Episode #144: Starship Mine
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Episode #144: Starship Mine
STARSHIP MINE (6th season; episode #144)
Directed by Cliff Bole; writer:Morgan Gendel
By all rights, this episode should not be on my list of Top 20 or Top 30 TNG episodes. It offers no profound ideas and does not stimulate thought-provoking discussion. But, that was never its intent - its aim was to simply thrill, to excite. This is the Die Hard-on-a-starship episode, with Patrick Stewart/Picard in the Bruce Willis/McClain role. Since Die Hard (1988) is one of my favorite action films, I guess it's no surprise that I rate this one high. It isn't great, but there's enough suspense and thrills for me to give it a thumbs up.
In the plot, the Enterprise is emptied of its personnel as it undergoes a decontamination process, something to do with accumulated baryon particles. A greenish beam will slowly begin its sweep of the ship; this beam is deadly to living things. As this goes on, most of the senior officers are stuck in a cocktail party planetside on Arkaria Base with commander Hutchinson (David Spielberg), a very gabby Starfleet officer. Data has programmed himself for 'small talk' and begins an endless conversation with Hutchinson. Picard, however, has found out that horses exist at the base and beams back up to the Enterprise to fetch his saddle; he has about 20 minutes before the beam begins decontamination. He finds out that the decontamination team on board are actually a bunch of criminals or terrorists, planning to steal something off the ship. Watch out - it's Picard in full-out action mode!
This episode has quite a few surprisingly amusing moments, such as Picard being approached by his senior staff one-by-one in the first few minutes and when Worf evades the party and most of the socializing scenes at the party itself. But, there's more: the first criminal whom Picard encounters and fights is played by Tim Russ; Picard knocks him out with what sure looks like a variation of the Vulcan nerve pinch; Russ, of course, would later play the Vulcan Tuvok on the ST Voyager series.
Picard is then caught (of course, he isn't killed, as that would end the show) and pretends to be a barber named Mott (a real character on the ship). That Picard is not simply terminated by the crooks is a weakness of the story - it's odd to me - but there is further irony here, as it turns out. The crook played by Russ points out that Picard is Starfleet and therefore the officer will not kill; yet, Picard does cause the deaths of the criminals by the end of the episode, while he himself was puzzlingly spared by the bad guys when captured.
Meanwhile, back at the party, two of the criminals turn out to be there as well and place everyone under gunpoint, also killing Hutchinson. This was probably the one actual disturbing moment to me; Hutchinson was annoying, yes, but he was also a nice, harmless man. These scenes also display the difference in tone between TOS and TNG. I recall how intensely Kirk felt, for example, when one of his crew was killed or any death, for that matter. Back in the 23rd century, it seems, humanity was still susceptible to intense emotion, such as sympathy and grief - a defining characteristic of humans, in a way. But, in the 24th, the near-perfect Starfleet officers barely tolerate the flawed Hutchinson and, when he dies, I sensed no more emotion from them than if a fly had been swatted (OK, Troi registered shock for a moment when Hutchinson was shot but otherwise - nothing). Their attitude of stolid disinterest continues here, in my view.
The episode holds up well to the very end as a suspenseful thriller. Besides the threat of the crooks, Picard also has to be wary of the decontamination beam slowly spreading through the ship, so it's like double jeopardy. I wasn't very impressed, however, with Picard's climactic fight with the female criminal; can you imagine Kirk having this much trouble with a girl (whoops, forgot about The Cloud Minders, so never mind). BoG's Score: 7.5 out of 10
TNG Trivia: this episode has even more similarities to Die Hard (1988) than first realized; the supposed terrorists here turn out to be just thieves, just as in Die Hard.
Similar topics
» Starship (1984)
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» Starship Farragut
» Enemy Mine (1985)
» Starship Troopers (1997)
» Star Trek People in the Seventies
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