Stardate: 41775.5
Original Air Date: May 9, 1988
Writers: Robert Sabaroff (story) and Tracy Tormé (teleplay)
Director: Cliff Bole
“This meeting never took place as far as Starfleet is concerned.”
In a First Officer’s log, Riker announces that the Enterprise-D is en route to the ocean world of Pacifica for a scientific mission. Many of the crew are excited about the prospect of warm blue waters and fine beaches that make Pacifica a “jewel of the galaxy.” Suddenly, Data receives a “Code 47” –a Starfleet Emergency Frequency for captains only. Picard is awoken with a covert message from Walker who gravely shares that something terrible has happened to Starfleet. He requests that Picard meet him face-to-face on Dytallix B, one of seven uninhabited planets for the Federation by the Dytallix Mining Company (located in the Mira System, it is the fifth of six planets circling the red giant known as Mira, one side always faces the sun where temperatures reach up to 180 degrees). The planet now has numerous abandoned mines. Before signing off, Walker instructs Picard not to trust anyone.
When they arrive at Dytallix B, Worf notices that sensors detect three Federation starships already in orbit around the planet: The Renegade commanded by Tryla Scott and the Thomas Paine commanded by Captain Rixx. The third is an Ambassador-class heavy cruiser called the U.S.S. Horatio, Walker Keel’s ship.
Picard decides to beam down to the planet by himself and in an abandoned mine he is greeted by several hostile Starfleet officers, including Captain Rixx, Captain Scott, and Walker Keeler who tests Picard by asking him where they first met (Tau Ceti III in a bar, “quite an exotic one”) and several other questions only the real Picard would know. Once proved, introductions are made and the captains explain that strange patterns have started emerged, Starbase 12 was completely evacuated for two full days without explanation, and there have been numerous accidental deaths recently: McKinney, Ryan Sipe, Onna Karapleedeez…
Alarmed, Picard returns to his ship and confides this secret in Deanna Troi and Data is sent on a mission to scan the records inside the ship’s computers in search of abnormal patterns from Starfleet directives. But before the ship can return course to Pacifica, sensors pick up a disturbance in sector 63 where they find debris from a space vessel –could it be one of the ship’s orbiting Dytallix B? Worf surmises that it is the destroyed remains of the Horatio, “from the looks of it, she’s been totally destroyed.” This implies Walker Keeler is almost certainly dead. Meanwhile, Data discovers a subtle shuffling of Starfleet’s highest officers as they met with a variety of new, low-ranking officers.
With haste, the Enterprise makes the highly unusual decision to return to Earth where they are greeted by Admiral Savar (a Vulcan), Admiral Aaron, and Admiral Gregory Quinn (they are flanked by a familiar face: Commander Dexter Remmick). While surprised to see the Enterprise, they invite Picard and Riker to dinner. However, Counselor Troi notes something is amiss as Admiral Quinn requests to come aboard the Enterprise alone (he is secretly carrying a briefcase with what appears to be a dangerous bug closed inside). When Picard deduces that Admiral Quinn is decidedly not himself, he instructs Riker to keep a close watch over him. Eventually, Riker learns what is inside the briefcase –a new “superior” form of life accidentally discovered by a survey team on an uncharted planet. Admiral Quinn then overpowers Riker and attacks Geordi and Worf before Dr. Crusher rescues them and conducts a complete internal scan of his body to see why has achieved super-human strength and she discovers that a parasitic being has infiltrated his body and taken complete control of his brain function. It breathes through a small gill protruding from the back of the neck.
Over a disturbing dinner of mealworms (for some reason?) Riker suddenly appears and pretends to be infected with a parasite (apparently, the other parasites cannot tell a fraud when they see one?). At any rate, a shootout ensues leaving the Admirals stunned while the parasitic beetles flee their hosts and regroup in the “mother” host, which amusingly turns out to be Commander Remmick. Picard and Riker shoot him, his head explodes (in memorably hilarious fashion), and the Federation is saved from near-certain doom.
