In the Next Generation Guide, many of the nits picked dealt with the unauthorized terbolift acces. One not mentioned, the terbolifts are the mass transit system on board the Enterprize, a ship with civilian population. What constitutes unauthorized acces? Boarding the things? Does Data's console bleep every time some kid goes to there classroom? To the arboretum? When the waiters go to Ten Forward to work? Are there stairs somewhere that all the non-Starfleet personel have to use?

Maybe it's the destination that needs authorization.

Yes, definitly it's the destination. Anyone can get into the turbolift, but not everyone can take it to engineering.

I believe Clara takes the turbolift to Engineering in the episode "Imaginary Friend". Did she have authorization? Didn't she get in trouble for being there?

Maybe she used Isabella's authorization?

Is it just me or does the Angosian Prime Minister bear an uncanny resemblance to Zefram Cochran of Star Trek: First Contact? (Maybe he's related? )

Data is in charge of the Bridge and is a much higher rank than Wes, yet when Wesley is telling Data about the missing drive section he calls Data, "Data." Shouldn't he refer to Data as "Sir"? This is the Bridge, not Ten Forward, and they are engaged in official business. Would he refer to Picard as Jean-Luc, or Riker as Will?

At the beginning of the show O'Brien is stationed in Transporter Room 4, at the end of the show O'Brien is stationed in Transporter Room 1. Not really a nit, I suppose. We have seen O'Brien manning the Conn (Encounter At Farpoint), and manning the controls in Shuttle Bay 2 (Time Squared), but it seemed unusual that he would be in two Transporter rooms during one show. Especially since in the DS9 pilot Emissary, Picard commented on how O'Brien was usually stationed in Transporter Room 3. (And I can't blame him, Transporter Room 3 looks so different from all those other Transporter Rooms.)

When Troi tells Danar where he is, it sounded to me like she said, "US Enterprise."

Where and how did Danar get a phaser? Until Troi told him where he was he didn't even know what ship he was on?
Do the insides of the Brig have blueprints of the Enterprise in them with the location of the weapons lockers specially marked?

Picard ordered the Cargo Bay flooded with anestisene gas, but then Security has to wait until the gas is emptied from the room before they can enter. Wouldn't it make more sense to have Security put on suits or breathing equipment so they can grab the unconscious person without giving them a chance to wake up?

The carpet of the Bridge seemed to run into the Turbolift without any sign of a break.

Angosia wants to be in the Federation. However, the Federation is an equal opportunity organization. So why weren't any of the Angosian soldiers women? Picard even says, They are your brothers and sons.", but doesn't mention sisters or daughters.

KAM: Is it just me or does the Angosian Prime Minister bear an uncanny resemblance to Zefram Cochran of Star Trek: First Contact? (Maybe he's related? )

Luigi Novi: Not only that, he sounds JUST LIKE Jaglom Shrek from Birthright part I(TNG) and Hanok from Starship Down(DS9)!

Did we see ANY Angosian women in this episode? Its been awhile and I can't remember.

When Picard decided to beam down to the planet with Troi, Data, and Worf, Riker leaves the bridge to follow them (for the sole purpose, apparently, of telling Worf to do his job). Who's in charge of the bridge? The three top officers aren't there, and none of them indicated in any way who had the bridge.

Oh, and Merat, I just watched it, and no, we didn't see any Angosian women. Just a lot of men in odd jumpsuits. Maybe they don't reproduce sexually? Or maybe their "women" look just like their "men" to human eyes.

At one point, Danar jumps out of a transporter beam. I'd sure like to know how he did that with his molocules half de-materialized.

Nayrok bears a striking resemblence to Zephram Cochrane (ST-FC) Must be a distant cousin.

HOW did Danar lower the forcefield in the hallway? He's not a part of the Enterprise or Starfleet. Where did he get the authorization (or codes) to lower the forcefield?

John A. Lang -

He knocked out a security officer, then used his comm badge to request deactivation of the forcefield.

Regarding "unauthorized" turbolift access, here is my theory: recall that Picard ordered all crew members to general quarters, except for security teams. Therefore, any use of the turbolifts, except by security officers, would be unauthorized!

I was talking about the forcefield. How did he get THAT security access code?

John,

As I said, he knocked out a security officer, then used his comm badge to request deactivation of the forcefield. He didn't need an access code.

Very well. But there should have been an access code. What good is a forcefield is anyone can come along. knock out a security guard, hit his comm badge & deactivate it? Some security! FEH!

John A. Lang: Nayrok bears a striking resemblence to Zephram Cochrane (ST-FC) Must be a distant cousin.
Luigi Novi: He also sounds a lot like Jaglom Shrek form Birthright partI and Hanok from Starship Down(DS9).

I could be the third person to point out James Cromwell is in this episode, but I'll decline.

