[Nate the Great]

January 25th, 1988, "Angel One"

Ugh, here we go...

No fiver
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

Summary of huge plot holes:
* There's no reason for Angel One to be specified as having twentieth-century technology, especially because they're going to be shown to have disintegrator fields and subspace radio at bare minimum.
* Relying on platinum did nothing but kill time. Scanning for humans as opposed to Angel One-ians would've saved time and created fewer plot holes.
* What did the disease plot accomplish other than killing time and giving the rest of the crew something to do? It's not like there weren't umpteen other possible subplots that could've done the same thing and provided opportunities for characterization. Furthermore, where were the transporter biofilters this week?
* There's far too much of the common Trek cliche of using "Prime Directive" to refer to all Federation law. This has to stop.
* In the early script Wesley's field trip caught the disease from an actual planetside field trip. The biofilter should've caught it. In the episode as presented it was a holodeck field trip. How and why could the holodeck create real viruses? Aren't there safeties in place to stop this sort of thing?

Captain's log, stardate 41636.9. As feared, our examination of the seven year overdue Federation freighter, Odin, disabled by an asteroid collision, revealed no survivors. However, three escape pods were missing, suggesting the possibility of survivors.

Why did it take seven years for Starfleet to get around to looking for survivors?

PICARD: Counsellor, as this is a female dominated society, you might wish to make the initial contact.

Time to bring up SF Debris again. This is a patently ridiculous statement. The Federation is about tolerance. We don't let the biases of other cultures dictate our actions, and we don't let our crews be biased against because of factors beyond their control. And as Chuck said, Janeway didn't turn over negotiations with the Kazon to Chakotay because of their misogyny, that would only reinforce it. Looks like pigs are flying again, Voyager did something right that NextGen didn't!

BEATA: Even a planet as remote as Angel One has heard of Starfleet. Searching the galaxy for survivors seems a petty task for one of their mighty vessels.

I'm with Beata, why is the flagship doing this mission? It's not like the armaments of the Enterprise will be needed, aren't there diplomatic or science vessels about that could handle this?

PICARD: I want all departments prepared for a warp six trip into the Neutral Zone as soon as the away team completes its mission.
WORF: Trouble, Captain?
PICARD: Insurance. Romulan battle cruisers have been detected near one of our border posts.

Seems like a prime opportunity to leave a shuttle or the saucer section behind. Too bad neither the writer nor Picard thought of it.

RIKER: Data, what's the best way to go about finding Ramsey and the other survivors?
DATA: If we can isolate something unique to the Odin survivors, perhaps an element not otherwise found on Angel One, we can utilise the Enterprise scanners.

Are you telling me that the Odin survivors and the natives are of the same species and the scanners can't tell them apart? Furthermore, this element thing (later determined to be platinum) does nothing but pad the episode while bringing in plot holes. If the humans of the Odin could be found now, what would it matter? And are there really habitable planets that don't have any platinum? Not one bit?

PICARD: Lieutenant La Forge, you have command until further notice. Please, make the proper ship's log entries.
LAFORGE: Aye, sir.

Geordi's in command? I'll overlook Dr. Crusher in this case, there's a disease on board and she needs to be working on it. But there's the chief engineer (whoever that is this week, wink wink) who can take command, it's not like there's a crisis in engineering at the moment.

LAFORGE: [OC]: Bridge to Sickbay how are you Doing, Doctor?
CRUSHER: We have more sick than we do beds. So far I've been forced to confine over three hundred to their private quarters.
[Bridge]
LAFORGE: We're going to be seriously undermanned if we're forced to engage the Romulans in battle.

There should've been a substitute starship on the way to the Romulan border by now, why is our crew still talking about this? And what's with the confining to quarters? It's been less than a day and somehow there's no uninfected section of the ship left, what does it matter?

CRUSHER: It's that smell. That's how the virus travels. An airborne particle whose sweet scent inspires deep inhalation. And once inside the body, it becomes that damned virus. I have work to do.

What does this have to do with anything? I thought that the airborne nature had already been determined. As SF Debris would say, you're filling plotholes that nobody was wondering about!

RIKER: And what about the Romulans entering the Neutral Zone?
DATA: The border outpost reports a contingent of seven Romulan battlecruisers within sensor range. The USS Berlin has answered the distress call. However, should hostilities erupt, both the outpost and the starship will be out-gunned. It is felt that the Enterprise's presence in the area will be a vital show of force.

Seven ships in the Neutral Zone at once, and none of them have asked for permission from Starfleet? I call that an act of war that can't be hidden from. I can't think of a single nonmilitary mission in Trek history that required seven ships in the same place.

CRUSHER [OC]: This virus is totally out of control here. Until I know exactly what I'm dealing with, I can't let anyone new be exposed.

Totally out of control. Last time I checked, the number of deaths is...zero.

RIKER: Understood. Doctor, would this virus have any effect on Mister Data?
CRUSHER [OC]: Not likely.

It's not like he was infected with polywater intoxication a few months ago...

DATA: And the USS Berlin can safely withstand a Romulan attack, and deducted our time to destination at maximum warp speed. That leaves Doctor Crusher forty eight minutes to develop an inoculants to the virus.

One starship can fight off seven Romulan warbirds for an hour? I don't think even the Enterprise can do that!

Memory Alpha

* Production had to be shut down for a few days because the script wasn't ready yet. It will happen again during "Arsenal of Freedom." I thought production work for several episodes happened at the same time. The idea that the only script available to work on at this time is "Angel One" is also terrifying.
* Props from this episode were reused in several future episodes. I wish that didn't happen so much.
* First mention of the Romulans in NextGen. In retrospect it seems odd that it took this long.
* It was Gene who did this temporary rewriting of the Prime Directive to cover all interactions with non-Federation cultures regardless of technological level. So once again it's Gene I can blame. As an idea man he's great, but when it came to the application of such on a practical basis he really needed a few more leashes on him.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Isn't it convenient that Dr. Crusher was never completely stricken with the virus?
* Supposedly the biofilters don't exist yet. Still a sad excuse if you ask me.