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Star Trek: The Next Generation 2x11 "Contagion" - Full Watch-along (Patreon)

Published:
2026-03-31 18:00:06
Imported:
2026-10

Content

Follow along with me using your own copy of the episode!

Files

Star Trek: The Next Generation 2x11 "Contagion" - Full Watch-along

Comments

Squeesher

Lol @ "Fizzy Lifting Drinks" when Geordi is getting thrown around in the turbolift (or as my addled brain remembers the line, "Lizzy Fisting Dinks") Agreed at the odd pacing. It feels strange. But I like the Iconians and their Gateway tech as a concept. At the end, when Picard is on the Romulan ship, he's hearing English from the Commander lady, and then I guess Romulan in the callouts on their ship. So I guess his universal translator has been disabled by the virus as well, and this lady can just speak perfect English. Not beyond the realm of possibility, but it's on the edge lol Yeah, you nailed at least my view of the episode. Not terrible but fairly forgettable.

Preaching to the Horse's Mouth

I really like this one. A good sci-fi mystery, mysterious tech etc, Picard in archaeologist mode, high tension with the Romulans, some comedic moments (...find me some rocks to throw at them! 😆). Again, Riker and Troi's chemistry sitting in the command centre while Picard is away, they're so good together.

Summer

We are at the point of the season where we lean back and say ‘it is good if its told well, so its good enough.’

William Terry

Great episode! A bit repetitive as bunny saw but I liked the TOS feel to it and the, at the time, the Eighties, new resolution of unplugging the computer and plugging it in again. Geordi getting thrown around in the turbo lift, and the Atoz library in All Our Yesterdays, as well as The Paradise Syndrome deciphering runes, are some of the highlights. TNG was spending more on guests, so we got another actor from Blacula, previously providing Dr Daystrum from The Ultimate Computer, also the Romulan Commander by a veteran British actress. Great reacts bunny!

Jim Jones

Good observation on the actions of the Yamamoto captain. Good intentions, but he rushed into that. Turbolifts don't act like elevators all the time; in that they can go up, down, sideways, etc. That's why Geordi was getting spin cycled. 🤣 Fun facts: * The Yamamoto was the exact same model of the Enterprise. Budget savings! * They used stock footage of the Romulan ship movement throughout the episode. Budget savings!

Bret Kay

I love this one for the Yamato and the Iconians. I enjoy anytime we get to see another starship, and expand a bit on our knowledge of Starfleet. Likewise, I like the world building with the Iconians. This is the second time in TNG we've encountered we've come across technologically advanced aliens that vanished hundreds of thousands of years ago. Like the T'kon in Season 1 and also "the slavers" in TAS. It's neat to get some lore about the deep history of the galaxy.

Preaching to the Horse's Mouth

Riker noticing Troi was uncomfortable because of the crew's tension, Troi being worried about Riker facing the Romulan commander alone, Riker telling Troi to look after the crew, stop🥹😍 They're like an old married couple and mom and dad to the crew. Adorable.

John DiGiantomasso

Naval Historian here. 😃 "Yamato" was the name of the ship - a romantic name for Japan given to a WW2 battleship. "Yamamoto" was the name of a notable Japanese Admiral (planned the attacks on Pearl Harbor and Midway, shot down and killed in 1943 by US P-38s while flying on an inspection tour of Japanese naval instsllations.) The other ship was the "Yamato" named after the WW2 Japanese battlehip. "Enterprise" was the name of a WW2 US aircraft carrier. As for the episode, "use a splint" was 1970's medicine. "Shut it down and restore from backups" was a standard 1970s computer procedure. Pulaski should have been in engineering!

