By Keith Alan Morgan on Sunday, April 18, 1999 - 08:33 am:

Why is Yar so interested in the jewels? Didn't Kirk in the Classic episode Catspaw say they can manufacture such baubles at will? At the end of the episode Mr. Miller says to Troi, "Keep the chest, you will have need of it later." Implying that the chest contained something valuable. Are these gemstones that the replicator cannot duplicate?

How come no one mentioned this 'Genetic Bonding' ritual to Riker while he was dating Deanna? Don't Betazoids pride themselves on complete honesty? Didn't Deanna tell Will that when 'The Change' occurs a Betazoid woman's sex drive can quadruple? Didn't anyone think to tell him that he had better enjoy her while he can because she has been promised to another?

Why are Lwaxana Troi and the Millers beaming up from Haven?

Lwaxana identifies Picard as the Captain and he says, Yes, your daughter explained to me your telepathic abilities. The Captain needed Deanna to explain that Betazoids are telepathic? Even Groppler Zorn at Farpoint knew that Betazoids are telepathic, but Picard did not know?

Rather than stating which deck to go to Picard just says, "Passenger accommodations."

Lwaxana asks Picard to adjust the temperature and he says he'll see to it and leaves. Why not just ask the computer to change the room temperature? Was Picard ticked at her for letting him carry that heavy suitcase and wanted her to suffer a little?

Wyatt tells Deanna that he has seen (Ariana's) face since he was a boy. Do Tarellians age differently than Humans? Most people's faces change over time, but Ariana's face has been the same since he was a boy?

When Lwaxana and Mrs. Miller are arguing over what kind of ceremony to hold, Data smiles broadly in the close ups, but not so much in the wide shots.

The Prejoining Announcement Dinner scenes must have been filmed after every other scene. Dr. Crusher's hair is shorter here then when she appears later in the show. And what was the hair designer thinking when they made up Denise Crosby for this scene?

What ever happened to Lwaxana's pet vine?

When the Tarellians show themselves on the viewscreen, Deanna gets up from her chair and crosses the bridge in front of Picard and Riker. Why did she do this? Did she think the view was better over there?

Mrs. Miller refers to the Tarellians as lepers. I thought leprosy was a treatable disease here in the 20th century? Did the treatment get lost in one of those world wars we are supposed to have in the future?

For victims of a terrible disease those Tarellians looked pretty good, especially the women. I would think that most biological warfare weapons would be designed to hit hard and fast so the enemy wouldn't have time to retaliate or develop a cure, but these people don't seem to have any horrible open sores or rashes or anything and they have survived for years. (Of course, in Liaisons Picard says that Tarellians have four arms, so maybe this disease caused two arms to fall off.) The only conclusion would seem to be that they are carriers of the disease and they are not affected because of some immunity to it.

Of course if they have the disease why are they flying through space endangering other races? Why not just go back to their own planet to live out the rest of their days? Tarella must be under some kind of quarantine, not to mention the other worlds they infected, so only an idiot would attack them on one of those worlds. If the disease killed off the plants and animals, Starfleet could beam supplies down to them as well as possible cures.

At the end of this episode Riker gives the coordinates, "8-5-7 mark 3-1-9." Does this mean that he wants the Enterprise to fly in a circle twice before going off in a straight line? Also, assuming that the 360 degrees goes clockwise and the left side of the ship usually faces the planet, wouldn't any direction number greater than 180 cause them to crash into the planet?
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By Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Sunday, April 18, 1999 - 05:39 pm:

>Mrs. Miller refers to the Tarellians as lepers. I thought leprosy was a treatable disease here in the 20th century? Did the treatment get lost in one of those world wars we are supposed to have in the future?>

I assume they meant that the leper remark was meant as a metaphor.
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By Keith Alan Morgan on Monday, April 19, 1999 - 07:10 am:

400 years is a long time for a metaphor to last.
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By Mike Konczewski on Monday, April 19, 1999 - 03:01 pm:

We still use terms and metaphors that are hundeds and thousands of years old--carpe diem, the 11th hour, Trojan horse, good Samaritan, etc. Plus, leprosy is mostly unknown in our time (when was the last time you saw a leper), yet we refer to someone as a "social leper."

