The Drumhead (episode)

An overzealous Starfleet admiral begins a witch-hunt aboard the Enterprise, determined to find a conspiracy, and eventually accusing Captain Picard of treason.

Teaser

 * "Captain's Log, Stardate 44769.2. For some weeks we have had a Klingon exobiologist on board as part of a scientific exchange program. Unfortunately, we suspect that he was involved in a security breach and in the possible sabotage of our warp drive."

On stardate 44769.2, a dilithium chamber hatch explodes aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) and sabotage is suspected. The explosion coincides with news that the Romulans have gained access to information about the Enterprise's chamber, indicating that there is a spy on board. A quick investigation turns up one suspect – a Klingon exchange officer named J'Dan, but he denies any involvement.

Act One

 * "Captain's Log, Supplemental. Retired Admiral Norah Satie whose investigation exposed the alien conspiracy against Starfleet Command three years ago, is arriving to assist in our inquiry."

With little progress in the investigation, Starfleet Command sends retired Admiral Norah Satie and her assistants – one of whom is a Betazoid – to expedite the proceedings. A more thorough examination under Satie's direction reveals a hypospray in J'Dan's room modified to scan and resequence classified information into biological tags for transport on an injected body; J'Dan covers this by the fact that he has Ba'ltmasor Syndrome, which requires weekly injections and, thus, would easily hide the transfer of information. With this evidence against him, J'Dan admits to being a Romulan spy, but adamantly maintains his innocence in the explosion. However, Satie is still unsatisfied; she is convinced that J'Dan could not have been working alone.

Act Two
The admiral begins an inquiry into all personnel and passengers on the Enterprise with whom J'Dan has come into contact during his stay. When she questions young medical technician Simon Tarses, she apparently has her man; her Betazoid assistant, Sabin Genestra senses great fear and guilt from Tarses, as if some sort of lie is consuming him, about which he refuses to come clean.

Act Three
Picard refuses to restrict Tarses's movements based on Betazoid intuition. Before a consensus can be reached he and Satie are called to engineering by Geordi La Forge and Data; the radiation levels preventing them from entering the chamber – caused by the explosion – have dropped low enough for them to enter safely, and their examination shows no foul play to have been involved. The explosion was caused by metal fatigue along an undetectable defect in a hatch cover installed during the ship's last refit at Earth Station McKinley, making it an accident that just happened to coincide with the theft of the chamber's plans rather than sabotage.

But this new development seems not to placate Satie or her assistants, who still believe Tarses was a co-conspirator with J'Dan. Another inquiry against Tarses is launched, this time open to the public, and he is barraged with numerous accusations to try and establish his guilt, including a lie that the explosion was caused by corrosive chemicals to which he had had access, and the exposure of the lie Tarses himself tried to kept hidden – that he put false information about his parentage in his admission form, stating that his grandfather was Vulcan when, in fact, he was Romulan. Overwhelmed, Tarses invokes the Seventh Guarantee of the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets to decline to answer further questions to avoid self-incrimination, on the counsel of Commander Riker.

Act Four
The ruthlessness of the accusations convince Picard that Satie is engaging in a drumhead trial, going on a xenophobic witch-hunt for Romulans and other enemy conspirators. After talking with Tarses and establishing that his lying on his application was his only misdeed, Picard confronts Satie and demands that the hearings be put to rest, threatening to go over her head and complain to Starfleet Command if necessary, only to be rebuffed; Satie has been in full contact with Starfleet Command since the beginning, and they fully approve of her methods. In fact, the next interrogation will have Starfleet Security Admiral Thomas Henry as a witness. In other words, the interrogations can not and will not be stopped, and they will, in fact, expand. Unfortunately, because of his outspokenness against them, Picard is called to the stand the following day.

Act Five

 * "Captain's Log, Supplemental. Admiral Thomas Henry, who has worked closely with Norah Satie in the past, has arrived to observe the hearings."

At his interrogation, Picard attempts to appeal to Satie's sense of reason and convince her to end the hearings, but he is met with a thorough nitpicking of his competency and loyalty to Starfleet and the Federation. Worf, who up until this point had sided with Satie in her actions, realizes where the hearing is going and attempts to defend his captain but is also rebuffed with accusations of his father's supposed betrayal to the Romulans. Finally, Picard responds to the accusations laid against him by quoting her famous father's words about the dangers of denying basic rights to one man in the name of protection.

