“Second Chances”
Written by Michael Medlock and Rene Echevarria
Directed by LeVar Burton
Season 6, Episode 24
Production episode 40276-250
Original air date: May 24, 1993
Stardate: 46915.2

Captain’s Log: The Enterprise is in orbit of Nervala IV, which is surrounded by a distortion field that inhibits transport, communications, sensors, and just about everything else. Every eight years, three transport windows open up. Some data was left behind eight years ago, and the Enterprise is going to retrieve it. One of the people on the last mission to Nervala was Lieutenant William Riker of the U.S.S. Potemkin.

Commander Riker is leading a jazz quartet for a concert in Ten-Forward. When he asks for requests, Troi asks for “Nightbird,” a song Riker has been trying to master the solo of for ten years. Reluctantly, Riker goes ahead and starts the song, but he is interrupted by Data—the window has opened up sooner than expected. Riker beams down along with Data, Worf, and an engineer. To Riker’s surprise, the place looks different, even though nobody could have been here. Worf theorizes that a ship may have gotten caught in the distortion field and crashed.

[Imzadi!]

“Rightful Heir”
Written by James E. Brooks and Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Winrich Kolbe
Season 6, Episode 23
Production episode 40276-249
Original air date: May 17, 1993
Stardate: 46852.2

Captain’s Log: Worf, who is only not the most punctual person on the ship by virtue of Data being on board, is late for alpha shift. Riker calls Worf, but he doesn’t answer, though the computer registers him as being in his quarters. Heading there with a security team, Riker finds Worf’s quarters steamy, filled with candles, a large brazier filled with scalding rocks heating the room. Worf is very obviously in a trance, and possibly high as a kite.

Later, Picard goes to Worf’s quarters, pissed. His personal issues have interfered with his duty to the Enterprise, and Picard justifiably wants to know why. Worf tries the “It is difficult to explain” excuse, which doesn’t fly, and Worf finally admits that he’s felt empty since returning from the Carraya system. He tells Picard that the children he rescued knew nothing of their heritage (true, as far as it goes) and so he taught them, including telling them stories about Kahless and how he promised to return some day. He wants to recapture the wonder the children felt when Worf told the stories of Sto-Vo-Kor, where Kahless awaits the honored dead, so he tried to summon a vision of Kahless.

[“I see Kahless!”]

“Suspicions”
Written by Joe Menosky and Naren Shankar
Directed by Cliff Bole
Season 6, Episode 22
Production episode 40276-248
Original air date: May 10, 1993
Stardate: 46830.1

Captain’s Log: Crusher enters her quarters, looking cranky and apprehensive. As she’s removing her boots, the doorchime rings. It’s Guinan, claiming she has tennis elbow after La Forge beat her in straight sets. Crusher tells her to go to sickbay and see Dr. Selar, because Crusher isn’t a doctor on this ship anymore. She’s been relieved of duty and has to head back to Earth for a formal hearing. Guinan asks her what happened, and then it’s flashback time!

[That’s tennis elbow...]

“Frame of Mind”
Written by Brannon Braga
Directed by James L. Conway
Season 6, Episode 21
Production episode 40276-247
Original air date: May 3, 1993
Stardate: 46778.1

Captain’s log: We open on an extreme closeup of a very messed-up-looking Riker, who is acting in one of Crusher’s plays, called Frame of Mind, alongside Data. It’s a pretty intense back-and-forth, with Data perfectly cast as the even-toned doctor who quite reasonably suggests that he’s still a dangerous psychopath, and Riker just on the edge of going completely binky-bonkers. At one point, Riker loses his way in a speech, and he breaks into a smile. Crusher says it’s okay and calls it a night, as things are going well. Riker heads back to his quarters, going over the speech, and getting strange looks from the people he passes in the corridor. En route, he bumps into a science officer he doesn’t recognize.

The next morning, he meets with Picard. The Enterprise is heading to Tilonus IV, where the prime minister has been assassinated and numerous factions are vying for power. Riker’s mission is to locate and rescue the Federation research team that’s on the planet. He’ll have to go undercover and alone, and he’ll also have to back out of being in Frame of Mind—but Picard assures him that they won’t arrive at Tilonus for five days, so he can still be in the play. Besides, Picard says gravely, if he backs out, Crusher will nab Picard for the part, and the captain makes it abundantly clear that that ain’t happenin’...

