History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E18Genesis

* FrazettaMan: ''Australopithecine'' Riker (who should, by rights, be one if the more ''intelligent'' creatures on board) is portrayed as an aggressive, near-mindless brute. Indeed, the first symptom of Riker's infection is that he starts to become slow, forgetful and stupid.

* FrazettaMan: ''Australopithecine'' Riker is portrayed as an aggressive, near-mindless brute. Indeed, the first symptom of Riker's infection is that he starts to become slow, forgetful and stupid.

On the bridge, Worf is field testing some newly-upgraded torpedoes in an asteroid field. When one of them veers off course (the result of some "improvements" made to the guidance system by Worf himself), a bored Picard decides to take a shuttle out himself to retrieve it. Data joins as well, after leaving Spot in the care of Barclay.

* FrazettaMan: ''Australopithecine'' Riker is portrayed as an aggressive, near-mindless brute. Indeed, the first symptom of Riker's infection is that he starts to become slow, forgetful and stupid (even though, as Website/SFDebris points out, Barclay and Troi are both becoming far less intelligent creatures than a proto-hominid, and they don't show any loss of intellect at this point).

* PowerCableAttack: Picard uses this to incapacitate Worf. Bonus points for grabbing a non-conductive object to squat on while he lights up the Jeffries tube.

* SpidersAreScary: Especially a six-foot spider who used to be a man.

* TooDumbToLive: Despite Worf acting extremely unusual, and Crusher noting that he's growing an acidic toxin sac on his neck, she stares him right in the face and tries to examine his mouth, getting a faceful of acid as a result. Real smart, doc.

Not long after they leave, the ''Enterprise'' crew starts exhibiting unusual behavior. Most obvious is Worf, who starts becoming almost feral in his behavior. Troi starts feeling excessively cold, Barclay is running around like he's on meth, and Riker is finding it difficult to concentrate.

When Picard and Data return from their mission some days later, they find the ''Enterprise'' adrift and unresponsive to hails. Inside they find what appears to be a mostly empty ship, but internal sensors confirm that the the crew is present, and they have all started to de-evolve into various primitive species. Troi resembles an amphibian species, Riker has become proto-human, and Barclay arachnid. An airborne virus is causing random introns, latent DNA from previous evolutionary forms, to activate, causing the mutations.

After a chase through the corridors, Picard is able to improvise an electrical trap that incapacitates Worf long enough for Data's cure to take effect. Once the crew has returned to normal, Crusher finds that the virus came about from the injection she gave to Barclay, which had the unintended side-effect of activating more than just the one gene it was meant to. Crusher tell Barclay that she's going to name the new disease after him, being patient zero. Seeing the lieutenant's thousand-yard stare in reaction to this news on top of recent events, Troi realizes that she'll need to clear her calendar for the next few weeks.

* FakeShemp: Crusher spends most of the episode as two burned hands and a splash of red hair spilling out from underneath a blanket, clearly not portrayed by Gates [=McFadden], who directed the episode.

** Troi takes a duty shift on the bridge after getting a promotion to commander in "[[StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E15ThineOwnSelf Thine Own Self]].

* ContinuityNod: Isn't Barclay [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E2RealmOfFear afraid of spiders]]? And that's what he turns into?
* DevolutionDevice: Albeit unintentional.

After a chase through the corridors, Picard is able to improvise an electrical trap that incapacitates Worf long enough for Data's cure to take effect. Once the crew has returned to normal, Crusher finds that the virus came about from the injection she gave to Barclay, which had the unintended side-effect of activating more than just the one gene it was meant to due to a unique characteristic of his... [[{{Technobabble}} something or whatever, you get the picture]].

