The Price
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 13 November 1989
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 43385.6
- DIRECTED BY
- Robert Scheerer
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 156
WRITTEN BYWritten by Hannah Louise Shearer
Rival delegations gather on the Enterprise to bid for rights to a rare stable wormhole, and Troi falls for a charming negotiator whose talents may give him an unfair edge.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
The Enterprise hosts talks for the Barzans, who are selling rights to a stable wormhole that appears to lead to the distant Delta Quadrant. The bidders include the Federation, represented by Seth Mendoza, the Caldonians and some uninvited Ferengi. Troi is drawn to Devinoni Ral, a confident negotiator for another bidder, and the two begin a passionate affair. When Mendoza is poisoned by the Ferengi, Picard asks Riker to take over the Federation bid. Troi slowly realises that Ral is an empath like her, secretly reading and manipulating everyone at the table. Meanwhile, Data and La Forge take a shuttle through the wormhole alongside a Ferengi pod and discover that its far end is unstable and drifting, which makes it worthless. The Ferengi are left stranded in the Delta Quadrant. With the wormhole exposed as useless, the deal falls apart, and Troi confronts Ral over his deception and ends their relationship.
- 01Kevin Peter Hall, who plays the Caldonian negotiator Leyor, was best known as the creature in the first two Predator films.
- 02The episode firmly established the galaxy's four quadrants. Its stable wormhole and stranded Ferengi foreshadow ideas later central to Deep Space Nine and Voyager.
- 03The stranded Ferengi, Arridor and Kol, return in the Voyager episode “False Profits”, still in the Delta Quadrant.