This is a good episode visually for the series as we finally get to see the crystalline entity up close and in action. The scenes on the planet were very memorable from the first time I saw this episode when it aired on national television. But, as sometimes happens in Star Trek TNG, unfortunately there's a huge plot hole.
When Doctor Mar(sp?)socialized with the crew she was seething with feelings of revenge and hatred for the crystalline entity because it killed her son on Omicron Theta where Data was built. They were aware of her drive to study the crystalline entity after his death and her motivations thereof. The captain first asks Troi if he can trust the Dr. to be impartial, and then later calls the Dr. into his ready room to avoid arguing in front of his crew. Clearly, you wouldn't need a Betazoid to figure out where that woman's obsession was. When she went to destroy the entity with her graviton pulses Deanna Troi, an empathic half-betazoid looks to Picard like a child and says " I think something is wrong!" Instead of "Watch Out I sense murderous intent coming from the Dr. " in the first 5 minutes of contact with the woman thus saving the entire mission of contact with the entity. The console is screaming (usually indicating something negative might be occurring), meanwhile Worf stands there off-camera useless while insubordination is occurring on the bridge. Picard and Riker, pleading/ordering her to stop - motionless, Data also pleading, completely clueless as to what to do. Worf couldn't tackle her or even better vaporize her? Deanna couldn't sense? Data couldn't crush her hand and make her tell the code? And then Data and Geordi can't beat an old lady's hastily constructed subroutine program? From a story perspective this episode was a complete failure of th crew. From a writer's perspective it was not very well thought out. I believe this occurs more often in Star Trek because they were willing to accept scripts from many different writers, and didn't pore over them very well before production.
They still had control of the ship. Shut down main power for gosh sakes, turn the ship around, go to warp, SOMETHING. Captain the ship! Lay in a course of campiness... Warp Factor 9... Engage.
When Doctor Mar(sp?)socialized with the crew she was seething with feelings of revenge and hatred for the crystalline entity because it killed her son on Omicron Theta where Data was built. They were aware of her drive to study the crystalline entity after his death and her motivations thereof. The captain first asks Troi if he can trust the Dr. to be impartial, and then later calls the Dr. into his ready room to avoid arguing in front of his crew. Clearly, you wouldn't need a Betazoid to figure out where that woman's obsession was. When she went to destroy the entity with her graviton pulses Deanna Troi, an empathic half-betazoid looks to Picard like a child and says " I think something is wrong!" Instead of "Watch Out I sense murderous intent coming from the Dr. " in the first 5 minutes of contact with the woman thus saving the entire mission of contact with the entity. The console is screaming (usually indicating something negative might be occurring), meanwhile Worf stands there off-camera useless while insubordination is occurring on the bridge. Picard and Riker, pleading/ordering her to stop - motionless, Data also pleading, completely clueless as to what to do. Worf couldn't tackle her or even better vaporize her? Deanna couldn't sense? Data couldn't crush her hand and make her tell the code? And then Data and Geordi can't beat an old lady's hastily constructed subroutine program? From a story perspective this episode was a complete failure of th crew. From a writer's perspective it was not very well thought out. I believe this occurs more often in Star Trek because they were willing to accept scripts from many different writers, and didn't pore over them very well before production.
They still had control of the ship. Shut down main power for gosh sakes, turn the ship around, go to warp, SOMETHING. Captain the ship! Lay in a course of campiness... Warp Factor 9... Engage.