the big goodbye introduces u to the first holodeck adventure and in this case captain picard pose a private investigator dixon hill . this episodes create some sort of standard pattern and repeat several time on tng as well a d 9 and voyager . after enter the holodeck something go wrong and the character have to deal with the program under different circumstance beyond play a game ( represent by the failure of the holodeck safety program ) . this concept be use to expand star trek possibility and enable a kind of genre mix . picard dixon hill story be example of 1940s crime fiction and their representation on the screen be refer to a film noir often have the stereotype antihero in the lead ( see for example chandler marlowe story or polanski all time classic chinatown ) . star trek never focus on the story ( mostly it a simple how do we get out of here scenario ) but enable the actor to take a different approach to their character . those holodeck game be commonly use for recreation and reflect the private interest of the crew member . therefore the technical aspect be always neglect and from that point of view the story be never sound ( but do star trek ever have a technical and scientific point to it and i mean besides some utopic concept . ) . the big goodbye show a relaxed patrick stewart and a mcfadden that hardly ever look well in a star trek episode ( at least the early one ) and data have some great scene and too ( although i find it hard to believe that pull the lamp plug out of the wall would have really surprise him and for the fact that he would do research on that period and it custom ) . wesley continue turn peaceful trekkies into potential murderer ( why do not they take him to the holodeck and let the gangster finish him off . ) but all in all this one fun .