Star Trek: The Next Generation — 6x12 — Ship in a Bottle

Aired 1993-01-25

SpaceOpera.com rating:4

Average reader rating:6.03

Synopsis

The senior staff is trapped in a Holodeck fantasy.

Remarkable scenes

Data and Geordi playing a Sherlock Holmns story on the holodeck.
Data, who has memorized the program script, confused as to why it glitched.
Moriarty appearing on the holodeck talking to a clueless Barclay.
Moriarty "walking off" the holodeck.
Barclay talking to Moriarty's lover.
Data attempting to transport the chair off the holodeck, then Data suspecting that they were still on the holodeck.
Watching the two planets collide.
Picard, Data, and Barclay tricking Moriarty.
Picard explaining how he fooled Moriarty.

Review

Moriarty was a Mori-Moron in this episode. Granted Picard, Data, and Barclay's method of fooling Moriarty was clever, even downright genius, it seems unlikely that Moriarty would be so foolish as to think he could ever leave the holodeck. An irony of this story is that in 5 years or so in Voyager, this indeed will happen for Voyager's EMH, but it will require technology from hundreds of years from the 24th century. Unfortunately, it kind of annoys me that the issue of Moriarty becoming sentient was washed away once again as something to be forgotten. And this time, we won't be following up on it. Picard does mention that the greatest scientific minds in the Federation would be studying how it became so, but the episode leaves the viewer with the impression that it's a non issue. Especially with regards to how much progress had been made; more accurately the lack there of, with the exception perhaps of Dr. Zimmerman's work on the EMH. I tend to have sympathy for Moriarty's cause in this respect, but since he was a clinical madman with malicious intents throughout his life interacting with the real world characters, I also say good riddance. I bag of mixed emotions.

7 reader comments

The whole holodeck inside the holodeck thing was confusing. If picard told the computer to "end program" at the end, shouldn't both programs have ended at the same time?
I did find that whole concept of "we might be inside some simulation right now" intriguing. Who knows? Maybe the wachowski brothers ripped off Rick Berman when they made the Matrix ;)
by Pete Miller | 05/12/2006 at 4:49 am

Couldn't Data reverse voice control back to Picard with simullating Moriartys voice?
by Dejan | 06/28/2007 at 10:49 am

In case there was any doubt about the disposition of holodeck matter, this episode absolutely confirms that it cannot exist outside the holodeck. The dialogue again and again pounds this point home. For example, Picard says, "Although objects appear solid on the holodeck, in the real world they have no substance." To prove it, he picks up a book and tosses it through the holodeck entrance. The book immediately vaporizes (much quicker, by the way, than the villians did in "The Big Good-Bye"). True, this scene occurs within Moriarty's simulation of the Enterprise, but Picard acts like the book behaved exactly as he expected. If holodeck matter cannot exist outside the holodeck, the following anomalies exist. Wesley, drenched in holodeck water, walks off the holodeck and remains wet ("Encounter At Farpoint"). Picard, kissed by a 1940s holodeck woman, leaves the holodeck with her lipstick intact on his cheek ("The Big Good-Bye"). A snowball flies out of the holodeck and hits Picard ("Angel One"). And finally, Data carries a piece of holodeck-created paper to a meeting of the senior staff ("Elementary, Dear Data").
In the opening scene of the episode, Data and Geordi enjoy a Sherlock Holmes adventure. At one point, Geordi tells the computer to "freeze program." While the character quits moving, the clock keeps ticking and the fire keeps burning. Shouldn't these freeze also?
by DSOmo | 11/13/2007 at 10:36 am

I don't think some of the anomolies are really problems. I always got the impression that the Holodeck uses standard replicator technology to augment the illusions of the environment it creates. Ergo - food, water, even objects specified by the user can be "really created" out of standard replicator materials, the same as ordering tea in Picard's ready room. These things would exist beyond the holodeck and even within a simulation after it is ended.
by Rob Gnow | 04/18/2008 at 12:34 am

I think this is a brilliant episode. Is this episode the first demonstration of phishing? Creating an environment in which someone will inadvertently release their authentication key surely does seem similar to the problems we face on the web today.
by Remco | 08/06/2008 at 1:20 pm

Brilliant episode with a good balance of intrigue, suspense, and metaphysical musing. Moriarti is great as usual (glad they took the concept one step further and made this sequel).
I love the concept and the execution, with all its twists. Of course, I kind of thought the whole thing might've still been on the holodeck, but pretty much forgot about that idea by the time it was actually revealed. And the final twist was even more surprising, and chock full of irony to boot.
This episode very effectively preempted the movie Inception by a full 17 years.
Goes straight into my personal Trek Hall of Fame.
by Ggen | 04/15/2012 at 9:02 pm

Two planets colliding, creating a star? WTF???
by Mikael | 05/29/2014 at 11:20 pm