Disaster (episode)

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"Disaster"
TNG, Episode 5x05 Production number: 40275-205 First aired: 21 October 1991
←	104th of 176 produced in TNG	→
←	104th of 176 released in TNG	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 176 released in TNG Remastered
←	211th of 727 released in all	→
Teleplay By Ronald D. Moore Story By Ron Jarvis & Philip A. Scorza Directed By Gabrielle Beaumont
45156.1 (2368)
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A quantum filament disables the Enterprise, leaving Counselor Troi in command on the bridge, and various groups on different parts of the ship facing perils alone.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Memorable Quotes 3 Background Information 3.1 Story and production 3.2 Continuity 3.3 Reception 3.4 Video and DVD releases 4 Links and References 4.1 Main Cast 4.2 Guest Stars 4.3 Co-Stars 4.4 Uncredited Co-Star 4.5 References

[edit] Summary

After completing a previous mission to Mudor V, the crew of the USS Enterprise-D are taking some time off before their next assignment. Riker, Worf, Data, Chief O'Brien and a pregnant Keiko O'Brien are in Ten Forward discussing what to call Keiko's baby, if it's a boy. Lieutenant Commander La Forge is in a cargo bay with Dr. Crusher, "auditioning" for a play. Counselor Troi and the Captain are on the bridge with the winners of the school science fair.

As the captain and the children enter a turbolift, and Chief O'Brien leaves it, the ship is struck by a collection of quantum filaments, disabling primary life support, main engines, and computer control, and cutting off the bridge from the rest of the ship. The Conn officer, a Lt (JG) takes the lead and begins to co-ordinate before being killed herself, leaving Troi in charge.

While Troi is left in command on the bridge, Ten Forward is turned into a make-shift sickbay, due to heavy damage in sector 23A that has blocked off access to the main sickbay and Engineering. Worf is left in charge of Ten Forward with Keiko assisting, as Riker and Data attempt to reach Engineering via a service crawlway. Meanwhile, La Forge and Dr Crusher are kept busy with a plasma fire, and the radiation given off, which will eventually cause the containers of quaratum thruster fuel in the bay to explode. The Captain and the children are left trapped in an unstable turbolift.

Picard decides that they must leave the turbolift and climb the emergency shaft. He helps the children overcome their fear by giving each child a rank in his "crew", giving each of them one of his rank pips. Then, using optical cabling from a panel, they manage to tie themselves together and escape while singing the climbing song Frère Jacques.

On the bridge, Ensign Ro demands that they separate the saucer section from the rest of the ship, because the antimatter containment field is failing and they can't stop it from the bridge. However, Troi decides to not abandon the rest of the ship, and transfer some power to the consoles in Engineering in a hope that someone is there to fix the problem in the stardrive section.

Data and Riker are trapped between a coolant leak and a 1/2 million amp arc of electricity in the crawlway. Data uses his body to break the circuit, and fortunately, his head remains operable, which Riker disconnects and takes to Engineering with him.

La Forge and Dr. Crusher decide that the best way to solve their problem is to open the outer bay door, evacuate all the air from the bay into space, and then re-pressurize it after the fire is extinguished.

In Ten Forward, Keiko goes into labor while helping in the treatment of wounded crew members. With Worf's help, she delivers her baby, which is a girl. Worf says the baby looks like Chief O'Brien. La Forge and Dr. Crusher succeed in their plan to extinguish the fire, and re-pressurise the bay. Data and Riker successfully stabilize the antimatter containment with the power from the bridge, and avert a warp core breach.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Can I be an officer, too?"
"Well let me see, uh, your science project involved radishes, did it not?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then I shall appoint you my Executive Officer in charge of radishes."

- Patterson and Jean-Luc Picard

"No, I mean contractions...I'm going into labor!"
"You cannot! This is not a good time Keiko!"

- Keiko O'Brien and Worf

"Congratulations, you are fully dilated to ten centimeters. You may now give birth."

- Worf, to Keiko O'Brien

"The computer simulation was not like this. That delivery was very orderly."
"Well, I'm sorry!"

- Worf and Keiko, during the birth of Molly O'Brien

"Push, Keiko. Push. Push! Push!"
"I am pushing!"

- Worf and Keiko, during the birth of Molly

"You have the bridge, Number One."
"Aye, sir." (Riker and Marissa reply at the same time.)

