Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) The Vengeance Factor (1989) User Reviews

Big plot hole

[CCsito · 5/10 · 18 August 2010]

This was a pretty good episode from the Next Generation series, but the ending was a big plot hole (as mentioned in the goof section for this episode). I absolutely agree with that comment. Why wasn't she beamed abroad the Enterprise and held in the brig? Why was Riker allowed to carry a phaser into a conference and then proceed to slowly dial up the power while Picard sat silent? Everyone in the conference just stood by watching the entire sequence of events as Riker kept firing at her again and again. This bad ending was just a ploy to show remorse on Riker's part at the end of the episode for having killed her as if he had no other choice. Well, in fact, he did, but the plot hole ignored the other choices.

Frat Bro's in space.

[thevacinstaller · 6/10 · 15 March 2021]

Sure, Will Riker could have beamed Yuta off the ship..... but .... this is a message about the insanity of vengeance.

Yuta's so blinded by her vengeance that she is willingly to sabotage a mission of peace to achieve her goals.

I've never lost anyone due to a domestic conflict but I know who I am; not certain if I would be able to restrain myself from thoughts or vengeance.

The show portrays 'The Gatherer's' as a bunch of knucklehead 18 year olds wearing beer hats and bro-punching one another. I would have far more sympathy for the plight of 'The Gatherer's' if they had some redeemable or positive qualities. Is it mentioned that the world become peaceful when The Gatherer's left? Why does Picard think that the introduction of them back into the society will be good? How about establishing that The Gatherer's were a progressive faction that left and become warped and twisted by the reality of scarcity in space and then we have the discussion about them returning home to a peace process they could have initiated before being banished?

I guess I am doing a fanfiction re-write on this episode due to the fact that I got the message but it could have been constructed better for impact.

The show establishes Yuta as a servent (or slave) but this doesn't go anywhere or get further explained in this political episode --- It just kills the sexual chemistry between Yuta/Riker and that's it. Seemed like a missed opportunity.

A Decent Episode until the Out of Character Ending

[jseph1234-262-617488 · 5/10 · 20 July 2022]

This review has Spoilers:

I have to say that I enjoyed this episode until Commander Riker took it upon himself to act as Judge, Jury and Executioner in a conflict he BARELY Understood, jeepers!!!

I am very angry about this depiction and actions he performed and the dunce Picard just stood there, mute.

Riker could have done a THOUSAND of Other things but NOOOOO.... "Off with her Head!"

Good emotional episode of TNG

[manco82 · 23 October 2011]

I agree with an earlier review that Riker could have beamed Yuta straight to the brig instead of vaporizing her. I can't count how many TNG/Voyager episodes have featured miracles of sensors + transporter technology, but that would have robbed the audience of the 1 on 1 conflict. It was important for Riker to make the awful choice and live with it. The ending in 10-forward with Riker not really caring about an upcoming shore leave shows that. I like how the 3rd season featured a darker, more emotional progression for the series. I watched TNG on first run and it was very clear even back in 1990 that the show had reached a new level compared to the early seasons.

CCisto has it right--

[MalContentUSA · 7/10 · 7 January 2011]

For my money, it would've been far more more powerful to have Riker transport Yutah to the brig for their final confrontation. Imagine the image of him telling her, "I've seen the side of you that regrets what you've become," then walking away. Just seems that would've been more true to the idea that vengeance unchecked can only harm, not bring closure. And given that Lisa Wilcox, as mentioned elsewhere, gives quite the nuanced yet bravura performance, leaving her alone to face the failure of her quest would have been perhaps a more appropriate ending--I myself had the impression that Yutah would have looked at death as a relief.

Good episode marred by a bad ending.

[khoras · 7/10 · 29 October 2021]

I really liked this episode, except for the ending. The Gatherers seemed like an interesting group and the Acamarians, with their house clans and blood feuds, seemed like an interesting culture. For the most part, a great episode.

