Summary[]
A long-range reconnaissance image shows famed Ambassador Spock on Romulus. Has he defected? Briefly before his death Sarek tells Picard that his son Spock may be working on a plan to reunite the Romulans and Vulcans, together with Romulan Senator Pardek. On board a cloaked Klingon Bird-of-Prey, Picard and Data travel to Romulus where they disguise themselves as Romulans in the hope of finding Spock. In the meantime the Enterprise investigates the disappearance of several old Vulcan ships, which have been removed from a surplus depot on Qualor II. A mysterious alien ship that suddenly appears on the scene, apparently to steal more material, explodes at the first shot. On Romulus, Picard and Data meet Spock.
Errors and Explanations[]
The Nitpicker's Guide
Next Generation Trekkers
Volume 2[]
Plot Oversights[]
- The Klingon ship being able to travel to Romulus without being intercepted. Either the Romulans didn't expect a Klingon ship to travel to their homeworld, or Sela allowed the Bird of Prey to operate in Romulan space for some reason.
Nit Central[]
- Rene on Saturday, August 21, 1999 - 7:53 pm: I thought Journey to Babel and Star Trek IV gave us the impression that Spock and Sarek managed to work out at least some of their differences....and yet this episode seems to suggest they didn't. Murray Leeder on Saturday, August 21, 1999 - 9:10 pm: It actually goes into some detail about their newer problem, disagreement over the Cardassian war. Ratbat on Monday, February 14, 2000 - 1:48 am: Aye, that makes sense, although it does detract from a lot of the stuff in the movies about them making up. Still, that's not a nit. (Though it is a dramatic shame.) Shloomi Regu on Monday, February 14, 2000 - 11:58 pm: New problems, new conflicts. Anonymous on Monday, July 03, 2000 - 10:47 am: It seems like this episode says that they did make up, until the Cardassian wars and then the arguments bubbled up again.
- Aaron Dotter on Tuesday, April 03, 2001 - 9:21 pm: Why is anyone surprised that things are missing from this junkyard? Apparently anyone can come in or out with anything that they want to- there appeared to be nothing to prevent this, not even some sort of forcefield or sensors.Perhaps such measures weren’t considered necessary.
- Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 4:21 am: That long range scanner sure takes some amazing close up photos. Presumably this long range scanner is in Federation space, possibly a couple of light years, at least, from Romulus and yet it produces a picture that looks like it was taken from the roof of a building. Good thing Romulans don't believe in skyscrapers or the Federation never would have known where Spock was. Also amazing is that the scanner was apparently set up to monitor a relatively unimportant little street, just in case something valuable would happen along it. Of course, it is possible that earlier or later in the day it would have recorded a more technologically valuable area, given the fact that a planet does rotate on its axis. There is no way that a long range scanner in Federation space could be focused on any one spot of Romulus, unless it were also orbiting Romulan space. I suppose it is also lucky that Romulus was on the other side of its sun so the scanner could get a daylight shot of Mr. Spock. However, the most amazing thing is how did the scanner get the picture in the first place? It couldn't have been using light since light has a top speed of 186,282.397 miles per second, and I doubt that Romulus is so close to the Neutral Zone that it would take light less than three weeks to get there. Obviously, there is no `long range scanner'. That picture had to have been taken by a spy on Romulus and the long range scanner comment was made to try and throw off any Romulan spies or bugging devices. And we know there are Romulan spies and/or bugging devices around because the Romulans knew Picard had come to Romulus. (It seems I was correct in my comments about a spy. In All Good Things... the Admiral says, "Our operatives on Romulus…") sapphire on Saturday, December 01, 2001 - 6:45 pm: Yes, the photo was taken by a spy on the surface. But the spy was maybe one kilometer away, and that's why Picard called that a "long range." I don't think it's necessary to read any more into it than that. Electron on Sunday, September 29, 2002 - 1:59 pm: I strongly suspect that the Romulans are paranoid enough to have surveillance cameras installed on nearly every corner, especially near important locations like a Senator's office. Maybe they are transmitting their little home movies wireless to the local Tal Shiar office and the signals are routinely picked up by the mighty Federation subspace sensor arrays. The neutral zone isn't far away from Romulus...
- If Perrin likes mint tea then why doesn't she have some shipped to Vulcan instead of suffering with Vulcan mint? It may lose it's flavour during transit, and Vulcan's climate may make it difficult for Perrin to grow Earth mint on Vulcan.
