Written by J. Larry Carroll and David Bennett Carren
GUEST CAST
“Ambassador” Tomalak: Andreas Katsulas
Jean-Luc/Ethan: Chris Demetral
Minuet: Carolyn McCormick
Nurse Ogawa: Patti Yasutake
Ensign Gleason: Todd Merrill
Transporter Chief Hubbell: April Grace
Transporter Chief: George O’Hanlon, Jr.
Barash: Dana Tjowander
After having passed out during a mission to Apha Onias III, Riker awakens to an unbelievable scene: sixteen years have passed; he’s now captain of the Enterprise and a widower with a teenage son!
Dr. Crusher explains that during his mission to Alpha Onias III he contracted a virus that only recently became active; the virus wiped out his memory of the years since then. Riker also discovers that a peace treaty with the Romulans is about to be signed and that his onetime nemesis Tomalak, now an ambassador, is on board the Enterprise, as is “Admiral” Picard.
But Riker senses something is wrong when the ship’s computer takes an unusually long time to respond to his queries about his missing years. He then discovers that his late wife was Minuet, an ideal woman created for him by the Bynars.
When he confronts Tomalak with this knowledge, the scene dissolves into a Romulan holodeck, with only Tomalak remaining. Riker is then thrown into a dungeon with his “son,” who turns out to be a boy who was captured by the Romulans.
The boy then helps him escape, but makes another reference to “Ambassador” Tomalak. Finally, the boy reveals the truth: he is an alien named Barash who captured Riker and devised the elaborate memory-loss scenario to have company during his exile. Riker then invites the youngster to return with him to the Enterprise.
____________________
Albeit in illusory form, “Future Imperfect” continued the family theme that marked the season’s first nine shows. The episode also gave Frakes a chance to show he could invest Riker’s character scenes with the same level of intensity Stewart had brought to Picard’s in “Family”. The script gained perhaps its most poignant scene at the last minute, when for once the pace of filming was going too fast. Writers Larry Carroll and David Bennett Carren had to meet after hours with Rick Berman and Michael Piller to thrash out a new scene the night before it was to be shot. What evolved was the turbo-lift scene between Riker and his “son” in which Number One admits his fear of repeating his own father’s mistakes as a parent ­ a satisfying echo of “The Icarus Factor”.
Their efforts won Carroll and Carren a spot on the writing staff that would last all season. Carren had written previously for Starsky and Hutch, the 1980’s Twilight Zone, and the 1970’s Buck Rogers. Carroll had been a film editor on the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and had written low-budget films for independents and for Empire, including Ghost Warrior, which he also directed.
Back again, though only briefly, is Carolyn McCormick as Riker’s onetime holodeck soul mate, Minuet (“11001001”). Another nice long-term continuity touch is Andreas Katsulas’s third appearance as a Romulan villain (“The Enemy”, “The Defector”). Patti Yasutake began her continuing role as a nurse here. She would go on to acquire not only a name but even a personality by season five. And, though she was seen once before, and will appear in many shows to come, it is only in this episode that April Grace’s character, a transporter chief, is given a last name: Hubbell.
The transporter chief of Barash’s illusion is played by an actor whose background includes both space and fantasy, sort of: George O’Hanlon, Jr., is the son of talented voice actor George O’Hanlon, perhaps best known as Hanna-Barbera cartoon star George Jetson. Todd Merrill’s character, Gleason, returns but seems to have been demoted since the Borg battle; here he is a services-division ensign rather than a command-division lieutenant (j.g.), as he was in the season opener, “The Best of Both Worlds,” Part 2. And under the Barash alien costume is an uncredited extra, Dana Tjowander.
Barash managed to conjure up a whole new look for the Federation in his future fantasy, including new Starfleet communicators (which were quickly put on sale by Trek merchandisers), a female Klingon ensign, and a Ferengi at the conn; a scar for Worf, a cranberry uniform for First Officer Data, a replacement for Geordi’s VISOR, and a gray-streaked, married Troi as “Admiral” Picard’s aide.
Some things weren’t changed, though: Riker still had his trombone handy, kids still got hurt playing Parrises Squares, and Number One clearly managed to pass on his love of fishing to his son.
Tomalak’s fantasy Romulan warbird, Decius, carries the name of the fatally injured aide to Mark Lenard’s unnamed commander in original Trek’s “Balance of Terror,” and we also learn that the original eight outposts along the Neutral Zone, seen in that 1960’s episode, have grown to at least twenty-three. Once again, the original Borg interiors seen in “The Best of Both Worlds,” Part 2, came back to life, this time refigured by Richard James as the underground Romulan base. Next to an old twentieth-century Apollo lunar module, the other model in Riker’s “future” ready room is the Nebula-class USS Melbourne, designed by Ed Miarecki.
