Another turn on the old “kidnapped for alien experiments” theme (also seen in the original-series episodes “The Cage,” “The Menagerie,” and “The Empath,” among others), this segment still provides its own little gems: the false Picard’s wooing and then dropping of a stunned Beverly, and his leading Ten-Forward in a drinking song and a round of ales. For the record, the song is “Hearts of Oak,” first performed in 1770 with lyrics by David Garrick and music by Dr. William Boyce.
Picard studies his piece of nourishment as fellow hostage Kova Tholl (Stephen Markel) looks on.
Haro’s costume is our first look at a modern Academy cadet uniform and only our second at the Bolians (“Conspiracy”/125), whom we learn are from Bolarus IX. Picard visited Esoqq’s anarchic world, Chalna, twelve years earlier as captain of the Stargazer—or a year before that ship’s loss (“The Battle”/110). Tholl hails from the second planet of Mizar, the ancients’ name for Zeta Ursa Majoris—the larger of two optical binary stars in the second position inward on the Big Dipper’s handle. Picard’s cabin is seen to be at Deck 9/3601.
CAPTAIN’S HOLIDAY
* * *
Production No.: 167 Aired: Week of April 2, 1990
Stardate: 43745.2 Code:cp
Directed by Chip Chalmers
Written by Ira Steven Behr
GUEST CAST
Vash: Jennifer Hetrick
Ajur: Karen Landry
Boratus: Michael Champion
Sovak: Michael Grodenchik
Joval: Deirdre Imershein
* * *
The crew needles Picard into taking a much-needed rest, but the galaxy’s most reluctant vacationer soon finds himself in the middle of an adventure the likes of which he’d never get into aboard ship.
In rapid succession, he meets two Vorgons from the twenty-seventh century, traveling back in time to locate the superweapon Tox Uthat; Sovak, a Ferengi interested in buying the artifact; and Vash, a brash, striking woman whose late boss was an archaeologist also searching for the Uthat.
According to the Vorgons, Picard is destined to find the Uthat. He agrees to honor their request to return the Uthat to them and their time, but he doesn’t count on falling for Vash on their overnight hike to get the artifact.
They are joined by a leering, armed Sovak, but their long dig at the presumed burial site yields nothing. Picard finally realizes that Vash found the Uthat a week ago and staged the dig to get Sovak off her trail.
She recalls how Vorgons are said to be thieves, not retreivers, and Picard has the returning Enterprise destroy the Uthat once and for all while beaming it up.
The Vorgons depart, while Picard and Vash muse whether they’ll see each other when the alien thieves try again—in time.
This story, the first-unit debut of assistant director Chip Chalmers, grew out of Stewart’s desire for more “sex and shooting” for the captain. It also introduced the oft-mentioned Risa resort, a Fantasy Island-type getaway spot that apparently can meet needs even a holodeck can’t satisfy.
According to Michael Piller, the first draff of the story concerned only the group’s search for an ancient artifact à la The Maltese Falcon, but at Ron Moore’s suggestion the time-travel element was added. The off-ship opening was a first for the series, but an echo of that scene planned to close the show—implying that the Vorgons were already returning to try again—was cut when it became too confusing.
Hetrick, a former model and commercials actress, followed to TNG her onetime L.A. Law costar Corbin Bersen (she played Arnie Becker’s wife Corinne) and returned in sequels “Qpid” (194) and DS9’s “Q-Less” as Vash—named by Behr for Susan Vash (rhymes with “dash”), his former show Once a Hero’s casting director and a friend of his wife. Grodenchik was another Ferengi on TNG (“The Perfect Mate”/221) and then won the role of Rom on DS9.
Other races seen in the Risian lobby are an Andorian, a Vulcan, and an Antican (“Lonely Among Us”/108). The Daystrom Institute, spoken of in “The Measure of a Man”(135), is mentioned again when Vash promises to turn over the Tox Uthat. For the record, the Risian idol of sexuality is a horgh’an, and the state one hopes it brings is jamaharohn.
Vash (Jennifer Hetrick) proves an attractive enigma for a vacationing Picard.
