Please forgive me, I'm working from a memory of just one viewing of this episode, but how does Riker know that Minuet never really existed? He created her in the holodeck simulation, correct, at first...but possibly he was influenced by a subconscious "memory" of seeing her face fleetingly on the street or seeing her in a newspaper. So ... it's just possible that she could be a real person somewhere. How does he know that she cannot possibly be real?

Riker didn't create Minuet. The Bynars made her in season one.

If what Picard says at the end is true, that Riker was missing for about an hour, then this episode must take place in close to real time. There's no sense of time dilation that I'm aware of. So, Riker wakes up in sickbay and within about a half hour he's met with the Romulans, practically read to sign a treaty? And it takes him only another half hour to escape from the ersatz Romulans - that means him and the kid tried to escape almost instantly after being thrown in the cell? This this make sense?

Captain Picard tells Data to hurry or they will be late for Commander Riker's birthday party. First of all, couldn't the Captain arrange for Data and himself to be off-duty before Riker's party started? Secondly, isn't Data's timing digital? Data is an android and extremely precise, so why would Data ever be late and does he really need the Captain to tell him the time?

Just before Picard and Data head to Riker's party they discover they've been probed, so Picard orders Riker to lead an Away Team to investigate. Is Riker really the only one on the ship who can lead an Away Team? Riker's in the middle of his birthday party, isn't there someone else on the ship who can lead an Away Team? Is Riker ever off-duty from leading an Away Team? ("I'm sorry, my dear, I have to lead an Away Team. Now, where are my pants?")

If the virus is from Alpha Onias III, then why is it called "Altairian encephalitis" instead of Onias encephalitis? Altair is a star 16 light years from Earth.

If the badges are supposed to show rank then why does Admiral Picard wear the same type badge as Captain Riker? Shouldn't the Admiral's badge have at least five bars instead of the Captain's four?

Most of this fantasy comes from Riker's head, so why does he seem to believe that most of his shipmates have no ambition and have passed up promotions to stay on the Enterprise?

In 11001001 she never asked Riker or Picard to call her Min, but in this story, no one talking to Riker calls her Minuet.

Minuet is chosen as Riker's fantasy wife, but Riker says he has no memory of her, then Troi tells him what she was like and that she had replaced Troi as Ship's Counselor. All this implies that Riker only met her when she joined the ship, but Riker had already met and lost Minuet. Also Minuet never tried to pass herself off as a psychologist or Ship's Counselor and Riker knew she was just a hologram. So why was Minuet chosen to be Riker's Fantasy wife? Maybe the boy subconsciously sabotaged the fantasy, because he wanted a real friend, not someone tricked into accepting him?

On page 265 of the NextGen Guide II, Phil wondered why the boy would decide that Minuet was dead when he clearly missed his mom. The key phrase is his mom. Minuet could never be his mom, psychologically, calling Minuet mom would be a betrayal to the memory of his real mom. I don't remember what happened to the boy's dad or when, but there has probably been enough time that he could `adopt' a new flesh and blood dad, but creating an artificial mom who was based on someone else's memories was probably too much for him to take.

Here's one that really falls apart when you think about it. The location of Outpost 23 is a secret and it is strategic and vital. So how can it be a secret? The Federation is not allowed to use cloaking devices so it has to be based on a planet or be a space station floating in space. Also it cannot be based in the Neutral Zone because that would be a violation of the treaty. From time to time it will need food, supplies and replacement crewmembers, so ships must travel to and from it. It must send messages to Starfleet from time to time, and subspace transmissions can be detected. However, the Romulans are a very strategy minded race, so how hard would it be for them to look at the Federation side of the Neutral Zone and figure out the best place to stick an outpost? Of course, the idea that the Romulans don't know where Outpost 23 is comes entirely from Riker's mind. Chances are the Romulans do know where it is, they just haven't bothered telling the Federation that they know.

As for what happened to the boy? Well, it seems Riker was cleaning his phaser one day and...

>>Most of this fantasy comes form Riker's head, so why does he seem to believe that most of his shipmates have no ambition and have passed up promotions to stay on the Enterprise.


