Masks (Star Trek: The Next Generation) the entire "Star Trek: The Next Generation" series. Technically, it was chosen as second-worst, but Empire decided that ""—its initial choice for worst episode—didn't count, because "Shades" was a flashback 'clip' episode. Masks (Star Trek: The Next Generation) "Masks" is the seventeenth episode of the of the American science fiction television series "", the 169th episode overall. An alien archive, like an alien Library of Alexandria, initially appearing as a rogue comet because of accumulated matter, transforms the "Enterprise" as well as adapting Lieutenant Commander Data for a re-enactment of its culture's mythology, including the creation of two masks which
Borderland (Star Trek: Enterprise) Series" and "The Next Generation" due to ongoing low ratings. It was not originally planned to include an ancestor of Noonien Soong in the episode, with executive producer Manny Coto instead planning for the character to be Colonel Phillip Green from "" episode "The Savage Curtain". The character was to be a straightforward villain, but after discussion with "" Spiner, the character was re-written to become Arik Soong, described as a "misunderstood genius". It was Spiner's first "Star Trek" role since the film "Star Trek Nemesis" in 2002, having previously played Arik Soong's descendant Noonien Soong and his creations Data