Jammer's Review
Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Conundrum"
Air date: 2/17/1992
Teleplay by Barry Schkolnick
Story by Paul Schiffer
Directed by Les Landau
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
Where "The Masterpiece Society" was the sort of talky story that I think is fairly specific to Star Trek (albeit not a good one), "Conundrum" is more general popular sci-fi fare (though it's definitely a subgenre of Trek as well). The premise, let's face it, is completely implausible. The entire crew of the ship has their memories blocked, and all evidence of who they are and why they're on the ship has been erased from the computer. Meanwhile, a mysterious new crew member, Commander MacDuff (Erich Anderson), has been suddenly inserted into the crew with the agenda of waging war against his bitter enemies. Via falsified information, he manipulates the Enterprise crew into pursuing this agenda.
That MacDuff is capable of such an elaborate ruse (including selective memory erasure, and wiping clean all related records from the Enterprise computer) and yet still needs the Enterprise and its crew as a weapon against his enemies is pretty hard to swallow. But sometimes TNG must be viewed as a laboratory/playground for strange and logically dubious things, and "Conundrum" is entertaining enough for me to forgive its unlikelihood. As a mystery, it finds its fun in the what and the why, even though the who is provided to us from the very first scene. It's more about the crew, rather than us, figuring things out.
"Conundrum" is also in the long-standing tradition of Trek stories that allow the characters to step outside themselves and essentially become someone else (in this case, blank slates that retain their original personalities, which become magnified by the situation). This is good for some low-key humor, particularly Worf's presumption that he may be in command of the ship. He sits in the captain's chair and tests the phasers (firing them into the void of space like a kid with a new toy), and then takes over Picard's ready room. Picard takes this all in stride, which is also funny to watch; always so unflappable and understanding, this man.
Meanwhile, Ro aggressively puts the moves on Riker, who voices no objections. Riker is also receptive when Troi reveals that she has discovered they had a romantic past. Riker gamely plays the part of a cheerfully likable womanizer (who gets his comeuppance in an amusingly played final scene). Hey, it's not his fault he's so awesome!
The plot resolves itself because the crew, despite having their identities erased, pretty much act as level-headed as they always would, asking themselves questions rather than launching mindlessly into action. Also, MacDuff does a pretty good job of stupidly blowing his cover. For a guy able to pull off such a deception, he sure hasn't done his homework about what makes these people tick. Hey, this isn't a great episode of TNG, but it's a fun one.
Previous episode: The Masterpiece Society
Next episode: Power Play
Season Index
18 comments on this review
Seems like that would have made his mission a lot easier.
I hadn't seen an episode of Trek since Best of Both Worlds part 2 (Possibly it was Family, I am not sure).
Then a few years later I saw this episode, knowing it was season 5 and therefore stuff might have changed. So to me, McDuff was (at first) plausible. Hell, Tasha died and Worf took her job, so why not?
Alas, they screwed it up all too soon when the camera focused on McDuff's face when another character left the room. A clear 1980's/1990's sign that he was the bad guy. (A technique this isn't used as much these days, but still rears its ugly head from time to time).
But, yes, why didn't he just make himself captain?
The only reason I can guess is that he new the morality of the crew would force them to go against him as captain, whereas as the XO he can manipulate those around him with more ease.
Perhaps I am just digging too deeply, something I accuse other of when it comes to Trek.
Why did I like that episode? - Because it was fun!
But if the bad guy was able to do ALL THAT then why did he need the Enterprise? - but, Riker slept with Ro & Troi! Then they caught him!
Yeah, but MacDuff should have been placed in command so he could just get the job done. - true, but did you see Worf in the captain's chair?
With all that power couldn't MacDuff just kill everyone on the ship by causing brain hemorrhages rather than erasing their memories? Then just take the ship and fight off his obviously inferior enemy! - but Worf was in command! Riker was an awesome manwhore! The Enterprise fired phasers from its phaser banks again and not the photon launcher! Fun!
Second viewing, saw through many of the plot holes and was a little jaded. I think it is still good fun, if totally ridiculous. Why does all TV (especially Sci Fi) need to stand up to reason though, it's supposed to be escapism.
Elliot,
By that logic, what about DS9's "Dramatis Personae"? Everyone slipped back into their old selves after that episode despite the fact that they came within inches of killing each other.
DS9 was also initially supposed to be about Bajor entering the Federation. It was only when the ratings weren't as high as Paramount thought they should be that Ira & co. introduced the Dominion, which were really the Borg with the fries supersized.
TNG had no more missed opportunities than the other series.
I don't disagree with you; my point was that many of the plots in VOY which people casually dismiss as "recycled" make use of those missed opportunities from TNG especially. I think the Dominion were a good invention. For a few seasons, they managed to be interesting, complex and compelling. In the end, they turned into 2D badguys, but that doesn't make their initial nature unworthy.
I didn't mean to imply TNG had more missed opportunities than the other series at all, just that this one had a lot of fertile soil which it didn't make use of (incidentally, "Dramatis Personæ" was a complete failure of an episode).
That said, I saw this episode probably when it first aired in 1992 (when I was 9) or shortly thereafter. I too saw it early in my Trek-watching, so I also did not actually know that MacDuff was not a normal crew member. I have always wondered what my reaction would have been had I known he should not have been there.
But that said, I can’t get over the complete ridiculous premise of the episode. They erased the memories of EVERYONE onboard (of all species) INCLUDING Data?! AND they reprogrammed the computer to include MacDuff and a war with a whole other species? I wonder if they included enough to fool even Data had he done any research (including mission logs of any “battles” with this false enemy, archived communications with Starfleet about the war, etc.)
Considering in Clues the mere presence of Data screwed everything up for the memory-wipers in that episode, I find it so hard to believe that these people would need any help from the Federation.
Keep in mind that ONE photon torpedo would destroy the enemy base; which was guarded by a handful of completely overmatched ships. Why wouldn’t MacDuff’s people just brainwipe their enemy?! Then just destroy the ship while everyone is trying to figure out who the heck they are. A species with this kind of power would, I believe, be a much bigger factor in the universe than they seem to be (along the same lines as the aliens from The Game who could seemingly brainwash anyone they wanted to).
I can only give this one two stars on the high side.
Submit a comment