Star Trek STNG Moments 57 The Vengeance Factor 

Someone at the federation phaser design company decided phasers should have three settings: 1) tickle, 2) aggressive tickle 3) annihilate matter completely. They figured you don't really need more than that.

"Chorgan, keep perfectly still. Although I am literally covering Yuta with a phaser and the conference table is in the way, whatever you do, don't get up and back away from the situation! If only we could beam Yuta up to the brig, or beam you out of there! And I also apologize to you for grabbing the only phaser in Starfleet that doesn't knock humanoids unconscious, it only has settings for mild discomfort and vaporization! DAMN! WHY ARE MY HANDS TIED BY THIS SITUATION!!!"

Love those phaser settings; Rare, Medium, Well Done.

Picard was like that one guy in the bar, that is soo drunk, when a fight starts, he is just siting there, trying to make sense of what is happening...

The second setting on the phaser would have sent an adult Klingon flying across the table and into the back wall so the fact that it only slowed her down showed the strength and resilience of her race.

Riker was such a champion. While everybody saw him as second to Picard, he (Riker) had an unparalleled, quiet strength to him that always manifested itself when it mattered most (like in this scene).

"Congratulations, Number 1! You have rendered extinct your first race!" o.o

Riker to Transporter room two. Beam Yuta directly to the brig. Obrien: Aye Commander. Riker: Energize. Roll credits.

The stun was stopping her pretty effectively, he could have just kept stunning her but instead he vaporizes her. LOL

Picard sits there all the time like "well, usually I am the one who should handle a situation like this ... but number one is on duty and I am just here for brandy today!"

Hmmm, I could keep stunning her until we beam her to the brig... "Riker, I'm pregnant." Setting phaser to maximum...

Since so many people are asking, I'll explain. The reason Picard is just sitting there, twiddling his thumbs while Riker kills the babe is because Patrick Stewart had to stay really still for the phaser effect not to be disrupted and be clear enough to see. Stewart objected to this but eventually filmed it and here's what we got.

"Guards who are not of her target clan, restrain her!" *roll credits*

This was a well-acted and very affecting episode. Great guest stars, especially Yuta, whose death hurt.

*Misses. Hits Picard* Riker: "Ooops....What the hell, I guess I'm the captain now!"

Picard was directly in the line of fire on that last shot.

This scene would have been better if it showed Picard sipping his brandy as she got vaporized.

Those settings sure escalate quickly: 1) Stun. 2) Stun with more pain. 3) De-atomize.

Riker was the FIRST to require six feet of distance to fight a virus.

Wow, that was a good scene imo. Riker was definitely portrayed as regretfully killing that woman, good acting.

She confesses her sins so conveniently, allowing Riker to be Judge Dredd.

A perfect example of Riker doing his duty as Commander. Making the hard choices so the Captain doesn't have to.

Once again you've made me go from here to watch the full episode for myself on Paramount+/Prime lol

Picard: Note to self: Don’t piss off Riker.

She took a phaser hit on level 8! That will disintegrate normal humanoids. She's phaser resistant.

After all that dialogue, Picard: explain to me why we need Troi on board??

Someone could have just grabbed her. Her lethal ability only has an effect on one particular clan. Remember, it's a very singleminded bug. Riker had NO cause to kill her.

This is a great underrated TNG scene.

I love how she confesses to everything.

The crew kinda forgot that they can beam her out of there. LMAO

Old phaser settings. 1. Stun and knock them out so you can safely detain enemy. 2. Kill. New phaser settings 1. Make some noise and annoy enemy. 2. Kill

Damn, Riker hit her with a light stun, then a medium stun...then cranked it to setting 15- vaporization

Should've edited the scene to include this line when Riker starts to fire the first time: Picard: Picard to Enterprise. Data: Data here, Sir. Picard: Mr. Data, beam down some popcorn with butter, please. Data: Sir? We've been monitoring the situation, would it not better to beam the girl directly into a holding cell? Picard: Mr. Data! Carry out my orders. Data: Yes, Sir, will beam that popcorn down immediately.

I still remember watching this episode for the first time and this final scene was like a punch in the guts. You could feel the betrayal and regret just as much as RIker did. TNG had such absolutely amazing writing.

I like how Uta, as she prepared for the last attempt, struck a pose not unlike a cartoon character about to run.

Because she had been genetically altered, you would think that not only did this effect her non-ageing but also a highened resistence to any kind of physical assault. thats how I reasoned the storyline anyway.

I remember when this episode first came out. This scene was pretty chilling.

For Riker, breaking up is literally hard to do.

That was an amazing seen you can tell that Johnson Frank's AKA Commander riker did not enjoy killing her but did his duty as a commanding officer

His phaser was on maximum stun with the first shot. Any normal person would have been completely incapacitated and the second would have surely killed. He added three clicks; he didn't want to kill her, but he knew she would respond to no less, and so, we arrive at the final option. Annihilation.