Enraged, Satie interrupts him, accusing him of treason, conspiring with the Romulans, and violating the Prime Directive. She calls men like him a threat to the entire Federation whom it is her job to seek out and destroy, and warns him that she has "brought down bigger men than you--!" In the middle of her tirade, Admiral Henry gets up and wordlessly leaves the room, bringing an informal end to the interrogation. Embarrassed, Sabin declares a recess until the following day, and the room empties quickly, leaving Satie alone, shaken. By turning her father's words back on her, Picard has goaded her into revealing the depth of her fanaticism and paranoia in front of an audience, severely damaging her credibility, possibly permanently.

Later on, in the ship's conference lounge, Picard is informed by Worf that Admiral Henry has officially called off the hearings, and that Satie has departed the Enterprise. Though it is unlikely that she will ever be trusted with such authority again, Worf cannot help feeling guilty for having been deluded into aiding her cause without realizing what she was. Picard, however, sees it as a learning experience; such enemies who cloak their misdeeds with the pretense of serving a greater good are very seductive and very hard to spot, and continual vigilance against them is "the price that [they] must pay" to maintain their freedom.

Log Entries

 * Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2367

Memorable quotes
"The blood of all Klingons has become water! Ever since the Federation Alliance, we have turned into a nation of mewling babies! The Romulans are strong; they are worthy allies! They do not turn Klingons into weaklings like you!" (hints at Worf)
 * - J'Dan, admitting his guilt of the information smuggling to the Romulans

"On the advice of my counsel, I refuse to answer that question in... in that the answer might serve to incriminate me."
 * - Simon Tarses

"Sir, the Federation does have enemies! We must seek them out!"

"Oh, yes. That's how it starts. But the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think. Something is wrong here, Mr. Worf; I don't like what we have become!"
 * - Worf and Picard

"You know, there are some words I've known since I was a schoolboy: 'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied--chains us all irrevocably.' Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie, as wisdom...and warning. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today--"

"How dare you! You who consort with Romulans, invoke my father's name to support your traitorous arguments? It is an offense to everything I hold dear! And to hear those words used to subvert the United Federation of Planets! My father was a great man! His name stands for integrity and principle! You DIRTY his name when you speak it! He loved the Federation! But you, Captain, corrupt it! You undermine our very way of life! I will expose you for what you are! I've brought down bigger men than you, Picard!!"
 * - Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie, and Admiral Satie, angrily chastising him for it

"Am I bothering you, Captain?"

"No, please come in, Mr. Worf."

"It is over. Admiral Henry has called an end to any more hearings on this matter."

"That's good."

"Admiral Satie has left the Enterprise."

"We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. And then, before you can blink an eye, suddenly it threatens to start all over again."

"I believed her. I-I HELPED her! I did not see what she was."

"Mr. Worf, villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged."

"I think, after yesterday, people will not be so ready to trust her."

"Maybe. But she or someone like her will always be with us, waiting for the right climate in which to flourish--spreading fear in the name of righteousness. Vigilance, Mr. Worf. That is the price we have to continually pay."
 * - Worf and Picard, discussing both the investigations and the misguidedness of Admiral Satie

Story and script

 * "The Drumhead" was conceived as a money-saving installment for the series. The studio suggested a clip show. Michael Piller and Rick Berman, however, despised the idea as they didn't want a repeat of . Piller commented, "We think they're insulting to the audience. They tune in and then you create this false jeopardy and then flashback as their memory goes back to the wonderful time they had before they got trapped in the elevator and all that bullshit." They persuaded the studio to avoid a clip show while still producing an episode that was under budget. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)
 * Jeri Taylor wrote the script based on a story idea Ronald D. Moore had proposed called "It Can't Happen Here". Taylor's aim was to show that witch-hunts along the lines of 's Communist hearings and the  could happen even in the enlightened 24th Century if individual liberties and freedoms were breached, even if only slightly, in the name of preserving the Federation. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)