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Put simply, the events of this episode take a ''lot'' of liberties with how evolution and DNA work. You could argue that the mutations are genetic atavisms being activated but even that would be a stretch.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Crusher claims that new diseases are usually named after the first patient diagnosed with the disorder. Not only is that not strictly accurate in-episode, as Worf was actually the first person to be diagnosed with specific symptoms, the standard practice is for diseases to be named after the medical professional who first identifies them, meaning that the disease should have been called ''Crusher's'' Protomorphosis Syndrome. That said, it's quite understandable why she doesn't want her name associated with a boo-boo that resulted in an entire starship crew being mutated, one crewman ending up dead, and her own face being melted off.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Put simply, the events of this episode take a ''lot'' of liberties with how evolution and DNA work.

* TooDumbToLive: Despite Worf acting extremely unusual, and Crusher noting that he's growing an acidic toxin sac on his neck, she stares him right in the face and tries to examine his mouth, getting a faceful of acid as a result. Real smart, doc.

It's a normal day in sickbay, and Doctor Crusher is examining Barclay's latest bout of hypochondria. It turns out that he really is sick, though far from any life-threatening condition, it turns out to be an ordinary case of Urodealean flu, which his body is able to fight naturally after Crusher gives him [[ChekhovsGun an injection to activate a required gene that happens to be dormant]]. Data also brings in Spot for a pregnancy checkup, and Nurse Ogawa decides to drop the news that she is also expecting. Looks like the day is off to a good start.

Not long after they leave, the Enterprise crew starts exhibiting unusual behavior. Most obvious is Worf, who starts becoming almost feral in his behavior. Troi starts feeling excessively cold, Barclay is running around like he's on meth, and Riker is finding it difficult to concentrate.

When Picard and Data return from their mission some days later, they find the Enterprise adrift and unresponsive to hails. Inside they find what appears to be a mostly empty ship, but internal sensors confirm that the the crew is present, and they have all started to de-evolve into various primitive species. Troi resembles an amphibian species, Riker has become proto-human, and Barclay arachnid. An airborne virus is causing random introns, latent DNA from previous evolutionary forms, to activate, causing the mutations.

* PatientZero: The injection Barclay received for his flu is what started the virus aboard Enterprise.

On the bridge, Worf is field testing some newly-upgraded torpedoes in an asteroid field. When one of them veers off course (the result of some "improvements" made to the guidance system by Worf himself), Picard decides to take a shuttle out himself to retrieve it. Data joins as well, after leaving Spot in the care of Barclay.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Put simply, the events of this episode take liberties with how biology works.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: De-evolution? Really?
** Counselor Troi has de-evolved into a frog. How does a mixed species human/Betazoid become an amphibian? You know what? Just enjoy the episode!
* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Crusher claims that new diseases are usually named after the first patient diagnosed with the disorder. Not only is that not strictly accurate in-episode, as Worf was actually the first person to be diagnosed with specific symptoms, the standard practise is for diseases to be named after the medical professional who first identifies them, meaning that the disease should have been called ''Crusher's'' Protomorphosis Syndrome. That said, it'd be quite understandable why she doesn't want her name associated with a boo-boo that resulted in an entire starship crew being mutated, one crewman ending up dead, and her own face being melted off.

* ChekhovsGun: Spot's soon-to-be-born kittens and Ogawa's pregnancy provide Data with what he needs to reverse the de-evolution.

* BodyHorror: Due to the gene activation injection, the crew starts transforming into various humanoid hybrids. This is not limited to humanoids; Data's cat Spot turns into a iguana. For example:

* TooDumbToLive: Despite Worf acting extremely unusual, and Crusher noting that he's growing an acidic toxin sac on his neck, she stares him right in the face and tries to examine his mouth and gets a faceful of acid as a result. Real smart, doc.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Crusher claims that new diseases are usually named after the first patient diagnosed with the disorder. Not only is that not strictly inaccurate in-episode, as Worf was actually the first person to be diagnosed with specific symptoms, the standard practise is for diseases to be named after the medical professional who first identifies them, meaning that the disease should have been called ''Crusher's'' Protomorphosis Syndrome. That said, it'd be quite understandable why she doesn't want her name associated with a boo-boo that resulted in an entire starship crew being mutated, one crewman ending up dead, and her own face being melted off.