The Drumhead (27 Apr. 1991)

A retired admiral boards the Enterprise in an effort to determine the actions aboard the ship surrounding an act of sabotage and possible treason.

Director:

Jonathan Frakes

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator), Jeri Taylor

Stars:

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Patrick Stewart	...	Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Commander William T. Riker
LeVar Burton	...	Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn	...	Lieutenant Worf
Gates McFadden	...	Doctor Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Commander Data
Bruce French	...	Sabin Genestra
Spencer Garrett	...	Simon Tarses
Henry Woronicz	...	J'Ddan
Earl Billings	...	Admiral Thomas Henry
Jean Simmons	...	Admiral Nora Satie
Ann Shea	...	Nellen Tore

Storyline

A Klingon traitor is arrested: engineer Lieutenant J'Ddan, who passed secrets to the Romulans via fluid in a medical syringe, sabotage is feared. Retired female Federation Admiral Satie and her former assistants arrive to take charge of the investigation, with security chief Worf. Meanwhile Data and LaForge look into the sabotage risk. J'Ddan's denial of sabotaging the vital dilithium chamber is credible, which implies another traitor aboard, so the crew is grilled, starting with medic Simon Tarses who gave J'Ddan his injections. After a paranormal counsel believes Tarses a liar, he's tricked by lies into acting guilty, even though the 'sabotage' was in fact found to be an accidental failure, and confesses he lied about his ancestry to hide a Romulan grandfather. Picard objects against the unethical procedure, Satie calls upon Starfleet chief of security Admiral Henry to look for an even wider conspiracy, starting with Picard himself, based on his long-term record, and Worf, based on ...

---

Plot Keywords:

24th century

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

---

Details

Release Date:

27 April 1991 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael Dorn said that Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Offspring and Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Drumhead were his two favorite episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

---

Quotes

Admiral Satie: I will expose you for what you are. I've brought down bigger men than you, Picard!

---

Connections

References Star Trek: The Next Generation: Conspiracy (1988)

User Reviews

"...spreading fear in the name of righteousness..."

Sounds familiar? Like many TNG-episodes, this one isn't driving its point home very subtly, but does a good job at it nevertheless. One of the main factors has got to be Patrick Stewart's magnificent acting, especially in his interrogation scene. This guy is in a class of his own.

Yes, the whole way the villain collapses in a fit of rage in the end and lets her real ideas and purposes be seen clearly is not very realistic and obviously designed to bring the plot to an end in the last 5 minutes of the episode. Like so many other TNG episodes, the writers seemed to want to squeeze too much into the 45-minute time-slot and then they'd have to rush the ending.

What surprised me most were countless lines of dialog that have a very eerie quality with regards to our current political climate and especially the shift in politics in the US since 9/11. Considering the air-date (1991), this only confirms how true Picard's statement about how quickly people are willing to blindly trade their liberties for "security" really is.

8/10