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Relics (episode)

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The Enterprise discovers a ship that crashed on a Dyson sphere more than seventy-five years prior with a single survivor suspended in the transporter buffer: Captain Montgomery Scott.

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Production history
• 3.3.1 Bridge set
• 3.3.2 Deleted scene
• 3.4 Continuity
• 3.5 Cast and characters
• 3.6 Reception
• 3.7 Apocrypha
• 3.8 Home media format releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest stars
• 4.4 Special guest star
• 4.5 Co-stars
• 4.6 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.7 Stand-ins
• 4.8.1 Display graphic references
• 4.8.2 Meta references
• 4.9 Further reading
• 4.10 External links

Summary [ ]

A Dyson sphere as viewed from the Enterprise bridge

The USS Enterprise -D picks up a distress call from the USS Jenolan , a transport vessel that has been missing for seventy-five years . As the Enterprise drops out of warp and initiates a Code 1-Alpha-Zero to respond to the signal, the starship is rocked violently by a massive gravitational field . Although initial scans do not find the source of the field, they trace the field to its center and discover a massive spherical structure, two hundred million kilometers in diameter (about 2/3 of the Earth 's orbital diameter around the Sun ). The sphere's dimensions are consistent with those of the (until then) theoretical structure known as a Dyson sphere . Captain Picard is not surprised that Commander Riker has never heard of the old postulation of 20th century physicist Freeman Dyson , explaining that a hollow sphere built around a star could harness all of its radiant energy and provide a population, living on the interior surface of the sphere like any habitable planet , with a nearly inexhaustible source of power. The sphere's size creates massive gravimetric interference that interferes with sensors , preventing the Enterprise from locating it before the ship had dropped out of warp.

The USS Jenolan , crashed on the surface of the Dyson sphere

The Enterprise locates the Jenolan , having crashed on the surface of the sphere. Surprisingly, several small power readings are still emanating from the crashed ship and life support systems are still operating, on minimal levels. Riker, Lieutenant Commander La Forge and Lieutenant Worf beam aboard the Jenolan and find that, although some of the ship's systems are still functioning, there are no apparent signs of life . However, La Forge discovers that the transporters have been reconfigured in a strange manner – power has been drawn from the auxiliary systems (they were a regenerative power source) and pattern buffers locked to cycle in a Level 4 diagnostic mode . Riker works out that by leaving the transporter in the diagnostic mode, it rerouted the matter array through the pattern buffer. Furthermore, La Forge finds a pattern is still in the buffer and, amazingly, it has suffered almost no degradation, less than 0.003%. Riker wonders if someone could survive in the transporter buffer for seventy-five years and La Forge finds out by rematerializing the stored pattern. Captain Montgomery "Scotty" Scott materializes on the transporter pad , his left arm in a makeshift sling of torn uniform cloth .

Act One [ ]

" Well, thank you, lads. "

After Scott thanks La Forge and Riker for rematerializing him, he runs over to the transporter console and attempts to retrieve a second pattern, that of Ensign Matt Franklin , but unfortunately, unlike the phase inducer that kept Scott's pattern intact, the phase inducer responsible for doing the same for Franklin's pattern has failed – although Scott has La Forge boost the gain on the matter stream , the pattern has degraded by 53% – too much for him to be rematerialized when the transporters cannot compensate. Riker offers his condolences and introduces La Forge and himself to Scott. When Riker explains that they came from the starship Enterprise , Scott reacts understandably, believing he was saved by a crew led by Jim Kirk in the decommissioned USS Enterprise -A , and asks how long he was in the pattern buffers. Worf interrupts the conversation to inform him that life support has been restored and the oxygen levels will return to normal shortly. Riker introduces the security officer to Scott, who is surprised to learn that there is a Klingon officer serving in Starfleet and realizes that he has been in the buffer for an extremely long time.

The Enterprise in orbit around the sphere

After transporting back to the Enterprise , Riker begins suggesting going to sickbay , but Scott is distracted by immediately noticing that the transporter's resonator array has changed. Amused, Riker notes to La Forge that Scott will likely have many engineering questions, who assures him that he'll escort Scott. Stepping over to the system access panels, Scott asks what's been done to the duotronic enhancers , to which La Forge removes a panel and shows him the much more efficient isolinear chips that replaced them about forty years ealier ; Scott is about to reach inside when La Forge warns that he was going to touch an EPS power tap .

As they exit for sickbay, Scott elaborates on what he told them on the Jenolan : they were on their way to the Norpin colony when there was an overload in a plasma transfer conduit , causing warp engine failure. The captain brought the ship out of warp, and they accidentally discovered the Dyson sphere through its gravimetric interference, much like what the Enterprise experienced. He marvels at the thought of the engineering skills just to design it. On La Forge asking about their first approach of the sphere, Scott continues that the standard survey of the surface had begun, and the first orbital scan was just being completed when the aft power coil suddenly exploded. Caught in the sphere's gravity well , the Jenolan fell toward the sphere and crashed on the surface; he and Franklin were the only survivors. When asked what inspired him to use the transporters to place himself and Franklin in such a state, Scott explains that there were too few supplies to survive long enough to be rescued and so they had to think of something . La Forge tells Scott that he found Scott's inventive use of the transporter to be "absolutely brilliant", but Scott acts modestly, noting that he thinks it was only fifty percent brilliant, due to the fact that it didn't save Franklin. La Forge continues that he believes that Scott will enjoy the 24th century and all the advances they've made, while Scott confesses to being a bit overwhelmed with the impressive Enterprise -D as they step into a turbolift ; La Forge tells him to just wait until he sees the holodeck .

In sickbay, Scott is diagnosed by Dr. Crusher with only minor injuries: his arm only has a hairline fracture of the humerus and will just ache for a couple of days. Picard enters sickbay and welcomes Scott aboard. He is surprised that Scott was on board the Jenolan , as the engineer wasn't listed in the crew manifest. However, Scott explains that he was traveling aboard the Jenolan as a passenger to the Norpin colony on Norpin V to enjoy his then-recent retirement from Starfleet . When La Forge is left with orders to study the Dyson sphere, Scott is eager to help, but Dr. Crusher advises him to rest; he acquiesces but appears to feel out of place with no work to do.

Scott is then escorted to his quarters by Ensign Kane , where he is awe-struck at the luxury that he is entitled to compare with starships of his time period, even for an admiral . Scott, with much enthusiasm, reminisces to Kane about his years in Starfleet, starting with explaining the mission with the Elas Dohman and his troubles during shore leave on Argelius II but Kane has very little interest in Scott's nostalgia and politely tells him he has to return to duty, leaving Scott alone, feeling much less enthusiastic and somewhat pensive about his new life in the 24th century .

Act Two [ ]

" I'm not here for a tour, laddie. I'm here to help. "

As La Forge and his team are working on their spectrographic analysis of the sphere, Scott interrupts, having received his issued combadge , insisting on offering La Forge his assistance. Lieutenant Bartel tries to inform him that engineering is restricted to authorized personnel only, but La Forge allows him to stay. La Forge skeptically accepts Scott's offer for help and the team begin their duties. Meanwhile, on the bridge , Data reports to Captain Picard that the sphere was built around a G-type star and that its interior surface provides an environment much like that of an M-Class planet, but there are no apparent signs of inhabitants. Picard orders four probes to be launched to speed up the scans of the sphere. Back in engineering, Scott finds further advances and changes in technology that in his era were dangerous. He recalls when he had to create an entire new start-up sequence to cold start the engines when his Enterprise was spiraling down to Psi 2000 . La Forge is quietly becoming irritated until Scott offers advice on how to deal with Starfleet captains. When La Forge finally voices his frustration and tells Scott that he has a lot of work to do and that he is in the way, the older engineer berates his younger counterpart and leaves engineering in a disgruntled state.

Data offers Scott a bottle of Aldebaran whiskey

Later, Scott arrives in Ten Forward , walks over to the lounge's bar and orders a drink of Scotch whisky , neat. He is repulsed when he tastes the drink, disputing with the confused young waiter that it's actually Scotch. Sitting nearby at the bar (likely to study social interactions), Data approaches and explains to Scott about the invention of synthehol to replace alcohol in the majority of traditional spirits. Data offers Scott an alcoholic drink from Guinan 's personal supply, stepping behind the bar and pulling out a bottle with a neon green liquid inside. After being asked by Scott what it is, Data attempts a rudimentary examination by sight and smell, but cannot describe it any more precisely than, "it is green." The engineer's reaction to this drink is much more pleasant and Data shortly tops up his glass.

Act Three [ ]

Scott remembers the good times on board "his" Enterprise

In a slightly drunken state, with the bottle of green spirits and the glass in his hands, Scott arrives outside one of the holodecks , having also been informed about them by Data, and requests a simulation of the bridge of his ship. The computer states that his request is insufficient, so Scott says in annoyance that he wants to see the bridge of the Enterprise . The computer states that there have been five Federation starships with that name and asks Scott to specify by registry number . Scott then states slowly and clearly, " NCC -1701. No bloody A , B , C , or D . " The computer accepts his instructions and creates an authentic replica of the bridge . In an instant, Scott feels like he's come home.

The sounds of old-style duotronic instruments fills the air as Scott fondly remembers his time aboard his former ship. As he muses around, he can see the Enterprise is in orbit of the planet Gideon on the viewscreen, as if no time has passed and raises a toast to his absent comrades. He sits down at his old engineering station and gives a deep, dejected sigh just as Captain Picard walks in after coming off duty and excuses himself for interrupting as he wanted to see how Scott was doing. Scott perks up and welcomes him into the simulation, offering Picard a drink, which he happily accepts. Just as Scott is about to warn Picard that it's not synthehol, Picard downs a glassful, which he identifies as Aldebaran whiskey and explains that he was the one who gave it to Guinan. Picard recognizes the bridge as that of a Constitution -class starship and explains that there's one like it in the Fleet Museum , but notes that the simulation is that of Scott's Enterprise . Scott clarifies that he served on two, but this is the first one and the first ship he ever served on as chief engineer. Scott mentions that he served on eleven ships of varying class, but that this Enterprise is the only one he misses or thinks about.

Picard then recalls his first command on the USS Stargazer while taking a seat at Pavel Chekov 's old navigation console . Picard describes the Stargazer as overworked, underpowered, and always on the verge of flying apart at the seams. Picard says that while his Enterprise is far superior, there are days when he'd give almost anything to command the Stargazer again. Scott compares their feelings as to the first time a man falls in love and that he never loves a woman quite the same way again. They then share a toast to the original Enterprise and to the Stargazer , with Scott calling them " old girlfriends we'll never meet again. " Picard then asks Scott what he thinks of the Enterprise -D. Scott calls her a beauty with a good crew, but when knowingly prompted by Picard, laments that when he was on his Enterprise he could tell the speed of the ship just by the feel of the deck plates . He then begins to feel gloomy and opines that he is in the way and obsolete in the 24th century.

" Computer, shut this bloody thing off! It's time I acted my age. "

When Picard offers to let Scott peruse the updated technical manuals , Scott refuses with a chuckle, saying that he's not eighteen anymore and can't start out again like a raw cadet . He says there is a time when a man knows it's time to quit and time to stop living in the past: the Enterprise was his home and where he had a purpose, but he bitterly acknowledges that what they're in isn't real and it comes down to now being an old man, hiding in a "computer-generated fantasy." He then shuts off the bridge simulation and leaves the holodeck feeling dejected but determined to start acting his age. Picard can only look on sadly as the legendary engineer exits, clearly feeling for the man.

The following day, Picard asks La Forge in his ready room about recovering the logs of the Jenolan for their orbital survey scan, but the engineer says that all efforts so far have yielded very little as the ship's computer core was heavily damaged when it crashed. Picard suggests having Scott assist in trying to recover the ship's logs; La Forge agrees that Scott would be of great help as he knows the Jenolan 's systems better than anybody on the Enterprise and says that he'll send Lt. Bartel with Scott over to the Jenolan . At this point, the captain gets up from his desk and asks that La Forge personally accompany Scott back to the Jenolan instead, hoping to make the old officer feel useful again. Picard makes it clear that this is a request, not an order, and will understand if he declines. While La Forge understands the captain's motive, he's not thrilled with the prospect but also clearly feels he can't turn the captain down.

As La Forge leaves the bridge to prepare, Data discovers a communications array in close proximity to the Enterprise 's current location, and the crew set a course for it. Later, La Forge paces as he waits in the transporter room for Scott, who is late. He finally arrives with a bit of a hangover but states that he'll manage when La Forge asks if he's okay. They immediately transport over to the Jenolan .

As the Enterprise arrives at the array, the crew discovers a large hatch in the Dyson sphere, which they presume is a front door. As they open hailing frequencies, the hatch opens and a series of powerful tractor beams pull the Enterprise inside the sphere, easily overpowering it.

Act Four [ ]

The Enterprise is pulled into the sphere

Due to the fact that the resonance frequency of the tractor beams used to pull the Enterprise inside is incompatible with the starship's power systems, the relays for the warp and impulse drive overload and are rendered inoperable. The Enterprise has now lost primary and auxiliary systems and the ship is soon released from the tractor beams. However, because the Enterprise is still moving under the inertia of being towed in, it is heading directly for the star at the center of the sphere.

