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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

The Best Of Both Worlds Part II

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44001.4: The main deflector dish has no effect on the Borg because, having assimilated Picard and converted him into their spokesman, Locutus, the Borg know now every strategy and contingency that Picard had been informed of before his kidnapping. Riker is promoted to Captain by Admiral Hanson, who then leads a fleet of 40 starships to Wolf 359 to confront the Borg, but the fleet’s efforts are in vain – every starship is annihilated. Riker orders a cunning attack consisting of awkward strategies that Picard would never have carried out or expected, and an away team kidnaps Locutus and returns him to the Enterprise. Data then links up to Locutus to access the Borg communication network, and every approach he takes to disarm the Borg down fails until the Borg arrive at Earth to begin their domination of the Federation. Data triggers the Borg regeneration process, putting every Borg to “sleep,” but this also triggers the self-destruction of the Borg ship. Picard is freed from the Borg, Shelby returns to Starfleet to rebuild the fleet, and Riker remains on the Enterprise to continue serving as first officer. However, staring out the window of his ready room, Picard’s face indicates that all is not well…

Season 4 Regular Cast: Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Ensign Wesley Crusher)

Click here to watch a video previewOrder the DVDswritten by Michael Piller
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Elizabeth Dennehy (Lt. Commander Shelby), George Murdock (Admiral Hanson), Colm Meaney (O’Brien), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Todd Merrill (Gleason)

Notes: Of course, it was not even thought of at the time of this episode’s production, but one of the very few survivors of the Borg attack at Wolf 359 later turns up in his own series: Commander Sisko of Deep Space Nine, the premiere episode of which features scenes of the battle between the Borg and the Federation that was mentioned in this episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Family

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44012.3: In drydock at Earth Station McKinley, the Enterprise is undergoing extensive repairs while the crew, most notably Captain Picard, recover from the Borg invasion attempt. Picard returns to France for a less than warm welcome from his brother Robert, while Worf’s human foster parents beam aboard, concerned about Worf’s feelings since his dishonor from the Klingon Empire.

Order the DVDswritten by Ronald D. Moore
based in part on a premise by Susanne Lambdin and Bryan Stewart
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Jeremy Kemp (Robert Picard), Samantha Eggar (Marie Picard), Theodore Bikel (Sergey Rozhenko), Georgia Brown (Helena Rozhenko), Dennis Creaghan (Louis), Colm Meaney (O’Brien), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), David Tristan Birkin (Rene Picard), Doug Wert (Jack Crusher)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Brothers

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44085.7: While rushing a young boy to a Starbase medical facility after his older brother played a cruel practical joke on him, the Enterprise is suddenly diverted from her course and headed for an unknown, out-of-the-way planet. What no one realizes until it’s too late is that Data is responsible for this, having been taken over by a homing signal that leads him to his creator, Dr. Soong, who had been thought dead for many years. Data has been called home to be given an upgrade – emotions – but the unexpected arrival of his jealous android “brother” Lore at Soong’s hiding place puts Data’s upgrade and his creator in jeopardy…

Order the DVDswritten by Rick Berman
directed by Rob Bowman
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Brent Spiner (Dr. Noonian Soong), Cory Danziger (Jake Potts), Colm Meaney (O’Brien), Adam Ryen (Willie Potts), James Lashly (Ensign Kopf), Brent Spiner (Lore)

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Suddenly Human

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44143.7: Finding a Talarian training vessel in deep space, the Enterprise crew discover that one of the ship’s crew is actually a human teenager. Dr. Crusher’s examinations reveal that he has been injured in the past as well – and it’s likely that these came about on purpose. When the boy’s Talarian foster father appears to reclaim him, Picard is left with a choice – either return the boy to a society whose people may have abused him, or face the possibility of starting a war.

Order the DVDsteleplay by John Whelpley and Jeri Taylor
story by Ralph Phillips
directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Sherman Howard (Endar), Chad Allen (Jono), Barbara Townsend (Admiral Rossa)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Remember Me

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44161.2: Dr. Crusher’s old friend, Dr. Dalen Quaice, is leaving his former home on a sStarbase to retire after the recent death of his wife. He mentions his slowly deteriorating memory, a thought which remains on Dr. Crusher’s mind when she visits engineering to watch Wesley finish a warp field experiment. But when the Enterprise becomes ready to leave the starbase, Wes hastily finishes his experiment, but his mother completely disappears. She, however, is on the Enterprise – so she thinks – and she helplessly watches the entire crew disappear one by one. She is, in fact, inside a warp bubble, and the real crew on the real Enterprise must enlist the help of the mysterious alien known as the Traveler to pull Dr. Crusher back into reality before her warp bubble shrinks into nothingness.

