star trek neutral zone

Neutral zone

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A neutral zone was a volume of space not claimed by any political power . Often, these volumes were created as buffer zones and borders between spacefaring civilizations. In this sense, a neutral zone was somewhat similar to the Demilitarized Zone that existed between the Cardassian Union and the United Federation of Planets . ( TNG : " Journey's End ")

In 2370 , a neutral zone was listed on the Deep Space 9 arrival roster as the point of departure for the FGMS Gyt'aerat . ( DS9 : " Whispers ", okudagram )

• 1 Romulan Neutral Zone
• 2 "Klingon" neutral zone
• 3.1 Background information
• 3.2 External link

Romulan Neutral Zone [ ]

"klingon" neutral zone [ ].

In the alternate 2259 , a map of a section of the Neutral Zone in the Alpha Quadrant , from a galactic map, was in a collection of graphics and video media that were seen on a powerwall in the offices of Admirals Christopher Pike and Alexander Marcus at Starfleet Headquarters . According to the map, the United Federation of Planets was scanning activity in Sectors 45 to 89 . Along either side of the zone, the location of outposts and movement of blue and red forces was depicted. The outpost of each force was represented by a pentagon labeled T167/550, with each movement depicted by an arrow. There was an active conflict in this region. ( Star Trek Into Darkness )

A neutral zone also existed along the Federation-Klingon border by 2285 , referred to by the Klingons as the Federation Neutral Zone. In 2267 , the development of Nimbus III as a "planet of galactic peace" began in the neutral zone. ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier ) This neutral zone was violated by Commander Kruge in 2285 . ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

USS Saratoga was patrolling near the neutral zone in 2286 . ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

A simulated neutral zone, appearing as a small oval area of space, defended by Klingon cruisers, was a part of the simulated Kobayashi Maru scenario . ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

When Captain Hikaru Sulu offered assistance to the Klingon High Command following the destruction of Praxis , he was told by Brigadier General Kerla that their assistance was not required and to " obey treaty stipulations and remain outside the neutral zone. " The neutral zone was again mentioned during the beginning of negotiations between the Klingon Empire and the Federation which led to the Khitomer Accords . Klingon Chancellor Gorkon proposed a peace treaty that would include dismantling of space stations and star bases along the neutral zone. On Rura Penthe , Kirk confessed that he was terrified of the idea, that there would be no more neutral zone. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

While growing up, Geordi La Forge 's family was always on the move, some of the time together, sometimes separately. La Forge recalled that he "never knew if I'd be stationed with my father while he studied in the Modean system , or in the neutral zone with my mom ." ( TNG : " Imaginary Friend ")

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

In the series bible for Star Trek: Enterprise , a statement read "There are no Neutral Zones" as of 2151 .

In dialogue from the revised final draft script of TOS : " Balance of Terror " (the first episode to use the term), "neutral zone" was used interchangeably with "buffer zone" and "treaty zone". Similarly, a scripted line of dialogue that referenced "cross[ing] treaty line" was evidently changed to instead refer to "enter[ing] the neutral zone." Later in the script, the zone's edge was called "treaty boundary".

The term "Klingon neutral zone" was never mentioned on-screen; in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , it is referred to by the Klingons as the 'Federation neutral zone', implying its existence for both sides. The nature of the "neutral zone" mentioned in contexts involving Klingons is unclear. A Klingon neutral zone, separate from the Romulan Neutral Zone, may have been created by the Treaty of Organia , and eliminated by the Khitomer Accords. Kirk's statement would suggest there was in fact a separate zone, as the Romulan Neutral Zone remained effective even after the Accords.

The only "real" neutral zones that have ever existed in the world were Neutral Moresnet , the Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone, and the Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone, both established in the 1920s and disbanded by the 1990s. It is unknown if Star Trek writers based the Star Trek neutral zones on these two bodies or came up with the term independently. The Korean Demilitarized Zone is very similar to the Star Trek neutral zone.

External link [ ]

• Neutral space at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

The neutral zone (1988), full cast & crew.

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Den of Geek

Revisiting Star Trek TNG: The Neutral Zone

James reaches the finale of TNG season 1, which sees the Enterprise go through a rainbow of alert levels dealing with the Romulans...

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This review contains spoilers.

1.26 The Neutral Zone

At the start of the episode, the crew is waiting for Picard to return from a meeting (of course) at Starbase 718 when they stumble across an old ship form Earth. Riker, apparently uninterested in history, insists they “let nature take its course” but Data points out they’ve got nothing better to do and is allowed to beam on board with Worf. Although confused by the simple handle-operated doors, the pair discover a selection of cryogenics pods – some containing some well-preserved people! As Picard returns, they bring the pods back to the Enterprise.

Picard’s first order is for the Enterprise to journey into the Neutral Zone! If you’re confused, think of the Neutral Zone as a sort of space version of the Iron Curtain. And if you don’t remember communism, the Iron Curtain was kind of like the M25, only for the USSR and Europe instead of London and the rest of the UK). Anyway, someone has been destroying outposts around the Neutral Zone, and they think it’s probably the Romulans. Uh-oh!

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Meanwhile, Crusher has thawed out the frozen humans, curing them of their previously fatal ailments. They’re from the late twentieth century, or thereabouts. They are Sonny Clemonds, a substance-ravaged musician; Ralph Offenhouse, an evil eighties businessman (I think he has boneitis) and Claire Raymond, a woman who died of an embolism. Her occupation is listed as “homemaker” (“some form of construction worker?” ventures Data. Apparently in the future, looking after the family is not considered work.)

While the crew tries to figure out how to respond to the Romulans, if they meet, Offenhouse calls Picard and demands he get down there. Picard belittles his concerns, mocks his value system, and explains that he appears foolish in the eyes of others. Then Raymond spontaneously starts crying, so he asks Counsellor Troi to take over and runs off. Troi helps Raymond investigate her current living family, proving that episode of Who Do You Think You Are?  will be much duller in the future, but the trade-off is that occasionally they find your frozen family members floating in deep space. Throughout all this, Clemonds is just stumbling around wondering where he can get a guitar and asking how to operate the TV, unaware that in the future, TV doesn’t exist and that the only entertainment is the Holodeck, which might kill you, and watching miniature holographic women play the harp which we saw Riker doing once.

Back on the bridge, things are getting tense. They discover that outposts have definitely been destroyed, but in a strange way. Scooped off the planet! Ben and Jerry’s Interstellar Empire is assumed to be the primary culprit. Picard, Worf and Riker argue over whether to go to Red Alert or not, before compromising on Yellow Alert. Because naturally, the correct colour of alert is the most important issue on the ship at the moment. Suddenly, a Romulan vessel decloaks! Picard refuses to shoot it, trying to avoid starting a war, and the gamble pays off. He moves the ship to Ochre Alert just as Offenhouse stumbles onto the bridge, having noticed that the situation had become tense. Riker orders him to be escorted away, but the security officers are distracted by the appearance of the Romulans (absolutely useless. Who hired these guys?)

