Contagion

DVD, TNG S2 (Contagion)

Good bits, slow bits, clever bits, boring bits. This is an uneven experience more akin to the first season, and shows they haven't completely ironed out the wrinkles in the yet, even with the increased slickness of Season Two. The Iconian civilization was, in Mr. Spock's words, most fascinating, and presents a concept of world-hopping years before 'Stargate' wrapped a film and a series around it. In fact, the long dead race's technology was revisited in a Season Four episode of 'DS9' with Klingons after the Iconian tech.

One of the best things about the episode is the reintroduction of the Romulans. This time we get to see the whole bridge, but we still aren't afforded the chance to get to know them, one of the missing pieces what might have been a stronger episode. The story could have gone in any number of ways to various degrees - if the Romulans had been integral, or if the chance had been taken to look on them more than simply enemies. The Iconian gateway into other worlds might have proved fertile ground for a chase, with Worf and Picard trying to get Data away from Romulan pursuers, hopping to various environments. The Yamato and Enterprise computer problems could have reached climaxes such as that seen in Geordi's wild ride in a turbolift, which was the action highlight. None of these ideas was fully explored, and we're supposed to feel sorry for the Starfleet dead, simply due to the fact there were a lot of them instead of giving us some investment in them as people.

If only the ideas had been expanded this could have been a classic, but as it stands it's too slow and a little directionless. Something with this many interesting elements should have been more than a curious filler. It was not explained why the gateway went to the Enterprise and the Romulan ship (though I enjoyed Picard's escape option), and while I can imagine it was something like 'the technology shoots out tendrils to connect with places both near and far' and was perhaps attracted by the contagion of the title from which both ships were suffering, it would be better to have a theory voiced on screen. Riker seemed more subdued than usual as if he was fighting illness. It must have been something Pulaski couldn't help with!

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