Instead, I'll point out other stuff, like:

Jeff McCarthy (Danar) just missed being a Voyager regular, getting killed off in the opening episode as Dr. Fitzgerald.

Before Roga is first beamed aboard, Picard asks for Security to be there before Roga materializes...so how many guards are present?

THREE (Not counting O'Brien)

That's it?!

Is that ALL Security can spare?

How many Security Guards are there on the FLAGSHIP of the Federation?

Nayrock WARNED Picard that Roga was very dangerous & violent

And Security flakes off the warning and only "allows" THREE GUYS to show up?

No wonder he got out of the Transporter Room so easily!

Keep in mind, they only knew (from what they were told) that Danar was an extremely dangerous criminal, not a chemically-altered/battle-hardened/psychologically manipulated warrior as they found out later in the episode. They probably figured they would only need three people to deal with him.

There must be a lot of security guards on the Enterprise, since they were in all shuttlebays(according to Worf), standing guard on the decks, and engaged in search operations. I believe Picard also ordered Worf to guard all the airlocks on the decks in Danar's vicinity(don't know how many there are)That would require at a minimum several dozen people.

well the ship does have over 1000 people on it.

When Worf finally captures Roga Danar in the Cargo Hold, Worf STANDS there and talks to him.

FIRE YOUR PHASER! TACKLE HIM! DO SOMETHING!

GEEZ!

At one point, Danar jumps out of a transporter beam. I'd sure like to know how he did that with his molocules half de-materialized.

I think it has something to do with the fact that his body has some type of chemicals in it that can resist energy. I can't remember the details but it's for the same reason that he can't be tracked by the sensors, and probably the reason that he can take so much phaser fire. Apparently he can control how much energy he can resist as even Troi tells him to stop whatever he's doing because he will be killed.

After Roga Danar is put in the brig, Nayrok suggest to keep Danar under sedation until the transport ship arrives because Danar is considered to be "very dangerous"

Why didn't Picard heed Nayrok's advice?

I mean, the guy broke out of prison, no doubt he could find a way out of the Brig....forcefield or no forcefield

because Nayrok is a politician... and they're not to be trusted.

You're on a roll this week, Torque. LOL

Those must've been some very light crates which were dumped on Worf during his fight with Danar in the cargo bay. He managed to just push them off him without any serious injuries. Recall the very serious injuries he suffered when a similar crate fell on him in "Ethics."

Maybe he was injured here & Ethics was just the 'final straw' that broke his camel's back? ;-)

You calling me a camel?!

P'tahk!

Great episode with a great guest star. Put a sci-fi spin on a lot of the problem that Vietnam veterns were facing when they were trying to get back into everyday life after having been conditioned to do things that are impossible for many people.

Nits; In a matter of time we learn that the computer can deactivate Phasers. This begs the question as to why Picard didn't order the computer to do something like that here. He could have ordered the computer to deactivate all phasers not being carried by a life form. Since Danar doesn't register on Enterprises sensors (a fact the crew knows) this would deny him weapons.

You have a dangerous individual in the brig and need to transport him to another ship, this will require you to drop the force field around the brig. Do you;

A; Sedate him, then transport him while he is sleeping.

B; Back out of the room and lock the large, heavy doors to the brig so even if something goes wrong he'll still be trapped. You can watch the transport via CCTV from outside the Brig.

C; Station a couple of guards next to the cell with weapons holstered and the door to the room left open. After all if something goes wrong you want to give him a fair chance at being able to escape into the corridors of the ship with a weapon.


Danar's sabotage knocks the Enterprises external sensors offline. The next shot of the ship however still shows the ship orbiting the planet and moving faster than the planet is rotating. Since Enterprise can't see what is ahead of it this seems like a bad idea to me;

Captains log; We continue to orbit Angosia III until sensors are repaired. Thankfully the Angosians have yet to complain about us running into 46 *Thump* 47 of their satellites.

NANJAO

I liked how they showed Danar putting a phaser into his collar before climbing the ladder out of engineering. If they hadn't, it would be confusing because he just had two phasers and it'd look like he lost one only to get it back later on when he needed an extra phaser.

Danar's escape is wholly unbelievable.

First he stops himself from being transported. now having chemicals in your system that mask you from sensors is one thing but allowing you to control your body molecule by molecule? common folks!

Second he (somehow!) makes a bright flash of light when the beam finally fails which blinds everyone in the room for only a second but in that second Danar is gone. now mind you it was only a second and the doors to the bridge never open...so where did he go? after the flash of light they call picard and tell him a phaser is missing...so this guy stops a transporter, blinds everyone, grabs someone's phaser and runs out of the room (without opening the doors) all in the time it takes everyone to blink and take a step back?

