Star Trek: The Next Generation — 3x06 — Booby Trap

Aired 1989-10-30

SpaceOpera.com rating:5

Average reader rating:4.77

Synopsis

The Enterprise is ensnared in an intergalactic booby trap.

Remarkable scenes

Geordi in the opening scene. Ouch!
Picard: "The ship in the bottle--oh good lord didn't anybody here build ships in bottles when they were boys?" Worf: "I did not play with toys." Data: "I was never a boy." O'Brien: "I did, sir." Picard: "Thank you, Mr. O'Brien."
Guinan is attracted to bald men. Must be why she tends bar on Picard's ship. :)
Reactionless Dr. Brahms and Geordi enhancing her personality.
Picard taking the helm.

Review

This episode successfully combines humor and danger. Picard taking the helm is thrilling and Geordi's holographic adventure is funny such that this episode comes across as entertaining, but with little beyond that. An enjoyably average episode.

9 reader comments

If Iralius IX was originally a planet, wouldn't the assimilators have had to be placed in the debris after the battle that decimated the planet? And if the battle that destroyed the planet was the battle where the enemies fought to their mutual extinction, who placed the assimilators? Obviously the assimilators must have been placed before the final conflict, which means that the debris field could not be Iralius IX. But that would contradict Picard, because he identifies the Promellian cruiser as being among the ruins of Iralius IX.
Why hasn't someone already found the Promellian cruiser? It's been there for a thousand years. Evidently somebody investigated the area prior to the arrival of the Enterprise, since the crew knows that this was the location of the final battle.
These Promellians must make an incredible battery. Remember that the assimilators have drained all power from the vessel. Yet, it still manages to send out a distress call for a thousand years!
Why is the Promellian cruiser sending out a distress call? The captain of that ship knew the assimilators were destroying his ship. Why lure another craft into the trap?
At the end of the episode, Picard blows up the Promellian cruiser. This is a mint-condition, thousand-year-old artifact. Even Picard says it "belongs in a museum." There is nothing wrong with the ship. It is just surrounded by the assimilators. Doesn't the Federation have the technology to clear the booby trap and tow the ship out?
Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge is on the Enterprise, populated by the finest of Starfleet's engineering staff, and he has to get a holographic representation to help him solve a problem?
At the end of the episode, Geordi says they are going to shut everything off and use only two thrusters. When Picard flies the Enterprise out of danger, he actually uses three thrusters: starboard, port, and starboard aft.
by DSOmo | 07/09/2007 at 3:17 am

A thousand year old derelict's gravity generator still intact?
There is nothing in space to stop a moving object's inertia. How did all that debris come to a complete standstill? Why didn't it strike anyone as being strange?
"I'm not used to having people question my judgment." "And I'm not used to dying." Great comeback! Even if she's just a hologram.
by DJB | 12/25/2007 at 6:50 am

The above mentioned problems bothered me as well, but they didn't take away from the episode because I can rationalize some of them away. The only exception is Picard's order to blow up the booby trapped wreckage. Why not just put some warning bouys around the debris field until somebody can figure out how to clear the assimilators?
This was a rare episode where the sub plot was more engaging than the main plot. The character development for Geordi was much-needed and well done, especially considering that there's some good continuity with the Lea Brahms character later in the series. Poor Geordi; even Data gets more action than he does.
by JRPoole | 03/24/2008 at 4:14 pm

My favorite part of the episode was the part with Geordi. I always liked the idea of Geordi falling in love with the hologram, he needed some character development. But the part at the end where Picard maneuvers the ship out always seemed rather forced – "lets make up some silly reason for Picard to maneuver the ship using thrusters, it's dramatic!"
DSOmo has a lot of valid comments.
It is funny how Geordi, chief engineer on the flagship of the Federation, seems to have no idea what the holodeck can do until the computer tells him. He acts like a kid trying to figure out a new toy for the first time. But this is consistent with many episodes, that holodeck is just full of surprises.
by Christopher Alexander | 04/07/2011 at 6:52 am