Picard moves everyone decisively to Terracotta Alert as he and the Romulans circle one another’s arguments, searching for weakness. It turns out they’ve also found some of their outposts destroyed, and having ascertained that it wasn’t the Federation, they’re willing to share information in the future. Picard is just about to step down to Tangelo alert when the Romulans casually mention that they plan to be a lot more active within the affairs of the Federation, having been absent too long. A cautious Picard declares Tenné Alert, reassuring the bridge crew with his fast action.

Finally, the Romulans leave. No-one knows what happened to the missing outposts but we’ll probably (definitely) find out what happened next season. The Enterprise arranges passage for the three defrostees, and Riker says that it’s a shame that they can’t keep that around because it was like having a visit from the past. Primarily because that’s exactly what’s happening. Picard declares that the past is no good, and that humanity must move forwards, not backwards, upwards, not forwards, and always twirling, twirling towards victory, before announcing a state of Jonquil Alert, much to the bemusement of the crew. END SEASON ONE!

TNG WTF: Aside from the problem of how easy it is for anyone to just stroll onto the bridge (If you believe Picard, it’s because in the twenty-fourth century, humans don’t need security. They have SELF RESTRAINT.) the most baffling thing about this episode is everyone’s apparent disinterest in the virtual miracle of several three-hundred-year-old individuals who have come back to life.

Admittedly, there’s a difficult situation developing that demands more attention, but considering that the Enterprise is a science and exploration vessel, everyone except Data seems very reluctant to have anything to do with the defrostees. Riker doesn’t want Data to bring them back. Crusher defrosts them because, in her own words, she’s got nothing better to do. And Picard even goes so far as to complain that they were disturbed at all. “They were already dead!” he says, as if that’s anything more than a technicality. In fact, Picard is particularly frosty in this episode. If they ever need to re-freeze themselves, they can just use his attitude to get the process started.

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TNG LOL: It’s hard not to be amused by Claire waking up after three hundred years, seeing Worf, then fainting again, but we know that was supposed to be funny because they play the whimsical variation of the TNG theme when it happens.

Something not intended to be funny is Riker’s assessment of the Romulan’s espionage capabilities. “The information [the Romulans] have about us is out of date.” Says Data. “The positive side of that,” says Riker, “is that they information they have about us is also out of date.” Er, wait, what? That’s not how knowledge works! As assessments go, this is roughly as sophisticated as burying your head in the sand to hide from an enemy. Someone needs to explain to Riker that information can potentially travel one-way.

Time Until Meeting: This is a GREAT episode for meetings. First there’s one at 6:52, and while they’re in that one, they organise another! That then occurs at 20:57. Twice the meeting = twice the TNG.

Captain’s Log: Maybe I’m just feeling generous because it’s the final episode, but I really liked this one. Sure, it labours its criticism of today’s materialist, selfish, backwards society. Sure, it has Riker and Picard acting like the pursuit of knowledge is a distraction from the day-to-day business of improving yourself. And sure, the episode builds up to a big appearance by the Romulans and then wimps out of actually doing anything with them. However… wait, where was I going with this again?

I dunno. Something about this one seems charming. Picard’s in a bad mood, Riker’s in a bad mood, Data can’t figure out why everyone’s annoyed at his perfectly reasonable actions and the three people they defrost don’t have context for anything and completely shatter everyone’s comfortable twenty-fourth century boundaries. I quite like an episode where people are flexing a different character trait for a change. Even Troi manages to give Picard some actually helpful advice!

As legend has it this episode was supposed to be part of a two-parter that introduced the Borg, but a writers’ strike and budget issues meant they were unable to do that. Obviously it feels nothing like a season finale. But it ends on a relatively optimistic note from Picard: “There’s still much to do. Still so much to learn.” If that doesn’t describe the why Star Trek exists in a nutshell, what does?

Watch or Skip? At least we can end the season on a high. A definite watch!

INTERMISSION

And with that, we conclude our re-appraisal of TNG: season one. In the words of Captain James T. Kirk: it was… fun. There have been some highs, considerably more lows, and a lot of middle. And I’m not sure I’ll ever get over watching Code of Honor . But still, more episodes were worth watching than skipping, and even on a bad day it’s fun to spend time with these characters.

From now on things are going to be a little different. The original plan was to reappraise the Blu-Ray remastering of TNG season one and stop, but since we’re all having fun I’m going to keep going as long as I’ve got the time and energy. However, the Blu-Rays are coming out faster than I can watch them and I’m struggling to deal with the prospect of twenty-plus episode of Dr. Pulaski. So from now on I’ll be jumping around a bit. Still only reviewing remastered episodes, but no longer in order.

That said, I’ve currently got nowhere to go except season two, but season 3 is out at the end of this month so it’ll open up then. With that in mind, feel free to suggest which episode I look at next. Anything from TNG  season two, for now. Even Shades of Gray , you absolute lunatics. Oh, and if you’ve been at all amused this series of articles, please take a moment to look at A Brief History of Time Travel , the sci-fi audio sitcom I’m co-writing which is due out in August.

Right, that’s the admin out of the way. See you back here next Friday for… well, whichever TNG  season two episode gets the most requests, I suppose! Don’t be too cruel.

Read James’ lookback at the previous episode, Conspiracy, here .

Follow Den Of Geek  on Twitter right here . And be our  Facebook chum here .

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Episode Preview: The Neutral Zone

The Neutral Zone Stardate: 41986.0 Original Airdate: 16 May, 1988

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Recap / Star Trek: The Next Generation S1 E25 "The Neutral Zone"

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” Welcome to the 24th century. " — Captain Picard

Original air date: May 16, 1988

Picard is away, so Riker gets the Cool Chair , and the Enterprise has encountered an old space capsule from Earth. Data pushes to investigate it with Worf, and they find three Human Popsicles whom they beam back aboard the Enterprise . When Picard returns, he immediately orders Geordi to plot a course for the Romulan Neutral Zone. At a staff meeting, we learn that the Romulans have not had any contact with The Federation for decades. Picard explains that the Federation has lost contact with its outposts along the Neutral Zone, and Starfleet is sending the Enterprise to investigate. Their orders are to avoid a military confrontation if possible.

Meanwhile, Dr. Crusher has the people from the capsule asleep in Sickbay. She explains to Picard that they were placed in cryogenic freeze after dying of then-terminal illnesses, but now they have been easily saved by modern medicine. Picard is less than enthusiastic to have to deal with three 20th century yokels on his ship during such a critical mission. He delegates Riker to handle them. They are Sonny Clemonds , Ralph Offenhouse , and Clare Raymond . Ralph is eager to reconnect with his 20th century fortune, Sonny is curious about what you do for fun in this modern age, and Clare grapples with the fact that everyone she ever knew is dead.

