Star Trek The Next Generation Ruminations S5E14: Conundrum

Website: www.lorerunner.com
Help Support Lorerunner: / lorerunner
Twitch: / thelorerunner
Stream Uploads: / @lorerunnerstreamarchives
All original works are the property of respective owners.

[@TheRealityJack]

This is actually one of my favorite Star Trek episodes! I have had a very unique viewing experience of Conundrum. My mom always was a Star Trek fan, but as a kid I didn't like it very much. As a teen I finally got curious and decided to check out one random episode I could find online. It was this one. I actually thought McDuff was a real member of the crew for the longest time during the episode! (Yes, I was pretty dumb and missed the hints). I thought "Hmmm, weird, I thought that bearded guy was the first officer..." but toally bought into the rest of the episode because I knew nothing about Star Trek. As for the premise, yeah, it makes no sense at all. I guess I just have a godlike suspension of disbelief, since I am able to enjoy many stupid things, as long as they are "fun". And this episode is definitely fun! Great character moments, quotable dialogue, funny, yet also a very interesting conflict. The Enterprise is never really in danger, yet it's still exciting to see how the situation will turn out! Also, I love that "battle" against the defense fleet. The Galaxy class is my favorite starship, and even though the scene is only a few seconds long, it's one of my favorites. Just a rapid-fire evaporation of entire starships (or drones or whatever) by her phasers makes the Enterprise look as menacing and powerful as it should be - as opposed to the countless times where their weapons do absolutely nothing or they are toyed with by random omnipotent jackass number 39. I really wish we could have gotten more interactions like these between Riker and Ro, or Worf being in command... all of it is great stuff. I wish you a Happy New Year, Lore, for you are without a doubt my favorite KZbinr. Your ruminations are always interesting, whether I agree with your viewpoints or not, and you are one very funny dude. Easily the most likeable "Star Trek person" I know. May you live long and prosper! PS: I got a Bat'leth made out of real metal for Christmas. How awesome is that!?

[@jshariff786]

I agree with you on the episode, on the Galaxy Class (also my fav), and on the phaser volley scene (how multiple Type X phaser banks would actually be used). Awesome sequence. Congrats on the Bat'leth and Qapla!

[@tracyhill4686]

Your friendly resident Klingon fan approves of your gift!!! Honor to you and your house!!!! I recently rewatched this episode on rerun and just found this thread. My takeaway? Silly, hard to believe, but McDuff was a cutie.lol

[@RubesGoodBrainCoffee]

That's funny, because I thought that I had a 'unique' experience in viewing this episode. Although I had been a fan of the Next Generation since Season One, by Season Five I had gone to university and was unable to watch the new episodes on a regular basis. When I managed to catch this episode, I knew that Ensign Ro was a recently introduced character, so I naturally assumed that Commander MacDuff was another whose introduction I happened to miss!

[@scotttrammell4299]

Yesterday’s Enterprise also does the same thing, where the characters are the same basic people, but not, under different circumstances. Picard, for example, is still the same intellectual, logical, passionate man at his core, but has been hardened by 20 years of war in a different timeline.

[@badmaninc.536]

Conundrum is one of my favorite episodes despite its several plot holes that you mentioned. It has a sort of Colombo feel to it. We know right away that MacDuff doesn’t belong there, though I admit, when the episode first aired, I thought to myself “hmm a full commander we’ve never seen before, could Riker finally have accepted a captaincy? Or is he perhaps a shift commander reporting for duty? Is this shift change?” The interaction between Worf and Picard right after they learn who they are and what their ranks and positions are is pure gold. Riker and Ro... you say that it’s never brought up again, but I would tend to both agree and disagree. True it’s never mentioned directly, but if you look closely, their future interactions are far less... antagonistic and confrontational are the two adjectives that immediately come to mind but I’m not entirely convinced that they are the correct terms and for the life of me I can’t think of the right word here. It’s hinted at later on in the episode “the next phase.” When she and Geordi are presumed dead, and Riker asks specifically to be allowed to say a few words for her at the memorial service. He seems genuinely upset that she had apparently died, and I like to think that it was because the two of them “really got to know one another” in this episode. And Ro herself really wants to know what he was going to say about her. It’s a reach I admit, but my own head canon is that one of the really big reasons why the two of them did not opt to pursue the relationship further... ignoring the counselor Troi/Riker deep connection/relationship as it’s the obvious reason... is that it would come off as highly inappropriate given that as a bridge officer, she reports directly to him in the chain of command. If she had been in a different department such as security or engineering, they very well might have explored their budding relationship further. Anyway, thank you for another great year of ruminations, they always make my Monday morning commute something to actually look forward to, looking forward to next year.

