By Jenny Veitch on Friday, December 4, 1998 - 04:55 pm:

I have my usual 1 nit with an extra bonus of 2 more nits PLUS a great line!
(1) Why did the computer stop saying AD after the first time?
(2) Why didn`t they just beam them out of the holodeck?
(3) How can holobullets harm Waylon?
Great line near at the end said by Picard: Mr LaForge, step on it.
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By Mike Konczewski on Friday, December 4, 1998 - 05:10 pm:

(3) Because the malfunction switched off the safety protocols (as seen in Star Trek: First Contact).
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By Murray Leeder on Friday, December 4, 1998 - 05:13 pm:

Cyrus Redblock is a great name, a homage to the great actor Sydney Greenstreet.
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By Anonymous on Sunday, December 13, 1998 - 03:18 am:

The malfunction probably also damaged the transporter for a site-to-site.

Also, a nit: This bugs me to no end.

When Leach stands in the door with the gun, it switches from his view, Whalen standing on his right, tugging on his sleeves, to a frontal view, with someone (Whalen??) standing on his Leach's left, arms hanging to the sides, back to Leach's view with Whalen back on te right, still tugging at his sleeves. Everyone else (Picard, Crusher and Data) standing around the desk across the room. Who's the guy on Leach's left side???
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By Keith Alan Morgan on Sunday, April 18, 1999 - 08:43 am:

At the beginning of this episode Picard is learning to read the Jarada language. If all he has to do is say an agreed upon Jarada greeting, why is he learning to read their language? Is he afraid that the Jarada will give him a pop quiz? (On the viewscreen a picture of Jaradan letters appear and a voice states, "Without using the Universal Translator, read the first line!") If all he has to do is recite a greeting he could learn it phonetically! He doesn't even have to know what it means. ("Eich bien ein, Jarada.")

In his personal log, Picard states that he has been reading Dixon Hill's adventures since he was a child, but if that is true, why does he seem so surprised at some of the things that are said? If those words and phrases were in the stories couldn't he have just looked them up in a dictionary? The alternative would be that he didn't read the original stories, but rewritten versions where all the confusing slang terms and phrases had been changed.

In the NextGen Guide II, Phil wondered about the lipstick on Picard's face, supposedly from a holodeck character. Well, the lipstick only becomes apparent after he leaves the Holodeck and is walking down the hall. He passes two female crewmembers and one looks at him oddly, but the woman behind him smiles knowingly. So maybe that lipstick didn't come from the Holodeck woman, but an amorous crewmember?

Picard gushing about the wonders of the Holodeck at the meeting really seemed unprofessional. Was this the first time Picard had ever been on a Holodeck or just the first time that he had experienced that degree of depth and reality?

Why are Dr. Crusher and Wesley at the meeting? In The Battle and Haven, Dr. Crusher was there for medical reasons, Picard's headaches and the Tarellian plague, but if the Jarada get ticked at Picard's pronunciation, I believe the ship will be destroyed, at which point it will be a little late for Dr. Crusher to heal the crew. The only reason Dr. Crusher is there is for Picard to invite her to the Holodeck. Wesley is just an acting Ensign and has no business in this meeting, whatsoever. Of course the whole reason for the meeting seems trivial and is treated unimportantly. The Bridge crew should have learned about this mission before or just after they set course for Trona IV and except for Data's suggestion of reviewing what happened to the last ship, the information could have been repeated to the crew on the Bridge.

Wesley asks permission to accompany Riker down to the Holodeck and Riker doesn't know why, then Deanna explains that Dr. Crusher is among the missing. How did Deanna and Wesley know this, but Riker didn't? Haven't they have all been on the Bridge since the problem began? (Well, there was a commercial break, so maybe Riker ran to the bathroom and that's when the rest of the Bridge found out that Dr. Crusher was missing?)

How many doors does this Holodeck have? Earlier Picard entered in the 'hallway' and left from Dixon Hill's 'office.' Later, when they discover there is a problem with the Holodeck, Picard tells Data to try the "other door" in the 'hallway,' implying that this Holodeck has two doors. (Which would also explain a nit with the later episode Elementary, Dear Data, where Data and Geordi leave Moriety's lair, which must have a Holodeck door because that is where the Arch is, and walk to the 'street' to leave the Holodeck.) A second door could also explain why we don't see Wesley or Geordi by the door at the end. They're around the corner at the other door.

