Stardate 43198.7: Worf’s conscience struggles with a fatality under his command as a deceased crew member’s young son confronts an alien life form that attempts to take on the physical and psychological characteristics of his mother.
written by Ronald D. Moore
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Dennis McCarthyGuest Cast: Susan Powell (Marla Aster), Gabriel Damon (Jeremy Aster), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43205.6: After taking the Enterprise into a mysterious asteroid belt to examine the only known relic of a long-dead race, Picard discovers that the asteroid belt is actually a lethal snare and assigns La Forge the impossible task of finding a way out before it’s too late. Geordi turns to the holodeck for a simulation of one of the Enterprise’s original designers to help him brainstorm an escape route.
story by Michael Wagner and Ron Roman
directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
music by Ron JonesGuest Cast: Susan Gibney (Dr. Leah Brahms), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Albert Hall (Galek Dar), Julie Warner (Christy)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43349.2: Trapped without the aid of his VISOR on a perpetually stormy planet, Geordi is aided and abetted in his attempts to send a distress signal to the Enterprise by a shipwrecked Romulan, as Picard tries to wring the truth out of a secretive Romulan commander en route to Federation space.
directed by David Carson
music by Dennis McCarthyGuest Cast: John Snyder (Bochra), Andreas Katsulas (Commander Tomalok), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Steve Rankin (Patahk)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43385.6: Federation, Ferengi and third party delegates vie for control of a unique stable wormhole allowing instantaneous travel across reaches of uncharted space, and Troi makes discoveries both interesting and dangerous regarding one of the negotiators as the Ferengi plot to double-cross all and gain control of the wormhole.
directed by Robert Scheerer
music by Ron JonesGuest Cast: Matt McCoy (Devinoni Ral), Elizabeth Hoffman (Premier Bhavani), Castulo Guerra (Mendoza), Scott Thomson (DaiMon Goss), Dan Shor (Dr. Arridor), Kevin Peter Hall (Leyor), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43421.9: Riker as a man of conscience and Picard as a diplomat run up against an age-old wall of mafia-likee blood feuding, almost certain to ruin the first negotiations between a clan of vicious pirates and a race of civilized if haughty beings in centuries. Riker ends up with the most difficult decision of all…
directed by Timothy Bond
music by Dennis McCarthyGuest Cast: Lisa Wilcox (Yuta), Joey Aresco (Brull), Nancy Parsons (Sovereign Marouk), Stephen Lee (Chorgan), Marc Lawrence (Volnath), Elkanah J. Burns (Temarek)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43462.5: A legendary Romulan strategist/warrior assumes a new identity and races to warn the Federation of a massive Romulan invasion in the near future, but his attempts are thwarted by the crew’s prejudice and suspicions, not to mention the Romulans themselves, eager to do away with both the defector and the Enterprise.
directed by Robert Scheerer
music by Ron JonesGuest Cast: James Sloyan (Setal / Admiral Jarok), Andreas Katsulas (Commander Tomalok), John Hancock (Starfleet Admiral), S.A. Templeman (Holodeck “John Bates”), Patrick Stewart (Holodeck “Michael Williams”)
Notes: Although produced after The Bonding, The Defector was the first Star Trek spec script bought from writer and fan Ronald D. Moore, who would become one of the series’ most frequent writers, the co-writer of two of the four Next Generation feature films and numerous Deep Space Nine episodes, and later became the showrunner of the highly acclaimed 21st century remake of Battlestar Galactica. Prior to this script catching the attention of executive producer Michael Piller, Moore had not successfully sold a single television or film script and had no agent.
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43489.2: The Enterprise, sworn by Federation treaty to defend the inhabitants of a once war-torn world, is faced with a destructive challenge in the form of a biologically altered war veteran whose mind allows no mercy in the face of danger, but all he and his fellow soldiers want is their home and their freedom.
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Dennis McCarthyGuest Cast: Jeff McCarthy (Roga Danar), James Cromwell (Prime Minister Nayrok), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), J. Michael Flynn (Zayner), Andrew Bicknell (Wagnor)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43510.7: While tending to innocent bystanders injured in the explosion of a terrorist bomb, Dr. Crusher is taken hostage by a ruthless freedom fighter who is blind to the fate of his rebellion and refuses to hear any argument from the Starfleet officers or the local law enforcers that his way of “liberating” his people may not be just.
directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
music by Ron JonesGuest Cast: Kerrie Keane (Devos), Richard Cox (Finn), Marc Buckland (Waiter), Fred G. Smith (Policeman), Christopher Pettiet (Boy)
Notes: On the BBC, which was the first broadcast outlet in the UK to show Star Trek: The Next Generation, this episode was banned due to fear its allegory to Irish Republican Army terrorism is too controversial (and then there’s that bit about the Irish Reunification in the 21st century in which terrorism was a key successful element).