Isn't that what Riker himself has done in the past.

Andreas Katsulas played the One-Armed Man in the superb 1993 film version of "The Fugitive," and the killer in 1987's "Someone To Watch Over Me."
Chris Demetral played Brian Benben's son in the raunchy HBO series "Dream On."

At the very beginning, Riker blows out the candles of his cake, and is asked what he wished for. He pauses, Troi gives him a smack, and he chuckles out, "Music lessons!" and everyone bursts out laughing. Call me suspicious, but this looks alot like a potential blooper! Frakes appears to have missed his line, or he wants to say something like "Sex with Marina Sirtis". It all looked very relaxed and unrehearsed, and made it even funnier. I'm glad they used it.
When Crusher wakes 'Captain Riker' up, she tells him that he's been in a coma for 10 days, and delirious. Say what? If you're in a coma, aren't you absolutely unconscious, unable to say or do anything? If he was delirious, that sounds more like a fever or something. Is there a doctor in the house to explain that one?

If you're in a coma, aren't you absolutely unconscious, unable to say or do anything? If he was delirious, that sounds more like a fever or something. Is there a doctor in the house to explain that one?

Well, I'm not a doctor, but I play one...ahem.

Anyway, Will, in medical usage a coma can vary in degree from 'light' (patient unaware but still functioning on a basic level, sorta like sleepwalking) to 'deep' (patient as near death as you can get without actually shutting off the machines). It's based on how responsive the patient is to stimuli, so I think Riker's coma was supposed to be on the light side.

The real problem here, as you say, is sloppy terminology; 'delirious' does indeed refer to fever and probably shouldn't have been used here.

...how does Riker know that Minuet never really existed? He created her in the holodeck simulation, correct, at first...but possibly he was influenced by a subconscious "memory" of seeing her face fleetingly on the street or seeing her in a newspaper.

Uh-huh. And then the question becomes 'How the blazes did this mystery woman that I can barely remember (and who wasn't in Starfleet) wind up on the Enterprise, married to me?!' and the whole scenario falls apart anyway.
(Besides which, I don't recall the Bynars being able to read minds. Didn't they simply set out to create a very desirable woman, who struck Riker as 'real' because of their holodeck enhancements?)

No. Riker is simply a fan of 20th century TV, crime dramas in particular. He was attracted to Dr. Elizabeth Olivet from "Law & Order". The Bynars knew this from tapping his library computer records, and so made Minuet to resemble her.

Personally, Scott, I would've chosen Claire Kincaid. Must be those cheekbones of hers.

And kerriem, to what were you referring about the Bynars not reading minds? Was it Electron's 8.1.00 post? Electron didn't say the Bynars read minds, only that they created Minuet.

KAM: Minuet never tried to pass herself off as a psychologist or Ship's Counselor and Riker knew she was just a hologram. So why was Minuet chosen to be Riker's Fantasy wife? Maybe the boy subconsciously sabotaged the fantasy, because he wanted a real friend, not someone tricked into accepting him?
Luigi Novi: What I think is that everything in the program was a combination of things scanned from Riker's mind, like images of beautiful, memorable women, and embellishments and creative licence taken by Baroush. In the program, Tomalak tells Riker that they chose a woman he had very strong feelings for, but that they obviously didn't know all the details about who she was, so they had improvise. While Tomalak was a fake, it makes sense that this is what Barash himself had to do. As such, everything in the program should be taken with a very big grain of salt, with respect to nitpicking it, even more so than we usually do.

And kerriem, to what were you referring about the Bynars not reading minds? Was it Electron's 8.1.00 post?

Nahhh...I think I just conflated MSmith's comment about how 'Riker created' Minuet with the in-ep reference to her 'living as real...in Riker's mind'. Sorry. Sleep deprivation will do that to you.

