Star Trek 251: Starship Mine

251. Starship Mine

FORMULA: 11001001 + The Higher Ground

WHY WE LIKE IT: Picard does Die Hard! Yippeekayay!

WHY WE DON'T: Unimpressive terrorists planetside.

REVIEW: Starship Mine uses the now all-too-familiar Die Hard formula which may be expressed as "one man in a closed environment against a team of terrorist who turn out to be doing it for the money", but to good effect. From the start, Picard is shown as a man who loves his ship and knows every facet of its operations. So he's well suited to turning it into a trap for said terrorists/trilithium thieves. For example, he knows where to find medieval weapons (Worf's quarters, naturally). And he's hard core! You won't see a Picard this ruthless until First Contact, I don't think. Not a single thief survives. That's what happens when you take his stun option away. (Special bonus: Tim Russ - who will later play Voyager's Tuvok - gets nerve pinched by Picard!)

But before the suspense ramps up (leading to one of the better last minute saves in the series), the episode lays a great comedy foundation. Data's attempts at small talk are cute, but then get totally over the top when he meets "Hutch", the talkative starbase commander. Brent Spiner is great in this. Speaking of talkative men, Picard chooses "Mot" as his alias to fool the thieves, a nice mention, and there's also the running gag about every rider keeping his own saddle (to Worf's surprise, I would have answered that Klingons with crossbows in their quarters shouldn't throw stones).

If the episode has a weak point, it's the hostage situation on the planet. The cast plays it smart, and their plan is interesting if a bit technical, but the terrorist forces just aren't convincing enough to warrant that plan in the first place. If Riker could take on both guys in a "diversion", it's clear that just a little help from Data would have made victory decisive. They either needed more formidable opponents or better yet, a greater number of them.

LESSON: Terrorism may be caused by having an imperialist pig talk about the weather and the many different species of bird you didn't know lived in your native land.

REWATCHABILITY - High: Though the formula is evident, it's one that works. A good action story, that's nonetheless a personal one for Picard, with an equal measure of comedy. It's got something for everyone.