Third When Denar is in the shuttle bay Picard orders the bays to be flooded with Anestisene gas, we then cut to a visual of Denar in the shuttle bay watching the gas come down, he opens a container and grabs a pressure suit. The next bit of dialog states that the shuttle bays are filled with the gas, they then return the air to normal and Worf goes right in. we then see Denar hiding behind some containers with the pressure suit on the floor...still in the package! so he didn't put the suit on yet still was able to resist the gas? I know they were trying make this guy look hard but the feats that he performs in this episode are just too much to believe. Next they show Denar leaving but Worf stops him, obviously Worf suspected he was there and fooled him into coming out....too bad Worf didnt allow his security guards in on his plan, if they had stayed it might have evened the odds....or perhaps not, this guy knocks over extras like Bowling bowl through pins.

The writers obviously wanted us to be impressed with Denar and they wanted us to buy into the logic that Denar's skills and abilities obviously expand in proportion to the level of adversity he is facing. he is after all a single man on an alien ship with presumably hundreds of security guards and he takes them on flawlessly. Given this knowledge I really wonder why the federation didn't Employ these chaps when the whole Borg incident goes down, think about it: beam a couple of these guys onto a cube and just sit back with some popcorn.

I agree, however they were in the brig not bridge and those were cargo bays not shuttle bays, but I'm sure that's what you meant
I thought he took the pressure suit out of the package, just never put it on?

Even though a few times we actually see somebody physically fighting the Borg [First Contact, Enterprise...] they succeed, so why not turn these guys loose on the Jem Haddar(?)

Yes I meant brig, thanks for catching my spelling error, as to the Cargo bay, I thought it was the shuttle bay but of course you are right, it was the cargo bay, hence the large empty plastic containers that knock Worf over yet are light enough to shrug off when he gets up.

My not about the suit was, even if he took it out...he never put it on so why didn't the gas have any effect? On the bridge they make a point to announce the concentration of the gas, I assumed this was to notify the viewer that it was a very potent concentration as well it should given what the Enterprise crew has seen of this guy so far. But not only did it not incapacitate him, it didn't even make him sleepy, he is fully alert when Worf comes in.

As for the Jem Hadar I could not agree with you more, It would have been a very interesting flavor to add to the Dominion war, with all the losses the Federation was taking it would have been nice to see that these guys at least evened the score a little by giving the Jem Hadar a real run for their money.

This episode once again re-used the Angel One matte painting for Angosia III, but at least made the buildings look more modern.

And this episode marked the first guest appearance for James Cromwell, who would also play Jaglom Shrek in "Birthright", Hanok on DS9, and of course, Zephram Cochrane, version two. (He was portrayed by another actor on TOS, and was said to be from Alpha Centauri, not Earth.)

I liked the fact that the two "little guys" who were serving as security officers at least *tried* to subdue Danar when he beamed in. Even O'Brien had to get involved. The three put up a good fight, but ultimately it took Worf and Riker to subdue Danar. I thought it was interesting when one of the "redshirts" fired his phaser at Danar, and it only pained him for a few seconds and didn't stun him, as it was probably on a low setting. Riker then ordered them all to set phasers to maximum stun.

I also wonder, if even that would have been able to knock Danar out when Worf confronted him in the cargo bay. I mean, if Worf had just fired a maximum-stun blast at Danar instead of talking to him and giving him the time he needed to regroup and outmanuver Worf, who was distracted when the overloaded phaser exploded. But then, if that had happened, the ending would have been totally different!

Speaking of the ending, I thought it was funny when Prime Minister Nayrock showed that he was a particularly incompetant politican: when Picard, Troi, Data, and Worf beamed down, Nayrock is attempting to arm his staff while lamenting that they have to resort to force and possible violence. His reaction to only the four of them arriving is: "This is all you've brought? Where are your security men?" Also, the look on his and the rest of the council's faces when Danar and all the soldiers he freed from the Lunar V colony barge in and have their weapons pointed right at all of their heads. That was quite amusing, especially when Picard remarks that if the government of Angosia "survives the night" perhaps later on the Federation can reconsider their application for membership. In this case, Picard does not fight Nayrock's battles for him. I liked that!

Also, Jeff McCarthy (Danar) also played the ill-fated Dr. Fitzgerald in "Caretaker" as he was one of the crew who died when being transported to the DQ. He also played the slimy OCP lawyer in "Robocop 2", along with Stephen Lee, who played Duffy, which I mentioned on "The Vengeance Factor" board.

One other thing I noticed. The Angosian soldiers can no longer be detected by lifeform scans, due to all the chemicals and various other substances in their systems. And the fact that the Angosian government just disposed of them like garbage once they no longer had any use for them. Sounds vaguely familiar, that kind of thing parallels even our own Earth societies!