30th Anniversary TNG Episode Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

My initial draft was too long, but this episode ain't worth two parts. I had to cut out a lot of Treknology nits. Is this really the best way to do the big introduction to the holodeck? A room that could kill our heroes if the slightest odd energy wave hits the ship?

January 11th, 1988, "The Big Goodbye"

No fiver
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

Riker: The Jarada demand a precise greeting, in this case from Captain Picard. Their language is most unusual. The slightest mispronunciation is regarded as an insult.

I hate it when alien races are made to be this unreasonable. We should lock them in a room with the Sheliak and throw away the key...

Captain's personal log. I'm entering the ship's holodeck, where images of reality can be created by our computer. Highly useful in crew training, highly enjoyable when used for games and recreation.

Gotta love that Season One conceit that "fun" is the secondary objective of the holodeck. No, really, we put this here for practical reasons! You're not fooling anyone, production staff!

Captain's personal log. I'm delighted with how the Holodeck has created the fictional world of Dixon Hill, the twentieth century detective who has been a hero of mine since childhood. The illusion is flawless. The characters I meet are generated by the computer, of course, yet they feel real, they seem real in every way.

Were the creators that terrified that unless they reiterate the illusion thing after every commercial break that the stupid viewers would wonder if they had the wrong show or think that Picard has gone back in time?

PICARD: And when I looked down into the street, I actually saw automobiles!

Stop being a fanboy, captain. We know that this level of holographic perfection has only recently become possible, but using the captain as the audience surrogate character was a mistake. Given her background Tasha would've been a better choice (in a different program than Dixon Hill, of course).

RIKER: The Jaradan are strategically important to the Federation.

Why? They sit between us and the Romulans? Over the last few years they've been talking with the Cardassians (I know that they don't exist yet), and it's important to keep them on our side? We trade with them for Resource X? Another sentence would be useful, you know...

Captain's log, supplemental. The Jaradan rendezvous still is eleven hours away. I am about to reenter the world of Dixon Hill, this time properly dressed.

Eleven hours? Get a good night's sleep, review the greeting again, get that taken care of, then relax, Captain!

WHALEN: He actually thinks you're Dixon Hill.

Ugh. There's exposition and there's treating the audience like idiots, and the line was crossed ten minutes ago! Who was it that said that intelligent audiences appreciate fiction that doesn't talk down to them?

DATA: The record will stand until the year 2026, when a shortstop for the London Kings...

This bit of trivia was extrapolated into Buck Bokai's biography. I'm glad someone remembered this episode so this could be done

VENDOR: Hey Dix, what gives with this guy? He's not from around here, is he.

The lack of perceptual filter thing is really getting old. Couldn't half of these things be jettisoned to make room for another plot elsewhere on the ship? Furthermore, it happens before the Jaradan probe, so this isn't a case of a malfunction!

(The ship shakes as a beam passes through it, including the holodeck, whose controls flicker and door briefly opens and closes a few times)

Don't ask me what a sensor scan has to do with the holodeck, or what the holodeck has to do with the doors...

SERGEANT: You're a pretty hep lookin' broad.
CRUSHER: Is that good?
SERGEANT: It ain't bad.

He he. "Hep lookin' broad?" I'm reminded of Troi in "The Royale"...

TROI: I don't believe this dialogue. Did humans really talk like that?
PICARD: Not in real life. Remember, everything that's going on down there is taken from what Colonel Richey calls a second-rate novel.

I suddenly wonder if Colonel Richey would've liked being trapped in a Dixon Hill novel better...

And of course "is that good" brings to mind the scene where Kirk sells his glasses...

LAFORGE: Not a thing. We have to go through this millimetre by millimetre.

Yeah, it's not like you could just unplug it. Unlike Voyager the holodeck's power supply is integrated with the ship. And Geordi, isn't this a job for the chief engineer (whoever that is this week...)?

PICARD: Soon, my friend. For the moment, I have other duties.
MCNARY: Blonde or brunette?
PICARD: She's a lady, all right, and her name is Enterprise.
MCNARY: Sounds like a working girl to me.

No, she's a beautiful lady and we love her! (Trek quote game!)

WESLEY: I don't know if I should. If this isn't done correctly, the programme could abort and everyone inside could vanish.

HOW? Even if the safeties are off, how does "holograms shutting off" kill everyone inside?

