Why does Dr. Crusher get her job back at the end of this episode? She was fired because she violated Picard's direct order (and Ferengi custom) by performing an autopsy on Dr. Reyga. When she informs Picard that she went ahead and did it anyway, he tells her that the Ferengi government will become involved, which means that not only has she deliberately disobeyed her captain, but provoked an interstellar incident as well. This is not the sort of situation that can be rectified by saying "Oops, sorry!"

Of course, the diplomatic problem could have been avoided if she had just bought his entire remains, ala Brunt.

It is possible the Ferengi government had other fish to fry and had no concern about a scientist; and just dropped the matter.(If they hadn't, we would have seen a very short war with the Ferengi, with the Federation winning.) From what we've seen in DS9, Reyga would not be respected for failing to pursue profit from his invention.

As for Beverly, she was probably reinstated because she was no longer in trouble for anything. If the Ferengi didn't care, Starfleet certainly wouldn't care, because technically she didn't violate anything.

I loved this episode, it's one of my favorites. I loved seeing Dr. Crusher do a roundhouse.

Actually, technically Crusher did violate something; Picard's direct order not to perform an autopsy. I can go along with the Ferengi letting the matter drop, but Picard should have given her some form of punishment (at the very least an official reprimand like Worf received after he killed Duras, which as you may remember did not violate Klingon law.).

Maybe she did have a reprimand. Yet another mystery that could have been solved by a simple line of dialogue.

What exactly does reprimand do anyway?

A reprimand just sits in their personel file. It might hurt their chance for a promotion, but mostly it's just a record so if the offender makes a habit of disobeying orders they can look in the record and say "you've been warned 3 times not to do this sort of thing" and justify harsher punishment.

OK, here's a question about this one. Obviously autopsies in the 24th century are non-invasive. Not only is this common sense given all of the medical technology on Trek, it's necessary for the plot of the episode, because that blue-and-green guy fakes his death. So why the Ferengi prohibition of autopsies? Is it just a tradition left over from the days of cruder technology?

I think it's because it makes it difficult to sell the body parts. Obviously, Crusher should have just bought his body.

I think the real problem with this episode is that whoever was the story editor that week was asleep at the switch. The writer was apparently trying to come up with an Agatha Christie-style whodunit (mysterious deaths, multiple suspects with different motives) but just couldn't pull it off. The story editor could have tightened it up and have it all make sense, but I guess he (or she) decided to take the week off.

Here again we have an example of Crusher wanting to preform an autopsy when she's not supposed to (the first time I noticed this was in 'Man of the People'). The good doctor must just really like handling corpses...

Speaking for myself, I wouldn't mind her gorgeous paws all over my body.

