The Pegasus

DVD, TNG S7 (The Pegasus)

Some might say this episode has become sullied by its infamous connection with the controversial finale of 'Star Trek: Enterprise' in which we see Riker watch old holo-recordings of Archer and his crew to help him come to the decision of speaking up against his former Captain. I say that episode was a great ending to the last Trek series and eighteen years of continuous Trek on TV, and this episode should be proud of its association and that it was chosen as the linchpin for The End. As I watched I was trying to decide when Riker actually made his retreats to the Holodeck, and although that part was fabricated by the later series, it was most likely just before he went on the Away Mission with Pressman. A shame there weren't any scenes with Riker and Troi as there are in the later episode, but it was necessary to keep him isolated so the weight of the decision had time to percolate - saying that, I appreciated the addition of Troi into the story in 'Enterprise.'

Troi's role in this episode is to be kept away from the Admiral, because she'd soon be reporting to the Captain that "he's hiding something," and "Will's not telling us everything." Sometimes they needed to keep her out of the picture to serve the story, something always suffered by characters with special powers. So she's reduced to appearing in the teaser which to me crossed over the line that little bit too much into parody. You get the crude 'Captain Picard Day' sign, the children's creative attempts at representations of Picard, and best of all, Commander Riker doing an actual impression of his Captain, TO his Captain's face, IN FRONT of Troi, HOLDING a Picard doll! Then Picard has to explain to a stone-faced Admiral on the monitor what it's all about. Add to a dig at his Season 1 appearance, with the Ensign 'baby-face' dig, and the straight-faced reminder of the warp limit imposed since 'Force of Nature,' and it takes some gravity to keep the story from floating off into the clouds. It is funny, but Will's bordering on the insubordinate - I can't imagine Kira, Chakotay, Spock or T'Pol getting away with something like that, but Riker's cheeky personality allows him to, along with Picard's affable nature (he wouldn't have dared it in the early seasons!), but in fairness, the way the episode was to go for him, he needed a moment to enjoy himself.

Erik Pressman is another of those uppity Admirals that come aboard to cause tension in the air, thinking they know what's best because they've loosed themselves from the shackles of day to day life in The Big Chair (so why do they want to be in command of a starship again?), but this time it's personal, he being the former Captain of Riker's first ship, the Pegasus of the title. Insight into Will's past is released slowly, like a balloon being pumped up, most effective in a private moment between Picard and Pressman, when Riker becomes the ball to toss between them over differing ideas of command. Pressman wants blind loyalty, seeing himself as infallible where it matters, and Picard recognises he's not perfect and wants and needs people he can trust to be able to tell him when he's wrong. Picard is possibly the most balanced Captain we've ever met, but his willingness to test himself in that way is what keeps him balanced and what makes the Riker/Picard partnership working so well and so long. The talk of losing starships he and Pressman have, is poignant because he'd lost the Stargazer, and in a year, would lose his beloved Enterprise too.

After so many offers of promotion, it may be that this incident was what dried up support for giving Riker a ship of his own. Aside from repeated refusals to take command (we eventually learn in 'Generations' that he wants the Enterprise), his association with Pressman and the negative elements in Starfleet may have lost him some trust, though not all, as he'd get a command in the end. But if people were complaining that it was 'DS9' that subverted Roddenberry's clean universe with moral ambiguity, character conflict and bending rules, they should check this episode out: we have crooked leaders high up in the organisation, intent on Federation supremacy against the Romulans at all costs; Picard coming into angry conflict with Riker over keeping his mouth shut; Picard and his crew defying Pressman; and revelations over what the Federation might have done or could do, if pushed, something that would become a stronger theme in 'DS9,' admittedly (see 'Homefront' and 'Paradise Lost' for examples), but its all here. Maybe it was the influence of 'DS9' (then in its second season), and its multi-level approach to its roots that meant the 'TNG' writers felt they could play with such themes?

Riker's difficult dilemma of divided loyalty keeps us caring, even though much of the episode is talk, the only action, if action it can be called, in the Romulan presence hovering nearby in the asteroid field, the Enterprise bravely entering one, and the amazing shots of her cloaking with the phasing cloak and travelling through the solid rock to escape! Picard risks instant war by decloaking right in front of the Romulans, gambling they won't want to get into one if the Federation is open and honest about what happened. It must have worked because by Season 3 of 'DS9' the Romulans were actively sponsoring a cloaking device aboard a Federation starship, though only because it was in their interest. I think this may be the first time we see a dark-skinned Romulan, which tended to be pale, with a green or yellowish tinge to their skin, and this was shortly before Tuvok, the first black Vulcan on screen in 'Voyager,' about a year later. Was this a natural exploration of, and deepening of alien races, or was it intentional to get us used to the idea of other ethnicities in aliens, just as in humans? Coming so close before Tuvok, who must have been at least in the process of creation at this time, it would be fascinating to know their intentions.

Riker's troubles with his former Captain reminded me of O'Brien's with his (not to mention Wesley Crusher's similar part in a cover up), but unfortunately Pressman and his mission were sanctioned by Starfleet so things couldn't be solved by having Riker break into song when they were alone on the Pegasus! Pressman felt he was always in the right, one of those whose conscience allowed him to break the rules for the greater good as he sees it. All this cloak and dagger secrecy brings to mind Section 31. This kind of technology, banned by the Treaty of Algeron (a lovely reference to existing canon), with the Romulans, would be right up their dark alley, and Pressman admits he got information from an 'operative' high up in the Romulan government, so the question will always be, was Pressman a part of 31, or was his mission influenced by that secretive organisation that would have shared his goals of protecting the Federation in that way. I like that Picard stands up to the Admiral at the end, standing for openness and justice, exposing the shame for all to see. I so hoped he was going to sit down at Will's level when he visits him in the brig (presumably Pressman, being an Admiral, was confined to quarters), and he did, connecting fully with him again in that almost older brotherly way.

It was telling of the engrossing nature of the story that I only found myself wondering about the technical side of things once (or twice if you count seeing the USS Crazy Horse was yet another Excelsior-class ship!), when we see this incredible piece of tech, that can do so much, so easily unhooked in a few seconds and standing no taller than a child. When we see the Engineering section of the Pegasus (I wanted them to totter upon beam in thanks to the slanted deck, but the Transporter must have compensated for the incline), the central console looks like it could be the whole device, but then Pressman takes it out and it's so inconsequential (talking of which was that an iPad Picard was reading in his quarters, or a Kindle?), and then Geordi doesn't take long to connect it up to the Enterprise, technology which is newer (although Pressman does note that the Pegasus was used as part of the model for the Enterprise's systems), and there should have been more drama in Geordi's attempt at making the device work. There's a reason we don't see Geordi hard at work, calling up to the Captain to say they aren't going to get it ready before, I don't know, an imminent collapse of the asteroid occurs - it's because the actor, Levar Burton was directing. It's a credit to his unfussy style that I completely forgot about it, and just experienced the episode without a thought for the Director.

This is primarily about Riker, and how much he's changed during his Starfleet career. We know him, we know he's grown, but its evident that it wasn't just the beard. He's come to be more independent after his early 'Harry Kim' days - hard to imagine the great Riker ever being worried about 'pushing the wrong button' or letting his Captain down, but his confidence and judgement are what drew Picard to choose him in the first place. It's so good to hear about a character's backstory, and even to meet people from his past, like an old Head teacher suddenly appearing in your workplace. I bet Jonathan Frakes couldn't have pulled off the shirtless scene in sickbay in his revisit of the episode for 'These Are The Voyages…' - was he holding his stomach in?

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