I LOVED this episode when I was a kid! Too bad the writers only understood evolution as well as 12 year old me. I am going to probably end up ranting about how bad the science is in this episode at some point, but before that I want to talk characters for a bit. Pretty much the entire opening is a throw away but after Picard and Data return we get some quality time with my two favorite characters so that is certainly cool. The costume/makeup/prosthetics on Worf really sell that he is a terrible monster now. And speaking of, how many crew were killed during this episode? And does it count as murder if you deevolve into a rage monster before you kill them? How far do you have to deevolve before it isn't murder? Also, how did synthetic T-cells turn into a virus that ravaged all species across the ship equally? And speaking of all species, why did it have to be humanoid placental cells to make the cure??? WHY WHY WHY?
The episode begins in sickbay where Riker is getting thorns removed from his back while Barclay rants about having every disease under the sun. Data comes in to get some information about Spot who is pregnant. It turns out Barclay has some alien flu so Crusher gives him a dose of synthetic T-cells to turn on his DNA and cure the flu (IKR???) We also find out that Ogawa is pregnant and Beverly is super excited about it. On the bridge Worf is in charge of a test of upgraded photo torpedoes. It all goes great until one of the torpedoes fails to impact and flies off into a dense asteroid field. They can't take the ship in after it so Picard volunteers to take Data and go retrieve it. Data leaves Spot in the apparently cat capable hands of Barclay (he is good at something finally!) On the bridge Worf isn't handling his failure well and Riker tells him to take a break so he heads to Ten Forward to start stuffing meat into his face.
I wasn't kidding about the stuffing part and Troi is pretty upset when she finds him doing so when they were supposed to be meeting for lunch. Worf storms off to go to bed and Troi starts feeling and dry. In engineering Barclay is even more crazy than usual and Riker seems to be going a bit slower than normal. Barclay and Geordi go into a Jefferies tube to find the problem with a plasma conduit and find that the plate has been melted through with some sort of acid. In her quarters Troi is taking a bath when Worf barges in and bites her on the face. They are both taken to sickbay where Crusher finds an acid venom sack on his neck. He sprays her in the face and runs out. Riker tries to send a message to Starfleet about the problems they have been having but can't remember the codes.
Cut to Picard and Data returning a few days later. The Enterprise isn't where it was supposed to be and when they find it the ship is drifting without power. They make there way on board and find that the crew have deevolved into wild animals and are running all over the ship. Troi has turned into an amphibian and Riker is turning into a primitive hominid. In Data's quarters they find that Spot is now an iguana but her kittens are fine leading to the idea that somehow the placenta protected them. But they need Ogawa's humanoid placenta to save the rest of them. Picard is turning into a lemur so there isn't much time. They make there way to sickbay and Data starts working on a cure but Worf is literally pounding down the door to get to Troi. They make a hypospray of Troi's pheromones and Picard scampers off to distract Worf. Eventually he has to stun him with a plasma discharge but it knocks him out just in time and Data makes the cure and they all go on with there lives. Barclay even gets the disease named after him.
Review: I am going to give this a better score than it probably deserves based entirely on having loved it so much as a child. The excessively bad science puts this in the bin with some of the lamer TOS episodes.
5 out of 10
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