Why was Picard the only one in a dress uniform when the Antideans beamed up? For that matter, since the Antideans prefer to travel in stasis why bother wearing his dress uniform or even show up at all?
Why were only Picard and Riker wearing Dress uniforms when Lwaxana came aboard? Why did Riker have to be there to greet Ambassador Lwaxana, when he didn't have to be there to greet the Antidean delegates? Shouldn't there be some kind of standard protocol on who greets Ambassadors and similar high ranking officials?
If Lwaxana prides herself on honesty, then why does she resort to subterfuge and commenting on Picard's allegedly lustful thoughts?
Data seemed thrilled to be telling them all of that trivia, but wouldn't that be an emotional reaction?
Data claims he used a mathematical formula to calculate the exact distance between two star systems, but previously he said he had timesed pi as part of the equation. Pi is an infinite number and could not give an exact number. (Yes, Data may have only used some of the numbers of pi, but then wouldn't Data have stated something like, pi to the fifteenth decimal?)
If the Phase is natural, then why are the only honorable courses celibacy or focusing sexclusively, I mean exclusively, on one man? If it is natural for a Betazoid woman of a certain age to become extremely horny then it should also be accepted that these women will probably be hopping from bed to bed. It is even conceivable that married Betazoid men might have men over to give them a rest period from their wives.
In The Big Goodbye Picard says that he has been reading Dixon Hill's adventures since he was a child, so why does he have such problems with the characters' slang terms? (Of course, Picard is French so maybe he is only familiar with the French translation of those slang terms?)
How exactly do these Holodeck programs function anyway? Sometimes a person picks a specific novel or historical incident to re-enact, and the computer knows exactly what to do even if the person who picked the program doesn't. However, sometimes the person is rather vague in their choice, such as picking a place, but not the time of year, which would certainly affect the look of the program. I don't remember exactly what Picard asked for when he set up this program, but I do remember him specifying San Francisco, although I'm not certain if he mentioned a year or even Dixon Hill's offices. I do know that he did not pick a specific Dixon Hill story to re-enact. So is the computer programmed to 'ad lib?' Does the computer just create characters and situations that might happen in a Dixon Hill story? (or Sherlock Holmes, or Ancient Greece or wherever and whatever?) Picard didn't seem to have a clue as to who Slade Bender or Alva was, which contradicts his statement in The Big Goodbye of having read these stories as a child.
The second guy to come into Dixon Hill's office, appeared to have an eye twitch after Picard said, "Freeze program!" although it might have just been Patrick Stewart's shadow passing over his eye. I couldn't tell for certain.
The computer tells Picard that the events of the program is defined by the Dixon Hill novels. Weren't there any Dixon Hill short stories? In The Big Goodbye it is mentioned that the character first appeared in Amazing Detective Stories, were they all novel length stories or was the computer being sloppy in it's word choice?
Lwaxana seemed to be attracted to Worf and his 'primal' thoughts. Like mother, like daughter. (Although that does put a new spin on her calling him "Mr. Woof.")
If the Bridge is supposed to be off limits to unauthorized personnel, then why can just anyone tell the turbolift, "Bridge" and go there? Shouldn't the computer have some kind of subroutine that checks a person's voice against a list of authorized personnel?
Why did Data want to go to the holodeck? Was he bored and thought it would make a good diversion? Did he just want to show off his fancy new duds? There seemed to be no reason given in the show.
Why was Lwaxana so thrilled about not being able to read Rex's thoughts? She can't read Data's thoughts and she has never been interested in him.
I thought it was a cute song choice. When Lwaxana is talking to Rex, the song is "How High The Moon."
The Antideans used Ultritium in their robes because the transporter can't read it. Why would any element be unreadable to the transporter? The transporter has to take things apart and put them back together again. If the transporter can't read an element, then how would it know how to put it back together again properly?
Why do the Antideans just let themselves be taken away, instead of setting off the explosives? (Oh, right. That whole blow up the ship and crew thing would make future episodes a little tough to do.)
If Picard knew that the Antedeans would be in a self-induced sleep, then why did he talk to them? (This is a cabbageism I suspect.) Come to think of it, why did he go throught that whole ceremony? I guess that Starfleet procedure would not allow him to skip it.
I am NOT Dixon Hill! I just LOOK LIKE Dixon Hill!
He speaks the truth, sir. From your point of view, he is only a facsimile... a knock-off... a cheap imitation...
Yes, THANKyou Data...
Keith Allan Morgan:
I know that it has been a while since you posted your message, but I just got around to reading this thread. Pi is not a infinite number. It has a finite value. Rather, pi is an irrational number, meaning that its value cannot be precisely expressed in decimal form. And while mathematics was never my strong suit, I do recall that pi can be used with reasonable accuracy in mathematical formulae. (ie: the circumference of a circle = p r2 )
More specifically, p is not only irrational, but transcendental. That is, it is not the result of any algebraic equation.
I thought Spock had said that Pi was infinite in Wolf In The Fold. (Or maybe he said something about it having no known last digit implying that it ran on forever which to me is pretty close to infinite.)
Also if I understand correctly, the more digits of pi used the more accurate the answer.
Also there is only one L in Alan, Llawyer. ;-)
Sorry, KAM, but 3.14159...is not close to infinite.
3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459
2307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844
6095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489
5493038196...
Show off :p
I got it off a website.... I probably should have broken it up a tad though.....
Done by your Moderator.
I know up to ...37510 by heart (50 decimal places).
In my defense I would like to quote the great thinker of our time, Barbie, when she said, "Math is hard."
p = C/d
C = Circumference
d = diameter
(this is a fact, since this is how the Greeks discovered pi)
Even a number like 1/3 can be considered "infinite", since it is equal to 0.333...
The impressive thing about pi is it is a transcendental number, not only infinite - but the number patterns never repeat.
(by the way, I got 1/3 memorized to 10,000 decimal places!)
Math Geek,
"but the number patterns never repeat." -- that's irrational. The part that makes it transcendental is the facts
1) it is irrational
2) it is not the root of any algebraic equation.
1/3 is not "infinite"...infinite is the result of 1/0.
Rene ... the result of 1/0 is "undefined".
(look it up!)
However ... based on your arguement, 1/3 DOES have a beginning, just no end. DOES that make it "infinite"?
ScottN ... your are correct, sir! You make take on the moniker of "Math-Geek-of-the-month"!
Sorry...but look at the graph of 1/x. As x approaches zero, 1/x approaches infinity.
You don't seem to be too much of a math geek if you didn't know that.
And you seem to be confusing the number of digits in a number and the value of the number. 1/3 is 1/3...not infinite.
Rene you're not quite right...
lim 1/x = ¥
x®0
not 1/x = ¥
What are these symbols you are using? I don't recognize them.
Whatever they are...I am right. 1/x approaches infinity as x approaches 0.
Rene ... even though for 1/x when x "approaches" zero, 1/x "appraoches" infinity, the plain fact is that it can never EQUAL zero. THAT is one of those mathematical NO-NO's. That is the reason for my arguement that 1/0 DOES NOT define infinity, as your earlier post suggests.
Didn't mean to come across so "cross" Rene ... I was just attempting to be comical when I suggested that 1/3 is "infinite" ... after all, it IS an infinite series of 3's extending to the right of the decimal point!
There! Now that is phrased correctly!
Anyway...I know about 1/x. Saying 1/0 is infinite was the short way of saying the limite when x approches 0 of 1/x is infinity.
But anyway....there aren't any hard feelings...
But I do seem to remember from high school that it was actually 0/0 that was "undefined"...(since theoretically, if 0/0 were allowed that it could equal any number, since 0x = 0, any value could be put in there for x.)
Do a limx->-01/x and a limx->+01/x and compare the results. You see a difference?
Oh yeah...forgot about the other side....
But anyway...the conclusion of the matter, everything having been heard, is.....pi is not infinite. It has an infinite number of digits after the decimal point...but it is not infinite
OK.
Blueberry Pie should be infinite 
I think we all know what Troi should have said when her mother announced that she herself was going to marry Riker.
Riker (Frakes) looks like he's about to crack up after the "or more" statement by Troi (Sirtis)
John A: I think we all know what Troi should have said when her mother announced that she herself was going to marry Riker.
Yes, she'll say "Oh, OK then. I think you'll make a fine couple."
[deadpan mode off]
Oh, you're no fun anymore.
GARGANTUAN NIT: In "Shades of Grey", Deanna could read Riker's mind while he was asleep. SO why couldn't Deanna or Lwaxana read the aliens' minds while THEY (the aliens) were asleep?
1. Deanna is not as powerful as her mom and she did have a previous connection with Riker.
2. The aliens' hibernation might shut down the part of their minds that Lwaxana could easily read.
3. Lwaxana may have had no interest in reading their minds when she first saw them.
You forgot #4...poor writing.
For which episode? ;-)
Wren T. Brown (Transporter Pilot) was recently seen as Whoopi's conservative brother (that's sibling) on the show "Whoopi."
Robert Costanzo (Slade) is one of those guys whose filmographies are crowded with the part "Vito." Costanzo did the voice of gruff Detective Harvey Bullock on "Batman."
In small roles, there is Robert O'Reilly, soon to play Gowron, as Scarface, and Mick Fleetwood of the band Fleetwood Mac as one of the Antideans (impossible to tell, of course).
