A truly unusual and unsettling episode that, although I've never seen it show up in viewer polls, surely ranks as one of the series' best in terms of writing, directing, and acting. The disturbing and surreal atmosphere that haunts every minute of "Frame of Mind" is eerie and effective- so much so that the viewer half expects to see Rod Serling step into the picture at any moment.
Jonathan Frakes steals the show with his best and most intense performance of the entire series. Guest star David Selburg (Dr. Syrus) must also be commended for a first-rate turn as a calmly rational and calculating alien psychiatrist.
The acting and storyline are so much fun to watch that the viewer can easily overlook the two major plot holes inherent in this episode- and they are big ones. First, why is Riker, of all people, sent on this dangerous mission in the first place? He's the First Officer on the Federation flagship, a man with enormous responsibilities for the critical day-to-day operations of a ship with more than 1000 people on board- is it really logical to risk such a highly experienced & hard to replace starship officer on a mission to rescue some Starfleet researchers who have no particular importance? (At least no particular importance was mentioned).
The Enterprise has over 1000 people on board- is there really no other crew member trained to do this? And doesn't Starfleet Security have special, better trained people for this type of hostage recovery work? ("Star Trek: Enterprise", for example, which was set two hundred years before this series, featured special "Marines" on-board the Enterprise NX-01 that were specially trained & armed for exactly this type of mission).
Second, in TOS episode "Patterns of Force", Dr. McCoy implanted small tracking devices into Kirk & Spock so that Scotty could keep a transporter lock on them & beam them out in case any trouble happened on their dangerous away mission. He did this relatively quickly & easily with a small device about the size of a hypo-spray. What happened to this technology? Was it abandoned by Starfleet? (Or maybe forgotten by the show writers?) Seemed like a pretty good idea.
In any event, towards the end of "Frame of Mind" we see Riker's communicator lying right next to him in the alien interrogation room. Can't a communicator serve as a homing beacon for the ship's computer? True, Riker wasn't wearing it, but he happened to be in the same room with it- why not lock on to that communicator signal & beam a security team down to its location have a look around/stage a rescue? Or, at the very least, beam a probe/camera down to the communicator's location and have a look around.
Big plot holes, indeed, but it certainly doesn't diminish the power and entertainment value of this episode.
Well worth your time- I give it a 9 out of 10.
Jonathan Frakes steals the show with his best and most intense performance of the entire series. Guest star David Selburg (Dr. Syrus) must also be commended for a first-rate turn as a calmly rational and calculating alien psychiatrist.
The acting and storyline are so much fun to watch that the viewer can easily overlook the two major plot holes inherent in this episode- and they are big ones. First, why is Riker, of all people, sent on this dangerous mission in the first place? He's the First Officer on the Federation flagship, a man with enormous responsibilities for the critical day-to-day operations of a ship with more than 1000 people on board- is it really logical to risk such a highly experienced & hard to replace starship officer on a mission to rescue some Starfleet researchers who have no particular importance? (At least no particular importance was mentioned).
The Enterprise has over 1000 people on board- is there really no other crew member trained to do this? And doesn't Starfleet Security have special, better trained people for this type of hostage recovery work? ("Star Trek: Enterprise", for example, which was set two hundred years before this series, featured special "Marines" on-board the Enterprise NX-01 that were specially trained & armed for exactly this type of mission).
Second, in TOS episode "Patterns of Force", Dr. McCoy implanted small tracking devices into Kirk & Spock so that Scotty could keep a transporter lock on them & beam them out in case any trouble happened on their dangerous away mission. He did this relatively quickly & easily with a small device about the size of a hypo-spray. What happened to this technology? Was it abandoned by Starfleet? (Or maybe forgotten by the show writers?) Seemed like a pretty good idea.
In any event, towards the end of "Frame of Mind" we see Riker's communicator lying right next to him in the alien interrogation room. Can't a communicator serve as a homing beacon for the ship's computer? True, Riker wasn't wearing it, but he happened to be in the same room with it- why not lock on to that communicator signal & beam a security team down to its location have a look around/stage a rescue? Or, at the very least, beam a probe/camera down to the communicator's location and have a look around.
Big plot holes, indeed, but it certainly doesn't diminish the power and entertainment value of this episode.
Well worth your time- I give it a 9 out of 10.