[@shootingreal5945]

I agree with your take on Ro and Riker..after this situation it's clear this epi is the reason for the change and more easygoing nature between them..if you look at Ro last appearance in the series in season 7 we see a very touching heartfelt type of good bye between Will to Ro. I think there every interaction after this epi is much more warm and friendly and you can't help but to think back to this specific episode as the reason why.

[@colincampbell3199]

I frigging love that, despite being stripped of their personal memories, and rank is stripped, the crew naturally become these talented, inquisitive professionals who begin to logicllly act and deduce their identity. If it was me, I'd be crying in a corner somewhere.

[@EnvisionerWill]

The lady in the bathing suit must have later gone down to the Cetacean Biology Lab on the assumption that she was the ship's dolphin caretaker....

[@harpercole5321]

Star Trek's crimes against chess go back to the 2nd TOS pilot, but Troi beating Data is by far the worst. The "easy difficultly setting" theory is a good one, but she does talk like she's actually beaten him afterwards. Things would have been easier for MacDuff if he'd been installed as the Captain instead of the 1st officer! Like most people, I can forgive the unbelievable plot when the episode it produces is so good.

[@quicksilvertongue3248]

I think even beating Data's easy mode would qualify as an accomplishment worth bragging about. For games that have a Story Mode with easier-than-easy difficulty, you wouldn't brag about that, but a game like Chess which consists solely of an intellectual challenge, telling the person who was genetically engineered to have an IQ of 400 that he needs to play with a blindfold on actually produces something like a fair contest.

[@Calculon1712]

I always liked the shot of the Ent D approaching the Lysian central command aka Edo Guardian lol plus the shot of the ship firing at the sentry pods and just moving on. The guy who plays MacDuff was in Friday the 13th Part 4

[@EnvisionerWill]

I'm still kind of blown away by the fact that that model was used for the Edo Guardian (and I could have sworn that it had another appearance in season 1 or 2, but Memory Alpha is telling me I'm mistaken about that), and then sat in mothballs until season 5 before being used again.

[@EnvisionerWill]

My best argument for how this situation works is that MacDuff's race are using some kind of ancient alien artifact that they don't fully understand, which is their only trump card in this war that they are otherwise either losing or being stalemated at. I got this idea from the Season 6 premiere of Stargate, which I just saw again last night; while not a great episode overall, that one does have the idea that you can break all the normal rules by finding this one thing that gives you access to a power that you otherwise wouldn't have. So normally, stargates can only stay open for 40 minutes, but Anubis has an Ancients artifact that can hold a stargate open until it explodes; the episode ends with Tealc blowing the artifact up and saving Earth, and now Anubis can never do that again because he didn't know how to cast the spell, he just had a magic wand with one charge which is now gone. Same idea here; MacDuff's people can't erase all the memories of everyone including Data, but they have a device from the T'Kon empire or something which does have that power. At the level of technology that said device operates on, you can just target "identity" as a concept, and it doesn't matter whether the info is stored in a ship's isolinear chips, an android's positronic brain, or a human being's memory engrams or neuropeptide chains or whatever - it finds "identity" info in any and all storage media, wipes it out, and inserts the one person who activated the device into the situation as an infiltrator, because that's what the ancient aliens designed it to do. They doubtless had the ability to do way bigger things than that, but you don't have all their abilities, you just have this one.

