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The Bonding

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"The Bonding" was the 5th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation 's third season .

• 1.1 Characters
• 1.2 Starships and vehicles
• 1.3 Races and cultures
• 1.4 States and organizations
• 1.5 Other references
• 2.2.1 Timeline
• 2.3 External links

References [ ]

Characters [ ], starships and vehicles [ ], races and cultures [ ], states and organizations [ ], other references [ ], appendices [ ].

Connections [ ]

Timeline [ ], external links [ ].

• " The Bonding " article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• The Bonding (Star Trek: The Next Generation) article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
• 1 Cetacean Probe
• 2 Eclipse class
• 3 Resurgence

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

“The Bonding”

Air date: 10/23/1989 Written by Ronald D. Moore Directed by Winrich Kolbe

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

Review Text

During a routine archeological mission commanded by Worf, Lt. Aster (Susan Powell) is killed by a land mine from a long-forgotten war. She leaves behind a 12-year-old son on the Enterprise , Jeremy (Gabriel Damon), whose father is also dead. The command staff must break the news to Jeremy and deal with the aftermath.

"The Bonding" is the episode that Ronald D. Moore famously sold as a spec script, which ultimately led to him being hired as a writer on TNG . It's got some of the hallmarks of Moore in it (real-world military issues, Klingon customs), but it's also got a number of Trek clichés (fantasy versus reality, aliens with remarkable powers). As these things go, the episode is on the upper end of mediocrity.

The show is best when it confronts head-on the fact that a starship can be a dangerous place where people die. It also confronts the issue of children being on board the ship. At one point, Picard says flat-out that he has always had his doubts about it. The best scenes involve Worf, who must deal with the fact that someone has died under his command. His scene at the end with Jeremy, where they undergo the Klingon bonding ritual, has a mildly intriguing resonance. Other reasonable scenes feature the inclusion of Wesley in Jeremy's grieving process; Wesley approaches the situation from personal experience.

But the show is worst when it's (too frequently) documenting the mysterious alien presence, which appears to Jeremy as his mother and supplies him with a fantasy that re-creates a pleasant memory. You can feel the air going out of the story when Jeremy's dead mother suddenly returns, as if she were a ghost. (Aliens as dead people = silly and boring. Susan Powell's performance = wooden and ineffective.) Fortunately, this premise is somewhat redeemed by its dialog. When it comes to exploring the human condition via long-winded philosophy, no one does it better than Picard, who has a decent speech about facing the realities that life deals us. But it's not enough to elevate a frequently lackluster hour.

Previous episode: Who Watches the Watchers Next episode: Booby Trap

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Comment Section

54 comments on this post.

This episode isn't particularly bad, nor is it particularly good, so 2/4 rating seems right to me too. One point brought up by the episode though - why are children left alone in their quarters? Shouldn't they always be with an adult? And certainly a child that essentially just lost his entire family? Jeremy had no family left on the Enterprise. I have to second Picard's doubts about the wisdom of having children aboard a starship that may have to be sent to dangerous situations, like the Neutral Zone border. One idea that would make this more palatable would a medium sized craft that attached/detached from the Enterprise hull. Whenever Picard knew the Enterprise would be in a possibly dangerous situation, he can put the children in the "Child Care" craft, which would be self-sufficient, and after the dangerous mission has passed, pick the children. Then the Starfleet crew could still have their families close without their children having to share the same risks.

Corey, you just explained the premise behind "saucer separation." They had intended that to be a regular part of the show, but the FX were some cumbersome (photographically and narratively) that it was only repeated once after the pliot. (Not counting BoBW2 and Generations, when saucer sep was done for different reasons.) It was always easier to pretend families weren't aboard when the plot didn't require them. Hypothetically, in which stories should the saucer have been left safely behind?

@Grumpy: You're absolutely right. Separation is only even mentioned a handful of other times in the series, even though it would have been useful in a lot of episodes ("The Pegasus" comes to mind). I'd add that there was a sort of branding issue, as well. If viewers tuned in randomly and saw the star drive of the Enterprise, that would throw them for a loop. Also, the star drive by itself kind of looked dumb. Last point: The fact that the saucer section didn't have warp engines was a major problem. It couldn't really escape quickly, so Picard and Riker would have had to know well in advance that they were encountering something dangerous.

@Grumpy: There's quite a few episodes where leaving the kids behind so to speak would have been reasonable: "Angel One" (Enterprise was due to go to an outpost, possibly coming under Romulan attack, not where you want your kids), "The Defector", "The Enemy", BOBW, "Where Silence has Lease" (remember Picard did self-destruct that episode!), I'm sure there are others. And you are right, my description fits the saucer section perfectly. Paul you are right too, the ship minus saucer section is not aesthetically pleasing at all. Even though the Saucer section didn't have warp drive, presumably it had communications and could call for help if necessary from Starfleet. Ironically, a cloaking device would have been the perfect solution - Federation really shot itself in the foot with its Treaty of Algernon I think it's called that bans cloaking devices for Federation only.

Slight BSG spoilers: I told my girlfriend, who has seen BSG, that Ron Moore's first episode featured militarism and an angel. She thought I was joking. ;) Admittedly, part of the reason it took so long for me to continue my TNG rewatch after the strong "Who Watches the Watchers?" is, er, this episode. The Ghost Of Marla Aster doesn't appear until (on the DVD) time 21:40 out of 45:32; up until that point while not thrilling or exceptional the episode was certainly solid. And then, um, well.... Using a sci-fi concept to explore an idea is pretty much what a Trek episode should do, and the idea of examining a child's reaction to a parent's unexpected death by having an alien indulge the child's understandable desire to not have said parent really be dead to them is a fairly good one. The idea that the alien is trying to help rather than harm the child helps, too, particularly since it helps get at the idea that a child’s desires run counter to what is actually good for the child. As Picard says, living with the alien Marla Aster would essentially be living in a memory rather than continuing his life, which would certainly be a temptation for the Jeremy (and Troi points out that moving on with his life and forming other quasi-familial attachments too quickly, such as that proposed by Worf, would make him feel guilty) but is no substitute for his life, which will continue. The problem is really the execution. The premise could have worked, but because the emotional core of this story lies pretty much entirely with Jeremy Aster and his relationship with his mother, the characterization in both writing and acting for both Jeremy and for alien/ghost Marla really needs to work well to sell a) the depth of Jeremy’s pain, b) the depth of the bond between a mother and son as each other’s only family, c) the impossibility of the illusion of Marla Aster being able to make up for the real thing, d) the temptation for Jeremy to take what he can get nonetheless. Frankly, none of these are particularly sold. Jammer notes how weak the acting is for alien/ghost Marla is; the acting on the boy is unconvincing too. I am sympathetic to the problem of finding good child actors and playing the devastation of losing a parent is a particularly difficult task. Still, the way Jeremy is portrayed—both in writing and in acting—is essentially as a blank, passive, frozen child, who half-heartedly goes along with the woman claiming to be his mother and half-heartedly accepts it when she turns out not to be that woman, until finally he yells at Worf exactly on cue when the story needs him to express “anger.” For a child to be emotionally numb after a parent’s death, especially when they’ve experienced a parent’s death before, is realistic, but on some level if Jeremy is to be the core of the story it has to be possible for us in the audience to know at least some of what he is thinking and feeling or to sense that he at least cares what is happening to him; his reaction to his mother being back/going down to the planet/oh his mother’s not real/now his mother is clearly outlining in dull exposition why she, as an alien, is interested in making his life better are basically all the same. The episode works best when it’s about the main cast (more on that in a bit), but incorporating the main cast actually hobbles the Asters story even more when it gets to the climax. There, in which Picard carts Wesley on screen to tell Picard that he used to be angry at Picard for having led the mission, so that Jeremy can get his catharsis by yelling at Worf so that Worf can now ask Jeremy to join in the bonding, so that alien-Marla can leave. It's an attempt to pull together all the threads of the episode -- the perspectives of Worf, Wesley, Picard, Troi, Jeremy, and alien-Marla -- into one scene. But the effect just falls flat because these perspectives don't flow seamlessly into one another. The scene seems to suggest that the only reason Jeremy is willing to accept an alien posing as his mother is that he hasn’t been able to express his anger at Worf, and that once he has expressed his anger at Worf (in one line) all that is required is for Worf to accept him into his family for that anger to dissipate and move into a healthy place. This display is also all that’s required for the alien Marla to recognize that she is not wanted or needed and to walk away. In case it’s not obvious, though, while no doubt Jeremy does have anger at Worf (and probably undifferentiated anger in all directions), surely the idea of his mother being alive again would be attractive not just because he is suffering from bottling that anger at specific people but because his single mother is dead and that is terrible. The climactic scene has Wesley talking almost exclusively to Picard rather than Jeremy, which is a good choice for the series overall—the moment adds depth to Wesley’s admiration for and anxiety around Picard, and Picard represents both what his father stood for and what lost him his father—but feels out of place within the scene about Jeremy. Worf’s jumping from Jeremy’s declaration of anger to his offer of the bonding ritual also makes Worf look self-centered rather than like he is actually listening. To be clear, I don’t think this is Worf or Wesley’s “fault” (whatever that means), but the contrivance of attempting to resolve all these plot threads at once makes none of them work as well as they might have otherwise. So onto the good so I can end this on a positive note. This is an episode with a real sense of history, using Lt. Aster’s death as a springboard from which to examine the way the crew feels about death, especially the senselessness of death and the death of a parent, making use of and bringing into tighter focus the experiences of the main cast. The Riker-Data conversation about how much one’s closeness to the deceased affects one’s feelings about it, eventually talking about Tasha, the Wes-Beverly scene about their memories of Jack Crusher, and Picard and Troi’s conversation about their respective roles in the grieving process (and the benefits that can have). Best of all is the Worf material, where the feelings all swirl together: Klingon/human culture issues, dealing with the responsibilities of command for the first time (and that will continue to be relevant to his story into his DS9 days), his unresolved/semi-resolved feelings about his parents’ death and his salvation by Starfleet and his human family, his difficulty reconciling the pointlessness of Lt. Aster’s death with his warrior code. The Worf/Troi scene is splendidly directed, with the grating keeping their faces separate until Troi convinces Worf to talk to her, and it’s an early scene which suggests the depth of their connection to come (regardless of whether or not the season seven romance is an appropriate exploration of that). 2 stars sounds right.

All I want to add to the families aboard the Enterprise dilemma is that it makes for a more lively ship, and it's a good excuse as to why there always seem to be new Starfleet people you've never seen before or sudden patients for Troi, etc. Now, I share the general feeling of William B on this one. I think the plot was fairly ok until that point when the ghost appeared. That was just dumb. Worf was pretty convincing as a guy experiencing some sort of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but the boy lacked expressions. I can understand feeling a bit numb, but instead of that it felt like the guy simply wasn't expressing himself enough. That's not good acting. So, I want to discuss what I think it's the main issue with this: The guest actors don't have enough time to develop their characters. Just one episode doesn't cut it. It's not totally their fault. They only have some 20 to 30 minutes to "shine" and we'll never see those faces again. I doubt the directors and writers give them much attention and orientation. Just think how much time the main cast needed to feel right in their roles. They spent a good part of two entire seasons experimenting and adjusting their personalities the entire time. There are a lot of bad actors here and there; after all, John De Lancie's Q is wonderful from the start; but even the worst of them all could get better if TNG didn't have such a "use it once and destroy" mentality. The standalone nature of most TNG episodes works fine if you want different stories and a sense of wonder each episode at a time, but it has some unwanted effects like this serious problem with guest actors. Anyway, that's my take on this. What do you guys think?

SkepticalMI

Alas, it's unfortunate that there was never an episode showing Jeremy and that weird alien from Future Imperfect as college roommates, bitter that their respective adoptive families abandoned them... It's odd. I see the same problems that other people had, but I didn't really feel them as much. Take, for example, the bad acting by the kid. Yes, bad acting. But did it detract that much? Did we need it to understand the depth of his pain? We can relate to what Jeremy is feeling, we can understand it already. The family structure is well known, it's universal, it's relatable immediately. Yes, it would have been preferable if that actor was better, but Jeremy's pain wasn't really the point of the episode. How everyone deals with death is the theme. So we can deal somewhat with one poor actor. And the actor for his mom? Well, she's a weird alien being acting as his mom. If it's poorly done, at least it's an excuse. The pivotal scene, of course, is when everyone gets together and finally convinces ghost mom to leave. Frankly, the scene is a mess. Picard and Wesley have a long talk while ignoring Jeremy, Jeremy's outburst at Worf was blatantly on cue, Worf's response was hardly diplomatic and came out of the blue, but somehow he convinced Jeremy. And then the scene just ended. Despite being a mess, it was still powerful. I guess because the ghost subplot was weak, we didn't really care about that resolution. And the resolution was a foregone conclusion anyway. So we got some great scenes with Wesley and Picard, we had a great speech by Picard, and we had Worf showing a heart behind his gruff demeanor. So why do we care about the weak plot when it had such good moments? As a random aside, since the ghost took off without a word, we don't know what actually convinced her. Yes, it seemed odd that Jeremy's outburst would have convinced her, but it could have been a combination of everything. Another aspect of the show I liked was that the pacing was so good for the silly energy being trying to take over the ship plot aspect. Everyone was acting like professioinals doing their job. More importantly, everyone was acting like professionals who were used to being in positions of authority. So often, everyone just sits around being dumb while one character (Picard, usually) takes over. So I like it when it actually appears realistic (BoBW was another one that did it well). It's a small touch, but I liked it. So by no means is this a great episode. But perhaps it is at least a slightly good one.

The best scene was when Patches appeared and stared right into the camera for a moment. What a cutie! :)

I really want to like this episode, but it's just so bland, bland, bland. Jeremy's only surviving parent is killed and his reaction is "how, sir?" = WTF! This kid hardly shows any emotion throughout the episode. Even in his "climatic" confrontation with Worf, he barely registers as upset. How much of this is due the unrealistic, and (let's face it) stupid, ideas Roddenberry often forced on the show and how much is due to the young actor, I don't know. But it just sucks the life and drama out of everything. I'm inclined to think the fault lies with Roddenberry because even Wesley, Beverly and Picard are off emotionally. They all act as if they're not really affected by any of this, even though their dialogue suggests otherwise. The only one who shows any genuine feeling is Worf, and that's what saves this episode. Every Worf scene steals the show (from his insistence in Sickbay to join Picard and Troi in telling Jeremy what happened to his moody/hurt/angry dialogue with Troi concerning the Bonding). I think it is funny, however, that we never see Jeremy again. He probably took one look at his new family tree and thought "damn, I should have went with Ghost Mom." 6/10

@Luke - It's totally fair for you to not buy the acting from the child in the final confrontation scene... but prior to that I think he was supposed to be in shock. At least that was my read on the episode.

I agree with most of these reviews, but I felt the kid was a bit short-changed. He had the potential to be a good actor. It seemed to me that it was his direction that was off. He basically had to sit there while the adults talked about him over his head. I had the impression of a kid who was trying to be stoic, perhaps attempting to emulate the good captain. He's already experienced the loss of one parent, and maybe at that time was told to be a good little soldier, be strong for your mother, blah blah blah. I know this is supposed to be an enlightened future, but there are still slightly sexist elements to the episodes here and there, so it's a possibility. I felt there was a subtlety to his acting that was hampered by the lackluster script. An example of that subtlety is in one of the scenes where he is hugging his "mother," and you can see in his face that he knows it's not really her, but, well, he's twelve, and his mother had just cone back to life. Who wouldn't fight hard for that fantasy to be reality, even against one's own better judgement? It certainly had the potential to be a lot more, not to mention the potential of the character to show up again here and there throughout TNG's--or even DS9's--run. I'm hoping someone has appropriated this character and had fun with him, either in a fanfic or a novel. I'm on the hunt now. Because how many human children are Bonded to a Klingon? That's a great backstory, such a missed opportunity by the Star Trek writers. Hopefully someone else out there has picked up the ball.

i dont think this is a particularly interesting story for me personally bit objectively I can see what it's trying to do. "Redshirts" died on TOS Star Trek all the time and always we just moved on as of it affects no one. Well, in real life that doesn't happen. Give TNG some credit for dealing with the death of a crewman in the way real humans would have to. For Beverly and Wes it's about having to relive their own loss. For Picard we revisit the unwanted responsibily of having children on a ship of the line in the first. Worf just wants to do the Klingon thing and bond, dammit, NOW. Data makes us examine the perfunctory rituals of greiving. And Troi is just the voice of reason because she knows what's appropriate for everybody. And of course Geordi has nothing to do as usual. Now Jeremy -- or really the boy who has the play him -- is in the most interesting spot because he's the one who really has to take it most personally. And don't be too hard on him. I've personally been through what he's been through and I was also stoic and brave not because you are but because THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE WANTS YOU TO BE! That is especially true for boys. Ghost Mom was awful but she was suppose to be. Come on. It's an alien who doesn't really know anything about being anyone's "mom" and that was the point, right?

For me personally, this episode is fantastic as long as I don't have to watch it. That said... it is a genuine ensemble show with a great idea for its main metaphor/device to examine death, so maybe it's better than I gave it credit for -- getting past the execution to the idea behind it, the Astors stuff probably wouldn't bring the episode down so much.

Diamond Dave

This starts off as an interesting riff on the nature of grief, and examines it from a number of different character perspectives. As an audience it's difficult to be too invested, given this is a previously unseen character that has died, but at least the themes are universal enough to identify with. Once the 'ghost' enters, it becomes a rather more obvious and laboured examination of the topic, leading to an extended therapy session in which Troi helps Jeremy and Wesley come to terms with their loss and the alien recognises that all will be well. As a character piece it works nicely enough, but it never really transcends its topic and becomes anything more than OK. 2 stars.

nothingoriginal55

I don't know what it is about Deanna Troi, but God, do I hate her. "I sense anger" really...what a useless statement. This could have been a good show for to shine in, but instead its Worf and Data that steal the show. I'm curious - does Troi ever get a good story?

nothingoriginal55, you never heard of the Good Troi Episode? tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ADayInTheLimelight?from=Main.GoodTroiEpisode It's "Face of the Enemy" in season 6.

Okay, since a lot of people are wondering what the hell was with kid's reaction: Originally, Moore pitched the story as a kid overcome with grief bonding with a hologram of his mom. However, Roddenberry rejected it, saying people do not grieve, they simply accept death in the future. So Piller had to rewrite the story, essentially making it about how stupid that idea is. Really surprised nobody here heard about that. Personally, enjoyed it. Certainly not the most entertaining or thought-provoking hour of TV but not exactly bad either. I particularly like Worf's sub-plot.

I have a hard time eating this one because it was solidly good in some respects and pretty weak in others. I thought the high points were pretty high. The redshirt is dead, but for once we learn her name and see the grieving kid she leaves behind - and that's a story worth telling. Worf's guilt and his Kilingoniness - "There's no enemy I can take vengeance on!" - are really well done. I liked that his respect for Astor and sense of duty toward everyone under his command presages his behavior in "Lower Decks" - a nice piece of character consistency and an endearing trait. Wesley's speech to Picard was affecting and I was surprised and impressed by his acting skills in that scene. He (both character and actor) has certainly come a long way since season one. The most awkward scene to me was the framing around Wesley's speech to Picard. He enters the room somewhat reticently - and is then prodded by Troi and Picard both, until he exposes his intimate feelings and pain in front of about five of his colleagues. Clearly he has agreed to talk about his dad to the kid, but did he agree to make a public spectacle of himself? The scene would have worked better with just Picard, Wes, and Jeremy, but of course they needed the whole gang there to have the neat wrap-up. Other problems: Jeremy let fake-mom and the fantasy world go far too easily. He should have been doubly devastated to lose her twice, and doubly enraged at the heartless bastards of the Enterprise. I mean, first they got his mom killed and then they drove her away when she came back for him, with his cat and his home and the fulfillment of all his wishes? That's just cruel. Having your mom back is way better than lighting candles in some Klingon ritual. It just is. Sorry, Worf. Also Jeremy and Worf are now "brothers"... But Worf never mentions the child again, does he? So the Bonding doesn't seem to mean much. This casts Worf in a bad light, in retrospect. (I suppose Jeremyleft the ship soon after, but that doesn't completely excuse the hollowness of the ritual: Worf now has a kid "brother" on earth whom he is never going to see or have anything to do with.)

Err... "Rating" this one. Not eating it. Although yes, that too.

From the first poster: "One point brought up by the episode though - why are children left alone in their quarters? Shouldn't they always be with an adult?" Do parents always leave children with an adult now? Especially 12 year olds? This always puzzled me about modern America, where we seem to want to wrap our children in blankets and sit guard on them for 18 years, rather than teach them how to live in the world, be free to make their own mistakes, and learn how to cope with mistakes (in addition to respecting them as increasingly capable individuals). And then Americans wonder why an entire generation of youth is weak-minded, weak-willed, and unable to cope with adversity. And America is supposed to be such an individualistic country, whereas other communal cultures are just fine letting their kids take the bus/train to school by themselves as early as 5 or 6 years old!

So we see Worf go through this ceremony to look after the child... yet we never see or hear from him again. Why did they need to introduce alexander when worf already basically had a child he had to take care of?

I was liking this episode until the alien energy creates an image of the boy's mom and then the episode goes sideways. Didn't know where the show was going other than showing different angles of grieving for the loss - good to see how Picard handled his different duties. I was not a fan of Troi (again) in this episode. Didn't like her line at the end when she tells Jeremy he should be angry at Worf like Wes was angry at Picard. Hard to blame the kid's acting - maybe the initial reaction is shock but I think we should expect to see him bawling his eyes out at some point. Anyhow, a lot of this episode is very bland, sterile when we could see a more emotional response from the crew - kind of like Tasha's death except nobody really knew the archeologist who died. The alien presence with its powers to make the kid happy is a bit ridiculous but it's a plot device for Picard to give his decent speech about the human need to deal with death. Was expecting it to take on a sinister persona for some reason... Overall a mediocre episode with some decent themes just not executed as well, not very engaging - especially the 2nd half - Rating: 2 stars.

Ron Moore got much better ,so say we all. This was ruined by the Trek cliches of powerful energy force being thingies invading the ship, the usual 'it is getting into the computers Captain' and illusions. It was a riff on Charley X from TOS,surely? I agree that the Worf scenes are best but ,for once, I did not mind Troi's involvement.

What's striking about mid-period TNG, when compared to other Treks, is how deadly serious it was and how stark its long periods of silence were. TNG at this time oft cultivated a sense of quiet gravity - people spend much of this episode literally mentally dwelling on things - that you don't really see elsewhere in Trek.

Sarjenka's Little Brother

Ah, this is a TOUGH crowd. I liked this better than the rest of you. Though I wish they had been brave enough to do this story without the energy aliens. I guess they felt like the audience wasn't ready for an episode where all the action happens in the opening. Plus, we get to hear Worf say, "Jeremy Aster." And I don't get tired of that for some reason. Too bad they didn't plant the Asters in an earlier episode, even briefly, to give the story more relevance. And too bad Jeremy didn't show up later. LOTS of potential there. But still, it tugged at my heart strings. Those of us on Drema are more emotional open, I guess. Also some nice touches on how a death affects the various crew members, especially in terms of their duties.

I always think people underrate this episode. It shows aliens acting rather alien but with a relatable goal and motivation. The killing of Marla and its impact on Jeremy clearly freaked them out. It was also wisely pointed out by Troi and Picard that the alien’s plan didn’t make much sense. The faux Marla was obviously unprepared to respond to that argument. I also found the portrayal of faux Marla very convincing as a mother.

What a completely boring snoozefest. Glad I had something to do while this drone on and on in the background.

And the boy was yet another throwaway character. So Work does a ritual bonding with the kid. Tells the kid "we're brothers now, you're in my House." AND...the kid is never seen or heard of or spoken of ever again in Trek. Even Alexander dropped in on DS9.

Who needs a ship counselor when you have a Worf on board? Troubled? Depressed? Oppressed? Anxious? Just see Worf. He has a Klingon ritual to meet all your mental deficiencies. Guaranteed relief! (If your lucky, he may even throw in a hug from the beautiful Deanna Troi.)

Ummmmm...if Marla Aster was 3 meters BEHIND Worf....AND "bore the full brunt of the explosion" then why was Worf only bleeding from his front? Just a nitpick, but I actually like this episode....EXCEPT we never see the boy again....guess Klingon rituals arent really that serious....kinda like at a funeral, when relatives say we'll talk....but you never hear from them again...sooooo much potential wasted!

I think this episode is great and the issues it touches are so deep.

Worf "bonds" with this kid and we never see him again.

George Monet

There was an interesting A story about loss and grief which was ruined by trying to tie a B story into the A story. This doesn't work emotionally. The B story needed to be completely independent of the A story and involve a different set of characters. I don't want to nitpick the same way twice in a row but Voyager actually did this better where it put Naomi's mother in danger and made the A story be about Naomi and Neelix confronting the potential loss of Naomi's mother while the B story was about the away team trying to save themselves. In order for the B story in this TNG episode to work it would have to focus on someone who has lost their loved one a long time ago rather than ten seconds ago before the audience had time to decide how they feel. For instance if Jeremy had lost his mother two episodes ago this story might work, but he just lost his mother ten seconds ago. It was simply too confusing.

6/10 filler episode. I am not sure what this one added. Maybe Wesley showing more of his self rather than chirpy science boy.

Another average ep. Story was acceptably engaging, though not exactly full of action/adventure. The Worf part was the best part, but I know that we never see Jeremy again. Troi spoon-feeding Jeremy about how he must be feeling about Worf (he must also be angry at Worf, since Wes was angry at Picard) was quite annoying toward the end. She needs to go back to Counselor School. Don't they have professionals consulting on these scripts? We were spoon fed the moral of the story as well: Better to face reality (both inner and outer) and experience a real life, accepting the joys and sorrows - than to fool yourself with rose-colored glasses. So, I accept this ep as the mediocre offering it is, and grieve the hour I have lost. Onward.

Average 'Twilight Zone' type episode. The major flaw with this one is that the kid's personality and reactions are a bit Midwich Cuckoo-ish - he's far too calm when he's told his mother has died, and indeed when he believes he's been reunited with her. Not the young actor's fault, of course.

A very touching story which is about how human beings (and Klingons) deal with loss, pain and the maintenance or decay of our own nemories. IMO this episode is an inversion of the Prime Directive baseline. In other words, an alien culture is attempting to interfere with the natural course of events on the Enterprise following the death of Marla Aster. The alien interference is well intentioned but such assistance is unwanted and inimical to what is best for our species. As Picard says: "It is the heart of our nature to feel pain...and joy." It was well acted and reminds me of what Kirk says to the equally well intentioned Sybok in the much maligned film Star Trek 5: "I need my pain." Such statements are dead on and really worth contemplating, not dismissing as hokey. Good scenes with Wesley, Beverly, Troi, Worf, and lot of great O'Brien moments looking freaked out as the blue energy darts about in Transporter Room 3. 8/9.

This is a rather interesting episode, and I echo the dialogue is a high point. Troi and Picard's joint duty in this shows an intriguing facet of procedure. Further, the scene in which Picard is called to talk to the boy in the corridor, to warn him that thing is not his mother, allows for an appealing gravitas that, though standard in the characterization, feels specially plausible here. The episode is quiet, stimulating.

Michael Dorn saves this one from sliding into pure boredom. And to be honest, probably Will Wheaton’s best scene in having to confront his hero.

In this episode, Troi actively ruins what could have been a pretty good scene. When they bring in Wesley to talk about how he felt about Picard, that's good. I like the interaction, Wheaton does a good job and it sets up the talk with Jeremy. Then fucking Troi starts putting words in the kid's mouth, "you must be very angry", "Isn't that right?". Then when Jeremy confronts Worf fucking TROI starts answering "He can't answer that", even Picard is like "Worf's an orphan too", like ffs let the characters speak for themselves. I didn't much care for Troi before and in this episode I actively hate her being there, episode would have been better without her. Also can't understand after 1 seasons and change why Picard is so popular though he's had some great moments at least, Troi's had nothing.

If you overlook the goofy alien aspect of this episode, you can appreciate the character development shown here. Picard has come full circle from the awkward encounters with children in Season 1 to his touching "no one is alone on the Enterprise" comment. Wesley and Beverly really show their human side as they are still dealing with the death of Jack. Worf shows the touch of fatherhood that we will see again with Alexander. I appreciate that they dealt with a real issue of losing a loved one in the line of duty, even if other parts of the episode were weak.

So Troi can't use her powers when people are feeling a lot of emotions around her? Oh that's cool, good thing for her that humans don't feel emotions most days otherwise she'd never, ever be able to pin point anything.

BONES: The ship's counsellor says we should beam up the away team, right now. KIRK: The ship's WHAT?? Oh, beam them up anyway. ~~~~~ KIRK: What's the matter with her? BONES: She's dead, Jim. KIRK. Bummer. Ok, let's beam another lot of redshirts down. Doesn't matter a whole lot if they die. BONES: She's an archaeologist Jim, not a redshirt. KIRK: Yeah yeah. Not a regular crew member though. Why are we getting so bothered about it, for heaven's sake? Good to see Trek at last addressing the notion of grief and loss, though devoting an entire episode to it is a bit .. over the top. And there's one moment in it that's so ludicrous I'm still laughing. JEREMY (to Worf): Are you a Klingon? LMAO. Had he been confined to quarters all his life, that he didn't recognise the single Klingon on the ship! 2 stars seems fair.

Beard of Sisko

Not a fan of the child actor's performance. Not that he's a bad actor overall, but he apparently didn't want to appear on this show and it shows in his couldn't-give-two-craps performance. As for the episode itself, it's just kinda...meh. Not bad but not something that I would eagerly watch again.

This episode had good atmospherics. It was scary when that alien first appeared and the fact that she/it was trying to kidnap Jeremy into oblivion on the planet continued the horror. The crew was trying mightily to get rid of this alien threat but oh so carefully. It seemed like they might lose the child at any moment. The dark lighting and theme of death permeated the overall effect. The final scene with Worf and Jeremy was great: Together they are conquering their grief and fear of death, by lighting candles in the dark.

Pretty middle of the road episode, but I always give bonus points for stories where the alien of the week wasn't evil but was really just trying to help and messing it up because of how alien they were. It's something I associate so much with TNG and feel like I don't get much from other shows.

I made it halfway through this one before I bailed. Look, I understand losing a parent. My Dad passed away more than four years ago, and I've still not gotten over it. I think it may even be harder for adults than for kids, because we have more memories of and with our deceased parent and we're also, unfortunately, able to ask existential questions, including: Why on earth did we accumulate so many memories and so many experiences with our mom/dad, only for him/her to die and for us to be without that parent as if he/she never existed? Ah, the futility of life... All that said, this was an excruciatingly boring episode. I don't know the kid or his mom, so I don't care about either of them. 'Sides, I don't watch a sci-fi show for personal drama and Narnia-type fantasy. This kind of stuff could be a footnote, maybe a B-story, but not the focus of an entire hour-long episode.

How you can rate this horrible piece of unwatchable, maudlin dreck as 2 stars when you pan eps like “The Outragous Okona” which yes are stupid but at least are silly and have moments of genuine humor, is completely beyond me.

Gorn With the Wind

I quite like this episode. The premise goes to interesting places and the scene where Picard confronts the alien doppelganger is a showcase for Stewart. While not as good as season 3’s classic eps, this is a low-key success that not only brought us Ron Moore, but signaled the show’s ongoing commitment to character driven stories under the helm of Michael Piller. 3 stars.

