star trek the drumhead review

The Drumhead (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Production history
• 4.2 Story and script
• 4.3 Production
• 4.4 Continuity
• 4.5 Reception
• 4.6 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest stars
• 5.4 Co-star
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stand-ins
• 5.7.1 Unused production references
• 5.8 External links

Summary [ ]

On Stardate 44765.2, a dilithium chamber hatch explodes aboard the USS Enterprise -D and sabotage is suspected. The explosion coincides with reports that the Romulans have gained access to information about the Enterprise 's dilithium articulation frame a week later, indicating that there is a spy on board. A quick investigation turns up one suspect – a Klingon exchange officer named J'Dan , but upon being interrogated by Riker and Troi , he strongly denies any involvement. As Worf escorts him to his quarters , J'Dan asks for aid as a fellow Klingon, by asking Worf to escort him to a shuttlecraft to escape, and in return would help to restore Worf's honor through powerful friends he has. Worf angrily rebuffs his request and tells him that he will find out the truth and once the Klingon High Council learns of the incident, J'Dan will be put to a slow death as a traitor.

Act One [ ]

Starfleet Command sends retired Admiral Norah Satie and her assistants – including Sabin Genestra , who is a Betazoid – to expedite the proceedings. Satie gets right to work, and Picard escorts her to engineering , where Geordi La Forge and Data relate their findings on the explosion. Data reports to Picard that it will take 49 hours to gain access to the warp core at the current rate of decreasing radiation levels beyond the isolation door . La Forge offers to play back the sensor log for the admiral. It initially appears to be sabotage, as all logs indicated normal operations 52 milliseconds before the incident and the articulation frame was indeed the culprit. She sees there is something to investigate and wants a full briefing.

Later, as Satie and Picard talk in his ready room , Worf arrives with his finding of J'Dan's hyposyringe in his room, modified to scan and resequence classified information into biological tags for transport on an injected body; J'Dan covers this by the fact that he has Ba'ltmasor Syndrome , which requires weekly injections and thus, would easily hide the transfer of information. With this evidence against him, J'Dan readily admits his crime, confessing that he believes the alliance with the Federation has made the Klingons weak, and that the Romulans are stronger and would be better allies. Despite his confession, he adamantly maintains his innocence in the explosion. However, Satie is still unsatisfied, and Sabin says he believes J'Dan is now telling the truth; they are convinced that J'Dan could not have been working alone.

Act Two [ ]

In the admiral's quarters, Satie and Picard discuss the current situation with J'Dan and his possible sabotage. Satie admits that when Starfleet ordered her to the Enterprise to participate in the investigation, it was expressly stated that she and the captain were to be equals. She was initially reluctant, as her father, Judge Aaron Satie , had always advised her to avoid partnerships. Picard expresses his admiration for Judge Satie's decisions, as those judgments were required reading when he attended the Academy . Satie states she and Picard will be quite a team.

Crewman Simon Tarses is interrogated

In the observation lounge , Genestra and Worf look over the people J'Dan had contact with on the Enterprise , but the Klingon apparently did not make many friends on board, narrowing their search of possible collaborators. Genestra compliments Worf on his thorough investigation. However, Genestra tells him that he and Satie initially suspected he could have possibly been a security risk due to his father Mogh having been declared a traitor for betraying his people to the Romulans . Worf strongly declares that what his father did or did not do is no one's business but his own. Genestra assures Worf that he has the admiral and his complete confidence. Worf assuredly states, " If there is a conspiracy on board, I promise you I will find it. " With that, he begins arranging interviews.

Admiral Satie then begins an inquiry into all personnel and passengers on the Enterprise with whom J'Dan has come into contact with during his stay. When she questions young crewman and medical technician Simon Tarses , Sabin senses great fear and guilt from Tarses, as if some sort of lie is consuming him. He believes they've found J'Dan's co-conspirator.

Act Three [ ]

" I believe, sir, that the conclusion to our investigation must be that the explosion was not intentional. "

Picard refuses to restrict Tarses' movements based solely on Genestra's Betazoid intuition. Before a consensus can be reached, he and Satie are called to engineering by La Forge and Data; the radiation levels preventing them from entering the chamber – caused by the explosion – have now dropped low enough for them to enter safely, and their examination shows no foul play had been involved. The explosion was caused by simple neutron fatigue along an undetectable defect in a hatch cover that was installed during the ship's last refit at Earth Station McKinley , making it an accident that just happened to coincide with the theft of the chamber's plans rather than sabotage.

But Satie and Genestra are unconvinced by this, still believing Tarses was a co-conspirator with J'Dan since they don't think J'Dan could have come aboard the Federation flagship and accomplish what he did without help from within. Another inquiry against Tarses is launched on Stardate 44780, this time open to the public, and he is barraged with numerous accusations to try and establish his guilt, including a lie that the explosion was caused by corrosive chemicals stored in sickbay to which he had access to, and the exposure of the lie Tarses himself tried to kept hidden: that he put false information about his parentage in his Academy admission form, stating that his paternal grandfather was Vulcan when, in fact, he was Romulan. Overwhelmed, Tarses invokes the Seventh Guarantee of the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets to decline to answer further questions to avoid self-incrimination, on the counsel of Commander Riker.

Act Four [ ]

Picard, seeing Worf instruct several security officers in an investigation into Tarses' background, tells him he feels that Satie is engaging in a drumhead trial , a xenophobic witch-hunt. After talking with Tarses and establishing that his lying on his application was his only misdeed, Picard confronts Satie and demands that the hearings be put to rest, threatening to go over her head and complain directly to Starfleet Command if necessary. Satie rebuffs him and reveals she has been in full contact with Starfleet Command since the beginning of the investigation and they fully approve of her methods. In fact, Admiral Thomas Henry of Starfleet Security will be coming aboard to witness the next and all subsequent hearings until the conspiracy is solved. In other words, the interrogations will not be stopped; they will be expanded. As Satie turns to leave the ready room, Picard tells the admiral that what she is doing is unethical and immoral, and he will fight it. Satie tells the captain he should do what he must – and so will she.

Later, Picard is on the bridge , distracted, when Data informs him that the warp engines have been restored and they are ready to begin restart sequences. Going over to sit in his chair , Riker asks Picard if he is all right. Picard tells his first officer that he is fine, just a little preoccupied at the moment. Unfortunately, because of his outspokenness against them, Picard receives a summons delivered by Nellen Tore , Satie's assistant, to appear tomorrow morning at 0900 hours before the committee for questioning.

Act Five [ ]

At his interrogation, Picard makes an opening statement in attempt to appeal to Satie's sense of reason and convince her to end the hearings, but he is met with a thorough and borderline irrelevant nitpicking of his competency and loyalty to Starfleet and the Federation. First, Satie brings up that Picard had violated the Prime Directive a total of nine times since he was given command of the Enterprise , to which Picard had stated he was already aware of, since his reports to Starfleet had documented the circumstances of each violation. Next, Sabin brings up the events of Stardate 44390.1 : when Picard delivered a supposed Vulcan ambassador named T'Pel to the Romulan Neutral Zone , and it turned out that she was actually a Romulan spy who was being delivered back to the enemy. Satie highlights the fact that Picard had willingly let T'Pel go, despite knowing that she had classified information from the Federation.

Worf, who up until this point had sided with Satie, realizes where the hearing is going and attempts to defend his captain, stating that the Enterprise was outnumbered by many Romulan warbirds , and Picard did the only thing he could do. Worf is rebuffed with how he had security do nothing during the spy's stay on the Enterprise and accusations of his father's supposed betrayal to the Romulans, at which Picard calmly restrains Worf. Satie then questions Picard about his past experience as a Borg , along with his role at the massacre at Wolf 359 . Picard finally responds to the accusations laid against him by quoting her father's famous words about the dangers of denying basic rights to one man in the name of protection.

Enraged at this invocation of her father's name, Satie abruptly rises from her chair and interrupts Picard, accusing him of treason and conspiring with the Romulans. She calls men like him a threat to the entire Federation whom it is her job to seek out and destroy and warns him that she has "brought down bigger men than you!" At this point in her tirade, Admiral Henry, with a visible expression of disgust at Satie, gets up and wordlessly leaves the room, bringing an informal end to the interrogation. Embarrassed, Sabin declares a recess until the following day, and the room empties quickly, leaving Satie alone, shaken. By turning her father's words back on her, Picard has goaded her into revealing the depth of her fanaticism and paranoia in front of an audience, severely damaging her credibility, possibly permanently.

" Vigilance, Mr. Worf. That is the price we have to continually pay. "

Later on, in the ship's conference lounge , Picard is informed by Worf that Admiral Henry has officially called an end to the hearings, and that Satie has departed the Enterprise . Though it is unlikely that she will ever be trusted with such authority again, Worf cannot help feeling guilty for having been deluded into aiding her cause without realizing what she was and what she stood for. Picard, however, sees it as a learning experience; such enemies who cloak their misdeeds with the pretense of serving a greater good are often very difficult to spot. Although it is very unlikely Satie will ever be trusted again, people like her are always waiting in the wings for the time to strike and spread fear and mistrust in the name of righteousness and, as Picard tells Worf, continual vigilance against them is "the price that [they] must pay" to maintain their freedom.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2367

Memorable quotes [ ]

" The blood of all Klingons has become water! Ever since the Federation Alliance , we have turned into a nation of mewling babies! The Romulans are strong; they are worthy allies! They do not turn Klingons into weaklings like you! " (hints at Worf)

" Captain, I predict that officer will be extremely valuable in this investigation. "

" Admiral. I have to tell you; you must not expect me to permit any action against Mr. Tarses solely on the basis of Betazoid intuition. " " Sabin has uncanny instincts. I've learned to trust them. " " I'm not happy about this use of a Betazoid. " " But you have a Betazoid counselor. Surely, you're aware of the advantages. " " There is a difference between a counselor and an investigator. " " Are you saying you never use your counselor during interrogations? " " Yes, I do… but I would not act solely on the basis of her instinct. " " Nor do I. " " But you're asking… you're asking me to restrict Mr. Tarses' movements solely on the basis on Sabin's feeling . " " If Counselor Troi suggested to you that someone on the ship were dangerous, would you not act on that? Observe him? Curb his activity? " " Yes, I admit I probably would, and perhaps I should re-evaluate that behavior.

" Mr. Tarses, didn't you deliberately and pre-meditatively lie when you filled out your personnel application and compounded that lie by repeating it to this committee? " " What?! " " Isn't it true that the paternal grandfather of whom you speak was not a Vulcan, but was in fact a Romulan? That it is Romulan blood you carry and a Romulan heritage that you honor? " (Riker whispers something in Simon's ear) " We're waiting, Mr. Tarses! " " On the advice of my counsel… I refuse to answer that question in… in that the answer might… might serve to incriminate me. "

" But we know there is a traitor here. J'Dan has admitted his guilt. " " That's true, and he will stand for his crime. " " Tarses has all but done the same. " " How? " " He refused to answer the question about his Romulan grandfather. " " That is not a crime, Worf! Nor can we infer his guilt because he didn't respond. " " Sir, if a man were not afraid of the truth, he would answer. " " Oh, no. We cannot allow ourselves to think that. The Seventh Guarantee is one of the most important rights granted by the Federation. We cannot take a fundamental principle of the Constitution and turn it against a citizen! "

" Sir, the Federation does have enemies! We must seek them out! " " Oh, yes. That's how it starts. But the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think. Something is wrong here, Mr. Worf; I don't like what we have become! "

" Captain, may I tell you how I've spent the last four years? From planet to starbase to planet. I have no home. I live on starships and shuttlecraft. I haven't seen a family member in years. I have no friends. But I have a purpose. My father taught me from the time I was a little girl still clutching a blanket that the United Federation of Planets is the most remarkable institution ever conceived. And it is my cause to make sure that this extraordinary union be preserved . I cannot imagine why you are trying to block this investigation. There have been others in the past who doubted me. They came to regret it. "

" The hearings on Simon Tarses will stop. If necessary, I will go to Starfleet Command. " " I have news for you, Captain. I've been in constant contact with Starfleet Command. The hearings are not going to stop. They're going to be expanded. " " What are you saying? " " I'm going to get to the heart of this conspiracy if it means investigating every last person on this ship. And every hearing, from now on, will be held in the presence of Admiral Thomas Henry of Starfleet Security. I've requested he be brought here at once. " " You never told me about this. " " I report to Starfleet Command directly. I do not need your permission or your approval for my decisions. " " Admiral, what you're doing here is unethical. It's immoral. I'll fight it. " " Do what you must, Captain… and so will I. "

" I'm deeply concerned about what is happening here. It began when we apprehended a spy, a man who admitted his guilt and who will answer for his crime, but the hunt didn't end there. Another man, Mr. Simon Tarses, was brought to trial, and it was a trial, no matter what others choose to call it. A trial based on insinuation and innuendo. Nothing substantive offered against Mr. Tarses, much less proven. Mr. Tarses' grandfather is Romulan… and for that reason, his career now stands in ruins. Have we become so… fearful , have we become so cowardly , that we must extinguish a man because he carries the blood of a current enemy? Admiral, let us not condemn Simon Tarses, or anyone else, because of their bloodlines, or investigate others for their innocent associations. I implore you, do not continue with this proceeding. End it now. "

" You know, there are some words I've known since I was a schoolboy: 'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored… the first thought forbidden… the first freedom denied – chains us all irrevocably.' Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie , as wisdom… and warning. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today– " " How dare you! You who consort with Romulans, invoke my father's name to support your traitorous arguments? It is an offense to everything I hold dear! And to hear those words used to subvert the United Federation of Planets! My father was a great man! His name stands for integrity and principle! You DIRTY his name when you speak it! He loved the Federation! But you, Captain, corrupt it! You undermine our very way of life! I will expose you for what you are! I've brought down bigger men than you, Picard!! "

" We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. And then, before you can blink an eye, suddenly, it threatens to start all over again. " " I believed her. I-I helped her! I did not see what she was. " " Mr. Worf, villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well-camouflaged." " I think, after yesterday, people will not be so ready to trust her. " " Maybe. But she or someone like her will always be with us, waiting for the right climate in which to flourish – spreading fear in the name of righteousness. Vigilance, Mr. Worf. That is the price we have to continually pay. "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

• Final draft script: 7 February 1991 [1]
• Filmed: 19 February 1991 – 27 February 1991
• Premiere airdate: 29 April 1991
• First UK airdate: 9 November 1994

Story and script [ ]

Gene Roddenberry and Jean Simmons

• "The Drumhead" was conceived as a money-saving installment for the series. The studio suggested a clip show . Michael Piller and Rick Berman , however, both despised the idea, as neither wanted a repetition of the " Shades of Gray " approach. Piller commented on clip shows, " We think they're insulting to the audience. They tune in and then you create this false jeopardy and then flashback as their memory goes back to the wonderful time they had before they got trapped in the elevator and all that bullshit. " They persuaded the studio to avoid a clip show while still producing an episode that was under budget – a bottle show . ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , pp. 219-220)
• Jeri Taylor wrote the script based on a story idea Ronald D. Moore had proposed called "It Can't Happen Here." Taylor's aim was to show that witch-hunts, along the lines of US Senator Joseph McCarthy 's Communist hearings and the Salem witch trials , could happen even in the enlightened 24th century if individual liberties and freedoms were breached, even if only slightly, in the name of preserving the Federation. She remarked, " It's a very provocative story and one which is a little darker than some of the others. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , pp. 219-220)

Production [ ]

Director Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart on the set

Simmons visiting the set in 1991

• "The Drumhead" was filmed between Tuesday 19 February 1991 and Wednesday 27 February 1991 on Paramount Stage 8 and 9 .
• The episode finished US$250,000 under budget. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 163))
• According to director Jonathan Frakes , several shots from the episode were "stolen" from courtroom films including Judgment at Nuremberg , the 1961 Stanley Kramer film starring William Shatner , and The Caine Mutiny . ( Departmental Briefing, Year Four: Production , TNG Season 4 DVD special features)
• Jonathan Frakes had previously appeared with Jean Simmons on North and South . He described being able to cast her in this episode as a dream come true. To Frakes' surprise, he learned that Simmons was a "monstrous Trekkie ". ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 204)
• This was the final episode to have music composed by Ron Jones . Jones was fired shortly afterward for repeatedly arguing with Rick Berman and Peter Lauritson over what type of music was thought to be appropriate for the series. Berman subsequently asked Dennis McCarthy if he would be willing to act as the sole music composer for the series, but McCarthy turned the offer down, citing that the resulting workload (including his non- Trek projects) would be too much for him, and so Berman brought Jay Chattaway on-board as Jones' replacement. ( Cinefantastique October 1993)
• A scene which was filmed on Friday 22 February 1991 was deleted from the final episode. According to the call sheet, the scene would be 12-14 in sickbay and feature Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Spencer Garrett, and regular background performers Michael Braveheart and Bowman .
• The release of this episode on Star Trek: The Next Generation (Blu-ray) features 2 seconds of standard definition footage upconverted to high definition.