[@alonzomuncy6871]

What you do of you want to run this episode as a RPG is you hand the players blank sheets that they fill out through play. The players don't make the sherts, the GM does. Ie. "I rolled a 15 for that attack" "ok your total is 19." "I must have a +4 attack bonus!"

[@SchneeflockeMonsoon]

This episode is a Picasso painting. It’s all the wrong pieces in all the wrong places so you can barely see the actual picture. But it’s somehow just as beautiful for being so off. This rumination makes me so wish I could play pen and paper with you. You seem like the best GM of all time, and I would just love to experience the other side of your talks about them. The mind-wipe game especially I think would be so cool. Just give me the most generic details, I give you my personality, and say: “Here you are. Go.” I don’t have a lot to say in this, it’s funny and interesting, and I honestly have no idea what to think of Troi, Ro, & Riker. I will give a Riker props though. He faced his mistakes and the two people he probably hurt, head-on like a man.

[@elscorcho1342]

As far as names, I'd like to think they would start using nicknames for each other based on appearance- Baldy, Ridges, Beard, Visor, Android etc... 😂

[@sharkdentures3247]

I know you are a unapologetic prude Lore, but if I may, I'd like to mention my thoughts regarding this episode on sex & sexual interactions. (that I had since my first viewing) 1) I think (on some level) we (humans, but men especially) never completely get over that early adolecense awkwardness of attraction & desire. (you know? The; do something mean to a girl on the playground, like pull her pigtails & run away, because we like them, but haven't developed the cognitive ability to process those feelings yet?) I think the episode does a great job implying that Riker & Roe have a strong sexual (& personal) attraction to each other, and that is part of WHY they are so antagonistic to each other. (Its the only way they can comfortably express them.) 2) I imagine(d) MANY people sought comfort 'in each others arms'. (to put it politely. . . like what you stated) BUT, I also imagine (with some malicious amusement) that a FEW married couples sought that comfort WITH SOMEONE ELSE, not realizing that they were married! Or not married to the person they were with! I foresee some uncomfortable marriage counselling sessions with Troi in their future,

[@EnvisionerWill]

As to this episode itself, the name "conundrum" was stuck in my head from all the way back when it first came out, and so I knew that this was one of my favorite episodes, but I couldn't remember *which* of my favorite episodes it was. Only once you described the premise did I remember it, and even then I don't remember much beyond the concept offhand. All I'm sure of is that this is right up there with "Darmok", "Cause and Effect", "The First Duty", or "I, Borg", all episodes I have recently rewatched, which I consider to be the absolute best of TNG (and these are specifically all Season 5 episodes, and I pretty definitively consider Season 5 the best season of Next Gen, much as I do for Voyager). I'll have to rewatch it to be sure, but I feel pretty certain that I'm going to appreciate it.

[@EnvisionerWill]

As an interesting footnote, I have recently concluded that my favorite part of DS9 is *not* season 5 but season 6. Though even that is only about half made up of episodes I like. Turns out that DS9 is not as uniformly great as my memory always tells me it is, even though I still definitely call it my favorite season.

[@captmoroni]

We found a mission that an Oberth could succeed in.

[@FreihEitner]

I'm sure any decent, self-respecting Oberth class could still manage to find a way to blow up. ;-)

[@Jarsia]

Lysian Command dude "there's a federation starship attacking us" other Lysian Command dude "we're screwed, their technology is too..." Lysian Command dude "it's an oberth class." other Lysian Command dude "well that's different"

[@rmsgrey]

The whole tabula rasa premise works a lot better in a setting with literal magic that can be expected to perform that sort of selective erasure across a wide range of targets than in one where it has to be sufficiently advanced technology...

