Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Third Season: Disc 3

Country of Origin:	United States
Production year:	1989
Directors:	Timothy Bond, Robert Scheerer, Cliff Bole, Gabrielle Beaumont
Rating:	NR(Television)

UPC [Locale]:	Disc ID: 2158-6C2B-051A-A13E
Running time:	3:02 (182 Min.)
Casetype:	Digipak
Format:	NTSC, Color, 1.33:1, Full Frame
DVD-Format:	Single-Sided, Double-Layered
Released:	July 02, 2002
Collection type:	Owned
Status:	Available

Purchase date:	January 01, 1970
Purchase price:	Hidden
Review (movie):
Review (video):

Overview

157. THE VENGEANCE FACTOR
Airdate: 10.16.89 Stardate: 43421.9
After finding traces of Acamarian blood at a looted Federation outpost, Picard leads the crew to Acamar III. There, he learns that the responsibility for the attack on the outpost lies with the Gatherers, a thieving band of renegade Acamarians who split off from their culture 100 years ago, following centuries of battles between rival clans. When Acamar's leader, Marouk, expresses her desire to reintegrate the Gatherers into her now peaceful society, Picard offers the services of the 'Enterprise' to find the bandits.

The search leads to a Gatherers camp in the Hroni Cluster, where the pack leader, Brull, agrees to meet with Marouk to discuss her proposal for amnesty. During the meeting, however, Marouk's young servant Yuta kills an elderly Gatherer from the Lornack clan named Volnoth, though she makes it appear as if he suffered a heart attack. Dr. Crusher soon discovers that Volnoth was murdered by a microvirus specifically engineered to prove fatal to his system.

Despite Brull's interest in Marouk's proposals, he insists that they must meet with the Gatherer chief, Chorgan, before any final decisions can be made. En route to Chorgan's hideout, Riker is drawn to the enigmatic Yuta, who claims to desire freedom, but alludes to the fact that her path in life has already been determined. Adding to Yuta's mystery, Riker learns that she serves Marouk not by command, but by choice.

Although Chorgan is at first violently opposed to talking with Marouk, Wesley Crusher is able to convince him that it would be in his best interests to do so. While Marouk attends a meeting on the Gatherer ship, Riker learns that Yuta was responsible for Volnoth's death and has killed others in the Lornack clan — whose surviving members include Chorgan. Knowing that Yuta is attending Marouk's conference with Chorgan, Riker beams aboard the Gatherer vessel.

Riker arrives just in time to prevent Yuta from killing the unsuspecting Chorgan. Yuta proclaims that she is only seeking vengeance for the massacre of her clan, the Tralestas, by Chorgan's clan. She explains that her grandfather, the only other survivor of the attack, altered her cells to make her touch fatal to the Lornacks, and that she used her position with Marouk to get close to the last remaining members of the Lornack clan. When Yuta makes another attempt to touch Chorgan, Riker is forced to destroy her with his phaser, thus ending her mission. The peace talks, however, are saved.

158. THE DEFECTOR
Airdate: 01.01.90 Stardate: 43462.5
Answering a request for asylum from a Romulan scout ship, the crew beams aboard. Although he claims to be a low-ranking logistics officer, the vessel's pilot, Setal, shares a startling revelation: the Romulans have established a base on Nelvana III, from which they plan to launch a major offensive to reclaim the Neutral Zone. Informing Picard that the assault against the Federation will begin in 48 hours, the Romulan defector begs the captain to destroy the base to prevent a catastrophic war.

Without firm evidence supporting Setal's claims, Picard fears that Setal's story may be a Romulan ploy to trick the 'U.S.S. Enterprise' into initiating war. His suspicions are heightened when Setal informs Picard that he is really a Romulan Admiral named Jarok, who once led a massacre of Federation outposts. Although Jarok now claims that he only wants to keep the peace, Worf alerts Picard that Klingon ships in the area have warned him not to trust the Romulan, since his race had once tricked a great Klingon commander into appearing the aggressor in a war.

With time running out on a volatile situation, Picard meets with his security officer, Worf, and then leads the 'U.S.S. Enterprise' through the Neutral Zone to Nelvana III. When a closer probe of the planet reveals no Romulan power base, Jarok is dumbfounded.

