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As the USS Enterprise-D attempts to identify the source of the distress call, they are confronted with extreme interference due to electromagnetic whirlwinds on the moon, which renders the sensors incapable of picking up life signs. However, Commander Data is able to identify the distress call to be consistent with that of Daedalus-class starships, which, however, have not been in service for 172 years. Captain Picard asks Data to check if any starships have been reported missing in this area. Data determines that the USS Essex under the command of Captain Bryce Shumar disappeared in the vicinity, over two hundred years ago. He also determines, that the signal from the moon is identical to the subspace signature from the Essex. The captain thinks that they have solved the mystery of the Essex, seeing no need to risk beaming down to check a ghost ship, and orders Lt. Worf to notify Starfleet. However, in that moment, Counselor Deanna Troi tells the captain that they have not necessarily solved the mystery of the missing ship, since she senses life on the moon's surface.

Act One


The shuttle of Troi, Data, and Riker crashed on the moon

William T. Riker, Data, and Troi are on board the shuttle Campbell on their way down to the moon surface. However, the shuttle is continually being violently shaken by the winds, until some systems fail and the crew are forced to emergency land on the moon's surface. On the Enterprise, the crew are worried about the people on the shuttle, however, Ro Laren is able to determine the coordinates where the shuttle crashed.

The life, which Troi senses, approaches with the storm

The crew in the shuttle manage to explosively release the exit door of the shuttle. However, they are unable to communicate with the Enterprise, and all equipment in the shuttle has been rendered inoperable. Riker's arm has been broken in the crash. Troi notices an odd-looking storm front close to their own position. Data does not pick up any life signs in the front with his tricorder, but Troi is absolutely certain that there is life, and it is rapidly approaching along with the storm.

On the Enterprise, Geordi La Forge and Chief O'Brien are attempting to find a way to beam the away team from the surface. O'Brien suggests that he beam down by boosting the confinement beam and he will bring with him a set of pattern enhancers, which would allow safe transport for the away team. La Forge reminds the chief that the chances of him making it down to the surface without materializing in a million pieces are 50/50 at best, but O'Brien insists that he be allowed to try. When Worf informs Captain Picard that a storm front is moving towards their crew on the moon, Picard allows O'Brien to take the risk and wishes him luck.

Thanks to the pattern enhancers, the away team is safely returned to the ship

O'Brien manages to beam down to the away team and starts distributing the pattern enhancers, reminding Data and Troi to place them about seven meters apart. However, as he tries to activate the third enhancer, it is struck by a violent lightning, knocking the four crewmembers over on the ground. As they lie unconscious, the storm passes over them and glowing orbs enter the bodies of O'Brien, Data, and Troi. A fourth one passes over Riker, but does not enter and flies away instead. He gets up and activates the third pattern enhancer, and the crew are beamed up to the ship, with Data, Troi, and O'Brien still unconscious.

Act Two


On the bridge, Troi asks Picard to have a word with him in private and they proceed to his ready room. Riker orders Ensign Ro to take a synchronous orbit around the shuttle's crash site, but Data claims that due to the EM patterns it would be best if they begin the search around the southern polar region. Riker is skeptical, as that would have them start their search from scratch and maintains his request to begin the search at the crash site. There is a visible reluctance on Data's face as he hears that.


On the bridge, Ro notices that she has been locked out from the helm, but Riker has no explanation for it. He asks Data what may have happened, but Data does not answer. As Riker walks up to Data's console, Data hits Riker and knocks him on the floor. As Worf tries to fire a phaser at Data, he is pulled away and knocked over the tactical station by O'Brien and falls over the command chair. Ro tries to stun O'Brien with a phaser of her own, but he takes cover and shoots her. Riker manages to transfer all bridge control to engineering, which completely locks out Data from his console. In his ready room, Picard gets knocked on his back by Troi. Data, O'Brien, and Troi enter the turbolift and proceed to engineering.

"My entity's artificial substructure may be useful."



Act Three

"Captain's log, supplemental. Following an aborted attempt to take control of the bridge, Counselor Troi, Mister Data, and Chief O'Brien have seized Ten Forward."