[@ChocolatierRob]

Normally I go off my dim memories of the episodes but I actually watched this one (and the ones either side) last week and it took me quite a while to recognise anything from it. As such it was not until they got the records of their names that I realised how out of place McDuff was. I hadn't realised that he was a Commander because I don't automatically count pips, I had not noticed that he wasn't on the bridge before the flash. It is not strange at all for there to be people on the bridge that I don't recognise so I assumed they were playing on the idea that a red shirt suddenly found himself thought of as someone important (the opposite of Data's current situation). But as soon as I realised he supposedly had real rank he stuck out like a sore thumb. Good thing critical analysis is not _my_ role, but as someone just casually watching I don't think his earlier scenes were particularly suspicious. After he received a name was when he clearly started manipulating events. One thing you did not bring up about the ridiculous premise was that in volunteering as a guinea pig McDuff is in a position that his brain is actively being scanned in medbay and Crusher fails to see that he's a lizard in a skinsuit.

[@Mikewee777]

#AmongUs

[@JH-su9vl]

I personally enjoyed this episode a lot. Like you say its not feasible but it’s really fun.

[@shootingreal5945]

I enjoyed it as well..the personalities turned on there heads was enjoyable (esp worf jumping the gun and taking on the command position) I liked the Ro/ Riker hook up and love triangle with Troi..(good chemistry between Will and Ro..a good look into what could have been if things were different) There are holes in the epi but if you just watch to enjoy it, on the surface it does its job.

[@lifeflows8594]

I don’t even watch Star Trek but I enjoyed listening to you discuss it

[@Redshirt434]

I'm surprised that no one ever considered that in this episode, the Enterprise was transformed a beacon of peace and exploration, into a horrifying weapon of death and destruction, fending off Lysian ships like flies. Not unlike what the Borg did to Starfleet at Wolf 359.

[@petewatson-wailes10]

Re. Data and chess, I think it makes sense that Data is constantly adjusting his level of interaction, because he understands that people value an emotional connection, and being able to feel that he's on a similar tier to them (which would totally make sense, given Lore). So he's pitching himself as being challenging but not unbeatable to Troi, because he's either literally designed to do that (likely), or because he's learned people enjoy his company more when he doesn't go around curb-stomping them at absolutely everything (also possible).

[@Brandyalla]

Probably both

[@millefune]

Of all the shuttles he could have used as an example, he picked the one that blew up with all hands lost. Ouch....

[@quicksilvertongue3248]

I wish Guinan was in this episode. "Hey Data, I want to go ask Picard a question in person, cover my bar for five minutes."

[@jesuszamora6949]

One thing that surprises me is that Starfleet isn't desperately hailing the Enterprise like "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, PICARD!?"

[@jeffreymiller9438]

No oversight. Kind of like Submarines.

[@peggygross7409]

The mindaltering device has never made sense to me in this episode. I couldn't believe that Data could be so easily affected by it and the memory loss corrected fixed.

[@francoislacombe9071]

If MacDuff's people could affect memories like that, why not just then remove the crew and replace it with one of their own? They probably would not have put up much resistance, especially if the ones doing the removing had posed as some sort of "rescue" mission. By the time anyone really started asking questions, the Lysian command center would have been toast. Btw, how many people noticed that the Lysian command center was a recycled Edos God prop from the first season episode Justice? 🙂

[@athrunzala6919]

Everyone noticed that lol

[@andysahs1599]

I noticed it .

[@AlucardNoir]

Favorite doctor? Now that's a hard question. Favorite Captain is easy, but doctor? Hell, I even like Pulaski.

[@Jokie155]

I think too many saw the very early phase of Pulaski, wrote her off on the spot as being a horrible person, and stopped paying attention after that. She's TNG's equivalent of Bones in characterisation, and given where things were starting to go in her interactions with Data, I would've absolutely liked to have seen more. It had so much room to evolve in a unique direction compared to the Spock-Bones parallel it started as.

[@Tuning3434]

@@Jokie155 Oh totally, and I love Diana Mauldaur, although I strongly protest against the hair-due she wears in TNG. Already in S2 she is beginning to warm up for Data, although she still hasn't dropped her opinion on Data being a machine instead of a person. IMHO that is still the medical specialist talking there, and not the person she is actually she. Being a tease and liking the bantering (like Bones), i'm sure some interesting performance's would be possible between her and Spiner, if she would be present in one of the later seasons.

