History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E25TheNeutralZone

* ObviousBeta: With the writers' strike looming, the crew desperately pulled a first draft script off the pile and filmed it without any of the fine-tuning that usually happens on TV shows. And boy, does it show.

->”''Welcome to the 24th century.''"
-->--'''Captain Picard'''

Picard then arranges for their three passengers to head back to Earth on the USS ''Charleston'' but then Geordi informs the Captain that the ''Charleston'' will be making an extended stop during her journey back to Earth. Geordi suggests the ''Enterprise'' take their passengers to a nearby starbase which will allow for faster transport back to Earth. Picard decides to dump them on the ''Charleston'' as planned so the ''Enterprise'' doesn't need to backtrack, justifying that the extra time will give them a chance to acclimate before arriving on Earth. He stares out into the vast reaches of space and notes that that there's still so much to do. He sets a new course, and the Enterprise whisks away to its next adventure.

* BaitAndSwitch: The Romulan side of the plot is set up similarly to the ''TOS'' episode "Balance of Terror". The ''Enterprise'' is sent to the Neutral Zone to investigate the disappearances of nearby outposts, with the senior officers discussing how mysterious the Romulans are and how they haven't been encountered for decades. When the confrontation occurs...the Romulans reveal that their outposts have also been destroyed. Instead of a battle between the Federation and the Romulans, both sides decide to collaborate against a whole new threat.

* CryoSickness: The storyline is several humans from the '90's get woken up from cryo-stasis. One of them, Claire, is physically weak after she wakes up, so the shock from seeing Worf, an alien, is enough to make her pass out.

* AbsenteeActor: Wesley does not appear, though a scene in which he talks with Sonny about music and shows him the replicator was scripted, establishing where Sonny gets that guitar from and how he knows that his style of music is unknown in the 24th century.

Geordi suggests that the ship swing back to Earth to drop their three passengers off and save them a few months in space, but Picard decides to dump them on a nearby ship so that the ''Enterprise'' doesn't need to backtrack, justifying that the extra time will give them a chance to acclimate before arriving on Earth. He stares out into the vast reaches of space and notes that that there's still so much to do. He sets a new course, and the Enterprise whisks away to its next adventure.

Meanwhile, Dr. Crusher has the people from the capsule asleep in Sickbay. She explains to Picard that they were placed in cryogenic freeze after dying of then-terminal illnesses, but now they have been easily saved by modern medicine. Picard is less than enthusiastic to have to deal with three 20th century yokels on his ship during such a critical mission. He delegates Riker handle them. They are [[MrViceGuy Sonny Clemonds]], [[NouveauRiche Ralph Offenhouse]], and [[ProneToTears Clare Raymond]]. Ralph is eager to reconnect with his 20th century fortune, Sonny is curious about what you do for fun in this modern age, and Clare grapples with the fact that everyone she ever knew is dead.

Meanwhile, Picard is trying to decide what approach to take with the Romulans when they arrive at the Neutral Zone. Troi tells him that the Romulans will make no first move and will look to react to the Federation's action, a species of "counterpunchers." The other officers advise a range of postures to take, from aggressive to diplomatic. But as they confer, an impatient Ralph commandeers a communication panel to make demands directly to Picard, forcing the captain to deal with his unwanted guests directly. Picard dresses down Ralph for his obsession with wealth, though Ralph notes that his wealth did, in fact, save his life. Their argument is interrupted by Clare bursting into tears, so Picard has Troi visit her. Troi cheers her up by looking up her family tree and finding her descendants, one of whom looks exactly like her husband. Through it all, Sonny is quite content to drink replicated martinis and strum on the guitar Data had made for him.

* AbsenteeActor: Wesley does not appear, though a scene in which he talks with Sonny about music and shows him the replicator was scripted, establishing where Sonny gets that guitar from and how he knows his style of music is unknown in the 24th century.
* AcronymConfusion: {{Downplayed}} and {{implied}} -- when Riker tells the three 20th-century people that they're aboard the USS ''Enterprise'', Oppenhouse asks if the ship is American, assuming that "USS" stands for "United ''States'' Ship" instead of "United ''Star'' Ship". Understandable, as everyone is speaking English, he doesn't yet know about TheFederation, and there was an aircraft carrier named USS ''Enterprise'' (CVN-65) afloat in his time, and the ship he's now on carries on the LegacyVesselNaming tradition.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The survivors from the 20th Century are found aboard a cryogenic satellite that was built to remain in Earth orbit. Despite not being designed for long-distance space travel, this satellite somehow broke out of Earth orbit and in less than 400 years drifted all the way out to a star system near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Also, despite being a solar-powered craft that spent hundreds of years in the interstellar void where there isn't exactly a lot of radiant light, it arrived at the end of its journey with all of its most important systems still powered up and functioning. In the original script, Data and Worf state it must have been moved by some kind of alien influence, an idea revisited in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E12TheRoyale The Royale]]". One non-canon novel says this was the case with the cryonics satellite too.