MikeC
Do you work for the Internet Movie Database or something? If so you leave alot of stuff about these actors out!
Of course, I leave a lot of stuff out. If you want their whole filmography, go to IMDB or TV.Com or whatever. I just listed the roles and the actors that interested me. Because, you know, it's a discussion about what interests you about the episode.
How is listing what shows the guest actors have also been in show what your insterests are about this episode? LOL
Thanks! You made me laugh, and I needed that!
Well, one thing that interested me about this episode is that it had Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac, so I wanted to mention that. I am interested in the other roles that actors have had and where I might have seen them before. If that makes you laugh, go ahead.
I'm always interested in where I've seen certain actors before, too. I don't see what's wrong with that.
Well heres your cookie
You like them too, I guess, since you posted a couple of them. You get a cookie too.
Yep you're right, and thanks!
Is the Phase supposed to be the reason that Mrs. Troi could not sense that everyone was deceiving her about Picard's whereabouts and reason for being unavailable?
Why did Riker go and see Picard? Why not just buzz him on the comm?
Couldn't Picard have locked the holodeck door to keep people from coming in?
Why couldn't Picard use 'Objective Mode' and just sit in Dix's office?(from TATV) Or, why not just instruct the computer not to generate any characters? There is any number of ways he could have made the program do what he wanted.
If Lwaxana prides herself on honesty, then why does she resort to subterfuge and commenting on Picard's allegedly lustful thoughts?
As I understand it because of being in "The Phase" TM she didn't lie; she really believed that he was.
Why was Lwaxana so thrilled about not being able to read Rex's thoughts? She can't read Data's thoughts and she has never been interested in him.
She knows that Data is an android (or robot as she once called him) while she thought that Rex was a human man that she couldn't read.
GARGANTUAN NIT: In "Shades of Grey", Deanna could read Riker's mind while he was asleep. SO why couldn't Deanna or Lwaxana read the aliens' minds while THEY (the aliens) were asleep?
2. The aliens' hibernation might shut down the part of their minds that Lwaxana could easily read.
That's what I figured. the hybernation was probably something more like a coma whithout any of the higher brain functions, while Riker was obviously dreaming (meaning those parts of the brain were activly working) when Dianna could read him.
* Is "man" a word reserved for human males, or not?
At one point in this episode, Lwaxana says to Troi: "But that's exactly what men are, darling. Especially human men." The inference is that there are non-human men. But then later in the episode, Worf declares "I am not a man", and Lwaxana seems to agree with him.
* Mr. Bender says that Dixon Hill found a client's girlfriend "face down in the river". What river? San Francisco has a bay, but I don't think it has a river.
* After Picard tells the computer to reconfigure the holoprogram, the computer asks him if he wants to leave the holodeck and re-enter, or continue the program from that point. Why would he need to leave the holodeck? Can't the computer start a new program while he is inside?
* In response to Picard's complaint that the original version of the holoprogram (Bender tries to shoot Picard in the office with a pistol) is "much too violent", why does the computer at first decrease the violence level in the second version (unidentified person tries to physically intimidate Picard without a weapon), but then increase it in the third version (Bender bursts into the office with a submachine gun)?
* Perhaps the reason that Riker volunteers to go down to the holodeck to inform Picard the Antideans have awakened, rather than just using the comm system, is that it gives him an excuse to get away from Lwaxana. But isn't it rather rude for Riker and Data to just barge into their captain's holodeck fantasy uninvited? Should the computer even allow them to enter the holodeck without first obtaining Picard's permission?
* Rex tells Picard that the newspaper says Germany is preparing to invade England. However, earlier in this episode, Dixon Hill's secretary says that the last time Hill had a case, Hitler and Stalin were bosom buddies. That implies this holoprogram takes place after the Germans invaded the USSR. Shouldn't an invasion of England have seemed quite unlikely, while the Germans had their hands full already in Russia?
* While talking to Dex, why does Picard reveal his knowledge of the future, by describing the historical effects of WWII from the perspective of someone from the 24th century? Why bother dressing up as Dixon Hill and then break character so flagrantly? Was he just curious how Dex and Hill's secretary would react if Hill appeared to have suddenly gone insane?
* If Lwaxana can use the comm panel in the corridor to find Riker, why didn't she use it earlier to find Picard?
* It's hard to believe that Lwaxana would think that Rex is real. Even if she doesn't know what a holodeck is, she entered the bar from the street outside, so unless she thinks that she has actually been transported to a 20th century Earth city, she must realize that she is in an illusory environment. So when she can't sense any thoughts from Rex, shouldn't she at least suspect he's part of the illusion? Not being able to sense any thoughts from Dixon Hill's secretary either, would be another clue.
