Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick: Robert Schenkkan
Mordock: John Putch
Lieutenant Chang: Robert Ito
Jake Kurland: Stephen Gregory
T’shanik: Tasia Valenza
Oliana Mirren: Estee Chandler
Technician No. 1: Brendan McKane
Technician No. 2: Wyatt Knight
Rondon: Daniel Riordan
* * *
As Wesley prepares to beam down to Relva VII to take his long-awaited entrance exam to Starfleet Academy, Picard’s old friend, Admiral Quinn, beams up for surprise business that he won’t explain: a tough interrogation of the captain’s senior officers.
Wesley learns despite losing an Academy opening to the Benzite Mordock (John Putch).
Meanwhile, Wes consoles his friend Jake, who didn’t make the final cut, and begins his grueling challenge while meeting the other candidates. He’s in a neck-and-neck race for the single Academy slot open, and he’s nervous about the infamous psych test.
Picard, along with Riker and the crew, grow increasingly bitter over the demeanor of Remmick, Quinn’s probing aide, but the admiral won’t talk until he’s ready. He suspects a conspiracy growing within Starfleet, and he had to test Picard’s loyalty … before offering to make him commandant of the Academy.
Picard is flattered but wants to think it over. In the meantime, Wesley returns rejected: his success on the psych test gave him food for thought, but he came in a close second in the competition. After consoling Wesley and saving a dejected runaway Jake from a near-fatal shuttle crash, Picard decides to stay on board.
This episode provides further evidence that Wesley was already being better written as a character, thank you, and the title is indicative of TNG’s emerging self-confidence as well as the story. The show marks a number of firsts for the series: the first Vulcan in a speaking role, the first retrospective look at the crew’s new starship as seen through Remmick’s prying eyes, the first attempt at a true continuing plotline-threads of which would be picked up in “Conspiracy” (125)—and the debut of TNG’s shuttlecraft.
A filmed scene cut for time showed Wesley’s friends helping celebrate his sixteenth birthday, with predictably pithy comments from Worf and Data about human rituals (see photo, page 29). We learn Wesley enjoys his equivalent of today’s computer bulletin boards, while the head of Starfleet Academy is called a “commandant,” later changed to “superintendent” (“The First Duty”/219).
Original Trek fan Robert Schenkkan, whose well-received turn as inquisitor Remmick netted him a return for “Conspiracy” (125) along with veteran actor Costello, won a Pulitzer for his epic nine-part play The Kentucky Cycle. Ito was Jack Klugman’s sidekick on Quincy, Putch played another Benzite (“A Matter of Honor”/134) and was in Generations, and Riordan was a Bajoran guard in spinoff DS9’s “Progress.”
The tale of this first appearance of the shuttlecraft, initially named the Copernicus III by Probert, is another uncanny echo of the original Trek. In both series, the building of a full-scale shuttlecraft was put off for budgetary reasons until writers made the craft an integral part of a story so that it had to be built. In the original Trek, that episode was appropriately titled “Galileo Seven.” In this case, though, to save money, only a quarter of the shuttlecraft filming set was built. Added sections were made for specific story requirements during the next season, as money allowed.
Unfortunately, piecemeal construction could not match the expensive formed curves seen in Probert’s miniature, and the full-scale mock-up eventually looked nothing like the small-scale model, Because of that, the majority of the live shuttlecraft filming needs would be met by the quick-and-dirty “shuttlepod” seen first in “Time Squared” (139) and later by the Magellan-class craft “Daimok” (202), though the original would turn up occasionally when a whole view wasn’t needed (“The Host”/197).
HEART OF GLORY
* * *
Production No.: 120 Aired: Week of March 21, 1988
Stardate: 41503.7 Code: hg
Directed by Rob Bowman
Teleplay by Maurice Hurley
Story by Herbert Wright and D. C. Fontana
GUEST CAST
Commander Korris: Vaughn Armstrong
Lieutenant Konmel: Charles H. Hyman
Commander K’Nera: David Froman
Kunivas: Robert Bauer
Nurse:Brad Zerbst
Ramos: Dennis Madalone
* * *
Responding to signs of a battle in the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Enterprise finds only a battered Talarian freighter and—thanks to La Forge’s new VISOR’s visual feed—three Klingons, one near death. Their leader, Korris, explains that the ship was attacked by Ferengi and they were beamed away just before the ship exploded.
