Hopefully, this big blue ball thingy won't infect Data with any viruses.
Original air date: March 20, 1989
The Enterprise is called into the Neutral Zone to help a fellow Galaxy-class ship, the USS Yamato, which is in the grip of a series of system malfunctions. They arrive too late to help, and Yamato quickly explodes from an antimatter breach. A Romulan warbird decloaks moments later, denying that they had anything to do with the Yamato's explosion but threatening that the Enterprise will go the same way if she doesn't leave the Neutral Zone.
Geordi confirms that the Romulans weren't responsible for the Yamato's destruction, but Picard isn't convinced. After a thorough study of the ship's logs, Picard determines its previous mission: its captain believed he had found Iconia, a mythological planet of "Demons of Air and Darkness," on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone. They met... something... that seems to have caused their system failures. Since Iconia is said to have insanely powerful technology that the Romulans could use to crush the Federation, Picard sets course to the planet the other ship's captain believed was the fabled planet.
Unfortunately, the Enterprise starts coming down with its own set of systems failures, which Data and Geordi fail to solve or determine the cause of. Once they get to what is believed to be Iconia, a probe is launched from the planet's surface, which Geordi—finally realizing what's going on by that time—convinces Picard to destroy before it has a chance to do anything. By his calculations, the probe contained an Iconian computer program that transferred itself into the Yamato's systems when it visited the planet, then into the Enterprise with the ship's logs, and which is attempting to rewrite all of the Enterprise's software in its own image. If they can't get rid of the contagion, the ship will likely explode just like Yamato.
Running out of options, Picard takes Data and Worf down to the surface, into an underground installation discovered by the ship's sensors and proceeds to scout around, looking for anything they can use to determine the origin of or a means to destroy the program. What they discover is something more complex and sinister: an ancient transport union ripping open holes in the space-time continuum to travel through, thus earning the Iconians' nickname of "Demons of Air and Darkness" by their enemies. Picard can see how this technology could be used as a weapon by the Romulans, who promptly show up again to lay claim on the planet. Fortunately, the Romulan ship has come down with their own case of the Iconian computer flu, preventing them from acting on their threats.
While trying to access the Iconian computer, Data becomes infected with the virus as well, shutting down most of his processes instantly, but he's still able to tell Picard how to destroy the compound and the technology within it. Picard manages to use the rip in space and time to escape onto the Romulan ship (stuck on auto-destruct, at this point) before being beamed off. When Data performs a cold boot of his system, the contagion is wiped, and the crew use the same tactic to clean out the ship. Geordi shares the solution with the Romulans before the ship heads back to Federation space.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Deanna quips that were it not for the life-threatening danger from the Enterprise's malfunctions and the Romulans, various systems going on- and off-line for no reason could be funny.
- Ambiguously Evil: The Iconians had a mythical reputation as conquerors, and the probe launched from their homeworld causes the destruction of the Yamato by forcibly reprogramming it's computer with Iconian code. However, as the Iconians themselves are long since extinct, Data's analysis suggests the portal room wasn't for military purposes, and it's acknowledged that the probe's effects may be completely accidental, it's never confirmed whether or not the Iconians were a hostile species.
- Apocalyptic Log: Picard specifically searches Varley's log entries for those including the terms "Romulan" and/or "Iconian", unaware that the log entries including the Iconican program that led to its demise.
- Automatic Door Malfunction: The Enterprise crew witnesses its sister ship, the Yamato, explode with all hands lost due to a failure of its antimatter fuel containment.note The clue leading them to the cause is within the Yamato Captain's personal log; a long-abandoned planet known as Iconia, and an alien scanning probe that the ship encountered while in orbit. As the Enterprise travels towards Iconia, they begin having systems problems, including the invoked trope of the automatic doors failing at random times. When they arrive, the Enterprise encounters an identical probe launched from the surface, and Captain Picard plans to tractor it into the ship to study it. Geordi, suddenly discovering the cause of the malfunctions, desperately tries to hail the bridge, but the communication systems go down at that very moment. The trope is then invoked for drama, as he also tries to use a turbolift in Main Engineering to quickly get to the bridge, but the doors fail to open there as well. Geordi is just barely able to get to the bridge in time, after being thrown about in the malfunctioning turbolift on his way, to warn Picard and the bridge crew of the danger that the probe poses.
- Blind Jump: Played with. Picard triggers the sequence that will destroy the Iconian facility, planning to use the gateway to escape. Even if he can't get to Enterprise, which the gateway will cycle to eventually, wherever he ends up will be better than being blown up. Fortunately, the gateway cycles to the nearby Romulan ship, which Picard figures is better than nothing. By this point, the Romulans have computer failure so bad that their ship is going to blow itself up, and the commander doesn't feel shooting Picard is even worth the effort. He's beamed off when Enterprise detects his signal.
- Captain Obvious: After the Yamato explodes, Data reports that he can detect no life signs on the ship currently disintegrating before the bridge crew's very eyes.
- Characterization Click Moment: In amongst the main plot and some world-building, another important moment in this episode is the establishment of Picard's fondness for tea, earl grey (hot), as well as his recurring archeological interest.
- Chekhov's Gun: In his Captain's Log, Varley mentions being scanned by an Iconian probe. This turns out to be the cause of his ship's malfunctions, as well as those on the Enterprise thanks to uploading some of the data through the comm system.
- Clarke's Third Law:
- Wesley references this trope during his conversation with Picard when he says the ancient Iconian technology sounds more like magic.
- Captain Varley of the Yamato compares encountering the Iconian technology to a caveman confronted by a tricorder.
- Contagious A.I.: The Iconian probes scan ships and try to reprogram them with Iconian software, possibly by complete accident. Unfortunately, said ships tend to get very explodey when the alien software overwrites the programs that keep things like the antimatter fuel safely contained in magnetic fields...
- Continuity Nod: Geordi references Bruce Maddox from "The Measure of a Man" after futilely attempting to repair Data, saying someone with his level of expertise on androids might have had a better chance at figuring out how to set up a proper repair.
- Curiosity Killed the Cast: Captain Varley's curiosity about the Iconians (and a more pragmatic desire to keep their technology out of Romulan hands) leads to the destruction of the Yamato and the deaths of of the 1,000 people aboard, as well as nearly causing the deaths of everyone aboard the Enterprise and the Romulan warbird.
- Disney Death: Data appears to die as a result of the Iconian programming, but after a quick cut to Picard on Iconia, Data wakes up, his own self-repair systems having saved him by wiping his affected memory.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: When Geordi is unexpectedly shocked by a computer panel, Data pulls him away, but accidentally uses too much force and winds up tossing his friend to the floor.
- Due to the Dead: When Data appears to have succumbed to the Iconian programming, Geordi takes a moment to close his eyes respectfully.
- The Dreaded: Legends of the Iconians describe them as dangerous conquerors and "demons of air and darkness", though Picard notes that such accounts were written by the Iconians' enemies after the Iconians were gone.
- Elevator Failure: When the comm system fails before Geordi tells Picard to destroy the probe, he hurriedly tries to take the turbolift to get to the bridge in time. However, the turbolifts are also messed up, so he's thrown around upwards, downwards, and sideways before being flung out once it miraculously reaches the bridge.
- Failsafe Failure: The Yamato's warp core breached because the computer dropped the antimatter containment field prior to all the antimatter being ejected.
- Flawed Prototype: Picard asks if the recurring malfunctions that destroyed the Yamato are an inherent issue with the newly-designed Galaxy-class starships. Geordi isn't able to rule the possibility out until they actually start experiencing the malfunctions for themselves.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Most of the Captain's Log entries from the Yamato are by Captain Varley, but the screen in Picard's ready room also lists entries by Commander Steven Gerber and Lt. Commander Beth Woods (presumably the Yamato's first and second officers, respectively).
- Gallows Humor: When Picard leaves to lead the away team to Iconia, he informs Riker that "the Enterprise is yours". As soon as Picard is out of earshot, Riker mutters "for as long as she lasts".
- Good Old Ways: When one of the nurses in sickbay complains they can't use the bone-knitter to heal a fracture, Pulaski tells them to use a splint instead.
- Great Offscreen War: The war that destroyed Iconia. The only known facts is that it happened 200,000 years ago and that Iconia was devastated by Orbital Bombardment, wiping out all life on the planet.
- Have You Tried Rebooting?: After Data's "self-correcting program" resets him, Geordi reasons they can do the same thing with the Enterprise computers to wipe out the Iconian programming.
- Hero of Another Story: Captain Varley and the Yamato.
- Hope Spot: When the Yamato loses antimatter containment, the ship's primary hull is briefly thrown clear of the explosion intact, suggesting that people may still be alive on board (and prompting Data to run a scan), but within seconds, the entire saucer section's hull burns off, probably from sheer heat or radiation, meaning everyone on board is very dead.
- Idiot Ball: The problems on the Yamato begin almost immediately after they are "scanned" by the Iconian probe, and those of the Enterprise after downloading the logs of the Yamato, yet neither crew make any connection between the malfunctions and the probe, and Geordi only realises what is going on just seconds before the Enterpise is scanned herself, after twelve hours of research.
- It Never Gets Any Easier: When Wesley has trouble accepting the deaths of everyone on the Yamato, Picard tells him that it's no less painful for senior officers, nor should it be.Picard: If ever the time comes when the death of a single individual fails to move us ...
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Data's positronic brain purges the Iconian programming from his system by shutting him down and deleting the affected memory files, leaving Data with a small gap in his memory from when he was on Iconia to when he awoke aboard the Enterprise. Justified due to Data's artificial nature and the fact that very specific memories were deleted.
