Star Trek TNG Relics

Although I loved the Unification two-parter in the middle of the fifth season, I think this is my favorite "passing of the torch" episode. It seemed more personal than Spock butting heads with Picard over intergalactic intrigue.

The science fiction of this episode is definitely dotty, but works very well for tying the two generations together. The Enterprise is tracking down a distress call from a ship called the Jenolan, which had been lost for 75 years. As they drop out of warp they're shaken by a large gravitational field that kept them from locating the Jenolan before they were able to slow to a regular speed. After searching around for a minute they see a large mass that kind of looks like the Death Star only not with any features like the large circular laser or an entrance at what would be the equator. And apparently, it's so large, it can't be confused with a moon. Picard recognizes it as a Dyson Spere which he has to explain to Riker. I always relish pointing out how the show had matured since the first season and this is a fine example. Compare the reactions to something that is as legendary as Atlantis from one episode to the next. In When The Bough Breaks, they reacted to the cloaked planet, Aldea, as though it was rife with magical adventure that they couldn't wait to explore. In this episode, Picard is amazed but a little overwhelmed at what it could represent as far as a theory being brought into existence and the possibility of a large population of people living within. There was in fact a scientist named Freeman Dyson who had a theory of a sphere, but I don't think it was anything like this. He reportedly liked this episode for its entertainment value. The Dyson Spere that Picard describes is a large shell built around a star for the purpose of harnessing its energy. The distress call from the Jenolan is coming from the norther hemisphere, so they fall into orbit looking for it. They find it crashed on the surface but still reading life support functions from it. Riker goes down with Geordi and Worf. Geordi notices that the transporter had been put on a diagnostic loop and that there was still a pattern in the buffer fully in tact after all these years. He finishes the transport to reveal Captain Montgomery Scott. He thanks them briefly and then rushes to the controls to try and retrieve the ensign that had survived with him. But his pattern had degraded too much and was lost. When Geordi asks why they'd rigged the transporters, Scotty explains that they had life support, but not enough supplies to last until they could be rescued.  So, more of that sketchy transporter sci-fi, but it's always forgivable if the story is good. Scotty is first happy to learn that the Enterprise has come to his aide, reckoning that Kirk got the old ship recommissioned just for him. Then he sees Worf and realizes that he's been in the pattern buffer for quite a long time.

After he's beamed aboard he meets the new crew and passes his physical with the predictable but still very funny age jokes since he's now in his 140's after spending 75 years in the transporter. Picard notes that his name wasn't on the Jenolan's crew manifest and Scotty confirms that he was tagging along as a passenger en route to Norpin V since he'd only just retired when they'd set out. They spend a few minutes gathered in sick bay visiting. Then Geordi is ordered to study the Dyson Spere while Scotty is told to rest up. He's shown to his quarters by a young ensign and is blown away by how big and luxurious they are. He launches into stories and reminiscences while the ensign shows him where the replicator is, but he's cut short when the ensign tells him that he has to return to his duties. This leaves Scotty alone, looking and feeling very out of place. So he decides to go to engineering. Geordi offers to have somebody give him a tour, but Scotty insists on helping since he'd had a little experience with the Sphere. Not wanting to be rude, he accepts and Scotty quickly becomes a pain to have around. Geordi has to keep him from touching buttons he shouldn't and explain every time he is excited by the advancements in technology while he's trying to work. These scenes are wonderful because they contrast the difference of the attitudes in the old series and the new. Scotty is still 100% Scotty with Doohan playing him the same way he did throughout TOS and the movies... with that air of melodrama that was so distasteful in the first two seasons of TNG, but perfectly normal when exhibited by anyone from the old cast. The personality of Scotty represents the playfulness of TOS and how it belonged to a time when stories could be played out like games.  Geordi's personality was more serious and represented the way the stories had matured and how the stakes of the games have risen. It works wonderfully because Scotty is in no way awkward like the cast of TNG was in the first two seasons, but instead ends up coming off like an enthusiastic old man who just wants to feel useful again and giving the younger guy a lot of advice that he doesn't really need or want. But Geordi's patience wears out pretty fast and he ultimately tells him he's in the way, causing him to storm off in a huff. While all of this is going on, Picard is launching probes to help speed up the process of scanning this massive Sphere. They discover that it encapsulates a G type star and that the interior surface mimics the conditions of a class M planet.

