Star Trek: The Next Generation episode review: 'The Arsenal of Freedom'

The Arsenal of Freedom 
Stardate 41798.2 (Earth Calendar Year 2364) 
Original Air Date: April 11, 1988 
Written by Richard Manning and Hans Beimler 
Story by Maurice Hurley and Robert Lewin 
Directed by Les Landau 
  
On stardate 41798.2, the Galaxy-class Starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), under the command of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), arrives at Minos, a Class M world located in the Lorenze Cluster.  Her assignment: to find any trace of the missing USS Drake (NCC-20381), a Federation starship of the Wambundu class commanded by Capt. Paul Rice (Marco Rodriguez). 

For the Enterprise’s First Officer, Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), the disappearance of the Drake is of interest on both a professional and personal level, for not only is Capt. Rice a friend of Riker’s from their Academy days, but Riker had been offered command of the Drake, an assignment he had turned down to serve aboard the Enterprise. 

The Enterprise scans Minos for life signs and finds none, but apparently the ship’s sensor sweeps trigger off  a hailing message froman automated Peddler (Vincent Schiavelli), which apparently was recorded during the Erselrope Wars. 

"If you need a little something 'special', be it for one target, or multiple targets, we got it, you'll see it here on Minos, where we live by the motto, 'Peace through superior firepower'." - The Peddler, in the automated message played to Enterprise 

Riker assembles an away team that includes Security Chief Lt. Natasha Yar (Denise Crosby) and Ops Chief Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) and beams down to Minos. 

On the surface, the away team finds shards of molten tritanium, a super-dense metal used in the construction of Starfleet vessels, as well as a sophisticated weapon mount sited on a structure’s ruins.  

Because tritanium is over 20 times as dense as a diamond, Tasha muses that any weapon strong enough to melt it requires a highly advanced technology level that is beyond any known by the Federation and its allies. 

Shortly thereafter, Riker is amazed to see his friend, Capt. Rice, emerging from the bushes.  The two chat amiably for a while, but the Enterprise first officer begins to feel that something is wrong when Rice starts asking questions about the Federation flagship’s defensive capabilities.  

His suspicions reinforced by readings which indicate a power buildup in the same area where Rice is standing, Riker evades Rice’s questions in ways which Capt. James T. Kirk would have applauded: 

"Tell me about your ship, Riker. It's the Enterprise, isn't it?"
"No... the name of my ship is the... Lollipop."
"I have no knowledge of that ship."
"It's just been commissioned. It's a good ship." - Rice's hologram and Riker 

Riker’s instincts are correct: the real Paul Rice has been killed by a Minosian superweapon and his image duplicated by the weapon’s computer systems in order to create an intelligence-gathering hologram. 

When the Rice-illusion is revealed to be false, the Minosian weapon  –  an Echo Papa 607 drone – drops all its pretense and attacks the away team.  Tasha destroys it with her phaser, but not before the Echo Papa unit encases Riker in a force bubble that can’t be penetrated by Federation technology. 

After all efforts to beam Riker aboard the Enterprise fail, Capt. Picard and Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) transport down to the planet surface in attempt to assist the beleaguered away team, leaving navigator Geordi La Forge  (LeVar Burton) in temporary command of the Enterprise….. 

My Take:  Even though The Arsenal of Freedom is one of the better episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s somewhat uneven first season, it does have some weak points that bear some scrutiny. 

Like most of the episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and its fellow spinoffs, The Arsenal of Freedom follows an A-B story structure, with the main story taking place on Minos and a secondary (but dramatically-linked) plot set aboard Enterprise.  Arsenal’s A-storyline focuses on the away team’s efforts to switch off the Minosian Peddler’s automated weapons system and return to the Enterprise, while the B-story deals with Geordi’s efforts to assert his command authority in the face of Chief Engineer Logan’s (Vyto Ruginis) objections. Logan believes that he should be in command because he outranks Lt. La Forge by one grade. 

Though this bit of the plot is a refreshing attempt to break away from series creator Gene Roddenberry’s edict that there should not be any interpersonal conflict among the Enterprise crew, I’ve always had some misgivings about the Logan-La Forge  “who should be in command” issue.  Intellectually I know that Logan is probably motivated solely by the fact that he is a full lieutenant and that Geordi is only a lieutenant (junior grade), but as portrayed by Ruginis, the ship’s Chief Engineer doesn’t have confidence in the young blind navigator’s command abilities and questions all of La Forge’s orders.  

Now, then; is this lack of confidence based on purely professional concerns about Geordi’s relative lack of command experience, or is it because Logan doesn’t think that a blind navigator should be in a position of command? 

Another issue that sort of weakens The Arsenal of Freedom’s dramatic impact is that it has a schizophrenic subplot that introduces subtle (and perhaps not-so-subtle) hints of a  budding romantic relationship between Capt. Picard and Dr. Crusher, only to backtrack and douse it with a figurative cold shower. 

Indeed, in Robert Lewin’s original concept there was a strong storyline which was supposed to lay the foundations for a Picard-Crusher romance, but Roddenberry, who was at the time in full creative control of the show, overruled Lewin and Maurice Hurley was given the task to change some of the scenes which were going to reveal that Beverly has romantic feelings for Picard.  (Roddenberry’s insistence that The Arsenal of Freedom be revised was one of the reasons behind Lewin’s decision to leave as one of the show’s producers at the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s first season.) 

On the other hand, the series’ 21st episode is an enjoyable combination of action-adventure and morality tale (here, the show examines the lunacy of amassing an arsenal of advanced weapons that might turn on their creators).  Except for the two subplot-related issues that I find vexing as a viewer, The Arsenal of Freedom is nicely written and features solid performances from a cast which is now familiar with the characters and their personalities. 

"Relinquishing command, Captain."
"As you were, Lieutenant."
"Sir?"
"Mr. La Forge, when I left this ship, it was in one piece. I would appreciate your returning it to me in the same condition. Do you concur, Number One?"
"Absolutely, sir." - La Forge, Picard, and Riker, just as Picard and Riker arrive on the battle bridge