Warp Speed to Nonsense

Warp Speed to Nonsense

Monday, January 23, 2023

ST:TNG Season Five, Episode Nineteen "The First Duty"

ST: TNG Season Five, Episode Nineteen "The First Duty"
Production Order: 19
Air Order: 19
Stardate: 45703.9
Original Air Date: March 30, 1992







Picard's Log 45703.9: "Going back to Earth, cuz they asked me to give the keynote at the Academy graduation ceremony. Will also see Wesley Crusher, cuz he's part of this flight team that will be doing a flying demonstration that's gonna be broadcast to the ceremony. Should be a cool couple of days."

Senior staff is working on the bridge when Worf tells Picard that they're ten hours out from Earth, and Picard replies back to let Starfleet Academy know, and to also send his regards to Superintendent Brand. This kicks off a brief, friendly convo between Picard and Riker about the superintendents that were overseeing the Academy when they were attending: Riker notes that his super was Vulcan, and had memorized the personnel files of every cadet, making it feel like you were attending academy with your parents; Picard muses on his own own super, a Betazoid with full telepathic powers.
"He didn't have to ask you why you were there to see him."
"You were in the super's office?" laughs Riker.
(Remember: this is before we learn about the dom-jot incident. As far as the audience knows, he's a Boy Scout who likes archaeology.)




"Admiral Brand is calling for you," Worf announces. "But like, on a private channel."
So Picard goes to his ready room.
He's all smiles when he greets Brand, but her news is pretty sobering: there's been an accident, and it involves Wes.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!




I'm sure they did it this way for maximum drama, but when we return, Picard is in Crusher's office, telling her about Wes' injuries, because they failed to call his mother first.
That's some bullshit, Brand. You always contact next of kin first. "Friend of the family" does not get dibs.
Anyway, Wes has some burns and several fractures to his arm, and Crusher drops into doctor mode right away to deal with the stress, telling Picard what medical procedures they'll probably take to patch her kid up.
He points out that Wes is fine, and she says "I know he's fine" several times in this voice that is not convincing.
It's similar to using my Customer Service Voice to apologize to a customer for something that was totally their own fucking fault: you're not gonna buy it, but I'm gonna try selling it anyway.
He explains (because somehow the Academy and its infirmary can't be bothered) that Wes and the flight team were practicing their routine near Saturn, and there was a collision of the crafts. All of the crafts were destroyed, four pilots (including Wes) made it out, but one kid, Joshua Albert, died.
Crusher muses that Wes has been excited to join this team, even though it was dangerous, and that he spoke often of Josh Albert, his friend.
"He's perfectly fine," Picard reminds her.




The E has arrived at Earth, and aw man, the Academy flag is flying half-staff.




There's a meeting with some parents, presumably of other cadets, and includes Picard, Crusher, and Lt-Commander Albert, Joshua's father. There's one other pair, but they have no lines, so we don't really know who they are.
Admiral Brand tells the group that the wreckage of the crafts was pretty mangled, and they only managed to get one black box, which was also pretty banged up. They're going to try to pull footage from it, and there's going to be an inquiry with Nova Squadron - the flight team - later that day.
 Brand tells the others that some people have suggested that commencement be canceled, but Brand and Josh's father talked, and agreed that it should go on, to show the cadets that death is a part of being in Starfleet, and that life continues on.
After the meeting breaks up, Picard approaches Brand and offers her the use of the Enterprise for the investigation, should she need it.




Wes is in his quarters doing arm-resistance exercises to work out the kinks in his arm. (Beverly had mentioned a "regeneration series" in her office earlier, so presumably, medicine in the 24th century can repair bones quickly and easily.)
Also, this resistance-training device is pretty sweet. I don't know anything about physical therapy, but I think this is cool.



There's a knock at the door, which opens on a regular-ass hinge, as opposed to sliding open like on a starship, and Picard and Beverly are there to visit. He invites them in and reiterates that he's fine, just a little sore from the accident and medical treatments.
Ever the doctor, Beverly examines his arm and the device he was using. They both tell Wes that they're sorry to hear about Josh, and ask if he'd like to talk about it.
"Not really," he replies. "I've done nothing but talk about it the last two days, and I'd kind of like a break."
Picard says he's there to talk if Wes changes his mind.




Another knock at the door. Wes is a popular guy.
It's Tom Paris Nicholas Locarno, the leader of Nova Squadron. By the bars on his collar (four, as compared to Wes' two), he's a senior. Nick notices who else is in the room, and drops to attention, but Picard tells him to be at ease.
Beverly and Picard ask how Nick is doing, and he says he's alright, but has never lost anyone under his command before.
"Yeah, that never gets easier," says Picard kindly.
Wes crosses to the door and holds it open. "Um, can you guys leave? I need to talk to Nick alone."
Wow.
Okay, then?
Bit sus, Wes.
Beverly and Picard are also surprised, but do as he asked, telling him they will see him at the inquiry.




Once they've left, Nick tells Wes what time the inquiry is, and asks if he's ready. Then he reassures the underclassman that it'll all be okay as long as Nova Squadron sticks together.
Maybe he's just being nice, and a good squadron leader.
Or maybe Nick Locarno is also sus.

Dramatic music, so you know where that's going! Commercial break!




Back on his old stomping grounds, Picard decides to take a walk, maybe see an old friend.
Y'all, it's Boothby!




We hear him chastise a kid for sitting in a flower bed before we see him kicking that same cadet out. But like, in Boothby's defense, it was really obviously a flower bed.
Boothby is an older guy, the grounchy groundskeeper, and he wields a sharp-looking trowel. If I'm building an army of fictional characters, I want fucking Boothby on my side.
He looks up in confusion when Picard calls him by name.
" It's Jean-Luc Picard? Class of '27?"
Boothby Sassy Moment: "I know that. What happened to your hair?"
The list of people who can safely screw with Picard is short, and Boothby is at the top.


Picard offers to help Boothby replant the flower bed, and the old gardener starts talking about how impressive Picard has become, captain of the Enterprise, giving the commencement address. Guess he did remember Picard.
They get up and start walking the grounds, and Boothby leaves his gardening tools on the ground (???).
"So, hey," says Picard a little awkwardly. "Thanks for like, helping me out at the Academy. I don't think I would have graduated if it wasn't for you."
"Meh," scoffs Boothby. "You were young and dumb and made a mistake. We've all been there. And you knew what to do. I just pointed you in that direction, made sure you listened to yourself."
"Yeah, but I didn't talk to you for months. I thought you were a cranky old man."
Sassy Boothby Moment: "I was. And by the way, I was about the same age you are now."
Damn, Boothby.
"Things is, you turned out okay. That was the important part."
They stop at this metal thing with a roll top, and I think it's a place to store his tools?
Picard asks if he knew Josh Albert.
Boothby names off the members of the Nova Squadron: Crusher, Sito, Hajar, Locarno, Albert. "I know them all."
Worrying music, and a close-up on Picard...




Back in Wes' quarters, the members of Nova Squadron have lined up in a row so Locarno can inspect them before the inquiry. He's friendly about it, though. When Sito admits to being nervous, he says reassuringly that he is too, but they'll be okay. He gives a quick pep talk about how leading the team has been the highlight of his Academy years, and he's grateful for their friendship. They all file out, and he briefly looks uncertain before following.

We jump straight to the inquiry, and watch a Powerpoint about the routine that Nova Squadron was practicing, while Locarno describes it.
"...we were in a diamond-slot formation, prepping for a Yeager Loop. Then Cadet Albert's craft collided with Cadet Hajar's. I hit the emergency beam-out, and ended up at the evac stations on Mimas. Everyone beamed off, except Josh."
The little crafts on the demo blow up, the members of Nova Squadron shift uncomfortably in their seats. So does Josh's father.


Jean Hajar is called to the carpet. She was in charge of filing the flight plan, and Brand points out that the information given indicated that they did a turn a lot closer to Saturn than what was listed on the flight plan.
"It was still within safety parameters," Hajar objects.
GIRL NO.
"That wasn't the question," says Brand icily.
Y'all, that is Admiral Brand. Like, I'm afraid of this woman, and I don't even know her.
Hajar quickly apologizes, and says that the team had discussed changing the flight plan after it had been filed, and the decision to make the change was further discussed while flying to Saturn, and that it was such a small thing that she didn't feel it was worth mentioning.
Captain Satelk, the Vulcan helping Brand with the inquiry, asks Hajar if she saw the collision happening before she transported off. When she says no, he asks the entire team. Shaken heads all around.
Then he asks Sito if she saw Albert in trouble, as she was in the tail position.
"I didn't," she replies. "I was flying on sensor only, not visual."
"Say what now?" asks Setelk.
The gallery starts whispering.
Crusher, who is not a pilot, quietly asks Picard what the problem is.
"It's weird to fly on sensors alone during that kind of maneuver," he whispers back. "You need to be able to see the other ships to check proximity."


Sito quickly ends up in the weeds as Brands starts grilling her about not knowing the location of Josh's ship in relation to her own. Locarno stands up quickly, and offers more insight.
"Josh was... an awesome pilot, but he had been getting nervous lately about the close fly-bys. He would pull away last-minute."
Brand is now unimpressed with Locarno. "You let him fly in this condition? And didn't report it to anyone?"
"We were friends, and had been flying together for a long time. I thought he would handle it, if I gave him some time. I was wrong."
And now Brand wants to be really clear: "You're saying the accident was Cadet Albert's fault?"
Sito and Crusher exchange a look, and Locarno glances at them briefly. 
"I think he got scared, pulled away, and crashed into Hajar's ship. We didn't say anything because we didn't want our friend to be remembered as someone who panicked."
Brand is pissed, but keeping it to a simmer. "You let someone fly who was unfit to do so, and you didn't report it. That's a serious lack of judgement. We're getting the black box info in soon, so we'll look at that, and reconvene the inquiry tomorrow."
Picard scowls at Nova Squadron from the audience. Lt-Cmndr Albert looks distinctly uneasy.
Wes looks at Locarno.
"It's fine," says Locarno. "Everything's fine."

Dramatic music! Commercial break!




Back upstairs, Picard asks Data and La Forge to go over the testimony and the info from the black box - made available to the E by Brand - to reconstruct the accident.
La Forge says he isn't sure if they can contribute much, as the Academy has some of the best equipment out there for the task, but Picard stands firm, with the explanation that Wes is one of their own. They agree.

Downstairs, Nova Squad has gathered in Wes' quarters again.
Damn, look at that view of San Francisco. I'd put up with the Academy's shitty math classes to get a view like that.




Sito is pissed. "You told them that the accident was Josh's fault. That's not true."
"You lied!" Wes accuses Nick. "You said we weren't going to have to lie to them."
Nick is now facing three angry teammates. "I didn't lie! Josh panicked."
"We don't know that!" yells Wes.
So, with the inquiry on his ass, and his teammates pissed at him, Nick elects to gaslight the team. "Josh was getting nervous, and no one wanted to say anything because we're all friends."
Hajar shakes her head. "He must have pulled out too soon. He was probably scared."
NICK LOOKS ALMOST SURPRISED THAT JEAN TOOK THE BAIT.


Nick looks at Sito, who gives a tiny, sad nod: the accident was Josh's own fault.
But Wes is not convinced.
So Nick lowers the boom: "I know you want to protect Josh, but that comes at the expense of our careers. You wanna walk in there and tell them everything?"
Whoa-ho, what's everything, Nick?
"They'll kick us out," agrees Sito.
Y'all: look at the blocking in this shot. Everyone against Wes.


Nick holds up a padd and tells them that it's the black box info, that it was so badly damaged that they could only pull a little info from it, and all of it is from before the crash.
"We're golden," he says.
"You don't have to lie," Sito insists. "Just don't give them any new information."
Girl, that is a lie by omission. 
Hajar looks uncomfortable. 
And Nick goes in for the kill. "I knew I wanted you on this team, Wes, because you've been out there, doing the thing, counting on others and with them counting on you. You know what's like. And we promised each other that we would stick together, through it all, because we're the elite, we're Nova Squadron. And then, after graduation, we were gonna try to get posted together. Josh can't be part of those plans anymore. He'd want us to still be a team, though."
Wes still looks uneasy.




Wes is in the inquiry room, going over his Powerpoint presentation by himself, to lock in what he wants to say. Josh's dad comes in with a sweater, and says that he found it in Josh's room, and was told that it belongs to Wes.
"We went skiing in Calgary last month," says Wes quietly, taking the sweater. "Josh forgot his, so I lent him one."
They talk briefly about how Josh looked up to Wes, and considered him a good friend, who had helped Josh with some of his classes. Albert then reminisces about how much Josh hated math, but knuckled down when he found out about the Academy entrance requirements.
He ends by saying that he's sorry that Josh let the squad down, how they could have all been killed.
Let's layer that guilt on real thick, shall we?




We return to the inquiry room later, for the second part of the investigation. Wes is giving his Powerpoint, and explaining what's happing on the black box video. There isn't anything weird about the footage. After, Brand asks him to describe what happens after the footage ended.
"Nick gave the signal to start the Yeager Loop, so we got into diamond slot formation. Nine seconds later, my proximity alarm when off, and Josh's ship collided with mine. I managed to hit the emergency transporter, and ended up on the evac station at Mimas."
Brand asks if he'd like to add anything, and he replies no.
Just don't give them any new information. 
Setelk asks Wes to describe a Yeager Loop. He does so, making a diamond shape with his hands to simulate the diamond slot formation.
"Was the team in diamond slot formation the whole way through the Loop?" asks Setelk.
Wes replies in the affirmative, and repeats that again when Brand asks if he's sure.
So Brand and Setelk pull up the navigation satellites around Saturn, and enhance a section, showing Nova Squadron in a more... circular shape.

That ain't no diamond slot formation



Locarno shifts in his seat.
"So, this was taken seven seconds after you completed the Yeager Loop," says Setelk.
"That a diamond slot formation?" asks Brand.
"No?" says Wes.
"You have an explanation?" Brand presses.
"I have none," replies Wes.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Close-up of Dooooom!



Beverly visits Wes in his quarters (maybe during a recess? Or they'll continue the inquiry later?).
"Everything's going to be fine," she assures him. "Data and La Forge are looking into the black box and satellite footage."
"Why?" he asks in surprise.
"It might have been tampered with," she insists. "I know you're telling the truth, but the sat image makes it look like you're lying."
Oh, Beverly. You think so highly of your Good Egg kid that you're willing to entertain thoughts of conspiracy theories rather than accept the fact that your kid actually is lying, and is receiving a hefty dose of peer pressure at the same time.
Wes is unimpressed. Especially after Beverly says that she's been talking with the other parents, and intends to approach Brand about delaying the inquiry.
"Please stay out of this," he says firmly. 




Picard approaches Boothby again, who is pulling weeds.
"You could use a herbicide to get rid of those instead of pulling them by hand."
Sassy Boothby Moment: "And you could explore space on a holodeck instead of a starship."
LOL.
Boothby talks briefly about a Parrises Squares tournament that took place during Picard's time at the Academy, and the massive celebration that took place afterward. Then he compares those cadets to the ones now: the current students are so enamored with Nova Squadron that the team is basically treated like gods.
"That's hard to live up to," he notes. "Nick Locarno is the heart of that team. Keeps them together, and they'd do anything he asked, even if it meant certain doom."




Upstairs, Picard and Crusher check in with Data and La Forge.
They know that the crash occurred a few seconds after the nav sat images, but can't account for why the team was not in diamond slot, or why the crash occurred.
"Too many variables," says La Forge. 
Picard asks if the black box indicated that there was anything wrong with Wes' ship.
They name off a few things that are not really noteworthy, then mention that his coolant interlock was open, which is weird.
"That's typically closed, unless you're performing a check on coolant levels," says La Forge. "But we don't think Wes was doing a check like that."
"You'd have to have it open to fill the coolant tank, but that can only be done in a maintenance bay," muses Picard. "Are there other reasons it might have been open?"
La Forge pauses before suggesting that it's the first step in purging the plasma exhaust.
"Not a good choice while in-flight," Data notes.
La Forge agrees, saying that the engine would ignite the plasma.
"Oh, fuck," says Picard.