However, the ending was awful! I have to agree with the others. And the comment in the Goofs section is right. Riker had NO REASON AT ALL to vaporize Yuta. He had LOTS of other options. He could have had Chorgan step away from the table. Riker could have physically picked up Yuta and carried her away. They could have beamed her out and sent her straight to the Enterprise brig. So many options!

The choice to have Riker vaporize here was just to have that final "Riker is full of regret" scene at the very end. It was badly done and is an example of lazy writing.

I agree with another commenter here. The brig solution could have been a great ending. It would have allowed one final emotional confrontation between Riker and Yuta.

If they really wanted to have that final "no options" outcome, they should have made a much bigger deal about the modifications that were done to her. Perhaps the extensive modifications could have made it so that she can't be beamed out against her will, stun won't work and you can't just physically block her (maybe she has enhanced strength). They should have made her a much greater threat - a walking weapon. But no, instead they put this viral weapon in the body of a tiny woman who can be restrained with a hug.

Finally, I'd like to point out that it was extremely dangerous (and stupid) for Riker to have fired a phaser at someone on full power with Picard directly behind her. Picard was almost directly in the line of fire. Riker should have just had everyone at the table move away.

Yo ho, yo ho...a pirate's life for me....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 16 November 2014]

Captain Picard is getting sick of dealing with The Gatherers--a group of renegade Acamarians who survive through piracy. It's disruptive to this quadrant of space and he's determined to put a stop to it peacefully, if possible. With the help of Sovereign Marouk, he hopes to offer these raiders an amnesty in order to re-unify the Acamarians and restore peace to the region. However, no one realizes that Marouk's servant, Yuta, has a blood feud and she couldn't care less about the peace--she just wants revenge for some personal vendetta. At the same time, Riker (as usual) is a horn-dog and is looking to score with Yuta. Will this make him blind to the risk she poses?

This is a decent but otherwise unremarkable episode. While the goof listed on IMDb is valid, I don't think it was a serious flaw and didn't harm my enjoyment of the show.

Mixed and largely feels phoned in

[whatch-17931 · 6/10 · 4 April 2021]

As others have noted, there is NO justification for Riker evaporating a Yuta. They could have beamed Chorgan or Yuta away, or Riker could have advised Chorgan to run, etc. And since Beverly knows exactly what she's been attacking people with, most likely she could cure the guy anyway.

And Chorgan didn't know right there what was really going on. When he gives thanks to Riker, it could be him thanking Riker for killing the last of his clan rival!

I also like how Riker fires a phaser set to incinerate with Picard almost directly behind his target.

There's a lot of good stuff here though.

The Acamarians are surprisingly flushed out. Ballbricker plays her character quite believably. We get to see Picard doing actual diplomacy and the Acamarian/Gatherer negotiations are surprisingly substantive.

Your ambush would be more successful if you bathed more often

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 15 June 2021]

Enterprise travels to a planet to investigate blood found at a looted Federation outpost and gets caught up in a difficult peace negotiation.

This is a strong episode that looks at mediation in a conflicting society where vengeance plays a destructive role.

The plot has several of aspects to it, such as the inverted detective story, romance and social commentary. All of these blend together seamlessly whilst allowing some decent character moments.

Riker and Picard make the biggest contribution to the story. Riker is not just a romantic lead but an eventual hero. Picard puts his negotiation and mediation skills to great effect.

As for the romance, it's not as bad a most in Star Trek and like the best ones it has an element of tragedy that makes it memorable. Coming after the Troi-centric episode 'The Price', it almost feels tit-for-tat that Riker gets a doomed love story.

The visuals are generally some of the best I've seen in TNG so far. Great set design, colours, lighting and atmospheric environments. The action sequences work well, aside from the infamous scene where Picard does not react to something tragic.

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Lisa Wilcox, Joey Aresco, Nancy Parsons and Stephen Lee are all on good form.

A mission of reconciliation

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 6 December 2018]

The Enterprise is on a mission of reconciliation in this story. A group of free booting space pirates have been pillaging a section of space. They are a group who never accepted peace on their planet and have existed as nomads in space.