What was the point at the beginning when Troi screams out to beam up the away team? Can she "sense" land mines? THe only thing she could sense is either the loss of kid Mom or the reaction of the team which meant the danger had already happened. Also, it creates a false sense of foreboding that the death was the result of a current malevolent act which we learn it wasn't.

I have recently come to learn of the concepts of the "idiot episode" and the "idiot ball." The latter being an episode or movie or book whose plot requires at least one character to be so dumb as not to do the obvious, sensible thing. The former is a metaphorical object that moves from character to character, like a talking stick. So I'm watching The Bonding with those in mind and Worf encounters the fakemom, and tells that captain that Lt Aster is in the boy's cabin. And everybody immediately understands the implication and starts acting appropriately. And I'm thinking, cool, no idiots. But on reflection the tired trope of energy beings were idiots. They could have contacted the Enterprise upon its arrival and explained the situation on the planet. Or they could have contacted the ship after Aster's death and explained the situation. These aliens had lots of experience with corporeal beings, although it was thousands of years in the past. And then, the fakemom just leaves. So the Enterprise just leaves. What about the Continuing Mission? Why not try to have useful interaction with the energy aliens? And the boy's disappearance after this episode also bugs me. This Klingon bonding thing seems important, but evidence of following shows argues the opposite. I think 2/4 is right.

I have to admit, I was waiting for the inevitable scene where alien mom kicks Worf's butt, but it never happened for once! 2.5 for me, as I found some of the dialogue quite effective...

@Kyle I agree, I love that the aliens were behaving in a noble manner, not just evil of the week aliens. I agree there was much potential wasted here... after all, in a way the aliens are behaving as ridiculous as Worf is. They explicitly mention the history of the planet was dishonorable (using that exact word) and react in a likely emotional manner to implement a plan that... ain't going to work.

I actually thought the kid in this episode did a pretty good job, although his other role in Robocop 2 was a little distracting. I kept thinking he was going to take out an uzi and empty a clip into Worf lol

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Recap / Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E5 "The Bonding"

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Original air date: October 23, 1989

The Enterprise is investigating a planet whose civilization killed itself off in a brutal war long ago. An away team led by Worf investigates some ruins, but the mission turns deadly when a hidden bomb goes off, wounding Worf and killing Lt. Marla Aster. Aster leaves behind a twelve-year-old son, Jeremy, whose father, another Starfleet officer, had also died in the line of duty some time ago.

Picard sends La Forge with another away team to the planet to investigate what happened. Worf offers to inform Jeremy of the loss, but Picard and Troi go instead. Jeremy reacts to the news with a bit of stoicism, reflecting that he's all alone now; Picard reminds him that on the Enterprise , no one is ever really alone.

Several of the crew have different reactions to Lt. Aster's death. Wesley can empathize with how Jeremy must be feeling due to the loss of his own father. Data, meanwhile, is confused by the crew's reaction to Marla's death and asks Riker for guidance. Worf, himself an orphan, expresses to Troi his desire to perform a Klingon bonding ritual with Jeremy. Troi is hesitant to approve of the idea, however, as she feels Jeremy still needs time to grieve.

Data reports an odd energy buildup from the planet, which reaches out and touches the ship, but appears to be harmless. As Jeremy sits alone in his quarters watching old videos of his family, he is surprised by the sudden appearance of his mother, apparently alive!

Marla tells Jeremy that the crew "made a mistake," and that she's alive and well, but now she wants to take Jeremy to the planet, where they will live in a house like they used to. At that moment, Worf shows up to check in on Jeremy, and he sounds the alert. When Picard intervenes and prevents them from beaming down, "Marla's" disappearance only serves to confuse Jeremy.

Troi attempts to comfort Jeremy, but "Marla" soon reappears, turning their quarters into a replica of the house they lived in on Earth. The entity posing as Marla doesn't understand why the crew resists letting Jeremy go to the planet, as all "she" wants to do is make him happy. Meanwhile, La Forge has reported that the remaining bombs were found having been uprooted and deactivated. When the crew come to realize they can't keep "Marla" off the ship for long, they shut down the transporters so that Jeremy can't be beamed down.

Picard confronts the entity, and "she" reveals that there were once two races of beings on the planet below: the physical beings wiped themselves out, and the energy beings left behind vowed never to let that conflict hurt another person. As a result, they feel responsible for Marla's death, having overlooked the bombs left behind, and they were responsible for deactivating the rest. To make up for Jeremy's loss, they want to take him down to the planet to raise him.

Picard, with the help of his crew, explain that humans must learn to deal with their loss in their own way, and that the aliens aren't equipped to provide Jeremy with a future, only his past. Wesley and Worf explain their own experiences with losing parents; Wesley reveals for the first time that he hated Picard for a long time after his father's death, but he no longer feels that way. Worf then formally offers to perform the bonding ritual with Jeremy. Finally realizing that Jeremy is in good hands, the entity returns to the planet.

Tropes in this episode include:

• An Aesop : Bottling up one's grief isn't a healthy way to face death. Neither is retreating into a fantasy where all is well. Accepting sadness is necessary to move past it.
• And Then What? : When "Marla" says she plans to take Jeremy down to the planet and care for him, Troi questions her as to what kind of life she will be able to give him, as the only corporeal being on a dead planet, living in an illusionary fantasy world. Her argument goes a long way toward the entity's deciding not to do it.
• When Data asks if familiarity has bearing on death, Riker references the senior staff's mourning of Tasha.
• The same conversation also features a Shout-Out to a line from the TOS episode "The Immunity Syndrome", where Data asks why humans don't feel as strongly about the death of many vs. the death of one close to them, and Riker admitting that human history would probably be "a lot less bloody" if they did.
• Cooldown Hug : In his talk with Beverly, Wesley can't help but reminisce over the things he remembers about his late father, Jack Crusher. Beverly, struggling hard to not burst into tears, cuts him off with one of these.
• Death Notification : Picard shoulders the unpleasant duty of telling Jeremy that his mother is dead.
• Does This Remind You of Anything? : Lt. Aster is killed by a weapon left over from a forgotten war, a reference to the real-world issue of landmines that remain buried throughout developing countries and continue to claim lives.
• Gilded Cage : Picard argues that Jeremy would be living in one if he's allowed to go with his "mother."
• Harmful to Minors : The episode makes it clear why Picard doesn't like having children aboard. Picard: I've always believed that carrying children on a starship is a very questionable policy. Serving on a starship means accepting certain risks, certain dangers. Did Jeremy Aster make that choice? Troi: Death and loss are an integral part of life everywhere. Leaving him on Earth would not have protected him. Picard: No, but Earth isn't likely to be ordered to the Neutral Zone or to repel a Romulan attack.
• It Never Gets Any Easier : Delivering a Death Notification . Wesley: How do you get used to it? Telling them? Riker: You hope you never do.
• Lotus-Eater Machine : The alien taking Marla's form offers Jeremy a simulacrum of his life on Earth. It's noted how hard such a thing would be to resist. Riker: She offers him everything. All we offer is the cold reality of his mother's death. Crusher: What would you choose? If somebody came along and offered to give you back your mother, father or husband, would any of us say no so easily?
• My Greatest Failure : Worf is very unforgiving with himself for what happened to Jeremy's mother, especially as there is no way he can avenge her death. The episode also recalls how Picard lost his best friend, Jack Crusher, on a mission.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling : Deanna senses that something bad happened just before Worf calls for an emergency transport.
• Patrick Stewart Speech : Picard: Do you honestly believe he would be happy in this total fiction which you wish to create? What reason would he have to live? What you're offering him is a memory, something to cherish, not to live in. It is part of our life cycle that we accept the death of those we love. Jeremy must come to terms with his grief. He must not cover it or hide away from it. You see, we are mortal. Our time in this universe is finite. That is one of the truths that all humans must learn.
• Red Shirt : Deconstructed. The premise of the episode is essentially, "What if a Red Shirt died, and people actually cared?"
• Remember the New Guy? : A bit of a posthumous example, as Aster is treated as an established and vital officer on the ship, yet we've never seen hide nor hair of her beforehand.
• Send in the Search Team : The episode opens with Worf and a survey team already on the planet's surface, while Picard and the rest of the crew monitor their communications from orbit.
• Jeremy handles Marla's death like this - in fact, he has this look on his face before Picard even gives him the bad news, as if he knew exactly where this was going. As Troi points out to Picard, this isn't exactly the most healthy way to handle your mom dying. Jeremy becomes Not So Stoic toward the end, once he lets out his bottled-up feelings.
• Wesley reveals that as a child, he also bottled up his grief and anger after his father died because he thought he was expected not to be upset.
• Survivor Guilt : Worf is probably experiencing this after Lieutenant Aster's death. He survived because she just happened to be standing in his way when the explosive detonated, thus taking the full force of the blast whereas Worf only suffered superficial wounds.
• Teleportation Rescue : Subverted. As soon as Picard hears the explosion over the comm and Worf's call for an emergency beam-out, he orders them transported directly to sickbay. But it's still not fast enough. Crusher: Away team is on board, Captain. [scans Lt. Aster's body, then checks for a pulse] One dead on arrival.
• Villainy-Free Villain : The entity is just trying to help Jeremy in the only way it can.
• What a Senseless Waste of Human Life : As Worf reminds us, part of Klingon culture is dying a glorious death (i.e. in battle). This is one reason he's so horrified at Marla Aster dying in such an arbitrary manner. Worf: I cannot seek revenge against an enemy who turned to dust centuries ago. HER DEATH WAS SENSELESS!!! THE LAST VICTIM OF A FORGOTTEN WAR!!!
• What Happened to the Mouse? : Even though the bonding ceremony makes Jeremy an adopted member of Worf's family, the kid is never seen or mentioned again after this episode. Presumably he went to Earth to live with his aunt and uncle, but we'll never know for sure. According to the commentary track included on the Blu-ray release, the idea of bringing the character back was discussed from time-to-time. However, it just wasn't in the show's nature to follow up stuff like that at that point in its run, and by the time it reached that point, Worf's storyline had moved on.
• Wham Shot : Pictured at the top of the page. Jeremy watching videos of his recently deceased mother, and then turning to the doorway to see his mother, somehow alive and well. This quickly changes the whole tone of the episode.
• When Jeremy expresses his anger at Worf. Jeremy: Why? Why weren't you the one that died? What did it have to be her?
• Wesley also tells Picard that he was angry for a very long time that Picard lived and his father died, though he forgave Picard once he was older and more understanding.
• Yank the Dog's Chain : Jeremy believes the crew did "make a mistake" and that his mother is alive and well. He's forced to realize that wasn't the case.
• After it's stated that Jeremy's father is also dead. Jeremy: I'm all alone now, sir. Picard: Jeremy, on the starship Enterprise , no one is alone. [takes his hand] No one.
• Worf also does this with Jeremy during the end, making him part of his family. Worf: When I was alone, humans helped me. Let me help you.
• It's revealed Wesley thought this of Picard after his father was killed and Picard wasn't, although he's over it.
• Jeremy feels the same about Worf, but Troi helps him get over it, and the two participate in a Klingon bonding ritual.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E4 "Who Watches the Watchers"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E6 "Booby Trap"

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

The Bonding

Cast & crew.

Colm Meaney

Chief Miles O'Brien

Gabriel Damon

Jeremy Aster

Susan Powell

Lt. Marla Aster

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The Next Generation (TNG) Season 3

Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7

The Ensigns of Command Evolution The Survivors Who Watches the Watchers? The Bonding Booby Trap The Enemy The Price The Vengeance Factor The Defector The Hunted The High Ground Déjà Q A Matter of Perspective Yesterday's Enterprise The Offspring Sins of the Father Allegiance Captain's Holiday Tin Man Hollow Pursuits The Most Toys Sarek Ménage à Troi Transfigurations The Best of Both Worlds I/II

The Ensigns of Command

Stardate 43133.3: The insectoid Sheliak demand that the human colony on the planet Tau Cygna V has to be evacuated within four days; otherwise they would remove the colonists by force. The planet is in their territory, according to the long-winded Treaty of Armens of 2255. No one in the Federation was aware of the colony that is located in a region of harmful radiation, but when Data takes a shuttle to the planet he finds 15,000 settlers who have adapted to the conditions. Data is on his own to convince the colonists to leave but he has a strong opponent in their leader Gosheven who does not mind the alien threat at all. Data eventually sees no other way but to destroy the water supply that the colonists depend on. In the meantime Picard studies the old treaty and finds a paragraph that buys the Federation several weeks for the evacuation.

It is remarkable how few good Data episodes besides "The Measure of a Man" were in the first two seasons. He was always good enough to save the ship. His private life appeared only in the form of anecdotes. The creative staff were apparently cautious about centering a story around him, for they feared it could get rather silly than really interesting to write about someone who doesn't have and usually doesn't understand emotions. Although Data is finally given a chance to develop in "The Ensigns of Command", even including some rudimentary romantic relationship, I don't like it too much. Maybe it is because the whole plot reminds me too much of TOS: "This Side of Paradise" , where there were forgotten settlers likewise, they became immune to fatal radiation likewise, it was a hard task to convince them to leave likewise, it required a bit of violence in the end likewise, and Spock fell victim to unexpected emotions a bit like Data does here.

The roles among the settlers are quite familiar too. Gosheven is the backward, egocentric and charismatic leader who would rather sacrifice the whole colony than abandon his leadership - and his entitlement of always knowing what is right or wrong. He isn't open to reason and he doesn't even listen to Data for a minute. Gosheven won't stay the last of his kind the Enterprise encounters. Ard'rian is the complete opposite to Gosheven. She quickly adapts to the new situation. She is interested in everything new anyway, most of all in Data's fascinating technology. This contrast is just too stereotypical to me, although I like Ard'rian quite a bit because in spite of all her knowledge she has preserved a refreshing naivety that allowed her to see more in Data than the friendly but emotionless android.

The almost equally important sub-plot of Picard negotiating with the Sheliak is more interesting because he manages to beat the Sheliak with diplomacy, turning their own treaty against them. He seems to have quite a bit of fun when the Sheliak finally have to come round.

Annotations

• The hyperonic radiation is a lame plot device to get Data on a lone mission. Considering that the settlers managed to adapt, it should be well possible for humanoid crew members to go down in spacesuits or with other precautions, and for a limited duration. Well, if this were a Voyager episode, the Doctor would certainly develop an inoculation against the radiation in no time. ;-)
• I wonder why it should take a full four weeks to evacuate 15,000 people with shuttles. The Enterprise surely has 20 shuttles of various sizes at the very least, each of which we can estimate could carry an average of 8 people. With each shuttle making one flight per hour, this would take only a couple of days.
• There is one huge error in the sequence of events when the Enterprise is already at warp, heading for the Sheliak ship, but Geordi continues with his attempts to beam through the radiation. Isn't the radiation restricted to the planet or at most to the star system? And even if the radiation pervades a larger region of space, how can he test the transporter at warp?
• The script doesn't get its astronomical nomenclature right. There is a real star of the name Sheliak, but the species of this name inhabits a star system named "Shelia". Also, there is a real star of the name Tau Cygni, which happens to be in the same direction as Sheliak, but the script corrupts it to "Tau Cygna".
• When Data mentions that he needs a phaser, Ard'rian doesn't know what it is. This is odd, considering that the original colonists departed in 2274 when phasers were well known. On the other hand, perhaps they have just lost this knowledge.
• Remarkable dialogue: "Not that any computer we have is half as sophisticated as you." (Ard'rian) - " No, I would say not." (Data, maybe with a slight touch of arrogance, looking at a tin can of an android)
• Remarkable scene: Picard, with incredible calmness, walks around the bridge, polishes the dedication plaque, while the crew are tensely waiting for his response to the Sheliak.
• Remarkable ship: The Sheliak colony ship is a re-use of the Merchantman from "Star Trek III", with a few odd extensions. Unfortunately we get a rather close look at it in the episode, revealing that the ship is not all as advanced as we might expect it. The interior of the vessel with the light rods hanging from the ceiling, on the other hand, looks impressively alien.
• Remarkable fact: In the beginning we see a string quartet with a Vulcan and Data (violin), another woman (viola), and O'Brien (cello), playing Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik". Data thinks his playing is just an imitation of two great violinists, but Picard later comes to the conclusion that combining their ways of playing is innovative.
• Remarkable fun fact: Picard names the Grisellas to arbitrate in the conflict with the Sheliak, knowing that they are in their hibernation cycle.
• Remarkably bad translation: I usually don't mention it, but the German translation of this episode is simply awful. Just for the English-speaking readers to see what they are missing: "Hyperonic radiation" becomes "elementary radiation" - what a nonsense. "Tau Cygna" (which should have been "Tau Cygni" anyway, already in the English version) is initially called "Tau Ceta" and later "Tau Sigma".

