Power Play
Riker, Troi and Data are going to investigate an old-fashioned distress call from a moon of Mab-Bu VI, but their shuttle crashes. After O’Brien has beamed down to rescue them, all but the injured Riker start to behave strangely. Troi’s, Data’s and O’Brien’s bodies have been taken over by entities who claim to be the spirits of the crew of the U.S.S. Essex who was lost at the moon two hundred years ago. Their violent behavior, however, belies this story. The three are actually possessed by aliens who have been condemned to living in a penal colony. They take hostages and finally urge Picard to have the remaining criminals beamed up, but Picard threatens to blow them all, including his three officers and himself, out of the airlock, whereupon the entities leave their host bodies and return to their prison. summary by Ex-Astris-Scientia
Heh! They shouldn’t have done it so close to the previous episode. Who was responsible for coordinating this, anyway? While Conundrum was excellent, this one is just a failed attempt. Not recommended.