If Picard, Whalen and Data have all read this story before, why don't they know where 'the item' is or even what is supposed to happen next? (So earlier in the show, was Picard just pretending to be surprised when he found out that his client was dead?)

Why does Wesley think that everyone in the Holodeck would vanish if he made a mistake? I thought he said that he had read all the technical stuff about the Holodeck. If later shows are anything to go by, just cut power to the Holodeck and it will revert to the black room with the yellow grids.

Redblock says, that he doesn't know the word computer, but according to a show on the development of computers, the word was originally applied to people who worked with numbers, long before Charles Babbage designed his Analytical Engine. So for someone who has supposedly traveled the world, Cyrus Redblock is not as well informed as he thinks he is.
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By Alfonso Turnage on Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 04:01 pm:

I believe that a lot of the holo-mistakes in this episode appeared because of the Jarada probe and would not have occurred naturally.
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By Keith Alan Morgan on Thursday, April 22, 1999 - 08:29 am:

So how do you explain holo-mistakes made in other episodes?

Maybe the Bynars didn't get the probe out after all...
(See "11001001" for further details!)

Perhaps someone told them to "Get the probe out!" and they thought he meant 'Hurry up.'

"If Picard, Whalen and Data have all read this story before, why don't they know where 'the item' is or even what is supposed to happen next? (So earlier in the show, was Picard just pretending to be surprised when he found out that his client was dead?)"

Maybe the Dixon Hill stories were the "Make your own ending" books. You know, you read a page and at the bottom it say if you want to do this, turn to page 2, but if you want to do the exact opposite go to page 6. Maybe that's why Picard and the others were surprised by what was going on.

Nice idea, but Data read the original stories, which were published in a 1930's or 1940's Detective magazine, and I don't think they had choose your own ending type stories then. (Even if they did, I seriously doubt that a Detective magazine would print them. Who would read a detective story where the killer could be whomever the reader wanted?)

Is the actor who plays Redblock the same guy who plays Elians father on Seinfeld? He also played a warlord in the DS9 episode where Quark was selling weapons.

The actor is the fabulous Lawrence Tierney, who did play Mr. Benes on "Seinfeld", delivering the immortal line:

"We had a funny guy with us in the war. (pause) They blew his brains out all over the Pacific."

"There's nothing funny about that"

~~ Re: "Who would read a detective story where the killer could be whomever the reader wanted?" [Keith, post dated May 28, 2000 - 07:02] ...

Not saying I either agree or disagree with the thoughts to which Keith's post refers --but there does exist another historical and possibly pertinent example of selecting one's own mystery villain :::

In the late 1900s and early 21st century, many stage-play mysteries involved their audiences. In some, the characters turned the audience into witnesses and detectives who interpreted and debated what they'd seen and heard (or believed they had!) and voted to decide whodunnit. The play then continued and ended as it would have if originally written that way. ...

Just for one example, in Washington DC -- [for those of you not up on your Old Terran history: during the above-referenced period this was the capital of a sovereign governmental entity called USA, in the Northern Hemisphere of Sol III, aka Earth] -- a lab-theater play at a well-known cultural center employed the technique quite successfully. The play was called 'Shear Madness.' [The word shear refers to the setting, a small, amusingly gossipy hair-styling establishment]. ...

The play probably did not owe its long-running popularity solely to the intriguing audience participation feature. Definitely in the light entertainment category, it also featured continually updated dialogue including thinly disguised satire and overt jokes on events and figures prominent in the admittedly bizarre national politics of the time.

I'm surprised no one noticed the corridor goof.

When the doors open in Dixon's office, you see a plain corridor wall. No doors, no branching corridor.

When Redblock and Leech step out the door at the end of the episode ... guess what? They've got the holodeck door on their right -- and a branching corridor on their left. And doors up and down the main corridor.

Big "whooops"

Maybe Leech and Redblock were still in the holodeck, and the "corridor" was just a recreation....

Then again, I read into these things too much! I know, it's a little too silly an explanation

When Geordi first arrives outside the holodeck he hits the control panel, but even though it makes the beep noises it's blank! Admittedly, its supposed to be malfunctioning, but I can't see how the buttons could be determined and it was previously shown to be malfunctioning by having the lighted panel blink. I think the FX department made a mistake.

Leech says Hill was hired to locate an item, but when did this happen? Neither Picard nor anyone else blinks at this, even though (as far as we and he know) Hill was hired to prevent a woman from being killed.

Did you know that Dixon Hill was originally supposed to be called Dixon Steele? It says so in the Star Trek Companion. What nobody has noticed so far as I'm aware is that Dixon Steele was the name of Bogey's character in In a Lonely Place.

Leech says Hill was hired to locate an item, but when did this happen?
Presumably it happened prior to the start of the holoprogram. Assuming that the program was based on a story it's possible that Dixon was on a case when the dame with a problem sauntered in. At some point the two cases probably would have come together.
We didn't see that because Picard was first stunned by the reality of the Holodeck & then altered the parameters by inviting the others in.
Then again, maybe it was just another sympton of the malfunctioning Holodeck? Characters from another Dixon Hill story that Picard remembered reading as a child.

Wasn't Data among the crew members held at gunpoint toward the end of the episode? How could the pistol have harmed him while in First Contact he was not hurt by fire from an automatic weapon?

Maybe the events of this ep gave him a reason to upgrade?

Actually, it must have been after the episode in which Data loses his memory ("Thine Own Self"?), since in that episode, he is shut down by being impaled, which can't have been worse for him than being shot repeatedly by a machine gun!

MMMM...Gate McFadden (Crusher) looks yummy in this episode. Why didn't Picard kiss her? I would have.

DUMB SCENE: Picard saying "Goodbye" to a HOLODECK PERSON! HEY! The bug creatures are waiting, dipstick!

Did Picard grew up in underground, then graduate and beam into Starship? It is really weird to see that Picard gestures, Data says "Cityblock?" He says "YES!"

KAM (long ago): . . . Data read the original stories . . .

:: Why did he do it visually? Even in this century, I can drag and drop a file. (Saves me from printing it out and walking it down to the scanner.)

Re: Keith Alan Morgan

Riker *did* know that Dr. Crusher was trapped in the holodeck, Deanna was simply reminding him of that fact because it was pertinent to letting Wesley help. Obviously he hadn't considered that when he originally declined to let him go, or he considered it irrelevant.

I'm surprised no one mentioned my biggest gripe with this episode. Cyrus Redblock and his goon exit the Holodeck and very slowly fade away. Shouldn't they have disappeared instantly as soon as they passed through the exit? This contradicts what we have seen in future episodes.

Presumably Data could not be harmed by bullets, but since the goons were pointing guns at hostages, he wouldn't have enough time to attack them before they shot the hostages.

Interesting note I found out while doing the synopsis: the director and writer of this ep wanted everything in the holodeck to be in black and white, but Berman and Justman pointed out that the holodeck couldn't do this to the "real" crew. So then along comes "Bride of Chaotica!"...

Lawrence Tierney died on February 26, 2002. Although he was a "tough guy" character actor, I remember him as Sgt. Jenkins in Hill Street Blues.

How come we never get to see the bug creatures?

I'm willing to bet they had costumes ready but decided not to use them because they looked too cheesy.

Wellllll...that, or the entire 'bug' plot hinged around said creatures being so shy of contact that Picard had to speak a greeting correctly before they'd even consider maybepossibly talking to the Federation...

That said, for an interesting(-ish) look at what happens when the Jarada eventually do decide to permit face-to-face contact, try the NextGen novel Imbalance, by V.E. Mitchell.

Harvey Jason (Joel Cairo wanna be Felix Leech) is one of the bounty hunters in "The Lost World" (Ajay) and if you're a '60s Batman fan, was in the somewhat insufferable three-parter set in London--I think he's Rudy Vallee's chauffeur, if I remember right.

That's the great Dick Miller as the vendor. Miller was a favorite of Roger Corman and appeared in "Bucket of Blood" and "Little Shop of Horrors" (as the guy that eats flowers). I believe he's now a favorite of Joe Dante and has appeared in "Gremlins" and "Twilight Zone: The Movie."

