Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) refuses to have a medical operation on his artificial heart on board the Enterprise by Doctor Katherine Pulaski (Diana Muldaur) as he is concerned about his image with the crew.
Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) accompanies him, as he is due to undergo his Starfleet Academy entrance exams.
Initially rebuffing Wesley's attempts to make conversation, Picard eventually softens and talks of his past, including why he needs an artificial heart.
Based on the Pakleds' rudimentary communication skills and apparent lack of understanding of the basic operations of their ship, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) judges them to be inept and harmless, and agrees to send Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) to assist them.
Upon finally completing the repairs, La Forge prepares to leave, but a Pakled incapacitates him with his own phaser, and raises the ship's shields.
Commander Data (Brent Spiner) determines that the Pakleds have acquired advanced technology from other races, and the ship's malfunctions were a ruse.
In response, the Enterprise generates a spectacular but harmless pyrotechnic display, and La Forge simultaneously disables their weapon systems.
It was also the second appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation for Christopher Collins (AKA Chris Latta, the voice of Cobra Commander and Starscream), who had played the Klingon Captain Kargan earlier in the second season in the episode "A Matter of Honor".
The final step in the makeup process was the creation of sets of false upper teeth, which while Westmore suggested was not immediately noticeable upon watching the episode but he felt completed the overall look of the aliens.
Pakleds also appear in the background of the Deep Space Nine episodes "Rules of Acquisition" and "Playing God",[3] and they return as antagonists in the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode "No Small Parts" and later in "Kayshon, His Eyes Open", "The Spy Humongous", and "wej Duj", the last one revealing them to be pawns of a rogue Klingon officer.
[8] Dennis Bailey and David Bischoff disliked the first five minutes of "Samaritan Snare" so much that they were inspired to pitch their own story for The Next Generation.
[2] They said that the opening was "hokey", and also felt that several of the plot elements were "stupid" such as sending Picard to a Starbase where there were no doctors qualified to perform his surgery.
[9] Mark Jones and Lance Parkin, in their book Beyond the Final Frontier: An Unauthorised Review of Star Trek, said that "Samaritan Snare" was "uneventful".