Worrying music... commercial break.

Picard is in his ready room when the chime goes off, and Wes steps in.
Oh lordt. Called to the principal's office.
Picard spins his laptop and shows Wes a demo on the screen, where five ships move into a circle formation, fly across it in different directions, and their emissions ignite, causing a starburst pattern.




"What's this, please?" asks Picard solemnly.
"A Kolvoord Starburst," says Wes.
"It's an awesome maneuver, where five ships cross very closely, then ignite their plasma, but it hasn't been done in a hundred years. Why?"
Wes shifts. "It was banned following a training accident."
"Yeah. And all five cadets died."
Whoomp, there it is.
There's a long pause, where Picard stares at Wes and gathers his thoughts. "I think Nick Locarno convinced Nova Squadron to learn the Kolvoord Starburst for the graduation commencement. If it worked, he would graduate in a blaze of glory. But it didn't. Nick fucked around, you all found out, and Josh Albert is dead. Is that what happened?"
Wes looks away, and when Picard presses him, Wes replies that he chooses not to answer.
DANGER, WIL WHEATON, DANGER!
"Are you fucking claiming the fifth?" Picard demands. His voice is all low. Wes is in the shit now.


"You lied to the inquiry," Picard accuses him.
Wes gets defensive, a poor choice. "I said the crash occurred after the Yeager Loop. It did."
"You left out that in between the Loop and the crash, you attempted a banned maneuver. That's a lie of omission." 
Picard starts talking about the events of "Encounter at Farpoint," when a young Wes comes aboard the ship, and Beverly brings her son to the bridge, where he cheekily sits in Picard's chair, and begins naming off all of the bridge parts and what jobs they perform. How he was annoyed, but realized that Wes could be a badass Starfleet officer, and later made him an acting ensign. He had never questioned Wes' commitment of conviction until now.
And he states off the basis for the title of this episode: "The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth - whether it's scientific truth or historical truth or personal truth. It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based."
And he hits the point, hard: either Wes tells Brand what actually happened, or Picard will.
This is not Wes' day. "Captain..." he whispers.
But Picard cuts him off with a sharp "dismissed!"
Picard did not come to play. And he is really unimpressed with Wesley's response.
Wes turns and leaves quickly.




Downstairs, Wes is pacing in his quarters when Nick knocks on his door.
"They know everything," Wes says, and he explains how he got hauled onto the E so that Picard could map out just how Josh Albert died, and how Picard has threatened to go to Brand.
"Do they have evidence?" Nick asks.
"No, but he knows exactly how it happened."
Nick sort of half-laughs nervously. "So he has a theory? Let him talk to Brand. The inquiry will ask if that's what happened, and we'll say no."
SLIPPERY SLOPE, NICK.
"I can't call Captain Picard a liar," Wes decides. "I'm going to tell them what happened."
Nick gets mad and reaches into his Big Bag of Emotional Manipulation. "You're going to tell the truth, you're going to come forward - who are you? You're going to decide what happens to me and Sito and Jean?"
Again, Wes versus The Team.
And Nick pulls out more gaslighting bullshit. "Did Picard tell you some story about honor and duty?"
Wes looks away, so Nick knows he's correct.
"Look, if you want to throw away your career, that's fine. Resign from the Academy and just walk away. But don't ruin our careers as well."
Wes is shocked, but he shouldn't be. Since we met Nick, he's been talking Wes and the rest of the team into lying and saving himself. He's not a good friend. But maybe up til now he's been covering his tracks. Or he was friends with Wes, and Wes was too close to see it. "You'd throw me under the bus?"
"To save the team? Yes. This team is more important than either of us. If I was you, Wes, I would put the team first. But that's me."
Nick leaves in a huff. (He doesn't slam the door like I expected, but that may be because the set is too fragile for door-slamming.)
In a lot of these scenes, someone drops a load of information on the floor at Wesley's feet and leaves, forcing Wes to pick up the broken pieces and examine them. This is no exception.




Last part of the inquiry, and Admiral Brand has decided to give her closing statements directly to the table with Nova Squadron.
"After having gone over the testimony, black box info, and navsat images, Captain Setelk and I are left with the feeling that things don't add up. So either the data is wrong, or you lied. That's really suspicious... but suspicion isn't proof, and we don't have that."
Oof, just being part of an inquiry that ends with a feeling of suspicion and lies and cover-ups is not going to bode well for the careers of anyone on Nova Squadron. This is the sort of shit that follows you around.
Now for the doling out of punishments: they each get a formal reprimand on their permanent records for filing an inaccurate flight plan, and for allowing Josh to fly, even though they knew he was not doing well. They're also getting their flight privileges revoked.
Brand rings the bell to close the inquiry, and Nick probably figures he should go somewhere with the rest of his team to celebrate this slap on the wrist, but Wes stands up.
"I... have something to add to my testimony."




"We... didn't get into diamond slot formation after the Yeager Loop. We attempted a Kolvoord Starburst because we wanted to do something cool for commencement. We figured we were invincible, but we weren't. Josh was nervous doing it, but we talked him into it. He didn't let us down, we let him down. It wasn't his fault."
Picard looks glad that he won't have to go to Brand after the fact with his suspicions.
Albert looks stunned that this kid just admitted that the team's crazy stunt got his son killed.




Brand looks sad. Like how your mom looks when she says, "I'm not mad, just disappointed."




She asks if Nick, as the leader of Nova Squadron has anything to say.
Nick stands, looking uncomfortable in his own skin, and Brand has to prompt him again.
"No, sir," he finally says quietly.




Wes is sitting outside in the garden, doing a thousand-yard stare, when Picard approaches.
"Nick Locarno has been expelled," he says simply.
Damn. Like a week before graduation. Sucks to suck, Nick.
Wes sighs. "We all deserved to be expelled."
"You almost were," Picard replies. "Locarno asked them not to. He took full responsibility as Nova Squadron leader, and said he talked you all into doing the maneuver, then talked you into covering up the accident."
"He protected the team, like he said he would," says Wes sadly.
They start walking down the path.
"I feel shitty," Wes confesses. "I let everybody down."
Picard is pulling no punches. "You should feel shitty. And frankly, you're not getting off scot-free. Admiral Brand has decided that all of your credits for this year will be erased. You'll have to repeat it, and you won't get to move forward with your friends. It's going to be really uncomfortable being on campus, with everyone knowing what you did."
Wes thanks him, and Picard reminds him that he knew what to do all along.
"I just made sure that you listened to yourself," he says, repeating Boothby's phrase from earlier.
They shake hands, say goodbye, and exit in different directions.



Y'all, this is a great episode. Like, really REALLY great. It's one of my favorites, and part of the reason why I name as season five as my go-to when I think "what should I watch today?"
The guest stars were well-cast, PatStew and Wil Wheaton both did a fabulous job, and this humble little Earth-bound episode shows us a slice of life at Starfleet Academy.
It's my favorite Wes episode, and in my opinion, the best Wes episode.
There are some cool, subtle things that I noticed while watching this for review, going through each scene with a fine-toothed comb:
- The ups and downs of power and status, as portrayed through blocking. When Brand addresses Nova Squadron during her closing remarks, she stands in of them, while they sit. They must look up at her. She is a rear admiral, superintendent of the Academy, and in charge of the inquiry. Nick Locarno often stands when trying to convince Wes to go along with the cover-up, or when getting angry at him for not doing so. They're power positions. But there are some places where those power positions shift to indicate a different kind of relationship. When Picard approaches Boothby, he does so as Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Federation flagship Enterprise, and he is initially standing over the old gardener. He occupies a higher office in Starfleet than Boothby does. But both times he talks with Boothby, he quickly crouches down to the same level as a sign of respect and friendliness. When he approaches Wes in the last scene to talk to him about consequences, Wesley is sitting on a rock. He stands, and they do a walk-and-talk. Here, they are on more equal footing, each having made a horrible mistake as a younger person, each determined not to let it fine their lives. Though they address each other formally when parting, they shake hands and depart with a kind of equality.
- Oof, these characters tell one another that they're fine a lot. Especially when they're really not. Beverly says it multiple times to Picard in a manic way, as though trying to convince them both. And Wes, who probably picked this trait up from his mother, does the same. 
"My kid was injured in a life-threating accident? He is fine I am fine, we are fine."
"I was injured in a horrible accident, where my friend was killed, and I am being gaslighted by my other friends, into lying about said accident, but we are probably all getting expelled? I am fine."




