One of the beautiful things about Star Trek: The Next Generation is that the character dramas on the ship are often more important than the planetary politics that are taking place outside of it. Case in point: the episode "Man of the People." When the transport ship carrying Ambassador Alkar (Chip Lucia) to peace negotiations on a turbulent planet is attacked, the Enterprise is called on to escort him. Once on the ship, the randy ambassador starts hitting on Counselor Troi, despite the protests of what looks to be his jealous mother. As it turns out, the reason he's such an effective negotiator is because he channels all of his negative, unproductive emotions into his partner, which causes her to age quickly and become cantankerous. When his "mother" dies, Troi becomes his next partner, but she starts aging really quickly, and gets really cantankerous in the process. Though his negotiations have been wildly successful, Picard and company decide Troi is more important than the shaky truce on the war-torn planet; so they cut him off from his repository of negative emotions, planet be damned! Though the arguments of the individual versus the masses are interesting, even more interesting is seeing Troi fully indulging in her id. --Andy Spletzer
