Summary[]
The Enterprise is transporting delegates of the ferocious Anticans and the allegedly distinguished reptiloid Selay, two races who are only keen on killing each other. When the ship has passed a strange cloud, an energy being comes aboard, consecutively takes over the bodies several crew members and finally remains in Picard's body.
Picard, under the alien influence, resigns his command and beams into the cloud. However, his consciousness remains in the computer system and can be merged with the pattern again that is still being stored in the transporter system.
Errors and Explanations[]
Internet Movie Database[]
Revealing mistakes[]
- Data says the energy cloud is traveling at warp velocity, but when Enterprise makes its sensor pass the stars aren't streaking in the background. The cloud may have only appeared to travel at warp.
The Nitpicker's Guide
Next Generation Trekkers
Volume 2[]
Plot Oversights[]
- The nonchalance of Picard's crew regarding the demise of the Seley delegate.The crew are still in shock over what has happened to Picard. In any case, they know that the Anticans won’t change overnight.
Changed Premises[]
- Picard bullying Riker and Crusher into undergoing full physicals, while Kirk calmly listens to Spock and McCoy while acting in a seemingly equally erratic manner in Obsession.1) This could be a deliberate act by the creature to prevent it's discovery before it can return home. 2) Riker, Crusher and Picard have only served together for a short time in this episode. Spock, McCoy and Kirk had served together for longer at that point, giving McCoy and Spock a better understanding of Kirk's psychology.
Equipment Oddities[]
- Picard programming the transporter to beam him into the cloud as energy only with just one tap on a seemingly deactivated console. The energy creature may have been able to submit the full range of instructions with one touch.
Nit Central[]
- Keith Alan Morgan on Sunday, April 18, 1999 - 07:47 am: Toward the end of the episode, Picard says to the Bridge crew, "As many of you suspected when we passed by the energy cloud we carried away a sentient being." How would Picard know that any of them suspected this, I don't remember any scene where anyone even discussed the possibility. I think the closest anyone came was that they discovered that some presence had taken over Worf and Dr. Crusher, but no one said, "Hey, you don't think that energy cloud had something to do with it, do you?" Picard and/or the energy creature must have realised that Riker and Crusher had begun to suspect the truth, as this would explain them voicing their concerns over Picard's unusual actions.
- Dan Harris on Monday, July 22, 2002 - 5:02 pm: After initialy investigating the energy cloud, Picard orders the Enterprise to warp 8 to reach the Pacifica peace conference on time. However, after temporarily losing warp power and subsequently regaining it, he orders the ship to resume it's course at warp 6. What happened? Was the peace conference postponed, thereby removing the urgency to reach Pacifica quickly? kerriem on Monday, July 22, 2002 - 8:27 pm: He wanted to go easier on what they weren't sure at that point were completely undamaged/stressed engine systems.
Sources[]
| The Next Generation - Season 1 |
| Encounter at Farpoint I The Naked Now I Code of Honor I Haven I Where No One Has Gone Before I The Last Outpost I Lonely Among Us I Justice I The Battle I Hide and Q I Too Short a Season I The Big Goodbye I Datalore I Angel One I 11001001 I Home Soil I When the Bough Breaks I Coming of Age I Heart of Glory I The Arsenal of Freedom I Symbiosis I Skin of Evil I We'll Always Have Paris I Conspiracy I The Neutral Zone |