"The Arsenal of Freedom" is the twenty-first episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, originally aired on April 11, 1988, in broadcast syndication.
He intended to have Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) reveal her feelings for Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in this episode, but Gene Roddenberry had it changed.
The Enterprise has been sent to the Lorenze Cluster to search for the USS Drake after it vanished while surveying the planet Minos, which many years ago became wealthy by selling weapons.
When the ship reaches the planet, they are met by a recorded holographic figure (Vincent Schiavelli) advertising "The Arsenal of Freedom", which invites the crew to the surface.
Commander Data (Brent Spiner) and Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) beam down to the surface to investigate.
Chief Engineer Lt. Logan (Vyto Ruginis) goes to the bridge to demand that the Enterprise flee the planet and attempts to take command, as he outranks La Forge, but La Forge refuses, pointing out that Logan lacks the authority to remove him and orders him to return to Engineering.
Still underground, Picard discovers a computer terminal, which he activates, causing a hologram of the salesman to appear and explain that they are witnessing a demonstration of an intelligent weapon system which is able to upgrade itself in response to any enemy threat.
Data is able to locate Picard and determines that while the sentries could be set to destroy their own power source, the resulting explosion would probably take out the whole area, including the away team.
Story editor Maurice Hurley saw the plot of "The Arsenal of Freedom" as commentary on the sale of American Grumman F-14 Tomcats to Iran taken to the "ultimate conclusion".
[6][7] He hand animated the model instead of using motion control photography, using his years of Tai Chi training to keep the movements fluid.
[10] He thought that the situation which left La Forge in charge of the Enterprise was "horribly contrived" and said "Picard doesn't even give a good excuse for going down to the planet beyond the script calling for it".
He summed up the moral story played out in this episode, saying that "On TOS, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy would've hashed out the appeal of an unbeatable weapon as well as its drawbacks.
[13] "The Arsenal of Freedom" was released on DVD on region one as part of the Season one set on March 26, 2002 with the sound remastered to Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround standards, and a series of interviews with the cast and crew were included on the sixth disc.