Booby Trap (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
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| Star Trek: TNG episode | |
| "Booby Trap" | |
 The Enterprise becomes ensnared in a "Booby Trap". |
|
| Episode no. | 54 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 154 |
| Airdate | October 30, 1989 |
| Writer(s) | Ron Roman (teleplay) Michael Piller (teleplay) Richard Danus (teleplay) Michael Wagner (story) Ron Roman (story) |
| Director | Gabrielle Beaumont |
| Guest star(s) | Colm Meaney Susan Gibney Whoopi Goldberg Albert Hall Julie Warner |
| Year | 2366 |
| Stardate | 43205.6 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "The Bonding" |
| Next | "The Enemy" |
"Booby Trap" is the 54th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the sixth episode of the show's third season. It was first broadcast on October 30, 1989. In this episode, when the Federation Starship USS Enterprise discovers a trapped centuries-old alien battlecruiser it is caught in the same snare.
[edit] Plot
As the episode opens, Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge is on one of the Holodecks with Christy, an attractive young crewmember, enjoying a holographic program of a beach environment which Geordi spent several days perfecting in an attempt to woo Christy. As Geordi attempts to make his move, Christy pulls away and tells him that she "doesn't feel that way about him", much to Geordi's disappointment.
The Enterprise is in the process of investigating the final battle between the Menthars and the Promellians, two alien civilizations who fought to their mutual extinction in the area several centuries earlier. On the Bridge, the viewscreen shows the massively destroyed asteroid laden scene of devastation, which Lt Commander Data comments is remarkable considering the primitive weaponry of the era. Unexpectedly an automated localized distress signal beacon is picked up, and Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard orders a course change to the coordinates of the signal. The source turns out to be a fully intact Promellian Battlecruiser dating back to the time of the final conflict, apparently drifting undisturbed for many centuries.
This discovery excites Picard who notes that he probably had a model of such a cruiser when he was a child, once it is discovered that the ancient ship is still habitable he decides to beam aboard the derelict and examine it himself, saying that this is his chance to actually "get inside the ship in the bottle". Commander Riker tries to discourage him because of the "incalculable risks" involved, but Picard overrules him. Taking Data and Lt. Worf he beams over to the cruiser's Bridge.
Once aboard, Picard is taken aback that an ancient ship would have a Bridge layout of such elegant and functional simplicity, and Worf notes how "admirable" it is that the crew died at their posts. Data finds and is able to activate an ancient storage device which they discover to be analogous to a Starship Captain's log, and the three watch as the Promellian Captain describes how his ship met its fate in a Menthar snare they encountered, taking full responsibility for the loss of the ship and the deaths of his crew, whom he praises.
On the Bridge of the Enterprise, acting Ensign Wesley Crusher notes to Commander Riker that the ship's energy distribution systems are "acting weird" and Riker instructs him to run diagnostics in an attempt to track down the problem.
After examining and making record tapes of the old hulk, a "thrilled" Picard and his party return to the Enterprise and prepare to get on with their mission. Unfortunately as they do so, the ship suddenly suffers massive power losses and begins to be bombarded by a lethal radiation field. Raising the shields only makes the radiation intensify, and when Picard orders Wes to move the ship out of the danger zone they find that the propulsion systems, both Impulse and Warp drive, do not respond. It appears that the ancient Menthar booby trap which doomed the Battlecruiser has now snared the Enterprise as well.
Picard orders La forge to find a way to conserve the ship's remaining power, protect it from the radiation, and escape from the Menthar trap. He also questions Data about historic Menthar battle and warfare strategies and is told they were unusually innovative and cunning, inventing several tactics which had been unheard of before. Knowing that the Promellians were more familiar with their enemy than the Enterprise officers are, Riker leads a second away mission to the Promellian ship in an attempt to discover if the Promellians might have had some insight about their dilemma which the Enterprise crew can make use of. They find further examples of the Promellian Captain's log which Data is able to access and mention is found in them of Aceton assimilators, a technology used by the Menthars. Data theorizes that such devices, which absorb energy and emit it back in the form of deadly radiation, could make use of a ship's own power emanations to doom it. He suspects a large number of these devices might have been secreted in the asteroids around them, creating the trap.
In Engineering La Forge makes some initial headway toward beefing up Warp power levels and increasing the shield strength, but this is only postponing the inevitable. Seeking a way to bring about larger and more fundamental changes to the power generation of the Warp system, he happens across some of the original Enterprise construction blueprints and plans. Among them he finds information from a Dr. Leah Brahms, one of the premier designers of the Enterprise's Warp system. Deciding that having access to mock-ups of the actual equipment might offer some avenues for further improvement, he uses the information to create a holodeck simulation of a drafting room at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards where the Enterprise was built; he also adds a simulation of Dr. Brahms, who he discovers is a very beautiful woman.
Geordi collaborates with the simulated Dr. Brahms and they explore several different avenues together in an attempt to escape the trap, even as the ship's power continues to erode. After running simulations, it seems at first that the best option would be to turn the operation of the ship's engines and helm over to the computer which has the ability to apply changes in power and direction at a rate of hundreds of times a second. Unfortunately, even using this technique, their chance of escape seems marginal. Geordi's loneliness and failure to establish relationships with real women complicate the situation, when he begins to develop feelings toward the simulation of Dr. Brahms, whom he respects and empathizes with as an intellectual equal and peer.
At length Geordi is forced to accept that his plan isn't meeting with success, it would seem that increasing the power and speed to fight the trap are only playing into its strengths. As the ship's energy begins to run out he decides to chance turning the whole problem around and coming at it from the other direction, instead of relying on the super-human speed of the computer he decides to try using the creativity and unpredictability of the human mind to fight the trap, shutting down all the ship's exotic Federation technology and using a single thruster, minimal life support, and the human will to survive to escape. Computer simulation shows it to be even money for this scheme to work vs. the original one.
Picard decides to gamble on the latter option, and relieves Wesley to man the helm of the Enterprise himself. He skillfully pilots the ship through the floating rubble and eventually is able to use the gravity of a large asteroid in a slingshot effect to throw the ship clear of the debris field.
Once beyond the influence of the assimilators the power levels of the Enterprise begin to rapidly return to normal. Wanting to assure that the same fate won't befall others, Picard orders the Battlecruiser and the asteroids surrounding it destroyed, which Worf does with Photon torpedos, ending the danger.
[edit] References to future episodes
- The real Leah Brahms later comes to visit the Enterprise and works with Geordi in a similar situation in "Galaxy's Child".
- In a scene in Ten Forward, Geordi asks Guinan what she looks for in a man. She confesses that she likes bald men, adding that a bald man was once kind to her in a time of need. While it is never stated directly, most likely she is referring to Captain Picard as eventually dramatized in the Season 5/Season 6 cliffhanger "Time's Arrow".
