I kinda remember Data being more trustworthy, but between this episode and Brothers it is surprising he is still in Starfleet. I guess technically they never figured out what happened in this episode, but you would think eventually someone would figure it out. Especially since their calendars are now going to be several days off from the rest of Starfleet. But I guess travelling around way past the speed of light makes them used to having crazy time differentials but they just never talk about it.
After finishing some mission we never see the Enterprise is in cruise mode while the crew relax. Picard of course is back to his detective adventures on the holodeck and this time Guinan is invited. After defeating a gun toting thug Guinan has had enough and Picard gets a phone call from Data on the bridge. Data has discovered an M-class planet in around a star that maybe doesn't have planets normally? For whatever reason they have to investigate so Picard heads to the bridge and they set course for the planet. But before they arrive they pass through a wormhole and all pass out. They wake up and Data is already awake. He tells them they were out for 30 seconds and they find they have traveled half a days journey. Picard has Data shoot a probe out to investigate the planet and they continue on their cruise.
But things don't quite seem right. Dr. Crusher discovers that samples in her lab are showing 24 hours growth, not 30 seconds. And they they look deeper the ships clock has been altered and transporter traces show they spent a lot longer than that. Data denies knowing anything about it, but seems to be acting odd. Troi keeps getting headaches and when she sees herself in the mirror it is as if she is wearing a mask. Eventually Geordi finds that the data they got back from the probe was fake and they confront Data. Data refuses to answer any questions but Picard manages to figure out it is in some way to protect the ship. But that isn't enough so he turns the ship around and they return to the planet over Data's objections.
When they arrive they find a strange green energy field that sends out a piece which goes through the shields and possesses Troi. She confronts Data and he admits the plan hasn't worked. He returns to the bridge and tells the captain the truth. The planet is occupied by extreme xenophobes who have a fake wormhole trap to keep outsiders from discovering them. But it didn't work on Data and he revived the crew and the energy cloud took over Troi. Picard negotiated the erasing of their memories to keep it a secret but they left too many clues. But apparently even xenophobes believe in second chances so they do it all over again and this time it appears to work.
Review: This is a fairly average episode that has some good enough moments. It really seems like maybe they shouldn't trust Data as much as they do, but he is generally such a good android that I guess taking over the ship and almost killing them, and colluding with aliens to erase their memories isn't really that big a deal.
6 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment