The Host 

Dr. Crusher falls for someone who's not at all what she expects him to be.

Director:

Marvin V. Rush

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (created by), Michel Horvat

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. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn	...	Lieutenant Worf
Gates McFadden	...	Dr. Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Commander Data
Barbara Tarbuck	...	Governor Leka Trion
Nicole Orth-Pallavicini	...	Kareel Odan
William Newman	...	Kalin Trose
Patti Yasutake	...	Nurse Alyssa Ogawa
Franc Luz	...	Odan

Storyline

Doctor Beverly Crusher is secretly in romantic love since weeks with Federation ambassador Odan, who is on his way to the Alpha moon which is rebelling against the planet they were colonized from and cause potentially fatal environmental damage to its Beta moon. Crusher ignores her humanoid lover's body has an alien symbiont in his entrails, but Counselor Deanna Troi empathetically senses emotional swings which set her on the trail. Then an unrequested escort vessel from the Beta moon approaches and attacks the Enterprise shuttle which Commander Will Riker was piloting to bring the ambassador to his destination. When Riker brings Odan back to the Enterprise badly wounded, Crusher's diagnose reveals the 'parasite' and she learns his true identity. Odan urgently needs another humanoid host to perform his peace mission, for which task Riker is chosen...

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Plot Keywords:

personal log | passionate kiss | male ambassador | ambassador | human alien kiss | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 May 1991 (USA)

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The appearance of the Trill symbiote would change its appearance from when it initially appeared on this episode to how it would appear on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993). In this episode, the symbiote's appearance was made to resemble a caterpillar with the head of an octopus. According to Make-Up Supervisor Michael Westmore, the symbiote was re-made for DS9 to be more "streamlined" to make it easier to handle. Also the appearance of the Trill hosts would change as well. In this episode the Trill hosts had semi-ridged foreheads and no body spots, but on DS9 they have normal foreheads and body spots.

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Goofs

When a renegade ship attacks the shuttle carrying the ambassador and Commander Riker, Captain Picard inexplicably does nothing to protect the shuttle--and his first officer. The Enterprise could easily disable the attacking ship without destroying it, yet all the Enterprise does is lock a tractor beam onto the shuttle, effectively allowing the shuttle to be a sitting duck until it is within the Enterprise's shield bubble.

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Quotes

Counselor Deanna Troi: You can't be open to love if you don't risk pain.

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

It's Hard to Love a Bucket of Entrails

Beverly Crusher is a human being. She falls for a humanoid man and later finds out he is the host body for a creature that looks something in an Asian meat market. The ongoing theme is "What is love?" and Beverly is sort of maligned for not reacting positively to a host body that contains the being of the one whose initial host body died. She is quite conflicted. Of course, none of us are able to recount our experiences with aliens, unless you live in a New Mexico desert, but our physical being is certainly a huge factor in our attractions and rejections. Let's face it, Heidi Klum is going to be more successful in attracting men than one of ordinary physical presence. And so it goes. If the guy had been transplanted into a duck, would Beverly have been attracted to him? Riker becomes the host. How about all the implications and hesitancies that are fueled by this reality. What if Wesley Crusher had been the host. How would she have handled that. There is so much unfairness here. There is even a touch of homophobia. Interesting episode.