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Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 16: 11001001 [VHS]

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Minuet and the Gin Joint Program Enhancements

The surprising aspect of this episode is that it wasn't only humans that programed the Enterprise. The Bynars make their first and last appearance in this segment. The Enterprise returns to star base for the Bynars to work on updating the programming. Supposedly each one of them works as part of the greater whole. Shades of the Borg mentality here. Wonder why they didn't help out the Federation? Well, they hijacked the big E to their planet were a supernova was set to destroy their master computer.

The crew is evacuated by a false warning. Riker and Picard are still on board. This is were it gets interesting.......Riker steps into a holodeck Jazz bar in New Orleans in the 20th century. Since the program is influenced by the Bynar everything has more "enhancement."...not the run of the mill shallow programs. When Riker asks for the perfect date it creates Minuet. Will Riker jumps into a relationship that can't last.

The Jazz Bar scenes and the abduction of the Enterprise by Bynar hive mind make this an unusual mix of drama and romance. Scenes of the Enterprise entering the star base were lifted from the effects shots from the movie the "Search for Spock."

The Enterprise docks at Starbase 74 so that the Bynars, a species of twins that speak in binary code and have become dependent on computers for their very survival, can upgrade the ship's computer. Why the master computer core of the flagship of the fleet is handed over to an alien species is beyond me - especially since they are not Federation citizens and they obviously neglected to do a background check on these individuals.

The pale, friendly looking Bynars chatter with one another in binary (sounds like a group of modems having a ho-down) and they make Wesley Crusher nervous. He is the only one smart enough to suspect they are up to something.

The Bynars quickly enhance the Holodecks to distract the senior officers, who are unaware that the rest of the crew has evacuated in what was thought to be a failure in the magnetic containment. After their ruse, the Bynars take control of the ship and race at maximum Warp to their homeworld. Amazingly, there are no other ships at Starbase 74 that can make chase and the stranded crew wonders what will befall their beloved Captain and First Officer.

Riker asks the computer to create an old Jazz lounge on the Holodeck - when he enters, he is blown away by the Jazz singer, a shockingly real and seemingly sentient character named Minuet. She is computer generated, but proves to be more than just a sum of programmed responses. She is subtly seductive, yet has an innocent appeal and Riker falls for her, despite the fact he knows she's just a bunch of light and atoms. Picard joins Riker and they are both captivated by Minuet as the Enterprise is zipping across the galaxy. Only after Picard mentions that he will leave the two of them does the ruse become evident.

When Picard & Riker finally escape the Holodeck and make it to the bridge, they find themselves on the other side of the quadrant, and all the Bynars are near death. They have to decipher some of the binary code just to figure out what is going on. Where is Data when you need him?!

Intriguing at many parts, some interesting concepts, but not too deep when it's all said and done. Minuet's character is revived in a future episode when Riker is abducted by Romulans (or is he?).

Among the best shows of the first season was this very succinct and compact story of Riker meeting and falling for the woman of his dreams...with a twist. Although the storyline of Trek characters falling in love only to lose their loved one is an oft used plot device, the unusual background and setting for this episode rises above the mundane and entertains us supremely.

Arriving at a starbase, the crew is introduced to the Binars a computer-independent and androgynous alien race who will initiate some necessary repairs to the Enterprise. Most of the crew is granted shore leave during the interval with Riker somewhat inadvertently ending up on the holodeck immediately following some updates and enhancements implemented by the Binars. He designs a program to reflect a mid-20th century New Orleans jazz club where he meets an incredibly beautiful and sultry "woman" named Minuet. She instantly causes the first officer to fall head over heels in love with her and he all but completely forgets that she is a creation of the holodeck. During this time the crewmembers still present experience a ship wide emergency causing them to evacuate and the starship is then placed on autopilot to clear it's space dock. Only after the starship is gone a great distance does the crew at the starbase realize that someone is attempting to hijack the Enterprise - and that the captain, the first officer and the Binars are most likely still aboard.

'11001001' is a well-conceived episode that balances both ongoing plots expertly. The Binars were one of the most interesting alien races the Enterprise and crew encountered and it's a real shame they weren't brought back for additional appearances. Carolyn McCormick as Minuet is a knockout and it's easy to see why Riker would fall so hard for her; the writers constructed the ending of the show excellently, helping make the point that you fall in love with the illusion and the image not the person. Riker's conversation with Picard in the finale bears this out. Riker also has the best line in the show. When he checks in with Data he finds the second officer getting painting lessons from Geordi. Quickly thinking on his feet he tells them to keep notes on the session. Befuddled, Geordi asks him why. "A blind man teaching an android to paint? That's gotta' be worth a couple of lines in some historian's book," is Riker's smart reply!

I found an oddity in the story when I watched it recently. When Picard and Riker sense a problem they question Minuet about it and she explains she isn't programmed to give that information. Several minutes later they approach her again with the same question - and without hesitation she spills her guts this time! An oversight by the writers? Perhaps.