But after their comrade dies and Picard assigns Worf as a guide, the two survivors proclaim their hatred of the UFP-Klingon Alliance; they want to reclaim what they call the true Klingon warrior spirit. They appeal to Worf to listen to his heart and give up his life with the humans; the Starfleet Klingon is torn by their words.
Meanwhile, a Klingon Defense Force cruiser approaches and explains what really happened: the Klingons are rebels, who hijacked the Talarian freighter and destroyed a Klingon ship sent to pursue them. The two Klingons are detained, but they escape later with a homemade weapon; one is killed.
Korris, threatening to destroy the warp intermix chamber in Engineering, demands to be given the battle section and tries again to sway Worf, who tries to talk him out of sabotaging the ship. Korris lunges, Worf fires—and it is over.
The Klingon captain is impressed by Worf, but the lieutenant politely turns down his invitation to serve in the KDF fleet, electing to remain aboard the Enterprise.
At last—a Klingon show! Hurley, who spent just two days creating a teleplay based on Fontana and Wright’s premise, was proud of this first-year episode, which finally shed some light on Wort’s background and on the current Klingon-Federation relationship. The seeds of the Klingon saga to come are planted here with the story of Khitomer and the Romulan betrayal, and Dom truly gets a chance to shine. This tale of personal conflict does for Worf what “The Naked Time” did for Spock back in the early days of the first series.
Though Worf’s human parents are seen later (“Family”/178, “New Ground”/210), his foster brother described here went unmentioned until the final season (“Homeward”/265); their years on farmworld Gault have yet to be detailed.
Klingon renegades Korris (Vaughn Armstrong) and Konmel (Charles H. Hyman) tempt Worf to join them.
Bowman said he lost his late-season fatigue in the excitement over this script. Again he used the Steadicam aboard the disintegrating Batris. He designed an elaborate sequence of vertical shots for the final battle in the multi-decked main engineering section, and he toughened up the Klingon Konmel so that three phaser hits were needed to bring him down.
Footage of the old K’t’inga-class Klingon cruiser is lifted straight from the first Trek film. The Klingon phrases spoken here were written without any particular pattern by Hurley, but most later Klingonese would come from Mark Okrand, the linguist who developed the alien tongue for the Trek movies and wrote The Klingon Dictionary. The freighter Batris, an oft-reused miniature, is labeled a Talarian craft; the race would be somewhat fleshed out later (“Suddenly Human’/176).
Dennis Madalone here appeared in the second of many stunt roles as various crew members; he was first seen in “Where No One Has Gone Before” (106), Outside of Trek Robert Bauer, a drummer, was in a band (The Watch) with bass guitarist Michael Dorn for a time.
THE ARSENAL OF FREEDOM
* * *
Production No.: 121 Aired: Week of April 11, 1988
Stardate: 41798.2 Code: af
Directed by Les Landau
Teleplay by Richard Manning & Hans Beimler
Story by Maurice Hurley & Robert Lewin
GUEST CAST
The Peddler: Vincent Schiave
lli
Captain Paul Rice: Marco Rodriguez
Chief Engineer Lieutenant Logan: Vyto Ruginis
Ensign Lian T’Su: Julia Nickson
Lieutenant (j.g.) Orfil Solis: George de la Pena
* * *
The Enterprise is sent to the planet Minos to search for the missing USS Drake. The famed world of arms merchants hails the ship with a commercial for weapons, but surprisingly the sensors show no sentient life on the planet.
On Minos, Riker meets the Drake’s captain, an old friend, but quickly realizes he is dealing with a holographic projection. It transforms itself into a small flying fighter drone that encases Riker in a stasis field. The drone is destroyed, but increasingly smarter ones appear.
