The Enterprise is transporting quarrelsome delegates from two warring species, the dog-like Anticans and the reptilian Selay, both of whom have applied for entry into the Federation. Their destination is a peace conference on the planet Parliament. En route, however, the ship encounters a mysterious cloud-like energy formation. Picard orders a brief detour to investigate... and a mysterious energy surge promptly puts Worf in Sickbay.
The surge was caused by an energy creature, which passes from Worf to Dr. Crusher to the Enterprise computers, where it begins sabotaging the ship. The crew slowly work out the nature of the threat... but by the time they realize that the ship has been invaded by an energy being capable of taking over crew members, Picard himself has succumbed!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Patrick Stewart does particularly well with the last third or so of the episode, playing the possessed Picard. He slows down his line deliveries, and delivers every line with a calm serenity that is at odds with the (somewhat exaggeratedly) grumpy demeanor that "normal Picard" exhibits. Without actually doing anything specifically threatening, his scenes carry a wonderful eerie quality that lifts the episode itself considerably.
Riker: For purposes of this episode only, Riker becomes a bit of a wimp. The previous five episodes have firmly established that Riker will challenge the captain and even stand up to his authority when he deems it necessary. Not only suspecting, but knowing that the captain has been possessed by an alien intelligence... Riker suddenly can't do anything about it. Riiight...
Dr. Crusher: Even more hilariously implausible than Riker's inaction is Crusher's. Picard confirms to Crusher's face that he is possessed. What does the good doctor do? Does she instantly relieve him of command? Does she leave the room, call for help, then come back to relieve him of command? No, she simply says that "the more frightens me," and then does nothing. She also fails to report to anyone suddenly finding herself on the bridge, with a gap in her memory, until well after it becomes clear that there is a problem. She receives no reprimand of any kind for waiting to speak up; no one even mentions that doing so might have saved a fair bit of trouble. Ah, well. At least she's pretty.
Data: Gets some of the more entertaining material in the episode, when an offhand remark by Picard about wondering what Sherlock Holmes would make of this puzzle results in Data smoking a pipe and speaking in Holmesian dialogue. Most amusing is when, in mid-pompous Holmes, he suddenly gives RIker a sidelong glance and adds, "Sir."
IT'S TIME FOR... BRATS IN SPAAACE!
Wesley's specialness allows him to diagnose the nature of the problem with the engines when the engineer is unable to do so. When the engineer sends Wesley away to class, he whines about how much better he understands these problems than the actual crew members do. Couldn't the energy creature have beamed out in Wesley instead of what it ends up doing? Then the ship could leave Wesley the Wonderful there to swim around as an energy beam forever, and never blight the television screen again.
LET'S PLAY... ZAP THE REDSHIRT!
The first redshirt death in Next Generation. All right, technically he's a goldshirt, but that doesn't quite have the same ring to it. After Wesley has, with extreme brilliance and perceptiveness, pointed out to the plodding Engineer Singh the nature of the problem with the engines, Singh sends Wesley away. He then begins examining the problem, only to get zapped by the energy being. Instead of taking over his body, it kills him... for reasons never explained, save that it was apparently accidental. I guess as dangerous as it is to be a random crew member with a brief speaking part in Trek, it's doubly dangerous to be non-white with a brief speaking part.
THOUGHTS
After the very high quality of Where No One Has Gone Before, I felt reassured that there at least would be a few good episodes in Season One of TNG. Sadly, this is not one of them.
Which is not to say it's howlingly inept, in the manner of Code of Honor or The Last Outpost. This is a competently-executed episode. The early part establishes a mystery, which deepens over the course of the episode, before being resolved at the end. The visual effects for the energy cloud are dated, but still suitably eye-catching, even if they don't equal the gorgeous effects representing the end of the universe in Where No One Has Gone Before. It's all perfectly competent.
Unfortunately, it's also quite boring.
Things pick up a bit once Picard gets possessed. However, the first 30 minutes or so of this episode move very, very slowly. The subplot with the alien delegates goes nowhere, and when they start lurking in the (unusually dark) corridors to ambush each other, I wondered why anyone on the ship would really mind the prospect of them killing each other off. Both races come across as uncouth, arrogant, and violent.
The main plot sees a return to the pacing problems that have plagued this series from the get-go, with no real sense of building tension. Characters are dumbed down specifically so that the problem can't be spotted early on. Troi is always useless, sure... But she doesn't sense that the doctor, standing two feet away from her and behaving very strangely, has been suddenly taken over by an alien being? Either her empathic abilities have a point, or they don't. If they don't, then just drop them already.
Tension only starts to build once Picard is taken over - a point that should have been reached much sooner, and held longer. Even then, any suspense is promptly diffused when technobabbling the techno-gizmo and feeding it through the transporter miraculously resolves all problems.
Oh, and there's a comedy "tag" involving a delegate being killed and prepared as a meal. As Beavis and Butthead would say: Heh heh heh.
Rating: 4/10.
Previous Episode: Where No One Has Gone Before
Next Episode: Justice
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