Episode 230: "Relics" 

The U.S.S. Enterprise crew is surprised to encounter the U.S.S. Jenolen, which crashed 75 years ago, on the surface of a tremendous gravitational force known as a Dyson Sphere. However, they are even more surprised to discover a survivor hidden in the ship's transporter. The legendary Captain Montgomery Scott has survived for three quarters of a century by keeping himself suspended in molecular limbo in the ship's transporter system. The crew beams the exhausted veteran back to the Enterprise, where, being the Chief Engineer of the first U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, he is dazzled by the ship's display of 24th-century technology.
Too restless to remain confined to quarters as Dr. Crusher recommended, Scotty tracks Geordi down in Engineering and offers his services. Instead, he ends up exasperating Geordi with his "war stories" of adventures aboard the old Enterprise. Finally, Geordi tells Scotty he is in the way, and the depressed veteran returns to his quarters. He is soon visited by Troi, who hopes to help him through the ordeal of finding himself 75 years in the future. But when he realizes Troi is a psychologist, he assumes her visit was mandated by Geordi and storms off to the Ten-Forward to drown his sorrows.

Still clutching a liquor bottle, Scotty visits the holodeck, where he has the computer simulate the Bridge of his old Enterprise. Unfortunately, it just isn't the same without the rest of his mates. He is about to sink into a nostalgic reverie when Picard suddenly appears in the holodeck doorway. Understanding his visitor's sense of displacement, Picard joins Scotty for a drink and a memory, and Scotty confesses to feeling old and useless. Picard feels sympathy for his guest, and later asks Geordi to accompany the old captain to survey the Jenolen in order to make him feel useful again. Geordi immediately understands, and the two transport to the Jenolen. Moments later, the Enterprise is suddenly caught by the Dyson Sphere's gravitational force and is pulled toward a star inside the sphere.

Luckily, Riker manages to maneuver the Enterprise out if its deadly spiral. However, moments later the ship is rocked by a solar flare that is raging from the star. Meanwhile, on the deck of the Jenolen, Geordi and Scotty are able to reenergize the Jenolen, only to realize that they have lost contact with the Enterprise. By following its ion trail, they realize that the ship is making the same mistake that the Jenolen did 75 years before by opening a channel in the sphere that will ultimately pull them to the sphere's center.

In order to facilitate the Enterprise's escape, Scotty suggests that the Jenolen remain a good distance from the sphere and move in at the precise moment to jam open the hatch. Though skeptical, Geordi agrees to go ahead with Scotty's plan and they are able to contact the Enterprise to tell them. The plan appears to work, until Geordi and Scotty realize that they must destroy the Jenolen to clear a big enough path for the Enterprise. They instruct Picard to fire on the smaller ship, and are able to transport to safety aboard the Enterprise just as the Jenolen explodes. Later, as a farewell gift, the crew thanks Scotty by presenting him with one of their shuttlecraft so that he can continue his adventures in the 24th century.

Production: 230
Season: 6 Episode: 4
Air Date: 10.12.1992
Stardate: 46125.3
Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes as William Riker
Brent Spiner as Data
LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn as Worf
Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi
James Doohan as Montgomery Scott
Erick Weiss as Ensign Kane
Stacie Foster as Engineer Bartel
Ernie Mirich as Waiter
Lanei Chapman as Ensign Rager
Majel Barrett as Computer Voice
Scotty (guest star James Doohan) visits the bridge of the Enterprise from "Star Trek" (1966) on the Holodeck. A fan who recreated a life-size version of the bridge set generously donated it for use in the episode, as the original set had long since been demolished.

Data offers Scotty a drink of alcohol instead of the typical synthahol. He is unsure what type of alcohol it is, but it is "green". This is the same situation Scotty faced when getting an alien drunk in the original series episode "By Any Other Name".

When fans pointed out that there was no way for Scotty and Geordi to beam off the Jenolen when shields were up, wedging the Dyson Sphere doors open, it was later "explained" they had devised a transport "window" for the Enterprise-D to rescue them.

Factual errors: We can see curvature as the Enterprise approaches the Dyson sphere. Given the theoretical size of a Dyson sphere (roughly the size of Earth's orbit around the sun), any curvature of the sphere while the Enterprise was that close would be imperceptible.

Factual errors: In addition to the curvature problem, there are many other factual errors in episode #6.4, "Relics". The Dyson sphere's diameter is given as 200 million kilometers, which is said to be roughly the same as Earth's orbit. The diameter of Earth's orbit is closer to 300 million kilometers. The lower figure converts to roughly 124 million mi, which is less than the diameter of the orbit of Venus. The star inside the sphere is said to be type G, similar to our sun. At the given size of the sphere, trapping the total energy output of a star of that type would render the interior uninhabitable without some way to re-radiate most of that energy to space. Data's estimate of the interior surface space as 10 to the 16th square kilometers underestimates the total area by 31%. The stats (figures are rounded): Sphere diameter: 200,000,000 km (124,274,238 mi). Earth's orbit: 299,000,000 km (186,000,000 mi). Sphere's internal surface area: 16,173,009,397,494,795 sq km. Internal surface as reported by Data: 10,000,000,000,000,000 sq km. Earth surface area: 148,393,355 sq km. Ratio of sphere area to Earth area: 108,987,423 to 1.

 

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                STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 
                              
                           "Relics" 
                          #40276-230 
                              
                          Written by 
                        Ronald D. Moore 
                              
                          Directed by 
                          Alex Singer 
THE WRITING CREDITS MAY NOT BE FINAL AND SHOULD NOT BE USED
FOR PUBLICITY OR ADVERTISING PURPOSES WITHOUT FIRST CHECKING
WITH THE TELEVISION LEGAL DEPARTMENT.
Copyright 1992 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights
Reserved. This script is not for publication or
reproduction. No one is authorized to dispose of same. If
lost or destroyed, please notify the Script Department.
                         FINAL DRAFT
                        AUGUST 4, 1992
         STAR TREK: "Relics" - REV. - 08/06/92 - CAST 
                STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 
                           "Relics" 
                             CAST                               
                              
                PICARD             CAPTAIN MONTGOMERY SCOTT
                RIKER              
                DATA               
                BEVERLY            
                TROI               
                GEORDI             
                WORF               
                ENSIGN RAGER       
                ENSIGN KANE        
                ENGINEER BARTEL    
                WAITER             
                COMPUTER VOICE     
                Non-Speaking       
                  N.D. TRANSPORTER TECHNICIAN
                  N.D. ENGINEERS     
  STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - "Relics" - 08/04/92 - SETS 
                STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 
                           "Relics" 
                       
                             SETS 
            INTERIORS                  EXTERIORS
          
            USS ENTERPRISE             USS ENTERPRISE
              MAIN BRIDGE
              TRANSPORTER ROOM         SPHERE
              CORRIDOR
              SICKBAY                  THE JENOLAN
              ENGINEERING
              TEN FORWARD              SHUTTLE
              READY ROOM
              HOLODECK
              SHUTTLEBAY
          
              SCOTT'S QUARTERS
          
            JENOLAN
              OPS CENTER
          
            OLD BRIDGE
        STAR TREK: "Relics" - 08/04/92 - PRONUNCIATION 
                STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 
                           "Relics" 
                               
                      PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 
                   JENOLAN       ji-NO-lan
                   NORPIN        NOR-pin
                   DYSON         DY-son
                   DOHLMAN       DOHL-man
                   ELAAS         EE-las
                   ARGELIUS      ar-GEE-lee-us


 

Click this link to view the complete script in a TXT format