At the close of last season, Worf resigned his Starfleet commission to join the Council Klingon army as civil war divided his people. Despite his sympathy for Worf, Picard refused to involve the U.S.S. Enterprise in the internal Klingon struggle. Yet fearing that the Romulans are secretly supporting the subversive Duras family in hopes of destroying the Klingon alliance with the Federation, Picard convinces the head of Starfleet to initiate a blockade against the Romulan Empire. He immediately assigns his crew members to posts on Starfleet ships and dispatches the fleet to the Romulan-Klingon border, where they hope to prevent the flow of supplies and equipment from the Romulans to the Duras family.
Seizoen 5
The U.S.S. Enterprise receives a signal from 'The Children of Tama', an alien race that has no history of violence, but language has been deemed 'incomprehensible' to humans. Hovering above an uninhabited planet, Picard and the crew hope to establish relations with the Tamarians. But while he and Dathon, the Tamarian captain, make several attempts to communicate over their viewscreens, neither can understand the other. Suddenly Dathon turns to him, armed with two daggers, and both captains dematerialize and are transported to the surface of the planet below. Riker and the crew are dismayed to find all access to Picard is blocked by a field set up by the Tamarians. On the planet's surface, Dathon continues to offer Picard one of his daggers, but Picard refuses on the grounds that this could be an act of war. Dathon is friendly, however, and offers Picard fire against the evening's chill, allowing Picard to sleep. Hours later, Picard wakes up to find Dathon missing. He looks through his personal belongings to get some clue as to what makes the alien tick, but is interrupted by Dathon's voice and the roar of an animal.
After a terrorist attack on a Federation colony on Solarion Four, the U.S.S. Enterprise crew receives a message from a man claiming to represent the Bajora -- a race which has been fighting to regain its home planet after being chased off by the Cardassians. The man takes responsibility for the terrorist attack. Immediately, Picard confers with Starfleet Admiral Kennelly to discuss the Bajoran terrorist attack. The admiral orders Picard to find Orta, the militant leader of the Bajora, and offer him Federation amnesty, in return for negotiating peace with the Cardassians. To Picard's surprise, Kennelly also orders the arrival of a new officer -- Ensign Ro - to assist Picard in his delicate mission. The crew warily welcomes Ro, a strong-willed Bajoran whom Kennelly released from prison to help with the crisis.
While surveying land on a Federation colony known as Melona Four, Riker, Data and Dr. Crusher are suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a massive, crystal-like structure which begins to descend toward the planet. Riker recognizes the object as the Crystalline Entity, and immediately begins herding the colonists together to search for shelter. The group watches in horror as the entity destroys the countryside with brilliant beams of light. All but two survive to find shelter inside a small cave - but the cave has a limited air supply. Riker tries to contact the U.S.S. Enterprise, but ultimately fails. Meanwhile, on board the Enterprise, the rest of the crew grow increasingly concerned over the violent disturbances detected near Melona Four.
During a brief respite from duty, the Enterprise plays host to three young winners of a primary school science contest. Just as Picard begins to take them on their promised tour of the ship, the craft is struck by a natural phenomena that shakes it violently and causes power failures to occur throughout. Communication between different areas of the ship is cut off and crew members are trapped. Picard and the kids are caught in the Turbolift; Beverly and Geordi are stuck in the Cargo Bay where they are threatened by the combination of a radioactive fire and containers of hazardous materials; while Riker, Worf, Data and O'Brien's pregnant wife Keiko treat the injured in the Ten-Forward. Meanwhile, Troi, the highest ranking officer remaining on the Bridge, finds herself acting as a reluctant ship's captain.
During a romantic respite on Risa, Riker's lady friend Etana gives him an interesting present. She introduces him to an electronic mind game that rewards the player with a pleasurable sensation when he achieves his goal. Eager to share his discovery, Riker passes the game on to Troi when he returns to the Enterprise. At the same time, the crew happily welcomes Wesley Crusher, who is on vacation from Starfleet Academy, with a surprise party. Troi introduces Beverly to the game, while Wesley meets a young ensign named Robin Lefler. He feels an immediate chemistry with the attractive young woman, and Robin is also drawn to Wesley. Soon, the two young people make plans to meet for dinner. A short time later, Beverly summons Data to Sickbay to help with a problem. But when the android arrives, Beverly, Riker and Troi inexplicably attack and deactivate him, laying him on an examination table.
