After Picard and Wesley become stranded, Picard curses his selfishness in bringing Wesley along. He states that he didn't think he'd be back in time to see Wesley before he left for the academy. Seems to me like not being back in time for Wesley's departure would be a strong reason NOT to bring him.

I'm sure this is mentioned in the guide, as well as on the lost boards, but its just so absurd how the enterprise has to tow the barge.

1 - They could have dragged it away from the planet and let it go at its own power. With all their computers, they could've figured out exactly what path to make through the asteroids to it would go through on its own.

2 - They could start towing it, then let go and wait for it at the asteroid field. Then grab it and continue through.

3 - Go over the dumb thing!

If they are in the Pentauran system to arbitrate a dispute then why does Picard study Rigalian law? Is the Pentauran system under Rigalian jurisdiction? Since they want a Federation mediator why doesn't Picard study Federation law?

After the shuttle crashes, Picard mentions the need for shelter, then mentions that the sun will turn the shuttle into an oven. However the shuttle travels through space, where it must deal with direct unfiltered radiation from stars and the freezing cold of the vacuum of space itself. To deal with those temperature extremes the shuttle must already have sufficient insulation to protect them from the sun, as long as there are no hull breaches and they remember to keep the door closed.

Also wouldn't it make better sense to stay in the shuttle and cannibalize the working parts of it to try and send a distress signal and speed up their rescue?

So what if there is a force field around the fountain? Why not use the phasers to drill a hole in the ground down to the water table?

The wound is on the right side of Picard's head, but Dirgo was holding the cloth on top of Picard's head.

Why did Dirgo keep firing at the column of water instead of at the base or ceiling where the force field might be generated from? (Of course, this guy didn't know enough to place the cloth directly on Picard's wound and didn't have any emergency supplies on his shuttle so obviously he ain't too bright.)

If the Enterprise is going to dump the barge into the star, then why did some of the scenes show the Enterprise heading off to the side of the star?

GOLDEN DUNCE CAP AWARD: Riker...

HEY RIKER! Why not just blow up the dumb garbage scow after it's pulled from orbit?

Large radioactive cloud in orbit around an alien planet very good for navigation and health of passersby.

Problem solved. Put up a warning space bouy or space beacon then after you destroy the ship.

I don't recall it being covered in the Guide, but...

On the desert moon, you can see tire tracks on the surface. Especially when Dirgo takes a swig of his alcohol and when the three gather to discuss Wesley's energy reading. This may not be a nit if this moon, while supposedly uninhabited (I presume), the dialog never says, may have been explored. However, if the desert winds are often blowing, those tracks should be smoothed over.

Dialogue oddity:
I noticed that both Picard and Crusher refer to God. "Dear God!" "Thank God!"

Now I know that even atheists speak this way, but I don't recall it being a habit of TNG characters.

Nick Tate (Dirgo) was Alan Carter on "Space: 1999," somewhat of a better pilot than Dirgo.

He later appeared as Bilby in Honor Among Thieves(DS9).

After the shuttle crashes Picard fashions a makeshift arrow in the sand out of debris pointing to the mountains in the distance. He does this so that potential rescue parties would know where to find Dirgo, Crusher, and himself. When they begin their trek away from the shuttle, though, they're walking a good 30 degrees to the right of where the arrow points.

Yeah, that's right out of the guide.

On another note, this episode makes a good arguement to ignore all of Geordi's safety advice: he says that Dirgo's thruster setup "checks out", and yet a few minutes after departure one of them flies right off of the shuttle! (sure enough, one of his own setups flies off of the freighter a little while later)

The garbage scow is centuries old and in danger of disintegrating. It has to be moved delicately. They wind up using the tractor beam, but has it been modified in any way? I recall "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (TOS), where the Enterprise's tractor beam caught and crushed the air force interceptor closing on it, destroying it. It was too delicate to stand up to the force of the tractor beam. Something similar could've occurred here.

Wasn't the scow much bigger? And since it comes from a race capable of interstellar spaceflight, much sturdier as well?

Plus, after 100 years, maybe tractoring technology has advanced.

In "Heart of Glory", Geordi's VISOR detected defects in the hull of the alien ship.

How come in this episode, Geordi's VISOR did not detect the flaw in Dirgo's ship...seeing the thruster broke off so easily?

Why was it so urgent that the Enterprise tow the waste ship into the sun? Couldn't they have towed it far enough away so the planet was out of danger, then leave it alone for a few hours while they go rescue their captain? They could then come back later and take their time to figure out the safest way to deal with it.

The last bit of Dialog between Wesley and Dirgo made me laugh:
Dirgo: Enough Talking, Enough Thinking! its time we do something!

Made me think of John Candy From Canadian Beacon:
"There is a time to think and there is a time to act, and this Gentlemen is NO time to think."
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So this Planet Hails the Enterprise and claims that they are under attack by a hostile alien ship. It seems odd that this place has subspace communications and yet they have no way of actually seeing that it is in fact an unmanned old rusty Barge and not some evil radiation spitting race attacking them.


As to the barge, what was the big deal about the asteroid belt? why not give the barge a good shove and wish it luck? so what if it crashes in the asteroid belt? the belt did seem a good distance from the planet, and asteroid belts encircle an entire solar system so they are fairly big objects, I cant imagine the tiny little amount of waste would have been much of a threat once the debris spread across the entire belt. The Asteroid belt would have just had a slightly higher concentration of radiation. not like radiation is a foreign element in space after all

Actually theres an even bigger nit about an asteroid belt. What few people know because of how they are depicted on TV is that the asteroids are millions of kilometers apart so asteroid belts are quite easy to travel through.

I remember reading about that in Arthur C Clark's "2061: Odyssey III" where it was explained that the real chances of hitting a piece of space debris in the asteroid belt are less than hitting an iceberg on an Atlantic crossing.

It's possible but not the bumper car game that it looks like in Star Wars. The Titanic hit one how many decades ago?

I wonder how people would have reacted to this episode if Picard had died. Given the animosity toward Wesley Crusher, Picard sacrificing himself to save Wesley while brave and doing his duty as a Captain/Father figure would certainly have generated some interesting reactions. Now, I definitely don't want Picard to have died. But I do find myself wondering.

The Enterprise should have towed the barge well above the orbital plane of the solar system - well, given it the inertial force to do so, then stay well ahead of it. Data could calculate potential asteroid interceptions, and calculated the necessary course. Next, lock on and tractor the ship onto a direct course for the sun and let go of it. No need to take it TO the asteroid belt.

Since the ship was loaded with a lot of very potent radioactive substances, the asteroids would have busted it up and produced a huge amount of loose, scattering highly radioactive substances.

There was no need for the shuttle to risk a crash landing on some hostile moon. The shuttle's life support didn't seem compromised, they could have adjusted their trajectory to avoid collision with any moon or planet and then turned off their engines. They could then have taken their time while coasting to repair their communication system and radio for help, or just sat back and wait for help to arrive. All they achieved by landing on that moon was turning an inconvenient situation into a life threatening one.

Why does Riker risk the entire crew when towing the damaged ship? Why not put all civilians and nonessential crew into the saucer, separate, and use the warp section to do the tow?