[@edwardbliss8931]

A Klingon assuming command of a Federation ship and a tiny Lysian ship firing on the huge Enterprise seems completely conceivable

[@athrunzala6919]

One of my favourite episodes, loved the teaser scene and everything else. Troi beating Data at Chess, she is still in his head from his defeat in Peak Performance. There was no Guinan in this episode to tell them there isn't suppose to be a war and send Yar back in time, wait - what?

[@ShadowDogProduction]

Have you ever watched the series Dark Matter? I imagine you have since you're a confessed Stargate SG1 fan and two of their show runners went on to create Dark Matter. But since you didn't mention it and since its core concept is what you like about this episode, I thought I would bring it up.

[@quicksilvertongue3248]

I said this before at some length, but I'll say it again here real quick: the easy fix for this episode's "Menosky Problem" is to just say the Lysians have a Precursor artifact designed specifically, with the equivalent of magitek, do do exactly this and only this. Useless against their equally pathetic enemies, useless to fight the Feds, but a great way of making the Feds win their war for them, and then be so horrified that they would *pay the Lysians reparations* for having destroyed their "beloved neighbor civilization". (Macduff would of course phaser himself into dust after his plan succeeded.)

[@theonlymatthew.l]

I to find the underlying premise of the show to be ludicrous. I did however like the Ro / Riker thing, that was quite amusing. Of course Deanna's reaction is typical hypocritical princess stuff. She's hooked up with more people over the course of the show than Riker...

[@djhutchison]

Tapestry would also fit into that category. It's still Picard, with all of the things that make him Picard, but the circumstances are totally different.

[@tougheddie7297]

Happy New year lore

[@lancebaylis3169]

It's funny you should mention this as beinga familiar Trek story trope, and that Workforce would go on to do it better (I agree by the way), because my view of Conundrum is that in a lot of ways it almost feels like its S1E3 The Naked Now done *right*. That episode sees the crew stripped back to a more vulnerable state, having to figure out how they function (there because it was still very early, here because of a literal memory wipe). The Riker/Ro/Troi angle even feels in keeping with that earlier episode. But where The Naked Now was trying to do this before we as an audience knew who these characters really were, Conundrum has the benefit of familiarity, and 5 seasons of character building. I do see a ley-line from The Naked Now to Conundrum, and from Conundrum to Workforce.

[@EnvisionerWill]

Super-happy to hear that you're considering redoing Voyager. I don't especially think your later episodes, such as Workforce, need a retread, but the first season and a half definitely do, and if you're going to do some of them, you might as well do the whole show. Maybe to reduce the redundancy, you could put together some kind of new format, where you do more than just Ruminate, and actually do something like (just free-associating here) putting the episode in context with the entire rest of the franchise. It might be fun to see you doing that simultaneously for both TOS and Enterprise, and then "work inward" to do early TNG and late Voyager, and converge toward the 'center' of Trek, which is the near-universally-praised Deep Space Nine. If you went this way with it, the difference between your late-voyager Ruminations and your late-voyager "whatever we call these" would be maximized, because the later episodes would be where you'd experiment with getting the format down, so they would have some of the same kind of awkwardness of the early Voyager stuff, and then by the time you got back to Voyager's beginning, you'd have perfected this new formula. Just thinking aloud here.

[@nigelmurphy6761]

Happy new year lore. Star trek fan since TNG here. Love all the series and movies

[@politicalnerdV]

I actually would totally pay to have my memory temporarily erased.

[@jimschuler8830]

Always just figured that the Satarrans came across an ancient Iconian device. It's really the only thing that makes sense, as if they were that amazing with memory tech, it would have been a cinch to just steal everyone's technology instead of relying on a single captured vessel to end their war. A one-shot operation solves that issue.

[@HolySilverStrike]

The first time I ever watched the next generation was season 5 first episode. My dad has recorded that episode and star trek’s 25th anniversary on vhs. That to my recollection was my first introduction to Star Trek. I really liked it when I was a kid I think I was 5 years old when I saw it.