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43539.1: Q returns once again to the starship Enterprise, but this time his immortality and his powers have been rescinded by the members of the Q Continuum, and he must help the crew contend with an asteroid that threatens to devastate an entire civilization, while the Calamarain, aliens who have been chastised by Q in the past seek revenge on the ex-immortal.
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthyGuest Cast: John de Lancie (Q), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Richard Cansino (Dr. Garin), Betty Muramoto (Scientist), Corbin Bernsen (Q 2)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43610.4: Commander Riker is accused of murder after the apparent sabotage and destruction of a science station, and the evidence seems almost certain to doom the First Officer’s career, but Picard and Troi gamble on using the Holodeck to recreate testimonies from all the surviving parties and discover that the prosecution’s case can be viewed from any number of entirely different points of view.
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Ron JonesGuest Cast: Craig Richard Nelson (Chief Investigator Krag), Gina Hecht (Mrs. Apgar), Mark Margolis (Dr. Apgar), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Juli Donald (Tayna)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43625.2: The derelict Enterprise NCC-1701-C, thought destroyed 24 years ago, emerges through a temporal rift, rewriting history for the crew of the Galaxy class Enterprise: the Federation is losing a war to the Klingons, Tasha Yar is still alive and fighting – and the crew of “yesterday’s” Enterprise must return to their own past to restore the timelines. And only Guinan can tell that anything seems out of place…
from a story by Trent Christopher Ganino and Eric A. Stillwell
directed by David Carson
music by Dennis McCarthyGuest Cast: Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha Yar), Christopher McDonald (Lt. Richard Castillo), Tricia O’Neil (Captain Garrett), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43657.0: Data is inspired by a cybernetics conference he has attended and, after spending extensive off-duty time in his lab, announces that he has created Lal, an android “daughter” – which does not please the captain at first, but when Starfleet Admiral Haftell arrives with the intention of taking Lal off the Enterprise, Data’s child experiences an irreversible malfunction: emotion!
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Ron JonesGuest Cast: Hallie Todd (Lal), Nicolas Coster (Admiral Haftell), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Judyann Elder (Lt. Ballard), Diana Moser, Hayne Bayle, Maria Leone, James G. Becker (Ten Forward Crew), Leonard John Crofoot (“generic” Lal)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43685.2: The Enterprise receives a Klingon first officer on the Federation exchange program, Commander Kurn, who tests Worf’s nerve and turns out to be the security chief’s brother, seperated from Worf at birth. Worf learns that their father has been indicted on charges of betraying the Khitomer Outpost – which is where he died. The execution will be carried out on Worf’s family name, and he returns to the First City of the Klingon Empire and discovers the true traitor, but also finds that even Klingons can be totally dishonest and dishonorable, and after Kurn and Captain Picard become the targets of assassins, Worf pays for a crime his father did not commit with his own honor.
based on a teleplay by Drew Deighan
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthyGuest Cast: Charles Cooper (K’mpec), Tony Todd (Commander Kurn), Patrick Massett (Duras), Thelma Lee (Kahlest), Teddy Davis (Transporter Technician)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43714.1: Captain Picard is kidnapped and deposited in a “laboratory maze” with three other captives – one of whom is actually an observer for the captors in disguise – while a replica of Picard begins to wreak havoc with the crew of the Enterprise, leaving Riker no choice but mutiny.
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Ron JonesGuest Cast: Stephen Markle (Thol), Reiner Schone (Esoqq), Jocelyn O’Brien (Metina Haro), Jerry Rector (Maropa), Jeff Rector (Maropa)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Stardate 43745.2: Captain Picard, after returning from tiring diplomatic duties, is pressed into taking a vacation on Risa by most of the bridge crew. Once on peaceful Risa, Picard is tangled up in a plan by 27th century aliens to retrieve a weapon that has made its way back in time to the 24th century, and plots by an unscrupulous Ferengi trader and a mysterious woman to gain that weapon for their own purposes.
directed by Chip Chalmers
music by Dennis McCarthyGuest Cast: Jennifer Hetrick (Vash), Karen Landry (Azhure), Michael Champion (Baratus), Max Grodenchik (Sovak), Deirdre Imershein (Joval)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
