Summary
- The first Star Trek holodeck episode, "The Big Goodbye," introduces a cliché of future holodeck episodes, but is still highly entertaining.
- Despite its illogical mechanics, the holodeck is an incredible technology that allows people to visit their favorite fictional worlds and eras.
- Holodeck episodes in Star Trek offer actors a chance to play alternate versions of their characters and provide insight into their development.
The first Star Trek episode to prominently feature the holodeck comes in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, and while the episode itself is great, it introduces an element that becomes a cliché in future holodeck episodes. In TNG season 1, episode 12, "The Big Goodbye," Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) takes a break from his duties as captain of the USS Enterprise-D to try out the ship's newly upgraded holodeck. Picard takes on the persona of fictional hard-boiled detective Dixon Hill and invites a few of his crew members along for the ride.
Captain Picard, Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), and ship's historian Whalen (David Selburg) don their period-accurate mobster gear and step into San Francisco of the 1940s. They marvel at how real the holographic environment around them looks, from the cars on the street to the people who populate the program. Everyone gets caught up in the story of Dixon Hill and everything seems to be going well until Whalen is shot with a very real bullet. Dr. Crusher states that his injury could prove fatal if he is not taken to sickbay soon, but the holodeck refuses to respond to any commands, leaving the crew members trapped inside.
