The Defector (TNG Episode)
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"The Defector" is the tenth
episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a serial (radio and television), series intended for radio, television or Streaming media, streaming consumption. Etymology The noun ''episode'' is ...
of the third season of the American
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', and the 58th episode of the series overall. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the
Starfleet Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for conduct ...
crew of the Federation starship ''Enterprise-D''. In this episode, a
Romulan The Romulans () are an extraterrestrial race in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Their adopted home world is Romulus, and within the same star system they have settled a sister planet Remus. Their original home world, Vulcan ...
defector requests asylum aboard the ''
Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...
'' after claiming to possess vital information about an imminent Romulan invasion.


Plot

While
Data Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...
is performing a scene from Shakespeare’s ''
Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...
'' under Captain
Picard Picard may refer to: Places * Picard, Quebec, Canada * Picard, California, United States * Picard (crater), a lunar impact crater in Mare Crisium People and fictional characters * Picard (name), a list of people and fictional characters with th ...
's direction, they are interrupted by a notification that a
Romulan The Romulans () are an extraterrestrial race in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Their adopted home world is Romulus, and within the same star system they have settled a sister planet Remus. Their original home world, Vulcan ...
scout vessel is fleeing a Romulan warbird through the Neutral Zone, and approaching
Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
space. The ''
Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...
'' intercepts the ship, and the Warbird retreats. The occupant of the ship claims he is Sub-Lieutenant Setal, a logistics clerk seeking to defect to the Federation after learning about a secret Romulan installation on the planet Nelvana III, within the Neutral Zone, that could sustain a large Romulan fleet. Picard and his crew are skeptical of Setal's claims after he refuses to provide evidence, and Picard orders an investigation of Setal's reliability. After Setal's ship auto-destructs, the crew review the records of his arrival, and suspect that the Romulans have arranged Setal's appearance as part of an elaborate hoax. Picard refuses to enter the Neutral Zone on the baseless claims. Setal confides to Data that his defection came at a heavy price; he will never see
Romulus Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...
or his family again. Data attempts to alleviate Setal's feelings by taking him to a
holodeck The Holodeck is a fictional device from the television franchise ''Star Trek'' which uses "holograms" (projected light and electromagnetic energy which create the illusion of solid objects) to create a realistic 3D simulation of a real or imagi ...
representation of Romulus. Setal dismisses the hologram, and reveals he is Admiral Jarok, a high-ranking officer who led a vicious campaign against several Federation outposts. Jarok again beseeches Picard to investigate Nelvana III, explaining that he has defected to protect his family from a possible war. After persuading Jarok to disclose detailed tactical information about Romulan capabilities, Picard orders the ''Enterprise'' to Nelvana III. When they arrive, the crew find no evidence of any installation, to Jarok's surprise. Unexpectedly, two Romulan warbirds decloak and fire upon the ''Enterprise''. Picard realizes Jarok was used as a pawn by the Romulans, feeding him
disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...
to lure the Federation into the Neutral Zone. In response to Romulan commander Tomalak's demand for the ''Enterprise''s surrender, Picard reveals that he prepared for this: three
Klingon The Klingons ( ; Klingon language, Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a humanoid species of aliens in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star T ...
Birds-of-Prey, sent by the Klingon Empire at Picard's request, decloak and surround the warbirds, rendering the situation a stalemate. The Romulans retreat, allowing the ''Enterprise'' to leave. Soon, the crew discovers that Jarok has committed suicide, leaving behind a note for his family. While Data notes that relations with the Empire make delivery of the letter impossible, Picard states that as long as there are Romulans with Admiral Jarok's courage and conviction, it may, one day, be possible to deliver Jarok's letter.


Notes

* In addition to his regular role of Captain Picard,
Patrick Stewart Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of Patrick Stewart on stage and screen, stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Patrick Stewart, variou ...
also played the role of the holodeck character of " Michael Williams" from
Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
''
Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...
'', Act 4, Scene I, in the opening scenes of the episode. Stewart, who performed the role under heavy prosthetic makeup, requested this out of his love for Shakespeare—Stewart is a member of the
Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...
. Stewart uses a regional English accent from the
Black Country The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampto ...
, an area between Birmingham and Wolverhampton; his version is of the strong 'Gornal' variety of
Black Country dialect The Black Country dialect is spoken by many people in the Black Country, a region covering most of the four Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The traditional dialect preserves many archaic traits of Early M ...
. * This is the second episode written by
Ronald D. Moore Ronald Dowl Moore (born July 5, 1964) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Star Trek,'' as well as on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series, for which he won a Peabody Awar ...
; the episode earned him a position on the show's writing staff. Moore would have a long association with ''Star Trek'', staying with ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' through its final season, then moving to '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''; he became a co-executive producer. Moore co-wrote the first two feature films based on ''The Next Generation'', ''
Star Trek Generations ''Star Trek Generations'' is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the Star Trek (film series), ''Star Trek'' film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show ''Star Trek: The Original Ser ...
'' and '' Star Trek: First Contact''. * The planet Nelvana III is named after the popular Canadian animation studio
Nelvana Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...
.


Releases

On June 6, 1995 "The Defector" was released with "Vengeance Factor" on
LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...
in the United States by
Paramount Home Video Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...
, and in Japan on July 5, 1996, in the half season set ''Log. 5: Third Season Part.1'' by CIC Video. This included episodes up to "A Matter of Perspective" on 12-inch double sided optical discs. The video was in
NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...
format with both English and Japanese audio tracks. The episode was released with ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' season three
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
box set, released in the United States on July 2, 2002. This had 26 episodes of Season 3 on seven discs, with a
Dolby Digital 5.1 Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3 (see below), is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression (except for Dolby True ...
audio track. It was released in high-definition
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
in the United States on April 30, 2013.


Reception

In 2019, ''
Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...
'' ranked this episode's character introduction, Admiral Jarok, as the tenth most important
Romulan The Romulans () are an extraterrestrial race in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Their adopted home world is Romulus, and within the same star system they have settled a sister planet Remus. Their original home world, Vulcan ...
of the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Later that year, they noted "The Defector" as one of the top ten important episodes to watch in preparation for the series ''Star Trek: Picard''. In 2020, ''SyFy'' also recommended watching "The Defector", in this case as background on Romulans for '' Star Trek: Picard''. They note the episode highlights the layers of trust and mistrust between the forces at work in the Romulan Star Empire, and how this complicated its relations with other quadrant inhabitants. In 2020, ''Vulture'' recommended this episode to accompany viewing ''Star Trek: Picard'', noting how it establishes the Romulans' lust for power and tendency for deception.


References

*
Star Trek The Next Generation DVD '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' is an American science fiction television series which aired in syndication from September 1987 through to May 1994. It is the second live-action series of the ''Star Trek'' franchise and comprises a total of ...
set, volume 3, disc 3, selection 2.


External links

* *
"The Defector"
rewatch by
Keith R.A. DeCandido Keith Robert Andreassi DeCandido (born April 18, 1969) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and musician, who works on comic books, novels, role-playing games and video games, including numerous media tie-in books for properties such ...

"The Defector"
rewatch by Zack Handlen of ''
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'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Defector, The Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3 episodes 1990 American television episodes Television episodes written by Ronald D. Moore Television episodes directed by Robert Scheerer Works based on Henry V (play) Television episodes about space warfare Defection in fiction