The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion: Revised Edition
Page 44
Menosky’s original story—his second resurrected this year, after “The Chase”—had the same murder mystery of a Ferengi scientist but set up the shocking discovery that warp travel is pollution that rips holes in the fabric of space. Like Piller, Shankar took an interest in that environmental theme and its impact on the future Trek universe and he agreed to take on the reborn project—only to endure delay once again when everyone almost immediately agreed to rip out the eco-angle (later used anyway in “Force of Nature”/261) to focus on the mystery. It began as a Worf vehicle done in forties black-and-white film noir style with flashbacks, dissolves, and voice-over narration—styles that TNG had never used before (see notes, “Manhunt”/145) that finally got grudging onetime-only approval from Rick Berman. When the many Worf stories this season led to using another character, Ron Moore suggested Crusher as the focus and the search for a truly suspenseful mystery began anew; Piller’s nixing of various drafts as too dull finally led to the twist of a victim being the perpetrator. “It was just a never-ending, never-waking nightmare,” Moore recalled. “Keep the murder mystery, lose the warp thing, move Worf out, keep the flashbacks, loose the film noir, insert Beverly—it was just arrgh!” On top of it all, Taylor said, the crew learned early on that this show’s slot would be the only other one for which Whoopi Goldberg would be available, leading to another series of rewrites.
The resulting science plot and mix of Trek aliens, as in “The Chase,” works well under director Cliff Bole, by now TNG’s most prolific with twenty-two episodes. James Horath, perhaps best known to soap-opera fans from his onetime role as Clay Alden on Loving, had since guest-starred on series like The Commish and Highlander, and returned to TNG as the human Lieutenant Barnaby in “Descent, Part II” (253). Other TNG vets included O’Neil (“Yesterday’s Enterprise”/163) and Slutsker, here in one of his three Ferengi roles (“Ménage àTroi”/172, “Bloodlines”/274), Both portrayals reflect their cultures’ disrespect toward scientists; the Klingon is the only one not accorded the title “doctor,”
Past Trek “tech” abounds: real baryon particles (“Starship Mine”/244) and fictional tetryons (“Schisms”/231), the stimulant inoprovaline (“Tapestry”/241), “Man of the People”/229, et al.), the cortical stimulator (“Tapestry”), and—from 1967’s “Journey to Babel”—the first TNG mention of the Vulcan Science Academy, where Sarek initially would have preferred young Spock devote his life rather than Starfleet. The ship’s morgue is new (with its automated covers), and we discover the first shuttlecraft named for neither a real nor a Trek-fictional scientist/explorer: the Justman, paying homage to the sixties Trek and first-year producer. Other trivia: the Enterprise has at least sixteen numbered sciences labs, tennis is still popular in the twenty-fourth century, Ferengi don’t allow autopsies before their elaborate death rituals and burial, and, as seen in an Okudagraph, the Takaran body has three hearts. Reflecting her interest, Beverly gets a set of theater masks on her walls, courtesy set decorator Jim Mees, and for only the second time we hear Nurse Ogawa’s first name, Alyssa (“Clues”/ 188).
Hurdling his biggest FX challenge of this story, supervisor David Stipes portrayed the Vaytan sun’s corona accurately with actual NASA footage.
RIGHTFUL HEIR
* * *
Production No.: 249 Aired: Week of May 17, 1993
Stardate: 46852.2 Code: rh
Directed by Winrich Kolbe
Teleplay by Ronald D. Moore
Story by James Brooks
GUEST CAST
Koroth: Alan Oppenheimer
Gowron: Robert O’Reilly
Torin: Norman Snow
Divok: Charles Esten
Kahless: Kevin Conway
Computer Voice: Majel Barrett
* * *
Left unsure of his beliefs after the “stranded” Klingon youths of Carraya IV embraced them so heartily—and with his job performance slipping—Worf wins a leave from the Enterprise to “seek Kahless,” his peoples’ mythic spiritual leader, on the planet where clerics await his promised return.