The reason Geordi doesn't know what the Holodeck can do is because the audience doesn't know, and it has to be explained to them (us). It's called exposition. They might have been able to do it a little better if they had more time, but not within a 40-minute episode that also included Picard's own "archaeology" story.
I love the way Picard relieves Wesley at the helm. Just like his counterpart on the alien ship, the Captain is taking full responsibility for the success or failure of the endeavor.
by John DC | 09/01/2011 at 12:01 am

I don't have too much in response to this episode, although it was quite good, quite entertaining. The main plot was rather static and not that intricate, but Geordi's romantic subplot adds enough color and flavor to compensate…
I rather liked both of the two solutions presented at the end: let the computer make 1,000s of helm adjustments every second to "exploit the time differential" in the snare's response, or have someone, as it turns out Picard, fly the ship "on one propeller," with the lights and engines down, on thrusters only.
Of course, I'm sure we've seen this "thrusters only" thing as a solution before (as we've seen the "slingshot off the object's gravitational pull" maneuver enough times to no longer be surprised - unlike Data, strangely enough)… but hey they had to write a lot of episodes… I don't blame them too much for recycling elements here and there.
So, not a particularly remarkable or emotionally or intellectually gripping episode, but enjoyable nevertheless.
by Ggen | 03/10/2012 at 9:03 pm

This episode is in my top ten of favorites of all STTNG episodes. I love it for its simplicity; the plot is basic and uncomplicated. I also love it for its uniqueness; the music used in this episode is very different than the music in any other episode… It has a very different flair. I find it interesting that when they first sight the derelict vessel, Worf is the first to recognize it as a Promellian Battle Cruiser. And when Picard starts talking about it, even Data has an expression of awe. I also love this episode for the way they explore Geordi's inadequacies with talking to women - that he is better with talking to the computer or a holographic woman… (And have you ever noticed that his only real friend is an android? - poor Geordi, not good with people, though he tries so hard.) I also love that they include Guinan in this episode - I love her character. The general fascination with the ancient ship and the way Picard is so taken with it is wonderful, despite that the wonder is soon lost when they realize the danger of the booby trap. One flaw I see in this episode is the condition of the captain and crew of the derelict ship. If they had been floating there in space for over a thousand years, it seems unlikely the ship would still have breathable oxygen. Even so, if the bodies of the captain and crew were positioned in their chairs for over a thousand years in an oxygenated environment, the skeletal remains of their corpses would not have skin or hair, and their clothes would have deteriorated to dust. But, regardless of how scientifically plausible or implausible that is, this is a great episode.
by Daniel Antil | 07/05/2014 at 4:47 pm

Poor Geordi couldn't get laid in a morgue, even in episodes where he would have been able to with ease like 'The Naked Now S01E03' when everyone is intoxicated and knocking boots on all floors where is Geordi? That's right he's not getting any action because he is strapped to a bed in sick bay. The poor fellow hasn't even got the cohonies to get some holo booty action with the construct of Leah Brahms, he even becomes her friend. I wonder if the title to this episode BoobyTrap is more a reference to the Nice Guy Trap that Geordi falls into in the pre title sequence rather than the space based dilema of the Enterprise
by Rob UK | 02/17/2015 at 4:04 pm

"Oh great, another woman who won't get personal with me on the holodeck." Fuck you, Geordi. Seriously. Since when are you entitled to a stranger's personal logs? Eat a dick. Don't get me wrong, I like Geordi. I like that he has room for growth here. And I think a lot of us have had times in our lives when we can relate to his romantic frustrations. But damn. That line really struck me this time. That attitude won't get you anywhere.
Also, why isn't Geordi working with, like, every other engineer on the ship? This is kind of an emergency. What is everyone else doing? It's strange to see people just casually walking around like it's another Tuesday, when they're just hours away from lethal radiation poisoning.
That objection aside, this is a nice, solid TNG episode. It has a relatively plausible premise (for Star Trek anyway), and I liked the drama of Picard piloting his own ship to safety.
by Azalea Jane | 08/01/2021 at 6:43 am