Headscratchers / Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E7 "The Enemy"

• One plot point is that the Enterprise is unable to leave orbit in order to rendezvous with Tomalak at the neutral zone, since Geordi is still on the planet's surface. But, why not just separate the ship? Riker can hang around on the saucer section to pick up Geordi (and Bochra) while Picard takes the stardrive section to meet Tomalak.
  • A potential answer is that the Romulans theoretically know that saucer separation is something that makes the stardrive section far more effective in combat. Thus leaving the civilians behind and racing towards the Neutral Zone in a ship that has now apparently taken a combat stance could be an equally bad diplomatic move.
    • Furthermore, it would lead to tactical problems. If the Enterprise, well-known for being a ship that can separate into two separate parts, arrives at what is, for all intents and purposes, a simple rescue transfer with half of it conveniently missing (even if it is the noncombat half) that's going to raise some red alerts. Tomalak might suspect that the Enterprise is waiting for them to drop their shields to beam Patahk over so the saucer section could come out of warp and start blasting, and might be unreasonably hostile and suspicious, nullifying the point of leaving the planet completely.
  • There's no real in-story reason. Separating the saucer section would cause problems with the dramatic tension of the story and would also require expensive special effects, which was the general reason why they almost completely stopped doing it.