The Arsenal of Freedom
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 11 April 1988
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 41798.2
- DIRECTED BY
- Les Landau
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 121
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Richard Manning & Hans Beimler; story by Maurice Hurley & Robert Lewin
Searching for the missing USS Drake, an away team visits a world whose people once grew rich selling weapons, and finds the merchandise is still very much switched on.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
The Enterprise is sent to Minos, a planet that grew wealthy selling weapons, to discover what happened to the USS Drake, commanded by Riker's old friend Paul Rice. On the surface a holographic salesman delivers a cheerful sales pitch, and a convincing image of Rice appears, until Riker tests it with an invented ship name and is frozen in a stasis field. Automated drones attack again and again, each version learning from the last. Picard and Dr Crusher beam down to help but fall into a cavern, where Crusher is injured, while in orbit a cloaked drone attacks the ship. Left in command, La Forge separates the saucer and fights on with the battle section. Picard finds the system's controls and realises it is a product demonstration that wiped out its own makers and the Drake. He shuts it down by agreeing to buy, and La Forge destroys the orbiting drone.
- 01Director Les Landau had been an assistant director on the series, and became the first member of the production team to direct an episode.
- 02Maurice Hurley saw the story as a comment on the sale of American F-14 Tomcat fighters to Iran, taken to its ultimate conclusion.
- 03Dan Curry built the drone model from a L'eggs tights container and a shampoo bottle, and moved it by hand while wearing green tights to blend into the background.