Transporting three Ullian mind-probing historians, the Enterprise crew is stymied when some of its members fall into a coma. Deanna Troi, the first crew member to come through it, cannot rec... Read allTransporting three Ullian mind-probing historians, the Enterprise crew is stymied when some of its members fall into a coma. Deanna Troi, the first crew member to come through it, cannot recall anything surrounding the incident.Transporting three Ullian mind-probing historians, the Enterprise crew is stymied when some of its members fall into a coma. Deanna Troi, the first crew member to come through it, cannot recall anything surrounding the incident.
- Crewman Nelson
- (uncredited)
- Crewman Martinez
- (uncredited)
- Ensign Kellogg
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is the only episode of either Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) in which Keiko O'Brien (Rosalind Chao) appears but her husband Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) does not.
- GoofsDoctor Crusher refers to the thalamus as "the part of the cerebral cortex involved in memory function." However, the thalamus is not part of the cerebral cortex, and is not considered important for most memory processes.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Tarmin: It's been three centuries since we treated anyone for this... this form of rape. But there are medical records from that era. It was a time of great violence for my people, a time we thought we had put far behind us. That this could happen now... It's unimaginable.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Earth was once a violent planet, too. At times, the chaos threatened the very fabric of life, but, like you, we evolved; we found better ways to handle our conflicts. But I think no one can deny that the seed of violence remains within each of us. We must recognize that. Because that violence is capable of consuming each of us, as it consumed your son.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Star Trek: Birth of the Federation (1999)
- SoundtracksStar Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage
I could have gone something like this: The villain has a good one-on-one conversation with Troi, but when it gets too personal, Troi is uncomfortable and leaves. It needs to be specific, such as describing a memorable date with Riker, but stopping when they enter the bedroom. We then see the villain talking to his father about his intriguing conversation with Troi, perhaps remarking that human dating rituals are very peculiar. Later, Troi then has a dream about that event but it continues into the bedroom. It should not be rape, but something should feel "off". For example, when she runs her hand through Riker's hair, it is long blonde hair, which freaks her out and she passes out. Both the villain and his father have the same long blonde hair (or maybe they both have ridges on their hands and that freaks out Troi when she clasps Riker's hands), so we don't know, which one invaded her thoughts.
We then see both the villain and his father have a conversation with Beverly about something that intrigues both of them, but Beverly gets uncomfortable and ends the conversation. Again, Beverly has a dream that replays the end of that scene and continues beyond where Beverly wanted to stop. Something clues us in to the fact that the other character is one of the aliens but it is again we can't tell which one.
Picard and Riker then talk to the aliens. The villain can see that Riker is very agitated, asking tough questions but is tempered by Picard, who says "Ok, we will discuss this." We see Picard meet with Riker and agree with his plan to contact their alien home world (or something). The villain is concerned and wants to know what was said, so he invades Riker's mind to learn what was said in the meeting, but we see the villain's father take the place of Picard and argue against Riker's plan, but before Riker collapses, we see the alien mother or father walk in on the villain and disrupt the session, so Riker is confused and groggy but doesn't pass out. He remembers seeing the father's face, so he comes on even stronger to accuse the father, who tries do defend himself, but is placed in the brig. The audience knows that he is wrongly accused but how will they prove it?
Soon after, Geordie provides the evidence that the other events could only have been caused by the son. So now we have a dilemma. Could both the father and son be doing this? The son on the other worlds and the father on Enterprise? Is it possible for the aliens to implant thoughts, a false image? When they acknowledge that yes, they can implant thoughts, their entire body of work is questioned. The villain, as much as he is frustrated by his father, does not want to see all of his father's work ruined, so he confesses. Can we believe the confession or is he protecting his father? They then look at the times that these events happened and prove that it could only be the son.
So, it is possible to show the mental violation without showing sexual rape or having the audience wonder if Riker actually raped Troi, or whether that was only the villain. And the audience doesn't need to know too early who the true villain is.
Another possibility is to have a series of more subtle, minor invasions that the characters can talk about "I had dreamt about x but it felt weird, different, but I can't explain how." this builds to them passing out.
- wwcanoer-tech
- Jan 27, 2022
- Permalink
Details
- Runtime45 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1