Stardate: 41986.0
Original Air Date: May 16, 1988
Writers: Deborah McIntyre & Mona Clee (story), Maurice Hurley (teleplay)
Director: James L. Conway
“For fifty years there is barely a whisper out of them.
Now for no apparent reason they seem to be back with a roar.”
In another first officer’s log, the Enterprise-D is awaiting the return of Captain Picard who has been summoned to Starbase 718 for an emergency conference. Meanwhile, the ship’s censors have been monitoring an ancient floating capsule which appears to be from earth. Picard is still several hours away so Worf suggests he can use a tractor to adjust its heading, but instead Data wants to investigate this “space debris” since it is an important piece of history. With permission from Riker, Data and Worf beam over to the capsule to inspect it.
Once they beam aboard, Data notes there is minimal oxygen and it has an “ancient solar generator, still operating,” however the onboard computers have ceased functioning. Data attempts to download the capsule’s disk back to the Enterprise. Next, they find a sealed door that, when opened, reveals a room filled with cryogenically frozen humans –several of whom are dead but three are alive. Data and Worf then beam back to the Enterprise with the three frozen humans.
Meanwhile, Picard returns and immediately redirects the ship to head into the Neutral Zone. Two Federation outposts in sector 3-0 have been destroyed. There has been no communication with the Federation Starbases in Sector 3-1 since 41903.2. The attack is assumed to be the Romulans, though there has been no direct contact with the since the Toed Incident. The strategic gamble is to send one single ship: The Enterprise.
While the on the way, Dr. Crusher has thawed the three humans who were cryogenically frozen in the late 20th century, much to Picard’s chagrin. After inspecting their health issues (they all were frozen with terminal conditions hoping to awaken in the future wherein their medical issues can be resolved), Dr. Crusher awakens them. The first is a homemaker Clare Raymond, aged thirty-five, and when she wakes up, she spots Worf –a Klingon—and immediately faints. It’s a quirky gag that comes to symbolize the amusing tone of this group.
“Welcome to the 24th century.”
The next person is Ralph Offenhouse, a fifty-five-year-old financier. The last is L.Q. Sonny Clemonds. Apparently, he worked in music of some sort. There are plenty of goofy hijinks as the three humans learn about the futuristic world in which they have awakened. For example, Ralph Offenhouse wants to see an issue of the Wall Street Journal and to make a phone call to his bank to check on his investments. Also, L.Q. Sonny Clemonds speaks with a ridiculously thick southern accent and makes all sorts of silly statements, calling Dr. Crusher “pretty little lady” and “darling” and so on. Amidst the backdrop of a potential conflict with the Romulans, these three guests serve as a deeply unwanted distraction.
The Enterprise approaches Science Station Delta 0-5 only to find it has been destroyed, while Deanna Troi is sent to console Clare Raymond who cannot stop crying about her two sons, Tommy and Eddie. Through the ship’s computer, she learns of the generations of her progeny.
Next, the ship heads to Tarod-9 to find it also destroyed. Riker and Worf suggest bringing the ship to battle stations, but Picard refuses and a yellow alert is issued instead. A large Romulan ship appears while disengaging its cloaking device as Ralph Offenhouse annoyingly manages to wedge his way onto the bridge with the captain during an important negotiation with the opposing Romulan commander Tabok. In a tense stand-off, both Picard and the Romulans determine that something significantly larger than either of them has mysteriously destroyed outposts on both sides of the Neutral Zone. Picard offers an olive branch, and while the Romulans reluctantly accept the prospect of working together, they issue a warning to the Enterprise of their dissatisfaction with the expansion of the Federation:
“We are back.”
Then, the Romulans and the Enterprise part ways. In the end, the crew discusses what to do with the three unfrozen humans from the late 20th century. Picard announces the Enterprise must not backtrack, but rather their mission must proceed forward:
“Our mission is to go forward and it’s just begun…
There is still much to do, still so much to learn.”
My Thoughts on “The Neutral Zone”
The return of the Romulans! Sadly, this episode a bit underwhelming and anticlimactic for a season finale. However, the unseen enemy who has destroyed both the Romulan and Federation outposts remains mysterious –is it the Borg? I am eagerly awaiting their arrival in TNG.
