Tin Man
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 23 April 1990
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 43779.3
- DIRECTED BY
- Robert Scheerer
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 168
WRITTEN BYWritten by Dennis Putman Bailey & David Bischoff
A troubled Betazoid telepath joins the Enterprise to make first contact with a living starship, but the Romulans are racing to reach it first.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Starfleet assigns Tam Elbrun, a gifted but unstable Betazoid telepath, to the Enterprise for an urgent first contact. A living ship has been found orbiting a star that is about to go supernova, and the Romulans are heading for it too. Elbrun struggles to shut out other minds, and he was involved in an earlier first contact in which 47 Starfleet personnel died. Riker, among others, distrusts him. When the Enterprise arrives, a Romulan warbird attacks, and Elbrun senses that they will destroy the creature if they cannot have it. He warns the being, which calls itself Gomtuu, and it destroys the warbird. Gomtuu is ancient, lost its crew long ago, and wants only to die. Picard lets Elbrun and Data go aboard. Before the star explodes, Gomtuu throws the Enterprise and the Romulans clear of the system. Elbrun stays behind with the creature, at peace at last, and Data returns to the ship where he belongs.
- 01Adapted from the writers' 1976 short story “Tin Woodman”, later expanded into a novel. The title nods to the Tin Woodman of L. Frank Baum's Oz books.
- 02Jay Chattaway's first Star Trek score. He went on to become one of the franchise's regular composers.
- 03Harry Groener later played Mayor Wilkins in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and returned to Star Trek in Enterprise.