What I want to know is, why does the Federation even WANT the Jarada as a member, knowing they'll brutally kill someone if they don't perform the greeting correctly?

Maybe the Xindi Insectoids requested it?

Maybe the Xindi-Insectoids ARE the Jarada! ;)

I doubt it. Why would they change their name?

Why would it have to be a name change? Archer and co. referred to them as Insectoids... but that doesn't mean that was their name for themselves.

I doubt they'd have a name that we could pronounce in any case, given that we saw what their vocalizations sounded like.

Well, I only heard what their vocalizations sounded like, seeing as I don't watch the episode with the closed captioning on.

In any case, didn't the Xindi-Aquatics have names?

Yeah, but I'd presume they were the Humanoids' or Sloths' name for them.

Did I miss a piece of dialog that stated that the Enterprise just had to visit the Harada, say this short, precise greeting to them and then leave? As soon as Picard growls his greeting, the Enterprise leaves.

And as a sidenote to KAM's post in '99, since visual communication wasn't initiated, why didn't Picard jusr READ the words he had to recite, and have them written phonetically so he didn't mess up? Or was he just hoping for applause from the crew? (Which he ends up getting!)

This contradicts, just a bit, the crew's attitude towards 20th century people, when compared to The Neutral Zone. The crew was rather smug about themselves there, but here they can't wait to experience life in the 20th century. I'd call that a contradiction in opnion.

You know what they say about the 20th Century...

It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there!!!

Thank you! I'll be here all week!

2 more things;

When the lady tells Picard that she thinks someone's out to kill her, she looks away from the view outside and looks at Picard...with a smirk! She's supposed to have her life in danger, and the computer makes her *smile* at the thought of a murderer out to get her?

When Riker wants to stall for time, he contacts the Jarada, and starts out with, "We demand--" before the Jarada cut him off with screeching feedback (or possibly their own language). 'We *demand*??? Not very diplomatic of Riker! Just what was he demanding? More time? Wouldn't a cordial 'Could we please reschedule?' be more diplomatic, if even to get the same screeching reply?

This contradicts, just a bit, the crew's attitude towards 20th century people, when compared to The Neutral Zone. The crew was rather smug about themselves there, but here they can't wait to experience life in the 20th century. I'd call that a contradiction in opnion.

You know what they say about the 20th Century...

It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there!!!

Seems totally right to me. Look at us today we love to watch movies about gladiators, pirates, monsters and wars. We go to renaissance festivals & paint ball arenas where we dress up and pretend to live in those worlds but few of us would really want to live in the time before modern medicine, gender equality and the concept of civil rights, nor would we want to really run around in the woods with people shooting real bullets of us.

I know this is late, but when D. Troi bends over Picard's desk, we get to see quite a bit of cleavage. (Not that I'm complaining, mind you)


(I'm noting this because on the "Data's Day" board, I noted that I would make any observations regarding Troi's cleavage)

[...gladly]

Well, years before this episode, there was an insectoid race in the non-canon Animated Series called the Kaferians. This is the information about them from Memory Beta, the source for info about non-canon Trek:

The Kaferian species is indigenous to Kaferia, the third planet in the Tau Ceti system. They are insectoid humanoids, with wideset eyes and mandibles.

They are extremely friendly, yet chose to be trusted allies of the Federation, rather have full membership.

They are expert geneticists.

And this is the information about Kaferian apples, taken from the non-canon reference book "The Worlds Of The Federation":

A Kaferian apple is a type of fruit native to the planet Tau Ceti III. By the 23rd century, Kaferian apples were considered quite a delicacy, and were known for their great taste.

I know none of that has anything to do with this episode, but I wonder if maybe the Jarada, who were said to be an insectoid race, might somehow resemble the Kaferians.

As for the Xindi-Insectoids, I never saw them, so, I don't know what they are like. As far as I'm concerned, the whole Enterprise series is non-canon!

* Why is the ship's counselor the one helping Picard prepare to greet the Jarada? In addition to a psychologist, is Troi also a xenolinguist or xenosociologist?

* Is Picard joking about being such a bad speller that he spells knife with an "n"? By the 24th century, have spelling standards really deteriorated to the point that it's plausible a highly educated person would be capable of such an error?