Stardate 43125.8: The scientist Dr. Paul Stubbs has spent 20 years of research to observe a stellar phenomenon in the Kavis Alpha system that occurs only once in 196 years. His mission is endangered when the ship is plagued by computer malfunctions. Wesley discovers that the reason is his experiment to improve the performance of nanites that got out of control when the microscopic robots escaped and developed a consciousness and the ability to reproduce themselves. The nanites now occupy the ship's computer. Wesley reluctantly confesses his error to his mother Beverly, who has recently returned from Starfleet Medical. Stubbs, who is afraid that his experiment could fail, begins to destroy the nanites, whereupon the nanites attack him and sabotage life support on the ship. Data establishes a communication link with the nanites. Picard the urges Stubbs to apologize, upon which the nanites help to repair the computer. They are transferred to a planet in the Kavis Alpha system to continue their evolution.   

The third season (in airing order) begins with an episode that is almost as uninspiring as the clip show at the end of season 2. "Evolution" is a cookie-cutter story with its motive of the unexpected evolution of something that is just not supposed to be intelligent and of the obsessive behavior of scientists that would risk everyone's lives to accomplish their mission. While I appreciate the ethical commentary in "Evolution" about destroying an intelligent and possibly sentient species, this too is something we have had so many times before. We have seen all of the above in episodes such as TOS: "The Ultimate Computer" and TNG: "Home Soil". And the malfunctions on the ship are just like the ones only recently in "Contagion".

The only really interesting aspect of the episode may be Dr. Crusher's return to the Enterprise. I basically like her interaction with her son Wesley after not having been around for about a year. Their chemistry works out for me. But perhaps it was not the right episode for the two to come together again. It is a part of the story that the two keep talking at cross-purposes for a while, as Wes is concerned that his nanites get the ship into trouble, whereas his mother thinks he needs to relax and date a girl. I think Wesley's latter "problem" is overrated and should have been kept out of the story. Thinking even further about it, it may have been better to show a real falling out of the two characters, upon which Wesley would have avoided his mother (to focus on his dilemma with the nanites), which Beverly might have falsely interpreted as her fault.

What I don't like about Wesley's involvement is that he gets the ship into trouble but contributes comparably little to resolve the situation. He should have been given or should have taken the chance to redeem himself, especially considering that he seems to know as much about the nanites as hardly anyone else on the ship.

Regarding Stubbs, I don't care for him at all. At the beginning of the episode he begins to socialize with Wesley, and at this point it looks like he could even become some sort of a father figure. But the hope that this thread could continue is disappointed in the following. The two follow their own paths, rather than working together in some fashion. Moreover, I doubt that Stubbs could be a good father with his patronizing way of dealing with people. As already mentioned, he reminds me very much of Richard Daystrom and the likes and perhaps even more of the equally smug Ira Graves (TNG: "The Schizoid Man"). Moreover, he invokes his being authorized directly by Starfleet Command, like in the worst days of Federation bureaucrats who frequently got the ship in trouble in TOS against better judgment, apparently just to prove their power. Overall TNG continues to give scientists a bad name.

On the bright side, "Evolution" has superb visual effects of the Kavis Alpha stellar phenomenon, as well of the Enterprise, which is shown from the better looking dorsal side more often than ever in this episode.

• Nitpicking: Data states that "there has not been a systems-wide technological failure on a starship in 79 years." He obviously forgets what happened on the Yamato and the Enterprise in "Contagion" just a couple of months earlier.
• Remarkable dialogue: "Good Lord, you are talking about machines with a screw loose. Simply turn them off and be done with them." - "Doctor Stubbs, your own actions have provided evidence to the contrary. When you destroyed the nanites in the core, they responded by interfering with our life support systems. It is difficult to accept these as random actions by machines with loose screws. In effect, you may have proven that the nanites do have a collective intelligence." (Stubbs and Data)
• Remarkable costume: We can see the new two-part uniform with the collar (as opposed to the jumpsuit of season 1 and 2) for the first time. Initially only the higher-ranking officers wear the new uniform.
• Remarkable probe: Stubbs's "Egg" is a re-use of the containment module from "The Child".
• Remarkable fact: The nanites are made in a plant in Dakar, Senegal.

The Survivors

Stardate 43152.4: The entire colony on Delta Rana IV has been destroyed by an unknown enemy - except for the house of Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge. After an away team has visited the survivors, Deanna is plagued by a penetrative melody in her mind. An alien ship attacks the Enterprise in orbit, the Enterprise has to retreat. The alien ship returns and destroys the Uxbridge house - but after some time the house reappears. It turns out that Kevin Uxbridge is not human, but an immortal Douwd who refused to fight against the attacking Husnock, even as they killed all the 10,000 colonists, including his human wife Rishon. Furious about his loss, Kevin then wiped out the whole Husnock civilization, numbering 50 billion. Ashamed of what he had done, his only intention was to veil his crime and stay alone.

The Enterprise encounters someone or something that is not what he or it seems to be, an alien vessel keeps attacking, and Troi suffers once again. There is nothing really interesting about this episode until the resolution that is a surprise to everyone but Picard, who takes a certain pleasure in playing a real-life Dixon Hill. It may have been the author's intention to keep up the suspense until the culmination at the very end when Kevin Uxbridge reveals his true nature and the crime he has committed. However, it just doesn't work out because the thrill is gone much sooner. Kevin and Rishon's continued senile stubbornness soon gets boring, even obnoxious. A bit like the melody in Deanna's mind.

Kevin Uxbridge's whole ploy is pointless, or he is quite stupid for an almost omnipotent being. He could have cloaked his house in some fashion, so the Enterprise would have found no one to tend to, and the episode would have lasted just five minutes. Picard, on the other hand, seems to be all too concerned with solving the puzzle instead of just taking the two old people aboard without asking them, if necessary. Exactly this he does anyway in the end, when he just orders them to be beamed up. Regarding Picard's hesitation, is there any alternative to evacuating them, considering that the whole planet has been devastated? Without Picard's unnecessary patience Kevin Uxbridge would have been forced to reveal his true nature much earlier; the captain would have saved a lot of trouble for himself, for his shipmates and for the ship itself. And most importantly for Deanna. Well, in this case the episode may have been perhaps 15 minutes long, so the thin plot was extended to 45 minutes.

Speaking of stretching the plot, despite some action with the Husnock ship the episode is extremely verbose. Everything that happens is described verbally, is further explained, commented on or discussed in some fashion. In this regard it is ironical that Kevin Uxbridge's true nature remains only a footnote, just as the race of the Husnock that the Douwd destroyed.

There is one really good scene in the episode, when Picard turns to Worf after the Husnock ship has been detected for the first time, and only with a glance reminds him of his promise that there should be no other ship in the system, which leaves the Klingon baffled and embarrassed. In contrast, I absolutely hate the idea of the noose trap that Riker gets caught in. This is utterly gratuitous and unbecoming of Kevin Uxbridge.

• It is strange that there was obviously enough time to call a meeting of all colonists before the Husnock launched their attack, which is when Kevin decided not to fight. I also can't imagine that the colonists really saw a chance against the Husnock, no matter how the enemy announced his arrival. Maybe they just waited for Husnock ground troops to take as many as possible with them until the inevitable end, and they didn't anticipate that the starship could erase the colony at the push of a button. But in this case it is even more mysterious how they could have been warned in the first place. Maybe it was Kevin?
• Why does Kevin Uxbridge restore the house so soon after it has been "destroyed" by the alien vessel? Wouldn't he detect the continued presence of the Enterprise in a higher orbit? Or was he going to give up his ploy anyway?
• Picard tells Uxbridge: "We're not qualified to be your judges. We have no law to fit your crime." Actually, there is definitely a law concerning genocide, but perhaps none would apply to lifeforms like Kevin.
• Remarkable realism: It took the Enterprise three days to Rana IV. It is always good to see that starships don't arrive "at once" wherever they are needed.
• Remarkable ship: I really like the Husnock ship , which was obviously not needed any longer (as the Husnock are extinct now) and was reworked to the Jovis . An interesting feature about the systems of the Husnock ship is something that looks a lot like Borg shields.
• Rishon and Kevin Uxbridge are botanists, originally from the aquatic city New Martim Vaz in Earth's Atlantic Ocean. They have been residents of the Rana IV colony for five years. Rishon is 82 years old composer of Tao classical music. Kevin is 85 (at least that's what the records say) and a specialist in symbiotic plant life. The two have been married for 53 years.
• Picard makes a reference to renegade Andorians who hid their ships in the Triangulum system once, but doesn't mention a date.

Who Watches the Watchers?

Stardate 43173.5: The Enterprise rushes to Mintaka III to repair the power generator of a "duck blind" for covert cultural observation. Liko, one of the indigenous proto-Vulcans, is injured when he investigates the now exposed strange structure of the duck blind. Dr. Crusher has him beamed up to the ship for treatment, where he briefly wakes up and looks into the face of Captain Picard. Upon his return to the planet he tells everyone that he was dead, and that "The Picard" saved him. As one scientist, Palmer, is still missing on the planet, Troi and Riker beam down in disguise, only to notice that the Mintakans have found him. Riker manages to have Palmer beamed up without the Mintakans noticing it, whereupon they take Troi hostage to please "The Picard". Picard decides to beam up Nuria, the leader of the village, and demonstrate to her that he is not unlike her, and that his power is neither supernatural nor unlimited. Nuria eventually believes him when Warren dies, a woman who suffered severe injuries in the duck blind accident. Back on the planet Liko still doesn't believe that "The Picard" is not immortal, until he injures the captain with a shot from his bow.

This may be the episode with the best dramaturgy in TNG so far, even surpassing "The Measure of a Man", "A Matter of Honor" and "Q Who". It clearly shows that, after two seasons, the writers and production staff have finally learned to link scenes with each other and to let dialogues come to a point. It is entertaining and at the same time insightful, with a pleasant absence of technobabble, of unpleasant guests of the week, of "ship in danger" or similar TNG clichés.

It's a quite good, but not a perfect episode. Of all characters it is Jean-Luc Picard who leaves a problematic impression here. When the Mintakan patient Liko is in sickbay, Picard doesn't care about him or ask how he is doing at all. At least he is consequential, as he treats him like the other "savages" (the ones from 20th century Earth) he met in "The Neutral Zone". The only thing Picard has in mind is quoting the Prime Directive, and he doesn't really accept Beverly's valid objection that this man was hurt in the first place on behalf of (or by the fault of) the Prime Directive. I wouldn't have expected him to be such a cold-hearted bureaucrat.

The second thing I am annoyed about is that Picard rejects any kind of religion and equates it with superstition. Barron insinuates that a religion could give rise to "inquisitions, holy wars, chaos" , which Picard finds "horrifying" . The two, however, just look at the negative effects of religion in human history, neglecting that the same level of intolerance and violence may exist and does exist in a secular world just as well. Moreover, rather than obeying the letters of the Prime Directive that would forbid any intervention with alien civilizations in any direction, they give a personal one-sided interpretation of why it exists. Picard's attitude is consistent with "Justice" though, where he tried to secularize the Edo culture likewise.

Picard apparently doesn't want to *allow* the people to believe in something supernatural, not only because he is the subject of their religion and he knows that he is not supernatural, but because of his stance that any form of religion must be backward. While his actions may or may not comply with the Prime Directive, he doesn't give the Mintakans the benefit of the doubt. The discovery of "miracles" could spark a something like religious revolution on Mintaka III, but more likely the events would fall on deaf ears elsewhere on the planet. And who knows whether all the efforts to "repair the damage" don't have just the contrary effect. Actually, I couldn't imagine anything more counterproductive in Picard's situation than showing Nuria around on the Enterprise and then trying to explain to her the difference between caves, huts and starships! Well, the other members of the crew contribute their share of mistakes too that only aggravate the situation.

I like the Mintakans very much. They are more enlightened than our human ancestors must have been in the "Dark Ages" mentioned in the episode - although I still don't think this has anything to do with having a religion or not. Anyway, the Mintakans can do without religion until "The Picard" appears. I'm not sure if the way the Mintakans react to "The Picard" is that plausible though. They seem to be quite convinced of and quite content with their secular world but some of them suddenly behave like religious fanatics. I doubt that any civilization, even less "rational" ones, would unearth old myths and begin to burn witches. On the other hand, maybe "The Picard" marks the beginning of a "New Age" movement, something that especially enlightened civilizations seem to be susceptible to. I'm thinking of developments in the real world that are reflected in episodes like "Devil's Due", "Rightful Heir" and, last but not least, DS9: "In the Hands of the Prophets".

Although it is controversial (or just because of that), this is one of the key episodes to the Prime Directive. The influence on the Mintakan culture is not (yet) destructive, but they are not ready to encounter aliens and their technical possibilities either.

Final remark: Although the episode title might suggest something like that, the question if it is appropriate to spy on civilizations like watching rats in a cage is not an issue here. This will be the case as late as in "Star Trek: Insurrection" where we will see a "duck blind" again, and Anij expresses her displeasure about the Federation and Son'a peeping on the Ba'ku.

• When Riker (in Mintakan disguise) calls the ship, his priorities have strangely shifted. The news he reports is not that the Mintakans have just found the injured Palmer that he and Troi were looking for, but that they have chosen to worship Picard as their god!
• After Troi has lured the villagers away, why does Riker mind carrying Palmer off the building when he could signal the transport right away?
• Picard could have chosen a less dangerous trial than being shot with a bow!
• Continuity: There is good continuity when Picard mentions the method to remove a person's short-term memory devised by Dr. Pulaski in "Pen Pals". The procedure fails on Liko.
• Remarkable scene: When Nuria is beamed aboard the ship, Picard introduces himself with the words: "My name is Jean-Luc... Picard" , knowing that Nuria would be frightened by "The Picard". She falls on her knees, and this is both amusing and disturbing.
• Remarkable location: The location shootings took place at Vasquez Rocks .
• Remarkable dialogue: "A very sensible people. For example, Mintakan women precede their mates. It's a signal to other women." - "'This man is taken, get your own?'" - "Not precisely. More like, 'If you want his services, I'm the one you have to negotiate with.'" - "What kind of services?" - "All kinds." - "They are a sensible race." (Troi and Riker)
• The Mintakans are called "proto-Vulcan" and "their evolution parallels Vulcan" , but it is not mentioned if and how they could be related to Vulcans.
• Picard will decorate his ready room on the Enterprise-D and -E with the Mintakan tapestry he receives as a gift.
• The power source of the duck blind has 4.2 gigawatts, according to Riker this would be enough to power a phaser array or a subspace transmitter.
• Remarkable fun fact: Nuria is probably the first person to admire Picard's old Constellation-class model (the yellow one).

