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Conspiracy (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

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"Conspiracy (Star Trek: The Next Generation)"

"Conspiracy" is the 25th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and originally aired on May 9, 1988. The teleplay was completed by Tracy Tormé from a thirty page developed story by Robert Sabaroff, which was originally conceived by the show's creator Gene Roddenberry in a single sentence premise called "The Assassins". The episode was directed by Cliff Bole.

Following a meeting with a fellow Captain, the strange behavior of high-ranking officers leads Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the Enterprise to uncover an conspiracy of officers possessed by parasites within Starfleet who are preparing an invasion.

Numerous make-up effects were created by make-up supervisor Michael Westmore, including an exploding head using raw meat. There were concerns by producers that some of the effects were too graphic, but after a viewing by a staff member's son, they decided to broadcast it uncut. The episode has subsequently been included in some best episode lists of the series, and won one of three Primetime Emmy Awards for Next Generations first season. However it proved controversial when originally broadcast and was initially banned from broadcast in the United Kingdom, and required a warning before it aired in Canada.

Plot

While the Enterprise is en route to Pacifica, Captain Walker Keel (Jonathan Farwell) of the USS Horatio contacts Captain Picard over a secure channel, and requests a face-to-face meeting. Once they arrive at Dytallix B, the crew discover the Horatio and two other Federation ships, but they are unresponsive to the Enterprise's communications. Picard beams to the surface and is met by Keel and the other captains. Keel reports strange orders and events from Starfleet Headquarters, and expresses concern of a conspiracy. Picard refuses to accept this without proof, but Keel warns him to remain cautious. The ships depart the planet and resume their original orders. Picard has Data (Brent Spiner) review Starfleet's recent records for any anomalies. As they near their destination, the crew discovers the destroyed remains of the Horatio. Data completes his study and finds several strange orders from the senior levels of Starfleet. Picard informs his senior staff of the conspiracy theory, and orders the Enterprise to Earth.

On arrival, Picard and Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) are greeted by three Admirals, Savar (Henry Darrow), Arron (Ray Reinhardt), and Quinn (Ward Costello), along with Quinn's assistant Lt. Commander Remmick (Robert Schenkkan). They are surprised by the Enterprise's presence, but invite Picard and Riker to dinner. Quinn requests to beam aboard the Enterprise for a tour, upon his arrival Picard discusses matters with him and comes to believe that he is an impostor and warns Riker of his concerns. Picard leaves to beam down to earth to attend the dinner. Meanwhile, Riker visits Quinn's quarters on the Enterprise and questions him about what he has in the small box he brought with him. Quinn tells Riker of a parasitic creature within the box. Riker attempts to leave but Quinn throws Riker across the room. A security team arrives to subdue Quinn, who is able to withstand an great amount of phaser-fire before he collapses. Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) finds a small protrusion on the back of his neck, and she discovers that a bug-like parasite has latched itself onto Quinn's brain and is controlling him. Dr. Crusher warns Picard of this incident, who reveals that he travelled unarmed to the surface.

A bowl of living larvae is served at the meal, and Picard attempts to escape, only to find Riker blocking his way. The Admirals see a prosthetic protrusion on the back of Riker's neck and allow him to dine, believing him to have a parasite as well. They reveal that the parasites are seeking to take over Starfleet, using humanoids as hosts. Riker attacks the Admirals, using a phaser set on full power to kill the infected officers. One by one, Picard and Riker kill the infected, causing parasites to leave the dead hosts and flee. One of the parasites scurries under a closed door and Picard and Riker follow it. They find Remmick ingesting the parasite to join several others inside him. Picard and Riker fire upon Remmick, destroying his body but freeing a giant parasite; the two continue to fire until it is destroyed. Dr. Crusher reports that the other parasites, including the one in Quinn, have shriveled up as they are unable to survive without the creature that was inside Remmick. As they help to settle matters with Starfleet headquarters, they find that before Remmick was killed, he had sent a signal to a distant quadrant of the galaxy, possibly as a homing beacon to guide an unknown entity to Earth.

Production

Gene Roddenberry originated the idea for the episode in a single sentence proposal entitled "The Assassins". Robert Sabaroff expanded this idea to thirty pages, but his version was seen as too expensive. Tracy Tormé was then given the job of re-writing it, but some producers thought the new version was too dark until Roddenberry saw it and endorsed the new version.[1] In one of the original versions, it was a faction within Starfleet who were conspirators rather than alien parasites but Roddenberry did not like showing Starfleet itself in such a dark manner.[1] The premise was based on the Iran–Contra affair.[2]

The director of the episode, Cliff Bole, was a school friend of makeup supervisor Michael Westmore.[3] The scene with Remmick at the end of the episode was added in post-production, as it was originally scripted to have Riker and Picard come face to face with a full sized mother creature.[1] The part where the parasite enters Remmick's throat reportedly took many takes because the bulging effect was made by Westmore blowing into air bladders under a false neck, and Bole kept trying to make Westmore hyperventilate from the exertion.[3] The parasites themselves were created by Makeup & Effects Laboratories from a design by Rick Sternbach.[4] A mold of Paul Newman's face was filled with raw meat and then blown up to create the effect used when Picard and Riker fire on Remmick, but both Rick Berman and Peter Lauritson were concerned that it was too graphic. Dan Curry invited his six-year old son to watch the episode in order to test how children would react to it, who reportedly liked it so much that he suggested the creation of a Remmick action figure where the head would blow up by pressing a button. This resulted in Berman deciding to air the episode uncut with the full sequence included.[3]

