) The Romulan in this episode who brain washes
LaForge also appears in DS9's "Inter Arma,
Enim Silent Leges".
Was it the same actor? or the same character?
This entire episode is an homage to "The Manchurian Candidate." Especially the simulation in Ten-Forward where the Romulans tell Geordi to kill O'brien. It's a great scene.
It is a good tribute to that movie as well. Also, I had no idea it was Denise Crosby shadowed when I frist saw this ep. It really surprised me when she was revealed a few episodes later.
Geordi's not gonna get to Risa too fast at impulse.
That shuttlepod has a lot of music, or at the very least Geordi has that expectation. (The problem is similar to the one in Insurrection.) How can a shuttlepod have that much info?(Or perhaps the question should be why.}
Why did the shields on the pod fail? There were no weapons or anything. (Some sort of field? But wouldnt some sort of alarm have gone off?)
In this one it was not Denise Crosby in the shadows. It was someone else and Crosby just looped the voice.
Did Geordi wipe his fingerprints off the transport console? If he didn't, 24th century crime fighting has abandoned that method of investigation. How silly of them...
The scientist played by John Fleck is called Tabak in this episode according to the Next gen companian whilst in inter arma Flecks character is called Koval, so they are different people. One nit I found in this episode is how are the romulans sure that the replacement they send to replace Geordi will pass the scrutiny of the conferance, can the organisers not look at Geordis bio and tell that the bloke that has taken the place of Geordi is an imposter.
Finally a bit of trivia. Larry Dobkin who plays the klingon ambassidor Kell directed the episode charlie X.
He also played Orinthar in The Search part I(DS9) and Abaddon in Alice(VOY).
"Warbird" Hair Dye. For that wild Romulan interrogator in you.
It is later revealed at the end of Redemption part I that the female Romulan seen in shadow during Geordi’s brainwashing session in Act 1 is Sela, Tasha Yar’s daughter. Because Denise Crosby wasn’t available to film the scenes in this episode, a stand-in was used, with Crosby later dubbing in the character’s dialogue. This shouldn’t have been a problem, since the character was mostly in shadow, except that when we first see the figure of Sela, and as she walks over to another part of the room, we can clearly see from the reflected light on her hair that her hair is dark, and not blond.
Well, if clothes don’t make the man, they sure don’t make Romulan mind control techniques
During the Romulans’ test of Geordi in the last scene of Act 1, Geordi is presumably in a Romulan holodeck, in a simulation of Ten Forward. Curiously, a man walks by in this scene wearing what looks like decidedly 20th century clothing. He has an orange shirt, white slacks, and a belt, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen humans wear on NextGen.
Or did he mean they did the FX for the Steven Spielberg film?
As Geordi walks with Troi in the beginning of Act 2, relating his stay on Risa to her, he says that the Kanarians have done the most advanced work in artificial intelligence. Excuse me, but wasn’t the most advanced work in artificial intelligence done by the guy who created Data, Dr. Noonien Soong? If the most advanced work has now been done by the Kanarians, this must mean that they have developed sentient computers and/or androids. So why hasn’t Data checked this out? How come we haven’t seen any of them?
Well, when you go up to someone to ask them for drugs, you want to look your best
In the beginning of Act 5, Geordi awakes from a nightmare. He then goes to Crusher because to ask her to give him something to help him sleep. Why did he change into his uniform?
I can understand a character not remembering this, but you’d think the WRITER would!
At the end of the episode, Data says the only two people present with Geordi in all three instances of the transmissions being sent to his VISOR were Picard and Kel. Untrue. While they were present during the second transmission (when Geordi presented Governor Vagh with the proof that the phaser rifle was charged with a Romulan power source), and during the third transmission (when Picard, Kel, Geordi and Data, were in Picard’s ready room), they were not present during the first. When Data, at his console, detected the first blip, Geordi had left the bridge with Troi.
And I’ll bet he’s one of those jerks who never puts his cell phone on "vibrate" when he goes into a movie theater!
