The Naked Now

"The Naked Now"
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
Lt. jg. Geordi La Forge investigates strange deaths on a federation science vessel.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 3
Directed by	Paul Lynch
Teleplay by	D. C. Fontana
Story by	John D. F. Black D. C. Fontana
Featured music	Ron Jones
Production code	103
Original air date	October 5, 1987 (1987-10-05)
Guest stars
Brooke Bundy - Sarah MacDougal Benjamin W.S. Lum - Jim Shimoda David Renan - Conn Skip Stellrecht - Engineering crewman Kenny Koch - Kissing crewman
Episode chronology
← Previous "Encounter at Farpoint" Next → "Code of Honor"
List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes

"The Naked Now" is the third episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Overview

The Enterprise encounters a research ship where all personnel are found dead, including one fully clothed in a shower, and quickly becomes infected with the same affliction that killed the crew of the research ship.

Plot

The USS Enterprise responds to messages it has received from the SS Tsiolkovsky, a science vessel monitoring the collapse of a supergiant star; the messages suggest that the crew has been exposed to a sudden hull breach amid rounds of laughter. After the Enterprise secures the ship via tractor beam, an away team beams over to the Tsiolkovsky and finds the crew frozen to death in various stages of undress, including the body of a clothed crewmember that falls into La Forge's hands. Dr. Crusher orders full medical examinations of the away team on their return, and finds La Forge sweating profusely and complaining about the temperature. Dr. Crusher orders La Forge to stay in Sick Bay but he manages to slip out, making his way to Wesley's quarters. Wesley, unaware of La Forge's condition, shows him a portable tractor beam device, to which La Forge places an encouraging hand on his shoulder. Meanwhile, acting on a hunch by Commander Riker, Data identifies the ailment as one similarly encountered by Captain Kirk's Enterprise. La Forge eventually returns to Sick Bay, where Dr. Crusher quickly becomes concerned when she realizes that one can become infected simply by touch. Quickly, much of the ship's crew comes under the influence of the ailment. Even Data is affected, and he finds himself in a sexual encounter with Tasha Yar. Dr. Crusher, struggling against the effects of the ailment, finds the original antidote documented by the Enterprise to be ineffective, and works at devising a new version of it.

Wesley, already infected, uses a digital sample of Captain Picard's voice to lure key Engineering staff away from the Engineering deck, allowing him to erect a force field around Engineering with his tractor beam, and then assumes control of the ship. He allows one of the engineers, Mr. Shimoda, who is acting in a child-like manner, into the force field; Mr. Shimoda manages to remove all of the isolinear chips from the engine control station and play with them like toys. As the supergiant star collapses, a fragment is blown into a direct impact course with the two Federation ships, and without the isolinear chips in place, they cannot move out of its way. The chief engineer manages to disable Wesley's force field, and Data is sent to replace the chips; however, Data reports that the task, "..will take slightly more time than we have..". Wesley, still affected by the mysterious pathogen, manages to reverse the ship's tractor beam field to cause the Enterprise to repel off the Tsiolkovsky, giving themselves the necessary additional seconds to clear the path of the fragment. The crew is eventually cured of the ailment, and Picard partially credits Wesley for helping to prevent a disaster.

Notes

• This episode is a re-telling of the original series episode "The Naked Time." The author of that episode, John D.F. Black, took a story credit on the episode, which was otherwise written by D. C. Fontana (using the pseudonym J. Michael Bingham).

See also

• The Naked Time, the original series' first telling of the same basic premise.

References

• Star Trek The Next Generation DVD set, volume 1, disc 1, selection 2.

External links

• The Naked Now at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Naked Now" at TV.com
• The Naked Now at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• The Naked Now at StarTrek.com
• The Naked Now reviewed by Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher)
• The Naked Now rewatch by Keith R.A. DeCandido