The ruler of their world Nancy Parsons is willing to talk with the pirate leader Stephen Lee with Captain Jean-Luc Picard in a role as mediator. It won't be easy.

Like the British and Irish they've got some centuries of hate working against peace.

There's a bit of romance going with Commander Riker and the Parsons's servant/cook Lisa Wilcox. But Wilcox is working her own agenda in this episode and it isn't a beneficial one.

Jonathan Frakes and Lisa Wilcox have some tender scenes together and there is also a great scene with the very proper Wesley Crusher and pirate emissary Joey Aresco. Wil Wheaton does not get this guy at all.

It all ends sadly for two of the cast. But it looks like peace may have a chance.

Ponderous, With a Nonsensical Ending

[asfhgwt-1 · 3/10 · 23 April 2017]

*** SPOILER ALERT! ***

The political episodes of ST:TNG are my least favorite. Lots of talk, no action. This one was no exception. Despite claims to the contrary, Will's murder of Uta made no sense. He was standing ten feet away from her, and could have easily screened her from the intended victim after his phaser's first "stun" shot -- and he's at least twice her size. She could have been restrained, perhaps rehabilitated, or at least taken to a planet far, far away. Above all, Will had strong feelings for her, so his summary execution was simply unnecessary -- and a criminal act. The idea was obviously to produce a "dramatic" situation, but it only came off as contrived and unnecessarily brutal.

Riker had no choice...

[wox-36704 · 8/10 · 14 January 2023]

Yuta was a bioengineered weapon. Genetically modified to resist all but the deadliest phaser blasts. As far as I'm concerned, Riker had no choice. If Riker had attempted to wrestle her to the ground, assuming she didn't have some kind of super-human strength, she could have merely spat on the clan leader and caused his death. And what then for the hopes of reconciliation with the Gatherers? There would be none. The assassination would have caused perhaps decades of Gatherers committing crimes and causing countless more deaths/injuries to Starfleet personnel. Maybe even embarking on an all-out civil war. Riker had to weigh all of these risks and potential eventualities in less than a few minutes. And he tried his damn hardest to stop her. Rant over...

Do We Avoid Death at All Costs

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 16 August 2014]

Once again the Etnerprise finds itself the arbiter in a long standing feud where a race of looters has developed when they have been disenfranchised by the planetary powers. It is right that the comfortable sustaining culture reach out to these people, even though they are sort of like pirates or barbarians. They have taken on the role of traffickers in stolen goods and see the sitting culture as oppressive and disinterested. Picard and the crew are determined to do something about this without messing with the prime directive. The leader of the planet, a matriarch who is waited on by a young woman who has no say in her own life agrees, much to her chagrin, to go about negotiating. Well, there's a fly in the ointment in that the young woman is a member of a clan who is set on murdering the scavengers in retribution for things that happened years ago. She can transmit a virus that kills almost instantly. Riker is interested in her, perhaps romantically, but also because of her lack of will. Will must make a really grave choice eventually and many have discussed this already. It's a solid episode.

The Federation does not take prisoners

[tomsly-40015 · 2/10 · 30 May 2023]

Wel, Riker is a blood cold killer obviously. We have Yuta, that tries to kill Chorgan with an engineered virus, that only will affect his DNA. Riker tries to stop her, shoots her with his phaser, but since her DNA has been altered, she seems to be somehow resistant. Yet, Riker - or any other of the men in the room - does nothing else to stop her. She is a weak woman, obviously neither carrying any weapon nor being a martial arts expert. But Riker instead powers his phaser up and shoots again, then another time... and finally disintegrates her with the shot.

Wow, so he could not just run to her and knock her down? Picard does not say anything to intervene either. None of Chorgan's crew members do anything. They all just watch how Riker slowly but surely escalates the situation and eventually kills her. Terrible scene, and a stain on the Federation's morale codex. Kill, don't take prisoners.

