Hung Jury

Regular readers of my blog (all two of them) know that Star Trek: The Next Generation is one of my all-time favorite TV series. It's definitely the best of the modern Treks, and depending on the mood I'm in, I might even rate it higher than The Original Series.

One of the best episodes of the series is Season 4's The Drumhead. In it, the Enterprise suffers a warp core malfunction that may or may not have been the result of sabotage. Starfleet sends retired a retired judge, Admiral Norah Satie, to investigate. Satie sees suspects everywhere she looks, and believes she's uncovered a vast conspiracy onboard the ship. When Captain Picard tells her she's going too far, she accuses him of trying to cover up his involvement in the treacherous plot to destroy the ship.

The Drumhead is an obvious bottle episode, designed to save money by taking place entirely onboard the Enterprise-D. As such, it features little or no action, and consists of scene after scene of people standing around talking. 

It should have been a dull and boring disaster, but thanks to top notch writing and excellent performances, it's one of the show's finest hours (make that forty five minutes).

I recently watched the episode again, and even though I've seen it more times than I can count, I noticed something I never saw before.

Here's a shot of Admiral Satie in the outfit she wears for much of the episode.

Note the gold necklace or brooch she's wearing. It looks exactly like a noose! That's cause she's a hangin' judge!

WOW! I can't believe I never noticed that till now. I wonder if that was intentional, or just a happy accident? It ain't exactly subtle, so it was most likely planned. Either way, it's a perfect fit for her character. Kudos to the costume designer!

On the other hand...

You can't hit a home run every time at bat.

As proof, I submit this costume from the very same episode. This gentleman's one of Admiral Satie's aids, from the planet Betazed. Looks like the poor guy woke up late and got dressed in such a hurry that he put his shirt on backwards! Seriously, it looks like he spun his head around 180°! The actor seemed really uncomfortable wearing this cockamamie thing too, as every time he'd look down even slightly the material would bunch up under his chin.

See what kind of fashions we have to look forward to?