The Bonding

Stardate 43198.7: While studying the remains of the extinct Koinonians, archeologist Marla Aster is killed by a still active bomb. She leaves behind her son Jeremy. "Marla Aster", however, reappears and creates a perfect life for Jeremy. Actually, this "Marla" was created by non-corporeal aliens on the planet who once witnessed the destruction of the Koinonians. They feel sorry about Jeremy's loss and try to compensate for it. Picard explains that the boy needs to stay in the real world and make real experiences. He calls Wesley, who once lost his father and learned to cope with it. The alien entity retreats. Worf, who feels responsible for the boy because Marla Aster was killed in his away team, performs the R'uustai with Jeremy, a Klingon brotherhood ritual.

"The Bonding" is remarkable in just one regard. It is the first Star Trek episode in which the death of a "less important" crew member is more than only a side note. It matters that Lieutenant Marla Aster is gone, to her son Jeremy and to those who worked with her and who now have an obligation to care about the boy. Ironically we never see Marla Aster alive in the episode (except in Jeremy's video recordings) and we only hear the audio transmission of the explosion that kills her. I think it is an important part of the story that her death doesn't come across as thrilling in any way, unlike it was with previous crew deaths on TNG and especially the many redshirt killings on TOS where just the fact that anyone was killed mattered but not the person.

After Marla Aster's death several members of the crew are involved in helping the boy in some fashion, while they have to cope with the death of the lieutenant themselves, as well as with their past histories of losing crewmates and relatives. I especially like how Picard, Wesley and Worf are woven into the story. Picard is the one whose duty it is to convey the bad news, just as he did after Wesley's father had been killed. Wesley is naturally reminded of his father's death but he is reluctant to allow his feelings to resurface and talk to Jeremy. Worf thinks he is responsible of Marla Aster's death as he led the away team; furthermore he is an orphan too. He feels an obligation to tend to Jeremy, but with his proposal of the R'uustai he is rushing it as Troi correctly recognizes.

In its first 20 minutes the story never gets exciting or revealing but at least it remains a series of decent character studies. As soon as "Marla Aster" enters the scene, resurrected by an alien intelligence, the story begins to go downhill. It is very disappointing in the first place that an energy lifeform appears and takes on the shape of a crew member, because this happens frequently on Star Trek. I think the whole alien involvement inappropriately draws the focus away from Jeremy's loss and turns it into a problem of how to deal with an unwanted invader. I would have preferred the original story by Ron D. Moore, in which Jeremy would have recreated his mother on the holodeck.

What "Marla Aster" wants to do for Jeremy never makes sense to me. As it is unfortunately customary in Star Trek, the non-corporeal aliens of that planet look down on biological lifeforms and their tendency to destroy each other, just as the Koinonians once did. They obviously didn't understand the Koinonians, and they don't have the slightest idea what the boy really needs either. Yet, they care for Jeremy Aster and they go into great lengths to give him back his mother.

The crew's debate with "Marla Aster" goes on and on, but the aliens ignore all the valid points brought forward by Troi and Picard, such as "It is at the heart of our nature to feel pain and joy. It is an essential part of what makes us what we are." It is an illogical move that eventually changes the aliens' minds for reasons I don't understand. After everything else has failed, Picard calls Wesley. Wesley tells "Marla" and Jeremy that he held a grudge against Picard because his father died under Picard's command. The intended effect of Wesley's testimony on Jeremy is that he should be angry at Worf. And that he should perform the R'uustai ritual with him. Yeah right. They are telling Jeremy how to feel about his loss and how to deal with it, thereby rushing a process of mourning that should take many weeks. As if the boy wasn't traumatized enough. But strangely this has a bearing on the aliens who end the illusion, although it doesn't concern the boy's mother or them in any way how Jeremy feels about Worf. Oh well, Jeremy finally complies with everyone's wishes how he should deal with his loss and he begins to cry. And when children cry it always has a deeper meaning and it must change something. At least on TV.

• Remarkable scene: Worf extinguishes a candle with his dagger to honor Marla Aster.
• Remarkable facts: Jeremy is twelve years old. His father died of Rushton infection. He has an aunt and uncle residing on Earth.
• Crew death: Lt. Marla Aster

Stardate 43205.6: After investigating an intact 10,000 year old Promellian battlecruiser inside an asteroid field the Enterprise is stuck in a network of energy absorbers. Every attempt to activate the propulsion systems results in more energy being drained, while the ship is bombarded with lethal radiation. On the holodeck Geordi creates the construction site of the Enterprise engines, and together with a holographic representation of the engineer Leah Brahms -to whom he is drawn quite a bit- he devises a method to escape by giving the computer complete control of the Enterprise. When he tells Picard that the alternative option, to steer the ship manually, would have the same chance of success, Picard decides in favor of the latter. He takes the helm, briefly fires the impulse engines to overcome the inertia and controls the ship with the thrusters. Taking advantage of the gravitational pull of the asteroids Picard eventually manages to break the ship free.

"Booby Trap" is an episode that thrives on clever writing and that delves into the ship's technology without much technobabble. I particularly like the realism in the two possible solutions that Geordi outlines. The first one would be to give the computer full control of the ship's engines, which may or may not break the ship free before the radiation dose has become lethal. I take it for granted that when Geordi runs the same simulation of the computer-controlled escape multiple times and the results differ, this is due to a built-in statistical variation of parameters (which is called Monte Carlo simulation in real engineering). The second solution and the one ultimately chosen is to use minimum power to overcome the inertia and to steer the ship manually just with the thrusters, taking advantage of the gravitational forces of the asteroids (the latter to Data's surprise, although the android should be familiar with basic physics and should have anticipated the possibility).

It is the highlight of the episode when Picard takes the helm and controls the ship with just the buttons on the console. It is the second time in the episode that Picard has all the fun, after he already used his prerogative to lead the away team to the Promellian battlecruiser, a ship that already impressed him as a child.

Geordi's romance on the holodeck is not quite as convincing. It is contrived that he would fall in love with the holographic Leah Brahms only a few hours after his unsuccessful date with Christy. It is also unrealistic that he would lock himself up the way he does here, without involving anyone of his team in the investigation. Furthermore, the holographic Leah Brahms created at Geordi's request is too obviously designed to be attractive for Geordi, although he didn't ask for it. Well, I like her change from the talking computer image to the recreation of her personality with a "9.37% margin of error" . What a difference!

• Geordi has a problem with dating women although he previously gave Wesley advice on girls in TNG: "The Dauphin".
• On Picard's question whether anyone used to build model ships Worf replies "I did not play with toys" , although in TNG: "Peak Performance" he did build a model ship (or at least tried to). Only O'Brien affirms the question, which Picard will refer to in TNG: "All Good Things", set at the time of "Encounter at Farpoint" when he couldn't know of O'Brien's hobby yet.
• Leah Brahms will return in person in TNG: "Galaxy's Child" .
• Remarkable quote: "I'm with you every day, Geordi. Every time you look at this engine, you're looking at me. Every time you touch it, it's me." (Leah Brahms)
• Remarkably nonsensical name: "Aceton assimilators" sounds like the solvent acetone is involved in some fashion.

Stardate 43349.2: An away team discovers a Romulan shuttle crashed on the inhospitable Federation planet Galorndon Core and rescues one survivor, Pahtak. Geordi goes missing, and as the transport window is closing, the away team has to beam up without him. Wesley prepares a neutrino emitter that could penetrate the electromagnetic storms on Galorndon Core and help locate Geordi once he finds and activates it. Meanwhile Geordi, however, is being held hostage by a second Romulan survivor, Bochra. As they notice that the conditions on the planet lead to brain degeneration and Geordi's VISOR interface fails, the two work together to find the neutrino emitter. Aboard the Enterprise Worf is the only one who could help Pahtak with a blood transfusion, but he as well as Pahtak refuse; the Romulan dies. The situation gets critical as a Warbird commanded by Commander Tomalak approaches and demands that Pahtak, the allegedly only survivor, be returned. In the meantime Geordi and Bochra have activated the neutrino source, upon which Picard lowers the shields and beams them directly to the bridge for Tomalak to see. Bochra returns to the Romulans.

In its first two seasons TNG was obviously careful not to use up the Romulans as the new old enemies of the Federation in too many episodes. Their first appearance in "The Neutral Zone" was impressive but didn't tell us more than that they were back on the scene. In "Contagion" we could see them a second time, again without going into the details of the Federation-Romulan relations and without becoming in any way personal. This should not be mistaken an unfortunate omission, however. On the contrary, I appreciate that in these early episodes the depiction of the Federation-Romulan conflict remained realistic and consistent. It is a conflict whose roots can be found in history, rather than in recent events. Yet, both sides are anxious to find the rationale for everything that happens in the present, in alleged mistakes of the other side. With just a bit more open-mindedness and a minimum of trust the Federation and the Romulans would have discovered that there is presently no reason for them to go to war again. Well, at this point of the series it is still possible that the Romulans are indeed planning an invasion. But the fact that in "The Enemy" crew members from both sides overcome their preconceptions and their mistrust only corroborates that there is much room for improvement in the Federation-Romulan relations.

The narrative exhibits an remarkable dualism. While Geordi and Centurion Bochra work together on the planet in order to survive, Worf refuses to donate blood for the other Romulan, Patahk. Geordi's part of the story is very Trek-like, and it is a bit like his open-mindedness towards the Romulan centurion makes up for Kirk's failure to communicate with the Gorn captain in a somewhat similar situation in TOS: "Arena". Worf's part is rather contrived to start with, as he of all Enterprise crew members, the Klingon whose family was slain by Romulans, is the only one whose blood is compatible with Patahk's. While I'm not so happy with the circumstances, it is a positive surprise (for the story, not for those who want to save Patahk) that Worf sticks with his decision not to help Patahk until the bitter end. It helps a great deal to consolidate Worf's character as that of a Starfleet officer, who is aware of his duties but who remains all Klingon whenever he has the choice. On the other hand, two possible story variants in this context remain unexplored. What if Picard had ordered Worf to help Patahk, and Worf had rejected it? What if Patahk had begged Worf to save his life, rather than insulting him almost with his last breath, and Worf had still refused? The way it actually happens Patahk's stance that he doesn't want to be saved by "Klingon filth" anyway distracts very much from Worf's mistake.

It is just as interesting to watch Picard and Riker in this episode. Picard's actions are governed by reason of state; he is uncompromising towards Tomalak most of the time. On the other hand, the greater goal to keep the Romulans away coincides with the effort to rescue Geordi from Galorndon Core. We may wonder what Picard would have done, had he been forced to leave the planet and Geordi, which is another story possibility that remains unexplored. Regarding Picard, I only don't like his address to the Romulans at the end of the episode, when it is required for the Enterprise to lower the shields. Instead of preaching a sermon he should have said the same in fewer words, that he is taking the first step by lowering the shields.

Riker, on the other hand, seems to be on edge for much of the time. He feels responsible for the man he had to leave behind on the hostile planet, and there are signs of protest every time Picard does something that could jeopardize Geordi's rescue. I like Jonathan Frakes very much in this episode, in which he plays a different Riker who is not "jovial" at all. Well, perhaps a conflict between Riker and Picard is another missed story opportunity, but I probably should enjoy the story as it is, with an intelligent setup and with overall excellent interaction of the characters.

• Nitpicking: Why doesn't Geordi even try to use his phaser to signal the ship? If there is anything that the Enterprise might detect in the electromagnetic storm, it should be a phaser blast.
• Remarkable quote: "Commander Tomalak. It would appear our away team has rescued a second man from your one-man ship." (Picard)
• Remarkable appearance: Andreas Katsulas can be seen for the first time in his role as Commander Tomalak.

Stardate 43385.6: The Barzanians arrange a conference on the Enterprise with the Federation, the Caldonians and the Chrysalians to sell the control over an allegedly stable wormhole in their space. The Ferengi invite themselves to the negotiations, and they disable the Federation negotiator Mendoza, so Will Riker has to take his place. Deanna Troi falls in love with the delegate representing the Chrysalians, the human Devinoni Ral, who has not told anyone that he is actually one quarter Betazoid and uses his empathic powers in the negotiations. A Federation and a Ferengi shuttle set out to explore the wormhole. Geordi and Data discover that the far end is unstable. The crew of the Ferengi shuttle don't listen to the warnings, and they get stranded in the Delta Quadrant when the entrance of the wormhole shifts. In the meantime DaiMon Goss of the Ferengi ship incites a conflict with the Enterprise over the wormhole, which leads Bhavani of the Barzanians to come to an agreement with Ral. Deanna, however, senses that Ral and Goss are working together. All efforts turn out useless anyway when Data and Geordi return and report that the wormhole is unstable and therefore not suited for space travel.

Deanna's character urgently needed some more involvement in the stories at the time this episode was made. Discounting "The Survivors", where she was just tormented without being able to contribute much, the last time Deanna was in the focus of interest was in "The Child". I think the writers so far had a hard time coming up with stories for Deanna, because she normally wouldn't be in the front line of a fight, of scientific exploration or of medical aid. So I think it was a good idea to write a love affair and a conflict of interest for Deanna. Well, Devinoni Ral is another disagreeable guest character with a lack of decency, who is holding a secret (the #1 TNG cliché). But after my initial irritation about how easily Deanna falls for Ral despite his obvious flaws, I think their chemistry works well. I also like Ral's interaction with Riker, in their two-fold rivalry for the wormhole and for Deanna's love. I only can't help the impression that after noticing that such a story setup can work, guest characters of later episodes were frequently custom-tailored to interact with Deanna, as fellow telepaths, lovers, mental torturers, or all of the above.

Overall "The Price" is an intelligently written episode that skillfully develops a diplomatic affair from a genuine science fiction scenario. The love affair of Deanna and Devinoni Ral is embedded into the story without appearing contrived. The episode has a surprising turning point when it is found that Devinoni and the Ferengi are working together to trick the Barzanians into making a deal with Devinoni. I am glad that Deanna herself uncovers the ruse, thereby proving that she is not a stereotypical lovesick female crew member who allows herself to be manipulated by the man she loves. The second turning point follows almost immediately when Geordi and Data return from the wormhole and reveal that the phenomenon is actually unstable and therefore worthless for Devinoni who has just purchased the transit rights. The futility of this situation is worked out well, especially when Riker sarcastically congratulates Devinoni.

On the downside, the Ferengi are stupid as always. We have to wonder how they could ever become a major galactic power, considering how easily they abandon common sense whenever there might be a business opportunity. Regarding the Ferengi, I also would have wished that Dr. Crusher had discovered at some point that it was the Ferengi who disabled Mendoza by triggering an allergic reaction.

• This episode introduces the division of the galaxy into four quadrants, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. So far "quadrant" used to have the same meaning as "sector".
• This is the first time that Deanna Troi's predilection for chocolate becomes obvious.
• Remarkable dialogue: "You know, if this doesn't work, the thought of spending the rest of my life in here is none too appealing." - "There is a bright side, Geordi. You will have me to talk to." (Geordi and Data, as they are exploring the wormhole)
• Remarkable ship: We can see a Ferengi shuttle for the first time, here of a size slightly bigger than a Federation shuttlepod.
• Remarkable sequel: The two Ferengi lost in the Delta Quadrant, Arridor and Kol, will reappear in VOY: "False Profits" .
• Devinoni Ral is human, according to the available data, but actually one quarter Betazoid. He is 41 years old and was born in Brussels, European Alliance. He relocated to Hurkos III at the age of 19.
• The wormhole entrance appears every 233 minutes, due to a radiation build-up in the accretion disk.

The Vengeance Factor

Stardate 43421.9: After an attack of Acamarian Gatherers on a Federation outpost the Enterprise heads to Acamar III. Picard convinces the leader of the Acamarians, Sovereign Marouk, to seek peace with the Gatherers, a renegade faction of her people that formed after the devastating clan wars on her planet a hundred years ago. She and her servants, among them her young maid Yuta, come aboard to travel to negotiations with the Gatherers. Riker falls in love with the young woman. While Marouk is speaking with the Gatherer Brull, Yuta secretly kills one of Brull's men, a member of the Lornak. Yuta is actually the last survivor of the Tralesta clan that was extinguished by the Lornak some 100 years ago. She was genetically altered to survive long enough to take revenge on the Lornak, and is carrying a virus that would kill only members of the adversarial clan. In the meantime Marouk is negotiating with Chorgan, the leader of the Gatherers, another Lornak. When Dr. Crusher and Data find out about Yuta's identity, Riker beams over to stop her. He has the sad duty to kill Yuta as she is trying to murder Chorgan as well.

