Forgive me if someone had mentioned this previously, but why was it possible for Lt. Kwan to kill himself the way he did by throwing himself thru a force field into the plasma flow in a nacelle tube? It's a force field but it was only one-way. The only practical purpose for a one-way force field would be for shuttlecraft to leave the shuttlebay.
In the nacelle tube, not only should a force field keep dangerous elements in, but also keep dumb-dumbs like Kwan out.
Are one-way force fields any more possible than transporters? I can buy that in sci-fi. Given that, I hope no one gets the urge to jump out an open shuttlebay hatch.

This episode had the all-time worst line EVER. When Troi (I think) was talking to Kwan's girlfriend, she came out with the belter of the line: "It's not like him to kill himself." I fell on the floor laughing, expecting her to continue, "I mean, he's never done it before".

I think that the shuttlebay forcefields are two-way, they're just really weak. All they have to do is keep one atmosphere's worth of pressure in the ship, so a shuttle would be able to generate enough pressure to punch through. Don't know about a person, though, as I don't know how much pressure would need to be generated.

I didn't actually watch this episode this time round, so maybe they gave a reason that I don't know about. Why when he is getting ready to jump, and Riker is watching and trying to talk him out of it - doesn't anybody think to beam him out of danger?
I know somebody did once jump out from an activated transporter beam, but I thought he was somehow 'enhanced', and so it was a special case.

Re. it's not like him to kill himself...
That statement would take on a whole different meaning if she were involved with Harry Kim...

Maybe they don't beam him because the time it would take for Riker to say "Emergency transport, ship to ship" or whatever is enough time for him to jump and kill himself.
Mind you, it's been ages since I saw it and this explanation would only hold water if he was right on the precipice, seconds away from death.

I don't understand the resolution of this episode. As the lawyer in the movie "Philadelphia says, "Explain it to me like I'm four years old.."

Did Pierce really murder someone at Utopia Planetia? Or was he just acting as a conduit for the bad memories? Was Pierce actually ever in Troi's quarters? Did he really tell her to kill herself? I'm soooo confused...

Okay, explain this one to me like I'm four years old...

Troi & Worf try to trace the man who Troi saw in her dream. They go through the Enterprise's computer files. They find Walter Pierce. They interview him. He knows nothing.

Then at the end of the episode, when we find out that the "empathic pattern" has been implanted in the nacelle, we find out that Walter Pierce, er, killed himself eight years previously. That's the same Walter Pierce who was on the computer, earlier on that day, as a current member of the crew; the same Walter Pierce who was interviewed by Troi AND WORF about the incident. Er, how did he manage this?

It was all in Troi's head.

What, his empathic pattern had her hallucinating detailed computer records? Come on! Sounds more like a straight-down-the-line ••••-up to me.

No, the computer records were only detailed enough to fool Troi, which isn't that hard. As I understand it, from the time the computer announces 90 seconds to the 70 second announcement are in Troi's dream.

This episode had the all-time worst line EVER. When Troi (I think) was talking to Kwan's girlfriend, she came out with the belter of the line: "It's not like him to kill himself." I fell on the floor laughing, expecting her to continue, "I mean, he's never done it before".

Wellllll... it could mean he isn't the depressed type who would want to give up and kill himself.

Of course it does, Padawan. It's just the way it's phrased here that makes it sound really funny.

There's a crisis in the nacelle tube and Riker and Worf are racing there. Were they in the area or did they run all the way from the bridge?

From this and a few other episodes I get the impression that when there is an engineering crisis, the standard procedure is for most of the engineers to run and hide. We only see one engineer trying to deal with the problem and Riker orders Worf to help her. Where are the rest of the engineers?

Why didn't someone just put a phaser on stun and shoot Kwan?

On page 53 of the NextGen Guide II, Phil wondered why Riker didn't have O'Brien beam Kwan out of there. I'm not positive, but I believe that Deep Space Nine was too far away for a safe transport. ;-)

Nara says that Kwan has locked out the controls. When did he have time to do this? Troi wasn't fully affected until the doors were opened and then she went into her little fantasy world for a few seconds and didn't come out of it until Worf grabbed her.

Kwan seemed to hear and answer Riker, although Troi seemed completely immersed in the fantasy.

How long has Kwan worked on the ship? If I recall, he was stationed in this part of the ship, but he was only affected just before he jumped. If it had been slowly affecting him while he worked there, there would have been evidence in his behavior and those recordings he made.

Data tells Geordi of problems he encountered when becoming sentient. He specifically mentions Starfleet people telling him that he was a machine, but didn't Data become sentient when the Soongs built him? If it wasn't for that Starfleet comment one could say this was a memory accessed after meeting his 'mother.' Apparently Data was built, learned all he needed to know about functioning in society, then the Soongs erased his memories and shut him off, left him on a rock until he was activated by the presence of Starfleet officers and only later became sentient. That doesn't make any sense to me.

Worf expresses surprise that Kwan has a Napient object in his room and Troi tells him that Kwan's mother is Napient. First of all, shouldn't Worf have known Kwan was Napient by looking at him? Secondly, as Security Chief shouldn't Worf be familiar with the crew profiles?

Troi walks to the door of the plasma chamber and feels a flood of emotions. Was this flood there because Kwan was fried or was it there when he was alive? If it was there when he was alive then why didn't he report it?

IHITMO: Dr. Crusher mentions a telepathy inhibitor, which sounds fairly simple, but what about Data's statement in Night Terrors about no known technology blocking telepathy?

IHITMO: Troi must think she is a better bluffer than she is. Telling Pierce that she can tell when someone is telling the truth was a very blatant lie.