Back on board the Jenolan , Scott is having trouble with recovering the ship's log , calling the vessel "garbage." La Forge realizes that Scott is referring to both himself and the ship and tries to console him by saying that the basics of technology haven't changed a great deal in seventy-five years, the transporters of the Jenolan are still virtually identical to those of the Enterprise , subspace radio and sensors still operate on the same basic principles and that impulse engine design has changed very little in two centuries – long before Scott's time. La Forge adds that the Jenolan would probably still be in service had the vessel's structural damage not been so extensive. Scott is dismissive and retorts that nobody would want something as old as the Jenolan (and again hints at himself as well) but La Forge disagrees, saying that if the ship were in service, it could still " run circles around the Enterprise at impulse speeds – just because something's old, doesn't mean you throw it away. " Scott feels much more welcome, and a bond begins to form between him and La Forge. With a renewed sense of purpose, Scott asks about the possibility of getting a device from his day called a dynamic mode converter that might help to recover the Jenolan 's log entries . La Forge admits he hasn't seen anything like that in a long time but has something similar in mind that may do the job. When his call from his combadge to the Enterprise goes unanswered, Scott wonders if interference is blocking his call but La Forge determines that the Enterprise is gone.

Back on board the Enterprise , the ship is three minutes from being destroyed by the star. However, Commander Riker has managed to restore 30% power to the maneuvering thrusters , although they will still not be enough to save the ship from destruction. It is not until power is diverted from the auxiliary relay systems to the thrusters that Ensign Rager manages to turn the ship to achieve a stable orbit in the photosphere of the star. Picard demands to know how and why the Enterprise was towed in and orders Data to conduct a scan of the sphere's interior for lifeforms . When La Forge and Scott fail to locate the Enterprise , they realize that the starship must be inside the sphere. Although it seems impossible to repair the Jenolan 's flight capability, the two engineers still try restoring power to the ship's engines.

On board the Enterprise , Data reports to Picard that the sphere is abandoned, and the star is highly unstable, expelling matter and severe bursts of radiation . This explains why the inhabitants of the sphere must have abandoned it. The android postulates that the Enterprise may have unintentionally triggered an automated series of piloting beams which would guide a starship inside the sphere – this would explain why the Enterprise was pulled inside without anyone occupying the sphere. When the star emits a solar flare , the Enterprise raises her shields accordingly but Worf reports that the vessel's shields are only operating at 23%. To worsen matters, the solar flares are becoming larger and within three hours, the Enterprise 's shields will no longer be enough to protect the starship from harm.

Act Five [ ]

The Jenolan is wedged between the enormous doors of the Dyson sphere's hatch

La Forge and Scott work on repairing the Jenolan 's engines by jury rigging the ship's supply of deuterium – La Forge initially insists that Scott's suggestion to send it through the auxiliary tank can't be done, but when he cites impulse engine specifications, Scott laughs, claims authorship of the regulation in question , and assures him that, while he knew the tank could handle the pressure , on paper a good engineer should be more cautious than in the field. La Forge is left impressed when power is restored shortly thereafter. When Scott offers La Forge the captain's chair , La Forge is surprised as Scott is the senior officer on duty. However, Scott tells La Forge that, while he holds the rank of captain, all he ever wanted to be was an engineer. La Forge smiles at him and accepts command while Scott moves to the engineering console. Meanwhile, the Enterprise is heavily damaged by the star's solar flares, but Riker reports that partial impulse power has been restored. Picard asks Worf if the ship's phasers could be used to cut their way out through the shell of the sphere, but the sphere is composed of carbon - neutronium and their weapons would be completely ineffective.

As the Jenolan slowly orbits the sphere, La Forge and Scott trace the impulse ion trail from the Enterprise to the hatch that the starship was pulled into. The ion trail's momentum distribution around the hatch suggests that the Enterprise 's impulse engines were at full reverse and that the starship was dragged into the sphere unwillingly. Scott recalls that near the end of their orbital scan, the Jenolan found hundreds of the arrays and following standard procedure, opened hailing frequencies. Noting that the procedure hasn't changed, La Forge realizes that the hatches are access terminals (and not communications arrays), which are triggered by certain subspace frequencies, such as Starfleet's hailing frequencies. The tractor beams must have locked on to the Jenolan , severely damaging it and ultimately causing the crash, and this time has pulled the Enterprise -D inside.

Congratulated by Scott on his reasoning, La Forge ponders on how they can open the hatch for the Enterprise to escape without getting the Jenolan pulled in as well. Scott suggests that all they really need to do is get their foot in the door: position the Jenolan 500,000 kilometers away from the hatch, then opening hailing frequencies so that the hatch will open but the tractor beams will miss the ship. As the hatch begins to close, the Jenolan would enter a gap between the doors and use the vessel's shields to hold the doors open for the Enterprise to exit the sphere. La Forge protests that the idea is crazy and suicidal, but Scott pleads to him that the theory will work, as he has spent his entire life figuring out crazy ways to do things. La Forge makes the decision to go ahead with Scott's plan.

The Enterprise escaping the sphere

The engineers get back to the hatch at full impulse and wedge the Jenolan lengthwise between the doors, the shields hold, and La Forge opens a communications channel to the Enterprise . The starship receives the hail and at once sets a course for the hatch. The Jenolan suffers heavy damage while the craft is wedged in the hatch, and while Scott keeps the ship and shields together, he eventually tells La Forge that he's done all he can. The ship's plasma intercooler is gone and the engines are beginning to overheat. As helm control has been lost, La Forge tells Picard that the Enterprise will have to destroy the ship to escape. When the Enterprise is in transporter range of the Jenolan , Picard gives the order to beam La Forge and Scott back on board (with the Jenolan 's shields still raised) once they're in range and after a moment's pause, fire the photon torpedoes , destroying the old vessel. The doors continue to close, but the Enterprise manages to exit the sphere. As La Forge and Scott walk off the transporter pad, Scott is cheerfully relieved to be returned to safety to which La Forge chuckles.

The senior staff bids Scott farewell

Later, La Forge tells Scott about the Enterprise 's encounter with a newborn lifeform on Stardate 44614.6. On La Forge's explanation of what they did to detach the infant, Scott immediately catches on that the solution was to 'sour the milk.' ( TNG : " Galaxy's Child ") It is obvious that a strong bond has formed between the two engineers. Scott was expecting La Forge to take him for a drink in Ten Forward, but La Forge had different intentions. As they walk through the doors to one of the Enterprise 's shuttlebays , the senior staff is revealed, standing in front of a shuttlecraft , the Goddard . Picard offers Scott the craft on "an extended loan" basis in thanks for sacrificing the Jenolan to save the Enterprise . Scott says that he won't be going to the Norpin colony as he had first planned, realizing now that he himself can still be useful in this century. The senior staff bids Scott farewell: all shake hands, save Worf.

Scott reveals his approval of the Enterprise -D, the crew and the starship's engineer. He tells La Forge that over the years, he has found that a starship is only as good as the engineer who takes care of her. From what he can see, he believes the Enterprise is in good hands. After shaking La Forge's hand, he begins to depart the Enterprise in his new shuttlecraft. " You take care of yourself out there, " La Forge tells Scott. " Aye ", Scott says before disembarking.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Well, thank you lads. "

" The Enterprise ?! I shoulda known – I'll bet Jim Kirk himself hauled the old gal outta mothballs to come lookin' for me! "

" You know, I think you're going to enjoy the 24th century, Mr. Scott. We've made some pretty incredible advances these last eighty years. "

" How are you feeling? " " I don't know. How am I feeling? " " Other than a few bumps and bruises, I'd say you feel fine for a man of 147. " " And I don't feel a day over a hundred and twenty. "

" Well, I'll say this about your Enterprise … the doctors are a fair sight prettier. "

" Good lord man, where have you put me? " " These are standard guest quarters, sir, I can try and find something bigger if you want. " " Bigger? In my day, even an admiral would notta had such quarters aboard a starship! "

" Starship captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. The secret is to give them what they need, not what they want."

" I told the captain I would have this diagnostic done in an hour. " " And how long will it really take you? " " An hour! " " Oh, you didn't tell him how long it would really take, did you? " " Of course I did. " " Oh, laddie, you have a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker. "

" I was drivin' starships while your great-grandfather was still in diapers! I think you'd be a little grateful for some help! I'll leave ya to work, Mr. La Forge. "

" Laddie, I was drinking scotch a hundred years before you were born. And I can tell you that whatever this is, it is definitely not scotch. "

" You're not quite, uh… Human, are you " " No, sir. I am an android . Lieutenant Commander Data. "

" Synthetic scotch, synthetic commanders… "

" It is… it is… it is green. "

" Please enter program. " " The android at the bar said ya' could show me ma' old ship. Lemme see it. " " Insufficient data. Please specify parameters. " " The Enterprise ! Show me the bridge of the Enterprise , ya' chatterin' piece of… " " There have been five Federation ships with that name. Please specify by registry number. " " NCC-1701 . No bloody A , B , C , or D . " " Program complete. Enter when ready. "

" … Here's to ya', lads… "

" Would you have a drink with me, Captain? " " Thank you! " " I don't know what it is, exactly, but I would be real careful, it's real… " (Picard downs it in one gulp before he can heed this warning) " Aldeberan whiskey… (noting the surprise on Scott's face) … who do you think gave it to Guinan? "

" Ah, it's like the first time you fall in love. You never love a woman quite like that again. To the Enterprise and the Stargazer – old girlfriends we'll never meet again. "

" When I was here, I could tell ya the speed that we were travelin' by the feel of the deck plates. "

" There comes a time when a man finds he can't fall in love again. He knows it's time to stop. I don't belong on your ship. I belong on this one. This was my home. This was where I had a purpose… "

" Computer, shut this bloody thing off! "

" Mr. La Forge, I understand that before the Jenolan crashed, it had conducted an extensive survey of the Dyson sphere. Have we been able to access any of those records? " " We did try to download their memory core, but it was pretty heavily damaged in the crash. We actually haven't been able to get much out of it. " " Perhaps Captain Scott could be of use in accessing that material. " " It's possible. He does know those systems better than any of us. I'll have Lieutenant Bartel beam down with him. " " Mr. La Forge… I would like you to accompany Captain Scott. " " Me, sir? " " Yes. Look, this is not an order. It's a request, and it's one which you must feel perfectly free to decline. You see, one of the most important things in a person's life is to feel useful. Now, Mr. Scott is a Starfleet officer, and I would like him to feel useful again. " " I'll go with him, sir. " " Thank you. "

" Bunch of old, useless garbage… "

" Just 'cause something's old doesn't mean you throw it away. "

" The tank can't handle that much pressure. " " Where'd you get that idea? " " What do you mean, where did I get that idea? It's in the impulse engine specifications. " " Regulations 42/15: 'Pressure Variances in IRC Tank Storage'? " " Yeah. " " Forget it. I wrote it… A good engineer is always a wee bit conservative, at least on paper. Just bypass the secondary cutoff valve and boost the flow. It'll work. "

" Take the bridge, Commander. " " Oh no… you're the senior officer here. " " Oh, I may be captain by rank… but I never wanted to be anything else but an engineer. "

" Geordi, I have spent my whole life trying to figure out crazy ways of doing things. "

" See now that wasn't so bad, was it? "

" A good crew… and a fine ship – a credit to her name . But I've always found that a ship is… only as good as the engineer who takes care of her – and from what I can see, the Enterprise is in good hands. "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