Data: "It appears the surface of the planet is composed of bear traps, poison ivy, broken glass and anthrax."
Riker, arriving on the bridge: "Yawn!…Why’d you guys wake me?"
Picard: "Commander, you’re already in your pajamas. Prepare to beam down right now."
The opening teaser, as in Shades of Gray, shows exactly why away teams should wear protective clothing when beaming into an unknown environment. Coincidentally, Riker is again the one who suffers as a result.
Yeah, having Riker’s ass hanging out the back might’ve drawn more of the female demographic
If Barash wanted to convince Riker that he had been in a coma for the past 10 days, then shouldn’t Riker have been dressed is a hospital gown?
And just wait til next week, when Data, wanting to explore femininity, shows off his new breast implants
Ya gotta admit, for people who’ve aged 16 years, the crew looks great! They’ve barely changed! According to the bio screen in Conundrum, Troi and Crusher were born in 2336 and 2324 respectively, so they are 31 and 43 in the "real" time point of this episode. Geordi was born in 2335, according to the episode Cause and Effect, so is 32 in this episode, and Riker is 32, according to the episode The Icarus Factor. Troi was simply given less makeup, and has a single gray streak in her hair, Geordi has none, and Crusher and Riker look great for people pushing 60 and 50 respectively. The quality of facelift and plastic surgery technology must skyrocket in the future.
Riker’s career ambition has been very influential on the rest of the crew
So in 16 years, Data, Worf, and Geordi are still on the Enterprise, and the first two each received just one measly little rank promotion? I think they got it much better by the episode Timeless(VOY), in which Geordi was a captain fifteen years in the future.
Well, Picard’s always been so stiff, you’d think he had a bug up his ass, but his shoulder?
Toward the end of Act 1, Riker, tells "Ambassador" Picard in the observation lounge that he is not fit to take part in treaty negotiations. Picard responds by saying that he should do fine after being fully debriefed. As Picard says this, a fly flies up around Picard’s shoulder.
Even Michael Jackson didn’t buy this one
Ensign Gleason, seen on the battle bridge during the Enterprise’s rescue of Picard/Locutus in Act 3 of The Best of Both Worlds part II, has received a promotion to lieutenant by this episode, possibly due in part to his battle bridge work in that episode. He tells Picard of the subspace fluctuations in the teaser of this episode. This is no problem, but Captain Riker should immediately be able to tell that the reality is fake when "Ambassador Tomalok" beams aboard later on in Act 2, because Gleason is the transporter operator, and he hasn’t aged at all. Riker should immediately have recognized him, because he worked side by side with Gleason on the battle bridge in Best of Both Worlds part II. What kind of plastic surgery has this guy had?
(Insert final joke from the end of Trekkies here.)
In Barash’s future scenario, he supposedly breaks his risk, possibly as a ploy for Riker’s attention. Shouldn’t holodecks be programmed to be inoperable by children without adult supervision? Think about how frightened many parents and other watchdogs are about the prospect of children being exposed to dangerous or adult material on the Internet, and the firewall programs used to block such material. Can you just imagine how they might feel about the things their kids might do on a holodeck? I can’t believe these things don’t have a gajillion redundant safeguards to keep them from being used without permission. True, this all occurs in a false reality, but this also presumably the case in reality. For one thing, if there were such safeguards in fact, Riker would be incredulous, wondering how "Jean-Luc" was able to use the holodeck without his permission, yet he never expresses any such surprise. He is upset that "Jean-Luc" played a dangerous game that he’s too young for, but not surprised that was able to activate the holodeck without his permission. In addition, this occurs again in New Ground, in reality, mind you, when Alexander uses the holodeck to fight monsters without Worf’s permission.
Another character who hasn’t aged? Who sponsored this episode, Retin-A?
After Riker discovers he has a son, Deanna tells him his wife died two years earlier, but in the video that young "Jean-Luc" calls up of Riker, Minuet and himself, which must be over two years old, young Jean-Luc looks the same age.
Brent Spiner: "Aaah!….Arrrggggh!!!….Oooooh!"
Jonathan Frakes: "Brent, what the hell are you doing? Why are you lying on the floor with your legs in the air?"
Spiner: "I’m having a baby, just like the script says!"
Frakes: "Brent, it says you’re supposed to have VERBAL contractions!"
Riker sees through the faux future, partially because of Data’s use of verbal contractions. Apparently, it never occurred to him that Data might actually gain this ability in 16 years.
It’s part of their "the jig is up" subroutine
Barash must think that Romulan holodecks are keyed to dramatic dialogue. After Riker discovers that the future reality is fake, the "holodeck" setting evaporates without a verbal command from Tomalok.
Or is it from one of those Volkswagen Beetle commercials?
When Tomalok walks Riker to "Ethan’s" cell in Act 3, and later when the two escape, the circular corridor arch they walk through is the same one used in the episodes The Hunted and Sins of the Father.

