Samaritan Snare

Episode aired May 13, 1989
TV-PG
45m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

3.5K

YOUR RATING

LeVar Burton, Christopher Collins, and Leslie Morris in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)

Action Adventure Drama Sci-Fi

With Picard away for routine surgery, the Enterprise responds to an apparent distress call from a Pakled vessel.With Picard away for routine surgery, the Enterprise responds to an apparent distress call from a Pakled vessel.With Picard away for routine surgery, the Enterprise responds to an apparent distress call from a Pakled vessel.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

3.5K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Wil Wheaton and Patrick Stewart came up with the gag where Wesley Crusher encounters a non-automatic door for the first time. They approach the door, which Wesley stares at. Picard looks at Wesley, as if thinking "Aw kids!" and opens it for him.

Goofs
If a shuttle is incapable of warp speed and it is going to take six hours to get to Starbase 515, it makes no sense to send that slow vehicle on a trip that long when the Enterprise could whisk Picard and Crusher there in no time.

Quotes
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: There's no greater challenge than the study of philosophy.
Wesley Crusher: But William James won't be on my Starfleet exams.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: The important things never will be. Anyone can be trained in the mechanics of piloting a starship.
Wesley Crusher: And Starfleet Academy...
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Takes more. Open your mind to the past - art, history, philosophy. And all this may mean something.

Connections
Edited from Star Trek: The Next Generation: Angel One (1988)

Soundtracks
Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews25

Featured review

8/10

Quite good.

Picard to get surgery, Wesley to take SF exam Pakled ask for help and seem simple-minded but NOT --don't really want help but are devious

When the episode begins, Captain Picard announces that he's heading to the nearest starbase and Wesley, who needs to go there for the Starfleet exam, will be accompanying him. However, exactly WHY Picard is temporarily relinquishing command is unknown--and he's being very cagey about it.

Shortly after the Captain leaves, the Enterprise receives a distress call from the Pakleds. When Riker and the crew arrive to help, they are a bit bemused, as the Pakleds seem incredibly simple-minded and harmless. How they were able to obtain a spacecraft seems like a real puzzler. But, happy to be of service, LaForge goes to the Pakled ship to offer help--and soon gets the ship running well. However, when Troi learns that they are dealing with the Pakled, she is worried as she sees these beings as very deceitful and they are NOT as dumb as they've been acting. What's next?

Overall, this was both an entertaining episode as well as one that furthered Picard's character development--something sorely needed for the normally super-stoic leader. Well done and one of the better episodes of season two.