After ten days the dismayed Worf is ready to leave with no insights when suddenly Kahless appears, rallying those at the temple and planning to unite and uplift all Klingons again. Gowron, the High Council leader, asks the Enterprise to ferry Kahless back to Klingon space, to avoid arousing any more native passions until he can be checked out. There, Worf remains skeptical until various tests—including a DNA match with a blood sample on a sacred ancient knife—seem to rule out deception.
Worf is overjoyed, but Gowron is not about to hand over his hard-won government. When they meet at last, Gowron shocks the crowd by out-fighting the “greatest warrior of them all.”
At that, head cleric Koroth admits this Kahless is just a clone of the original, specially programmed with a memory taken from sacred texts. But with word of Kahless’ devotion already spreading—and Worf agreeing that their people need a renewal of purpose—Gowron agrees to let this “heir” to Kahless rule as emperor and a moral authority, while he and the council retain their political power. Worf is crushed again until Kahless reminds him it’s the words and teachings, not the man, that are important.
Alluding to 1993’s blockbuster film about the resurrection of dinosaurs from preserved DNA, James Brooks dubbed his premise “Jurassic Worf” when he pitched the idea of a cult of Klingons returning one of their mythic figures to life in similar fashion and passing him off as the real thing. But while Brooks’ story was more concerned with intrigue and politics among the clerics, Moore said he was proud to take his story where TNG had practically never gone before: an examination of spiritualism and faith in the twenty-fourth century centered on Starfleet’s lone Klingon, “Gene Roddenberry was very much a secular humanist, and I don’t think that story would have worked with anyone else but Worf,” Jeri Taylor added, noting that this script’s break sessions opened up the staff’s various views on religious faith and its place in TNG.
Not only does Moore get to flesh out the Klingons’ hinted-at mythic legends by making Kahless the central figure, he also single-handedly converts the Klingon Empire into a constitutional monarchy! While Brooks had not used Kahless, Moore saw it as the chance to reveal another side of Klingon life apart and develop the character first presented in 1969’s “The Savage Curtain” (albeit in original Star Trek’s Klingon guise with pre-alliance description as the one who “set the pattern for his planet’s ruthless tyranny”). Originally the Kahless legend included his Christ-like death by the tyrant Molor after an honorable promised return from one last night of wandering amid nature, but those stories from René Echevarria’s “Birthright, Part II” were cut for time and Moore developed the messianic figure for his story needs here. Still, from that earlier script he picked up on Worf’s vision of Kahless in the No’Mat lava caves, used Molor as a Kahless victim (later fleshed out in “Firstborn”/273), and pegged Worf’s loss of faith to the Carraya IV experience. As a result, we now have Kahless and the Sto-Vo-Kor afterlife as the Klingons’ contrast to Fek’lhr and his realm of the dead dishonored (“Devil’s Due”/187).
One point finally cleared up is the status of the Klingon Empire’s “emperor.” Gowron, who has grayed with the demands of office since last seen (“Redemption, Part II”/201), and K’mpec before him (“Sins of the Father”/165) had been called “Leader of the High Council” and Gorkon of ST VI was titled “chancellor”—but here we learn that the title hasn’t been used in “three hundred years.” A past reference in “Sins of the Father” to an emperor at the time of the Khitomer massacre was just a throwaway, Moore said, before the government was fully sketched out a year later (“Reunion”/181). Actor Oppenheimer later changed races to become the illfated Captain Keogh in DS9’s “Jem’Hadar” segment.
For “missing trivia” buffs, lines in the cut scenes put Kahless’ original death 1,547 years earlier—or A.D. 822; in another, Alexander’s absence is finally explained as a visit back on Earth (“Family”/178, “Reunion”/181
); a third deleted exchange mused whether the Kahless figure is a front for the Duras sisters (“Redemption”/ 200-201, Generations, DS9’s “Past Prologue”) or the “B’nok faction.” Still onscreen are mentions of a coalescent creature (“Aquiel”/239), Worf’s original Rite of Ascension ceremony, performed on the Home World (“Icarus Factor”/140), and that his brother Kum (“Sins of the Fathers”/165) now has a seat on the High Council since the civil war (“Redemption”). And we learn that Kahless created the first bat’leth sword.
