The Big Goodbye

"The Big Goodbye" is the twelfth episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The episode first aired in broadcast syndication on January 11, 1988. This was the second writing credit of the series for Tracy Tormé following the episode "Haven". Rob Bowman planned to direct the episode, but he was switched to "Datalore" due to delays in its production. With Bowman working on another episode, Joseph L. Scanlan became the director.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. This episode is the first to focus primarily on the holodeck, a technology that can create realistic immersive simulated environments. In the episode, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner), and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) are trapped, due to a computer malfunction, in a 1940s-style gangster holodeck program with Captain Picard playing the role of detective Dixon Hill.

Tormé credited Gene Roddenberry with the idea for the detective novel, and employed a film noir style using references to The Maltese Falcon (1941). Lawrence Tierney, who appeared in film noir movies in the 1940s, guest stars as Cyrus Redblock. The Dixon Hill setting reappeared in two later episodes in the series and in the film Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

11.5 million viewers watched "The Big Goodbye"; critical reception was mixed. One reviewer found it too similar to The Original Series episode "A Piece of the Action". Other reviewers complained about the holodeck but praised Tierney's performance. The episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Series and is the only Star Trek episode to ever win the Peabody Award.