The Battle (episode)

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"The Battle"
TNG, Episode 1x09 Production number: 40271-110 First aired: 16 November 1987
←	9th of 176 produced in TNG	→
←	8th of 176 released in TNG	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 176 released in TNG Remastered
←	113th of 727 released in all	→
Teleplay By Herbert J. Wright Story By Larry Forrester Directed By Rob Bowman
41723.9 (2364)
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A gift to Captain Picard from a Ferengi military leader may have more sinister intentions.

Contents 1 Summary 1.1 Teaser 1.2 Act One 1.3 Act Two 1.4 Act Three 1.5 Act Four 1.6 Act Five 1.7 Log Entries 2 Memorable Quotes 3 Background Information 3.1 Video and DVD releases 4 Links and References 4.1 Main Cast 4.2 Guest Stars 4.3 Uncredited Co-Stars 4.4 References

[edit] Summary

[edit] Teaser

"Captain's Log, Stardate 41723.9. In response to a Starfleet order we are in the Xendi Sabu star system having rendezvoused with a Ferengi vessel which has requested a meeting. Although we arrived here and made appropriate signals to the Ferengi three days ago they have so far responded only with the message, "Stand by, Enterprise.""

In response to an order from Starfleet, the USS Enterprise-D has been sent to the Xendi Sabu system to rendezvous with a Ferengi Alliance vessel. For three days there has been no message from the Ferengi except "Stand by, Enterprise."

Dr. Crusher comes to see Picard in his quarters, where he complains of feeling fatigued and having a headache. She examines him and finds nothing wrong, but tells him to come to sickbay all the same. Just then the Ferengi hail the Enterprise. Picard returns to the bridge and talks with the Ferengi captain, DaiMon Bok. Bok claims to know Picard, but Picard doesn’t recognize Bok at all. He wants to meet Picard in person, so despite being wary of his intentions, Picard agrees to meet him aboard the Enterprise.

[edit] Act One

Picard goes to sickbay where Crusher examines him again, but fails to find any medical reason for his headaches. She gives him a painkiller for the time being. He returns to the bridge, where Wesley Crusher arrives and tells Geordi La Forge that when he was boosting the range of the long-range sensors, he detected a ship approaching. Then La Forge detects it as well. It's an unidentified Constellation-class starship, which is not responding to hails.

The time arrives for the Ferengi to beam over, and three of them materialize on the bridge: Bok and two of his officers. Bok tells Picard that the starship is under their control and is a gift to honor the "hero of Maxia", Captain Picard. Picard realizes they are referring to an incident that took place nine years prior while he commanded the USS Stargazer. Traveling through the Maxia Zeta system, they were attacked by an unknown vessel, which Picard was forced to destroy. It turns out that the vessel was Ferengi. Picard is then hit by another headache, before ordering La Forge to zoom in on the approaching starship. It is the Stargazer, which the Ferengi found adrift, and are now giving to Picard. Bok says it will be a gift, free of charge, which his subordinates don’t like.

[edit] Act Two

"Captain's Log, supplemental. Bok and his officers have returned to their vessel inviting us now to officially take possession of the Stargazer."

Later in the observation lounge, Picard tells the crew about the battle. They had been traveling at warp 2 through the Maxia Zeta system when they were fired upon by an unidentified starship, damaging their shields. Then Picard asks Vigo to raise the shields. This surprises the crew, before Picard realizes what he's said. He continues with the story, saying he then performed what is now known as the Picard Maneuver: he jumped to high warp, making it appear to the Ferengi that the Stargazer was in two places at once. He was then able to destroy the Ferengi vessel, but was forced to abandon ship.

Data, Natasha Yar, Worf and La Forge beam over to inspect the Stargazer. La Forge gets the emergency power going, and as everything looks all right, Picard then beams over. He goes to look at his old cabin, and is going through his things when he suddenly gets another headache. He grabs his head and falls back in agony. Amongst his things in an old chest, a pink sphere glows. Bok is controlling it aboard the Ferengi vessel. Dr. Crusher passes and sees Picard in pain. She brings him back to the Enterprise, telling him that his belongings will be beamed over later.

The Enterprise tractors the Stargazer. Riker tells Picard that Starfleet is sending a tug to bring it to Xendi Starbase 9, before Picard goes to his quarters for a rest. When he starts to dream, he dreams about the battle. Meanwhile in the ready room, Data shows Riker a personal log that Picard recorded, claiming that he attacked the Ferengi vessel without provocation.

[edit] Act Three

When Riker shows Picard the log, Picard denies making the entry, but tells him he has to report his findings to Starfleet. Then Picard's headache returns. He goes back to his quarters, before Riker contacts Kazago, Bok's first officer, asking if he finds it odd that Bok is returning the Stargazer to Starfleet.

Picard is in his quarters when Crusher arrives. He tells her the headache is worsening, and he is worrying about the battle and whether he did the right thing. Crusher gives him a sedative and puts him to bed. He starts to dream about the battle again and relives it, seeing the crew and the bridge. Bok laughs aboard his own ship as he manipulates a matching sphere to the one in Picard's chest.