- ScottN on Tuesday, February 05, 2002 - 12:53 am: When Picard and Data are talking to the Klingon captain, he mentions that if they are caught, they could all be killed, as if that is a reason not to go... I guess today was NOT a good day to die! Chris Diehl on Friday, March 07, 2003 - 1:20 pm: Could it be that he has no wish to be killed sitting over Romulus for a couple days, cloaked, waiting on two Starfleet types to do spy-type stuff. If he was part of a fleet going to invade Romulus, he might be more amenable to going.
- John A. Lang on Tuesday, November 26, 2002 - 11:49 am: The Vulcan physicians are quacks! Poor Sarek in lying in bed, suffering and dying, and the physicians can't even provide the man with a descent BLANKET to help keep him warm. Sarek didn't die from Bendaii Syndrome...he probably died from pneumonia! Putting a blanket over him, in Vulcan's hot climate, would have caused his body to overheat!
- Chris Diehl on Friday, March 07, 2003 - 1:20 pm: Why didn't the Romulans' defense system, the one around their homeworld, have a means to detect cloaked vessels? One of their biggest enemies uses cloaking devices, they must be able to detect their own ships while cloaked when flying in formation, and I get the feeling the Romulans are subject to occasional civil war (that is probably what drew them away from galactic affairs until the time of The Neutral Zone). I can't believe that, for all the years they had cloaking devices, they never found a way to trump them, while the Federation, that has had a very few cloaking devices to study, has found half a dozen ways. Perhaps they are too arrogant to expect the Klingons to operate cloaked ships in Romulan space.
- constanze on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 4:04 am: Are no Romulans at all bald, that Picard has to wear a wig with the pot-shape hair-do? Or is it because his bald head makes him easily recognizable, and he is better disguised with hair? ScottN on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 9:23 am: I suspect the latter, since we have seen bald Vulcans (STIII). Chris Diehl on Saturday, June 07, 2003 - 9:06 pm: I think he wore the wig because it made him look even less like how he usually looks to wear it, and it made him stand out less. I am sure bald Romulans exist, but they are probably very noticeable, and being noticeable is the opposite of what spies or people on covert missions do.
- During the preparation of Data, Crusher says the problem is not to change the colour of his skin, but to undo it afterwards. Why would Data want to undo it? If the colour of his skin can be changed, why has never given himself a more natural look, if he tries to be human-like? (Even if the "white" skin is too difficult, Data could dye his skin dark like Geordi). Chris Diehl on Saturday, June 07, 2003 - 9:06 pm: As for why Data doesn't dye his skin to blend in with other people in his regular life, he is an android. He knows he is unique and seems not to mind looking different, because appearances are not important. If someone suggested that he change his appearance to look like a human, he'd probably remind the person that he is not human, and he won't become any more human by engaging in such deception, and he'd also mention that nobody suggests surgery to any other non-human crew members to make them look human, even if they are the only one of their kind aboard. LUIGI NOVI on Sunday, June 08, 2003 - 6:19 am: Except that Data and others have stated that he has always been on a quest to be more human. It would make sense he might want to look more like one. Chris Diehl on Sunday, June 08, 2003 - 11:03 am: Why? He wants to be human, to do things humans can do but he can't, and not simply to masquerade as one. He once refused to be made into a human by Q because it would be false. I don't see how he would think remaking his skin and eye color into colors found on human beings would seem less so, or how any of that would help him learn to laugh or feel any emotions. If all he wanted was to blend in, he would have done that already and would have looked outwardly identical to a human from the start of the series, since nothing about what Crusher did to him and Picard to disguise them as Romulans seems new or revolutionary. It looks like what it probably was, makeup, prosthetics and costumes, which they could apply on their own with little training. Darth Sarcasm on Monday, June 09, 2003 - 10:19 am: My memory may be faulty, but doesn't Data explain in an episode that he chooses to maintain his appearance as a reminder that he has not achieved his goal.Seniram 16:10, September 26, 2015 (UTC) In addition, he may not be allowed to alter his appearance for security/identification reasons.
