The Next Gen Nitpicker's Guide wonders why Baran didn't remove his own pain implant when he became captain and got the control device for the implants. Maybe he couldn't remove it himself and didn't trust anyone else to do it for him, and figured nothing would happen as long as he controlled the control device.

Is it really that easy to switch the frequency on these implants? The way Picard tells it, he did this as a precaution, not as a way to kill Baran. Apparently he one day had a few minutes to himself, so he decided to play around with the frequencies. Right! If your sole power ( and apparently your own life) depend on on these frenquencies always being the same, you wouldn't allow others to be able to mess around with them. Or perhaps Baran is the 47th! in a long line of captains on this vessel.

Sorry about the spelling, it's along way from Denmark to the States.

spelling errors corrected by the moderator

Hey! Didn't Baran inflict pain on Picard earlier in this episode or in part 1? That shouldn't have happened if Picard changed the frequency.

I don't see what makes this psionic weapon so great in the first place. It only kills people one by one like a phaser does. While Telera kills the first mercenary with the weapon the other one could have blown her to pieces with her weapon instead of just sitting there with a dropped jaw waiting to be killed too.

In the first place, it was not explicitly established that only one person could be attacked at a time. The fact that Tallera did so may simply be because she was not yet adept in its use.

It is also possible that once she had the weapon, she could duplicate its structure, so that it could be reproduced on a larger scale. Imagine, for example, a Warbird outfitted with large-scale psionic resonators, and filled with practiced telepaths.

How the mighty have fallen! Poor Saavik having to become Telara because her emotions have taken over! Tsk tsk.

When Galen (Picard) is hit by Riker on the mercenary bridge, he falls and later has his hands rubbing his face. The next shot shows him getting up, but his hands are suddenly on his sides.

The buttons on the mercenary ship (the little circles with rectangular shapes around them) show up on DS9. In "The Way of the Warrior," Kira presses one to fire weapons at the Klingon ships.

The end is cute, but senseless. Picard has been declared dead, so Riker claims he is now acting captain. Picard facetiously informs him that since he's been declared a traitor, Data is now acting captain. Picard then suggests to Data, as a joke, that Riker be put in the brig. Data, taking the command seriously, actually seems to carry out that order, and we end with him leading Riker down a corridor, presumably to the brig. But wait a minute: If Picard's no longer on duty (having been declared dead), then why would Data follow his order, and not Riker's declaration that he is now captain? Data, being a sensible rational being, would humourlessly disregard Picard's statement, and continue as acting captain.

On page 13 of the NextGen Guide II, Phil asked if weapons would be readily available to disgruntled crew members. Apparently so. Just before Picard and Riker invade the Enterprise, Baran tells them to take some weapons out of the locker. (Or words to that effect.) He didn't personally hand out the weapons, or give them a key to get them, so apparently a crewman could sneak a weapon out when Baran isn't looking. It seems that Baran either believes in his remote control device or he just likes living dangerously. Then again, he didn't seem all that bright.

How did Picard switch the transponder codes? By remote control? Telekinesis? Saying, "Look behind you!" and when Baran looks, Picard grabs the device, reprograms the transponder codes, then slips it back before Baran turns back around???

If Picard could somehow switch the codes, why not just turn the thing off? Did he find it more ironic if Baran killed himself, rather then letting the crew beat him to death?

Tell me I saw this wrong. When Riker talks to the head of Vulcan Security about an undercover agent on a smuggler ship, why does he use an open frequency? Did I miss something that said the transmission was being coded? If Picard's mutiny had failed, and Talera was a Vulcan security agent and Baran had been monitoring Federation channels, Riker could have screwed up her mission.

Why did the Romulans stop using this weapon? The Vulcans stopped because they learned to control their emotions and started using logic, but the Romulan ancestors broke away from Vulcan while the Vulcans were still violent. So why did Romulans stop making and using this weapon?

Also in the Guide Phil comments on Vulcan's color change. Presumably the Vulcans decided that red was too emotionally stimulating and changed their planet to a blander color.

I loved watching the crew try to have a conversation with the untalkative Klingon. (Of course the reason why he was untalkative, may have had to do with the fact that he was a basketball player and not an actor, but it was still fun to watch.)

