As Commander Riker returns from the Botanica Four Research Station after talking with Dr. Apgar, a scientist working on Kreeger waves, the station suddenly explodes, killing Apgar. Then, Chief Investigator Krag of Tanuga Four beams aboard and demands Riker be extradited to face trial for murder. When Picard talks to Krag in private, he finds that the Tanugan justice system operates under the premise "guilty until proven innocent". Unwilling to extradite Riker, Picard says that the incident will be recreated on the Enterprise, via the holodeck.

Eighteen hours later, the holodeck is ready (all the various depositions have been loaded), and the hearing begins. According to Riker's deposition, Apgar was immediately grumpy, but his wife Manua tried to seduce him. As he tried to gently break her away, Apgar found them and jumped to wrong conclusions, later threatening Riker's life. The next morning, Apgar claimed he had a good explanation for why he needed so much dycosilium, but Riker claimed not to be interested, and called the Enterprise, ready to beam back. Krag, however, says his researchers have found evidence of a focused energy pulse coming directly from Riker's position- "clearly" Riker firing a phaser at the reactor core.

Then, a burst of unknown radiation is detected on the ship and investigated. Meanwhile, Manua's deposition is shown. According to it, Riker tried to rape her, and punched out Dr. Apgar when he was discovered, then warned Apgar against reporting this. Riker objects, and a short recess is declared, but Troi tells Riker she sensed no deception- what she said is what she remembers happening. Shortly after that, a second radiation burst occurs, this one in sickbay.

Wes, Geordi and Data find the two bursts occurred 5 hours, 20 minutes, and 3 seconds apart, and that the station was destroyed precisely four times that time ago, less a small delay which they can't explain. After the deposition of Apgar's assistant Tayna is heard, giving Apgar's point of view, Krag demands a decision from Picard, who temporizes for a while longer. Data then finds one phenomenon with the same time interval: the field generator down on the planet.

Picard then realizes what actually happened: Dr. Apgar had already managed to create Kreeger waves (the source of the radiation bursts), but lied about it because he wanted, to turn it into a weapon for any number of groups other than the Federation. When Riker arrived, Apgar worried that Starfleet was getting suspicious, and tried to get them away quickly. When he discovered Riker and Manua together, that didn't help, and he decided to murder Riker. He set up the converter to deliver an energy beam to fry Riker, but it bounced off the transporter beam and destroyed the reactor. Picard demonstrates this by using the converter created by the holodeck to simulate the event, completely destroying the simulation. Riker is exonerated, and all is well.

Highlight Listing:

"A Matter of Perspective." Riker is suspected of murdering a respected scientist who had accused the Enterprise officer of seducing his wife.

Advertising Headline:

A CRIME OF PASSION?

TV log listing:

Evidence shows Riker's a killer/STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

Technical design, graphic design, interactive features, HTML & CGI programming by Andrew Tong. || All materials Copyright © 1987-1995 by their respective authors. || Document created: January 28, 1995 || Last Modified: November 09, 2010