While fleeing them, Picard and Dr. Crusher fall into a cavern; she’s hurt and they can’t get out. Above them, Data, Riker, and Yar fight off the drones, but one of them goes into orbit to attack the Enterprise. Left in command there, La Forge must contend with not only a green helm crew but also a pompous engineer who wants command. After separating the ship, he leaves orbit to devise a defense.
Yar and Data confront the Echo Papa 607’s killer drones.
In the cavern, Picard stumbles onto the core of the mess—an automated “ultimate defense” system, which he realizes was probably responsible for killing the Minosians as well. La Forge pulls a tricky atmospheric tactic to destroy the attacking probe, just as Picard discovers the attack is an automated demonstration and ends it.
This episode was originally conceived as a Picard-Crusher love story, but Lewin recalled that Gene Roddenberry changed his mind and opted instead for this extremely ambitious action-adventure yam/morality tale about arms merchants. Les Landau, an assistant director who became the first of many production staffers allowed to direct, suggested that it be Beverly Crusher and not Picard who is hurt in the fall into the pit, putting the captain in a “fish out of water” situation.
This fast-moving hour for once made good use of the entire ensemble, and gave Geordi his first shot at command. We learn a bit about Beverly’s grandmother, not followed up until the series’ last year (“Sub Rosa”/266), and for the last time until Season 4 we see a ship separation. Marco Rodriguez later played a Cardassian (“The Wounded”/186).
Stewart and McFadden endured flea-infested sand in the cave pit, built on the cargo bay set rather than on Stage 16. Riker gets in a good joke, telling the Rice image he’s from the U.S.S. Lollipop—“a good ship.”
SKIN OF EVIL
* * *
Production No.: 122 Aired: Week of April 25, 1988
Stardate: 41601.3 Code: se
Directed by Joseph L. Scanlan
Teleplay by Joseph Stefano and Hannah Louise Shearer
Story by Joseph Stefano
GUEST CAST
Armus: Mart McChesney, voiced by Ron Gans
Lieutenant Commander Leland T. Lynch: Walker Boone
Nurse: Brad Zerbst
Lieutenant Ben Prieto: Raymond Forchion
* * *
Troi and her shuttle pilot are pulled off course. They crash on Vagra II, the home of the sadistic being Armus, created from the cast-off sins of his race and then abandoned.
An away team beams down to rescue the counselor, but Armus and a forcefield of his creation are in their way. Then, acting out of sheer malice, the black oozing form of goo tortures Riker, taunts La Forge and Data—and kills Yar.
Worf, who is now acting security chief, and Wesley discover that Armus loses his power when provoked. Using that weakness, Picard is finally able to get his people out, but not before trying to reason with Armus one more time. He even has the splintered shuttle destroyed to prevent Armus from leaving the planet.
Back on board the Enterprise, crew members play a recorded hologram of Yar’s will and her last thoughts to her friends. All of them—even Data—derive strength during their grief from their friendship with the security chief.
Tasha meets her fate against Armus (Mart McChesney, voiced by Ron Gans).
Long before this episode was filmed, rumors were flying about the manner of Denise Crosby’s departure and the reasons for it. She was, after all, the first regular Trek character ever to be permanently killed off—the movies’ resurrection of Spock notwithstanding. Thanks to media reports, it became widely known that Crosby was dissatisfied with her role’s development and had asked to bow out on friendly terms so that she could pursue a film career. Shearer, who was handed the task of rewriting the original draft by Outer Limits veteran Joseph Stefano, said the in-house debate on the nature of her exit finally went the way Gene Roddenberry wanted, with a “senseless” but typical sudden death befitting a security chief. Originally, Tasha’s demise came much earlier in the episode and the focus was more on the Armus creature than on the crew’s reactions to their comrade’s death.
“Gene felt we couldn’t kill the creature, because it is not up to us as human beings to make a moral judgment on any creature that we encounter, because we are not God,” said Shearer, charged with devising a satisfactory punishment without resorting to “eye for an eye” justice for the alien.