Meanwhile, Picard is trying to decide what approach to take with the Romulans when they arrive at the Neutral Zone. Troi tells him that the Romulans will make no first move and will look to react to the Federation's action, a species of "counterpunchers." The other officers advise a range of postures to take, from aggressive to diplomatic. But as they confer, an impatient Ralph commandeers a communication panel to make demands directly to Picard, forcing the captain to deal with his unwanted guests directly. Picard dresses down Ralph for his obsession with wealth, though Ralph notes that his wealth did, in fact, save his life. Their argument is interrupted by Clare bursting into tears, so Picard has Troi visit her. Troi cheers her up by looking up her family tree and finding her descendants, one of whom looks exactly like her husband. Through it all, Sonny is quite content to drink replicated martinis and strum on the guitar that Data had made for him.

The Enterprise makes it to the Neutral Zone and finds that not a single trace of their outposts remains. When a Romulan warbird begins to decloak within Federation space, Worf urges Picard to exploit this one and only moment of weakness and blow them up before they can attack, but Picard refuses. The Romulans hail them and insist that their outposts have suffered the same fate as the Federation's. Both sides bicker over the Romulans' unwelcome presence in the Neutral Zone, and things start to look bad. But then Ralph pipes up, having found his way to the bridge. He notes that the Romulans are just as clueless about what's going on as the Federation and are simply posturing to try to see if the Federation has any clue. Although angered by Ralph's presence, Picard recognizes the truth in his observation. He suggests that both sides cooperate to investigate what has happened to their outposts. The Romulans make no promises, but leave in peace. And so, at the very least, a potential intergalactic war has been averted.

The mystery of the outposts will go unsolved, though a throwaway line in " Q Who " will suggest that the as-yet-unmet Borg were behind the attacks.

This episode contains examples of:

• Acronym Confusion : Downplayed and implied — when Riker tells the three 20th-century people that they're aboard the USS Enterprise , Oppenhouse asks if the ship is American, assuming that "USS" stands for "United States Ship" instead of "United Star Ship". Understandable, as everyone is speaking English, he doesn't yet know about The Federation , and there was an aircraft carrier named USS Enterprise (CVN-65) afloat in his time, and the ship that he's now on carries on the Legacy Vessel Naming tradition.
• And the Adventure Continues : Picard's final line is obviously a tease of more seasons of space adventure. "Our mission is to go forward, and it's just begun. [...] There's still much to do. There's still so much to learn. Mr. La Forge, engage."
• Artistic License – Physics : The survivors from the 20th Century are found aboard a cryogenic satellite that was built to remain in Earth orbit. Despite not being designed for long-distance space travel, this satellite somehow broke out of Earth orbit and in less than 400 years drifted all the way out to a star system near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Also, despite being a solar-powered craft that spent hundreds of years in the interstellar void where there isn't exactly a lot of radiant light, it arrived at the end of its journey with all of its most important systems still powered up and functioning. In the original script, Data and Worf state that it must have been moved by some kind of alien influence, an idea revisited in " The Royale ". One non-canon novel says that this was the case with the cryonics satellite too.
• Bait-and-Switch : The Romulan side of the plot is set up similarly to the TOS episode "Balance of Terror". The Enterprise is sent to the Neutral Zone to investigate the disappearances of nearby outposts, with the senior officers discussing how mysterious the Romulans are and how they haven't been encountered for decades. When the confrontation occurs... the Romulans reveal that their outposts have also been destroyed. Instead of a battle between the Federation and the Romulans, both sides decide to collaborate against a whole new threat.
• Be Careful What You Wish For : Ironically, the three survivors got exactly what they wanted from the cryogenics (or in Claire's case, what her husband wanted) only to find themselves in a frightening future where they don't fit in.
• Captain Obvious : Troi's response to a crying woman is to acknowledge, "You're sad." Of course, this is just a prompt to get the woman to express her feelings.
• Picard, later established as a keen amateur historian and archaeologist, is entirely uninterested in the defrostees, despite the unique chance to learn about historic Earth life first hand. It's also strange to hear him lament that his crew could simply have left them dead in their rapidly decaying freezers. Admittedly, they arrive at the worst possible time, when an intergalactic war hangs in the balance.
• When the Enterprise stumbles upon the cryogenic satellite in the opening, Worf is the one who advocates bringing it aboard for study, while Riker wants to simply blow it away as old space junk, a reverse of their later attitudes toward history.
• Compound-Interest Time Travel Gambit : Ralph figures that after 400 years, his accounts should be loaded beyond measure. Too bad the Federation's post-capitalist economy put the kibosh on that. No one in the crew is brave enough to explicitly break the news to him.
• Cool Starship : The Romulans arrive back on the scene with a massive and very badass-looking Warbird.
• Cryonics Failure : Some of the cryo-pods clearly malfunctioned, leading to a Peek-a-Boo Corpse moment when Data wipes off the frost from the first. Also discussed by Ralph, who mentions cryonics companies going bankrupt because of power failures. This was why they were placed in a cryonics satellite that used solar power instead.
• Cryo Sickness : The storyline is that several humans from the '90's get woken up from cryo-stasis. One of them, Claire, is physically weak after she wakes up, so the shock from seeing Worf, an alien, is enough to make her pass out.
• The crew not only seems really stuck up about the superiority of their century, but they even make some weird comments like death not being that big a deal anymore. This is all down to Roddenberry being on his extreme futurism kick, and as soon as Gene had to fade into the background, these elements were pared back substantially .
• The crew's general disinterest in "the relic" that is the stasis satellite is also quite unusual. Even the TOS crew would have been curious about it, and any other crew in the TNG era, even this very crew , would later be far more interested in historical derelicts of all sorts, especially when presented with a chance to contribute to modern humanity's understanding of its pre-warp past.
• Sonny implies that 20th century popular music had become obscure in the 24th, as does a deleted scene between him and Wesley. Later episodes of TNG and other Star Trek series would show that styles like rock and jazz were remembered just fine by characters like Riker and Miles O'Brien.
• Faint in Shock : Claire passes out when she sees Worf, because he's an alien and she's never seen one of his species before. Justified, since she's recently been in cryogenic stasis , which has made her a bit weak.
• Finger-Tenting : The Romulan played by Mark Alaimo poses like this.
• Fish out of Temporal Water : The three revived cryogenic patients.
• Future Imperfect : Data looks up Clare's occupation as "homemaker" and believes it is "some sort of construction work."
• Human Popsicle : The medical variety; all three were frozen immediately after death in the hope that they could be revived once medical science had caught up with their ailments. They succeeded, just several hundred years later than they were expecting.
• I'm Back : As the Romulan Commander says (and the rest of the series would prove), the Romulans certainly are .
• Identical Grandson : Clare remarks that the computer's image of her great-great-grandson looks exactly like her husband.
• The B-Plot about how outposts on both sides of the Neutral Zone are vanishing, seemingly scooped up? Yeah, despite this episode being not altogether that impressive, this is the first time in Star Trek that the Borg's influence is felt. This episode (and the similarity to how the outposts disappeared) is later talked about in " Q Who ".
• The Romulans are back on the scene after decades of seclusion. Much intergalactic meddling will ensue.
• Jerkass Has a Point : When Picard lectures Ralph about the pointlessness of acquiring power through wealth, Ralph points out that his wealth literally saved his life. That shuts Picard up. Later, he's the one who deduces that the Romulans have no idea what happened to their outposts and are just trying to find out if the Federation knows anything. Picard instantly sees the accuracy of this statement.
• The Main Characters Do Everything : With Picard constantly griping about not wanting the throwbacks to distract his staff from their mission, he keeps having the main bridge staff deal with them rather than one of the thousand-or-so other scientists on the ship. You'd think Mr. Whalen from "The Big Goodbye" , the self-described expert on the 20th century, would be champing at the bit for the assignment. He also pulls his Chief of Security off the bridge to ensure that the three groggy civilians don't get out of hand, instead of grab one of the many random security officers available.
• Mars and Venus Gender Contrast : The behaviour of the unfrozen cryogenic survivors falls neatly within gender stereotypes: Offenhouse is a power-hungry rich guy who's extremely concerned about the fate of his vast fortune ; Raymond is a housewife who only seems to care about what happened to her kids and their descendants; and Clemonds is a laid-back musician who's not at all fazed by the 24th century, as long as he can score some drugs, have parties, and hit on women .
• Next Sunday A.D. : The exact year that the 20th century people are from is never stated and kept deliberately vague, but implied to be a few years in the future of the show's broadcast date. When asked what her children's birthdays are, Clare only gives the day, not the year.
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction : Ralph has this view regarding the 24th century society (what little he knows of it), since he was a financier, a job that the moneyless economy of the Federation has no use for. Picard tells him that the challenge is to "improve yourself" (what this means isn't explained).
• Noodle Incident : The "Tomed Incident," which was the last time until now that The Federation and the Romulans confronted each other.
• Subverted in the novels set in this universe, where he has become the ambassador to the Ferengi (who appreciate his financial savvy), and later on becomes the Federation Secretary of Commerce.
• Odd Friendship : Sonny, the southern-fried bon vivant, takes a special liking to Data, the emotionless android.
• Despite knowing pretty much nothing about the 24th century, Sonny gets an appropriately bad feeling when he hears the term "Neutral Zone". Sonny: What's this Neutral Zone? Data: It is a buffer between the Romulan Empire and the Federation. Sonny: Why does that make me nervous? Data: I do not know. Sonny: We won't be inviting these Romulans to our party, will we? Data: No, that would not be appropriate.
• This then becomes the reaction of everyone on The Bridge when the Romulan warbird de-cloaks. Worf: Captain, they're back!
• Patrick Stewart Speech : Captain Picard dresses down the 20th century business magnate Ralph Offenhouse on the 24th century's new priorities for human existence. Ralph Offenhouse: But what's the challenge? Picard: The challenge is to improve yourself; enrich yourself. Enjoy it.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality : We're meant to share the main cast's rather casual condescension for the priorities of the 20th century throwbacks, recognizing their critiques as brutal commentary on our own failings.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story : The whole episode is one. Nothing is resolved and there's an awful lot of posturing. The initial base destruction is left hanging, the Romulans are back (but going away for now), and the 20th Century humans are benig shuffled off to be reassimilated. All of these stories can be summed up by the following: Act 1 - Meet new, Act 2 - Mouth off, Act 3 - Go home.
• Shout-Out : Look closely and you'll see that Clare's descendants include fellows by the names of William Hartnell , Patrick Troughton , Jon Pertwee , Tom Baker , Peter Davison , and Colin Baker , as well as Kermit T. Frog, Miss Piggy , Mary Richards, and Lou Grant .
• Small Name, Big Ego : Ralph, one of the revived patients, consistently behaves as though he's the most important person on the Enterprise . The crew skirts around the issue of telling him that he's not rich or powerful anymore, though Picard alludes to it, and Ralph denies it.
• Straw Loser : The three 20th century people exist only to be shown how inferior their society was to the utopia of the Federation. Sonny is a frivolous substance abuser, Ralph is a big-headed blow-hard, and Clare is a milksop. The crew repeatedly comment with bafflement and annoyance at their backwards ways. Each of the three is shown at various points to be a decent person at heart, however. They just need to get rid of their antiquated values and catch up to the 24th century so they can be as awesome as our main cast.
• Swiss-Cheese Security : Everyone on the Enterprise has access to the main bridge and can hail the captain on his communicator. They're just bound by the Federation's code of conduct not to unless there's a reason. Given that the Enterprise is regularly shown having guests, you'd expect there to be some security measures in place.
• Totally Radical : Sonny's lines are written in a rather intentionally comical patois of country-fried slang. No one ever really talked like that.
• Unfazed Everyman : As Data mentions, Sonny adapts to his situation much better than Ralph or Claire. Data: Inquiry: You do not seem to be having as much difficulty adjusting to your current circumstances as the others. Sonny: You mean being here on this tub four hundred years from where I started? Heck, it's the same dance, it's just a different tune. Sonny: Well, one good thing is, since everybody's forgotten everything I ever did, it'll all be brand spankin' new. I'll be a bigger hit than I ever was. Picard: Perhaps so. Anything is possible.
• We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future : Dr. Crusher notes that the ailments that killed the three 20th century people are easily remedied in the 24th century.
• What Happened to the Mouse? : One of the cryogenic chambers that Data and Worf discover is empty, but we never find out what happened to whoever was inside it. Whether it was always empty or the mummified remains simply crumbled to dust out of view of the window is left unexplored.
• What Year Is This? : Ralph asks this question, and gets the answer 2364 (quite possibly the first time that an episode of the franchise establishes a Gregorian calendar year).
• Wham Line : Romulans have been noticeably absent and unmentioned for the entire first season of the show. Romulan Commander: We are back!
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S1 E24 "Conspiracy"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S2E1 "The Child"

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Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Neutral Zone (Review)

To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation , and also next year’s release of  Star Trek: Into Darkness , I’m taking a look at the recent blu ray release of the first season, episode-by-episode. Check back daily for the latest review.

Watching The Neutral Zone , it’s hard not to feel that the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation should have wrapped up with Conspiracy . At least that would have represented a bold step forwards, even if it wasn’t the direction that the show would ultimately take. In contrast, a lot of The Neutral Zone falls back into the trite, patronising arrogance that we’ve seen our crew demonstrate repeatedly over this first year, treating three refugees from twenty-first century Earth as an excuse to lord their superiority over the viewers at home. It’s a rather strange direction to take, and it certainly doesn’t make for good television. Which feels like a bit of a waste, given that the B-plot is actually quite workable.

“We’re back.”

That background plot, which actually gives the episode its name, continues the theme of repurposing original Star Trek plots for the new show. I’m not complaining – The Next Generation has still to find its voice, and putting its own spin on classic (and superior) episodes at least allows an opportunity for contrast. Here, the race to the Neutral Zone almost recalls the wonderful Balance of Terror , as the Enterprise finds itself facing an enemy they know nothing about.

