Stardate: 42779.1
Original Air Date: May 15, 1989
Writer: Robert McCullough
Director: Les Landau
“We look for things… Things we need… Things that make us go.”
The Enterprise is en route the Epsilon IX sector for an astronomical survey of a new pulsar cluster. In the meantime, Ensign Wesley Crusher will be diverting to Starbase 515 for Starfleet exams, and Dr. Pulaski is ordering Captain Picard to also report to Starbase 515 for a medical procedure that he refuses to undergo on the ship (much to his chagrin). Wesley and Picard take a shuttlecraft to Starbase 515 where Picard reveals he is set for a cardiac replacement –a parthenogenetic implant. His heart was injured and a replacement is necessary.
Suddenly, the Enterprise receives a “Mayday” signal on all frequencies from an unidentified ship in the Rhomboid Dronegar sector 006. Responding to this crisis will put the Enterprise at considerable distance from Picard. When they arrive, the Enterprise finds a basic early design ship with sub-light travel. They claim to be Pakleds, a relatively benign species with poorly-developed language skills and limited armaments. Their ship is The Mondor and they are “far from home” and they say “we look for things to make us go.” Riker sends Geordi over to repair their ship while Worf objects to sending their chief engineer.
Deanna Troi warns that the Pakleds are not helpless and that Geordi is in great danger. When he makes the necessary repairs, the Pakleds suddenly steal his phaser and fire before Geordi can beam back. They also appear to have a Romulan shield that prevents the Enterprise from beaming Geordi back. This whole escapade was apparently a charade intending to lure Geordi as their prisoner. They will only return him if the Enterprise all of its computer information to the Pakleds. The Pakleds are impatient for new information and technology, eagerly awaiting the evolution of their species. Should the Enterprise attempt to outsmart the Pakleds? Or use force to retrieve Geordi?
Ultimately, Riker and the crew develop a ruse –blowing hydrogen exhaust through the Bussard collector which they convince the Pakleds is a “force field” while Geordi secretly disables their photon torpedoes. Then the Pakleds somewhat inexplicably lower their shields so Geordi can be returned to the Enterprise.
Meanwhile, on the way to Starbase 515, Picard relays a story about being a cocky young man fighting a trio of Nausicaans at Farbase Starbase Earhart at the Bonestell Recreation Facility wherein Picard wound up impaled and nearly died. When they arrive on the Starbase, Picard undergoes his procedure but there are complications until Dr. Pulaski arrives to save his life. In the end, he returns to the ship.
My Thoughts on “Samaritan Snare”
“Samaritan Snare” is a clumsy episode in my view. The Pakleds are a confusing bunch –are they actually as intellectually deficient as we are initially led to believe? Or is this all a ruse? If they are not particularly intelligent, how is it that they were able to accumulate so much technology from the Romulans and Klingons in the first place? And when first glancing at their ship, how would Geordi know he could fix their ship? And why would Riker send chief engineering officer Geordi over to a foreign ship entirely alone? Worf seems to be the only rational character on the bridge in this episode. It almost makes Riker seem like the stultified one rather than the Pakleds. In the end, why does the Enterprise simply allow the Pakleds to get away even though they are apparently armed to the teeth and could pull the same distress call stunt again in the future? Will they face no punishment for this debacle? And why would Geordi actually build them real functioning photon torpedoes if he was only going to disable them anyway? And after being shot by a phaser multiple times, how is it that Geordi appears to be perfectly fine, not even in need of medical attention? The writing here leaves much to be desired and the Pakleds have often been negatively compared to people with Down’s Syndrome.
As for the B-plot: Picard displays flashes of his notorioys Season 1 grumpiness but on the plus side this episode offers a few fascinating details of Picard’s backstory –we learn that he is ashamed of his rowdy past when he was a cocky young man, fighting Nausicaans and ultimately damaging his heart. Still, it seems strange that Picard would be so prideful as to reject the implant procedure from Dr. Pulaski. And it also defies common sense that Picard would travel all the way to a starbase for a highly sophisticated procedure, only to find the medical staff ill-equipped to handle his care. In the end, much of the crew learns of his brush with death but they vow not to speak of it again. Notably, Wesley Crusher’s Academy exam subplot is quickly abandoned for no apparent reason.
Star Trek Trivia:
- In this episode, Data forces a communication connection with the Pakleds called a “forced spectrum communication” which is apparently spotty at best. But fans have noted that this seems suspiciously like a retcon (it would have come in handy in numerous other situations where communication was severed).
- Lycia Naff makes her second and final appearance as Ensign Sonya Gomez in this episode.
- Picard briefly references Farbase Starbase Earhart at the Bonestell Recreation Facility when speaking about his past.
- Picard’s artificial heart is revisited in the sixth season episode “Tapestry.”
- The Pakleds were named after the surnames of the man who pitched the episode and his best friend. “Reginod” and “Grebnedlog” are Doniger and Goldenberg spelled backwards. They were played by Christopher Collins and Leslie Morris.
- The actors hired to portray the Pakleds were intended to give the impression of Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. Makeup supervisor Michael Westmore created a prosthetic design for the actors (he also drafted early concept sketches of the Pakleds).
- Pakleds occasionally appear again in the background of Star Trek episodes, and they are mentioned in the fourth season episode “Brothers” for having rescued Lore following the events of “Datalore.”
- Writers Dennis Bailey and David Bischoff disliked the first five minutes of “Samaritan Snare” so much that they were inspired to pitch their own story which eventually became the third season episode “Tin Man.”
The Peklads could have been made more interesting and particularly somehow more redeeming. I always take issues with TV and movie dramas that portray certain mentalities as inevitably bad and/or dangerous. So the Star Trek potential to grow beyond that stagnation in some of its better episodes was greatly appreciable. Thank you for your review.