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The Drumhead (TNG episode)

"The Drumhead"
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
ST-TNG The Drumhead.jpg
Picard, before Satie's Inquisition.
Episode no. Season 4
Episode 21
Directed by Jonathan Frakes
Written by Jeri Taylor
Featured music Ron Jones
Cinematography by Marvin Rush
Production code 195
Original air date April 29, 1991 (1991-04-29)
Guest appearance(s)
Episode chronology
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List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes

"The Drumhead" is the 95th episode of the syndicated American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the 21st episode of the program's fourth season. It was directed by cast member Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander William Riker on the show. It takes the form of a courtroom drama.

An explosion aboard the Enterprise leads to a high-level investigation headed by Admiral Norah Satie, a retired officer renowned for her skill at exposing conspiracies. Satie quickly determines that a visiting Klingon officer was attempting to smuggle diagrams off the ship, but the Klingon denies any involvement in the explosion. Satie refuses to give up on her investigation, even after the explosion is proven to be an accident, and she accuses Captain Jean-Luc Picard of treason when he challenges her charges against an innocent crewman.

When an explosion within the dilithium chamber of the Federation starship Enterprise's warp engine room appears to be the work of sabotage, Starfleet Command dispatches a retired rear admiral from the Legal Division of its Support Services Section, Norah Satie, to lead an investigation to uncover the cause.

Satie discovers that J'Dan (Henry Woronicz), a Klingon exchange officer, had been using modified hypospray syringes to encode information into amino acid sequences for secret transport. J'Dan admits his collaboration with the Romulans but attests that he did not sabotage the chamber. Satie and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) interview crew members who associated with J'Dan. One interviewee is medical technician Simon Tarses (Spencer Garrett), who claims that his only relationship with J'Dan was to administer injections necessary to treat a rare disease. Satie's Betazoid aide (Bruce French) senses that Tarses is concealing something. Meanwhile, Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Commander Data (Brent Spiner) determine that the hatch had failed due to simple fatigue, not sabotage.


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