Samaritan Snare

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Star Trek: TNG episode
"Samaritan Snare"
The Pakleds threaten Geordi in "Samaritan Snare".
Episode no.
Prod. code
Airdate	May 15, 1989
Writer(s)	Robert L. McCullough
Director	Les Landau
Year	2365
Stardate	42779.1
Episode chronology
Previous	"Q Who?"
Next	"Up the Long Ladder"

"Samaritan Snare" is an episode from the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The USS Enterprise-D encounters a ship of strange aliens. These aliens, called Pakleds, request the Enterprise's help to fix their broken ship. Judging from the way the aliens discuss the problem, the crew thinks they are so unadvanced it's strange how they were able to fly the ship in the first place. The Enterprise agrees to send Lieutenant Geordi La Forge over to fix the problem.

Meanwhile, Captain Jean-Luc Picard is due for a medical operation: His artificial heart is starting to break down and he needs a replacement. Doctor Katherine Pulaski convinces him to go to a starbase for the operation, so he orders Ensign Wesley Crusher to take him there in a shuttlecraft.

In the Pakled ship, La Forge finds out that the Pakleds were only pretending that their ship was broken. Communications between the Enterprise and the Pakled ship reveal that the Pakleds are actually somewhat crafty and used a ruse to take La Forge hostage, wanting him to make them more weapons.

Meanwhile, Picard's operation is going wrong and he is about to die. The doctors call in Dr. Pulaski to save the day.

On the Enterprise, Commander William Riker and Lieutenant Worf covertly establish a plot with La Forge to amaze the Pakleds into thinking they are no match for the Enterprise. The plot, featuring a spectacular light show of hydrogen gas passed through a forcefield, works and the Pakleds release La Forge.

[edit] Notes

This episode is the first appearance of the Pakleds.
This episode is the second (and final) appearance of Ensign Sonya Gomez on the TV show.
This episode is the first to establish Picard's nearly fatal fight with Nausicaans in Starfleet Academy.
When Picard is recounting his near-fatal experience with the Naussicans, a confused Wesley breaks in to ask: "Was this before the Klingons joined the Federation?" This is a rather striking misstatement, as later episodes clearly establish that the Klingons are not now and never were a part of the Federation.
Picard's statement at the end of the episode, "Any rumours of my brush with death are greatly exaggerated" may be a homage to Mark Twain's famous response to his prematurely-published obituary, "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." (This is a common misquote: his actual line was "The report of my death was an exaggeration.") This line itself is referenced in Star Trek: First Contact, when Picard states that, "The rumors of my assimilation have been greatly exaggerated."
Wesley calls the shuttle craft that he and Captain Picard pilot: "Shuttlecraft 2." However, the side of the vessel indicates that it actually shuttlecraft 1.