Deanna fell in love only recently in "The Price". Now it's Riker's turn (actually the first time since "Up the Long Ladder" that we know of). His love, however, ends in a tragic fashion when he has to shoot Yuta.

I like the underlying idea of "The Vengeance Factor", that a virus is custom-tailored to kill only members of one specific family. The principal problem of the episode, however, is that it never really gets exciting until the last few minutes. It is anticlimactic that we learn so soon that Yuta is an assassin, and it is just too easy to put the missing pieces of the puzzle together. Crusher's and Data's research only confirms what we already knew.

The characterization of Yuta is rather clichéd on one hand, as a woman who looks harmless but actually acts as an "angel of death" whose only goal is to fulfill her mission of revenge. On the other hand, it comes a bit as a surprise watching it for the first time that Riker can't talk her out of her evil plan, as we would normally expect it in a TNG episode.

Regarding the depiction of the Gatherers, "Mad Max"-style rogues with a blatant lack of manners and with worn-out military clothes were deemed cool in the 1980s but appear to me as a dated concept as I watch it today. Especially Brull with the most demonstratively exposed chest hair since Khan is a rather amusing sight. Well, perhaps there is something about him I don't quite understand.

On a different note about the Gatherers, they are said to be left over from the time of the clan wars on Acamar III. Yet, they are composed of members of various clans that don't seem to fight each other. Marouk, who is somewhat proud of her people having overcome the feuds between the clans, has no reason to look down on the Gatherers in this regard, because they have obviously accomplished the same. She probably wasn't aware of it, because she only saw the Gatherers as savages and criminals.

• Nitpicking: When Riker beams over to Chorgan's ship and points a phaser at Yuta, it is obviously set to stun, in the hope this could be sufficient to stop her. Yuta doesn't listen and closes in on Chorgan, whereupon Riker shoots her. Since the virus she is carrying is dangerous just for Chorgan, why doesn't Riker or anyone else try to apprehend Yuta the three or four seconds she is weakened? Picard is excused because he sits on the wrong side of the table. Why doesn't Chorgan run away? Riker then increases the setting, probably to heavy stun and possibly even to kill. Yuta raises again, and Riker shoots a second time. Once again, there is a possibility to stop Yuta without killing her. Yet, no one moves. Riker then sets the phaser to maximum. He vaporizes Yuta before Picard's eyes as she begins to move towards Chorgan yet again. While it may have been logical to switch to such a high setting in order to stop the genetically enhanced Yuta, he misses two clear chances to apprehend her alive.
• Around 2166: The feud between the Tralesta and the Lornak begins.
• Around 2266: The era of the clan wars ends. The Gatherers separate from the rest of the Acamarian society.
• 2286: The Lornak extinguish the clan of the Tralesta. Only five members survive. Yuta is chosen to take revenge and is genetically altered to that end.
• 2313: Penthor-Mul, a Gatherer of the Lornak clan awaiting his trial, dies of a heart attack. He is actually killed by Yuta.
• 2348: The last attempt until 2366 is made to end the conflict with the Gatherers.
• Remarkable ship: The Gatherer ship is a reuse of the Mondor from TNG: "Samaritan Snare".

The Defector

Stardate 43462.5: The Enterprise saves a Romulan scout ship that is pursued by a Warbird. The only man aboard the small vessel is the low-ranking officer Setal, who requests asylum and reveals a Romulan plan to retake the Neutral Zone from a secret base on Nelvana III. Setal, however, destroys his ship before it can be investigated and he is unwilling to provide any further proof, so he could be a spy after all, rather than a defector. It turns out that Setal is actually the notorious Admiral Jarok, who is now on a self-imposed mission of peace, because he is concerned about his family's fate in the case of a new war. Picard orders a course to Nelvana III, but instead of finding a military installation two Warbirds decloak and demand Picard's surrender. The Romulans have deceived both Jarok and the Federation. The odds seem bad, but on Worf's sign three Klingon ships appear, and the Romulans retreat. Jarok, however, commits suicide, knowing that he will never be able to return to Romulus.

"The Defector" is an overall intelligent and partially quite thrilling episode with some real surprises.

The character of Setal, who turns out to be Admiral Jarok, is very callous for most of the time. It neither seems that he has any sympathy for the Federation although he claims to have defected, nor is he doing anything else to gain the trust of the people from whom he requests asylum. Actually, he remains enigmatic for quite a while. And while the destruction of his ship comes as a surprise, we can soon be sure that he is a tragic figure and that, whatever he is planning, he wouldn't survive the end of the episode.

Alidar Jarok's cause may not be completely convincing, but he is a strong guest character nonetheless. Especially his interrogation by Picard, who has just discovered that he is dealing with a Romulan admiral and not at all with a man known for being peaceful, is a highlight of the episode. Picard accuses Jarok to have switched sides under a false identity, without any proof that he means what he says, and without any readiness to support the Federation against the Romulans. Jarok counters with the question whether Picard has children, which leaves Picard unimpressed, but just for a moment. The question does matter, because Jarok's motive is one Picard didn't take into account. Jarok is neither a traitor nor a spy, he wants to help his family and his people by averting a war.

Well, in real life there is an unfortunate precedent of a defection that detracts from Jarok's motivation and from his character. In 1941 the high-ranking Nazi politician Rudolf Heß flew to Scotland in order to negotiate peace with the UK without being authorized. His exact motivation will probably always remain a mystery, but it is clear that Heß was involved in numerous Nazi crimes and that he never really abjured the Nazi ideology. The country he wanted to save with his "peace mission" was Nazi Germany, rather than Germany. Last but not least Rudolf Heß has become an idol for Neo-Nazis during his long imprisonment. The many similarities may be coincidental, yet they are so striking that we might get the impression that Jarok is in no way honest but only paranoid just like Heß. Vice versa the certain deal of sympathy that is created with Jarok's cause in the episode may be used to justify Heß's action. Only the fact that Jarok does eventually provide tactical information (that turns out to be wrong) and that he was betrayed himself by his superiors sets him apart from Heß. Well, and Jarok's early suicide.

There is a parallel to another Trek episode as well, only with an opposite strategy to take on a wrong identity. In DS9: "Duet" a Cardassian named Marritza will pose as the notorious war criminal Gul Darhe'el, with a somewhat similar motivation to save his people.

Data is a bit annoying in this episode, and I am almost glad that his part is eventually not quite as important as the first 15 or 20 minutes insinuate. Here Data is much like he used to be in the first season, a bit too naive and more formal than in most more recent episodes. He doesn't know what "with their pants down" means, he has no idea of human intuition. Yet, he says he can see that the crew are worried.

• Nitpicking: Where does the holographic simulation of Romulus come from that Jarok confirms to be accurate?
• Remarkable error: Admiral Haden says "Jirok" instead of "Jarok" twice during his last transmission to Picard.
• Remarkable dialogue: "He ingested a felodesine chip. He must have brought it with him. I'm sorry, Captain. There was no antidote." - "A letter to his wife and daughter." - "Sir, he must have known it would be impossible for us to deliver this." - "Today, perhaps. But if there are others with the courage of Admiral Jarok, we may hope to see a day of peace when we can take his letter home." (Crusher, Riker, Data, Picard)
• Remarkable quote: "One world's butcher is another world's hero." (Alidar Jarok)
• Remarkable scene: During his treatment Setal/Jarok notices that Dr. Crusher has knowledge of Romulan medicine. Crusher says, "Yes. I had a chance to gain some experience recently." She gives Worf a glance, reminding him of his refusal to save the Romulan's life in "The Enemy".
• Remarkable literary reference: Data's holographic stage play is The Life of Henry the Fifth by William Shakespeare. Patrick Stewart appears as the holographic character of Williams (with a northern English accent).
• Remarkable ships: The Klingon BoPs look huge next to the Romulan Warbirds. They were apparently scaled up to appear like they can pose a serious threat.
• Remarkable appearance: Commander Tomalak can be seen again. After the events in "The Enemy" he pays Picard in his own coin, or so he thinks.

Stardate 43489.2: The Enterprise is on a visit to Angosia III, a planet which has applied for Federation membership, when a criminal named Roga Danar escapes from a high-security prison. Prime Minister Nayrok asks Picard for help in apprehending Danar. After initially eluding the Enterprise Danar is finally arrested. Deanna senses Danar's anger, and she finds out that he is not a criminal but actually a biochemically and psychologically conditioned soldier left over from the Tarsian Wars. He and the other veterans of his kind have been exiled because they would not fit in now that Angosia is peaceful. Picard decides to extradite him nonetheless. Danar, however, manages to escape from the Enterprise, frees his fellow veterans and takes the Angosian government hostages. Picard, who has learned that there is a treatment to revert the veterans' condition that the government denies them, leaves Nayrok and Danar with the statement that if the government should survive, they might be accepted by the Federation at a later time.

"The Hunted" has a very good balance between breathtaking action and excellent discussions, both of which are not without flaws, however.

Above all I have a couple of issues with the outcome of the episode, as Picard and his away team beam up and leave the Angosians to their destiny. While Picard says his feeling is that Nayrok and his government have a will to survive, he can't be so sure about the Angosian soldiers. Granted, Deanna firmly believes that Roga Danar is not violent by nature, as she keeps reaffirming. And Danar's conditioning is said to make him react violently only when he is attacked and that he would apply lethal force only when his life is in danger. But what about those three guards he killed on his first escape that was most likely planned? What about his unprovoked attack on the Angosian capital city? Where is the limit to his freedom to exert violence? Does his situation or his mere being different give him the right to incite a revolution and change the lives of the majority of millions of Angosians for the worse? And even if Danar himself really is peaceful and thoughtful, can the same be said about his fellow veterans? I find it extremely hard to believe that all of them would put down their weapons before all of their demands have been fulfilled. And who says that all of the veterans have the same goals anyway? Maybe some of them simply don't want to be reverted to "normal" Angosians, which would weaken Danar's cause and would only give rise to a new conflict.

When he leaves, Picard says that it is an internal Angosian affair for which the Angosians themselves must find a solution, and I basically agree with him. Still, he is anything but neutral; he effectively supports Danar with everything he is saying. Picard is very generous, almost apologetic about Roga Danar and his veterans, while his attitude towards the Angosian government can only be called arrogant. Sure, Picard has a reason to be angry with Nayrok when he learns that Danar's kind was denied the treatment that could have helped them to become normal again (because the resettlement was less expensive). But is spitefulness the right reaction? I don't think so. He could have offered mediation at the very least. I think Picard forsakes the Angosian government at a time when everything they have accomplished since the war is at stake.

Speaking of the apologetic stance towards war veterans who keep on fighting, "The Hunted" exhibits a clear parallel to the first "Rambo" movie. In neither case it is warranted that someone kills, harms or only threatens innocent people just because he has been treated unfairly and knows no other way but to fight it out with violence. Still it is morally sanctioned to some extent in the episode just as in the movie.

• Continuity: Riker correctly suggests that Danar's vessel may be hiding above the planet's magnetic pole, a maneuver that he himself performed with the Potemkin, as mentioned in "Peak Performance".
• The computer states "The detention cell is vacant at this time" , thereby proving that the current inmate Danar has no lifesigns. But shouldn't the sensors inside the cell scan for more than only lifesigns? They have to recognize that someone is inside, alive or not!
• Danar puts up quite a show to elude security on the Enterprise. This is very exciting to watch, but it shows the security on the Enterprise in a bad light. For instance, Danar picks up a crew member's communicator to deactivate a forcefield that stands in his way. I can't remember that it has ever been so easy to take a forcefield down, using a communicator and *any voice*.
• How can Danar know how to override security locks, where on the Enterprise to put a phaser to disable the external sensors and how to power a cargo transporter with a phaser? All this he can't have learned on Angosia, and it isn't written down anywhere on the Enterprise either.
• If the cargo transporter can be made operative by simply powering it with a phaser, what is the point in locking it in the first place? Shouldn't a real lock include more than just cutting it off from power?
• Remarkable dialogue: "My improved reflexes have allowed me to kill 84 times. And my improved memory lets me remember each of those 84 faces. Can you understand how that feels?" - "I am incapable of any feeling." - "Why, then I envy you." (Danar and Data)
• Remarkable quote: "I'm not sure I'd like to live in this place. A little stuffy for my taste." (Riker, about Angosia)
• Remarkable set: The new brig of the Enterprise-D can be seen for the first time.

The High Ground

Stardate 43510.7: During a humanitarian mission on the nonaligned world Rutia IV, Beverly is taken hostage by the terrorist Kyril Finn, who is fighting for the independence of his people, the Ansata. The terrorists are using an untraceable dimension-shift transporter, whose secondary effect is that it gradually breaks down body chemistry the more often it is used, as Beverly finds out. Finn wants to involve the Federation into the conflict at any cost, and he plants a bomb on the Enterprise, which Geordi manages to have beamed off the ship in the nick of time. The terrorists kill three members of the crew and leave with Picard as a second hostage. Data and Wes locate the Ansata underground base, and a combined security team of the Rutian government and the Enterprise beams down to free the hostages. Rutian security chief Alexana Devos kills Finn just as he is about to execute the captain although she may have stunned him. She is not sorry about it for he is better dead and a martyr than in prison and the reason for continuing efforts to free him.

TNG's timing could have been a lot better considering that "The High Ground" aired just after "The Hunted" with its similar theme. Both episodes deal with terrorists on nonaligned worlds. Both episodes tackle problems that have existed or still exist on our own planet, perhaps more clearly in "The High Ground". Its scenario bears an intentional resemblance to Northern Ireland, which is even mentioned as an example of successful terrorism. In both episodes the Enterprise is not only drawn into the conflict but the target of a direct attack. In both cases the terrorists fight a government that appears to have a democratic legitimation and holds law and order in high regard but neglects to grant the same rights to all of their citizens. Perhaps the Ansata have more reason to fight for their freedom, especially as the needs of the many are concerned, but they also seem to apply more indiscriminate violence.

Anyway, most importantly in both episodes someone of the crew comes to sympathize with the leader of the terrorists and with his more or less noble goals. The perhaps most significant difference is that in "The Hunted" Roga Danar has a chance to achieve his goals, although he would just as well die for his cause. In contrast, Kyril Finn, whose self-confessed readiness to die is just the same, is eventually killed and likely becomes a martyr in the eyes of his people.

As already in "The Hunted" I have a problem with the overly favorable depiction of the criminals. Rather than masters of deception and manipulation, they appear as very honest, and their struggle gains an almost romantic touch. And speaking of romanticism, it is my sad duty to point out that Roga Danar's interaction with Deanna contributed much to that impression, just as Kyril Finn's with Beverly. It wouldn't have been the same, had Worf sympathized with fellow warrior Danar, or Geordi with Finn, for instance. It's the women whose help is enlisted to make the villains more accessible. Yet, thinking about it again, Kyril Finn doesn't come across as likable at all, unless I see him through Beverly's eyes. It is just Beverly who has a certain sympathy with him, who may find him charming and who defends him more than once talking to Picard. I have a huge problem with her stance and with her conduct in the crisis.

Let us recap what happens. Kyril Finn holds Beverly hostage for a few days altogether, as she says herself. Quite clearly Kyril Finn is a prisoner of his own ideology and his preconceptions. He is convinced that his cause is worth dying and worth killing for. He always finds excuses, such as comparing himself to George Washington. He is convinced that the Federation supports the Rutian government against his people. In brief, he gives Beverly extremely little reason to sympathize with his cause and to support him beyond the medical treatment of his people. Beverly counters his preachy speeches with good arguments. But she doesn't notice how he is already manipulating her (and perhaps us too). Such as with his drawings. Oh, he's an artist. He can't be that bad a person. In other words, the old "Hitler had a dog" fallacy.

