Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 21: The Arsenal Of Freedom [VHS]

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The first sesaon of Star Trek: The Next Generation was hard to watch at times. TNG had yet to "find" itself and the writing was...uneven, at best. But toward the end of the first season, the writers and producers finally gave TNG life with such excellent episodes as "Coming of Age", "Heart of Glory" and "The Arsenal of Freedom".

"The Arsenal of Freedom" tells the story of a super-weapon that takes on a life of it's own. The Enterprise encounters this device on a planet that is one giant weapons factory. But something went terribly wrong. These weaponeers created a weapon so smart that it became something more powerful and dangerous than what they intended: It wiped out every intelligent life-form on the entire planet. And when Picard and crew investigate, this weapon attempts to wipe out the Enterprise as well. What sets this episode apart is that we get to see Lt. Geordi La Forge shine as commander of the Enterprise. Picard and most of his command staff are stranded on the planet and La Forge has to not only rescue them from one of the super-weapons but he has to protect the Enterprise from one of these weapons as well. It's fun to see La Forge, a junior lieutenant, face all the problems of command. He contends with threats inside and outside the ship as a ranking officer tries to take over the ship and La Forge stands he ground saying only Captain Picard or First Officer Riker can relieve him of duty. La Forge, along with Worf (acting as both first officer and tactical officer) and two young ensigns save the entire senior staff and the Enterprise from destruction.

Solid episode and one of a very few TNG stories that spotlights La Forge. This is THE La Forge episode to own. And one of only a few first season highlights.

Plot: The Enterprise is on a mission to find the USS Drake, which has been missing. Riker, Yar, and Data all beam down to the planet Minos (where they tracked the Drake to have been last) and find it to be a jungle with absolutely no inhabitants. Suddenly Riker sees the commander of the USS Drake, Captain Rice. But things aren't what they appear to be (like as if this is supposed to be anything new). Riker gets suspicious and pretends that the Enterprise is the "Lollipop" in order to see if Rice is really Rice or something undesireable. Rice suddenly turns into a golden robot (and therefore, undesireable) and encases Riker in an energy field...fortunately Yar shoots it before something else happens. Picard and Dr. Crusher head down to the planet (leaving Geordi in command), where another robot attacks them and everyone scatters (except Data, who is trying to free Riker from the encasing field). Picard and Crusher fall down a pit, injuring the doctor severly. Meanwhile, the Enterprise falls under attack from another robot...

Alot of action involved with this episode, although you have to admit that there are some real absurd points to the episode including: Picard heading down to a situation that is very likely to be dangerous and Chief Eng. Logan (who would make one wish to transfer is he became a captain) trying to boss Geordi around (before HE became Chief Engineer) during the middle of a crisis instead of shutting up and doing his job. However, I think that it's rather interesting on how they beat the salespitch guy in the end (buy the product so it will shut down and not "demonstrate" anymore).

Overall, a pretty good episode, especially seeing Geordi in command and with the saucer seperation (and all the phaser fire, of course).

This is another one of the "technology gone wild" episodes of Star Trek. It is no better than the others are, as there are several points of absurdity. The Enterprise is sent to investigate the disappearance of the USS Drake and finds the planet Minos inexplicably devoid of intelligent life. The inhabitants of Minos are well known as arms merchants, willing to sell anything to anybody possessing the means of payment. When the Enterprise arrives, they receive an automated message extolling the virtues of the weapons for sale.
Riker, Data and Yar beam down and find weapons everywhere covered with vegetation. Suddenly. Riker appears to encounter the captain of the Drake, who is an old classmate. What he sees is nothing but a projection, sent to seek information about the military capabilities of the Enterprise. The segment after Riker realizes this is the highest point of the episode. Riker then says that his ship is the Lollipop and "it is a good ship." Suddenly, an automated weapon that encases Riker in an energy field attacks the away team. The field is designed to hold the prisoner until they can be further interrogated.
The weapon is easily destroyed and Data attempts to free Riker from the field. This leads to the first point of absurdity, when Captain Picard beams down to the surface, accompanied by Dr. Crusher. Counselor Troi takes extreme exception to his beaming down, but no one else raises an objection. Before leaving, Picard places Geordi in command. Shortly after Picard and Crusher arrive, a new and more efficient weapon arrives and it is not so easily destroyed, although Tasha and Data manage to do so. However, in fleeing the weapon, Picard and Crusher fall into a pit, where Crusher suffers some broken bones. Of course, her medical kit is lost and the communicators quit working.
Riker is freed and they begin searching for Picard and Crusher. Once again, they find it difficult to find them, even though the trail they left when fleeing the weapon should have been obvious to a first year boy scout. Meanwhile, the Enterprise is under attack and Geordi is under pressure to respond. The chief engineer outranks him and tries to relieve him, but Geordi refuses. He then leaves the planet, separates the saucer section and returns in the battle bridge and with a battle plan.
Back on the planet, Picard struggles to keep Crusher awake and Riker, Data and Yar finally find them. After searching the pit, they encounter a terminal linked to the computer that is controlling the weapons. At this point, we learn something that everyone could have figured out ten minutes ago. The weapons sold by the Minotians grew so powerful that they killed all of the inhabitants. Picard asks the terminal whether they can shut it off and the answer is yes. This is absolutely ridiculous. How could a weapon system kill all the inhabitants when even a person alien to the planet can shut off the system with a verbal command? The Enterprise battle bridge returns to the planet and by entering the atmosphere, it is able to see the attacking weapon and destroy it.
While this episode is predictable, that is not the major problem. There was no reason for Picard to beam down to the surface; it violates the fundamental principles that the Captain does not leave the bridge in a potential combat situation. However, the worst point of ridiculousness comes when Picard is able to turn off the weapons system by a simple verbal command. The only way that such a weapon system could destroy all the inhabitants would be if the off switch didn't work. I cringed when I realized that Picard could simply turn it off, it turned an OK episode into a bad one. It is one of the weakest episodes in the series. The only positive point is that it gives Geordi an opportunity to show his skills as a commander.