Scotty goes to Ten Forward where he orders Scotch, only to discover that the future has synthehol instead of real spirits. Guinan was originally supposed to be in it but Goldberg's schedule made it impossible, so they substitute Data who is intrigued with Scotty's disgust at the pseudo whiskey. He offers to show him something from Guinan's limited stash of non-synthehol products and reaches under the bar to pull out an unmarked bottle. With it they pay homage to the TOS episode, By Any Other Name and it's done properly. It's not copied, but the critical line of describing the unknown spirit as "green" is neatly placed into the conversation and I think that Data in Guinan's place actually made it even better. So, Scotty gets lit up on the alcohol and goes to visit the holodeck to see the bridge of the TOS Enterprise. It's a touching scene; beautifully sad and happily nostalgic all at once. Picard comes in off duty to find him and they share stories of their first ships. But Scotty eventually decides to come to grips with the harsh reality that he's in a time where he feels he doesn't belong and has nothing to contribute to. Picard talks to Geordi the next day about taking Scotty down to the Jenolan with him to retrieve its logs. He can tell Geordi isn't entirely comfortable and doesn't make it an order, but Geordi understands the desire to help Captain Scott to feel useful again and agrees to it.

Geordi and Scotty beam down to the Jenolan, Scotty a little hungover. Meanwhile the Enterprise sets a course for what they assume to be a communications array in attempt to hail somebody. They find a large hatch and when they open the hailing frequencies, they trigger automatic tractor beams that easily overtake the Enterprise and pull it inside the sphere. The frequency of the tractor beams overloads their engines and they can't pull away as they're being dragged straight towards the star at the center of the Sphere. They manage to get into obit around the star's photosphere and they quickly discover that the place is abandoned and the star is unstable emitting large solar flares that threaten to disable their shields within hours. On the Jenolan, Scotty complains of the old ship being old and worn out garbage which is also a not so subtle reference to himself. Geordi takes some time rebuilding his confidence by pointing out the good things about the old ship. They figure out that they could use a part from the Enterprise to help with retrieving the logs but nobody answers when Geordi calls out with his com badge and they realize that the Enterprise has most likely gone into the Sphere.

They get the Jenolan in flying condition again by jerry-rigging some systems. At first LaForge doesn't believe it will work, but Scotty assures him that he'd written the regulations that Geordi was quoting himself and tells him that engineers are always conservative on paper. Geordi trusts him and together they solve the mystery of the Dyson Sphere as equals, Scotty even ceding his rank as captain to Geordi when it was time for them to get going because he was always happiest a chief engineer. The science of the Dyson Sphere is dicey, but it's the far fetched ideas that always displayed the character of Scotty at his finest and this big obstacle brings out the best in both the chief engineers. It's the most effective passing of the torch moment ever. They track the Enterprise's ion trail, discover the hatch and the fact that they'd mistaken it for a communications array since that's what had happened to the Jenolan 75 years ago which caused its crash onto the surface. They position themselves just far enough away so that the tractor beams will miss them when they use the hailing frequencies to open the hatch and then wedge the Jenolan, with her shields at full strength, in the doors as they begin to close. While they're there, Geordi contacts the Enterprise and tells them that they're holding the door open for them. They hurry out, but Geordi and Scotty realize that the Jenolan won't be able to move away and that the Enterprise will have to destroy it to make its way out. Picard arranges to beam them over seconds before destroying the ship and escaping just before the doors shut. Of course, I can't help but point out the glaring discrepancy that they normally can't transport people around when shields are up and they're usually very consistent about that, but it's an exciting and happy climax to a wonderful episode, so I really couldn't care less.

Later Scotty listens to Geordi's engineering stories from the current Enterprise as they walk through the corridors, specifically the story line of Galaxy's Child from the fourth season. The respect is mutual and Scotty tells Geordi that these are the best years of his life as the Chief Engineer of a star ship. He thinks Geordi was only taking him for a drink, but instead he takes him to a shuttle bay where Picard offers Scotty a shuttle on extended loan as gratitude for sacrificing the Jenolan. He says his goodbyes to the crew and is satisfied that the Enterprise D is in good hands with Geordi. He leaves saying that he may or may not go to his quiet retirement on Norpin V. It's a happy ending to a great little episode.

So, obviously, this one gets five stars. Doohan didn't approve of TNG at first because he knew about how they'd been rehashing old scripts. But his family convinced him to watch these later seasons and he ended up convinced that it was probably the best science fiction on television at the time. We're all glad he got to see it changed and had a chance to participate before his health declined. It's one of my personal favorites and I think it's on an official list of best episodes as well.