Re-Watching DS9

[Lord Garth]

"Contagion" (TNG)

I decided to put this episode on before "To the Death", since both episodes deal with the Iconians. The Enterprise finds about Iconia through the Yamato, which travelled into the Neutral Zone to learn about the Iconian Gateway, to try to keep it from falling into Romulan hands.

The mystery of the Iconians keeps the audience wondering about them right up until the end of the episode when it's revealed they might not have used the Gateways to conquer but to escape from conquers of their own. Picard going through Captain Varley's log entries add the sense of mystery and build up a sense of suspense about the power of the Iconians.

This episode made much better use of the Romulans than "The Neutral Zone", where their appearance amounted to "We're back!" and nothing else. The Romulan sets look dark and sinister, which befits an adversary worthy of the Federation. Carolyn Seymour was perfect as Sub-Commander Taris. I can see why they wanted to bring the actress back as Commander Toreth in "Face of the Enemy".

The virus from the Iconian probe that affects the Yamato then spreads to the Enterprise and the Romulan Warbird was an effective diversion since only discovering an Iconian Gateway would've been too thin for an entire episode. The systems failures on the Enterprise and the Romulan Warbird make it look like anything could go wrong at any moment.

Highlights: the music. Have to mention the soundtrack. Every musical beat is there for a dramatic reason, rather than just being in the background, adding to the tension. From the appearance of the Romulans to the fear that the Romulans might fire on the Enterprise to the increasing dread that grows over the course of Varley's long entries.

The craziest scenes were 1) the Enterprise crew thinking they were about to be fired on, like I already mentioned, 2) the turbolift malfunctioning and tossing Geordi around like a ragdoll, including right into the bridge; and 3) Picard stepping through the Gateway and onto the Romulan bridge! O'Brien manages to get Picard out of there, and nice of Riker to help Taris so her ship wouldn't be destroyed by accident.

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Getting to the part that's relevant to DS9. Picard wanted all information they gathered about the Iconians to be destroyed. The last surviving station on Iconia was also destroyed. The Federation definitely didn't want this technology to fall into the wrong hands. And it's interesting that the DS9 writers thought back to this episode of all things to follow up on from TNG. But it makes perfect sense. If the Dominion had the Iconian Gateway, they could bypass the Wormhole and put Jem'Hadar troops anywhere they want.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I think people generally think Contagion is okay. Not the best episode of season two, but somewhere in the upper third.

For me though? It's my favourite of the season. Top of my ranking, just above Q Who and Measure of a Man. It's got another great Romulan commander, an away mission to a planet, the only other Galaxy class ship in TNG, some interesting lore about the Iconians, and Geordi's wild ride in the turbolift. Plus I'll award it a bonus point for giving us To the Death.

I should take a point away for being a blatant remake of The Last Outpost, but nah. 9/10.

 

[Farscape One]

I absolutely love "Contagion"!. It was excellent from start to finish.

From seeing the Yamato blow herself up to the Enterprise and the warbird leaving orbit as we watch the installation on the surface blow up.

Plus, Riker gives us a great explanation on why the Enterprise is so lucky.

"Fate. Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise."

 

[DonIago]

I should take a point away for being a blatant remake of The Last Outpost, but nah. 9/10.

"The Last Outpost" deserved this opportunity to redeem itself.

I seem to remember it being pretty shocking when Yamato was destroyed with all hands, presumably including families and children! That might have deserved a little more of a dramatic beat, but it's fine as-is.

To me the only weakness of the episode, besides Varley's woeful failure to appreciate the status of his ship, was that the solution amounts to, "Turn it off and back on again", which seems like something that should have occurred to Our Heroes before things reached critical mass (literally in the case of Yamato).

 

[Bad Thoughts]

the solution amounts to, "Turn it off and back on again",

Even in the 24th century, Microsoft makes running computers opaque.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Interesting fact about "To The Death" is that the writers actually were using "T'Kon" rather than "Iconian" in the script up until almost the last moment because they got their TNG episodes mixed up.

 

[Farscape One]

"The Last Outpost" deserved this opportunity to redeem itself.

I seem to remember it being pretty shocking when Yamato was destroyed with all hands, presumably including families and children! That might have deserved a little more of a dramatic beat, but it's fine as-is.

To me the only weakness of the episode, besides Varley's woeful failure to appreciate the status of his ship, was that the solution amounts to, "Turn it off and back on again", which seems like something that should have occurred to Our Heroes before things reached critical mass (literally in the case of Yamato).

In a sense, "The Last Outpost" DID have its chance to redeem itself... by DS9 later casting Armin Shimernan as Quark.

He did a phenomenal job bringing layers to the Ferengi on DS9. I think he redeemed them.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

To me the only weakness of the episode, besides Varley's woeful failure to appreciate the status of his ship, was that the solution amounts to, "Turn it off and back on again", which seems like something that should have occurred to Our Heroes before things reached critical mass (literally in the case of Yamato).

It's funny how the solution seems too obvious now. But it was written back in 1988, by a computer technician, so the problem is mostly that we're all more computer literate now.