Television Review: Booby Trap (Star Trek: The Next Generation, S3X06, 1989)

Booby Trap (S03E06)

Airdate: October 30th 1989

Written by: Ron Roman, Michael Piller & Richard Danus
Directed by: Gabrielle Beaumont

Running Time: 45 minutes

The third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation marked a quantum leap in quality, establishing a sequence of episodes that were light years ahead of the often uneven storytelling of its first two seasons. Among these newfound classics stood The Bonding, rightly celebrated as an intelligent, well-crafted ensemble piece that gave nearly every regular character meaningful development. Yet keen observers noted one conspicuous absence: Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge remained largely peripheral to the narrative. As if anticipating this criticism, producer Michael Piller ingeniously compensated in the very next episode, crafting Booby Trap as a vehicle that not only placed LeVar Burton firmly centre stage but transformed him into the episode's emotional and intellectual linchpin, resulting in another enduring classic that demonstrated the series' newfound maturity.

The episode opens with the USS Enterprise-D responding to a distress signal emanating from an asteroid field—remnants of a cataclysmic battle fought a millennium ago between the Promellians and Menthars. This ancient conflict not only annihilated both civilisations but completely obliterated the planet Orelious IX. Captain Picard, ever the historian, approaches the mission with scholarly enthusiasm rather than expectation of finding survivors, viewing it as a unique opportunity to study the archaeological remains of these long-vanished cultures.

What begins as an academic exercise swiftly transforms into a desperate struggle for survival. The away team locates the source of the signal: a beautifully preserved Promellian battle cruiser, its automated systems still functioning after a thousand years of silence. However, as the Enterprise attempts to depart, it inadvertently activates a sophisticated Menthar booby trap that begins draining the ship's power while simultaneously exposing the crew to lethal radiation. With the shields failing and time running out, Picard must find a way to escape a technological snare designed to destroy starships far more advanced than his own.

This crisis becomes Geordi La Forge's defining moment. As chief engineer, he shoulders the monumental task of reversing the power drain, a problem so complex that even the ship's computer proves inadequate. His solution involves creating a holographic simulation of Dr. Leah Brahms (Susan Gibney), the brilliant scientist who designed the Enterprise's warp core. What begins as a practical engineering consultation gradually evolves into something far more personal as Geordi finds himself unexpectedly drawn to the holographic representation of Brahms—her intellect, her mannerisms, even her occasional irritability proving strangely alluring.

Michael Piller, collaborating with Ron Roman and Richard Danus, deliberately crafted an episode more plot-driven than its predecessor The Bonding. While the premise of encountering deadly relics from an ancient interstellar war had been explored throughout Star Trek history, Booby Trap executes the concept with remarkable finesse. The visual effects depicting the asteroid field remain impressive even by modern standards, Ron Jones' atmospheric score perfectly underscores the mounting tension, and the production design—particularly the haunting interior of the Promellian vessel and Albert Hall's poignant final log entry as Captain Galek Sar—creates a tangible sense of history and tragedy.

Yet the episode's true brilliance lies in how it weaves Geordi's professional crisis with his personal loneliness. The opening scene—where his holodeck date with Christy Henshaw (Julie Warner) ends in awkward failure—establishes his romantic vulnerability, later deepened when he seeks counsel from Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), whose maternal wisdom provides one of the episode's quieter, more affecting moments. It is within the holodeck, however, that Piller's script achieves its most profound insights. Geordi's creation of an idealised Dr. Brahms hologram transcends mere engineering necessity; it becomes a manifestation of his yearning for connection. Piller later revealed his inspiration came from observing men who lavished more affection on vintage automobiles—like a 1957 Plymouth—than on human partners. For Geordi, whose life revolves around the Enterprise's complex systems, his perfect companion isn't another person but the ship itself personified through Brahms' digital ghost.

This concept, revolutionary for 1989, has sparked considerable controversy in subsequent decades as holodeck technology became increasingly associated with ethical transgressions and dark fantasies throughout the franchise. The problematic nature of creating a hologram based on a real person—without consent, idealised to serve the creator's needs—anticipates modern debates surrounding AI-generated imagery and deepfake technology. To their credit, TNG's writers later confronted these ethical dilemmas head-on in Galaxy's Child, where Susan Gibney returned to portray the real Dr. Brahms, whose personality clashed dramatically with Geordi's romanticised simulation.

Adding historical significance to the episode's artistic merits, Booby Trap was directed by Gabrielle Beaumont, making it the first Star Trek episode helmed by a woman—a milestone that, while not explicitly highlighted at the time, paved the way for greater diversity behind the camera in subsequent series. Beaumont's assured direction balances the technical demands of space sequences with intimate character moments, particularly in the holodeck scenes where the emotional stakes gradually overshadow the engineering crisis.

Booby Trap ultimately succeeds not because of its clever trap mechanics or impressive visual effects, but because it transforms a standard Star Trek crisis into a deeply human story about connection, idealism, and the dangers of engineering perfect solutions to imperfect hearts. By making Geordi La Forge both the saviour of the Enterprise and a man confronting his own loneliness, the episode delivers a powerful message about the importance of authentic human relationships over technologically mediated fantasies. It stands as a testament to TNG's third-season renaissance—a perfectly calibrated blend of science fiction spectacle and emotional intelligence that continues to resonate decades later.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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