So...Riker decided to take the alien aboard with him at the end of the episode, eh? SO...why is it we never see it again?

Why is Riker having so much trouble playing his trombone? He played it just fine in "11001001"

NANJAO: I thought the faux-Troi still looked very beautiful

Why is Riker having so much trouble playing his trombone? He played it just fine in "11001001"

Hmmmm...It's been a good long while since I actually saw the scene, but as I remember it he wasn't having trouble playing it - he was just sorta fooling around with it, the way people do with a piece of equipment they're very familiar with. It looks awkward but it's really just absentminded.

IIRC it was a only very specific passage where Riker always had difficulties to hit the right tones.

John A. Lang: So...Riker decided to take the alien aboard with him at the end of the episode, eh? SO...why is it we never see it again?
Luigi Novi: No story was written that referred to it. If he was a child, it's likely Riker made sure to have him placed with a family that wanted children, possibly from his own race.

Ah...kinda like Alexander from "Plato's Stepchildren" (TOS)

When confronting fake Geordi about running the level one diagnotic, Riker says, "For 30 hours? It would never take you more than 4". Yet, at the end of the episode, we find out Riker has been missing for one hour.

I don't know if this was mentioned before but why is it so dark behind Troi in the scene in Riker's cabin? You get a wide shot in which the lighting behind Troi is at normal levels and then during her close ups when she's talking about how Min made a good replacement for her - it's pitch black! They must have filmed Marina Sirtis' scenes at a different time.

OK...the faux-Enterprise crew tells Riker that his memory was "gone" for over 16 years. Yet, in all the visual records of Riker's faux history, it shows Riker very coherent. (Waving, talking kissing, playing, etc) What did Riker do all that time? Walk around and say "Duh"? Even Altzheimer's patients retain SOME memory. THAT should've been Riker's tip-off right there that something wasn't right.

I believe that Riker was normal during those sixteen years and only later LOST the memories of those years.

Just watched the episode again. The episode explains that Riker went into a coma after suffering a relapse of the incident "16 years ago" and THAT erased his memory.

KAM: Here's one that really falls apart when you think about it. The location of Outpost 23 is a secret and it is strategic and vital. So how can it be a secret?

Every point you raise is valid. But what if the Federation had dozens of outposts along the Neutral Zone? (They have at least 23, don't they? And that's just outposts. What about starbases?) Any one of them is vital within its own sphere of influence. But they probably overlap, so every area of space might be covered by 3 outposts.

Now, perhaps outpost 23--just one among many--is the key. The Romulans know where all the outposts are, they just don't know which one is the key to the entire defense and which one is just another outpost.

The plot of "Future Imperfect" reminds me very strongly of episodes from two other classic sci-fi TV series.

In the 1960's Invaders series, an early episode called "The Innocent" had the aliens attempting to control David Vincent's mind by creating an illusionary Utopian reality of his life for him. The scene in which Vincent sees through the flaws in the illusion and breaks the control to come back into reality as a prisoner of the aliens is strikingly similar to the scene in which Riker does the same here.

In The Six Million Dollar Man episode "Just a Matter of Time", agents working for a foreign power create an elaborate charade to attempt to convince Steve Austin that he has lost seven years of his life in order to gain information from him, as the Romulans do to Riker here. Incidentally, TNG's John De Lancie appears as a guest star in a walk on role in this episode.