* When Dixon Hill/Picard's secretary mentions that the woman waiting for him has "Nice legs", why does Picard misunderstand and look at his own legs? In the 24th century, do men no longer find women's legs attractive?

* Picard's potential client tells him that one of the persons she suspects of trying to kill her is Cyrus Redblock, and that if it is him, he must mistakenly believe she has "what he's looking for". If she has some object that Redblock wants, how would killing her help him obtain it? Wouldn't he instead attempt to extort or kidnap her?

* Rather than simply saying "End program" or "Save program" before exiting the holodeck, Picard exits while the program is still running, touches a LCARS panel on the corridor wall, and says "Memory. Save current setting. Holodeck off".

* After the holodeck exit has closed and vanished behind Picard, we see Leech enter Dixon Hill's office and look around. Why is the program continuing to run when Picard is no longer present? If Picard hadn't subsequently said "Holodeck off" in the corridor, how long would it have continued running?

* Upthread, KAM wonders why Dr. Crusher and Wesley are at the meeting. Another question is: Why is Yar not at the meeting?

* It's hard to believe that Worf has never heard of automobiles.

* Data describes automobiles as an "ancient Earth device". "Ancient" usually refers to a time period thousands of years in the past, not hundreds.

* During the meeting, Picard calls Whalen a "20th century historian". But later, in his log, Picard calls Whalen a "fiction expert".

* When Data's tells Picard that he is "totally versed in the genre of the period", I don't think he is using the word "genre" correctly.

* Why do Picard, Data and Whalen enter the holodeck without waiting for Dr. Crusher?

* Why didn't Picard, Data, or Whalen replicate any money to take with them onto the holodeck?

* When one of the detectives insults Picard by saying "Look what the cat dragged in", Data confusedly responds "Cat?" But later, at the police station, he appears completely familar with period slang, asking Crusher "What's cooking" before telling her Picard is "on ice" and "being grilled".

Continued...

* Before Picard first enters the holodeck, the computer asks "Program desired location?" and he responds "San Franciso, 1941 AD". Then the computer asks him for "File or access code" and he responds "Dixon Hill, Private Detective". Shouldn't the computer ask for the file name first, since the location may be determined by the nature of the program? The Dixon Hill program should automatically take Picard to San Francisco in the appropriate time period.

* Upthread, KAM said: If Picard, Whalen and Data have all read this story before, why don't they know where 'the item' is or even what is supposed to happen next? (So earlier in the show, was Picard just pretending to be surprised when he found out that his client was dead?)

Whalen does say that Picard's client was "a page from a book", and since according to Picard, Whalen is a Dixon Hill expert, he's probably not mistaken about her actually being a character in a Dixon Hill story. However, perhaps for players familiar with the original story, the holoprogram provides the option of a verson that uses the same characters, but has a different plot.

Still, Re: "the item", the program should be designed so the player knows everything about "the item" that Dixon Hill is supposed to know (and it doesn't seem that Picard does). Otherwise, it's as if he's playing a character suffering from memory loss. Rather than having to learn that Dixon Hill had been hired to find "the item" and that Redblock apparently had reason to think he'd found it, Picard should have experienced those events himself as part of the program (or at least, been provided with a summary of important background information before play began).

* Another incongruity re: Data's fluency in noir lingo at the police station: On the street, when Detective #1 tells him to "Keep your nose clean", he responds by touching his nose and inspecting his fingers.

* Why does Detective #1 seem to believe that merely finding someone's business card in a murder victim's purse, is powerful evidence they are guilty of her murder?

* Riker sends LaForge to the holodeck to find Picard, rather than simply calling Picard on his commbadge.

* Have high heels gone out of fashion in the future? Crusher stumbling in her stilleto heels, on the steps inside the police station, suggests she isn't used to wearing them (although she has no difficulty dancing in heels in the fourth season episode "Data's Day").

* Why do the villains in this holoprogram, all behave as though they know that Picard and his associates are unarmed?

* For that matter, why is Picard unarmed? Presumably, Dixon Hill carried a gun in the stories. A piece is as much a part of the hard boiled gumshoe persona as the trench coat and fedora Picard is wearing. So why didn't Picard have the holodeck create a holo-gun for him, or replicate a real one before entering the holodeck?

