******STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!******

It’s been nearly 33 years since I eagerly rushed home from work one night in October of 1992 to catch a new, special “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG) episode. From its teaser trailer airing the previous week, “Relics” promised to be a well of classic Star Trek love, with the return of fan favorite Original Series (TOS) character, Montgomery Scott, aka “Scotty” (James Doohan, 1920-2005); the former chief engineer of the original USS Enterprise under James T. Kirk. With his cheeky accent and wide-eyed reactions, Doohan’s Scotty was a unique and lovable character.

The episode’s writer, Ronald D. Moore (“For All Mankind,” “Battlestar Galactica”), got his break in writing for and eventually producing TNG by submitting a spec script to a TNG set tour guide who just happened to be Gene Roddenberry’s personal assistant (the tour came courtesy of a friend who worked on the Paramount lot). Moore told this story during a recent interview at WonderCon 2025 in Anaheim, and he cautioned audience members never to try that stunt today; the late 1980s were a very different time. In 1992, with several years of writing for TNG under his belt, Moore had a story idea about a person suspended for decades in a transporter beam who is rematerialized into the 24th century; though he wasn’t yet sure about inserting a classic TOS character into that story.

By that time, however, TNG had already featured the return of several classic Trek characters; we saw a 137-year old “Admiral” McCoy (DeForest Kelley) in the pilot episode “Encounter at Farpoint,” and the return of Spock’s father (Mark Lenard) in Season 3’s “Sarek,” as well as the return of Sarek and his son Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in the highly-anticipated 5th season two-parter, “Unification.” At the risk of taking one trip to the well too many, the time seemed right for the return of James Doohan‘s Scotty.

For this review/overview, I will caption key story points with the photos, while offering notes and observations as well. With that, let’s go digging for…

“Relics” (1992)

Note: Actress Lanei Chapman, who plays the helm officer ‘Ensign Sariel Rager’ (her first name is never said onscreen) would later play US Marine ‘Lt. Vanessa Damphousse’ in the sadly short-lived Fox sci-fi war series, “Space: Above and Beyond” (1995-1996).

Note: The USS Jenolan is a kit-bashed redress of the ‘executive shuttle’ miniature first seen in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986) and later in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991). The model was fitted with a pair of Constitution-refit warp nacelles and topped with a small bridge module to give it greater scale. The redress isn’t very convincing, but in fairness, “Relics” was made in the days when available practical miniatures were often reconfigured rather than designing and building an expensive new miniature ship. No doubt much of the effects budget was already allocated for creating the feature-film quality miniature sections of Dyson Sphere surface we see in this episode.

Note: Some subtle writing and other means are used to suggest the wrecked ship’s age; such as the character’s comments on the ‘stale’ air, and the use of TOS-era transporter sound effects when Geordi activates the system. With his arm in a sling, a dirty uniform and a distant stare, actor James Doohan (1920-2005) looks suitably worse for wear when he materializes. Despite a number of standout moments in TOS (“Trouble with Tribbles,” “Wolf in the Fold,” “The Lights of Zetar”) and in the Star Trek movies, “Relics” is easily Doohan’s finest performance as Scotty in all of Star Trek.

Note: Scotty’s novel idea of using a transporter buffer to store his and fellow crash survivor’s Matt Franklin’s patterns for 75 years was made a bit less novel when it was reused in the recent prequel series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) by ship’s physician Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) to keep his terminally ill daughter alive in transporter limbo for several years (“The Elysium Kingdom”).

Note: Scotty’s line of “I bet Jim Kirk himself pulled the old girl out of mothballs to find me” puts the episode at odds with the feature film “Star Trek: Generations”, which hit theaters two years after this episode aired, but which chronologically predates the events of “Relics.” In “Generations,” Scotty is aboard the USS Enterprise-B for its launch party when he witnesses Kirk’s apparent death in the Nexus. However, the post-retirement Scotty we see in “Relics” believes Kirk is alive. This is an odd continuity error, since writer Ron Moore wrote “Relics” and cowrote “Generations” (with fellow Trek writer/producer Brannon Braga). Some fans have half-kiddingly suggested that since Scotty’s transport pattern did show “point zero zero three” percent signal degradation, maybe he lost his memories of Kirk’s death? Or maybe there’s a ‘transporter amnesia’ that comes after being digitized in a buffer for that long…?

Note: At first, Geordi gets along just fine with the awed and eager Scotty, but patience has it limits, and we’ll soon see Geordi reach his. This episode offers a good look at the Enterprise-D’s chief engineer as well, and LeVar Burton gives it his best.