Anyway, so far Beverly isn't doing anything wrong. Until a very odd turning point. Kyril Finn announces that he will blow up the Enterprise and Beverly begs him to spare the life of her son. Kyril leaves with the words "I had a son too. He was 13 when he died in detention." Then we witness how the Ansata board the Enterprise, shoot or kill some crew members and kidnap Picard. Upon his arrival in the hiding place of the Ansata the captain wonders whether Worf has survived, who was shot right before his eyes, while Beverly's main concern is naturally whether Wesley is well. But then she begins to defend Finn. The man who almost blew up the Enterprise! The man whose people shot several crewmen!! The man who wanted to kill Wesley!!! What is she thinking!? Oh, his son was killed. I have to forgive him if he wants to kill mine. Picard mentions the "psychological impact of being a hostage" , alluding to the Stockholm Syndrome (or "Helsinki Syndrome" if you're a fan of "Die Hard"), although it wouldn't completely explain or excuse what she is suddenly saying, totally out of the blue. Beverly leaves an appalling impression with me. Actually, had I been in her place, I wouldn't have hesitated a nanosecond to kill an outrageously ruthless man such as Finn before he could do any harm to my family!!! (And I don't even have children.)

Regarding Alexana Devos, the fact that she kills Finn although she might have stunned him as well understandably puts off the crew who witness it. While it is definitely wrong, it fortunately isn't made a big deal in the following along the lines "The government is just as bad as the terrorists, or even worse". Considering that the Ansata attack on a school bus that she mentions twice obviously gives her a strong motivation to fight them relentlessly, I am also glad that in her preceding scenes she doesn't come across as quite as cold-hearted and her methods are generally not quite as harsh as in the end.

I think that overall this episode neither sanctions violence as a means to enforce political changes, nor does it exonerate those who try it, nor does it outline a political situation where it would be acceptable. It is only let down by Beverly's apologetic stance (-2 points), and aside from that the story just isn't all that interesting (+4 points). And I think it wouldn't be made again today, because no one would even remotely defend the cause of any terrorists or see anything romantic in it after 9/11.

• Remarkable dialogue: "Why would they want to take a Federation hostage? Their fight doesn't involve us." - "It does now." (Riker and Worf)
• Remarkable quote: "Thank you. You're very helpful. You could learn to do this when you grow up. If you grow up." (Beverly, to the Ansata boy)
• 70 years ago the Rutian government denied the people on the eastern continent their independence, upon which the Ansata terrorist movement was formed.
• The interdimensional transporter is based on the Elway theorem.
• The Irish unification will take place in 2024, as a result of continued terrorist attacks (I'm sure this offends many Unionists, and I would consider removing this mention in TNG-R, also because it insinuates that the fighting will go on.)
• Crew deaths: 3

Stardate 43539.1: While the Enterprise crew is trying to keep Bre'el IV's moon from crashing into the planet, Q shows up, apparently stripped of all his power by the Q Continuum. He seeks asylum on the ship, but he does not show much of a will to cooperate, much less to subordinate himself. Soon the ship is attacked by the Calamarain, a gaseous lifeform that wants to take revenge on Q. Data saves Q when the Calamarain penetrate the shields. In an unusually unselfish act Q eventually leaves in a shuttle to prevent the crew from being harmed and to enable them to save the planet. Another Q appears and restores Q's power. Overjoyed, Q celebrates a fiesta on the bridge and, while he is at it, moves the moon back into its orbit.

It seems that with every new Q story the writers try to outperform the previous ones with always more jokes and funny situations. "Déjà Q" is a big leap forward in this respect, so much that for most of the time in this episode Q appears more like comic relief than as a villain. Although it is plausible that a formerly omnipotent being would have trouble with simple body functions such as sleep, hunger or pain, Q's reactions to being human may have been toned down a little.

However, the episode also has its serious side as Q learns some lessons on being human that go beyond getting accustomed to his new body. Geordi tells Q that as a human being without supernatural powers he has to be ready to subordinate himself. Data demonstrates selflessness when he rescues Q from the Calamarain, even at the expense of his own well-being. It is only fitting that Data of all crew members is the one who sees through the process of Q's becoming human. Being an android, Data clearly has the worse preconditions for ever achieving this goal, but as Q himself concedes, Data is the better human. It seems that Q eventually internalizes the lesson though when he leaves the ship in order to surrender to the Calamarain. But at this point of the series, even without knowing about future Q episodes, we have to wonder how long this change of mind could possibly last after he has regained his powers.

• Continuity: The Calamarian probe the ship with Berthold radiation (known from TOS: "This Side of the Paradise").
• "What must I do to convince you people?" - "Die." - "Oh, very clever, Worf. Eat any good books lately?" (Q and Worf)
• "This is obviously the result of a large celestial object passing through at near right angles to the plane of the star system. Probably a black hole." - "Can you recommend a way to counter the effect?" - "Simple. Change the gravitational constant of the universe." (Q and Data)
• Picard and and his crew doubt that Q really is human, but it is Guinan who eventually proves Q right when she surprises him and stabs him with a fork in his hand.
• When Q has regained his powers, he appears on the bridge with a Mariachi band, girls and cigars . His going-away present to Data is that he lets the android experience laughter.

A Matter of Perspective

Stardate 43610.4: Just as Riker returns from a visit to the scientist Dr. Nel Apgar who is working on generating Krieger waves, the space station with the laboratory explodes, killing Apgar. As Apgar's wife, Manua, claims that Will tried to seduce her and apparently a phaser beam was fired at the reactor core from Will's position during his beam-out, he is now accused of having murdered Apgar. While the conflicting testimonies are reconstructed on the holodeck, including Apgar's whole science lab, unknown periodic energy bursts hit the ship. Eventually this is the proof that Riker is not guilty and that Apgar actually fired himself. In fact, the energy bursts are Krieger waves, generated by the holographic reconstruction of Apgar's reactor which interacts with a field generator on the planet that recharges and emits in fixed intervals. The first burst showed a short delay, exactly the time Apgar's energy beam needed to reach Riker's confinement beam, from where it was reflected to the reactor core and thereby destroyed the station.

I'm a fan of science fiction and of detective fiction. Hence a detective story with a science fiction twist to it exerts a special fascination on me. Unfortunately there are only few stories like that in the various Star Trek series. "A Matter of Perspective" is one of these rare gems. I think it is the most intelligently written episodes of its kind in Star Trek. In the best tradition of intricate detective stories, seemingly insignificant little details become important pieces of the puzzle, everything that happens has a meaning, and the resolution is unexpected yet plausible.

The episode also demonstrates how powerful the impact of a perfect looking looking simulation can be. Seeing is believing. Until the invention of film almost everything that humans used to see was perfectly real, except for rare cases of hallucinations or of natural or conscious deceptions. And still today anything that people witness with their own eyes has an air of reality to it, even if we are fully aware that it is only a TV show or a computer simulation. I don't expect that to change very much until the 24th century, and so it is plausible that the holodeck may serve as a platform to reconstruct the truth as well as one to create a deliberate or unconscious deception. The attendees always have to recall that everything is just a simulation and that they are not eyewitnesses, and so has the viewer on the other side of the TV screen.

The question of what is real and what is fake also occurs in conjunction with the Krieger wave generator. The holographic replica on the Enterprise comes with all the functions of the original and interacts with the real field generator on the planet, thereby becoming itself a part of the real world.

It is possible that I tend to overrate this episode in spite of a couple of weaknesses. Perhaps the overall legal situation should have been worked out better and there should have been more of a controversy over the right course of action between Picard and Krag. Also, while the holodeck simulation is clearly compelling, the whole setting of what happens here and now is a tad too static and too unexcited, which may have rubbed off on the actors too.

Anyway, I like the perplexity and embarrassment of the bridge crew as they learn that Riker is the main suspect in a case of murder. I also find Picard's and Troi's support for Riker laudable, while they acknowledge the testimonies that incriminate him.

• Nitpicking: It is customary in science fiction that starships are faster than light, whereas energy appears to be slower than light. Here the 1.4 milliseconds that the energy beam that destroys the station takes from the receiver to the transporter beam and from there to the generator (some 6m) translates to merely a bit more than ten times the speed of sound.
• Remarkable scene: After the simulated destruction of the lab only the hologrid is left (and fortunately the table with the people).
• Remarkable station: Dr. Apgar's station previously appeared as Regula I in "Star Trek II" and as Starbase 173 in TNG: "The Measure of a Man". It is based on the orbital office complex from "Star Trek I".

Yesterday's Enterprise

Stardate 43625.2: When a mysterious ship appears from a temporal rift, the reality on the Enterprise-D changes in an instant. Worf is gone, but Tasha Yar is alive. The Federation is now at war with the Klingons. The other ship is the Enterprise-C that was lost with all hands 22 years ago when the ship defended the Klingon outpost at Narendra III against the Romulans. Only Guinan can feel that something has changed, and she apprises Picard. The fact that the Enterprise-C is missing from the past and hence could not support the Klingons is the reason for the war, as Picard surmises. Guinan convinces Picard to send the Enterprise-C back to correct history. When she learns from Guinan that she should be dead, Tasha decides to stay on the Enterprise-C, although the ship is facing a hopeless battle. Just when the Enterprise-D is about to be destroyed by Klingon ships, the Enterprise-C enters the rift, and the original history is restored.

"Yesterday's Enterprise" has a curious production history. Its story is an amalgamation of a submission by Trent Christopher Ganino, who came up with the idea of the second Enterprise that emerges from the time rift, and another one by Eric Stillwell, whose idea was to let Tasha return to the Enterprise by means of time travel. The tight shooting schedule required the teleplay to be written during the Thanksgiving weekend of 1989, with no less than four people working on it in parallel, namely Ira Steven Behr, Ronald D. Moore, Hans Beimler and Richard Manning. One should expect the result to be incoherent, but amazingly the hurried story development doesn't show at all in the final episode.

"Yesterday's Enterprise" is the best episode of the series so far and arguably one of the most memorable of all Star Trek. It is a mystery thriller about a time anomaly that is eerie right from the start and that holds several well-timed surprises to keep up the suspense. It does not neglect the ethical dilemma that most obviously troubles Picard ( "Who is to say that this history is any less proper than the other?" ), although it is comparably briefly in the focus of interest. The episode becomes a solid action thriller towards the end, and although the visual effects of the space battle appear dated by now, the directing and acting is to the point and more than makes up for the technical shortcomings.

"Yesterday's Enterprise" has a great deal of rather unusual character interaction that works quite well despite the fact that the circumstances are weird. Tasha was only resurrected as a regular crew member due to a time anomaly and now encounters a fellow officer and soulmate from the past. Picard chooses to trust Guinan, although she should have no business with command decisions and although she has an almost schizophrenic perception of the diverging timelines. It is all plausible, we can understand their motivations at any point of the episode, which is the perhaps most astonishing accomplishment in light of the chaotic production history.

Even Tasha and Richard Castillo's romance comes across as credible and appropriate in their situation. The two do have a lot more chemistry than in most other relationships of a crew member with a guest star. And once again, we have to keep in mind that Denise Crosby returns just this one time in her role as Tasha, and still it is like she had never left the series. Well, towards the end Lieutenant Castillo accepts Tasha's transfer to his ship way too easily, considering how much he cares for her. Actually, to facilitate it for him she should have told Castillo that she would just cease to exist in the restored timeline. But that was probably considered too much talking at a time the action was meant to ensue.

• Continuity: We hear Dr. Selar being paged during a scene in sickbay.
• Well, after all the changes to the timeline induced by the disappearance of the Enterprise-C, why would essentially the same people be still on essentially the same Enterprise-D? Moreover, why would the ship be in the same place at the same time in both timelines? More food for thought pertaining to the time travel.
• Tasha slowly reads out the registry of the other ship as "NCC-1701...-C!" . It sounds as if the "C" was the surprising part. What did she expect it to be? "NCC-1701-D"?
• Castillo says about the relations with the Klingons 22 years ago, "We were negotiating a peace treaty when I left." But the peace treaty was forged on Khitomer as soon as 2293. The Federation-Klingon relations may have deteriorated again some time in the early mid-24th century requiring a new peace treaty, but the evidence in other episodes rather insinuates the contrary, even if we disregard the mention of Klingons joining the Federation in "Samaritan Snare". Eventually the Klingon arc in DS9, with "The Way of the Warrior" and "Broken Link", will establish that the Khitomer Accords have been in effect all along.
• "This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship... of a Federation starship." (Picard, as he calls the other Enterprise for the first time)
• "One more ship will make no difference in the here and now. But 22 years ago, one ship could have stopped this war before it started." (Picard)
• "Let's make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise." (Picard)
• Remarkably cheesy dialogue (the only one): "Most everybody just calls me Castillo. My mother calls me Richard." - "Okay, Castillo." - "No, I think maybe I'd like it better if you called me Richard." - "Richard." (Castillo and Tasha. He compares her to his mother. A big mistake with 99% of all women, trust me.)
• On Guinan's suggestion Worf tastes prune juice for the first time. He calls it "a warrior's drink" .
• Geordi leaves the meeting where the senior officers were informed that the timeline was altered with the remark, "Who knows if we're dead or alive. " This is followed by a cut to Tasha's petrified face, as she just realizes why Guinan was so shocked to see her. This scene still gives me a cold chill after all those years.
• Remarkable changes: Tasha Yar, who never died in this timeline, replaces Worf. He and Troi are not part of the crew in this timeline. There are no families aboard the Enterprise.
• The Starfleet uniforms of the parallel timeline have a high collar and additional phaser belts.
• The bridge was extensively modified for this episode. It features additional stations on either side. The command chair was raised to the floor level of the tactical station; Riker's and Troi's seats were removed. There is a grille underneath the tactical station. The lighting is overall noticeably darker.
• Picard's ready room is replete with tactical diagrams, and there is a large inscription "USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D" behind the bar in Ten Forward instead of the decorative wall.
• Picard calls the Enterprise a "battleship". According to Tasha, the Enterprise was "the first Galaxy-class warship to be built" , which is sort of paradoxical though. The ship can carry 6000 troops.
• "Stardate" is replaced with "combat date" in Picard's log entries.
• The Enterprise-C is not the design that Andrew Probert originally meant it to be. The ship to appear in the episode is somewhat more bulky. It was designed by Rick Sternbach and built by Greg Jein.
• K'Vort battlecruisers are one of the few obvious instances where a Klingon Bird-of-Prey was scaled up to appear more menacing.
• "The Enterprise-C was last seen near the Klingon outpost Narendra III exactly 22 years, 3 months and 4 days ago" , according to Data.
• 40 billion people died in the Federation-Klingon war in the parallel timeline.
• Remarkable sequel: Tasha's being in the past will have consequences in the form of her half-Romulan daughter Sela. Sela will appear in "Redemption" and "Unification II" .

The Offspring

Stardate 43657.0: Unbeknownst to the rest of the crew Data builds an android, his "child" whom he names Lal - Hindi for "beloved". Out of multiple possibilities, Lal chooses a female human form. When Admiral Haftel of Starfleet Research learns of the breakthrough, he comes aboard and insists that Lal should grow up in a lab rather than aboard a ship, to explore her full potential. Lal, however, has already developed too quickly. She experiences an emotion she cannot handle - fear. Data and Haftel try to repair the damage to her neural pathways, but it is too late to save her.

