Written By: Jimmy Biggs and Bryan Fuller and Nick Sagan
Directed By: Terry Windell
Rating: ** (out of 5)
What is interesting about �Disease� is two factors to both of the main plots. The A-plot deals with Harry�s love, which is interesting because of the Starfleet protocol dealing with inter-species relationships. We are told here that Starfleet prohibits any intimate relationship with an alien due to medical risks of both parties involved. I like this idea and I think it�s a wise rule, however how many times have we seen alien relationships on the spur of the moment? In every series this has happened and I�ve never heard of this protocol before. It�s not really continuity, its simply something which has never needed to come up before.
The other interesting aspect of �Disease� is the Generational ship in the B-Plot, which is better than the A-Plot!! A species who have slowly grown to live on a huge ship, starting out small and getting bigger and bigger so that they are now their own culture. I wanted this to be explored more. Forget about the A-Plot, this is a much better story. There is the problem however of how they actually built this huge ship, but I guess that adds to why I want it all fully explored.
Apart from those interesting snippets there is only one more worthwhile segment and that�s the Janeway-Harry confrontation. I really liked this. Janeway arguing with anyone is fun to watch because she is so strict and fiery when she is working and doesn�t tolerate any crap. However well the argument between Harry and Janeway came across, it�s the substance material that failed. Arguing about love is a very ridiculous thing under these circumstances and comes across here as equally ridiculous. I would love to see an argument between them that has more substance.
An add on to the above is one of the final scenes were Janeway tells Harry how she was wrong to be so over-protective of him and that she feels responsible for his well being in a motherly kind of way. It�s a nice scene that for me would make any future disagreement between these two even stronger, but this alone doesn�t save �Disease.�
Apart from what I�ve mentioned there is simply nothing that makes you believe this relationship to be realistic and nothing that indicates any successful drama. There is a good story in here somewhere but I�m left with the feeling that �Disease� just couldn�t make up its mind on what it wants to do. Is �Disease� trying to discover what love is? Is it trying to give us an insight on the Generational ships culture? Is it trying to give Seven another lesson? Unfortunately it doesn�t help that the two plots combine. It was obvious that would happen and its somewhat cliched.
I did find Seven's attitudes about love being a disease to be interesting. Love i suppose is like a disease in the manner Seven suggested. But of course we who do experience love, not have love becuase love is truly an experience, know that its os much more than just a simple phenomenon. It's something which we humans need to survive. It's also interesting to note that Seven probably has love all around her but she just doesn't realize it.
The acting was okay. There were some good moment for Garret Wang and Kate Mulgrew while the guest cast were very average, Musseta Vander (Val) was slightly below average. She looked okay, but not the best actor. Oh and there were the typically excellent special effects.
�Disease� has some good moments but the story isn�t worth trying to interpret or consider taking too seriously. Harry gets a story by himself at least.