The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion: Revised Edition

by Larry Nemecek

  Stardate: 46235.7 Code: ra

  Directed by Adam Nimoy

  Teleplay by Allison Hock

  Story by Ward Botsford & Diana Dru Botsford and Michael Piller

  GUEST CAST

  Chief Miles Edward O’Brien: Colm Meaney

  Keiko Ishikawa O’Brien: Rosalind Chao

  Ensign Ro Laren: Michelle Forbes

  Young Picard: David Tristin Birkin

  Young Ro: Megan Parlen

  Young Keiko: Caroline Junko King

  Young Guinan: Isis Jones

  DaiMon Lurin: Mike Gomez

  Berik: Tracey Walter

  Morta: Michael Snyder

  Alexander Rozhenko: Brian Bonsall

  Guinan: Whoopi Goldberg

  Kid No. 1: Morgan Nagler

  Molly O’Brien: Hana Hatae

  Computer Voice: Majel Barrett

  * * *

  After they are beamed off an endangered shuttlecraft through an energy field, Picard, Ro, Keiko, and Guinan are turned into the physical equivalents of twelve-year-old children. Their minds, though, are left intact.

  As the cause is probed, the awkwardness is rampant: Picard turns over command to Riker when he realizes his commands seem odd, and O’Brien and his wife have their own personal life to sort out.

  Life is complicated when renegade Ferengi in Klingon Warships disable the ship and declare it theirs, but the “youngsters” realize their advantage and gain control through the school’s computer after the captain poses as Riker’s son and Number One gets them secret access during a technobabble explanation for a confused Ferengi.

  With computer access, the “children” beam in to surprise the occupying Ferengi and retake the ship, while O’Brien and Crusher help discover how to use the transporter to undo the masked effect on their genetic code that caused the incident in the first place. All are restored, including Ro—who finds she’s become more at peace with the carefree childhood she was never able to have.

  A story left over from last season—dubbed “The Year of the Child” by Piller—“Rascals” survived various rewrites to pose the old question about reliving childhood: Would anyone want to stay there? Jeri Taylor said she and Piller, the staff “elders,” were the only two on staff who wanted to buy the idea—also an echo of animated Star Trek’s “The Counter-Clock Incident”—which then led to numerous rewrites that no one could crack, Moore finally found the handle when the process drew a deadline as Whoopi Goldberg committed to doing the slot for Adam Nimoy, son of the famous Vulcan-playing actor. Everyone was bothered that the Ferengi takeover of the Enterprise came so easily, but as Taylor noted, “Would you believe four little kids could retake it from the Cardassians?”

  The younger Nimoy, trained as an attorney, had decided to leave that career and built upon his familial show-business instincts, first through several UCLA extension acting and film master’s classes, then by assisting Nick Meyer on Star Trek VI. “The day we wrapped that feature,” he recalled, “I was in Rick Berman’s office about observing directors on TNG.” After doing so for Season 5, he got the nod here and, despite his rookie status, won praise from his boss, who noted that the “nightmare” of directing four child actors playing their first roles “would have been a challenge for Francis Ford Coppola!”

  Aside from Ro’s only appearance of the season, Keiko’s last before her Deep Space 9 transfer with Miles and Molly, and the first of only two this year for Guinan (along with “Suspicions”/248) and Alexander (besides “A Fistful of Datas”/234), the cast featured many more subtle Star Trek faces: actors Snyder (“The Perfect Mate”/221) and Gomez and Walter (“The Last Outpost”/107) had all played Ferengi before; Birkin had been Picard’s nephew Rene (“Family”/178); and young Isis Jones repeated her childhood impersonation of Whoopi Goldberg from the big-screen comedy hit of 1992, Sister Act. Birkin gets to perform numerous shirt-tugging “Picard maneuvers,” while Megan Parlen pulls off one of Ro’s single-heel hundred-and-eighty-degree turns just like Forbes.

  Keiko and Ensign Ro as children (Caroline Junko King and Megan Parlen).