Captain Picard is disturbed to learn that the legendary Vulcan, Mr. Spock, has gone on an unauthorized mission to the planet Romulus. He immediately travels to Vulcan to speak with Spock's father Sarek, a close friend with whom he shared a mind meld the year before. Sarek's wife, Perrin, informs Picard that her husband is gravely iII, and confides to Picard the details of the strained relationship between Spock and his father. Despite Sarek's illness, Picard is able to see him, and the Vulcan tells Picard that his son may be in touch with the Romulan senator Pardek. He also asks Picard to convey his love to his son. Back on board the Enterprise, Riker and Geordi inspect several metal fragments, identified as Vulcan, recovered from a downed Ferengi ship. When the Vulcans claim to know nothing about the materials, Riker and Geordi assume the Ferengi have stolen them.
The conclusion of 'Unification, Part I' catches up with Picard and Data as they meet Spock on the planet Romulus. Spock is initially uncooperative when Picard questions him as to the details of his mission. However, the tension is lifted when Picard shares the unhappy news of Spock's father's death and attempts to fulfill his friend's last request by telling Spock of his father's love. Spock then reveals to Picard that the purpose of his mission Is to reunify the Romulans and the Vulcans. The revelation shocks Picard, who does not trust the intentions of the Romulan government. After learning this, Data transports back to the disguised Klingon ship that brought him and Picard to Romulus and attempts to access the Romulans' computer system.
The Enterprise makes way toward a planet known as Penthara Four, where a massive asteroid has struck an unpopulated continent. Fearing that the resulting dust cloud could lead to a devastating ice age like the one that occurred on Earth in the late 21st Century, the crew hopes to find a way to counteract the cloud's effects. As they travel toward the planet, a bright f lash appears on the Bridge, and a strange man materializes before the crew. The man reveals that he is a Professor Berlingoff Rasmussen, a historian from the late 26th Century Earth, who has traveled from the future to study the Enterprise. Although the crew is suspicious of Rasmussen, his presence arouses their interest in the future, but Picard insists they refrain from questioning their guest so they don't end up changing the future.
While the Enterprise heads for Bilana III to participate in the testing of a new propulsion method called the Soliton Wave, Worf receives an unexpected visit from his mother Helena and his son Alexander. The Klingon's surprise turns to shock, however, when Alexander informs Worf that he plans to live on the ship with his father. That night, Worf discusses the situation with Helena. She reveals that Alexander has been misbehaving and is in desperate need of his father's guidance. Reluctantly, Worf agrees to take custody of the child. But when he discovers that the boy is lying and acting up in school, Worf threatens to send his son to a rigorous Klingon school.
The Enterprise makes way to a nearby Starbase that has recently lost contact with the Vico, a research vessel sent to explore the interior of a Black Cluster. Upon locating the vessel, Picard sends an Away Team to investigate the situation. Data and Riker are shocked when they discover a little boy trapped in the wreckage of the small ship. After several unsuccessful attempts, the crew is finally able to rescue and transport the boy back to Sickbay. The youth, Timothy, is Immediately drawn to Data. Meanwhile on the Bridge, Picard and Geordi study the details of the events that led to the vessel's explosion. Timothy told the crew that the Vico was attacked by an alien ship. But preliminary research indicatesthat Timothy lied about what happened on the ship, as the Vico was not boarded by the aliens as he had reported. Troubled by this revelation, Picard and Troi instruct Data to spend more time with the boy in hopes that he will tell Data what really happened.
