Remember Me (episode)

Following an anomaly in a warp bubble experiment, Dr. Crusher finds that crewmembers are beginning to disappear, while she is the only one who seems to notice.
== Summary ==
=== Teaser ===
:"Chief medical officer's log, stardate 44161.2. We are docking at Starbase 133 for scheduled crew rotation. I look forward to welcoming aboard my mentor and dear friend, Doctor Dalen Quaice, who will be traveling with us to his home planet, Kenda II."
When Dr. Quaice, an elderly man, is beamed aboard by Chief O'Brien, he and Dr. Crusher begin talking about his life while they walk through corridors on the way to his quarters. Dr. Quaice's wife has died recently, so he is giving up his post in Starfleet and retiring. He tells Dr. Crusher that the worst part of growing old is that all of one's friends, all the people from one's life are gone, and that one never takes the time to appreciate them in their lifetime. Dr. Crusher agrees, telling him that even though she and her late husband, Jack R. Crusher, only had a few years together, she feels the same way. She continues contemplating what Dr. Quaice said.
Meanwhile, in engineering, an eager Ensign Wesley Crusher performs an experiment with the ship's warp engines, while Chief engineer Geordi La Forge impatiently demands that "his" engines be put back online. Dr. Crusher enters engineering and comes to see Wesley, standing right before the warp core. Suddenly, due to Wesley's experiment failing, a short flash is emitted from the warp core. Wesley returns the engines to normal control, but when he looks up to talk to his mother, she is gone. Wesley thinks that she simply just walked away.
The leaves Starbase 133 as scheduled.
When Dr. Crusher walks by to Dr. Quaice's quarters to visit him for breakfast, the room is empty and unused. When she asks the computer about Dr. Quaice's location, it claims that no one named Dalen Quaice is aboard the ship.
=== Act One ===
Dr. Crusher calls Lieutenant Worf, who agrees to order a search for Dr. Quaice immediately. However, both are puzzled; Worf because he was not informed of Dr. Quaice's planned arrival by Captain Picard, and Dr. Crusher because she thought that Worf was to be informed of the presence of all guests, as is standard procedure. Worf agrees to put together a search team for him, in case he has been injured, but points out that that would not explain his missing belongings.
In Captain Picard's ready room, a puzzled Dr. Crusher learns that there really is no Dr. Quaice aboard the ship. Furthermore, in the privacy of the ready room, Picard indicates that he was also not informed of Dr. Quaice's planned presence aboard ship. Dr. Crusher, astounded, protests that she had submitted her request weeks prior and received approval, while the two try to speculate how this could have happened. When Data checks Starfleet records, he reveals that no hint of the existence of a Dr. Dalen Quaice whatsoever. Riker and Crusher both go down to the transporter room where Quaice was beamed aboard. They question O'Brien about beaming Dr. Quaice aboard but even he can't remember seeing him or Crusher escorting him out.
=== Act Two ===
Dr. Crusher decides to perform a thorough medical check on the Chief, and when she calls for Dr. Selar and Dr. , she learns that the two of them and four of her medical staff have vanished. When she tells Picard this, he asks if they were associates of Dr. Quaice, apparently having no memory of them. Wesley Crusher, then in engineering, tells the Captain that his experiment with the warp drive may be connected with the disappearances. Even though it all doesn't fit together, the Captain insists that Wesley continue to examine his theory.
When Dr. Crusher returns to duty in sickbay, all of her personnel have vanished, and sickbay is completely abandoned. She returns to the bridge to tell Picard, Commander Riker, and Data, but they are not surprised by the news at all. Dr. Crusher asks Data if it would make any sense that she is the sole medical officer on a ship with more than 1,000 people on board, but he tells her that the entire crew count is 230. Dr. Crusher talks to Picard in his ready room; he is willing to consider the possibility that almost 800 crew members have not only vanished but been forgotten. She agrees to talk to Counselor Troi to see if she is mentally unstable, but pleads with the Captain to return the ship to Starbase 133. He agrees to do so.
