User Reviews

While Picard is relaxing in his quarters, something bizarre occurs-- he disappears and is replaced by a duplicate. The real Picard finds himself in a room with a couple others who also were kidnapped by someone or something--and they're soon joined by another. As for the faux Picard, he looks and sounds like Jean-Luc but isn't quite him-- and he gets weirder as the trip progresses. He does things that make little sense--such as coming on to the Doctor and taking them away from their mission on a slow ride to another part of space but the oddest is his leading the crew in a song in the galley! What's the purpose of all this? And, will the crew put up with the new Picard without a possible mutiny?

Sometimes it's fun watching the faux Picard and sometimes it's fun watching the real one. Best of all? Watching the real Picard get the last laugh on his captors at the end. Entertaining and well worth your time.

In "Allegiance" on the way to a terraforming mission Captain Picard is kidnapped and replaced with a double. All this is unknown to the crew but it soon becomes clear to the crew when Jean-Luc starts acting very peculiarly and puts the ship in danger. Meanwhile the real Picard is held captive in a strange room with three other alien prisoners. The four butt heads a bit but are soon working together on an escape plan. Riker has suspicions that one of the prisoners isn't who they say they are.

Seeing Picard in full seduction mode is one of the funniest things to happen this season. Him rocking the deep V in the karate gi is a real highlight. Plus we get some pub drinking songs and Picard attempting to drive the Enterprise into a star. It's all a bit much and hard to take seriously. Are we really expecting Wes to obey his order to kamikaze everyone into the cluster?

I find the other story thread a lot more interesting. We have a bit of a thriller going on in the inescapable room as all four captives accuse each other of being the inside man. The air of mystery to it makes for interesting television; that and the inclusion of 3 new races of aliens.

I found the resolution to this all a bit dull. Picard gets to the bottom of it and the gig is up! The aliens reveal themselves without so much as a protest. They have a parlor room scene where they explain their intentions. For such an advanced race, they sure do get trapped in a tractor beam real easy!

But we've seen this plot before. Q likes to study the humans. TOS episodes like to study the humans. This isn't a new idea and we've seen it done better. The 2 Picards is a twist and worthwhile watching but doesn't make this a classic. This episode is par for the course.

This episode is so wonderful on so many levels!

The fundamental theme is obviously 'how would you respond when you're confronted with a strange situation'

The Captain is abducted along with 3 other very different species and imprisoned. Whilst a duplicate of them runs amok in their place! Sounds boring enough on paper but the way the episode unravels it's pure genius!

Enterprise area - At what point do you look at someone you've known, respected and trusted for years and call them out on their behaviour at the risk of being called a mutineer and ending your career? The seeds of doubt that the phoney Picard sows amongst the crew starts out benign enough then slowly grows to that critical point. Picard's singing for one was hilarious and a decent enough clue that he was an imposter. Taking them into the Pulsar however was just pure madness and had zero purpose. I'm actually surprised Data didn't ark up and criticise Picard's decision.

Prison/Lab - This area for me is the best part of the episode. Such opposite character's interacting was a joy to watch. Esoqq and Kovas back and forth especially was great!

While Picard eventually solved the meaning behind their imprisonment thanks to some quick thinking after the fake Bolion reveals knowledge she couldn't possibly know, I think Esoqq was the one to clue onto the truth before any of them! " Maybe our enemy is watching... from inside" and " How can we be sure your a Mizarian? " when he's talking to Kova. Quite astute for someone everyone thinks is just a brutish thug. He was definitely my favourite in this episode.

The ending was very satisfying when the bridge crew contained the wretched aliens in the force field to give them a taste of their own medicine!

Overall I really like this episode however the only grievance I have is I would have loved to have seen afew shots of the Doppelgängers of Esoqq and Kova on their world!! Haha that would be priceless.

Btw - just as an observation, some of the camera shots had a serious ABBA vibe to it lol 😂

While Picard is lying in bed, a scanner appears above him. First it takes a reading and then he disappears, finding himself in a circular room with two other beings. One is a tiresome, whiny person who is incredibly passive and not helpful. The second is a young female starship cadet from a non human race. In a while, another grotesque creature shows up. He represents a violent race that often kills its own people. The problem is how to get out of there. Meanwhile, a facsimile of Picard has appeared on the Enterprise. He has full knowledge of his doppelgänger and runs the ship quite successfully. The difference is that the new Picard has kind of a pirate captain's swagger and mentality. He even goes to 10 Forward, buys everyone ale, and sings a drinking song with them. He also tries to put the make on Leslie. As he begins to get careless with the lives of his crew, Riker steps in and puts a stop to it. This is really a mutiny but the rest of the officers know they have been sent on a suicide mission. Of course, what takes place in the doorless room is what we wonder about. The solution is well thought out but the justification is very weak.