The mechanism of leprosy is still not completely understood in our time. It can be controlled, but there's no vaccine.

I have to agree with about the appearance of these "space lepers." The only effect the virus seems to have is to make the women look really sexy. That's germ warfare we can live with! ;)
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By KAM on Tuesday, April 20, 1999 - 06:16 am:

"Oh, the horror! If this disease is allowed to continue every woman on the planet will be gorgeous! We have to stop it before it's too late!"

Say, the Tarellians are an alien species, what if those sexy creatures aren't the women? AAAAAAAAAH! (See Wyatt Miller starring in The Crying Game.)

At the opening of this episode, Picard makes a log entry (as usual) in which he extols the planet Haven and states that "we will rest and relax" there. Two things are very curious about this statement. Firstly, the crew seem to have been getting a lot of R+R lately. In "Justice", they visited Rubicun III "for some well-earned recreation." In "11001001" Picard and Riker are in the turbolift and Picard says to Riker, "what about you, Number One? - You've earned a rest." In "The Battle" we saw Picard being ordered to "rest" because he had a headache. All these episodes (with the possible exception of "The Battle") happen within 100 stardates of each other! It's as if every mission is such a strain on them that they have to take shore leave afterwards.
Secondly, it's all well and good Picard saying "we will rest here"- only thing is, no one appears to beam down to Haven during the episode! (I realise that the ship has plenty of holodecks and other rec. rooms, but as Crusher said in "Justice", "there's nothing like fresh air and wide open spaces..." And of course, I suppose the senior staff all ended up staying aboard upon learning of Troi's impending marriage and departure, leaving only the ND crewmembers to visit the planet.)

When Wyatt and Troi are chatting in the holodeck, Troi asks how Wyatt was able to negotiate not having either Mrs. Miller or the guests be nude. (Horrible grammar, but...) Wyatt says, "Your mother relented." (Alright, those may not be his exact words.) With that, he starts to chuckle. I could swear someone else was chuckling as well. And I don't think it's Troi.

To all my "fans", I MUST add this DELETED LINE:
ENJOY!

"Hands off, she's mine!" Riker to Wyatt

HMMM....Lwaxana Troi...a decendant of Dr. Chapel.

Medical Staff? That bunch of untrained monkeys? I sent them all back.

At the prejoining announcement ceremony, Crusher remarks to Wyatt that "it's such a pleasure to have a medical colleague on board".

Uh-huh. What do you suppose Crusher's medical staff would qualify as? Maybe she meant a medical colleague who knew and studied the Tarellians? Oh no, wait a minute, La Forge comments in this episode that it's standard Academy teaching. Thus I'd expect it to be more than a passing reference in Starfleet Medical, where I hope most of Crusher's medical staff came from.

I doubt Crusher intended to insult her own staff. She probably was just making polite small-talk, by recognizing Wyatt as a fellow medical doctor and therefore a colleague. This doesn't mean she was disregarding the staff on board as incompetant or whatnot; it was merely a polite acknowledgement that they had something in common.

Quoting Keith Alan Morgan:

"Why are Lwaxana Troi and the Millers beaming up from Haven? "

Why not?

Armin Shimerman (Quark) and Martha Hackett (Seska) were in this episode?

Who were they?

Oh, never mind...Shimerman was the talking box (hmm...didn't really recognize him)

Also, looking at Phil's book, a nit he points out is that when the Enterprise locks onto the ship with a tractor beam, it can't beam down to Haven. Phil asks why then can Wyatt beam over?

I think the tractor beam was just to tow the ship away from transporter distance from the planet but the Enterprise is obviously close enough.

The REAL reason Wyatt left Troi is once he got sight of Ariyana in the Theiss-ware...well, his hormones started raging and gave him a "head rush" thus making him to beam over to the alien ship.

