Captain’s log: stardate 50074.3

A bit of a sequel to The Next Generation episode The Price, False Profits was written by Joe Menosky from a story by George Brozak. This episode first debuted on 2 October, 1996.

The crew of the Voyager come across a pair of Ferengi, Kol (Leslie Hordan) and Arridor (Dan Shor) on a remote bronze age planet, where they have established themselves as rulers since being marooned in the Gamma Quadrant by the wandering wormhole featured in The Price.

Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) orders Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) down to the planet to investigate, and discover what the Ferengi are up to, and the way they are influencing the inhabitants of the planet.

Harry (Garrett Wang) in the meantime is trying to ascertain the location of the wormhole, and whether or not it will lead to the Alpha Quadrant.

With Janeway unsure whether they can take the Ferengi with them without violating the Prime Directive, so they have to come up with a way to out maneuver the Ferengi, which leads to a plan featuring Neelix (Ethan Phillips).

It’s a fun, light episode that ties up a loose Next Gen storyline and brings the Ferengi (at least for an episode) into the Voyager realm of the Trek-verse. In fact there’s a lot of comedy and a couple of gags that work quite nicely.

And once again, a story like this shows that Trek can do comedy, and do it well.

And while the Ferengi may not go with the Voyager at the end of the episode, they do get their just desserts.

Captain’s log: stardate 50203.1

Lisa Klink pens this Torres (Roxann Dawson) story from an idea by Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky. It first debuted on 9 October, 1996.

B’Elanna Torres is having vivid dreams of a life and love on a planet she doesn’t know, and they may be coming from an unknown passenger aboard ship. The dreams are vivid and intense, but whose are they? Where are they coming from? And why is Torres the subject of this memory assault?

And what secrets will be unveiled before story’s end? There are some horrific moments that are revealed through the course of B’Elanna’s dreams/memories, as the Trek-verse takes on genocide, and a Holocaust type story.

Harry gets a little bit of a romantic overture with one of the aliens who is aboard ship visiting with the crew as the Federation craft guides them home. And it is from one of them that Torres’ dreams are coming.

The Human Adventure continues next week as I continue the journey home with the Voyager with The Complete Series now available on DVD from Paramount Pictures.

Boldy go…