• First draft script: 13 July 1992
• Final draft script: 4 August 1992 [1]
• Premiere airdate: 12 October 1992
• First UK airdate: 2 August 1995
• The transporter loop premise of the episode originated from a story pitch that freelance writer Michael Rupert had submitted earlier, and which already suggested a character from eighty years before suspended in a transporter loop. The story was rejected, but as episode writer Ronald D. Moore recalled, when it was realized that the "transporter loop" concept might be useful, " The story didn't work and we didn't really like it, but the notion of someone staying alive in the transporter was a neat gimmick so we bought the premise from him. " It was colleague Michael Piller who came up with the suggestion of using the "gimmick' in conjuncture with a Star Trek: The Original Series character. " Michael said, "That's a neat gag. I wonder if we could use this to bring back an original series character?" Everybody started to prick their ears and we started going through who it could be. ", Moore continued. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 22)
• The writers considered other characters from The Original Series , including Kirk , before selecting Montgomery Scott for this episode. As writer Moore claimed in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (3rd ed., p. 219), " McCoy is old, Spock 's playing James Bond on Romulus – and we couldn't do Kirk; it would raise too many other things. Nothing against the other characters, but Scotty seemed like the one with the most fun quotient. " In regard to the other Original Series characters, Moore has added, " It seemed like Scotty was the best choice. We'd seen Spock and then you look around and realize Scotty was the character that you could have the most fun with because you knew a lot about him. Sulu , Chekov and Uhura are fine characters, but they don't have a lot of the qualities Scotty did: the obsession with engines, the drinking. We knew we could do a relationship between him and Geordi. He was sort of ready-made to do this kind of a show. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 22)
• Following the previous season 's two-part episode "Unification", which featured Spock, this episode marked the definitive end of the producers hitherto policy of shying away from any allusions to the original series. As Moore explained, " I think in the earlier seasons we felt this show had to go and prove itself. We made the decision very early on that we weren't going to pick up any old plot lines and we weren't going to talk about those guys and we weren't going to have their sons and daughters on the show. This was going to stand on its own. And that philosophy drove the show for quite a while. " This was emphasized in the internal studio document, Star Trek: The Next Generation Writers'/Directors' Guide , otherwise known as the "Writer's Bible", where it was specifically stated that "We are not buying stories about the original STAR TREK characters: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Chekov, Scotty and Sulu. Or their descendants; As much as we love our original cast (they are our children, after all), we want our audience's attention centered now on our new characters." (3rd ed. August 1989, p. 34) Moore continued, " " Sarek " [note: in which Sarek whispering "Spock" once, was as far as the writers dared to go] was the first time we felt comfortable enough to sort of start to acknowledge it history a little bit more and then after "Unification", I think they sort of felt "Well okay, that wasn't so bad, we can do this without really destroying who we are and we can do shows that make references to the old series without destroying our own." So when "Relics" came around to do, here wasn't a big cry and debate about it. " How sensitive this matter still was at the time, was evidenced by Co-Producer Michael Piller, who added, " One of the great things about "Relics" is that it wasn't a Scotty show. It was a concept about an engineer or a captain being caught in a transporter beam that we came upon. I thought we were going to have problems with Mr. Berman who generally doesn't like to do that gag but oddly enough he was in a good mood that day. Rick has opened up his mind in a lot of ways. When I came onboard you could not mention the old STAR TREK in an episode. You couldn't make a reference to a character without making major problems. When we brought Sarek onto the show it was like, "My god, we had to march across the street and pay homage." But now because we are firmly established I think everybody feels a lot more comfortable that we have proven ourselves. We don't owe anything to the old STAR TREK, except like the guys who went to the moon, the Mercury guys had to go up there first. And we respect them for that, but we're not depending on them anymore, so we don't have to bend over backwards not to mention them." ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 22)
• Originally, it was Brannon Braga who was slated to write the episode, but he, wanting to write the upcoming episode " A Fistful of Datas ", also conceded, " I knew I couldn't possibly write it. I didn't even know who Scotty was. This was a Ron [Moore] show. " Moore, an avid Original Series fan , subsequently took over, " I asked to do it and they let me write the story. Rick [Berman] said he would approach Jimmy about it and see if he was interested. He gave him a call and it became a go. And then I broke the story and everyone was really happy with it and we just went ahead and did it. ", to which Braga added, " Ron really brought that show to life and he was the only guy who could do it justice. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 22)
• Much of the drama in the episode stemmed from the initial friction between Scott and La Forge, which writer Moore had purposely inserted to underscore the differences between the two characters. Moore explained, " Scotty never wanted to be anything else but an engineer. He was happiest in the engine room . The ship was a living being to him. She was a lady and there was a whole different philosophy. And with Geordi, although he loves his job and was having a good time at it, it's not the same thing. Geordi used to be on the bridge. I'm sure he wants to command his own ship some day [note: and in an alternate reality he did, as captain of the USS Challenger in Star Trek: Voyager ' s fifth season episode " Timeless "] , like probably most engineers in the fleet do. Scotty was a little different and he had a different relationship. " Science consultant for the episode and another Original Series fan, Naren Shankar chimed in, and added, " Scotty and Geordi are probably the two most different people you could ever imagine. Ron felt very strongly about that. He correctly pointed out that Geordi had not been an engineer his entire life, it's sort of like he ended up that way. He was a bridge officer first season and Ron's point, which is arguable, is that Geordi doesn't think of himself as an engineer. Geordi is the kind of guy who when he wants to relax might go to the beach or play some classical guitar music or hang out. Scotty is the kind of guy who will go into his room and read technical manuals . Scotty is an engineer through and through and he likes to break rules and do things in an unorthodox manner. He likes to tinker and Geordi is not that way, so I think it's reasonable that they clashed initially. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, pp. 24-25) Moore's and Shankar's notions were ultimately carried over onto the screen in Scott's lines in the scene where he relinquishes command of the Jenolan to La Forge, even though he outranked him.

Production [ ]

• The Dyson sphere was named after scientist Freeman Dyson , who envisioned a real-world postulate in 1959, although the actual sphere that Dyson theorized was not a solid object like the one visualized in the episode. Dyson, who himself never took his idea too seriously, said in a later interview that, while the science behind it was " nonsense ", as TV viewer he enjoyed the episode. [2] (X)
• The concept of the Dyson sphere as a B-story premise, had actually already been circulating among the writing staff for years, but until then the opportunity has never arisen to utilize the notion, " It was something that we were trying to put in for a long time and it became a standing joke ", noted Moore. Once "Relics" came up the opportunity finally afforded itself and Naren Shankar went to work to beef out the concept, " I originally thought the interesting thing would be to make it a partially complete Dyson's Sphere. It ended up being a completed Dyson's Sphere that was uninhabited. When Ron had written about the Dyson's Sphere in the teaser, he wrote "tech" and I gave him the numbers for the size of it. He was shocked that it was so big. It was like the equivalent of four million earths. It's huge. If you build something the size of the sun's [sic] orbit, you're talking about a sphere with a diameter of two hundred million miles. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 27)
• For the Star Trek episode, both exterior as well as interior maquettes were built at Gregory Jein, Inc. , while the initial full-sized exterior view and interior long views were executed as matte paintings by Eric Chauvin ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (3rd ed., p. 220)), even though the episode's Visual Effects Supervisor David Stipes had originally a CGI approach sequence in mind, that never came to fruition as CGI at that point in time was still too cost prohibitive. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 275) For further information on the maquettes, see: Dyson Sphere maquettes .
• Prior to writing this episode, Ron Moore attended the Holodiction Star Trek Convention in Sydney, Australia. He and his party were taken to a nightspot where Ron's dancing caused him to be labeled "a rager" (Aussie slang at the time for a party animal). They were later taken to the famous Jenolan Caves, which impressed Ron greatly. On returning, he wrote this episode, which contained an "Ensign Rager" (Captain Picard pronounced it "ray-guh"), and the USS Jenolen (sic), a Sydney -class transport. ( Astrex newsletter )
• The studio model of the USS Jenolan was originally designed and built by Bill George and John Goodson at ILM for use as the SD-103-type shuttle in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , and was, refurbished at Gregory Jein, Inc., subsequently reused for this episode to become the downed vessel. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Special Edition) , text commentary ; TNG Season 6 DVD -special feature, "Departmental Briefing Year Six – Production") As it later turned out, Jein or one of his modelers had erroneously mislabeled the model as the USS Jenol i n , but fortunately the misspelled name has never been clearly discernible on screen, until 2014, when the episode was remastered . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission , p. 171) For further information on the studio model, see: SD-103 model .
• The visual and sound effects of the USS Jenolan 's transporter were directly taken from those of the Enterprise 's transporter from The Original Series . It was because of the intimate knowledge the episode's Visual Effects Producer Dan Curry , also an Original Series fan, had of The Original Series , that the effect visuals were included, as he recalled, " We used the original Star Trek transporter sparkle. I used to work at Cinema Research [note: one of the Original Series visual effects companies] , and I remembered that in the bowels of their stock footage storage room was an old box labeled "Star Trek Transporter Sparkle". We blew the cobwebs off, dug through, pulled out the strip of film, and discovered it was in perfect condition. " ( The Next Generation 365 , p. 274) The accompanying sound effect, the original transporter whine, was located by Co-Producer Wendy Neuss , yet another fan, in the studio's own archive. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (3rd ed., p. 219))
• "Relics" was filmed in early August 1992 . La Forge actor LeVar Burton and James Doohan were interviewed on set and parts of this interview can be seen in "Mission Overview Year Six – A Visit from Scotty", a special feature on the TNG Season 6 DVD .

Burton and Doohan between filming

• Director Alexander Singer had some trepidation about the initial antagonistic La Forge-Scott relationship and at first didn't agree with Moore's assessment who stated that he " (…) always had an understanding that it wasn't going to destroy Geordi's character. In a sense Geordi was right. Who is this guy to be hanging around my engine room and giving me a hard time? I knew as long as he played him straight and eventually made him sort of see Scotty's point of view and understand and be a little sympathetic, I knew it was going to work. " Singer on the other hand, was afraid that La Forge's early attitude would backfire among audiences that were naturally sympathetic towards Scott, but while working with Burton came around to Moore's thinking, " I had not worked with LeVar [Burton, who plays Geordi] so what I did was meet with him to talk to him about it. I don't think he's done that before. I figured it's a new guy and I'd talk to him but I think he was a little annoyed because in effect I wanted to be reassured that he understood that balance. LeVar's feeling was of course I understand it, if I don't understand this, I don't understand anything. It turned out that LeVar is like the cast in general, some of the best actors I've ever worked with anywhere and in the scenes it was possible to fine-tune the performance. Sometimes the guys hit the right level immediately, just instantly. Sometimes we had to work for it. The combination of hostility turning into affection was very moving to me. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 24)
• Singer also had some trepidation about Scott actor James Doohan's ability to pull off the episode at first, " The next intangible was that I had never worked with Doohan. I felt that potentially the show was a kind of classic and I understood exactly what I had in my hands. I did not know physically what shape Doohan was in. There was a lot of dialogue and I don't think he ever did a show in the old STAR TREK where he had this much drama and this many notes to hit. I had seen the STAR TREK movies and I think that's still true. I don't think he ever was in the center, he was peripheral and in this episode he was the center. By the time we came to the scene on the old STAR TREK deck, he was not only the center but he had to support a very powerful dramatic scene. It's a scene that in reading it, I choked up [note: Singer too, was a life-long Original Series fan] . Part of me is very hardheaded and realistic and the part of me is very romantic and very sensitive and I was deeply moved by that story. " Doohan, however, more than allayed Singer's reservations, especially when the two men met at a private pre-production meeting, " I wanted to meet him first so we didn't meet [for the first time] on the set. He came in graciously and we talked. His delight in doing the show and his manner reassured me enormously. I think that he wanted me to be comfortable and he wanted me to have a sense that he could indeed carry this load and he convinced me. And subsequently I think there was only one day, one scene where he had a very technical page of technobabble , and he was utterly exhausted at the end of a very long day, that we had any problems whatsoever. For the rest of it he was delight to work with, and he got all the jokes, so to speak. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 24) If there had been any lingering doubt about Doohan's capabilities, that was definitively dispelled when filming the bridge scene indeed moved both Singer and his visiting, down-to-earth wife to tears, as he has admitted. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (3rd ed., pp. 219-220))
• As originally scripted, Scott was to have interacted on the recreated bridge with his old shipmates, via clips from The Original Series. This was cut for budgetary reasons. (The novelization of Relics , chapter eight, does show Scott interacting with the rest of his shipmates in a new setting and even Picard participates for a while when he comes to visit Scott.) The producers ultimately did get to combine Original Series footage with "present-day" action, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's homage episode " Trials and Tribble-ations ", which featured both Scott (in archive footage) and Worf.
• This is the first episode of Star Trek to be directed by Alexander Singer. For Singer, an ardent science fiction fan, this was a particularly satisfying experience, as he had already wanted to work on The Original Series in the 1960s, " I was across the lot for a few years doing Mission: Impossible [like Star Trek , a Desilu production], and I wanted to work with Star Trek . I met Gene Roddenberry and, for one reason or another, it hadn't worked out. So the aspect of the Scotty character and his resurrection had a kind of multiple resonance. Having Jimmy Doohan there, I felt I was in the middle of some kind of mythic experience myself. " ( The Next Generation 365 , p. 273) However, he found his first Star Trek commission a daunting one, " I was very concerned about the special effects and how they would fit into a television schedule. I had never done that many special effects in a whole show riddled with these things so that was my central concern. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 23) Singer was to continue to direct a host of additional episodes for the television franchise, not only for The Next Generation , but for the spin-off productions Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager as well.
• The episode as finished was a source of immense pride and emotions for those production staffers, especially The Original Series fans, who had worked on it. Stated writer Moore, " I think it's the most enjoyment I've had in writing an episode. It's the best I've done in a personal sense. It meant the most to me out of a lot of things I've written because it resonates with my interest in STAR TREK from way back. I'm not sure if in the cold light of day it's the most brilliant thing I've ever written, but it had a lot of meaning for me. " Even those production staffers who did not work on the episode, such as Story Editor Rene Echevarria , were moved, " All I can say was, as a fan, I didn't even read it, I just watched it. It was delightful, and the scene on the bridge was just wonderful. It just brought a tear to the eye and in the Ten Forward scene, "it is green" was a wonderful reference. The Dyson's Sphere I thought looked terrific, and the escape from it was a nice Millennium Falcon moment which was actually deftly done. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 27)

Bridge set [ ]

Considerable effort was put in the recreating the bridge of the original Enterprise for Scott's scenes on the holodeck by the production staff. For a detailed treatise on the recreation of the original bridge, please refer to: Constitution -class sets: "Relics"

Deleted scene [ ]