"The Arsenal of Freedom" is clearly one of the low points of Star Trek: The Next Generation's first season. The only positive this episode contains is Commander William Riker's (Jonathan Frakes) joke about his new ship - the "good ship Lollipop." The rest of the episode is nowhere as amusing.

The Enterprise-D arrives at the planet Minos in search of the U.S.S. Drake. Upon beaming down to the planet, the away team is attacked by floating energy weapons and Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) is seriously injured upon falling into a sinkhole. Meanwhile, the Enterprise itself is under siege from an undetectable enemy in space. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) eventually learns that the disappearance of the Drake and the attacks on his away team and his ship are all tied to the missing Minos people themselves.

Watching the crew be put in peril and learning that all the dangers they faced were part of a sales pitch gives an awkward feel to this episode. It's like watching a used-car salesman terrorize a prospective buyer by taking him as a passenger on a reckless jaunt down the freeway in order to demonstrate the merits of a particular car. Well, at least we got a peek at the battle bridge in action again which is always a cool sight. Too bad it was only used to destroy a floor model of a sales product. You would think the writers would have thought of a better situation in which to showcase the battle bridge, but then again you would think that episodes like this one would not have moved beyond the drawing board stage.

The Enterprise tries to find the Drake, a ship Riker was once offered a command on, but passed up to be on the Enterprise. They believe the ship may have crashed on Minos, a now uninhabited planet other that the remnants of war-torn buildings, tropical plants and some wildlife.

An automated sales pitch message comes on the main viewer - a salesman tells about "The Arsenal of Freedom" on Minos, where the best deterrent to war is a strong armament. The away team beams down to locate any sign of the Drake. They find melted tritanium (a material used in the hulls of Federation ships) and know the ship's fate was not a good one.

Suddenly, Riker sees his old Academy friend, Paul, on the surface... Paul was the captain of the ill-fated Drake. It sure looks like Paul, but he doesn't know answers to simple questions and he gives off no bio readings. It turns out to be a clever surveillance device meant to gather information to defeat the enemy. The attack orbs continue to improve after each attack and soon become unstoppable as the automated salesman continues to show off his weaponry for sale.

The other plot is Geordi's growth as an officer. He is left in charge, even though he is not the highest ranking officer and he and the chief engineer get into a machismo contest of words that is way over the top in the cheese meter... and yet another lame excuse to do a saucer separation.

More character growth for Crusher and Picard and a decent episode.

Geordi commands the Enterprise!

While on a mission to find the missing U. S. S. Drake; the big E encounters a world that sells weapons of war. The away team: Data, Tasha and Riker, find a holographic captain from the Drake. After discovering the fake; a flying robot weapon attempts to eliminate them.

Meanwhile, Picard and Doctor Crusher also beam on the surface. The good doctor falls into a cavern taking the captain with her. Geordi separates the saucer section and goes looking for Picard and crew. This one is the most fx heavy of the season. It shows Geordi taking his first steps as a captain. Fighting off the chief engineer who wants to bump him from the center seat!