Continuity [ ]

• The events of " Conspiracy ", " Sins of The Father ", " The Best of Both Worlds ", " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ", " Family ", and " Data's Day " are referenced in this episode. It reveals that thirty-nine Federation starships were annihilated, and eleven thousand personnel were lost at the Battle of Wolf 359 .
• As " All Good Things... " later establishes, it was Norah Satie who initially " requested and required " Jean-Luc Picard to take command of the Enterprise when he first received that assignment. This fact is not mentioned in this episode.
• Neither the Excelsior -class starship nor the Oberth -class starship seen in this episode are named in either the episode or the script. The identification of the Oberth -class ship as the USS Cochrane is derived from the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 163).
• This episode shares a common theme, the danger of sacrificing freedom for security, with the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine two-parter " Homefront "/" Paradise Lost ".
• This is the second appearance of the interrogation room set after " The Defector ". It is a modification of the bridge of the original USS Enterprise as seen in the first three movies .
• A long time extra, Ensign Kellogg , played by Cameron , is finally named in this episode during Worf's briefing with his security officers.
• This is the only time in the run of the series that the inner isolation door in main engineering is seen; normally the outer door is seen after a warp core breach .
• This episode establishes the technology of genetically encoding secret information in order to be carried discreetly inside a carrier's body. A similar technology is seen to be used by the Suliban Cabal to Klaang in ENT : " Broken Bow ".
• Crewman Tarses mentions that his tour of duty aboard the Enterprise started on Stardate 43587, which would place it between the events of " Deja Q " and " A Matter of Perspective ".

Reception [ ]

• In the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 163), Jeri Taylor names this episode's script as the one of which she was proudest.
• This is one of Michael Dorn 's two favorite TNG episodes, the other being " The Offspring ". [2]
• Jonathan Frakes has also named this episode as one of his favorites, in part for the chance to work with Jean Simmons. ( Departmental Briefing, Year Four: Production, TNG Season 4 DVD special features.) He commented, " I've always thought she was arguably the classiest, most significant actor we had on the series. She was wonderful in the scenes with Patrick [Stewart]. And she was still so gorgeous. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 204)
• In contrast, author Keith R.A. DeCandido is not fond of the episode. In an online review, he gave the episode a "warp factor" rating of 3 out of 10. He criticized the script for "stacking the deck" against the character of Satie and called the climax of the episode "awful". He stated, " [I]n the end, we get this strong-willed, powerful, respected woman who is bound and determined to save the Federation at all costs – that is, until Picard quotes her father, at which point she turns into a crazed, blubbering mess. And then, all of a sudden, it's over. " Fellow author Christopher L. Bennett disagreed, remarking, " [T]his has always been an episode I've admired. It is a valuable message story, and a nice touch of imperfection in the often too-perfect Federation of TNG. " He added, " It may seem heavy-handed, but that's because that's how it really works. What Senator McCarthy and HUAC did was so heavy-handed and irrationally excessive that nobody would believe it in a story if it hadn't really happened. " [3]
• A mission report for this episode by John Sayers was published in The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 17 , pp. 17-20.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original UK VHIS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 48, June 1992
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 4.7, 3 September 2001
• As part of the TNG Season 4 DVD collection
• As part of the TNG Season 4 Blu-ray collection
• As part of the Region 1 edition of the Star Trek: The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard Collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker

Also starring [ ]

• LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
• Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
• Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

Guest stars [ ]

• Bruce French as Sabin Genestra
• Spencer Garrett as Simon Tarses
• Henry Woronicz as J'Dan
• Earl Billings as Thomas Henry
• Jean Simmons as Admiral Satie

Co-star [ ]

• Ann Shea as Nellen

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Arratia as Alfonse Pacelli
• Rachen Assapiomonwait as Nelson
• Joe Baumann as Garvey
• Karin Baxter as operations ensign
• Michael Braveheart as Martinez
• Debbie David as Russell
• Cameron as Kellogg
• Cooper as Reel
• Denise Deuschle as sciences officer
• Jeremy Doyle as operations ensign
• Elliot Durant III as operations ensign
• Michele Gerren as sciences officer
• Kai as sciences officer
• Kast as command officer
• Mark Lentry as civilian
• Marin as command officer
• Jeri McBride as sciences officer
• Tim McCormack as Bennett
• Michael Moorehead as sciences ensign
• Randy Pflug as Jones
• Keith Rayve as command ensign
• Richard Sarstedt as command ensign
• Noriko Suzuki as operations ensign
• Guy Vardaman as Darien Wallace
• Natalie Wood as Bailey
• Civilian woman
• Female operations officer
• Female sciences officer
• Female transporter operator

Stand-ins [ ]

• Brett — stand-in for LeVar Burton
• Nora Leonhardt — stand-in for Marina Sirtis
• Tim McCormack — stand-in for Brent Spiner and Bruce French
• Lorine Mendell — stand-in for Gates McFadden and Ann Shea
• Josephine Parra — stand-in for Jean Simmons
• Richard Sarstedt — stand-in for Jonathan Frakes and Earl Billings
• Dennis Tracy — stand-in for Patrick Stewart
• Guy Vardaman — stand-in for Henry Woronicz and Spencer Garrett
• James Washington — stand-in for Michael Dorn

References [ ]

19th century ; 2362 ; 2363 ; 2364 ; accident ; accusation ; admiral ; advice ; alliance ; ally ; ambassador ; amino acid sequence ; " ancient history "; appeal ; argument ; article ; assistant ; associate ; atomic cohesive structure ; baby ; background check ; Ba'ltmasor Syndrome ; Battle of Wolf 359 ; battlefield ; beard ; behavior ; bench ; Betazed ; Betazoid ; blast pattern ; blood ; bloodline ; bloodstream ; body ; bomb ; Borg ; briefing ; burning ; career ; case ; censure ; chain ; chance ; chapter ; chief security officer ( security officer ); choice ; citizen ; classroom ; Cochrane , USS ; coincidence ; collaborator ; committee ; communicator ; computer ; conclusion ; confidence ; confined to quarters ; conspiracy ; Constitution of the United Federation of Planets ; conversation ; corner ; counsel ; counsellor ; crewman ; crime ; criminal ; Cruces system ; damage ; death penalty ; debate ; debris ; deception ; Delb II ; Delbian ; deoxyribose suspension ; destruction ; device ; Devoras ; dilithium articulation frame ; dilithium chamber ; dilithium chamber hatch ; dinner table ; drum ; drumhead trial ; Earth Station McKinley ; elm ; emergency confinement field ; encephalographic polygraph scan ; enemy ; engine room ; enlisted personnel ; evidence ; Excelsior -class ; exobiologist ; experience ; explosion ; fear ; Federation ; feeling ; file ; flagship ; fluid ; " for the record "; fragment ; freedom ; friend ; Galaxy class decks ; glory ; good deed ; grandfather ; guest ; guilt ; hatch ; hatch casing ; hatch cover ; hatch mounting ; head of security ; hearing ; heart ; Henry's transport ; here and now ; heretic ; heritage ; home ; honor ; hour ; Human ; hundred ; hunt ; hypospray ; hyposyringe ; idea ; identification ; immorality ; " inch by inch"; information ; injection ; innuendo ( insinuation ); innocence ; inquiry ( informal inquiry ); institution ; integrity ; interrogation ( questioning ); interrogation room ; interview ; intuition ( instinct ); investigation ; investigator ; isolation door ; isolinear chip ( optical chip ); J'Dan's powerful friends ; job ; judge ; judgment ; Klingon ; Klingon-Federation Alliance ; Klingon High Council ; knowledge ; lemon ; liar ; lie ( lying ); lieutenant ; list ; location ; logic ; loyalty ; malfunction ; Marcus ; Mars Colony ; mass spectrometer ; matter-antimatter reaction assembly ; medical technician ; metal ; microtomographic analysis ; Midsummer Night's Dream, A ; military officer ; millisecond ; mistake ; Mogh ; mustache ; name ; nation ; neutron fatigue ; night ; number one ; Oberth -class ; " off the record "; Officer Exchange Program ; online ; opportunity ; optical chip reader ; order ; " out of my element "; outpost ; parade grounds ; parameter ; paranoia ; parasitic being ; partnership ; paternal ; permission ; person ; personnel application ; petaQ ; plan ; planet ; power ; premeditation ; price ; Prime Directive ; principle ; problem ; propulsion system file ; protein ; punishment ; Qo'noS ; question ; radiation burn ; radiation level ; rank ; reason ; recess ; referee ; " refresh your memory "; relationship ; relative ( family member ); report ; residue ; restart sequence ; retirement ; right ; righteousness ; roach ; road ; Romulan ; Romulan Neutral Zone ; rumor ; sabotage ; saboteur ; Satie, Aaron ; Satie's brothers ; schematic ; schematic drawing ; scientific exchange program ; security breach ; security clearance ; security risk ; sensor log ; Seventh Guarantee ; shuttlecraft ; sleep ; social gathering ; spectator ; spectrometer ; speculation ; spy ; statement ; star ; starbase ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Academy ; Starfleet Command ; Starfleet record ; Starfleet Security ; starship ; stopwatch ; sub-micron fracture ; summary justice ; surveillance ; suspicion ; suspension ; tactic ; Tarkanian ; Tarkanian diplomat ; Tarses' brother ; Tarses' friends ; Tarses' mother ; Tarses' assignments ; Tarses' outposts ; Tarses' Romulan grandfather ; tea ; theory ; thought ; thousand ; top secret ; torture ; T'Pel ; training ; training drill ; training program ; traitor ; trial ; tricorder ; truth ; turbolift ; Uniform Code of Justice ; union ; victim of circumstance ; villain ; visual log ; Vulcan ; warp drive ( warp engine ); warrior ; water ; weakling ; week ; witch ; word ; year

Unused production references [ ]

External links [ ].

• " The Drumhead " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " The Drumhead " at Wikipedia
• "The Drumhead" at StarTrek.com
• " "The Drumhead" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "The Drumhead" script  at Star Trek Minutiae

Star Trek The Next Generation: The Drumhead

5 comments:

This episode was better than I remembered. It was a quiet-ish episode, you're right, Mallena, but it certainly made a good point. And I always liked any episode that featured a strong performance by Patrick Stewart. Jean Simmons was pretty good, too.

I always felt that this episode was one of the best. I feel that the review skates around its real strength... that evil takes a friendly and "reasonable" face. That at a time when there is fear of the "other", evil cloaks itself in a guise of protection. As a society, we must always remain vigilant. Sound familiar in 2016?

I agree with Heather. If this episode was shown today people would say it was too transparent and heavy-handed. There would be no doubt about what the issue was that was being portrayed.

“Mr. Worf, villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged.” Simple and powerful words! Who needs constant action when we can be taught and entertained with such sentences.

This one hits home hard in this current political climate. It's very good, but also disturbing as it never feels good to see people be attacked by zealots, especially when they're innocent. It also reminds me from what I've read of the McCarthy communism scare way back when.

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[TNG] The Drumhead

[TNG] Season 4, Episode 21: The Drumhead

“The Drumhead” is one of the more straight forward trial episodes of Trek, both in theme and plot, but it’s well made and entertaining, hitting all the satisfying notes we’d expect from the genre. The McCarthyism connections are extremely direct, which we’d usually hold against an episode like this, but it provides us with fantastic scenes of Picard standing up for what’s right, and we’re total suckers for that.

Read more at Memory Alpha

Jean Simmons, the lead singer of KISS, is an admiral.

They uncover a Klingon that’s collaborating with the Romulans!

They don’t think the Klingon was alone, so they question this poor guy.

He says he’s a ‘lil bit Vulcan.

But then the admiral’s Betazoid friend says he’s lying and scared.

Geordi points at a thing to show that the sabotage was just a malfunction.

They find out that this guy lied on his starfleet application, and that he’s really part Romulan! The other ones with pointy ears!

Picard thinks things are getting out of hand with the accusations and investigation. Jean Simmons is just getting started though.

They question Picard, about how he has broken the prime directive 9 times, and let a Romulan spy get away in that other episode.

You don’t try to take on Picard in a trial episode. It’s kind of his thing.

While Picard tells everybody what’s what he uses a quote from Jean Simmon’s father, which makes Simmon’s get crazy and HUMILIATE herself.

Everyone’s had enough of her shenanigans.

<Previous Episode ——————————————————– Next Episode>

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The Drumhead

• Episode aired Apr 27, 1991

A retired admiral boards the Enterprise in an effort to determine the actions aboard the ship surrounding an act of sabotage and possible treason. A retired admiral boards the Enterprise in an effort to determine the actions aboard the ship surrounding an act of sabotage and possible treason. A retired admiral boards the Enterprise in an effort to determine the actions aboard the ship surrounding an act of sabotage and possible treason.

• Jonathan Frakes
• Gene Roddenberry
• Jeri Taylor
• Ronald D. Moore
• Patrick Stewart
• LeVar Burton
• 30 User reviews
• 7 Critic reviews

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard

• Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker

• Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

• Lieutenant Worf

• Doctor Beverly Crusher

• Counselor Deanna Troi

• Lieutenant Commander Data

• Sabin Genestra

• Simon Tarses

• J'Ddan

• Adm. Thomas Henry

• Adm. Nora Satie
• Nellen Tore
• Crewman Nelson
• (uncredited)
• Crewman Garvey
• Crewman Martinez
• Ensign Kellogg

• Ensign Russell
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia The events of Conspiracy (1988) , Sins of the Father (1990) , The Best of Both Worlds: Part 1 (1990) , The Best of Both Worlds: Part 2 (1990) , Family (1990) , and Data's Day (1991) are referenced in this episode. It reveals that 39 Federation starships were annihilated and 11,000 personnel were lost at the Battle of Wolf 359.
• Goofs In the first act's captain's log entry, Picard says that Admiral Satie was the one who uncovered the alien conspiracy from three years prior ("Conspiracy"). However, it was Picard and Riker who shot the infected officers and ultimately killed the mother creature that was hiding inside of LCDR Remmick. That sounds more like an uncovering than any investigation an elderly admiral would've undertaken.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : You know, there are some words I've known since I was a schoolboy: "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie, as wisdom and warning. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today...

Admiral Nora Satie : How dare you! You who consort with Romulans, invoke my father's name to support your traitorous arguments. It is an offense to everything I hold dear. And to hear those words used to subvert the United Federation of Planets. My father was a great man! His name stands for integrity and principle. You dirty his name when you speak it! He loved the Federation. But you, Captain, corrupt it. You undermine our very way of life. I will expose you for what you are. I've brought down bigger men than you, Picard!

• Connections Featured in Star Trek: First Contact Review (2009)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews 30

• Jul 29, 2019
• April 27, 1991 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 45 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E21TheDrumhead

Recap / Star Trek: The Next Generation S4E21 "The Drumhead"

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Worf: Sir, the Federation does have enemies! We must seek them out! Picard: Oh, yes. That's how it starts. But the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think. Something is wrong here, Mister Worf. I don't like what we have become.

Original air date: April 29, 1991

Things are tense aboard the Enterprise . A few days ago, an explosion in the engine room put the warp core out of commission and several crew members in sickbay. Sabotage is suspected, and all signs point to J'Dan, a Klingon scientist currently serving aboard the Enterprise as part of the Federation–Klingon Officer Exchange Program ( Remember that? ). Starfleet Intelligence has discovered that several design specs and schematics of Enterprise systems have fallen into Romulan hands right about the time J'Dan started serving aboard. J'Dan denies the charges, naturally, but his behavior during and immediately after the inquiry raise suspicions. Troi detects that he's hiding something, and as Worf escorts him back to his quarters, J'Dan tries to bribe him: he's got powerful friends back on the Klingon homeworld, he claims, and if Worf would help him escape the Enterprise he could see what he could do about that whole family disgrace thing Worf has. Fortunately for him, Worf has enough presence of mind to wait until they've gotten back to his quarters before sucker-punching J'Dan and promising him that he'll expose his spying ways.