In Balance of Terror , Kirk and his crew found themselves confronting an enemy last seen during a deadly war. Here, Picard and his staff are preparing to encounter the same race – who are emerging from a period of isolation directly following “the Tomed Incident.” While there isn’t quite the same level of mystery – at least Picard knows what Romulans look like, and that they are related to Vulcans – but there is a significant overlap. What do the Romulans want? Will this meeting spark another devastating war?

Where there’s a Will…

Indeed, Picard suggests that Romulan motivation might be the same as it was the time they locked horns against Kirk. “The general feeling at Starfleet is that they are seeking a confrontation,” he advises his colleagues. “They may want to test themselves in battle against a Federation starship. See how far we have advanced.” When the Enterprise arrives at various outposts to discover they have been destroyed, one could forgive a slight hint of deja vu . “Captain, there is nothing left of Outpost Delta Zero Five,” Data remarks. Geordi observes, “Must have been one hell of an explosion.” Data notes, “Sensors indicate no evidence of conventional attack.”

And yet, even as it treads a lot of the same ground as Balance of Terror , the episode does go out of its way to play to the strengths of The Next Generation and the aspects that distance this newer show from its direct predecessor. Kirk was far more likely to shoot from the hip, and Balance of Terror saw Kirk chasing the Romulan ship in an attempt to destroy it before it could reach its home base. In contrast, Picard’s mission is primarily one of diplomacy, even when it appears the Romulans may have attacked Federation outposts.

The Federation will be green with envy…

“No surprises,” he instructs his crew. “I would rather outthink them than outfight them.” He adds, “If force is necessary, we will use it, but that will mean we have failed.” It is a very clear attempt to embrace the optimism of Roddenberry’s future, and it’s hard to imagine that Kirk could have remained so even-handed when dealing with a threat like the Romulans.  The Next Generation was a much more intellectual show, and the best sequences of The Neutral Zone are the dialogue-driven scene as the senior staff prepare to meet an old enemy who have been in isolation for quite some time.

More than that, though, the climax of The Neutral Zone hints at the idea that is a much bigger universe out there. The first season of The Next Generation had been reluctant to use old adversaries like the Romulans and the Klingons, preferring to introduce new aliens like the Ferengi. That view had softened towards the end of the season. The Romulans were mentioned in Angel One , and the Klingon Empire returned in Heart of Glory .

Way to wreck it, Ralph.

However, The Neutral Zone strikes an interesting balance, suggesting that it is possible for The Next Generation to look to both the past and the future. Looking to the past, the episode marks the return of the Romulan Star Empire, with Commander Tebok making a number of impressive boasts. (Or thinly-veiled threats.) “Matters more urgent caused our absence,” he advises Picard. “Now, witness the result. Outposts destroyed, expansion of the Federation everywhere. Yes, we have indeed been negligent, Captain. But no more.”

It is interesting how so much of the end of the first season has been dedicated to building up threats to the Federation – a force presented as unimpeachably powerful in the first half of the year.  Heart of Glory made a compelling argument that Federation values could not be universal, while  Conspira cy suggested a complacency and rot within Starfleet. Here, the Romulans are rallying to the expanded Federation, what they perceive as cultural imperialism.

Star (Empire) of the show…

When Picard proposes a diplomatic response, Tebok refuses to even consider it. “Your presence is not wanted. Do you understand my meaning, Captain? We are back.” It’s interesting that the Romulans are not aggressively belligerent. They don’t want war with the Federation, and they don’t even believe that Starfleet is behind the attacks against their outposts. “Once we realised the level of destruction,” Tebok states, “we knew it could not have been you.”

The Romulans are not preparing for war, but they merely wish to let it be known that they stand against the expansion of Federation values. Given the erosion of Klingon culture suggested in Heart of Glory , it is certainly a reasonable position for the Empire to adopt. I have to admit a certain fondness for the Romulans, to the point where they are quite possibly my favourite Star Trek culture. Well, of those developed within  The Next Generation , at any rate.

Well, at least it looks like it held up better than the episode’s plot…

Part of that is due to the fact that they are one of the more developed cultures, but they also seem less likely to commit to open warfare. Given the cost of war, I was always surprised at how readily various cultures in Star Trek engaged in it. There’s something inherently pragmatic about the portrayal of Romulan culture in the show. As Troi explains to Picard, “They will not initiate anything. They will wait for you to commit yourself.” That just seems like common sense when dealing with the risk of warfare.

The Neutral Zone also hints at the arrival of something more. The writers’ strike of 1988 forced the production team to revise their plans for the show to lead directly into the second season, but The Neutral Zone still manages to provide some nice foreshadowing of the arrival of the Borg, perhaps The Next Generation ‘s single greatest contribution to the mythos. There’s something quite daunting about an unknown (and unknowable) enemy that can literally scoop a city off the face of the planet. (It’s a shame they stopped doing that after The Best of Both Worlds .)

No bones about it…

If this were the only plot in The Neutral Zone , it’s be a pretty solid Star Trek season finalé. There’s certainly enough material here to fill a single episode, and adding a bit more depth to it could easily have produced an episode that matched Conspiracy , and would make a fairly respectable close to what had been a very dodgy first year. Unfortunately, this isn’t all that there is to The Neutral Zone , as much as we might wish it to be so. Instead, despite the promising union of old and new in the storyline that gives the episode its title, the show decides to take several steps backwards and treat us to some of the smug superiority that we’ve clearly been missing these past few episodes.

I’ll try to control my enthusiasm.

I can’t decide which is the great piece of space junk: that satellite or this script…

The opening sequence of The Neutral Zone sees Data discovering a satellite drifting in space, containing a bunch of humans frozen int he twenty-first century. With the cryogenics failing, Data takes them back to the Enterprise and thaws them out. He argues that he couldn’t leave them to do, but I think he knew the crew were just itching for a chance to make belittling remarks about their ancestors, and also had some original Star Trek style overalls lying around dying for a wear.

Sadly, this plot eats up more screentime than the Romulans. I’m not basing that off anything scientific, but man , it felt like it ate up a lot more screentime. The three archetypes, including “woman” , “rich dude” and “country music guy” , all adapt to life in the twenty-fourth century, setting up groan-inducing jokes like the notion of the woman fainting the first time she sees Worf. Oh, and this gem when Data explains the woman’s choice of career, “I was able to retrieve some information from the ancient disk I removed from the module’s computer. Her name is Clare Raymond, age thirty five, occupation homemaker. Must be some kind of construction work.”

I really hope we can put this condescending Enterprise crew to bed…

And, being a woman, she’s the only member of the trio concerned that everybody she knows is dead, and she misses her family, and gets all emotional and yadda yadda yadda. I’ve reached the point where I’m no long that angry with the outdated gender politics of this first year of The Next Generation , I’m just frustrated by them. The show seems to take for granted that neither of the two men would be too concerned at the death of every single person they ever knew, and that woman would obviously be the only member of the group defined by her family (rather than anything else in her life).