Notice the cave in which the treasure hunters all converge. The set is enlarged by a matte painting, but not the typical kind. As he would throughout the series on his shows, visual-effects supervisor Dan Curry created this background with pixels instead of pigment, and his computer-painted matte was then digitally blended with the live action.
TIN MAN
* * *
Production No.: 168 Aired: Week of April 23, 1990
Stardate: 43779.3 Code:ti
Directed by Robert Scheerer
Written by Dennis Putnam Bailey and David Bischoff
GUEST CAST
Captain Robert DeSoto: Michael Cavanaugh
Romulan Commander: Peter Vogt
Lieutenant O’Brien: Colm Meaney
Tam Elbrun: Harry Groener
* * *
The Enterprise takes on board a Betazoid first-contact specialist, Tarn Elbrun, to establish relations with a creature known as Tin Man—an alien life-form resembling an organic spaceship. This seems like a straightforward task—except that the Romulans also wish to contact Tin Man, and have sent two warbirds to carry out that assignment.
Elbrun is an unusually powerful telepath; on their way to rendezvous with the creature, he tells his old friend Troi about the pressure he feels as a result of being constantly bombarded by voices in his head. Troi sympathizes, but when Elbrun hints that he has already made contact with Tin Man, a suspicious Riker recalls that Elbrun’s last assignment caused the death of forty-seven Starfleet officers.
Just as the Enterprise arrives in the star system in which Tin Man has taken up orbit around an incipient supernova, one of the Romulan ships opens fire on them and on the creature, intending to prevent the two from making contact. At Elbrun’s mental suggestion, the creature destroys the Romulan warbird with a shock wave. Picard wants Elbrun to coax Tin Man into a safer sector, but the lonely alien has come to this system intending to die in the upcoming explosion. Beaming over with Data to make physical contact, Elbrun establishes an immediate rapport with the creature.
As the second warbird prepares to open fire on Tin Man, the creature emits a shock wave that sends the Enterprise and the warbird hurtling through space, away from both it and the exploding star. Later it returns Data to the Enterprise. The android tells the crew that Elbrun has decided to remain with Tin Man, the two of them having found peace and comfort with each other.
Betazoid Tam Elbrun (Harry Groener) is the crew’s troubled contact with “Tin Man.”
Based on “Tin Woodman,” a 1979 Ace book by Dennis Putnam Bailey and David Bischoff, this spin on the familiar alien encounter was the first for new composer Jay Chattaway, who late next season would take over Ron Jones’s slot in alternating episodes with Dennis McCarthy. The show also gives us more background on the Betazoid race, as we learn that their mental powers, which usually blossom during adolescence, can be emotionally unsettling if they are present at birth.
Harry Groener played the insecure nerd Ralph on NBC’s Dear John and later won a Tony for his lead in the musical Crazy for You; here, his role was the first male Betazed seen on TNG. Also, “Ensign Russell” is longtime extra Carl Banks.
Staying true to TNG’s own background story, the Hood here is commanded by Captain DeSoto. Riker’s previous commander was mentioned by Picard way back in “Farpoint” (101-102). A script line, later deleted, revealed that the two captains had once served together as lieutenants. We also learn, in “Ménage à Troi” (172), that Troi studied psychology at the University on Betazed, where she met both Tam and Riker.
The interior sound of Tin Man—“Gomtuu” in his native tongue—was actually based on the noises in sound-effects editor James Wolvington’s stomach, recorded through a stethoscope.
The model was another Rick Sternbach creation built by Greg Jein. It was designed in homage to the thermal pods in Buckaroo Banzai. Rob Legato created the organic chair that seems to form out of Tin Man’s very structure by reversing a time-lapse sequence of a melting wax chair.
HOLLOW PURSUITS
* * *
Production No.: 169 Aired: Week of April 30, 1990
Stardate: 43807.4 Code:hp
Directed by Cliff Bole
Written by Sally Caves
GUEST CAST
Lieutenant (j.g.) Reginald Barclay: Dwight Schultz
Lieutenant Duffy: Charley Lang
Lieutenant O’Brien: Colm Meaney
* * *
Geordi experiences problems with one of his engineers, Reg Barclay, (nicknamed “Broccoli” by the crew), a nervous, shy officer who retreats to the holodeck when he can’t handle real life.