A short time later, the Enterprise receives a visitor. Starfleet Command has been watching the situation and have deemed the threat of espionage significant enough to warrant a formal investigation. To that end, they have plucked legendary intelligence expert Admiral Norah Satie ( Jean Simmons ) out of retirement, and with her arrival the investigation kicks into full gear. Security footage of the explosion indicates a sudden catastrophic failure of the dilithium chamber's hatch, which could well be the result of sabotage. Furthermore, Worf has discovered that J'Dan's personal hypospray has been modified to download information from the Enterprise 's computer and encode it into a biological sequence. Several people who have left the Enterprise while J'Dan has been serving there have since mysteriously disappeared. It would seem that J'Dan has been using random people as "data mules," injecting them with the encoded information, and then directing his accomplices to abduct them. Satie is so impressed by Worf's work that she requests that he be part of her investigation team, and that he lead the interrogation of J'Dan.

Confronted with this new evidence, J'Dan cracks, admitting that he's a spy for the Romulans and a traitor to the Empire. However, he still claims to know nothing about the warp core explosion. It's a puzzling thing that he refuses to admit to this in the light of the rest of the evidence against him, but that sets Satie's suspicions off. She finds it hard to believe that J'Dan was acting alone, and if he was in fact telling the truth, then he might not be only spy aboard the Enterprise . She continues her investigation, focusing on the Enterprise medical team, as they were the ones with the most frequent contact with J'Dan. Picard is uneasy with the course the investigation is taking, but Satie assures him that it's just a routine inquiry. And that she and he are a team, the Enterprise and her crew are his command, and she will not step on his toes.

The investigation proceeds, and it soon uncovers a suspect: Simon Tarses, a quarter-Vulcan medical technician who most often attended to J'Dan when he came into Sickbay for his regular checkups. During his interview, Tarses is cooperative but extremely nervous. And Sabin Genestra, Satie's Betazoid aide, senses that he's hiding a very big secret.

Satie immediately recommends that Tarses be watched and his movements restricted, but Picard disagrees. There is no evidence that Tarses is really a spy; all they've got to go on is a Betazoid's read of his emotions and, well, who wouldn't be nervous in his situation? Before this argument can go much further, LaForge checks in. The engine room is clear, and he and Data have finished their investigation. The explosion was not due to sabotage. The chamber hatch failed due to metal fatigue. It was an accident. The fact that it happened at the same time there was a spy on board was a complete coincidence .

This doesn't stop Satie, however. She's convinced Tarses is hiding something, she's determined to root it out. She calls him back for another inquiry — and this time she opens the hearing to the public. Genestra tears into Tarses, firing off hostile question after hostile question, even outright lying about the cause of the explosion, until finally he makes his biggest accusation: the secret Tarses has been hiding is that he lied about his heritage on his Starfleet application. His grandfather wasn't Vulcan; he was Romulan .

This whole situation is now leaving a bad taste in Picard's mouth. First he speaks to Worf about it. But Worf believes that the Admiral has the best interests of the Federation at heart, and he's adamant about working with her to root out these Romulan collaborators. Then Picard speaks to Simon Tarses privately, to get to know the man a little. He finds that all Simon is really guilty of is being too enthusiastic about joining Starfleet; lying on his application was his way of trying to head off any questions about his loyalty (ironically, the very thing that led to all these questions now). And now, Tarses laments, the career he worked so hard to build is done.

Finally, Picard confronts Satie. This has gone on long enough, he says. He will no longer cooperate with her investigation, and if she refuses to stop interrogating his crew, he will go to Starfleet Command directly. Satie counters with the fact that Starfleet Command authorized her to do this, and furthermore, the head of Starfleet Security, Admiral Thomas Henry, is on his way to the Enterprise to personally observe the further investigations. The inquiries will continue with Henry in attendance — and Captain Picard himself will be the next one on the stand.

When Picard takes the stand, he's immediately called to account for nearly every black mark on his record, from his occasional bending of the Prime Directive to his assimilation by the Borg. At this point, Worf finally realizes this is getting out of hand and tries to defend his captain, but he's smacked down by Genestra, who calls his loyalty into question due to his family's alleged collusion with the Romulans. Picard responds to these accusations by quoting the words of Aaron Satie, renowned Federation judge and Norah Satie's father, regarding personal freedom and suppression of rights.

Picard quoting her beloved father's words back to her makes Admiral Satie go berserk , launching into a scathing tirade that exposes her as a paranoid tyrant. The crowd turns against Satie, and Admiral Henry leaves the room in disgust without a word. Realizing how unhinged her outburst made her come across as, an embarrassed Satie slumps deflated back in her seat. Sabin hurriedly declares a recess as the crowd leaves the room.

The hearings are stopped, Admiral Henry leaves, and Admiral Satie is sent back out to pasture. Worf and Picard discuss the events of the last few days, and Worf beats himself up for allowing himself to be Satie's tool. Picard assures him that he wasn't alone, that those who spread fear in the name of righteousness are not always easy to spot. And that the cost of freedom from tyranny is to always be on guard against people like her.

Tropes featured in "The Drumhead" include:

• 10-Minute Retirement : Admiral Satie is called out of retirement for this investigation. She later tells Picard that the last four years of her life have been devoted solely to her duty, suggesting she hasn't been out of the game long at all.
• Whether J'Dan actually did have help smuggling information off the Enterprise is never established; Satie uses the possibility to justify her continued witch hunt, but by Picard's admission, J'Dan succeeding alone might have been extremely difficult, but not impossible.
• Sabin twice brings up the false charges against Worf's father, but it's never made clear if he personally believes them; Worf dodges the question, and Sabin only brings it up later to discredit Worf and Picard.
• Amoral Attorney : Sabin Genestra, although even he thinks that Satie's rant at the end is going too far .
• Aside Glance : When Picard learns that there may be a collaborator on board, he reacts by looking into the camera and grimacing at us.
• Believing Their Own Lies : It's implied that Satie only brings up charges against Picard to discredit him for standing up to her, but as she rants at him during her Villainous Breakdown , she openly accuses him of colluding with Romulans, suggesting that at some point, she started to actually consider him a traitor.
• Berserk Button : Satie remains in control of herself at the hearing until Picard quotes one of her father's famous speeches about civil rights. Then she absolutely loses it .
• Biodata : J'Dan conducted his espionage using this technology. He modified a hyposyringe with an optical chip reader, and would use that to transform digital information from the ship's computers into amino acid sequences. Then he would inject someone without their knowledge, and the information would be carried in their bodies in their bloodstream as inert proteins, which could be extracted at any time by another spy.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing : While their intentions are arguably good, both Satie and Sabin prove to be far nastier individuals than their initially professional and reasonable demeanors suggest. Satie, in particular, acts quite friendly towards Worf and Picard until they start questioning her, at which point she becomes downright venomous.
• Blatant Lies : While questioning Tarses, Sabin claims that the damage to the warp core was caused by a corrosive chemical that Tarses had access to. As Picard points out, it was an accident caused by defective equipment.
• Bottle Episode : It takes place entirely on the Enterprise , with little in the way of special effects. Rebuffing executive demands for a Clip Show , the writers came up with a much better concept that could still be brought in under budget.
• Break Them by Talking : Picard delivers one of his famous speeches near the end of the hearing, leading to Satie's Villainous Breakdown as she spits back a flurry of invective, surrendering any credibility. Picard: You know, there are some words I've known since I was a schoolboy: "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured... the first thought forbidden... the first freedom denied... chains us all irrevocably." Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie, as wisdom... and warning. [Satie starts looking like a volcano about to erupt] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today— Satie: [jumps to her feet] How dare you! You, who consort with Romulans, invoke my father's name to support your traitorous arguments? It is an offense to everything I hold dear! And to hear those words used to subvert the United Federation of Planets! My father was a great man! His name stands for integrity and principle! You dirty his name when you speak it! [Admiral Henry gives Satie an angry, disappointed glare ] He loved the Federation! But you, Captain, corrupt it! You undermine our very way of life! I will expose you for what you are! I've brought down bigger men than you, Picard!! [Henry stands up and silently walks out ] Satie: [ visibly shaken ] ...I have nothing more to say. [sits down looking devastated]
• Bribe Backfire : Not a monetary bribe, but J'Dan offers to have some powerful friends help restore Worf's honor in exchange for his help escaping the Enterprise . Worf responds with an Offhand Backhand , followed by: Worf: [holding J'Dan against a wall] I don't know how you transferred secret information to the Romulans, but I will find out . And when I inform the Klingon High Council, they will put you to a slow death .
• Broken Pedestal : Picard is initially thrilled to have the revered Admiral Satie on board to assist their investigation into a possible saboteur on the Enterprise , but his pedestal is quickly broken when Satie starts ruthlessly persecuting his crew, including the captain himself.
• Bullying a Dragon : Genestra quite unwisely attacks Mogh as a Romulan spy in front of his son, nearly resulting in Worf providing a physical demonstration to Genestra of what he thought of Genestra's accusations. Fortunately Picard prevents Worf from doing so.
• Call-Back : "The Drumhead" references quite a few previous episodes. Satie supposedly helped ferret out the conspiracy in " Conspiracy ". J'Dan offers to fix Worf's discommendation, and Satie brings up Mogh's supposed collusion with Romulans, both referencing " Sins of the Father ". Satie's accusations against Picard include his assimilation by the Borg in " The Best of Both Worlds " and his unwitting delivery of a Romulan spy back to her people in " Data's Day ". All this continuity might be a relic of the original concept as a Clip Show .
• Conflicting Loyalty : Sabin and Satie accuse both Tarses and Worf of having conflicting loyalties due to Tarses having a Romulan grandfather and Mogh being branded a traitor by the Klingon Empire.
• Daddy's Girl : Norah Satie loved her father a great deal and inherited his love for the Federation. Unfortunately, this gets harshly deconstructed as her patriotism twists into zealotry and she forgets her father's lesson about what happens when the citizens' rights are trampled. Picard reminding her of this ends up pushing her over the edge.
• Dastardly Whiplash : Picard mentions to Worf how villains of this sort are easier to spot than the Bitch in Sheep's Clothing , thus providing this episode's Aesop .
• During Picard's questioning, Satie has the gall to ask if Picard has completely recovered from his experience with the Borg in "The Best of Both Worlds" . Picard says "Yes, I have completely recovered", with a glare that could punch a hole in any Borg cube .
• When Sabin throws Mogh's (alleged and untrue) collaboration with the Romulans into Worf's face, Worf looks like he's about to strangle Sabin until Picard talks him down.
• Admiral Henry gives Satie one during her Villainous Breakdown before he walks out.
• Satie treats Picard as a criminal because of the Mind Rape he suffered from the Borg. Can you say " Victim-Blaming "?
• The Fantastic Racism with which Satie (and Sabin) treat Tarses certainly has resonance with any number of Real Life examples of people hated and distrusted for their ancestry or race, such as the treatment of Americans of German and Japanese descent during World War II . This is only underscored by having the admiral who walks out of the court proceedings in disgust being portrayed by a black actor. The fact that Tarses is mistreated despite only being one-quarter Romulan also brings the One-Drop Rule to mind.
• Don't Answer That : When Sabin demands that Tarses admit that his paternal grandfather was a Romulan, rather than a Vulcan, Riker, acting as his legal counsel, tells him not to answer. Discussed later between Worf, who believes that Tarses' refusal to speak is in itself an indication of guilt, and Picard, who tells him he can't think that way; Tarses is innocent until proven guilty and cannot be made to incriminate himself; the entire point of the Seventh Guarantee (an equivalent of the US's Fifth Amendment) is that a person may invoke it and not have their guilt presumed.
• Dramatic Irony : During the final hearing, Genestra questions the wisdom of Worf — the son of a Romulan collaborator — serving as Picard's Chief of Security. Only Picard, Worf, and the audience are aware of the truth of those revelations (that Mogh wasn't a traitor and that Worf accepted Discommendation to save the Empire from a House of Duras-instigated civil war). While it's not outright stated, Worf seems to recognzie the bitter irony that his heroic sacrifice — one which Picard supported — is now being used as a weapon against his own Captain.
• Dramatically Missing the Point : Picard quotes Admiral Satie's father on the topic of how paranoia and restricting freedoms can cripple a society, Satie's only response is to be infuriated that Picard dared to quote her father in the first place.
• Worf is willing to follow Satie's hardline tactics until she cites the incident with the Romulan spy (something that Worf knows for a fact was just a case of Picard being deceived and outplayed) as "proof" of Picard's supposed duplicity.
• When the head of Starfleet Security, the guy whose job is to be paranoid, thinks you're going too far...
• Evil Is Petty : After Picard makes his intentions to fight Satie's witch hunt clear, the very next scene has Satie issue an order for Picard to be subjected to a hearing, implying that she's willing to ruin his career out of pure spite. During said hearing, she omits important context (such as the Enterprise being hopelessly outnumbered during the incident with the Romulan double agent) to paint him in the worst possible light and brings up Picard's experience with the Borg, accusing him of having "caused" the resulting devastation, making it clear that the point of the hearing is to discredit Picard rather than serve actual justice.
• Admiral Satie is genuinely baffled at why Picard wants the hearings to stop, seeing his moral objections as an attempt to block her noble efforts and a sign that he is, at best, disloyal, and at worst, a full-on traitor. In fact, when Picard tries to drive home the point of how dangerous Satie's way of thinking can be, Satie simply brushes it off until Picard quotes her own beloved father on the topic, which only makes Satie angrily accuse him of sullying her father's good name rather than give the words themselves a moment's thought.