Dr. Crusher returns to sickbay and attempts to work, but is distracted by a series of violet flashes and a strange noise. Curious, she turns around and is buffeted by a powerful wind that pulls the flaps of her lab coat and blows her hair forward so that it covers her face. Then before her eyes, a vortex forms, which creates a powerful vacuum. The vacuum gains in strength and sucks in objects from all over the room, until even Crusher begins to be pulled forward against her will. She narrowly avoids being pulled in by holding onto the sickbay's large replicator. The vortex collapses, leaving her astonished and shaken.
=== Act Three ===
When the senior staff meet in the observation lounge to discuss what happened. La Forge reports that his engineering team have swept sickbay for all particulates and even scanned the EM spectrum in case of a wave-guide leaking radiation, and crawled through the life support ductwork – they found nothing. She learns that the crew now numbers 114 people, and also that Worf has now disappeared, and again, nobody but Dr. Crusher is aware that he ever existed.
Dr. Crusher rushes to engineering to see if her son, Wesley, has also disappeared, but he is there just as he should be. Wesley asks her if everything is all right, but she replies "no", for they may have very little time left. Wesley claims he's already spoken to Kosinski via subspace, and even he can't figure out what's happening. Wesley suggests the mysterious Traveler might be able to help them. As he and his mother move to exit engineering, she realizes that her son has also disappeared.
Rushing to the bridge, Dr. Crusher is horrified to find the room empty save for Captain Picard sitting in his chair. The red alert lights are blinking. Crusher pleads with Picard to try and remember the officers and crew. Picard remembers none of them and sees nothing remarkable about a starship carrying only two people. Realizing that Picard might soon disappear, she asks the computer to read off his life signs continuously. She starts to speak to Picard, but the computer falls silent and she sees that the captain's chair is empty. Crusher, alone and frightened now, quietly states that she will not forget the crew.
As she stands alone on the bridge, Dr. Crusher notices the sound of rushing air. The same vortex that appeared in sickbay reappears in the center of the viewscreen and starts to drag her in. She grabs the ops station chair and holds on as the vortex pulls her off the floor. When the vortex finally dissipates again, Crusher climbs into the chair to recover.
On the other side of the disturbance, La Forge and Wesley furiously input commands into an engineering console, but before too long, Wesley notices that the warp bubble on his monitor has vanished. Believing his mother to be dead, Wesley says resignedly that "it's over." But, before he can give up hope, an unseen voice speaks: "It's not over, Wesley." As he looks over, Wesley is surprised and pleased to see The Traveler once again aboard the Enterprise.
=== Act Four ===
Meanwhile, Captain Picard reports to the captain's log that two attempts to retrieve Dr. Crusher have failed. It is revealed that she is actually the one who has disappeared, into a parallel universe. The Traveler informs Wesley that he is the only one in the crew that can help him return his mother back to her proper reality.
Back aboard the warp bubble Enterprise, Dr. Crusher attempts to examine the situation like a medical diagnosis, proceeding from the symptoms to the cause. The computer exposes the absurdity of her situation, and she considers that the Traveler's people might have answers. When she tells the computer to head for his home world of Tau Alpha C, it objects that no such planet exists. She turns on the viewscreen and sees no stars, but only a blank energy field. The computer readily confirms that the entire universe is only 705 meters in diameter.
In the normal universe, the Enterprise has returned to Starbase 133 and Wesley, with The Traveler's assistance, has succeeded in recreating the warp bubble, by "seeing beyond the numbers." However, the Traveler is disconcerted, because the warp bubble has begun to collapse. They must rescue Dr. Crusher at the right moment, or she will die.
=== Act Five ===
The Traveler and Wesley begin to work on creating a gateway between the real world and the warp bubble, with both 'phasing' in and out of real space and time; they have less than four minutes before the bubble collapses.
Dr. Crusher finally realizes that she is the one who is trapped inside the warp bubble upon seeing a computer-generated visual image of the universe that looks identical to a diagram of Wesley's experiment. As the bubble begins to collapse, destroying sections of the ship, Crusher continues to query the computer about warp bubbles, until she discovers that the vortex that she has encountered twice may be her means of escape. She decides that the vortex will probably be in engineering, since that is where Wesley would be working trying to create it. She races through the corridors of the ship, outrunning the collapsing warp bubble and finally arriving in engineering to the sight of the vortex. She jumps through and lands back in the real world engineering with minutes to spare just as the warp bubble collapses.
