic tundra 20,000 years ago. The Sahara desert was a lush jungle and the arctic was once lush and fertile. More greenhouse gases are released in one volcano eruption than in all of manmade industry. It is the height of hubris to think we can strongly effect a billion year old system, short of nuclear war.

[@user-ju7nv4iy6b]

Inner Light. Top five, maybe top 3 or 2. What a wonderful series that was.

[@richardcoughlin8931]

I will watch this episode again for the second time in many years. It is one that stayed with me.

[@philkakid5617]

I had to go back and watch the full episode. Oh, my, the tears flowed. Such a tender and touching episode. Thank you for reminding me of how good Patrick Stewart was as Picard.

[@felgercarbful]

Still makes me cry, more than 30 years later.

[@SvanTowerMan]

This is my mom's second favorite episode of TNG, which I can understand due to its existential and thought-provoking nature.

[@DennisKovacich]

What’s her first favorite?

[@SvanTowerMan]

@@DennisKovacich The Best of Both Worlds.

[@ssleroychannel]

Data’s daughter episode was also memorable and poignant…

[@DennisKovacich]

@@ssleroychannel, I especially liked Vice Admiral Haftel’s description of Data trying to save Lal: "There was nothing anyone could have done. We'd repolarize one pathway and another would collapse. And then another. His hands were moving faster than I could see, trying to stay ahead of each breakdown. He refused to give up. He was remarkable. It just wasn't meant to be."

[@juliesykes6121]

Best episode of Star Trek TNG.

[@thomassmith6232]

Heartbreaking and inspirational. I wish that they would have hearkened back to this episode, and referenced that Picard had told these people's story.

[@CVSoprano]

There is a later episode where the flute and "the tune" are revisited (season 6, episode 19: "Lessons") kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWXckKKNd86qd9E

[@lylek8933]

This was one of my top 5 episodes of STTNG. The music was awesome and the story line extremely moving. :)

[@DennisKovacich]

Well, the music wasn’t that great when he was first learning how to play that flute. 😜

[@7horsefan970]

In one of the scenes that follows, when Ryker comes into his ready room to give him the flute, he presents it to him like it is something sacred. Very subtle notes in Frakes’ performance. The whole episode was just brilliant!

[@luisderivas6005]

Not only is this the most memorable and beautifully written an executed episode, but it also set the stage for Picard and Commander Nella Daren playing a Duet on the Ressikan Flute and Roll-up Piano. The flute is a sad portend in both episodes which end in heart ache and melancholy; a reminder that as with life, some time too, the tune will end.

[@stanmo4331]

One of the best episodes in any of the Star Trek variations... tragic and rejuvenating all in one.

[@michaelw9780]

This episode is on par with TOS "City on the Edge of Forever" as a very powerful story!

[@robrussell5329]

Agree totally. City on the Edge of Forever holds a special place for me. This episode is second.

[@TomPauls007]

One of my top 5 TNGs. Just wonderful. His whistle comes back later.

[@Lightrunner.]

One of the best warm heart filling storys ever🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@erictaylor5462]

You actually experience 3 deaths. First is your personal death, the point where your body stops being alive. Then there is the death of the last person who knew you personally. Finally is the destruction of any record that you had once lived. Only when this 3rd death takes place, this last bit of evidence that you had once existed are you ever truly gone.

[@andrewroberts7428]

i will remember you

[@josephstevens9888]

Interesting....

[@eggchipsnbeans]

Quite wonderful.

[@spud13x13]

I can't even watch this one little clip without sobbing, all these years later.

[@barsoom43]

Of all the Star Trek episodes, this was my favorite.

[@JohnBrown-no4od]

This could have been such a profoundly transformative episode for Capt. Picard. So transformative, that it could have changed his ENTIRE character. But instead, it was almost like it never happened. The only thing remaining, really, was that damned flute.

[@gameburn178]

Yes, either he realized it was just a "story" and resented being manipulated like this, or -- and much more likely -- he would have carried these people with him forever, talking about them often, even telling new potential partners about his remarkable wife, long lost to him.

[@dhabu9017]

I agree it could - probably would - have been more transformative, but it is referred to later in the show, just once that I recall: There's a later episode where Picard gets romantically involved with a visiting ambassador or scientist or something, and they go into the Jeffries tubes and play the song from this episode together. She asks him about the whistle and he gets a haunted look and says "...it's very old".

[@whiplashfatigue1430]

He later proceeds to tell the scientist (a Starfleet officer under his command) about how he lived a lifetime in 20 minutes that felt just as real as the one he was living now.

[@ladyDelilah84]

It's just so funny it's his real son but so many people don't notice or claim and his grand son

[@5thGenNativeTexan]

I knew about his son, Daniel Stewart, in the episode, but which is his grandson?

[@ladyDelilah84]

@@5thGenNativeTexan the little kid is he is playing at the beginning of this section

[@severussnap4373]

the most beautifully written and most awesomely touching episode of tng . and when picard and Lt .darren (in a later episode) get close and he plays his flute it all comes rushing back .

[@maureentuohy8672]

I am a dyed in the wool TOS fan but this episode of TNG may be the most powerful episodes in all of Trek. And its music is the most beautiful. ❤

[@MyLateralThawts]

Sequel: Picard uses the Guardian of Forever to visit the family he never had …and ends up saving their civilization.

[@donalddixon6541]

I was thinking the exact same thing, hopefully a future ST episode....

[@qonos68]

That would create quite a paradox... better not messing up the timeline further...

[@jime6688]

Beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.

[@cristiewentz8586]

Just that much makes me cry...such a wonderful story

[@Paranormalin416]

Never thought I’d cry watching Star Trek TNG, until this episode.