I laughed hard whenever I realized that the Sovereign is also that mean female coach from Porky's.

I mean, those phaser settings are kind of standard operating procedure in policing, once the threshold of lethal force is crossed, it's not half-assed, so you'll go from peppersray, taser, to mag-dump.

"Keep perfectly still, your life is in danger. Also, the phaser effects won't be seen if there's sufficient background movement."

I remembered when this aired. I always thought her to be very attractive.

Very upsetting scene, on par with when Yeoman Thompson gets turned into a white polyhedra, then crushed to dust, in the Original Series 'By Any Other Name'; never got over that one.

2:10 Picard actually looking like Charles Xavier from the 90s cartoon.

Chorgan : "Commander, I am in your debt." Riker : ..... Looks away in utter disgust and contempt.

Riker's got a lot of confidence in his aim with Picard directly in the line of fire. "Know your target and what's behind it"

Riker was written like Bond. A player, but he cared for all of the women. He'll need that shoreleave.

Whatever they did to Yuta's cells was pretty intense. Near as I can figure, Riker's phaser was on 10 or 11 with the second shot... that's enough power to drop a rhino in its tracks. Yuta just shrugged it off and kept coming.

Riker: "So much for that lousy relationship, how where's that damn Deanna!!"

It was totally unnecessary for him to kill her!

0:48 "It was 50 years ago..." 1:23 "But on the day, a century ago..." Got it.

Never succumb to revenge. One of the best lessons to learn.

Pretty good aim for shooting from the hip. Just a little to right and Picard would have been toast.

“Commander, should we beam Uta directly to the Brig?” “No no no, I want to try out this Varon T disruptor I borrowed from Mr. Data.”

Me: "Yuta, Stop!" Yuta: "I must get to him" Me: * slathers self in jelly and steps in between * Yuta: "Let me at him!" * 1/2 hour of Yuta climbing slip slappery all over me * Me: *smiles"

I read in a Star Trek magazine that she was a uniquely tough humanoid. The first setting was stun. The second setting was kill. The third setting was maximum. Some might say that Will vaporized either Michelle Myers or Jessica Vorhees. 😯

"You're wrong, Chorgon...We've agreed to watch an awesome RU-vid clip together."

That woman getting zapped is Lisa Wilcox. She was in the fourth and fifth 'Nightmare on Elm Street' films. Her character survived both films. Ironically, did not survive this episode. She talked about her experience in an interview with Svengoolie.

They don't have handcuffs in the future and Riker's knowledge of Ambojitsu renders him about as proficient in unarmed combat as a toddler. He had no choice

3:04, Riker's Phaser Has the "Omega" Effect, Just Like Darkseid's Red Eyes

"Chorgan, keep perfectly still. Composite shot is harder when the background is moving."

RIP Stephen Lee. Superb in everything you did..............

Picard: "You know Number 1 .... you could have just kept stunning her until she was incapacitated ...." Riker: "I know" *licks phaser tip* Picard: o.Ô "....Number1!" Riker: "Oh .... yeah, sorry Captain. No withnesses" vaporizes Picard and everyone else*

OMG!! It's ballbreaker from Porky's! Damn, I'm old.

Chorgon> You’ll never leave this ship alive Riker> hold my beer

Jesus, this episode was emotionally crushing, especially for Riker who had befriended Yuta and was developing a romantic interest with her, only to vaporize her in the end.😢

Yuta was clearly suffering more damage & slowing down each time Riker increased the phaser settings… I’m not sure why he decided to crank it up 4 levels & completely disintegrate her when he probably could’ve just incapacitated her by raising just 1 or 2 levels. Heck, he probably could’ve stopped her cold just by hitting multiple times on the lower setting… Kinda makes me think Riker just wanted to kill her.

What an excellent show. Just excellent.

“On the plains of hesitation lie the blackened bones of countless millions who at the dawn of victory lay down to rest, and in resting died.” Adlai Stevenson

With Will Riker, there's no setting between mild discomfort and complete vaporization.

"Commander, I am in your debt!" "I know. I need a favor from you, and then we can call the debt honored." "Anything! Name your favor and I will consider it done!" ... "It's been a shitty day. Follow me to the airlock."

3 minute death scene that has some poetic death, while 5 episodes of Star Trek Picard that has people dying left and right and you dont give a shit about it.

Great episode and the way Riker figures her out and tries to get to her, both in his quarters and here, are great. If the writers had just let it end more logically, with beaming her to the Brig, Picard tackling her, or just Riker continually stunning her, the episode could have ended on a much higher note.

Greatest plot device in sci-fi shows. When the stun setting works, or when it doesn't.

