Stardate: 41309.5
Original Air Date: February 7, 1988
Writer: Michael Michaelian & D. C. Fontana
Director: Rob Bowman
“My revenge will be seeing you live like this…”
The Enterprise-D is in orbit around Persephone V where Picard has been dispatched to confer with an elderly Starfleet officer, Admiral Mark Jameson, regarding an “extraordinary situation” that is unfolding. Two days ago, Starfleet received a subspace transmission from Karnas, the Governor of Mordan IV, who claimed that a dissident group of terrorists kidnapped Federation Ambassador Hawkins and they are demanding that a Federation negotiator –Admiral Mark Jameson—arrive within six earth days or else the hostages will each be executed.
This terrorist situation is troubling because Morgan IV recently achieved peace and stability after forty years of civil war. Why is Karnas personally unable to handle this terrorist incident on his own planet? Why is he specifically requesting the help of Admiral Mark Jameson? Some 45 years ago, Admiral Jameson had negotiated a hostage situation on Mordan. After speaking with Picard, Admiral Jameson beams aboard the Enterprise with his wife Anne, but he also requests to be placed in full command of the away mission and the landing party, which he claims is a power Starfleet has granted him in the past. Picard somewhat reluctantly agrees, but he still senses something strange is afoot. Admiral Jameson seems to be hiding the truth –he lies to Dr. Crusher about his medical records and he privately suffers a medical emergency, struggling perhaps due to Iverson’s Disease, an incurable disease, which has confined him to a support chair for four years.
Suddenly, Admiral Jameson begins rapidly de-aging. Dr. Crusher has found strange traces of chemical substances in his body that are not documented in Starfleet’s pharmacopeia. Somehow, Admiral Jameson’s Iverson’s Disease has suddenly begun reversing. He reveals that he has been given his youth back after consuming an herb and drug ingestion over two years on Cerberus II. He was given enough supply for himself and also his wife, however when the hostage crisis arose, he decided to take both doses in order to accelerate his de-aging process –a risky decision to say the least.
Most of Mordan’s chief city was destroyed in the war, and now the new city has been reconstructed over a network of tunnels beneath the city. Therefore, Admiral Jameson decides to explore the tunnels, believing that the hostages will be hidden underground. However, as it turns out, there are no terrorists and Karnas is the one who has kidnapped hostages in a ploy to punish Admiral Jameson for his past transgressions. We learn that Mordan is ruled by tribes and Karnas’s father was once the chief of a ruling family before being assassinated. Karnas then seized a passenger vessel and demanded weapons in exchange from Starfleet, at which point Admiral Jameson was sent in to negotiate and, contrary to the official record, Admiral Jameson secretly gave weapons to Karnas as well as to his enemies. This was Admiral Jameson’s interpretation of the Prime Directive. It led to four decades of civil war on the planet as Admiral Jameson falsified official Starfleet records.
To complicate matters, Admiral Jameson’s rapid de-aging process is not stabilizing and his health deteriorates. He begins acting as a brash, young Starfleet officer while leading a landing party consisting of himself, Picard, Geordi, Data, Worf, and Lt. Yar. Soon a shootout occurs in the underground tunnels on Mordan and Admiral Jameson collapses. In the end, an ailing and now teenaged Admiral Jameson decides to give himself over to Karnas in order to save the hostages. He dies in his wife’s arms and Karnas agrees to release the hostages.
“Rest, Jameson. Your long night… and mine… are over.”
Admiral Jameson is then buried on Mordan after having accomplished very little. Back aboard the Enterprise, Picard muses with Riker about the futility of the quest for youth. The Enterprise heads for Isis III.
My Thoughts on “Too Short A Season”
As a strange Benjamin Button tale wedged into a terrorist hostage situation, “Too Short A Season” is another utterly drab episode in a mostly underwhelming debut season of Star Trek TNG. Why would Picard simply agree to Admiral Mark Jameson being in complete control of this mission? Shouldn’t he confer with Starfleet leadership about this? There seems to be some confusion over Starfleet leadership in suspicious circumstances.
Clayton Rohner’s portrayal as Admiral Jameson is haphazard and unconvincing, and his elderly costume and make-up gives the game away from the start of the episode (I figured out there would be some element of de-aging at the get-go). This is a wholly unsatisfying episode –in the end, the maniacal Karnas continues to rule over his planet, and nothing is really accomplished other than new knowledge about the roots of the civil war.
Writer/Director
This episode was written by Michael Michaelian. He co-wrote the teleplay with D. C. Fontana.
Director Rob Bowman was apparently critical of this episode.
Star Trek Trivia:
- Earlier in his career, Admiral Mark Jameson served aboard The Gettysburg.
- Michael Pataki, who played Karnas in this episode, previously appeared in the TOS episode “The Trouble with Tribbles” as the Klingon character named Korax.
- Michael Michaelian originally pitched this story based on the idea of “andropause,” or male menopause.
- This episode features a unique jazzy score by George Romanis.
- As established in this episode, Karnas’s former title was “Peritor.”