By Chris Snellgrove | Published
When Star Trek: The Next Generation when it first came out, many fans wanted to know if the new characters would feel more like updated versions of the old ones. They quickly discovered that Captain Picard was nothing like Captain Kirk, but it was tempting to compare Shatner’s iconic character to the other new kid on the block: Commander Riker. While Riker wasn’t quite as Kirk-like as some fans thought, he copied that former officer’s playbook perfectly to make a hilarious mistake in the episode “Samaritan’s Trap.”
Compiled by Pakleds
If it’s been a minute since you’ve seen the episode, this is the one where the Enterprise crew is arrested by the Pakleds, ancient aliens who use their apparent powerlessness as a way to steal or outright extort advanced technology from other races and cultures. They end up kidnapping Geordi La Forge and trying to force him to give them dangerous weapons, but the chief engineer ends up quietly disabling their weapons. They think this is Riker’s work using a “red force field,” a hilarious bluff that is similar to Kirk’s taunting. The Original Series Episode “The Corbomite Maneuver.”
To truly appreciate how far Riker and La Forge drove Captain Kirk in “The Samaritan Trap,” you need to understand more about their crazy plan. It all starts when Riker praises the Pakled ship, knowing that his engineer can hear every conversation. Understanding his master’s coded communication, La Forge ends up disabling Pakled’s weapons.
To make fun of nothing
Normally, this would put the engineer’s life at risk…after all, who else could the Pakleds blame for their weapon’s failure? However, part of Riker’s plan (which we think Kirk would enjoy) was to create a harmless outdoor light show by blowing hydrogen exhaust through the Enterprise’s Bussard collectors. La Forge assures the allied aliens that his boss used a “red energy field” that was able to disable their systems.
In reality, Riker was simply distracting the Pakleds and buying La Forge time to disable their weapons. The aliens, believing that the Enterprise is more powerful than they are, stand down and return the chief engineer. Meanwhile, longtime fans of previous Star Trek adventures noticed that Riker’s taunt in “The Samaritan’s Trap” was very similar to what Kirk did in “The Corbomite Maneuver.”
The Corbomite Maneuver
In that old-school episode, the Enterprise faces a formidable threat, Balok, an intergalactic creep played by an incredibly young Clint Howard. When the alien becomes dangerous, Kirk decides to trick him into thinking that the Enterprise is full of “corbomite,” a powerful substance that can destroy his ship and any that attack it. In fact, there is no such thing as a corbomite, but the bluff worked long enough for Kirk to realize that Balok was a staple of Star Trek: a powerful alien who wanted to spy on our Starfleet heroes.
It’s a misconception that Riker was inspired by Kirk… Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Still, Riker picked up some Kirk-like qualities over the years, including being a ladies’ man that no one could resist. And when it comes to the smart young aliens, Riker proved that he, like the famous Enterprise captain before him, can mock the best of them.
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