The Drumhead (episode)

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"The Drumhead"
TNG, Episode 4x21 Production number: 40274-195 First aired: 29 April 1991
←	94th of 176 produced in TNG	→
←	94th of 176 released in TNG	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 176 released in TNG Remastered
←	201st of 726 released in all	→

Written By Jeri Taylor Directed By Jonathan Frakes
44769.2 (2367)
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After an accident in engineering, a Klingon exchange-officer aboard the Enterprise is found guilty of passing secret information about the dilithium chamber to the Romulans, but not for the accident. However, an overzealous Starfleet admiral refuses to believe it to be an accident and soon begins a witch-hunt aboard the ship to find a conspiracy, eventually accusing Captain Picard of treason.

1 Summary
2 Log Entries
3 Memorable Quotes
4 Background
- 4.1 Video and DVD releases
5 Links and References

[edit] Summary

On stardate 44769.2, a dilithium chamber hatch explodes aboard the USS Enterprise-D and sabotage is suspected. The explosion coincides with news that the Romulans have gained access to information about the Enterprise's chamber, indicating that there's a spy on board. A quick investigation turns up one suspect – a Klingon exchange officer named J'Dan, but he denies any involvement. With little progress in the investigation, Starfleet Command sends retired Admiral Norah Satie and her assistants – one of whom is a Betazoid – to expedite the proceedings.

A more thorough examination under Satie's direction reveals a hypospray in J'Dan's room modified to scan and resequence classified information into biological tags for transport on an injected body; J'Dan covers this by the fact that he has Ba'ltmasor Syndrome, which requires weekly injections and, thus, would easily hide the transfer of information. With this evidence against him, J'Dan admits to being a Romulan spy, but adamantly maintains his innocence in the explosion. However, Satie is still unsatisfied; she is convinced that J'Dan couldn't have been working alone, and begins an inquiry into all personnel and passengers on the Enterprise he's come into contact with during his stay. When she questions young medical technician Simon Tarses, she's apparently got her man; her Betazoid assistant senses great fear and guilt from Tarses, as if he's being consumed by a lie he refuses to come clean about.

Picard is not convinced, though, and refuses to restrict Tarses' movements based on Betazoid intuition. Before a consensus can be reached he and Satie are called to engineering by Geordi La Forge and Data; the radiation levels preventing them from entering the chamber – caused by the explosion – have dropped low enough for them to safely enter, and their examination shows no foul play involved. The explosion was caused by metal fatigue along an undetectable defect in a hatch cover installed during the ship's last refit at Earth Station McKinley, making it an accident that just happened to coincide with the theft of the chamber's plans and not sabotage.

This new development doesn't seem to placate Satie or her assistants, who still believe Tarses was a co-conspirator with J'Dan. Another inquiry against Tarses is launched, this time open to the public, and he is barraged with numerous accusations to try and establish his guilt, including a lie that the explosion was caused by corrosive chemicals that he had access to, and the exposure of the lie Tarses himself tried to kept hidden – that he put false information about his parentage in his admission form, stating that his grandfather was Vulcan when, in fact, he was Romulan. Overwhelmed, Tarses clams up, and the ruthlessness of the accusations convince Picard that Satie is engaging in a drumhead trial, going on a xenophobic witch-hunt for Romulan and other enemy conspirators.

After talking with Tarses and establishing that his lying on his application was his only misdeed, Picard confronts Satie and demands that the hearings be put to rest, threatening to go over her head and complain to Starfleet Command if necessary, only to be rebuffed; Satie has been in full contact with Starfleet Command since the beginning, and they fully approve of her methods. In fact, the next interrogation will have Starfleet Security Admiral Thomas Henry as a witness. In other words, the interrogations can't and won't be stopped, and will in fact expand. Unfortunately, because of his outspokenness against them, Picard is called to the stand next.

