History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E11Contagion

[floatboxright:
Series: ''Series/{{Star Trek The Next Generation}}''\\
Episode: Season 2, Episode 11\\
Title: "Contagion"\\
Previous: "The Dauphin"\\
Next: "The Royale"\\
Recapper: Synjo Deonecros]

* BlindJump: Picard sets the gateway console to explode and then uses the randomly-cycling gateway to escape, reasoning that wherever it takes him, it'll be better than being blown up. Fortunately, it takes him somewhere very close to the ''Enterprise''. Unfortunately, [[OhCrap that place is the Romulan ship's bridge]].

* TheWorfEffect: The ''USS Yamato'', a starship of identical build and design to the ''Enterprise'', being destroyed (complete with the saucer separating and then ''disintegrating'' in front of the main characters!), is meant to show us and the crew that the Iconian computer virus is serious business.

* FailsafeFailure: The ''Yamato'''s warp core breached because the computer dropped the antimatter containment field prior to all the antimatter being ejected. Geordi points out that there are seven separate computer interlocks specifically designed to ''prevent'' that from happening.

Series:Series/{{Star Trek The Next Generation}}\\

Title:"Contagion"\\
Previous: The Dauphin\\
Next: The Royale\\

The ''Enterprise'' is called to help a fellow Federation ship in the grip of a series of system malfunctions. They arrive LateToTheTragedy and RocksFallEveryoneDies. Oh, and the Romulans appear to deny everything.

Interestingly, Geordi confirms that the Romulans weren't responsible for the ship's destruction, but Picard isn't convinced, and after a thorough study of the ship's logs, determines its previous mission: its captain was leading his crew on a wild goose chase for Iconia, one of a bajilion [[CounterEarth mythological planets]] out in the ''Trek'' universe, and he thought to have found it on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone, where they met...something... that seemed to have caused their system failures. Since Iconia is said to have insanely powerful technology that the Romulans could use to crush the Federation, Picard sets course to the planet the other ship's captain believed was the fabled planet.

Unfortunately, the ''Enterprise'' starts coming down with its own set of systems failures, which Data and Geordi fail to solve or determine the cause of (possibly because Data is acting way OutOfCharacter). Once they get to what is believed to be Iconia, a probe is launched, which Geordi - finally realizing what's going on by that time - convinces Picard to destroy before it has a chance to do anything. [[IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect By his calculations]], the probe contained an Iconian computer program that transferred itself into the destroyed ship's systems, when it visited the planet, and transferred itself into the ''Enterprise'' with the ship's logs; unfortunately, since Starfleet doesn't have so much as Norton Antivirus to fend off what's essentially a Trojan horse virus, there's no way for them to fix the problem.

Running out of options, Picard takes Data down to the surface, into an underground installation discovered by the ship's sensors, and proceeds to scout around, looking for anything they can use to determine the origin of or a means to destroy the program. What they discover is something more complex and sinister; an ancient transport union ripping open holes in the space-time continuum to travel through, thus earning the Iconian's nickname of "Demons of Air and Darkness" by their enemies. Picard is convinced this violation of physics was used for peaceful purposes only (yeah, right), but can see how it could be used as a weapon by the Romulans, who conveniently show up to harass the ''Enterprise'' and lay claim on the planet. Fortunately for all involved, aside from the Romulans, the Romulan ship has come down with the Iconian computer flu, as well, preventing them from acting on their threats.

Unfortunately, however, Data becomes infected with the virus, as well (which, combined with impulsively throwing Geordi across the room to free him from an electrified panel earlier, and shoving his arm into the Iconian middle finger to Einsteinian physics - a stunt even ''Picard'' admits was ridiculously stupid of him - is pretty much par for the course for his CharacterDerailment, here), and is forced to be taken back to the ''Enterprise'' for repairs, but not without informing Picard on how to destroy the compound and the technology within. The show ends with Picard managing to use the rip in space and time to escape onto the Romulan ship (stuck on auto-destruct, at this point) before being beamed off, and Geordi showing we will not use system restore in the future by forgetting he could reboot and purge the ship's computer core after Data does the same to his systems, sharing the solution with the Romulans (who don't know how to use it, either) before spiriting off.

!'''This episode contains the following tropes:'''

* ButtMonkey: Geordi gets thrown around in a turbolift, electrocuted, and completely fails to recognize the easy solution to the ''Enterprise'''s problems until Data gets infected and then fixes himself.
* ClarkesThirdLaw: Wesley references this trope during his conversation with Picard when he says the ancient Iconian's technology sounds more like magic. This is no doubt in part because the other species of the time described it as such, despite it not being that much more incredible than the Federation's technology.

* DrinkOrder: This episode marks the first time Picard orders [[TrademarkFavoriteFood "Tea, Earl Grey, hot."]]. Unfortunately, the Enterprise's computer is so messed up it gives him a potted plant instead.