  With Ro’s return to adulthood never shown, Taylor said that the staff toyed for a time with the idea of letting her choose not to. “Where else but on Star Trek could you do something like that?” she laughed. “But it seemed too drastic for us, and we were sort of squelched on that.” We do learn here that Ro has an interest in biology, and that Guinan’s father is still alive and over seven hundred years old (or at least two hundred during the “Time’s Arrow” saga [226/227]). Another moment foreshadows Picard’s nagging temptation to take up archeology full-time, later seen in “Suspicions” (248); the Professor Langford he mentions was named after a woman Moore was dating at the time—“She wasn’t a fan and we stopped going out soon after, so I don’t think she ever saw it!”—and was unintentionally used again next episode.

  Moore pointed to Riker’s scene confusing the Ferengi as his “Salute to Technobabble”—Trek’s unique tech talk that has bogged down more than one writer; listen closely and you can hear terms from the “Back to the Future” movie trilogy. He also owned up to inventing RVN—merely a pleasing-sounding set of letters he and Shankar hoped would go by so fast if didn’t sink in—after Berman asked for something new other than DNA.

  Also here: Guinan recalls her Tarcassian razor beast (“Imaginary Friend”/222); we learn that Miles and Keiko O’Brien take their coffee “with cream” and “double-sweet”; the built-in ship defense anesthizine gas is mentioned again (“The Hunted”/159, “Power Play”/215), as are the ruins of Tagua (“Qpid”/194); Shuttle Bay 2, the smallest, is only about twenty yards wide; Ferengi revere their children but never take them aboard service starships; and the Klingon Bird-of-Prey is christened the B’rel class—with the unlikely sight of Ferengi using the sparkly-red Klingon transporter. And in a minor blooper, the “young” captives’ computer screen is labeled for “Classroom 7” while the room is referred to as “Schoolroom 8”; its computer design icon was the state fish of Hawaii, the reef triggerfish (Rhinecamthus aculeatus) or in Hawaiian, humuhumunukunukuapua’a. And its “periodic table” has only sixty-five cubicles instead of the 110-plus, with elements such as “Daffy Duckium,” “Harponium,” “Marxium,” and “Grouchonium”; in-house homages like “Neskoronium” (for art director Andy); and categories like “World Series” and “Mega Series.”

  A FISTFUL OF DATAS

  * * *

  Production No.: 234 Aired: Week of November 9, 1992

  Stardate: 46271.5 Code: fs

  Directed by Patrick Stewart

  Teleplay by Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Brannon Braga

  Story by Robert Hewitt Wolfe

  GUEST CAST

  Alexander Rozhenko: Brian Bonsall

  Eli Hollander: John Pyber-Ferguson

  Annie Meyers: Joy Garrett

  Bandito: Jorge Cervera Jr.

  Computer Voice: Majel Barrett

  * * *

  With some spare time to enjoy, the Enterprise crew head in different directions: La Forge tests a hunch that Data can be used as a backup to the ship’s computer, and Alexander coaxes his father and later Troi into taking part in an “Ancient West” holodeck role-play scenario he’s written.

  But after the test linkup to Data, minor glitches become obvious in ship’s systems: the android’s bad poetry showing up in a play script Dr. Crusher is rehearsing, for one. Far worse is what the holodeck gamers discover when Alexander is kidnapped by outlaws and the game won’t stop: the weapons failsafes won’t work and the “bad guys” confronting them one by one assume not only Data’s look but his abilities!

  Knowing they can only end the game by surviving till story’s end, the outgunned Troi and Worf prepare for the inevitable gunfight, while back in “reality” Data begins lapsing into a Western drawl that tips off what the problem is; his memory has been crossed with the ship’s holodeck database.

  While La Forge works to repair it from outside, Worf saves himself from an ambush a
t the attempted hostage switch for Alexander by jury-rigging a forcefield to repel the outlaws’ bullets. Even that, though, cannot save him from the big pucker of the saloon owner Annie—who now also looks like Data.

  Worf and Alexander on the holodeck version of the Old West.

  This offbeat show, writer Wolfe’s pitch script that got him hired to work on DS9, received a polish by Braga with a little help from Ron Moore and practically everybody—including, by the luck of the draw, an English Director named Patrick Stewart. “I’m not a Western fan, I never really saw Westerns,” Braga observed, “and Patrick Stewart, a British guy who’s not familiar with the Western genre—and here we are doing our big Western show! But, I think, we brought a fresh sensibility to it.”