[@memoryhero]

The most glaring plot hole in this the intruder simply not putting himself at the top of the command chain instead of one rung down. I mean, really.

[@silkwesir1444]

Actually that makes a lot of sense. Think Mirror Spock.

[@jeffreymiller9438]

The only time I can recall the Lorerunner justifying a sexual encounter in an episode. He got through saying it, even though it made him nauseous. Good for him.

[@jmorrison230582]

I think this episode would have been better if the MacDuff character had been the most senior officer, on special assignment to the Enterprise because of this "war". Then you would have got the tension of the other bridge officers building up to committing mutiny against his command, which they have shown before (the one with the Picard doppelganger). Either that or not have him there at all, but with Worf retaining command for longer and the others having to stop him from destroying the aliens.

[@JimPlaysGames]

Unless Riker had made some kind of pledge of monogamy to Ro, which is very unlikely given the circumstances, then he is in no way obligated to be monogamous with Ro. You can't break a promise you haven't made. It shouldn't be assumed and he has nothing to be embarrased about.

[@user-hi4sm3ig5j]

I think it would have made a little more sense if there was a war between two fairly advanced races, and the mind control ones wanted to draw the Federation into a war with their enemies by staging an attack on a defenceless science station or something. This probably wouldn't have worked either, I don't know.

[@ruthruthless]

If you lost all memories relevant to who you are, you would also lose your personality and your skills because so much of those are intertwined with your past. For example, I would have to forget my parents, where I lived, what I did in all that time, any practice in my skills that I did in places where I lived... My personality is shaped by my experiences, like painful ones that taught me to adapt certain behavior to avoid them in the future. It doesn't make sense you could erase just knowledge of who you are and leave personality and skills intact.

[@mr51406]

Totally calling it Conundrum Effect. Or the Menosky effect. I do enjoy conceptual what if? “Exercises in Style” (cf Raymond Queneau). Which is why I appreciate this impossible to believe episode. Especially like the Ro-Riker-Troi triangle. Why oh why didn’t Ro stay on longer? My appreciation varies on each rewatch. The “who says you’re going to get any sleep” line is still fun.

[@rheiagreenland4714]

The sad thing is that I didn't pick up on the whole MacDuff thing the first time I watched this episode specifically because I just assumed it was some weird personnel thing like kept happening with Chief of Engineering back in season one, and the fact that Star Trek hates continuity so much... yeah that's kinda sad

[@jani11]

You saying you will redo Voyager ruminations someday fills me with joy. And by Q i will be here with you :)

[@weirdnomad8868]

Why has no one brought up the most obvious plot hole? McDuff should've just appeared as the captain or better yet just stunned them and taken the Enterprise's weapons technology for himself. This was a stupid episode and doesen't even do character development well. Oh the Enterprise crew are the good guys. Yeah we all already knew that...

[@danielyeshe]

He needed to not be the captain so as to be able to volunteer for Crusher's memory restoring procedure.

[@weirdnomad8868]

@@danielyeshe what do you mean?

[@quicksilvertongue3248]

The ep has no room for filling, but if runtime isn't a thing, I'd want to end on a Dixon Hill scene.

[@raywharton9425]

As a small child I grew up on freshly aired TNG, loved it. But I was really little and memories could be creative. Back before streaming and the like I couldn't watch Star Trek any more until I got to high-school, hadn't seen much Star trek for like 7 years. Then I found out that there was a channel with it. OH BOY! I go to watch TNG for the first time in years. This Episode. I was seriously confused for 30 fantastic minutes. It was great.

[@Eelco_de_Boer]

Mem-summary: After the crew's memories are mysteriously erased, the computer records indicate that the Federation is at war with the Lysians, and that the Enterprise has been ordered to attack their command center. (that commander MacDuff is a bit strange though....)