Some final notes: Gene Dynarski, who played one of the miners in the Star Trek original series episode 'Mudd's Women', becomes the first guest star to make separate appearances in the two different Trek series. The auto destruct sequence changes drastically between this show and the second season show titled 'Where Silence Has Lease'. Here it's observed that it is automatically set for five minutes and cannot be altered; in the latter episode Picard and Riker are allowed to choose a time limit.

One of my two pet peeves concerning Star Trek is how often the holodeck malfunctions. I can accept a failure that makes a generated character sound like an old 45 rpm record running at 33 rpm or having a character move like the old slow motion scenes in the television series `The Six-Million Dollar Man.' However, the failures where people are locked in and everything else functions without so much as a hiccup exceed my credibility quotient. In this episode, everyone involved in the creation got the use of the holodeck right and that is what makes it one of the best episodes of the series.
The Enterprise arrives at a star base, where the computers are to be updated by members of a species called the Bynars. They are humanoid creatures that possess direct interfaces with each other and their main computers. This fundamental linking between them and their computer has led to their language being almost binary in nature and their being paired together for life. As the Bynars begin performing their upgrades, Ricker has some suspicions, but he decides to go to the holodeck for some R & R. He requests a jazz joint where he can play a trombone in front of a receptive audience. This is a case where there was no need for him to be careful what he wishes for, because he gets the hottest babe ever to appear in TNG, a gal whose name is Minuet.
Carolyn McCormick, the guest star who plays Minuet, is superb in the role and the interaction between Riker and Minuet is some of the best low-intensity sex that has ever appeared in television. Captain Picard goes to the holodeck and it quickly becomes a threesome, although Picard is more of an observer, commenting on how lifelike Minuet is. They are soon engrossed in each other, which was what the Bynars had in mind. Two of the best scenes in the series happen in the holodeck. Riker asks Minuet, "What's a knockout like you doing in a computer generated gin-joint like this?" is the first and her wiping the lipstick off of Riker's lips when Picard arrives is the other.
The Bynars' plan is to steal the Enterprise and take it to their home planet. To accomplish this, they have the computer create a failure of the magnetic containment field containing the antimatter. Since this will lead to the destruction of the Enterprise in the space dock, Data orders the evacuation of the Enterprise and that it be set on automated departure. However, the Bynars do not leave and Picard and Riker remain in the holodeck, oblivious to the emergency. Once everyone else departs the Enterprise, the magnetic containment field regenerates and the Enterprise leaves.
Eventually, Picard and Riker discover the deception and act to regain control of the ship. That proves easy, as the Bynars are unconscious. A star near their planet went supernova and knocked their computer offline. They had been warned, so their purpose in stealing the Enterprise was to upload all of their data into the Enterprise computers until the shockwaves passed. It is then up to Picard and Riker to download the data back down to the Bynar's planet. They succeed in this and the Bynars recover and turn themselves over for punishment.
Isaac Asimov is well known for his three laws of robotics, which were the basis for most of his stories about robots. Less well known is that he also had sex between robots and humans as a component of some of his stories. In episode three, "The Naked Now" Data and Tasha engage in sexual relations. This episode is subtler and yet it raises some serious social and ethical points. Could there be a serious relationship between a human and a holodeck character? What would be the legal standing of such a character? If someone then deleted the program, would it be considered an act of cruelty towards the human partner of the relationship? Perhaps even considered a form of murder? Would the program designer own the generated character? If someone deleted the program could they be sued for alienation of affection? These are all fascinating questions that were raised in my mind as I watched the classic holodeck scenes. Without question, it is a great episode.

A year before the Borg made their grand debut, the theme of interdependency between organic beings and technology was explored in "11001001." Even though the pale-skinned assimilators made more of a long-lasting impression, you gotta wonder why they never adopted the Bynars' strategy of duping Starfleet officers with attractive holograms - if this episode was any indication, it seemed like a pretty effective strategy to distract Starfleet officers.

The Enterprise-D arrives at Starbase 74 to have their computer system upgraded by the Bynars. The crew evacuates the ship when it appears that its magnetic containment field is on the verge of collapse. However, the emergency is actually a ruse staged by the Bynars so that they can steal the Enterprise. Yet, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) are still aboard. The two officers eventually regain control of the ship after pulling themselves away from an alluring hologram named Minuet (Carolyn McCormick).

There are some genuinely cool aspects to "11001001." It's great to see the exterior and interiors of Starbase 74 which rekindles memories of Spacedock from "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984) and "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" (1991) and it's great to see a replay of the auto-destruct moment from "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" (1969). Yet, the whole subplot revolving around Minuet is not totally convincing. You would think the captain and first officer of the Federation's flagship would notice that their ship is traveling at warp speed when it should not be doing so. Guess that Minuet must really have been far more radiant and captivating than it seemed on the small screen. Yet, in the final count, "11001001" is goofy fun and one of the more amusing outings among the first season efforts.

I liked the part where data gets a call on his comm//saying the magnettic grid was detiriorateing.Then they had to Evac.Ship with the captain and will in the holodeck.