Scott and Troi in the deleted scene

• It does appear a tad incongruous that, as she never interacted with him anywhere during the final episode, Troi would kiss Scott goodbye. A scene with Troi talking to Scott in his quarters was shot but deleted from the final episode. Troi actress Marina Sirtis recalled a bit ruefully, " That was purely a matter of how long the episode was. That happens a lot. What didn't make sense was why I was kissing at the end if she never met him. It's because the scene was cut. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p. 27) Moore additionally explained, " It basically has Troi coming to counsel Scotty, and at first, he's very friendly to her, but then realizes she's a therapist and gets pissed that Geordi thinks he's crazy. It was this scene that sent him to Ten Forward to get a drink. " ( AOL chat , 1998 ) The scene did appear in the novelization (pp. 106-109) of the episode.
• Cut for running time reasons, the deleted scene was originally slated to be Act Two, Scene 20, of the script . For writer Moore it was hard to let the scene go, " I hated to lose all that, but the show was eight minutes long and something had to go. It would have been nice to explain why she comes up and kissed him at the end! " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 29 ) Elaborating on the content of the scene Moore has additionally stated, " He didn't understand what she was there to do. She says. "Hi, I'm the ship's counselor." He says, "Oh yeah, what can I do for you?" She says, "Well, I want to see how you're doing." He says, "Fine, the replicator is working." He thinks she's a waiter or maid or something and then finds out she's a psychologist and freaks out because he thinks Geordi sent her there. There was also a little bit more character stuff from Scotty about feeling out of place. He used to have a function on a ship like this and now he doesn't. That was a difficult thing for someone like him. " Yet, despite his personal feelings, Moore went on by admitting, " But I don't think we missed it in the final cut, the story still works without it. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, p.27)
• Moore also intended to use the cut scene for dealing with the earlier The Next Generation appearances of Leonard McCoy and Spock, which was ultimately circumvented in the episode as aired, thereby leaving Scott, canonically at least, unaware that they were still alive. As Moore explained, " There was a line between Troi and Scotty that got cut. She said, "Would you like to know what happened to all your friends and family?" And he said, "No, I'm not ready to hear that." That was the closest allusion we were going to make. It would clutter it up by bringing up Bones and say Mr. Spock is now James Bond , underground on Romulus . You would have to talk about everybody else and we didn't want to say what happened to everybody because we didn't want to lock ourselves in. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 24, issue 3/4, pp. 30, 35) These lines too, were incorporated in the novelization (p. 108).
• Having become somewhat of a discussion piece in Star Trek lore in the intermediate years, the scene was ultimately uncovered in 2014 from the CBS Studios Inc. archives for The Next Generation remastered project, while the release of the 2014 TNG Season 6 Blu-ray collection was being prepared. [3] While remastered footage from deleted scenes were on occasion reinserted in earlier episodes for inclusion as "Extended Versions" on earlier Blu-ray releases, in this case the scene was merely included as one of the "Deleted Scenes" special feature.

Continuity [ ]

• Scott's belief that the Enterprise was "hauled outta mothballs" is referring to the Enterprise -A , which was decommissioned in 2293 in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , one year before his trip on the Jenolan . This was the closest that any official Star Trek production came to establishing a canon fate for the Enterprise -A until its reappearance in the Star Trek: Picard episode " The Bounty " at the Athan Prime Fleet Museum .
• "Relics" makes many references to TOS, including the episodes " Elaan of Troyius ", " Wolf in the Fold ", and " The Naked Time ", representing each of the three seasons of The Original Series , as well as Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Kirk pulled the Enterprise out of the "mothballs" of decommissioning), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (since Scoty tells Picard he served on two different Enterprise s). In return, at the end of the episode, La Forge tells Scott about the events of " Galaxy's Child ", which occurred two seasons before .
• Scott scolds La Forge for being honest with the captain and telling him exactly what to expect instead of making him expect less and then offering more. Indeed, in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock he hints to Kirk that he might overstate some problems to make a better name of himself after he solves them. This behavior in general was later addressed in the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode " Temporal Edict " where it was given the name " buffer time ".
• Referencing the events of " The Naked Time ", Scott tells La Forge " I had to come up with a whole engine startup routine. " However, in that episode, it was Spock who devised the formula for a cold-engine startup, not Scott. This could be attributed to either misremembering the events due to age or time in the transporter, revising history, or Scott's contribution occurring off-screen in the TOS episode.
• Data's line about the Aldebaran whiskey – " It is green " – is a reference to TOS : " By Any Other Name ", in which Scott had a similar line describing an alcoholic beverage while getting the Kelvan Tomar drunk. ( Star Trek Encyclopedia  (2nd ed., p. 6))
• Episode writer and Generations co-writer Ronald D. Moore stated that he included Scott in Generations out of affection for the character, in full knowledge of and despite the inconsistency. ( AOL chat , 1997 )
• StarTrek.com attributes the conflicting line of dialogue in "Relics" to the character being momentarily disoriented after having been stuck inside the transporter system of the Jenolan for three quarters of a century. [4]
• In the novel Star Trek Generations , Guinan tells a distraught Chekov that Kirk is, in fact, alive within the Nexus ribbon.
• In William Shatner 's novel The Return , a comment is made that Scott, along with a few others, had held the belief that Kirk had somehow survived the events aboard the Enterprise -B.
• La Forge and Scott are beamed off of the USS Jenolan before it is destroyed, despite the fact that they did not drop the ship's shields to allow transport beforehand. According to Moore, " It's just a straight, flat-out mistake! I didn't think about it, I didn't catch it, the producers didn't catch it, the technical consultants didn't catch it – it was just one of those things and a single line of dialogue could've explained it away. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 219))
• La Forge states that USS Jenolan needs to be destroyed in order for Enterprise to escape from the hatch but in the depiction there is lot of space both above and below Jenolan for Enterprise to exit the sphere.
• This is the second episode in which the Enterprise -D crew discover a 23rd century Starfleet ship and captain, initially unaware of the passage of time. The first was Captain Morgan Bateson , along with the crew of the USS Bozeman , in " Cause And Effect ".
• This episode shows Troi wearing a new hairstyle. This style is a low ponytail, with curls framing her face. This style is kept for several episodes before the style changes again in " The Quality of Life ".
• Writer Ron Moore was allowed to indulge his fondness of the Original Series even further, when he was given the task of co-writing the script for the later Deep Space Nine cross-over episode " Trials and Tribble-ations ", which events largely took place during those of the original episode " The Trouble with Tribbles ". He wrote the script together with fellow fan René Echevarria , who now, having missed out on "Relics", was given the opportunity to work on Original Series characters and events.
• Following the highly rated appearance of Doohan as Scott in "Relics", it was later reported that he had been urging Paramount to add him to the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . ( Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Unauthorized Story , p. 15)
• The Enterprise bridge displayed on the holodeck defaults to the bridge from the era of Star Trek: The Original Series ; however, Star Trek has actually shown no less than six iterations of the original Enterprise bridge. These are the bridge shown in TOS : " The Cage ", a slightly changed bridge in TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", the bridge seen throughout the Original Series , a completely redesigned bridge in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as well as yet a different bridge seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , and a retconned bridge design shown in Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Short Treks and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Producers and writers later stated that the holodeck program may have simply defaulted to the Original Series bridge since the program selected the bridge design during the most famous years of the Enterprise 's service.
• Scott is regularly referred to as a captain; this is the only instance of him being referred to by rank in dialog following his promotion to captain in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

Cast and characters [ ]

• James Doohan is the fourth and final actor from The Original Series to reprise his role in Star Trek: The Next Generation . DeForest Kelley appeared in " Encounter at Farpoint ", Mark Lenard appeared in "Sarek" and " Unification I ", and Leonard Nimoy appeared in "Unification I" and " Unification II ". During the first season of The Next Generation , Doohan had strong words about the series, believing it to be rehashing a number of episodes the classic series had done. It was not until his family made him sit down and watch The Next Generation did he finally appreciate the new series. While a bit too crass in regard to season one, he was not entirety wrong in his assessment, as there were some episodes that were essentially rehashes of original crew episodes, such as " The Naked Now " (from "The Naked Time") and, due to a writers' strike, the second season episodes " The Child " (originally a likewise titled episode written for the abandoned Star Trek: Phase II television series) and " Unnatural Selection " (from " The Deadly Years ").

Reception [ ]

• Rick Berman referred to this outing as a "fun" episode with a "very imaginative" story. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 23, No. 6, p. 18)
• A novelization of the episode, by Michael Jan Friedman , was published by Pocket Books .
• This episode was featured in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Viewers Choice Marathon , where it was ranked the fifth favorite episode based on voting from fans.
• The book Star Trek 101 (p. 74), by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block , lists this episode as one of the "Ten Essential Episodes" from Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Apocrypha [ ]

The "Relics" storyline has been followed up in three separate comic book stories:

• " Out of Time ", in which Scott helps Morgan Bateson cope with being lost and out of time,
• " Old Debts ", in which Scott encounters Koloth before the events of DS9 : " Blood Oath ", and
• " The Wake ", in which Scott (and Spock) visit with McCoy on his deathbed.

The novel Engines of Destiny is a partial sequel to this episode; Engines opens looking at Scott's initial emotional state after Kirk's 'death' and his meeting with Matt Franklin (indirectly prompted by Guinan ). The main plot focuses on Scott's attempt to use an old Klingon ship to attempt a slingshot maneuver to go back in time to the Enterprise -B 's maiden voyage to save Kirk, believing that he can beam Kirk out in the moment after Kirk reconfigured the Enterprise -B's deflectors but before the Nexus struck the ship without changing history. However, this unwittingly changes history to create a timeline where the Borg have assimilated Earth and are conquering the Alpha Quadrant – implied to the reader to be the result of the Borg's use of time travel in Star Trek: First Contact being successful in the absence of Picard – requiring Kirk and Scott to work with the Enterprise -D (which followed Scott during the slingshot maneuver) and the alternate version of Sarek to send Kirk back to the Nexus and restore history.

Home media format releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episodes tape, CIC Video ): Volume 65, 26 April 1993
• UK VHS release (two-episodes tape, CIC Video): Star Trek - Crossovers Set , catalog number VHR 4223, 6 November 1995
• US VHS release (two-episodes tape, Columbia House ): Volume 64 of Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Collector's Edition , catalog number 13036, 1995
• US VHS release (single episode tape, Paramount Home Video ): Volume 130, catalog number 40270-230, 3 March 1998
• Japan LaserDisc release (two-episodes disc): Star Trek: The Next Generation - Log 11 collection, Part 1, catalog number PILF-2435(02), 21 December 1997
• US LaserDisc release (two-episodes disc): Volume 64, catalog number LV40270-227, 31 March 1998
• US/UK DVD release (four-episodes disc): TNG Season 6 DVD collection, 2 December 2002
• US DVD release (four-episodes disc): The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Volume 2 collection 17 November 2009
• US/UK Bluray release (five-episodes disc): TNG Season 6 Blu-ray collection, 24 June 2014

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker

Also starring [ ]

• LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
• Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
• Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

Guest stars [ ]

• Lanei Chapman as Sariel Rager
• Erick Weiss as Kane

Special guest star [ ]

• James Doohan as Scotty

Co-stars [ ]

• Stacie Foster as Bartel
• Ernie Mirich as Waiter
• Majel Barrett as Computer Voice

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Joe Baumann as Garvey
• Michael Braveheart as Martinez
• Debbie David as Russell
• Cullen Chambers as civilian
• Tracee Lee Cocco as Jae
• John Copage as civilian
• Tony Cruz as Lopez
• Debra Dilley as operations ensign
• Hal Donahue as command lieutenant
• Gunnel Eriksson as sciences officer
• Grace Harrell as operations officer
• Melanie Hathorn as civilian
• Christie Haydon as command ensign
• Mark Lentry as sciences lieutenant
• Debbie Marsh as civilian
• Michael Moorehead as sciences ensign
• Keith Rayve as civilian
• S. Reed as Burton
• Victor Sein as command officer
• Noriko Suzuki as operations ensign
• Talbot as Ten Forward waitress
• John Tampoya as operations ensign
• Curt Truman as command officer
• Mikki Val as operations officer
• Guy Vardaman as Darien Wallace
• Christina Wegler Miles as command ensign
• Anne Woodberry as operations officer
• Operations lieutenant j.g.
• Transporter chief (voice)

Stand-ins [ ]

• David Keith Anderson – stand-in for LeVar Burton
• Debbie David – stand-in for Brent Spiner
• Michael Echols – stand-in for Michael Dorn
• Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
• Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
• Joycelyn Robinson – stand-in for Lanei Chapman
• Richard Sarstedt – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
• Dennis Tracy – stand-in for Patrick Stewart

References [ ]

20th century ; 2169 ; 2222 ; 2241 ; 2294 ; 2329 ; 24th century ; access terminal ; Admiral ; alcohol ; Aldebaran whiskey ; antenna array ; Argelius ; articulation frame ; auxiliary tank ; " back full "; background radiation ; " bloody "; bon voyage ; Brahms, Leah ; cadet ; Captain ; career ; centimeter ; chief engineer ; class 4 probe ; class B solar flare ; class M ; Code 1-Alpha-Zero ; color ; combadge ; communications device ; computer terminal ; conduit interface ; conservative ; Constitution -class ; containment field ; cryo-pump ; cut-off valve ; deck plate ; deuterium ; diagnostic cycle ; diaper ; dilithium ; Dohlman ; duotronic enhancers ; dynamic mode converter ; Dyson, Freeman ; Dyson sphere ; Dyson sphere star ; Earth ; Elaan ; Elas ; emitter array ; engineer ; engineering ; Enterprise , USS ; Enterprise -A, USS ; Enterprise -B, USS ; Enterprise -C, USS ; Enterprise bridge holoprogram, USS ; EPS power tap ; " excuse me "; extended loan ; Federation ; Federation science vessel ( science vessel ); Fleet Museum ; flight path ; food replicator ; Franklin, Matt ; frequency ; G-type star ; gigawatt ; girlfriend ; Goddard ; gravimetric fluctuation ; gravitational field ; gravity well ; Guinan ; gymnasium ; hairline fracture ; helm control ; hemisphere ; Heisenberg compensator ; holodeck ; hotel room ; hour ; humerus ; impulse engine ; impulse engine relay ; impulse engine specifications ; impulse speed ; IRC tank ; isolinear chip ; Jenolan , USS ; Junior ; jury rig ; Kirk, Jim ; La Forge's great-grandfather ; level 4 diagnostic ; life support ; main drive assembly ; matter array ; matter stream ; memory core ; Midsummer Night's Dream, A ; miracle worker ; mothballs ; multiphase autocontainment field ; navigational charts ; neutronium ; New Jersey , USS ; Norpin colony ; Norpin V ; number one ; orbit ; oxygen ; paper ; pattern buffer ; pattern degradation ; personification ; phase inducer ; phase lock ; phase 7 survey ; phaser ; photosphere ; physicist ; plasma intercooler ; power converter ; Pressure Variances in IRC Tank Storage ; Psi 2000 ; rematerialization subroutine ; resonator array ; Scotch whisky ; Scott's past ships ; senior officer ; stellar body ; senior officer ; sensor analysis ; shock ; short range scan ; sickbay ; signal degradation ; sling ; Sol ; solar flare ; spectrographic analysis ; square kilometer ; stale ; standard survey ; star ; Starbase 55 ; Stargazer , USS ; subspace radio ; surface area ; synchronous orbit ; synthehol (aka " synthetic scotch "); synthetic ; " synthetic commander "; technical schematics ; Ten Forward ; toast ; tractor beam ; transport ship ; transporter ; Transporter Room 3 ; transporter suspension ; unnamed sector ; warp engine relay ; warp field ; " wee "

Display graphic references [ ]

annular confinement beam ; antimatter injector ; biofilter assembly ; diagnostic mode ; Heisenberg compensator ; imaging scanner ; inducer module ; level 4 diagnostic ; matter/antimatter reaction chamber ; matter injector ; pattern buffer ; phase transition coils ; primary energizing coils ; Sydney -class ; transport

Meta references [ ]

Further reading [ ].

• "The Making of "Relics"", Mark A. Altman , Cinefantastique , Vol 24 #3/4, 1993, pp. 22-27
• Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before , 1994, pp. 144-145
• "Relics", Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (3rd ed., pp. 218-220)
• "Relics", Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , 2010, pp. 273-275

External links [ ]

• "Relics" script  at Star Trek Minutiae
• " Relics " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Relics " at Wikipedia
• "Relics" at StarTrek.com
• " "Relics" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
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Recap / Star Trek: The Next Generation S6E4 "Relics"

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Original air date: October 12, 1992

The Enterprise finds the USS Jenolan , a ship that was missing for 75 years, crashed on the surface of a Dyson Sphere . An away team of La Forge, Riker, and Worf beam over to the transport ship, which amazingly still has power. Although life support is working, the ship seems deserted. Just then, La Forge notices that the transporters on-board have been modified somehow and that there's still a pattern stored in them. The teleporter is activated, and who else materializes on the pad but Scotty himself!

Scott explains that he was on his way to retirement when the ship crashed, and he and the only survivor, Franklin, had too few supplies to wait for rescue. Franklin's pattern has degraded too much for revival. When Scott learns that his rescuers are from the Enterprise , he assumes that Kirk has come to save him, but once he sees Worf, he realizes that he's been away much longer than he'd thought.

On the Enterprise , Scott gets introduced to the crew and is instantly fascinated by the advances in technology that have been made. Although advised by Crusher to rest, he quickly gets into Geordi's hair and insists on helping him man engineering, stating that his 52 years of experience should be worth something. Unfortunately, Scott is too unfamiliar with 24th Century technology and starts to get in the way. Geordi's patience wears thin, and he finally snaps at Scott to go away, causing the old man to leave in a huff.

Scott wanders into Ten-Forward, where he samples some synthehol and nearly spits it out. Data serves a real alcoholic drink to Scott, which Scott likes, though he mutters to himself about the future being full of "synthetic alcohol and synthetic people." After getting drunk, he stumbles to the holodeck and recreates the bridge of the original Enterprise . Scott wistfully recalls his glory days while drinking a toast to his absent comrades . But his pity party is interrupted by Picard, who downs shots of Scott's whiskey and commiserates with him. Scott says that the original Enterprise is the only ship that he misses, and Picard admits that he misses his first command, the Stargazer , even though it is completely outclassed by the current Enterprise . He offers to let Scott peruse the modern tech manuals, but Scott refuses, saying that the time comes when every man has to know when to quit. He shuts off the simulation and leaves.

The following day, Picard suggests to La Forge that Scott could help recover the logs from the damaged Jenolan . He also makes a personal request that La Forge personally accompany him to make Scott feel useful again. Geordi agrees. After the pair beam over, the Enterprise moves to investigate a communications array on the Dyson sphere and gets pulled inside by automated tractor beams. The ship's systems get overloaded in the process, causing the ship to start hurtling toward the central sun with minimal power.

In the Jenolan , Scott speaks with disgust at the ship's out-of-date technology, calling it a useless relic (much like himself). Geordi counters that many principles of spacecraft have remained the same for decades and that the ship might even still be in service had it not been damaged. "Just because something's old, doesn't mean you throw it away," he says. Scott is heartily reencouraged by Geordi's arguments. When they try to contact the ship, however, they get no response. Scott realizes that the ship might have entered the sphere, so the two engineers set about repairing the derelict ship to go after it.

The Enterprise crew manages to use their remaining impulse power to enter an orbit around the star, but its violent solar flares will destroy them in three hours if they don't find a way to escape.

La Forge and Scott work on repairing the Jenolan ' s engines. Geordi is cautious about exceeding Starfleet regulations on deuterium, but Scott reveals that he wrote those regulations and knows exactly how far he can push them. They get the ship running, and Scott offers Geordi the command in spite of technically being the senior officer. He explains that even though he's a captain, he only ever thought of himself as an engineer. With Geordi in command, they track the Enterprise trail into the sphere. Scott proposes entering the sphere and holding the doors open with their shields to let the Enterprise out. Geordi is leery of such a cockamamie idea, but Scott assures him that it will work, so Geordi agrees.

The engineers wedge the Jenolan between the doors, the shields hold, and La Forge manages to open a communications channel to the Enterprise . The starship receives the hail and sets a course for the hatch. The Jenolan suffers heavy damage while the craft is wedged in the hatch and La Forge tells Picard that the Enterprise will have to destroy the ship to escape. When the Enterprise is in transporter range of the Jenolan , Picard gives the order to beam La Forge and Scott back on board (with the Jenolan ' s shields still raised) and fire photon torpedoes, destroying the Jenolan . The doors continue to close, but the Enterprise manages to exit the sphere. As La Forge and Scott walk off the transporter pad, Scott is cheerfully relieved to be returned to safety.

This episode contains examples of:

• All There in the Manual : The novelization of the episode has an extensive prologue showing how the Jenolan crashed and how Scotty and Franklin got put into the transporter pattern.
• And the Adventure Continues : The Enterprise crew loan Scotty one of their shuttles, allowing him to depart for more adventures in the 24th Century.
• Break Out the Museum Piece : Aboard the Jenolan , Scott grouses that the ship is just so much "old, useless garbage." Geordi rejoins that most of the basic systems haven't changed, and the ship might still be in service in the 24th century if it hadn't crashed. Sure enough, they manage to get the ship spaceborne again, and it allows them to open the Dyson Sphere's hatch and wedge it open long enough for the Enterprise to escape. Geordi : This ship could run circles around the Enterprise at impulse speeds. Just because something's old, doesn't mean you throw it away.
• Data's "it is green" line in Ten Forward is almost the same as a line that Scotty uses in the TOS episode "By Any Other Name" .
• Scotty also mentions events from the episodes "The Naked Time," "Wolf in the Fold," and "Elaan of Troyius" .
• Geordi returns the favor by relating the events of "Galaxy's Child" . Scotty notes, "You soured the milk!" which was exactly the line that Geordi and Brahms used to describe their ploy.
• A very minor one from "The Galileo Seven" — Spock and Scott had a similar discussion about using a backup deuterium tank, which Scotty said was too delicate to take the pressure.

• Cold Sleep, Cold Future : After a while, Scotty starts to feel that he has no place in the 24th century.
• Conflict Ball : Even though he's on a tight schedule, it seems odd for a Nice Guy like Geordi to get angry to the point of snapping at him within ten minutes. Particularly at Montgomery Scott, who is to engineers what Kirk is to captains. But it pushes Scotty into Ten Forward and then the recreated bridge on the holodeck.
• Dyson Sphere : The setting for the episode (though, technically, it's a Dyson Shell ). Whoever built it has long since abandoned it, as the star within is no longer stable enough for humanoids to survive within. The characters are astonished by an object on such a scale, and especially to find one abandoned and undiscovered. For all the Federation's advanced technology the Sufficiently Advanced Aliens they have learned of and encountered, such a massive undertaking is still beyond them.
• Fire-Forged Friends : Scott initially drives Geordi crazy, but after working together to save the day, they've become two peas in a pod.
• Gadgeteer Genius : Both La Forge and Scotty for their respective eras.
• The Ghost : A scene takes place in Ten Forward, and Guinan is referenced several times, but she doesn't make an appearance.
• I Need a Freaking Drink : After an argument with Geordi, Scotty goes to the bar to get drunk. He ends up drinking the Aldebaran whiskey that Picard provided Guinan.
• I Ate WHAT?! : Scotty orders a scotch at Ten Forward and nearly gags at what he was given. The waiter is confused until Data brings up synthehol, an alcohol substitute that emulates taste but minimizes intoxication and addiction. Being a connoisseur, Scotty easily tasted the difference and Data retrieved a private stash Guinan kept behind the counter that is more to his liking.
• Like a Duck Takes to Water : Scotty tries to show that his engineering expertise is still useful in the 24th century. He doesn't do so well on the state-of-the-art Enterprise , but his Damage Control gets the much older Jenolan flying again.
• MacGyvering : What Scotty does best. Geordi is dumbfounded on how he was able to reconfigure the transporter into a stasis field in order to survive 75 years. Scotty is more humble about it as his compatriot didn't make it "It was half brilliant, Franklin deserved better." When repairing the Jenolan and trying to figure out what happened to the Enterprise, Scotty gives an impassioned speech to Geordi about how much he has dedicated his life to squeezing out impossible things from the starships he has worked on.
• Mr. Fixit : The episode is basically a love letter to engineers, with Scotty reconfiguring the Jenolan to save the Enterprise and reminding everyone why he was called a miracle worker.
• Nostalgia Filter : Invoked by Picard and Scotty. Picard in particular muses that his first command, the USS Stargazer was an "overworked, underpowered vessel, always on the verge of flying apart at the seams", and that the Enterprise -D is in every way superior, but that there's times where he'd give anything to be commanding Stargazer again.
• Passing the Torch : Invoked when Scotty says goodbye to La Forge, with Scotty observing that, while the Enterprise is a credit to her name with a fine crew, in his experience a ship is only as good as the engineer who takes care of her, and he is confident that the Enterprise -D is in good hands with Geordi.
• Red Shirt : The guy who went into transport suspension with Scotty. Died without appearing onscreen. Scotty is found with his injured arm wrapped in an improvised sling... a sling consisting of a strip of torn red fabric.
• Retirony : Not even Scotty was immune to it, since his transport to a retirement colony crashed on a Dyson Sphere.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale : When the Enterprise is pulled into the sphere, it's clear that the ship is moving very slowly. Once inside, Data states that the ship is 90,000,000 kilometers from the star's chromosphere. The helmsman then states that the residual inertia from the tractor beam is causing them to drive towards the star. They treat this as being a dire emergency, but at the speed that the ship is shown to be moving, it would take days, if not weeks, to actually reach the star. Sure enough, in what is clearly a matter of no more than an hour, the ship has come within 150,000 kilometers of the star and is at risk of being destroyed.
• The Trope Namer himself discusses it with Geordi. Scotty: Do you mind a little advice? Starfleet captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. But the secret is to give them only what they need, not what they want. Geordi: Yeah, well, I told the Captain I'd have this analysis done in an hour. Scotty: How long would it really take? Geordi: An hour. Scotty: Oh, you didn't tell him how long it would really take, did you? Geordi: Well, of course I did. Scotty: Oh, laddie, you have a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker!
• Later, when Geordi suggests that they repair the Jenolan to look for the Enterprise , Scotty says that it'll take a week just to get started. But they don't have a week, so better get to work!
• Starship Luxurious : Scotty is completely astonished by the size of the Enterprise -D, especially his guest quarters. Scotty: Good Lord, man, where have you put me? Kane: These are standard guest quarters, sir. I can try and find something bigger if you want. Scotty: Bigger? In my day, even an Admiral wouldn't have had such quarters on a starship.
• Technobabble : Plenty re: the jury-rigged transporter. Geordi: Commander. The transporter is still online. It's being fed power from the auxiliary systems. Riker: The rematerialization subroutine has been disabled. Geordi: That's not all. The phase inducers are connected to the emitter array. The override is completely gone and the pattern buffer's been locked into a continuous diagnostic cycle. Riker: This doesn't make any sense. Locking the unit in a diagnostic mode just sends the matter array through the pattern buffer. Why would anyone want to— Geordi: There's a pattern in the buffer still. Riker: It's completely intact. There's less than .003% signal degradation. How is that possible? Geordi: I don't know. I've never seen a transporter jury-rigged like this.
• Though also inverted — Geordi mentions that some designs and theories aren't all that different than they were in Scotty's day, and had it not been for the structural damage, the Jenolan is a fine ship and could still be in Starfleet service.
• Picard soon joins him, and the two offer a toast to their absent ships: the Enterprise and the Stargazer . Scotty: Ah, it's like the first time you fall in love. You never love a woman quite like that again. To the Enterprise and the Stargazer — old girlfriends we'll never meet again.
• Understatement : Scotty mentions that, the first time he visited Argelius, he got into "a wee bit of trouble". (He was framed for murder.)
• Unwanted Assistance : Any time that Scotty tries to help Geordi in Engineering. Makes you feel bad for Scotty. The poor guy is really out of touch with the 24th century technology, but he wants to do what he can to help the Enterprise .
• What Year Is This? : Naturally, Scotty wants to know how long he's been in transporter stasis.
• He also tells the bartender in Ten Forward that he's been drinking Scotch a hundred years before he was born. This bartender is not Guinan , so in this case it's true.
• Wrote the Book : Geordi cites some Techno Babble regulations that Scotty quite literally wrote. Scotty : Shunt the deuterium from the main cryo-pump to the auxiliary tank. La Forge : Er, the tank can't withstand that kind of pressure. Scotty : [laughs] Where'd you get that idea? La Forge : What do you mean, where did I get that idea? It's in the impulse engine specifications. Scotty : Regulation 42/15 - Pressure Variances on the IRC Tank Storage? La Forge : Yeah. Scotty : Forget it. I wrote it. A good engineer is always a wee bit conservative, at least on paper. Just bypass the secondary cut-off valve and boost the flow. It'll work.
• You Are in Command Now : Scotty tells Geordi to take the Jenolan ' s conn. When Geordi points out that Scotty's the senior officer present, he brushes it aside, saying that he may be a captain by rank but he's happier being just an engineer.

Video Example(s):

"it's green".

Scotty has been drinking unknown green stuff since his days at the original Enterprise.

Example of: Continuity Nod

• Star Trek The Next Generation S 6 E 3 Man Of The People
• Recap/Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek The Next Generation S 6 E 5 Schisms

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The Impossible Box

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In the episode “Relics” of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the crew of the Enterprise-D find themselves face to face with the legendary engineer Montgomery Scott, who had been lost in space for nearly 75 years. Scott, who was believed to have died during the time warp accident that ended the original Enterprise mission, is found in a transporter buffer on an abandoned Dyson sphere.

After rescuing Scott from the Dyson sphere, the Enterprise-D crew attempt to revive him and help him readjust to life in the 24th century. It quickly becomes apparent that Scotty’s presence on board is more than just a novelty, as he quickly demonstrates his engineering expertise in a number of areas. Scotty helps the Enterprise-D crew make a number of necessary repairs, but his nostalgic outlook on life puts him at odds with the crew in a number of areas.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise-D crew discovers a mysterious alien species inhabiting the Dyson sphere. The crew soon determines that this species is responsible for Scotty’s long-term survival in the transporter buffer. In order to secure the Enterprise-D’s safety, Picard agrees to help the aliens with their plan to terraform the Dyson sphere, an endeavor that can only be achieved with Scotty’s help.

Though Picard and the Enterprise-D crew are initially skeptical about the aliens’ motives, Scotty takes it upon himself to help the aliens with their plan. He is able to construct a terraforming device from his knowledge of Ancient Earth engineering, and the crew successfully begins terraforming the Dyson sphere. Unfortunately, the process threatens to consume the Enterprise-D as well, and the crew must resort to desperate measures to save the ship.

In the end, Scotty and the Enterprise-D crew are successful in terraforming the Dyson sphere, and the aliens are grateful for their help. Though Scotty must eventually leave to join the newly formed Starfleet Corps of Engineers, the Enterprise-D crew will always remember their adventure with the legendary engineer. In addition, the episode serves as a reminder that even the most advanced technologies can be surpassed by a combination of charm, ingenuity, and experience.

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Published Oct 12, 2015

TNG's "Relics" Debuted 23 Years Ago Today, Laddie

" Relics ," one of the most-beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes, aired on October 12, 1992, or a mind-bending 23 years ago today. The episode finds Captain Picard and his crew making the acquaintance of none other than Captain Montgomery Scott, played once again by fan favorite James Doohan.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation : "Man Of The People"/"Relics"

Related content.

"Man of the People" (Season 6, Episode 3)

Or  The One Where Troi Gets Screwed By An Ambassador. No, The Other One.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Troi. From enough distance, there's nothing inherently wrong with  any  fictional character, at least on a conceptual level. An empathic counselor who works to help her fellow crewmembers deal with the stresses and tensions of living on the  Enterprise  makes a decent amount of sense. One of the ways  TNG  distinguishes itself from its predecessor is by admitting there are these touchy-feely sensations called "emotions," and that often times, grimacing and scenery chewing isn't the best way to process those emotions. Again, it's consequences, and Troi's presence is a sign of the show's commitment to thinking things through. It's just, that commitment seems to stop when the writers run into gender roles. There've been episodes throughout the series which have tried dealing with traditional concepts of male/female relations, with varying degrees of success, but Troi always seems to bring out the worst in everyone. By this point in the show, nearly the entire ensemble has been fleshed out and developed to more than stock roles, but Troi remains "The Girl," occasionally effective, all too often forced to behave like a cast-off from a '70s sitcom.

Really, "Man of the People" isn't the worst treatment she's had on the series. Apart from a bizarre line about "I'm going to reward myself with two ice cream sundaes," (I can't even explain exactly why this sounds so wrong, but it made me shudder) Troi comes across as normal enough. At least she does when she's not acting under the influence of some evil bastard's mind assault. One of the problems with "Man" is that so much of the episode is given over to Troi's degradation at the hands of Alkar, the horrible, no good, very bad ambassador who uses her as an external drive to store his bad vibes. Sure, it's unsettling while it's happening, and it's unsettling in a way that  TNG  very rarely is. But then you get to the last ten minutes, which on the one hand provides the satisfaction of Picard once again telling some jerkwad off, but on the other hand, makes Troi's pawn-status even more obvious. She gets to be the victim (through no fault of her own, beyond simple compassion), and then somebody else comes in and rescues her; despite how much she's on screen, she's barely more than window-dressing.

Hell, it's not even like she really fell for the ambassador before he worked his horrible magic on her. I was prepared for that, as Troi has a history of falling for ambassadors, especially calm ones who do a lot of creepy direct eye contact, but apart from some minor attention and conversation, there's not a ton of chemistry there. Ves Alkar arrives aboard the  Enterprise , on his way to negotiate a peace at Rekag-Seronia. He brings his mother (SPOILER: Not really his mother), Sev Maylor, with him, and while Alkar is friendly, courteous, and respectful, his mother is terrifying. She verbally berates Troi for a presumed romantic interest in her son, with a viciousness not often seen on  TNG— she's one note, shrewish, a caricature of a hateful mother-in-law. Troi is understandably taken aback, but this doesn't stop her from maintaining friendly relations with Alkar, and when Maylor dies unexpectedly, it's reasonable that Alkar would turn to Troi for support. And, hey, Troi is an empath, and Alkar's funeral rituals require an empath to work, so just hold this stone here and close your eyes—KEEP THEM CLOSED, DAMMIT—and yeeeeah. Yeah, that will do nicely.

I do have a few positive things to say about "Man." While it's obvious early on that Troi is under Alkar's influence, it's not clear for a long time just what that influence is, and the episode spends a lot of time demonstrating Troi's altered behavior without providing any explanation or context. First she tries to put the moves on Alkar, and he rejects her. Then she becomes increasingly sexually aggressive, apparently seducing a young male ensign and dressing all slutty and stuff. Which is hilarious, and not in the intentional way. I say she "apparently" seduces a young stud, because as far as we see, all she does is give him the eye in the turbolift, and then he hangs out in her quarters while she changes into something more comfortable. I'm assuming there was some sexy time, but apart from Troi's new outfit, there's no real indication. The whole thing is presumably intended to be disturbing, as we've never seen Troi behave this way before. But it's mostly just funny.

It's also more entertaining than much of Troi's usual, "Captain, I sense something" routines. It should be horrifying and sad as Deanna slowly but surely morphs into the hateful harridan who accompanied Alkar at the start of the ep, but there's something almost cathartic in seeing her blow up the way she does, lashing out at any attractive female who comes near Alkar and even going so far as to scratch Riker across the face and neck in the throes of passion. Well, maybe "cathartic" isn't quite the right word, but so much of  TNG  is soft voices, courtesy, and soothing gestures. Most everyone else in the cast has had a chance to get angry at some point during the run, but while I'm sure Troi has had a moment or two of rage (her frustration with her mother doesn't count), Sirtis is so often relegated to reactive, even passive behavior that it's fun to watch her blow up. Which makes "Man" less of a chore to get through, at least. And hey, maybe that's part of the appeal of stories like this. We can make noises over the selfishness and tragedy of Henry Jekyll, but we're really in it to see what Hyde's been getting up to lately.

This does present a problem, though, when Troi is entirely side-lined for the episode's climax. At first, Troi's change in attitude creates waves, but no suspicions, not even when she shows up in Ten-Forward in a Bond Girl dress, and nearly attacks Alkar's dinner companion. (Riker escorts her back to her room, and that's when she roughs him up. I do like how the series has made an effort at establishing the on-going friendship between these two; it's nowhere near as "will they or won't they," not least because they already did, but their interactions do a nice job of character building without making a big deal about it.) But Troi's sudden, rapid aging is harder to dismiss as a bad day, and eventually, Beverly realizes something's not quite on the up and up with ole Alkar. When Troi finally collapses, looking all of a billion years old, Alkar is in the middle of negotiations, and Picard has to beam down to confront him about what's going on. Alkar is surprisingly honest about what he's done—at least, as honest as a man who uses a pretend funeral ceremony to effectively murder pretty women.

It's an interesting scene. I always enjoy seeing Picard getting righteously pissed off, and as the true scope of Alkar's arrogance and cruelty become clear, Picard reacts as expected. And, like Troi's vamped up sex queen act, it's undeniably entertaining to see a character whose so thoroughly, unquestionably evil. Alkar creates forced psychic links with others and then dumps all his negative and unpleasant emotions into them, supposedly freeing him to stay calm and be more effective at his job. It's basically like  Portrait of Dorian Gray , only instead of a painting, living beings have to suffer Alkar's sins by proxy. It's monstrous. Oh sure, Alkar makes the argument that he's helped millions through his actions, and his successes as an ambassador should more than outweigh the deaths he's caused. But that's paper thin. There are plenty of other ambassadors capable of doing much the same work he does, and nothing we see here makes him seem any more gifted at his work. Plus, there's the fact that he doesn't ask any of his victims permission before taking a psychic dump in their brains. And, even more telling, the fact that all of his "partners" are beautiful women. Oh sure, we never see Maylor in mint condition, but come on. This isn't a man sacrificing himself and others in the name of progress. This is someone who wants to use people without any of the guilt that comes with it.

Of course, the process here is never entirely clear—he tells Picard he projects his "negative" emotions into the women, but doesn't mean that Troi is supposed to be behaving as his Jekyll? I guess his "good" side justifies its actions in the same way that Alkar tries to justify himself to Picard, and than just channels any of his guilt into the link. Which, again, is super nasty, and it's fun to watch Beverly and Picard try and come up with ways to outsmart Alkar, while Troi lies dying and the ambassador sets his sights on his next victim.