- Wes is alone for much of this episode. We first see him doing am exercises, alone, in his quarters. Others enter to speak with him, but he is ultimately left alone again. The blocking pits the team against Wes when they are trying to convince him to lie in the inquiry. The team is separated from everyone else by placing them behind a long table on their own. Wes practices his testimony by himself. He leaves the ready room, and presumably, the Enterprise, by himself. He spends a lot of time thinking, and feeling small in general.




I want to give this episode 10/10. Entertainment Weekly named it #9 on their Top 10 Episodes to watch for the 20th anniversary of TNG, and it definitely deserves to be on that list. During all prior viewings, I would have assigned it that 10th star without hesitation, but this time, something is sticking in my craw, and that something is Nick Locarno. Or rather, his actions. He ends by taking the fall, and saving his teammates from certain expulsion. He cares more about the team than his own career. And he does the right thing in the end. Maybe it's because I've encountered more gaslighters in the last few years than I had previously had, or maybe because I'm more jaded now, but... "ultimately did the right thing" is not something that I would attribute to people who resort to gaslighting and emotional manipulation the way Nick did. In my experience, these kinds of people will go down with the ship, the whole time proclaiming that there is no leak. It feels more in line for Nick to say that Josh was responsible the whole time, rather than agreeing that Wes was telling the truth about the Kolvoord Starburst. At that point, everyone would have been expelled, but to his dying day, Nick would have named Josh as the reason for the accident. Am I saying that people who sometimes use gaslighting or emotional manipulation are never likely to do the right thing? No. We've all done it, I'm sure. You talk someone into something that's sketchy, or you convince a friend to take the fall. If you feel guilty later, congrats! Your moral compass is correct, and you have screwed up. But Locarno seemed a bit practiced at his techniques, and I'll bet he used something similar on Josh to get him to do the Starburst. There's actually a really interesting debate among the showrunners (discussed below) as to whether or not Locarno is "redeemable."
That's it. The one thing that bugs, and it doesn't even bug me that much.
The rest of this episode is masterful. Well done, Star Trek.



Fun Facts:

- The character of Sito was Shannon Fill's first professional acting job. She auditioned at the suggestion of a friend, and was surprised to learn that she had won the part.
- There's a funny discrepancy between Sito and the rest of Nova Squadron: she doesn't have an individual name. (Nicholas Locarno, Jean Hajar, Joshua Albert, Wesley Crusher, and... Sito) This probably wouldn't have mattered much if the team didn't refer to each other by given names, but they do. Sito is only ever referred to by her family name. It's possible that she just goes by Sito to avoid the confusion of "family name first" naming convention that the Bajorans use, but that isn't addressed. Sito will appear in TNG in a later episode, where she will receive the individual name of Jaxa.
I actually found a cool t-shirt on TeePublic that gets it wrong in the other way, listing everyone by family name, except Sito, who is listed by her given name:





- This is the first appearance of Starfleet Academy.
- The character of Kolvoord on "The Expanse" may have been named after the Kolvoord Starburst. Naren Shankar, executive producer of that show, co-wrote this episode.


- The million-dollar question: why is Tom Paris (Voyager), Tom Paris and not Nicholas Locarno? Voyager producer Jeri Taylor has stated that Locarno was definitely the inspiration for Paris, and that he was in the Voyager early treatment initially, but it was felt that Nick Locarno was a bad guy pretending to be a good guy, whereas Tom Paris is a good guy pretending to be a bad one. Robert Duncan McNeill (Locarno/Paris) agreed. Taylor wrote Paris, always intending the character to be played by McNeill, but when it came time to hash things out, they felt like they needed a character who was similar, but who had a different drive for doing things the way he did. Co-writers of this episode, Ronald D Moore and Naren Shankar, disagreed with the assessment that Locarno was "irredeemable," and did not see why the character of Tom Paris was changed from Nick Locarno.




- In a Star Trek novel (Star Trek: Coda: The Ashes of Tomorrow), Wesley Crusher mistakes Tom Paris for Nick Locarno. Paris tells Wes that he gets that a lot. Lol.
- A photo of McNeill as Locarno is later used as a photo of young Tom Paris in Voyager.
- Naren Shankar had done a Writer's Guild internship with the show on a previous season, and she and Moore had become friends. They developed this story based on Moore's membership in the ROTC when he was younger, and they had the idea of catching up with Wesley Crusher at the Academy, and doing an episode about friendship versus duty. Rick Berman was not initially sold. He felt that solid Star Trek stories were about going into space, and this story was set on Earth. Michael Piller was able to sell him on the idea by pointing out that there is a lot of peer pressure on younger people, and the idea of choosing what's right over loyalty to your friends would resonate with viewers. Berman agreed on the condition that no more than three sets were used.

- Originally, Wesley's crime was much worse, and the cover job more obvious. Berman felt that Wesley Crusher was capable of screwing up really badly, but that the original crime suggested was too much. They toned it down so that Wes and his friends would face serious consequences, but would not commit anything too awful.





- Shankar, Moore, and Piller argued over the ending of this episode. Pillar felt that Wes should tell the truth, and Moore thought that Wes would side with his friends. So they sat down and argued about it in a productive way. Piller made the final decision of "Wes tells the truth," but both agree that the episode is a good one, and there appears to have been no ill will afterward. Moore would later elaborate on the argument, saying that he and Shankar were pushing for a different story: initially, Nova Squadron's aim was "we all hang together," and the punishment for silence would be that the entire team gets expelled. In this case, Wes coming forward by himself would be seen as saving his own skin and letting everyone else take the fall. That would make Picard's speech one where he advocated for Wes to not ruin his own career by siding with his friends. Then Locarno would throw himself under the bus to save the team. A similar plot, but it reads very differently. Moore said "...I preferred the story about a young man willing to stand with his friends rather than a morality tale about telling the truth."

- We never find out what Picard had done that Boothby helped him with... because one was never conceived. The writers had Picard talk to Boothby about the case and Nova Squadron, but the scenes were weak and not terribly interesting. They came up with the idea of having Picard face a similar crisis of character at the Academy, which Boothby would help him with. Piller tried to come up with the idea, but Berman argued that it didn't matter what had happened, that it was more important to show that you could have something derail your life, and still become a Jean-Luc Picard.
- Nick Locarno wasn't in the first draft at all. Instead, Nova Squadron was lead by Lt-Cmdr Albert, a career-minded officer.
- The outdoor scenes for the Academy were filmed at the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant's Japanese Garden. These locations were also used for the outdoor scenes in season one's "Justice.". The outdoor shots, combined with the matte painting of the Academy buildings and San Francisco cityscape, will be reused in "Time's Arrow."

A reused shot of the Academy, with the flag painted at full staff

- This is the first appearance of Boothby. When the math is done about the comment he makes to Picard about age, Boothby turns out to be around 104 years old here. We'll see him twice more in Voyager.
- Boothby is played by Ray Walston, an actor best known for the sitcom "My Favorite Martian."
- Show producers wanted Ashley Judd to play Ensign Robin Lefler again for this episode, but the timing could not be worked out.
- Ricard Fancy (Satelk) will show up again in season two of Voyager.




- When talking to Picard, Boothby mentions Picard performing what sounds like a wrestling move at a match with a Ligonian. You remember the Ligonians... from "Code of Fucking Honor." This is the last time they're ever mentioned in Star Trek, and good riddance.
- The events of this episode will form the basis for two seven season episodes.
- Wes has a model of the Enterprise in his quarters. It's actually a replica of the Star Trek ships that Franklin Mint made in the late 1980s.





- Rick Berman felt that the success of this episode was down to the directing by Paul Lynch, and the casting of Ray Walston as Boothby, as well as the casting choices for the other cadets. Paul Lynch felt that the credit for this episode went to Wil Wheaton.
- This episode is shown to Air Force cadets as an introduction to the honor code.