Order the DVDswritten by Lee Sheldon
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Eric Menyuk (The Traveler), Bill Erwin (Dr. Dalen Quaice), Colm Meaney (O’Brien)

Notes: Originally considered as a shipboard B-plot for the episode Family, this story was given its own episode so as not to distract attention from the earlier episode’s central theme.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Legacy

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44215.2: Rushing into dangerous territory on Turkana III, a planet whose government once warned that any Federation personnel would die if they visited there again, the Enterprise is looking for an escape pod containing two men who left a critically damaged vessel. The pod has landed on Turkana III, requiring an away team to visit. They find two “cadres” – urban gangs so large they have replaced the government and now conduct their street fighting on a warlike scale – one of which is willing to help find the Federation shipwreck survivors. The Enterprise’s liason to the cadre is the younger sister of the late Tasha Yar, and no one knows whether or not to trust her.

Order the DVDswritten by Joe Menosky
directed by Robert Scheerer
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Beth Toussaint (Ishara Yar), Don Mirault (Hayne), Colm Meaney (O’Brien), Vladimir Velasco (Tan Tsu), Christopher Michael (Man #1)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Reunion

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44246.3: The Enterprise is intercepted in deep space by a Klingon battlecruiser occupied by K’mpec, leader of the High Council of the Klingon Empire. With him is K’ehleyr, Worf’s former lover, who has visited the Enterprise before. This time she acts as Picard’s aide in a role K’mpec has chosen for him – the neutral arbiter to oversee the handover of the dying K’mpec’s powerful position to one of two contenders: Duras, whose cover-up of his father’s actions cost Worf his honor; or Gowron, a Klingon “outsider” about whom little is known. But sabotage, including the assassination of K’mpec, begins to point toward evidence of Romulan involvement…and Worf must deal with the possibility that his son (by K’ehleyr) may lose his honor if Worf reveals his relationship to him.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Thomas Perry & Jo Perry and Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
story by Drew Deighan and Thomas Perry & Jo Perry
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Suzie Plakson (K’ehleyr), Robert O’Reilly (Gowron), Patrick Massett (Duras), Charles Cooper (K’mpec), Jon Steuer (Alexander), Michael Rider (Security Guard), April Grace (Transporter Technician), Basil Wallace (Klingon Guard #1), Mirron E. Willis (Klingon Guard #2)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Future Imperfect

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44286.5: While investigating suspicious energy readings on Alpha Onias III – a planet that would be ideal for a secret Romulan base – Riker, Geordi and Worf are overcome by toxic gases. Geordi and Worf, however, are rescued via transporter, while the Enterprise loses all trace of Riker. Riker awakens in the sick bay of the Enterprise, told by an older Dr. Crusher that sixteen years have passed since that event, and that a virus he contracted on the mission to Alpha Onias III recently became active, causing him to lose all memory back to that event. He is now the ship’s Captain, Data is First Officer, and Picard – now an Admiral – is completing the final arrangements for the signing of a peace treaty between the Romulans and the Federation, and Riker has a teenage son as well. But glaring mistakes soon point out to Riker that this scenario is not, in fact, happening, and that it’s all a nearly perfect simulation. But the question remains – who’s behind it, the Romulans…or someone else?

Order the DVDswritten by J. Larry Carroll & David Bennett Carren
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Andreas Katsulas (Commander Tomalok), Chris Demetral (“Jean-Luc Riker”/”Ethan”), Carolyn McCormick (Minuet), Patti Yasutake (Nurse), Todd Merrill (Gleason), April Grace (Transporter Chief Hubbell), George O’ Hanlon, Jr. (Transporter Chief), Dana Tjowander (Barash)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Final Mission

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44307.3: Picard reveals that Wesley has been accepted into Starfleet Academy. Wes’s final assignment on the Enterprise is to accompany Picard on a trip with an independent miner, Captain Dirgo, to settle a dispute between mining colonies. En route, Dirgo’s battered shuttle breaks down, forcing them to land on a desert world – but help is nowhere near because the Enterprise is attempting to move an abandoned freighter whose highly radioactive contents threaten the Enterprise and a nearby planet.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Kacey Arnold-Ince and Jeri Taylor
story by Kacey Arnold-Ince
directed by Corey Allen
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Nick Tate (Dirgo), Kim Hamilton (Songi), Mary Kohnert (Ensign Allenby)

Notes: With this episode, Wil Wheaton officially leaves the regular cast. Guest star Nick Tate is no stranger to flying shuttles; as hotshot pilot Alan Carter, he flew Space: 1999’s Eagles during the 1970s.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