Despite the vague echoes of the classic TOS Khan episode “Space Seed,” the three cryo-humans who are awoken in this episode bear little resemblance to Khan and his cronies. The three time-displaced humans are actually jarringly silly, and their presence serves as an unresolved badgering nuisance throughout the story. It leads to a quirky, confused tone in the episode –is this intended to be a throwaway comedy episode? Or should we take it to be a slow-burn mystery? And why is Riker so dismissive of ancient earth “space debris” at the outset? And once awoken, why are the unfrozen humans simply allowed to roam the ship and even wander onto the bridge? Why don’t they seem to have much of a reaction to suddenly finding themselves 300 years in the future? Why isn’t Ralph Offenhouse’s urgent need to contact his bank ever resolved in a meaningful way? Why wouldn’t Dr. Crusher wait to awaken this oddball trio until after the Romulan stand-off is over? This whole misadventure felt like a frustrating waste of time except for the very end of the episode in which the Romulans make their surprising return and we learn that a mysterious villain is lurking in the shadows. At least this episode features the triumph of Picard’s steady-handed reason over the kneejerk bellicoseness of Riker and Worf.
Writer/Director
This story was written by Deborah McIntyre & Mona Clee, and the teleplay was written by Maurice Hurley. Due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike, Maurice Hurley created the script in about a day and a half, and the timescale forced the abandonment of the idea of a two-part episode as well as the first appearance of the Borg, which was delayed until the following season in the episode “Q Who.”
This episode was directed by James L. Conway.
Star Trek Trivia:
- This episode features the return of the Romulans. Following the perceived failure of the Ferengi introduced as the main villains in TNG, the Romulans became the main villains during the early years of the series. The other villain was going to be an insectoid version of the Borg as introduced in the prior episode “Conspiracy.”
- This episode marks the first appearance of the Romulan double-hulled D’deridex class warbird, concept art for which was created by Andrew Probert (this was the final design he competed for TNG). He went on to work for Disney Imagineering, leaving Rick Sternbach as the principal illustrator under new production designer for season two Richard James.
- A miniature of the Romulan ship was built by Greg Jein.
- The symbol of the Romulan Star Empire was designed by Monte Thrasher, if you look closely you can see a bird of prey clutching the twin worlds of Romulus and Remus, one in each claw.
- The story for this episode was hampered by the 1988 Writers Guild strike.
- The year referred to in this episode is: 2364.
- In this episode, the Romulan Commander Tabok was played by Marc Alaimo. He also played recurring villain Gul Dukat in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is accompanied by Thei, played by Anthony James.
- Peter Mark Richman (1927-2021) played Ralph Offenhouse in this episode. He previously appeared in numerous shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits (“Borderland”), and The Twilight Zone (“The Fear”).
- Data mentions that television did not last as a form of entertainment much beyond the year 2040.
- Picard claims that in the last 300 years, humans have eliminated hunger, need, want for possessions, humans have outgrown their infancy.
- The last time the Federation has encountered the Romulans was decades ago and it cost thousands of lives.
- At one point, Worf notes that Romulans are “without honor” and that they killed his parents in an attack on Khitomer when they were supposed to be allies.
- This episode featured an appearance by Gene Roddenberry’s production assistant Susan Sackett as a Starfleet science officer (her appearance was apparently a bet over her weight loss). She would go on to write two episodes of TNG.
- Apparently, two of the rescued cryo-humans return in the Star Trek litverse in the TNG novel Debtor’s Planet (Raph Offenhouse becomes a Federation ambassador to the Ferengi) and again in the Destiny trilogy as the Secretary of Commerce for the Federation. Clare Raymond made an appearance in the Department of Temporal Investigations novel Watching the Clock as a counsellor for time-displaced people. All three also appear in the two-part The Eugenic Wars books by Greg Cox, which was set prior to their appearance in this episode.
- At the close of the tumultuous Season One of TNG, there was considerable turnover among the writers and production crew. Gates McFadden’s contract was not renewed (as both writer and actor), and David Gerrold departed, while producer Bob Justman sought to slow down his life after successfully relaunching Star Trek (he was replaced by David Livingston, the young man he hired as unit production manager for the pilot and who would later become a director of some of Star Trek’s most visually striking episodes across three series). Production Designer Zimmerman also left to work for William Shatner on the feature film Star Trek V (he later also worked on Star Trek VI, DS9, and the TNG feature films). But it was Gene Roddenberry’s gradual departure due to ailing health that truly set the stage for a different path forward for TNG after Season One under the leadership of Rick Berman.
The notion of 20th-century people waking up a new life in the Star Trek future indeed deserved better than what this episode gave us. I felt that TNG got considerably more serious in later years and especially when bringing back familiar enemy races like the Romulans. The first season didn’t end on the best note. But thankfully the endings for the following seasons would be redeeming enough. Thank you for your review and trivia.