Also, Star Trek somehow loves to portray authoritarian species and regimes. Nearly every species the Enterprise encounters is ruled by some kind of leader. Their whole planet! Millions if not billions of individuums. Yet, there is mostly this one ruler, that is accompanied by maybe 1-4 servants and he/she decides ALONE over the fate of a whole planet. And most of the time in a meeting room on the Enterprise in a matter of minutes. On earth it takes often years and hundreds of people, parliament decisions, laws etc. To decide on simple treaties between two countries. But in space, one person is enough to decide if their species is in war or negotiates an amnesty with some criminal renegades.

A missing link in a blood feud.

[russem31 · 17 April 2006]

ST:TNG:57 - "The Vengeance Factor" (Stardate: 43421.9) - this is the 9th episode of the 3rd season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

This is one of the better and emotional episodes of TNG. It involves a centuries old blood feud that supposedly ended a century ago. However, things aren't what they seem and as members of the winning feud begin to mysteriously die, it's up to the Enterprise crew, and more specifically Riker, to figure out what's happening.

A brilliant performance by Lisa Wilcox as Yuta (who because of Riker becomes conflicted in her goals), and a very emotional climax in which Riker has to make a choice in regards to her.

"I see that part of you that regrets what you've become."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 6 December 2023]

Excellent detective work by Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) foils an assassination attempt by a member of the Acamarian delegation in the middle of attempting to bring home a warring clan. The resolution of this episode is somewhat of a stunner (no pun intended), in as much as Riker leveled a fatal phaser blast at Sovereign Marouk's (Nancy Parsons) comely servant assistant Yuta (Lisa Wilcox). I had to wonder why Riker ratcheted up his phaser to vaporize since it appeared he had a few notches available between stun and kill modes. Without question, Yuta was of a single purpose in avenging her Tralesta Clan by killing the last remaining survivor of the Lornaks, that being the 'Gatherer' leader Chorgan (Stephen Lee). Riker's action most likely sealed the deal the Sovereign was attempting to make with the rebel Gatherers, but it seemed like an awful high price to pay.

The surprise for me in this episode was the casting of long-time character actor Marc Lawrence, who had a career spanning all the way back to 1932. He almost always played a villain or other sinister type character, and I've seen him in a number of old time TV and movie Westerns. He even had roles in a handful of Charlie Chan flicks. In this story, he portrayed Gatherer Volnath, the second victim on Yuta's hit list, the first one having occurred fifty years earlier! Before they all died, the five remaining Tralestans who survived a Lornak wipeout offered up their life force to carry on a decades old grudge against their clan enemy with Yuta as their avenger.

All in all, a pretty good episode, although it makes me queasy whenever Riker goes into romantic mode with a member of the opposite sex. He was getting all googley-eyed with Yuta in his quarters until she shut him down, mentioning her status as servant to withdraw from his advances. Riker used the opportunity to speak to the equality of all humans, no matter what their station in life. All good, until he was forced to take action against an assassin in disguise.

Space Bikers.

[amusinghandle · 6/10 · 28 January 2024]

Maybe the ultimate point of the episode is the final resolution to Yuta's revenge quest as a possible light bulb moment for the Gatherers and Marouk.

I wasn't buying the love arc between Yuta and Riker --- well, beyond just wanting to get laid --- so, that deflated the impact of the climax and riker's 10 forward brooding.

From a personal perspective ---- I don't think I would be jumping up for joy at the idea of having a motley crue tribute band of whiskey drinking meth head bikers re-join my world. As a concept, the idea of forgiveness and moving forward in good faith is a good one but it seems apparent that the tribes have not reached a level where that even possible.

I could see this episode working if the Gatherers were presented as being somewhat sympathetic with a tangible reason for being considered outsiders.

I don't think the "Stun" setting would have worked.

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 17 November 2014]

And, any excuse to have a great vaporization is worth seeing. Starting from this seasons episode "the high ground", this show had less vaporizations than before. Probably because it's cheaper just to have sparky phaser hits.