Also, something about the third transmission struck me as odd. It occurs when Kel, Data and Picard are in the ready room. After the ready room scene ends, we see Geordi come to Kel’s quarters, where Kel instructs him to kill Vagh the next day. Why would Kel make a transmission summoning Geordi to his quarters when Kel was still in the ready room? Shouldn’t Kel have waited until her got to his quarters before doing this?
When playing the game with Geordi why did the computer pause between asking the question and adding the requirement?
Why didn't the shuttle's sensors detect the Romulan ship before Geordi saw it? Isn't a ship in one's flight path considered to be a navigational hazard?
Geordi can hear what the Romulan scientist is saying, so why doesn't he try to mentally prepare for what is coming?
Geordi is Chief Engineer of the Federation flagship and has a good deal of knowledge of how Data works, but rather than take advantage of this, the Romulans decide that the best thing to do is brainwash him to try and instigate a war.
Boy, those Romulans are cunning! I guess they don't really need Geordi's expertise since they have great spies like J'Ddan from The Drumhead working for them.
So why didn't Geordi wear gloves when changing the isolinear chips? Was this part of the Romulan plot, or was he wearing cloaked gloves? I guess he must have been wearing cloaked gloves because the complete check of the chips didn't show his fingerprints.
Why did the Ambassador talk the governor out of blowing up the Enterprise after Geordi beamed down the weapons? I would think that blowing up the flagship would certainly cause a rift between the Klingons and the Federation. Also why was the Ambassador apparently on the ship when the weapons shipment was made?
It would take the computer three hours to find a match to the terrawatt charged pulse, but it immediately finds a match between the E band transmission and Human Delta bands?
Data says that it is impossible for the transmission to be coming from a cloaked ship because the E band transmission must be made in close proximity, but didn't one of the transmissions come from the planet?
For a highly emotional offshoot of the Vulcan race I thought that Romulans were a little too workaholic and orderly.
Usually highly emotional people produce wild art. fashion, music, yet none of that is apparent in Romulan society.
Although this episode does indicate how they can work hard and still feel that they had a great time. Geordi is completely brainwashed into believing that he had a wonderful vacation on Risa, but we know he didn't. Chances are the Romulans use a variation of this technique to make the workers think they had a wonderful, all-expenses paid vacation, when they were really working an 18-hour day.
I'll never understand how Geordi is able to makeout what he's seeing, like faces and console readings. It's just so smeared and unclear that it's a miracle he can do what he can do and see.
Missed oportunity; I know they probably didn't have the technology back then, but it would have been interesting to see Geordi's vision as we do a computer game, with 3-D people, but clearly computer generated. It would be easier to see that that collage he's stuck with.
The version of this I saw last night had the apostrophe missing from the story title.
When Data realises it's Geordi, why doesn't he just get him beamed out of the cargo bay? Why doesn't Worf also try this - and beam him to the brig?
When Worf asks everyone where they were and only Geordi has no alibi, why doesn't pursue this further? Geordi says he was in his quarters - surely Worf could have checked this out?
Once again the Enterprise doesn't have any VULCANS around to mind-meld with Geordi to find out what exactly happened.
Why didn't an alarm go off when Geordi fired the phaser in the cargo bay?
Why didn't Picard have more than ONE GUARD to protect the Klingon Ambassador?
NANJAO: The Klingon Ambassador is wearing the same outfit that the other Klingon Ambassador wore in STIV. That's continuity!
Not just the alarm. Why didn't the phaser do any damage? I was expecting at least a rubber chicken or something falling from the ceiling. Was the phaser in fact on Stun?
KMorgan: "It would take the computer three hours to find a match to the terrawatt charged pulse, but it immediately finds a match between the E band transmission and Human Delta bands?"
So quickly that I wonder why this comparison wasn't made before. With the level of AI and processing speed the computer has, why couldn't it give such an answer to a simple "Computer, what can cause this?"
Luigi Novi: "In the beginning of Act 5, Geordi awakes from a nightmare. He then goes to Crusher because to ask her to give him something to help him sleep. Why did he change into his uniform?"
Why did he go to bed at all? Kel said he would get Vagh after he was through eating and bring him to where Geordie would kill him. Did Geordie guess that it would Kel a few hours to go through all that food?
Also, is Crusher the only doctor on board? Morning noon and night she's there tinkering in Sick Bay when someone needs a pill or a repair.
