Summary[]
Before Wesley leaves for Starfleet Academy, he accompanies Picard and a miner named Dirgo to negotiations on Pentarus III. Their shuttle, however, crashes on the desert moon Lambda Paz. A remote mountain range is the only protection against the burning sun. They find a water fountain that is protected by a forcefield. Dirgo tries to destroy the forcefield with his phaser, which releases a rock avalanche that severely hurts Picard.
When Dirgo, against Wesley's advice, fires at the forcefield again, he gets killed. Wesley promises the ailing Picard that he will not give up. He analyzes the forcefield and finally finds a way to disable it and get the water for the captain. In the meantime, the Enterprise has saved the population of Gamelan V from an old freighter with a radiation leak in their orbit by towing the vessel into the Gamelan sun.
Errors and Explanations[]
Nit Central[]
- Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 4:18 am: 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? The hull and internal systems may have been damaged in the crash.
- 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? Drilling a hole would result in dirt falling into the hole, and contaminating the water.
- 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? They may want to deposit the barge in the side of the star facing away from the planet.
- John A. Lang on Friday, September 06, 2002 - 7:58 pm: GOLDEN DUNCE CAP AWARD: Riker...
HEY RIKER! Why not just blow up the dumb garbage scow after it's pulled from orbit? Lt Sarcasm of Doom on Friday, September 06, 2002 - 8:52 pm: Large radioactive cloud in orbit around an alien planet not very good for navigation and health of passersby. - Kevin Nash on Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 9:41 am: 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. Possibly an easier route to the area of the mountains indicated by the arrow.
- TSO on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 12:29 am: 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. It may have drifted beck to the planet, or broken up, while Enterprise was away.
Ex Astris Scientia[]
- The asteroid belt between Gamelan V and its sun is the apparent reason why the Enterprise has to tow the freighter a long way after the attempt to use the engine pods has failed. However, wouldn't it have been much easier to tow away the freighter from Gamelan V perpendicular to the ecliptic for a short time and let the inertia do the rest? The Enterprise could have rushed to save Picard and Wesley and could have returned any time to finish the work, by reversing the course of the freighter into the Gamelan sun, now completely avoiding the dangerous asteroid belt (assuming that the asteroid belt is what it says, a belt and not a sphere)? That would increase the difficulty of keeping the situation under control.
- Why should the radiation levels steadily rise while the Enterprise maintains a constant distance towing the freighter? The writer may have mistaken the repeatedly mentioned dose per time (in millirads per minute) for a dose (in millirads). Perhaps the physical radiation shielding was disintegrating?
Fandom[]
- Donlisko on 21 November 2022 - 22:53 At the very end why weren’t the captain and Wesley beamed aboard? Combination of the Captain's injuries and atmospheric interference.
| The Next Generation Season 4 |
| The Best of Both Worlds Part 2 I Family I Brothers I Suddenly Human I Remember Me I Legacy I Reunion I Future Imperfect I Final Mission I The Loss I Data's Day I The Wounded I Devil's Due I Clues I First Contact I Galaxy's Child I Night Terrors I Identity Crisis I The Nth Degree I Qpid I The Drumhead I Half a Life I The Host I The Mind's Eye I In Theory I Redemption Part 1 |