Related lists from IMDb users
Title: Night Terrors (16 Mar 1991)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
| Episode cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Patrick Stewart | ... | Capt. Jean-Luc Picard | |
| Jonathan Frakes | ... | Cmdr. William Riker | |
| LeVar Burton | ... | Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge | |
| Michael Dorn | ... | Lieutenant Worf | |
| Gates McFadden | ... | Dr. Beverly Crusher | |
| Marina Sirtis | ... | Counselor Deanna Troi | |
| Brent Spiner | ... | Lt. Commander Data | |
| Rosalind Chao | ... | Keiko O'Brien | |
| John Vickery | ... | Andrus Hagan | |
| Shaun Duke | ... | Ensign Gillespie (as Duke Moosekian) | |
| Craig Hurley | ... | Ensign Peeples | |
| Brian Tochi | ... | Ensign Kenny Lin | |
| Lanei Chapman | ... | Ensign Sariel Rager | |
| Colm Meaney | ... | Chief Miles O'Brien | |
| Whoopi Goldberg | ... | Guinan | |
The Enterprise finally locates the missing starship USS Brittain, twenty-nine days after its distress call. Counselor Troi, sensing trouble, joins Riker's boarding party. Among the brutally annihilated crew, only its Betazoid counselor, Andrus Hagan, survived but in shock. Dr. Crusher's autopsies conclude that thirty-four crewmen killed each other or themselves with either phasers, other weapons, or even bare hands, with the Captain's last log revealing a paranoiac fear rising among them. As the Enterprise prepares to tow the Brittain to the nearest starbase, its own crew starts sensing other presences and exhibiting rising mistrust, ramping up towards full-blown paranoia. With the Enterprise itself unable to leave, Data finds themselves, as was the Brittain, stuck in a rift in space. With nearly all the crew affected, Picard puts the immune android Data in temporary command. Dr. Crusher herself experiences a nightmarish hallucination but discovers a chemical imbalance signifying that... Written by KGF Vissers/revised by statmanjeff
Watch Hollywood hits and TV favorites for free with IMDb Freedive. Start streaming on IMDb and Fire TV devices today!
Explore popular and recently added TV series available to stream now with Prime Video.
Coming off the disappointing resolution of Clues, TNG bounces back with another mystery that has a much more satisfying conclusion. But I'll get to that (no spoilers in this review).
It starts off with the Enterprise arriving on the scene of a derelict ship: the Brattain. The Brattain's engines have no power, and all its crew are dead (save one, who only has a single vital purpose for the plot) -- it turns out they killed each other. The Brattain's logs indicate an increase in paranoia and erratic behavior in the weeks leading up to everyone's demise. What happened?
The lack of power to the engines is also a mystery. Geordi says everything should work, but nothing does. They decide to put the Brattain in tow, but then the Enterprise starts experiencing engine problems, as well.
The crew also starts to have issues with aggressive behavior, hallucinations, memory loss, and the like. Even when Crusher discovers the cause, there isn't anything they can do about it. Meanwhile, Troi is having nightmares about floating through space and hearing voices. And as Picard realizes that he, too, is not immune, he confides in Data that he may be the one crew member that can keep them from ending up like the Brattain.
All this sets up for a nice, tight resolution to the mystery, but there are also some neat little touches along the way. For example, as the days progress, Troi's hair looks more disheveled. Picard looks visibly older. Crusher fumbles in search of her communicator pin. They sell it. And we buy it.
This is an all-around enjoyable episode. It's everything that's good about Star Trek, rolled up into a suspenseful hour-long episode. Easily one of the best of the season, if not the series.