Starship Mine

It's Die Hard on the Enterprise-D... don't question the sanity of this concept, just sit back and enjoy the ride

Everyone on the Enterprise is trying to avoid going to the reception on the planet because of the tedious small talk of Commander Hutchinson. All except Data - who is keen to beat Hutchinson at his own game! Meanwhile, Captain Picard slips away to fetch his saddle so he can go riding, whereupon he discovers that his ship has been overrun with terrorists who are intent on stealing fuel from the warp core. So while a Baryon Sweep gives us a green-glow ticking clock, Picard goes and kicks ass like John McClane without the swearing and the glass shards in his feet. Go get ‘em Captain!

Words

So, who was responsible for pitching “Die Hard on the Enterprise”…? It was Morgan Gendel, who not only made the pitch but got the writing credit for the final episode. Often when people interview Gendel, he’s tried to play down the connection, but it is so painfully obvious there’s just no escaping it. Here’s an example of Gendel pretending that 1988’s Die Hard isn’t the key point of reference:

I'm not going to talk about it as Die Hard. That’s somebody else’s work. It’s an idea we've seen countless times: Under Siege, Passenger 57. What I liked was the element I had come up with of the captain going down with his ship, which was rejected as a notion in the 24th century. That was a strong line for me – a captain alone with his ship. My theory is that what Picard loved most was the Enterprise. I don’t think the staff agreed with me. I think they thought it was too much of a 20th or 18th century concept, or Kirk.

His original title was “Revolution”, continuing his pattern of naming his episodes after songs by The Beatles (as per his previous screenplay, “The Inner Light”). However, the production team felt this sounded too close to season three’s “Evolution” and nixed it. There is no Beatles track called “Starship Mine”, in case you were wondering.

Ronald D. Moore performed an uncredited rewrite at the last minute, since neither Michael Piller nor Rick Berman were pleased with the way the shoot was going. Director Cliff Bole remembered pages coming in “ten a day” during a very hectic week. Moore defended the concept of copying Die Hard, and enjoyed the comic aspects of the episode as well:

I think there’s a recognition that sometimes it’s okay to do an action show and not to have to try and strain the force of a character piece on top of that. It was fun to do a straight action piece and to just do comedy on the planet. What you rapidly ran into were the money considerations, as is usual with everything else on the show, so I had to pare back the run and jump and then what we had to deal with is: is this too brutal and too much killing? I’m always the one who kills people in scripts left and right, and people are always asking me to pull it back – it’s not Star Trek, and I’m always, “Kill more, kill more!”

Yes, Ronald, we haven’t forgotten poor K’Ehleyr…

Rick Berman was pleased with the results:

This was a classic example of a bravura role for Picard. It had a real tone and style to the look of the show and I think Cliff Bole did a nice job directing it. I enjoyed seeing Patrick as an actor being able to get physical.

Michael Piller was less pleased:

It didn’t feel like Star Trek to me. I liked the show and thought it was very effective and well-directed by Cliff, but I was worried that it was very violent, which troubled me. Picard slugging it out with the two women wasn’t silly, and Patrick did his usual fine job, but it was derivative.

It sure was. Indeed, I confess to not really caring about the A-plot at all... not only because of Piller’s complaint that it feels painfully obvious that this is Die Hard, but also because I don’t enjoy it when they make Picard into Kirk, since the absolute best thing about Picard is that he’s not Kirk, which is not an insult to either fictional captain.

Acting Roles

The absolute star of this episode is only in the first two acts: it’s David Spielberg as the small-talking monster Calvin Hutchinson, who has such hilarious scenes when Brent Spiner’s Data is copying his patter.

Spielberg’s star role, such as it is, is the shop teacher in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's Christine. He played a judge in one episode of L.A. Law before this, one of nearly a hundred and fifty forgettable roles, including appearing in Automan and Blue Thunder. I’m pretty sure this is his finest performance in anything!

Although it never appeared on screen, the script made it clear that Hutchinson was fatally shot:

RIKER: What about Hutchinson?

BEVERLY (grim): There was nothing I could do for him.

Feels like a shame, to be honest. But there’s no shortage of people getting killed in this episode. One of those is someone Trek fans can’t fail to recognise: Tim Russ plays Devor in this episode, and Tuvok in Voyager.

Russ auditioned for the role of LaForge in TNG, but of course didn’t get it - but who can forget his performance as a trooper in Spaceballs!

