7.07 Dark Page

Rating: 2

Deanna Troi’s mother, Lwaxana, boards the Enterprise to facilitate communication with the Cairn, a race of telepaths. But her telepathic work appears at first to be causing problems with specialized areas of her brain.

Comments

Majel Barrett guest-stars in her recurring role as Lwaxana Troi.

One of the ongoing highlight of watching NextGen is the periodic appearance of famous female actresses when they were still children. This time, it’s Kirsten Dunst.

Norman Large (Maques) has appeared in a number of NextGen and DS9 episodes. In this role, he looks a bit like Gary Busey.

Marina Sirtis’s acting has improved throughout the series. Here, with her mother’s health threatened, she is understated, concerned, and effective. Director Les Landau also adds a large number of extreme closeups of Deanna’s face. Unfortunately, Majel Barrett’s role is a difficult one and she’s way outside her range, coming off as no better than a second-rate soap opera star, which takes away from the success of the episode. She’s much better suited to lighter themes, but I give her credit for trying.

The final of season of NextGen has often turned to exploration of the inner workings of the mind. Geordi channels the thoughts of a probe in Interface. Picard and Geordi walk through Data’s dream in Phastasms. And now, Deanna explores Lwaxana’s mind in an effort to reveal the cause of her mother’s trauma.

Nits

How is Maques just able to walk into sickbay? Do these telepaths have the ability to break locks? And that brings up a security issue: how do you stop a telepath from accessing someone’s mind? Doors don’t stop brain waves.

Wolves don’t really attack humans…but I suppose this is happening inside a mind, so anything is possible.

Memorable Moments

•    All of Deanna Troi’s dramatic moments are well-played and tear-evoking.

Quotable Quotes

Maques: Your mother told me of your need.
Troi: Need?
Maques: Husband. You need a husband. I need a wife.