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Power Play (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (S5 E15)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ7236386 ↗
Source-derived summary

"Power Play" is the 115th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is the 15th episode of the fifth season.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, alien entities take over the minds of Data, Troi, and Miles O'Brien.

The story begins when the spaceship picks up a distress signal, and upon investigation seems to be coming from the USS Essex, a spaceship lost two hundred years earlier.

The episode is noted for having five different writers involved in the story and screenplay.

Plot

The USS Enterprise detects a distress call at a moon known as Mab-Bu VI. Lt. Commander Data discovers that the USS Essex was lost in the region over 200 years ago. Picard sends Riker, Data and Troi to the surface. Riker injures his arm during the shuttle crash. Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien later is able to beam to the planet's surface with a power booster to enable all four to beam back to the Enterprise.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Power Play (Star Trek: The Next Generation)” as episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (S5 E15). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Power, Play and Star.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current 181-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The authority record carries competing date values—1992-02-22, 1992-02-24, 1994-04-25—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Power, Play and Star providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Power Play (Star Trek: The Next Generation)”, the useful work is to connect “episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (S5 E15)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7236386. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Power Play (Star Trek: The Next Generation)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Power Play (Star Trek: The Next Generation) primary sources, Power Play (Star Trek: The Next Generation) archive and Power research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Power Play (Star Trek: The Next Generation)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.