Captain Picard finds himself kidnapped!, along with two, later to be three aliens aboard an unknown vessel from which there is seemingly no escape. Mitena Haro (Joycelyn O'Brien) is a Starfleet cadet who recognizes Picard immediately, while Kova Thall of Miza II is of an alien race entirely pacifist in nature, who's home planet had been conquered at least six times without protest. The last and final arrival is Esoqq from Chalna (Reiner Schöne), ready to make war with the other three until Picard finally convinces him that they all ought to trust each other and find a way out of their imprisonment. Meanwhile, Picard, as well as all the others have been replaced by a look-alike at their respective locations, though we only get to see the strange behavior of the Picard replicant aboard the Enterprise. Wisely, because they know their Captain all too well, the crew isn't buying it when the replacement Picard behaves completely out of character, especially when he comes on to Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) in his private quarters. Eventually, the real Picard figures out that the four of them have been made the subject of an experiment to study their reactions in a stressful situation. Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), remaining resolute throughout, had faced down the phony Captain, and was ready to have him subdued, when the alien abductors transported themselves to the Enterprise along with the real Picard. Though the aliens apparently meant no harm, Captain Picard gave them a taste of their own medicine by showing them what a violation it was to be imprisoned without consent. Considering what the aliens wished to learn about their four captives, I had to wonder if they might have learned even more by watching their replicants operating in a foreign environment.

Interesting concept that was missing a few pieces.

This episode struck me as a bit of a love letter to classic episodes like 'the cage' and 'the empath' from TOS. What we have here is an experiment conducted on the TNG crew by an 'advanced' group of aliens. I always find the concept of treating humans like we treat lab rats an interesting topic to dive into.

The idea that the whole episode revolves around aliens attempting to understand the trait of leadership seems odd to me. I suppose the episode did successfully establish Picard as a leader --- pushing the captives to work together to find a solution.

I enjoyed the Picard/Crusher dinner scene and Gates McFadden was quite good in playing a conflicted Dr. Crusher who clearly is holding a candle for Picard but still working through it internally.

I believe this episode would have landed better for me if somehow Picard and captives turned the tables on the aliens while Riker and crew exposed Picard as an alien avatar. Picard single handedly exposes the aliens with his intuition but it would have been better if his leadership skill inspired the others to break free of captivity with his guidance.

Long story short. This is a great concept that needed a re-design. It's not bad though --- good performances in this one.

One uneventful night as Patrick Stewart is getting ready to retire he's whisked away an d is in a room with two other humanoid types. Jocelyb O'Brien is a Star Fleet cadet and recognizes him. The other is Stephen Markle from a much conquered planet that collaborating with occupiers s their wat of life.

Soon enough they're joined by Reiner Schoone from as really ugly, violent and anarchistic race. They'll have to work together to figure out why they've been abducted.

And there's a duplicate Picard on the Enterprise. Seems OK but the senior staff starts getting suspicious.,

This one is a Patrick Stewart special. No great surprise as to what's goijg onjm.

Biut fine performances.

New uniforms, new credit sequence and Doctor Crusher returned to us but was Season 3 of The Next Generation really as good as we remember? Some of that enthusiasm may have have been generated by relief that the series had not been cancelled but the 1990's also heralded an era of considerably more stability behind the scenes. Senior Trekker will continue to score every episode with a 5.

A memorable and polished episode that was actually conceived to save money. There is something about this well-oiled production that showcases how much can be achieved when writers, cast and crew all pull together; something we will continue to see more often than not throughout the next three seasons.

And it's so much FUN.

The A (serious) story of Picard trapped in a room with three unknown alien companions meshes perfectly with the B (comic) story of the fake Picard living out some wonderfully written alternative character moments on board ship.

A strong performance from Sir Patrick doesn't faze any of his acting companions in the locked room mystery even with the considerable amount of prosthetic they need to perform through. All four treat it as a theatrical exercise despite the immense squeeze a television schedule puts on preparation time. Well known German actor Reiner Schone as Esoqq may be recognisable to Babylon 5 fans since he later took on the magisterial role of Dukhat but, otherwise, neither Stephen Markle as Tholl nor Joycelyn O'Brien as Cadet Haro were accustomed to the demands of Science Fiction.

The replacement Picard is a joy to behold, especially when he breaks into song with a rousing British sea shanty in Ten Forward. He deftly performs "not quite right" with Deanna in the corridor and again during the Poker Game but it is on his dinner date with Doctor Crusher that he really comes over all weird and creepy. Splendid.

This one doesn't land well for me. I was getting quite bored of the plot involving Picard locked in a prison with three other characters. Could we spice this up a bit beyond having the characters talk around opening a lock door? (Yawn) There is an explanation that the character possess diverse ideas and the entire point of the kidnapping is to study them but this could have been presented in an engaging format. Maybe they get beamed aboard a spaceship and they encounter obstacles? Throw a few darts at the idea board in the writers room.

The other plot that revolves around Picard's doppelganger has a few fun moments but I thought they could have pushed further. I suppose they were concerned with how far they could go until Riker mutiny's.

Why does Picard's doppelganger have the ship move closer to the Pulsar? Certainly at this point they would realize that the crew would mutiny to save themselves? I was pondering if the aliens were using Picard as a carrier to transport themselves --- but that story has been done before, right? I guess the Picard doppleganger was just killing time they so they could study the real Picard? But if that's the case why not just carrying on with the regular mission? Why change course at all and raise suspicion amongst the crew?

A rare misfire in what has been a season filled with strong writing.