Emperor Kahless (Kevin Conway) returns.
The Klingon temple, whose design was inspired by similar structures Dan Curry recalled from his days in the Himalayas, was an impressive set that the small screen did not do justice to. For one thing, over $4,000 alone went into the fat beeswax candles used on the set, according to set decorator Jim Mees.
SECOND CHANCES
* * *
Production No.: 250 Aired: Week of May 24, 1993
Stardate: 46915.2 Code: sd
Directed by LeVar Burton
Teleplay by René Echevarria
Story by Michael A. Medlock
GUEST CAST
Ensign Palmer: Dr. Mae Jemison
* * *
Returning to a planet outpost whose unstable atmosphere and infrequent transport window almost left him stranded while a lieutenant on the Potemkin, Riker is shocked to find a double of himself—created years ago by an odd transporter reflection.
Nervala IV’s atmosphere allows only brief transporter use just once every eight years, and the Enterprise is back now for the same database sought earlier. But “Lieutenant Riker”’s appearance is more than just a scientific shock—it upsets Troi, since he’s ready to resume the passion they shared at the time.
While Troi finally decides to renew the affair, the two Rikers clash on the current mission when Picard chooses “Lieutenant Riker”’s plan. Meanwhile, Number One gently reminds Troi that this one will likely become just as involved with his career as he did.
Back for a third and final try to retrieve the database, Commander Riker saves his twin from plunging to his death from a collapsed bridge in the outpost’s underground caverns.
Safely aboard again, Lieutenant Riker is preparing for his new posting on the U.S.S. Gandhi when he receives two going-away gifts: a trombone, from his twin, and Troi’s promise to consider marrying him in six months when he can have family aboard his ship. Until then, Commander Riker promises to watch over her, the same as always.
First-time director LeVar Burton won praise all around for his preparation and unruffled handling of one of the toughest of FX shows, one that turned the Riker character on its ear and finally satisfied the clamoring Riker-Troi romance fans. And, to unleash the two-Riker trick without a cheap tech breakdown as catalyst, Rick Berman and Michael Piller were adamant that the transporter mishap be established as a once-in-a-trillion occurrence due to Nervala IV’s unique atmosphere. Echevarria, who recalled that the script practically wrote itself, relished once again getting to call a premise-pitcher about his story sale—though he recalled with a laugh that Medlock’s tale of a Riker twin almost got him booted from the office until he added the hook: the premise of the renewed romance.
If Riker’s future seems boggled by these events, consider what might have been: Taylor and the staff originally wanted to kill off Commander Riker, installing a hungry, career-climbing “young” Riker at the helm with Data as first officer—and greatly complicating Troi’s life. Berman and Piller, eyeing the character’s stability and its future in films, nixed that idea outright—and so it seemed that Lieutenant Riker would bite the dust until Piller suggested they salvage some of the unexpected and keep both alive: “I mean, what other show could do it?” he asked. At the time, Taylor said she had no idea what direction to take the twins in, but Thomas was to be featured in a third-year DS9 story called “The Defiant.”
The brief appearance by Dr. Mae Jemison, who like Whoopi Goldberg credits Nichelle “Uhura” Nichols from original Trek as one of her inspirations, came at Burton’s invitation and marked the first time any real-life space traveler had appeared on-camera in the Trek universe. Jemison, a general medical practitioner and the first black woman in space, had left her six-year NASA career by the time she appeared here to found a Houston-based communications company.
Riker is stunned to “find himself” on the planet Nervala IV.
Echevarria said he created most of the Riker background here (especially that it was he rather than Troi who decided to cool their affair) but the group finally decided that “simplest was best” for a middle name. Taylor recalled that “Tecumseh” was among those considered—and, no, “Tiberius” (as in James Kirk) never was. Facts given here fit that Riker and Troi began their affair on Betazed as per “Ménage àTroi” (172) and that he had previously served aboard the Potemkin (“Peak Performance”/147), starting the day after their last time together at Betazed’s Janaran Falls. No time span is given, but the two years they were apart (the difference in the eight-year Nervala cycle and Riker’s six years on the 1701-D) is enough to include the rapid promotion he received after the Nervala mission (and presumably out of the mustard tunic of services) since he was quickly a lieutenant commander and the Hood’s first officer (“Encounter at Farpoint”/101-102).
