Home Soil
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 22 February 1988
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 41463.9
- DIRECTED BY
- Corey Allen
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 117
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Robert Sabaroff; story by Karl Guers & Ralph Sanchez and Robert Sabaroff
The story credit is spelled “Karl Guers” on Reactor and Jammer's Reviews; Wikipedia spells it “Karl Geurs”.
A visit to a terraforming station on a barren world turns into a murder investigation when a laser drill seems to take on a mind of its own.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
The Enterprise checks on a terraforming project on Velara III, run by the proud and defensive Director Kurt Mandl. When an engineer is killed by a laser drill, Data and Geordi find that the drill had been reprogrammed, and Data barely escapes an attack himself. Nearby they find a tiny crystal that pulses with light and brings it aboard for study. It turns out to be alive. It grows, takes control of the medical lab and the ship's computer, and denounces humans as ugly bags of mostly water. The colonists had dismissed its energy readings as random. The crystals depend on a layer of salt water just beneath the surface, which the terraforming was draining away. When the lab lights are dimmed, the weakened crystal agrees to talk. Picard negotiates its return to the planet, and Velara III is placed under quarantine.
- 01The crystal's description of humans as “ugly giant bags of mostly water” has since been used as the title of a documentary and songs.
- 02Walter Gotell, who plays Mandl, was known for playing General Gogol in the James Bond films.
- 03Script rewrites continued throughout shooting. Director Corey Allen received new pages the day before filming.