Product Details

• Actors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden
• Directors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Gabrielle Beaumont, Robert Becker, Cliff Bole
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: May 31, 1995
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303115225
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,983 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

There's trouble in the Neutral Zone. Following a distress signal, the Enterprise finds the USS Yamato stranded due to a systems failure, with the Romulans nearby. Even before the opening credits roll the starship explodes, killing everybody on board. Turns out the captain of the Yamato had been searching for Iconia, a planet legendary for its technological advances, and whose technology would be incredibly dangerous if it were to fall into the wrong (read: Romulan) hands. Then the computer virus that destroyed the Yamato starts to infect the Enterprise, and the Romulans show up and start threatening them. To make matters worse, Data himself becomes infected. A good yarn--and as the Internet continues to expand, stories like this one about computer viruses will become increasingly relevant. --Andy Spletzer

From the Back Cover

Picard (Patrick Stewart) receives a distress signal from the U.S.S. Yamato, which has been stranded in the Neutral Zone due to an inexplicable systems failure. As the Yamato's captain explains his mission - a search for the homeland of the legendary Ionian civilization - his ship explodes into nothingness. A Romulan vessel soon materializes and threatens attack unless the Enterprise leaves the Neutral Zone.

Suddenly, both ships are rendered powerless, crippled by the same mysterious computer failures that struck the Yamato. Unless one of the crews can locate the electronic virus, both vessels are doomed to self-destruct.

Costarring Diana Muldaur as Dr. Katherine Pulaski.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Season 2 Episode!, June 10, 1999

By 

North Korean 1 (DPRK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 37: Contagion [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Romulans make a guest appearence with Carolyn Seymour who would later play several other roles on Star Trek.

This is a welly written episode about the Enterprise stopping the Romulans from getting their hands on a new peice of Technology. About 7 years later the Dominion on Star Trek Deep Space Nine would also try to win control of this Iconian Gateway. GREAT EPISODE!!!!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Iconians, July 13, 2001

By 

picardfan007 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 37: Contagion [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Gateway

Steve Gerber (creator of Howard the Duck) and writer Beth Woods wrote this terrific entry in the second season. It's about the Captain of the starship Yamato and his startling discovery in the Neutral Zone. He found a civilization that was long ago conquered but it's probes were still intact. The probe tragically infected all the computer systems with a virus destroying the Yamato. The same virus contaminated logs that were downloaded to the Enterprise! The episode has some dramatic moments where Data is almost destroyed by the probe.

When Picard, Worf and Data beam to a site where the signal is located; we discover the conquered Iconians left a legacy of destruction and deadly weapons. We see the gateway where perhaps the civilization escaped to preserve itself.

I was very surprised that Steve Gerber and Beth Woods, the authors of this story, were never called back for a sequel. Not even a book in the new Gateways series. I would have liked to have seen their version of what happened to this great civilization.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Enterprise needed an anti-virus system...., September 12, 2006

By 

Critical Thinker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 37: Contagion [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Plot: Another Galaxy-class starship, the USS Yamato, has contacted the Enterprise in the Neutral Zone, explaining that they are having problems with their computers. Picard, naturally, wants to know why in the universe a Federation starship has been flying around the Neutral Zone. The Yamato's captain explains that he had found some info that the so-called mythological Iconions (a species reputed with incredibly superior technology to the Federation) were far less than such. Suddenly, the Yamato explodes, leaving no survivors. As if things couldn't get any worse, a Romulan Warbird suddenly appears and demands an explanation for the presence of the Enterprise (and Yamato). Picard says in respsonse that he will not leave the Neutral Zone until he is completely certain that the Yamato's destruction wasn't because of the Romulans (which they had denied). After finding some clues on the Yamato captain's personal log, the Enterprise whizzes off to Iconia. Of course, we can't have a good story without some woe falling upon the Enterprise. The Enterprise begins to exhibit similar problems that the Yamato had until she blew up. Geordi finally figures out the problem: A probe had scanned the Yamato and had it was completely re-writing the ship's systems, causing a fatal malfunction in the warp engines. But by downloading the log, the virus was now trying to do the same thing to the Enterprise. So Picard must find out if he can solve the problem by going down to Iconia and checking if there are records on how to use the technology (like as in, deactivate it.)

Great episode. While, yes, the solution of re-booting would seem nowadays to be like "DUH!" to us, when this episode was first aired, PC's, internet, etc. were pretty new. So I think they can be forgiven for that. As far as the problem of left over pieces of the Iconion installation are concerned, if you look carefully on the planet as the Romulan Warbird and Enterprise leave, you can see multiple explosion on the surface. So, I think we can safely say that if there's anything left, it would have been quite useless for technological advancement.

Overall, a pretty good episode if one get's past the solution of the episode. Plenty of action and it is well paced.