The Enemy (TNG episode)
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"The Enemy" is the name of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, from the third season. Its episode number is 155, and it first aired on 6 November, 1989. In the Star Trek timeline, the events occurred on stardate 43349.2 (Paramount Pictures, n.d.). The story involves the Enterprise crew's attempt to uncover the mystery of Romulan activities on the Federation planet Galorndon Core (Kemper, et al., 1989).
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Plot summary
Note: The following summary is deliberately out-of-order, for the purpose of clarity.
Geordi La Forge is stranded
In the tense opening scene (which precedes the opening title sequence), Riker, Geordi, and Worf beam into a misty, windy, fulgerating, environment on Galorndon Core. It is clear that the three are searching for something. During their search, they find remnants of a starship which they determined was destroyed after it crashed on the planet. Through their conversations, the audience can surmise that they have limited time before they must beam back to the Enterprise, and with this temporal restriction in mind, they separate and seek their objective individually. Only a moment later, Worf is shown encountering Patahk (Paramount Pictures, n.d.), a Romulan who "wakes up" and attacks Worf. Worf is resilient to the attack, though, and succeeds in restituting the Romulan to his former state of unconsciousness. With the "window of opportunity" for transporting back to the ship quickly closing, Riker and Worf decide to return, with Patahk, to Enterprise. To their surprise, Geordi is nowhere to be seen, but they decide it would be riskier to stay and look for him than it would be to leave then; they transport back, leaving Geordi behind on the planet (Kemper, et al., 1989).
Meanwhile, Geordi has fallen stranded into a deep, muddy, natural underground enclosure, wherefrom he can neither escape nor communicate. Eventually, he manages to use his phaser to turn raw stones into sharp stakes. These he uses to climb out of the hole, but by that time, Riker and Worf have long since left. Because of interference caused by storms, Geordi cannot use his communicator to speak with any of his crewmates (Kemper, et al., 1989).
Geordi is rescued
Back aboard the Enterprise, Dr. Crusher's medical team treats Patahk for injuries. (Apparently, this is the first time she has had an opportunity to examine Romulan anatomy and physiology, either first- or second-hand.) Picard and Riker ask Crusher if they may speak with Patahk, and she accommodates their request by temporarily resuscitating him. When he becomes conscious, Riker informs him of his current residence aboard the Enterprise. Before Patahk again falls unconscious, he tells them only that he was alone on Galorndon Core. Immediately, Riker and Picard suspect he was lying (Kemper, et al., 1989).
WesleyCrusher2366.jpg
In another conversation, Picard denies a request from Riker to commission a new Away Team for Geordi's rescue. During a discussion of possible courses of action for dealing with La Forge, Wesley Crusher develops a plan whereby a beacon would be launched from Enterprise and autonomously land on the planet's surface, where it would emit neutrino particles. With his visor, Geordi would immediately detect the neutrinos, find their source, and alter the beacon's emission pattern to signal to Enterprise that he had found it. Then, being retrieved from the planet would be a relatively simple matter. Picard ultimately agrees with the plan, and it is carried out under his orders (Kemper, et al., 1989).
Back on Galorndon Core, where the beacon has taken its place, Geordi sees the neutrinos off in the distance. (Immediately, he says to himself, "Wesley Crusher!," as an indication that he can predict Enterprise's plan, and even how it was developed.) As he begins to walk toward the beacon, the camera moves to a shot of his feet, and in the shadows, another set of feet is visible. A moment later, this other person—a Romulan named Bochra—constrains Geordi and takes him prisoner. For a while, Bochra fights Geordi and shows no trust in him. Even after one incident in which Geordi saves Bochra's life, Bochra still insists on keeping him under his disruptor. Eventually, however, Geordi convinces Bochra to work with him to escape from Galorndon Core (Kemper, et al., 1989).
By the time they are ready to seek the beacon, however, the electrical storms on the planet have adversely affected Bochra's nervous system, and caused Geordi's interface with his visor to malfunction, rendering him temporarily blind. The visor is still sensitive to the neutrinos, however, and Bochra suggests that they interface the visor with Geordi's tricorder to guide them toward the beacon. Since Geordi is blind, he must instruct Bochra step-by-step through the procedure, and allow him to carry it out. They succeed, and they place themselves sufficiently close to the beacon to allow Enterprise to detect their biosignatures (Kemper, et al., 1989).
A war with the Romulans nearly ignites
Earlier in the episode, Dr. Crusher determines that Patahk will die, unless Worf, the only compatible donor, provides a ribosome transfusion for Patahk. Due to a long-standing grudge against Romulans for killing his parents, Worf refuses, and Patahk dies (Kemper, et al., 1989).
Throughout the episode, Picard faces a much greater challenge than finding Geordi: Tomalak, the captain of a Romulan warship, has informed Picard that he is determined to enter restricted Federation space to seek any Romulan survivors of the incident on Galorndon Core. When he learns that Patahk has died, however, he increases the threat by preparing to directly attack Enterprise. Reactively, Picard raises shields, a physical procedure to protect Enterprise from weapons fire (Kemper, et al., 1989).
At the same time, Picard has been made aware that Geordi and another humanoid have been detected near the beacon, and the storms on the surface have temporarily subsided so that a transport is now possible. For diplomatic reasons, but without knowing for sure, Picard assumes that the humanoid accompanying Geordi is another Romulan officer (Paramount Pictures, n.d.). Since he must act quickly to rescue the two, Picard sees no choice but to blatantly lower shields directly in the face of the threatened attack by Tomalak (Kemper, et al., 1989). In a remote audiovisual conversation with Tomalak aboard his vessel, Picard informs Tomalak of his decision, and Tomalak cooperates by powering down his ship's disruptors. At that point, Picard feels confident enough to proceed, and Geordi and Bochra are transported directly onto the bridge where Picard and Tomalak have maintained communication. The diplomatic situation is resolved, and the episode ends (Kemper, et al., 1989).
References
- Kemper, D. & Piller, M. (Writer), & Carson, D. (Director). (1989). The enemy [Television series episode]. In Rick Berman (Producer), Star Trek: The Next Generation. Hollywood: Paramount Pictures.
- Paramount Pictures. (n.d.). The enemy. Retrieved January 30, 2004 from http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TNG/episode/68416.html
External link
- The Enemy (http://memoryalpha.st-minutiae.com/wiki/The_Enemy) at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek WikiWiki