was disappointed with the result as he felt he could have created a better episode. The creation of Gomtuu required work across several different departments on the series. Rick Sternbach and Greg Jein's design for the external appearance of Gomtuu was inspired by the thermal pods in the 1984 science fiction film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. The special effect in which a chair was formed on the creature's bridge was created by visual effects supervisor Robert Legato, who created a wax chair and melted it, then played it backwards in reverse motion for the effects shot. The interior sound of Gomtuu was a recording of sound editor James Wolvington's stomach through a stethoscope. Furthermore, the musical score for the episode was a Star Trek debut for Jay Chattaway, who from towards the end of the fourth season onwards would begin to alternate work on episodes with Dennis McCarthy. Reception Broadcast "Tin Man" aired in broadcast syndication during the week commencing April 23, 1990. It received Nielsen ratings of 10.2, reflecting the percentage of all households watching the episode during its timeslot. This placed it as the third highest viewed syndicated show of the week, but saw a decrease from the 11.7 percent who watched the previous first run episode, "Captain's Holiday". But, it was seen by more viewers than the following episode, "Hollow Pursuits", which received a Nielsen rating of 9.8 percent. Critical reception In Beyond the Final Frontier : An Unauthorised Review of Star Trek, Mark Jones and Lance Parkin described "Tin Man" as "a good episode" and described Elbrun as becoming "annoying very quickly", while Gomtuu wasn't as unusual as the script suggested. James Van Hise and Hal Schumer in The Complete Trek: The Next Generation also described "Tin Man" as a "good episode", but said that both the Romulan threat and the animosity towards Elbrun felt "contrived". They praised the characterization seen in several scenes, and the idea for Elbrun. Keith DeCandido reviewed the episode for Tor.com and gave it a seven out of ten. He criticised the "one-dimensional" Peter Vogt and lamented the lack of Andreas Katsulas in "Tin Man", but praised Groener, calling him "simply stellar". DeCandido credited the performance of Groener and the strong science fiction elements of "Tin Man" as creating a "strong episode", but he criticized the actions of the Romulans as simply being there to advance