The Inner Light (TNG episode)
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"The Inner Light" is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, from its fifth season. It is the favorite episode of Wil Wheaton. In German-speaking countries, the title of this episode is "Das zweite Leben" ("The Second Life").
This episode won the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The award was given at the World Science Fiction Convention in San Francisco. "The Inner Light" was the first television program to be so honored since 1968's Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever".
In what is considered by fans to be the most touching of the episodes starring Jean-Luc Picard, the Enterprise-D is scanned by a space probe left behind by the people of a long-dead world, whose sun went supernova a thousand years or so prior.
When the ship is scanned, Picard is targeted and is rendered unconscious. During the half hour or so while he is unconscious on the bridge, he lives an entire simulated lifetime on the doomed world; he has a wife, children, a grandchild, and a place in the community, all while watching the planet slowly meet its fate. The purpose of the probe, we later learn, was to preserve the memory of the people and culture which once existed on the planet.
"The Inner Light" introduces us to Picard's beloved flute, which he learned to play during his life on the planet; the real flute is found inside the probe and Picard keeps it.