After Barclay botches an antigrav repair diagnosis, Picard urges Geordi to find the man’s strengths and bring him out. What the chief engineer finds is a host of holodeck fantasy programs ranging from the seduction of Deanna Troi to the casting of La Forge, Data, and Picard as Three Musketeers who are no match for Barclay’s swordplay.
Meanwhile, during a routine transport of medical samples to help stop a plague, systems such as the replicator, transporter, and warp drive begin to show flaws. Suddenly the matter-antimatter injectors freeze open, catapulting the ship forward with a sudden burst of warp speed. Enterprise then continues to accelerate; if Geordi can’t find a way to slow it down, the starship will self-destruct in minutes.
It is meek Barclay who realizes the problem stems from a little-used substance leaked from the medical-sample containers and then spread by crew members to the affected systems. That known, La Forge is able to unstick the injectors and get the ship back under control just in time.
Infused with confidence from his performance, Barclay decides to bid his holodeck fantasies good-bye once and for all, except—he smiles to himself—for program 9.
A critic-pleasing tour de force for actor Dwight Schultz—remembered by many as “Mad Dog” Murdoch, the manic pilot from The A Team—this story answered the questions of viewers who’d wondered if even twenty-fourth-century Starfleet officers were beyond the temptations of overdosing on holodeck fantasy, or “holodiction.” Schultz had been a longtime Trek fan and, like Whoopi Goldberg, had asked to do the show if the right part came along.
Only in fantasy can Barclay (Dwight Shultz) deal with his crewmates.
While this episode provided the regular actors with some real change-of-pace scenes—including Wesley as a pie-eating Gainesborough “Blueboy” and Troi as the sheer-robed “goddess of empathy”—those involved in this show deny they intended to make a comment aimed at Trek’s more obsessive fans. Again it seems a holodeck program cannot be secured against intrusion—as in “Manhunt” (145), “The Emissary” (146), “Cost of Living” (220), “Relics” (230), “Ship in a Bottle” (238), and “Emergence” (275), among others.
We learn more about Guinan’s background here: her nonconformist slant and her mother’s misfit brother, Terkim. Trivia note: the test objects made of “duranium,” also mentioned in “A Matter of Perspective” (162), that O’Brien uses on the malfunctioning transporter are actually U.S. Navy sonar buoy transport cases.
THE MOST TOYS
* * *
Production No.: 170 Aired: Week of May 7, 1990
Stardate: 43872.2 Code: mo
Directed by Timothy Bond
Written by Shari Goodhartz
GUEST CAST
Kivas Fajo. Saul Rubinek
Palor Toff: Nehemiah Persoff
Varria: Jane Daly
Lieutenant O’Brien: Colm Meaney
* * *
Data is presumed lost by a shocked crew who watch his shuttlepod blow up while returning from dealer Kivas Fajo’s ship.
Saddened, his shipmates go on to their mission, little knowing that Fajo staged the “disaster” so he could add Data to his prized galaxy-wide collection of stolen one-of-a-kind artifacts.
Fajo’s comic manner hides a cunning side unhindered by ethics or conscience. Determined to break the android’s resistance to being “collected,” he is humiliated when Data won’t “perform” for a friend and rival.
Though Fajo’s assistant, Varria, seems loyal to him, Data senses she feels as trapped as he does. When Fajo finally breaks Data by threatening to kill Varria with a painful, banned disruptor beam, she finally agrees to help the android escape. But Fajo heads them off and kills Varria. Data gets control of the weapon, but Fajo taunts the android because of his directive against killing for no reason.
Data confronts The Collector, Kivas Fajo (Saul Rubinek).
Meanwhile, the Enterprise officers have been researching Fajo’s record and have guessed the truth regarding Data’s disappearance. As they prepare to rescue him, sensors reveal a weapon being fired—a subject Data is surprisingly close-mouthed about, even after Fajo is arrested and his prize stolen collection confiscated.
