Disaster by: Ronald D. Moore from a story by: Ron Jarvis and Philip A. Scorza and directed by: Gabrielle Beaumont

 

“Disaster” is written by: Ronald D. Moore, from a story by: Ron Jarvis and Philip A. Scorza, and is directed by: Gabrielle Beaumont.  It was produced under production code 205, was the 5^th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, the 105^th episode overall, and was broadcast on October 21, 1991.

 

This is obviously not true, however, I would like to believe that “Disaster” started life as what if Worf had to help someone give birth.  It’s one of those images of the episode that resonates for both the comedic potential of Michael Dorn’s extreme straight laced performance and the very human drama of giving birth in a crisis, this crisis being a spatial anomaly putting the Enterprise on lockdown.  The ship is sectioned off, people are injured and one line indicates that there are several redshirt deaths just off-screen.  There is a ticking clock before the containment field degrades which would destroy the entire ship.  “Disaster” is built as a bottle episode around more subplots than any previous episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and writer Ronald D. Moore actually balances them quite well.  An episode of network television only allows 45 minutes for an episode runtime for the hour broadcast slot and by 1991 there had developed the two plot structure, a main A-plot and a B-subplot for an episode.  There would occasionally be a C-plot but “Disaster” can be split between five separate subplots split across four locations on the Enterprise.  Splitting it this way does mean that the two subplots set in Ten Forward can be put together as one, but director Gabrielle Beaumont is still cutting between multiple locations and Moore’s script manages to tell one cohesive narrative.  Moore succeeds at this for the same reason that Worf assisting in the birth of Miles and Keiko O’Brien’s daughter works, because they are putting character first in the story.  Despite Dorn and Rosalind Chao making the subplot work, it’s actually the B-plot for this location, ironically matching the structure of an episode of television on a smaller level.  The A-plot is Riker and Data attempting to find a way out of the bar and into engineering to regain some control of the ship, reasoning that this would be easier than going to the bridge.  Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes are great, Spiner especially as Data is fully willing to sacrifice himself, becoming injured and reduced to a head with full capabilities for disruption of a blocked path.  Data survives and is fully repaired by the end of the episode of course, but the tension and sacrifice is beautiful within the context of the episode.

 

“Disaster” acts equally as responsible for giving the female characters of Star Trek: The Next Generation agency and plots not revolving around men.  Dr. Crusher is paired with Geordi La Forge in a cargo bay, opening their plot giving LeVar Burton the chance to sing “I am the very model of a modern major general” from The Pirates of Penzance, but largely be concerned with a radiation leak.  This radiation leak is another source of disaster for the Enterprise and as communications are cut off, it’s Crusher and Geordi on their own who have to stop the leak and eventually deal with the possibility of being sucked out into space.  Like Keiko’s plotline, this is quite a small plot but it being these two characters, characters who you wouldn’t necessarily expect to be in the cargo bay and just happened to be there by circumstance, it adds a different level of agency.  It also is isolating a male and female character in a space but Moore’s script keeps them on equal footing: Crushser and Geordi are friends, that’s why he sings before the plot begins.  They are colleagues who are working together for a common problem and Crusher is not framed as having any romantic feelings towards or even basic sexual tension with Geordi, it’s tonally suspense for the pair because they could die at any moment as we cut back to them.  This is the same playing field with the major subplot on the bridge.  Deanna Troi is placed in the captain’s chair and outside of the very end of the episode giving her a line of how she would rather be in the first officer’s chair, a charged statement of her attraction towards Riker, her conflict comes from the difficulty of making a decision that would abandon much of the crew and civilians on the Enterprise.  There is an angel and devil on her shoulder, represented respectively by Miles O’Brien and Ensign Ro, Colm Meaney and Michelle Forbes quickly becoming some of the best recurring guests for Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Marina Sirtis is also taking the material she is given and allowing Troi to actually be an emotionally driven character.  She also does not need a man to make decisions and has a cool enough head in leadership.  The way Sirtis spars with Forbes’ Ro Laren is a particular treat as the episode treats all three perspectives of this subplot as having merit.  Ro Laren is acting out of self-preservation while O’Brien is acting on pushing to the last possible moment with the faintest hope for survival.  She is not the one to learn a lesson, that’s Troi learning the “lesson” of having confidence in her ability to lead.

 

The other major lesson of the episode is the piece de resistance, forcing the late great Sir Patrick Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard into a stuck turbolift with his worst fear: three children.  The child actors in this episode are quite good at playing the fear and danger as the plot does eventually leave the turbolift and has them climbing up the shaft, the lift itself collapsing after they exit.  There is a sense that it is both Beaumont’s direction and Stewart as scene partner that is helping these young actors work.  Stewart for his part never quite overcomes Picard’s awkwardness around the children which is an acting choice that makes perfect sense.  There is an early snap at them to stop crying in the face of the crisis before Picard can soften and use the respect of the captain’s chair to help them through the crisis.  The tactic is to enlist them as officers in Starfleet, partially gamifying the crisis, and while climbing singing to keep them focused.  Again, it’s Picard’s intelligence that gets him through a crisis even if around children he is still a complete stick in the mud around them in the end of the episode, he does give them the tour of the areas of the ship that they want, but he is still slightly awkward.  The tension also coming from the fact that these children could die, Picard wishing to be the one to self-sacrifice by staying behind with his broken ankle instead of climbing up the shaft with them.  It’s a mutiny but Picard does fold quite quickly because he knows on some level he has to take responsibility for the lives of these children.  This is the plot of the episode that gives the most time to, it’s the one where the themes of the episode coalesce.  It’s what Star Trek is all about.

 

Overall, despite having an incredibly generic title “Disaster” manages to juggle five separate storylines surrounding a single crisis on the Enterprise beautifully.  It is also this clear step towards stronger serialization of at least the character arcs through episodes that are not directly related to forwarding said arcs.  This is one of those episodes that’s doing something quite different for an episode of television in 1991 and for a bottle episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  There are only slight balls being dropped, mainly in just how one of the plots while good is given not quite as much as the other plots of the episode.  It does, possibly for the first time, give every character listed in the opening credits, and the post-opening guest credits, at least one moment to shine as their own, unique character.  9/10.