The main story here deals with a group of people who live like Capt. Jack Sparrow, stealing things to live. The Acamarian "Gatherers". Or, we can call them "The Wanderers from space"...

"Well I'm the type of Riker who will never settle down... Where pretty girls are, well, you know that I'm around I kiss 'em then I Phaser 'em 'cause to me they're all like Yuta..."

Well, Picard has had enough, so he grabs the High Faluto of Acamaria and then hunts down a group of Wander-Gatherers. That's where we see Mark Lawrence's next generation cameo. He will show up a few years later in Deep Space 9 as "Mr. Zimo". Remember, this is the crook who gets killed at the beginning of "the man with the golden gun". So it was great to see one of my favorite character actors show up in Trek.

While Picard sets out to gather up all of the Wanderers, Will Riker starts having eyes for one of the servants, "Yuta". But when she cannot perform sexually as anybody but a slave, he starts wondering what has been done to her. Riker's interest coincides with Crusher's medical investigation, and something terrible is discovered.

That is one of the mysteries of this episode, and that is what invalidates the so-called "goof" of this episode. She speaks about how she was changed, changed so she can pursue vengeance for the rest of her clan. She is the last of her clan, changed irrevocably to live forever until she fulfills her purpose. So she has no life, no choice but to do what she needs to do. Kind of terrible actually...

That is why I don't really think she could've just been jailed or stunned. I don't think the brig would've held her, and there was nothing else but to prevent her from touching her victim. And Will was the one who had discovered what she was: So it was his responsibility to stop her.

So I don't think he needed to have a reason to show up with a phaser on a ship where Picard is having a delicate meeting- I don't consider the ending of this as a goof of any sort. It was a hard choice that Will Riker had to make. And he didn't like having to make it.

Riker being 100% Riker

[matthewlysaght · 5/10 · 15 December 2022]

So what we have here from the get-go is Will Riker going full Riker with the servant Yuta - the only surprising thing being the lack of chair mounting when he's sitting with her.

There's also a loud, mulleted, walking piece of chest hair who spends most of his time on Enterprise laughing at Wesley and grabbing drinks off unamed extras.

All in all it's not a bad episode - there's a plant, bad guys, and Picard doing diplomacy between the Sovereign and another mulleted chest hair loudmouth.

Meanwhile, Dr. Crusher is doing the dog work in the background and solving the mystery of the blood feuds without fuss.

The Last of the Tribal Wars

[Samuel-Shovel · 4/10 · 2 October 2019]

In "The Vengeance Factor", after the Enterprise discovers the remnants of a raided Federation outpost, Captain Picard attempts to reconcile a home planet and its wayward guerilla faction who have been at odds for centuries.

I don't really have much to say regarding this one as I found it a bit bleh. The premise is not bad. This is the type of mission Star Fleet should be running out in space. Picard is a good arbitrator, so all this makes perfect sense.

Even the negotiation scenes are salvageable. Chorgan and the Sovereign's conversations can almost be classified as interesting. What I can't get by is the big reveal that Yuta is actually like an 80 year old wizard. The writers wave a magic wand and don't really explain how her tribe compiled their life forces and created some Ubermensch that doesn't age and has the magical ability to give men heart attacks with her mind. No one else of her race seems to possess any powers or abilities near what she has. They could have at least set up this premise a bit better.

Riker killing her isn't bad... But after such a confusing explanation and scene that occurs beforehand, I was still reeling and really couldn't pick up any of the emotional weight of Riker blowing Yuta away.

While not as bad as the previous episode, this is back-to-back misses for TNG here in Season 3.

Riker is Nuts

[wiltoncarter · 1/10 · 23 October 2021]

Riker is one heartless son of a gun, he had no clear reason for vaporizing that poor girl. Why did he do it? I don't know, Will he do it again? I can't be sure, but please don't hurt his feelings or he might vaporize you too. Also, I hated this episode, so it only gets one star from me.