Memory Alpha

* It was suggested to depict the world of Dixon Hill in black and white, like Captain Proton would be later. I wish they had, it seems like a missed opportunity.
* The only episode where Tasha has the bridge.
* The only episode where the holodeck has two exits. While I could understand the flagship having a super-sized holodeck for when many many people will be participating (promoting Worf, etc.), I don't see why Picard would need one for this simulation that only expects four users.
* William Ware Theiss (glad he was on board for the early days of TNG) got a award for the Dixon Hill costumes.

Nitpickers Guide

* Data knows about cars, baseball players, and the events of every Dixon Hill novel, but a simple electric lamp confuses him. Ugh...
* No one even tries to beam our people out of the holodeck. A horrifying implication: turning the safeties off turns the transporter blocking shield on!
* The Jaradan probe shakes the bridge, but not the holodeck. How strange...
* Between scenes the lipstick on Picard's face changes shape, location, and color. Almost as though the scenes were filmed on two different days with two different kisses! You'd think they could've filmed all of the kiss scenes on the same day to avoid a problem this simple...

[Nate the Great]

I'm still pondering how an uncontrolled holodeck shutdown could vaporize everyone inside it. Even if you had to sweep the thing with baryons or something every time you turn it off, to complete the holographic reset, couldn't our heroes just unplug that part?

Then again, I'd hope that every holodeck would have a manual shutdown, probably a form of fuse.

The weird thing is that "The Big Goodbye" is supposed to tell us what the holodeck can do, while at the same time convince the entire audience that they are not fun and in fact are very dangerous. A scanning beam manages to lock the doors and deactivate the safeties and make the holodeck unable to shut down without killing everyone. And not even a weaponized scanning beam deliberately designed to do this thing, it's a random result! You couldn't get me within a hundred feet of this deathtrap!

[Nate the Great]

January 18th, 1988, "Datalore"

No Fiver
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

My usual line-by-line commentary got real negative real fast. Good performances here and there aside, there are plotholes big enough to drive a starship through, and it got really aggravating real fast.
* The Enterprise is gonna spend a couple hours here, just in case they stumble upon something that was missed before. Did Starfleet just not care enough about what killed this colony? Why'd it take so long to find Soong's lab?
* Lore's reactivation should've taken place in a more controlled environment nowhere near Data. Furthermore a method of differentiating between the two should've been devised and applied before reactivating him. Data's capabilities are fairly well known, Yar and Worf should've insisted on having a way to identify and control Lore should he prove dangerous.
* The contraction thing was just stupid. It's far too late to introduce something like this, Data's already used more contractions than would be considered acceptable and forgiveable. Cue usual Nate series bible-shrieking here. Furthermore, even if all previous usages are to be forgiven under the growing pains clause, that doesn't forgive the times in this and all future episodes where Data will use them.
* I get that they wanted to homage Isaac Asimov with the positronic brain thing, but they mixed up "artificial intelligence", "robots", and "androids" far too much in this episode. Were the technical advisors out to lunch this week?
* Data is very clear that he only has the information from the colonists' records, and yet everyone seems to act (here and in "Silicon Avatar") that he has all of the actual memories from them. But apparently no one remembered Dr. Soong or the android experiments. Did Soong take the time to clean out as many mentions of this stuff as he could before putting them in Data.
* Lore summoned the C.E., the colony found out, and then they managed to disassemble Lore? Why would Lore let this happen? If Soong had an android-stunning weapon, why wouldn't Lore take it to use against Data if needed?
* Again Picard gripes about Riker not letting him go on away missions. Is this a recent order and he went on away missions for the Stargazer all the time, or did Picard complain to Ben Zoma for over twenty years? If I were Riker, by now I'd ask Starfleet Command to give Picard strict orders on this point: no away missions unless it's absolutely safe, and stop bugging Riker about it.
* Crusher should know about Data's off switch by now. Full stop. Make it classified, need-to-know information by all means, but Crusher (and the whole senior staff, really) do need to know this.

Some good points:
* Data doesn't mind confirming his loyalty to Starfleet over his brother. And this is a good thing; if he hadn't I'm not sure he could be allowed to stay. A desire to help other forms of artificial life is one thing; treating his commitment to Starfleet as optional and temporary is another.
* Wesley devoted a lot of time and effort to earning his place on the bridge, and he was still willing to chuck all of it because the ship was in danger and he was the only one who seemed to know that it was. Even so, I wouldn't have gone about it the way Wesley did, I would've been in my lab building an android-stunner.
* The Crystalline Entity is a good idea for an alien. You could imagine how a crystal could slowly grow in size, power, and intelligence over a long time in space. And imagine the fanfic about when the C.E. meets Gomtuu or Junior!