  “Patrick approached this with such zealousness—he went out and rented two classic Westerns every night,” Taylor recalled, “The next morning he’d come in and tell us what great ideas he’d had, and we could always tell just what he’d watched!”

  Originally the story concerned a greedy land baron, but after Ira Stephen Behr’s suggestion from the DS9 office down the hall they switched the homage plot to Rio Bravo. At first Worf was to play the Clint Eastwood “man with no name” type from the Sergio Leone “spaghetti Westerns” with Troi as a dance-hall girl and Alexander her son—complete with a Leone-parody title, “The Good, The Bad and the Klingon.” But it was decided that the boy would likely write the program to feature himself, so he became a deputy to “Sheriff Worf” and Troi got the strong, silent role of Durango in a victory for off-type writing.

  “This was a hoot! It was never meant to be anything more than old Star Trek,” said Piller, who noted that the script met two of his pre-season goals: be more lighthearted and give Brent Spiner something more interesting to do. Braga said Data’s bad poetry (“Schisms”/231) and Spot’s cat food (version 127!) in the replicators were his way of making the shipboard scenes just as fun as the holodeck tale: “The tricky part was not to make it broad parody but make it believable Western storytelling and still have fun just from seeing the characters in those situations.”

  The opening big boots/little boots scene was right from Leone—whose Eastwood vehicle “A Fistful of Dollars” inspired the title—while the Enterprise flying off into the sunset at tale’s end was just the right touch. Even the music had a familiar feel: harmonica virtuoso Tommy Morgan, veteran of all those distinctive Western soundtracks of the past, was brought in with his packet of hand-filed instruments to record the soundtrack, Peter Lauritson recalled. The uncredited “henchman” Nick Dimitri also is seen later as a taxi driver (“Emergence”/275), among other assignments, while, sadly, actress Joy Garret died the next year of liver failure.

  Two fun scenes that had to be cut for time included a homage to “The Ransom of Red Chief” between Data/Bandito and Alexander as the testy captive, and a funny moment where Worf nearly shoots himself in the foot after a quick-draw lesson from Troi—which closes with Deanna trying a little therapy on the criminal son. Watch out too for the blooper when Worf’s gun switches hand between takes.

  Eli Hollander was named for one of Braga’s film school professors at UC-Santa Cruz, and the place-names reflect hometowns of his family: his own Bozeman, Montana (see “Cause and Effect”/218), along with Rapid City and Deadwood, SD. “Miss Langford’s House of Pleasure” was kept even though Moore forgot he’d suggested Langford for a name in the prior episode (seen “Rascals”/233), while the Biko pays homage to the slain black South African leader.

  The exterior scenes were all filmed in a day on the Western Street at Warner Brothers’ backlot, while the interiors were all built on Stage 16. Picard’s Kataanen flute turns up for the first time since “The Inner Light” (225), so does a mention of Reg Barclay and the old Grisson miniature posing as the Biko. Meanwhile, La Forge is ribbed in the first of two consecutive episodes about Le Var Burton’s beard, “Ms,” is heard to be still in use in the twenty-fourth century, and we learn that Troi is a Western fan thanks to her late father’s reading aloud when she was young. From his boorish start here, Riker’s acting under Beverly’s direction apparently takes off, judging by his later efforts (“Frame of Mind”/247); the Observation Lounge is not-so-subtly redressed as their rehearsal room. Finally, it seems programmer Alexander needs to study his Ancient West geography: a map of Arizona is seen hung in the sheriff’s office in the supposedly South Dakotan town.

  THE QUALITY OF LIFE

  * * *

  Production No.: 235 Aired: Week of November 16, 1992

  Stardate: 46307.2 Code: ql

  Directed by Jonathan Frakes

  Written by Naren Shankar

  Based upon material by L. D. Scott

  GUEST CAST

  Dr. Farallon: Ellen Bry

  Transporter Chief Kelso: J. Downing

  Computer Voice: Majel Barrett

  * * *

  During a status survey of the Tyrus VII-A orbital mining station and its new but lagging technology, center director Farallon unveils her “exocomp”: a problem-solving “smart” computer tool that can make repairs where a living being can’t go, such as inside the station’s troubled power grid.