But there's something a little tired about all of this, although I didn't realize it till after that confrontation scene. Partly it's the fact that Troi is once again getting emotionally entangled with an ambassador who has something to hide. This is, what, the third time this has happened? The fourth? And this isn't the first time she's had someone screw with her mind before, either. There's the way we never understand the context of Alkar's behavior: is this a culturally accepted action? His assistant doesn't realize what she's getting into when he starts putting the moves on her, but surely the way he powers through consorts—who have a strange habit of becoming drastically old and shrewish before dropping dead—would've been noticed by someone, especially considering that Alkar is in such a position of power and influence. Maybe the high-level government officials realize what's going on, but take steps to cover it up, since Alkar's efforts bring them such acclaim and respect. Or maybe not. The issue is less which back-story "Man" went with, and more that it didn't bother with much back-story at all. And then, just when the moral conflict is becoming a little interesting, Alkar conveniently dies. It's a suitably unpleasant death, and I sure didn't mind seeing the bastard go, but it does tie everything up in a too-neat package.

Really, though, I keep coming back to poor Troi. She deserves better than this, and while there are some laughs in seeing Sirtis get sarcastic mid-therapy session to a whiny crewmember, the laughs don't make up for the ill-usage. Having an episode where a character is reduced to a passive sufferer isn't problematic in and of itself; everybody needs help from their friends from time to time. But for  someone who so rarely is allowed any autonomy to be once again reduced to a prop makes for tedious storytelling. There's no real psychological depth to Alkar's influence, and we don't learn anything new about Troi. Dramatically, this is all one note, and outside from a few amusing scenes, the chance to see Picard get his mad on, and a decently suspenseful climax, it doesn't hold together well at all.

Stray Observations:

• Oh, and it was super classy to have Troi feel herself up post-brain-link-up. What the hell was that supposed to represent? Alkar's masturbatory fantasies? There's so much dark, unpleasant sexual subtext running through all this, and it doesn't fit the show well at all. It doesn't go anywhere, either, beyond the not-so-subtle implication that Alkar is one creepy, creepy dude.
• I did like that Beverly "killed" Troi in order to break the link. Makes me wonder what they would've done if that hadn't been an option, though.

"Relics" (Season 6, Episode 4)

Or  The One Where Scotty Beams Himself Up

One of the smartest choices the creative team of  TNG  made when starting a new  Trek  series was pushing the show nearly a century after the events of  TOS . After all, by the late eighties, the original   Enterprise  crew had become iconic to TV and film fans alike, and any series that tried to follow in their footsteps was going to have its work cut out for it. By starting long after Kirk, Sulu, Chekov and the others should've been dead,  TNG  allowed itself the space to find its own voice, without having to fill every episode with fan service and homage. Sure, there've been occasional nods to  TOS . DeForest Kelley popped up in the premiere wearing a crapload of old age make-up. Sarek did a couple of guest spots before he died. And of course Spock had his two-parter last season. But while it took a season or two for  TNG  to come into its own, it was able to do so without putting William Shatner on the bridge, or turning Uhura in a computer simulation. The distance allowed us to accept that this was, for all intents and purposes, a new show, and not one that had to try and recapture whatever rough-hewn magic  TOS  achieved in its brief run.

Plus, the rarity of those callbacks makes it all the more fun when the writers (in this case, your friend and mine Ron Moore) decide to work one in. In "Relics," the  Enterprise  gets a distress call from the  Jenolan , a Federation ship that went missing over seventy years ago. The follow the signal and find the ship has crash-landed on an honest to god Dyson Sphere, a previously theoretical model created in 1959 by Freeman Dyson that postulated a shell built around a star could allow people living on the inside of the shell access to almost limitless amounts of energy. No one's ever seen one built before, so Picard and the bridge crew are understandably impressed. And that's not the only wonder. Geordi, Riker, and Worf beam over to the  Jenolan , and Geordi discovers that there's still a pattern left in the transporter buffer—a pattern that has someone managed to avoid significant degradation in the decades since the ship crashed. Geordi activates the energizer, and then, with a sound and visual affect familiar to anyone whose watched the original  Trek  series, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), former Chief Engineer of the  U.S.S. Enterprise,  fades into view.

If you followed my  TOS  reviews, I'm not a big fan of Scotty from his portrayal on that show; I found the character often problematic, and kind of unpleasant, for various reasons that aren't worth getting into here. He grew on me over time, and I enjoyed his presence in all the  Trek  movies, but I was surprised at just how much I liked him here, in a way I'm not sure I would've liked Sulu or Uhura if Moore had chosen one of them to appear. Nothing against Sulu or Uhura, or Chekov, or anyone else—Scotty just makes the most sense because his job on the original series is one that leads to the most potentially effective dramatic narrative when he finds himself in the "present" of  TNG . As Chief Engineer, Scotty was a man made of his time, and his expertise and knack for problem solving saved his ship dozens of times over. But even as the movies went on, and the technology passed him by, there was a sense that he wouldn't be able to remain relevant much longer.

The movies played this gradual process of antiquization for laughs or "Right on!" moments, as Scotty was always able to find some loophole or trick to demonstrate his old-school cleverness could top any new tech that got in his way. But in "Relics," well, just look at the title. This is  TNG , and, as such, there wasn't much chance that Doohan's guest spot was going to end with him feeling humiliated and alone. By the conclusion of the ep, Scotty has once again shown his usefulness, and he leaves the new  Enterprise  with a general sense of optimism and pride. And yet, even then—he  leaves . Even after helping Geordi to save the day, there's no suggestion that Scotty stick around and get retrained. (Well, I think someone—Picard?—suggests he go back to school, but Scotty rejects the suggestion, and rightly so.) This isn't an episode about death, exactly, but it is one about how good times pass us inevitably by, and how there will come a time in all our lives, if we're lucky enough to live that long, when we'll spend too much of our days reminiscing over the memory of when we really mattered.

"Relics" is a strong hour, then, both for the series and for the franchise, and it deals better with an old crew-member passing the torch to Picard than  Generations  did. (Or does, since when "Relics" aired,  Generations  was a few years down the road yet. Of course, that leads to a plot-hole when Scotty talks about Kirk in "Relics" as though he thinks Kirk is still alive, but I think we'd all be happy to pretend that  Generations  never existed.) I can see fans accusing the episode of being occasionally mawkish, or overly comic, or not focusing enough on the admittedly fascinating concept of the Dyson Sphere. The mawkish worked for me, because Doohan carries the character well, and the sentimentality was earned; and I actually laughed at most of the jokes, which is a rarity for this show. As for the Sphere, well, you got me there. It's a bit under-used, and we never get any sense of who built it or why. But, quite honestly, I don't care.  TNG  doesn't do a lot of hard sci-fi, and while there may be some plot that was squandered here, the episode as is works well enough that I find it hard to complain over possible missed opportunities.

So, Scotty is saved, and he beams back over to the  Enterprise , where his attempts to involve himself with Engineering go about as badly as you'd expect. Wonder of wonders, you even see Geordi getting angry here, as Scotty's constant interruptions and misguided offers of assistance threaten to put him behind schedule. What makes this work is the way "Relics" manages to put our symapthies with a guest character, even while we still understand Geordi's point. Obviously it's hard to be told you're obsolete, and Geordi's initial condescension (it's subtle, but it's there, and it's a great character moment for La Forge), a sort of polite "Okay Grandpa, I'll pretend like you matter," makes it easy to be on Scotty's side, whether or not you have an emotional attachment to  TOS . But the fact is, while he could probably stand a little more perspective, Geordi is essentially right. The mistakes Scotty makes in Engineering are all clear indications that he's no longer qualified or equipped to do the work he once did, no matter how much he might protest otherwise. Eventually, he's given a chance to prove himself back on the  Jenolen , but that doesn't change the basic truth here: time passes, and even if you stay alive, you will get left behind eventually.

Scotty spends some time in Ten-Forward, trying to drink his way through his troubles; he's horrified to discover that the scotch served on the ship is non-intoxicating, but luckily Data is around to dip into Guinan's private stash. ("It is green," is a great laugh-line, and a fine call-back to  TOS  episode "By Any Other Name.") This leads to what may be the best scene of the episode, as Scotty wanders half-drunk to a holodeck and uses the computer to re-create the bridge of the original  Enterprise.  ("NCC-1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D.") The effects here are a little rocky, as the show didn't have the budget to recreate the original set, and mostly just green-screened Scotty in over old footage. But it's still effective and nostalgic and sweet, especially when Picard pops by for a chat about old ships and lost loves. Yes, on the one hand, there's a bit of that fan service I mentioned above here, as Picard and Scotty's conversation doesn't advance the plot, but dammit, that doesn't make it one whit less entertaining.

Of course, we can't just hang around and shoot the breeze the entire ep, so soon enough, Picard sends Geordi and Scotty back to the  Jenolen  to try and access the ships data logs. This is supposedly to give Scotty something to do so he can feel useful again, but it's story purpose is to get Geordi and Scotty off the  Enterprise  so that when Picard and the others manage to get themselves sucked into the Dyson Sphere, our twin engineers can come to the rescue. (Scotty and Geordi get the  Jenolen  running again, and use it to block open the entrance to the Sphere long enough for the  Enterprise  to escape.) It's a traditional ending, to a largely traditional episode, but that doesn't make it any less fun to watch. Doohan and Burton have a good chemistry together, and while their mutual antagonism never rises to the level of outright contempt, it's nice to see both men learning to respect and appreciate the other. After a generally unpleasant episode like "Man of the People" (which, even if it had been successful, would've been pretty creepy and unsettling), it's a relief to spend some time on an honest adventure with plenty of good vibes.

And Doohan is just a lot of fun throughout. The reveal that he used to exaggerate the amount of time projects would take in order to seem like a miracle worker is terrific, as are the handful of references to  TOS episodes. But what makes this really work is that even if you didn't have any history at all with  Star Trek , it would still be easy to appreciate what happens here. Because even if the details are specific to the franchise, the core idea—accepting that the world moves on, realizing you still have something to offer even if it's not as important as it used to be—are universal. I wonder if Moore ever considered killing Scotty off before the end of the hour. It wouldn't have been all that difficult, really, and I suppose there would've been a certain neatness to it. But I'm glad that, instead, Scotty ends up with a shuttlecraft, off to explore a galaxy slightly older than when he last saw it. It's a bit on the corny side, but like everything else in "Relics," it works better than it should have.

• It's a slightly sentimental A. I could take off points for the overly direct conversation between Geordi and Scotty on the  Jenolen,  but I won't.
• "When I was here, I could tell you the speed we were travelling by the feel of the deckplates." This is both a good line and an terrifying concept.

Next week:  We fall into some "Schisms," and meet the "True Q."

Relics Stardate: 46125.3 Original Airdate: 12 Oct, 1992

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Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Relics (1992), levar burton: lieutenant commander geordi la forge.

• Quotes (20)

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Quotes 

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Look, Mr. Scott, I'd love to explain everything to you, but the Captain wants this spectrographic analysis done by 1300 hours.

[La Forge goes back to work; Scotty follows slowly] 

Scotty : Do you mind a little advice? Starfleet captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. But the secret is to give them only what they need, not what they want.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Yeah, well, I told the Captain I'd have this analysis done in an hour.

Scotty : How long will it really take?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : An hour!

Scotty : Oh, you didn't tell him how long it would *really* take, did ya?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Well, of course I did.

Scotty : Oh, laddie. You've got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker.

[La Forge and Scotty are trying to get the Jenolan up and running] 

Scotty : [muttering]  Bunch of old, useless garbage!

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Huh?

Scotty : I say it's old, Mr. La Forge. It can't handle the interface of your power converter. This equipment was designed for a different era. Now it's just a piece of junk.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Well, I don't know, it seems like some of it's held together pretty well.

Scotty : Century out of date. It's just... obsolete!

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Well, you know, that's interesting, because I was just thinking that a lot of these systems haven't changed much in the last 75 years. This transporter is basically the same system we use on the Enterprise. Subspace radio and sensors still operate under the same basic principle; impulse engine design hasn't changed much in the last 200 years. If it wasn't for all the structural damage, this ship still might be in service today.

Scotty : Maybe so. But when they can build ships like your Enterprise, who'd want to pilot an old bucket like this?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : I don't know. If this ship were operational, I bet she'd run circles around the Enterprise at impulse speeds. Just because something's old doesn't mean you throw it away.

Scotty : Take the bridge, Commander.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Oh, no. You're the senior officer here.

Scotty : Oh, I may be captain by rank; but I never wanted to be anything else but an engineer.

[Scotty and Geordi are working to restore the Jenolan's systems] 

Scotty : Shunt the deuterium from the main cryo-pump to the auxiliary tank.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Er, the tank can't withstand that kind of pressure.

Scotty : [laughs]  Where'd you... where'd you get that idea?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : What do you mean, where did I get that idea? It's in the impulse engine specifications.

Scotty : Regulation 42/15 - Pressure Variances on the IRC Tank Storage?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Yeah.

Scotty : Forget it. I wrote it. A good engineer is always a wee bit conservative, at least on paper. Just bypass the secondary cut-off valve and boost the flow. It'll work.

Commander William T. Riker : Could someone survive inside a transporter buffer for 75 years?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : I know a way to find out.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : I need to get down to Engineering and begin that analysis.

Scotty : Engineering? I thought you'd never ask!

[last lines] 

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : You take care of yourself out there.

Scotty : Aye.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : So, you were saying a little earlier that you were on your way to the Norpin colony when you experienced warp engine failure?

