1.08 The Battle

Rating: 2

Damon Bok of the Ferengi offers a gift to Picard: a Federation ship (the Stargazer). The Stargazer was Picard’s first command; the ship that he used to destroy an unidentified attacking ship many years ago. Unknown to Picard, that ship that he destroyed was Ferengi, and when he destroyed it he killed Bok’s son. Bok uses a ‘thought-maker’ to control Picard’s brain. Picard beams to the Stargazer and begins to relive the events of the battle, even going so far as to believe that the Enterprise is the attacking Ferengi ship.

Comments

Just two episodes ago (in Lonely Among Us), Picard’s mind and body were taken over by the cloud entity. Now, the Ferengi are able to take over his mind.

It’s fortunate that the people who invented the ’thought maker’ were highly advanced in the area of technology to control thoughts, yet were so backward in the area of miniaturization, else they may have also invented a much smaller, more difficult to discover amplifier than the head-sized monstrosities we see here.

Once again, it is Wesley who solves the mystery by discovering that the brain wave transmissions are emanating from the Ferengi ship.

Nits

Early on, Wesley bolts onto the bridge to tell everyone that something is just about to appear on sensors. It seems he was playing around in engineering and increased the sensor range. Picard scolds Wesley, and tells him next time to signal the bridge immediately when he finds something out, rather than running up to the bridge so he can be in the thick of things. Yet later, Wesley bolts into sick bay to tell Troi and Crusher that he has discovered the brain wave transmissions from the Ferengi ship. Shouldn’t he have just signaled the bridge as soon as he found out this information rather than once again running around and finding someone to tell in person?

Quotable Quotes

Picard: Bok! Where is Bok?
Riker: Removed from command, sir. And placed under guard for his act of personal revenge. Seems there was no profit in it.
Picard: In revenge, there never is.