Star Trek (TNG): Tin Man

[PapaPalpatine]

The most glaring flaw with this episode for me is they didn't really give us a reason to care what became of Tam. The fact he was an old friend of Troi's just isn't enough to make up for him being a dick and having a profound lack of common sense. If he had even a tiny spark of something that made him likeable, the episode might have actually been something more than just OK.

[RobbyB1982]

I have to wonder if the whole Dominion capturing Betazed in DS9 was some cruel joke on the part of the writers on an obnoxious race, along the lines of Seven in VOY staing that the Kazon aren't worthy of being assimilated.

I think it was more to throw out a name we'd potentially recognize or care about, since after all, Batazed was the race of one of the main characters in TNG for 7 years. Its a planet you can actually identify and think of without it being one of the major ones like Vulcan, Cardassia, Earth, Bajor or the unpronounceable Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS.

It gets more of a reaction than if youd said, say, "The Dominion has captured Ghorusda" or "They have attacked Ronara Prime !" or Ja'quuse or Forlat III which are such one offs you'd have to check a wiki to see what they were or if I just made them up. Using some other known lesser species like say, the Andorians or green Orion slave girls doesn't really work either because we don't see them much and wouldn't know their homeworld offhand.