The episode ends on an unresolved ominous note. Will this plot thread ever be revisited again in the future? Before he died, Remmick apparently sent a homing beacon from Earth…
My Thoughts on “Conspiracy”
This was actually a fairly gory episode with some terrific (albeit hilarious) practical effects –such as stop-motion cinematography to capture the parasitic beetles crawling out of people’s mouths, the famous exploding head of Commander Remmick, and the mother parasite which emerges from Remmick’s chest cavity in a scene reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s Alien. “Conspiracy” is assuredly a memorable horror episode even if it features some cornball fight sequences, clumsy phaser shootout sequences, awkward dialogue, and some confusing plot-holes. I quite enjoyed this action-adventure episode even if it left me with a large number of questions:
Why does Picard beam down to Earth unarmed if he knows something is wrong? Why would he go alone? Why does he allow Admiral Quinn to freely walk about the ship while pulling Riker into another room to explain something is wrong with Admiral Quinn? Why wouldn’t Worf use a phaser against Admiral Quinn when they fight? Why does Admiral Quinn start attacking crew members on the Enterprise? Doesn’t this subvert his whole plan? And how would a small parasitic life form infiltrate the Federation at its highest station? Wouldn’t the Federation be able to defeat this species? Why aren’t there checks and balances to prevent such a coup d’état?
As with all other Season 1 episodes, “Conspiracy” was apparently subsumed with background infighting and internal conflicts behind the scenes among members of the production team, some pushing for a darker horror episode while others wanted to create an allegory for the Iran-Contra scandal.
Writer/Director
This episode was written by Robert Sabaroff (story) and Tracy Tormé (teleplay).
It was directed by Cliff Bole.
Star Trek Trivia:
- Apparently, this episode’s cliffhanger was meant to be an introduction to the Borg, which was initially conceived as an insectoid species.
- Two of the oldest and closest friends of Picard are Jack Crusher (may he rest in peace) and Walker Keeler, who is presumably killed in this episode.
- In this episode, there is an amusing scene of Geordi telling a joke to Data who then forcibly performs awkward android laughter.
- In this episode, Worf claims not to like swimming, saying it is “too much like bathing.”
- Picard and Captain Rixx previously met at an “Altarian Conference.”
- Captain Tryla Scott reportedly made captain faster than anyone else in Starfleet history.
- Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick previously appeared in the Season 1 episode “Coming of Age.” Admiral Gregory Quinn also appeared in the same episode.
- Admiral Gregory Quinn told Picard on Relva VII about a threat he perceived to the fabric of the Federation.
- The effect of Remmick’s throat bulging was created using air bladders placed under a false neck, being inflated by makeup supervisor Michael Westmore who was hiding behind Remmick’s chair. This particular sequence took many shots because to complete because, Westmore claims, director Cliff Bole was determined to make his old school-friend Westmore hyperventilate. To create the effect of Remmick’s exploding head, initially a mold of Paul Newman’s face was filled with raw meat and then blown up but Rick Berman and Peter Lauritson were concerned this was too graphic. They brought in special effects supervisor Dan Curry’s six-year-old son. Needless to say, the boy was thrilled with the scene and exclaimed they could create an action figure of Remmick with an exploding head. Berman decided to air the episode as it was. It remains the only episode to have been banned by the BBC.
- Apparently, the parasites never return again in Star Trek except in the DS9 novels where they are revealed to be mutated Trill symbionts.
- This episode marks the first appearance of a Bolian, so-named after this episode’s director. It was performed by the iconic Michael Berryman as Captain Rixx. Michael Berryman has appeared in numerous films and television shows like Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Hills Have Eyes, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home, among many others.
The Borg being conceived as an insect race was interesting given the tentatively insectoid qualities that the Borg have. Paul Newman’s face contributing to a Star Trek episode is an intriguing notion. Thank you for your review and trivia.