Nope. It was set to KILL. Geordi was supposed to kill the Klingon general per his orders from the Klingon Ambassador.
The Kriosians re-appear in "Precious Cargo", so I came here to check out the nits here; I saw somebody's comments on LaForge, so I put my two cents' worth on him, in the Kitchen Sink on the Characters' Discussion Board. There were only two other comments about him, both from last May. So will anybody have anything new to say about him when Nemesis comes out?
Roger, you might want to see the Geordi LaForge board for my viewpoint on how LaForge sees, as it were. (And no, I don't see Nemesis until the new year. )
John Fleck also is Silik on "Enterprise," as well as Gecko on the weird "Carnivale."
Watched "Remember Me" right before this, just a minor point but when they're testing the Federation phaser in this episode in Engineering, it looks like that table in Engineering is moved much farther to the end than in "Remember Me." (to make room for the Phaser)
Of course the whole idea of Geordi on a Shuttle ALONE is just plain ridiculous. Chief Engineer of the flagship of the Federation...ALONE on an unarmed Shuttle? Was Security that short-handed that they couldn't spare someone to tag along with LaForge? Couldn't the Enterprise find a STARSHIP in the area that was going to Risa & drop off Geordi? Was Risa THAT FAR off the Enterprise's course to drop off Geordi? If so, why not use a "near-warp Transport" like they did in "The Schizoid man"?
Haven't actually seen this ep in a while but wasn't the Romulan made phaser rifle quite a bit more efficient? If so, wouldn't it be wise to look into this to better the Federation? Only one time, to my knowledge in TNG, was the use of an artificial quantum singularity for a reactor not a good idea, in Timescape. Also, for being a mortal enemey of the Klingons, the Romulans seem to have plenty of informants willing to throw their honor right out the airlock.
Geordi is Chief Engineer of the Federation flagship and has a good deal of knowledge of how Data works, but rather than take advantage of this,
What does Data have to do with this? The Romulans had a specific plan for Geordi that could not have been accomplished with anyone else.Do you mean they should have coerced Geordi to do something to Data? I don't see what that would accomplish.
Geordi was supposed to kill the Klingon general
Vagh was a governor, not a general.
Was Security that short-handed that they couldn't spare someone to tag along with LaForge?
Why would he have needed security? He was going to a Federation planet in Federation space.
Also, is Crusher the only doctor on board? Morning noon and night she's there tinkering in Sick Bay when someone needs a pill or a repair
Maybe she, either by choice or requirement, works different shifts. In my job I have one day a week where I have to work until 7 PM, even though my job is usually in the morning.
What does Data have to do with this? The Romulans had a specific plan for Geordi that could not have been accomplished with anyone else.Do you mean they should have coerced Geordi to do something to Data? I don't see what that would accomplish.
It has been hinted several times that Starfleet would love to disassemble Data in order to learn how to mass-produce him; a race of Datas would be absolutely invaluable for any nation's military force.
What does Data have to do with this?
It was mentioned in The Defector that Romulan cyberneticists would love to examine Data. I would assume the next best thing to examining Data would be to learn what they could from someone who has examined & worked on Data.
But no these supposedly brilliant Romulans decide that it's better to throw all that away on a highly questionable plan to start a war. *shrug*
It's possible that the Romulans could have had a plan to obtain information on Data somehow and it was simply not mentioned through the course of the series.(That would have been a decent episode, potentially, IMO) After all, they had a plan to clone Picard and replace him that took years to set up. It's not unreasonable to think that the Romulans would have several plans to try to both create problems for the Federation and gain intelligence to use against them(such as how to make androids)
when they're testing the Federation phaser in this episode in Engineering
Is that really the best thing to do, testing weapons right next to the warp core? We see this problem several times in the series. In reality, they probably did not want to go to the expense of building a laboratory set, but we don't deal with that. Would it have been too hard to add a line saying why they had to do it there?
in a simulation of Ten Forward. Curiously, a man walks by in this scene wearing what looks like decidedly 20th century clothing
Maybe the Romulans just don't know what humans wear off duty.