• Fair-Weather Friend : Worf and Sabin work together very well at first. Then when Worf speaks up for Picard when he finds himself in Satie's crosshairs, Sabin is quick to turn on him and bring up his father's alleged betrayal at Khitomer.
• Anti-Romulan sentiment plays a significant role in this episode. Satie's suspicions about Tarses are based solely on his ancestry, not his personal feelings or political leanings. Ironically, she proves that he was right to fear discrimination based solely on being one-quarter Romulan.
• J'Dan claims to be a victim of this , that he's being accused of espionage and sabotage just because he's Klingon. Of course, he is guilty of espionage, but not sabotage.
• A Father to His Men : Picard puts his ass directly on the line to defend Crewman Tarses, a member of the Enterprise crew that he'd never even spoken to (at least, not on-screen).
• Sabin mentions the charges against Worf's father during their first conversation, claiming to have briefly considered Worf a possible security risk because of it. When Worf stands up for Picard during the hearings, Sabin immediately throws the charges against Mogh in Worf's face to discredit him.
• After being informed that the supposed sabotage was a genuine accident, Sabin remarks "I find that difficult to believe", despite the empirical, physical evidence, foreshadowing how irrational Satie's hunt for a conspiracy will prove to be.
• It is obvious to anyone but Satie that Admiral Henry is not a fan of these proceedings from the start. Whenever the camera cuts to him, the look on his face becomes more sour as it sinks in to him that he was dragged here for a paranoid rant into a non-existent conspiracy. It's when Satie declares that a captain as respected and admirable as Picard is a traitor that Henry finally has enough and walks out.
• In his Motive Rant , J'Dan denounces the Klingons' alliance with the Federation and insists the Romulans would be more worthy allies. With the help of Klingon insiders, the Romulans will later plot to break the alliance by way of an assassination attempt and then become silent partners in a civil war .
• Freudian Excuse : Worf seems to have this going on. The disgrace of his family due to the accusations of his father collaborating with the Romulans drives him to prove his loyalty and hatred of the Romulans even more, falling under Satie's influence very easily. It's when Genestra brings his family history up against him that he finally realizes he's on the wrong side.
• General Ripper : Admiral Satie, renowned for her zeal in sniffing out conspiracies, goes loco looking for Romulan collaborators. Apparently, being famous as a conspiracy-uncoverer makes one pretty paranoid in one's old age.
• Halfway Plot Switch : The first half does indeed focus on the investigation and what J'Dan is up to, but he reveals himself soon enough, and after laying seeds in the first half, the story takes a much darker turn into Satie's pathological obsession with investigating the crew. When Tarses ends up in her crosshairs, the issue becomes the security of the state versus the rights of its citizens, with Satie arguing the former while Picard defends the latter.
• He Who Fights Monsters : Satie already has experience at defending The Federation from conspiracies, such as the one with the mind-control parasites . That time, there was a conspiracy to deal with. This time, however...
• Hiding Your Heritage : Simon Tarses is one-quarter Romulan, but hides it by claiming that he's part-Vulcan instead. As Romulans and Vulcans are related, this holds up to the usual scrutiny, until Sabin decides to dig deeper and demonstrates exactly why Tarses was right to fear people finding out .
• Hoist by Her Own Petard : Satie's decision to bring Admiral Henry into the investigation backfires when Henry shuts her down for going out of control.
• Hypocrite : Before he gets on her bad side, Satie assures Picard that the two of them are equal partners. No sooner does Picard argue that the hearings should be stopped does Satie reveal that she's been reporting directly to Starfleet the entire time, smugly stating that she doesn't need to keep him in the loop.
• Hypocrisy Nod : When Picard refuses to accept Tarses's guilt based on "nothing but Betazoid intuition", Satie promptly points out how much he often relies on Troi's intuition in similar situations — and to Picard's credit, he concedes the point, and says he's going to reconsider that going forward.
• Improperly Paranoid : There is a spy on board working for the Romulans, but he's found quickly and had nothing to do with the malfunction. Yet Satie is still willing to destroy the careers of every single person on board the Enterprise with her witch hunt just to make sure. Picard ends up destroying her career instead by proving to her superiors that she's running on sheer crazy.
• Informed Ability : Picard initially talks about Satie as if she were a master investigator, but this doesn't actually come through on-screen. By the time she can take an active role in this investigation, Worf has already figured out how J'Dan committed espionage; her efforts to expose a supposed conspiracy only serve to ruin a good man's career and ultimately disgrace herself.
• Insane Admiral : Satie goes completely out of control in her Witch Hunt . Fortunately, Henry is there to shut her down.
• Insane Troll Logic : Satie's case against Simon Tarses is built on him having been in J'Dan's company once or twice, and him having lied about the species of his grandfather (claiming him to be Vulcan, rather than Romulan).
• Iron Lady : Norah Satie is poised, dignified, and unwavering in her convictions, up until her Villainous Breakdown .
• Jerkass Has a Point : Satie's not exactly wrong to point out that — on paper and without context, at least — there are a lot of alarming incidents on Picard's recent service record.
• Jerkass Realization : Worf, at the end of the episode, realises that he was swept up in Satie's paranoia, and is disgusted with himself for having helped her.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope : Picard realizes that "the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think".
• Kangaroo Court : Satie turns the hearings into this until Henry shuts her down. The episode's title refers to the trope, as Picard recalls "drumhead trials" being performed on battlefields with no justice in sight. Picard: This is not unlike a drumhead trial. Worf: I do not understand. Picard: Five hundred years ago, military officers would upend a drum on the battlefield, sit at it, and dispense summary justice. Decisions were quick, punishments severe, appeals denied. Those who came to a drumhead were doomed.
• As soon as Worf speaks up in Picard's defense, both Satie and Sabin ignore his previous help; Satie implies that he was partly responsible for the Romulan double agent's escape, and Sabin goes as far as to bring up the false charges against Worf's father. Worf: The Enterprise could have been captured by the Romulans! Captain Picard did the only thing he could. Satie: Really, Lieutenant? And where were you when this traitor was on board the Enterprise ? Where was ship's security? Sabin: Don't you think it's questionable judgment, Captain, to have a security officer whose father was a Romulan collaborator?
• Satie throws Picard's assimilation by the Borg in his face, using it to try and discredit him and suggesting that he should be held responsible for the deaths at Wolf 359. Satie: Tell me, Captain, have you completely recovered from your experience with the Borg? Picard: [ Death Glare ] Yes, I have completely recovered. Satie: It must have been awful for you, actually becoming one of them, being forced to use your vast knowledge of Starfleet operations to aid the Borg. Just how many of our ships were lost? Thirty-nine? And a loss of life, I believe, measured at nearly eleven thousand. One wonders how you can sleep at night, having caused so much destruction. I question your actions, Captain. I question your choices. I question your loyalty.
• Kirk Summation : Satie should've listened, but she didn't. Picard: I'm deeply concerned about what is happening here. It began when we apprehended a spy; a man who admitted his guilt and will answer for his crime. But the hunt didn't end there. Another man, Mr. Simon Tarses, was brought to trial, and it was a trial, no matter what others choose to call it. A trial based on insinuation and innuendo . Nothing substantive offered against Mr. Tarses, much less proven. Mr. Tarses' grandfather is Romulan. And for that reason his career now stands in ruins. Have we become so... fearful, have we become so cowardly, that we must extinguish a man because he carries the blood of a current enemy ? Admiral, let us not condemn Simon Tarses, or anyone else, because of their bloodlines , or investigate others for their innocent associations. I implore you; do not continue with this proceeding. End it now.
• Knight Templar : Admiral Satie. She genuinely loves the Federation and has devoted her life to its service. Unfortunately she lets paranoia and a desire for the spotlight get the better of her. As she pushes the investigation into paranoid territory, she tells Picard with pride that she has nothing in her life but her duty — no family, no friends, no home. Given that she's also supposed to be retired, we can understand (though not agree with) her zeal to keep investigating.
• Living Lie Detector : The Betazoid Sabin Genestra is used as this during investigations. Picard is uncomfortable with Genestra's readings being used as factual evidence, but Satie counters that Picard himself trusts Troi's readings enough to make decisions. Picard says that perhaps he is wrong to do so .
• Lying to the Perp : Sabin pulls this on Tarses, claiming that the warp core explosion was caused by chemicals that Tarses had access to (even though it was an accident). Tarses refuses to cop to anything.
• Mandatory Line : Because Jonathan Frakes was directing the episode, Riker's role is limited to appearing in the teaser, acting as Tarses' counsel during his hearing, and appearing in the background of a few other scenes.
• Married to the Job : Satie notes that she's spent her life traveling from place to place doing her job and has no friends.
• Motive Rant : J'Dan finally admits to passing information to the Romulans, saying that they would make better allies than The Federation . J'Dan: The blood of all Klingons has become water! Since the Federation alliance, we are turned into a nation of mewling babies! The Romulans are strong. They are worthy allies. They do not turn Klingons into weaklings, like you! [looks at Worf]
• Simon Tarses, after getting publicly humiliated by Sabin, is just wallowing in remorse for lying to Starfleet. Picard takes it upon himself to try and talk it out with him and understand him, since it's clear Tarses is hardly any sort of malicious person. It's no use, since Tarses is too shaken up.
• Worf's reaction at the end. Worf: I believed her. I... I helped her. I did not see what she was.
• Satie's reaction as well, once she realizes how badly she just screwed herself.
• Nervous Wreck : Poor Simon Tarses looks like a bundle of nerves every time he's on the stand, and it's hard to blame him, especially once Sabin starts laying into him. When we last see him in the episode, talking with Picard, he's at his lowest, utterly terrified and wracked with guilt.
• Not Me This Time : J'Dan eventually does admit to having been a spy for the Romulans but denies sabotaging the warp core. This causes everyone to realize that wasn't his doing, since if he decided he had nothing to lose and confessed to one crime — which will result in his execution once he's remanded to the Klingons — why would he lie about another?
• Not So Stoic : Admiral Satie is perfectly poised and reasonable-sounding throughout the investigation, letting her deputy Sabin handle the shouting and Perp Sweating — up until Picard quotes her father, sending her into her Villainous Breakdown .
• The Paranoiac : Admiral Satie fits this to a T. Even when the evidence conclusively proves that there was no sabotage, she refuses to give up on the idea of a conspiracy aboard the Enterprise . She brushes off any criticism of her methods, disregarding it at best or considering it obstruction of her righteous efforts, and when challenged, she refers to her father's teachings and the personal sacrifices she has made, rather than considering that she might be in the wrong. She also demonstrates the controlling nature (she subverts Picard's authority on his own ship and goes over his head even before she starts suspecting him), self-righteousness (see Knight Templar , above), xenophobia (particularly of Romulans), and self-importance (" I've brought down bigger men than you, Picard! ") associated with the personality type. Her relentless badgering of Tarses and insinuation that Picard should be considered responsible for the actions of Locutus demonstrate a distinct lack of empathy, as well.
• Reasonable Authority Figure : Admiral Henry turns out to be one. When Satie exposes herself as a lunatic, he withdraws his support by leaving the hearing in the middle of her tirade. He then gives orders ending any further hearings into the matter so that Satie cannot later resume them.
• Red Herring : The warp core explosion. Turns out there is such a thing as coincidence — though if it hadn't happened, J'Dan may never have been investigated and exposed in the first place.
• Remember the New Guy? : According to Picard, Admiral Satie was instrumental in exposing the alien parasite infiltration back in Season 1's "Conspiracy" , despite not appearing or being mentioned in that episode.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here : Admiral Henry decides he's had enough of the hearing and walks out, ending it.
• Played for Drama , when Satie realizes that she's pissed off Admiral Henry, and thus ruined herself, with her Villainous Breakdown . Satie: [hushed tone] I have nothing more to say.
• Simon Tarses after getting publicly humiliated by Sabin. Also Played for Drama . Simon Tarses: [extremely shaken up] On the advice of my counsel, I refuse to answer that question, in... in that the answer may... s-serve to incriminate me . [buries face in hands]
• Smug Snake : Once Satie and her staff turn their sights on Picard and the crew, they lose all politeness and act blatantly disrespectful to him and his officers. At one point, Satie's aide Nellen strolls onto the Enterprise bridge and summons the captain to the committee for questioning, with a smirk on her face as she does so.
• Sole Survivor : Satie says 39 ships were destroyed at Wolf 359. Given that 40 ships were said to have engaged the Borg cube, it would appear a single ship survived. (According to unconfirmed sources, it was the Endeavor under Captain Amisov.)
• Stock Legal Phrases : Tarses invokes "The Seventh Guarantee" of the Federation Constitution, which appears to be the Federation equivalent of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: protection from self-incrimination.
• Tautological Templar : Admiral Satie gets along fine with Picard until he tries to stop her paranoid witch hunt against Simon Tarses, at which point Satie seems to decide that the only reason Picard wouldn't support her is because he must be a traitor himself . When Picard throws Satie's father's words in her face, she flies completely off the handle, totally ignoring the actual meaning of what Picard was saying and angrily accusing him of treason and boasting of having brought down "bigger men than [Picard]", making it clear that she considers him a traitor purely for challenging her.
• There Are No Coincidences : Subverted . The Klingon spy had nothing to do with the core explosion, which really was an accident. Satie, however, seems to believe in this trope.
• Title Drop : Picard compares Satie's hearing to a "drumhead trial", explaining how this was a summary court-martial where defendants got short shrift, the name derived from its often being set up on the spot using a drum as a seat for the presiding judge.
• When J'Dan offers to restore Worf's family name for his cooperation in betraying the Federation, Worf casually steps inside J'Dan's quarters and waits for the door to shut before pummeling the man.
• When Satie brings up Picard's assimilation by the Borg, he gives her an ice-cold Death Glare , but keeps his voice level and calm despite clearly being enraged.
• Uneven Hybrid : Simon Tarses claims to be one-quarter Vulcan courtesy of his paternal grandfather, although he is actually one-quarter Romulan . This is more politically than biologically significant, since Vulcans and Romulans are technically the same species. Tarses himself appears to be human except for slightly Pointy Ears and tapered sideburns reminiscent of Spock's.
• Unperson : J'Dan says this was Worf's fate on the Klingon homeworld.
• Villainous Breakdown : Satie has an epic one at the end of Picard's hearing, leading straight to a...
• Villainous BSoD : She simply sits down and says "I have nothing more to say..."
• The Voiceless : Henry doesn't speak a word on-screen, but his face and actions say everything.
• The fate of J'Dan's "data mules" is never revealed, or for that matter if they were willing accomplices or just unsuspecting victims. Although, considering it was likely the Tal Shiar doing the abductions, maybe we're better off not knowing.
• It's hard not to wonder about whatever became of Simon Tarses, as his final fate is never commented on outside of Picard acknowledging that regardless of the outcome of his own hearing, Tarses' career will likely be in ruins. note  Some pre-Coda Star Trek Expanded Universe works state that Tarses' Starfleet career was brought to an end by Satie's investigation. Most other works state that Tarses was given a formal reprimand for lying on his application to join Starfleet but that he was allowed to continue his career. These novels state Tarses was admitted to Starfleet Academy on Captain Picard's recommendation and also continued his medical studies to become a full medical doctor.
• Witch Hunt : Satie is absolutely determined to root out any possible traitors, whether or not the targets of her persecution are actually innocent be damned.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S4E20 "Qpid"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S4E22 "Half a Life"

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Star Trek: The Next Generation : "Qpid"/"The Drumhead"

"Qpid"

Or  The One Where I Miss Alan Rickman, But Not Kevin Costner

Look, this is a completely inoffensive episode. Aside from some intermittently amusing comedy, the entertaining hamminess of John de Lancie, and the return of Picard's occasional love interest, Vash, there's really nothing here. Oh, sure, we get some silliness with the cast dressed as characters from  Robin Hood , but there's no thematic depth, no tension, and no consequences. There's no sexism to complain about and no distractingly uncomfortable subtext. Just light-enough-to-be-practically-weightless silliness. I didn't find it hugely entertaining, mainly because I think Picard and Vash's relationship is about as believable as, well, any other romantic relationship on this show, but I can't think of any concrete reasons why it would irritate me. Oh sure, bad comedy is  always  annoying, but there are actually some decent jokes here, most of them centered on Worf. ("Sir, I protest. I am  not  a Merry Man!" was great, but I also enjoyed the  Animal House- inspired lute smashing and his casual, "Nice legs. For a human.")

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And yet, sitting down to write this review, I am a little irritated. Partly it's because there's not a whole lot here to unpack. Vash's subversion of Q's gameplan is intriguing, but it quickly settles back into the expected "damsel in distress" rhythms. It's cute that they end up together in the end, I suppose. Although the odds of Q getting bored and conveniently forgetting her on some planet no one's ever heard of seem fairly high. I could write about Robin Hood, but really, "Qpid" is basically just stealing some set-ups from the Errol Flynn movie (which gave us Basil Rathbone as Sir Guy of Gisbourne), and then there's a castle. The context is meaningless, and, since Q is running the show, there's no threat. In his first few appearances, Q was mercurial and potentially deadly, but now, he's just comic relief. While he made vaguely ominous comments about blood being spilt, there's no concern that anyone in the crew is going to be seriously injured. Q is no longer an unknown quantity. We understand what essentially drives him, and that he'll only go so far.

Still, I suppose "Qpid" doesn't need casualties (or a potential for casualties) to be entertaining. But still, there's that irritation. It's not really anger. It's not even sharply negative. It's more frustration that a talented cast and crew were wasting their time on something that sort of just sat there for forty minutes, eating a hole in the schedule.  TNG  has done episodes of this quality before, and it will certainly do episodes like this again, but usually, there's   some hook or odd quirk or weird runner for me to fixate on. Maybe there's something here, and I'm just not seeing it. Mostly, this episode just feels lazy, even if it isn't particularly annoying or tedious. The sudden injection of Sherwood Forest doesn't have much to do with anything, and Q's attempts to teach Picard a lesson about the dangers of romance seem half-assed, even for him. More than anything else, it feels like somebody wanted to write a holodeck episode, but then remembered we hadn't had a Q episode this season, so what the hell.

