The fascination with the holodeck continues in this episode. This time a race of part computer aliens have programmed a special surprise for Riker, his perfect woman who also seems to have access to all of the ships computer to make sure she can be distracting as long as possible so they can steal the ship. The Binar aliens are a little over the top in terms of how much they are into binary. They not only come in pairs and talk in binary code, and they only understand decisions as one or the other. Wesley manages to be almost helpful in the episode which is pretty wild.
We begin with the ship coming in to dock for repairs and computer upgrades. They can't stay long but much of the crew are using this as an excuse to get off ship and get some R and R. The story follows Riker as he runs into various people leaving and eventually he and the captain welcome on board the head of the space station and the Binars, computer assisted aliens who will be working on the computer. They are alarmed to have less time but bring in some extra help. Wesley keeps and eye on them on the bridge while Geordi teaches Data how to paint. Riker eventually finds his way to the holodeck where he runs into a pair of Binars working on the computer. They tell him they have made upgrades to the holodeck and invite him to check it out. Riker asks for a jazz bar in New Orleans and gets a beautiful woman to watch him play.
While Riker is making out with holograms the captain decides to check on him and Minuet, the hologram Riker has fallen for, starts speaking French to Picard and brings out the wine. Just then Wesley detects an anomaly in engineering and calls Geordi. Geordi and Data rush to engineering and find the magnetic field holding the anti-matter is breaking down and the ship is about to explode. They evacuate the ship and set it on a course to get clear of the station. For some reason the computer doesn't notify Picard and Riker and they only learn about it when Picard decides to leave Riker to his fun and finds the ship empty and at red alert.
Access to the bridge is denied so they go to engineering and set the auto destruct sequence to five minutes and beam to the bridge. They find the Binars dying in a heap and the ship in orbit around their planet. The computer is literally full of data. Eventually they figure out the planet was hit by a powerful EMP and had to dump the data vital to their survival onto the Enterprise. They transmit the data back the the Binars revive. Picard flies to ship back to the starbase to get the crew and hold a hearing on the fate of the Binars.
Review: All I remembered about this episode was Riker falling in love with an illusory woman on the holodeck, and I wasn't wrong, that is the most memorable part. But the story about the aliens who need a computer almost being destroyed by the loss of the computer isn't bad either. Overall a decent episode.
7 out of 10
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