Series: Star Trek: TNG
Episode: 7.06 Phantasms (October 25, 1993)
Rating: 5/5
Redshirt Status: 0/7/64
Notable Guest Stars:
Bernard Kates (Sigmund Freud) – Besides being a character actor, KJates was also a decorated WWII veteran, having earned the Distingused Flying Cross. From what I could gather Kates did a lot of theater work, with a few film roles. Unfortunately, he died in 2010.
Clyde Kuatsu (Admiral Nakamura )- Kuatsu is the National Vice President of the SAG-AGFRA guild for Los Angeles. He has appeared on several well-known television shows such as M*A*S*H, All in the Family, several soap operas and of course Star Trek as Admiral Tujiro Nakamura. He appears in three episodes, starting back in 1989. He first appeared in The Measure of a Man and will appear again in All Good Things, the series finale.
Review:
This episode has got some violent scenes, yet somehow is a bit less intense then others during the season (and definitely less emotional then our next TNG episode). In this episode, Data experiences nightmares for the first time. His dream program is affected by organisms that infected the Enterprise. Data is not organic, so they can not use him as a source of nutrition so he is the only one not being fed upon. His systems notice the infestation but it takes awhile for everyone to figure out what is going wrong.
There are some interesting scenes in this episode, and as I will mention again, this episode has launched a thousand memes. In particular a scene where Picard, using the holodeck to help invade Data’s dreams (by permission), answers a phone sitting in Data’s chest. Mostly about the Android phone system – which oddly enough wasn’t even around for almost exactly 15 years.
There is also a memorable scene where Deanna is made into a cake. Apparently with Mint frosting.
This episode is weird, and a little creepy. The idea of bugs feeding on you that you can’t see and slowly dissolving you just *shudders*. Also this episode reminds me a bit too much of the season 1 episode with the bugs that controlled you.
Interesting Notes:
- Written by Brannon Braga
- Directed by Patrick Stewart
- I once got a book on Freudian Terminology at a book sale as a “Why not” kind of purchase. I kid you not, most of it was brought back to castration. Freud was a odd duck my friends. He may have made some good inroads into understanding psychology but he had some hangups it looks like
- This episode spawned a million memes.
- The BBC edited this episode to remove the part of the scene where Data stabs Troi after US audiences seemed to be concerned about it (US aired earlier). I believe this might be the only TNG episode to be edited, although the BBC edited a few of the TOS episodes.
Pros:
- Good Data episode
- Light (ish) episode after all the really intense episodes.
Cons:
Mint Frosting should not be a thing.
Screencap via CygnusX1.net
Sokorra Lewis 