Picard then contacts Ten Forward and inquires about the severity of injuries of the people there. Troi tells Worf to inform the bridge about the injuries. Picard then asks Troi to release the injured, in exchange for him as another hostage, and Troi agrees. Riker objects to Picard placing himself in this position, but Picard points out that the whole ship is essentially being held hostage anyway and while he's there he can find out who or what they're dealing with. He leaves with orders that if La Forge and Ro can go ahead with the plasma shock then to do so, but if they can't or if it doesn't work then for Riker to watch for any opportunity Picard might give him. A medical team and Picard then enter Ten Forward. Troi tells Picard that she is Captain Shumar of the Essex.

Act Four

Stunned, Picard is in disbelief, and Troi tells him that Data is Shumar's first officer, Commander Steven Mullen and that O'Brien is the security chief Lt. Morgan Kelly. She also says that she has no wish to harm Counselor Troi, who is still alive, or anybody else on the Enterprise. She tells Picard that they have commandeered the ship because they have been trapped on the moon for over two centuries and simply want to find rest. For that, they need the help of the Enterprise. When questioned, she says that the Essex broke apart when the ship was caught in the same electromagnetic storm as the shuttle Campbell. The bridge crashed in the southern polar region. At that moment, lightning struck the bridge and their consciences were absorbed by the magnetic currents on the surface. She explains they didn’t tell Picard this because he wouldn't believe them.


La Forge and Ro have reached a service crawlway just above Ten Forward. On the bridge, Dr. Crusher has determined how she could trap the alien entities – by duplicating the magnetic flux density in the storms on the moon by flooding Ten Forward with ionogenic particles. However, La Forge tells the bridge that he still has to calibrate the plasma inverter, which would still take up to forty-five minutes to an hour for them to fire the plasma shock.

In Ten Forward, Picard and Worf have a chance to discuss the situation. Worf confides that Klingon history contains many legends such as the jat'yIn– the living being possessed by the spirits of the dead, and Picard admits that Human history has many similar legends. Worf asks if Picard believes that "Shumar" and the others are who they say they are, and Picard, dropping his voice even lower, says absolutely not: if they were Starfleet officers, they would be behaving much less violently. Worf posits that, after years living disembodied on the moon, the crew of the Essex has gone insane. The entity inhabiting Data cuts them off and orders them to sit down apart from each other.

The Enterprise is nearing the southern polar region of the moon and Picard asks Troi for further instructions. She demands that they beam up the skeletal remains of the Essex crew and bring them to Earth for a proper burial. Picard demands that all the hostages are to be released first, but Data threatens to kill some of the hostages if the captain does not cooperate.

Troi and O'Brien struck by the plasma shock

Data forces Picard to cooperate

At that moment, La Forge and Ro attempt to fire the plasma charge on the three captors but Data walks out of range at the last second and the shock misses him. The alien beings emerge from the bodies of Troi and O'Brien as they slump to the floor. Dr. Crusher establishes the field that traps the alien entities. An enraged Data, still possessed, grabs Picard by the neck, lifts him from the floor, and threatens to kill everyone in Ten Forward starting with the captain if he does not order the bridge to stop. Picard, under duress, gives in. The bridge deactivates the field and the glowing orbs again seize control of Troi and O'Brien. Troi angrily asks Picard if he is ready to cooperate. Choking, the captain says that he is, and Data releases him.

Act Five


Diana Giddings and Keiko O'Brien, holding Molly

The ship has arrived at the destination, but the electromagnetic storm activity renders the sensors useless again. All La Forge can detect is a basic ionic cyclone. The same distortion also makes the use of the transporters impossible and Picard reminds the captors that O'Brien is the only person on board who can get the transporters to work through the interference. O'Brien confirms this, but says he needs a transporter pad to conduct the procedure; since there is none in Ten Forward, Picard proposes that he give them safe passage to the transporter in Cargo Bay Four. Picard signals the bridge, telling Riker they have the "opportunity" to end the violence – putting a barely noticeable emphasis on the word that reminds Riker of their earlier conversation.


Hundreds of condemned prisoners from Ux-Mal

After arriving in Cargo Bay Four, Picard asks "Shumar" when he will really tell him who he is, but gets no response. On the bridge, Riker explains to Ro that there is only one reason why Picard chose that particular cargo bay: the bridge crew can blow the hatch and decompress the cargo bay if and when it becomes necessary.