The plot, such as it is: Picard is giving a speech to a bunch of archaeologists about some ruins on the planet Targus III, which nobody is allowed to ever visit. He is, unsurprisingly, stressed about giving this speech. (Troi has one of her classic "GAH SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP" moments here when she essentially lectures the Captain on getting to bed.) (Note: I don't hate Troi. I just find it exceptionally easy to pretend as I though I do.) Then Vash shows up, partly to flirt, partly because she wants to find some way to sneak into those famed ruins and do a bit of grave-robbing. The expected squabbling/romantic tension ensues, and we get some weird forced drama when an exceptionally lovely Beverly Crusher shows up for morning tea at Picard's, only to find Jean-Luc already entertaining a new conquest. Or something to that effect. Anyway, Picard hasn't really told any of his friends on the  Enterprise  about Vash, which, seeing as how Picard rarely divulges any personal information to anyone who doesn't absolutely need it, isn't that surprising. But Vash is a little hurt that he hadn't thought to mention her. Seeing as how, so far as I can tell, they only had a weekend together, I'm not sure what her deal is, but women, right? Ha-ha, something something horribly sexist. Riker proves once again that he'll hit on anything that moves (seriously, Vash is in Ten-Forward for all of a minute before he swoops in), and Vash enjoys poking around. So, if it wasn't for the title and the cast list, it would look like this is what the episode's going to be: Picard and Vash spar, Vash vies to get exactly what she wants without entirely betraying her lover, and it all ends with what may or may not be a subtle implication of successful coitus.

Except Q shows up, and he wants to do Picard a favor, or else he's bored, which basically amount to the same thing. After they have their usual conversation (it's like Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson, only Dennis can fold space-time in on itself, and Mr. Wilson gave up on the comb-over), Q zaps the main ensemble and Vash into a simulated Sherwood, assigning roles at random, although none of the woman apart from Vash are cast as named characters. Vash-Marian is being held captive at Sir Guy's castle; he intends to marry her or execute her on the morrow. Amusingly, Vash nearly short-circuits Q's plotting by first agreeing to marry Sir Guy and then turning Picard in when he shows up at the castle to rescue her. Of course it's all part of her own game, and Q catches her trying to get a message to Riker and the others. So it's up to the crew to rescue their captain and his lover using swords and fisticuffs and various shouts.

I'm doing more plot summary here than I usually do, I realize. But honestly, that's all I got. Like I said, it's briefly unexpected when Vash throws tradition to the wind and accepts Sir Guy's proposal. This is the sort of character moment that makes me like her more than just about anything else she's done on the show; the kid-friendly femme fatale routine is amusing, but it gets old. Vash behaves logically and cleverly, and briefly, the episode rises above routine. Briefly, it becomes more than just marking time.

I'll admit that the sudden transition from the  Enterprise  to the woods is very odd, and if I hadn't known it was coming, I may have been more delighted by it. It was nice to have some continuity with Vash, and I continue to appreciate that she's (somewhat) age-appropriate for Picard. But while it may make me a bad fan, I just don't particularly care about Jean-Luc's love life, and Vash, for all her cleverness, isn't compelling enough to make me care. I wasn't hugely bored here, and I did laugh a couple times. But while I don't expect every episode to be as intense as, say, "The Drumhead," I need some reason for a story to exist beyond, "Hey, let's dress everybody up in community theater period costumes!" Casual plotting can be fun, and a hang-out episode every now and again is good for a series like this. But this one was all about exploring a relationship that didn't matter and resolving a question no one had asked.

Stray Observations:

• I will say that Troi and Beverly both looked quite fetching in Merry Men outfits. Also, if this episode had just been Worf walking around dressed as Will Scarlett, it would've been much better.
• And once again, Worf tries to fight someone and gets injured just to prove to the crew that they're in danger.
• "This human emotion: love." Yes, because we've never met any other race on the show with a concept of "love" before.
• "He wants to do something nice for me." "I'll alert the crew."
• "I would've taken my own life, but for you." "We all make mistakes."
• "I'm in no mood for your foolishness, Q." Yes, and that is so different from the 10 million other times you've said it.

"The Drumhead"

Or  The One Where The Truth We Want Isn't The Truth We Need

It's easier to expect the worst in people because they so rarely disappoint. Most folks aren't inherently evil or cruel, but we can often be selfish and short-sighted, and if you go through life looking for these qualities in the strangers you meet, you'll find them. Partly because we're hardwired that way—biology dictates a certain level of self-interest—but also because innocence is as difficult to prove as a negative. Once you presume guilt, life will conform to your assumptions, and the longer you cling to them, the more desperately important it becomes for those assumptions to remain true. Because if you're wrong, if others are capable of dignity and nobility and honor, what does that make you? What kind of monster could look at the world and only see its shadow?

"The Drumhead" is about how our prejudices and need for redemption color our ability to effectively parse information, and worse, how our expectations can blind us to the cost of our actions. It's powerful, dramatic, and moving. It's also a shade on the didactic side, at least if we're going by the dialogue-as-written. Picard gives any number of speeches about the dangers of overeager prosecution, and while the episode does a decent job in justifying the actions of its chief antagonist, it doesn't really do much in the way of making her sympathetic once the tables start turning. Once again, the  Enterprise  proves to be a bastion of sanity in a universe full of corrupt politicians and obsessives, and once again, if it wasn't for Picard, everyone would probably just go flat-out insane. But it works. You might be getting tired of how often I praise Patrick Stewart in these write-ups, but so much of this series wouldn't work without him as the center; it's hard to think of many other actors pulling off the heavy thematic lifting that's required of him here. (Shatner would've been entertaining, and passionate, but he would've heightened the overly-direct dialogue, rather than made it more effectively naturalistic.) Picard carries the episode, with some excellent assisting work from guest star Jean Simmons. And Worf gets to have a moral conflict, which is nice for him.

"Drumhead" hits the ground running, with a cold open that takes place after an event that one would normally assume to be the focus of the episode: A saboteur aboard the ship has apparently stolen design plans and caused an explosion in the engine room. The likely suspect, a Klingon xenobiologist, has already been taken into custody, and we start with his interrogation. The Klingon, J'Dan, denies his guilt, but he doesn't try very hard, and when he mocks Worf later in private, it's pretty obvious that the bad guy has already been caught here. J'Dan takes too much pride in his contempt, and he soon admits to providing information to the Romulans.

So, there you have it, really. Not much of a mystery left to explore. Except there was that explosion in Engineering, and J'Dan vehemently denies any involvement in it. Why would he lie about that? Maybe there was someone else working with him on the  Enterprise , and maybe that someone decided to cover their tracks by damaging the ship. (I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into this or not, but it fits in with the plot of the episode that this explosion really wouldn't provide much in the way of tactical value. If it had been intentional, I suppose J'Dan could have intended   there to be more significant damage   and to be off the ship when it happened, but when the explosion is ultimately proven to be just an unfortunate coincidence, that coincidence doesn't seem convenient to the point of contrivance. It's just that the timing of events is close enough to be bad for everybody.)

Starfleet sends Admiral Norah Satie (Simmons) to help aid Picard in his investigation of the disturbance. Satie brings with her two aides (one of them a Betazed) and an invisible chip on her shoulder roughly the size of one of your angrier continents. She's perfectly pleasant at first, of course, bonding quickly with Picard, telling him that she hadn't initially liked the idea of working with someone else, but she respects him and thinks they make a good team. There's something very brittle about her, though. Simmons plays the role very well. She brings a prim, precise presence to all her performances, and Satie is no exception. In the same scene where she tells Picard she's pleased to be working with him, the two talk about her father, and it's not hard to see what drives the admiral and how her need for justice could curdle into something more like contempt.

While Satie's pursuit of the "truth" (and her persecution of anyone who stands in her way) turns into a witch hunt very quickly, she remains well-motivated. I said earlier that Satie wasn't as sympathetic as she should've been; this isn't entirely true. The final shot we see of her, alone in the courtroom after her supporters have abandoned her, is moving in all the right ways. But I do think the episode makes her shift from legitimate inquiry to pointless, self-fulfilling accusation, too easy to spot. Her victim, poor Simon Tarses, is too obviously innocent. This sort of modulation is very tricky to pull off, so the episode doesn't really lose points for being overly obvious. But as Picard says at the end, the danger of people like Satie—and, in a way, the tragedy of them—is how easy they are to follow over the cliff. "Drumhead" makes it too simple for viewers to draw the line between what's right, and what's expedient. While  TNG  has never been afraid of outlining its moral conflicts in primary colors, the level of performances here are so good, and the central concept so powerful, that it's hard not to wish the issues had been handled with a little more subtlety.

Thankfully, what we do get is still very satisfying. Satie is determined to root out what she perceives as a conspiracy aboard the  Enterprise . Geordi and Data eventually determine that the explosion in Engineering was caused by an equipment malfunction, but the admiral is having none of that. There's a problem here; she's sure of it, and it's her duty to root it out. She finds her first weed, the aforementioned Tarses, a crewman who works in Sick Bay and had some dealings with J'Dan. (J'Dan's spying efforts are a kind of MacGuffin, in that their only real relevance to the plot is as a motivation for others' actions. The fact that he used amino acids to transfer information, though, is unbelievably cool. It's that sort of attention to detail that makes this show such a pleasure to watch when it's firing on all cylinders, and, I suspect, adds to my frustration with genial shoulder-shrugs like "Qpid.") During Tarses' initial interrogation, he's forthcoming but nervous, and Satie's Betazed assistant senses that he's concealing something. So she decides to hound him, with no other evidence than "feelings," until his reason for nervousness becomes clear: He lied on his job application, pretending he had a Vulcan grandfather instead of a Romulan one.

All sorts of fascinating stuff going on here. I may have been too quick to dismiss J'Dan's biological transmissions as mere plot ornamentation. It's the blood that's in question here, and it's the blood that both men are trying to hide. J'Dan's subterfuge essentially calls everything into question, as it conceals information under the skin, tainting whoever carries it, whether they realize it or not. Satie proves Tarses was willing to lie about his heritage to further his career. What else might he be willing to conceal about his biology?

Plus, there's Satie's use of a Betazed counselor and Picard's unwillingness to use that counselor's judgment alone to determine Tarses' guilt. As Satie points out, Picard has often used Troi in the past to get a read on others in difficult situations. (In fact, Troi is present during J'Dan's interrogation at the beginning of the episode.) But there's something different about this. Satie isn't simply taking into account her assistant's interpretation of Tarses' emotional weather; she's using that interpretation to justify her own conviction that someone is guilty here and that someone needs to be blamed. I've made fun of Troi's somewhat useless presence on the  Enterprise , but this scene is one of the few times that uselessness seems less a function of the writers inability to handle the character properly (which I think it generally is) and more an intentional choice on Picard's part. However reliable the Betazed intuition is, it's still just one person's word against another. Given how difficult it is to read emotions even under ideal circumstances, simply saying, "I sense he's hiding something" doesn't justify destroying a man's life. And Tarses' life  is  destroyed, or at least his career is; it's one of the stronger points of "The Drumhead" that it doesn't compromise on the costs of Satie's vehemence.

And then, of course, there's Picard. He's a little like Henry Fonda at the start of  12 Angry Men  here. While I don't doubt Riker or any of the rest of his crew (apart from Worf, who is seduced by Satie's conviction, and by his own need to prove himself) would stand behind their captain, the episode purposefully isolates Picard for much of the running time as the quiet voice of reason in an increasingly shout-based universe. Most anyone else in this role might've seemed nearly as self-righteous as Satie does, but Stewart has that whole unassuming dignity thing down cold. Even more important is the slow spread of grief across his features. It's a process that takes nearly half the episode to come to fruition, as he does his best to placate both sides, to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Stewart plays Picard here not as a man just bothered by an injustice but horrified by it; his heroism is less boldness and more the calm decency we all should aspire to. He gets a lot of heavy chewing, monologue-wise, but by underplaying those monologues, by routinely showing Picard's shock and dismay and only letting his anger rise to the surface near the very end, Stewart heightens the sense of tragedy that pervades "Drumhead." In the end, he tells Worf that vigilance is the cost of freedom, and it's easy to see that cost etched into every line on his face.

• Nice that the explanation for the "drumhead" of the title was so low-key. (It's a form of military trial where accusation was essentially the same as proof.)
• I wish Picard would've asked Satie if she were a bell, would she be ringing?
• Hey, that red-headed ensign Riker was eying in "Data's Day" is back! I missed her.
• The ending of this seems very familiar to me. (Picard pushes Satie until she snaps, and then everyone abandons her in the "courtroom.") There's a similar scene near the end of  12 Angry Men , but I think I've seen it elsewhere, as well. Maybe  Inherit The Wind ?

Next week: Lwaxana Troi returns for "Half a Life," and  TNG  backs down in the face of controversy with "The Host." (At least it does if I'm thinking of the right episode.)

• April 25, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Reflects On Its Choices In “Mirrors”
• April 24, 2024 | Coffee Table Book On The ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Makeup Artistry Of Glenn Hetrick Coming In September
• April 24, 2024 | ‘William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill’ Documentary Arrives On VOD On Friday
• April 23, 2024 | THEORY: Did ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Finally Resolve The “Calypso” Mystery?
• April 23, 2024 | The Fight Against The Space Parasites Isn’t Going Well For B’Elanna In Preview Of ‘Star Trek: Defiant’ #14

Take A Seat To Chat Social Commentary And Star Trek: TNG’s “The Drumhead” With The Shuttle Pod Crew

| December 29, 2020 | By: Shuttle Pod Crew 15 comments so far

Kayla, Jared, and returning host John Duchak discuss one of their favorite episodes — Star Trek: The Next Generation’s season 4 episode “The Drumhead” — in the context of how Star Trek has done social commentary. And, importantly, Kayla invites you to join her in never again being able to unsee the fact that the interrogation chair is actually a mediocre 1990’s office chair, complete with caster wheels, armrests, and those little levers to adjust the height.

So, go ahead and sit down in an office chair while we probe into the ancestral origins of your great-great-great-granduncle to decide whether or not you are allowed to hang out with us.

Like what you hear? Please leave us a review on iTunes/Apple Podcasts.

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Excellent podcast, as always. This episode is a good lesson in how paranoia and conspiracy theories can get out of control and damage institutions. Obviously it’s even more relevant now than it was then.

Very true especially the paranoia and conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19 and the election happening now. It does get out of control and damage institutions. Lack of trust from the general population.

This is just the way I think about this issue of conspiracy. The way I see is that if there was more truth out there and if more people were willing to share the truth with irrefutable proofs then there would be less conspiracies. I see “absolute truth” as the only way to fight conspiracies and since this is almost impossible then it is going to be nearly impossible to get rid of conspiracy theories as a result. Besides there will always be someone who is gonna ask “how do you know this is the real truth?”

But the burden of proof, or “truth” if you will, is on the conspiracy theorists. They’re the prosecution in this scenario. And if there is no willingness to agree on a self-evident reality, no genuine intellectual curiosity beyond theories, and, most important of all, the inability to admit when they’re wrong, then the theorists are doing more harm than good.

Excellent podcast and keep up the good work as always.

Jared, The Boys (and the Homelander character) was created and published in 2006. The depiction in the show is almost identical to the graphic novel. While full of social commentary, it’s highly unlikely the character or the concept was in any way meant to depict the (soon to be former) Administration or the (soon to be former) president, specifically.

I’ve seen some interviews with the showrunner, who said it’s actually more of a comment on celebrity culture than what’s happening politically. (I’m a huge fan of the show.)

And sadly, exactly what would happen if people really did develop super powers lol. Also, OMG Hi Laurie!! :)

I suspect things which are perceived to be heavily anti-Trump are going to age quite well. Weird take from Jared.

I look forward to listening to this!

That was a nice little chat. Thanks. I look forward to hearing the one about Tapestry…

This episode of The Shuttle Pod was extra, extra good!

Jared came prepared as always, and so did the guest, John. Very smart analysis and contextualization by both. I can’t believe how much I learned about this great episode of TNG.

Kayla mirrors my own love of TNG and I just love those moments- and this episode offers plenty- when Jared or John drop a bombshell observation and I swear I can hear Kayla’s mind exploding right along with mine.

Honestly, this podcast contains a very high level of genius-level insight into not only what makes The Drumhead a good TNG episode but also how the writers and producers of TNG and TOS managed to create such high-caliber Star Trek episodes.

I really wish the writers and producers of Disco, Picard, and any future series would listen to this podcast and take notes.

Fantastic episode! Again, thank you for being wonderful examples of depth, intelligence, and respectfulness. I am always moved by your respect for each other when you don’t agree on a point. Also, you guys are so well spoken. Love it!

On another note, nothing but love for the new podcast, but I do miss my Shuttle Pod gang on the new episode reviews each week. I look forward to the next one.

Thanks so much for the podcast which as ever is much appreciated. Like Kayla I’ve been doing a complete TNG re-watch (currently mid-way through S7), so I watched this episode a couple of months ago. I must say I was struck by how great this episode was and as you note in the podcast, it has a timeless quality and holds up tremendously well today. Stewart and Simmons were absolutely superb and I would rate this as one of TNGs top-ten best episodes.