Although perhaps Clare Raymond gets off a bit lightly. She’s an emotional wreck in the most trite of ways. There would have been a nice opportunity to demonstrate the sort of detachment we saw when Ripley woke up in Aliens , but the show swings and misses. However, at least The Neutral Zone treats her with a bit more respect than either of her two male colleagues. She might not be coping, but at least she’s worried about the “right” things in this episode’s value schemes.

Not quite a model ship…

Of course, Clare doesn’t have anything for the crew to get up on their high horse about. They lay into Sonny immediately. I know the guy’s annoying, but he has been frozen for some time. No need to be so harsh about it. “There was marked deterioration of every system in his body,” Crusher tells Picard. “Probably from massive chemical abuse. Unbelievable.” Picard goes into full faux! losipher mode. “That sounds like someone who hated life. Yet he had himself frozen presumably so he could go through it all again.” Sensing the need to raise he own patronising to meet the bar set by her commanding officer, Beverly adds, “Too afraid to live, too scared to die.”

Hold on, didn’t they just do an episode about drug addiction a little while back? So they understand that people who are addicted to drugs aren’t consciously thinking about killing themselves or hating life? It seems like, in Symbiosis , the Prime Directive was the only thing holding Picard back from being a massive judgemental dick. Then again, it is really hard to feel too sympathetic to Sonny. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy, he’s just all the worst clichés rolled into one.

Sonny is getting through the episode the same way I recommend you do…

“Well, what do you guys do?” he asks at one point. “I mean, you don’t drink, and you ain’t got no TV. Must be kind of boring, ain’t it?” One of the things that really gets me about The Neutral Zone is that the show seems to reall y hates its own audience. Sonny is treated as a moron because he enjoys a drink and nice bit of television. Obviously, he had no real sense of what’s truly important. Indeed, the entire show seems structured so that the crew can encounter a bunch of people who could be from its own audience… and then criticise them relentlessly .

Riker makes a dismissive off-hand comment about the trio, musing, “Well, from what I’ve seen of our guests, there’s not much to redeem them. It makes one wonder how our species survived the twenty-first century.” You’d imagine that there’d be some fascination in meeting his ancestors. Or, at the very least, finding something of worth in their character that suggested the seeds of something great to come. If Riker wants to find out how humanity survived the twenty-first century, the answer is right there on the ship. All he has to do is make some effort to uncover it. Instead, it’s just easier to mock and lecture them.

There’s something Offenhouse about this one…

While the crew can be dismissive and patronising to Sonny, they are downright aggressive toward Ralph Offenhouse, who makes the mistake of inquiring about a “copy of the Wall Street Journal” and wondering about his material wealth. When he wakes up and discovers that the State has probably confiscated it as part of a socialist utopia, nobody seems to understand how this could be a massive cultural shift for the poor guy. Instead, they ignore and belittle him. Yes, he’s a stereotypical entitled profiteering executive who might as well have been frozen with a pound of cocaine and a fan of fifty dollar bills in his hands, but it’s almost possible to feel sorry for the treatment he receives.

“This is the twenty fourth century,” Picard assures him. “Material needs no longer exist.” Responding to a massive shock to his own values and frame of reference, Offenhouse asks, “Then what’s the challenge?” Picard answers, “The challenge, Mister Offenhouse, is to improve yourself. To enrich yourself. Enjoy it.” It isn’t a bad idea, but Picard is so clearly just trying to get the stupid talking monkey to shut up that it feels trite. Troi works with Clare to help her grow accustomed, but nobody seems to give a whit about Ralph and Sonny. Nobody on the ship seems able to take the time to actually talk with them about any of the issues they might have after centuries of power napping.

Overall, a terrible choice.

The episode is supposed to demonstrate the moral superiority of Picard’s crew and of mankind in the 24th century. The trio are meant to be mocked and ridiculed as relics of by-gone era. At best, their needs and wants are portrayed as endearingly (and patronisingly) quaint. I know of television shows that talk down to their audience, but few go so far out of their way as The Neutral Zone does – featuring three time-displaced characters from close enough to the viewer’s own time.

In contrast, it makes the crew of the Enterprise seem callous. I know the ship is busy with the Romulans, but couldn’t a civilian on the ship have volunteered to babysit the newcomers? At the end of the episode, Geordi suggests a slight detour might get the trio back to Earth a lot quicker. “Well, at warp eight, we could have our guests at Starbase Thirty Nine Sierra in five days. Take months off their journey.” Picard is having none of it, “But they’ll benefit from the extended time. It will allow them to acclimate before returning to Earth.”

Play that not-so-funky music white boy…

Being honest, I suspect Picard just really couldn’t be bothered being distracted by the three guests on the ship, and would rather just completely ignore them, rather than go out of their way. Surely it would be a lot easier for them to acclimitise to the 24th century on home soil? I’ll admit that I am not an expert on such things, but I’d imagine that being on a radically altered Earth is still much easier to adjust to than travelling in a hunk of metal through the cosmos at several times the speed of light. It seems like Picard is just rationalising his refusal to make even the smallest concession to the trio.

He’d rather not spend any more time with them than he has to. And, to be fair, I empathise entirely. The Neutral Zone is weighed down by this plot like a tonne of bricks, tying into the worst of the smug arrogance we saw in episodes like The Last Outpost or Lonely Among Us . Interestingly, that sense of galactic self-importance carries over to the other plot, as Troi notes of the Romulans, “For some reason they have exhibited a fascination with humans and it is that fascination, more than anything else, that has kept the peace.” Humans are special, you see. But not you reading at home. You’re just stupid. However, humans of the future are the best-est. Between that and her dialogue in When the Bough Breaks , it seems like the half-Betazoid has really drank the kool aid.

When in Romulan space…

It’s disappointing, given how much progress had been made towards the end of the year, as the show tempered the smothering superiority complex felt by the ensemble. Still, the show at least ends with a hint of optimism. When Riker suggests keeping the trio on board, Picard is dismissive. “That would take us in the wrong direction. Our mission is to go forward, and it’s just begun.” Philosophically, The Neutral Zone represents a huge step in the wrong direction, and the show itself would do well to take Picard’s advice, and continue to press boldly forward.

It would be another rocky year before we’d get there, but at least The Next Generation would eventually find its own feet, and become one of the best shows on television.