It's good having the DVD of season 7 but the better picture quality sure shows up more faults. When Riker is talking to Adm. Chekote and the Vulcan V'shaar guy on the terminal in the ready room it's now possible to see the feint captain's log display within the picture. Obviously that's what's on the terminal screen all the time and the picture has been superimposed not entirely successfully over the top. Oh well, still love this episode!

Is it me, or did Data really seem like a weak captain in this episode (not so much part one, though)? Riker was always able to put his foot down on something and make it clear he made business, but Data seemed like a complete wimp leading hapless lackies to me.

But then again, this is just my perception. How does everyone else feel?

I personally thought that Data was a pretty cool Captain. His dressing down of Worf in particular was a terrific moment. But that is just my perception. I suppose there were moments in which he was not particularly "Captainly." The scene with Korath in the Observation Lounge comes to mind.

I agree with's Dan's two sentences. But the scene in the OL with Koroth wasn't meant to accomplish anything except to stall him while his shuttle was searched.

Though if I were Koroth, I would have tried to headbutt Data in about two minutes, with how dull and meek he was playing that scene.

However, I must admit I agree with Dan about the Ready Room scene.

The name of the Vulcan in this episode is T'Pol. I wonder if she is a relative of the Enterprise T'Pol.

Her name was actually T'Paal.

Sabrina Le Beauf (Ensign Guisti) was Sondra on "The Cosby Show."

The basketball player was Lakers great James Worthy.

>>But wait a minute: If Picard's no longer on duty (having been declared dead), then why would Data follow his order, and not Riker's declaration that he is now captain? Data, being a sensible rational being, would humourlessly disregard Picard's statement, and continue as acting captain.

I don't think he was following Picard's order. He simply was locking up Riker, for being a traitor! Picard's suggestion probably had little to do with it.

At the end of the episode, Riker jokes around with Picard by saying that Picard cannot give any orders because he was declared dead.

Data then makes a note about Riker's "crimes".

Picard then asks Data to take Riker to the Brig...and he complies!

What happened to "Picard can no longer give orders because he was declared dead"?

Did Data forget?

Alright, who was the genius who gave the Klingon one of those math word problems about trains??

After the "battle" at the begining of the episode, the crew eventually finds the hidden flight plan and determines that the mercenaries are headed to the Hyralan sector. Worf notes that the mercenaries ship has a top speed of warp 8.7 and that it will take them "at least 14 hours" to get there. LaForge chimes in that the Enterprise can get there in five hours. So they kick in warp 9 and merrily run along.

Slight math problem here. Rate times time still equals distance, even if the rate is ridiculously high. The mercenaries only need this last artifcat, so it would make sense they go get it immediately. The Enterprise hasn't gone anywhere since Calder II. Since both ships are leaving from the same spot and both are going to the same destination, distance is equal. R1*T1 must equal R2*T2. If c is the speed of light expressed as m/hr and if the warp equivalents to the speed of light I found are accurate, then the following must hold:

(9^(10/3))*c*5 = (8.7^(10/3))*c*14
1516*c*5 = 1354*c*14
7580 = 18956

Someone's calculations are way off in this conversation. For the conversation to be correct, the Enterprise would have to travel at around warp 9.9 for five hours -- which isn't exactly believeable -- or the mercenary ship can really only travel at a top speed of around warp 6.6, not the stated 8.7.

If Troi leaned over me, I'd wake up real fast too.

When the mercenaries seize the artifact from the Observation Lounge, Picard stuns Riker. Troi and Data play along and pretend he is dead and the mercenaries beam away happily. One slight problem: about fifteen seconds after being stunned, Riker regains conciousness.

What kind of a stun is that? If you want to try and feign death, wouldn't a slightly heavier stun be advisable? And why do the mercenaries take Troi's word in stride? This is Riker's old ship and his old crewmates, and they just accept the reasoning that "he's dead, might as well leave him with us"? Granted they might be scared of being caught, but how long does it take to find a pulse?

(I really don't get why Riker had to come to in the scene anyway. The dialouge clearly indicated he was going to be fine and the cutesy/corny line he gives at the end isn't exactly intergral to anything.)

In hindsight, maybe cheap aluminum wasn't the best choice for the death ray controller

After Baran kills himself, Picard destroys the neural control device with a single, quick shot. Is that really right? How effective should this neural thing have been if one well placed shot could have destroyed the control mechanism? It appeared Baran kept the device on his hip the whole time, why not sneak up on him and shoot the thing out? Worst case is you miss it, hit him, and stun/kill him.