[You’re starting to sound angry again.]

“The Chase”
Written by Ronald D. Moore & Joe Menosky
Directed by Jonathan Frakes
Season 6, Episode 20
Production episode 40276-246
Original air date: April 26, 1993
Stardate: 46731.5

Captain’s Log: The Enterprise is in the midst of a three-week exploration of a stellar nursery. Riker summons Picard to the observation lounge—and the captain finds the room darkened, save for one light on an artifact on the table. The lights go up, and Picard is reunited with Professor Richard Galen, the person who got him interested in archaeology back at Starfleet Academy. The artifact is a Kurlan naiskos, which Picard initially identifies as fifth dynasty, but Galen goes into full professorial mode. “Is that your conclusion, Mr. Picard?” (And it’s a testament to how highly Picard thinks of Galen that he allows him to use the honorific of “mister” rather than “captain.”) After some study, Picard realizes that it’s third dynasty and a piece by the mysterious Master of Tarquin Hill, an artist never identified by name, known only through the work. The naiskos is 12,000 years old.

Riker points out that Kurl is very far from Federation territory, and Picard adds that he thought Galen’s Kurlan research was complete, but he was apparently in the neighborhood.

[Dream not of today.]

Administrative note: There will be no TNG Rewatch on Friday the 23rd of November due to the Thanksgiving holiday. We’ll be back on Tuesday the 27th with “The Chase.”

“Lessons”
Written by Ron Wilkerson & Jean Louise Matthias
Directed by Robert Wiemer
Season 6, Episode 19
Production episode 40276-245
Original air date: April 5, 1993
Stardate: 46693.1

Captain’s Log: Picard, apparently suffering insomnia, shows up on the bridge during the overnight shift. He asks Data to put a call through to an archeology professor, but stellar cartography has requested a communications blackout in order to run an experiment. He soon learns that that department has also taken the library computer and food replicators offline, so Picard can’t look up stuff regarding that archeological dig, nor even get a cuppa tea.

[It doesn't matter as long as you enjoy it.]

“Starship Mine”
Written by Morgan Gendel
Directed by Cliff Bole
Season 6, Episode 18
Production episode 40276-244
Original air date: March 29, 1993
Stardate: 46682.4

Captain’s Log. The Enterprise has arrived at the Remmler Array for a maintenance procedure known as a baryon sweep—it basically wipes away all the space gunk that’s accumulated over five years. Because the sweep is fatal to all organic matter, we open with the ship in a massive flurry of activity as folks prepare to evacuate. After Picard puts out some organizational fires—stasis units for Crusher, opening a transporter for Troi to aid in evac, etc.—he shares a turbolift with Data, who fills the silence with non-relevant conversation. Apparently, he has created a new small-talk subroutine, though Picard feels his current attempts are a little too non-relevant. He suggests that Data talk to Commander Hutchinson on Arkaria Base, who is a master of small talk.

On the bridge, Picard puts out a couple more fires with La Forge and Worf. The latter asks to be excused from Hutchinson’s reception that afternoon, and Picard allows it, wishing he could be similarly excused. La Forge then rushes to ask for the same thing, but Picard refuses, saying he can’t let his entire senior staff off the hook, and Worf beat him to it. Worf actually smiles in triumph.

[I have to admit that it has a sort of strange fascination...]

“Birthright, Part II”
Written by Rene Echevarria
Directed by Dan Curry
Season 6, Episode 17
Production episode 40276-243
Original air date: February 29, 1993
Stardate: 46579.2

Captain’s log: We get a summary of the Worf-focused events of Part 1, then pick up with the Romulan guards aiming their disruptors at Worf. Gi’ral and L’Kor tell him what happened to them after Khitomer: they were rendered unconscious during the Romulan attack, and awoke shackled and unarmed, and therefore unable to die—they couldn’t even starve themselves. They were interrogated for months, and the Klingon High Council refused to acknowledge they were even alive. Not willing to return home to disgrace their families, they chose to let the galaxy believe them dead. A Romulan officer named Tokath took pity on them and brought them to this camp on Carraya.

L’Kor wonders why Worf came—if he had found his father here, there would only be dishonor awaiting him. But Worf wouldn’t have room in his heart for shame if he found his father alive. L’Kor counters by saying that if his son found his way to Carraya, he’d hope that he’d be Klingon enough to kill him.

