The Disease

"The Disease" debuted on the television network UPN (United Paramount Network) on February 24, 1999.[1][3] It was released on VHS as a Collector's Edition, paired with the episode Course: Oblivion.

The episode was directed by David Livingston.[4] Livingston directed many Star Trek episodes in this era, including for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999), Star Trek: Voyager, and Enterprise.[5] Overall he directed 62 episodes of Star Trek, including 28 for Voyager.[6]

Voyager stops to assist a xenophobic species known as the Varro. This species lives on a generational ship which has housed them for 400 years. While the crew works on the Varro ship, Voyager is infested with synthetic ship-eating parasites that had been released on the Varro ship by dissident Varro. Meanwhile, Harry Kim becomes intimate with Varro scientist Tal, and develops a physiological bond with her, one that is standard in the Varro. The physiological connection alters his behavior and sways him from his duties aboard Voyager.

It is later revealed that Tal is one of the separatists. There has been a rumor of a minority of Varro that want off the ship. The parasites that Tal helped create were made to separate the individual pods of the Varro ship without destroying the ship itself. Fractures along the hull created by the parasites begin to grow as the Varro ship begins to fall apart. Voyager's docking port is seized, trapping it with the Varro ship. If the explosions get to Voyager, it would be destroyed as well. However, Harry comes up with a plan to extend Voyager's integrity field around the unstable ship. This gives the Varro enough time to stabilize the parasites.

Once the parasites have been stabilized, Voyager breaks free as the Varro ship experiences multiple breaches and the individual pods of the ship begin to break free. The majority of the Varro remain together in separate pods but the minority group that wanted to leave is allowed to do so. Later, Harry must painfully say good-bye to his recent love.

This episode features the fictional Star Trek spacecraft the Varro Generational Ship, which was noted in 2015 as one of the largest fictional spacecraft featured in science fiction television and movies up to that time.[2] At about 9.3 kilometers (5.8 miles) in length the Varro spacecraft is only slightly smaller than the Voth City Ship which was also featured in Star Trek: Voyager.[2] The biggest was rated as the Alien Mother ship in the 1996 film Independence Day, and the biggest Star Trek vessel up to that time was V’Ger featured in the 1979 blockbuster Star Trek: The Motion Picture.[2]

As of 2019, "The Disease" has a rating of 7/10 on TV.com.[3] Den of Geek included this episode on a binge watching guide that included a roadmap of episodes which, although not typically achieving high ratings, might still be entertaining.[7]

• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (also features a large spacecraft of Star Trek)
• Spacecraft in Star Trek

• The Disease at IMDb
• "The Disease" at TV.com

• The Disease at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

• The Disease at StarTrek.com