For background buffs, Riker’s chance to command the Aries and his rocky years with his father are recalled (“The Icarus Factor”/140), and a move from Worf’s Mok’bara exercises gets a name: Koh-man-ara. Despite prior word of transporters being largely unchanged in recent decades (“Relics”/230), here we learn there have been advances enough just in the last eight years. And once again (“Imaginary Friend”/222) we learn that the Galaxy class was not the first to allow families on board: Troi could have joined Riker on the Potemkin two years before the 1701-D was launched. Past references include Riker’s trombone (“11001001”/116, “Future Imperfect”/182, “The Next Phase”/224, “Thine Own Self”/268, “Timescape”/251) and Parreses Squares (“11001001,” “Future Imperfect,” “Silicon Avatar”/204, “The First Duty”/219).
Scheduling problems kept Jonathan Frakes from pre-recording his own trombone tracks for the Ten-Forward jazz quartet scene, but co-producer Wendy Neuss said he would likely do so in the future. Frakes got to join castmate Brent Spiner in the hassle of photo doubling and other FX needed to create a twin, though relying with much-praised success on the subtleties of acting with little aid from makeup. The collapsed bridge was built and filmed live in Stage 16’s “Planet Hell” pit, with cavern depths added in the computer paintbox.
TIMESCAPE
* * *
Production No.: 251 Aired: Week of June 14, 1993
Stardate: 46944.2 Code: tms
Directed by Adam Nimoy
Written by Brannon Braga
GUEST CAST
Romulan/Alien: Michael Bofshever
Sickbay Romulan: John DeMita
Engineering ensign: Joel Fredericks
* * *
Returning by runabout from a conference, Troi, Picard, Data, and La Forge are puzzled by time “freezing” and “speeding up” around them until they discover it is due to temporal “pockets” that their runabout must dodge.
Even more shocking, they find their starship likewise frozen in time before a Romulan Warbird, a disruptor bolt partway to the starship’s half-raised shields. Riker had reported moving to help a stricken Warbird, but—by adapting emergency transporter armbands to create skintight forcefields of “real” time—Picard and the others board the Enterprise where they find freeze-framed signs of apparent Romulan boarding and a warp-core breach in progress.
Visiting the warbird, they find an odd alien vortex in the engine core. After Data’s tricorder sets off the vortex and time races forward and backward only to “freeze” again, with the Enterprise exploding and re-forming, they try to shift time backward far enough to prevent the breach.
Meanwhile, an alien from another time dimension revea
ls it is his young who are the “vortex,” accidentally attracted to the core’s artificial gravity well. They are the cause of the time pockets. Time is “reset” successfully, but one of the aliens—distracts Data long enough to allow the breach to re-form.
Picard has the runabout steered into the transfer beam’s path to break it, sending the aliens back to their “time” and restoring his own.
An alien being masquerades as a Romulan.
At the end of ‘Rascals’ (233) we told Adam Nimoy ‘We owe you one with grown-ups!’” Rick Berman said. “The joke was, my next one would be all animals!” Nimoy recalled. Whatever the case, the still-young director here went from the frying pan into the fire with what has been dubbed the most “techie” TNG episode ever to shoot, the first of two requiring eight and a half days to shoot.
When the planned story fell through for this slot, Braga again stepped in to complete a script and skipped the story-outline stage, going right to the break session to save time—just eight days before the first production meeting with the director. Inspired by the simple late-season premise “ship trapped in time like amber,” pitched by Mark Gerhed O’Connell, Braga set out to top his own “Cause and Effect” of a season before (218) with another out-of-the-ordinary time story; “I wanted to do this as ‘man against nature,’ or ‘man against time’,” he said. “What The Abyss was to deep-sea diving, this would be to ‘deep-time diving’”; in fact, “Deep Time” was almost the segment’s title.