Uggh. Holodeck as deathtrap yet again; and an implausible plot to boot. One of my least favorites.

I liked it.

And isn't the title "Emergence"? G before A has a hard sound, whereas the title is phonetically pronounced "Emerjence"

Title since corrected by the moderator

What, you mean trains can ONLY run on those weird track things?

The ship sure picks an odd analogy to the Enterprise on the holodeck. It equates the starship to a train. is it just me or does this seem flawed? The Enterprise has free range in 3-dimensions and is not limited in its travels to a track. I personally think a boat would have been a much better analogy, and c'mon, with 1000 people on board and creating holodeck programs, there's gotta be a boat bouncing around somewhere in there.

Then again, the holodeck conductor brakes the train much too rapidly and derails the thing, so maybe the ship really was stuck with this weird train contraption thing.

C'mon people, you better start lifting harder or we are going nowhere!

Is it just me, or does the holodeck train recover amazingly quickly from its derailment. Sure, the computer could have had the holodeck re-rail the train in a few seconds, but I'm curious how that works into this big analogy thing the computer feels compelled to maintain.

Yeah, you thought that revolving door back at that fantasy casino was a pain ...

Where is the holodeck arch located in the computer's program? The officers always enter into the simulation through the little train door, and when the conductor tells them to leave they exit through that same little train door and the conductor seems pleased enough. But, they come back and Worf presents the conductor with three tickets! Where did he get these? Usually if you can purchase tickets on-board you do so from the conductor. It is possible that they replicated the tickets on the ship, but then how did they know to make their destination Vertiform City? The other time they came in the only desitination mentioned was Keystone City.

Along the same lines, if the tickets were bought inside the simulation, how does Picard know the train it headed to Veritform City? When the ship begins grabbing veritron particles, he mutters "Of course, Vertiform City" as if he's been listening in. Yet no audio plays during the bridge scenes, there is no indication of any general, open audio or video communication.

Earthquakes and falling bricks are no match for a Betazed!

When the earthquake begins in Keystone City, Troi's actions are rather ... pathetic. Not only does she stand right next to a new foundation of (rather heavy looking) bricks, but also under a whole bunch of wooden construction planks. Worf also makes a questionable showing ... he does manage to get out into the openness of the street, but doesn't seem to really care about Troi.

And of course, after getting pummeled with a good number of bricks, and being half buried under them, Troi escapes with only a little scratch on her cheek ... the cheek that I believe was facing away from the falling bricks ...


As far as my thoughts on the episode: it was interesting to see the way the analogy carried over from the ship to the train, and there were some humorous moments added in. But plot-wise this was rather confusing. The ship just spontaneously pumped out a new lifeform and afterwards everything is happy and normal? Why did this happen? How did it happen? Can it happen again? In the end, this episode worked out to "The ship started doing some really weird things, we gave it some particles that were tasty, it did its thing while we watched." Not quite the shining glory of story-writing ...

"47 ALERT"....one of the barrels in the cargo bay was a "47" on it.

At the beginning of the show Picard and Data watch the Orient Express approach. Later Data determines that the train came from Dr. Crusher's program. Why would Dr. Crusher's program feature the outside of the train running through the countryside? Her dialogue indicates that she was only interested in the ride and who she might meet, not watching it go by or trying to board it like a hobo. The only time she might watch it approach or leave would be if the program had a train station where she would get on or off.

Data pushes Picard out of the way of the Orient Express and we see Picard hit the ground, and it doesn't appear that he scrapes his face, but when leaving the Holodeck suddenly there is a big ugly scrape on Picard's face.

Was it my imagination or was the injury Picard received on the Holodeck identical to the injury Troi later received? (I've heard of reusing footage to save money, but reusing injuries?)

After being nearly run over by the train, Picard tells Data to shut down all Holodeck programs and Data starts doing this without telling anyone who might be using the Holodecks! What if some poor crewman had been using the Cliffs of Heaven diving program and suddenly crashes face first into the floor?

On pages 66 & 67 of the NextGen Guide II, Phil picks on Worf for asking if the puzzle is finished. Data had just told Worf & Troi to distract the people so that question could have been his way of doing it.

On page 67, Phil wondered why the arch was visible even though the program is running. I thought it was odd that they had to go through one door to get into the Holodeck, only to go through another door to get into the program. So maybe the train door starts where the arch ends?