* Why isn't Data the one who disarms Leech after Whalen is shot? He should have at least reacted by placing himself between Leech's gun and the others. Instead, he just kneels down beside Whalen and stares at him.

* After Picard knocks the gun out of Leech's hand (Leech having conveniently approached within arm's reach), and Leech flees, why doesn't Picard or Data pick up the gun?

* Why doesn't Data stand guard at the door, in case Leech returns with reinforcements?

* Although Picard and Data repeatedly say "Identify exit" without result, they never try saying "End program", or "Freeze program", or telling the computer to restore safety protocols.

* Leech seems to return with Redblock and Henchman #2 rather quickly. Maybe they were waiting in the car outside.

* In response to Leech asking where he was "hatched", Data starts to explain "I was created on a planet..." when Picard quickly cuts him off by saying "Data" warningly. So Data instead repeats his earlier "South America" claim. But then only seconds later, after Redblock says he's been all over the world and never seen anything like Data, Picard declares that "He's not from this world, none of us are". Why does Picard reverse himself so suddenly?

* For someone who is bulletproof (or at least, probably much less vulnerable to bullets than humans), super-strong, and super-fast, Data is remarkably useless for nearly the entire time they are held at gunpoint. During the discussion of Data's origins, Data is within arm's length of both Redblock and Leech, while Leech doesn't even have his gun out, and Henchman #2 is occupied pointing his gun at another hologram. Later, he doesn't even react when Redblock orders Leech to kill Crusher. If Picard hadn't successfully bought time by pretending he had "the item", would Data have just stood by and let her be shot?

* Redblock tells Crusher: "Senseless killing is immoral. But killing for a purpose can be quite often ingenious." That doesn't actually make any distinction between senseless and purposeful killing, since something can be both immoral and ingenious.

* Before exiting the holodeck, Redblock says "After we've gone, kill them all." Considering that the remaining henchman will then be outnumbered 4-1, wouldn't it have been wiser for Redblock to give this order out of earshot, rather than essentially telling Picard and the others they have nothing to lose by resisting? Also, now that Redblock knows they are telling the truth, why does he want them dead? Wouldn't they be potentially valuable as hostages and sources of information about their world?

* It's probably just a coincidence that Redblock says "Au revoir et bonne chance, mon ami" ("Goodbye and good luck, my friend") to Picard, since he doesn't know that Picard is French (although, Picard's client also says "au revoir" to him earlier in the episode, so perhaps the computer is subtly tailoring the program to him).

Also, "Good luck" is a strange sentiment to express to someone, immediately after you have given an order for them to be killed, right in front of them.

* After Redblock and Leech vanish, the episode cuts back to the office, where Data finally decides to do something, and snatches the gun from Henchman #2. Conveniently, it appears Data is able to reach him in a single step, although they were previously at least 10 feet apart, with Picard and Detective #2 standing in a row between them.

* As Data pinches the barrel closed and drops the gun on the floor, rather than backing away helplessly, why doesn't the henchman pull out the gun he took from Detective #2, which he presumably still has on him?

* Before knocking the henchman out, Data asks Picard "With your permission, sir?" Why ask permission to punch a hologram? Also, is Data just trying to be dramatic, when he draws his arm far back, and looks like he's putting real effort into his punch?

* After Data picks up Whalen to carry him to sick bay, he walks out of the holodeck at a leisurely pace. Whalen is dying, so why doesn't Data run?

* Upthread, KAM said: A second door could also explain why we don't see Wesley or Geordi by the door at the end. They're around the corner at the other door.

Except that once they get the door open, more than four minutes pass before Picard leaves the holodeck. Why did none of the repair crew bother to walk around the corner in all that time? Did they not realize they'd succeeded in opening the door? They didn't hear Redblock yelling in the corridor?

* We never find out if Whalen survives.

* Since Jarada is pronounced "Harada", why is it spelled with a J in English?

* After Picard says the purpose of the briefing is to discuss the "Jaradan rendezvous", both Riker and Data refer to the Jarada as the "Jaradan". Minutes later, Geordi does so too, while talking to Data in the corridor.

* Why does Data speed-read the Dixon Hill stories, rather than downloading them directly into his memory?

* Why does the newspaper vendor claim that Cleveland "got no pitchers"? Bob Feller, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, had been with the Indians for five years in 1941.

