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Disaster (episode)

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This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
"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 726 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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When a quantum filament strikes the Enterprise, the command crew is split into four groups, with no way to communicate, they must all face perilous journeys to save the ship.

Contents

Summary

After completing a previous mission to Mudor V, the crew of the Enterprise 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, practicing singing. 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.

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 repressurize it after the fire is extinguished.

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

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


"Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Din, din, don. Din, din, don."

- Picard, Marissa, Jay Gordon, and Patterson (all singing)


"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 Riker, and Marissa

Background Information

  • This is the last episode aired before Gene Roddenberry's death on 24 October 1991.
  • Prior to "commissioning" the children in the turbolift, the children's collars have pinholes punched in them from Picard's rank pips from previous takes.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • The back piece that Patterson fashions for Picard's plaque is different when Picard takes it into his ready room.
  • Even though O'Brien refers to her as "Lieutenant Monroe," she wears the rank pips of a Lieutenant junior grade, and the script identifies her as "Lieutenant Monroe," Jana Marie Hupp is listed as "Ensign Monroe" in the episode's credits.
  • At different times the script indicates that the character of Monroe is male and female.
  • 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.

Video and DVD releases

Links and References

Main Cast

Guest Stars

Co-Stars

Uncredited Co-Star

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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Season 5 		Next episode:
"The Game"
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