VOY · SEASON 55×24

Warhead

NOMADIC PICK · FOR COMPLETISTSHarry talks down a bomb.
FIRST SHOWN (US)
19 May 1999
ON
UPN
STARDATE
None given
DIRECTED BY
John Kretchmer
PRODUCTION NO.
219

WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Michael Taylor & Kenneth Biller; story by Brannon Braga

IN BRIEF

SPOILER-FREE

Voyager rescues an artificial intelligence stranded on a lonely planet, but the grateful patient turns out to be something far more dangerous than anyone expected.

SYNOPSIS

SPOILERS
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSISHIDE SYNOPSIS

Voyager answers a distress signal from an uninhabited planet and finds a damaged machine that appears to be a sentient artificial intelligence in need of help. At the Doctor's urging, it is brought aboard so it can be treated. While B'Elanna Torres and Harry Kim examine it, they discover the truth: it is a weapon of mass destruction, a smart bomb whose damaged memory has left it believing its mission is still under way. The warhead takes over the Doctor's holographic matrix, traps Kim and Torres in sickbay, and threatens to detonate unless Voyager carries it to its target. By repairing its memory, the crew learn it was one of 32 warheads launched by the Druoda, and that the war ended long ago without the recall reaching it. When more warheads from the same group approach, Kim convinces the weapon of the truth, and it sacrifices itself to stop the others.

DID YOU KNOW?

  1. 01The story drew on news coverage after the Cold War about surplus Soviet nuclear warheads.
  2. 02McKenzie Westmore (Ensign Jenkins) belongs to the Westmore make-up dynasty. Her father Michael Westmore worked on Star Trek's make-up.
SOURCES WE CHECKED