Where's the Court Marial?

[supersix21 · 2/10 · 27 January 2023]

This episode is little more than a Riker vehicle masquerading as a touching way to show the soft side of Number One.

First off, he shows an interest in Yuta. Why? She's the servant of the head of state of a planet but he is intensely drawn to her. Some type of power move? Likes to be in control? Well of course not because when she attempts to reciprocate his affection he blows her off because she doesn't see him as an equal. Why would she? She's literally a servant and the second in command of a starship is hitting on her.

Secondly, the whole virus plot is completely contrived. Two whole people in the entire history of the planet have died from this virus and based on an extrapolated picture Riker decides Yuta controls the virus and can kill at will with it. This is a stretch past the point of belief. There could be a million reasons. And how did they know it was the same virus that killed the guy 50 years before? Oh because a computer graphic showed a virus attacking some nerves. Then they go on to explain how it can only kill a certain person with specific DNA, so does Riker do the logical thing like tackle her? Or maybe tell the leader to get away? No, he shoots the guard and then shoots the girl three times - all based on a hunch. Think about that. Someone is standing 15 feet from a person who may have a weapon that can kill only one other person in the entire universe and instead of doing literally anything else you resort to shooting them dead.

Why wasn't Riker court-martialed after this? Last I checked killing an unarmed person was a crime. But it's OK because he fell in love or something and cared for her. Uh...they spent a grand total of 15 minutes together 14 of which were him inappropriately staring at her.

There are so many other problems with this episode, like why do the Gatherers so desperately need to come back just to be put into isolation on the planet? What are they, runaway pets? Get back to your cage, Gatherers, we don't want you really but we really don't want you running around enjoying your freedom.

Completely forgettable episode, never should have been made and the actors probably wish it never was.

Directing worthy of a bad high school play

[ian-62268 · 3/10 · 25 July 2022]

It all goes merrily along albeit with several doses of the hammiest most overdone "acting" ever seen in a TV show on the part of the scruffy gatherers. Riker is Mr Stud as usual and the dame in question does her stuff as needed to progress the silly story along.

However. The ending is so utterly contrived as to have any viewer squirming in his seat - Riker has no need whatsoever to blast the pretty assassin with his phaser - all he had to do was to stand in her way, she could hardly have walked through him and his expanding gut.... yet for no reason evident to viewers he remains rooted to the spot and nobody says a word of discouragement to stop the phaser-execution going ahead. It's ludicrous beyond tolerance - and I'm prepared to forgive TNG a great many of its worst excesses - but this one goes umpteen steps way too far. The murder-target also could without any bother at all self-removed from the immediate vicinity but then the required death couldnt have then been justified. As it wasn't anyway by some of the worst directing ever foisted onto an otherwise mostly-decent classic TV show. In my view it should have been the director who got the phaser hit, not the bonny blondie assassisn. Even if she WAS an assassin - which she definitely was.

That's it, rant over.

A Senior Trekker writes...................

[celineduchain · 5/10 · 10 January 2022]

New uniforms, new credit sequence and Doctor Crusher returned to us but was Season 3 of The Next Generation really as good as we remember? Some of that enthusiasm may have have been generated by relief that the series had not been cancelled but the 1990's also heralded an era of considerably more stability behind the scenes. Senior Trekker will continue to score every episode with a 5.

An generally unpopular episode with an important underlying theme. The Vengeance Factor is a well written drama about two tribes who continue to seek revenge for old grievances going back centuries in a never ending cycle of plots and assassinations. The negotiation scenes, lit by firelight set against a dark background are about as close as this kind of television show is going to get to classical theatre but are let down by the nonsense aboard ship.

Riker's seduction of the clearly vulnerable Yuta is just horrible. Cookery lesson, be damned! He is being creepy and unethical and it really shows up the standards of the time that, given how much care went into the writing of the Next Generation, no-one seems to have noticed this in development. Also rather sloppy is the way in which, despite being forced to kill her himself, Riker never mentions her again.