At his interrogation Picard attempts to appeal to Satie's sense of reason and convince her to end the hearings but is met with a thorough nitpicking of his competency and loyalty to Starfleet and the Federation. Worf, who up until this point had sided with Satie in her actions, realizes where the hearing is going and attempts to defend his captain but is also rebuffed with accusations of his father's supposed betrayal to the Romulans. Finally, Picard responds to the accusations laid against him by quoting Satie's father about the dangers of denying basic rights to one man in the name of protection. Enraged, Satie interrupts him in a fit of anger. She verbally attacks Picard for using her father's good name to defend himself, telling Picard that she, "has taken down bigger men than you". Too late, she realizes what Picard has done; by quoting her father, he has goaded her into revealing her state of mind and reasons behind the trials in front of an audience, severely damaging her credibility and causing Admiral Henry to walk out in disgust, putting an informal end to the interrogation.

Later on, in the ship's ready room, Picard is informed by Worf of the hearings' official cessation, and of Satie's departure from the Enterprise. Though it's not likely that she will ever be trusted with such legal proceedings again, Worf can't help but feel guilty for being deluded into aiding her cause without realizing what she was. Picard, however, sees it as a learning experience; such enemies who cloak their misdeeds with the pretense of serving a greater good are very seductive and very hard to spot, and continual vigilance is needed to be able to spot and stop such threats.

[edit] Log Entries

Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2367

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Sir, the Federation does have enemies! We must seek them out!"
"Oh, yes. That's how it starts! But the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think. Something is wrong here, Mr. Worf. I don't like what we have become!"

- Worf and Picard

" ' With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.' Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie as wisdom and warning... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on we’re all damaged."

- Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie

"How dare you! You who consort with Romulans! Invoke my father's name in support of your traitorous arguments! It is an affront to everything I hold dear. And to hear his name used to subvert the United Federation of Planets. My father was a great man... his name stands for principle, and integrity... you dirty his name when you speak it! He loved the Federation! But, you captain, corrupt it! You undermine our very way of life! I will expose you for what you are! I've brought down bigger men than you, Picard!"

- Admiral Satie, losing all of her credibility

"We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. And then, before you can blink an eye, suddenly it threatens to start all over again."

- Picard, to Worf

"Mr. Worf, villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well-camouflaged."

- Picard

"...she, or someone like her, will always be with us – waiting for the right climate in which to flourish. Spreading fear in the name of righteousness. Vigilance, Mr. Worf; that is the price we have to continually pay."

- Picard, to Worf

[edit] Background

The events of "Conspiracy", "Sins of the Father", "The Best of Both Worlds", "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", "Family", and "Data's Day" are referenced in this episode.
This is one of Michael Dorn's two favorite TNG episodes, the other being "The Offspring". [1]
This episode was a bottle show, coming $250 000 under budget. (ST: TNG Companion)
This is the second appearance of the interrogation room set after "The Defector". It is a modification of the bridge of the original USS Enterprise as seen in the first three movies.
This is the only time in the run of the series that the inner isolation door in main engineering is seen; normally the outer door is seen after a warp core breach.
A long time extra, Ensign Kellogg, played by Cameron is finally named in this episode during Worf's briefing with his security officers.
Both the unnamed Excelsior-class starship and Oberth-class starships seen in this episode are not named in the episode or the script. The identification of the Oberth-class as USS Cochrane is derived from the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion.
This episode is reminiscent of Senator Joseph McCarthy's Communist witch hunt hearings.
According to director Jonathan Frakes, on the TNG Season 4 DVD interviews, several shots from the episode were "stolen" from Judgment at Nuremberg, the 1961 Stanley Kramer film starring William Shatner.
This was the final episode to have music composed by Ron Jones. Jones was fired shortly afterwards for repeatedly arguing with Rick Berman and Peter Lauritson over what type of music was thought to be appropriate for the series.
Jean Simmons is an actress with a very long history. One of her most famous appearances is the role of Varinia at the side of Kirk Douglas in Stanley Kubrick´s Spartacus.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 48, June 1992.
UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 4.7, 3 September 2001.

The video sleeve gives the title of this episode as "The Drum Head".