TNG Flashback: Conspiracy

I don't know how better to describe "Conspiracy" than this: it's the episode where Star Trek: The Next Generation became an entirely different show for a week. Just as the first season was drawing to a close, along came this much darker and surprisingly disgusting episode. Not that it was bad, but it was certainly different.

A fellow captain and longtime friend of Picard's contacts him in secret and arranges a covert meeting on a backwater planet. There, he informs Picard of a conspiracy he believes is brewing within Starfleet. After his ship is destroyed a short while later, and Data's review of recent Starfleet orders confirms an unusual pattern, Picard orders the Enterprise to Earth to directly question the top brass. Soon they discover that top people within Starfleet -- including Picard's own friend Admiral Quinn -- have been infested with parasitic organisms that are controlling their every action and trying to subvert the organization from within.

This episode was conceived of as the follow-up to "Coming of Age," picking up on the Federation conspiracy alluded to there, and even reusing the characters of Remmick and Admiral Quinn, first introduced there. From what I've read, Gene Roddenberry loved the idea of doing something darker and more action-oriented, but was absolutely against the original concept: that a rebellious group of actual Starfleet personnel, frustrated by peace with the Klingons, was working to take control. Just a few years later, this exact plot would become the core of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; here, however, the writers were obliged instead to blame the conspiracy on Body Snatcher-style aliens.

While actual treachery within Starfleet would have made for a more compelling story, what did make it to the screen is still quite dark in tone. And it's considerably more suspenseful than the average Trek episode, pulling several bait-and-switches on the audience. At various stages of the episode, we think that Quinn and Remmick aren't "possessed," though later it's revealed they are. Similarly, we're led to think Riker is possessed, and then surprised when he is not.

But most unusual is the truly shocking visual imagery used in the episode, so dramatic that at the time, parts of it were edited out in some foreign broadcasts. The fact that infested victims eat live worms is a completely unnecessary but thoroughly disgusting detail (accented with appropriate sound effects). Remmick's "breathing" neck, exploding skull, and dripping chest cavity are all both gross and quite well done. The "mother creature" that then pops out of that cavity is bordering on rated R movie fare; Patrick Stewart's reaction shot to it is quite appropriate.

The problem is resolved rather too easily, though. And I'll say too neatly as well, because even though the episode ends on a cliffhanger implying that a homing beacon will draw more of these creatures to Earth (complete with an unsettling sound effect over the final moments), this plot is never picked up again.

Other observations:

• Though the episode is ultimately dark and disturbing, it starts off on an oddly light tone. The first two or three minutes are an extended humorous sequence on the bridge, in which Geordi tries to tell Data a joke, and Worf grouses that swimming is too much like bathing.

• Three fairly interesting starship captains are introduced in this episode, and sadly never seen again. One at least has a reason, as he dies in the course of the episode. But he's also the greatest loss, as we get a tantalizing hint of his back story with Picard, Dr. Crusher, and her late husband Jack.

• Besides some of the more disgusting visuals I've mentioned already, there are several other striking images in the episode. Quite a meal is made of traveling to Earth, showing off not just the planet, but the moon as well. And a medical graphic of a parasite-infested Admiral Quinn is surprisingly good for 1988. Not every visual effect in the episode is strong, however. The parasites themselves, scorpion-like creatures that skitter around, are realized through truly shoddy stop-motion animation.

• There's a lot of action in this episode. In a great deal of it, you can obviously see the use of doubles for the actors. It's especially bad in the sequence where Admiral Quinn attacks Riker. (Which, by the way, leads us to another "beat up Worf to show how strong you are" moment.)

• The mini-skirt version of the Starfleet uniform is all over the place in this episode. On women and men. And looking as ridiculous as ever on both.

• There's a scene in which Data starts talking to himself, and is amazed by his own very human moment when the computer asks him to explain the idiosyncrasy. But even the computer doesn't want to hear the long-winded explanation. It's a funny moment, though it does come at the expense of both Data and the ship's computer (which I believe never speaks of itself in the first person any time other than here) behaving in uncharacteristic ways.

• Tracy Tormé (son of singer Mel Tormé) is the writer credited with this screenplay, though on TV shows, everyone on staff often contributes to each episode. Whoever wrote this great line for Picard should get a cookie, though: "Friendship must dare to risk, Counselor, or it's not friendship."

• A Vulcan neck pinch is portrayed in this episode for the first time since Spock. This would be cool, except that they don't do it at all like it worked in the original series, which makes me wish they hadn't done it at all. When the Vulcan admiral tries to use it on Riker, Riker resists it! And you'd think that if the neck pinch usually knocks its victim unconsciously immediately, it surely shouldn't fail when applied with parasite-enhanced strength. Riker is a beast!

• Apparently relishing the opportunity to score such a different episode, composer Dennis McCarthy delivers a score quite different from (and much better than) his usual fare. His sinister music is filled with angry bassoons, discordant and blaring brass, tremolo strings, and weird synthesizer pitches.

"Conspiracy" is a fun episode overall, if not outstanding. I would grade it a B. Many Trek fans might think me too generous here, but I was not put off by the more extreme gore. Your mileage could certainly vary.