Just saw a rerun, my thoughts...

Saving Kwan:
- I thought too, why not BEAM him out?
(Maybe not possible because of some radiation in the nacelle)
- Why not shoot him with phaser?
(Maybe same thing as above)
- Why not Data? Data would be fast enough to grab him before he could jump.

That forcefield:
- It's really very weak considering that the warpdrive plasma flows behind it.
(Possible explanation: As Worf says when Troi asks to open the door, after 90 seconds the plasma will be blown out in order to safe the field. Maybe it was weakened when Kwan jumps.)
BUT!
Why powering down the nacelle just because that door is open? Just close the door. If that thin door can stand the plasma under normal conditions,
I'm sure a forcefield could do that as well.

The nacelle's blue glow:
What causes it when not the plasma?
It's offline but still glowing blue from inside.

About the telepathy inhibitor:
I think Data meant any tech. that kind of generates a radiation or so that blocks ppl's ability. In this case, it was directly injected.

Maybe the inhibiter is a drug that messes with the part of the brain that does the telepathy stuff?

You would think that some kind of FORCE FIELD would rise when that naecelle door opened. I mean, all that plasma in that area isn't exactly safe. It is an accident waiting to happen

I'm sorry again. The force field idea was already suggested.

Why do Riker and Worf (and later Troi) have to climb a ladder to gain access to the nacelle control room? Do the people posted to that station have to climb a ladder to get to work every morning? I thought that the Technical Manual said something about a single-person turbolift being able to go out to each nacelle for maintenance inspections and the like, but I don't have my copy with me right now.

That ladder would certainly make bringing your morning coffee with you in a travel mug a real production... ;-)

NANJAO

In the episode, Troi ordrs Yridian Tea. What would Yridian Tea be? That's like having a tea called Earth Tea. It's not impossible, just not very likely. At least the Cardassians have a drink that isn't called Cardie-Cola, that being Kanar.

Nits

Union dues on Mars must be well worth it... they can wait 6 years to actually install a computer display.
In the nacelle tube control room, when Troi is seeing the past, there are miscellanious components waiting to be installed. On the center control console are the devices that Troi says weren't there in her vision quest. Data says they were only installed 2 years ago so what were they doing for the last 6 years.

True it all happened in Troi's mind, but in that instance, it wasn't a Troi created fantasy, it was vision quest through what Pierce saw, so the equipment must have been there 8 years ago for Pierce to remember it.

I must add that the view inside the Warp Naecelle was very cool.

In the episode, Troi ordrs Yridian Tea. What would Yridian Tea be? That's like having a tea called Earth Tea. It's not impossible, just not very likely. At least the Cardassians have a drink that isn't called Cardie-Cola, that being Kanar. - Torque

Kind of like Klingon Bloodwine or Romulan Ale?

We do have French Dressing, Russian Dressing & Italian Dressing for salads. There is also Spanish Rice & other such things that are named after countries. They aren't the only such products that come out of the named countries but they do keep the name.

Brian Fitzgerald: We do have French Dressing, Russian Dressing & Italian Dressing...
Galactus: Oooh, so many choices!

I don't think kanar is carbonated, if Garak and Quark's reaction to root beer in The Way of the Warrior(DS9) is any indication.

Amerian cheese...canadian bacon...french fries

I'm getting hungry.

I wonder what would happen if Galactus ate the Sarlac? Would it give her indigestion for the next 1000 years?

In Marvel Comics' 2005 humor issue "Wha-Huh?!", Brian K. Vaughn proposed the idea of "What If Galactus Got Food Poisoning?" Apparently by consuming the cosmic being Ego the Living Planet, that's how.

As a result, the Big G was having, shall we say, gastrointestinal distress (if he even has intestines, I have no idea) and he calls upon the Silver Surfer to aid him with his calamity. SS provides Galactus with a giant galactic commode that he can relieve himself with. However, two Watchers are present at the scene and the higher-ranking one tells the other to avert his eyes, as "this scatological abominiation offends even MY base sensibilities!"

Referring to Galactus "relieving himself", the underling Watcher then remarks "Very well, but you're going to miss the best part. This is how the New Universe was born."

Marvel fans will get that, trust me. For more information, look up "New Universe (Marvel Comics)" on Wikipedia.

As for if Sarlacc was consumed by Galactus? I thought Big G ate entire worlds, not just large aliens native to a specific world. But that was still a good joke, Chris!

Uh, what exactly does Galactus have to do with this episode of TNG??

See the post above mine, Tim. That's what started it!

Luigi novi:I don't think kanar is carbonated, if Garak and Quark's reaction to root beer in The Way of the Warrior(DS9) is any indication.

Didn't Phil point out in the DS9 guide that the root beer they were drinking was clearly flat??

Also-from other stories-kanar is not carbonated.

(By the way-iirc-the only planet to give Galactus indigestion was Poppup(the Impossible Mans home world)).

Also, did they ever say what species Lt. Nara belonged to? I remember that Daniel Kwan was half-Napean, therefore he was empathic, and that's why Troi was seeing the visions. Somehow it was happening, I'm not quite sure how!

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Jep: Also-from other stories-kanar is not carbonated.

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Amr: Also, did they ever say what species Lt. Nara belonged to? I remember that Daniel Kwan was half-Napean, therefore he was empathic, and that's why Troi was seeing the visions. Somehow it was happening, I'm not quite sure how!

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How come Troi didn't get cranky or when Dr. Crusher "turned off" Troi's empathic powers?

Troi sure got cranky when they turned off in "The Loss".