The Ensigns of Command (Episode)
Series | Star Trek: The Next Generation |
Season | 3 |
Episode | 2 |
Production Number | 149 |
Release Date | 2 Oct 1989 |
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Stardate 43133.3: A forgotten colony is targeted by an alien race
The reculsive Sheliak Corporate breaks its 111-year silence with the Federation to demand that Tau Cygna V, ceded to it by treaty, be cleared of a Human settlement within three days. The colony, forgotten by the Federation, was established 90 years earlier. The colonists have since tamed the desert and number more than 15 thousand people. News of the colony is doubly surprising, since the settlers had to adapt their physiology to the hyperonic radiation that bathes the planet. Because of that danger, Data is sent to announce the evacuation, but he faces opposition from the colony's leader, Gosheven, who dismisses the Sheliak threat, despite his people's growing concerns. Picard and Troi request a delay from the Sheliak, but they are as stubborn as the colonists.
Data gets nowhere in his mission, despite the help of a woman, Ard'rian, until he demonstrates the danger to the settlers by launching a frightening, if restrained, show of force. Picard congratulates Data on the creativity of his effort after achieving a victory of his own: using the Sheliak's own treaty to get the evacuation delayed.
Director
Cliff Bole
Writer
Melinda M. Snodgrass
Starring
Patrick Stewart … Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes … Commander Will Riker
Brent Spiner … Lieutenant Commander Data
Gates McFadden … Dr. Crusher, Beverly
Marina Sirtis … Counselor Deanna Troi
LeVar Burton … Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn … Lieutenant Worf
Wil Wheaton … Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher
Guest Starring
Elleen Seeley … Ard'rian McKenzie
Mark L. Taylor … Haritath
Richard Allen … Kentor
Colm Meaney … O'Brien
Grainger Hines … Gosheven
Mart McChesney … Sheliak