[@tobiaswalker7562]

Good evening Lorerunner, it is I Nothruzem! I'll try and be brief, this has been one of my favorite episodes of this series, for all the reasons you have stated. My only problem with this episode is that it comes at a time when the formula for Star Trek, "was create a problem, resolve it by the end of episode." Which is my problem with most of TNG in general, if you know all is going to be fine at the end, why watch? To get back to this episode, in your humble opinion: "Should they spread this plot/episode, across 3 or 4 episodes?" I find myself thinking, if this problem had lasted/extended beyond the boundaries of the norm, this could have been even better!

[@nickokona6849]

This episode reminds me kind of Fascinations, but not quite as bad. The only thing I like about this episode for seeing the characters playing different roles. Work as the captain. Picard at the helm etc.

[@DylanMadd]

I like this ep. Worf acting like king is hilarious. Esp since he gets his butt kicked every time he gets to use his one dominant individual ability among the crew: fight.

[@KneelB4Bacon]

You can enjoy the episode if you can get past the premise, but the premise is a huge problem. It kind of reminds me of the "War of the Worlds" TV series that came out in the 1990s. The show is set in the present, approximately 40 years after the Martian invasion. Now you might expect such a world to look VERY different from the world we know. More militaristic and more paranoid . . . like a "Starship Troopers" kind of society, constantly worried about the possibility of a follow-up invasion. But that's not what the writers did. Their premise for the show was that everyone on Earth just kind of . . . forgot about the world-wide Martian invasion. The martian bodies were sealed up in steel drums and their war machines were warehoused and ever since that time, there has been no study of Martian biology or their technology. It's pretty clear in this case, the writers did this to save money on world-building, costumes, matte-paintings, etc. But I thought this was ridiculous. The show should never have gotten out of the proposal stage. (It was cancelled the following season).

[@ohgoditshimrun1346]

I've been waiting to hear your thoughts about this one for a long time. And let me say, before I hear any of your thoughts on the subject, that I waited for years to see a science fiction series use this premise for their very first episode, so that the mystery would be a mystery, thereby redeeming the stupid premise by doing something well with it. And I am fully aware of how "Dark Matter" both tried and failed to give us just that. Now I watch the video. "By the time they finally did that", meaning putting Worf into a red uniform. I am sorry, Mister Archengaia the Lorerunner, but you have gravely disappointed me here. Go back to TNG season one. Look at what Worf's job was before Tasha died. Damage Control Monitor. Look what color he wore to do it. Red. Sigh.

[@thexalon]

Reasons I call bull on the premise include: 1. The scanning through the Enterprise shields. 2. The perfect memory erasure, with no mistakes at all. 3. Macduff somehow gets onto the bridge of the Enterprise, through the shields. 4. Macduff somehow manages to pass himself off as a human even while being examined and experimented on by Dr Crusher. With a medical scanner right there. So apparently, these guys know how to transmorgrify themselves into humans or something. 5. What happened to the original small ship they encountered? One characterization problem I have is that Picard would be the sort to try to communicate with a ship that was firing on the Enterprise if he knew full well that said ship couldn't do jack squat to the Enterprise.

[@jani11]

That scan might have disrupted the shields and that's how he might have come in. Idk

[@NotZero2]

Do you know the series "Dark Matter" ?

[@williamsternritter3214]

I recently rewatched this and I was wondering rather something else. If they are so good at memory manipulation, why not just manipulate the other folks? But I guess the current balance of power did not allow them to get close enough.

[@videogenics86]

I think this would've been better if it wasn't two species so far down the tech ladder as these two are. I mean they barely have warp capable ships. The Enterprise might as well be the Death Star to these people, the effect is the same. Indeed an Oberth would be the Death Star to these people. So if it had been someone we had heard of and knew they were actually within shouting distance of the Federation technologically there would be the additional threat of it starting a real war, like a rogue member of the Central command deciding war is better than what is happening, or the Romulans. Honestly this scheme seems to be more their mindset, but a Rebel group wanting to cause a war between the Federation and the Romulans, or a Tal Shiar plot to break the Federation Klingon Alliance, an unprovoked attack on the Romulans would be in the eyes of most Klingons be a dishonorable act. Of course the agent in question would have to believe that the Romulans could actually WIN a war with the Federation. Bottom line is the way it was done is completely unbelievable and even in a sci fi setting it wouldn't have worked.