Note: Writer Ronald Moore captures Scotty’s nuances spot-on, such as Scotty’s audible disappointment after he’s ordered to ‘relax’ following his rescue. Scotty always showed an almost boyish enthusiasm regarding his work, even in his later years. In “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” we see Scotty in his off hours with a cup of tea and a schematic of the Enterprise-A; just as we saw him in TOS’ “The Trouble with Tribbles,” when Kirk found him ‘relaxing’ to a technical manual in the ship’s recreation room.

Note: Scotty begins to tell Ensign Kane (Eric Weiss) old stories about the Dohlman of Elas (TOS’ “Elaan of Troyius”) and the trouble he once got into on the planet Argelius (TOS’ “Wolf in the Fold”), but the ensign brusquely excuses himself. In writer Michael Jan Friedman’s novelization of “Relics” (which I own a tattered paperback of somewhere) the character of Kane was more fleshed out. While exploring the Dyson Sphere surface (something that didn’t happen in the televised episode), the quietly ambitious Kane saves Riker’s life, but nearly kills his friend Souza after foolishly firing a phaser without authorization. He later redeems himself after a session with Counselor Troi.

Note: It’s interesting that the one person the otherwise affable Scotty butts heads with is his own 24th century counterpart; both he and Geordi share a similarly high standard for their work, but their styles are very different. Scotty is looser and more improvisational (and prone to padding repair estimates), while Geordi is more rigid and by-the-book. James Doohan and LeVar Burton play this antagonism well, and it’s a nice opportunity for both actors.

Note: A cute scene between Data (Brent Spiner) and Scotty in Ten-Forward, as the “android at the bar” offers the old boozehound engineer something from Guinan’s secret stash of real alcoholic drinks, instead of the ship’s ‘synthehol.’ Data’s line “It is green” is a direct callback to the TOS episode “By Any Other Name,” where Scotty once subdued an invading Kelvan by getting the alien hammered with a green intoxicant he found on “Ganymeer–er, Ganymee…” (I assume Scotty meant Ganymede; Jupiter’s largest moon).

Note: This was the moment I used to pause the hell out of after recording this episode onto a VHS tape in October of 1992. This scene was created with Doohan against a blue screen, using looped footage of an abandoned Enterprise bridge from “This Side of Paradise” and a quarter-section bridge set recreated for the episode. The producers also borrowed a helm console and captain’s chair built for Star Trek conventions by the late prop builder Steve Horch (1959-2010). While the partial set for this episode doesn’t quite match the stock footage from “This Side of Paradise,” it’s certainly close enough; especially for standard definition TVs in 1992. “Relics” also marks one of the rare times later Star Trek openly embraced the aesthetics of its 1960s origins (there’s also Deep Space Nine’s “Trials and Tribble-ations” and Star Trek: Enterprise’s “In a Mirror, Darkly” two-parter).

Note: Sublime writing in this scene, as Picard and Scotty share stories of their favorite ships–lost loves they will never see again. Picard, whose speeches usually save the day, is unable to help with Scotty’s immediate problem of being a man out of his time; though he later suggests that La Forge take Scotty on a mission to download the Jenolan’s database–solving several issues at once. In “Star Trek: Picard,” we later see a ninetysomething year-old Jean-Luc grappling with his own obsolescence. As a man in my late fifties, I’m increasingly familiar with that feeling of seeing the world pass one by in its unbridled haste.

Note: Once again, the practical miniature work on the Dyson Sphere exterior is feature film quality (given that computer-generated imagery wasn’t yet common for Star Trek productions at this time). As a minor nitpick, the scale of a ‘real’ Dyson Sphere would make its circumference roughly that of an Earth-type planet’s orbit around its sun. At that scale you wouldn’t be able to see even a hint of curvature on the Dyson Sphere surface, as we see in this episode. It would be flat for as far as the eye could see.

Note: Even if the population of the Dyson Sphere was in the hundreds of trillions, there’d be no reason to build a fully enclosed sphere, when a ring around a star would more than suffice; both for living spaces and energy collection areas (see/read: author Larry Niven’s “Ringworld”). Even physicist Freeman Dyson (1923-2020) never imagined his theoretical models as fully enclosed–they were more like a great network of islands orbiting a star, like a collapsible Hoberman Sphere instead of a Death Star. However, the Enterprise could easily escape from an open ring or Hoberman Sphere, so drama wins.

Note: Having Scotty assist Geordi in resurrecting an obsolete vessel from the 23rd century is a smart use of the character, and far more believable than if he had to help Geordi solve a 24th century technobabble mystery. The script for “Relics” makes good use of both characters and their respective strengths.

Note: Those wacky Star Trek shields are as strong as any given script dictates. Sometimes a single torpedo knocks them out, while at other times, they can absorb the impact energy of ninety torpedoes without a scratch (looking at you, Nomad). Nevertheless, it seems like a stretch for energy-absorbing shields to hold those massive, solid hatch doors open.