Scotty : Aye, that's right. See, we had an overload in one of the plasma transfer conduits and the captain brought us out of warp and we hit some gravimetric interference, and there it was, as big as life. Oh, is that a conduit interface?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Yeah, it is. You were saying, "it's as big as life." You mean the Dyson sphere.

Scotty : Aye, an actual Dyson sphere. Can you imagine the engineering skills needed to even design such a structure?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Yeah, I know. It's pretty amazing. So what happened when you first approached it?

Scotty : Well, we began our standard survey of the surface and we were just completing the initial orbital scan when our aft power coil suddenly exploded.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Hmm.

Scotty : The ship got caught in the sphere's gravity well and down we went. Franklin and I were the only ones to survive the crash.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Can I ask you a question? What in the world made you think of using the transporter pattern buffer to survive?

Scotty : Well, we... didn't have enough supplies to wait for the rescue, so we had to think of something.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Yeah, but locking it into a diagnostic cycle so that the pattern wouldn't degrade and then cross-connecting it with the phase inducers to provide a regenerative power source... that's absolutely brilliant.

Scotty : Well, I think it was only 50% brilliant, 'cause Franklin deserves better.

Scotty : Geordi, I have spent my whole life trying to figure out crazy ways of doing things. I'm telling ya, as one engineer to another - I can do this.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : [sighs]  All right. Let's do it.

Scotty : [ecstatic]  Aye!

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Captain Scott, I've tried to be patient, I've tried to be polite, but I've got a job to do here, and quite frankly, you're in the way.

Scotty : Well, thank you, lads. Oh, well, we got to get Franklin out of there.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Someone else's pattern is still in the buffer?

Scotty : Aye, Matt Franklin. We went in together.

[working on the console] 

Scotty : Something's wrong. One of the inducers has failed. Boost the gain on the matter stream. Come on, Franklin. I know you're still in there.

[sighing] 

Scotty : It's no use. His pattern has degraded 53%. He's gone.

Commander William T. Riker : I'm sorry.

Scotty : So am I. He was a good lad.

Scotty : You know, we used to have something called a dynamic mode converter. You wouldna have something like that on your Enterprise, would you?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : I haven't seen anything like that in a long time, but I bet I might be able to come up with something similar.

Scotty : I remember a time when the old Enterprise was spiraling toward PSI 2,000.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : [giving a PADD to a subordinate]  Yeah. Thank you.

Scotty : And the captain wanted to try a cold start of the warp engines, and I told him that without a proper phase-lock, it would take at least 30 minutes. "You cannae change the laws of physics," I told him, but he wouldn't believe me, so I had to come up with a whole new engine start-up routine. Do you know that your dilithium crystals are going to fracture?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : [closing the chamber]  We recomposite the crystals while they're still inside the articulation frame.

Scotty : Laddie, you need to phase-lock the warp fields within 3% or they'll become unstable.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : What?

Scotty : Well, look. Here's the warp...

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : [Scotty recoils as a console beeps; turning the alarm off]  We use a multiphase auto-containment field now. It's meant to operate above 3%.

Scotty : Oh, well... that would make the difference.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : You know, I think you're gonna enjoy the 24th century, Mr. Scott. We've made some pretty incredible advances these last 80 years.

Scotty : Well, from what I've seen, you've got a fine ship, Mr. La Forge. A real beauty here. I must admit to being a bit overwhelmed.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Hmm. Wait 'til you see the holodeck.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : [after losing contact with the Enterprise]  Can't find 'em anywhere in orbit.

Scotty : Well, they could have crashed into the sphere like the Jenolen.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : No, we'd be picking up background radiation if they'd gone down.

Scotty : There's another possibility. They could be inside the sphere.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Maybe. Whatever happened, we've got to find them. You know, if we could get these engines back online, we could track them with their impulse ion trail.

Scotty : Are you daft? The main assembly's shot, the inducers have melted, the power couplings are wrecked. We'd need a week just to get started, but we don't have a week, so we've no sense in crying about it. Come on. We'll see what we can do with your power converter.

Scotty : What have you done with the duotronic enhancers?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : [taking a panel off to show him]  Well, those were replaced with isolinear chips about 40 years ago. It's a lot more efficient now.

[Scotty moves to touch one] 

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : [stopping him]  Oh! That's an EPS power tap there.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Captain Scott, this really isn't...

Scotty : We're in engineering. Call me Scotty.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Scotty, this really isn't a good time for a tour. We're running a phase seven survey of the Dyson sphere.

Scotty : I'm not here for a tour, laddie. I'm here to help.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : That's very kind, but I'm sure we can handle it.

Scotty : I was a Starfleet engineer for 52 years, Mr. La Forge. I think I'm still useful.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : You're right. We'd be grateful for any help you could give us.

Scotty : Good. Let's get to work.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I understand that before the Jenolen crashed, it had conducted an extensive survey of the Dyson sphere. Have we been able to access any of those records?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : We did try to download their memory core, but it was pretty heavily damaged in the crash. We actually haven't been able to get much out of it.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Hmm. Perhaps Captain Scott could be of use in accessing that material.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : It's possible. He does know those systems better than any of us. I'll have Lt. Bartel beam down with him.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Mr. La Forge... I would like you to accompany Captain Scott.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Me, sir?

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Yes. Look, this is not an order. It's a request, and it's one that you must feel perfectly free to decline. You see, one of the most important things in a person's life is to feel useful. Now, Mr. Scott is a Starfleet officer, and I would like him to feel useful again.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : I'll go with him, sir.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Thank you.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : So this alien space baby, which was about the size of a 4-story building, really thought the Enterprise was its mother.

Scotty : Aw, you're pullin' an old man's leg.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : No, really. It was suckling power directly form the ship's fusion reactors. So Dr. Brahms and I changed the power frequency from 21 centimeters to .02 centimeters.

Scotty : So you soured the milk!

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Relics (Star Trek: The Next Generation) Kindle Edition

• Print length 260 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Pocket Books/Star Trek
• Publication date September 22, 2000
• File size 1182 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
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But soon the Enterprise finds itself trapped within the Dyson sphere and pulled into the star, and Scotty must work with Lt. Geordi La Forge to rescue the Enterprise.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000FC0TBS
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pocket Books/Star Trek; Media Tie In edition (September 22, 2000)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 22, 2000
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 1182 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
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• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
• #695 in Star Trek Series
• #4,276 in Genetic Engineering Science Fiction eBooks
• #13,341 in Science Fiction Adventure

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Screen Rant

Star trek tng: 10 episodes where a guest star stole the show.

Star Trek: The Next Generation wasn't always about the main cast, and the guest star stole the show in these 10 classic episodes.

With the recent announcement that season 3 of Picard will be the show's last, it seems as if the adventures of the famed captain are finally coming to an end. Die-hard fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation are more than familiar with the exploits of the Enterprise crew, but many of the show's best episodes featured excellent guest stars that stole the show.

From Original Series throwbacks like "Relics" to one-off alien showstoppers like "Darmok," TNG 's main cast weren't the only ones who turned in excellent performances over the show's run. Though plenty of episodes had stellar guest performances, only the very best are still fondly remembered by Trekkies to this day.

"The Outrageous Okona" (S2.E4)

Though it is hardly remembered as one of the show's best episodes, "The Outrageous Okona" nevertheless was a clinic in guest acting from Billy Campbell. The episode sees the Enterprise caught in a dispute between worlds when they rescue the roguish captain of a freighter ship who is a wanted criminal on both planets.

RELATED: The 20 Best Star Trek TNG Episodes Of All Time

Captain Okona's heelish behavior is counterbalanced by his good looks, and he seduces his way across the ship to get what he wants. Campbell's performance is appropriately verbose while also imbuing the character with a subtle charm that even has the audience fooled. Unlike other scene-stealing parts which come out of left field, "The Outrageous Okana" was designed to usurp the main cast.

"The First Duty" (S5.E19)

Giving a guest performance that would later land the Star Trek actor a full-time role on the spinoff Voyager , Robert Duncan McNeil was the backbone of "The First Duty." Catching up with Wesley Crusher at Starfleet Academy, the young cadet is put on trial when his squadron of pilots is responsible for the comrade's accidental death.

The ease with which McNeil played Cadet Locarno was in direct contrast to the stiff formality of most characters in Star Trek , and he was villainous without being over-the-top. The episode takes on the aspect of a court procedural, and it allows the characters to be the focus as opposed to the plot.

"Unification" (S5.E7 & S5.E8)

Nowadays, the Star Trek franchise is dominated by a sense of nostalgia, but during the TNG era, the show seemed determined to blaze its own trail. Nevertheless, the episode "Unification" saw the return of Leonard Nimoy as Spock and detailed the famous Vulcan's attempt to reunite his race with their cousins, the Romulans.

Often remembered as one of the best Romulan episodes , Nimoy didn't miss a beat when stepping back into his most famous part. Aside from the easy nostalgia of seeing him back in the pointy ears, Nimoy did an excellent job of presenting the character as more mature and gave the character additional weight involving the 80 years between TOS and TNG .

"Time's Arrow" (S5.E26 & S6.E1)

Despite being set in the future, Star Trek has never been afraid to call on historical figures to add weight to the stories. "Time's Arrow" finds Data accidentally sent back to the turn of the 20th century, where he must dodge the curious advances of Mark Twain while attempting to stop a pair of vampire-like aliens.

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Veteran TV actor Jerry Hardin had the difficult task of breathing life into the famous American wordsmith, and he was totally undaunted. Clemens is a popular figure to be portrayed in other media, but Hardin brought his own spin to the part that helped him stand out. The complicated plot of the two-part "Time's Arrow" could have easily been a stinker, but the appearance of Hardin's Mark Twain helped to make it a classic.

"Relics" (S6.E4)

Spock wasn't the only TOS character to make his appearance in another generation, and "Relics" revived the lovable Scottish engineer for one last adventure. While investigating a Dyson-Sphere, the Enterprise discovers that Montgomery Scott was trapped in stasis for over 75 years. Brought onboard the newer ship, the aging veteran struggles to stay useful.

Making heartrending commentary about the role of older people in society, the episode gave James Doohan a chance to shine like never before. Longtime fans of Trek were already attached to Scotty, but Doohan's understated and dramatic performance added another layer to the usually goofy character.

"Ship In A Bottle" (S6.E12)

Ranking among some of the best Holodeck episodes in the Star Trek franchise, "Ship in a Bottle" brought back a one-off character and allowed him to work his magic. After discovering that the Moriarty program on the Holodeck has become sentient, the crew must decide what to do with the dastardly villain.

Character actor Daniel Davis had previously played the part in the episode "Elementary My Dear Data," but he became a full-fledged character in the later episode. Considering that Moriarty is one of literature's most famous heels, Davis perfectly balanced his sinister nature with humanity which keeps the viewer conflicted.

"The Pegasus" (S7.E12)

Before he became a household name for his turn in Lost , Terry O'Quinn made a career in brilliant one-off roles on TV shows. "The Pegasus" sees O'Quinn play Admiral Pressman, Riker's former captain who enlists him in a conspiracy to recover a secret Starfleet technology before it falls into Romulan hands.

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Standing in stark contrast to the thoughtful and reserved Picard, Pressman is a callous and aggressive leader which suited O'Quinn's acting style perfectly. Proving that not every Starfleet officer upholds the ideals of the Federation, Pressman was a small but important character that needed an actor like O'Quinn to fully bring him to life.

"Chain Of Command" (S6.E10 & S6.E11)

In wake of his recent passing, David Warner has finally assumed his spot among some of the best character actors of all time , and his turn in "Chain of Command" is an excellent example of his prowess. Picard is captured by the Cardassians while undercover and is mercilessly tortured by his sadistic captors. Meanwhile, an interim captain takes over on the Enterprise and butts heads with the crew.

Warner had a tall task in front of him to steal the show, and Ronny Cox as Jellico nearly gave him a run for his money. In the end though, Warner left a bigger impression through his subtle villainy and truly despicable characterization as Gul Madred. Despite copious amounts of makeup, Warner had audiences snarling with rage through the most subtle use of his voice and facial expressions.

"Lower Decks" (S7.E15)

"Lower Decks" was a unique installment of the series in that it was specifically designed to put the main cast on the back burner. As promotion evaluations come around, a trio of anxious ensigns go about their daily tasks while speculating about the machinations of the ship's officers.

First introduced in the episode "The First Duty," Ensign Sito Jaxa takes center stage as the story's protagonist. Shannon Fill reprised her role and took the audience on a roller coaster ride of emotions that culminated in one of the saddest moments in the show's history. Struggling against her negative reputation, Fill makes sure that the audience is solely rooting for her character to succeed in the end.

"Darmok" (S5.E2)

Veteran actor Paul Winfield had a lengthy career in the Trek franchise, but his turn in the episode "Darmok" is what cemented his legacy. Picard finds himself trapped on a planet alongside a mysterious alien whose language consists of metaphors and similes.

Essentially speaking gibberish, Winfield's Dathon relied exclusively on his physical mannerisms. Acting through heavy makeup, Winfield made sure that the audience was let in on every facial cue, and he used his sonorous voice to inflect each line of dialogue as if he was actually fluent in Dathon's mysterious language. "Darmok" was a perfectly crafted script, and it took an actor like Paul Winfield to carry such a thoughtful episode home.

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