  "the battle" is the ninth episode of the first season of the american science fiction television series star trek: the next generation and was originally aired on november 16, 1987 in broadcast syndication. the episode was written by herbert wright, based on a story by larry forrester, and directed by rob bowman. set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the starfleet starship enterprise-d. in this episode, captain jean-luc picard (patrick stewart) is given his former vessel, the stargazer, as a gift by the ferengi daimon bok (frank corsentino) who intends to use it to take revenge upon the enterprise captain. the stargazer was to originally be represented by the movie-era enterprise model, but producers were convinced to use a design which had appeared on a model in picard's ready room in the series pilot. several camera and compositing techniques were used by bowman in filming the scenes aboard the bridge of the stargazer, which was also a re-dressed movie-era klingon bird of prey bridge set. reception to the episode overall was mixed, but reviewers agreed that the performance of patrick stewart stood out for good reason. ==plot== the enterprise meets with a ferengi vessel whose captain, daimon bok, requests a meeting with captain picard. picard meanwhile is suffering from persistent headaches and seeks the help of doctor beverly crusher (gates mcfadden). she scans picard, but can not find what is causing them. meanwhile, on the bridge, wesley crusher (wil wheaton) reports that a second vessel is approaching. lt. geordi la forge (levar burton) identifies it as a federation constellation-class starship. bok and his first off
1987_television_episodes Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_episodes