Note: This nifty rescue is marred by one huge plot hole it creates: the Jenolan is using its remarkably strong shields to prop the doors open, as the Enterprise beams Scotty & Geordi aboard–just before firing torpedoes and destroying the Jenolan to clear a path for its own escape. But just how did the Enterprise beam Scotty & Geordi aboard while the Jenolan’s shields were still up…?

Note: As Scotty says goodbye to the crew, he gives a kiss on the cheek to Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), which might’ve meant more to the audience if a deleted scene between them hadn’t been cut for time.

Note: The shuttlecraft Goddard is named for American rocket scientist, Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945), who is credited with creating the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket; which had the ability to accelerate or decelerate, unlike solid rocket propellents–which burn uncontrollably after ignition.

The End.

Summing It Up

Unlike the third season of “Star Trek: Picard,” which was practically drowning in fan service and callbacks, “Relics” is short and sweet; a single episode (not a protected 12-episode arc) that closes the book on a beloved character. Writer Ronald D. Moore and the late veteran director Alexander Singer (1928-2020) send James Doohan’s Scotty off on a final, appropriately sentimental journey.

This is one of those Star Trek episodes I’ve seen perhaps more times than I care to admit (practically wearing out my off-the-air VHS tape of it back in the day), and I’m always struck by its balance. Scotty manages to have a moment with nearly each of the regular TNG ensemble (save for a sadly deleted scene with Marina Sirtis’ Counselor Troi). Rather than a typical fanfic story where all the regular characters stop and fawn over the “Mary Sue” or “Gary Stu” guest character, the affable Scotty isn’t necessarily everyone’s favorite in the 24th century, and that’s an interesting place to take his character. While Scotty shares fond memories of love and old ships with Captain Picard, he contrastingly clashes with the Enterprise-D‘s own chief engineer, Geordi La Forge; who has a very different work ethic than that of the 23rd century’s hard-drinking ‘miracle worker.’

As I get older myself, I also find myself relating more and more to Scotty’s place in life, too. I’ve taken early retirement, and no longer work at a 9-5 job. While I still occasionally dream (or nightmare) that I’m frantically working my tail off for others, I’ve learned to find my own purpose. One gets the feeling that, by the end of this episode, Scotty (in his loaner shuttle) will find his purpose as well. “Relics” leaves Scotty in a good place, and wraps his story up in a bow. This is why we don’t need a sequel; Scotty’s story ends well enough. Such closed book storytelling is one of the reasons I miss episodic storytelling in my big ticket franchise shows rather than today’s current model of serialization. I enjoy experiencing the beginning, middle and end of a guest character’s story in a single, 45 minute time slot. These days, everything is told in chapters, and no one remembers a single chapter; they remember the whole book. If a seasonal arc ends badly, the whole story fails. If a standalone story ends badly, there’s always next week…

There are some minor weaknesses in “Relics,” of course. The Dyson Sphere is a fascinating concept (if somewhat illogical) that is given short shrift in the episode. Yes, there are gorgeous visuals and miniature work of the sphere’s exteriors and interiors, but we never learn who lived there, and why they didn’t try stabilizing their home star instead of leaving. There’s also the aforementioned deleted scene of Scotty’s visit from Counselor Troi, which offered some insight into his displacement and loneliness (the scene is available on Blu-Ray, and on YouTube). It makes Scotty’s kissing Troi goodbye in the shuttle bay a bit awkward in the episode’s final cut, since the characters never shared any significant screen time prior to his departure.

These nits aside, “Relics” creates a sentimental (and literal) bridge to Star Trek’s own past, using a combination of stock footage from a deserted Enterprise (TOS’ “This Side of Paradise,”) and a rebuilt wedge-shaped section of TOS’ bridge set itself; which included a fan-made helm console. In fairness, the recreated engineering console isn’t continuous (the original console didn’t have a wall-break) and the carpet color is a bit too warm, but who cares, right? The attempt is what matters here, and for a show that used to crank out 26 episodes a year, that attempt is made with great love and affection. I’m almost embarrassed to admit how many times I used to pause this scene back in the day, as I ogled its loving, though not quite perfect attention to detail. “Loving, though not quite perfect” is also a succinct description of “Relics” itself.

In addition to providing closure for the late James Doohan and his character Scotty, “Relics” is a fine example of disciplined fan service; with only a handful of Easter eggs and visual callbacks in support of a solid standalone story. At that point in the franchise’s history, such gestures were still rare enough to be special events. And 33 years later, “Relics” is still a special event.

Where to Watch

“Star Trek: The Next Generation” is available to stream on Paramount+, and the remastered series is also available to purchase on physical media (DVD/Blu-Ray) via Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com and other outlets.