She wasn't good looking to me.

Why did Mrs. Troi let Picard carry her bag for her? Her late husband was in Starfleet, so she should know making a Captain lug your heavy baggage like a bellhop when you bring a valet who can carry them easily is mightily impolite, not to mention not healthy for him. Also, was she always that rude to the Millers? Did Ian have to leave Lwaxanna at home whenever he visited them?

I loved when Data asked Hom if he had human ancestry, because he was drinking so much. Apparently we're the drinkingest people in the galaxy.

Did they mention when the Tarellian plague war was? If it was approx. 200 years prior to this episode, it could feature in an episode of Enterprise.

According to TVTome, Martha Hackett is one of the Tarellian women.

Carel Struycken was the great Mr. Homm and also, like fellow Trek veteran Ted Cassidy, was Lurch in the new Addams Family movies. He also was Lord Terak in another of my great films as a kid, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

Nan Martin was Mrs. Louder on "The Drew Carey Show," the owner of the store.

Robert Ellenstein was the Federation President in "Star Trek IV," who apparently loses his job to Kurtwood Smith before Star Trek VI. He is in the classic Hitchcock film "North by Northwest" as one of the thugs chasing Cary Grant.

Riker acted like such a baby in this episode because Troi was getting married, yet when the wedding was called off, he still didn't get with her for 15 years (in Star Trek Nemesis)! What was he waiting on?

What is so great about Troi anyways?

EVERYTHING! John-boy---E-V-E-R-Y---THING!

To each his own.

JAL likes her pajamas... I mean uniform...

More like, what's UNDER the uniform.

The washing instructions?

Yes...it says: "Hand wash"

How long will Wyatt survive with the Tarellians? He's just one young doctor, and he thinks he can cure them when we have to assume that the Federation's best couldn't? And they must have tried, because that's what the Federation does-- help people.

And I don't care how hot a woman is-- if she has an incurable contagious disease or illness, I'm going to avoid her. Life-long dreams of her, or not.

The Enterprise was supposed to tractor the Tarellian ship away from Haven, but all three times we see this from the starboard view the ships are passing the same spatial point, and the planet isn't getting any further.

The Haven representative is seen every time with the same sun and sky configuration behind her throughout the show, despite a minimum of 13 hours passing (the time it took for the Tarellians to be spotted, for them to arrive, and for Wyatt to beam over,).

My favorite line is when Data asks the mothers to continue their petty bickering. Priceless Data scene!

Where in the episode was it established that the Federation encountered the Tarellians? (Although I otherwise agree with your nit.)

I guess because the Tarellian ship is in Federation space, that I assumed it was obvious that the Federation has tried to help, but I can see your point being that the Tarellians might have originated in Klingon or Romulan space, and their illness could have been something read about but not personally experienced by Federation personnel.

Did anyone notice that Troi calls Riker "Bill" at least twice in this episode? Maybe she has done it before and I'm just being a spaz, but I have only ever heard her call him "Will"...Maybe her ponytail was just tied too tight?

"At the end of this episode Riker gives the coordinates, "8-5-7 mark 3-1-9." Does this mean that he wants the Enterprise to fly in a circle twice before going off in a straight line?"
-KAM

You know, catching up on old nits at work is hazardous if one of the first things you read has you in stitches- thanks for that mental image- really brightened my day. :-)

There is a blooper reel on YOUTUBE where Marina Sirtis drops the "F-bomb" during the Holodeck scene. Jonathan Frakes looks genuinely stunned afterwords.

Ahh yes...more "backward 20th Century humanity" bashing in this episode! Didn't you love that, whenever it would be in the dialogue of early TNG episodes? I sure did.....NOT!!!!!

I refer to the discussion of Tarella that the senior staff have, where Data speaks of the war between the inhabitants of the two land masses. And apparently, the Tarellans had developed deadly biological weapons, as they had acquired the knowledge and technology of late 20th Century Earth, according to Data. And I absolutely LOVE IT when Crusher chimed in....wait for it...."That's all you need if you're a •••• fool!"

HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! That's right, writers, show how GREAT it is to be in the future as you repeatedly and continuously bash the past! (or in this case, our present!)

I already wrote about this on "The Neutral Zone". But I just could not leave this one alone. You know what I mean?

Yes, well, it was an example of backward 20th century scriptwriters being nothing but **** fools. ;-)

Phil pointed that one out in one of his guides too; but I never how it would classify as "bashing 20th century humans." In the case of the Tarellans they used deadly biological weapons on each other which had the effect of killing all but a handful of their race. We current humans have similar technology (and the ability to completely destroy all civilization on Earth) and doesn't the fact that we haven't prove that we aren't quite the "damned fools" that the Tarellans were?

Wasn't Dr. Crusher's whole point that once you develop technology on par with 20th century Earth you now have the ability to destroy the entire civilization and if you are a damned fool you will destroy your own civilization? We certainly could have during the cold war if either side had chosen to start firing nuclear weapons on the other, but we didn't.

"We certainly could have during the cold war if either side had chosen to start firing nuclear weapons on the other, but we didn't." - Brian F.

Case in point: the 1983 TV movie "The Day After"!

Directed by Nicholas Meyer (who also helmed Star Trek II and VI) it was a frightening, and some people say disturbing, portrayal of a nuclear holocaust directly affecting the Heartland of America, specifically Kansas City and it's surrounding farm towns.

I have the DVD, and I originally rented it years ago when I was watching movies that had John "3rd Rock From the Sun" Lithgow in them. He was a supporting character, a college professor, and he also had the last lines of dialogue in the film.

Anyway, that movie was very meaningful and significant in the way it showed what *could* have happened if, like you said, Brian, if we and the Soviet Union had increased hostilities over territory in Europe (the film mentioned the Russians invading various Eastern European countries and ammassing troops along borders) which results in both sides launching ICBMs to each other, resulting in MAD (Mutally Assured Destruction, not the humor magazine)!

And when the bombs hit, all I could say was...HOLY (BLEEPING) (BLEEP)!!!!! I, *literally* had *never* seen that kind of thing in a movie before. "Terminator 2" notwithstanding, this was the most realistic-looking portrayal of nuclear holocaust I had ever seen up to that point (I think I saw it in either 1998 or 1999).

So, does this post have anything to do with Star Trek? Not really, I admit that. But the mentioning of another species on another planet sometime in the future destroying their world and spreading plague and disease whereever they go, I just thought I would put this here.

One of my worst fears has always been if we, as a species, lose our very sanity and start sending nuclear missles to each other, thinking that is the best solution. If that does happen, I sure hope I'm in the closest area to the detonation so I am instantly vaporized, and not end up suffering and dying in agony from radiation poisoning.

Sorry to be all serious all of a sudden.

Keith Alan Morgan on Sunday, April 18, 1999 - 08:33 am: At the end of the episode Mr. Miller says to Troi, "Keep the chest, you will have need of it later." Implying that the chest contained something valuable. Are these gemstones that the replicator cannot duplicate?
More likely an indication that Deanna would like to pass the chest to any daughters she has in the future.

How come no one mentioned this 'Genetic Bonding' ritual to Riker while he was dating Deanna? Don't Betazoids pride themselves on complete honesty? Didn't Deanna tell Will that when 'The Change' occurs a Betazoid woman's sex drive can quadruple? Didn't anyone think to tell him that he had better enjoy her while he can because she has been promised to another?
Deanna probably believed the arrangement had been cancelled following her enlistment in Starfleet.

If the Tarellians have the disease, why are they flying through space endangering other races? Why not just go back to their own planet to live out the rest of their days? Tarella must be under some kind of quarantine, not to mention the other worlds they infected, so only an idiot would attack them on one of those worlds. If the disease killed off the plants and animals, Starfleet could beam supplies down to them as well as possible cures.
The planet may have been rendered uninhabitable.