Wesley is exhausted and collapses on the table, while Picard helps Crusher to her feet. Crusher sees the Traveler and asks him if he was the one who brought her back. She and Wesley hug, and just to make sure everything is okay, she asks the captain how many people are aboard the Enterprise. To her relief she is told that, including Dr. Quaice, there are 1,014 people aboard just as there should be.
=== Log entries ===
* Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2367
* Chief medical officer's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
== Memorable quotes ==
"Worf. Chief of security. [pause] The big guy who never smiles? [pause] The Klingon!"
:- Beverly Crusher, talking about Worf to the senior officers about finding the missing members of the crew
"You look wonderful!"
"A lie I can live with."
:- Beverly Crusher, greeting Dalen Quaice when he beams aboard
"It's all perfectly logical to you, isn't it? The two of us roaming about the galaxy in the flagship of the Federation. No crew at all."
"We've never needed a crew before."
:- Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard
"Deanna Troi, your ship's counselor, half Betazoid, loves chocolate. The arrival of her mother makes you shudder. O'Brien, Geordi, Worf. Wesley, my son. They all have been the living, breathing heart of this crew for over three years. They deserve more than to be shrugged off, brushed aside, just pinched out of existence like that. They all do. They deserve so much more."
:- Beverly Crusher, pleading with Jean-Luc Picard to remember the crew members who have disappeared
"You wanna be the one to explain when the captain says "Engage" and we just sit here?!"
:- La Forge, imploring Wesley Crusher to stop his warp bubble experiment in engineering
"Oh, I'm sorry. There's no reason to load all this, uh… emotional baggage on you. I usually travel light."
:- Quaice, to Beverly Crusher
"Is she alive?"
"As long as she thinks she is alive, she is alive."
"What the hell does that mean?"
:- Picard, The Traveler, and Riker
"If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe!"
:- Beverly Crusher
"Are you suggesting that a bubble could have made Dr. Quaice disappear?"
:- Picard
"If this were a bad dream, would you tell me?"
"That is not a valid question."
"Like hell it's not!"
:- Beverly Crusher and The Enterprise computer
"What is the primary mission of the starship Enterprise?"
"To explore the galaxy."
"Do I have the necessary skills to complete that mission alone?"
"Negative."
"Then why am I the only crew-member? (the computer takes a moment to process and makes a strange noise) Aha, got you there."
"That information is not available."
(waves off the last response)
:- Beverly Crusher and the Enterprise computer
"Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer: Computer, what is the nature of the universe?"
"The universe is a spheroid region, 705 meters in diameter."
:- Beverly Crusher and the Enterprise computer
"Get me a graphic representation of the universe."
:- Beverly Crusher
"My thoughts created this universe. Can they get me out of it again?"
"That information is not available."
"I'm not talking to you!"
:- Beverly Crusher and the Enterprise computer
"Jean-Luc, if I may ask, how many people are there on board?"
"One thousand fourteen, including your guest, Dr. Quaice."
"Is there something wrong with that count?"
"No, that's the exact number there should be."
:- Beverly Crusher, Jean-Luc Picard, and Geordi La Forge
== Background information ==
=== Production history ===
* First draft script: 
* Final draft script: 
* Premiere airdate: 
* First UK airdate: 
=== Title ===
* In Germany, this episode was retitled "The Experiment."
