Conspiracy

"Conspiracy" ranks as one of the most disgusting installments in episode television history. The story line involves an infiltration of Star Fleet by "intelligences" bent on the destruction of the Federation. A longtime friend of Beverly Crusher visits the Enterprise and brings with him a sinister secret, revealed in a stunning confrontation with Worf.

As the conspiracy widens, Capt. Picard and Ryker return to Earth and come face-to-face with the "mother" of the conspiracy, setting the stage for one of the most dramatic and jaw-dropping scenes in Trek history.

'It's too bad that the producers didn't decide to continue with a follow-up episode that would tie up some of the loose ends from this memorable show.

It's undoubtedly the best episode from season one and possibly the best episode of Next Generation. From the jump, it had the perfect amount of tension and believability and a great story. The only season one episodes that compare to its quality are "Datalore" and "Heart of Glory." The Federation's rules and benevolent nature are under assault by a mysterious force that might have originated from within the core leadership of its organization. Only a handful of its trustworthy senior officers seem to be aware of the problem, which is alarming in itself.

This episode's only flaws: its special effects are very dated and almost laughable by today's standards, and it relies on Jonathon Frakes's acting (groan) a bit too much.

The overall story of Conspiracy is quite interesting, and certainly unique, at least to The Next Generation. We are left in the dark for precisely the right moments, and only in the end do we really understand what has been going on this entire episode, which in my eyes in quintessentially trek storytelling.

The special effects and practical effects, while only seen in greater detail in the latter half of the episode, are a bit rudimentary compared to todays standards, however considering that this was created in the late 80's, and for a television show no less, it meets expectations. Even incorporating tricky stop-motion to capture certain movements which would not be easy to do otherwise.

Where this episode is lacking however is in the way it is told. The story is great, but the whole episode feels like it's trying to fill the time with long drawn out scenes, and whole minutes of the episode feel like they should've been left on the cutting room floor, and instead been filled with more interesting exposition or a more dramatic rising action.

All in all the episode is one of the better ones from season 1, and definitely is worth a watch, although as many reviewers pointed out, it does contain some light gore elements, so very young children should probably sit this one out.

After reading HNSampat-2's review, I had to respond. Sampat writes that the episode should be disowned, but it's the 39th best rated TNG episode out of 176 on IMDb. It's the highest rated episode out of the first season. And if we consider the people who are taking the effort to rate each episode, it's obvious that it's the fans who think it deserves a 7.9.

So I put it to you Sampat - how is it not Star Trek? That's a load of rubbish. This show made Star Trek what it is today.

And this episode DOES relate to space. In fact, it's a prelude to what should have been a future space adventure episode relating to these beings. Instead they were replaced by the Borg.

The episode is very enjoyable. There's some dodgy direction in the fight scenes, but outside of that it's a joy to see the actors begin to gel with their characters. I could always remember this episode from when I was younger due to the beeping of the beacon sent out - chilling stuff.

Also, watch out for horror specialist Michael Berryman (Pluto in The Hills Have Eyes) making a guest appearance. 9/10

Star Trek meets The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers!

Picard is covertly summoned to a secret location by an old friend who has some concerns about what is going on at Starfleet, so he scraps the Enterprise's visit to a paradise planet for R and R. In favor of investigating this issue. As it turns out nothing is as it seems.

It's a little hard to assess this episode within the pantheon of this very inconsistent first season of The Next Generation. On one hand, the tone of the episode really doesn't fit in with the others, and the lack of payoff from this episode in later seasons, makes me categorize this into one of The Next Generations weird experiments.

On the other hand, when you consider it as a standalone, it is perhaps the best episode of the 1st season. While not the best written, it is one of the very few times that this show managed to truly creep me out, which is no easy feat if you know me.

In many ways, I wish this were the finale of the first season, because if this was a thread that they were thinking about pursuing, I would have liked to see what they would have done with it. Unfortunately, this plot was never revisited. But as a standalone, I liked this episode quite a bit.