[@starwolf99]

A bit of head cannon/talking out of my behind about explaining why McDuff's race can alter memories of every race and Data but are behind in weapons tech: Imagine a situation similar to Skaro from Doctor Who. Before the creation of the Daleks, the people have been at war for centuries, resulting in technology regressing to the point of soldiers carrying bows and arrows dodging biplanes armed with lasers and advanced landmines. Maybe that weapon McDuff used was the only one left as part of a Hail Mary. (They no longer have the knowledge to develop more of such weapons.) Yeah, it's WMG and possible BS.

[@hughsmith7504]

Not sure where it is in your list, but i think it would be awesome for you to do a lore series on stargate, SG1

[@MyEconomics101]

here because it got as mention from philosophy tube

[@grantlloyd9131]

15:47 - Yea I bet Ro will agree with you there.

[@Helyyx]

So, couple thoughts. in response to what Lore said. First, I agree on this being a great premise of an episode, much like work force, but I call bull crap on a species so un-advanced in absolutely every possible way, including weapons despite being at war for decades, yet having the advance ability to blank the minds of every one on the ship, and data and the computer to such detail in seconds. But if you made these people too advance, what the hell they need the Enterprise for. Now what would have been more believable is if they started off the episode with everyone on the bridge waking up from being flat on the floor, and McWhatsHisFace being there too. Same situation, just remove the instantaneous mind wipe thing and make it unknown how long they were on the floor for. Second though. Interesting to think that if they had to go on longer w/o names, maybe they just start calling people by numbers, much like int he show Dark Matter. But I guess on a ship of thousands that would be impractical. Maybe they use Borg designations. *shrug*

[@Mikewee777]

Very true, actual role playing 17:30 .

[@EnvisionerWill]

I agree that this video game concept would be good. And difficult to do right. I've grappled with similar concepts for a while.

[@KnightRaymund]

Yeah the setup makes no sense but the episode is still very enjoyable.

[@brianhatcher6621]

I like this episode of lot because I live this episode

[@brianhatcher6621]

Many years ago I had brain surgery which caused some massive memory loss. I have recovered somewhat but when I wake up in the morning I always ask who am I. I keep a notepad next to the bed to remind me my name where I live what I do and such so that is the first thing I asked love your show I hope you managed to get to the original series one of these days. Also maybe Andromeda and or Farscape

[@TheMetahedron]

You know what you're in for from the very beginning when Picard says "...Epsilon 'Solar' System...". Sorry, there is only one star named Sol that I know of. Shouldn't it be 'Star' system? Or just Epsilon System? Science is Not this writer's strong point. Just forget about it and have fun.

[@stevemanart]

10:30 the chess game I play on my $3,000 gaming PC has a casual difficulty. Thinking Data doesn't have one is asinine. Also, thinking Data isn't cognizant enough of the people around him and their emotions to know when to change it himself even more asinine.

[@nigelmurphy6761]

I don't buy mcduffs ability to have had any effect to try and erase the ship's crew records. He could probably block the crew's memories but not erase them entirely. So no I don't buy that.

[@corssecurity]

Holographic water I guess isn't wet. But do women go diving with thier hair and makeup done?

[@HunterBidenCocaineBag]

This episode proves (apparently) that we are born innately who we are regardless of our environment. I do enjoy this episode a lot, but the premise is absurd.

[@DrownedInExile]

I share your view, this episode's premise is total BS. Still managed to be enjoyable.

[@mepoindexter]

This just feels like a dumb season 2 episode.

[@EnvisionerWill]

I desperately wish the name of Ronny Cox's character in "Chains of Command" actually had been Jericho, rather than Jellico. (And now all your Japanese fans are confused. Kidding!)

[@wrcawston144]

52 seconds in and you've already said something ridiculous. I doubt that there are many Star Trek fans who watch this.

[@Norvo82]

Well, I consider myself a sizeable Star Trek fan and I'm here. So, that's one.

[@BPond7]

What a dick!