‘PEAK PERFORMANCE’ (TNG)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This isn’t one of my standout favourite ‘Star Trek: TNG’ episodes from Season 2. It’s not awful, but the episode didn’t really excite me despite having some very good character development moments.
The episode has the Enterprise visited by a renowned Zakdorn strategist, Roy Brocksmith as Sirna Kolrami. The Enterprise is taking part in a simulated combat exercise to prepare for the Borg threat.
This is something that I can appreciate for this episode doing in the build-up to the Borg’s return later on in the series. It’s such a shame there weren’t any Borg simulations to make it more exciting.
Sirna Kolrami’s character in the episode is really annoying and is meant to be. I do think Roy Brocksmith is sometimes over the top in his performance, despite appearing as a new alien species.
Kolrami is rather smug and sure of himself, believing that his combat strategies are superior to everyone else’s. He even looks down on people like Commander Riker partaking during the exercise.
Riker selects an away team to join him in the exercise aboard the starship Hathaway. This includes Geordi La Forge; Worf and Wesley Crusher, who partakes to gain more experience with his training.
Aboard the Hathaway, Riker gets to be captain of his own starship during the exercise. It’s interesting how Riker and the others handled a starship that’s pretty derelict and run-down in effect.
Wesley Crusher even gets to use his own initiative when he craftily goes back to the Enterprise to shut a ‘school project’ down. But in actual fact, he’s providing a component for the ship’s warp drive.
There’s also Worf who gets to produce some holographic trickery during the combat exercise between the Hathaway and the Enterprise. This includes a Romulan warbird tricking the Enterprise.
In the episode, Riker challenges Kolrami to partake in a game of Strategema. But Kolrami is very skilled in the game and he gets to beat Riker in the process. It was something inevitable apparently.
Eventually, Dr. Pulaski pushes Data to challenge Kolrami’s arrogance to another Strategema game. It’s something Data doesn’t particularly want to do, but does it anyway in order to please Dr. Pulaski.
During the game, Kolrami beats Data. This is something that concerns Data as he relieves himself of duty and performs a diagnostic of his android components to make sure that he isn’t malfunctioning.
Deanna Troi and Pulsaki come into Data’s quarters to try and persuade him that he’s ‘over-reacting’ and that he shouldn’t ‘sulk’. But Data seems determined to stay in his quarters to solve his dilemma.
Now this is the issue I have with this episode. Whilst I don’t mind Data having some self-doubt in the episode, it would be interesting if it turned out in the story that Kolrami cheated his game with Data.
Sadly it didn’t happen, even after Picard comes to visit Data and orders him to join him on the bridge to continue his duties. It’s disappointing as it would have been to good highlight Kolrami’s arrogance.
During the simulation exercise, both the Enterprise and the Hathaway get attacked by a Ferengi starship. I’ve to be honest with you; the addition of the Ferengi for this episode does feel tagged on.
I did like that moment when Kolrami protests that the Enterprise should retreat and leave the Hathaway behind. Picard refuses as he will not leave Riker and the others and berates Kolrami for it.
The episode features Armin Shimerman as DaiMon commander Bractor of the Ferengi. This is Armin’s second ‘Star Trek’ appearance as a Ferengi before he went to play Quark in ‘Star Trek: DS9’.
Thankfully, the ‘TNG’ heroes use a trick to fool the Ferengi that the Hathaway is destroyed by the Enterprise. It works with the Hathaway intact with Riker and his team aboard and the Ferengi gone.
The episode ends with Data in another game of Strategema with Kolrami and winning. Kolrami storms out in a rage and Data explains how it did by changing strategy in order to give it a stalemate.
‘Peak Performance’ is not a great episode from the ‘Star Trek: TNG’ series. But it’s far from terrible. I’ll give it credit for developing Data’s character in seeing how an android can experience self-doubt.
‘Peak Performance’ (TNG) rating – 6/10
| The previous story
For ‘The Next Generation’ was |
The next story
For ‘The Next Generation’ is |
| Return to Star Trek | |
| Return to Sci-Fi |
Bradley's Basement 