ST-TNG's Relics: Episode Review (with link to full review)

For the entire review, please see: Relics: Scotty treks again in Star Trek: The Next Generation's Episode 130

In late 1986, when Paramount Pictures announced that its television division was producing a syndicated follow-up to Star Trek,  creator Gene Roddenberry decreed that  there would be very few links between Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST-TNG) and The Original Series (TOS) in order for the new show to stand on its own. 

Published articles in contemporary science fiction-related magazines such as Starlog reported that Roddenberry had deliberately set ST-TNG 100 years after the first season of Star Trek so that there would be very few possibilities for crossover appearances of the original series cast.  There would also be no references as to the fate of major characters such as Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the familiar crew, presumably because the actors who played them would still be making feature films in those roles. 

As it turned out, Roddenberry’s Prime Directive that there would only be some residual linkage between the two television shows proved to be a mirage. DeForest Kelley made a cameo appearance in the series pilot Encounter at Farpoint, while the first regular (one hour) episode, The Naked Now, was essentially a remake of TOS’ The Naked Time. 
  
(Another thespian link between the two series: Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the actress who played Nurse/Dr. Christine Chapel in TOS and two of the feature films, provided the voice to the Enterprise-D’s computer and made several guest appearances as Laxwana Troi, Counselor Deanna Troi’s (Marina Sirtis) mother.)  

For the most part, however, ST-TNG “charted its own course without using its TV/feature films stable-mate as a storytelling crutch. The time gap between the first Starship Enterprise and its fourth successor was wide enough so that at least the TOS  human characters would all presumably be either too old (like McCoy at 137) or dead.  (Vulcans, of course, could – and did – make guest appearances; Mark Lenard, who played Sarek, guest-starred twice, while Leonard Nimoy reprised his role as Spock in Unification, Parts 1 & 2.) 


In 1992, ST-TNG’s writers – with the approval of executive producer Rick Berman – decided to attempt a serious crossover episode featuring one of TOS’ most popular characters: Captain of Engineering Montgomery “Scotty” Scott. 
  
James T. Kirk: How much refit time before we can take her out again? 
Montgomery Scott: Eight weeks, Sir, [Kirk opens his mouth] but ye don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for ye in two. 
James T. Kirk: Mr.Scott. Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four? 
Montgomery Scott: Certainly, Sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker? 
James T. Kirk: [over the intercom] Your reputation is secure, Scotty. – Star Trek III: The Search for Spock 

Scotty is, of course, one of The Enterprise Six, the main recurring characters from Star Trek and its six feature film spinoffs. As portrayed by the late James Doohan, Mr. Scott was the “miracle worker” whose prowess with the inner workings of the original Starship Enterprise and  her immediate successor, the Enterprise-A, always managed to save the day (and his crewmates’ lives) whenever there were problems with the transporters or the warp drive. 

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: The tank can't handle that much pressure.
Capt. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: Where'd you get that idea?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: What do you mean, where'd I get that idea? It's in the impulse engine design specifications.
Capt. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: Regulation 42/15: “Pressure Variances in IRC Tank Storage”?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Right.
Capt. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: Forget it. I wrote it...A good engineer is always a wee bit conservative, at least on paper. 


Relics 
Stardate 46125.3 (Earth Calendar Year 2369) 
Original Airdate: October 12, 1992 
Written by: Ronald D. Moore 
Directed by: Alexander Singer 
  
Early in its sixth year of exploration, diplomacy and defense of the United Federation, the Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) intercepts a  subspace distress call from the USS Jenolen (NCC- 2010), a Sydney-class transport which was reported missing and presumed lost in the year 2294. 

When the Enterprise, commanded by Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), drops out of warp speed into normal space, it is affected by the gravitational field of a sphere-like object of tremendous size (around 200 million kilometers in diameter. The ship’s scanners initially miss this when Enterprise slows down to sub-light speed, but the bridge crew tracks the source of the gravitational field and discovers what appears to be a real Dyson Sphere. 