- Picard, William T. Riker, and Marissa

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Story and production

• Jeri Taylor commented, ""Disaster" was pitched by a couple of outside writers and it's something we had never done before. I believe in variety I that it freshens a series. If you see the same story week after week it becomes deadly dull...I'm very much for breaking formula, changing something and doing a different kind of story. It was let's do something different – stop them dead in space and give them lots of problems. I thought some fans thumbed their nose at it, but in a mix of varied stories it was a good infusion of life." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)
• Teleplay writer Ronald D. Moore recalled, "I thought let's just have fun with it. We put our people in interesting and fun situations. It was nice to put Troi in the captain's chair and Picard in the elevator shaft. It was very episodic, and I remember the best moment was when we were breaking the story. Michael left the room and we were looking at different elements – Data and Riker in the powertube, in particular – and somebody said, 'What if Riker takes Data's head off?' Michael came back in and we said, 'You're going to hate this, but what if we took his head off?', and he laughed and rolled his eyes and said, 'Do it. No one will let us do it, but go ahead, it'll be fun.' I wrote it and Rick [Berman] never said a word. It's amazing that we got away with it." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)
• When asked, Moore denied that "The Laughing Vulcan and His Dog" was a reference to Sybok. He explained, "I just liked the image the title of the song conjured up." [1]
• An early draft of the episode had the Enterprise colliding with an asteroid, but the writers, sensitive to scientific concerns that an asteroid would not cause the damage described in the script, "invented" the quantum filament. (Star Trek Encyclopedia)
• This was the last episode aired before Gene Roddenberry's death on 24 October 1991.
• At the end of the episode, the children present Picard a commemorative plaque with their full names on it. The characters' last names are essentially the same as those of the actors who played them.

[edit] Continuity

• This episode is the first appearance of Molly O'Brien.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine humorously refers to the events of this episode in "Accession". Keiko becomes pregnant again, and Worf decides to take a vacation when the time comes for her to give birth so he would not need to help with the birth again. In DS9: "The Begotten", Miles O'Brien also references missing the chance to witness the birth.
• Deanna Troi references this episode in the episode "Thine Own Self", when she wishes to become a bridge officer.
• The Jefferies tube junction set appears for the first time in this episode. The set is still one level here and not attached to the main engineering set.

[edit] Reception

• Michael Piller remarked, "I think "Disaster" was a fun show, it achieved everything that we set out to do. Ron wrote a nice script, I loved the stuff with Data's head disembodied. It had a real pace and rhythm. It didn't reach the upper echelon of episodes for me because it didn't really have a mystery or science fiction base to it." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)
• However, Piller regretted the direction that Ro Laren took in the episode. "We gave her the role of the disbeliever who had nowhere to go but lose in the end because she didn't believe Troi. I think, as I wrote in a memo, it would have been much better if she'd been around a year with some victories before we threw her right into that situation to look rather foolish. And I didn't like the moment where she had to come back and say, which was almost the same arc as that character in the opening who apologized to Data, 'Gee, you were right, Counselor and I was wrong, and I respect you.' To me, after Troi made the right decision in a crisis, Ro's character, and I'm not sure if anybody would agree with me on this, would have said, 'You still could have killed him and I still think I was right and you're just lucky it came out this way.' That's the way I would have ended it with her. The bridge sequence was my least favorite part of the show because it seemed very predictable to me." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)

[edit] Video and DVD releases

• Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 53, 5 October 1992.
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 5.2, catalogue number VHR 4761, 22 July 2002.
• As part of the TNG Season 5 DVD collection.

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Main Cast

• Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as William T. Riker
• Brent Spiner as Data
• LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Worf
• Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi

[edit] Guest Stars

• Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien
• Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien
• Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren
• Erika Flores as Marissa Flores
• John Christian Graas as Jay Gordon Graas
• Max Supera as Patterson Supra

[edit] Co-Stars

• Cameron Arnett as Ensign Mandel
• Jana Marie Hupp as Lieutenant Monroe

[edit] Uncredited Co-Star

• Tadeski twins as Molly O'Brien

[edit] References

amp; antigrav; antimatter containment; astrophysics; battle bridge; cargo bay; commemorative plaque; confinement mode; cosmic string; counselor; docking latch; drive section; emergency bulkhead; emergency hand actuator; emergency procedure alpha two; emergency thruster pack; engineering station; USS Enterprise-D; "Frère Jacques"; Gilbert and Sullivan; Gonal IV; hydroponics; hyronalin; "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General"; Ishikawa, Hiro; isolation protocol; "The Laughing Vulcan and His Dog"; O'Brien, Michael; O'Brien, Molly; Mudor V; Number One; ODN conduit; The Pirates of Penzance; phaser array; plasma fire; polyduranide; power coupling; primary school science fair (primary school); quantum filament; quaratum; radish; saucer section; saucer separation; science officer; sickbay; Starbase 67; Starfleet Emergency Medical Course; suicide; swarming moth; Ten Forward; torpedo bay; tricorder; turbolift, turboshaft, warp core breach.

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