Toward the end of the show Picard tells Data to take control of the ship, then Picard, Riker & LaForge decide to create an artificial vertion source, but we don't see them telling this to Data or the others on the holodeck. Then Troi and Data without apparently being told of the plan reassure the people on the train that they plan to help them. Were Troi & Data lying, or did they just guess that the captain was trying to help the intelligence?

When Data takes control of the train, Picard hasn't yet told him where he is supposed to take it.

Shouldn't one of the characters on the Holodeck have been a short, egg-headed Belgian detective with an impeccable mustache? It was the Orient Express after all.

I disagree with Crusher's statement about how some species only purpose is to reproduce. While it may seem that some species only seem to reproduce you have to look at the creature as part of it's environment. Plants take minerals out of the ground changing the soil, they also convert carbon dioxide to oxygen. Some insects live inside trees, which must affect the trees lifespan. Worms burrow through the earth oxygenating the soil. The changes that herbivores & carnivores do is obvious. All lifeforms change their surroundings in some way. The 'child' that the Enterprise created will probably fly around gobbling up Vertion particles thereby altering interstellar radiation. To paraphrase an old saying, "The only thing constant in change is life."

Picard isn't worried about what the new lifeform will become because the actions of the people of the Enterprise were part of it's creation. Does this mean that the lifeform will break the Prime Directive whenever it darn well feels like it?

The cause of this lifeform could use some examination. The writer did a nice job of fudging the cause. While it would have been interesting to see what would happen if Starfleet suddenly had to deal with intelligent Starships. I don't think the producers were willing to take the chance, so the intelligence had to be temporary, which implies that the accumulated information of the ship didn't cause this change. After all, the information was still their after the creation of the new lifeform, but the ship was no longer intelligent. Also Data says that the Intelligence was separate from the main computer, which would seem to be the logical source for intelligence.
Early in the show Data suggests that the Magnoscopic storm may have caused the nodes around the ship. On Earth coral releases sperm and eggs into the ocean where it will eventually mix and then stick to something to become a new coral reef. Perhaps, something in space did something similar, it appeared to be a Magnoscopic storm and the Enterprises systems just happened to be compatible, so it 'mated' with them. This created the Intelligence which then created the new lifeform.
On the Holodeck the Engineer said, "They're trying to derail the train." Does 'they' refer to the other systems, or an invading intelligence?

As Phil noted in his guide, this episode features perhaps the most blatant example of Junior Officer's Can't Describe Things Over The Comm Syndrome (JOCDTOTCS):

All through this episode those multicoloured node things are appearing over the ship. Picard and everyone else know perfectly well what they look like because of that early briefing.

Then a bigger version of the nodes appears on the floor of that cargo bay.

Riker (or it might be Picard, can't remember) asks Geordi (in the cargo bay) what's going on.

Geordi: I...I can't describe it.

(How difficult would it be to say 'a bigger version of those nodes has just appeared in the cargo bay'?!!)

Guess it was difficult enough that LaForge couldn't say it.

Why would Dr. Crusher's program feature the outside of the train running through the countryside?

Perhaps the computer extrapolated the exterior appearance of the train. Since it's the Orient Express perhaps the computer looked up historical records on it.

Picard tells Data to shut down all Holodeck programs and Data starts doing this without telling anyone who might be using the Holodecks!

Maybe he first initialized the shutdown and then alerted potential users before completing it(we did not see him finish the process)

or maybe an emergency beam out of all ppl in the holodecks, then a quick shutdown... that way, no one would fall to the floor and get hurt...

or maybe they didn't show it because its not important to the plot of the episode . . .

Well, as Mr. Farrand said, we don't deal in reality.

PS

What do you do for a living Mr. Crusher? You used to post on the site quite a bit, lately though, I only notice you posting maybe once a week or so, if that...
Don't take this as any criticism, just a curiosity. I'm guessing real life.

One. Of. The. Worst. Trek. Episodes. EVER!

And Ryan, in reference to your post about the holodeck bricks falling on Troi, they were probably just pumice!

Time for some random silliness. In the non-canon humor book "Q's Guide to the Continuum" (yet another attempt from Paramount to squeeze even more hard-earned money from Trek fans), Q had this to say about the "birthing" incident:

"In 2370 the Enterprise computer developed sentience (which is more than I can say for the crew) and gave birth to a mewling, puking, semi-organic lifeform. Ain't motherhood grand?

But...if the Enterprise is it's mother, who's the father? If I were Jean-Luc, I would start passing out cigars."