Jack

Not a favorite episode of mine, but serviceable. It's always fun when we get to see another starship. I absolutely share your consternation with the Yamato's captain taking it upon himself to just tromp into the Neutral Zone on his own. That is a major treaty violation, and something that could easily end up in a disastrous incident. I feel like even a starship captain would not be so brazen about committing a violation that could plunge the Federation into war. That definitely seems like something that should have been run up the chain of command. Maybe the Iconian find counts as "exigent circumstances," but it's definitely questionable. Man, watching this in HD, you can see how beat up these sets are already. The paint peeling and missing in the turbolift is especially bad. They need to put into a starbase for maintenance! 😁 It always annoyed me that nobody even suggested towing the Yamato out of the Neutral Zone. Like, how about we grab them with a tractor beam and work on this problem WHILE we're getting the hell out of here? (Yes, it's ultimately a good thing they didn't, since they'd have been way too close to the Yamato when she turned into a giant firework, but they didn't know that was going to happen.) I just wish someone would have suggested it, and maybe the Yamato blows up before Enterprise has a chance to move into towing position. Rewatching it now, I also find it a little odd that Wesley would seek out the captain to talk about his feelings. I know Wes admires Picard, but that still seems like a scene that would've been more appropriate for Troi. Maybe I'm just nitpicking? As a long-time IT computer support guy, I absolutely love the fact that the answer for both Data and the Enterprise was to turn them off and back on again. I guess some things never change? 😆

Greg

I think this is a rare case where I disagree with you Bunny. :) I've always REALLY enjoyed this episode, it's among my favs in Season 2, and overall holds up pretty well. Yes, I see where your coming from with your nitpicks of the episode, and they are valid. The pacing is a bit off, and it feels a bit long. However, I always really enjoy 'split action' episodes like this, where stuff is going on both on the ship and on the planet, and it's fun seeing both the Yamato and the Romulans again. To add on to what others are saying and some of my own thoughts -- The Yamato Captain TOTALLY took a huge risk taking the ship into the Netrual Zone on his own. Even Picard shook his head at that when he was listening to the log entry. Yes, the Captain felt like it was worth the risk. After all, HE figured out where Iconia was based on a star map found on a artifact. I assume the Romulans could have EASILY done the same, and he was afraid it was only a matter of time. In his mind, the risk was worth it to save the Federation from what might happen if the Romulans found Iconia first. There's no telling if or when the Romulans WOULD, of course, or even if they would be able to use the tech there. But the Yamato totally led the Romulans to Iconia, so what they were afraid off almost came to pass. One reason Picard ordered everything destroyed -- now that the Romulans KNEW about this place, they could NOT be allowed to have this technology. (one of the plot problems with this episode is how the Romulans managed to tap the Yamato's logs to get the entries and the virus, but hey, that's typical of Star Trek, LOL) I ASSUME Picard had permission to cross into the Netrual Zone to help the Yamato, though, from Starfleet Command. And had they been able to save the Yamato, their captain would have been court martial'd for sure. Was the Yamato impossible to save based on what LaForge said? Perhaps, we never got the chance to test it. And speaking about Starfleet Command, distances don't mean AS much here in TNG. The Federation is larger, more developed, and more spread out here then they were in TOS, about 80 years in the past. It's easier for ships to stay in contact with Command. What used to take days now takes hours. Several times Kirk had to act on his own to do something cause it would take too long to get the OK from Command. Picard (and other Federation ships) are on tighter leashes. This is a point that hammered into us more in later shows, but it also helps in context here with TNG. Staying with the Enterprise, the Turbolift shafts actually go sideways as well as vertically, to access all parts of the ship. So LaForge was just going on a ride around the ship, at super high speeds. Interesting note about the Galaxy Class -- originally Gene had said there was supposed to only be 6 of them built. However, this was ignored in later seasons and shows as you saw a LOT more of them. Yes, the idea of 'turning everything off, reinstalling from a backup, and powering on again' is both simple and elegant at the same time. We do it all the time for things like computers -- if a virus is bad enough, you wipe everything, re-install from backups, and make sure you don't make the same mistake twice. But it took what happened to Data for the crew to figure out it would work in their case. Wes going to Picard doesn't seem totally a stretch to me. Wes greatly admires and looks up to Picard. And Riker and Troi interacting with each other on the Bridge in that moment was also a nice touch that speaks to the history and depth of their past relationship. Finally, that security ensign who took over Worf's post when he was on the Away Team was both cute and dangerous looking at the same time, LOL

