Who Watches the Watchers

In this episode, the Enterprise must undo the damage when a primitive civilization discovers a Federation observation team and concludes that the Starfleet personnel are gods.

When Chief Medical Officer Dr. Crusher rushes to provide aid, she realizes the injuries are too severe to treat at the scene and has him transported to the Enterprise for treatment despite the action violating the Prime Directive.

First Officer Riker suggests that he and Counselor Troi disguise themselves as Mintakans in order to search for Palmer, a missing member of the anthropological team, and to monitor Liko, to make sure the memory wipe worked.

Troi and Riker subtly try to dispel the myth of the Picard, which gains traction until a hunting party arrives with a delirious Palmer in tow.

He transports Nuria, the leader of the village where Troi is being held, to the Enterprise and attempts to show her that he and the rest of the crew are mortal, including having her witness the death of a crewman in Sickbay.

[2] In 2019, they suggested it was one of five episodes that had a higher degree of watch repeatability, and had a focus on the character Captain Picard (played by Patrick Stewart).

[3] WIRED magazine rated "Who Watches the Watchers" as one of the best of Star Trek: The Next Generation in a 2012 review, for what it called science fiction optimism.

[5] In 2021, Nerdist said this was one of the top ten Star Trek episodes with first alien contact, praising how the Enterprise D crew struggles with the prime directive as it becomes embroiled with an encounter with the pre-warp Mintakans.