The Defector

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.

I 'accidentally' watched this episode long before I became a Star Trek fan (my ex-girlfriend had lived in Seattle for 6 years and promptly introduced me to it several years later). I came home from a night on the town at maybe 3 AM, which was the time these reruns were shown on Norwegian TV back in the early 90's.

I was gripped by the story of this episode, but more importantly the acting. This was the first thing I had seen featuring Patrick Stewart, and I thought he was amazing along with guest star James Sloyan, and I was wondering why this show didn't air in the daytime/prime-time so that everyone could see it.

Norway has never been known to show sci-fi during prime-time though, and most Norwegians that admit to liking it are kind of cast-outs and are not taken seriously in other matters if they admit it. It's not like in the USA where even presidents admit to know of and even quote Kirk and Spock and even name space shuttles after it.

Anyway, since then I've watched every Star Trek episode (except TOS. Too dated for my taste) and movies (movies with the TOS cast are great) several times, but this still stands out as one of the best installments in any Star Trek media that I know of so far, mainly because of the acting.

And the best thing with this episode: Riker (Jonathan Frakes, the worst actor in Star Trek history, in my humble opinion) does not do any of his annoying moves:

• His left eyebrow lowered when he attempts to look 'mean'.

• His head cocking to one side when he's puzzled by something.

• His stumbling, tilted moves when he pretends to look tough in action scenes (imitating John Wayne or some other action hero from the 50's)

• His exaggerated speech when he pretends to be in distress ("Aaannyboodyyyyy!" taken from the first episode of TNG)

• His over-acting in general.

In this episode he actually appears normal and professional, just like the other actors.

My first impression of this episode back in the beginning of the 90's or something when I had been out on town was maybe infused by alcohol, but I just saw the episode again now, and I stand by it.

Highly recommended!

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.

This is Star Trek at its finest. Superb plot, the writing is amazing and the performances are best in class.

The best thing here is the character reactions to Setols story, they plain don't believe him, they aren't naive, and most of the episode is spend trying to work out how much of his tale is a lie.

You just don't see stuff like this anymore. People just take what's said at face value, or maybe there's a blatant lie to be revealed but here there are so many layers. Sloyan is superb and as always Stewart is sublime.

I loved the twist at the end, on a rewatch the clues are obvious but they were perfectly written and directed to not give the game away.

I've loved this one since I was 8, and 34 years later it's still for me one of star treks finest hours.

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.