My Favorite "Star Trek: TNG" Adventures I Quiz

Answer: San Francisco

Picard's holodeck program was based on a series of detective novels featuring Dixon Hill. This particular adventure was set in 1941 and of course Picard took on the role of Hill.

Here is an analogy for you. Picard is to Dixon Hill as Data is to __________ . If you don't know how to complete this analogy you will if you watch the third episode of season 2. If I told you the title of the episode it would give away the answer!

Answer: Deanna Troi

Deanna suggested to the captain he needed a break and should take time to use the upgraded holodeck. She however did not join the captain in his program though Data and the 20th century historian Whalen did. Later, they were joined by Dr. Crusher who was disappointed she did not get to be interrogated by the police like Captain Picard.

Answer: Picard had to learn a greeting in their own language in order for diplomatic relations to be established.

The Jarada of Torona IV had a very difficult language which was hard to learn and had a strict reliance on protocol. Since this insectoid species rarely communicated with outsiders and were easily insulted by mistakes made when their language was spoken, learning this greeting was very stressful for Captain Picard. The last diplomatic attempt failed due to a mispronunciation in a greeting which so insulted the Jarada they did not communicate with the Federation for 20 years.

You may recognize the other choices as descriptions of other episodes or series in the "Star Trek" Universe. The episode "Darmok" of season 5 featured an alien race who spoke only in metaphors. The 2nd season episode "Loud as a Whisper" featured the deaf mediator Riva who spoke by way of a telepathic chorus of three others.

The last incorrect choice of an alien species that only spoke through music, I made up, but it was inspired by a couple of different "Star Trek" series. In the "Star Trek: TOS" episode "The Paradise Syndrome" Spock was able to decipher the writings of the Preservers, an alien species whose writing was based on music. The Preservers were the alines who seeded the galaxy with endangered primitive humanoid cultures, such as the Native Americans Kirk encountered.

And finally, in the Voyager episode "The Void" there was a species native to The Void who did not seem to have a verbal language so The Doctor taught one of them to communicate via different musical notes on a PADD. This individual then taught others of his species on the Enterprise.

Answer: A powerful probe with which an alien species had scanned the Enterprise.

The Jarada used a probe which caused the malfunctions on the Enterprise such as on the holodeck when the crew could not leave, communicate outside of the holodeck and the safety protocols being turned off. So when the 20th century expert Whalen was shot he really was dying.

Answer: False

This is false because Mr. Kosinski was a very rude, demanding, and egotistical man. It was only at the end of the episode he started to change realizing that it was really The Traveler who had made the Enterprise travel such incredible distances. Interestingly Troi, who was empathic, could very easily read Kosinski and tell what kind of man he was but to her The Traveler was a complete blank.

Answer: That thought, time, and space were not separate after all.

Wesley really surprised The Traveler in how advanced his knowledge and thinking was. The Traveler earnestly urged Wesley never to repeat what he said about space, time, and thought because Earth was not yet ready for this kind of thinking. Of course Kosinski thought he was the one who had cracked the warp barrier and accidentally taken the Enterprise to such extreme distances but in really his equations were nonsense.

The Traveler advised Picard to encourage Wesley in his pursuits because he was a real protege in time, energy and propulsion not unlike Mozart was with music. In the end Wesley was made an acting ensign by Captain Picard.

Answer: True

The other 2 episodes featuring The Traveler are "Remember Me" (season 4) and "Journey's End" (season 7). In "Remember Me" Dr. Crusher got trapped in a static warp bubble and "Journey's End" was about a group of Native Americans being forced to relocate due to a Federation/Cardassian treaty as well as Wesley's dissatisfaction with his life at Starfleet Academy.

Answer: What was in a person's imagination and thoughts became reality.

The Traveler had actually made a mistake and didn't intend to send the Enterprise to such extreme distances or for the ship to travel at inconceivable speeds.

Since thoughts became reality Worf and Tasha saw their childhood pets, targ and cat respectively. Picard almost stepped out of the turbolift into space and then saw his late mother who spoke to him. Tasha also imagined she was back on her home planet being pursued by a rape gang. Being part of a musical quartet, being a ballerina, and being caught on fire were situations other crew members imagined. Picard ordered everybody to general quarters, put the ship on red alert, and told everybody to only focus on their duties-to control their thoughts.

Picard then asked the crew to focus their thoughts either on their duty or on the well-being of The Traveler and this most likely helped The Traveler return them to their own galaxy because he had been very weakened. Returning the Enterprise to the Milky Way galaxy caused The Traveler to completely phase out of their reality.

Answer: They were upgrading the Enterprise's computer.

Though it was true the Bynars home planet desperately needed help due to a supernova which caused them to shut down their planet's main computer, they did not sneak aboard. They were upgrading the Enterprise's computer including enhancements to the holodeck.

But of course the Bynars really wanted the Enterprise's huge computer to store all the information from the main computer on Bynar which needed to be completely shut down to avoid damage from a electromagnetic pulse from a supernova.

Answer: Abandon ship

Data, even though an android and without emotions, managed to convey authority and urgency in this order as did Picard the time he used the order "abandon ship" in the episode "Cause and Effect."

On a side note, by contrast during her Kobayashi Maru test in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," Lt. Saavik sounded like she was ordering pizza or something mundane when her ship was about to be destroyed by the Klingons and gave the order to abandon ship. I recently watched "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" for about the 4th time since the movie was released.

Now back to the episode. It turned out the emergency affecting the antimatter magnetic containment field was all manufactured by the Bynars and was not a real emergency but there was no way Data could have known that. So since the Enterprise looked like it was in danger of being destroyed in a matter of minutes, the starbase was alerted of the danger, and he set an automated departure sequence, programmed a course away from the starbase and any other inhabited planets and then he gave the order to abandon ship.

If you recall, Picard and Riker were being distracted by the lovely Minuet on the holodeck and no communication could get through to them.