Memory Alpha

* Final episode written by Gene Roddenberry. I didn't know that he wrote any episodes of TNG, but apparently he did "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Hide and Q" as well.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Lore says that he will drop the shields and beam something out for the C.E. to absorb. It seems he intended it to be Data, but when it turns out to be himself, why didn't the C.E. absorb him?
* Phil also mocked the fact that the entire episode was about the fact that Data can't use contractions, only for him to say "I'm fine" at the end. Seriously, those editors were asleep on the job...
* In my original blow-for-blow commentary I made a Princess Bride joke at the "almost lifeless soil." It turns out that Phil makes it himself in the Guide. I've read the Guides several times, but for any Princess Bride/Trek fanatic the joke is obvious.

[Nate the Great]

January 25th, 1988, "Angel One"

Ugh, here we go...

No fiver
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

Summary of huge plot holes:
* There's no reason for Angel One to be specified as having twentieth-century technology, especially because they're going to be shown to have disintegrator fields and subspace radio at bare minimum.
* Relying on platinum did nothing but kill time. Scanning for humans as opposed to Angel One-ians would've saved time and created fewer plot holes.
* What did the disease plot accomplish other than killing time and giving the rest of the crew something to do? It's not like there weren't umpteen other possible subplots that could've done the same thing and provided opportunities for characterization. Furthermore, where were the transporter biofilters this week?
* There's far too much of the common Trek cliche of using "Prime Directive" to refer to all Federation law. This has to stop.
* In the early script Wesley's field trip caught the disease from an actual planetside field trip. The biofilter should've caught it. In the episode as presented it was a holodeck field trip. How and why could the holodeck create real viruses? Aren't there safeties in place to stop this sort of thing?

Captain's log, stardate 41636.9. As feared, our examination of the seven year overdue Federation freighter, Odin, disabled by an asteroid collision, revealed no survivors. However, three escape pods were missing, suggesting the possibility of survivors.

Why did it take seven years for Starfleet to get around to looking for survivors?

PICARD: Counsellor, as this is a female dominated society, you might wish to make the initial contact.

Time to bring up SF Debris again. This is a patently ridiculous statement. The Federation is about tolerance. We don't let the biases of other cultures dictate our actions, and we don't let our crews be biased against because of factors beyond their control. And as Chuck said, Janeway didn't turn over negotiations with the Kazon to Chakotay because of their misogyny, that would only reinforce it. Looks like pigs are flying again, Voyager did something right that NextGen didn't!

BEATA: Even a planet as remote as Angel One has heard of Starfleet. Searching the galaxy for survivors seems a petty task for one of their mighty vessels.

I'm with Beata, why is the flagship doing this mission? It's not like the armaments of the Enterprise will be needed, aren't there diplomatic or science vessels about that could handle this?

PICARD: I want all departments prepared for a warp six trip into the Neutral Zone as soon as the away team completes its mission.
WORF: Trouble, Captain?
PICARD: Insurance. Romulan battle cruisers have been detected near one of our border posts.

Seems like a prime opportunity to leave a shuttle or the saucer section behind. Too bad neither the writer nor Picard thought of it.

RIKER: Data, what's the best way to go about finding Ramsey and the other survivors?
DATA: If we can isolate something unique to the Odin survivors, perhaps an element not otherwise found on Angel One, we can utilise the Enterprise scanners.

Are you telling me that the Odin survivors and the natives are of the same species and the scanners can't tell them apart? Furthermore, this element thing (later determined to be platinum) does nothing but pad the episode while bringing in plot holes. If the humans of the Odin could be found now, what would it matter? And are there really habitable planets that don't have any platinum? Not one bit?

PICARD: Lieutenant La Forge, you have command until further notice. Please, make the proper ship's log entries.
LAFORGE: Aye, sir.

Geordi's in command? I'll overlook Dr. Crusher in this case, there's a disease on board and she needs to be working on it. But there's the chief engineer (whoever that is this week, wink wink) who can take command, it's not like there's a crisis in engineering at the moment.

LAFORGE: [OC]: Bridge to Sickbay how are you Doing, Doctor?
CRUSHER: We have more sick than we do beds. So far I've been forced to confine over three hundred to their private quarters.
[Bridge]
LAFORGE: We're going to be seriously undermanned if we're forced to engage the Romulans in battle.

There should've been a substitute starship on the way to the Romulan border by now, why is our crew still talking about this? And what's with the confining to quarters? It's been less than a day and somehow there's no uninfected section of the ship left, what does it matter?