Molly is glad to have her father back



Troi describes her experience of being possessed, explaining that while she could see and hear everything she was doing but wasn't in control, and notes that the being that inhabited her was intelligent but ruthless. Data apologizes to Worf for his behavior and thanks him for his restraint, and Worf notes that Data has "no idea" how hard it was to control himself. In sickbay, Doctor Crusher finishes checking out O'Brien and he reunites with Keiko and Molly, before apologizing for his behavior and saying that he would've killed the entity inside him if he could. Keiko states that she understands and Molly is happy that her father is back to normal.

Log entries

Memorable quotes

"Someone's down there… alive."

- Troi, sensing life on Mab-Bu VI's desolate moon


- Riker, discussing a plan to end the hostage situation.



"Lunch time, Miles! Let's do it!"

- Riker, after O'Brien tells him Molly gets angry when he's not feeding her lunch before the away team beams up

"Everyone, get down on the floor!!"

- A possessed Deanna Troi

"Mr. Worf, acknowledge! Can you hear me, Mr. Worf?!"
"Yes, bridge. He can hear you."

- Picard, trying to contact Worf during the crisis in Ten Forward, while a possessed Troi answers for him

"What are you looking at? You, Klingon. Attack me!"

- A possessed Data, to Worf

"Silence that child!"

- A possessed Data, to Keiko O'Brien, regarding Molly's crying

"I have no fear of death."
"And I have no fear of killing you!"

- Worf and a possessed Data

"You have thirty seconds to change your course, or else additional members of your crew will require medical attention."

- A possessed Deanna Troi, to Captain Picard

"(choking) Picard to bridge! Abort immediately!"

- A possessed Data and Picard

"How do you intend to free yourselves of this existence that has so trapped your consciousness?"
"It will fade as we move further from this planet."
"Really? What is your scientific basis for that?"
"I don't need a scientific basis. Just be quiet."
"Captain Shumar, when are you going to tell me who you really are?"

- Picard and a possessed Deanna Troi

"You will die too, Picard!"

- Picard, a possessed Data, Keiko O'Brien, and Worf

"I advise you, Picard, not to pass our way again."

- A possessed Deanna Troi, to Captain Picard

"No apology necessary."
"Your restraint was most remarkable."
"You have no idea."

- Data and Worf

Background information

Production history

Story and script


  • "Power Play" was filmed between Wednesday 27 November 1991 and Wednesday 11 December 1991 on Paramount Stage 8, 9, and 16. The company went on holiday on Thursday 28 November 1991 and Friday 29 November 1991, and the call sheet for 27 November 1991 featured the note "Company Holiday – Happy Turkey Day". Additional days of second unit filming were Thursday 12 December 1991 on Paramount Stage 16, Thursday 19 December 1991 on Paramount Stage 9, and Thursday 23 January 1992 on Paramount Stage 8.
  • This episode was a rare example in which a camera crane was used (in common with second season opener "The Child"). (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 14)
  • During second unit filming on Thursday 23 January 1992, the company also worked on a Trading Card photo shoot. (Call sheet)
  • The release of this episode included on Star Trek: The Next Generation (Blu-ray) contains approximately 1 minute and 41 seconds of SD footage converted to HD.

Sets and props



  • Michael Piller was not as pleased with the final result. "'Power Play' had the distinction of being one of the best directed episodes of the season, but only made me angry because it was empty […] It was meant to be a show that was dark and brooding, and the shows I've always used as prototypes were Key Largo and The Petrified Forest. Very contained situations. We had a hard time making that work and making it interesting for five acts. It's not a difficult premise, it's been done on a lot of shows, a lot of times and television has found a way to make those premises kind of work […] Ultimately it became a major action show and instead of helping us get even, knocked us into the stratosphere. I wasn't very fond of that show, but very fond of David's direction. If that show had any merit at all, it was because he directed it with an extraordinary sense of style. The three actors who were given the job of being the aliens carried it with wonderful performances […] Brent, Marina and Colm really put together interesting performances, but I was not happy with the script." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 239)



Video and DVD releases

Links and references


Also starring

Guest stars


Uncredited co-stars

Stunt doubles



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