[If you kill him, you will have to kill me.]

“Birthright, Part I”
Written by Brannon Braga
Directed by Winrich Kolbe
Season 6, Episode 15
Production episode 40276-242
Original air date: February 22, 1993
Stardate: 46578.4

Captain’s Log: The Enterprise has docked at Station Deep Space 9 to assist in the rebuilding of an aqueduct on Bajor. While Picard and Crusher head to ops, Worf and La Forge have lunch at the replimat: pasta al fiorello, one of La Forge’s favorites. However, while La Forge pushes his plate away, threatening to talk to O’Brien about the replicators and saying it tastes like liquid polymer, Worf loves it and continues to chow down as La Forge looks for more edible pastures. A Yridian named Jaglom Shrek approaches Worf once he’s alone, identifying him as the son of Mogh. Shrek claims that Mogh did not die at Khitomer, but is still alive, along with several other Klingons who were captured and brought to a prison camp. Worf refuses to believe this—a Klingon would rather die than be taken prisoner—and storms off.

On the Enterprise, Data detects a power drain that originates from sickbay. He investigates to find Dr. Julian Bashir, DS9’s chief medical officer, fiddling with a medical scanner (at least, Bashir thinks that’s what it might be) that was found in the Gamma Quadrant. Bashir geeks out over getting to meet Data, who suggests examining the device in engineering.

[Sweet dreams!]

“Tapestry”
Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Les Landau
Season 6, Episode 14
Production episode 40276-241
Original air date: February 15, 1993
Stardate: unknown

Captain’s Log: An away team that includes Picard, Riker, Worf, and three security guards beams directly to sickbay. Riker says they were ambushed—Picard’s been shot in the chest, and his artificial heart has failed. As Crusher works we fade out to Picard in an all-white region, greeted by a figure in white robes: it’s Q, who declares, “Welcome to the afterlife, Jean-Luc. You’re dead.”

Picard is skeptical that he’s really deceased, since he refuses to believe that the afterlife is run by Q—“the universe is not so badly designed!” So Q produces an image of Picard’s father, Maurice, admonishing him for attending the Academy and saying that after all these years, Picard is still a disappointment. Q then provides Picard with the voices of people who died through Picard’s actions—or inactions—and gives Picard the chance to say something to them, which Picard refuses.

[Spare me your egotistical musings on your pivotal role in history!]

“Face of the Enemy”
Written by Rene Echevarria and Naren Shankar
Directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
Season 6, Episode 13
Production episode 40276-240
Original air date: February 8, 1993
Stardate: 46519.1

Captain’s Log: A woman on a Romulan ship, and wearing a Romulan uniform, wakes up and appears to be hung over. The computer won’t turn the lights on, and she clambers to her feet and manages to find a light switch near a mirror. When the lights to go on she and we are shocked to see that it’s Troi, who has been surgically altered to look like a Romulan.

Sub-commander N’Vek enters and explains the situation in as brusque a manner as possible—necessary due to lack of time. They’re on a warbird, the Khazara, and Troi must tell the ship’s CO, Commander Toreth, that she is Major Rakal of the Tal Shiar (the Romulan intelligence service) and as Rakal, Troi must order Toreth to set course for the Kaleb Sector, but not tell Toreth why.

[I have been kidnapped, surgically altered, put in danger!]

“Aquiel”
Written by Jeri Taylor and Brannon Braga & Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Cliff Bole
Season 6, Episode 12
Production episode 40276-239
Original air date: February 1, 1993
Stardate: 46461.3

Captain’s Log: The Enterprise goes to a communications relay station near the Klingon border for a supply run (really? the flagship of the Federation, a ship of the line with a thousand people on board that’s supposed to be seeking out new life and new civilizations, is doing a supply run for a two-person relay station?) but the station’s gone quiet. Riker leads a team over that includes La Forge, Worf, and Crusher. They find nobody on board, the audio relays left on, the shuttles all gone, cellular residue that might be the remains of one of the crew—and a dog.