[edit] Act Four

Data is informing Riker that the log is a forgery, when Picard enters. Crusher follows soon after and is surprised to see the captain up and about. He dismisses everyone except Riker, whom he tells to disengage the tractor beam. In sickbay, Dr. Crusher is discussing the headaches with Deanna Troi when Wesley enters. He tells her that he noticed the captain's brain patterns were the same as low intensity transmissions detected coming from the Ferengi ship. They report this to Riker, who checks on Picard’s location and finds out he has beamed onto the Stargazer. Aboard the Stargazer, Bok meets Picard and raises the ship's shields. He is carrying his pink sphere, and tells Picard that his son was in command of the ship Picard destroyed. He has spent years devising a suitable revenge, and bought the two spheres for his entire life savings. He leaves the sphere on the bridge and beams back onto his own vessel.

[edit] Act Five

Aboard the Enterprise, the sphere in Picard's quarters has been found, and as the Stargazer turns to attack them, Riker realizes that the sphere is being used to influence the captain's thoughts. He hails Kazago, who recognizes the sphere as a "thought maker", a device that is forbidden. Then Captain Picard comes on the viewscreen. He doesn't recognize Riker. Instead, he is reliving the old battle. He sees the crew around him and gives them commands, thinking the Enterprise is the unknown vessel.

Riker realizes that he is going to use the Picard Maneuver, so he orders Data to come up with a defense. Then Kazago hails, and tells Riker that Bok has been removed from command for his part in this "unprofitable venture". Data comes up with a defense which involves detecting the correct ship by noting the compression of gas in space and then immobilizing the Stargazer with the tractor beam. The defense works, and Riker hails Picard. He manages to convince Picard to destroy the sphere with his phaser, at which point Picard returns to normal. He then beams over to the Enterprise, leaving the dead to rest in peace.

[edit] Log Entries

• Captain's log, USS Stargazer
• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2364

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Let the dead rest, and the past remain the past."

- Picard

"I can't believe they're coming here!"

- Worf, on the Ferengi's upcoming visit to the Enterprise

"As you hew-mon's say, I'm all ears."

- Kazago, conferring with Riker.

[edit] Background Information

• The bridge of the Stargazer is a redress of the Enterprise's battle bridge from "Encounter at Farpoint" (which in turn, was a redress of the movie Enterprise bridge). For this occasion, the TNG-era chairs and conn/Ops stations were replaced with Kirk's command chair and the combined navigation/helm station last seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The turbolift interior from the first three Star Trek films also appears, although curiously several crewmembers are seen leaving through the side of the turbolift rather than using the car in its established capacity; within the context of the storyline, it is logical to infer that this is due to battle damage rendering the system inoperable, and the crew having to bypass it to access the turboshaft (as would later be seen in "Disaster").
• Picard's quarters, with the characteristic starbase painting, bookshelves and the sextant, are first seen in this episode.
• The Stargazer was originally a Constitution-class starship and would have reused the refit Enterprise model from the first four Star Trek movies. However, it was decided after the episode was filmed to change it from a "Constitution-class" starship to the similar sounding "Constellation-class" cruiser. The reason for this was that when LeVar Burton dubbed over the line, the new dialog would closely match his lip movements on screen. Data also mentions the ship's class by name when reading from the dedication plaque, but his back is turned to the camera; when he says "Constellation" the closed captions say "Constitution." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion)
• A blooper from this episode exists on some bootleg blooper reels. On it, Brent Spiner, as Data, walks through the Stargazer bridge and upon seeing the dedication plaque, reads it using an imitation of Jimmy Stewart's voice and then saying "For God's sakes Mary, they built this thing in Bedford Falls!" (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion)
• In his online reviews of the TNG episodes, Wil Wheaton states that this is the episode in which Wesley went from, in Wheaton's own words, "mildly annoying to vehemently-hated character," talking about how having Wesley figure out the problem and the solution before the senior staff could was "perhaps the worst way to help the audience accept that this kid (Wesley) is going to be part of the main crew." Wheaton also remarked that the scene in sickbay where Wesley tells Crusher and Troi that he "glanced" at the scans while Dr. Crusher was researching them and, quote: "...in that brief moment, magically divined exactly what the rest of the professionally-trained crew – including the hypersmart robot – hadn't noticed: the patterns in Picard's scan are identical to the low-intensity transmissions picked up from the Ferengi ship. Wesley cements his relationship with Trekkies by muttering, "You're welcome, ladies... heh. Adults." after they leave the room. Oh, that's pure genius writing there, guys; that's not going to alienate a single fan. Bravo." [1]
• The episode received its UK premiere on BBC2 on 7 November 1990.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

• Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 5, catalogue number VHR 2396, 3 September 1990.
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 1.3, catalogue number VHR 4644, 1 June 1998.
• As part of the TNG Season 1 DVD collection.

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Main Cast

• Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as William T. Riker
• LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge
• Denise Crosby as Natasha Yar
• Michael Dorn as Worf
• Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi
• Brent Spiner as Data
• Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher

[edit] Guest Stars

• Frank Corsentino as Bok
• Doug Warhit as Kazago
• Robert Towers as Rata

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

• Dexter Clay as a security officer
• Jay Crimp as a Stargazer officer
• James Davidson as a Stargazer officer
• Susan Duchow as an operations division officer
• Schae Harrison as a Stargazer officer
• Brian Sterling as a Starfleet officer

[edit] References

2355; Battle of Maxia; Betazoid; call letter; checksum; Constellation-class; common cold; computer science; Federation tug; fusion generator; headache; Maxia Zeta system; Picard Maneuver; power cell; Starfleet Academy; Stargazer shuttlecraft; Stargazer, USS; thought maker; Transporter Room 3; Vigo; Xendi Sabu system; Xendi Starbase 9

Previous episode: "Justice"

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1

Next episode: "Hide and Q"