CRUSHER: It's that smell. That's how the virus travels. An airborne particle whose sweet scent inspires deep inhalation. And once inside the body, it becomes that damned virus. I have work to do.

What does this have to do with anything? I thought that the airborne nature had already been determined. As SF Debris would say, you're filling plotholes that nobody was wondering about!

RIKER: And what about the Romulans entering the Neutral Zone?
DATA: The border outpost reports a contingent of seven Romulan battlecruisers within sensor range. The USS Berlin has answered the distress call. However, should hostilities erupt, both the outpost and the starship will be out-gunned. It is felt that the Enterprise's presence in the area will be a vital show of force.

Seven ships in the Neutral Zone at once, and none of them have asked for permission from Starfleet? I call that an act of war that can't be hidden from. I can't think of a single nonmilitary mission in Trek history that required seven ships in the same place.

CRUSHER [OC]: This virus is totally out of control here. Until I know exactly what I'm dealing with, I can't let anyone new be exposed.

Totally out of control. Last time I checked, the number of deaths is...zero.

RIKER: Understood. Doctor, would this virus have any effect on Mister Data?
CRUSHER [OC]: Not likely.

It's not like he was infected with polywater intoxication a few months ago...

DATA: And the USS Berlin can safely withstand a Romulan attack, and deducted our time to destination at maximum warp speed. That leaves Doctor Crusher forty eight minutes to develop an inoculants to the virus.

One starship can fight off seven Romulan warbirds for an hour? I don't think even the Enterprise can do that!

Memory Alpha

* Production had to be shut down for a few days because the script wasn't ready yet. It will happen again during "Arsenal of Freedom." I thought production work for several episodes happened at the same time. The idea that the only script available to work on at this time is "Angel One" is also terrifying.
* Props from this episode were reused in several future episodes. I wish that didn't happen so much.
* First mention of the Romulans in NextGen. In retrospect it seems odd that it took this long.
* It was Gene who did this temporary rewriting of the Prime Directive to cover all interactions with non-Federation cultures regardless of technological level. So once again it's Gene I can blame. As an idea man he's great, but when it came to the application of such on a practical basis he really needed a few more leashes on him.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Isn't it convenient that Dr. Crusher was never completely stricken with the virus?
* Supposedly the biofilters don't exist yet. Still a sad excuse if you ask me.

[Nate the Great]

February 1st, 1988, "11001001"

Fiver (by Marc)
Transcript
Memory Alpha

PART ONE

The Episode

Summary of key points:
* It feels too soon for such a complete overhaul of the computers. In retrospect I wish this episode could've been put off until after "Contagion": the Iconian virus is certainly reason enough for a complete computer overhaul.
* If Barclay's holoaddiction was supposed to be so weird, the creators need to stop presenting episodes like this and "The Big Goodbye" and "Booby Trap." Over and over again we get Starfleet officers saying how you need to keep your perspective and distance when it comes to relationships with holocharacters.
* I hate plots where the heroes aren't given a choice in the matter because "you might say no." That's flat-out lazy writing. Bynar is a Federation world, and this seems like prime humanitarian mission material.
* The Bynar race in general raises a few too many questions, but I'll skip them. Except for one: why are only two Bynars assigned to this task? Even if you don't need teams physically at each of the three computer cores, this does seem like a problem you can speed up by throwing more people at it.
* The perceptual filter hasn't been invented yet, and it irks me.
* Who left Wesley in charge of Engineering again? It doesn't matter that they're not polywater drunk again, there are other Engineers about. (And who is the Chief Engineer this week?)

PICARD: What about you, Number One? You've earned a rest.
RIKER: I've never been very good at organising my time off. Something'll turn up. It always does.

Why is this line here? Why are you making Riker look bad if it doesn't service the plot? At least have him say "I was planning to X, but I'm open to other interesting activities if they present themselves."

RIKER: Worf, it's just a game. A little friendly competition, You work up a sweat, you have a few laughs, and you make new friends.
WORF: If winning is not important, then, Commander, why keep score?
TASHA: I think he's pulling your leg. Believe it or not, Worf is developing a sense of humour.

I hope so.

RIKER: Keep notes. This project might turn out to be of interest to scholars in the future.
LAFORGE: Really?
RIKER: Well of course. Think about it. A blind man teaching an android how to paint? That's got to be worth a couple of pages in somebody's book.

I get the joke, but this one does seem a bit insensitive. Was Gene asleep this week?