Red deaths: 1
To date: 2
Gold deaths: 0
To date: 1
Blue deaths: 0
To date: 0
Unnamed color crew deaths: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Geordi moments: 0
To date: 2
Sassy Ro Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Worf Moment: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Riker Moments: 0
To date: 4
Sassy Picard Moments: 0
To date:  0
Sassy NPC Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Data Moments: 0
To date: 2
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Keiko Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Crusher Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Troi Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Guinan Moments: 0
To Date: 1
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 3
To date: 6
Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 0
To date: 35
Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 0
To date: 9
Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
To date: 4
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 0
To date: 2
Picard Maneuvers: 0
To date: 18
Tea, Earl Grey: 0
To date: 7
Mentions of the number 47: 0
To date: 2


"What a week, huh?"
"Lemon, it's Monday."


Monday, January 2, 2023

ST:TNG Season Five, Episode Eighteen "Cause and Effect"

ST: TNG Season Five, Episode Eighteen "Cause and Effect"
Production Order: 18
Air Order: 18
Stardate: 45652.1
Original Air Date: March 23, 1992




We open on the wildest cold opening we have ever gotten on Star Trek: it's mid-catastrophe. There's something really fucking wrong with one of the nacelles. Major, major shaky cam. People falling out of seats. Data loudly reporting antimatter venting. La Forge yelling that they need to eject the warp core. The warp core ejection is not working. Picard yells to Majel that all hands should abandon ship.
Then the E explodes.




Shit, y'all. Did I just encounter a "we now return to our regularly-scheduled programming, in progress" situation?
Nope. I put the disc in the drive and selected this episode from the menu.
Damn. Then it just cut straight to the opening credits. No chill.

When we return from the credits, we get an exterior shot of the Enterprise, and that "all is well" background music. Are we... doing a Zombie Gallileo premise? Zombie Enterprise? Are we starting from the end, then jumping back to the beginning? "It all started when..."

Picard's Log 45652.1: "Going into an unexplored region called the Typhon Expanse. Gonna do some charting and stuff."

Instead of going to people charting, we're starting out with the weekly poker game. Data shuffles the cards for himself, Riker, Worf, and Crusher.
Riker: "Sometimes I think he's stacking the deck."
Data: "I didn't."
Worf: "I hope so."
Data deals: an 8 for Riker, and ace for Worf, a queen for Crusher, a 4 for himself. Worf elects not to bet, so Data deals another round: 10 for Riker, a 7 for Worf, another queen for Crusher, and Data gets a 9. They begin betting, then Data deals a third time: a jack for Riker, a 4 for Worf, a 2 for Crusher, and Data gets a 6.




Crusher adds 20 to her bet, Data does as well, but Riker calls and raises another 50. Worf is flabbergasted by this, but ponies up. As do Crusher and Data.
Then, as Data deals again, he gives Riker 7 and suggest that Riker may have a straight. Worf gets an eight, and for the second time this hand, Data suggests that Worf's cards suck.

Today is a good day to be disassembled


Crusher gets an 8, Data gets a 9.
Crusher raises 20.
Data folds.
Riker sees her bet and raises 100.
Worf folds.
Crusher raises 200.
Riker sees her 200 and raises 300 more.
She tosses more in the pot, but we don't know how much. Riker sighs and turns his cards over. He did not have a straight, as Worf predicted. Crusher celebrates. She tells Riker he has a tell when he's bluffing, but then says she's just kidding, and that she only had "a feeling" that he was bluffing.
Nurse Ogawa calls Crusher. "Commander La Forge needs to see you in sick bay."




In sick bay, La Forge explains that he got dizzy and almost fell off of a catwalk, but was caught by an ensign. Crusher, taking scans, tells him that he has all of the symptoms of an inner ear infection, but none of the physical evidence.
"Working too hard," she suggests.
He admits to having put in a lot of extra hours on the Typhon Expanse project. She tells him that she's going to give him a shot for the dizziness, but that he needs to find time to relax.
And then she pauses. "Have you had these symptoms before?"
"No. Why?"
"Pretty sure I've talked to you about this, and given you a hypospray for dizziness."
"Not me," he asserts. "Maybe another patient?'
"No, pretty sure it was you." 
They both kind of shrug it off, and he leaves.




Next we see Crusher's bedtime routine: she hums while deadheading her orchids in her jammies, drinks the world's tiniest glass of wine (the glass is only big enough to hold like a shot of liquid), then she turns out the lights and gets comfy in bed. Almost as soon as she's closed her eyes, she starts hearing some garbled noise. She reaches out to turn on the light, knocking over her glass, which smashes on the floor. The noises stop abruptly.




In the morning, we attend a senior staff meeting, minus Worf for some reason. They talk about tests they're doing in the Typhon Expanse, and how equipment is holding up. Crusher is distracted. When La Forge finishes his PowerPoint about Typhon Expanse Stuff, Crusher says she would like to report a weird anomaly.
"I heard voices in my room last night. Ten other people reported hearing the same thing at that same time."
Troi asks what they were saying, but Crusher says she couldn't tell. Data says there were no weird sensor reports, and Riker asks him to check them after the meeting. Troi reports no weird feelings at that time, and La Forge suggests that maybe it's a problem with the comm system.
Worf pages Picard from the bridge. (Okay, now we know where he is, but why he isn't at the senior staff meeting is never addressed.) "Getting some weird readings off the starboard bow."




On the bridge, Ro tells Picard that they didn't sense it until they were almost on top of it, and Worf reports that it's a distortion of the time-space continuum.
"Let's back away," says Picard wisely.
But Ro reports that the thrusters are not responding.
The power goes out.
"The distortion is fluctuating," announces Data.
Riker calls for red alert, and the klaxons begin.
"Ooh, hell no," says Troi. "We need to GTFO, now."

#cloudswiththreateningauras



"Somethings coming out of the distortion," says Data.
It's a hella old Starfleet vessel.
Picard calls for shields, but there are none. No way to move, no way to protect themselves, and they are on a collision course with the other ship.
"Hail them," says Picard.
"No answer," says Worf.
Picard polls the bridge: how do we get out of this?
"Decompress the main shuttle bay," suggests Riker. "It may push us far enough out of the way."
That's not a terrible idea. But Picard goes with Data's suggestion: to use the tractor beam to move the other ship to a non-collision course.




The tractor beam keeps the other ship from crashing head-long into the E, but it glances off the nacelle, causing it to explode.




Damage reports start pouring in - casualty reports, the nacelle venting plasma, the ship losing attitude control.
Riker yells for everyone to hit the escape pods.
They need to eject the core, but the ejection systems aren't working. Picard calls for all hands to abandon ship.
The E spins out of control in space, then explodes.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!




Picard's Log 45652.1: ""Going into an unexplored region called the Typhon Expanse. Gonna do some charting and stuff."

Instead of going to people charting, we're starting out with the weekly poker game. Data shuffles the cards for himself, Riker, Worf, and Crusher.
Riker: "Sometimes I think he's stacking the deck."
Data: "I didn't."
Worf: "I hope so."
Data deals: an 8 for Riker, an ace for Worf, a queen for Crusher, a 4 for himself. Worf elects not to bet, so Data deals another round: 10 for Riker, a 7 for Worf, another queen for Crusher, and Data gets a 9. They begin betting, then Data deals a third time: a jack for Riker, a 4 for Worf, a 2 for Crusher, and Data gets a 6.
Crusher adds 20 to her bet, Data does as well, but Riker calls and raises another 50.
Then he stops.




A long, uneasy pause from Crusher. "How did you know that?"
"I had a feeling," he replies slowly.
"Me too."
Nurse Ogawa calls. "Doctor, La Forge is in sick bay to see you."




In sick bay, La Forge explains that he got dizzy and almost fell off of a catwalk, but was caught by an ensign. Crusher, taking scans, tells him that he has all of the symptoms of an inner ear infection, but none of the physical evidence.
Another long pause from Crusher. "Have you... had these symptoms before?"
Now he considers. "I think maybe yes. But I don't remember when."
"We've had this convo, and I've given you this exam. Let's check the medical logs."
They pull up his info, and even though she's treated him for VISOR-related headaches, no mention of dizziness or inner ear infections.
"Deja vu?" he asks.
"Both of us?" she counters.
Glitch in the Matrix! Look for the cat!


