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
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: June 11, 1996
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304028458
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,584 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Television > Star Trek: The Next Generation

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Responding to an emergency transmission from a science team on the planet Ventax, the Enterprise encounters a population in a state of panic. According to legend, a mythic figure named Ardra promised the Ventaxians a thousand years of peace and prosperity in exchange for their own enslavement at the end of that period. Their time is now up, and they desperately fear her impending arrival.

When Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) goes to the planet to meet with the Ventaxian leader, Jared (Marcelo Tubert), Ardra (Mara Dubois) suddenly appears, demanding to collect on the bargain. Ardra demonstrates her god-like powers by causing tremors, transforming herself into frightening creatures and disappearing at will.

The Ventaxians, who have little advanced technology, are easily persuaded by her theatrics, so it is up to Picard to stop her before she enslaves the entire planet-and the Enterprise crew as well.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Star Trek: The Next Generation #87, July 31, 1997

By A Customer

The 87th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation is a blast! Ardra, also known on earth as "THE DEVIL" has made a signed deal with a foreign planet stating that the planet is allowed one millinium of peace for exchange for their slavery. Captain Picard and the rest of his Star Fleet crew must save this planet from destruction. This episode is not one to pass up. END

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ventax II goes to hell in a handbasket..., February 22, 2004

By	Shelley Shay (Denton, TX **(God Bless the USA!!)**) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

...almost. A thousand years earlier, leaders of Ventax II supposedly made a deal with the Devil... a.k.a. "Ardra." The deal: 1,000 years of peace and prosperity. The catch: after 1,000 years, the people become slaves of Ardra.

The Enterprise gets an emergency summons from a group of Federation anthropologists doing study on Ventax II. The public has gone crazy, looting, rioting and engaging in all sorts of mayhem, taking some of the scientists hostage.

Picard races to the planet and saves one scientist who tells them what is going on. The citizens are panicky because Ardra is due to return in just one day. As prophecy dictates, her coming was preceded by earthquakes and visions of her throughout the planet.

Picard does his best to not laugh out loud, when suddenly Ardra (Mara Dubois) appears before them. To prove she is who she claims to be, she causes the earth to shake at a blink of her eye. She changes herself into the Klingon version of the Devil to scare Worf and teleports people here and there just by glancing at them.

Picard is incensed. He knows there is technology, not mojo, behind Ardra's "magic." He sets Geordi LaForge on the task of finding out how Ardra is pulling off this hoax. Meanwhile, he has Data research Ventaxian law to see if there are any loopholes in the contract signed a millennia ago.

The Ventaxians are all but bending over backwards to accommodate Ardra - their limited technology makes them vulnerable to her wiles and makes them believe she is truly the Devil incarnate.

Ardra pushes Picard's buttons by showing up half-naked in his quarters and trying to seduce him. After being rebuffed, she beams him down to the planet's surface, wearing only his pijamas. There is quite a bit of humor in this episode. Picard refuses to allow the Ventaxians to fall prey to this space-faring snake-oil saleswoman and does his best to call her bluff. Entertaining to watch.