The Battle 

Beware Ferengi bearing gifts. Capt. Picard receives the Stargazer, a ship considered lost that he once commanded.

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (created by), Herbert Wright (teleplay by)

Stars:

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Patrick Stewart	...	Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Cmdr. William Riker
LeVar Burton	...	Lt. Geordi La Forge
Denise Crosby	...	Lt. Tasha Yar
Michael Dorn	...	Lt. Worf
Gates McFadden	...	Dr. Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Cmdr. Data
Wil Wheaton	...	Wesley Crusher
Frank Corsentino	...	DaiMon Bok
Douglas Warhit	...	Kazago (as Doug Warhit)
Robert Towers	...	Rata

Storyline

The Enterprise is ordered to rendezvous with a Ferengi vessel for reasons that are not made clear to Capt. Picard. They meet as scheduled but the Ferengi simply ignore them for a period of time. Finally, they reveal the purpose of their trip - to return to the Federation the USS Stargazer, a ship that Picard once commanded and for which he is credited with a particularly important maneuver, one that is now taught in battle tactics at the Academy. Picard is please to see his old ship but has been suffering from headaches lately. With Dr. Crusher concerned, the Captain just goes on as usual. Picard's condition worsens as it is revealed a member of the Ferengi crew is out to avenge the death of his son in the battle for which Picard gained such recognition. It's left to Commander Riker and his Ferengi counterpart to sort it all out.

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Plot Keywords:

ferengi starship | door chime | hardcover book | ship to ship communication | ferengi daimon | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

The novel The Buried Age establishes that the course Picard set for the Stargazer was to have taken the ship into the atmosphere of a nearby gas giant, thereby destroying the ship; however, after the crew escaped in the ship's shuttlecraft, the Stargazer somehow bounced off the planet's atmosphere and drifted near the planet when Bok arrived in the area, took possession of it, and began plotting his revenge.

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Goofs

With Picard suffering from such a bad headache (which have become almost unheard of), Dr. Crusher would surely have taken him to Sickbay to sleep where she could keep an eye on his condition and run more tests to find the cause.

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Quotes

Doctor Beverly Crusher: [after doing a quick scan to see why Picard's having headaches] I see nothing physically wrong, but I want to run some additional scans in Sickbay.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Doctor, all I've got is...
Doctor Beverly Crusher: Is an order to report to Sickbay, from the only person aboard this ship who *can* give you an order.

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Connections

Referenced in Star Trek: Picard: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 (2020)

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Soundtracks

Star Trek: The Next Generation End Credits
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User Reviews

Picard is being controlled....again

We are on episode 8 of the series here and this is probably the fourth or fifth time that Captain Picard is being controlled/manipulated mentally by someone or something. And every single time the crew seems oblivious through half the episode. "The Captain is acting strangely, I wonder why?"... By this point they should just assume that he is once again being possessed or controlled by an alien force!

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the series, but I do hope that this plot device is put to rest soon because at a third of the way through season one it's already played out.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 November 1987 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

46 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1