  She wins a delay for Picard’s report deadline in order to make station upgrade repairs by using the units. When one inexplicably fails, a curious Data checks out the “faulty” unit only to realize the exocomp had not malfunctioned, but was instead repairing itself after shutting down at the sign of danger—an act of survival that convinces him the “machines” are alive!

  The stressed-out Farallon is skeptical but seems vindicated after a shipboard test with a simulated danger that the exocomp apparently doesn’t recognize. Data later repeats the trial run on his own until he discovers the exocomp knew the danger was not real.

  But before he can report, Picard and La Forge are trapped in yet another station accident. Recalling his own struggle for rights, Data locks out the transporters and refuses orders to use the exocomps as slaves to rescue them until Riker agrees to request their help. The three units agree and devise their own plan, but one must sacrifice itself in the successful rescue. All are saddened, but Data is satisfied he’s made his point.

  Dr. Farallon, developer of the Exocomp (Ellen Bry).

  Shankar, like Ron Moore and René Echevarria an Original Series Star Trek fan, took on this story as an early-season reserve script for Taylor while still “only” the writing staff’s science adviser; in L. D. Scott’s original premise, the creatures Data stakes his career on were simply talking wall terminals and household appliances. Shankar’s initial take on the “metacomps,” as they were first called, was for something modular that would be added to existing tools “like a high-tech Transformer toy” and above all be alien and easily overlooked. (The name had to be changed when a real-life company by that name turned up.) He had hoped the eventual look of the aliens-to-be would not be “cute R2-D2-types,” referring to the famous “droids” of the Star Wars film saga, since he felt the story could almost become a comment on aspects of the animal-rights movement: “As long as they’re cute and fuzzy people respond, but if it’s a nasty, ugly-looking thing they won’t save it.”

  Rick Sternbach designed the exocomps, but budget allowed only two to be built; the shots of three included one composited in later, FX supervisor Ron B. Moore said. Amazingly, their every motion was propelled by a puppeteer with control rods who was “painted out” via computer in what had to be some of the series’ most unnoticed effects; the bouncier approach won out over sophisticated motorized robots with jerky motion control, à la the saucers of Batteries Not Included.

  Dr. Farallon was named not for the software company but for the islands off the San Francisco Bay area which the company was named for. Beverly’s character gets a unusual twist—and a foreshadowing of the commando regimen to come next episode—when we learn she is taking bat’telh lessons from Worf; we also hear about her brunette experiment at age thirteen. For prop watchers, the particle fountain miniature
is a new model touched up with cheap and quick detail and lighting by computer, while the lateral neon “blinky” units first seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan appear in yet another alien lab.

  Having never gained approval to keep Geordi’s beard permanently after his brief poker scene in “The Outcast” (217), LeVar Burton confronted the producers with a request they couldn’t turn down: He wanted it for his wedding!

  CHAIN OF COMMAND, PART I

  * * *

  Production No.: 236 Aired: Week of December 14, 1992

  Stardate: 46357.4 Code:c1

  Directed by Robert Scheerer

  Teleplay by Ronald D. Moore

  Story by Frank Abatemarco

  GUEST CAST

  Captain Edward Jellico: Ronny Cox

  Vice-Admiral Alynna Nechayev: Natalija Nogulich

  Gul Lemec: John Durbin

  DaiMon Solok: Lou Wagner

  Gul Madred: David Warner

  Computer Voice: Majel Barrett

  * * *

  Shipboard routine is jolted with the sudden reassignment of Picard, Crusher, and Worf for a classified mission and the arrival of Captain Edward Jellico. Riker and La Forge in particular have a tough time getting used to the gruff Jellico, who is as hard on his crew as he is with the Cardassians he must negotiate with during a time of heightened tensions.

  Meanwhile, the reassigned trio train and obtain transport for a secret search-and-destroy raid on the otherwise deserted Celtris III, where Starfleet fears the Cardassians are developing—genetically engineered viruses that can wipe out all life in their path.

  Beverly tries to find non-Starfleet transport to carry out the mission.