The Game

Did you ever see episode 106 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, called The Game?

Long story short: The crew of the Enterprise is seduced into playing an alluring game (that #1, Wil Ryker brought back from his vacation/romance with a Ktarian on the pleasure planet Risa). The Game, created by The Ktarians, is a secret weapon designed to make anyone who plays it susceptible to the power of suggestion. After the entire crew is mesmerized the Ktarians will take control of the ship.

Meanwhile... young cadet Wesley (on break from Starfleet Academy) realizes something's a miss and shares his suspicion with new girl friend Ensign Robin Lefler (Ashley Judd) and they pretend to play the game to escape detection so they can find others unafflicted and rescue the ship from the Ktarian takeover.

The Game, Star Trek the Next Generation originally aired October 28, 1991.

Wesley and Robin find his mom, Doc Beverly Crusher, but she's already under the spell (and she sabotaged Data by messing with his pleasure circuits). And Captain Picard, he puts on a good face, but we know it's too late for him also. Then Wesley, discovering Data is also spellbound, clears his pleasure center cache.

(I know it's a bit of a stretch to imagine an android mesmerized and succumbing to suggestion, but hey, it's Star Trek, it works). The suggestion susceptibled crew discover Wesley and Robin are faking and force them to play The Game for reals and The Ktarian mind control is complete.

Ahh, but Data now unmesmerized (thanks to Wesley's reboot) has an Aha Moment and computes a brilliant hypothesis (just before last commercial) to free the crew from their hypnotic state by flashing a pulsing light into their eyes that awakens them from the spell, foils the evil Ktarian plot, and saves the crew and likely the entire Federation.

Occasionally I too catch myself mesmerized. The allure of constant information streaming to my iPhone (iPad, Laptop, and Workstation) from so many platforms is great, let alone the virtual rabbit holes I can't resist to follow online. This is when I think about the Ktarians and wonder, "Am I playing The Game?"*

*I jest, but it's really no laughing matter. Todd Clark was first to realize what was really happening to our friend "Q", John McCormack, when he blurted out in comment, "Nooooooo, they converted you! You took the tinfoil off your head and they reached your brain and convinced you to buy!"

Alas, Todd was too late to save John. With his defenses down, the game was just too overpowering and he became susceptible to the Ktarian suggestion. John immediately had a major Big Mac Attack and ran out with plastic in hand to purchase a brand new Mac Air! l for one, will remember John with fondness. I can’t blame nor fault him. I know he looked through many a Window and consulted the Google to find that Apple.

Just sayin'... the proof is there if you're paying attention. But where was Data and his flashlight when we needed him?

"Where there's conversation, there's opportunity."

Please Note - The views expressed herein reflect only the individual’s personal views
and are not the views of the author’s employer.

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René Fabre cell: 425-749-9296 rfabre@firstam.com

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