I get the point that Kayla made about writers having to churn out so many episodes a season. That certainly explains why there are mediocre or subpar episodes; however, that point should not be used as a criterion for grading a particular episode. Better, more relevant criteria include the writing itself (not the time allotted between episodes), acting, cinematography, and so on. You know, actual elements that make up the episode. Circumstances behind the scenes obviously affect quality, but they are not a part of the criteria for judging the material.

A Star Trek Podcast

Star Trek: The Next Generation “The Drumhead” Review

Stardate: 44769.2. Picard is accused of treason when an explosion aboard the Enterprise is investigated by a ruthless and paranoid Starfleet Admiral.

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The Drumhead

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WARNING:  The following article contains spoiler information on this week's TNG episode, "The Drumhead".  So, if you don't want any spoilers, don't read it.  (Boy, that should be a generic enough warning--nobody'll know how I feel, especially since I'm writing this several hours BEFORE the rest of the review...:-) ) This starts out really slow, but picks up a LOT.  Pretty good overall. Okay, so I'm a sucker for courtroom dramas.  (Makes me wonder why I've never been enchanted by "LA Law".  Oh well.)  This was another success in the lines of TOS's "Court-Martial" and TNG's "The Measure of a Man" in that it managed to get tons of tension crammed into a very small room.  But more on that after the synop, like so... An investigation is underway:  there's been a security breach, followed by an explosion in engineering which may well have been the result of sabotage.  A Klingon exobiologist, J'Ddan, is under investigation for the security breach, and lots of circumstantial evidence points to him.  He denies any involvement. Showing up to help the investigation is retired Admiral Nora Satie, who's smoked out many a conspiracy in the past.  Her investigations, combined with some of Worf's findings, quickly point to obvious guilt for J'Ddan, who confesses to his crime.  However, when Sabin, a Betazoid aide to Satie, says that he appears to be telling the truth in denying the apparent sabotage, Satie concludes that there's a conspiracy on board. Satie, whose father was a revered judge in the Federation (required reading in the Academy, at least in Picard's time) quickly gets to work.  J'Ddan had few associates, so the number of people to question is small.  Since he often received injections, Dr. Crusher is an obvious choice, but she has nothing useful to give.  However, after Simon Tarses, a med-tech, testifies, Sabin immediately claims that Tarses is frightened and covering up a huge lie--and says "there's your man."  Picard begins to get worried about this chain of events, refusing to hound an innocent man--_especially_ when Geordi and Data's investigation later turns up strong evidence that the explosion in Engineering was a random accident, not sabotage. Satie, however, will have none of it, and insists that the lack of sabotage doesn't imply a lack of conspiracy.  At the second hearing for Tarses (which is now open to spectators, incidentally), Sabin ends up using a blatant lie about the explosion in Engineering to get Tarses off balance, and accuses him of being a known liar about his ancestry (his grandfather was not Vulcan, but Romulan).  Tarses refuses to answer Sabin's questions. Picard becomes more and more upset at the turn of events, and reminds Worf that Tarses has committed no crime.  (Worf, however, is by now convinced that he "must" seek out the enemies of the Federation.)  When Picard talks to Satie and demands an end to the hearings, threatening to go to Starfleet Command, Satie informs him that she's been in touch with Command, and the hearings are to be *expanded*.  In addition, her old associate Adm. Henry of Starfleet Security is now coming on board to observe the hearings.  Picard vows to fight, and quickly finds himself ordered to testify at the next set of hearings. At Picard's hearing, Satie shows little mercy.  She questions his devotion to the Prime Directive, claiming he's broken it 9 times since taking command of the Enterprise.  She asks how he can sleep at night after all the destruction and loss of life he caused as part of the Borg.  The final straw, however, comes when Picard quotes her father's old warnings of curtailing freedom:  she begins to rant that Picard dirties her father's memory by speaking of him, and vows to bring down Picard at any cost.  Admiral Henry, in response, merely gets up--and walks out without a word.   Later, the hearings over and the matter settled, Picard tells Worf that although Satie is now discredited, others like her will always exist, waiting for the right moment to surface.  "Vigilance, Mr. Worf.  That is the price we have to continually pay." Well, that should do.  I had to skimp on a few details to keep it within manageable proportions, though.  Anyway, on to commentary. As I said, the story started off rather slowly.  In fact, it dragged.  While most of it was necessary to set up for the later part of the show, I found myself somewhat disinterested by the early stages of the investigation. Basically, I didn't get particularly engrossed until J'Ddan (damn, but it's hard to type that correctly :-) ) had actually confessed and the hearings for Tarses had begun; in short, until the witch-hunt got underway.  The means J'Ddan used to transmit information (an optical reader attached to a hypo, converting data into amino acids and thus using anyone he injects as carriers of information) was very interesting, but not really enough to get my attention for more than a moment or two.  It dragged. However, that changed really fast.  As soon as the witch-hunt had started, I found it very difficult to think about anything else BUT the show.  While I often end up thinking about non-Trek stuff during commercials, this time I was trying to extrapolate reactions to the last things I'd seen and trying to figure out exactly what could be done to avoid the problems they faced.  I was very engrossed, no doubt about it. The plot was very solid.  The one minor plot hole (and that not even a hole) is that I think Troi should have been used more than in just the initial questioning of J'Ddan.  After all, two Betazoids (or one and a half, I guess) should be better than one, right?  Even if Satie would have bristled at the concept ("isn't my assistant reliable enough for you?" or something like that), I'd still have liked to see it come up.  But since Sabin didn't actually come up with any wrong feelings (J'Ddan was telling the truth, and Tarses WAS covering up a lie), I don't think it would have changed anything relevant. The direction was quite good, at least once the show picked up steam.  I could tell it was Jonathan Frakes (remember him? :-) ) right off, though--some of the shots he used were very reminiscent of similar ones in "Reunion".   (Specifically, I'm thinking of the shot of Worf from below in "Reunion", which looked similar to the one of Worf and J'Ddan in the lift in the teaser here.) Not that I mind--I thought both "The Offspring" and "Reunion" were very well directed.   A quick, possibly out-of-place interjection. TNG is giving me more and more of a serialized impression, and "The Drumhead" was a very good example of that.  I'm not really talking about all the past continuity mentions here (the Prime Directive violations, etc.), but about the very minor subplot with Worf. Several times in the course of the show, much mention is made of Worf's father's alleged treachery at Khitomer (and to VERY good effect; I was half ready to snarl a bit at Sabin myself when he accused Worf of being the son of a Romulan collaborator...) and of Worf's virtual nonexistence on the Klingon homeworld.  Nothing was really done with it--it was just emphasized a great deal in the course of the show.  I think they're getting ready well in advance for lead-ins to "Redemption", the season finale--and if they prepare for it this far in advance, and this well, I really can't wait. (In the like vein [yeesh, I'm digressing from my digression!], I found it interesting that "Conspiracy" was alluded to here for the first time since its existence.  (I'm talking about Adm. Satie having "uncovered a conspiracy at Starfleet Command" just under three years ago here...I doubt they meant it to refer to anything else.)  One wonders if they're actually thinking about getting back to it.  We can but hope...) Anyway, onwards to characterizations and the like.  There isn't much to say about most of the regulars, because they had very few lines.  All of the regulars except for Picard and Worf were basically walk-ons, and all did their jobs just fine.  So with THAT out of the way, let me deal with the guest stars first.  I guess the three main ones are Satie, Sabin, and Tarses. Jean Simmons did a surprisingly good job as Adm. Satie.  From the preview, I wasn't expecting much, but the "I've brought down bigger men than you, Picard!" was probably her worst moment of the show.  (Nice choice in clips, guys.  Yeesh.)  With a couple of short exceptions (that clip as one, along with basically the whole rest of that outburst, which I thought was a little overdone), she was rather believable on the whole.  In fact, I suppose she must have been fairly believable, because I wouldn't have harbored such strong feelings towards her character at the end if she hadn't been.  (When she mentioned the Borg incident at the end, I was muttering various phrases about her, her attitude, her somewhat dubious parentage, etc.)   Bruce French (Sabin) was equally good if not better than Ms. Simmons.  He managed to go from one side of his character to another quite well; I was feeling rather mellow towards him early on, but was definitely against him by the end as well.  A lot of that was the writing, but if French hadn't done as good a job as he did, I wouldn't have bought him in one of the two roles.   Nice job. As for Spencer Simmons (Simon Tarses)...well...he was okay.  Not spectacular, but decent, and far better than he could have been.  In a number of cases, but particularly in his case, the show could have degenerated into major melodrama.  Fortunately, it didn't.  Simmons wasn't bad, but he's probably in the top third of TNG guest stars.   Then for Picard and Worf.  Both were TREMENDOUS.  Worf was expertly written and expertly played--as soon as the little bit about Tarses's grandfather came out, I just knew Worf would take that (both the ancestry and his refusal to answer any further questions) as "all but" an admission of guilt.  It would have stunned me to no end had he not.  (That's not quite the same thing as being predictable, though, which I do dislike.  Predictable would have been for the investigation to turn up some link to Picard which brought him down, and then it all turned out to be a hoax, with someone else, probably one of the investigators or something, as the culprit, etc.  That would have been mighty dull.)  It seems to me that a security officer is the perfect choice for someone who would be likely to take Satie's attitude hook, line, and sinker, and see only as far as "the Federation DOES have enemies!", period.   Lots of bravos here--probably Worf's best show since "Reunion". Picard.  Wow.  I've gone on record many times as stating that not only is Patrick Stewart amongst my favorite actors, but that Picard is probably my favorite character on TNG.  This clinches it.  I empathized more for him than I probably ever have.  (I suspect that not everyone else will, however.  A lot of this may be due to the fact that I have VERY strong feelings about the issues raised here myself, and Picard pretty much said everything I felt on the subject, and far more eloquently than I ever could.)  If people want to see a good example of Patrick Stewart's acting abilities and why I like Picard as a character, this show will be a shining reason why. Let's see, what else.  Quickly--the music was okay.  I liked the somewhat dark sound of the strings in the teaser, but it got overused later, so I guess it went neutral, same as usual. I said before that the plot was solid, but I didn't say why I did think so.   Let me amend that mistake now.  Everything was built very carefully on everything else, and given the (in my view) warped mindset Satie started off with, a lot of her "conclusions", both about Picard and everything else, made sense.  Truths were misinterpreted and subtly twisted into extremely damning innuendoes.  Everything just made SENSE to me, that's all.   In particular, a lot of the main lines of the show (particularly Satie's, Worf's, and Picard's) rang exceedingly true.  A few of them: "If it was so innocent, why do you hesitate to give us the names?" I've seen this used elsewhere, with equal effectiveness.  Really nasty, manipulating, fear-mongering statement for me, but damn it all, it works. [Tarses refused to answer about his grandfather] "That is not a crime, Worf!  Nor can we infer his guilt because he didn't respond!" "Sir--if a man were not afraid of the truth, he WOULD answer!"  Just perfect for both characters, and for both sides of the issue. "Admiral Satie has ordered you to report to the interrogation room at 0900 hours tomorrow morning.  You are to be questioned before the committee." LARGE Brrrrrr.........I don't think I'd ever want to be on the receiving end of a line like that. I think I'm just about done, but I should see if I can come up with an answer to the implicit challenge in the show, namely what 9 instances Satie's referring to where Picard broke the Prime Directive.  (Granted, her interpretation was probably a VERY strict one, but still.)  I can think of three that are clear and obvious violations:  "Justice" (rescuing Wes), "Pen Pals" (allowing Sarjenka to be helped and saving her planet), and "Who Watches the Watchers" (pretty obvious here).  As for the other six...hmm...I'm really not sure, since the level of the culture is sometimes murky.  I'll work on it. I suppose that just about wraps it up.  I liked the show a lot once it got going.  Whether you will...depends.  I liked it because I'm a sucker for courtroom dramas, and because I have very strong feelings about the issues raised herein (i.e. McCarthyist tactics).  If you've been left cold by other courtroom-type Trek (like "The Measure of a Man"), I doubt you'll like it as much as I did.  If you want action, you're out of luck.  If you want comedy, you're definitely out of luck--this was a dead serious episode from beginning to end.  But I thought that a lot of it was truly gripping. Anyway, onto the numbers.  I should mention that I'm changing my rating system a little:  it's silly to have a whole separate rating and equal consideration given for "Technical", i.e. music, effects, etc., since I really don't consider it the equal of the other aspects of the show.  I think I'll change it into a +1 to -1 rating which adds on to the rating I get from the other three.  With that in mind... Plot:  9.5.  A tiny bit off for not at least mentioning the use of Troi, but         rock-solid otherwise. Plot Handling:  7.  Three points off for the slow start, but that's it. Characterization:  10.  The absolutely fantastic Worf and Picard more than         make up for the slight problems with one or two of the guests. TOTAL:  9, rounding up for the slightly better than average music.  Definitely a keeper. NEXT WEEK: Wait a second.  Did I read this right?  Are they trying to do a Lwaxana Troi story STRAIGHT?  Angels and ministers of grace defend us...well, we'll see. Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy B.A.; one of many Caltech grad students) BITNET:  tlynch@citjuliet INTERNET:  [email protected] UUCP:  ...!ucbvax!tlynch%[email protected] "With the first link, a chain is forged.  The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." -- Copyright 1991, Timothy W. Lynch.  All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...

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5 Political and Ethical Lessons from The Drumhead

Unapologetic political post with opinions!

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I’m writing this post under my own name as with everything in politics. It’s a personal thing. It’s also collective. And it feels good to share.

I’ve been open about my political leanings. I’ve worked in that battle field. I’ve stood for election many times and served public office for some years. My underlying principles have been always been Liberal and Star Trek was the influence and educator for me.

When I went to bed the night of the US Election, I noted that I felt the same as I did the night of the EU referendum. Smug reassurance that everything was going to be fine and go the way I thought it would… and should.

Watching the results come in that night  I felt like the crew of DS9 checking on the weekly casualty reports during the Dominion war.

Watching the results come in is like… #2016Election pic.twitter.com/FNtCdtgSgv — Trekkie Girls (@TrekkieGirls) November 9, 2016

Whilst Star Trek appeals to Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, the overwhelming majority of us all share it’s core philosophy.  That’s why campaigns like ‘Trek Against Trump’ gained such widespread support. And why I have only encountered a handful of a Trump and Brexit supporters – hey we’re all internet friends!

That moment you realise you live in this universe pic.twitter.com/tam0f0wuPR — Trekkie Girls (@TrekkieGirls) November 9, 2016

That’s when I remembered that doing nothing isn’t an option. So I rewatched The Drumhead and in my angry, defeated mindset, Picard reminded me to keep fighting the cause.

You’ll recall a Klingon exchange officer is accused of smuggling information to the Romulans but denies causing an explosion in engineering. This leads to an investigation into the crew which reveals a young officer lied about his Romulan heritage when applying to Starfleet. The Drumhead is one of Star Trek’s finest hour. But Picard’s words to Worf chime true at anytime and during any political climate.

This was the moment for me I realised that Star Trek isn’t just a ‘utopian vision’. It’s a working political model. It is continually tested and challenged. This is where Star Trek can give us hope during these times.

So whether you’re feeling sorry for yourself and the frightening shift away from liberalism, freedom and common sense, Or if you’re conservative and believe in devolving power to the lowest possible level, Here’s five lessons we can take away from the TNG episode The Drumhead. Let me know what you think. Are there any you’d add?

• Constantly reevaluate your own beliefs and hold them to account.

I have put this first as I believe it is the most important and key to our development and growth as a person.  Picard does this early on in the episode when talking to Admiral Satie. She wants to begin the investigation by limiting Tarses movements based on her Betazoid assistant’s intuition (that Tarses is hiding something). She makes excellent points. She speaks calmly, she’s intelligent and her argument has plenty of merit. You can see Picard considering carefully. When she asks if Picard would act on similar advice from Counsellor Troi, he acknowledges the hypocrisy of his stance and resolves to correct it instead of making excuses for himself. I’ve rarely ever seen a politician .. or person admit this during a confrontation.

