History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E15FirstContact

* BizarreAlienBiology: Humans to the Malcorians: among other things, the human heart is where a Malcorian's digestive tract whould be.
* BizareAlienReproduction: Apparently there are some "differences" between the Malcorians and humans. [[BoldlyComing Which Riker gets to demonstrate to a Malcorian nurse.]] Lends to some interesting FridgeHorror wondering what was going through Riker's head as he almost certainly knew what the alien had under her clothes, even though she didn't know what would be under his.

* BizarreAlienBiology: Humans to the Malcorians: among other things, the human heart is where a Malcorian's digestive tract should be.
* BizarreAlienReproduction: Apparently there are some "differences" between the Malcorians and humans. [[BoldlyComing Which Riker gets to demonstrate to a Malcorian nurse.]] Lends to some interesting FridgeHorror wondering what was going through Riker's head as he almost certainly knew what the alien had under her clothes, even though she didn't know what would be under his.

* BizarreAlienBiology: Humans to the Malcorians; among other things, Riker's human heart is where a Malcorian's digestive tract should be.

* CallARabbitASmerp: The Malcorian medical staff use more non-specific terms for anatomical parts: ribs are "costal struts," a kidney is a "renal organ," and a foot is a "terminus." One doctor is quite shocked to find "digits" (toes) on Riker's terminus.

* BizarreAlienBiology: Humans to the Malcorians; Riker's heart is where they think his digestive tract should be.

On Malcor III, a team of Malcorian doctors receive a critically injured patient. As they prepare to save his life, we discover that this Malcorian is actually William Riker in disguise! The doctors quickly see through his surgical implants and realize that he's an alien. Malcor III is on the verge of achieving warp technology, but they still believe that they're the only sentient species in the universe. The doctors keep the information hush to avoid a panic.

* AlienNonInterferenceClause: Picard explains the Prime Directive to Chancellor Durken. At this stage in a planet's progress, the Directive calls for the Federation to guide the newly interstellar species into galactic society, but still avoid "interfering with their natural development"--which as Durken adroitly points out, means not sharing any of the Federation's still far more advanced technology (transporters and replicators, for example) with the Malcorians.

* TheBadGuyWins: Though he fails to kill himself to ensure hostility between their peoples, Krola succeeds in convincing Durken that relations with the Federation are not possible (albeit not for the reasons he intended), to scrap their warp program, and to slow the pace of scientific advancement on Malcor in general. It's not made clear whether he would even be punished for his actions due to the cover up, beyond Durken expecting that people like him would eventually be ridiculed. That said, it's indicated that his victory will likely only be in the short-to-medium term, and that Malcor will someday begin relations with the Federation -- and if nothing else, he inadvertently ended up creating witnesses to the ''Enterprise'' crew beaming down and saving his life, meaning at least some Malcorians will come away with positive impressions of the Federation and spread that word.
* BittersweetEnding: They get Riker back and part amicably with Chancellor Durken. However, Mirasta Yale leaves with them, because the Malcorians, who had been on the verge of becoming an interstellar civilization, are now going to suspend their warp drive program indefinitely. Given the strict dividing line that the Prime Directive creates between pre-warp and warp-capable civilizations, the ''Enterprise'' crew's bungling has relegated the Malcorians to the status of galactic have-not's.

* ContinuityNod: Picard offers Durken a toast to their new friendship using a bottle of the Picard family wine--probably the very same bottle his brother Robert gave him in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family Family]]," advising him not to drink it alone.

** Chancellor Durken. It's hinted that his moderate nature is actually considered a con rather than a pro by a sizable faction of the Malcorian people.

* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Malcor is in a period of turmoil as they approach warp technology: making many leaps and bounds in sciences, social theory and innovation, but not as much in terms of understanding and acceptance, with many of the people unwilling to accept the new ideas being introduced - sometimes violently - in a clear reference to this period. It's implied to be because the government focused on innovation on their own, without also focusing on adequately educating or preparing their people, leaving them to believe their government is leaving them behind.
* RubberForeheadAliens: That and the fact that the Malcorians do not have individual fingers and toes is the only outward physical difference between them and humans--though in a twist on the trope, it's the ability to turn a human into one of these that makes the planet so easy to infiltrate.

* StayWithTheAliens: Mirasta Yale had been wanting to travel the stars since she was a child. When Chanellor Durken is going to indefinitely postpone their warp drive program, she wants to leave on the Enterprise-D, as she sees it as her only chance to follow her dream.
* StealthInSpace: Implied. The ''Enterprise'' is shown to be in a fairly close orbit with the planet in question, and being over a half-kilometer long does not seem all that worried about being seen in orbit around a planet which is ready to try out warp technology--implying the planet has telescopes, amateur astronomers, satellites, etc.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: A typical Trek story where the crew makes first contact with an alien race, the twist being that it's told from the perspective of the aliens themselves.

* AbsenteeActor: Geordi doesn't appear in this episode.

* IdiotBall:

* ThanatosGambit: Krola tries to kill himself with Riker's phaser and pin it on Riker to show how threatening the humans are. It fails because he doesn't understand the [[StunGuns "stun" setting]], and makes no attempt to stop the badly weakened Riker from pressing a button on the phaser before he triggers it. The response from the other Malcorians to Krola's plan indicates that this sort of attempt at deception is as common in fiction on their world as it is on Earth.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Chancellor Durken. It's hinted that his moderate nature is actually considered a con rather than a pro by a sizable faction of the Malcorian people.

* DoubleStandardRapeSciFi: Lanel essentially gives Riker an ultimatum: Have sex with her or be captured. While it's not a case of physical force, it's still rape-by-coercion. Doubles as DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale as the episode doesn't really play it up as anything other than a humorous scenario, but it's unlikely that it would be taken the same way were it Troi or Crusher being pressured by a male alien.

* AscendedFangirl: Creator/BebeNeuwirth is a major ''Star Trek'' fan, giving her scene with Riker an additional RealitySubtext. [[invoked]]

Barely clinging to life, Riker insists that he's on a mission of peace, but Krola demonstrates that Riker's phaser is a weapon. He uses it to fake his own murder, making it look like Riker shot him with the phaser, to throw public sentiment against the Federation. Crusher and a medical team arrive just in time to beam both Riker and Krola to sick bay. They save Riker's life and discover that Krola was merely stunned. The phaser is a weapon for self-defense, after all.

Durken chastises Krola, but agrees with him that the Malcor III is not ready to join the intergalactic community. He regretfully tells Picard that he will have to reject the Federation's offer for guidance into a new stage of their civilization. He puts the warp experiments on pause and plans to increase funding in education and social development so that one day they'll be ready to start journeying into the stars. Mirasta Yale, however, is ready now and asks permission to leave with the ''Enterprise''. Picard is sad that first contact with the Malcorians didn't work about, but happily agrees to have quarters assigned to their new passenger.

On Malcor III, a team of Malcorian doctors receive a critically injured patient. As they prepare to save his life, we discover that this Malcorian is actually William Riker in disguise! The doctors quickly see through his surgical implants and realize that he's an alien. Malcor III is on the verge of achieving warp technology, but still believe that they're the only sentient species in the universe. The doctors keep the information hush to avoid a panic.

Barely clinging to life, Riker insists that he's on a mission of peace, but Krola reveals that he's discovered that his phaser is a weapon. He uses it to fake his own murder, making it look like Riker shot him with the phaser, to throw public sentiment against the Federation. Crusher and a medical team arrive just in time to beam both Riker and Krola to sick bay. They save Riker's life and discover that Krola was merely stunned. The phaser is a weapon for self-defense, after all.

* EpicFail: Krola's attempt to frame Riker for killing him fails spectacularly once Crusher is able to get both of them into sickbay. As she quickly points out after stabilizing them, the angle of the phaser shot meant that it was self-inflicted, there was no way Riker could have pulled the trigger because he was near-death and, worst of all for the poor sap, he had no idea how phasers work and was hit with the ''stun'' setting.
** Except it still worked for Krola, in a manner superior to his goal. He was attempting to create battle lines. The Feds simply leaving was far more than he hoped.

Commander Riker is injured while coordinating with Federation scouts on a planet prior to a first-contact mission. Because of this, Captain Picard and Counselor Troi must beam down to the planet before they are fully ready to make contact with the aliens, the Malcorians. Things go sour quickly when Commander Riker is discovered to be an alien by the doctors at the medical facility he is being treated at, and this creates suspicion on the part of the Malcorians that the ''Enterprise'' is there to infiltrate their society and conquer them.

Captain Picard and the Malcorian leader, Chancellor Durken, attempt to salvage the situation, but eventually come to the conclusion that the Malcorians are not ready for first contact yet.

** Krola is fortunate that the Federation is explicitly ''not'' as dangerous as he fears. Between his refusal to release Riker and his willingless to risk killing Riker for his interrogation, if the Federation were as hostile as he claims, his actions could have very easily resulted in a deadly, bloody war against an enemy his people couldn't possibly hope survive.

* NeverTrustATrailer: Most of the episode's trailers made the episode out to be a story about Riker being stuck on an alien world, and needing to win over Lanel's heart in order to escape. In actual fact, the story is mostly about xenophobia, and Lanel's role in its outcome is extremely minimal; she was likely only featured as much in the promotions as she was because her actress, Creator/BebeNeuwirth, had a recurring role on ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' at the time.

* TheBadGuyWins: Though he fails to kill himself to ensure hostility between their peoples, Krola succeeds in convincing Durken that relations with the Federation are not possible (albeit not for the reasons he intended), to scrap their warp program, and to avoid scientific advancement on Malcor in general. It's not made clear whether he would even be punished for his actions due to the cover up, beyond Durken expecting that people like him would eventually be ridiculed.

** Except it still worked, and for Krola, in a manner superior to his goal. He was attempting to create battle lines. The Feds simply leaving was far more than he hoped.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: A typical Trek story where the crew makes first contact with an alien race, the twist being that it's told from the perspective of the aliens themselves.