Read our reviews of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation :

• Supplemental: The Lost Era – The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett
• Supplemental: Star Trek – The Next Generation (DC Comics, 1988)
• Supplemental: The Sky’s the Limit – Meet with Triumph and Disaster & Trust Yourself When All Men Doubt You by Michael Schuster & Steve Mollmann
• Supplemental: Star Trek – The Naked Time
• Code of Honour
• The Last Outpost
• Supplemental: Star Trek – The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane
• Lonely Among Us
• Supplemental: Reunion by Michael Jan Friedman
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1989) #59-61 – Children of Chaos/Mother of Madness/Brothers in Darkness
• Hide & Q
• The Big Goodbye
• Too Short a Season
• When the Bough Breaks
• Supplemental: Star Trek – The Devil in the Dark
• Coming of Age
• Heart of Glory
• Arsenal of Freedom
• Supplemental: Survivors by Jean Lorrah
• We’ll Always Have Paris
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1989) Annual #3 – The Broken Moon
• Supplemental: Deep Space Nine – The Lives of Dax: Sins of the Mother (Audrid) by S.D. Perry
• Supplemental: Operation Assimilation
• Supplemental: The Lost Era – Serpents Among the Ruins by David R. George III

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Filed under: The Next Generation | Tagged: Balance of Terror , Benedict Cumberbatch , Beverly Crusher , Data , Deanna Troi , Federation , Geneva , jean-luc picard , Klingon , Neutral Zone , picard , Romulan , star trek , Star Trek Next Generation , Starfleet , Television and Movies , Wall Street Journal , Wesley Crusher , William Riker , Worf , Yuppie |

8 Responses

Man, you said it. I think what’s particularly irksome to me, as I mentioned in a comment for a previous episode, is that the show is lecturing people about material want when the entire basis of Federation culture is a magical fantasy technology. Replicators are about two steps short of having Harry Potter show up and wish all want away. (It also reveals a rich man’s smugness, as Roddenberry naturally became by any reasonable very wealthy from the franchise; rich, if not uber-rich.)

Talking about smug, why weren’t these people considered a resource rather than an easy generator of self-pleased scorn? Were there *really* no historians salivating to talk to people from the past? Offenhouse might have been a materialist jerk–heaven knows he was certainly written that way–but hey, how about making him the Federation emissary to the Ferengi, something like that? He grokked them and their values, which is more than apparently anyone in the Federation was able to do. God forbid, though; instead, Offenhouse and the others need to be squeezed into the same Federation box that everyone else in the future is molded in.

Sad to say, Roddenberry couldn’t be hustled off the stage fast enough at this point. The Federation was never going to look forward as long as he was at the helm.

Yep, I’m 100% in a agreement.

There’s just something so conceited about the way the crew act, it makes them seem like jerks – which is odd because the cast are generally charming enough that we like them. Rewatching the first season reminded me how great the TNG ensemble was. I don’t think (Stewart aside) it had the strongest actors individually (actor-for-actor, Deep Space Nine is the Trek to beat), but the ensemble dynamic on TNG is just fantastic.

I do wonder whether the crew of actors on TNG worked so well together because they had to slog through so much hardship. Honestly, for intelligent actors who worked at their craft, were (I imagine) thrilled to be picked for a re-boot of a classic and hoping for great (okay, good) stuff – having to act their way through stuff like Code of Honour and (yikes) Justice? Dear Gods. What little I know of the actors doesn’t hint at self-commiseration as preferred coping strategy, so I guess it would have been an industrial-sized helping of graveyard humor.

The ham-fisted disdain for their own viewers and their primitive concern with money… seriously. Did the writers all live in huts at the beach? Even Gene Roddenberry can hardly have been that rich, for that long, that he forgot that in a system like ours money is everything – house, food, education, health, communication, any travel above walking distance, privacy, a warm bed, a roof that holds off rain, the future of your children. The B-plot could have been used to at least hint at questions about that system. But no: repeat it’s stereotypes, bash the cardboard cut-outs you wrote yourself for exhibiting the symptoms you also wrote, and ignore that you’re doing pretty well of that primitive capitalist system yourself.

Fail: epic.

On the bright side: that “frozen with a pound of a pound of cocaine and a fan of fifty dollar bills in his hands” had me laugh out loud for 15 seconds straight.

Actually, on that crew bonding thing, apparently Stewart was very much a father to the ensemble. Apparently he took a while to “loosen up”, but the rest of the cast seemed to have always looked up to him. In particular, there’s a wonderful story from Gates McFadden and Marina Sirtis about Stewart taking the writing staff to task for some of the more sexist scripts. Which makes you wonder how terrible they were before Stewart objected.

And thanks for the laughs!

This one borrows bits from better stories, but somehow leaves out all the good stuff. Space Seed is easily one of the best of TOS, and this one uses the same trick but leaves out the wonder and REAL difficulty of encountering a remnant of a culture long-dead.

I agree entirely with that. I can’t believe I didn’t touch on Space Seed above.

Offenhouse was written as not only a materialistic jerk, but cluelessly oblivious to anything that did not directly have to do with himself and his money. Like the should-have-been-obvious fact that no ship named “Enterprise”, even in his own time, had ever been a pleasure yacht.

The show has had some really derpy writing, and this was among the derpiest episodes.

You’re right. Even then, you get a sense that even amassing and managing a massive fortune should have taught him some people-managing skills, instead of just jerkishness. The Neutral Zone was not a good moment for The Next Generation. It’s a shame that the season didn’t close with Conspiracy which – while flawed – was at least audacious.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

The Neutral Zone

Cast & crew.

Marc Alaimo

Cmdr. Tebok

Anthony James

Subcommander Thei

L.Q. "Sonny" Clemons

Gracie Harrison

Clare Raymond

Peter Mark Richman

Ralph Offenhouse

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Star Trek: Romulan Neutral Zone, Explained

The Romulan Neutral Zone has always been a point of conflict within Star Trek, so what was the purpose of creating it in the first place?

Whenever the Romulan Neutral Zone comes up in Star Trek , it’s usually a prelude to a fight that’ll bring out the worst sides of each opponent until blood is shed. A Starfleet vessel might illegally enter its borders under suspicion of war crimes, or a Romulan vessel might hide within it to avoid being suspected of said war crimes. This is the plotline of multiple episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series . Either way, by the time the Neutral Zone comes up in conversation, it’s usually too late to avoid disaster.

Contrary to popular belief, though, it was created to minimize violence between the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star System. The two primarily existed in different quadrants, but were apparently still too close for comfort. It seemed that they could hardly stand living so close to each other without constantly clashing. So, the Romulan Neutral Zone existed as extra political padding around the border along the Beta Quadrant. Any attempts to cross into it without prior approval would result in dire consequences. While the intentions toward conflict resolution were strong, the maintenance of the Romulan Neutral Zone never really lived up to its own purpose.

RELATED: Star Trek: Important Moments In The Federation's History

Starfleet Versus The Romulans

Throughout Star Trek , the Federation has rarely had a good relationship with the Romulans. It got so bad that no one in Starfleet would even know what Romulans looked like until an unfortunately timed reveal in The Original Series . Prior to the establishment of the Romulan Neutral Zone, the two governments spent four years turning their hostilities into increasingly bloody battles. They were like the galactic version of rival street gangs. After a while, it didn’t matter who was responding to what instance of wrongdoing. The only thing that mattered was one-upping each other and making sure they caused maximum damage along the way.

Worse, their willingness to increase the harm they inflicted on each other was growing every day. It endangered innocents in the process, as seen in Star Trek: Enterprise . It all came to a head in 2160. The Federation had provided diplomatic assistance toward mending the discord between Vulcans, Tellarites, and Andorians . In return, these governments were key in providing Starfleet with backup during the Battle of Cheron. In season 4, episode 13, “United,” the Romulans tried to break up this alliance, only to make it stronger by presenting themselves as a threat toward any attempts at peace. The battle led to the Federation declaring victory, but it was years before they achieved anything resembling peace.