There are two lieutenants assigned to the station: Aquiel Uhnari and Keith Rocha. The remains are probably one of them—likely Uhnari, since the blood they’ve found on the decks is hers—and the other took the shuttle. Someone tried to access the subspace logs, which triggered a security lockout. Riker, Worf, and Crusher beam back to the Enterprise, while La Forge tries to access the station logs. He reads Uhnari’s logs and correspondences—she finds Rocha to be arrogant and annoying, she’s sad about missing a festival back home where she usually sings, and she was abused by her father.

[Hey, pooch!]

“Ship in a Bottle”
Written by Rene Echevarria
Directed by Alexander Singer
Season 6, Episode 11
Production episode 40276-238
Original air date: January 26, 1993
Stardate: 46424.1

Captain’s Log: Data and La Forge are playing Sherlock Holmes on the holodeck, but one of the characters who is supposed to be left-handed is right-handed. La Forge calls Barclay to the holodeck to fix it. While doing so, Barclay comes across files in protected memory, and runs that program, thus meeting Moriarty. The professor explains the events of “Elementary, Dear Data” to Barclay, who is rather stunned by what he says—and even more so by Moriarty’s revelation that he was aware of the passage of time over the four years he was stored away.

Moriarty demands to speak to Picard, and Barclay agrees to ask, putting Moriarty back in storage. But after Barclay leaves, Moriarty is able to reintegrate himself onto the holodeck.

[Cogito ergo sum.]

“Chain of Command, Part II”
Written by Frank Abatemarco
Directed by Les Landau
Season 6, Episode 11
Production episode 40276-237
Original air date: December 21, 1992
Stardate: 46357.4

Captain’s Log: We get a summary of the high points of Part 1, and then show the beginning of Picard’s interrogation, where he has been injected with the Cardassian equivalent of sodium pentothal. He reveals his name, mother’s name, place of birth, and current assignment, but says, “I don’t know” when asked what Starfleet’s plans for Minos Korva are, at which point Gul Madred ups the dosage.

On the Enterprise, the negotiations, which are already going poorly, go much worse when Gul Lemec reveals that they have captured Picard. (He also accuses Picard, Worf, and Crusher of killing 55 Cardassian men, women, and children, which is patently false, but not at all surprising.) Lemec assures Jellico that the Cardassians will respond to this attack on their soil, and leaves. Jellico is forced to reveal Picard’s mission to Riker and Troi, and he sends Riker to the rendezvous point in the hopes of finding the trio there and exposing Lemec’s words for a lie.

[How many lights do you see?]

“Chain of Command, Part I”
Written by Frank Abatemarco and Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Robert Scheerer
Season 6, Episode 10
Production episode 40276-236
Original air date: December 14, 1992
Stardate: 46357.4

Captain’s Log: The Enterprise rendezvouses with the U.S.S. Cairo near the Cardassian border to meet with Vice Admiral Alynna Nechayev, who relieves Picard of command of the Enterprise. She then meets with Riker, Data, and Troi, explaining that the forces the Cardassians had been using to hold the Bajoran system have been moved toward the Federation border, and that they’re making incursions on disputed planets on that border. She explains that not only Picard, but Worf and Crusher have been reassigned, and that Captain Edward Jellico, CO of the Cairo, will be taking command of the ship for a negotiation with the Cardassians – Jellico has considerable experience with the Cardassians.

Riker is a little cranky about all this – three of the senior staff reassigned, Nechayev playing word games regarding “war” versus “incursion” which sounds dangerously like doublespeak, and then someone else being given command instead of him—and meets Jellico in the transporter room. Jellico has his own style—he knows Riker’s service record already, and asks how he prefers to be referred to, “William” or “Will” (what, no “Bill”?), and also asks for a change to a four-shift watch.

[“Captain on the bridge!”]

“The Quality of Life”
Written by Naren Shankar
Directed by Jonathan Frakes
Season 6, Episode 9
Production episode 40276-235
Original air date: November 16, 1992
Stardate: 46307.2

Captain’s Log: Riker, Worf, La Forge, and Crusher are playing poker. La Forge is still growing his beard, which means Crusher is playing with three men with facial hair – something she feels is an affectation. So she raises the stakes. If she wins, all three of them have to shave their beards; she agrees to become a brunette if one of them wins. La Forge and Riker eagerly take the bet, Worf not so much, but then Picard calls senior staff to the bridge.