Until stardate 46125.3, Dyson Spheres (named after Earth scientist Freeman Dyson, a real person) were thought to only exist in theory; they are hollow artificial constructs built around a star. A civilization advanced enough to build a Dyson Sphere could – if equipped with a life support system – use it like a substitute for a planetary system since its interior could literally duplicate the surface area of millions of planets. However, the concept of a Dyson Sphere was long considered to be impractical due to the structure’s sheer size, as well as the cost and the problem of  availability of raw materials. 

The Enterprise, with its sensors recalibrated to compensate for the Dyson Sphere’s gravimetric interference, scans the surface of the immense object and discovers the wreck of the Jenolen, which apparently crashed there 75 years earlier.  Amazingly, the Enterprise scanners detect power readings from the crashed transport…and that the life support systems are still functioning.  Intrigued, Picard allows first officer Cmdr. William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), chief engineer Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and security chief Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) to beam down to the Jenolen and investigate. 

At first glance, the away team finds only a deserted ship, but La Forge notices that the Jenolen’s transporter has been jury-rigged in a peculiar fashion.  The unit has been hooked up to the ship’s auxiliary power system, and some of the transporters essential sub-elements (especially the phase inducer, the emitter array, the pattern buffer) have been  ingeniously reconfigured.  Even more astounding, La Forge and his companions discover that there is a pattern still contained in the buffers. 

Riker wonders aloud if someone could conceivably survive being suspended in a transporter pattern three quarters of a century. La Forge, ever the inquisitive engineer, intends to find out. He fiddles with the transporter controls, and when the beam energizes, out steps a legendary figure from the past: Capt. Montgomery Scott, the retired chief engineer who served about Capt. Kirk’s original Starship Enterprise and her first successor, the Enterprise-A! 
  
Upon realizing where and when he is, Scotty runs to the transporter console and desperately tries to retrieve the pattern of fellow crash survivor Matt Franklin.  Sadly, the buffer in question has broken down, and too much of Franklin’s pattern has degraded for Scotty to pull off one of his engineering “miracles.” 


Capt. Jean-Luc Picard: How are you feeling?
Capt. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: I don't know. How am I feeling?
Dr. Beverly Crusher: Other than a few bumps and bruises, I'd say you feel fine for a man of 147
Capt. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: And I don't feel a day over a hundred and twenty. 



The away team brings Scotty aboard the Galaxy-class namesake of the old engineer’s “old girlfriend” – Kirk’s twoStarships Enterprise – and, after a medical checkup, assigns him to guest quarters which (not surprisingly) are shockingly sumptuous to the old-school Starfleet veteran. 

Although he is officially retired, Scotty is happy when he is allowed to work with Geordi to retrieve the Jenolen’s log.  Capt. Picard knows that Scotty needs something to do while he comes to term with Franklin’s death and re-emerging in an era where most of his former shipmates are gone. 

While Geordi and Scotty attempt to access the Jenolen’s log, Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), discovers a portal on the Dyson Sphere. Theorizing that this may be the sphere’s “front door,” the Enterprise attempts to hail the Sphere’s inhabitants.  But when the hatch opens, there is no audio-visual reply; instead, the Dyson Sphere activates multiple tractor beams and begins tugging the Enterprise aboard! 

  
My Take: 
  
Ship’s Computer: Please enter program. 
Capt. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: The android at the bar said ya' could show me ma' old ship. Lemme see it. 
Ship’s Computer: Insufficient data. Please specify parameters. 
Capt. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: The Enterprise! Show me the bridge of the Enterprise, ya' chatterin' piece of... 
Ship’s Computer: There have been five Federation ships with that name. Please specify by registry number. 
Capt. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: NCC-1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D. 
Ship’s Computer: Program complete. Enter when ready. 

© 2012 Alex Diaz-Granados.  All Rights Reserved