quote:Aaron Dotter: That shuttlepod has a lot of music, or at the very least Geordi has that expectation. (The problem is similar to the one in Insurrection.) How can a shuttlepod have that much info?(Or perhaps the question should be why.)
quote:Luigi Novi: During the Romulans’ test of Geordi in the last scene of Act 1, Geordi is presumably in a Romulan holodeck, in a simulation of Ten Forward. Curiously, a man walks by in this scene wearing what looks like decidedly 20th century clothing. He has an orange shirt, white slacks, and a belt, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen humans wear on NextGen.
quote:Chris Thomas: When Worf asks everyone where they were and only Geordi has no alibi, why doesn't pursue this further? Geordi says he was in his quarters - surely Worf could have checked this out?
)Aaron Dotter: That shuttlepod has a lot of music, or at the very least Geordi has that expectation. (The problem is similar to the one in Insurrection.) How can a shuttlepod have that much info?(Or perhaps the question should be why.)
Josh M: Well, knowing how much our small hard drives can hold today and that this is over 350 years in the future, it's not much of a stretch to believe a shuttlepod could have tons of info.
I've gotta go with Josh on that one. You'd figure that some future version of the Wikipedia-galactica would have all kinds of stuff in a world where a terabyte hard drive seems like a child's toy from a few centuries back.
Aaron Dotter: That shuttlepod has a lot of music, or at the very least Geordi has that expectation. (The problem is similar to the one in Insurrection.) How can a shuttlepod have that much info?(Or perhaps the question should be why.)
Who is to say that Geordi didn't upload "shuttle recreation program 47" before departing? Today it is common to take with you entertainment while going on vacation that you wouldn't normally find in a car or something.
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NANJAO
The shuttle pod Geordi was riding in only had one seat. Not impossible given today's vehicles can have certain seats removed for more space. However, other times when only one person is flying a shuttlepod, there's been two seats.
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Ambassador Kell: "La Forge you Pa'tagh! I said Kill O'Brian, not SPILL him!!!!"
or
Geordi: "I'm sorry Ambassador, killing O'brian is one thing, but I don't think I have the ability to ruin his clothes."
Why did Geordi spill the drink on O'brian? Was it a test to see if the transmission would work?
Ambassador Kell: "La Forge you Pa'tagh! I said Kill O'Brian, not SPILL him!!!!"
[As Sprint Guy]: Clearly a case of bad cellular
Torque: Why did Geordi spill the drink on O'brian? Was it a test to see if the transmission would work?
I believe that is exactly why he did it.
In fairness to Aaron, he asked that question about the content of the shuttle computer way back in 2001, back when our technology was considerably more primitive and taking entertainment with you when you travelled was nearly unheard of :p.
Unheard of?
Before 2001 people could take CD's and/or tapes with music or other audio content, books, travel games, CB radios, amongst other potential forms of entertainment.
you're forgetting Geordi could take his mandolin... 
Or what's left of it. ;-)
I was going to post "Sorry" as Worf, but...
I felt sorry for Geordi. All the upsetting and distressing things that happened to him in this episode. I wonder just how long it took him to recover from the traumatic events that took place. The real-life answer would be "only until the next episode" but I'm not sure how much time elapsed, stardate-wise, between the end of this episode and the beginning of the next one, "In Theory". In that, Geordi has to solve the dilemma of the spatial gaps appearing in normal space, as well as the death of one of his engineers. And he seemed to have recovered pretty well by that point.
This is the first of two instances where Geordi's VISOR is taken away from him and altered for use in something treacherous, being the assassination attempt, and the Sisters of Duras destroying the Enterprise. That's probably why he got the Ocular Implants, they couldn't be removed and reprogrammed by enemies of the Federation the way his VISOR was.
Also, I totally agree that he should not have been travelling alone in a shuttlepod to a destination that the Enterprise could have warped to a lot faster and have him just beam down to it. Oh well...picky picky pick pick!
In this episode, there are several scenes shot from Geordi's point of view. Some of those scenes are on the holodeck the Romulans are using to test Geordi's programming, others are on Enterprise. The visual effects in both cases look the same, but Geordi's visor has a much wider spectral range than normal human eyes. Real environments and their holographic simulations should look quite different to him.