Product Details

• Actors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden
• Directors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Gabrielle Beaumont, Robert Becker, Cliff Bole
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: May 31, 1995
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303389309
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #475,137 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

On the Federation planet Galorndon Core, an Away Team discovers a crashed Romulan vessel and a dying Romulan officer. While Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Worf (Michael Dorn) beam back to the ship with the Romulan, Geordi (LeVar Burton) is caught in a fierce electrical storm and stranded on the planet.

Aboard the Enterprise, fears for Geordi's life grow when Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) reveals the Romulan has suffered neural degeneration caused by exposure to the planet's magnetic fields.

Suddenly, a Romulan warship appears and demands the return of its officer. But the officer has dies, leaving the Romulan captain (Andreas Katsulas) poised to attack the Enterprise. Meanwhile, on Galorndon Core, Geordi is ambushed by an unseen enemy-another Romulan survivor!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Enemy: Brilliantly done, April 10, 2007

By 

NX-01 (FT. Wainwright) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 55: The Enemy [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. This episode demonstrated everything that has made star trek as popular as it is forty years after it begin. The exchange between Riker and Worf about racial predjuidce is priceless and exemplifies why star trek has lasted as long as it has. Truly one of the best episodes ever made. If you are introducing someone to trek, this is the episode to show them.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well used plot device not used very well, September 27, 2005

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 55: The Enemy [VHS] (VHS Tape)

While using old plot lines over again is acceptable, it is interesting only if it is well done and contains elements that are unpredictable. In this case, the old story is that of two soldiers, one on each side of the fight, who somehow find themselves together in a situation where they need to cooperate to survive. Geordi, Riker and Worf beam down to a planet with violent electrical storms in order to respond to a distress signal. While there, they discover the wreckage of a Romulan ship and a badly wounded Romulan. It is clear that the ship was deliberately destroyed on the surface. However, before they beam back, Geordi falls in a hole and is left behind. The electrical storm is so violent that it prevents beaming and confounds the sensors. Beaming is possible only during short windows when the storms calm down.
While down on the surface, Geordi encounters a second Romulan, who captures him in the name of the empire. The interaction between Geordi and the Romulan is totally predictable, there is not a hint of originality in what they do. It is one of the few times in the series when Burton comes across as a poor actor.
Meanwhile, the captain of a Romulan Warbird expresses concern for the crash survivors and crosses the neutral zone into Federation space in an attempt to rescue them. This is the point where I raised my absurdity flag. While there is no question that the Romulans were engaged in some form of espionage, there is no way they would not adhere to a policy of plausible deniability in their actions. No Romulan commander would risk an all-out war with the Federation by crossing into Federation space in an attempt to rescue two survivors of a failed spy mission. It is for this reason that I give the episode only three stars. If it were possible, I would lower it to a more accurate 2 ½.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Geordi in the Next Generation version of a classic war tale, November 7, 2000

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 55: The Enemy [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Enterprise responds to an unknown distress call from Galorndon Core, an uninhabited planet wracked by constant storms. Riker, Worf and La Forge beam down and discover a Romulan craft that has crashed. Searching for survivors, Riker and Worf find a wounded Romulan and are forced to beam back before they can find La Forge. While the Enterprise figures out a way to locate their Chief Engineer, La Forge is attacked by another Romulan. Because of the struggle and the violent storms of the planet, La Forge loses his vision and the Romulan can no longer walk. Meanwhile, a Romulan ship has arrived upon the scene ready and willing to fight.

One of the standard war stories has a pair of enemy soldiers having to work with together in order to survive. The most notable example of this would be the 1968 film "Hell in the Pacific" with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune marooned together on an island. Of course the story does not have to take place in a war, as Tony Curtis and Sidney Portier proved in "The Defiant Ones." In the Next Generation episode "The Enemy," the Federation is not a war with the Romulan Empire, but there is certainly a level of mutual distrust. Consequently, this is a rather standard version of the tale, quite predictable. The idea that the Romulans show up at a crash site and immediately start threatening to start a war is a bit over the top and loses the episode a star. After all, the planet is causing enough problems without falling back on the Romulan "Evil Empire" stereotype. Besides, the story is predicatable enough that neither LaVar Burton or anybody else has any really worthwhile dramatic moments. Certainly a missed opportunity.