The Loss

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44356.9: Shortly after counseling crewmember Janet Brooks over the loss of her husband, Troi begins to experience severe pain, and at the same time, the Enterprise is suddenly unable to go to warp speed. Data and Geordi determine that they’re caught in a field of steadily moving two dimensional particles that seem to be alive, while Troi realizes that she’s lost her empathic sense. When it is discovered that the entities are heading toward a black-hole-like cosmic string and carrying the Enterprise with them to destruction, Picard relies on Troi for an answer, although she has lost confidence in herself.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Hilary J. Bader and Alan J. Bader & Vanessa Greene
story by Hilary J. Bader
directed by Chip Chalmers
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Kim Braden (Janet Brooks), Mary Kohnert (Ensign Allenby), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Data’s Day

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44390.1: Data records his observations of an average day in the Enterprise to be relayed to Dr. Bruce Maddox, a Federaton cyberneticist who once expressed an interest in disassembling Data to learn about how the android works, but now is content to let Data reveal that for himself. But as the day progresses, from the nervous, soon-to-be-married couple of Chief O’Brien and Keiko to the transport of a secretive Vulcan ambassador to the Neutral Zone, Data finds out that this isn’t going to be an ordinary day…

Order the DVDsteleplay by Harold Apter and Ronald D. Moore
story by Harold Apter
directed by Robert Wiemer
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Rosalind Chao (Keiko Ishikawa), Colm Meaney (O’Brien), Sierra Pecheur (Ambassador T’Pel/Subcommander Selok), Alan Scarfe (Admiral Mendak), Shelly Desai (V’Sal), April Grace (Transporter Technician), and Spot

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

The Wounded

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44429.6: Captain Maxwell of the U.S.S. Phoenix has severed contact with Starfleet and the Phoenix has been raiding the vessels of Cardassians, a race once at war with the Federation but now peaceful under an uneasy treaty. Picard discovers that Captain Maxwell believes he has good reason to continue these attacks.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Jeri Taylor
story by Stuart Charno & Sara Charno and Cy Chermak
directed by Chip Chalmers
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Bob Gunton (Captain Ben Maxwell), Rosalind Chao (Keiko), Marc Alaimo (Gul Macet), Colm Meaney (O’Brien), Marco Rodriguez (Glinn Telle), Time Winters (Glinn Daro), John Hancock (Admiral Henry)

Notes: This episode introduces the Cardassians, who would later be seen in Ensign Ro and Chain Of Command, and would become central to the mythology of the spinoff series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Devil’s Due

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44474.5: The Enterprise arrives at Ventax III to retrieve a Federation anthropological team, only to discover that the planet is in a state of chaos and the team has been taken hostage by the Ventaxians, who believe their peaceful way of life is about to end with the “second coming” of Ardra – the devil. But when Ardra takes a dangerously personal interest in Picard, he must quickly find some way to discredit her.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Philip Lazebnik
story by Philip Lazebnik and William Douglas Lansford
directed by Tom Benko
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Marta Dubois (Ardra), Paul Lambert (Dr. Clark), Marcelo Tubert (Acost Jared), Thad Lamey (Devil Monster), Tom Magee (Klingon Monster)

Notes: The script for this episode actually originated in the 1970s, when it was originally written for the planned but abandoned Star Trek: Phase II series, which would have told new tales of Captain Kirk and the original Enterprise.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

Clues

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44502.7: The Enterprise is on a routine mission, giving everyone a chance to relax, when an investigation of an unknown class-M planet sends the Enterprise through a wormhole that appears without warning and renders everyone but Data unconscious. But as the rest of the crew investigates what happened, they begin the discover that someone’s keeping secrets from everyone…and that someone happens to be Data.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Bruce D. Arthurs and Joe Menosky
story by Bruce D. Arthurs
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Colm Meaney (O’Brien), Pamela Winslow (Ensign McKnight), Rhonda Aldrich (Madeline), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Patti Yasutake (Nurse), Thomas Knickerbocker (Gunman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

First Contact

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate not given: Riker, having undergone facial surgery to look like a Malcorian and beamed down to Malcor III to coordinate other surgically disguised cultural observers from Starfleet, is injured in a riot and taken to a hospital, where his true nature is slowly deduced by Malcorian doctors while Riker remains out of touch with the Enterprise. Picard and Troi try to find open-minded individuals among that planet’s leaders and scientific minds, but discover that, like on late 20th century Earth, such people are few and far between.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Dennis Russell Bailey, David Bischoff, Joe Menosky, Ronald D. Moore and Michael Piller
story by Mark Scott Zicree
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: George Coe (Chancellor Durken), Carolyn Seymour (Mirasta Yale), George Hearn (Berel), Michael Ensign (Krola), Steven Anderson (Nilrem), Sachi Parker (Nurse), Bebe Neuwirth (Lanel)

LogBook entry by Earl Green