Star Trek TNG: Season 1, Episode Fifteen “11001001”

Stardate: 41365.9
Original Air Date: January 30, 1988
Writer: Maurice Hurley & Robert Lewin
Director: Paul Lynch

“A blind man teaching an android how to paint?
That’s gotta be worth a couple of pages in somebody’s book.”

The Enterprise has been ordered to Starbase 74 in orbit around Tarsus III where a routine systems maintenance check will be made and upgrades will be completed, including the holodeck which has been causing problems. Picard anticipates a glowing report. A “unified pair” of Bynars will be conducting the inspection, their names are “01” and “10.” The Bynars are a race of technologically-linked creatures who think and speak rapidly in binary with one another. They have 48 hours to complete their work, because in 48 hours plus 6 the Enterprise has a pressing appoint on Pelleus V.

Once the Bynars begin their work on the Enterprise, both Wesley Crusher and Riker grow suspicious as two additional Bynars join, and unusual power outages start occurring in less populated parts of the ship. Once the “enhancements” have been completed, Riker enters the holodeck for a simulation of a 1950s New Orleans jazz bar with a brunette woman named “Minuet.” Soon, Picard joins him in this little fantasy and they both admire the sophistication of this new program. However, a serious problem suddenly occurs with the anti-matter magnetic field and Data orders the entire crew to abandon ship. The whole crew then rushes to Starbase 74 and he sets the ship on an automated course after the computer falsely claims all decks are clear, even though Picard and Riker remain trapped inside the holodeck.

Shortly thereafter, Picard and Riker become aware of the fact that this computer simulation has been designed to distract them for as long as possible. When Picard and Riker finally leave the holodeck, they learn of the situation unfolding aboard the Enterprise –the Bynars have apparently stolen the ship and are heading for their home planet, Bynaus in the Beta Magellan System. It is up to Riker and Picard to solve this puzzle using “Minuet’’ as their guide. As it turns out, the main computer on Bynaus is failing and they need the help of the Enterprise. Why did the Bynars go take such a drastic measure as commandeering the Enterprise? A star in the Bynar System has gone supernova and it will destroy their main computer and threaten the lives of their stored information which has been stored inside the Enterprise by the Bynars –the only mobile computer large enough such a large trove of information. But if Picard and Riker can help the Bynars retrieve their computer data, how will they access the files?

In the end, Picard and Riker discover that accessing the main computer requires two people (like the pair of Bynars) and they use the names of the Bynars to access the files (“11001001”) in order to transfer the data. The Bynars are then saved and the Enterprise is returned to Starfleet, though the Bynars will face an investigation.  

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My Thoughts on “11001001”

In the early age of the internet, episodes like “11001001” granted science fiction shows permission to explore the relationship between organic life and advance technology (like computers). The Bynars strike me as a remarkable species in Star Trek –one of the more compelling alien races introduced in season one—a race of small creatures who speak rapidly in binary and are apparently wholly reliant on computers for their existence. Will the Bynars return again in TNG?

One lingering question I have about this plot that caused a wrinkle was: Why did the Bynars seek to entrap only one person (Riker) in the holodeck if the process to upload the “11001001” files to Bynars’ master computer actually requires two people? Why not ensnare both Riker and Picard? Either way, the Bynars get lucky when Picard happens to join Riker in the holodeck, but this seems like a small hole in the script in my view.

In all, I thought this was a terrific episode. For me it stands out as a highlight in season one, among the ranks of “Datalore,” “The Big Goodbye,” “Where No One Has Gone Before,” or even “The Last Outpost.”

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Writer/Director

This episode was written by Maurice Hurley & Robert Lewin, and they were reportedly pleased with the episode

Director Paul Lynch was also apparently pleased with how this episode turned out.

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Star Trek Trivia:

• The giant Starbase 74 is displayed using reused footage from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
• This is the first episode in which Riker plays a trombone.
• The Bynars home planet is Bynaus.
• The Bynars have just completed upgrades to the computers on the Wellington.
• This is the first time Riker has ever seen a Bynar.
• Picard notes that Bynars have become to interconnected with the main computer on their home planet that their language closely reflects binary.
• In this episode, some off the crew including Tasha Yar and Worf have been challenged to a friendly game of parrises squares.
• With guidance from Geordi, Data is creating a painting (with “zylo” eggs).
• Professor Terence Epstein is situated at Starbase 74, the leading mind in cybernetics. He lectured at Dr. Crusher’s medical school. Since the disaster at Micromius, Dr. Crusher has been working on combined research in cybernetics and regeneration –and she hopes to talk to Dr. Epstein.
• The title of this episode is actually the names of the four Bynars working aboard the enterprise, 11 00 10 01.
• This episode was originally intended to take place prior to “The Big Goodbye”, with the Bynars’ modifications causing the problems with the holodeck, but instead it was changed to the Bynars aiming to fix the holodeck to prevent those problems from recurring.
• The Bynars were played by young women, much like how Gene Roddenberry cast women to play the Talosians in “The Cage” decades earlier.