Identity Crisis

[TrekToday]

Plot Summary: LaForge's friend and former crewmate Susanna Leijten visits the Enterprise with alarming news: the members of an away team of which they were once members have been disappearing one by one, returning to Tarchannen III, where one of the Starfleet officers has either fled or been abducted in a shttlecraft. Picard takes the Enterprise in pursuit of the shuttle, but is unable to stop the frantic pilot from destroying the craft in the atmosphere. On the surface, the crew discovers the ships that brought the other landing team members to the planet, but no indication of what happened to the officers, nor any human life signs. Yet Leijten says that she can sense the presence of the others, and when LaForge pursues her, she panics. Back on the Enterprise, Crusher discovers that Leijten is undergoing a physical transformation, though there was no sign of the change when she came aboard the ship. Leijten tries to help LaForge search their old away mission records for clues about what is happening to her and the others, but she has trouble resisting the impulse to return to the planet. Rather than confine LaForge to sickbay in case the transformation begins to affect him as well, Picard orders the computer to monitor his movements. While Crusher determines that Leijten's DNA is being rewritten into that of an unknown species, LaForge reviews the records from the previous away mission and spots a shadow whose source he cannot identify. He recreates the scene on the holodeck, but before he can guess the identity of the unknown intruder, his fingers begin to fuse together. By the time Crusher finds and removes the parasite transforming Leijten's DNA, LaForge has become invisible to human eyes. The computer can no longer identify him, so he is able to override the transporter lockout and flee the ship. A recovering Leijten follows him to the planet's surface, where she is able to find him and persuade him that he is still human if only he will come back with her. He takes her hand, and she is able to beam him to sickbay, where Crusher restores his human DNA.

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To read the full reviews, please click here.

[T.Geiger]

This has always been a boring episode. The makeup and effects are good, and I seem to recall that Maryann Plunkett's performance was decent. But the majority of the episode focuses on LaForge,who always has and always will induce comas. Zzzz...

[AntonyF]

I found it very creepy... sort of being turned into something else, invisible creatures and the like.

But I've not been able to think of anything more to say than that!

[ArthurKing]

I'm just wondering if everything is okay with the site / contributors etc.? Normally, news flows constantly. For the last three-four weeks, it's been all quiet on the western front--only the once weekly episode review. Now, there's fairly big trek news cycling out again (e.g., the pretty amazing fourth trailer for the new movie) and not a peep from treknation.

What's going on? Please don't tell me the site is in danger of shutting down! Hailing frequencies open?

[WillsBabe]

The scene where they are recreating what happened on the away team years ago, with the shadows etc is very atmospheric. I think this could have been a really memorable episode, but the human interest and any sympathy we might have for the characters, seems to have been sacrificed in order to generate a cold, edgy atmosphere. Either that or the two leads aren't engaging, and didn't seem to have much chemistry. That's how I feel.

[AntonyF]

ArthurKing wrote:

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I'm just wondering if everything is okay with the site / contributors etc.? Normally, news flows constantly. For the last three-four weeks, it's been all quiet on the western front--only the once weekly episode review. Now, there's fairly big trek news cycling out again (e.g., the pretty amazing fourth trailer for the new movie) and not a peep from treknation.

What's going on? Please don't tell me the site is in danger of shutting down! Hailing frequencies open?

Where are you browsing exactly?

I installed a new news system which has meant news is being put into a new place. The links down the right links to those news stories, and TrekToday.com shows those news stories.

However TrekNation is probably not showing much activity, do you go by there?

[ArthurKing]

AntonyF wrote:

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Where are you browsing exactly?

I installed a new news system which has meant news is being put into a new place. The links down the right links to those news stories, and TrekToday.com shows those news stories.

However TrekNation is probably not showing much activity, do you go by there?

Just out of habit, I enter through treknation.com
I use the column on the left side of the treknation mainpage to follow news updates. I just made a copy of that column--this is what shows up for me:

Mar 6 - Retro Review: Identity Crisis
LaForge learns that every officer on an away mission to Tarchannen Three years earlier has begun to transform.
Feb 28 - Retro Review: Night Terrors
The crew is trapped in a rift in space where lack of dreams causes psychosis.
Feb 20 - Retro Review: Galaxy's Child
While the crew fights to save an alien baby, LaForge tries to bond with Leah Brahms.
Feb 14 - Retro Review: First Contact
Riker's identity is discovered by a culture fearful of the idea that they are not alone in the galaxy.
Feb 13 - Star Trek News Bullets
'Star Trek XI' Sneak Peek at WonderCon, Starfleet cadet, 'Star Trek' QUOGS,

etc.

Before mid-Feb, it was its usual active self. Then, starting in mid-February, the news update became so slow that I grew concerned that something was going on with the site (hence my post)

[AntonyF]

Ahh okay. Yeah, I'll need to fix that, or do something with that. I would suggest you go via TrekToday.com from now on.

Thanks.