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: With Picard constantly griping about not wanting the throwbacks to distract his staff from their mission, he keeps having the main bridge staff deal with them rather than one of the thousand-or-so other scientists on the ship. You'd think Mr. Whalen from [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E11TheBigGoodbye "The Big Goodbye"]], the self-described expert on the 20th century, would be champing at the bit for the assignment. He also pulls his Chief of Security off the bridge to ensure that the three groggy civilians don't get out of hand instead of grab one of the many random security officers available.
* MarsAndVenusGenderContrast: The behaviour of the unfrozen cryogenic survivors falls neatly within gender stereotypes: Offenhouse is a power-hungry rich guy who's [[TheScrooge extremely concerned about the fate of his vast fortune]]; Raymond is a {{housewife}} who only seems to care about [[MotherhoodIsSuperior what happened to her kids]] and their descendants; and Clemonds is laid-back musician who's not at all fazed by the 24th century, as long as he can [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll score some drugs, have parties, and hit on women]].
* NextSundayAD: The exact years that the 20th century people are from is never stated and kept deliberately vague, but implied to be a few years in the future of the show's broadcast date. When asked what her children's birthdays are, Clare only gives the day, not the year.
* NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: Ralph has this view regarding the 24th century society (what little he knows of it), since he was a financier, a job the moneyless economy of the Federation has no use for. Picard tells him that the challenge is to "improve yourself" (what this means isn't explained).

* PatrickStewartSpeech: Captiain Picard dresses down the 20th century business magnate Ralph Offenhouse on the 24th century's new priorities for human existence.

* ShaggyDogStory: The whole episode is one. Nothing is resolved and there's an awful lot of posturing. The initial base destruction is left hanging, the Romulans are back (but going away for now) and the 20th Century humans are benig shuffled off to be reassimilated. All of these stories can be summed up by the following: Act 1 - Meet new, Act 2 - Mouth off, Act 3 - Go home.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: One of the cryogenic chambers Data and Worf discover is empty, but we never find out what happened to the whoever was inside it. Whether it was always empty or the mummified remains simply crumbled to dust out of view of the window is left unexplored.
* WhatYearIsThis: Ralph asks this question, and gets the answer 2364 (quite possibly the first time an episode of the franchise establishes a Gregorian calendar year).

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: With Picard constantly griping about not wanting the throwbacks to distract his staff from their mission, he keeps having the main bridge staff deal with them rather than one of the thousand-or-so other scientists on the ship. You'd thinkk Mr. Whalen from [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E11TheBigGoodbye "The Big Goodbye"]], the self-described expert on the 20th century, would be champing at the bit for the assignment. He also pulls his Chief of Security off the bridge to ensure that the three groggy civilians don't get out of hand instead of grab one of the many random security officers available.

* {{Fainting}}: The first thing Clare does upon awakening is see Worf and promptly faint.

** Sonny is an alcoholic, and he instantly takes a shine to the martinis served by the replicator. One would expect him to grapple with the fact that, as established in later episodes, the replicators dispense only "synthehol," which mimics the taste but not the effects of alcohol. It never gets brought up.

-->--'''Captain Picard''', after the awakening Clare faints upon seeing Worf

* AbsenteeActor: Wesley does not appear, though a scene in which he talks with Sonny about music and shows him the replicator was scripted, establishing where Sonny gets that guitar from and how he knows his style of music is unknown in the 24[[superscript:th]] century.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The survivors from the 20[[superscript:th]] Century are found aboard a cryogenic satellite that was built to remain in Earth orbit. Despite not being designed for long-distance space travel, this satellite somehow broke out of Earth orbit and in less than 400 years drifted all the way out to a star system near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Also, despite being a solar-powered craft that spent hundreds of years in the interstellar void where there isn't exactly a lot of radiant light, it arrived at the end of its journey with all of its most important systems still powered up and functioning. In the original script, Data and Worf state it must have been moved by some kind of alien influence, an idea revisited in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E12TheRoyale The Royale]]". One non-canon novel says this was the case with the cryonics satellite too.

* NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: Ralph has this view regarding the 24[[superscript:th]] century society (what little he knows of it), since he was a financier, a job the moneyless economy of the Federation has no use for. Picard tells him that the challenge is to "improve yourself" (what this means isn't explained).

* StrawLoser: The three 20th century people exist only to be shown how inferior their society is to the utpopia of the Federation. Sonny is a frivolous substance abuser, Ralph is a big-headed blow-hard, and Clare is a milksop. The crew repeatedly comment with bafflement and annoyance at their backwards ways. Each of the three is shown at various points to be a decent person at heart, however. They just need to get rid of their antiquated values and catch up to the 24th century so they can be as awesome as our main cast.

* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: Dr. Crusher is fairly condescending when she describes how people in the 20th Century "feared death" from what are now easily curable ailments.
* [[ImBack We're Back]]: As the Romulan Commander says (and the rest of the series would prove), they certainly ''are''.