The Enterprise has arrived at Tyrus VIIa to evaluate a particle fountain that uses radical new technology for mining. La Forge beams to the space station where the project is being developed. They’re behind schedule, and while La Forge is there, there’s a power grid failure. However, the project leader, Dr. Farallon, uses an experimental new device she calls an exocomp to fix it.

[It was the most human decision you’ve ever made.]

“A Fistful of Datas”
Written by Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Brannon Braga
Directed by Patrick Stewart
Season 6, Episode 8
Production episode 40276-234
Original air date: November 9, 1992
Stardate: 46271.5

Captain’s Log: The Enterprise has some down time due to their rendezvous with a supply ship being delayed by two days. La Forge and Data interrupt Picard playing a Mozart piece on his Ressikan flute with a proposal to see if they can hook Data up to the engineering computer, and use him as a backup in case of a catastrophic failure. (One wonders if this was inspired by Riker using Data’s head as the engineering computer in “Disaster.”) Picard approves the plan then throws the two of them out.

He’s interrupted again, first by Crusher trying to get Picard to play a role in her new play, “Something for Breakfast,” then by Worf, who insists on using the extra time to create more work for himself. Picard all but orders Worf to go have fun.

[Saddle up, father!]

“Rascals”
Written by Ward Botsford & Diana Dru Botsford and Michael Piller and Allison Hock
Directed by Adam Nimoy
Season 6, Episode 7
Production episode 40276-233
Original air date: October 26, 1992
Stardate: 46235.7

Captain’s Log: Picard, Ro, Keiko, and Guinan are on a shuttlecraft, returning from Marlonia. Picard is geeking out over some archeological thing or other, while Ro recognizes the plants Keiko is bringing back (to everyone’s surprise). The shuttle then hits an energy field that’s about to destroy it. O’Brien barely manages to get a pattern lock, and he beams them over – concerned that there’s a 40% drop in mass, so he may have lost one of them.

Then it turns out that nobody was lost – but all four occupants of the shuttle are now twelve-year-old kids. (Also, their clothes shrunk with them for reasons never adequately explained by the script. Then again, neither does it explain much of anything else, as we’ll see.) Crusher and Troi both examine the four of them, and their minds are the same as ever, but their bodies have been changed to pre-adolescence.

[“I want to see my father, I want to see him now! Now! Now, now, now, now, now, now, now, NOW!”]

“True Q”
Written by Rene Echevarria
Directed by Robert Scheerer
Season 6, Episode 6
Production episode 40276-232
Original air date: October 26, 1992
Stardate: 46192.3

Captain’s Log: The Enterprise has taken on an intern named Amanda Rogers, along with supplies to aid in an ecological crisis on Tagra IV. Riker escorts her to her quarters, where she comments that she misses her dogs. After Riker leaves, several (incredibly adorable) dogs appear, and Amanda panics, and manages to make them disappear.

Crusher puts Amanda to work testing medical tricorders to make sure they work before being used on Tagra. They chat about stuff. Amanda’s been accepted into Starfleet Academy, and Crusher mentions that she has a son there, which leads to Crusher talking about her late husband, and Amanda saying that her birth parents died when she was a baby, and her adoptive parents are marine biologists in Starfleet.

[Spontaneous combustion of someone you don’t like.]

“Schisms”
Written by Jean Louise Matthias & Ron Wilkerson and Brannon Braga
Directed by Robert Wiemer
Season 6, Episode 5
Production episode 40276-231
Original air date: October 19, 1992
Stardate: 46154.2

Captain’s Log: Riker is having trouble sleeping. He eventually stumbles his way to engineering to get a report from Data and La Forge. The Enterprise is charting the Amargosa Diaspora, a massive globular cluster, and La Forge may have found a way to cut down on the time it would take to scan the place.

Data holds a poetry reading. It goes about as well as you’d expect, to an audience that is torn between running screaming from the room and stabbing themselves in the eyes with hot pokers, and only do neither out of respect for Data - respect that is dwindling with each monotone-delivered stanza. Riker in particular can barely keep his eyes open.

Riker finally visits sickbay. He’s been sleeping a full night, but he wakes up exhausted and irritable. Crusher finds nothing wrong with him, so she prescribes a hot toddy (another of Picard’s aunt Adele’s remedies). Also at one point, Riker snaps at Crusher when she holds her Feinberger near Riker’s forehead.

[I began to expound on tidal effects / When you asked me to stop, looking somewhat perplexed.]