The TREKKER Reviews


SERIES
The Next Generation
EPISODE
59
TITLE
The Hunted
STARDATE
43489.2


Picard and Riker are walking around in a city. Nothing special here yet. Now the amazing news - a planet wants to join the Federation. Why? So they can paint their ships grey? So they can wear silly uniforms? So they can be like Wesley? The mind boggles!

The prime minister of this retarded world asks Picard if there is anything the Enterprise can do to recapture an escaped prisoner from a maximum security jail. Must be Yatala. I often wonder if they bother to lock the door at night... Riker tells Data (who is commanding the Enterprise) to apprehend the erstwhile vessel and take the pilot into custody.

You would think that Mr Talkie-Toaster would be able to accomplish this simple task, but no. He is confused when the escaping ship disappears behind a potato (oops, sorry that was an asteroid, it just looked like a potato). There are no lifeform reading.

Picard returns to the Enterprise and Riker comes up with the amazing information that the ship might be hiding over one of the magnetic poles of the planet, and using that to cloak it from the sensors. Data says that he can recalibrate the sensors to take this into account, and promptly does so. The question comes to mind as to why the sensors were not automatically calibrated correctly. Probably Wesley was playing with them.

The errant ship, in a last bout of futility hurls itself at the Enterprise and bounces off the shields. Data realises this is a ruse and they find an escape pod and beam its occupant on board. Again, why? Why not bring the whole pod on, and leave it sealed? Because the occupant couldn't then escape and reak havoc on the Enterprise!

The prisoner turns out to be a man, who gets immediately phasored by a security team. No effect! If only this guy was a girl he would be Riker's perfect woman. I can see them in bed now - with phasor-proof sheets! The bad-guy takes out the security team single handed, and unarmed, and looks like getting away until Mr Spinal-Forehead (also known to his friends as Worf) comes and body-slams him.

The prisoner's name is Roga Danar, and the reason that the sensors could not detect him is because he has no life-signs. Thats it? What about looking for the warm body moving around, or are we supposed to believe that he is cold to? Still, this is what they call development...

Troi goes to see Danar, and senses that "You're terrified". Another first for the Betazoid bimbo. She can sense his emotions, yet the sensors read nothing. I vote we attach electrodes to her and wire here into the Enterprise's dash. Then at least the bad guys would be detectable.

Danar had escaped from Lunar-5, a military prison, and so it develops, he was a soldier. It is further revealed that he has been psych- and bio-engineered to be the perfect killing force (how many times have we heard that one?) and that his cells can shield electrical impulses. Hands up those who think his brain would work under these conditions... (counting)... none! Hmm, the future is wierder that I thought.

The locals decide to send a security transport vessel to pick up Danar. Why? Surely they could just beam him into a holding cell on the planet. But I assume that this was considered too easy. Instead they decide to beam him on the security vessel. Now something strange happens. He manages to stick his arms out of the transport beam (yeah - right) and causes it to fail and explode. All I can assume is that the code was written in Ada...

Danar is now loose on the ship and has stolen a phasor. He puts the phasor in a turbolift and sends it to Worf. Worf realises that phasor is set to overload, and so picks it up and disarms it - what a hero! What a dickhead. Why not just shut the doors and contain the blast?

Just to prove that he really is evil, Danar goes to engineering and beats up a blind black man. Ray Charles watch out, this man may be a one of your concerts. He then restores power to a shuttle-bay and climbs up the reactor core. He must be Chernyobyl-Man! Able to eat gamma rays at a single gulp!

He then gets into a Jeffries tube (what ever that is), and sets a phasor to explode by pressing three buttons on it. It seems to me that this is a poor design feature at best, and a sure way to lose government contracts at worst. The resulting explosing knocks out all external sensors on the Enterprise. How convenient.

After slugging it out with Worf in a cargo bay, Danar uses a Philishave razor (or was it a Phasor, I always get the two confused) to power a cargo transporter and beam himself to the security vessel. There is a major reality check needed at this point. As stated in the ST:TNG technical manual, cargo transporters can't transport living matter (something about doing it at the molecular level, rather than the quark level). This guy really is amazing!

He hijacks the security vessel, attacks the penal colony, and heads for the city. A plaintive cry for help brings Picard and an away team down just in time to be attacked by Danar and his buddies. One of the politicians gives a "will of the people" speech, which nearly has the desired effect of putting everyone to sleep.

For once Picard obeys the Prime Directive and lets the planet sort out its own mess. What a guy. Takes the high moral ground at all the wrong times.

Roll Credits...

What an episode. What a crock. Although there was lots of action, this episode has to be one of the least believeable ones they have ever shown. I can almost accept the immortal superhero type aliens of being able to do this stuff, but some dude with a few excess chemicals - give me a break.


This review is Copyright © 1993, Phil Kernick.
Permission is granted for anyone to electronically distribute it - details available on request.