"Peak Performance" | |
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Star Trek: The Next Generation episode | |
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 21 |
Directed by | Robert Scheerer |
Written by | David Kemper (writer) |
Featured music | Dennis McCarthy |
Cinematography by | Edward R. Brown |
Production code | 147 |
Original air date | July 10, 1989 |
Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Peak Performance" is the 21st episode of the second season of the syndicated science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 47th episode overall, first broadcast on July 10, 1989.
In this episode, while in the midst of a war-game exercise, a Ferengi marauder intrudes.
The Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, is ordered by Starfleet Command to take part in simulated combat exercises to prepare for the [Borg] threat. A renowned Zakdorn strategist named Sirna Kolrami (Roy Brocksmith) is sent to serve as observer and mediator of the exercise. Commander Riker challenges Kolrami to a game of Strategema, knowing he has no chance to win, just for the honor of playing a grandmaster. Doctor Pulaski pushes Data to challenge the arrogant Kolrami, assuming Kolrami will be no match for Data's android reflexes and computational ability. When the two later play, however, Data is also soundly beaten, causing him to become convinced he is malfunctioning and remove himself from duty.
The combat exercise pits the Enterprise against an 80-year-old mothballed Federation ship called the Hathaway, which is in orbit around a nearby planet. Picard is to command the Enterprise, while Riker is to choose a crew to man the Hathaway. Riker recruits Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge, Lt. Worf and Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher as his senior staff, and the team begins their efforts to restore the old ship to working order. The Hathaway is severely outclassed by the Enterprise, and has no antimatter, making warp speed impossible. Wesley, however, returns to the Enterprise under false pretenses and surreptitiously beams a school experiment containing a small amount of antimatter to the Hathaway, which would allow them a very short warp burst, though they are uncertain it will work.