Next we see Crusher's bedtime routine: she hums while deadheading her orchids in her jammies... drinks a sip of her shot of wine... then she turns out the lights and lies uncomfortably in bed. Almost as soon as she's closed her eyes, she starts hearing some garbled noise. She reaches out to turn on the light, knocking over her glass, which smashes on the floor. The noises stop abruptly. This time, she calls Picard.
She goes to the ready room, and while I understand her feeling the need to be dressed in something that is not her jammies, I cannot for the life of me figure out why she put her uniform back on. Picard isn't even fully in uniform - he's wearing the grey undershirt thing that we sometimes see when he has the cranberry coat unzipped. 
Anyway, he gives her some steamed milk, a recipe that belonged to his Aunt Adele, which he's programmed into the replicator.
... isn't that just the equivalent of saying "milk, hot"? Why... why is there a recipe?
She sniffs it and notes that there's nutmeg in it.
"Whenever I get insomnia, I try to perfect the recipe," he says.
You sprinkled some shit in some milk, then made it warm. And like, you didn't even do it. You told the replicator to do that. How exactly are you "perfecting" this? By adding one more speck of nutmeg than the last time you got insomnia? "Computer, add 14 specks of nutmeg"?
I know this is a dumb thing to nitpick, but it feels like a recipe for how to make ice.




She tells him that breaking the wine glass triggered her deja vu harder than anything else had, like she's been walking around feeling like this all afternoon, but the glass really solidified it for her.
He picks up a book, and tells her that he's been reading it, but it feels like he keeps reading the same paragraphs over and over. He thinks he might have read this book years ago, and just didn't remember doing it.
She's still weirded out by the voices thing, so he tells her that he'll have La Forge and Data run a diagnostic, and they can talk about it at the morning meeting.




At the meeting, La Forge and Data report that there were no auditory anomalies reported by sensors at the time Crusher said she heard them.
"But ten other people reported hearing them at that time," she insists.
Worf pages Picard from the bridge. "Getting some weird readings off the starboard bow."

On the bridge, Ro tells Picard that they didn't sense it until they were almost on top of it, and Worf reports that it's a distortion of the time-space continuum.
"Let's back away," says Picard wisely.
But Ro reports that the thrusters are not responding.
The power goes out.
"The distortion is fluctuating," announces Data.
Riker calls for red alert, and the klaxons begin.
"Ooh, hell no," says Troi. "We need to GTFO, now."
Crusher narrows her eyes. This all seems super familiar.
"Somethings coming out of the distortion," says Data.
It's a hella old Starfleet vessel.




Picard calls for shields, but there are none. No way to move, no way to protect themselves, and they are on a collision course with the other ship.
"Hail them," says Picard.
"No answer," says Worf.
Picard polls the bridge: how do we get out of this?
"Decompress the main shuttle bay," suggests Riker. "It may push us far enough out of the way."
That's not a terrible idea. But Picard goes with Data's suggestion: to use the tractor beam to move the other ship to a non-collision course.
The tractor beam keeps the other ship from crashing head-long into the E, but it glances off the nacelle, causing it to explode.
Damage reports start pouring in - casualty reports, the nacelle venting plasma, the ship losing attitude control.
Riker yells for everyone to hit the escape pods.
They need to eject the core, but the ejection systems aren't working. Picard calls for all hands to abandon ship.
The E spins out of control in space, then explodes.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!




Picard's Log 45652.1: ""Going into an unexplored region called the Typhon Expanse. Gonna do some charting and stuff."

Instead of going to people charting, we're starting out with the weekly poker game. Data shuffles the cards for himself, Riker, Worf, and Crusher.
Riker: "Sometimes I think he's stacking the deck."
Data: "I didn't."
"I hope -- so," Worf falters.
"Something wrong?" asks Riker.
"I am experiencing nIb'poH, the feeling I have done this before."
Cool, Klingons get that too.
Sassy Riker Moment: "Yes, last Tuesday night."
"No, I've been having the same experience," Crusher agrees. "Deal the cards, Data."
Data deals: an 8 for Riker, an ace for Worf.
"You're going to give me a queen," she says.
He turns over a queen.
"You're getting a 4."
He turns over a 4.
She implores him to deal, even though no one has bet. They are no longer playing a game. She correctly guesses what he will deal several more times. Then Worf correctly guesses, and finally, Riker.
Data notes that the odds of this happening are astronomical.
And none of them can put their fingers on why they would know those cards.
Crusher pauses, then hits her comm badge and asks Nurse Ogawa if La Forge is in sick bay.
"Nope," says Ogawa. "Oh, wait..."


Everyone at the poker table exchanges looks of confusion and concern.

A little while later, Picard strolls into sick bay, having clearly been paged there.
"You been having deja vu?" Crusher asks him.
"Yeah, the last few days. Especially while reading," he says.
"People have been reporting stuff like that. And I've been having it, too," she explains. "Like I had a feeling that La Forge would be coming into sick bay. He has all the symptoms of an inner ear infection... but no infection. So instead of running the same old tests, I ran an optical diagnostic on his VISOR. There are these teeny tiny shifts in the dekyon field that are showing up in his vision as blurry afterimages."
"It could be something wrong with the warp core," says La Forge. "I'm going to run some tests."




This next scene is shot with a handheld camera, which is a bit shaky and kind of distracting. Crusher is going about her bedtime routine, but with the air of someone acting out the motions, because she's studying what's happening. She picks up her trimming scissors to trim her orchids, but something about the scissors seems too familiar. She sets them down and backs away. She picks up the wine/shot glass, but that feels weird, too. She starts to take a sip, but thinks differently. Instead of setting it down on the nightstand, she puts it on another table.
She turns out the light. The garbled voices start. She grabs a tricorder and begins scanning, recording the voices. When she turns the light back on, the voices stop.
Crusher calls La Forge. "I just heard voices in my room, but there's no one here."
"Sensors just picked up something weird here," he replies.
She excitedly tells him that she's on her way, and grabs her lab coat. In the process, her coat sweeps the wine glass off the other table, and it smashes to the floor.
Too familiar. Very uneasy. This all happened before, right?




Down in Engineering, La Forge and Data have plugged the tricorder recording into the computer. They tell her that the sound she heard was real, but doesn't match anything made by the ship, or communications sent in the ship, at the time. It does match up with a distortion in the dekyon field. They try filtering out background noises to isolate the voices.
Data gives it a closer listen.
"It's about... 1000 voices? It's the Enterprise crew. Our voices."
Bro.
BRO. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
To show that this is concerning,

Dramatic music! Commercial break!




Everyone reports to the Obs Lounge for a senior staff meeting. La Forge and Crusher apologize for the early start, saying they "couldn't wait for 0700 hours."
Shit, what time is it?
La Forge has a PowerPoint up, showing a layered, avocado-shaped space, and a tiny blip moving along the outside of the avocado shape, then the blip rushing straight across, back to its start point. Over and over again.
"We think we're stuck in a temporal loop," says La Forge. "We keep reliving time over again."
Troi asks if this is what's causing the deja vu. Crusher responds that yes, but deja vu is just a feeling of repeating, where this is real.
"Each time we start over, we forget that we've already lived that, and think each time is the first time," says La Forge.
Riker is alarmed. "We may have had this convo before?"
"Yep," says La Forge. "And because we only have vague feelings of having done this, we don't know how long we've been stuck in this loop. Hours? Days? Years?"
Crusher and La Forge suggest that her hearing voices and him seeing afterimages are echoes of the previous loops played back.
"How did we get here?" asks Picard.
Now it's Data turn. "Okay, I analyzed the voices, and it's us. 150 regular ships' operations conversations. 252 personal convos. 5 couples getting intimate -"
"Dude, the point!" interrupts Picard.
You... you don't want to hear what positions your crew members like, Picard?
"The voices indicate that something bad enough happens that you order all hands to abandon ship." He plays the cleaned up voice recordings:
Worf tells the bridge crew that there's a distortion in the time-space continuum.
Data announces impact in 36 seconds.
Picard tells everyone to abandon ship.
"So we get too close to a time-space distortion," explains La Forge. "We collide with something that causes an explosion, it rips the time-space continuum, we get stuck, over and over."