Har De Har Har, Chuckle Gaffaw Giggle! :D

"Picard isn't worried about what the new lifeform will become because the actions of the people of the Enterprise were part of it's creation. Does this mean that the lifeform will break the Prime Directive whenever it darn well feels like it?" - KAM

Not only that- but isn't the very title, Emergence, a nod to the concept floated in this episode that an Emergent Process is more than the sum of it's parts? So why is Picard so reassured about the nature of the being BASED ON THE SUM OF IT'S PARTS??? :-)

"But, they come back and Worf presents the conductor with three tickets! Where did he get these? Usually if you can purchase tickets on-board you do so from the conductor. It is possible that they replicated the tickets on the ship, but then how did they know to make their destination Vertiform City? The other time they came in the only desitination mentioned was Keystone City." - Ryan

I assumed they were replicated. I'm pretty sure Vertiform city was mentioned once- quietly- before Keystone was, when they were initially in the holodeck.

"Along the same lines, if the tickets were bought inside the simulation, how does Picard know the train it headed to Veritform City? When the ship begins grabbing veritron particles, he mutters "Of course, Vertiform City" as if he's been listening in. Yet no audio plays during the bridge scenes, there is no indication of any general, open audio or video communication." -Ryan

I assume the team that went to the holodeck reported the train's location to Picard before they went back in.

"At the beginning of the show Picard and Data watch the Orient Express approach. Later Data determines that the train came from Dr. Crusher's program. Why would Dr. Crusher's program feature the outside of the train running through the countryside? Her dialogue indicates that she was only interested in the ride and who she might meet, not watching it go by or trying to board it like a hobo. The only time she might watch it approach or leave would be if the program had a train station where she would get on or off." - KAM

I'm sure the holodeck generates the entire train- lest you go to look at the window at a steep angle, or get off at a stop- there'd need to be an exterior of the train to view. And since the holodeck would create the whole world (it would need to, for accurate scenery coming past, etc.) I'm sure it just physically creates the whole train rather than an image of the outside along with full detailed sets of the inside.

"After being nearly run over by the train, Picard tells Data to shut down all Holodeck programs and Data starts doing this without telling anyone who might be using the Holodecks! What if some poor crewman had been using the Cliffs of Heaven diving program and suddenly crashes face first into the floor?" - KAM

That's what the safeties are for, to prevent that from happening (I believe we see something like this in Voyager's Extreme Risk? I don't remember for sure)- and Data was following Picard's direct order- due to the danger, Picard didn't order "Please courteously inform whomever is using the holodeck right now..." :-) He ordered an immediate shutdown, which Data literally- being Data- complied with.

I liked this story as well. It was interesting seeing the ship itself becoming (in a sense) a lifeform

I didn't like this "story". I already said that. And I mocked it as well. I would mock it further, but that would mean I would have to watch it again, as I don't really remember it very well. And I will not be doing that.

By the way, don't bother trying to track down that out-of-print 90's Trek book I mentioned, it isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Like I said, it was yet another way that Paramount was trying to squeeze money out of gullible Trekkies that buy practically everything that has the brand name on it. Funny, I thought it was the Warsies that did that, because everything under the sun that can be marketed and sold has had that brand name shamelessly slapped on it and hocked to the ignorant masses. The same generally applies for Trek, but not on such a incredibly large scale.

While I'm on that subject, my advice for the fans who like the non-canon novels: avoid any written by Peter David or Michael Jan Friedman. They are *extremely* overrated, and in David's case, are way too full of lame superfluous attempts at humor. I used to like them, but now I hate them. I am sick of his books, and I will read not more of them, ever again.

I say, stick to the reference books, such as the various Companions, Technical Manuals, and of course, the Encyclopedia, which has not been updated since 1999, and will never be again. It's too costly to produce and Pocket Books didn't make enough profit selling them to make back what it cost to produce them. Sad but true!

This story seemed to be the writers saying the Enterprise has given birth--like TNG was giving birth to two new series-- Deep Space Nine and Voyager--before TNG as a TV series was coming to an end.

Conductor.........David Huddleston

This episode was made four years before Mr. Huddleston mixed it up with the Coen Brothers and "The Dude" (Jeff Bridges) to become The Big Lebowski. (My late brother loved that stoner flick; I still don't get it.) David Huddleston passed away on August 2, 2016.

Wonder what became of that new life form.