Production

 * "The Drumhead" was filmed between Tuesday and Wednesday  on Paramount Stage 8 and 9.
 * This episode was a bottle show, coming $250,000 under budget. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion)
 * According to director Jonathan Frakes, several shots from the episode were "stolen" from courtroom films including ', the 1961 Stanley Kramer film starring William Shatner, and '. (Departmental Briefing, Year Four: Production, TNG Season 4 DVD special features)
 * This was the final episode to have music composed by Ron Jones. Jones was fired shortly afterward for repeatedly arguing with Rick Berman and Peter Lauritson over what type of music was thought to be appropriate for the series. Berman subsequently asked Dennis McCarthy if he would be willing to act as the sole music composer for the series, but McCarthy turned the offer down, citing that the resulting workload (including his non-Trek projects) would be too much for him, and so Berman brought Jay Chattaway on-board as Jones' replacement. (Cinefantastique October 1993)
 * A scene which was filmed on Friday was deleted from the final episode. According to the call sheet, the scene would be 12-14 in sickbay and feature Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Spencer Garrett and regular background performers Michael Braveheart and Bowman.
 * First UK airdate: 9 November 1994.

Continuity

 * The events of, , , , , and are referenced in this episode. It reveals that 39 Federation starships were annihilated and 11,000 personnel were lost at the Battle of Wolf 359.
 * Both the unnamed Excelsior-class starship and starships seen in this episode are not named in the episode or the script. The identification of the Oberth-class as the USS Cochrane is derived from the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion.
 * This episode shares a common theme, the danger of sacrificing freedom for security, with the DS9 two-parter /.
 * This is the second appearance of the interrogation room set after . It is a modification of the bridge of the original USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) as seen in the first three movies.
 * A long time extra, Ensign Kellogg, played by Cameron is finally named in this episode during Worf's briefing with his security officers.
 * This is the only time in the run of the series that the inner isolation door in main engineering is seen; normally the outer door is seen after a warp core breach.
 * This episode establishes the technology of genetically encoding secret information in order to be carried discreetly inside a carrier's body. A similar technology is seen to be used by the Suliban Cabal to Klaang in.

Reception

 * In the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, Jeri Taylor names this episode's script as the one she was most proud of.
 * This is one of Michael Dorn's two favorite TNG episodes, the other being.
 * Jonathan Frakes has also named this episode as one of his favorites, in part for the chance to work with Jean Simmons. (Departmental Briefing, Year Four: Production, TNG Season 4 DVD special features)
 * A mission report for this episode by John Sayers was published in The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine Vol. 17, pp. 17-20.

Video and DVD releases

 * Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 48,
 * UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 4.7,


 * As part of the TNG Season 4 DVD collection
 * As part of the Region 1 edition of the Star Trek: The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard Collection

Starring

 * Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
 * Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker

Also starring

 * LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
 * Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
 * Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
 * Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
 * Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

Guest stars

 * Bruce French as Sabin Genestra
 * Spencer Garrett as Simon Tarses
 * Henry Woronicz as J'Dan
 * Earl Billings as Thomas Henry
 * And
 * Jean Simmons as Admiral Satie

Co-star

 * Ann Shea as Nellen

Uncredited co-stars

 * Rachen Assapiomonwait as Nelson
 * Joe Bauman as Garvey
 * Karen Baxter as operations division ensign
 * Michael Braveheart as Martinez
 * Carl David Burks as Russell
 * Cameron as Kellogg
 * Cooper as Reel
 * Denise Deuschle as science division officer
 * Elliot Durant III as operations division ensign
 * Mark Lentry as civilian
 * Tim McCormack as Bennett
 * Michael Moorehead as science division ensign
 * Randy Pflug as Jones
 * Keith Rayve as command division ensign
 * Richard Sarstedt as command division ensign
 * Noriko Suzuki as operations division ensign
 * Guy Vardaman as Darien Wallace
 * Natalie Wood as Bailey
 * Unknown performers as
 * Alfonse Pacelli
 * Female transporter operator

Stand-ins

 * Brett - stand-in for LeVar Burton
 * Nora Leonhardt - stand-in for Marina Sirtis
 * Tim McCormack - stand-in for Brent Spiner & Bruce French
 * Lorine Mendell - stand-in for Gates McFadden & Ann Shea
 * Josephine Parra - stand-in for Jean Simmons
 * Richard Sarstedt - stand-in for Jonathan Frakes & Earl Billings
 * Dennis Tracy - stand-in for Patrick Stewart
 * Guy Vardaman - stand-in for Henry Woronicz & Spencer Garrett
 * James Washington - stand-in for Michael Dorn