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| Scotty (James Doohan) and Picard discuss old ships and old age. |
The Enterprise encounters a Dyson Sphere, an enormous structure enclosing a star. On the surface of the sphere is a crashed spaceship - the Jenolan, a Federation ship that vanished 75 years ago. An Away Team beams down to the ship, where Geordi discovers one survivor whose pattern has been kept active within the transporter. He activates the transporter, and they learn the identity of the sole survivor:
Captain Montgomery Scott (James Doohan)!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Fascinated by both of the "relics" of the title. The Dyson Sphere is a theory he is already familiar with, and finding an actual one cannot help but capture his interest. Nor can he help but be captivated by the living relic that is Scotty, a man from a past that predates Picard's birth. Picard doesn't view Scotty as simply a specimen, though. He recognizes that this a man who is used to feeling useful. He empathizes with Scotty's feelings of obsolescence, and he takes steps to give the old man a chance to be useful once more. Patrick Stewart is as solid as ever, and he has a splendid scene opposite James Doohan, as the two share memories of their old ships while sitting in a holodeck simulation of Scotty's old Enterprise.
Scotty: As an engineer, Scotty's success in his field has depended on his intimate knowledge of cutting edge technology. Thrust almost a century forward in time, he no longer has that knowledge. Much of what he knows no longer applies, leaving him "in the way" when he tries to insert himself into Engineering on the Enterprise D. No surprise that this leaves him feeling useless. It's only aboard a ship from his own time that he truly comes to life. By working one final miracle, Scotty is able to feel like the man he was and ends the episode no longer ready to retire - though it is hard to see what, beyond some educational lectures, he will truly be able to contribute, given that the time it would take to become expert on new technology would eat up most of the rest of his life.
Geordi: With the engineer of the old series being the focus of the episode, the script doesn't miss the chance to pair him (and contrast him) with the engineer of the current show. Geordi tries to show respect to Scotty, even allowing him access to Engineering as they study the Sphere. But Scotty does not understand the newer ship's technology, and at the same time can't keep from poking at everything in sight, and Geordi finally loses his patience. Their personalities are sharply different. Geordi is very contained and earnest. When he gives his captain an estimate of how long a task will take, it's an accurate one - Whereas we learn here that Scotty was always able to get things done in half the time required because he deliberately inflated the estimates he'd give to Kirk! The two manage to work together in the crisis near the end, and the episode closes with them behaving as proper friends.
THOUGHTS
Having brought back Dr. McCoy for a cameo in Encounter at Farpoint, then having brought back Spock and Sarek for more central roles in Sarek and Unification, it isn't surprising to see this series mining TOS one more time. This time, Scotty is brought to the 24th century. Unlike the other characters, he hasn't aged into this time period. Instead, through the magic of the transporter, Scotty is effectively plucked out of his time into the next century, making him very much a stranger visiting the future.
Writer Ronald D. Moore is able to mine this situation to good effect, and his script is at its best in the character scenes between Scotty and Picard or Scotty and Geordi. A fan of TOS, Moore doesn't hesitate to throw in references to multiple episodes, nor does he resist an opportunity to revisit the bridge of the 1960's Enterprise. He isn't just a fan, though - He's also an excellent writer, and he makes the scene on the old Enterprise's bridge is more than just a moment of fan service. The scene is built up to in the script in such a way that the viewer understands its importance to Scotty - even a viewer who never saw a single episode of the old show.
The script is at its weakest when dealing with the Dyson Sphere, an interesting concept which I think is simply not a good fit. The episode's real story is Scotty's feelings of uselessness and obsolescence. This requires some external threat that his skills are able to defuse. In an ideal script, that threat should in some way reflect Scotty's situation - tying the two relics together in theme as well as plot. The Dyson Sphere doesn't reflect Scotty's issues, however, and there is no time to explore it in any depth in itself. The result is a crisis that feels artificial, even tacked-on. The resonance of Scotty's scenes, particularly his scene with Picard, is completely absent from the scenes dealing with the Sphere. It becomes just a random object in space that does Something Dangerous for Unknown Reasons.
Relics is still a good episode. It's never dull, and it makes excellent use of the character of Scotty and the situation of bringing him to a time and place where he doesn't feel he belongs. But despite some excellent character material, it never quite threatens to become a great one.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Previous Episode: Man of the People
Next Episode: Schisms
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