Episode

198

Disaster

Everything is going so well, right until it does not. A student tour turns into a deadly turbo lift ride! A chair on the bridge turns into a hot seat! An impromptu audition turns into a radioactive fire! And there is still more trouble. Yet, despite the various issues, the title is singular. See what happens when we put Disaster in the Mission Log.

 

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Discussion

  • regeekery – JD

    I love this episode, I hope John and Ken do too. I want to hear glowing positivity and a proclamation that it totally holds up!

    • regeekery – JD

      yeah, yeah, I know there’s cargo bay sized plot holes and some logic (and logistic) boondoggles that were necesssary due to the running time of the episode. This could have been a 2-parter, maaaaybe it should have been(?)

  • JusenkyoGuide

    Let’s hear it for the ep that gave us THE ultimate in Mary Sue for ST fan ficdom, Marissa Picard!

    In all seriousness, I actually LIKED this ep, it was done well, and tossed the mains out of their comfort zones (Worf, especially. Now, yes, I KNOW it’s been done to death before and all that… but… I have to admit, God did I flash back to this ep when my Japanese wife was giving birth to our sons). That said, Marissa Picard… if you have never read those fics… Well, if you’re the kind of person who appreciates a good painstick’ing, look them up.

  • CmdrR

    Hey, you guys remembered my birthday! Thanks — What? Oh…

    • CmdrR

      She liked the cake, but not the pizza…

    • Earl Green

      Okay…okay. Let’s talk about this. Really.

      I live on the side of a small mountain – really just a hill with delusions of grandeur. I get a fair amount of lightning at my place. I once lost a video editing workstation to a lightning strike, and the connection for the power cord literally melted into the machine, and suddenly I wasn’t doing video production at home anymore! (There’s a whole homeowner’s insurance saga that I’ll spare you; Cliff Notes: things weren’t decided in my favor.)

      But *even that* was more subtle than Starfleet’s patented ‘Splodin’ Consoles. I know an electrical overload is a serious thing, but…really. Harden your electronics against radiation and discharge already. We have a spaceship at Jupiter *right now* that has hardened electronics in a radiation-resistant vault, so the thing can zoom within 3,000 *miles* of the cloudtops. Why are the Enterprise’s consoles primed to go ‘splodey at the merest hint of a power surge? And not just that, but they ‘splode to the point that the unfortunate extra sitting there is offed.

      Where’s the ‘Splosion Suppression button on the LCARS interface? We seem to need one. Really bad. Think of the ensigns.

      • “acting!!”- Jon Lovitz. hahaha, lol, yeah I always laughed at the random debris and rocks or foam thrown for debris and let’s not forget the STEAM!! haha. Really could have gone for one gravity failure

        • Earl Green

          And – and!! – HOSES FROM THE CEILING. Again with you, Enterprise, it’s the hoses from the ceiling.

          • CmdrR

            Utopia Planitia Engineer #1: How are we even going to get all these hoses into the overhead?
            Utopia Planitia Engineer #2: We’ll just have to use less plaster dust.

          • Earl Green

            “I actually think we need just the one hose up here.”

            “That’s okay, just leave the rest up there, not connected to anything. In case they need them later.”

    • lol- Return of the token RED SHIRT death…lol…

  • CmdrR

    OK, make sure you buy a few cases of Peppermint Schnapps before you play ‘spot the plot hole, take a shot.’ It’s a fun episode with great character moments and mostly the story problems don’t take me out of the moment. Just to hit a few, though: Apparently Troi’s empathic senses and the comm badges work on the same frequency… and wouldn’t ya know it, that’s the frequency blocked out by this disaster! The bridge will NOT be talking to the rest of the ship. This is also the episode that proves that when an El-Aurian is napping, do not even try to wake her; Guinan is not coming out of her hidey hole for this ep. And, you mentioned this: Where the heck is the rest of the crew? Here’s one more: when the Enterprise survives one of its many Disaster things, can we just once get a discussion between some parents to the effect, “Really Bob, can’t you find a nice job on a planet somewhere?” Anyway — fun in space!

    • Earl Green

      You do eventually kind of get some of that, except in more of a dramatic vein, with the O’Briens once they move to DS9. Keiko telling Miles that the Cardassians can have the whole gamma quadrant for all she cares, she just wants him to leave the station with his wife and his child.

  • pm

    I’m just happy to hear the Megaforce reference 🙂

  • Earl Green

    I’m glad to find that, after all these years, I’m not the only person vaguely bothered by “The Laughing Vulcan and His Dog”, the minor cult classic written by L.Q. “Sonny” Clemons after he read about the Sybok Incident as the Enterprise was taking him to disembark at that starbase. (There, all the connect-the-plot-dots you could ever need.) B-side: “I Left My Heart In Sickbay (After That Run-In With Those Nausicaans)”. Sensitivity, Sonny. Sensitivity.

    So help me, I kinda like the shot of the turbolift falling away. Whoosh! That was something we hadn’t seen before.

    With all the console-‘splodin’ electrical discharges, we’re just lucky that Data’s head didn’t catch a power surge – he could’ve spent the last 10 minutes of the show talking like Rennie again. (File under: if the Red Dwarf writers did Star Trek for a week.) But here’s a question: why the assumption that Data’s CPU is in his head? Just because he’s human-shaped, we assume his “brain” is where our brains are, and I don’t mean in a bunch of jars on a shelf. Might’ve been an interesting complication if Riker assumed Data’s brain was in his head, and it turns out there’s a octogintuple-core mini-motherboard, but it’s in Data’s left shoulder, and the head alone won’t do anyone any good by itself. But, you know, I get it, that won’t get you Brent sticking his head through a table. There are some weeks when Data is sublime, and he’s the heir to the Questor Tapes. And then there are weeks like this where he’s Future Cop.

    In modern TV, Troi would’ve started wearing a uniform and embarked on her seventh-season bridge officer training something like two weeks after this. It’s interesting and surreal how much of a remove there is between this and Troi finally pursuing that.

    Rally around the flag, guys, I have this great idea. Next week, I want to remake Special Bulletin. IN SPACE.

    • Earl Green

      I also like the idea that Geordi had Gilbert & Sullivan lyrics pulled up on his VISOR’s heads-up display; that was better than what my explanation would’ve been (flying toasters).

  • 1. enlisted experience vs officer in charge. They barely touched the surface, but it is bizarre imo how many officers are on the Enterprise. We went over this w Durraken on “The Drumhead”? When Crewman First Class Medical Technician Simon Tarses was getting grilled. It was nice to see junior officers like Ltjg Monroe, for 6.89 seconds be in charge, but really would have been nice to have the junior crew explored more. “Lower Decks” again was nice, but just the surface..
    2. Keiko helping the injured lady, who can’t figure out the cold pack works better when in contact w skin…hahaha, I guess she was in shock?
    3. When Worf sets the guys bone…just bizarre how the no name characters do not even speak a word. Soooo unnatural. I heard it was an actor royalty payment thing? ugh….
    4. Ro’s presence really highlights the boring nature of the crew in Roddenberry’s perfect world. Minimal arguing and conflict among the main crew? Does not make for good storytelling imo. She was a breath of minimally appearing/random fresh air.
    5. Kids on a starship….? really not something I would have supported- Haha.
    6. It’s funny to IMDB some of these kids who made Star Trek appearances and see what they are up to now…not acting…in production etc… saddest case was Trek III: The Search for Spock…kid who played 9 year old Spock- wow.

    • Earl Green

      Yep, SAG rules. You utter a sound, they’ve gotta pay you more. Even if someone else loops it later (then that person has to be paid too).

