“It’s beginning to make me think we should have run these Galaxy-class ships across a few more drawing boards before we built one.”
“Contagion” was candy to me when it first aired, its various elements appealing to every single molecule of my teenaged self. The starship Yamato destroys itself via accidental antimatter core dump; the Enterprise computer goes berserk and starts trying to kill the crew; and the discovery of the Iconians, “demons of air and darkness,” who used teleportation doorways to travel the universe. Plus, there are Romulans – and you know how I feel about the Romulans. The episode also kicked off my longtime fondness for television character actress Carolyn Seymour, who plays Subcommander Taris here, played Al’s nemesis Zoey on Quantum Leap, and would return to Next Gen in a much more substantial Romulan role in the sixth season’s “Face of the Enemy.”
The episode begins boldly as the Enterprise makes contact with her sister ship and the Yamato up and explodes right in front of them, the skin of her saucer section flaying off dramatically as half the ship soars away from the blast. It’s a rip-roaring start to an episode that rarely slows down; “Contagion” bears the hallmarks of a script that came in short, as there are a few sequences which seem to have been added after the fact to beef up the running time, but which are not strictly germane to the plot. Fortunately, they’re gems, including a heart-to-heart between Wesley and the Captain as the boy tries to process the deaths of 1,100 people on the Yamato; and a brief interlude in sickbay where Dr. Pulaski goes Full Bones on a medic by imploring him to use a splint. There are good beats for everyone as Picard, Worf and Data visit the surface of Iconia, leaving Riker and the rest to deal with the system malfunctions and the encroaching Romulan ship (and don’t think I didn’t notice you clutching Will’s arm during the Romulan attack, Deanna!).
The episode represents the first example of Picard’s primary hobby – archaeology – and what seems like an arbitrary, episode-specific affectation here would nonetheless go on to be a solid runner for the series (if a tad “cute” as an ongoing excuse to turn Picard into Indiana Jones). Regardless, as far as the Iconian gateways are concerned, I love ‘em. Memorably, they feature a shot of Toronto’s city hall, Nathan Phillips Square, as one of the gate’s target destinations, which remains (to my knowledge) the only piece of any incarnation of Star Trek ever filmed here. Beyond this, they’re just a memorable idea, and… for whatever reason… one of the elements of Star Trek that recurs frequently in my dreams. The gateways would return in an episode of Deep Space Nine, several years later, but are never again as enigmatic or intriguing as they are here. Part of me relishes the idea of Picard diving through the gate when all hell breaks loose in the station, and getting zapped a dozen galaxies away, never to return. Now that’s boldly going! Four Enterprises out of four.
Blogging The Next Generation runs every Tuesday as I work my way through every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation on blu-ray. Season 2 is available now.