They come to the conclusion that avoiding the collision could keep them from being knocked back into the loop.
"So we should reverse?" suggests Worf.
"Reversing may have been what got us into this," points out Riker.
"Ohhhh," groans Picard. "No second-guessing. We keep going forward until we have reason to not."
"Gotta rain on your parade," says La Forge. "We may not figure out how to avoid the collision until it's too late to do so. And if we get sent back to the beginning of the loop, we may forget all of this sleuthing we just did."
Ooh, baby. Who wants to watch an explosion and a poker game again? It's Must See TV, y'all!
There's a long-ish science-filled discussion here about how to avoid that, but the gist is, they're going to send a one-word message to Data in the next loop, giving him the information subconsciously.




Down in Engineering, Crusher oversees La Forge fiddling with Data's brain. There's no way to tell if he'll get the message, how he'll perceive it, or even what message to send.
"We may have sent this to Data a dozen times," says La Forge.
"Does it feel familiar?" asks Crusher.
"No."
"Then maybe it's the first time."
Oops. No time for conjecture, or to figure out what message to send. They're being paged to the bridge. Red alert.

This turned out to be a really cute photo of Gates McFadden



They hit the bridge, where Riker is telling Picard that they need to figure out how this went down before.
"Let's back away," says Picard wisely.
But Ro reports that the thrusters are not responding.
The power goes out.
"The distortion is fluctuating," announces Data.
"Ooh, hell no," says Troi. "We need to GTFO, now."
"Somethings coming out of the distortion," says Picard.
It's a hella old Starfleet vessel.
Picard calls for shields, but there are none. No way to move, no way to protect themselves, and they are on a collision course with the other ship.
"Hail them," says Picard.
"No answer," says Worf.
Picard polls the bridge: how do we get out of this?
"Decompress the main shuttle bay," suggests Riker. "It may push us far enough out of the way."
That's not a terrible idea. But Picard goes with Data's suggestion: to use the tractor beam to move the other ship to a non-collision course.




The tractor beam keeps the other ship from crashing head-long into the E, but it glances off the nacelle, causing it to explode.
Damage reports start pouring in - casualty reports, the nacelle venting plasma, the ship losing attitude control.
Riker yells for everyone to hit the escape pods.
They need to eject the core, but the ejection systems aren't working. Picard calls for all hands to abandon ship.
Data, realizing that he has less than no time, uses the emitter on his arm to text himself a message.
The E spins out of control in space, then explodes.




Picard's Log 45652.1: "Going into an unexplored region called the Typhon Expanse. Gonna do some charting and stuff."

Instead of going to people charting, we're starting out with the weekly poker game. Data shuffles the cards for himself, Riker, Worf, and Crusher.
Riker: "Sometimes I think he's stacking the deck."
Data: "I didn't."
"I hope -- so," Worf falters.
"Something wrong?" asks Riker.
"I am experiencing nIb'poH, the feeling I have done this before."
Cool, Klingons get that too.
Sassy Riker Moment: "Yes, last Tuesday night."
"No, I've been having the same experience," Crusher agrees. "Deal the cards, Data."
Again, she names off what cards Data is going to deal to them, and when he does, they come up all threes.
Riker, Worf, and Crusher were all certain that they knew what the cards were going to be, and none of them had guessed all threes. When Data deals again, each member of the game gets dealt a three-of-a-kind.
But before they can ponder on this repetition of threes, Ogawa calls.




In sick bay, La Forge explains that he got dizzy and almost fell off of a catwalk, but was caught by an ensign. Crusher, taking scans, tells him that he has all of the symptoms of an inner ear infection, but none of the physical evidence.
Another long pause from Crusher. "Have you... had these symptoms before?"
Now he considers. "I think maybe yes. But I don't remember when."
"We've had this convo, and I've given you this exam. Let's check the medical logs."
They pull up his info, and even though she's treated him for VISOR-related headaches, no mention of dizziness or inner ear infections.
"Deja vu?" he asks.
"Both of us?" she counters.

This shot's wild. We start in tight on La Forge's face, then pull back,
 away, and down


She elects to do an optical scan, and this time we see it happening.




Picard is the ready room, having a cup of Earl Grey (hot), and reading.
I... is he wearing sweatpants? No shade, because sweatpants are the shit, but I've never really seen him as a sweatpants guy.
(Okay, upon a deeper dive into uniforms, it looks like the "captain's jacket" uniform - designed by Robert Blackman for Patrick Stewart - had a looser trouser that gathered near the ankle, reminiscent of Wrath of Khan-era uniforms. Still funny to think of Picard kickin' it in sweatpants, though.)




He flips frustratedly through his book, trying to figure out if he's read it before.
Crusher pages him to sick bay.
A little while later, Picard strolls into sick bay, wearing the cranberry coat over the charcoal shirt.
"La Forge has all the symptoms of an inner ear infection... but no infection. So instead of running the same old tests, I ran an optical diagnostic on his VISOR. There are these teeny tiny shifts in the dekyon field that are showing up in his vision as blurry afterimages."
"It could be something wrong with the warp core," says La Forge. "I'm going to run some tests."




La Forge and Data are down in Engineering, running diagnostic tests on the warp core regarding those dekyon distortions, but the results keep coming up as 3.
"Not possible," says La Forge.
"That number keeps appearing to me today," Data admits.
There's a distortion on deck 9, and Crusher calls.
"There are voices in my room, but no one is there," she says.
"We're getting dekyon distortions," he replies. "Can you come down?"
She says she will, and we hear the sound of breaking glass. She assures them that she's fine, but sounds like she's saying it through gritted teeth.

When writing out my summaries, I leave a space for screencaptures, then
mark them with a keyword, the episode title initials, and which number
screencapture I'm putting there. I shit you not, this one came up, unplanned,
 as (threes cae33). Lol.
.

Everyone reports to the Obs Lounge for a senior staff meeting. 
"The voices indicate that something bad enough happens that you order all hands to abandon ship." Data plays the cleaned up voice recordings:
Worf tells the bridge crew that there's a distortion in the time-space continuum.
Data announces impact in 36 seconds.
Picard tells everyone to abandon ship.
"So we get too close to a time-space distortion," explains La Forge. "We collide with something that causes an explosion, it rips the time-space continuum, we get stuck, over and over."
They come to the conclusion that avoiding the collision could keep them from being knocked back into the loop.
"So we should reverse?" suggests Worf.
"Reversing may have been what got us into this," points out Riker.
"Ohhhh," groans Picard. "No second-guessing. We keep going forward until we have reason to not."
"So we keep seeing the number three all over the ship," adds La Forge.
"To the tune of 2085 times," says Data.
"That can't be a coincidence," La Forge says, "so I ran some ship-wide diagnostics, and found that Data has some dekyon emissions coming from his brain. If I wanted to send a message from one loop to the next, that's how I'd do it."
"But what does three mean?" asks Picard.
"Run a level-3 diagnostic on our key systems?" suggests Riker.
La Forge agrees.
Ro pages Picard from the bridge. "Getting some weird readings off the starboard bow."




On the bridge, Ro tells Picard that they didn't sense it until they were almost on top of it, and Worf reports that it's a distortion of the time-space continuum.
"Let's back away," says Picard wisely.
But Ro reports that the thrusters are not responding.
The power goes out.
"The distortion is fluctuating," announces Data.
Riker calls for red alert, and the klaxons begin.
"Ooh, hell no," says Troi. "We need to GTFO, now."
"Somethings coming out of the distortion," says Picard.
It's a hella old Starfleet vessel.
Picard calls for shields, but there are none. No way to move, no way to protect themselves, and they are on a collision course with the other ship.
"Hail them," says Picard.
"No answer," says Worf.
Picard polls the bridge: how do we get out of this?
"Decompress the main shuttle bay," suggests Riker. "It may push us far enough out of the way."
That's not a terrible idea. But Picard goes with Data's suggestion: to use the tractor beam to move the other ship to a non-collision course.
But as they prepare to engage the tractor beam, Data slowly looks to his left.




"The tractor beam won't work," he says suddenly. "I'm going to decompress the main shuttle bay."
He does, and... the other ship glides quietly past the Enterprise.




