Sub Rosa (TNG episode)
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| Star Trek: TNG episode | |
| "Sub Rosa" | |
 Dr. Crusher in "Sub Rosa". |
|
| Episode no. | 166 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 266 |
| Airdate | January 31, 1994 |
| Writer(s) | Brannon Braga Jeri Taylor |
| Director | Jonathan Frakes |
| Guest star(s) | Duncan Regehr Michael Keenan |
| Year | 2369 |
| Stardate | 47423.9 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Homeward" |
| Next | "Lower Decks" |
"Sub Rosa" is an episode from the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It originally aired on 31 January 1994.
Quick overview: Dr. Crusher attends her grandmother's funeral, and spends time in her haunted house. This episode is known among fans as "The One Where They Go To the Scottish Planet."
The Enterprise flies to a planet which looks like Scotland. There Dr. Crusher's grandmother is buried and several crew members take part in the burial. During the burial Crusher sees a man she does not know but who is obviously very interested in the burial.
Later Crusher enters her grandmother's house and takes several things onto the Enterprise. She also takes some diaries with her and reads them. She finds out that her grandmother has had, although she was older than 90 years, a 30 year-old lover called Ronin (Ronin is a Japanese word, referring to a samurai without a master, and seems deliberately chosen for this character; without Beverley's grandmother, he is "masterless"). She is very surprised because her grandmother never told her that she had a lover.
Back on the planet a servant of her grandmother tells her that there is a ghost in her grandmother's house and that she should go away immediately. He also tells her that she never should kindle a candle which her grandmother always carried with her. The candle would wake up the ghost. Beverly does not take the servant seriously and enters the house. There she hears a voice who calls her name but she does not see anybody. The voice tells her that he is a ghost and loved her grandmother and now also loves Beverly. Finally he becomes visible and Beverly sees a man of about 30 years who tells her that he is not able to be visible for a long time. The ghost called Ronin manipulates Beverly's mind so that she falls in love with him. Ronin tells her to kindle the candle which Beverly has on the Enterprise. Beverly beams up, kindles the candle and Ronin appears. Beverly tells him that she has never loved a man as much as him in her former life.
Meanwhile, the colony is suffering from a major storm system, which the weather modification satellite is unable to correct. Data and Geordi attempt to fix the problem but are shocked to find Ned, the Howard servant, try to stop them, before he is killed in an explosion.
Then Beverly tells Captain Picard that she wants to leave the Enterprise and to live on the planet from now on. Reluctantly, Picard agrees. Picard goes to Counselor Deanna Troi with whom Crusher spoke about Ronin before she left. Troi tells Picard that Ronin is a very strange man but also that they have to accept Beverly's decision.
Then Picard beams down onto the planet and visits Beverly in her house. He wants to get to know Ronin and finally Ronin appears. Picard asks many questions which Ronin does not want to answer and finally Ronin attacks Picard who falls down on the floor. Crusher wants to help Picard but Ronin wants to depart with her. At the end Ronin goes alone to the cemetery where Geordi and Data have found an energy source in Beverly's grandmother's grave. Data and Geordi open the grave and the grandmother rises up and attacks them. Crusher has already arrived and tells Ronin to get out of her grandmother's body. Ronin does, appears and tells Beverly to give him the candle. Beverly destroys the candle with a phaser and Ronin disappears. Ronin was an aniphasic alien who could only survive because the candle was his energy source.
[edit] Trivia
There are a few fans who compare this episode with the writings of Anne Rice's The Witching Hour as there are similarities between Ronin and Lasher, the Scottish setting and the idea of a hereditary witch. Both spirits require the power of 'the witch' to strengthen their existence.
[edit] External links
- Sub Rosa article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Sub Rosa at Ex Astris Scientia.
| Preceded by: "Homeward" |
Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes | Followed by: "Lower Decks" |
