The Fatal Temptation of the Holodeck Portal
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data spots the reappearance of the Holodeck exit’s blue streak on the closet door; Picard announces it as the way back to their world, drawing Redblock’s greedy attention.
Redblock gleefully contemplates the two-way portal and mocks Data’s warning, laughing with his gang and dismissing risks, while tension mounts as he prepares to use the portal.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calm and logically alert, focused on protecting the crew and mitigating threats with clinical precision despite the escalating chaos.
Data provides a precise technical explanation of what a computer is, points out the shimmering holodeck exit portal, issues calm but firm warnings about the portal’s dangers, and physically disarms and incapacitates the armed thug to protect Picard and crew.
- • Clarify the nature of the computer to aid understanding
- • Warn against the dangers of entering the portal
- • Protect Picard and the crew from the armed thug
- • Maintain order and safety amid the holodeck malfunction
- • The portal is dangerous and should not be crossed recklessly
- • Logical intervention is the best way to resolve threats
- • Physical force is justified to protect innocent lives
- • Knowledge and reason can mitigate chaos
Concentrated and serious, aware of the technical crisis and motivated to aid resolution despite the dangerous consequences of the holodeck glitch.
Wesley works diligently outside the holodeck, triggering the blue flash and abrupt simulation shift. His focused technical efforts indirectly cause the brief but impactful transition into the snowy alien landscape and back.
- • Diagnose the holodeck malfunction
- • Trigger system responses to stabilize the simulation
- • Support the crew’s safety through technical expertise
- • Facilitate eventual escape of trapped personnel
- • Technical skill can resolve the holodeck crisis
- • Acting quickly is essential to prevent disaster
- • The holodeck environment is unstable and dangerous
- • He must contribute despite his junior rank
Desperate and frustrated, yet striving to remain controlled and persuasive in the face of imminent danger
Picard passionately proposes a deal to Redblock, offering to help Whalen and return with the item in exchange for passage through the portal. He eyes the exit, contemplating a risky dash, but is stopped by the thug's pistol. His voice conveys desperate urgency to save his injured crewman and escape the simulation.
- • Secure safe passage for Whalen to Sickbay
- • Escape the malfunctioning holodeck with his crew
- • Negotiate a deal with Redblock to avoid bloodshed
- • Believes the portal leads back to the real Enterprise
- • Believes he can still save Whalen by reaching Sickbay
- • Trusts that Redblock can be reasoned with through the promise of the item
Exhilarated and smugly amused, with a growing sense of invincibility that propels his hubristic decision
Redblock waddles to the portal, examines it with great interest, then erupts into laughter as he imagines seizing the promised item from the real world. He dismisses Data's logical warning with theatrical bravado, dramaticizes his departure ('Au revoir et bon chance'), and steps through side by side with Leech, commanding his thug to kill the rest.
- • Obtain the mysterious item in the real world
- • Escape the simulation to seize power and wealth
- • Eliminate all witnesses (Picard, Data) via his thug
- • Believes the portal is a two-way passage to a world he can exploit
- • Believes his fiction-world cunning will allow him to conquer reality
- • Dismisses Data's warning as irrelevant to his destiny
Menacingly eager to follow orders, with a cruel satisfaction in his role as enforcer
The thug obeys Redblock's command, leveling a large pistol at Picard and promising to kill him. After Redblock and Leech depart, he turns his weapon on Data but is swiftly neutralized when Data pinches the gun's muzzle shut and decks him with a single blow.
- • Carry out Redblock's order to kill Picard and the others
- • Ensure no survivors are left behind
- • Believes his pistol makes him invincible within the simulation
- • Believes obedience to Redblock guarantees his own safety
Terrified and uncertain, but desperate enough to suppress his caution and follow Redblock's confident lead
Leech remains trembling and paranoid after the freezing glitch, reluctantly joining Redblock at the portal. He hesitates but follows Redblock through, his fear overridden by the desperate hope to escape the simulation's horrors. His weak-kneed, machine-gun laughter betrays nervous compliance.
- • Escape the terrifying simulation and its lethal glitches
- • Stay close to Redblock for protection and direction
- • Believes stepping through the portal is the only way out of the danger
- • Believes Redblock's plan will secure their safety and reward
Charles Whalen is only mentioned by Picard as needing medical aid in Sickbay; he is not physically present in this …
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The thug’s large pistol is brandished aggressively against Picard, symbolizing the escalating physical threat. Data’s swift action to pinch the muzzle closed and incapacitate the thug neutralizes the immediate danger the pistol represents within the fragile holodeck environment.
The Secondary Computer Panel functions as a symbol and control interface referenced during the dialogue about computer repairs, underscoring the technological stakes tied to the holodeck's stability and the crew's survival.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Dixon Hill’s Office serves as the primary battleground where the boundary between simulation and reality becomes perilously thin. The appearance of the blue holodeck exit portal on the closet door transforms this familiar noir office into a liminal, charged space of hope and deadly risk. The office is frozen and tense, echoing the shattering of the simulation and the dangers encroaching on the crew.
The Snowy Alien Landscape briefly envelops the characters during a violent holodeck glitch, subjecting them to extreme cold, howling winds, and disorienting sensory assault, before snapping back to the Dixon Hill office. This fleeting environment starkly contrasts the noir setting and underscores the fragility and unpredictability of the holodeck's malfunction.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
Within this episode
"Redblock and Leech's decision to step through the Holodeck exit portal out of greed directly causes their dematerialization and death, showing the fatal boundary between fiction and reality."
Redblock and Leech’s Fatal Crossing from Fiction to RealityThemes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: If we can find the way of getting him to our Sickbay by fixing our computer --"
"REDBLOCK: Computer? I do not know this word."
"DATA: A mechanical or electronic apparatus capable of carrying out repetitious and highly complex mathematical operations at high speed."
"REDBLOCK: Remarkable. Is this a two-way passage? Can one enter your world and return to this one simply by stepping through?"
"PICARD: Yes. Allow us to help Mister Whalen, and we'll return with the item."
"REDBLOCK: By God, sir, you are a scamp! To think that I would wait here"
"DATA: If you are thinking of going through yourself sir, I can assure you that is not possible."
"REDBLOCK: Not possible! One look at you sir, proves anything is possible."
"REDBLOCK: Stand back, Mister Hill. I would shoot you myself, but I don't want to rob my assistant of his greatest pleasure."
"REDBLOCK: After we've gone, kill them all. Make sure no one ever finds the bodies."
"REDBLOCK: Our destiny awaits. Au revoir et bon chance, mon ami!"