Descent (TNG episode)

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Star Trek: TNG episode
"Descent"

Episode no.	152 (Part 1) #153 (Part 2)
Prod. code	252 (Part 1) #253 (Part 2)
Airdate	June 21, 1993 (Part 1) September 20, 1993 (Part 2)
Writer(s)	Jeri Taylor (Part 1) Ronald D. Moore (Part 1) René Echevarria (Part 2)
Director	Alexander Singer
Guest star(s)	Brian Cousins Jim Norton (Part 1) Natalija Nogulich (Part 1) John Neville (Part 1) Stephen Hawking (Part 1) Alex Datcher (Part 2) James Horan (Part 2) Jonathan del Arco (Part 2)
Year	2369
Stardate	46982.1 (Part 1) 47025.4 (Part 2)
Episode chronology
Previous	"Timescape"
Next	"Liaisons"

Descent is a two-part episode from the sixth/seventh season of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Enterprise encounters a group of Borg. As they battle, the Borg do not act like normal Borg and instead fight like guerrilla warriors. During the confrontation Data feels an emotion: anger. He and the rest of the crew do not know how this is possible. He tries to experience emotion again through simulations of the event, but does not succeed. He speaks with a Borg whom the Enterprise has captured and flees with it to a planet. Nearly the whole crew of the Enterprise searches for Data on the planet, and finally Picard, Troi and La Forge discover a building. Upon entering, they are surrounded by Borg. Lore, Data's brother, appears and tells Picard that he and Data will fight the Federation. Lore has found a way to give Data emotions, and Data has turned on the Federation. Lore plans to lead these breakaway Borg to destroy all organic life; they believe that Lore and Data are perfect life forms.

Picard, Troi, and La Forge are taken captive. Geordi's VISOR allows him to see a carrier wave being beamed from Lore to Data, and they hypothesize that this is the source of Data's emotions and Lore's control over Data. For this reason Lore orders Geordi's VISOR removed. Lore intends to perform experiments on Geordi's brain which may kill him. Geordi tries pleading with Data, but he ignores this and follows Lore's orders. In their prison cell, the away team constructs a device which they believe will reactivate Data's moral subroutines, in the hopes that he will question his unethical actions, as well as the intentions of his brother.

Meanwhile, Riker and Worf encounter Hugh, who tells them that Lore is the leader of this Borg group. He says that at one time Lore's help was necessary, but that he has since destroyed many Borg through brutal experimentation. Hugh's group are "rebel" Borg, wanting to remove Lore from power.

The away team manages to reactivate Data's ethical programming just as Data is about to enact the experiment that runs a 60% chance of killing Geordi. Geordi pleads with Data, asking him to check his conscience. Data falters, and claims that there are anomalies in the experiment and postpones it.

Lore begins to doubt Data's devotion, and attempts to exercise more control over him with the threat of removing the emotions he had provided. Lore orders Data to kill Picard to prove his loyalty. Data refuses, as the rebooting of his morality subroutines is complete. Two Borg seize Data and Lore is about to execute his "own, dear brother" when Riker, Worf, Hugh and some of Hugh's rebel Borg arrive and throw the scene into confusion. Lore flees but Data follows him and, with a phaser blast and some circuitry tinkering, deactivates him. Data also deactivates his own emotion chip.

Back on the Enterprise, Data is about to destroy his emotion chip, but Geordi stops him, saying, "Maybe someday, when you're ready." About a year later, Data activates the chip again in Star Trek: Generations.

[edit] Allusion

The situation in the episode shows very strong parallels with the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s--the Borg are self-described by Hugh as helpless and lost, needing a strong leader to unite them; Hugh goes on to say that Riker could not possibly understand being so lost that they would unite to follow any leader that helped them. To make the comparison between Hitler and Lore more complete, Lore believes that artificial lifeforms are superior to all other forms of life and so endeavors to transform the Borg into entirely artificial forms while destroying all (inferior) organic life forms.

[edit] Trivia

Hawking as himself on Star Trek: The Next Generation

Stephen Hawking was on the Paramount lot for the video release of the film A Brief History of Time. He was given a tour of the set, and asked "Could you take me out of my chair and put me in the captain's chair?" A few days later the idea of a quick cameo came up for "Descent". At the beginning of the episode, Data is seen playing poker with holographic depictions of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Hawking portrayed his own hologram for this episode.

Some Star Trek fans have raised the question about the ethical and legal implications of Data killing Lore. While it is not explicit whether Lore's deactivation and disassembly are permanent, Data treats it like it might be. However, while it has been established that the Federation generally does not have the death penalty there are exceptions to the rule (The Menagerie, Star Trek:TOS) and Data has indicated before that when confronted with a character who will certainly kill in the future he is willing to use lethal methods (The Most Toys, Star Trek: TNG).