As the enterprise passes near a remote star system they receive a distress call from a federation ship that was lost two hundred years previously. Picard intends to make a note of it then carry on but Troi says she can sense a consciousness on the planet. Violent storms means the sensors can't detect it and the transporters can't be relied on so the away team, consisting of Riker, Data and Troi, must take a shuttle flight to the surface. The storms cause them to crash but they are rescued by O'Brien who chances the transporter to take equipment to the surface to enable them all to teleport back. However just before they return the storm strikes and three entities enter the bodies of Troi, Data and O'Brien. Once back they initially appear normal but they seem excessively to take the ship to the planet's southern pole. When they are overruled they react violently and seize the ship by taking hostages in Ten-Forward. Eventually they identify themselves as the crew of the lost ship but despite their knowledge of the people they claim to be Picard doesn't believe them. The crew will have to discover a way to get the entities out of their unwilling hosts and then off the ship; it won't be easy and will require a combination of diplomacy and technology.
This is a fairly exciting episode made all the more interesting by the fact that the antagonists are characters we are used to seeing as good guys. Seeing Trio, Data and O'Brien seize the ship was rather fun; especially seeing the emotionless Data getting angry. There was also a real sense of menace; especially when O'Brien sees his wife among the hostages we may know it is the entities rather than the people we know but it is still more menacing than seeing somebody who doesn't look familiar. The cast to a fine job; especially Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Colm Meaney as the possessed trio. The conclusion nicely explains the true nature of the entities and gives us some genuinely tense moments before the situation is resolved. Overall a quality episode with a greater sense of threat than most.
This is a fairly exciting episode made all the more interesting by the fact that the antagonists are characters we are used to seeing as good guys. Seeing Trio, Data and O'Brien seize the ship was rather fun; especially seeing the emotionless Data getting angry. There was also a real sense of menace; especially when O'Brien sees his wife among the hostages we may know it is the entities rather than the people we know but it is still more menacing than seeing somebody who doesn't look familiar. The cast to a fine job; especially Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Colm Meaney as the possessed trio. The conclusion nicely explains the true nature of the entities and gives us some genuinely tense moments before the situation is resolved. Overall a quality episode with a greater sense of threat than most.