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Booby Trap (TNG episode)
Encyclopedia
"Booby Trap" is the 54th episode of the science fiction
television series Star Trek: The Next Generation
.
USS Enterprise
discovers a derelict centuries-old alien battlecruiser and becomes trapped with it.
directs the ship to investigate. They find the battlecruiser adrift but intact, and Picard, anxious to see the ship for himself, joins the away team as they transport over. They find all the crew long dead at their posts, while a recording by their captain suggests the ship was caught in a Menthar trap. With their investigation complete, the away team returns to the Enterprise to continue on, when the Federation ship begins to suffer a series of power losses that prevent the use of either Impulse
or Warp drive
, and is bombarded by radiation against which their shields cannot provide protection. Picard orders La Forge to find a way to restore power while a second away team searches for more clues on the Promellian vessel. They discover that the Menthars had previously used aceton assimilators to absorb an enemy's ship's energy and redirect it back as hazardous radiation, and that the Enterprise is stuck in the same trap.
La Forge realizes that the only way to restore power is to reconfigure the warp drive and traces its design back to the Enterprises construction and blueprints created by Dr. Leah Brahms. La Forge uses the ship's holodeck
to create a simulation of Dr. Brahms to help him figure through the engine reconfiguration. As he does so, he encourages the computer to inject personality into the simulation and slowly gains romantic feelings for Dr. Brahms. Despite the simulation's help, La Forge is unable to find a way to safely maneuver the Enterprise away, and when Picard orders all extraneous power systems, including the holodeck, shut down to conserve power, La Forge convinces him to allow the holodeck to continue to run. After power is restored to the holodeck, La Forge and the simulated Dr. Brahms recognize an alternate solution to the problem which is to completely reduce the power output from the Enterprise and maneuver it out of the field by manual control with a single thruster. Picard takes the helm himself to skillfully carry out the operation, successfully moving the Enterprise from the trap. Once free and with power restored, the Enterprise fires photon torpedoes to destroy the Promellian craft and the asteroids around it to prevent others from falling into the trap.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
.
Overview
In this episode, the Federation StarshipStarship
A starship or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for traveling between the stars, as opposed to a vehicle designed for orbital spaceflight or interplanetary travel....
USS Enterprise
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
The USS Enterprise is a 24th century starship in the Star Trek fictional universe and the principal setting of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series...
discovers a derelict centuries-old alien battlecruiser and becomes trapped with it.
Plot
The Enterprise, investigating the asteroid-laden sector of space of the final battle between the Menthars and the Promellians, receives a distress call from a Promellian battlecruiser, and Captain PicardJean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a Star Trek character portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
directs the ship to investigate. They find the battlecruiser adrift but intact, and Picard, anxious to see the ship for himself, joins the away team as they transport over. They find all the crew long dead at their posts, while a recording by their captain suggests the ship was caught in a Menthar trap. With their investigation complete, the away team returns to the Enterprise to continue on, when the Federation ship begins to suffer a series of power losses that prevent the use of either Impulse
Impulse drive
In the fictional Star Trek universe, the impulse drive is the method of propulsion that starships and other spacecraft use when they are travelling below the speed of light. Typically powered by deuterium fusion reactors, impulse engines let ships travel interplanetary distances readily...
or Warp drive
Warp drive (Star Trek)
Warp drive is a faster-than-light propulsion system in the setting of many science fiction works, most notably Star Trek. A spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at velocities greater than that of light by many orders of magnitude, while circumventing the relativistic problem of time...
, and is bombarded by radiation against which their shields cannot provide protection. Picard orders La Forge to find a way to restore power while a second away team searches for more clues on the Promellian vessel. They discover that the Menthars had previously used aceton assimilators to absorb an enemy's ship's energy and redirect it back as hazardous radiation, and that the Enterprise is stuck in the same trap.
La Forge realizes that the only way to restore power is to reconfigure the warp drive and traces its design back to the Enterprises construction and blueprints created by Dr. Leah Brahms. La Forge uses the ship's holodeck
Holodeck
A holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...
to create a simulation of Dr. Brahms to help him figure through the engine reconfiguration. As he does so, he encourages the computer to inject personality into the simulation and slowly gains romantic feelings for Dr. Brahms. Despite the simulation's help, La Forge is unable to find a way to safely maneuver the Enterprise away, and when Picard orders all extraneous power systems, including the holodeck, shut down to conserve power, La Forge convinces him to allow the holodeck to continue to run. After power is restored to the holodeck, La Forge and the simulated Dr. Brahms recognize an alternate solution to the problem which is to completely reduce the power output from the Enterprise and maneuver it out of the field by manual control with a single thruster. Picard takes the helm himself to skillfully carry out the operation, successfully moving the Enterprise from the trap. Once free and with power restored, the Enterprise fires photon torpedoes to destroy the Promellian craft and the asteroids around it to prevent others from falling into the trap.
See also
- Galaxy's Child where the real Leah Brahms comes aboard the Enterprise.