I know that this message board is really old, but I'm hoping that I might be able to add if anyone cares to read. I watched this episode earlier this evening: 1. Riker was only gone for 1 hour. Barash only made him think, initially, that he was really 16 years older and not able to remember those previous years due to the incident that had occured while he was on the away team. 2. Riker is next in command to the captain. I would hope that he goes with almost every away team. Working on the Enterprise, or any other ship for that matter, is like working in the modern day military; you might be on leave, but you are always on call. 3. yes the lighting was a bit off during Troi's monolouge, but this is normal for ST:NG. If you take the time to notice, you can usually tell when a scene was "recaptured" in different takes. 4. Why didn't Dana Tjowander (the kid who played Barash) do anymore acting??????????

Just watched a movie called 36 Hours starring James Garner, and it also has a plot of a man kidnapped by the enemy and tricked into believing 6 years have passed so they can get information about the allies invasion plans.

The "Six Million Dollar Man" episode "Just a Matter of Time" involve villains kidnapping Steve Austin and creating an elaborate scenario to make him believe that he has traveled forward six years in time (from 1978) and it is now 1984. This episode featured John DeLancie "Q" also TOS guest star Paul Carr.

And it seems I already mentioned that earlier on this board. Your tolerance for my indulgences is appreciated.

I'd grant you an indulgence, but I'm not a medieval priest.

I remember The Untouchables (the 90s one) had an episode with a similar 'wake up in the future but not really' plot.

I think there may have also been a Mission:Impossible with William Shatner in which the team tried to fool Shatner into thinking it was the future. (Part of the plot involved slapping age makeup on him while he was unconcious. Don't know if I've got that confused with another show, though.

GREAT LINES:

Riker: You're incapable of that level of incompetence, Mr. La Forge!

Riker (to Data) What happened to all the billions of calculations per second?!

"Admiral" Picard: Capt. Riker, I...(something something)
Riker: SHUT UP!
"Admiral" Picard: I beg your pardon?!
Riker: Shut up! As in 'close your mouth and stop talking!'

Also, in this fake future that has been concocted by the alien youth Barash, the Federation is about to make the final steps towards peace with the Romulans. And Tomalak is back! This time, he's a good guy. But Riker is still distrustful of Romulans, but even they were an illusion created by the holographic generators that Barash's parents left for him on Alpha Onias III before the planet was invaded and, presumably, everyone except him killed.

I, too, also wonder what became of Barash after this episode. Was he played by someone in a suit, or was he a computer-generated effect?

Also, seeing the lovely "Min" again was nice. And THAT is what made Riker realize that what was happening around him wasn't real!

I just saw it in the above credits, it was an actress in the Barash suit. Apparently that was way before we had began to master CGI that some people hate and wish would not be used to the large extent it has been for a while now!

* Luigi Novi said: Ya gotta admit, for people who’ve aged 16 years, the crew looks great! They’ve barely changed! According to the bio screen in Conundrum, Troi and Crusher were born in 2336 and 2324 respectively, so they are 31 and 43 in the "real" time point of this episode. Geordi was born in 2335, according to the episode Cause and Effect, so is 32 in this episode, and Riker is 32, according to the episode The Icarus Factor. Troi was simply given less makeup, and has a single gray streak in her hair, Geordi has none, and Crusher and Riker look great for people pushing 60 and 50 respectively. The quality of facelift and plastic surgery technology must skyrocket in the future.

Or maybe somebody finally realized that dermal regenerators, which can quickly and completely eliminate scars, might be able to do something about wrinkles too.

* Why does Worf appear to have aged about as much as the rest of the crew (there appear to be grey streaks in his hair)? It is established in DS9 (maybe earlier) that Klingons age more slowly than humans.

* Why does Riker ask the computer to show him the family record of "Riker, Mrs. William T." and not "Counselor Min Riker"?

* Why does it take Riker so long- about 20 seconds- to recognize Minuet in the video? Although the camera doesn't immediately zoom in on her, her face is clearly visible the moment Riker first sees her.

* After Riker leaves the bridge and enters the ready room with Holo-Picard and Holo-Troi, the episode continues to show Holo-Data talking to Holo-Tomalak on the bridge for about 10 seconds, before cutting away to the ready room. Why do the bridge and its occupants continue to exist, when Riker is no longer present?

