Star Trek: TNG episode
"Pen Pals"
Sarjenka looks for "Pen Pals".
Episode no.
Prod. code	141
Airdate	May 1, 1989
Writer(s)	Melinda M. Snodgrass (teleplay) Hannah Louise Shearer (story)
Director	Winrich Kolbe
Guest star(s)	Nicholas Cascone, Ann H. Gillespie, Colm Meaney, Whitney Rydbeck, Nikki Cox
Year	2365
Stardate	42695.3
Episode chronology
Previous episode	"The Icarus Factor"
Next episode	"Q Who?"

"Pen Pals" is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation first broadcast on May 1, 1989. Image File history File links STPenPals. ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... A television director is usually responsible for directing the actors and other taped aspects of a television production. ... Colm Meaney as Miles OBrien Colm J. Meaney ( or , a variant of Callum; born May 30, 1953 in Dublin, Ireland) is an actor widely known for his role as Miles OBrien in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. ... Nikki Cox appearing in the television series Las Vegas Nikki Cox (born Nicole Avery Cox on June 2, 1978 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress. ... A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ... Stardate is the dating convention used in the fictional Star Trek universe. ... The Icarus Factor is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation first broadcast on April 24, 1989. ... Q Who? is an episode from the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. ... The title as it appeared in most episodes opening credits. ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Wesley is put in charge of an away team to help further his studies to become a Starfleet Officer. He put together a crack team fully capable of completing the task of a mineral survey on a planet they are surveying. Trouble occurs when one of his team members challenges his ability, to the point of taking over the team.

Meanwhile, Data has been communicating with a young, female humanoid on a nearby planet for quite some time, violating the prime directive. He brings this to the Captain's attention after nearly a month of communication with the girl. He tells the Captain that the troubles occurring on this girl's planet in concurrent with the troubles experienced on the planets they are currently surveying and if it is possible to find the cause and reverse the trouble, he could save the girl and her planet. Captain Picard considers this, and that Data has and will be continuing to violate the prime directive if he sends the girl any more messages. As a temporary solution, he forbids Data to continue to communicate with the child.

Wesley goes to Cmdr. Riker about his problem with the challenging team member, Davies. Riker tells him that command comes with both responsibility and authority and since Wes already knows responsibility it is their job to teach him authority. And when Wesley figures it out, he will understand command. Riker is called away to Picard's Ready Room. Wesley decides to make Davies complete the task Wesley has given, no matter what.

Picard and the senior officers discuss the status of Data's friend and the role of the Prime Directive. After debating philosophy, fate, and the Prime Directive Picard decides that Data shall have no more contact with the pre-warp planet. Picard clearly wants to help the people of the planet, but cannot yet justify breaking the Prime Directive. But before Data can sever the connection, he receives a transmission from the girl saying she is afraid and asking where Data is and why won't he answer her. Upon hearing the message, Picard decides that this is no longer just a message from a child, but a cry for help, and that they cannot turn their backs.

Once they arrive at the planet, they beam the young girl to the ship. Meanwhile, they have determined how to fix the cataclyms of the planet. Upon correcting the problem, Dr. Pulaski wipes the girl's memory (to avoid her culture from becoming contaminated with knowledge of Enterprise) and beams her back down to her home. Diana Muldaur (born August 19, 1938 in New York, New York), is an American television actress. ...

Bloopers

• In the scene where Data first meets the little girl, Brent Spiner accidentally slips and uses a contraction when greeting her. It has been established in other episodes that Data is incapable of using contractions.

External links

• Pen Pals article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki