History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E22Emergence

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: To this day, no part of the canon has ever touched on this episode again. The fate of the emergent lifeform, or the fact that the Enterprise would probably have wound up being spacedocked for the rest of its existence with every scientist they could throw at it crawling through its innards trying to figure out how it became sentient and technologically reproduced over the course of a week and ''why'', is never even brought up.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Subverted. The ship doesn't turn evil, but rather develops its own primitive instincts that drive it create a sort of offspring of itself. It has no interest in the crew except when they are helping or hindering it in its goals. (Though it does [[ObliviouslyEvil shut off life support and divert its power]] in its desperation to save its offspring.)

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The holodeck characters from the orient express hologram may be considered as this to each system of the ''Enterprise''.

* RealitySubtext: Picard's discussion of ''Theatre/TheTempest'' and its EndOfAnAge themes mirrors the imminent end of this series, and ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' and the then-upcoming ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' assuming the mantle of the "current" ''Franchise/StarTrek'' shows. Additionally, Picard's mention of Prospero's performing "one final creative act before giving up his art forever" referenced writer Joe Menosky's having written the script under the assumption that it would be his last time working on the franchise -- he would, in the event, return for much of the run of ''Voyager'', and briefly on ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: To this day, no part of the canon has ever touched on this episode again. The fate of the emergent lifeform, or the fact that the Enterprise would probably have wound up being spacedocked for the rest of its existence with every scientist they could throw at it crawling through its innards trying to figure out how it became sentient and technologically reproduced over the course of a week and ''why'' is never even brought up.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: To this day, no part of the canon has ever touched on this episode again. The fate of the emergent lifeform, or the fact that the Enterprise would probably have wound up being spacedocked for the rest of its existence with every scientist they could throw at it crawling through its innards trying to figure out how it became sentient and technologically reproduced over the course of a week and ''why'' is never even brought up.

* AnachronismStew: The ship's "unconscious", as visualized on the holodeck, has a few characters clearly out of place, such as a Medieval KnightInShiningArmor.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Subverted. The ship doesn't turn evil, but rather develops its own primitive instincts that drive it create a sort of offspring of itself. It has no interest in the crew except when they are helping or hindering it in its goals. (Though it does [[ObliviouslyEvil shut off life support]] in its desperation to save its offspring.)

* RealitySubtext: Picard's discussion of ''Theatre/TheTempest'' and its EndOfAnAge themes mirrors the imminent end of this series, and ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' and the then-upcoming ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' assuming the mantle of the "current" ''Franchise/StarTrek'' shows.

What they find there is a program of The Orient Express, populated by a hodgepodge of anachronistic characters. Data attempts to depolarize the power grid from within the program, but the train conductor turns hostile -- with the holodeck safeties off, they have no choice but to back off. The crew also notices that events within the holodeck reflect what goes on in the real world. When the train changes tracks, for instance, the ship changes course.

As the nodes expand and take over more of the ship's functions, Data observes that they resemble a neural net, not unlike a primordial version of his own or that of a humanoid. He concludes that an intelligence is [[TitleDrop emerging]] from the ship's processes, and that the holodeck is where its thoughts and instincts are expressed. The crew therefore decides to return there, but with a less confrontational approach, in hopes they can regain control of the ship without destroying the nodes.

-> '''Picard:''' If the ship is truly an emerging intelligence, then we have a responsibility to treat it with the same respect as any other being.

Meanwhile, Cargo Bay 5 has become a new center of activity. A bizarre object is growing there, fueled by the ship's power. The ship approaches a nearby white dwarf star and starts drawing vertion particles from it (Picard noting that the holodeck train was heading for a place called "Vertiform City"). The object in the cargo bay starts growing rapidly from the particles, but only briefly, as the star is exhausted of particles in only a matter of seconds.

After things have returned to normal, Data visits Picard to invite him to a small recital he is putting on of a scene from ''The Tempest''. In parting, he asks the captain why he allowed the ship to create and send off the new entity, when its nature was unknown.

-> '''Picard:''' The intelligence that was formed on the Enterprise didn't just come out of the ship's systems. It came from us. From our mission records, personal logs, holodeck programs, our fantasies. Now, if our experiences with the Enterprise have been honorable, can't we trust that the sum of those experiences will be the same?

--> '''Picard:''' "O brave new world, that has such people in it."

On the bridge, as the Enterprise is scouting nearby systems for potential colony sites, another computer glitch occurs when the ship suddenly engages its warp drive on a random heading for several moments. Much to the crew's surprise, on further investigation they find that this was no random glitch, but that it saved them from a growing theta flux distortion that was about to destroy the ship - a distortion that the sensors shouldn't have been able to detect in the first place.

What they find there is a program of The Orient Express, populated by a hodgepodge of anachronistic characters. Data attempts to depolarize the power grid from within the program, but the train conductor turns hostile - with the holodeck safeties off, they have no choice but to back off. The crew also notices that events within the holodeck reflect what goes on in the real world. When the train changes tracks, for instance, the ship changes course.

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The holodeck characters from the orient express hologram may be considered as this to each system of the enterprise

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: The episode starts with Data playing Prospero from ''Theatre/TheTempest''. At the end, Data chooses to perform the scene in which Miranda first encounters other humans for his recital, which he decided was topical after the events of the episode. Picard can't resist quoting a line.

Malfunctions occur aboard the ''Enterprise'' due the ship creating a new life form.

Data