* The ease with which Lwaxana identifies the Antideans as assassins, makes me wonder why Starfleet doesn't have a Betazoid security officer on every ship.
* Why doesn't anyone notice that Lwaxana and the ship's computer have identical voices? (This is the first episode where Majel Barrett played both)
Mr. Bender says that Dixon Hill found a client's girlfriend "face down in the river". What river? San Francisco has a bay, but I don't think it has a river.
But he did he say the body was found IN San Francisco? It may have been found in another state...
Why would he need to leave the holodeck? Can't the computer start a new program while he is inside?
It may be more as a courtesy to the user in order to maintain an illusion rather than changing a scene around them. That is the way I always interpreted it.
If Lwaxana can use the comm panel in the corridor to find Riker, why didn't she use it earlier to find Picard? Possibly because Picard has put a block on people locating him- especially those who he doesn't want to see....
It's hard to believe that Lwaxana would think that Rex is real.
Not really- he could be another crew member in character.
Jon0815 - Is "man" a word reserved for human males, or not?
Well, it can refer to the human species, human males & even chess pieces. So while the use in the ep seems inconsistent and confusing it's not necessarily inaccurate.
What river? San Francisco has a bay, but I don't think it has a river.
There are a number of rivers in the region.
Rodney - But he did he say the body was found IN San Francisco? It may have been found in another state...
Or closer, but outside the actual city. ;-)
But he did he say the body was found IN San Francisco?
No. Presumably he did mean some river outside the city (the closest ones I can find on the map are about 40 miles away, on the other side of SF bay, past Oakland and a couple other cities). However, I think that people in a city wouldn't typically call a river, "the" river, unless it went through their city or right by it. And why dispose of a body in a river when the bay and ocean are closer?
It may be more as a courtesy to the user in order to maintain an illusion rather than changing a scene around them.
In that case it should have been a follow-up question, after the user said they wanted to start a new program. The way it was presented, as the only alternative to continuing the current program, implies that leaving and re-entering is necessary in order to start a new program.
Not really- he could be another crew member in character.
It's not that he couldn't be real, it's that it apparently doesn't even occur to Lwaxana that he might not be.
Well, it can refer to the human species, human males & even chess pieces. So while the use in the ep seems inconsistent and confusing it's not necessarily inaccurate.
The only way the usage in this ep is consistent, is if some non-human males are considered to be "men", and others (Klingons) aren't.
A couple more nits:
* Not only does Worf fall down on the job by failing to discover that the Antideans are assassins, he sounds like he has a crush on them.
When he first sees them, he spontaneously remarks: "What a handsome race." Later, while observing them in hibernation, he declares: "Even in this state, they possess a certain dignity, a graceful countenance."
I found this a bit odd. It's true that Klingons may have very different standards of beauty than humans. But Worf was raised by humans. Does this mean Klingons have a genetically-based aesthetic attraction towards fish-like features? Why would that be?
* Dixon Hill's secretary tells Picard that he's acting like he hasn't seen her in a year. Is this supposed to imply that it's actually been an entire year since Picard has played Dixon Hill? After all the gushing he did about the program in "The Long Goodbye"? Perhaps Whalen did die of his gunshot wound, and Picard has stayed away so long because he's been traumatized with guilt.
It's not that he couldn't be real, it's that it apparently doesn't even occur to Lwaxana that he might not be.
She was "suffering" from a tremendously increased sex drive at the time. Those things tend to cloud one's judgement.
he sounds like he has a crush on them
Your point is a good one, but I believe that this is more to do with the running gag that species we would deem as "ugly" would find similarly "ugly" looking species. They did this with Worf all the time- another instance is him eating food no-one else likes. Not saying your nit is wrong, just saying why it came about.
Is this supposed to imply that it's actually been an entire year since Picard has played Dixon Hill?
He IS the captain of the Federation flagship- playing holodeck games- whilst enjoyable- is probably not high on his list of priorities. It's also not a good look for a starship captain to be constantly running off the bridge and into the holodeck either.
It always bugged me that the Antideans are described as being aquatic, but they have no problem spending several days out of water. They seem to be fish (they have what look like gills), but even if they were mammals they would get all dried out. I guess they could be amphibian, which does sound similar to their name...
Also, if they go into hibernation before beaming onboard in order to avoid the unpleasantness of space travel, why not stay in hibernation until after they beam down to the new planet?
And this is yet another episode where they beam someone to the transporter room and then take them to the sick bay, instead of beaming them straight there. In this case it's more glaringly obvious, because the Antideans are comatose and can't walk! The episode never shows how Worf ever got them off the transporter pad, but I bet it was awkward.