Suddenly, the 'U.S.S. Enterprise' is surrounded by three Romulan warships and ordered to surrender by Tomalak, a commander who once confronted Picard over a skirmish in the Galorndon Core. Picard realizes that Jarok, who had recently been reassigned to a position of lower rank, was used by the Romulans to lure the 'U.S.S. Enterprise' into a trap. The information about the base was all just a ruse to test Jarok's loyalty to his leaders.

Picard refuses Tomalak's demands that the crew surrender and, at a prearranged moment, three Klingon warships uncloak, surrounding the Romulan ships. The odds stacked against him, Tomalak backs down and retreats, promising Picard that they will meet again. Knowing that his defection has cost him his family and his homeland, a despondent Jarok commits suicide.

159. THE HUNTED
Airdate: 01.01.90 Stardate: 43489.2
The 'U.S.S. Enterprise' visits the planet Angosia, which recently emerged victorious from a lengthy war and is now seeking membership in the Federation. During the visit, a violent prisoner in Angosia's penal colony escapes and is later captured with the help of the crew. The escapee, Roga Danar, is detained aboard the 'U.S.S. Enterprise' while repairs to the damaged prison can be completed.

Although Troi has been warned that Danar is extremely dangerous, she is drawn to him when she senses that he is being tortured by nightmares. Meeting with the prisoner, she comes to believe that he is inherently non-violent, despite his reputation.

A check of Danar's records reveals that he is a military prisoner who served Angosia honorably in the recent war. He informs Troi that when he volunteered for service, his government conducted intense psychological and biochemical modifications on him and his fellow soldiers. When the men, programmed for violence in any situation threatening their survival, had difficulty readjusting to civilian life, they were exiled to Lunar V.

Confronted by Picard with Danar's story, Angosian Prime Minister Nayrok basically tells him to mind his own business and insists that the prisoner be returned. Picard reluctantly informs Danar that he will be sent back to prison via a police shuttle.

But during the transfer, Danar hijacks the shuttle and returns to Lunar V, where he leads an assault on the prison. Nayrok then sends an urgent message to Picard, informing him that hundreds of rioting prisoners are headed for the Angosian capitol.

In response to Nayrok's pleas, Picard leads an Away Team to Angosia, where he finds Nayrok and the members of his senate arming themselves against an attack. Just then, Danar and his comrades burst in, but knowing that the veterans will not kill unless their own lives are threatened, Picard vows that he and his crew will not fire upon the prisoners. Instead, Nayrok is urged to take steps to reprogram the soldiers and welcome them back into society — only then, Picard asserts upon leaving Nayrok and Danar, will the Federation reconsider the planet's application for membership.

160. THE HIGH GROUND
Airdate: 01.29.90 Stardate: 43489.2
While delivering medical supplies to a planet involved in a lengthy civil war, Dr. Crusher is taken hostage by Finn, the leader of a radical separatist organization. Although at first fearful for her life, Beverly soon learns that she has been kidnapped to provide expert medical care for terrorists dying from the effects of an interdimensional transporter. Although the nuclear-powered device allows the rebels to move at high speeds and to escape detection by Rutian sensors, its end result is fatal internal damage.

Certain that Finn and his followers will use Beverly as a bargaining chip for their cause, Picard asks Riker to rescue Dr. Crusher with the help of Alexana Devos, the leader of the Rutian police. Alexana, determined not to compromise her hard-line position with the terrorists, is furious when Riker tells one of Finn's men that the Federation is willing to negotiate for Beverly's release.

Alexana's skepticism is justified when Finn, certain that the 'U.S.S. Enterprise' has joined forces with the Rutians against his people, launches a deadly assault on the 'U.S.S. Enterprise'. Although Geordi is able to remove a bomb from the vessel before it detonates, several crew members are killed in the skirmish and Captain Picard is taken hostage with Beverly.

At his hideout, Finn tells Picard that he welcomes Federation involvement in his cause, since that will force the Rutian government to make important concessions. On board the 'U.S.S. Enterprise', Riker plots a surprise attack on Finn's underground headquarters.

But when Riker, Worf and Alexana show up in the hideout, Alexana shoots Finn to death after the terrorist leader appears ready to execute Picard. Riker chides Alexana for her actions, but she tells him that Finn's death will result in less bloodshed than if he had been taken prisoner and his followers attempted to free him. With Beverly and Picard safely released from captivity, the 'U.S.S. Enterprise' leaves the outcome of the Rutian conflict to Alexana and her advisers.

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