| The Next Generation | |
| 80 | |
| Legacy | |
| 44215.2 | |
The Enterpreise has a new shiney yellow badge on the side that says "Federation Automobile Club" - well if it doesn't, it should have. We find ourselves hurtling through space to help a disabled frieghter. Unfortunately our mechanics weren't quite quick enough as it explodes just as they get there. Luckily an escape pod was dropped in time, so there will need to be an away team...
Actually the escape pod may not have been as lucky as they first thought, because the planet they dropped onto was Turkana Four, Tashy Yar's birthplace. Tasha used to tell stories of the rape-gangs and really bad fashion sense of the locals, so Riker orders all phasers set on maximum stun.
The city... wait a minute, singular? There is one major city and that is it? They gave up the Federation 15 years ago and can't manage as much as an extra building on the surface. Oh well. The city has been destroyed above ground and the inhabitants live in structures going 3km down. The people are divided into two warring factions, the Alliance who are holding the ship-wrecked crew hostage, and the Coalition who are the ones the away team find. How convenient. The citizens are all implanted with proximity detectors, so no major raids into each others territory are possible.
The team return to the Enterprise to discuss the situation with Picard, and during their deliberations a message arrives from the planet. It is Hayne, the leader of the Coalition, and he has a young woman with him. She claims to be Ishara Yar, Tasha's sister. Hayne wheels out the old line that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", and that it is in his best interest to help them get the captured crew members back. What a complete crock. Still, the Feredation guys think it is a good idea and they beam Ishara on board.
She is clearly quite taken with Data, much as her sister was, and asks if he was built for fighting. He comes to the support of the Enterprise-isn't-a- battle-wagon team saying: "The Enterprise is not a ship of war, it is a ship of discovery". The crew are still not convinced that she is who she claims, and Dr Bev takes a DNA sample for comparison. As they discuss possible resuce plans, a message from the planet is sent up. It is from the hostages and they say that if their captors demands are not met in 20 hours, they will be killed. Fine, we only have 35 minutes left so that should be plenty of time.
The great plan they come up with is to use Ishara as a diversion as her implant will set of all of the detectors. While the Alliance are busy chasing her, Geordi will patch a booster into a scanner on the pod, allowing the crew to be located. It works well until Ishara gets hit, and then Riker comes to her rescue, phasers blasting. I think he should have been wearing a large stetson and riding a horse. They never really stood a chance though as they had green phasers which are clearly no match for the Federations orange ones.
Picard calls Riker into see him and says, "You took some unnecessary personal risks... well done". I wonder if they are really as chummy as we are lead to believe. We can't dwell on this for too long as Ishara is back in new clothes - or should I say, hint-of-clothes. She is wearing a skin tight blue jump suit that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. I think this is supposed to distract the viewers form the amazing plot holes.
They manage to locate the crew, but they are held 2km underground and the transporters can't go though that much granite. Geordi says that if they phaser a tunnel down 1.6km them they can safely transport in. Doesn't he think that this might be a complete dead giveaway that something was about to happen? Probably not.
Ishara is to lead the team, but to do so she must have her implant removed. The problem is that if she does so she is going to suffer a radical mastectomy due to the explosives in it. She tells Data that she wants to join Starfleet and that she wants to be his friend. To prove she really is Tasha's sister she gives him a big kiss. I bet Riker is jealous. She asks Data if she can tell Hayne of her plans, and he says to use the observation lounge. "It's working" she reports. What a complete surprise.
The impant is successfully removed and a looks like a small yellow throat lozenge. As they are ready for the attempt, the phasers are fired and the rock just diappears. It doesn't explode out the hole as superheated gas or anything, it just subsides like it was a sand hill. Clever stuff. They beam down and locate the hostages.
As they are about to leave Ishara runs away. Deceit! She manages to find the Alliance fusion generator and sets it to explode so that her troops can crush the them once and for all. She tells Data that she never cared about the crew and that she will kill him if she has to. Interesting metaphysically - is Data alive anyway? Data shoots her and Riker curses because he was just too late to do it himself. Her phaser was set to kill. Data restores the generator and they all beam back.
Hayne demands the return of Ishara, and Picard complies, much to the disapproval of Laughing Boy. As she is about to beam back, Ishara tells Data that she wasn't always lying to him, and that she really did want to be his friend. How touching. Data ends the episode staring at the lozenge and once again looking whistful.
