Conspiracy (7 May 1988)

After diverting to a secret meeting with an old friend and some of Starfleet's finest commanders, Picard finds the Horatio blown to bits just hours after the meeting and he returns the Enterprise to Earth looking for answers.

Director:

Cliff Bole

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator), Tracy Tormé (teleplay),

Stars:

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Patrick Stewart	...	Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Commander William T. Riker
LeVar Burton	...	Lieutenant Geordi La Forge
Denise Crosby	...	Lieutenant Tasha Yar (credit only)
Michael Dorn	...	Lieutenant Worf
Gates McFadden	...	Doctor Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Commander Data
Wil Wheaton	...	Wesley Crusher (credit only)
Henry Darrow	...	Admiral Savar
Ward Costello	...	Admiral Gregory Quinn
Robert Schenkkan	...	Lt. Cmdr. Dexter Remmick
Ray Reinhardt	...	Admiral Aaron
Jonathan Farwell	...	Captain Walker Keel
Michael Berryman	...	Captain Rixx

Storyline

After diverting to a secret meeting with an old friend and some of Starfleet's finest commanders, Picard finds the Horatio blown to bits just hours after the meeting and he returns the Enterprise to Earth looking for answers.

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Plot Keywords:

speaking klingon | 24th century

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Release Date:

7 May 1988 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original version of this episode made no mention of alien parasites; the conspiracy in question was a military coup within Starfleet. Gene Roddenberry bitterly opposed this, saying that Starfleet would never do such a thing, and the alien angle was introduced.

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Goofs

From the time Worf puts Riker's still unconscious body down so he can fight the admiral, to when Dr. Crusher shoots the admiral and goes to help Riker, Riker's head and right hand have changed positions.

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Quotes

Captain Tryla Scott: All we ask is that you keep your eyes open.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: That's sound advice at any time, Captain.

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Connections

References Star Trek: The Next Generation: Coming of Age (1988)

User Reviews

Were the Borg originally supposed to be "Conspiracy" aliens?

I read in the TNG Compendium published back in 1992 that the Borg were originally intended to be an insectoid race much like the unseen Jarada in the episode "The Big Goodbye." Now, at the end of the episode "Conspiracy," Remmick sends a homing signal from Earth for the insects to come invade and assimilate Earth. The way the "Conspiracy" aliens were designed and their method of "assimilating" entire civilizations is in a way Borg-like. Even the "Mother Creature" housed inside Remmick is very much like the Borg Queen that was featured in the film "Star Trek: First Contact." Destroy the queen, and you destroy the collective.

Then, in the following episode "The Neutral Zone," we see that the outposts alongside both the Federation and Romulan neutral zones are destroyed. Buildings appeared to be "scooped up off the ground" according to Data, which is a similar observation he makes in "Q Who?" when the Enterprise-D is flung to another part of the galaxy.

Could it be that Remmick sent a homing signal in "Conspiracy," and these unseen invaders made their attack in "The Neutral Zone?" Originally, Season 2 was supposed to follow up on "The Neutral Zone," by revealing just who these invaders were, but the idea was scrapped due to the Writers Guild Strike of 1988. Another idea for the Season 2 opener involved Spock or Sarek using the Guardian of Forever to travel back in time to replace Surak who was accidentally killed, but that's a topic for another thread.

Anyways, do you believe that the writers and producers originally intended the Borg to be an insectoid race (until they changed their minds, and the Borg became a collective species of cybernetic organisms), and that this insectoid race very well were originally intended to be the insects featured in the episode "Conspiracy?" Now, this is my theory...

Fans keep asking whatever became of the "Conspiracy" aliens, and wished that there may have been a follow up. Perhaps, that follow up was the very next episode "The Neutral Zone," but when the producers decided to reveal these group of invaders in "Q Who?," they changed their minds and decided to make them into cyborgs rather than insects (as confirmed by the TNG Compendium). Thus, "The Neutral Zone" retroactively became a prequel to "Q Who?," rather than a direct sequel to "Conspiracy." Even the writers themselves admit that the concept of assimilation was copied from "Conspiracy" aliens onto the Borg, and because of this they no longer needed the "Conspiracy" aliens, because it would come across as being redundant since they now had the Borg.

Perhaps, this may now solve the mystery of why there has been no sequel to "Conspiracy" after all these years? The "Conspiracy" aliens became the Borg.