Everyone involved in this episode knew that the look and mechanics of the alien villain Armus had to be believable if the story was to work, “You’re talking about a living tar pit,” recalled Legato, who felt the episode was the series’ biggest special-effects flop. “It’s not attractive if you do it well, and if it’s even worse it’s not even that.” Director Joe Scanlan, though noting the ironic and “wonderful intellectual quality” of Armus, told the staff: “If we don’t make this monster believable, we are in deep shit.”6
A surrealistic mime-type actor modeled on the Mummenschanz group was the original concept for Armus. This was later changed to a more concrete “shroud” creature that would draw its oil slick up off the ground when arising. A plan to achieve this effect by reversing the film of a melting ten-inch figure on a hot plate had to be discarded. Finally, a grave-size pit ten feet deep was dug on the Planet Hell set and a hydraulic step was used for the rising-up effect. A mix including Metamucil was used for the black goo. Scanlan recalls that the “oil” was so heavy that actor Mart McChesney’s suit began to disintegrate and new ones had to be built overnight. At one point he had to wear an open-backed costume in scenes where his back wouldn’t show!
Recalling the final memorial scene, Scanlan said he filmed Tasha’s “hologram tape” two ways: straight ahead, as if looking into her “holo-camera” (his preference), and the version used, in which she nods to each listener. “Don’t ask me how she knew where they’d be standing,” he said.7 Still, if the sadness of the scene looked tearfully real, it was: Yar’s death and Crosby’s departure were sad for the actors as well as for the characters. Marina Sirtis began sobbing during reaction takes as her friend cued her from off-camera, leading Frakes and the others into one of the most moving scenes shot for the young series.
Ironically, Crosby said later that if scenes like the opening between her and Worf had been written more often, she would not have asked to leave the show. She would soon have second thoughts about departing the series, though, and would eventually find herself back in TNG through some of the most bizarre plot twists even Trek had ever come up with.
SYMBIOSIS
* * *
Production No.: 123 Aired: Week of April 18, 1988
Stardate: unknown Code: sy
Directed by Win Phelps
Story by Robert Lewin
Teleplay by Robert Lewin, Richard Manning, and Hans Beimler
GUEST CAST
Sobi: Judson Scott
T’Jon: Merritt Butrick
Romas: Richard Lineback
Langor: Kimberly Farr
* * *
While studying drastic solar flares around Delos, the Enterprise picks up a confusing distress call from a disabled freighter in the system. Only four of its six passengers are beamed away in time because the crew members insist on sending over the cargo first.
/> The survivors are from two neighboring worlds, Brekka and Ornara, and the cargo is felicium, a drug grown only on Brekka, which cures a two-hundred-year-old Ornara plague. The two haggard Ornarans demand the shipment; the Brekkians insist the deal’s off.
The desperate Ornarans convince Picard to mediate; he gets them one dose apiece. But Dr. Crusher realizes the “cure” is a narcotic. The Brekkians have kept the unknowing Ornarans addicted for profit for two centuries!
Crusher demands to let the Ornarans know, but Picard cites the Prime Directive. He does find a solution to the dilemma, however: he refuses to repair the Ornarans’ remaining freighters. Now no trade in the low-technology system will occur and the Ornarans, although they will suffer withdrawal, will conquer their addiction.
Merritt Butrick returned to Trek as T’Jon, one of the “addicted” Ornarans.
This episode will likely be remembered for three things: the teaming of two Star Trek II actors in guest roles, the late Merritt Butrick (his name was misspelled in the credits as “Merrit”) and Judson Scott; the overbearing Nancy Reagan—era “Just Say No” anti-drug speech Tasha gives Wesley; and the real last scene for Denise Crosby.
Buttrick, who reprised his role as Kirk’s son in Star Trek III was already showing the ravages of the AIDS he died of a year later, in March 1989. Judson Scott, uncredited in Star Trek II, was the lead in the series The Phoenix; uncredited here was Kenneth Tigar as Margan, an Ornaran leader.
Because this story was filmed after “Skin of Evil” but would air before it, Crosby’s real last scene came in the cargo bay in Act V: she’s seen wildly waving goodbye from behind a console just as the corridor doors close behind Picard and Crusher! Even so, the odd stardates for “The Big Goodbye” and “The Arsenal of Freedom” mean that both shows feature Tasha even though they “occur” after death!
The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion: Revised Edition Page 10