Greg

I have a Masters in American History and did my thesis on American Carrier Operations in the Pacific War, so I'm right there with you. :) It's very fitting Riker mutters the line 'Fate preserves fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise' in this episode as USS Enterprise CV-6 was a VERY lucky ship with fate smiling on her for sure, with how many times she managed to avoid destruction. The Japanese reported her sunk no less then three times during the course of the war, and she always came back for more. At one point the crew morbidly joked it was 'Enterprise versus Japan' cause it sure felt like it to them.

reply

"Turn off & then reboot the system" ...Works 9 times outta 10 solving any tech issues in the 21st century... Still the most effective tech issue solution in the 24th century!

Matthew Graves (Graviton)

"Forgettable" is a fair assessment of this one. Bunny, your misgivings about the pacing are well founded. And the setup with the neutral zone is, let us say generously, not as elegantly implemented as it might be. The main problem I think, however, is that it just hasn't ageed particularily well. It's not that anything is "cringe" or laugably unrealistic. It's just that the whole thing revolves around a concept that is pretty dull by todays standards. I'll explain. Back when this came out, computer viruses were a pretty hot topic. It's not that they were entirely a new phenomenon, but they were a fairly recent entry into the consciousness of the general populace. There had been some highly publicized "outbreaks" and it was very much in the "scary, not well understood by the average Joe" realm. By comparison, these days computer viruses are mostly just kind of a background nuicance to most people. Just another of the irritants that come along with modern life. So a whole episode revolving around what is basically a roundabout journey to get to "reboot and restore from backup" isn't exactly a gripping sci-fi concept. Granted, the stakes are appropriately high here, but it just falls a little flat, to me at least. That said, it's not a bad episode. There's some excitement in spurts. Geordi being bounced around in the turbolift (sans the occasionally referenced "inertial dampers") was the most memorable scene And there was some decent mild humor with the malfunctions on the ship. But it's not really stand out to me as an episode.

Preaching to the Horse's Mouth

The remnants of an ancient society and their tech left behind on an uninhabitable planet, shades of What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Desmond

I really liked Data's "any answer would be mere speculation." line, lol. Always makes me chuckle. The Iconians are cool too, an important part of Trek lore. And the way this story introduces Picard's passion for archaeology.

TJ

This is a decent episode with some good moments, but also a few flaws. It has a solid premise, good pacing, and is an interesting mystery for the crew to solve. The fatherly moment between Picard and Wesley is a nice touch, and the rationale for Picard leading the away team makes sense and doesn't feel forced. Watching the ship gradually go from annoying glitches to life threatening malfunctions gave the plot a sense of urgency... Now the flaws. First, I found it hard to believe that with his ship falling to pieces around him, Captain Varley didn't accept Riker's offer to beam over non-essential personnel. That could have saved hundreds of lives, including the children. Second, I would have thought the response from the Romulans, who are suspicious and paranoid by nature, would have been multiple ships descending on the Enterprise (as we saw in The Enterprise Incident), not just one. Third, wouldn't wiping out all effective memory and rebooting the system have been the first solution they attempted? And finally, I agree with you, wouldn't the Romulans have found this planet with the kick-ass technology by now? Hmm.

Carlos Stevens

Bunny, I think you found the pacing of this episode so different because this was one of the few episodes that only had one story line; most of the previous episodes had 2 or 3 other stories going on at the same time.

bunnytails

True, Riker and Troi are really great together. Hoping to see more of it!

bunnytails

I always forget they can go sideways

Skye Maidstone

I really like this one. I love the concept of ancient civilizations with amazing technology (big Stargate fan). I never really understood why of all the places the doorway could randomly go in the universe .. it happens to go to the Enterprise? As a programmer irl I can forgive the virus gibberish. I never expect realistic depictions of coding (Mr Robot is an amazing exception).