Star Trek: The Next Generation: Pen Pals

"Pen Pals" is the fifteenth episode of season two of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the thirty-eighth episode of the series overall (if one counts the two-part pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint" as two episodes). Combining the episode count of all Star Trek-related TV shows to date, it is the 144th episode of the entire franchise. This episode was directed by Joseph L. Scanlan with a teleplay written by Maurice Hurley based on a story treatment by Kurt Michael Bensmiller. It first aired in syndication in the United States on April 29th, 1989.