I guess in the new timeline, doctors are treated like Lieutenant Picard at the end of "Tapestry."
The first scene of the episode is of Beverly entering her quarters. The bed is in the room adjacent to (in the direction of the background) the "main" room where the entrance is. Further in, next to the bedroom, is the bathroom. In the episode Cause and Effect, her bed was in the main room. The room was larger because we saw a nightstand and glass table near the bed, and the next room was the bathroom. It’s possible she switched quarters, but why would the Chief Medical Officer take quarters with such a smaller bedroom? It barely looks as if there’s room in her new bedroom for a nightstand!
Picard is on a scavenger hunt?
In Act 1, Crusher tells Guinan that she’ll be on a shuttle for three days as it takes her to Starbase 23, will then have to be transported to Earth, and then wait another day and a half before the board of inquiry begins. Why this odd zigzag route? Why not just transport her directly to Earth? Or better yet, hold the inquiry at the starbase?
Or do they all carpool with Klingons and Romulans?
This episode offers another example of the problem I cited under nits for the episode The Drumhead. At one point, Doctor Reyga good naturedly jokes to Crusher that a Ferengi scientist is almost an oxymoron, a reference to the Ferengi obsession with profit. How can an entire society, one capable of interstellar travel, function if there is not a diversified line of occupations, including scientists to maintain that technology? Did the Ferengi Alliance buy their way into warp technology?
Only because torpedoes are made of Christmas fruitcake
Supposedly, Dr. Reyga’s metaphasic shields will protect a ship in the corona of a star, but the crew were able to fire specially modified photon torpedoes that travelled all the way to a star’s core in Half a Life.
Bet she finds ER and Six Feet Under to be absolutely hyserical
Gates McFadden had a bad case of the giggles when filming the end of Act 1. After Jo’Bril dies, the shot cuts to Crusher before fading to black, and the left corner of her mouth visibly twitches, as she tries to stifle a smile!
Or does she mean that his organs don’t know how to keep a secret?
When Crusher performs an autopsy on Jobril, she tells Picard he has no discreet organs. Look at the diagram of his anatomy on the wall display. What are all those things inside him? I see what look like lungs, a few hearts, and both large and small intestines.
I wonder if she’s descended from a certain science officer who worked under Jonathan Archer…
Jo’Bril did indeed survive in the star’s corona for few minutes, as the scientific team observed. Crusher also says that Jobril did not receive a large enough exposure to radiation to kill him. Data and Reyga could not find anything wrong with the shuttle. All this, and Dr. T’Pan, a Vulcan, said the shield’s concept was flawed. So much for logic.
The gerbils that power the warp drive were being fed
Throughout the framing sequence of the episode, in which Crusher relates to Guinan the events that took place leading up to Crusher’s being relieved of duties, the Enterprise is constantly seen in motion, either at warp or impulse, but the stars are motionless in the windows of Crusher’s quarters, particularly in Act 3, and later in Ten Forward in the last scene.
From the "Man, that bartender is a condescending b itch" Dept.:
In the last scene of Act 3, Guinan urges Crusher to do something about Reyga’s possible murder. Her argument, though not in so many words, is that Crusher has already been relieved of duty, so what else can be done to her? I find this a bit smug and simplistic. Crusher has been relieved of duty and scheduled for a formal board of inquiry, but she could regain her post if the authorities are lenient and she doesn’t push her luck. By not playing it smart she could potentially lose her Starfleet commission permanently, be court martialed and imprisoned for repeated insubordination, and possibly cause an interstellar incident involving Reyga’s family. Riker pretty much cautions her about this in the very next scene.
Damm Crusher and her hypos!
As in Deja Q, a shuttlecraft is easily stolen, this time by Crusher. Why in the world aren’t shuttlecraft and shuttlebay doors locked out at the bridge?
So uh, what’s your point?
Jo’Bril’s entire plan hinged on his certainty that no one on the Enterprise’s medical staff, or in Starfleet, or anyone else who would ever review his shuttle flight, would be familiar with the unique advantages of Takarian physiology, or would do the necessary research thereof, and discover what happened.
Captain America: Well, you could fling one like a frisbee!
During Jo’Bril’s shuttle flight, elevated barryon particles were detected, indicating that the metaphasic shields were not working, and when Crusher examines Jo’Bril’s "body" in Act 4, she detects tetryon particles, which Data told her might indicate sabotage. This would indicate that Jo’Bril sabotaged the shield himself, knowing that everyone would assume that he died, when in fact, his physiology allows his people to survive in a star’s corona (neat trick in itself!). But if members of his species already have this ability, what the hell does he need to steal someone else’s metaphasic shield for? He tells Crusher in Act 5 in the shuttle that he plans to turn the shield into a weapon, but how does one use shields as a weapon?
Yeah, well, Starfleet lawyers don’t get paid by the hours like civilian ones!
As aforementioned, Crusher will travel for three days to Starbase 23, then to Earth, and then wait a day and a half for the inquiry. Let’s assume that the trip from Starbase 23 to Earth will take no more than a week. That’s 11 or 12 days. Let’s also assume that if the Enterprise doesn’t go to Earth to pick her up when she’s done, that her return trip to the ship will take another week. That’s 19 days in total. I realize that all this back and forth jaunting across the Alpha Quadrant should take much longer, but I’m being generous. The stardate of Crusher’s personal log in the beginning of Act 4 is 46830.1, or October 31, 2369 (1000 stardate units divided by 365 days means 2.739 stardate units equal one day.) She says in this log that she’s leaving "tomorrow" for her trip to the inquiry. Her log at the end of Act 5, after she’s been reinstated, is dated stardate 46831.2. That’s a difference of only 1.1 stardate units, or 9.6 hours! She’s been reinstated, which means she had to have been transported to Starbase 23 (a three day journey, mind you), then gone to Earth, which takes God knows how long, waited for the board of inquiry, which takes who KNOWS how long, then waited for the Enterprise to pick her up, or go rendevous with the ship herself, (yet another trip of unknown duration), and yet, at the end of the episode, not only is she wearing the same outfit that she had on in Act 1, but, according to the stardate, IT’S THE SAME DAY!!

Why would a medical doctor be interested in subspace technology? In Lonely Among Us Wesley was surprised when Dr. Crusher was interested in what he was studying. (Well, maybe getting trapped in a warp bubble in Remember Me caused a change of heart?)

Just because Dr. Jo'Bril was 'killed' doesn't mean that the Metaphasic Shield was a failure. It did keep the shuttle from being vaporized by the star's heat. All scientific advancements have their little drawbacks. That's what Test Pilots are for.

With all their scanner technology why does Dr. Crusher even need to cut open Dr. Reyga's body? If nothing else run the body through the transporter and examine the transporter record.

Why is Crusher questioning all those people? Isn' t that Worf's job?