* MortonsFork: Riker isn't keen on Geordi's plan, since it involves turning everything off including the deflector shields while they're "nose-to-nose with a Romulan Warbird". Geordi points out whether it's Romulan disruptors or their own warp engines, they're just as dead if they don't do this.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Iconians' nickname of "Demons of Air and Darkness". Though Picard does put forth the theory that they were only called that because their technology appeared to be magic to those they interacted with, and those species' were frightened enough to attempt to destroy the Iconians.
* RousseauWasRight: When an Iconian probe heads for the Romulan ship, the ''Enterprise'' has lost its weapons and can't destroy it, so the fate of the Romulans rests on whether they trust Picard that they need to destroy the probe themselves. Though very suspicious, they decide to trust him and destroy the probe, saving themselves.
* SelfDestructMechanism: Picard triggers one to destroy the gateway. The Romulans have to deal with theirs being triggered (and then locked) by the Iconian Trojan horse.
* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Varley mentions that he lost an entire maintenance team when the forcefield in the open shuttlebay they were working in shut off.

* WrittenByTheWinners: Picard mentions this when he figures that the warlike depiction of the Iconians may have been wrong, passed down by those who feared and eventually defeated them.

* BlownOutTheAirlock: Eighteen {{Redshirts}} on the ''Yamato'' get spaced when a ForceFieldDoor in a shuttlebay shuts down. Not that they would've survived anyway.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The old "shut down and restart" fix was ''far'' more obscure in 1989.

* CanonFodder: The Iconians and their gateways inspired many Star Trek novels, and eventually made a reappearance in the canon series in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Varley mentions that he lost an entire maintenance team when the forcfield in the open shuttlebay they were working in shut off.

** Captain Varley of the ''Yamato'' compares encountering the Iconian technology to a Neanderthal discovering a tricorder.

* CanonFodder: The Iconians and their gateways inspired many Star Trek novels, and eventually made a reappearance in the canon series in ''DeepSpaceNine''.

* UnusualUserInterface: The Iconian console, which processes commands based on tapping different coloured portions of a logo.

* SelfDestructMechanism: Picard triggers one to destroy the gateway. The Romulans have to deal with theirs being triggered by the Iconian Trojan horse.

Running out of options, Picard takes Data down to the surface, into an underground installation discovered by the ship's sensors, and proceeds to scout around, looking for anything they can use to determine the origin of or a means to destroy the program. What they discover is something more complex and sinister; an ancient transport union ripping open holes in the space-time continuum to travel through, thus earning the Iconian's nickname of "Demons of Air and Darkness" by their enemies. Picard is convinced this violation of physics was used for peaceful purposes only (yeah, right), but can see how it could be used as a weapon by the Romulans, who conveniently show up to harass the ''Enterprise'' and lay claim on the planet. Fortunately for all involved (aside from the Romulans, I guess), the Romulan ship has come down with the Iconian computer flu, as well, preventing them from acting on their threats.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Iconians' nickname of "Demons of Air and Darkness".

* DrinkOrder: This episode marks the first time Picard orders [[TrademarkFavoriteFood "Tea, Earl Grey, hot."]]. Unfortunately, the Enterprise's computer is so messed up it gives him a potted plant instead.

* DrinkOrder: This episode marks the first time Picard orders [[TrademarkFavoriteFood "Tea, Earl Grey, hot."]]. Unfortunately, the Enterprise's computer is so messed up it gives him a potted plant.

* ContagiousAI: The Iconian probes scan ships and try to reprogram them with Iconian software, possibly by complete accident. Unfortunately, said ships tend to get very explodey when the alien software overwrites the programs that keep things like the antimatter fuel safely contained in magnetic fields...

* ContagiousAI: The Iconian probes scan ships and try to reporgram them with Iconian software, possibly by complete accident. Unfortunately, said ships tend to get very explodey when the alien software overwrites the programs that keep things like the antimatter fuel safely contained in magnetic fields...

Unfortunately, however, Data becomes infected with the virus, as well (which, combined with impulsively throwing Geordi across the room to free him from an electrified panel earlier, and shoving his arm into the Iconian middle finger to Einsteinian physics - a stunt even ''Picard'' admits was ridiculously stupid of him - is pretty much par for the course for his CharacterDerailment, here), and is forced to be taken back to the ''Enterprise'' for repairs, but not without informing Picard on how to destroy the compound and the technology within. The show ends with Picard managing to use the rip in space and time to escape onto the Romulan ship (stuck on auto-destruct, at this point) before being beamed off, and Geordi showing we will not use system restore in the future by forgetting he could reboot and purge the ship's computer core after Data does the same to his systems, sharing the solution with the Romulans (who don't know how to use it, either) before spiriting off.

The ''Enterprise'' is called to help a fellow Federation ship in the grip of a series of system malfunctions. They arrive LateToTheParty and RocksFallEveryoneDies. Oh, and the Romulans appear to deny everything.

Series:Main/{{Star Trek The Next Generation}}\\