Season: 5 Episode: 5
Original Air Date: 19 October 1991
When I was a bit younger, I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation all the time. I did not see the first season or two until it was in re-runs, as I was pretty young then, but from about the third season on, I was hooked.
At the start of Disaster, there are a few people in ten forward discussing Keiko’s unborn child. William O’Brien is Riker’s suggestion for the child’s name. Chief O’Brien wants it to be Michael. It is a little sad to me, as they end up having a girl, and you’d think that Star Trek technology would be able to tell really quickly what sex the child would be.
Picard has to deal with children that won the science fair. The Captain hates dealing with kids. Even Wesley as a young man was still a child in Picard’s eyes. Of course a plot twist early on gets him stuck with the children in a turbolift leaving Diana Troi as Captain of the ship in the emergency.
Troi wears her ugly purple one piece suit that was supposed to be sexy or something, and looks almost clueless as the bridge is cut off from the rest of the ship.
Picard deals with crying children, and basically commands them as though they were adults, rather than annoying children. His words only lead to more crying. Children really can’t act.
Troi is horrible as a command officer, as she muddles about dealing with her newfound responsibility. Chief O’Brien is great at helping her by giving suggestions, but she looks like a deer in the headlights.
The plot tries to focus on many of the main characters in different areas of the ship trying to get out of their various problems. It makes it too much to write about here as the episode is very compartmentalized and fragmented.
Star Trek wouldn’t be Star Trek without imposing some time line on getting things fixed though. So of course some field is losing power and the ship will blow up if the Councilor does not get it fixed.
So Geordi and the Doctor are in the cargo bay. They have to open the cargo bay door to let the air out to stop a fire and some cargo containers from exploding. And someone has to walk over to another console to close the doors after the air is gone. How ridiculous is this? Have they never heard of timers?
By the end of the episode Data’s head saves the day, and Keiko has her daughter thanks to Worf playing doctor. Definitely one of the stranger episodes I have seen.
I give Disaster a 1.5 out of 5.
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