The power comes back on, and Worf announces that they are clear of the distortion.
"Yoooo, what happened?" Picard asks.
"I guessed that number three might indicate the number of pips on Commander Riker's collar, meaning that his plan to deflect the other ship might be the correct choice," Data explains.
"Maybe you subconsciously stacked the deck in the poker game," suggests La Forge.
"Yeah, I may have been responsible for those other occurrences of three," says Data.
"Can someone call Starfleet and find out when the fuck we are?" Picard requests.
Worf does a quick check. "Our clocks are off by a little more than 17 days."
Did they die at least 17 times? How the hell do I count that?
Data changes the clock.
"Incoming call," says Worf.
Oh, now they wanna talk.
"It's the USS Bozeman, Soyuz-class."
"Um, those were retired like, 80 years ago," points out La Forge.
Oh, hey. It's Kelsey Grammer. In a Wrath of Khan uniform.




"Hey, I'm Morgan Bateson, captain of the Bozeman. Can we help you?"
"Um, I'm Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Enterprise, and I was going to ask the same question of you. Do you know what just happened?"
Bateson considers. "We saw this temporal distortion, then your ship appeared out of nowhere and we almost hit you."
"Yeah, we've been stuck in a temporal causality loop, and think you have been, too."
"Nah," says Bateson. "We just left starbase three weeks ago."
Picard tries to hide a cringe. "What... year is it?"
"2278, of course," replies Bateson.


"Hmm, yeah." Picard is gonna have to break out the extra-strong Earl Grey for this one. Some top-shelf shit from Guinan's private stash. "How about you beam over to my ship? We have some uh, things to discuss."
Also, please be nice to the security chief.

Hopeful, uplifting music as Picard tells Frasier Crane that he's been Groundhog Day'ing for 90 years.




*******

After last week's episode, this one is a palette-cleanser. Did the writers intend that? Nope. 
Seriously, I just slid through this episode like a hot knife through butter. I honestly don't have a lot to say about it besides the fact that I liked it. It's a solid sci-fi story, and a twist on the time-travel tropes that we've become accustomed to, and a bit bored with. Brannon Braga came up with the concept because he wanted to do a time travel story that hadn't been done before, and couldn't think of one that covered a temporal causality loop. (This episode aired almost a full year before Groundhog Day was released. While the spec script for Groundhog Day seems to have existed before this episode was written, I didn't see any evidence of Braga "copying" the concept. And frankly, the end results are completely different. Comparisons of the two would be akin to comparing Yogi Bear and Cocaine Bear because there are bears involved with both.) Great pains were taken to film each loop in a different way than previous loops, and it shows. Unusual camera angles were utilized, and while you could get bored with watching the same scenes play out over and over, you don't because they're just different enough.
Good job, Star Trek. Help yourself to a Saurian brandy.


Fun Facts:

- A dekyon is a subatomic particle that can be both naturally-occurring, or artificially made. They were invented for this episode.
- Lol, I love this "pancakes and poker" story from Brannon Braga: "I came up with the poker game while I was eating pancakes and pouring syrup. I had no idea how it happened - because it was before the sugar rush. I knew then that the poker game would somehow be utilized for once, and lay it in so the viewer think it's just a poker game and it turns out to be the key to saving their entire existence." And that "utilized for once" comment explained by Ronald D Moore: "The poker games for a while was the cliche padding. If the show was short, it was time to write a poker game. Because we had written it so much, we stayed away from it and now it got used for a reason." Reminds me of Norman Rockwell talking about how, if a painting wasn't going well, he would add a puppy.




- Originally, Riker was supposed to win the poker game with three aces, further indicating that his plan would be successful, but Rick Berman thought that Data would not deal Riker three aces.
- Braga on make each loop unique: "In a way, doing the same scenes over was comforting; it was fun to come up with different takes and to think how I could get that glass to break each time. It wasn't until I got to the final draft that I thought to have the glass break over the intercom on that final loop through. So it was finding those little nuggets and pathways and weave through as we were structuring it. That was a terrific challenge."
- Braga referred to the cold open ending with the ship blowing up "the ultimate teaser."
- When director Jonathan Frakes received the script for this episode, he thought that the writers were screwing with him, as each act appeared to be the same set of scenes.
- Rick Berman told Frakes not to reuse footage of early scenes for later ones, so they shot each set of scenes with different angles. In some cases, multiple cameras were used to shoot the same scene so that it could be edited together differently later.

Double the fun?

- Frakes remarked of getting different angles of the bridge scenes, "I'd watched a lot of directors by then, and directed a few episodes, so I knew all the possible bridge angles - and I think I used all of them." 

- Show runners wanted Kirstie Alley to return as Saavik to play a crew member to Kelsey Grammer's Captain Bateson, but the timing could not be worked out.
- The Bozeman was originally going to be a Constitution-class ship, but the cost of building a TOS-era bridge set, model, costumes, and props was too much. So they switched the ship class to Soyuz, and slightly altered the USS Reliant miniature. This way, they could reuse costumes, props and sets from Movie 6. Mark Okuda and Greg Jein designed the changes to make the Miranda-class Reliant into the Soyuz-class Bozeman. They used the fan-made book "Ships of the Fleet, Volume One" as a reference.

Okuda's notes for altering the Reliant

- Typically, an exploding starship is created onscreen by superimposing footage of an explosion over the top of footage of the model. In this case, they wanted a better explosion, so the FX team dropped the model from the ceiling of the sound stage, filled with pyrotechnics, and filmed by a high-speed camera. Effects Supervisor Gary Hutzel noted that usually, whatever is left of the model is thrown away, but he had a hunch that the pieces of leftover Enterprise might come in handy, so he picked up the pieces and saved them. These pieces were later used in a DS9 episode when another Galaxy-class ship explodes.
- This is the only episode where the main shuttlebay is shown. Science Fiction Modelmaking Associates was contracted to make a maquette of the main shuttlebay. They also made five shuttlecrafts and one shuttlepod. The two shuttlecrafts in this photo were named Berman and Piller, after the producers. Despite having this cool model, it was never used again, and was eventually auctioned off in 2008.


- Also created for this episode was a large model of a nacelle.
- This is the third episode to feature the destruction of a Galaxy-class ship.
- Despite getting a last name in season four, this is the first episode where we hear that Alyssa's last name is Ogawa. Crusher has just been calling her "nurse" this whole time.
- This is the second time that Picard's Aunt Adele is mentioned. In the first case, her recipe for curing the common cold is ginger tea and honey. Boy, Aunt Adele was sure a fan of recipes that involve heating a liquid and adding another ingredient.
- The Bozeman left starbase halfway between Movies 1 and 2. Bateson and his crew wearing the red uniform means that it had been in use in Starfleet for at least seven years before being worn by Kirk & Co in Movie 2.
- This is the first time it is mentioned onscreen that one may eject a warp core. It will be mentioned more times, but not actually seen until DS9.
- This is the first episode to feature Ro's new haircut. (And now I'm left wondering what she thinks of Mott.)
- When this episode premiered, local TV channels were flooded with calls from viewers who were not paying attention, and thought the show was broadcasting the same scenes over and over again.
- Bateson and his crew are featured in the TNG novel "Ship of the Line."




Red deaths: 0
To date: 1
Gold deaths: 0
To date: 1
Blue deaths: 0
To date: 0
Unnamed color crew deaths: 0*
To date: 0*
Sassy Geordi moments: 0
To date: 2
Sassy Ro Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Worf Moment: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Riker Moments: 1
To date: 4
Sassy Picard Moments: 0
To date:  0
Sassy NPC Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Data Moments: 2
To date: 2
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Keiko Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Crusher Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Troi Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Guinan Moments: 0
To Date: 1
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 0
To date: 3
Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 0
To date: 35
Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 1
To date: 9
Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 1
To date: 4
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 1
To date: 2
Picard Maneuvers: 0
To date: 18
Tea, Earl Grey: 1
To date: 7
Mentions of the number 47: 0
To date: 2




*Technically 15,419. 
907 crewmembers x 17 explosions, if we're guessing 1 explosion per day. Which then didn't happen after all. Schrodinger's Temporal Causality Loop Explosion?


DO NOT touch Pie's box