Genesis (episode)

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"Genesis"
TNG, Episode 7x19 Production number: 40277-271 First aired: 19 March 1994
←	170th of 176 produced in TNG	→
←	170th of 176 released in TNG	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 176 released in TNG Remastered
←	314th of 727 released in all	→

Written By Brannon Braga Directed By Gates McFadden
47653.2 (2370)
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Enterprise crew members de-evolve into prehistoric creatures after a medical treatment by Dr. Crusher goes wrong.

[edit] Summary

Lieutenant Barclay, having diagnosed himself with a lethal illness, goes to see Doctor Crusher - who assures him that he in fact is not suffering from any lethal illness, but instead has a mild case of Urodelan flu. Humans typically exhibit a natural immunity to the flu, but since the T-cells that would normally fight off the infection are dormant, she activates that particular gene with a synthetic T-cell to let the body fight the infection naturally.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Worf's new weapons guidance system is being put to the test. However, out of two torpedoes launched, only one hits its target while the other torpedo swerves off course. With the USS Enterprise-D unable to follow and disable the other torpedo due to a dense asteroid field ahead, Captain Picard and Data leave the ship to disarm the torpedo via a shuttlecraft.

In the meantime on the Enterprise, several crewmembers start displaying strange behavior: Lieutenant Barclay acts unusually motivated and enthusiastic, Counselor Troi finds the atmosphere too dry and cold – constantly changing around the ambient temperature and humidity levels and consuming large amounts of salty foods and water, Commander Riker has trouble with his memory and difficulty concentrating and giving orders, and Worf acts somewhat primitively, eating his food with his bare hands while growling, exhibiting extremely irritable and violent behavior, eventually attacking and biting Deanna in the face and spewing a fast-acting venom from a newly grown gland into Dr. Crusher's face, who, in turn, is rapidly put into stasis to prevent paralysis.

The Enterprise adrift.

Three days later, Picard and Data return to a visibly unmanned and adrift Enterprise. They search the ship and find Troi in her bathtub, having somehow developed into an amphibian-like creature. Upon reaching the bridge and finding it in shambles, with a dead Ensign at the conn and Riker who is attacking the Captain’s aquarium after having apparently turned to a proto-human, Data quickly realizes that the crew is de-evolving somehow. They tranquilize Riker and move on to examine the situation.

Data, after analyzing Riker’s DNA, discovers that a synthetic T-cell has invaded his genetic codes and has begun to activate his latent Introns, a result of Crusher's treatment of Barclay. He explains that Introns are genetic codes which are normally dormant; they are sequences of DNA which provided key physically and behavioral characteristics millions of years ago but are no longer necessary. Counselor Troi’s gill-slits and other amphibious characteristics, for example, are derived from Introns which contain amphibious codes. Because Introns can include genetic material from many different species over millions of years of evolution, it is possible that a wide variety of transformations is occurring among the crew. Since all humanoid life has a similar genetic pattern, the virus will work similarly on all non-human life forms as well, and they will each be de-evolving to earlier from of life in their home-worlds. He informs Picard that he has also been infected by the Intron virus, and is now slowly de-evolving into an earlier from of a primate.

Data and Jean-Luc Picard discover Ensign Dern's body

Realizing that they do not have much time, they decide to act quick. Since Data’s computer in his quarters operates independently from the ship’s computer and is probably still intact, they decide to go there in order to examine the situation further. Arriving at his quarters Data notices that Spot, who has been expecting a litter of kittens, has finally given birth – while herself having mutated into a reptile. Her kittens, however, do not seem to have been affected by the Intron virus that has been plaguing the rest of the crew. Given that Spot’s kittens are unaffected, Data and Picard conclude that the placental barriers and amniotic fluid that serve as a filtration system to protect the fetus in the placenta have probably prevented the Intron-virus from being passed on from Spot to her kittens. They decide that they probably can inhibit the Intron virus by using the natural antibodies in Spot’s amniotic fluid. However, in order for it to be effective on humanoid crewmembers, humanoid antibodies would be necessary. Noting that Nurse Ogawa is expecting, they begin working on extracting antibodies from her.

Data begins to analyze Ogawa's amniotic fluid confirming that it is not affected by the virus. He says that he can use her amniotic fluid as a template for a retro-virus which in turn would neutralize the synthetic T-cell and re-establish the genetic patterns of each host. While working on finding a way to most quickly address the situation, a transformed Worf tries to force his way into sickbay. He appears to be seeking something or someone particular. Picard notices that the bite Worf gave Troi was not to hurt her but rather seemed part of a mating process, and that it appears as if Worf had come back for her. The situation becomes increasingly dangerous as an ever angrier and aggressive Worf almost breaks through the door. Data and Picard cannot just abandon Troi and the others in sickbay, but at the same time, Data needs to continue with his analysis of the amniotic fluid. Picard, who is beginning to experience the effects of the virus himself, suggests distracting Worf and luring him away from sickbay. He suggests extracting pheromones from Troi’s sebaceous glands to lure Worf away from sickbay, so Data can continue his work and the others are safe.

