The Masterpiece Society
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 10 February 1992
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 45470.1
- DIRECTED BY
- Winrich Kolbe
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 213
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Adam Belanoff and Michael Piller; story by James Kahn and Adam Belanoff
A genetically engineered colony, isolated for two centuries, lies in the path of a drifting stellar core fragment, but its leaders are wary of accepting the Federation's help.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
The Enterprise tracks a fragment of a stellar core that will pass close to Moab IV, home to a colony founded 200 years earlier as a genetically engineered society in which every person is bred for a precise role. The colony's leader, Aaron Conor, at first rejects outside help, fearing that contact will upset their carefully balanced world. Troi is drawn to Conor. Geordi teams up with the colony's scientist Hannah Bates to find a way to deflect the fragment, and the answer comes from the technology of Geordi's own VISOR, created for a man the colony's founders would never have allowed to be born. The plan works and the colony is saved, but contact with the wider galaxy has changed it. Hannah and 22 other colonists choose to leave with the Enterprise, leaving gaps in a society designed to have none. Picard reflects that their help may have done as much harm as the threat itself.
- 01The episode began as James Kahn's pitch “The Perfect Human”, though few of its elements survived. The script passed through five writers before Michael Piller's final version.
- 02Joe Menosky suggested setting the colony inside an artificial biosphere, inspired by the Biosphere 2 facility in Arizona.
- 03The piano piece played at the colony's recital is Chopin's Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4.