- Chris Diehl on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 6:55 pm: I had thought I noticed a nit. It involved Data and Picard having to leave the Klingon ship to go to the surface of Romulus. I thought I had a solution, that they landed, decloaked long enough for them to debark, then cloaked and scrambled back to orbit quickly before being noticed. However, just as I thought of that, Data mentioned having picked a location for their transport. The whole point of a Klingon ship carrying them is that it's got a cloaking device. They wouldn't be able to decloak anywhere near Romulus to beam down, or the ship would be detected and destroyed. They might be detectable if they dropped a shuttle, and what sort of shuttle would they use? Klingon and Federation ones would be obvious and would be picked off well before landing, and they didn't stop off to get a Romulan one if the Federation had one to use. So, how the heck did these two get to the surface? Another thing, did that ship stay uncloaked until it hit the border, then cloaked where Romulan outposts could pick it up and their patrols could collapse on them? Maybe they let them in, so they could grab Picard, since Neral seemed to think he was coming. TWS Garrison on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:36 pm: Why would the Klingon ship need to decloak to beam Picard and Data down? People were beaming on and off a cloaked Klingon ship throughout STIV. Chris Diehl on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 11:56 pm: All those transports were over short distances, at most a few miles. Perhaps it can sustain its cloak and transport people short distances. Perhaps they didn't have to take the precautions on 20th Century Earth that would be necessary over 24th Century Romulus. Perhaps it's easier to stay cloaked and work a transporter while sitting on a planet's surface than when in orbit or moving through space. In short, the Bounty, sitting in Golden Gate Park in 1986, is not similar to that ship over Romulus in the 24th Century. The former seems a lot less taxing to a ship's power supply than the latter, so there could conceivably be a lot more energy available for the transport. Thande on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 7:06 am: There is absolutely no evidence that Klingon cloaks have to be dropped for transport. In fact, the only shred of evidence that any cloaks have to be dropped for transport is in The Search [DS9], and anyway that was a Romulan cloak.
- ccabe on Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - 7:55 am: If Klingons can transport while cloaked, why wouldn't they put bombs in their transporters and beam them next to the enemy ship. Scotty used this trick in one novel.It was the novel Kobyashi Maru, when Scotty was describing his attempt at the no-win scenario. If I remember the book correctly, the tactic didn't actually work when Scotty tried it.
- John A. Lang on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 5:53 pm: The one thing that confuses me is how Starfleet even THOUGHT that Spock defected to the Romulans. Given Spock's record for LOYALTY to Starfleet and to his former Captains, one would think he had a VERY GOOD REASON to be on Romulus...I mean, he's an Ambassador for God's sake! Didn't Starfleet even THINK he MIGHT be on Romulus on a PEACE MISSION?! KAM on Monday, August 08, 2005 - 12:39 am: Somebody disappears to an enemy power's planet & you think they should remain optimistic??? They might have considered the possibility, but they had to consider the worst possible scenario. Also Spock's mission has no official backing, he is not the Ambassador to Romulus nor does he have any authority to sign a peace treaty with them. Ambassadors are assigned, they don't decide on their own where to go & what to do there, they must get authorization. LUIGI NOVI on Monday, August 08, 2005 - 1:21 am: John, IIRC, they did think there may have been another reason for Spock's presence there. Defection was simply one possibility that they were obligated to note. When Picard first speaks to Spock in the beginning of part II, in fact, doesn't he immediately assume that Spock's presence there is another example of the "cowboy diplomacy" of Spock's era? I don't recall Picard ever asking Spock, "Ok, just for the record, you're not defecting, right?'.
Ex Astris Scientia[]
- Why doesn't Admiral Brackett show Picard the enhanced picture of Spock on Romulus in the first place? Why does she access the raw picture and uses the Enterprise computer to clear it up? Does she just want to make it more suspenseful? Well, she may have wanted to prove to Picard that it's not a fake, but Picard ought to trust in her judgment. Better safe than sorry!
Notes[]
- ↑ Uncredited: Joyce Agu as Ensign Gates, Rachen Assapiomonwait as Crewman Nelson, Michael Braveheart as Crewman Martinez (uncredited), Carl David Burks as Ensign Russell, Tracee Cocco as Ensign Jae, Gerard David Jr. as Operations Division Officer, Carla Beachcomber/Carmen Emeterio/Linda Harcharic/Christi Haydon-Wilson as Romulan Civilians, Mark Lentry as Romulan Civilian / Science Division Officer, Tim McCormack as Ensign Bennett (archive footage), Guy Vardaman as Klingon Crewman
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