=== Story and production ===
* This story originated as a subplot for , in which crew members were to have disappeared due to a wormhole. However, it was felt that there was not enough room for both plots, so the premise was developed as a separate episode. ()
* The Traveler was added at the last minute. According to Michael Piller, "The first two drafts did not have the Traveler in it. The first draft ended with the realization of what had happened turning out to be a dream episode. We didn't find that satisfying, so we decided at the end of act three to pull everything from the first 60 pages into the first three acts and tell the audience what's going on on the other side of the warp bubble and how they're trying to get Beverly back. We spend the next two acts deciding how to get her back. At the beginning of the year we said we wanted to bring the Traveler back for something, so why not use him in this episode to help Beverly back." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 210)
* Director Cliff Bole commented, "They added him because he's big at the conventions. He was just a walk-on." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 210)
* This episode is considered a bottle show. ()
* Gates McFadden did all her stunts for the vortex effects sequences. Robert Legato coordinated the sequence where she hangs from Data's ops chair. The chair was mounted on a wall, with McFadden hanging from it while compressed air machines provided the vortex effect. Shortly after performing the stunt where she is thrown from Data's ops console chair, McFadden learned she was pregnant. ()
* Footage of Starbase 74 from was re-used in this episode to represent Starbase 133.
* When Doctor Crusher is walking next to Doctor Quaice it can be seen very clearly, that the sciences uniform exists in various shades of blue, as Dr. Quaice's uniform is a little "greener" than Dr. Crusher's. Of course this could merely be due to differences in laundering. Also, in , Crusher's uniform had been noticeably lighter than the uniforms worn by other science officers. Finally, the new color grading on the Blu-Ray release balances out the two and makes the uniforms nearly the same shade of blue.
* In the deleted scene 15A, Dr. Crusher talks to Dr. 's wife Cara who doesn't remember her husband. She was portrayed by actress Marilyn Rockafellow. 
=== Music ===
* Composer Jay Chattaway recalls, "This was a different kind of show. I did use some different techniques in that show, since it was one of those "What's wrong" mysteries. For the vortex sequences, I wrote a limited amount of material for the string section, so that they were playing at different tempos. The result was this swirling sound that integrated well with the sound effects." ()
=== Continuity ===
* The Traveler's make-up was modified slightly for his second appearance. Here, and in his make-up appears much paler than in his first appearance in .
* This episode marks the first appearance of the redesigned transporter pad. The new design would remain for the rest of the series, appearing as well in , where it served as the 's transporter and in as the 's.
* The first two times the gateway between the real world and warp bubble was created, Dr. Crusher was forcefully being pulled into the vortex but in the final attempt, she had to forcefully jump through.
=== Reception ===
* Rick Berman remarked, "That was a very interesting high concept episode. I thought it was possibly a little bit overly confusing. You're fooling the audience a little and I don't like to do that. They were looking at one world when, in fact, we were dealing with parallel universes and that was potentially confusing." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 210)
* A mission report for this episode by Patrick Daniel O'Neill was published in .
* Director Cliff Bole comments, "Gates did a very good job on it. Again, that was a savings program. For about 40 percent of the show, it was just her. She was separated in time from everyone else. It's not my favorite show, but I've received more positive letters about that episode than any other. It blew me away. Sometimes they give you a story and they know what it is, but they hope that the mirrors will change everything. It just doesn't happen. The written word is there. You can't just move the camera around and cover a weak script. That's why the Klingons and Borg lend themselves to creativity. It's a real challenge when you have someone running down the Enterprise corridor, like in "Remember Me"." ("Cliff Bole – Of Redemption & Unification", )
=== Video and DVD releases ===
* Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 40, 
* As part of the UK VHS collection Star Trek: The Next Generation - 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition, under the "Crusher" section, 
* UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 4.2, 
* As part of the TNG Season 4 DVD collection
* As part of the TNG Season 4 Blu-ray collection
== Links and references ==
=== Starring ===
* Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
* Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker
=== Also starring ===
* LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
* Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
* Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
* Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
* Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data
* Wil Wheaton as Ensign Wesley Crusher
=== Guest stars ===
* Eric Menyuk as The Traveler
* Bill Erwin as Doctor Dalen Quaice
* Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien
=== Uncredited co-stars ===
* Rachen Assapiomonwait as 
* Majel Barrett as computer voice
* Nyra Crenshaw as operations officer
* Robert Daniels as operations officer
* Michael Moorehead as sciences ensign
* Marilyn Rockafellow as Cara Hill (deleted scene)
* Noriko Suzuki as operations ensign
* K. Uchizono as command officer
=== Stand-ins ===
* Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
* Tim McCormack – stand-in for Brent Spiner
* Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
* Randy Pflug – stand-in for Colm Meaney
* Richard Sarstedt – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
* Dennis Tracy – stand-in for Patrick Stewart
* Guy Vardaman – stand-in for Wil Wheaton
* James Washington – stand-in for Michael Dorn
=== References ===
2352; 2361; 2364; adrenaline; aft thruster; alien; analysis; android; anomaly; answer; anticipation; antimatter containment; arrival; assumption; attitude; baby; bed; best friend; Betazoid; birth record; body temperature; breakfast; bulkhead; chief of security; chocolate; choice; colonist; communication distance; communications range; communicator; computer; computer record; comrade; conspiracy; conversation; cooking; coordinates; counselor; course; crew; crew member; crew roster; crew rotation; ; cure; "damn it"; danger; day; death; deck by deck search; ; Delos IV; delusion; design flaw; destination; diagnosis; diagnostic methodology; diameter; diplomatic mission; disappearance; docking; Dr.; dream; Durenia IV; duty nurse; Earl Grey tea; electromagnetic; EM field; EM spectrum; emergency; emergency evacuation; emotional baggage; enemy; engine efficiency; engineering; Enterprise history; environment; evidence; examination; experiment; explosive decompression; eye; eyesight; face; Federation; Ferengi; Ferengi ship; first officer; food; flagship; friend; galaxy; Galaxy-class decks; ; goal; guilt; harm; health; heart; heel; hell; helm; ; home; hour; hull integrity; ; hypothetical situation; illness; image; impulse power; information; interned; Interpolated Subspace Distortion Mapping; intruder; jazz; joke; Kansas; Kenda II; Klingon; Kosinski; level 1 diagnostic; level 2 diagnostic; lie; ; life support ductwork; light; location; mass-energy field; mass spectrometer; mathematics; medical officer; medical staff; mentor; meter; meters per second; Milky Way Galaxy; millicochrane; minute; mission; mist; mistake; mooring; name; non-essential personnel; number; Number one; nurse; office; "on duty"; onboard sensor; personnel; phenomenon; physiological abnormality; poker; particulate; passenger; practical application; ; quarters; question; radiation; rate; reality; reason; record; red alert; replicator; replicator activity log; report; result; room; search; second; section; Selar; service record; sickbay; shape; shield integrity; ship's complement; shuttle drone; skill; sleep; smile; spacecraft structural analysis; space; spacetime continuum; spelling; spheroid; standard procedure; star chart; Starbase Command; Starbase 133; Starbase 133 planet; Starbase 133 planet moon; Starbase 133 sector; Starbase Command; Starfleet; Starfleet records; star map; station keeping; status; subspace; subspace bubble; subspace field geometry; subspace message; subspace radio; superimposing; symptom; Tau Alpha C; Tau Alpha C natives; temper; test run; test tube; The Traveler; theoretical database; theory; "thin air"; thought; thousand; thruster; time; trace; trace imprint; trace log; transporter duty; transporter ID trace; transporter record; Transporter Room 3; ; trombone; turbolift; turboshaft; umbilical connect port; universe; viewscreen; visitor; vital signs; warp bubble (static warp field, static warp bubble); warp drive system; warp engine; warp field; warp field equation; warp technology; wave guide; watch; week; ; ; working theory; year
==== MSD references ====
accelerator; atmospheric processing; auxiliary control; auxiliary power generator; bachelor officers' quarters; bridge; Bussard collector; captain's yacht; docking port; enlisted crew quarters; environmental support; fusion reactor; gamma-ray spectrometer; hangar deck; impulse engine; inertial damping; intercooler; laboratory; lifeboat; long range sensor array; main cargo deck; main shuttlebay; navigational deflector; observation deck; officers' quarters; photon torpedo launcher; plasma injector; residential deck; sensor platform; synthetic grav generator; structural latching system; VIP guest quarters; warp coil; warp engine
==== Deleted material ====
exobiologist; ; husband; marriage; month; osteopath; wife
=== External links ===
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de:Das Experiment
es:Remember Me
fr:Remember Me (épisode)
ja:恐怖のワープ・バブル（エピソード）
nl:Remember Me
pl:Remember Me