I think the guy sat down on the right looks more like Johnny Vegas than STING.

One time I was babysitting and I had to shoo the kid away from the cookies in the cupboard. He kept going back. So instead of putting the cookies out of reach I shot him. ... Those cookies had to be saved the only way I could!

To anyone saying he didn't have to vaporize her, keep in mind that he used the same blast on her the first time as he did that guy in the beginning. She shrugged it off, and even a higher setting that would normally knock someone out cold or possible kill them just winded her. They didn't know the full extent of what her alterations made her capable of. All they knew is that she carried a disease that killed on touch, her aging was slowed and she was heavily resistant to phaser fire. The first shot she took was meant to knock her out without killing her, the second to kill her but keep her body intact and the third to vaporize. Because the alterations she underwent left too many unknowns and normal precautions might have been useless, Riker was justified in vaporizing her.

Don't try it Anakin, I have phasers set to from "Ouch" to "AAAah!"

Riker comes across as cold in this, falls for her, kills her and shrugs it off as if, well il get another one later

Shooting to kill with his unflinching captain close to the line of fire. Yikes.

Granted there were non-lethal ways to handle this. But once we reached the point where Yuta was lunging at Chorgon, vaporising her was the best option because, stunned or dead, her presumably still-lethal-to-the-touch corpse would have fallen on Chorgan and killed him.

This "clan" social structure was very much a part of many cultures through history. Lasted centuries. Remnants and vestiges of this mentality are still evident today. This episode is a "what if" it never went away.

Throughout the whole scene, Picard is just sitting in the background. Riker vaporizes the woman... and Picard just sits in the background. Man has a heart of steel.

Watching this as a child i never understood why Riker didnt keep phaser on stun as it seemed to do the job just fine....as an adult, i have exactly the same question

Great series of videos you've made here

Dang i forgot that girl Yuta. I sympathize with her desire for vengeance.

This scene opens the door to several anomalies- 1) Picard says/does nothing, 2) The would be victim sees the threat yet doesn't leave the table, 3) Extended stun would have worked, 4) They could have beamed her or the victim away, problem solved. =) If disintegration guns are ever invented, we are all so screwed- forget about solving those crimes.

If she had just been taught to spit.

Riker offered her 3 chances to make a choice, give everything up, and start anew. In continuing to go after Chorgan, she was demonstrating that she would never make that choice even if it meant her death. If they would have left her alive, the situation would never actually be resolved. She'd eventually find a way to carry out her mission once the enterprise had left, even if it took generations to do so. Killing her was the only way to resolve it unless she fully repented and did a 180.

Picard was shitting his pants on that last shot. He's lucky Riker didn't miss. Worf would have.

Well, easier, better solution to the problem. Riker fires at the chick at the second to last setting which seems to produce pain anyway and she seems to be limited that way. Picard grabs the dude or dude increases the distance on his own towards Riker, outside the firing arc. "Riker to Enterprise two to beam up" and problem solved. In case they couldn't transport her. Or even easier, Riker beams down activates his communicator, says beam up my signal, throws his to the dude, dude get beamed up and then people talk it out like adults.

I guess Riker doesn't get many opportunity to play with the disintegration setting. Otherwise he could've just ran over and restrained her.

And Picard sits in the line of fire the whole time like a numpty.

Picard quickly takes his Comms Badge and slaps in on the guy from an 80’s rock band, activating it at the same time. “Transporter room, emergency transport, lock onto my signal and beam me aboard immediately!” he orders. In a familiar blue glow and a “phooo-woosh” 80’s man is transported aboard the Enterprise. Assassin Lady “Noooo! Vengeance was too be mine!” she screams in rage as she lunges at Will! Will fires his phaser, she quickly shrugs it of and lunges again. Will fires again, this time no effect! He quickly increases the setting to kill and fires! She is stunned again but quickly recovers, with no choice will puts the phaser to maximum! “That last setting was on kill, now it’s on maximum! Don’t make me do this Assassin Lady!”. With a sad look in her eye, tear rolling down her cheek “I have no choice Will!” she lunges at him one last time, she had no intention of killing Will but with everything now taken from her, with all the pain in her life, she just wanted it to finally end. With no choice left, Will had to fire in self defence. The bright red glow erupted from the end of the phaser, striking the girl! After a brief muffled scream and brilliant and brutal red glow nothing remained of the girl! She was gone!

One of the strongest moments in TNG IMO. That said if the virus she carries to kill is in her DNA why didn't she just spit on the guy if Riker was phaser blocking her?

After vaporizing Yuta, Riker decides to take a moment of quiet contemplation while standing in the stench of his charbroiled girlfriend

Yes number one...I can feel your anger...gives you focus, makes you strong!

Did anyone else notice that if Riker had missed Uta he had a very real possibility of hitting Picard?