Watching “The Big Goodbye” from TNG and “A Space Adventure Hour” from SNW back to back makes for some interesting viewing. Both are holodeck stories and they both hew closely to the same formula. They even share romantic subplots with Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher on TNG as well as La’an and Spock showing a growing attraction to each other in their respective episodes. Both episodes feature a story (based on books about 20th century detective) on the holodeck going awry when the holodeck malfunctions. And both rely on the holodeck safety protocols breaking down to put the crew in jeopardy.
But they do differ in important ways. In SNW, the holodeck is a prototype being tested by La’an who approaches it wearily as if it is a battle simulation. In TNG, the holodeck is supposed to be a proven technology, and Picard and his guests approach it with an almost infectious giddiness, admiring its realism. In SNW, we are supposed to be seeing a new technology being pushed to its limits and the episode does a nice job of showing its limitations. La’an has to wear a scanning device before she even sets foot in the holodeck so the computer can scan her and reproduce an environment customized to her and only her - no bringing along multiple guests. The holodeck characters are transporter scans of other members of the crew. The Enterprise is also running a full scale mission simultaneously in order to expose the holodecks flaws. And boy do they ever get exposed as the holodeck proceeds to consume so many resources that it puts the ship in danger.
In TNG the holodeck malfunctions because of an outside threat. Picard is in there with multiple guests and when he is trapped, the aliens who are threatening the Enterprise want to talk to him, and only to him.
Over time, we are meant see a lot the ideas developed in “A Space Adventure Hour” being implemented later on in the timeline. Scotty insists that the holodeck can be made to work if it has its own dedicated mainframe and power supply and we see exactly that in Voyager even if they don’t really offer an explanation for why this is the case. “A Space Adventure Hour” retroactively serves as this explanation. And it is also summarized nicely in Picard Season 3 where now Admiral Picard explains to his son that because it has its own separate computer core and power supply, the holodeck can serve as a refuge or even as a lifeboat in times of danger to the ship.
One final thing to note is that TNG’s version of the holodeck anticipates the modern promise of AI by almost forty years. Everything that people see on the holodeck is being created on the fly by its computer. Lower Decks takes advantage of this in its big holo-movie episodes with spectacular results. And in “A Space Adventure Hour,” we current jargon like “prompt” and even the term “AI” itself integrated into the episode.