* Why does Barash's holodeck have more difficulty with such relatively simple tasks as understanding a two-word command given to the holo-turbolift, or solving basic math problems as Holo-Data, than with the far more complex challenge of enabling holo-characters to carry on detailed, convincing conversations with Riker? Also, its hard to believe that it could instantly recreate any location on the Enterprise in minute detail, but not have a ready explanation for Worf's scar. And when it scanned Riker's mind, did it just miss the information that Data doesn't use contractions?

* Why does Riker even bother interrogating Holo-LaForge, Holo-Worf, and Holo-Data on the bridge? Minuet is already absolute proof that this future isn't real.

* After Riker finds himself on the Romulan holodeck, a Romulan runs a scanner over him, causing the grey in his beard and the bars on his combadge to vanish, while the pips on his collar reappear. If those changes were holo-illusions, shouldn't his appearance have automatically returned to normal when the holodeck program was turned off, or when he left the holodeck? Also, why would there have even been a need to create holographic grey in Riker's beard? He can't see his own face without looking in a mirror, and the mirror would have been another hologram, which could have shown him a false reflection. And why wouldn't the Romulans have simply removed his pips and replaced his combadge, thereby avoiding the possibility that he might touch his collar and feel the pips that he couldn't see?

When Riker asks Troi who his son's mother is, Troi answers "She died two years ago… in a shuttle accident." Riker looks appropriately hurt by this, then replies "I have no memory of her."
First of all, Riker has no way of knowing whether he remembers her, since he doesn't yet know who she is. She could well be someone he met before the 16-year memory gap. But I can see how Troi's statement gives Riker the impression that it's someone he met during the memory gap, because if it were someone he knew before, Troi would mention her by name.
However, this is actually Holo-Troi, controlled by Barash's holodeck. This holodeck picked Minuet to be the fantasy wife because it believed that Minuet WAS someone that Riker had met. So when Riker says "I have no memory of her", Holo-Troi should respond with something like "Actually, you do… I'm sorry, Will. It was Min." Of course the reason she doesn't say that is because the writers know that Riker would then have to say "Min? I don't know any Min." And Holo-Troi would reply "Minuet." And then the jig would be up, causing what Phil calls "short show syndrome."

Todd M. Pence in 2010:

I think there may have also been a Mission: Impossible with William Shatner in which the team tried to fool Shatner into thinking it was the future. (Part of the plot involved slapping age makeup on him while he was unconscious. Don't know if I've got that confused with another show, though.

You're thinking of the 1971 episode of Mission Impossible, called Encore.

However, it's not the future they trick Mr. Shatner's character into thinking he's in, it's the past.

In this episode Mr. Shatner played Tommy Kroll, a New York City crime boss, who is now in his 60's (Mr. Shatner was 40 at this time). The government has been trying to put him away for years, but without success. Their best hope to nail Kroll is to get him for the murder of a rival crime boss that he committed back in 1937. However, after the murder, Kroll and a mob partner hid the body, as well as the guns they used in the murder, so well that no one has been able to find them.

So the IM team grab Kroll, drug him, and, thanks to some special make up to make him look young again, and a movie studio set constructed to look like the 1930's New York City, convince him it's still 1937. A member of the IM team disguises himself as Kroll's partner, who committed the murder with him.

At first, Kroll is freaked out and disoriented as he seemingly finds himself more than 30 years in his own past. However, the IM team did their job well, and Kroll slowly accepts that what's happening to him is real. Unlike Riker, he never catches on to the truth.

In the end, the plan succeeds. Kroll, with the help of his "partner" re-enacts the crime. Kroll them comes up with an idea as to where to hide the body and guns. Of course, IM team is listening in. When they go to the location Kroll mentioned, the skeletal remains and the guns are there. The government finally has the evidence it needs to put Kroll and his partner (the same one the IM guy posed as) away for a long time.

This episode is available on YouTube, if anyone is interested in seeing it.

There was a Mission Impossible episode where they tricked someone into believing he had spent time in cryonic suspension. They wanted to make him think the legal prescription on a robbery he had committed had passed and that he could safely recover his loot, thus revealing where he had hidden it.