CRUSHER: Well, since then I've been working on an approach that combines cybernetics and regeneration. It sounds impossible, I know, but I have found an approach which will work. I mean, what an opportunity. To have a chance to talk with Doctor Epstein.

Sheesh, you can tell the Borg haven't been invented yet, can't you?

RIKER: All right. What should I choose? Computer, I'd like some place to play some music. A little atmosphere.
COMPUTER: Specify.
RIKER: Jazz.
COMPUTER: Era?
RIKER: Circa 1958.
COMPUTER: Location.
RIKER: Kansas City. No, wait. New Orleans. Bourbon Street Bar, New Orleans. Around two a.m.
COMPUTER: Programme complete. Enter when ready.

I'm glad that this era of building programs via verbal commands (and frankly insufficient verbal commands) won't last forever. Why is any of this junk important? "1950s-era Earth jazz club, late at night" is adequate for this purpose.

MINUET: My name is Minuet and I love all jazz except Dixieland.
RIKER: Why not Dixieland?
MINUET: You can't dance to it.
RIKER: My girl.

Always remembered the Dixieland quote.

RIKER: I know you are a computer-generated image, but your smell, your touch, the way you feel. Even the things you say and think seem so real.
MINUET: Thank you.
RIKER: How far can this relationship go? I mean, how real are you?
MINUET: As real as you need me to be.

Ugh. And Reg (and Geordi, and Harry...) are the freaks?

MINUET: Enchantee. Comme c'est merveilleux de vous voir ici.
PICARD: Incroyable! Vous etes Parisienne?
MINUET: Au fond, c'est vrai, nous sommes tous Parisiens.
PICARD: Oui, au fond, nous sommes tous Parisiens.

Rough translation:

MINUET: Enchanted. How wonderful to see you here.
PICARD: Unbelievable! Are you from Paris?
MINUET: More or less, we're all Parisians.
PICARD: Yes, deep down we're all Parisians.

PICARD: The holodeck has been able to give us woodlands and ski slopes, figures that fight and fictional characters with which we can interact, but you, you're very different. You adapt. You spoke to me in French.
MINUET: It was very simple. When I heard your name, I merely accessed the foreign language bank.
PICARD: That's very impressive.

Apparently "Picard" means a person from Picardy, an area in northern France. According to Memory Beta he's La Barre, Haute-Saone, which is south of the Picardy region (I suppose one of his ancestors moved south taking the name with him).

(Data is continuing to paint, or not to paint)
LAFORGE: Now what are you doing?
DATA: I am awaiting inspiration.

I hope Geordi packed a lunch, Data won't be inspired until "Birthright". Hehe...

LAFORGE: I don't know. There's no one on duty here, and we're getting some very strange readings from the magnetic containment field.
DATA: The field is deteriorating.

There should be someone in charge of Engineering, keeping an eye on the warp core. And couldn't they have created a technobabble reason why the antimatter can't be dumped?

COMPUTER: Decks two through four to cargo transporters. Decks five through ten, proceed to transporters one, two, three and four. Decks six through sixteen, proceed to transporters five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten.

First, where are the escape pods? Second, wouldn't the wall arrows from "Encounter at Farpoint" be of use here? Just have the computer say "follow the wall arrows to your nearest transporter room."

RIKER: It's uncanny. I could develop feelings for Minuet, exactly as I would for any woman.
PICARD: Doesn't love always begin that way? With the illusion being more real than the woman?

Ugh. Repeat previous comments about Reg and Geordi here, but toss Harry Kim and Janeway into the pile as well.

COMPUTER: Initiated as a programmed response. The magnetic field containing the antimatter had weakened. There was no fail-safe available.

So they outright said it: there are no fail-safes. Not "all fail-safes have malfunctioned", "there are no fail-safes at all."

[Nate the Great]

PART TWO:

DATA: Which is the nearest Starfleet vessel?
QUINTEROS: The Trieste.
DATA: I know the Trieste. Too small, too slow.
QUINTEROS: Plus it's sixty six hours away.

First, who says it has to be a Starfleet vessel? Second, if speed is a concern shouldn't that be the key factor? Ask the Klingons to help, hire a Ferengi ship and pay what they ask, etc.

RIKER: One of us could beam into the Bridge.
PICARD: No, it takes several seconds to materialise. You wouldn't stand a chance.

Actually if "A Matter of Perspective" is to be believed, the annular confinement beam is quite good at deflecting phaser beams.

