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| Troi's nightmare: "Eyes in the dark..." |
THE PLOT
The Enterprise encounters the Brattain, a missing Starfleet vessel. They beam over to discover the engines not functioning and the entire crew dead, save for a Betazoid (John Vickery) found in a catatonic state. As the crew investigates, it becomes clear that the crew killed each other, with the captain's log showing a clear progression toward paranoid delusions.
When the Enterprise attempts to tow the other ship away, they discover that their engines are also not working - leaving them stuck just as the Brattain was. They have become caught in a space rift, one which requires a massive explosion in order to dislodge the ship. As the Enterprise crew begins to experience delusions and behavioral changes, it is soon clear that it will be up to Data and Troi to extricate the ship - before the entire crew goes insane!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Though he does not attempt to deny that anything's wrong, he sticks tightly to his duty. Even when Crusher and Troi come to him with the problems they're observing with the crew, he insists on proceeding with the operation to tow the Brattain, rather than trying to leave immediately (which, as it turns out, wouldn't have worked anyway). He tries to coordinate with Riker to keep both of their faculties intact by insisting on switching out 4-hour sleep shifts. When that doesn't work, he bows to the inevitable and cedes command to Data, the one officer aboard who is completely immune to the effect.
Data: A strong episode for Data, as he takes command of the ship in a crisis. As in Clues, Brent Spiner does a good job of keeping Data's reactions consistent with his normal behavior. When Picard tells him that they will need to rely on Data during this crisis, he simply replies that he will do his best, his tone showing no greater gravity than in an everyday situation, which emphasizes Data as non-emotional. He works well with Troi in figuring out the aliens' message and planning a response. He also gets a rather nice closing beat at the episode's end.
Troi: Her telepathic abilities are useful for once! Because of her Betazoid physiology, she is not affected in the same way as the rest of the crew. She is able to sleep and to dream - but her dreams are nightmares, in which she hears the same telepathic message over and over again. The Betazoid from the Brattain was driven to a catatonic state by this, and she knows that if the situation is not resolved, she will end up the same way.
Dr. Crusher: Along with Troi, she is the first to realize that what happened to the crew of the Brattain is now happening to Enterprise's crew. She urges Picard to simply leave this area of space. She is also the first to realize that the growing insanity and hallucinations are caused by a lack of REM sleep - an absence of dreams. She gets one of the episode's more effectively creepy moments, as she walks through a morgue of bodies from the Brattain - only to suddenly hallucinate that they have all sat up in bed. She has a strong enough will to push the hallucination away, but she warns Picard that the spiral into insanity and violence is inevitable.
THOUGHTS
Night Terrors is an episode I want to enjoy a lot more than I actually do enjoy it. It opens very well, with the discovery of the Brattain an effective hook. I love the idea of Troi's nightmare, though the wire work as she flies (like Supergirl!) into the cloud is... regrettable. I love the idea of the crew experiencing paranoia and hallucinations, and I enjoyed some of the creepier moments, such as the morgue scene with Dr. Crusher or the snakes in Riker's bed. Credit to the makeup department, which does a good job of making the command crew look increasingly haggard. Credit also to the story construction, which manages to make all of this more or less make sense in context.
Unfortunately, it's all just a bit too ordinary. An episode like this really needs to "go for it," with a lot of jolts and surprises and a bit of surrealism. After an effectively creepy start, this one is content to coast along on Technobabble and the strength of the performances. Other than the snakes in Riker's bed and the moment in the morgue, we don't get much in the way of hallucinations. The promised "altered behavior" is confined to a scene in which O'Brien gets snitty with Keiko and to a random loudmouth who spins conspiracy theories in Ten-Forward.
I hate to advocate going over-the-top. But this episode would have been benefited greatly from more and more varied nightmares, as well as more blending of nightmares with reality. More paranoia from the crew, and maybe even a violent encounter or two. As it stands, the show is never able to really build up much steam. It's watchable, and skimming the episode's Memory Alpha page, it's clear enough that I liked it better than the actual producers did. The cast is good across the board, and there are some strong moments and visuals. It just plays it all a bit too tame and low-key. The results are acceptable, but far from memorable.
Overall Rating: 5/10
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