A Matter of Perspective

A Matter of Perspective
"A Matter of Perspective"
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
STMatterPerspective.jpg
The holodeck court
Episode no. Season 3
Episode 14
Directed by Cliff Bole
Written by Ed Zuckerman
Featured music Ron Jones
Production code 162
Original air date February 25, 1990 (1990-02-25)
Guest stars
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Déjà Q"
Next →
"Yesterday's Enterprise"
List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes

"A Matter of Perspective" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Plot

The USS Enterprise visits the Botanica Four research space station, in orbit around Tanuga Four, where Commander William Riker is checking on the progress of Dr. Nel Apgar, a Tanugan scientist supposedly willing to provide the Federation with a new energy source. Riker, obviously agitated, transports back to the Enterprise - at which point the station explodes, killing Dr. Apgar. Riker is considered a prime suspect, and under Tanugan law is considered "guilty until proven innocent". Tanugan investigator Krag wants to extradite Riker immediately, but Captain Picard requests that a hearing be held aboard the Enterprise. Krag agrees to the hearing, which will involve the use of the ship's holodeck to recreate Botanica Four and the events aboard it from the point of view of Riker, Dr. Apgar, Apgar's wife Manua, and Tayna (Apgar's assistant). Each testimony shows Riker and Dr. Apgar, who was working on a method of generating powerful Krieger waves, having an angry discussion just before Riker beamed off the station, though the nature of the argument is different from each viewpoint. However, there is undeniable testimony that a forced energy pulse appeared to have been fired from where Riker stood, striking Apgar's Krieger wave energy converter and causing it to explode.

Meanwhile, as the hearing continues, the ship's crew detect waves of unknown radiation that temporarily interfere with the ship's systems. Further investigation shows the radiation appearing at precise intervals, at the same time as the planet-based field generator (used by Apgar in his research) is timed to activate. When Picard is told of this, he realizes what has happened, and demonstrates for the hearing's attendees. Apgar had actually created a working Krieger wave converter, but when the Federation arrived to check on the progress of the work, Apgar lied - in order to try to profit from weaponizing the technology. Apgar then tried to drive the Enterprise away by using the converter to strike and kill Riker; he intended to activate the converter at the moment that Riker beamed away, in order to make his death look like a transporter accident. However, the transporter field reflected the Krieger wave back to the converter and destroyed the station. Picard proves this by pointing out that the holodeck recreation of the converter, also completely functional, had been intercepting the generated field energy from the planet and created its own Krieger waves. Picard demonstrates by timing the holodeck program with the next field emission from the surface, which recreates the situation as Picard describes - and destroys the holographic simulation. Riker is exonerated, and the case is dismissed.

Notes

  • This episode's theme is derived from the 1950 Japanese film Rashomon.[1]

References

  1. ^ Perspective Clarification
  • Star Trek The Next Generation DVD set, volume 3, disc 4, selection 2.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Matter — This article is about the concept in the physical sciences. For other uses, see Matter (disambiguation). Matter is a general term for the substance of which all physical objects consist.[1][2] Typically, matter includes atoms and other particles… …   Wikipedia

  • Perspective distortion (photography) — foreshortened. At very small values (not shown, as the camera would lie inside the object), light rays are nearly perpendicular, resulting in lines that normally appear perpendicular seeming to converge upon a single point.In photography and… …   Wikipedia

  • Matter-Dominated Era — The Matter Dominated Era was the epoch in the evolution of the Universe that began after the Radiation Dominated Era ended, when the Universe was about 380,000 years old. Although it was often said that we still live in the Matter Dominated Era,… …   Wikipedia

  • Matter-dominated era — The matter dominated era was the epoch in the evolution of the Universe that began after the radiation dominated era ended, when the Universe was about 70,000 years old. Although it was often said that we still live in the matter dominated era,… …   Wikipedia

  • Leukoencephalopathy with vanishing white matter — Classification and external resources OMIM 603896 Leukoencephalopathy with vanishing white matter (VWM disease) is an autosomal recessive neurological disease. The cause of the disease are mutations in any of the 5 genes encoding subunits of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Gray Matter (short story) — Infobox short story | name = Gray Matter author = Stephen King country = United States language = English series = genre = Horror, science fiction published in = Cavalier (1st release), Night Shift , Arbour House Necropolis publication type =… …   Wikipedia

  • Marshall McLuhan — McLuhan redirects here. For the son of Marshall McLuhan, see Eric McLuhan. Marshall McLuhan Marshall McLuhan in the early 1970s Born July 21, 1911(1911 07 21) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada …   Wikipedia

  • Isometric projection — is a form of graphical projection more specifically, an axonometric projection. It is a method of visually representing three dimensional objects in two dimensions, in which the three coordinate axes appear equally foreshortened and the angles… …   Wikipedia

  • Axonometric projection — For axonometric projection in video games, see Video games with isometric graphics …   Wikipedia

  • Yesterday's Enterprise — Star Trek: The Next Generation episode …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”