- Lost Language: Iconian is a lost language, the Iconians having been wiped out roughly 200,000 years ago. The language is not known by any living being, though Data is able to approximate a rough translation by comparing Iconian glyphs to three other ancient languages (Dewan, Dinasian and Iccobar) believed to be derivatives of it. Very rough.Data: This would appear to be manual override.
[presses a control and an Iconian gateway opens]
Data: That was not manual override. - Mood Whiplash: Picard's insightful speech on how dealing with death never becomes easy, even for experienced officers is interrupted by his ordered tea appearing in the replicator as a small potted plant.
- Morton's Fork: Riker isn't keen on Geordi's reboot plan, since it involves turning everything off including the deflector shields while they're "nose-to-nose with a Romulan Warbird." Geordi points out whether it's Romulan disruptors or their own malfunctioning warp engines, they're just as dead if they don't do this.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Iconians' nickname of "Demons of Air and Darkness." Though Picard does put forth the theory that they were only called that because their technology appeared to be magic to those they interacted with, and those species were frightened enough to attempt to destroy the Iconians.
- Narrow Annihilation Escape: Picard, Worf, and Data beam down to the complex the probe was launched from on Iconia and find a control room for the probes, as well as a gateway that can transport individuals to distant planets and places. To keep the technology there from falling into Romulan hands, and prevent the probes from ensnaring anyone else, Picard jams the system by launching a probe, but keeping the bay doors shut. He is only just able to use the doorway to transport to the Romulan Warbird as the complex self-destructs. (Thankfully, the Enterprise crew have figured out the problem and are able to beam Picard away safely.)
- Not Worth Killing: When Picard suddenly teleports onto the Romulan bridge, security surrounds him before the commander calls them off, as the ship is about to self-destruct anyway. Picard is then beamed away by the Enterprise.
- No, You: Picard and Romulan Commander Taris go back and forth like this in their first conversation.Picard: Explain your illegal presence in the Neutral Zone.
Taris: Explain yours. - Oh, Crap!: When Geordi realizes that Picard was about to take the Iconian probe in tow.
- Portal Door: The Iconian gateway connects distant locations by ripping holes in space. It's technology beyond what the Federation can do.
- Rousseau Was Right: When an Iconian probe heads for the Romulan ship, the Enterprise has lost its weapons and can't destroy it, so the fate of the Romulans rests on whether they trust Riker when he says that they need to destroy the probe themselves. Though very suspicious, they decide to trust him and destroy the probe, saving themselves.
- Save the Villain: With the Romulan warbird about to self-destruct, Riker orders that the solution to the Iconian virus be sent over so that they can save themselves.
- He also previously insisted that Taris destroy the Iconian probe being sent to investigate them, since the direct scan by the probe would only accelerate the virus's progression. With the Enterprise's own weapons systems going up and down, he couldn't do it himself, but he makes sure that the Romulans are able to do it and prevent their own destruction.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Varley entered the Neutral Zone in violation of treaty because he discovered the location of Iconia and knew the Romulans could not be allowed to have any technology left there. Picard takes up the mission himself when he reviews Varley's logs and learns of the probe that scanned his vessel.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism:
- Picard finagles one to destroy the gateway by launching all of the probes and forcing the launch bay doors to channel the rocket exhaust into the gate room.
- The Romulans have to deal with theirs being triggered (and then locked) by the Iconian virus.
- Skewed Priorities: Several Romulan officers take the time to surround Picard when he appears on their ship... which is about to explode. Their commander, at least, recognizes the futility of the act and calls them off.
- Smug Snake: Subcommander Taris tries to claim Iconia for the Romulan Empire and threatens to destroy both the Enterprise and the away team, but, given how obvious it is that her ship is suffering from the same problems plaguing the Enterprise, her threats have little weight. Troi suggests that Taris is just trying to project confidence out of pure frustration with her situation.
- Tempting Fate: When Picard asks if Captain Varley would like all the Yamato's non-essential personnel to be beamed around the Enterprise as a safety measure, Varley declines, saying it would be too "presumptive". It's only a short minute later that the entire ship explodes.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Varley mentions that he lost an entire maintenance team when the force field in the open shuttle bay they were working in shut off.
- Unusual User Interface: The Iconian console, which processes commands based on tapping different coloured portions of a logo.
- What's an X Like You Doing in a Y Like This?: When the Enterprise makes contact with the Yamato.Picard: Donald, what's a nice Starfleet Captain like you doing in a place like this?
Varley: It's good to see you again, Jean-Luc, despite your antique humor. - Written by the Winners: Picard mentions this when he figures that the warlike depiction of the Iconians may have been wrong, passed down by those who feared and eventually defeated them.
- The Worf Effect: The USS Yamato, a starship of identical build and design to the Enterprise, being destroyed (complete with the saucer separating and then its hull burning off in front of the main characters!), is meant to show us and the crew that the Iconian computer virus is serious business.
