Booby Trap

DVD, TNG S3 (Booby Trap)

The only piece of interest is in Susan Gibney's portrayal of one of the designers of the Enterprise. It's the B-plot and she doesn't look her best, but the simple fact that it fills in some of the details of the Enterprise-D's origins and shows us the starship under construction scores it points. Geordi's people problems aren't terribly interesting, but it inspires a scene with Guinan which is always welcome. O'Brien is there again too - no wonder he got promoted if he sucks up to the Captain like that! "I've built little ships, Captain, I understand..."

Picard's enthusiasm for this 1,000 year old vessel shows a fresh perspective on him, but we didn't need Riker and Troi smirking at his excitement. It isn't really about old ships however, it's about problem-solving, hence the sitting around trying to solve the technical problem of getting unstuck. It doesn't make the episode stand out, and for some reason I thought the Romulans were part of it, which they turned out not to be.

The positives are that the ship and crew are all still sparkling visually in their new uniforms and excellent lighting, and the space scenes of an asteroid field and alien ship were very well achieved and must have been a huge headache at the time. Picard's solution to getting that extra bit of power is typically sensible and everything ends happily. Apart from Geordi's story - he's pre-empted Barclay and Nog by getting hooked on holograms, and although he isn't actually addicted, it does raise the ever-present questions about holo-sentience as the Leah Brahms holo-character knew what she was. There must be some law against recreating real people anyway...

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