Ghost in the Machine (episode)

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

When the crew gets trapped in the holodeck by a mysterious malfunction, they aren't sure what's programmed or what's real.

Summary[]

Act One[]

The crew of the USS Protostar is in the holodeck trying to formulate a plan to leave the Romulan Neutral Zone and safely approach Starfleet. Unfortunately, every scenario they attempt ends in failure, leading the group to conclude that they can never go to the Federation. Hologram Janeway comes in and notes the dismal mood before recommending that everyone get some rest and look at the problem with fresh eyes tomorrow. After commiserating over bowls of ice cream in the mess hall, they take Hologram Janeway's advice and all head to bed.

Soon, they all start seeing and hearing strange things, including a character named Glittersmooch from Rok's "Delta Heart Magical Veterinarian" holodeck program. Soon, a strange fog rolls in and they find themselves on a dark island where they come across a lighthouse, which Zero recognizes immediately. It's the headquarters for the "Cellar Door Society" milquetoast mystery program. Zero informs the group that means that they're still on the holodeck. When their attempts to exit fail, they contact Hologram Janeway, who states that she's working on the problem, which was apparently caused by some subspace interference.

Zero theorizes that they should be able to leave the holodeck once they solve a "Cellar Door Society" mystery, since that is how the program has always behaved for them. As per for the norm for the program, a letter should arrive at midnight which will reveal what the mystery is. When multiple letters arrive, Rok correctly guesses that the individual letters must be a code that's revealed when all pages are placed on top of one another. The code reveals that this is "The Case of the Lost Skeleton Key." The crew search the lighthouse's library for the key for a little while, before noticing that a brightly backlit door has appeared, accompanied by a new soundtrack.

The group walk through the door and find themselves in an alley facing a group of menacing bikers who all look exactly like Dr. Noum, the Tellarite who insulted Jankom weeks earlier at the Denaxi Depot. Apparently, Jankom's been letting off steam in a street fighting sim with the bikers. While Rok is fearful that these bikers have the key they're searching for, Zero is more concerned that the two holo-programs have somehow merged. When Jankom faces off with the bikers, they knock out one of his teeth, and he realizes that the holodeck safetey protocols must be turned off. Dal calls holo Janeway for help, but she claims to be unable to work on essential functions, so he gives her his command code to override whatever has gone wrong with the program. When it doesn't work, Rok subdues the bikers herself. They discover that one of the bikers has a tattoo on his chest of a skeleton key, but the arch doesn't appear when they capture him. Upon closer examination, it isn't just a tattoo of a key - it's a tattoo of the logo of The Key Club.

Act Two[]

This clue leads them a black and white film-noir 1920s-era club called The Key Club. The group realizes this program must belong to Murf when he jumps on stage and begins singing, or perhaps lip syncing, to an old jazz song. Dal has them split up to search, and Gwyn heads to the bar to order a jumja tea and ask about the skeleton key. However, she is astonished to see that the bartender looks exactly like her father.

As Gwyn lays out her problem to the sympathetic bartender, Rok and Zero deduce that because it is only using their holoprograms rather than pulling randomly from the database, the holodeck must have a motive rather than a simple malfunction. Dal and Jankom contend with some seedy gangsters who all resemble Noum. Suddenly, Rok notices that the piano sounds funny and surmises that the lost key may refer to a piano key. She flips up the missing key, opening a portal in the piano that the crew escapes through before the gangsters can catch them.

Act Three[]

The portal leads them onto an old style pirate ship. Recognizing his program, Dal orders his pirate crew, who now all look like Noum, to find the lost key. Meanwhile, a giant sea creature emerges – Rok's holo-creation, "Sparkle Sea-Hugger" – and almost hugs them all to death. Rok is able to defeat it by providing it with healthy food (shot from a cannon), but the pirate ship begins to sink as a result of the damage it sustained from being hugged. Murf finds a compass with a skeleton key on it. At this point, Zero deduces that the holodeck isn't randomly malfunctioning. It appears to be actively keeping them trapped. They review the evidence for the whole group, and declare that they must stop following the clues - the only way to win is to refuse to play "her" game.

