Cheap Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 25: Conspiracy (Video) (Larry Shaw, David Carson, Gabrielle Beaumont, Timothy Bond, Kim Manners, LeVar Burton, Richard Compton, Jonathan West, Marvin V. Rush, Michael Vejar) Price

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Customer Reviews of Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 25: Conspiracy

An idea borrowed from "Wrath of Khan"
An old friend of Captain Picard, Captain Walker Keel, sends him an eyes-only message, asking him to attend a secret rendezvous. Picard beams down to an abandoned mining asteroid and finds Keel accompanied by the captains of two other vessels. Before the meeting begins, Keel asks Picard several trick questions designed to verify that he is indeed Picard. After Keel is convinced that it is Picard, he then describes what he believes is a conspiracy at the highest levels of Star Fleet. Picard is skeptical, so he has Data search the records looking for anomalies in the patterns of orders. As only he can, Data finds anomalies that indicate something unusual is going on. While not conclusive, it strongly suggests there may be a conspiracy. This is reinforced when they discover that Keel's ship has been destroyed. After thinking about it, Captain Picard makes the decision to travel to Earth to make a call at Star Fleet Command. <
> Upon arriving at Earth, contact is made with the commanders of Star Fleet and all appears normal. Picard and Riker are invited to beam down and dine with the commanders and Admiral Quinn beams up to the Enterprise. Picard quickly realizes that the man he is talking to is not the Admiral and instructs Riker to stay on the Enterprise and investigate Quinn. Suddenly, the aged Admiral starts fighting with Riker, easily defeating him and Geordi. Even Worf is no match for the incredible strength exhibited by Quinn. He is stopped only when Doctor Crusher stuns him with a phaser. <
> Once the Admiral is in sick bay, Doctor Crusher discovers that a small parasite is attached to his brain and controlling him. Riker beams down to the planet with a false parasite installed and is able to rescue Captain Picard and together, they defeat the remainder of the infected Admirals. They discover a mother parasite, which they kill. The death of the mother causes all of the other parasites to die and their hosts then fully recover. <
> While this episode is a good one and demonstrates what could be the most effective way to defeat the Federation. The tactics of the creatures is very similar to those used by Khan in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." However, there is one very weak point to the plot. To date, the creatures have been very effective in infiltrating Star Fleet, so the Admiral's open confrontation with the crew of the Enterprise is a very poor tactical move. This episode is most well known for the exploding head of the human containing the body of the mother of the parasites. In my opinion, it is appropriate, in that the creature inside had to be made visible. Since the creatures infect the brain, it is the logical way to expose them. I consider the episode to be average in terms of quality, not great, but certainly not one of the weaker ones. However, it would have been better if there had been more discussion about learning more about the life form rather than simply killing it off.

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They blew up the wrong head...
Ah, `Conspiracy', AKA the episode with the exploding head. I'm sure some were shocked by this moment, and others downright disgusted. Me, I was disappointed-- I wanted the head that exploded to be Wesley Crusher's! Man, do ya know how funny that would've been? I'd've literally died laughing, just like those poor people in that Monty Python `Funniest Joke in the World' sketch (oh great-as if a review of a Star Trek eppie wasn't geeky enough, now I'm dragging a reference to Monty Python into the mix! Sheesh, talk about bein' a total loser...)! Heck, I'm chucklin' just thinkin' `bout it REALLY should've unfolded:

PICARD: "Wesley? YOU'RE the host of the Mother Parasite?!"

WESLEY: "Well, gee, Captain Picard, I didn't want to be... but all they want is to coexist--" KABLOOEY!!!

RIKER: "Great shot, sir!"

PICARD: "Serves him right for making my highly-experienced and extensively-trained engineering officers look like a bunch of idiots every time he'd single-handedly save the ship!"

RIKER: "Well, it sure doesn't look like he has the brains for that NOW, does he, sir?"

PICARD: "Good one... Number One!"

PICARD & RIKER (in unison): "AHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAA!!!"

`Late

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The time Star Trek got an idea from "Alien".
This was one of the best first season TNG episodes. It was something quite unique and different in the Star cannon: a gory, terrifying descent into madness by way of bug eating, back stabbing (figuratively and literally), and true conspiracy theories. The video cover picture on Conspiracy of Riker pretty much sums the episode up. Well, of course, so does the infamous exploding head scene. Is there any other Star Trek episode that you can say that about?