An interesting story from a spec script that pushed Data to the brink of murder for a logical reason, “The Most Toys” was struck by tragedy early in the filming. Originally, the actor chosen to play Fajo was well-known little person David Rappaport, star of the series The Wizard and a veteran of many films and guest roles, including two memorable appearances on L.A. Law as a scrappy defense attorney. But Rappaport attempted suicide over the weekend after two days of filming and was hospitalized. Shortly afterward he died as a result of a second attempt. “Of course it left us very sad,” Rick Berman recalled.
Left with unusable footage, the producers huddled, then hired Saul Rubinek and had him into fittings for a new costume by noon on the following Monday, although promotional photos of Rappaport in the role had already been sent out. Considering the short notice, Rubinek, a busy Canadian actor, did a remarkable job of making the quirky role his own. In the expected grief over Data’s loss, Worf has a nice moment when he actually confides to Troi that his assignment at Ops is the second time he’s filled in for a fallen comrade, after Tasha Yar.
This story’s shuttlepod, the Pike, was the first on TNG actually named for a fictional person. Fans of the 1960s Trek series know that Christopher Pike was James T. Kirk’s predecessor as captain of the original starship Enterprise. He was seen in the first pilot, “The Cage” and again later, in “The Menagerie.”
The Varon-T disruptor appears to be the same prop as one of the smaller weapons Sovak used in “Captain’s Holiday” (167). When Data fires it just as he is beamed out, we learn the transporter is capable not only of detecting weapons but of shutting them down as well. We also learn that Data has never killed anything. Here we see that the android has added to the mementos revealed during his human rights hearing in “The Measure of a Man” (135): a deck of poker cards and chips, his violin, and the painting he was working on in “Tin Man” (168). Fajo’s lapling, a puppet, was built by makeup designer Michael Westmore.
SAREK
* * *
Production No.: 171 Aired: Week of May 14, 1990
Stardate: 43917.4 Code:sa
Directed by Les Landau
Written by Peter S. Beagle
Story by Marc Cushman and Jake Jacobs
GUEST CAST
Sarek: Mark Lenard
Perrin: Joanna Miles
Ki Mendrossen: William Denis
Sakkath: Rocco Sisto
Lieutenant O’Brien: Colm Meaney
Science Ensign: John H. Francis
* * *
Renowned Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan is about to oversee the completion of his career’s crowning achievement: the establishment of relations between the Federation and the Legaran.
Perrin (Joanna Miles) comforts her ill husband, Sarek (Mark Lenard).
But while being ferried to the meeting site aboard the Enterprise, Sarek weeps during a Mozart concert. The Vulcan has developed Bendii syndrome, an Alzheimer’s-like disease t
hat can erode an aged Vulcan’s emotional control.
Sarek unknowingly begins projecting his lack of control onto others: Wes and La Forge fight, Dr. Crusher slaps her son, and a brawl breaks out in Ten-Forward. But Sarek’s Vulcan and human aides remain in denial until Sakkath, a young Vulcan, admits he has been “propping up” Sarek’s control so the Legaran mission could continue.
Confronted by that fact and Picard’s insistence that he face reality, Sarek erupts in a fit of anger that even he admits proves the captain’s point. The Legaran, who have been dealing with Sarek for years, will talk only to him, so as a last resort to avoid canceling the mission the captain proposes a Vulcan mind-link to share his mental control with Sarek during the negotiations.
The Vulcan agrees, and Dr. Crusher braces Picard—who always wanted to know the remarkable Vulcan better—for the onslaught of Sarek’s life of repressed emotions. He is reduced to rage and sobs, but he survives the pressure as Sarek completes his mission.
After being written out of “Yesterday’s Enterprise” (163), Mark Lenard here reprises the role he first played in 1967’s “Journey to Babel.” His appearance is the first major unifying event tying together the old and new Trek eras since McCoy’s cameo in the “Farpoint” pilot (101-102).
According to Michael Piller, the original story concerned the mental problems of an ambassador other than Sarek; from there, the writing staff moved to the problems of the aging, then added the Vulcan loss of control and the telepathic “bleeding.” Using Sarek was the last logical step in maximizing audience involvement and impact. “It brings home the idea that even the greatest of men is subject to illness,” Piller said.
The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion: Revised Edition Page 21