Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Season 1 Episode 12
Episode: "The Big Goodbye"
Needing a break from his preparations to deliver an official greeting to a race known as the Jarada, Captain Picard tries out a recent upgrade applied to the holodeck in which he'll get to assume the role of the private detective Dixon Hill, a character that he's been a fan of since childhood. Although Picard's experiences in the game start off relatively playful, the safety of the fantasy turns significantly more dangerous after the Enterprise is intercepted by a long-range probe sent by the Jarada, damaging the holodeck circuitry, locking the players in and more crucially disabling the simulator's safety protocols; getting hurt has become decidedly more real.
Wesley Crusher successfully corrects the damage to the holodeck circuity, the holodeck's Exit appears, the holo-criminal Cyrus Redblock disappears walking out of the holodeck and the dying Whalen is rushed to sickbay. It's time for this simulation to end but before he goes, Picard wants to share a goodbye ("The Big Goodbye") moment with a holographic character, the San Francisco cop Lieutenant McNary who's been presenting himself as Dixon Hill's ally throughout the story.
It's an interesting idea to have a computer generated character learn of its nature and then having to come to terms with the fact that he may cease to exist once the simulation of his world is shut down. Within a couple of short minutes of his awareness he's asking some broad questions about the existence of his world, his family, his life.
Season 1 Episode 12
Episode: "The Big Goodbye"
Needing a break from his preparations to deliver an official greeting to a race known as the Jarada, Captain Picard tries out a recent upgrade applied to the holodeck in which he'll get to assume the role of the private detective Dixon Hill, a character that he's been a fan of since childhood. Although Picard's experiences in the game start off relatively playful, the safety of the fantasy turns significantly more dangerous after the Enterprise is intercepted by a long-range probe sent by the Jarada, damaging the holodeck circuitry, locking the players in and more crucially disabling the simulator's safety protocols; getting hurt has become decidedly more real.
Wesley Crusher successfully corrects the damage to the holodeck circuity, the holodeck's Exit appears, the holo-criminal Cyrus Redblock disappears walking out of the holodeck and the dying Whalen is rushed to sickbay. It's time for this simulation to end but before he goes, Picard wants to share a goodbye ("The Big Goodbye") moment with a holographic character, the San Francisco cop Lieutenant McNary who's been presenting himself as Dixon Hill's ally throughout the story.
It's an interesting idea to have a computer generated character learn of its nature and then having to come to terms with the fact that he may cease to exist once the simulation of his world is shut down. Within a couple of short minutes of his awareness he's asking some broad questions about the existence of his world, his family, his life.
