Tex's TNG reviews: The Neutral Zone

To me this episode is one of the few standouts in Season 1. We start by discovering an old chryogenics ship floating in space while the crew waits on Picard to return. Data goes aboard and finds 3 of the capsuls are still operating. They transfer them back to the Enterprise and Dr. Crusher unfreezes the people. One thing I didn't like was Commander Riker's snide comment to Data about how the Human's from the 20th century have few redeeming qualities. Get off your high horse commander, you yourself are a womanizer and scared of taking the big chair.

Anyway, back to the review. We find that the Romulans are back in this episode. They've been away for years, but now they have returned and they mean business. Something (the Borg) have wiped out outposts on both sides of the border to the Neutral Zone. So this is an episode that can be loosely thrown into the Borg arc.

I've heard that they followed up on some of these unfrozen humans in some books, but I haven't read them. I wish they had maybe used one in a future episode just to give a little closure.

The episode ends with a minor stand off with the Romulans. I'm sure we've all seen it so there is no need to break it down further. I rate this episode:

The millionaire dude later became the Federation Ambassador to Ferenginar.

The country music singer guy later became one of Cordell Walkers most deadly enemies on "Walker, Texas Ranger".

Would have rated higher if they had followed through with a plot line about the destruction of the Romulan outposts and actually gave us some foreshadowing of the Borg. But this shows the Borg were active in the Alpha and Beta quadrants before Q intervened.


And of course the original premise was that the Borg were going to wipe out the Romulans en masse, and have a presence in the AQ. That could have been a cool plot arc, though I'm glad the Rommies were still around.

But yeah, the first ep showing the Romulan D'deridex Warbird - really impressive ship!

"The Neutral Zone" was written by Executive Producer Maurice Hurley who created the Borg for Star Trek and left at the end of season two.

The episode was written just as the writers strike got underway in the television and motion picture industries that year. Hurley honored his commitment to the union, and only wrote a first draft, then could not work on it further due to the strike.

Hurley intended for a Borg ship to attack the Romulans in the second season of TNG and wipe out the entire Romulan Empire.

However, a last ditch (apparently suicidal) attack by the last of the Romulan forces destroys the Borg ship.

In Hurleys story arc, the second season of ST:TNG would've featured a number of episodes of the Enterprise crew sifting through the remains of the Romulan Empire for clues to how they destroyed the Borg ship.

And of course, the Enterprise crews encounter with the Borg themselves early in Season Two.

Wasn't Maurice Hurley the one that chased Gates McFadden off for all of Season Two?

I've never heard that.

I know that he later wrote a story treatment for the first Trek movie that was probably superior to that by Moore and Berman that became Generations.

Hurley didn't have Kirk revived with the stupid "Nexus" idea.

He simply had Picard consulting at length with a holodeck generated version of Kirk in reference to an invasion by some kind of interdimensional beings that were related to Kirks experience in "The Tholian Web".

Just about anything would have been superior to the Moore and Berman treatment.

So Shat could've appeared without Kirk dying? Hmmm...

Picard collaborating with a holodeck version of a real person. Didn't LaForge do that storyline already?

It would have been interesting to have had the Romulans excised from the galaxy- provided they also covered the long term effects this might have had on Vulcan culture.

The Roms were good TOS enemies but they never seemed to fit in in the 24th century. And imagine the strength and veracity of those pointy eared, green blooded Borg drones...

They were introduced into TNG in a clunky way, and then just when they were coming into their own, the Cardassians were presented, and quickly became much more realized as DS9 was introduced, and left the Romulans on the periphery again.

Veracity? If anything, the assimulated Romulans would have given the Borg the concept of guile and deceit.

And all in all, The Neutral Zone has the redeeming feature of showing us the Romulans again, albeit with a new, stupid and ill-conceived forehead ridge. Other than that, just another installment of the TNG-snoozefest of season one.

Ferocity, maybe?

Search me. I just know I was having an Indigo Montoya moment reading that. "Are you sure that word means what you think it does?"

INIGO Montoya.

Okay, I'm leaving now...

Interesting idea! Wonder why the Borg would focus on the Romulan Empire.

A story arc in TNG?



TNG has so many episodes/story lines that should've been followed up.

"Q Who" established that the Borg couldn't have been responsible for the attacks in "The Neutral Zone."

Funny, the episode where we first see the Borg is the first time the Borg story contradicts itself.


The Borg were one of the most mishandled villains in Trek, a great premise that quickly fell apart.

Indigo in the Book, Inigo in the movie to everyone but Fezzik.