2. Let your logic and emotions work together in harmony.

There’s a reason why that guy in your office, who claims ‘he identifies mosts with Vulcans’ because he ‘doesn’t let emotions get in his way’ – is a complete Jerk. This is because unlike Vulcans, he has not completed the Kolinahr and he doesn’t follow the teachings of Surak. When human beings try to suppress their emotions, things go bad. This is where Picard excels and Admiral Satie fails. Picard can sometimes seem cold when in fact he is always congruent with his emotions. Perhaps this is why they don’t always come bursting out (unlike that guy in your office!). He is quick to notice his gut feeling and tells Worf “This doesn’t feel right”.

Admiral Satie on the otherhand seems very ‘in control’ of her emotions, which in our culture is applauded. She is quick to loose control though when her buttons are pushed. There are similarities to Trump here. They both are capable of provoking intense feelings in others – particularly fear. However when Picard used Satie’s fathers words against her and when Alec Baldwin, Cher and every media outlet used Trumps words against him, their fragile inner emotional state can’t cope.

3. Everyone believes they are the goodies and doing what’s best.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that no matter how awful or misguided someone’s beliefs are, Everyone thinks they are doing what’s ‘best’ or ‘necessary’ despite the actual outcome. The same is true with Picard and Satie. In fact they have much more in common than not. They both want the truth, they both want to protect the values of the Federation.

I often had to remind myself of that when I was working with (what I now consider) moderate opposition parties. The difference is in the policy and how you will achieve the goal. Satie believes that the overarching importance is “protection of the Federation” – and any measure however unsavoury is worthwhile for the great of good. However Picard sees the rights of the individual as sovereign. That by protecting the one, you are upholding the values of the Federation which you seek to protect. We see Picard implement a person centred policy many times, e.g. Measure of a Man, The Offspring, Insurrection.

On a side note, I once considered taking an action that was morally questionable but for a good cause. I watched the DS9 episode “In the pale moonlight” where Sisko brings the Romulans into the war. After watching that episode I was convinced it was the necessary thing to do. But after weeks of considering it I thought to myself “Would Picard have done that?”. I thought of the Drumhead and realised that Picard would have found another way. For me and my conundrum, it wasn’t the ‘right’ thing to do.

4. Step up to your duty.

Whether you’re a voter, party member or president-elect. We all have a role and responsibility.

When Picard sees that Tarses will need legal representation he calls on Commander Riker who steps up to protect Tarses without hesitation. When it is suddenly revealed that he is part Romulan, the audience gasps and we’re all thinking he is guilty as hell. Riker may have reacted with a presumption of innocence and jumped to Simons rescue. Or he felt the same as the audience but knew his duty was to protect Simon. Either way. Classy.

Not only is this a reminder on how to treat others but with lots of big news stories hitting out headlines almost daily it’s vital to continually scrutinise, challenge and determine what is actually important.

5. Lecturing other people about their beliefs rarely changes their mind.

Picard eloquently explains his position to Satie, as does she. As she won’t change her mind, Picard needs to remove her power. He does this by enlightening others. He provides evidence so Admiral Henry from Starfleet Security, the rest of the crew and even Satie’s staff can see her for what she really is.

Hateful words spread fear but silencing them can give their cause credibility, as they claim to be repressed. Picard puts the spotlight on Satie and allows her to reveal the full extent of her fanaticism.  This allows followers like Worf to re-evaluate their own stance. Picard took a person centred approach again as he is aware that change comes from within and given the full facts, a person can make an informed decision. The draw back is that the person receiving that decision changing information generally has to be well balanced, constantly re-evaluate their own beliefs, has harmonised their emotions with their logic and will step up to do their duty. Which is why it worked so much better in 2367 than in 2016.

Shaka … When the walls fell.

One thought on “5 Political and Ethical Lessons from The Drumhead”

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 5 Review – Mirrors

Star Trek: Discovery reaches the halfway point of its final season by providing the L'ak and Moll backstory no one asked for.

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This Star Trek: Discovery review contains spoilers .

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 5

Star Trek: Discovery reaches the midpoint of its final season with “Mirrors,” an hour that is probably the worst of the five installments we’ve seen so far. To be clear, the episode isn’t necessarily bad , per se, and those who’ve been with this show since the beginning have definitely sat through much worse than this during its run. But it is an hour that, at best, is pretty darn boring, and that can’t help but feel like a colossal waste of time when we have so few hours left with the characters whose stories we care about. 

Look, most of us ( read: me ) expected this season to include a flashback-laden hour that explained the very obviously telegraphed, clearly semi-tragic backstory of the season’s villains, intended to make us reevaluate how we feel about their quest to find the Progenitors’ technology. But Moll and L’ak have been such poorly sketched adversaries so far that it’s extremely difficult for the show to suddenly turn them into characters we care about or build a relationship between them that we’re invested in. After all, it’s hard to sell a desperate star-crossed love story between two characters we’ve spent such little time with and barely know, and who have generally been huge jerks every time they do appear on our screens.

(Don’t get me wrong, I like Book just fine, and I adore his relationship with Michael, but I don’t think he’s an important enough character to make his vaguely tenuous familial connection to Moll as compelling as the show seems to think it ought to be.)

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It’s a shame that so much of this hour is dedicated to providing a backstory no one really asked for, because its general premise is actually super interesting. Still on the hunt for the location of the Progenitors’ mysterious device, Discovery tracks Moll and L’ak’s ship into a wormhole-like anomaly that leads to a pocket of interdimensional space where the next clue is supposedly hidden. (These scientists from back in the day put in work to hide whatever this thing is, is what I’m saying.) Burnham and Book take a shuttle inside it—at least one of its primary commanders stays on the ship this time—where they find the Terran I.S.S. Enterprise , the Mirror Universe version of the famous starship that’s been damaged and abandoned.

I doubt I’m the only person who wants to know more about the Terrans who were once on board this ship, why they decided to flee to our universe, or how the Mirror Universe version of Saru—ostensibly the same one Michael taught how to fight seasons ago—helped lead them to safety. I mean, I just have so many questions: When did this happen? How long has this Enterprise been abandoned in interdimensional space? (It had to be some time after Michael and Discovery jumped to the future, since the Mirror Universe Enterprise had to remain in its own dimension long enough for the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Mirror, Mirror” to take place, right?) Were there two Sarus in this universe at any point? Did any of the Mirror Universe Enterprise crew cross over as refugees? We’ll likely never know but I’m curious anyway. I also have questions about how the folks hiding all these clues in the first place determined this was a must-have hiding spot, but very little about this puzzle quest has made all that much sense, so let’s just go with it.

It’s unfortunate that the Terran Enterprise connection is so much more intriguing than the hour’s big reveal, which is that L’ak is a member of the Breen, and he and Moll have a blood bounty on their heads. The Breen are an alien species with both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine origins, and whose faces we’ve never seen onscreen before. Their culture is reclusive and mysterious and this twist should be so much more compelling than the catalyst for a star-crossed Romeo & Juliet-style romance with a little overt grifting thrown on top.  

A courier delivering dilithium to the Breen in the wake of the Burn, Moll’s cutting her shipments with other materials to make more money. She offers to bring disgraced royal L’ak into her scheme, to give him a chance to get payback against the uncle who demoted him because he was too different from the rest. How was he different? Why did that matter? Shrug emoji. He accepts and flirting ensues.

Before you know it, they’re having allegedly meaningful conversations about “true faces” and performing The Mandalorian – style slo-mo helmet removals alongside their scammer delivery runs. But of course, they eventually get caught, and now they’re being eternally hunted by very talented trained killers and have to hope that they can trade the Progenitor tech for their lives. This is not a great plan—as Michael correctly points out the Breen will probably just take their world-destroying tech and kill them anyway if they make it that far—but it’s the one they’re going with. 

On the plus side, “Mirrors” is the best Book and Burnham episode we’ve had in a while. A solid reminder of how good they are as a team, both tactically and emotionally—Michael’s unexpected reminiscing about Spock was lovely, as was the bittersweet moment between them when they both thought they were likely to die trying to get out of the wormhole. Beyond the whole Book committing some light treason last season thing, which it’s clear Michael (and the Federation writ large) has forgiven him for, it’s not entirely clear why the two of them aren’t together right now beyond the need for dramatic tension between them. And since the show could not be telegraphing that reunion any harder, maybe it’s just time to cut to the chase where the two of them are concerned.

It’s obviously not Discovery ’s fault that the folks in charge didn’t know this was going to be the show’s final season—and a truncated run at that—when they shot it. But it’s still hard not to feel a bit cheated here. This episode spends so much time on Moll and L’ak and their stilted declarations about how they’d rather die than be separated from each other, all when there are a good half dozen other major characters whose stories I’d rather be watching. And I’m more than a little annoyed that I have to hear all about Moll’s weapons-grade daddy issues in stultifying detail when we could give that screentime to Tilly or Stamets or Culber or Saru, who all seem to be going through some pretty big life changes and emotional adjustments this season and whose individual journeys I’m already invested in. These characters deserve better than this and we, as viewers, do too. 

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Lacy Baugher

Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…

'Star Trek: Discovery' S05, E05 is a quality installment, but it's weighed down by another anchor of nostalgia

This entire episode was more than likely written for the sole reason that the sets from "Strange New Worlds" could be utilized.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5, episode 5

The chase across the galaxy for the Progenitors MacGuffin continues, offering chances to insert stand-alone, episode-length adventures along the way. And this week's installment, entitled "Mirrors" features a brief and very random reminder that the Mirror Universe exists. 

And that alone would've made an genuinely enthralling episode, but...Alex Kurtzman et al could not resist the temptation for an utterly pointless and thoroughly unnecessary throwback to the USS Enterprise. Honestly, these people have a serious problem, they should seek help. 

To put all of this into context, the crew of the USS Discovery continue their pursuit of Malinne 'Moll' Ravel (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) and that chase leads them to er...well, you know, a giant, space-time swirly orifice that fills the viewscreen. Apparently, it's some sort of wormhole that's spectacularly unstable because of the constant matter/anti-matter reactions that are taking place at the opening. It's actually more than a little reminiscent of the inside of the V'ger spacecraft from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and that's just fine. 

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But it's what they find inside that grinds gears. Since the Discovery is too big to squeeze through the constantly opening and closing orifice, Capt. Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Book (David Ajala) take a shuttle through only to find...the ISS Enterprise. Yes, indeed, last seen (and only seen, actually) in the epic "The Original Series" episode "Mirror, Mirror" (S02, E04).

While beaming back to the USS Enterprise during an ion storm, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura materialize aboard a almost-identical Enterprise in a parallel universe. Here, the United Federation of Planets has been replaced by the Terran Empire and its inhabitants are violent and cruel. Their only hope is to artificially reproduce the effects of the storm to facilitate a return to their own universe. (" I mperial S pace S hip replaces the traditional " U nited S pace S hip.")

And while the idea of finding a derelict, 900-year-old starship from the latter half of the 23rd century is a great idea, in the name of the Great Prophet Zarquon, why-oh-why did it have to be the Enterprise? There are — at least — 10 other Constitution Class starships that could've been potentially chosen and thus still allowing the updated sets from "Strange New Worlds" to have been used. 

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The USS Cayuga (NCC-1557), USS Constellation (NCC-1017), USS Defiant (NCC-1764), USS Excalibur (NCC-1664), USS Exeter (NCC-1672), USS Hood (NCC-1703), USS Intrepid (NCC-1631), USS Lexington (NCC-1709), USS New Jersey (NCC-1975) and the USS Potemkin (NCC-1657). And those are just the ones that are canon. Another new vessel could just as easily have been introduced as it's not unknown for Nu-Trek to bring brand new ships to the line.

And of course Burnham makes reference to the fact that her brother, Spock, served on this ship, which is probably another reason why the Enterprise was forced upon the writers. And according to some extremely rushed exposition, most of the crew escaped the weird wibblywobbly wormhole and went on to lead peaceful and productive lives — we assume somewhere not too far away given how long ago it happened and the current location in deep space — in a somewhat Space Seed scenario. Another interesting throwaway remark from Burnham was, "Crossing between universes has been impossible for centuries now," which shuts down that potential story avenue rather abruptly. 

But let's also focus on why this episode could've been near-faultless if only someone could counsel Paramount showrunners on how to ween themselves off of nostalgia addiction. This week we get to see the whole Moll and L'ak backstory...and it's rather good and to add to that, Book and Moll confront the fact that they're distantly related. You know, because that makes things much more absurd orderly. (See how Burnham had to be related to Spock.)

The pacing of this episode, and with the exception of using the Enterprise, when any other Constitution Class starship could've worked — and served to expand the Mirror Universe a little bit — this is an enjoyable episode. It's a shame though that this is following the same cookie cutter seasonal storyline template by relying very much on a quest to follow while having standalone episode-long adventures to fill in the gaps, but hey, it can't be much worse than last season. So, there's that.

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery" and every other episode of every "Star Trek" show — with the exception of "Star Trek: Prodigy" — currently streams exclusively on Paramount Plus in the US, while "Prodigy" has found a new home on Netflix.  

Internationally, the shows are available on  Paramount Plus  in Australia, Latin America, the UK and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. They also stream on  Paramount Plus  in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Canada, they air on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave.

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Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage

The first model of the USS Enterprise is displayed at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, shake hands over the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at the Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, view the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

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DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model’s disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model’s return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he’s thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves,” Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

AP AUDIO: Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage.

AP correspondent Margie Szaroleta reports on the return of the original model of the USS Enterprise from the TV show “Star Trek.”

Heritage’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they’d discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it,” Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show’s original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series’ episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless,” Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn’t something he’d thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don’t think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he’d thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

REVIEW: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5 Episode 4 – “Face the Strange”

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 begins with L’ak ( Elias Toufexis ) and Moll ( Eve Harlow ) taking center stage. As they continue their quest for the Progenitor’s secret, it is revealed that they are lovers on the run. Their relationship could serve as a mirror to the various relationship storylines unfolding this season. The most intriguing to witness would be the showdown between L’ak and Moll and Captain Burnham ( Sonequa Martin-Green ) and Booker ( David Ajala ). Moll’s determination matches Captain Burnham’s and given Moll’s connection to Booker’s mentor, tension is steadily building toward confrontation. Throughout the series, viewers know the lengths Booker and Burnham will go to protect their loved ones. Now, what would lovers Moll and L’ak do with limitless power?

Back on Discovery, the bug that Moll planted on Adira Tal ( Blu del Barrio ) on Trill begins to wreak havoc on the ship’s systems. The spiderlike nano-bot serves as a reminder of how far technology has advanced since the period most Star Trek fans are accustomed to. The bug not only can meld into the ship but also somehow causes Discovery to jump through different points in the ship’s history – past, present, and future. Unfortunately, Captain Burnham, Commander Stamets ( Anthony Rapp ), and Commander Rayner ( Callum Keith Rennie ) are the only ones aware of the loop the ship is caught in.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 becomes a race against time to stop the time bug from looping the Discovery. L’ak and Moll have surged ahead in their pursuit of the secrets of the Progenitors. If “ Jinaal ” showed us anything, it’s that the technology they are all seeking likely shouldn’t belong to anyone, let alone two fugitives. Finding the time bug becomes crucial in preventing an unthinkable future.

As Discovery jumps through time, fans embark on a nostalgic journey through the show’s history. It’s a heartfelt reflection on the progress made by Burnham, the crew of Discovery, and the ship itself through five seasons. Despite the Temporal Prime Directive, the Starfleet trio receives assistance from the crew at different stages of their journeys. However, this highlights why this season has been disappointing so far.

The action has been toned down, with science and history driving much of the recent storyline. The temporal sci-fi elements at play are fascinating. However, it’s intertwined with rehashing similar plotlines featuring different characters. Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 quickly becomes another iteration of the “this ship’s not big enough for two captains” scenario. Further, as two captains vie for dominance, the episode also attempts to impart another basic lesson to Commander Rayner.

So far, Commander Rayner has learned to open up to people. Now, he’s tasked with learning how to collaborate with others, which seems contradictory given his extensive experience as a Starfleet officer. I can’t help but feel that the effort spent developing Commander Rayner’s character arc could have been more effectively used focusing on the character we’ve known for four seasons. It’s particularly troubling when Commander Rayner is just grappling with basic empathy.

