Star Trek: The Next Generation 1.05

Where No One Has Gone Before

Something goes wrong when Kosinski, a visiting propulsion specialist, is upgrading the Enterprise's warp drive. The Enterprise travels faster and farther than any ship has ever traveled before and winds up so far from where they were that it would take them over 300 years to get back.

Kosinski attempts to get the Enterprise back to where it is but the starship winds up somewhere even stranger looking. Wesley Crusher was in engineering at the time and noticed something strange about Kosinki's assistant who is an alien, only identified as the Traveller. Wesley tries to tell Commander Riker but Riker won't listen and only considers the possibility after he witnesses the phenomenon himself.

The crew aboard the Enterprise starts to experience strange hallucinations. Worf and Tasha Yar encounter their childhood pets. Captain Picard encounters his mother who invites him to have tea. The Traveller eventually manages to set things right but vanishes as they return to the part of the galaxy where the Enterprise was at the beginning of the episode.

Captain Picard thanks Wesley and makes him an acting ensign for the assistance he provided.

Thoughts

I'm pretty sure that I've seen this episode before but I can't remember when. It's possible that I saw it when it first aired or soon thereafter.

This is the first of three episodes in which the Traveler appeared. I have not seen the other two episodes. The traveler was played by Eric Menyuk who was a finalist for the part of Data.

The chief engineer in this episode is Argyle. This is just one of two episodes in which he appeared. The other one was 1.13 (Datalore).

This is a significant episode but it is not a great or even a good one in my books. The solution to getting back was a little too woo woo for me. There was also something about the hallucinations that rubbed me the wrong way. It is a significant episode because this is the episode in which Wesley Crusher is made an acting ensign. I don't regret watching it but I wish it was better.