Just before the pirate ship completely sinks, the program suddenly ends. When a relieved Holo Janeway enters, the crew questions whether she locked them all in the holodeck with the safety protocols off. When she denies it, Zero says that she believes she is telling the truth, but her program must've been corrupted by a pre-programmed "secret subroutine" triggered by the living construct when the crew decided to give up going to Starfleet. The security logs show that she, unknowingly, used Dal's command codes to take over the ship, exit the Neutral Zone, and set a course for the Terran sector. Hologram Janeway is horrified. She says that she would never do anything to hurt the crew, but that Zero must be right - something is wrong with her.

Suddenly, an alarm blares and the crew finds themselves nose to nose with the Dauntless and locked out of controls. Hologram Janeway appears on the bridge and says, "I'm sorry."

Memorable quotes[]

"The mystery is afeet."

- Zero, when letters are deposited at each of their feet at the start of their "Cellar Door Society" holodeck mystery program.

"Murf can speak?"
"And Murf can dance!"
"Or convincingly lip-sync."

- Gwyn, Rok, and Zero reacting to "Mr. Murfy No Shoes'" performance

"My father put the fate of our world on my shoulders without ever asking me."
"Sounds like despite your pop's intentions, you gotta find your own way."

- Gwyn and Hologram Diviner

"Let's pop this blow-stand."
"I don't think that's how it goes."

- Gwyn and Dal

"If we don't find that key pronto, we're gonna be hugged to death!"

- Jankom

"I'm so sorry. I'd never intentionally do anything to hurt you... I don't remember doing any of this. I, I think Zero's correct. There's something wrong with me."

- Hologram Janeway

Background information[]

Title[]

The title was announced by Paramount+ on 25 October 2022. [1]
The phrase "ghost in the machine" refers to a consciousness dwelling within a computer, in this case, Hologram Janeway being manipulated by the living construct.

Production[]

Like "Masquerade", which was aired by Nickelodeon in some European countries such as Croatia, Hungary, and Poland ahead of US release, this episode was originally scheduled to be aired there on 22 November 2022. However, other programming was aired instead on that day. [2]
The episode was released on 23 November 2022 on CANAL+ online in Poland ahead of US release.
"Mr. Murfy No Shoes'" song "Smile and Forget It" was written by Troy Kline and acquired through Songtradr, a platform whose content is licensed for use in films and television.
Dal's command code, GB64N32X, appears to obliquely reference several video game systems. With GB being an abbreviation for Game Boy, 64N derived from Nintendo 64 and its abbreviation N64 and 32X referring to Sega's 32X.

Continuity[]

In 2369, the crew of the USS Enterprise-D experienced a very similar situation, where the holographic James Moriarty (who like Hologram Janeway, was also sentient) similarly attempted to take control of the ship. Moriarty's plan also consisted of trapping the crew in an endless holodeck simulation that was intended to trick them into believing they had left the holodeck. (TNG: "Ship In A Bottle")
The crew laments that the ice cream they ate wasn't "real". However, it likely was real, since holodecks used replicators to create some elements of the simulation. Food had been eaten on the holodeck before, such as the tea and crumpets eaten by Dr. Pulaski in TNG: "Elementary, Dear Data". Later in this same episode, Gwyn sips a drink from a cup while she knows she is on the holodeck. It depends on how you define real, however; in TNG: "The Price", Deanna Troi requested a "real chocolate sundae" from the replicator, "Not one of your perfectly synthesized, ingeniously enhanced imitations."
Rok mentions motion floor tracking and visual horizon manipulation as ways that the holodeck tricks user's minds to appear real. This is in line with information given in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual about how the holodeck simulates environments which are larger than the holodeck itself. It was also confirmed in an interview [3] with the episode's writer Chad Quandt.
Murf takes on the role of a holographic singer in the 1900s, similar to the holographic character Vic Fontaine featured on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
In The Key Club, Gwyn orders a jumja tea, a drink first featured in DS9: "Crossover" that the Bajorans in the mirror universe were fond of and was the favorite beverage of Intendant Kira Nerys.
The map towards Earth showed the Protostar's current location in the Neutral Zone as being adjacent to the Yadalla sector, which was originally from the Star Trek: Star Charts and Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library reference books, but were later shown in Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Discovery, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Although there is no stardate referenced within the episode, a log by the Dauntless' computer on the "Star Trek Logs" Instagram account dated the episode to Stardate 61401.5. [4]
- Due to the cliffhanger ending of "Preludes", said "log" is a file not found error since Admiral Janeway is incapacitated and was unable to record the log.