Russ’ appearance here pretty much overshadows the entirety of the terrorists, which is a shame as Marie Marshall is not bad as their leader, Kelsey, even if her haircut feels wildly inappropriate for her role as a cutthroat mercenary.

Sci-fi fans may recognise Marshall from her two appearances as ‘Dodger’ Durman in Babylon 5, and I note that she was in L.A. Law immediately after this role in TNG - the exchange programme continues! This role was originally offered to Robin Curtis, who played the backup Saavik (after Kirstie Alley left) in Star Trek III and IV… However, she’d just accepted another role less than half an hour earlier! This is doubly ironic as the role in question - a bit part in forgettable comedy TV show Johnny Bago - was Curtis’ sole other role in 1993 - except for TNG, who finally got her in for season seven. We’ll get to that later.

Glenn Morshower dons latex to play Orton, who gets to beat up Riker.

He doesn’t give much of a performance here, but to be fair he isn’t asked to as per this description in the screenplay:

The reception continues. Data's chatting up a non-appreciative Orton. Orton is a native Arkarian and is the Chief Administrator for the base. He carries himself like an upper-class butler in the face of Data’s stream of small talk (he's probably had practice at this with Hutchinson).

However, Morshower has had quite the career, with nearly 250 roles. He doesn’t usually play alien terrorists, he usually plays men in uniform - including the unimaginatively named General Morshower in all the Transformers transformers movies.

But wait for it, his roster of uniformed roles is absolutely staggering. Morshower played an FBI director in Ozark; a Special Agent in NYPD Blue and A Dark Foe, an Agent in Air Force One, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, My Little Assassin, A.U.S.A., The Core, The Last Shot, Hawaii Five-O, The Crazies, and the videogame Battlefield 3; a cop in Follow Your Heart, Lifestories, Matlock, 12:01, Children of the Dark, The River Wild, Innocent Victims, Murder One, The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda, First Wave, The Wonder Cabinet, CSI, American Dreams, All The King's Men, Shark, Dollhouse, Criminal Minds, Dads and Army Wives; a police Lieutenant in Confessions: Two Faces of Evil, Alien Nation: Body and Soul and Hostage; a police Captain in Runaway Car, Blood Work, The Closer, Law and Order, The Little Things and Manhattan; a Police Chief in Karen Sisco; an Admiral in Pearl Harbour, Scandal, and Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil; a General in Harsh Realm, Homeland Security, Disaster!, Delta Farce, The 4400, Madam Secretary, four episodes of Supergirl, two episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and two Call of Duty: Modern Warfare videogames; a Colonel in Pensacola: Wings of Gold, The Jack Bull, Strange World, Good Night, and Good Luck, Bones, X-Men: First Class, Lie to Me, and I Did Not Forget You; a Major in The Men Who Stare at Goats and Mental; a Commander in After Earth, Dark Skies, The Commission, and NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service; a military Captain in The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson, Intruders and JAG, where he also played a Chief Petty Officer; a Private in Rock-a-Die-Baby; an Ensign in Under Siege; an F-18 pilot in By Dawn's Early Light; and finally a Sonar Operator in War and Remembrance.

Phew.

For his other Star Trek appearances, go back and check the WAM for season two’s “Peak Performance” where you can also see him without latex! Look out for this guy in everything you watch from now on. You will find him in uniform in more places than you expect!

Models, Make-up, and Mattes

What a great opening shot this episode has, even if the gif-encoding (below) slightly mars the excellent presentation in the show!

This shot includes the shuttle drone studio miniature from “11001001” and a new model for the Remmler Array. The Baryon Sweep effect is also pretty cool!

Later, we get a reuse of the Syd Dutton matte painting from “Unnatural Selection”, slightly touched up in the remastered versions to bring out its colours.

Most of the episode is filmed on the Enterprise sets, but they are lit very differently. Director Cliff Bole really struggled with this aspect of the shoot. He had director of photography Jonathan West create new lighting schemes for every set, which was great news for West who up until now had been stuck to using the lighting set-ups created by previous director of photography, Marvin V. Rush! Look at how gloomy Engineering looks under the new lighting scheme.

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that Patrick Stewart performed several of his own stunts, and had a blast doing it:

I enjoyed the episode enormously. It’s now in my top half a dozen episodes. It was wonderful to be out of uniform for an entire episode and to be on the ship without any of the other boring crew members.

The other boring crew members? Like Data and Worf?! Burn! Well, I’m glad Stewart had fun with this episode. I mean, it’s Die Hard in space and reduced to a PG rating. At least it’s not set at Christmas, I suppose.