TNG Flashback: Manhunt

In reviewing second season episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I've written a little about the souring relationship between show runner Maurice Hurley and one of the writers, Tracy Tormé, caused by extensive rewrites to scripts like "The Royale." Now we come to the last straw, "Manhunt."

Counselor Troi's mother, Lwaxana, returns to the Enterprise to be transported (along with other delegates) to a peace conference. She's just reached a phase in a female Betazoid's life where her sex drive quadruples, and she's scoping out Captain Picard and other men on the ship as prospective mates. To avoid her advances, Picard retreats into the holodeck to enjoy time as Dixon Hill.

Tracy Tormé conceived of this episode as a "sequel" of sorts, blending two of his episodes from season 1, "Haven" and "The Big Goodbye." The finished result apparently bore so little resemblance to his original concept that once again (as with "The Royale"), he took his name off the finished product and used a pseudonym. And while we may never know what exactly Tormé had in mind, or whether it would have turned out well, I can certainly agree with him that the episode as aired is awful.

"Amok Time," one of the best episodes of the original Star Trek, depicted the sexuality of Vulcans as Spock essentially went into heat. You can imagine this Next Generation episode attempting to tap into that Trek heritage in some way. But where "Amok Time" was fascinating in the other details it revealed about Vulcans, and in the way it pitted Spock against Kirk, The Next Generation simply focuses on the sex. It's an entire episode about a horny older woman. Ordinarily, I might praise the lack of some artificial external problem to manufacture jeopardy, but this character driven problem generates no tension of any kind.

The reappearance of Dixon Hill is also a huge disappointment. One of the things I found intriguing about "The Big Goodbye" was that, despite the episode really being about a holodeck malfunction, an actual Dixon Hill tale with a story arc of its own was part of the mix. Here, we get a lot of set-up to some Dixon Hill story, but absolutely no payoff. Picard keeps resetting the story, and then ends up leaving the holodeck before the story even reaches a middle, never mind a conclusion.

Bad as the episode is, though, it's not a total loss. It does actually generate a couple of laughs. Well, maybe not "laughs" so much as "polite smiles," but there is some solid work here from some of the actors. Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner are both excellent in the scene where Picard uses Data as a cover to escape an intimate dinner with Lwaxana Troi. Stewart also displays his subtle but brilliant acting instincts in a Dixon Hill scene where Picard holds a cigarette in an appropriately awkward and foreign way. Majel Barrett has a couple of nice moments too, including one where Lwaxana receives directions from the computer. Since she also portrays the voice of the computer, it's a scene of an actress talking to herself, but the two voices are just different enough that I could imagine people in the audience not realizing it.

Other observations:

• Speaking of actors, Robert O'Reilly makes his first Star Trek appearance here. He would later be known for playing the Klingon leader Gowron; here he plays a random thug in the Dixon Hill scenario. Look for his distinctive eyes.

• There's also a cameo appearance by Mick Fleetwood, of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. You wouldn't know it, though, as he plays one of the fish-like Antedean delegates. He shaved his trademark beard and buried himself in thick makeup (and a shower curtain) to make an appearance on Star Trek.

• Composer Dennis McCarthy cuts loose a bit with his music for this episode. There are some fun sprays of melody from a saxophone during the Dixon Hill sequences.

I would say the massive efforts of the cast muscle this dud of a script up to a D+, but they really are squeezing blood from a stone. "Manhunt" is among the worst episodes of the season.