* When Picard and the others go to Dixon Hill's office, why is the office door unlocked?

* In order to function as Dixon Hill for the duration of an entire case, wouldn't a player need keys to Hill's office, car, apartment, etc? How would the player acquire them?

* How exactly was Redblock planning to "plunder" a world he knew nothing about, with just him and Leech? Even if he had somehow been able to survive beyond the holodeck, he'd probably have just been phasered by security and thrown in the brig.

* KAM said: The Bridge crew should have learned about this mission before or just after they set course for Trona IV

Trona IV? There's no planet by that name in this episode or listed on Memory Alpha... is that a mistake, or a joke I'm not getting?

* Just before Picard leaves the holodeck the first time, he walks over to the far right corner of his office, and gazes out the window at the intersection below. From that vantage point, it appears that a car heading towards him, is about to pass directly underneath his office, a few feet to his left, as though the street runs through the building.

* In "Manhunt", Dixon Hill's secretary takes a handgun out of her desk in the waiting room. Was that gun there in this Dixon Hill program too? If so, then including the gun Leech left behind, Picard and the others could have been armed with at least two guns when Redblock arrived.

Trona IV? There's no planet by that name in this episode or listed on Memory Alpha... is that a mistake, or a joke I'm not getting?

Well, if it's a mistake then it was made by the Chief.

The second trivia question for this episode in The Nitpicker's Guide For Next Generation Trekkers Volume II reads, "To what planet does the Enterprise travel so that Picard can greet the Jarada?" and the answer is "Trona IV".

When I wrote those nits originally it was with the Nitpicker's Guides by my side so I didn't duplicate any nits, to check spellings & for additional info I might have missed.

Phil made a spelling mistake. The name of the planet where they greet the Jarada is not mentioned in the episode. However, in the script, Picard says that the planet's name is "Torona" Four. Maybe it's mentioned in closed captioning too. If it's just in the script but not the episode, then technically it's not canon and shouldn't have been in the Guide.

There is one "Trona" with a Trek connection: The Trona Pinnacles in Trona, CA is where the planet in Star Trek V was filmed.

* Riker walks onto the bridge and asks Tasha for a status report. She responds that they are being probed from long-range, most likely by the Jarada. Then the ship shakes for several seconds, as we see a beam of light move down a corridor and into the control panel outside the holodeck.

Why does Tasha wait until Riker asks for her report, before telling him they are being probed? When the ship starts shaking, why doesn't Riker order Tasha to raise the shields? In fact, shouldn't it be standard procedure, whenever the ship is being subjected to a probe of unknown origin, for whoever is at the controls to raise shields immediately? Or, for the ship's computer to raise them on its own, the nanosecond it detects that it is being probed?

When the ship starts shaking, why doesn't Riker order Tasha to raise the shields?

Well, it's pretty obvious they were expecting the Jarada to look them over, and considering how easily offended that species seems to be, raising shields to prevent their scan would have ended the mission right there and then. The Enterprise can endure a little shaking, in the name of diplomacy.

They didn't know for sure that it was the Jarada probing them, though. Tasha says it was "most likely" the Jarada, but she couldn't tell where the probe was coming from. Also, they had no reason to wrongly assume that the probe's disruptive effects would be limited to a little shaking. Perhaps they were just lucky it only caused the holodeck to malfunction, and not life support or antimatter containment.

* Why does Picard assume that Whalen probably knows more about Dixon Hill than he does? Even if Whalen's expertise in 20th century fiction is limited to the English language, that is still an extremely broad category.

* If Tasha couldn't tell where the probe was coming from, how did she know it was "long range"?

* Did the Enterprise have clearance from Starfleet command, to allow the Jarada to probe the ship and its computer systems? It's likely that some technical details of a Galaxy-class ship's construction, and data in the computer's memory banks, are classified.

* When the Jaradan speaking to Riker asks if he is the captain, Riker responds: "No sir, I'm not." Does he have reason to assume that the Jaradan is male?

* Immediately after Data tells Redblock he will not be able to leave the holodeck, and again after Redblock tells Picard that "I'd shoot you myself, but I don't want to deprive my assistant of his greatest pleasure", the scene cuts to Dr. Crusher, and both times Crusher is smiling.

