Stardate: 42923.4
Original Air Date: July 10, 1989
Writer: David Kemper
Director: Robert Scheerer
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”
Despite initial misgivings, Captain Picard has agreed to divert the Enterprise to the Braslota system to take part in a war game exercise. He agreed to do so to prepare for the Borg threat. In orbit around the second planet is the 80-year-old starcruiser Hathaway which will be commanded by Riker to simulate the battle conditions with the Enterprise. Joining as an observer and mediator is the Zakdorn master strategist, Sirna Kolrami (Roy Brocksmith). Data notes that for some nine millennia, the Zakdorn have developed a reputation for having the greatest innately strategic minds in the galaxy. Throughout his time aboard the Enterprise, Kolrami is arrogant and denigrating toward the crew, especially Riker.
The Hathaway has “old Avidyne engines” which Geordi has researched and plans to whip into ship in 48 hours. Riker also enlists the help of Worf and Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher, but before arriving at Braslota, Riker challenges Kolrami to a game of strategema. However, he loses in a mere 23 moves.
Once aboard the USS Hathaway, Riker appoints Worf as his number one (even though Geordi is the superior officer). Unfortunately, the USS Hathaway has little more than a few dilithium fragments but it lacks antimatter. Ensign Wesley Crusher decides he needs to return to the Enterprise to stop a delicate experiment he was working on for a physics class. It later turns out to be an experiment that deals with high energy plasma reactions with antimatter. He beams it over to the Hathaway –is it cheating? Or improvisation?
Meanwhile, Dr. Pulaski convinces Data to play a game of strategema against Kolrami. Despite Dr. Pulaski whispering to Data to “bust him up” in order to set the arrogant Kolrami down a peg, amazingly Data loses to him. This convinces Data he might be fallible, or even malfunctioning, and he becomes unsure of his own abilities as an android. He departs the bridge until he can discover the flaw in his own quarters. However, Captain Picard convinces him to return to his post, even if he is flawed. After complying, Data begins to prepare for the simulated fight against Riker and the Hathaway –at the Academy, Riker calculated a sensory blind spot on a Tholian vessel and hid within it during a battle simulation, and as a Lieutenant aboard the Potemkin, his solution to a crisis was to shut down all power and hang over a planet’s magnetic poles to confuse his enemy’s sensors.
As the simulation begins, Picard launches the “Kumeh” maneuver –a recognizable Starfleet ploy—while Worf and Riker counter with the “Talupian” maneuver. Suddenly, a Romulan warship appears and Picard begins defensive maneuvers, only to find it was a holographic decoy laid by Riker and crew on the Hathaway. In response, Picard prepares photon torpedoes, but a Ferengi ship appears out of the blue and begins firing on the Enterprise (it is no hologram this time) and the Enterprise is badly damaged, unable to return fire and the Hathaway lacks the systems needed to deter the Ferengi.
Onscreen, Bractor leader of the Ferengi vessel Kreechta () denounces the Enterprise and questions why they were attacking an inferior starship. They plan to steal the derelict Hathaway in ten minutes to confiscate its profits and Kolrami urges Picard to retreat, but Picard and the crew develop a plan wherein the Enterprise fires photon torpedoes at the Hathaway at just the moment it uses its newly capable warp drive to flee (so it appears the Hathaway has been destroyed) and it converges back upon the same place which scares off the Ferengi.
In the end, the Hathaway and Enterprise are reunited with Kolrami being forced to admit that Riker was a captain strategist. Also, Data faces off in a rematch game of strategema against Kolrami and this time Kolrami storms off without finishing the game. What happened? Data explains that he simply readjusted his premise –he wasn’t hoping for victory. Instead of trying to win, he attempted to push for a standoff which completely threw off Kolrami’s tactics. This becomes the highest scoring game of strategema ever and Data finally admits: “I busted him up.”
My Thoughts on “Peak Performance”
This wonderful war games episode is a real standout gem for me from Season 2 of TNG! In it, Riker helms the old starship Hathaway (flanked by Worf and Geordi) and they engage in a simulated battle against Captain Picard on the Enterprise, while Data’s self-assuredness is shaken by an arrogant Zakdorn strategist who has been sent by Starfleet to observe the match.
While the Zakdorn Sirna Kolrami is fairly curmudgeonly and predictable, I still thought he was a nice addition to this little adventure, but one of the best things about “Peak Performance” is that every crew member is given an important part of the story –Picard, Riker, Geordi, Worf, Wesley Crusher, Counselor Troi, Data, and even Dr. Pulaski. This is a great ensemble episode.
A few minor questions I had with this episode include the following: why would Riker be given an old, outdated ship for war games against the Enterprise? Aren’t there other ways to run a simulation with greater parity that would be more applicable to real life situations facing Starfleet? And personally, I’m a bit mixed on the introduction of the Ferengi in this episode –why did they show up seemingly out of nowhere? How were they able to observe the war games at a distance without the Enterprise knowing of their presence? And why wouldn’t they try to take over the crippled Enterprise rather than the inferior Hathaway? Are we really supposed to believe they are capable negotiators?
At any rate, this is still a great episode, one of the best of Season 2 in my opinion. It’s just a shame that “Peak Performance” wasn’t the season finale…
Star Trek Trivia:
- Sirna Kolrami is played by Roy Brocksmith (1945-2001) who also appeared in classic films like Total Recall (1990), Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991), and Arachnophobia (1990). He tragically died of complications from diabetes in 2001 at the age of 56. He had one child.
- The Ferengi leader Bractor is played by Armin Shimerman (1949-present), known for his role as the Ferengi Quark in the Star Trek franchise, appearing as the character in all seven seasons of Star Trek: DS9; he also had a recurring role as Principal Snyder in the first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Bractor is flanked by an unnamed Ferengi tactical officer played by David L. Lander (1947-2020), who tragically died of multiple sclerosis in 2020.
- The other crewmen in this episode are Ensign Nagel, the blonde woman (played by Leslie Neale) and Lt. Burke, the blonde man (played by Glenn Morshower).
- This episode features a special effects sequence of a Constellation-class starship in outer space (the Hathaway). This design was previously shown in the first-season episode “The Battle” and later appears in several other episodes.
- Worf notes that the Zakdorn have a reputation for being formidable warriors, but Data recalls that potential foes for nine millennia have regarded the Zakdorn for having the greatest innately strategic minds in the galaxy. Kolrami is a third-level grand master at the game of strategema.
- Strategema appears to be a computerized game with rotating perpendicular squares and circles while the players use finger player sets attached to wires as they wiggle their fingers rapidly.
- Captain Picard states: “Starfleet is not a military organization; its purpose is exploration.”
- This episode gives a rare glimpse inside Worf’s quarters.
- The USS Hathaway has the old boatswain whistle from TOS.
- Dr. Pulaski likens Data “sulking” to Achilles in his tent (a reference to Homer’s Iliad).
- Geordi references a “Grenthemen water hopper” that both he and Riker have operated in the past.
- The screen on Data’s computer in his quarters reads: “Library Computer Access Retrieval System LCARS 40272.”
- In this episode, Data notes that at the Academy, Riker calculated a sensory blind spot on a Tholian vessel and hid within it during a battle simulation, and as a Lieutenant aboard the Potemkin, his solution to a crisis was to shut down all power and hang over a planet’s magnetic poles to confuse his enemy’s sensors.
- The “Kumeh” maneuver is a recognizable Starfleet ploy used by Picard. Worf and Riker counter with the “Talupian” maneuver.
- The Ferengi ship is called Kreechta (pronounced “Creek-tah”).
- This episode offers a nice bit of continuity from the Borg threat as established in “Q Who.”