Hey, we’re back with another Retro ReView! This time it’s “The Battle”, which is Season 1, Episode 9 for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Let’s start with this right off the bat: this is a much better episode than “Justice”. There’s a lot less Wesley Crusher, although Wonder Boy does have to help the plot along. This also marks the first episode where Wesley wears the weird rainbow uniform (which I guess denotes that he’s an Acting Ensign without a specific department) that he’ll sport for the rest of the season. This episode also marks the second appearance of the Ferengi, as the writers continue their ultimately fruitless attempts to make the short, greedy merchant race into the new Big Bads of ST:TNG.
Yes, even worse than the Skants.
The episode opens strong, with the Ferengi gifting Picard’s old ship, The Stargazer back to the Federation. Now the Ferengi don’t do anything out of the goodness of their hearts, so we’re meant to be suspicious from the get-go. The Enterprise crew knows it’s a trap, we the audience know it’s a trap, but what kind of trap is it, and who is it meant for? That’s the real question.
Granted it’s Picard’s first command, so the who is fairly obvious. To us as the audience, anyway. Regardless, we get the explanation of the Picard Maneuver, wherein a younger Captain Picard utilized a micro-warp jump to make Stargazer appear to be in two places at once, thereby confusing his Ferengi opponent and buying enough time to deliver a crippling blow to the enemy vessel.
The Constellation-class ships are an interesting design. The whole four nacelle over/under thing with the saucer section in the middle makes for a nice look, at least in my opinion. It’s more balanced than the typical twin nacelle boom and saucer style that we see on most Federation ships.
The clue to the trap, as it turns out, lies in the headaches that have been plaguing Picard since the start of the episode. The Ferengi captain, having chosen vengeance over profit, is using a mind control device. The “gift” of Stargazer is an incredibly elaborate ruse to get Picard back on the bridge of his old ship, make him appear to be a liar in his claims about how the battle with the Ferengi vessel actually happened, via some doctored logs, and then force Enterprise to destroy both him and Stargazer.
Something, something revenge being a dish best served cold and all that. Naturally Wonder Boy realizes that the Ferengi are messing with Picard’s brain, which leads into one of the more amusing First Season exchanges, as Riker tries the First Officer to First Officer approach with his Ferengi counterpart. Which apparently is good enough. That, and the fact that there’s no profit in revenge. Also, despite using neural whips as weapons, the Ferengi draw the moral line at mind controlling their enemies. I guess it’s difficult to claim that the other party wasn’t coerced if it can be proven that mind control is involved.
Overall, this is a pretty decent first season episode. We get some more character building background on Picard, we see Riker taking greater initiative, and we see the first new Starfleet ship to enter canon since the Excelsior in Star Trek III!