The Enterprise makes its way toward Kaldra Four carrying a delegation of Ullians, an alien race of telepathic historians who conduct research by probing their subjects' long-forgotten memories. The head of the delegation, Tarmin, immediately demonstrates this ability when he helps Keiko resolve a repressed childhood memory. However, Picard, Beverly and the rest of the crew are reluctant to let the Ullians examine them, and Tarmin's son Jev admonishes his father against probing their thoughts without permission. Troi leaves the meeting with Jev, and later that evening, experiences an unexplained flashback of a romantic interlude between herself and Riker. Suddenly, Riker's advances become rough, and Trio discovers that Jev has replaced Riker in her memory. As she struggles against Jev, she falls unconscious.
The Enterprise moves in to help after detecting a stellar core fragment heading straight for a human colony on what was thought to be a deserted planet. Picard contacts the colony's leader, Aaron Conor, with an offer to evacuate his people. But Conor refuses, telling Picard that evacuation would destroy his genetically engineered society. Instead, he insists on working to find an alternate solution, and reluctantly permits the transport of Riker, Geordi and Troi, the first visitors the colony has ever had, to help. Conor assigns Hannah Bates, a scientist from the colony, to work with Geordi. Riker beams back aboard the Enterprise along with Geordi and Hannah, who leaves the colony for the first time to work to save her home.
A mysterious force causes the crew of the Enterprise to lose their memories of who they are, where they are and what their mission is. They soon come to believe that they have been ordered to penetrate into the heart of the Lysian system and to destroy them. As they struggle to regain their lost memories, they struggle against the moral conflict of totally destroying a race that clearly is not their technological equal.
The Enterprise encounters the emergency signal of a Daedalus class ship which disappeared in the area 200 years earlier. Although the signal leads to an uninhabited moon, Troi is convinced that there is someone still alive. Due to a magnetic storm on the moon, the Enterprise is unable to use the transporters so Riker, Troi and Data attempt to use a shuttlecraft to land on the moon on a rescue mission but, the craft is destroyed by the storm. They are joined by O'Brien who has found a way to use the transporter for a single beaming and to rig up a booster so they may be rescued by the transporters. As they are about to beam up, the storm lets loose a lightning bolt which knocks the crew unconscious. Riker manages to come to long enough to activate the booster and they are all returned to the ship. Shortly after their return, Data, Troi, and O'Brien begin to behave strangely and they attempt to take over the ship. When their attempted mutiny fails, they run for ten-forward where they take hostage Keiko, Worf and other crew members. Picard must find a way to free the hostages, and discover why Data, Troi and O'Brien have attempted to take over the ship.
While in a cargo bay, a container falls on Worf, breaking his back. A specialist in back injuries from Starfleet comes aboard. She has a experimental treatment that could rebuild his backbone but Crusher is worried about it. When she tries another one of her treatments on another injured person which causes the person's death, Crusher relieves her of duty. They do proceed with the operation but it fails and Worf dies. Luckily, due to Worf's physiology, he comes back to life and is fine.
When the barrel falls on Worf, a second barrel also falls, and its lid pops off. However, when Geordi runs over to Worf, the lid is back on the barrel.
The Enterprise assists a race who have lost one of their shuttles. This race has no gender but a few of them do prefer a gender and try to act like that gender which is considered perverse. The scientist/pilot who assists Commander Riker is one of these and they fall in love. The shuttle turns out to be hidden inside a pocket of Null Space which the Enterprise charts and then attempts a rescue. The rescue is succesful but the scientist/pilot's secret is discovered and she/it is taken away. Riker attempt a rescue but is too late as she/it has already undergone pshycotectic therapy to "cure" her/it.
The Enterprise gets stuck in a temporal causality loop when it collides with another ship next to a temporal anomaly. It is forced to repeat the explosion again and again, but each time the loop starts no-one remebers anything from the previous loops except a slight feeling of deja vu. Eventually, having pieced it all together in one loop, they manage to send a message into the next using Data explaining how to avoid the collision. Data interprets the single word "Three" subconciously and the number 3 keeps on appearing wherever he goes, in a Poker game, on computer consoles, everywhere. He realises that it refers to the number of pips on Riker's collar and instead of activating the tractor beam to deflect the other ship's course which was Data's idea, they use Riker's which is to decompress the main shuttlebay, this pushes them clear and they do not start the loop again.