So why didn't Dr. Crusher have any medical information on T'Karian physiology? Dr. Crusher was head of Starfleet Medical for a year and has spent a lot of time on a starship encountering all forms of exotic biology. Have doctors become so jaded by the 24th century that interesting alien biologies are not being studied? ("Doctor have you read this report about T'Karian biology?" "Why bother? When am I ever going to operate on a T'Karian?")

Crusher blasts a hole through Jo'Bril and later vaporizes him with the phaser. Amazing that none of the phaser energy damaged the inside of the shuttle behind him.

Of course, now that Jo'Bril has been vaporized, how will Crusher prove her story?

She plays the video that you just watched at her trial and that prove her innocence.

LUIGI NOVI Did the Ferengi Alliance buy their way into warp technology?

Actually They Did... According To Nog In DS9 "Little Green Men"...

Actually, it's not that inconceivable that Ferengi scientists are a bunch with little respect or regard. They exist and do their work and it's essential, but that doesn't mean that Quark Public is going to hold them highly. (Look at what many people think of garbage collectors - now there's an underrespected occupation!)

GREAT MOMENT: Bev kicking Jo'Bril's butt. YOU GO GIRL!

I also like Crusher's mini skirt. I was hoping Picard would walk by and start humming "She's Got Legs" by ZZ Top

GREAT SCRIPT: I love the "story telling mode" they chose for this episode. It works quite well.

OK---I'm pretty sure that this is Guinan's last episode in STTNG. (Unless I missed her somewhere in season 7)

I agree with the theory that Crusher should have bought the corpse of Dr. Reyga, to smooth things over with his family. I guess the reason she didn't is that she didn't know about the custom or that they'd consider selling it. This subplot could have been handle differently. Crusher could do some research about Ferengi funeral rites and find out about them vacuum desiccating the dead and selling them off, or she could ask the family for permission and find out their reason for wanting the body in conversation. They might request she give them some more advanced equipment or medication than they possess in exchange. This would present an ethical dilemma; is it right to give advanced technology to a warp-capable race to complete a criminal investigation? If nothing else, it gives Picard something else to reprimand her about at the end.

I also agree about the novel way in which the flashbacks are presented. I imagine it was originally written with Crusher standing before a board of inquiry and explaining her actions. That would be appropriate to the situation, but it would also be a cliche, so they had her confess all this to Guinan.

When B. Crusher goes into Sickbay to re-check the autopsy reports, she is in uniform. If she's been removed from the CMO position, shouldn't she be in "plain clothes"?

John S. Ragin (Dr. Christopher) was the ever-annoyed Dr. Asten on "Quincy, M.E."

OK, I know it has been mentioned above, but has anyone noticed that it completely ruins the plot?

1) If Jobril survives the autopsy it clearly indicates that's a non-invasive procedure.

2) If it's a non-invasive procedure, then what's the fuss about interfering with Ferengi burial rituals? Evidently, it does not violate Dr Reyga's body any more than a tricorder scan.

Jo'Bril might survive an invasive procedure, given that he survived getting a 5 inch hole burned through his stomach.

Why would Beverly care about Reyga's discoveries, since she's a medical doctor? What's in it for her?
And why would anyone WANT to travel within a star's corona? What's there? A better view of a star's surface? Yeah, and that would be important because.......?

My THEORY on B. Crusher's "pardon" to return to active duty is that when she proved that Dr. Reyga's shields worked, the Ferengi Homeworld decided to drop the charges against her involving Dr. Reyga's corpse.


(That is the theory that I have and which is mine and what it is, too. --- Anne Elk)

Will: Why would Beverly care about Reyga's discoveries, since she's a medical doctor? What's in it for her?
Luigi Novi: She took a personal interest in Reyga's work, possibly because she thought it would lead a revolutionary new type of shield, and because she worried that others in the scientific community might not take a Ferengi scientist seriously.

John A. Lang: My THEORY on B. Crusher's "pardon" to return to active duty is that when she proved that Dr. Reyga's shields worked, the Ferengi Homeworld decided to drop the charges against her involving Dr. Reyga's corpse.
Luigi Novi: I believe it was Reyga's family that did not wish the autopsy, and not Ferenginar. It would also be impossible for them to level charges against a Federation citizen acting on a Federation starship in Federation space. The most they'd be able to do is create a diplomatic problem, IMO.

Then again, being Ferengi Dr. Reyga's family can probably be bought off.

Isn't metaphasic shielding supposed to reduce more heat and radiation than the average shields? Why not just use this shielding exclusively, following this ep, since that's how energy weapons cause damage?

When Crush blew a hole in Jo'Bril and upped the setting she used two fingers and pressed both the intensity increase and decrease buttons.

Did they show a closeup of what she was pushing? If not then how do you know what she pushed?

All right, let's not have a repeat of that.