Haley Joel Osment must have been brought onboard...

Actually if you listen closely to the dialouge at the end, Picard doesn't order Data to do anything. He orders Riker to plot a course to whereever, and after the ensuing comedy he says to Data:

"I'm going to get some sleep. In the meantime I suggest you escort Commander Riker to the brig."

There is no order there, it's just a simple suggestion. Nobody set any limits on where captains can get their ideas, so Picard being declared dead doesn't affect Data's ability to consider (and accept) Picard's suggestion ... all this from a strictly technical point of view, of course.

When Riker comes around after being shot by "Galen", and they all begin discussing the situation ... is that huge Klingon ally of Baran's still sitting right opposite them?

Maybe they figured he wouldn't be able to tell the mercenaries what happened in less than a year?

I don't see what makes this psionic weapon so great in the first place. It only kills people one by one like a phaser does.

It's telepathic and I believe in the ST universe no technology can block telepathy meaning that one could possibly use it on shielded battle cruser to kill the captian and everyone on the bridge, for example.

Picard refers to the "last Vulcan Civil war" saying it was "Centuries ago", with the implication that it was around Surak's time.

Of course, now we know from Enterprise Vulcan Trilogy that the last Vulcan Civil war was about 200 years ago ... now this could be "centuries", but I doubt the psychic resonator would have been used.

Was that a civil war or just a reformation brought about when the serranites (sp) were no longer called terrorists. For example here in the US we've had several instances of civillian groups who were called terrorists by some & freedom fighters by others try to take action aginst the government but only one of those is called a civil war.

When Riker talks to the head of Vulcan Security about an undercover agent on a smuggler ship, why does he use an open frequency?

He didn't. Worf told him that it was a secure channel.

The course Baran gives at the beginning of this ep is 180 mk 215 yet that is not the direction the ship goes. I am probably confused on how courses are set in space but 180 is the opposite direction the ship is facing, on relative terms.

When Tallera/T'Paal is discussing that isolationist movement on Vulcan I was immediatrly reminded of that two-epside arc prior to the series finale on Enterprise, one of them was titled Terra Prime. If Tallera was being honest, the ideology of this movement sounds almost exactly like those of the guy who used to be Robocop.

If c is the speed of light expressed as m/hr and if the warp equivalents to the speed of light I found are accurate, then the following must hold:

Where exactly did those warp conversions come from? I hope it was a canonical source, otherwise we may have to court martial you for violations of the nitpicker's prime directive ;).

Joel, I believe the warp numbers come from the TNG Tech manual and the "Star Trek Encyclopedia" but they were routinely ignored or fudged by the writers. According to the tech manual it should take most ships around 2 days or more to go from one star system to the next nearest one, which would mean episodes like this one where they go zipping all around the sector should take place over a matter of weeks or more likely months.

BTW I just re-watched this episode on DVD and was really impressed with it. It's not one of the most remembered ones but even as a kid it was always one of my favorites; I was pleased to see it still holds up as well as I remembered. It's got some great action, I love that stealth mercenary ship. Also nice to see some characters being out of their element. Picard and Riker having to pretend to be criminals and Data and Worf commanding the Enterprise. Loved Data's dressing down of Worf and than apologizing on a personal level.

The warp scale for the Next Gen follows the formula w is the warp factor, s(w) is the speed in km per second, and c is the speed of light, then s(w) = w^{10 \over 3}c . For speeds over warp nine there is no formula (The graph was hand drawn) but it follows an asymptotical curve where you need more and more power to increase speed even slightly.
Hence the difference in speed between warp 8.7 and warp 9 may seem small, but on the Next Gen warp scale the latter is significantly faster. This also leaves out the possibility that the Enterprise, being a larger ship on official Starfleet business may be able to take a more direct route than a pirate ship that the authorities are looking for.

Of course this does leave us with a whole host of nits in regards to the top speed of various ships from TNG to Voyager. One of the more obvious ones being that if the only factor in working out how fast a ship can potentially travel at warp is raw engine power, how can Voyager be so much faster than the Enterprise D when its a much smaller ship? Logically the Enterprise should have a much larger warp core, hence be producing far more energy and hence the Enterprise should be far faster than Voyager. We can only conclude that there are other factors at work here.

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