Wesley's flight squadron at StarFleet Academy is involved in an accident which cost the life of one of the squadron members. Wesley and the other members of the squadron are involved in a hearing to determine the cause of the accident. Picard, visiting the Academy for commencement exercises gets involved in determing the cause of the accident.
About 10 minutes in -- Wes goes to the door. The long shot has him opening the door with his *left hand*. Cut to close up, and the door is being opened with his *right hand*.
Lwaxana comes aboard to get married to someone she's never met. She interferes with Troi attempting to teach Alexander responsibility and tries to teach him to enjoy life. Meanwhile a creature/parasite is feeding off a compound that is present in the Enterprise's most critical systems. The parasite is found but Life Support starts to fail and Data has to pilot the ship to an asteroid belt in order to get rid of the lifeform. The lifeform is removed and Lwaxana causes the wedding to be aborted by turning up for it naked.
The Enterprise hosts a Ceremony of Reconciliation between the Krios and Valt Minor systems in an effort to end their centuries-long war. When a Ferengi tries to steal the Kriosian's peace offering from a cargo bay, the package is damaged, revealing a stunningly beautiful woman inside. The woman, Kamala, explains that she is an empathic mesomorph, a rare creature with the ability to sense and serve her mate's every desire. She was to be a gift for the Valtese ambassador, but since her cocoon was broken prematurely, she is open to bonding with any male. When the Kriosian ambassador is incapacitated, Picard is asked to take his place in the negotiations. Unfamiliar with Kriosian customs, he enlists Kamala's aid and soon finds himself unable to resist her charms.
As the Enterprise travels through a nebula a lifeform enters the ship and a young girl's imaginary friend comes to life. This friend gets the girl into lots of trouble and as the Enterprise traverses the nebula, it encounters a lot of resistance from some thread like substance made of Plasma. It is discovered that this imaginary friend is a lifeform and that other of her lifeform are on their way to destroy the ship. With some clever talking, Picard persuades them not to destroy the ship and it leaves.
The Enterprise responds to a distress signal which is found to be from a crashed Borg scout ship. There is one survivor on board who is badly damaged. They bring it aboard and Crusher and Geordi repair it. However the longer he remains disconnected from the Collective, the more he acts like a human, not a Borg. The original plan was to add a program to his memory which would act like a virus, spread thoughout the entire Borg collective and destroy them once and for all. However this plan is ditched when he finally achieves the realisation that he is an individual not just part of a collective conciousness. Instead he is returned to the collective as he is and it is hoped that his individuality would spread to the rest of the Borg and hopefully change them, for the better.
The Enterprise goes to help a Romulan science ship which has been badly damaged after an engine fault. An away team beams over to help and they remove an engine component for replication. Geordi and Ro beam back with the component but something goes wrong in the transport and they never rematerialise. The Enterprise helps eject the warp core and get power and mobility back into the Romulan ship. Meanwhile Geordi and Ro, who have just been cloaked by the Romulan's new experimental cloaking device which can not only cloak but allow a cloaked object to pass through normal matter, are wandering the ship trying to find out what happened.
The Enterprise encounters a mysterious probe which seems to attack Picard knocking him unconscious. However, as he lays on the bridge in an apparent coma for only a few minutes, Picard imagines that he is a scientist named Kamin living on a doomed planet a long time ago.
This season-ending cliffhanger finds the Enterprise called back to Earth because of artifacts discovered in a cavern. Most of the artifacts are from 19th century Earth except for one - the remains of Data's head apparently left there sometime in the past where Data was destroyed. The crew finds traces of Triallic Waves in the cavern and traces them back to Devidia Two where they find yet another cave - this one inhabited by beings who are slightly out of phase with our universe. Data assists Geordi in building a Sub-Space distorter to align the synchronic distortion. As Data uses the distorter, the beings inhabiting the area use a temporal distorter and Data is caught in the waves and sent to Earth in the late 19th century.