1 Spanners: There is one usually reliable method to establish communication with an alien species.
2 Spanners: We strand one of us and one of them in a hostile situation on a planet, thus forcing the two to communicate and work together to survive.
3 Iki Piki: And if they can’t learn to communicate?
4 Spanners: I guess they perish.
4 Paris: I nominate Serron!
4 Alien: {over radio} Balon, faced with death.

This is more of the plot of "Darmok", the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode on which is story arc is based. I said last time that I wouldn't reveal any more of the plot... but I lied.

Early on, while struggling to communicate, Captain Picard and the alien commander are transported to the surface of the nearby planet, with no way off, and have to learn to cooperate to survive. I haven't watched the episode for a very long time, and don't remember how they got there, and the various plot summaries on the web are mysteriously cryptic about this detail, but it seems that it was probably the alien commander himself who arranged for this transportation. Which seems weird, because it's not clear why they're then trapped on the planet. People more familiar with the episode will no doubt know.