      As far as the cold pack goes, remember that Actual Doctor in Contagion, the one to whom Pulaski had to explain the basic usage of a splint? What do they teach in Starfleet Med anyway? Skip basic first aid in favor of How To Argue With Your Captain 101?

  • CmdrR

    Miffed by being second guessed on the bridge, acting Captain Troi consoles herself with 150 kilos of chocolate then swims underwater to engineering to bravely save the ship. Unfortunately, she suffers cardiac arrest and dies in Gene Hackman’s arms.

  • Dave Steph Taylor

    So much happens in this episode, very packed. The problem with episodes like this is there is no real fear of anyone dying. In a disaster movie it is typical to loose quite a few of the survivors.

    1- During the discussion of Keiko and Miles baby name, Riker pipes up with William and I am thinking, it’s Riker’s baby not Miles.

    2- We never heard what the girl’s science project was.

    3- Once thrown into the situation, Picard seems to get along just fine with the kids. He says he is not good around kids, but this may simply be because he has not spent any time with them.

    4- Baby Doctor Worf is just a riot. I too was waiting for him to bite the cord. I can only imagine what a Klingon delivery room is like.

    5- Troi is very shaky at the beginning but ends up handling it well. She does need some better training though or she just might crash the ship some day.

  • Wildride

    “Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that my head will fall off. Once more, let the bodies hit the floor, when the filament strikes, my head will roll on and on.”

    • Gail Gerard

      Bravo.

  • Troy Brooks

    My main problem with the introverted girl was in comparison to the boys who were so outgoing. Neither of the boys would shut up, and it felt a little “let the men talk”

  • always was bummed the saucer separation didn’t happen at lease 2-3 more times during the 7 year run of the show…. could have been done cheaply and just recycle old footage in my opinion…oh well

    • Dave Steph Taylor

      Ya, they should have done it a bit more

    • John Anderton

      Saucer separation only happens when you use that fake space cream.

  • I have to disagree w the thought that not a lot happened w character development happened. I liked how Troi got called out on her rank/utility. She had to face her “oh sht” moment, look in the mirror and realize she was just a pretty face w rank. Sad but true. Did she even go to the Academy? I hope so, but there are direct commissions based on skill. Also Picard facing his dislike of children. I enjoyed his growth. Would have been nice to see one of the kids again.

    • Dave Steph Taylor

      Ya, Troi really has to step it up in this one. Good thing she does not crash the ship 😉

  • Anyone see this crazy conspiracy article suggesting the episodes blond kid John Christian Graas actor is they crazy church shooter Dylan Roof?

  • Low Mileage Pit Woofie

    The look in O’Brien’s face and the tone in his voice as he has to explain what’s going on to a clueless Troi is one I have shared every time I’ve had to explain to a manager why the spreadsheet they had asked me to make for them for can’t do the magical things they want…

  • Gail Gerard

    OK..whose idea was it to have the whiny kids in the weird one piece jumpsuits?

    And what was up with those boots on the little girl? I think the sixties called and they want their go go boots back. LOL

  • John Anderton

    At least they got the title right.

  • Robert Hackett

    I’m surprised no one mentioned this, but under International Laws of War today, no medical personnel; eg doctors and counselors, are allowed to bear arms or take an active role in command. They are by definition non-combatants. In 2017, if a doctor or ship’s counselor found themselves on the bridge of a Navy vessel, they would not be allowed to take command in a crisis, in fact this is why they are not trained for this. Even if their rank is superior. This is done to protect medical personnel from being fired upon and targeted by the enemy. They have the (hopeful) shield of law to protect them. I find it curious that under the “savage” society of today, this is addressed, but by the 24th century, it does not seem to be a problem. Yes, I know there is no enemy attack going on, just a general emergency, but the rules still apply.

    There is another episode where Dr. Crusher wants to take command coursed to fill in on the bridge in a crisis. This is also a huge violation. Again, doctors are forbidden from these activities.