The Treaty of Algeron

Technically speaking, the Battle of Cheron led to the Federation and the Romulans coordinating via radio to establish the Romulan Neutral Zone. Both parties were subject to the rule that unauthorized entry was basically a declaration of war. However, Star Trek would specifically refer to it as the Romulan Neutral Zone since it was located in Romulan space. The Federation placed eight outposts near the Romulan Neutral Zone to make sure the Romulans kept up their end of the bargain. Unfortunately, neither Federation oversight nor the zone itself was enough to stop more lives from being lost in this seemingly endless moral battle of ego and will.

In The Original Series , the Enterprise went helm-to-helm in a fight against a Romulan ship in season 1, episode 8, “Balance of Terror.” They suspected the ship of attacking the Federation outposts alongside the Romulan Neutral Zone and they were right. Serpents Among the Ruins is a Star Trek novel that describes the Tomed Incident as being instrumental to the Federation and the Romulans signing the Treaty of Algeron. It extended the pre-existing rules of the Romulan Neutral Zone to ban Federation research or the use of cloaking devices, since either would give Starfleet a reason to enter the Romulan Neutral Zone.

Chaos In The Beta Quadrant

Still, bad blood is bad blood. Stopping the Federation from being in conflict with the Romulans seemed almost impossible at one point. Starfleet would send ships into the Beta Quadrant to investigate suspicious activity or engage in it themselves. In The Next Generation , the Enterprise illegally enters the Romulan Neutral Zone at the behest of a Romulan informant in season 3, episode 10, “The Defector.” Many Romulans would consistently prioritize their lust for violence over respect for political boundaries. In Voyager , Romulans hijacked a Starfleet ship in season 4, episode 14, “Message in a Bottle,” to make it seem like the Federation had illegally entered the Romulan Neutral Zone.

While a bigger threat would later unite them, it took a bit of finessing to finally bring them together. Deep Space Nine introduced the Dominion as a nearly unstoppable force. The Founders, Vorta, Jem’Hadar, and other Dominion allies were such a terrifying collective that it brought the Romulans and the Federation together as ‘partners in crisis.’ Season 3, episode 1, “The Search, Part I,” even saw the Federation being gifted with the use of a cloaking device on the USS Defiant – with a few stipulations, of course. Temporary partnership aside, the Romulan Neutral Zone continued to be its own special source of mayhem until the very end.

The Fate Of The Romulan Neutral Zone

In 2387, the Star Trek universe was a different place than it had been over 200 years prior. Many of the original captains had moved on – to the next career, or the other side of life. Georgi La Forge (LeVart Burton) was running a Starfleet museum. Most curiously of all, the Romulan Neutral Zone collapsed in Star Trek: Picard, and the Romulan Star System was replaced with the Romulan Free State. It was a total game changer that altered the political landscape of the galaxy. In fact, the franchise will probably continue exploring the long-lasting effects in the storylines of many TV shows and movies to come.

While it was up and running, though, the Romulan Neutral Zone was the center of much political intrigue and drama. It left many Starfleet officers questioning their moral compass even as it left fans with the stereotype of Romulans being sneaky, devious, and bloodthirsty. As Star Trek changes, so does the many worlds it has created over time. Maybe it will rise again one day, or maybe the real Romulan Neutral Zone is the friends enemies that characters made along the way.

MORE: Star Trek: Beta Quadrant, Explained

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The Neutral Zone

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See also Neutral Zone .

• 1 Description
• 3.1 Characters
• 3.2 Starships and vehicles
• 3.3 Locations
• 3.4 Races and cultures
• 3.5 States and organizations
• 4.1 Related stories
• 4.2 Timeline
• 4.4 External links

Description [ ]

Summary [ ].

In 1994, several recently deceased individuals were frozen using cryonics, and sealed inside a spacecraft which was placed in Earth orbit. Among the individuals placed on the spacecraft were Ralph Offenhouse - a human male born on Earth in 1939 who made a career as a financier, Clare Raymond - a homemaker, and L.Q. "Sonny" Clemonds - an entertainer.

Over the years, the spacecraft drifted out of Earth orbit, and eventually left the solar system. Approximately 370 years after its launch, in 2364 the spacecraft was encountered by the Enterprise-D . The Enterprise was awaiting the return of Jean-Luc Picard from a high priority conference at a Starbase . Lt. Commander Data talked Commander Riker into allowing him to board the spacecraft so that he could get a first-hand look at the ancient technology. Riker allowed Data to proceed, and had Lt. Worf accompany him.

Data and Worf beamed aboard the spacecraft. They soon discovered a series of containers with frosted over transparent panels. Upon wiping the panel of one of the containers clear, they discovered a human skeleton contained within. Data soon determined that the people had been frozen after death, due to the absence of more sophisticated monitoring equipment. One of the other containers was empty, several of the other containers had human beings who had also decayed over the years. But Worf and Data soon discovered that there were three people - Offenhouse, Raymond, and Clemonds - whose bodies were still intact. When the shuttle carrying Captain Picard returned, Riker ordered Data and Worf back to the Enterprise . When Data explained the situation, they were allowed to beam the containers holding the bodies of Offenhouse, Raymond, and Clemonds back to the ship as well. The three 20th century humans were taken to sickbay, where Dr. Crusher proceeded to thaw them out.

Crusher found that all three humans had minor medical problems - which had obviously been fatal in the 20th century. Offenhouse had died of inoperable terminal cardiomyopathy, Raymond from an embolism, and Clemonds from years of alcohol abuse.

While Offenhouse and the others were being revived, the Enterprise began to travel to the Netural Zone to confront a Romulan warbird. Offenhouse found himself and the others in the middle of a tense situation, which he made worse with demands to know what was going on, and even going so far as to leave his quarters and go to the main bridge just before the Romulans revealed themselves. Before being escorted off the bridge, he was able to determine that the Romulans had no idea who was attacking their outposts near the Neutral Zone. The Romulans announced that they were returning to the galactic scene after being silent for over half a century.

Following this confrontation with the Romulans the three 20th century humans returned to Earth on board the USS Charleston. Before leaving the Enterprise, Captain Jean-Luc Picard told Offenhouse that money no longer had the meaning it once did to humans, and to use the opportunity he received to better himself.

References [ ]

Characters [ ], starships and vehicles [ ], locations [ ], races and cultures [ ], states and organizations [ ], appendices [ ], related stories [ ].

• Q Who? ( TNG episode )
• Operation Assimilation (TNG comic )
• Debtors' Planet ( TNG novel )
• The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1 ( TOS novel )
• The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 2 ( TOS novel )

Timeline [ ]

External links [ ]

• " The Neutral Zone " article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• The Neutral Zone (Star Trek: The Next Generation) article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 Achilles class
• 3 Odyssey class