The Defector

The Enterprise rescues an apparent defector from the Romulan Empire, who claims to have knowledge of a secret base covertly constructed within Federation territory. Is this the start of a new era of Romulan aggression or is this traitor spinning too many lies to be believed?

A fantastic episode that's full of tension and drama. The story is great, weaving one way then the next as the stakes get higher and the performances of Sloyan and a returning Katsulas are far better than TNG's usual standard of supporting cast. It's also nice to see Trek being a bit more action-orientated instead of endlessly discovering allegorical metaphors or improbable and ill-advised romance angles.

A Romulan renegade is rescued from a scout ship and immediately offers the Enterprise a warning. The Romulans are gathering on an outpost on a planet in the Neutral Zone, he says, and it is up to Picard to believe him. He says he is not a traitor but he doesn't want a war. Most of the episode involves the testing of his information. These guys are the true bad guys of the universe and have vanquished many, including the killing of Worf's family. Eventually, Picard recognizes that inaction could be worse than action and proceeds to the "location" of the outpost. The strength of this offering is that it is not unlike an episode of "The West Wing" where there is political brinkmanship. Picard even asks Data to maintain a record of these events because he would be the only likely survivor of a full battle, to show how it all came about and how it ended. The episode is worth watching just to see Picard face off against the Romulans' captain. A very intelligent show with no easy answers.

During the height of the Cold War in the '60's, G. Roddenberry had a vision of a TV show that would portray Mankind in the distant future as having become the best we are capable of becoming.

Original Star Trek was the result, and it really started something. Proof of that is that today we are still praising film and written examples of mankind overcoming our own differences and faults, uniting as one, and thereby becoming an example for all life. Anywhere.

The crude and poor resources of the '60's TV industry managed in getting this ideal across, otherwise, we would not be here 50 years later discussing this.

ST-TNG (so far) has been the pinnacle of this vision. This episode stands as one of the best example of it.

Patrick Stewart's background in Shakespearian acting really comes across here, and sets the standard for all of the others. And they all rose to the challenge and delivered amazingly.

This stands as one of the best episodes of ST-TNG, when it was in it's prime! The feelings, tension, and drama it shows are far beyond the capability of those behind the latest movie efforts to carry on the ST storyline.

Some alien somewhere has 10 thumbs, and they are all 'Up' for this one.

Enterprise gives asylum to a Romulan defector.

This is a classic episode that has an excellent story and a number of great character moments.

The plot works on a number of levels, presenting aspects of a political thriller alongside a focus on command responsibilities in a volatile conflict situation. There is an inspiration from the Cuban missile crisis, some nice tributes to Shakespeare's Henry V and a clear anti-war message.

I cannot go into detail without spoiling key areas of the plot, but it's safe to say that the opening holodeck sequence sets the tone for what is to come and every character exchange that follows is memorable. Picard, Riker, Data, Worf and all the Romulan characters have many strong scenes of dialogue and for me it has one of the most effective endings to a Star Trek show.

'The Defector' is one of the definitive Romulan episodes and thoroughly establishes their deceptive nature and desire for conquest, whilst at the same time adding layers of depth with the portrayal of the title character.

Visually it works well with a number of nicely filmed sequences. The opening scene in particular is very atmospheric. Everything is edited in a way to keep the pace ticking over in an interesting way, especially with so much dialogue.

All performances are great with Patrick Stewart leading the cast brilliantly with great support by Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn and LeVar Burton. Andreas Katsulas has another excellent cameo. The star of the show though is guest actor James Sloyan with a fantastic turn as the defector.

This for me is the first Star Trek episode to compare favourably to the similarly themed original series classic 'The Balance Of Terror'.

There are some minor plot holes but nothing that distracts from the entertainment, so I think it's a 9.5/10 and round upwards.

Worth it for not only James Sloyan's incredible work as the title character, and the performances by the series regulars which met all their usual standards and then some, but for the incredible delivery of one of the best "promos" ever in Star Trek history by Andreas Katsulas on Picard and the Enterprise near the end. Just awesome, awesome, awesome... truly the crescendo of the episode. Watching Sloyan, Katsulas and Stewart in that scene is incredible. When I heard today that Mr. Katsulas had passed on, it was one of the first memories of his performances that came to mind. Cool, perfect, and utterly gripping.