While Generations wasn't terrific, Picard consulting at length with Kirk on the holodeck doesn't seem much better.

If you look at some of the star maps, the Romulan Empire is between the Delta Quadrant and the Federation. Also, the Klingon Empire is not.

Too true... would have liked to see a follow-up to Conspiracy, at least.

How so?

Best bit in the whole ep.

I'm glad the Romulans weren't completely wiped out in TNG. They had their place in DS9. Of course wiping them out would have spared us Nemesis, and that would have been nice.

TNG could have used a better Borg arc and some more Romulan episodes. The Romulans were always just that threat hanging out there in TNG, they were definately under-utilized.

Honestly, I found the episode utterly pointless. What exactly was it about? The frozen people? Well, kinda but not really. The Romulans coming back? Well, not especially, they just kindof encounter them. The unknown threat that may or may not have been meant to foreshadow the Borg? Nope, just vaguely alluded to. What was the story arc? What did we learn? What was the premise, the story? What did we learn in the end? Nada. Pointless ramblings. Lousey writing. Three separate plot elements that never connected, had a point, or paid off.

The end, where Picard sez he can't drop them off because they're going the other direction, and his rant following it, was like epicac.

As I said earlier, "The Neutral Zone" as aired was only Hurleys first draft version. He wasn't able to rewrite or change it after that because of the strike.

I have a feeling that Hurley originally intended the frozen 20th century people to be just the "B" story.

But that was what was in the most complete state when the director got the first draft from Hurley.

In "Q Who", when the Borg are introduced, there is a direct reference back to the events in "The Neutral Zone".

In a way "The Neutral Zone", "Q-Who","Peak Performance" and "The Best of Both Worlds I & II" form a Borg story arc interspersed among 50 episodes.

The Borg are definately tied in to this episode through Q Who. But ignore that for now, just look at this episode in a box in the season it was in. I think it was one of the better episodes of season 1. The stand off with the Romulans was definately intense. We didn't know what their intentions were or how powerful they would be. We only knew there were some missing outposts and we had no idea who did it. Then add to it that the Romulans had the same problem and didn't know who did it either. So now we are left knowing that something very powerful is out there preying on our outposts and that the Romulans intend on making their presence felt in the future. Things are definately looking dark for the future of the federation at the end of this one. As a bonus we get the frozen people B storyline, so all in all, good episode.

In “The Neutral Zone” two Federation outposts are destroyed, The Borg would’ve become aware of the Federation at that point. Instead they only became aware of the Federation after Q threw the Enterprise seven thousand light years into unknown space.

There is a reference to “The Neutral Zone” in “Q Who”:

Which is why I posted:

Nope, sorry, Q Who established scooped out cities that matched the carved up outposts, and Best Of Both Worlds began with a missing scooped out outpost.

It was the Borg.

One is left to rationalize why the Borg went on their merry way in The Neutral Zone, and didn't attack til BOBW, but there it is.

Of course, one also has to factor in the message sent by the Borg from Regeneration to the Delta Quadrant into the mix.

My theory is the Q Who cube made such easy work of the Ent-D, they didn't see the Fed as a threat until they got that message.

I wager that message contained the story of First Contact as well as Regeneration.

Knowing the Fed will one day aquire quantum torpedos, and knowledge of cube vulnerable spots would certainly cause them to rush in for a preemptive strike.

If you follow the Borg storyline, even casually, it's obvious that it is nothing more than a series of conflicting episodes. Sure you can explain everything away with events that hypothetically could've happened off screen but c'mon the storyline is what it is.

Yep only a rationalization can explain how the Borg were already in the Alpha Quadrant, why they didn't assimilate the Federation and why they considered humanity a new species in "Q Who."

The real explanation is inconsistent storytelling. That's it, nothing more.

Oh well, Star Trek's ruined, guess I'll hate my DVDs now.

But as a standalone episode, which is all TNG was doing at that point, it's a meandering, pointless piece of writing. The episode ended and we're left wondering WTF it was about. Don't look at it in light of all future episodes, look at it all by itself. Frozen people - no point made, no lesson learned. Destroyed outposts - barely a plot point, no resolution. Foreshadowing maybe, but since they'de never done any foreshadowing before, I was more interested in a resolution, which didn't come. Romulans - boogy boogy, we're back, big whoop. No point, no resolution. They had nothing to do with either of the other two plotlines. They didn't even have a plotline of their own. They were like those people waving in the window behind the Fox morning news folks, total non sequiter.