Picard leads Worf on a chase through the Enterprise and eventually manages to knock him out through electrocution in a Jefferies tube. Finally, Data reports that he has found a way to make the Introns in the crew dormant again and at Picard's consent, he floods the ship with a gaseous form of the new virus, turning the crew back to normal.

In sickbay Barclay, who had turned into a spider, nervously asks Dr. Crusher if all this was his fault. She states that actually it was her own fault for having activated a dormant T-cell which, in turn, activated many dormant T-cells. She suggests naming the virus after Barclay, calling it the Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome. Jokingly she tells Deanna that Barclay not only devolved into a spider, a creature which he fears terribly, but also had a disease named after him. Troi sighs, realizing that she better clear her calendar for the next couple of weeks…

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Well... before I begin swinging through the ship, looking for breakfast, we need to find some answers."

- Picard

"What – what's that?"
"It is large, approximately two hundred kilograms. It is heavily armored with an exoskeleton. Life signs appear to be... Klingon."

"Worf!"

- Data responding to a terrified Picard, upon discovering the de-evolved Worf

"He transformed into a spider... and now he's had a disease named after him."
"I think I'd better clear my calendar for the next few weeks."

- Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi, after Crusher finishes talking to Reginald Barclay

"Doctor! My capillaries are shrinking!"

- Reginald Barclay to Beverly Crusher

"Do not approach me unannounced – especially while I am eating."

- Worf

[edit] Background Information

This episode marks the fifth and final appearance of Dwight Schultz (Reginald Barclay) on the series. He would be seen again with the crew in Star Trek: First Contact and also appear in six episodes of Voyager.

This is the only episode of the series directed by Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher), and the first episode of Star Trek directed by a female cast member.

The idea of a Captain and a crewmember returning to their drifting ship, with the crewmembers undergoing a medical crisis, would later be used for VOY: "Macrocosm".

It was written into the script that Gates McFadden's character, Beverly Crusher, would be severely disfigured by Worf. She was promptly put into stasis to prevent the injuries from worsening. The absence of Dr. Crusher from much of the episode gave McFadden more time to spend directing the episode (ironically, production work was hindered by the California earthquake of 1994, and McFadden did not have sufficient time to produce her own "cut" of the episode as a result).

Toward the end of the episode, Dr. Crusher comments to Barclay that it is traditional to name new diseases after the first patient. This tradition, evidently, appeared after our own time period. Eponymous diseases have almost always been named for the first person to describe them in medical literature (Parkinson's disease; Down's syndrome; Marfan's syndrome; Kartagener's syndrome). Rare exceptions from our time include Legionnaires' disease (named for a group of people) and Lou Gehrig's disease (unofficially named for a famous—though not the first—sufferer).

The list of visible transformations include:
- A crewmember, who has de-evolved into a snake-like creature.
- Dern, who had begun to de-evolve before being killed by either Riker or Worf.
- Troi, who has de-evolved into an amphibian.
- Riker, who had de-evolved into an Australopithecus.
- Livingston, Picard's lionfish, de-evolved into a jellyfish.
- Picard, who had begun to de-evolve (according to Cmdr. Data) into a lemur or pygmy marmoset.
- Spot, who had de-evolved into a lizard.
- Barclay, who had de-evolved into a spider-like creature.
- Ogawa, who had de-evolved into an ape-like humanoid.
- Worf, who had de-evolved into a prehistoric proto-Klingon.

Several of the scenes in this episode are reminiscent of scenes in the 1979 Ridley Scott film Alien and its subsequent sequels:
- The look and general atmosphere of the episode after Data and Picard return.
- La Forge and Barclay discovering deck plates corroded by Worf's acidic saliva.
- Picard and Data coming across a fragment of skin shed from a reptilian life form.
- Worf trying to break down the door, denting it inward.
- Worf pursuing Picard through the Jefferies tubes.

Introns are non-coding gene sequences that have been switched off via mutation at some point in an organism's evolutionary history. As introns have been altered, shuffled and deleted over the eons, the actual effects of switching on these sequences would likely result in the death of the organism.

This is the first episode since her promotion that Counselor Troi is seen in command of a duty shift on the bridge.

[edit] Awards

This episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Drama Series; it was also nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Editing for a Series and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 86, 22 August 1994
As part of the TNG Season 7 DVD collection

[edit] Links and references

[edit] Starring

[edit] Also starring

LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

[edit] Guest stars

Previous episode:
"Eye of the Beholder"

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 7

Next episode:
"Journey's End"

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