DATA: Do you think I am responsible?
LAFORGE: Responsible? How could you possibly have known?
DATA: My station is on the Bridge.
LAFORGE: You can't be on the Bridge every second, Data.
DATA: You are wrong, Geordi. I can. I do not need rest or diversion. I should not have been painting. I was negligent.

Very good character work, too bad nothing will come of it. It's a shame the events before this point couldn't have been condensed to make room for this. I'm reminded of his "Achilles in his tent" pouting session in "Peak Performance".

MINUET: A star in the Bynar system went supernova and they miscalculated. The electromagnetic pulse from the explosion was going to knock out their main computer.
PICARD: So their only choice was to transfer all the stored information and shut down until after it passed. And then reactivate their system and transfer the information back to this main computer.
RIKER: The Enterprise has the only mobile computer large enough to handle all that information.

A star in their system went supernova and the plant survived? An EMP could travel through space and the planet's atmosphere without being distorted enough to minimize the damage? And the Enterprise has enough storage capacity to handle an entire planet's data? Have I said "ugh" enough yet this review?

(The computer searches the combinations of 1 and 0 to get to 11001001)

11001001 in decimal is 201. Makes me wonder what the significance is. Incidentally, 1701 in binary is 11010100101, I wonder why they didn't do that, it would've been cooler.


The Fiver

Yar: We're off to play parrises squares against the station's top team.
Riker: You and Worf against those four big, tough guys? Isn't that unfair?
Worf: (to Yar) He is right. One of us should remain here.

You capitalize Parisses Squares. Nice joke, though.

Data: We need to go after the Enterprise.
Quinteros: We can't. All our ships are either too far away or under repair.
Yar: What kind of an incompetent deployment system do you call that?
Quinteros: Standard Starfleet policy.

Grrr, "only ship in the quadrant", grrr....

Picard: The Bynars have copied their entire planet's data files into our computer?
Riker: Yes, they're using the Enterprise as a giant CD-ROM drive.
Picard: That explains why the saucer section is spinning so fast.

Ha ha.

One Zero: You have saved our world!
Zero One: You may now punish us as you see fit!
Picard: I ought to have you downgraded to that old Windows 95 operating system.
Riker: Sir, I recommend leniency.

No OS/2 joke? The opportunity was sitting right there!

Riker: Minuet's gone. She's been replaced by a 1960s lounge singer.
Picard: That doesn't sound so bad.
Riker: His name's Vic.

There's gotta be a Vic/Minuet fanfic somewhere, but I won't be looking for it.

Memory Alpha

* This episode was supposed to be before "The Big Goodbye", to explain the malfunctions there. I think it's just as well, because it's not like "The Big Goodbye" was the only holodeck gone amuck episode. Plus if this episode was the cause our heroes would have to namedrop the Bynars every time or dedicate another episode to sorting it out later.
* The true meaning of 11001001 is simply that it's a combination of the four two-number binary names of the Bynars: 00, 01, 10, 11. This does introduce the need for other identifiers (00 son of 10 son of 11, Unimatrix 1001, etc.). In short, this is a case of the creators being lazy in their conception of a species.

Memory Beta

Besides "Future Imperfect", Minuet also appears in a few novels. I most remember "Of Cabbages and Kings" from the first Strange New Worlds anthology.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Phil points out that the Bynars only planned to kidnap Riker when they knew they'd need two people to save their planet. For computer-enhanced people they aren't that smart...
* Phil is also confused about the two-digit names.
* The Bynars make sounds similar to 300-baud modems (this was fast at the time). As of when Volume 2 was written (1995) the cutting-edge was 28,800 baud, and as of when I'm writing we don't use bauds anymore, but bits per second. The peak at the moment seems to be 1000 Mbit/s, which is a billion baud. Insert Moore's Law discussion here, along with the joke that we're so primitive that we still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
* Why couldn't they have used the saucer separation stock footage? It seems like a prime opportunity for it.
* Many people were bothered that Data communicated with a starbase with his commbadge after the Enterprise had left the vicinity. I have to agree.

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

January 25th, 1988, "Angel One"

[...]

Captain's log, stardate 41636.9. As feared, our examination of the seven year overdue Federation freighter, Odin, disabled by an asteroid collision, revealed no survivors. However, three escape pods were missing, suggesting the possibility of survivors.

Why did it take seven years for Starfleet to get around to looking for survivors?

Space is big, really big.

That said, it's a freighter. Freighters don't push the edges of the frontier all on their own, they should generally be using shipping lanes (even if they are remote) with people at either end. There should have been someone close enough to mount a rescue mission.