Summary
The Enterprise has agreed to a meeting with the Ferengi, possibly a cooling of relations between the two powers. After two days of orbiting along side a Ferengi vessel they agree to the meeting. They present the Enterprise with The Stargazer, Picard’s old ship, which was thought to be lost in battle. The Ferengi captain gives it at no price, much to his first officers chagrin. Picard has been experiencing headaches, which intensify into flashbacks of the final battle of the Stargazer. These are brought on by a device used by the Ferengi captain, who it turns out lost his son when Picard destroyed the “unknown vessel” before having to abandon the Stargazer. Onboard the Stargazer they find falsified logs that make it seem like Picard knew he attacked an unarmed ship, which conflicts with his official report. Finally Picard is totally driven mad by the Ferengi device and is prepared to attack the Enterprise with the Stargazer until Riker gets through to him and he destroys the mind control device. The Ferengi first officer relieves the Ferengi captain of command on the grounds that he lead them on an unprofitable mission.
Observations
Picard has a headache. Crusher says nobody gets headaches any more than they get the common cold. I don’t recall if it was established that common viral infections were wiped out in TOS.
Troi can sense the Ferengi are up to mischief. Wasn’t she unable to read them before? I didn’t note it in their first meeting, so I can’t be sure.
The windows of the bridge conference room are dirty and smudged. You can see they’re just cheap Plexiglas with the way the light outside is reflecting.
Picard dismissed the battle as an inconsequential, but unfortunate encounter. He’s barely even aware that there was a “Battle of Maxia”. However, when he’s describing it to the crew Data and Riker get huge boners because everyone knows of this battle and the famous “Picard Maneuver”.
The Stargazer looks like the old TOS film era bridge. So cool. I wonder if it’s a redress from Star Trek 5? It’s a bit of a hybrid. The consoles seem to be touch screens, like early LCARS.
Geordi also gets a boner for the ship. It’s so famous. He never dreamed he’d see her in person. But remember, the “Battle of Maxia” was no big deal. Just a minor skirmish.
I like that Picard has a life and a ship he loves before Enterprise. He has a rich and interesting career.
Picard has a standard wheeled office chair in his quarters on the carpet. Get a mat for it, you Goddamned savage.
Riker straight up believes that the Ferengi are up to no good and that Picard couldn’t possibly have made a mistake (per his admission in the falsified log). He’s barely known the guy a few weeks. At least have him be optimistically skeptical. “I don’t want to believe it, sir, but right now the evidence is quite damning. I have Data working on it, trying to determine if it’s a fake, but right now all we have to go on is your word against… your word.” Picard is a man of principle. He would understand this. It would make for good drama, but Gene Roddenberry had a strict “no character drama” clause in all the early TNG scripts (that’s legit, not me making a joke).
LaForge is confused by Riker’s request for a secure channel to the Ferengi ship. Why aren’t all communications secured? Why isn’t that the default?
Picard’s imaginary crew are wearing modern Starfleet uniforms. Later on we learn the battle was 9 years ago, but the ship looks like it came from 100 years ago.
Riker is annoyed by Data explaining what a checksum is. “I don’t want a computer science lesson!” Well, I see having no knowledge of how the tools you use to do your job persists well into the 24th century. I bet Riker gets annoyed at tech support when he can’t figure out how to attach a spreadsheet to a sub-space e-mail.
Crusher refers to Riker as “number 1”. That’s damned peculiar.
Random observation: once again Tasha and Worf have nothing to do in this episode. Eight episodes in and they barely have anything meaningful to do. Their parts could be played by a bit player like they’ve done with the rotating chief engineer.
Speaking of characters having nothing to do; Wesley appears twice just to tell them information any other bridge character could have told them. He was “upgrading the sensors” and detected the Stargazer before anyone else noticed and he later finds the magic thought control rays with the sensors. I’m not opposed to having Wesley discover these things, but having him just wander in and go “plot plot plot” and then be immediately dismissed is a waste of character. At least show him working on it with Data or Geordi nearby and going “Huh… that’s strange.” The other asks what’s strange. He explains. They both decide they need to tell the captain/Riker.
It’s a forbidden device. A “thought maker”. Do we ever see this game changing device again? Quark could have made great use of something like that on DS9.
Nitpicks
Why does the Stargazer have four warp nacelles? What advantage does that provide? Is there a deflector array? Why is there no drive section? Where’s the warp core?
“Set sub-warp speed for towing, LaForge.” Does Riker know how long it will take to tow a ship at sub-light speed? Max impulse is 25% light speed (since it’s real space there are physics and time dilation concerns). Let’s assume that the nearest starbase is even 1 lightyear away it would take them 4 years to get it there. My point is; sub-light is so incredibly slow, why bother even moving it? Just stabilize it until another vessel that can tow it at warp speed arrives. On that subject, how does towing at warp speed work? Do you need a special ship that can generate a warp field big enough to encompass both ships? Does that affect how fast the ship can travel?
Armchair Screenwriter 