Additionally, Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 once again highlights why Captain Burnham is worthy of leading Discovery despite her initial arrival as a prisoner. However, it plays more like a clip show than nearing the halfway point in the final season. After five seasons, Burnham has solidified her place as the captain. However, instead of pushing the boundaries of the Star Trek genre in terms of action and representation, there’s a heavy focus on reminiscing about that journey.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 affirms that the series is hesitant to make significant plot moves until later in the season. Instead, it opts for a recap-like feel, with the writers guiding us through character development we’ve already witnessed over four seasons. Frustratingly, this occurs alongside the series’ exploration of compelling sci-fi concepts. By the episode’s end, the only anticipation lies in discovering what transpired during the time of the Discovery’s loop. That’s a considerable effort for one episode, especially when many of the lessons learned are ones the show has already taught.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 is streaming exclusively on Paramount+ with new episodes every Thursday.

The post REVIEW: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5 Episode 4 – “Face the Strange” appeared first on But Why Tho? .

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Preview: Star Trek: Discovery 505 “Mirrors”

The fifth episode of Star Trek: Discovery’s fifth and final season “Mirrors” premieres this Thursday, April 25 . The episode is written by Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco and directed by Jen McGowan .

Today, we have a video preview, a clip, and a few new photos from the episode — featuring Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham, David Ajala as Book, Mary Wiseman as Tilly, Blu del Barrio as Adira, Anthony Rapp as Stamets, and Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner

You can check out the new photos below. Please be aware of some minor spoilers.

Official description:

Captain Burnham and Book journey into extradimensional space in search of the next clue to the location of the Progenitors’ power. Meanwhile, Rayner navigates his first mission in command of the  U.S.S. Discovery , and Culber opens up to Tilly.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 castmembers include Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker), Blu del Barrio (Adira) and Callum Keith Rennie (Rayner). Season five also features recurring guest stars Elias Toufexis (L’ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Prodigy , Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Lower Decks, and more.

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Original USS Enterprise model from ‘Star Trek’ returned to creator’s son

The first model of the USS Enterprise, the starship that appeared in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series, has been returned to Eugene Roddenberry Jr., the son of the creator of the series, decades after it went missing.

“After a long journey, she’s home,” Roddenberry wrote on social media Thursday.

For die-hard Trekkies, the model’s disappearance had become the subject of folklore, so an eBay listing last fall, with a starting bid of $1,000, didn’t go unnoticed.

“Red alert,” someone in an online costume and prop-making forum wrote, linking to the listing.

Roddenberry’s father, Gene Roddenberry, created the television series, which first aired in 1966 and ran for three seasons. It spawned numerous spinoffs, several films and a franchise that has included conventions and legions of devoted fans with an avid interest in memorabilia.

The seller of the model was bombarded with inquiries and quickly took the listing down.

The seller contacted Heritage Auctions to authenticate it, the auction house’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said Saturday. As soon as the seller, who said he had found it in a storage unit, brought it to the auction house’s office in Beverly Hills, California, Maddalena said he knew it was real.

“That’s when I reached out to Rod to say, ‘We’ve got this. This is it,’ ” he said, adding that the model was being transferred to Roddenberry.

Roddenberry, who is known as Rod, said Saturday that he would restore the model and seek to have it displayed in a museum or other institution.

He said reclaiming the item had only piqued his interest in the circumstances about its disappearance.

“Whoever borrowed it or misplaced it or lost it, something happened somewhere,” he said. “Where’s it been?”

It was unclear how the model ended up in the storage unit and who had it before its discovery.

The original USS Enterprise, a 33-inch model, was mostly made of solid wood by Richard Datin, a model maker for the Howard Anderson Co., a special-effects company that created the opening credits for some of the 20th century’s biggest TV shows.

An enlarged 11-foot model was used in subsequent “Star Trek” television episodes, and is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, where it was donated by Paramount Studios in 1974.

Roddenberry, who said he gave the seller a “reward” for its recovery but did not disclose the terms, assembled a group of “Star Trek” production veterans, model makers and restoration specialists in Beverly Hills to authenticate the find.

The group included a “Star Trek” art supervisor, Michael Okuda, and his wife, Denise, an artist on “Star Trek” television series and films, and Gary Kerr, a “Trek x-pert” who served as technical consultant for the Smithsonian during a 2016 restoration of the 11-foot model.

“We spent at least an hour photographing it, inspecting the paint, inspecting the dirt, looking under the base, the patina on the stem, the grain in the wood,” Roddenberry said.

“It was a unanimous ‘This is 100% the one,’ ” he said.

Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991, kept the original model, which appeared in the show’s opening credits and pilot episode, on his desk.

Kerr compared the model to 1960s photos he had of the model on Roddenberry’s desk.

“The wood grain matched exactly, so that was it,” he said Saturday.

The model went missing after Roddenberry lent it to the makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979, Maddalena said.

“This is a major discovery,” he said, likening the model to the ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” a prop stolen in 2005 and recovered by the FBI in 2018, and that Heritage Auctions is selling.

While the slippers represent hope, he said, the starship Enterprise model “represents dreams.”

“It’s a portal to what could be,” he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .

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Or, they try to. And okay, it turns out the gratuitous beaming was for good reason, story-wise, because in the instant that the pair attempt to beam back to the bridge, Discovery plunges through time, and only their mid-transport timing protects them from the ship’s time-hopping. Everyone else aboard Discovery is experiencing “regular” time travel, as it were, unaware of their movement and remaining “of the time” they jump to.

Everyone, that is, except for Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), who thanks to his tardigrade DNA infusion all the way back in Season 1, the scientist is bouncing through time like the rest of the crew — but he’s mentally aware of the jumping remains “himself” like Burnham and Rayner.

Like “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad,” this is another episode about time shenanigans centering on Stamets and Burnham (and now also Rayner), but it doesn’t feel like a repeat of the same story so much as a deliberate permutation on a theme. Discovery , the show, is revisiting its past just the same way Burnham revisits her past self here; in both cases, the future versions have grown and changed in ways their past selves could never have imagined.

Who could have guessed, watching the series’ seventh episode, that original showrunner and creator Bryan Fuller would leave after just one season and a majority of the show would end up taking place in 32nd century? Not me, that’s for sure.

(As a side note, I was hoping one of the pasts they visited would be the “Magic” situation, just because come on, who doesn’t want to see what a time loop within a time loop looks like?)

It takes them all a few time jumps to figure out what’s going on, and a few more after that for all three of them to rendezvous. The second jump takes them back to Discovery mid-construction, sitting in dry dock at the San Francisco Fleet Yards, the Golden Gate Bridge framed nicely in a missing bulkhead section. (Both Star Trek and The Room have one rule: If you’re in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge must be visible at all times!)

Next jump is to the Season 2-ending battle with Control, and finally with three jumps there’s enough of a pattern visible for Rayner to identify what’s going on and what, exactly, is causing it. First, each time they jump Burnham and Rayner always return to the ready room – the place where they beamed themselves out of time — and second, that little mechanical spider that’s been crawling around the ship since it first detached itself from Adira’s uniform is a Krenim chronophage (yes, those Krenim ) left over from more lawless times  when paralyzing a ship by having it randomly cycle through time was a thing that apparently people did.

After a few more jumps, including one where a past version of Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) happens to save Rayner’s hide, he and Burnham land on an empty, dusty Discovery , abandoned by everyone except the one person who can’t leave: Zora (Annabelle Wallace). Listening to “Que Sera, Sera” and convinced that she’s dreaming, Zora explains that in this future, Discovery remained stuck in its time paralysis long enough for the Breen to get their hands on the Progenitor’s technology.

It’s a bleak future to visit, but it’s also very fortuitous that they did, because Zora is able to quickly do the math necessary for Stamets — who they finally meet up with in the next time jump –to figure out how to get them out of this. Just build a chroniton stabilizer and squish the bug with it, easy peasy!

And all Burnham has to do is get a component for it from her quarters without being seen. Not so easy as it turns out, as she runs into Book (David Ajala) who is very much in love with Burnham during this time period — and keen to show it. And she, as we all probably suspected, is still very much in love with him and gives herself a brief moment to indulge in that fact.

In their final final jump — this time to early in Lorca’s captaincy — Burnham runs into her much angrier and more jaded younger self; a Michael Burnham who is so barely out of prison that she still doesn’t even have a combadge and who flat-out does not believe this woman in a strange red uniform who claims to be her. Why? Because there’s no way anyone would ever make Michael Burnham a captain .

After a fight in a thankfully empty corridor, our Burnham ends up victorious and heads to the bridge… where she needs to convince everyone that they should listen to her and do something you never really want to do with a warp engine going at maximum speed: intentionally break the warp bubble and slam yourself back into the effects of general relativity.

Flashbacks are a tried and true way for shows to bring back departed characters, so the choice to include Airiam (Hanna Spear) on the bridge makes sense and is nice for audience members who miss her. What doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me is how her presence is used (which is a bit of an unfortunate parallel to her death for me – or at least the impact it was supposed to have).

Burnham knows she needs to convince the crew that she really is herself and that she really is from the future, but instead of, I don’t know, showing them her combadge which is full of 32nd century bells and whistles and exotic alloys that haven’t been invented yet she… convinces Airiam that they know each other because Burnham knows Airiam would sacrifice her life to save the ship? Then someone blurts out a “No she wouldn’t!” like that’s not the first thing any appropriately heroic Starfleet officer would do?

This scene is the one fumble in an otherwise great episode. Two minutes after this weird “I know you and here’s a generic hypothetical that applies to most people in Starfleet to prove it,” Airiam sees Burnham’s fancy holographic combadge and openly gawks at it. See, easily convinced! That would have worked and it wouldn’t have required the show to reexamine the hollowness of Airiam’s death without correcting its mistake.

The fact that Burnham doesn’t have anything better or more personal to say to or about Airiam except “You died, sorry that happened,” underscores just how undeveloped she was as a character. Why bring that up again? But hey, Burnham’s tactic works, and I suppose that’s what really matters here.

Meanwhile, past-Burnham and her era’s Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon) show up in engineering, phasers drawn, to try and stop Stamets and this weird guy they’ve never seen before from doing whatever it is that they’re trying to do to the ship. Rayner, solidifying himself as a solid gold example of a favorite character trope of mine — Grumpy Guy who’s a Secret Softie — defuses the situation by being brave as hell (he walks right into Burnham’s drawn phaser) but also emotionally astute.

He doesn’t just tell Burnham personal facts he couldn’t have known if he were really a stranger, he tells her with conviction that she really does deserve to be here on Discovery…  something that sinks to the core of who she is and what she’s battling in this moment in time.

The plan succeeds: the time bug is proverbially squished, and Discovery and her crew are all right back where they belong, minus the six hours they lost during all the jumping. Unfortunately, those six hours were long enough for Moll and L’ak to catch up with them and leave again. Did they find anything, or did they get sick of looking at seemingly empty space and leave? We don’t know yet, so tune in next week.

Which brings us to the beginning of “Face the Strange” — see, I can jump through time too! — when we see Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) acquiring the bug in the first place. While the Progenitors’ technology is enormous in its power and implications and Moll and L’ak are willing to do just about anything to find it, their motivations seem strictly personal.

Sure, if the way Moll takes revenge on the guy who sells her the chronophage is any indication, they’ll get some personal satisfaction out of seeing the Federation burn, but more than anything they’re in it for their freedom. Freedom from someone or something, certainly – though who or what we still don’t know – but, given the themes in “Face the Strange”, I’d guess freedom from their pasts might be the real goal.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• “Face the Strange” is a reference to the David Bowie classic “Changes.”
• This episode is a spiritual sequel to Star Trek: Voyager’s “Shattered,” a similar final-season tale which saw Chakotay bouncing through different eras of Voyager adventures.
• Discovery’s time jumps include visits to the ship’s transit through the Red Angel wormhole (leading to the ship’s crash-landing in “Far From Home” ), a time when the starship was under construction in the San Francisco Fleet Yards, the battle with Control ( “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2” ), Stardate 865422.4 (during Osyyra’s takover in “There Is A Tide…” ), an unknown date nearly 30 years into the future, a period in early Season 2 (shortly after Jett Reno’s rescue in “Brother” ), a point ahead of the Season 4 premiere after Burnham was promoted to captai), and the encounter with past-Burnham which takes place just ahead of “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” (denoted by the reference to a still-alive Ellen Landry ).

• Retrofit into corridor after Season 2’s set updates, the passage to the left-rear of Discovery’s command chair returns to its Season 1 “blue blinkies” configuration.
• Captain Pike’s broken wood-and-glass conference table returns to the ready room set during the first time jump, a good touch from the set decoration department.
• We’ve seen the San Francisco bay many times in Star Trek history… so just where in the heck was Discovery’s dry dock located?
• A Krenim chronophage — or “time bug” — snared Discovery in a time bubble, from the species behind Star Trek: Voyager’s “Year of Hell.”
• Season 3-era Reno’s drink of choice is a Vesper martini, served ice cold — and she tells Rayner that he can buy her a drink “at Red’s,” the onboard bar and lounge set added to Discovery during its 32nd century upgrades (though not introduced until Season 4).
• While the ready room set was not built for Discovery until Season 2, the second time jump confirms the room existed as part of the ship’s original construction… but in a continuity goof, the 32nd century version of the Starfleet emblem remains on the Discovery ready room floor in each different time period, instead of the old version seen in Seasons 1 and 2.

• Burnham gives a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nostalgic smile when Stamets hands her a 23rd century Starfleet communicator, retired after the crew upgraded to 32nd tricombadges in Season 3’s “Scavengers.”
• Saurian officer Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson) appears in the Season 1 time period, indicating he boarded Discovery long before his first actual appearance in Season 2’s “Brothers.”
• Former Discovery cast members Hannah Cheesman and Ronnie Rowe, Jr. return as Airiam and Bryce, Julianne Grossman returns as the original voice of Discovery’s computer. (While Cheesman portrayed Airiam in Season 2, the role was actually portrayed by Sara Mitich in Discovery’s first season.)
• I forgot just how much Airiam moves like C-3PO. Might have toned down that arm placement there in that wide shot if it were me, yikes.
• Discovery’s viewscreen may be an open window to space, but it features blast doors which can be closed as necessary.
• The future time period Burnham and Rayner visit is reminiscent of the alternate future setting in “Calypso,” where Zora and Discovery sat abandoned for nearly 1000 years. Zora even believes she’s having “another dream” when the officers arrive, perhaps hinting that the events of “Calypso” may have been one of Zora’s dreams — as the “Zora-point-of-view” shots mirror moments from that  Short Trek  tale.

• This episode marks the first time we’ve seen Discovery’s original hull and nacelle configuration since its big 32nd century upgrade in “Scavengers.”
• Even living “outside of time,” it’s curious that Stamets can jump back to a time period before his tardigrade DNA injection occurred.
• Stamets’ tactics for clearing engineering get less and less sophisticated as the episode proceeds — going from making up specific problems with the spore drive containment field to just shouting “I’m grumpy!” It works.
• “Hey Paul, let’s show ‘em how a couple of old dogs still know the best tricks!” Whoever gave Rayner a used copy of a dictionary of idioms from 1962, I thank you for your service.
• Rayner’s hand gets the “Timescape” treatment, aging uncomfortably fast while he squashes the time bug — though thankfully avoiding those awful long fingernails.
• Rayner surmises that Burnham must be the first person in Starfleet to captain a ship she first boarded as a prisoner. He’s probably right, but if we allow for a few technicalities I’d put Seven of Nine in that rare club as well: she’s imprisoned very quickly after boarding Voyager , and while she doesn’t hold a Starfleet rank at the time, she does command that vessel for over a month during the events of “One”.

Even with all the time jumping and the temporal-relativity-heavy plot, “Face the Strange” is a straightforward hour of television that confidently knows exactly what it wants to do – both in terms of the story and the characters. There are almost no extraneous moments, but the episode doesn’t feel rushed or overly full. The pacing is great: quick enough that we get to jump through a lot of different time periods, but relaxed enough that there’s room for smaller moments of comedy and character work.

The pacing and placement of the more emotional moments is especially effective, with characters examining and confronting their past and present selves in a way that’s emotionally resonant but also truly moves the story forward both at the episode and season levels.

A frequent frustration I have with Discovery is that the emotional beats and plot beats feel like they’re competing with each other for the same space, but with “Face the Strange” it feels like the show has finally figured out a way to have them work together and compliment one another.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 returns with “Mirrors” on Thursday, April 25.

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• Face the Strange
• Star Trek: Discovery

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