The Game
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 28 October 1991
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 45208.2
- DIRECTED BY
- Corey Allen
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 206
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Brannon Braga; story by Susan Sackett & Fred Bronson and Brannon Braga
Wesley Crusher comes home on leave from Starfleet Academy just as a harmless-looking game Riker brought back from Risa becomes the crew's favourite pastime.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
On Risa, Riker is introduced to a headset game by Etana Jol, a Ktarian woman, and brings it back to the Enterprise. Playing it stimulates the brain's pleasure centres, and it spreads rapidly through the crew. Wesley Crusher, visiting on leave from Starfleet Academy, notices how strangely everyone is behaving, and with Ensign Robin Lefler, a young engineer he is falling for, discovers that the game is addictive and altering the players' minds. Data, who is immune, is disabled by Dr Crusher before he can interfere. Soon the crew are hunting Wesley and Robin to make them play, and both are eventually caught. Just as everyone appears lost, Data, secretly repaired, returns and breaks the game's hold on the crew with a flashing light. The game was a Ktarian plan to take over the ship, and Picard captures the Ktarian vessel. Wesley and Robin say a fond goodbye.
- 01The first episode broadcast after Gene Roddenberry's death on 24 October 1991.
- 02The story was pitched by Roddenberry's longtime assistant Susan Sackett and Fred Bronson. It was Brannon Braga's first assignment as a full staff writer.
- 03Brent Spiner hit the bio-bed so hard in Data's deactivation scene that he cut his chin and needed hospital treatment.