[@tanman99]

There are a few episodes. DS9’s The Visitor and It’s Only a Paper Moon really make me tear up.

[@dilbertjunkmail]

The beauty of this episode is it gave Picard the family experience he never really had. Plus he kept his ability to play the flute!

[@swpowell1226]

My favorite episode of any Star Trek series.

[@KevinSchwinkendorf]

I taped this episode when it was first broadcast. Even now, this short clip brings back the whole episode, and tears to my eyes - and I'm a 65 year old man. Absolutely beautiful episode ❤

[@JDzAlive]

The scene where he is brought the flute, how he clasps it to his chest….😢

[@hertor8803]

And the look he gives Riker and Rikers understanding to leave him alone without a word. It's beautiful simplstic writing masterfully acted.

[@nsbd90now]

Easily one of the most poignant Star Trek episodes ever. Just this clip can still bring tears.

[@Gwalchgwyn]

This is one of a very, very few episodes that genuinely touched me. Masterful, heart-wrenching storytelling.

[@jjhpor]

After all these years I still think about this episode. All of "The Next Generation" was terrific; the writing, the acting, the humanity of the values expressed by the story lines. This particular episode was the very best of the best.

[@Lokidog1]

This is one episode I always remember - so bittersweet. What an amazing story, credit to the writers...

[@ursamajor7468]

There was a depth and heart to several of The Next Generation's episodes that was uniquely beautiful, heartwarming and heartbreaking. Like a great book, you never wanted it to end. This is of that kind. Stunning, absolutely stunning.

[@lgrizzly]

I wrote to the author of this episode. They really wanted there to be a sequel. In fact they wrote a comic that picks up afterward showing how much this changed Picard. When you think about it it would be pretty life changing.

[@MasterJediDude]

This is why Star Trek Discovery will never touch the level of writing that The Next Generation brought to us.

[@brokenrecord3523]

That kid is amazing. Laughing and giggling with the Cryptkeeper crawling all over him.

[@michaelmeyerson5051]

One of the best Star Trek , or any show, ever

[@AngriestAmerican]

One can not help but feel a sadness, a loss of some dimension, of not having known such people. How many people have lived on Earth and have since disappeared, and no one knows.

[@mikebasil4832]

Such a lovely episode for Jean-Luc Picard. 👍🏻🖖🏻💓

[@craigpierce7996]

I cried watching this live at the time! A brilliant story and so well acted.

[@pystryker]

There's never been a better written, nor well acted Star Trek episode in any of the series. This was beautiful.

[@Jamie_Elizabeth192]

This is by far the most touching of star treks. Patrick Stewart is at his best. Just this small bit made me cry. When I see the whole episode, I cry all the way through. Maybe Nora Roberts wrote it.

[@vbboyd]

By far and away this was my favorite Star Trek the Next Generation Episode. Loved it.

[@stratfordbaby]

They better have earned an Emmy for this episode. This is beyond art.

[@chadley25]

It did win the sci-fi equivalent in 1993, the Hugo Award.

[@robertgolden1080]

Season 5 episode 25. My favorite STNG episode. Thanks for sharing.

[@VinciGlassArt]

This was always my favorite episode back in the day, as a teenager. Now as a 50 something, who remembers lost loved ones, it really hits hard. Wonderful story telling.

[@letstrypeace]

My favorite episode of any Star Trek series ever.

[@paulpace9237]

Best episode ever.

[@yell0678]

Captain Picard got the family life he could not get otherwise

[@BoloBouncer]

"In whatever strange place you find yourself, make that your home." - Life on Mars (US)

[@GrantOakes]

"The Inner Light", by far, the BEST, single TNG episode of all time! I still get emotional every time I see that scene! What makes this such a poignant episode is how Picard got to experience something he never had in his Star Fleet life, a simple life, wife, children, grandchildren. And Patrick Stewart's acting was brilliant!

[@guslakis]

It all felt very real to him, he loved his family, he missed them even though it was just in his mind.

[@KenMaerran]

The thing about this episode was it also gave Picard a chance to see what a life with a family would have been like. To its fullest. Something he wouldn’t really get to have…

[@donelson52]

The single most beautiful episode in all of science fiction ❤️

[@anouar97]

Not only the best episode from STNG also emotional 😢 with a message that is most actual.

[@OllertonMD]

by far my favorite and one of the most profound star trek episodes. The idea that Picard lived and entire lifetime in his head and then was expected to just "wake up" and go about his old life like nothing had happened, is crazy. I know you see the flute in other episodes but I wish they had tied in this episode into Picards psychology and character development more in future episodes.

[@davidborrink137]

I remember this one was in the top 5 "viewers choice" five-hour marathon that was shown around the time at the end of the TNG series run. Well deserved nod from the fans to put it there.

[@broncoguy4862]

Along with Relics, Yesterday's Enterprise and Best of Both Worlds?

[@ckimlemieux8409]

One of the few episodes that I will watch every time it comes on.

[@craigdoon]

My favourite episode of the entire Generations series. So profound, and so very moving on many levels.

[@morebasheder]

Favourite episode by far. It's amazing. So full of empathy and pathos. Beautiful

[@spsniper1170]

The best..and certainly one of the best episodes ever..it always makes me cry...

[@jmace1957]

My favorite episode. Very moving.

[@sergie2822]

This was one of my most memorable star trek TNG episodes growing up.

[@kris10957]

This is THE BEST episode i ever watched. I can not forget this episode. The song also written beautifully. BRAVO

[@tiffanybatcheller-harris522]

Totally love the flute scenes, especially after Picard plays the flute for the first time after receiving it. 🥰

[@elessarsgirl4883]

My favorite episode of Star Trek. Of all time. Thank you for uploading this.