Mr. C - "If not then how do you know what she pushed?"

Because she had a Suspicion that that was the case...

Is it possible to revive my post Butch since it was relevant and not aligned with those deleted?

Oops, sorry inblackestnight. Here you go. Butch the Moderator

By inblackestnight on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 3:55 pm:

If I remember correctly, that scene showed the phaser from the front, and since there are only three buttons on a phaser, her actions would've had the settings goin back-and-forth.

Now that I think about it though, it seems there are more eps that show randomly pushing buttons on a phaser than otherwise. Arsenal of Freedom, Frame of Mind, The Game, this one...

What about the Vengence factor? did Riker press them randomly then? or the Enemy, when la forge makes rock picks

If Vengence Factor was the one with Uta(?) then no. I don't think you can see the buttons in The Enemy so I wouldn't count that but VF is the only ep I can think of that shows the way changing a phaser setting should be done.

Oh, and thank you Butch, you rock!

VF is the only ep I can think of that shows the way changing a phaser setting should be done. - IBN

By "should be done," I assume you're not referring to maximum setting to stun a girl.

That would depend on how 'stunning' the girl is. I thought of another ep with proper phaser use and that is The Hunted when Roga is pinned down and Riker orders Worf to go to maximum stun.

I'm not sure how 'stunning' all the girls are around here (nitcentral) as I haven't seen most of them. Actually, I'm not sure I've seen any of them...

And for someone that I like around me (real life), I'd prefer not to damage such beauty by being careless with a prop.

As for phasering things, what about DS9 "Hard Time" or whatever the name of the ep where Obrian is about to kill himself for experiencing the memory of a lifetime...

That was a bad line on my part. I was thinking of a different one but couldn't phrase it like I wanted.

Anywho, I don't remember enough about those DS9 eps to comment on them. I've seen most, if not all, of DS9, and only about half of VGR, but I don't recall many instances after TNG where phaser settings are changed, espicially where we can see them.

well, IBN, I'm guessing you don't know if any of the ladies in nitcentral are stunning then either eh...

Based on what I've seen of ScottN, I'm gonna guess that none of the guys are stunning... given all I can visualize is death...

YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT

Seriously, though, Mrs. ScottN seems to find me attractive...

yeah, but the catch is she can't see your face...

She's in love with your shoes!!!

I agree with Alphonso. (July 14, 1999)

Bev doing the "roundhouse kick" was superb.

Would a Chuck Norris joke be called for in this context?

Isn't it called for in EVERY context? ;-)

No. He's WAY overrated in ANY situation.

Anyway, in the Guild Glossary, somebody said in reference to Crusher killing Jo'Bril: "Talk about 'doing no harm'"!

Well, she WAS fighting for her life! It was self-defense, this person did not need to be that sarcastic in this case.

What about the earwig/centipede-like alien parasites* that she helped to defeat in the first season? And there are other life-forms that she destroyed (mostly bacteria and viruses) for the good of the people aboard the ship, or on a planet. It was her job to exterminate bad or evil beings!

Anyway, that's just how I see it.

*Phil said the "Bluegills" looked like crayfish, but I disagree. They had the attributes of both earwigs and centipedes in my opinion. And seeing as how it was only 1988, the technology used to animate them was really quite primitive. Oh well. Enjoy your tasty, crunchy grubs, fellow parasite-controlled drones!

I knew that Reyga was not your average typical Ferengi male for three reasons:

He was not motivated wholly by profit.

He wanted his scientific discovery to help others and not just himself.

And...he was not a lecherous horny jerk and did not ogle and slobber over Crusher! He didn't hit on her at all!

That's when I knew he was no ordinary Ferengi. Usually they are almost always really horny and they lust after females of other species, especially human and Bajoran. At least that's how they were portrayed on TNG, but they would be given more depth and personality on DS9.

Quark was probably the quintessential Ferengi, he was greedy and sometimes trecherous, but he was not completely without honor. He actually did have a social conscience. That was good to see, after the way TNG showcased Ferengi in just a certain negative way for seven years.

One other thing about the Ferengi I find interesting? It was thanks to them failing miserably as enemies of the Federation (because they were impossible to take seriously) that Maurice Hurley introduced the Borg to Star Trek. Yes, it's those greedy capitalists of the 24th century that were a total washout as adversaries to the Federation, so we got the Borg. And to begin with, they were like nothing that had ever been seen in Trek, and were virtually invincible. But Voyager would change all that, as they then became pathetic wimpy pushovers. But that's a discussion for another time...

Interesting that Deanna is nowhere to be seen in that episode. She would have sensed that Jo'Bril was still alive in a heartbeat.

Riker's advice to Beverly to "go to her quarters and read a good book", to basically stop rocking the boat, was totally out of character for him.