The Chase (TNG episode)
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| Star Trek: TNG episode | |
| "The Chase" | |
 |
|
| Episode no. | 146 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 246 |
| Airdate | April 26, 1993 |
| Writer(s) | Joe Menosky Ronald D. Moore |
| Director | Jonathan Frakes |
| Guest star(s) | John Cothran Jr. Linda Thorson Norman Lloyd Salome Jens Maurice Roëves |
| Year | 2369 |
| Stardate | 46731.5 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Lessons" |
| Next | "Frame of Mind" |
"The Chase" is the 146th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. In this episode, four competing expeditions — Federation, Klingon, Cardassian, and Romulan — attempt to solve a genetic puzzle that proves to be the key to why Star Trek's version of the galaxy contains so many humanoid life forms. They are similar in appearance to the "generic humanoid" form taken by Odo and his shape shifting race from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Although Salome Jens, who plays the generic humanoid in this episode, also played the Female Shapeshifter on DS9, it is unknown whether any connection was intended by the producers.
While not explicitly said on screen, the alien at the end of the episode is thought to be one of Gene Roddenberry's Preservers, which many fans believe are the same race as the ancient humanoids.
Picard has always enjoyed archeology, and is contacted by Professor Galen, a mentor of his. The professor states that he has come across a terrible problem, which has now politicised several Alpha Quadrant races, namely the Klingons and the Romulans (blood enemies at the best of times). He believes he has discovered an embedded genetic pattern in Earth lifeforms, and it is speculated that this was left by an early race that pre-dates all other civilisations. This would explain why so many races are humanoid. The information may be a message about advanced weapons or technology.
The Enterprise agrees to investigate, and shares information with the Cardassians and Klingons (since they all have a piece of the puzzle that the others cannot find). They determine a pattern in how the 3 planets were aligned millions of years ago and extrapolate the position of a fourth. The Cardassians warp off ahead of the others. Picard then reveals that he deliberately misled the Cardassians (after discovering that they tampered with his defensive systems), and he and the Klingons set off together to the real location of the planet.
Arriving at the planet, they discover that almost all life is dead, but scans by the Enterprise detect a small fragment of moss on one of the continents, and they beam down to investigate with their tricorders containing all previously known information. The Cardassians arrive, as well as an undetected Romulan force, creating a standoff. Picard and Dr. Crusher secretly scan the moss. The data creates a program that reconfigures the tricorder's emitter. The recorded image of an alien humanoid is projected to the assembled company, and it explains that it is one of the true creators of life in the Alpha Quadrant, since when its race first explored it there was none. The alien ends by saying that it hopes that this knowledge will help produce peace.
The Romulans and Cardassians are outraged at this (considering themselves superior races), as are the Klingons (who hate the Romulans and are disgusted to be related to those "without honour"). Only the Federation representatives seem optimistic. The episode ends with all parties diverging, but one of the Romulan party contacts Picard and hints that "One day..." [there may be peace].
The PC video game Star Trek: Hidden Evil (Activision, 2000) is a sequel both to this episode and to the feature film Star Trek: Insurrection. Most of the game's storyline takes place in an underground complex on the Ba'ku home world (the planet visited in the Insurrection movie) that turns out to have been constructed by the proto-humanoid race revealed in "The Chase". The proto-humanoids were killed off by so-called "xenophors," an assortment of bizarre creatures that are apparently the product of a proto-humanoid genetic engineering project gone bad. The player's mission is to prevent the xenophors from escaping the complex and also prevent the technology inside the complex from falling into Romulan hands. Salome Jens, who portrayed the proto-humanoid hologram in "The Chase", voices the last surviving proto-humanoid in the Hidden Evil game.
[edit] External links
- The Chase article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- The Chase (TNG episode) at StarTrek.com