* After being informed that they are approaching the Jaradan sector, Riker asks if there is any word from the "Jaradans", rather than the Jarada.

When the Jaradan speaking to Riker asks if he is the captain, Riker responds: "No sir, I'm not." Does he have reason to assume that the Jaradan is male?

Based on the description of the UT in Metamorphosis(TOS), I'm guessing that it translates "Sir" into [Generic Term Of Respect]

When the two bad guys leave the holodeck at the end of the episode, aside from it feeling like a nit because it contradicts what we see in future episodes (that's really a nit in those episodes, not this one), the two characters disappear from the feet up. In other words, they hover in the air, first with no feet, then no feet and no legs, etc. They should fall to the ground.

I know somebody's going to say, "That's because they're holograms, they have no mass." But if they are holograms and the holodeck is able to project them outside the holodeck, then it would be able to continue to do so. The idea was that they were made of a kind of matter that disintegrates outside the holodeck.

There's always a bit of a problem with this when characters get vaporized by phasers or disruptors - if they get hit in the torso, their heads and limbs should fall to the ground before they finish disintegrating, not just hover in the air! Of course that's not only more expensive to do but a bit too grisly.

Mike Nuss on Wednesday, August 21, 2002 - 10:15 pm: Cyrus Redblock and his goon exit the Holodeck and very slowly fade away. Shouldn't they have disappeared instantly as soon as they passed through the exit? This contradicts what we have seen in future episodes.
This could be another sympton of the damage from the probe.

Sparrow47 on Sunday, September 01, 2002 - 8:20 pm: Interesting note I found out while doing the synopsis: the director and writer of this ep wanted everything in the holodeck to be in black and white, but Berman and Justman pointed out that the holodeck couldn't do this to the "real" crew. So then along comes Bride of Chaotica!...
The holodecks on Voyager are more advanced then the one's featured here.

Jonathan (Jon0815) on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 6:50 am: Riker sends LaForge to the holodeck to find Picard, rather than simply calling Picard on his commbadge.
The effects of the probe may have disrupted the communication system.

Have high heels gone out of fashion in the future? Crusher stumbling in her stilleto heels, on the steps inside the police station, suggests she isn't used to wearing them,although she has no difficulty dancing in heels in the fourth season episode Data's Day.
She may have practiced, especially if she needed to portray a woman wearing high heels in one of her drama productions.

Although Picard and Data repeatedly say "Identify exit" without result, they never try saying "End program", or "Freeze program", or telling the computer to restore safety protocols.
They probably realise that a holodeck which ignores a command to identify the exit won't freeze the program or reset the safety protocals.

As Data pinches the barrel closed and drops the gun on the floor, rather than backing away helplessly, why doesn't the henchman pull out the gun he took from Detective #2, which he presumably still has on him?
Either he no longer has it, or he is too shocked by Data's action to get it out.

After Data picks up Whalen to carry him to sick bay, he walks out of the holodeck at a leisurely pace. Whalen is dying, so why doesn't Data run?
It may not be possible for Data to run while carrying Whalen, especially as this could aggrevate Whalen's injuries.

Jonathan (Jon0815) on Tuesday, August 07, 2012 - 11:17 am: If Tasha couldn't tell where the probe was coming from, how did she know it was "long range"?
Probably because the source of the scan was located somewhere beyond the range of their sensors.

http://explaining-errors-in-star-trek.wikia.com/wiki/The_Big_Goodbye

This episode makes it seem that the holodeck is relatively new thing. The way Picard talks about it to the crew (of course, that's really an info dump for us, the audience).

First episode about it, and it already malfunctions.

Technically, it's the second episode. We saw it in "Encounter at Farpoint".

Perhaps the ability to have active "NPC"s is what's new.

The first episode with holodeck was Encounter at Far Point.

The second is Code of Honor, where Tasha demonstrates a combat training program to the Ligonian delegates

The third is in Haven, where Deanna, Will and Wyatt have a conversation in it.

And then we get to The Long Goodbye, which is the fourth episode where we see the holodeck, but actually the first where it is part of the main plot.

Good points.

But this is the first of the "malfunctioning holodeck" episodes. A trope that would get beaten to death.