Several props and effects seen in the episode were reproduced from the Star Trek movies, including the shots of Earth and Spacedock One, and the painting used of Starfleet Command. The doors to the room where dinner is served would later be reused from season 2 onwards on the set for Ten-Forward.[5] The episode also features two first appearances; both of the Ambassador class starship as the Horatio, although it had already been designated at this point as being the class of the Enterprise-C and it also marks the first time that a Bolian had been seen on Star Trek,[5] the species having been named after the episode's director.[6] Although they never appeared again on screen in any Star Trek series, the parasites re-appear in the Deep Space Nine relaunch novels, where they are revealed to be mutated Trill symbiotes.[6]

Reception and home media

The episode originally aired in the United States on May 9, 1988.[7] Due to the nature of the content, a warning was aired before "Conspiracy" was screened in Canada.[2] It was initially banned by the BBC in the United Kingdom,[3] but was later aired on BBC Two in an edited form.[2][8] The episode was nominated alongside "Coming of Age" for Best Makeup at the 40th Primetime Emmy Awards, winning the award, one of three Emmys won by the show that year.[9]

Several reviewers re-watched Star Trek: The Next Generation after the end of the series. Keith DeCandido for Tor.com described the episode as "a nasty episode that doesn't quite cohere into the level of nasty it could",[6] but that the series "doesn’t do horror/action all that often, and it serves as a good change of pace if nothing else".[6] He gave "Conspiracy" a score of four out of ten.[6] Zack Handlen, who reviewed the episode for the A.V. Club, thought that while "Conspiracy" was a "hard episode to forget", it was not quite as good as he remembered and did not quite "fit" with the rest of the season.[10] He thought that certain parts of the plot was "idiotic", and the Admirals reminded him of a "Bond villain convention".[10] He gave the episode an overall grade of B, writing, "fingers crossed that next time we encounter a danger this sinister, the writers know how to handle it".[10]

"Conspiracy" was included as an honorable mention in a list of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation by Mike Antonucci of the San Jose Mercury News.[11] It was also included in a list of the best and worst episodes by Scott Thill at Wired magazine as one of the best, describing the reactions to the episode as "polarizing", and suggesting that "Conspiracy" might be worthy of becoming a plot in a future film by J. J. Abrams.[2] Total Film also suggested the episode as a potential plot for the film that would become Star Trek into Darkness, and described it as "easily one of the greatest episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation".[12] In 2012, David Brown of Radio Times called "Conspiracy" "a definite high point" in the first season and included it on a list of The Next Generation's greatest moments.[8]

The episode was first released on VHS cassette on May 26, 1993.[13] The episode was later included on the Star Trek: The Next Generation season one DVD box set, released in March 2002.[14] "Conspiracy" was released as part of the season one Blu-ray set on July 24, 2012.[15]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Nemecek (1995): p. 68
  2. ^ a b c d Thill, Scott (September 25, 2012). "The Best and Worst of Star Trek: The Next Generation's Sci-Fi Optimism". Wired. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d Reeves-Stevens (1998): p. 69
  4. ^ Block, Erdmann (2012): p. 111
  5. ^ a b Nemecek (1995): p. 69
  6. ^ a b c d e DeCandido, Keith (August 1, 2011). "Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch: "Conspiracy"". Tor.com. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  7. ^ "Conspiracy". Star Trek.com. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  8. ^ a b Brown, David (September 28, 2012). "Happy Birthday Star Trek: the Next Generation". Radio Times. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
  9. ^ "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Emmys.com. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  10. ^ a b c Handlen, Zack (May 28, 2010). ""We'll Always Have Paris"/"Conspiracy"/"The Neutral Zone"". A.V. Club. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  11. ^ "Critic picks five favorite 'The Next Generation' episodes". Knight Ridder/Tribune. May 19, 1994. Retrieved November 3, 2012. (subscription required)
  12. ^ White, James (June 16, 2009). "9 Possible Plots For Star Trek 2". Total Film. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  13. ^ "Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 25 (VHS)". Tower Video. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  14. ^ Periguard, Mark A (March 24, 2002). "'Life as a House' rests on shaky foundation". The Boston Herald. Retrieved October 13, 2012. (subscription required)
  15. ^ Shaffer, RL (April 30, 2012). "Star Trek: The Next Generation Beams to Blu-ray". IGN. Retrieved October 17, 2012.

References

  • Block, Paula (2012). Star Trek: The Next Generation 365. New York: Abrams. ISBN 978-1419704291. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Nemecek, Larry (2003). Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (3rd ed.). New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-7434-5798-6.
  • Reeves-Stevens, Judith (1998). Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Continuing Mission (2nd ed.). New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0671025595. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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