"The Offspring" continues where "The Measure of a Man" left, with the next step in Data's development. Data is a lifeform (although not yet officially confirmed), and one criterion for being alive is the ability to reproduce. So far, so good. However, Data's way of reproduction doesn't find Picard's approval. The captain reacts in a fashion that Data may not have expected: "Data, I would like to have been consulted." Data counters, "I have not observed anyone else on board consulting you about their procreation, Captain." This adroit answer sounds funny just for a moment. Thinking further about it, Data is right that procreation generally shouldn't be regulated. Still his analogy to human procreation misses the mark, because his building of an android is something that human beings can and have already done before. Why should it be the android's prerogative to create artificial life without permission, something that Picard may not allow to human crew members? Overall, Data's perception is rather naive, and not completely plausible. The reasoning that Lal essentially serves as a backup for him, on the other hand, absolutely makes sense in Data's mindset.

The episode is emotionally strong, but a couple of things annoy me now that I see it again after several years. Something that bugs me immensely about it is that Troi (with regard to her experience in "The Child"), Data himself, Crusher and Haftel repeatedly and almost ad nauseam point out how great it is to be a parent. Their being parents is being contrasted with the experiences of Picard (no children) and Wesley (still a child himself), with the bottom line that the latter should have no say in any matter of education. And all this in a debate about an android whose need for a father or mother is only remotely comparable to that of a real child.

I also dislike that in "The Offspring" Starfleet has learned nothing since the events of "The Measure of a Man". They continue to be inconsiderate about androids that are still considered pieces of technology and Starfleet's property. It seems that if they can't disassemble Data, they can have another try with Lal. Starfleet sends Haftel, an even less sympathetic and more narrow-minded representative than Maddox.

Realistically, what could Starfleet possibly do for Lal that Data wouldn't know better? Does Starfleet raise sentient androids on a regular basis? And why the sudden hurry? Why in the world does it warrant a priority one call by Haftel to inform Picard that he is coming? When he calls Picard, Haftel appears like a total jerk to me, a first impression that he will reaffirm in the following. Haftel is upset about Lal working in the bar although she is capable of doing 60 trillion calculations per second. So what should she be doing instead? Hook herself up to the Enterprise's computer as a coprocessor? That's not what androids are built for. Haftel is concerned about Data's safety, that he could be destroyed by "a lucky shot by a Romulan?" , together with Lal. Was Data ever kept out of the line of fire when he was still the only one of his kind? Did it play any role in "The Measure of a Man"? No. Haftel makes up reasons to get hold of Lal that are very easy to disprove. Well, Haftel eventually redeems himself when he assists Data in the repairs of Lal's pathways, visibly moved about how the new-found emotions are too much for Lal. But his change of mind comes too late to be of real significance for his character and still too quickly to be plausible.

I also think that "The Offspring" is overly verbose, even more so than "The Measure of a Man". In the latter episode it was very appropriate because talking is what a courtroom drama is about after all. In "The Offspring", on the other hand, there is a lot talking to no end, like the aforementioned discussions on parenthood. At least in one instance it is also very anticlimactic. The scene in which Lal seeks Troi's advice and is close to break down is followed by several minutes of talking in the observation lounge. It is almost a deliverance when Deanna interrupts the debate with, saying that something is wrong with Lal.

Finally, I think it is bad style that Riker returns to the ship just for one cheesy scene in which he meets Lal, not aware of her nature, and she grabs and kisses him.

• "I insist we do whatever we can to discourage the perception of this new android as a child. It is not a child. It is an invention, albeit an extraordinary one." - "Why should biology rather than technology determine whether it is a child? Data has created an offspring. A new life out of his own being. To me, that suggests a child. If he wishes to call Lal his child, then who are we to argue?" - "Well, if he must, but I fail to understand how a five foot android with heuristic learning systems and the strength of a ten men can be called a child." - "You've never been a parent." (Picard and Troi)
• "I can give her attention, Doctor. But I am incapable of giving her love." [Data leaves.] - "Now why do I find that so hard to believe?" (Data and Crusher) 

Sins of the Father

Stardate 43685.2: The new Klingon exchange officer on the Enterprise turns out Worf's younger brother, Kurn. He tells Worf that their family is about to be dishonored because their father, Mogh, is said to be the traitor who enabled the Romulan attack on Khitomer in which their parents died. The Enterprise arrives at the Klingon homeworld where Worf challenges the allegations before the High Council. After Kurn has been attacked with a knife, Worf asks Picard to act as his advocate, his cha'DIch. The research of the Enterprise crew reveals that the evidence against Mogh was falsified and that there is another survivor of the massacre, Worf's nanny Kahlest. The true traitor is Ja'rod, the father of Duras, Worf's accuser. The Klingon leader, K'mpec, however, is not willing to reveal the truth since it could trigger a Klingon civil war. Worf, who is facing death penalty, strives to save his brother's life and hopes that one day the truth will prevail. He drops the challenge that would mean their death under the given circumstances and accepts his discommendation instead - although this is worse than death to a Klingon.

The beginning of this episode is quite conventional. As soon as Picard says in his log that a Klingon warrior would return Commander Riker's favor and join the Enterprise crew, it is obvious what would happen. Just as Riker brought human smartness to the Klingon cruiser Pagh in TNG: "A Matter of Honor" while respecting Klingon customs, Commander Kurn formally follows Starfleet protocols but does it in an uncompromising Klingon way that puts off his new subordinates on the Enterprise. Even Riker's getting accustomed with Klingon food is mirrored in Kurn's first encounter with human dishes (although Kurn does nothing to please his hosts, such as with basic table manners). And regarding Worf, Kurn provokes an irate "Klingon" reaction from him in much the same fashion as the dead Klingon did in "Heart of Glory" or his mate K'Ehleyr in "The Emissary". Anyway, after an amusing but overall rather trivial beginning the revelation that Kurn is Worf's brother comes as a big surprise.

"Sins of the Father" is the first Star Trek episode in which Klingon culture unfolds in its full complexity. In many ways this Klingon feature is comparable to the one on the Vulcans in TOS: "Amok Time". The episode also adds to Worf's character that is explored in greater depth than previously in "Heart of Glory" or "The Emissary". Worf is involved on various different levels in "Sins of the Father", and to an ever growing extent. Saving his own life soon becomes the least of his problems. He is a Starfleet officer who still serves his captain even as he accepts the Klingon challenge and who represents Starfleet in the eyes of the Klingons. He is struggling to restore his family's reputation. He strives to save the life of his younger brother. He eventually accepts the discommendation for the greater good, to save the Empire, the ultimate sacrifice for a Klingon.

As already mentioned, Worf tries to reconcile his being in Starfleet with his role in the Klingon Empire. He receives support from Picard, who too takes on a double role as Worf's commanding officer and his second in the challenge, the cha'DIch. The way the two work together to restore Worf's honor is a remarkable examples of loyalty and trust. Eventually they fail because the Klingon High Council, the authority to make the judgment, has ultimately ruled that Worf's family is guilty even before Worf made the challenge, thereby ignoring the truth and betraying the principle of honor. We don't really know whether Worf sees at least a little bit of a moral victory and a chance to pay back Duras in his discommendation or whether his being an outcast in the eyes of his people outweighs everything else. In any case, this may be the Trek episode with the most pronounced sad ending so far, and with an unexpected one no less.

It is also clear that the story necessitates a follow up. Worf's unfinished business with the treacherous Duras family will be resolved in "Reunion" and "Redemption" .

• At the buffet, Kurn complains about the (replicated) turkey that has been dead for too long in his view, then reluctantly takes some of the caviar that Picard saved for special occasions. Finally, Kurn puts a flower from the table decoration on his plate.
• Everyone is shouting in the Klingon Great Hall. When Picard too begins to speak in an extremely loud voice, Riker looks over to him in astonishment.
• It is impressive how the members of the High Council turn their backs on Worf, one by one, as a visible sign of his discommendation.
• "The family of a Klingon warrior is responsible for his actions and he is responsible for theirs. If I fail in my challenge, I will be executed. Will you grant my leave, Captain?" - "No. If I understand correctly, a Starfleet officer, a respected member of my crew, could be accused of a capital crime. Your actions in this matter will reflect on this ship and on the Federation. Therefore, it seems only appropriate that your captain should be at your side while you make your challenge. I'm sure you would do no less for me." (Worf and Picard)
• "Kahlest, you can go now. It is good to see you again." - "You are still fat, K'mpec." (K'mpec and Kahlest)
• "I never kill anyone at the supper table, Mister La Forge." (Kurn)
• "It is a good day to die, Duras, and the day is not yet over." (Worf)
• Remarkable error: Picard speaks of the "Klingon Imperial Empire" , a very obvious tautology.
• It is the first time in Star Trek that we see Qo'noS .
• Kurn was barely a year old when Worf left for the Khitomer Outpost. Worf, his mother and his father Mogh were not going to stay long. Kurn was left to stay with Lorgh, his father's friend and was raised by him when Mogh did not return.

Stardate 43714.1: Picard is abducted by unknown aliens and finds himself in what seems to be a cage of lab rats - together with three other individuals from different planets: the Bolian woman Mitena Haro, the Mizarian Kova Tholl and some time later a Chalnoth named Esoqq. After some unsuccessful attempts to escape he finds out that one of his fellow prisoners, namely Mitena Haro, is not what she appears to be. In the meantime a false Picard is commanding the Enterprise, but his silly behavior helps to unmask him in time before his orders put the ship and crew in danger. When Picard is eventually rescued from his prison, he gives the aliens who are responsible for the kidnapping a taste of being imprisoned by confining them in a forcefield.

"Allegiance" has its enjoyable moments. But overall it leaves me rather dissatisfied. It is one of many Star Trek episodes to exploit the old cliché that aliens kidnap humans and/or take on their forms to study their behavior in a crisis, with special attention to one particular quality of their existence that they are unfamiliar with. Examples up to the time this TNG episode was produced include TOS: "Spectre of the Gun", "The Empath", "The Savage Curtain" and TNG: "Where Silence Has Lease". There is nothing new about the premise of "Allegiance". However, the more important reason why I don't quite like it is that the story doesn't work for me.

First of all it is very implausible that those aliens create an absolutely perfect replica of Captain Picard with all his knowledge and behavioral patterns, so realistic that even Dr. Crusher doesn't notice anything when she examines him, only to let him act so erratically. The fake Captain Picard is sentient, is an alien who has taken on the captain's shape as it turns out. He could have the trust and loyalty of his crew all the time, but instead of that he intones a drinking song and makes advances to Beverly. Well, perhaps that is intentional and is part of the test but it looks to me like it jeopardizes the mission of the aliens rather than helping it. I wish the whole part on the Enterprise had been shown from the false Picard's perspective. It could have been way more interesting to watch, as we would have seen it through the eyes of an alien who poses as a human being, perhaps for the first time, who is accordingly uncertain and who makes mistakes. The way it is actually done we only see a quite normal Picard most of the time although he isn't.

This takes me to the second weak point, that we never learn what exactly the aliens wanted, except to study the concept of authority and of being different individuals in the first place. The aliens could just as well have claimed that the subject of their research was sociability, deprivation of food or lock picking, all of which would have been equally plausible.

The scenario the aliens set up for Picard ("the leader"), Tholl ("the collaborator") and Esoqq ("the anarchist") is too formulaic; their roles and actions are predetermined and hence unsuited for a scientific test. The aliens repeat the error of the Excalbians who attempted to find out the difference between good and evil in much the same fashion in TOS: "The Savage Curtain" . Choosing a Mizarian and a Chalnoth as Picard's fellow prisoners, two races that we have never seen before, was another mistake. We are totally unfamiliar with their tendency to surrender and to react with aggression, respectively. It would have worked better with established aliens. Well, I like the red herring that for some time Tholl appears to be the one who is not really a prisoner. This seems to be corroborated by Picard's initial hostility towards him, as we would expect the captain to have an infallible instinct.

The perhaps biggest disappointment, however, is how easily Picard and Riker elude and thereby demystify the aliens in the end, by simply placing a forcefield around them. I can't believe that these two clowns are the same vastly advanced and powerful aliens that communicate telepathically across many light years and whose transporter is capable of transforming them into perfect replicas of whoever they want to pose as. And just on a side note, with the amazing ability to transform themselves into anyone they want they should discover the diversity they don't have in their natural form, without performing experiments on other species.

• The song that the fake Picard sings in Ten Forward is called "Heart of Oak". 

Captain's Holiday

Stardate 43745.2: When Picard returns from exhausting diplomatic negotiations, Riker recommends him to go on vacation to Risa. Picard's relaxation on Risa is over when he runs into an attractive woman named Vash and finds himself in the middle of the chase for a powerful device from the future, the Tox Uthat. Two Vorgons from the 27th century want to take it back to their time and they know that it would be Picard who gives it to them. A Ferengi called Sovak is eager to buy the Uthat - or take it by force. He follows Picard and Vash to the excavation site, where they dig for it in vain. Picard, however, recognizes that Vash has already found the Uthat and just wanted to get rid of Sovak. The two Vorgons appear again, but instead of giving them the Tox Uthat, Picard has the returning Enterprise destroy the device. The Vorgons leave with the remark that this was exactly what was supposed to happen.

In a positive sense, "Captain's Holiday" may be described as a fun episode with an unusual "Indiana Jones" touch to it. But then again, the light-hearted tone doesn't quite fit with the threat posed by a powerful weapon that could extinguish a whole civilization and a pending time travel problem on top of it. This is not what a Starfleet captain should take care of single-handedly, in his spare time. Realistically, Picard ought to have to enlisted help just after meeting the time travelers for the first time, but that would have ruined his adventure as an archeologist, a detective and a lover. I certainly don't resent him having fun, but it should have been under somewhat different circumstances. It would have been so easy to tone the premise down accordingly, considering that the Tox Uthat is a plot device that could have been anything else from any time and that the Vorgons' being from the future is only good for a punchline (that Picard was always meant to destroy the device, as per a predestined timeline ). Looking at the episode from this perspective, it is a bit like a big idea was made into a small episode.

A seemingly minor aspect that irks me is that the Tox Uthat is a legend according to Picard's own words. It adds to the long list of legends that come true casually in Star Trek, which is a waste of a literary theme. It is like someone in our world said, "You've found Atlantis? Yeah. So it's not just a myth. Cool. Now, what's on TV tonight?"

Regarding Picard and Patrick Stewart's portrayal of him, he is visibly and audibly at odds with just everyone, everything and also with himself at the beginning. I think his initial exasperation on the ship and his austerity on Risa is exaggerated. Clearly this serves the story, to corroborate that he needs a vacation and that Risa isn't exactly the right place, respectively. I always enjoyed the humor of the episode, but seeing it again after several years it comes across as a tad too cartoonish. Fortunately Picard lightens up during the treasure hunt and there is a good chemistry with Vash.

I like Vash anyway. She is a character that is anachronistic by 24th century standards - at least by Starfleet's standards that expect humans to improve themselves instead of seeking profit. Yet, she is not a total antagonist like so many human and alien characters (notably the Ferengi, who are represented by Sovak in this episode) that appear like caricatures of capitalism. The potential of Jennifer Hetrick as Vash obviously convinced the writers and producers too, and she appeared in two more episodes, TNG: "QPid" and DS9: "Q-Less" , albeit in less notable roles.

• Continuity: The fact that Picard heard about Professor Samuel Estragon and his research corroborates Picard's interest in archeology that seems to grow retroactively through the run of the series.
• Remarkable dialogue: "You know Jean-Luc, it's lucky for you we met. If it wasn't for me, you'd still be back there sitting in the sun, relaxing." - "That happens to be why I came to Risa." - "I'm sure you hated every minute of it. That kind of vacation isn't for a man like you. You need excitement." (Vash and Picard)
• Riker suggests that Picard take shore leave on Risa while the Enterprise is undergoing maintenance, but the captain is reluctant - until Deanna mentions that there is a chance that her mother is going to visit the ship at that time.
• Thanks to the Horga'hn that Riker asked him to buy, Picard is repeatedly "harassed" by women who seek jamaharon. When Picard learns what the Horga'hn means, he quickly hides the statue under a towel.
• Remarkable planet: This is the first appearance of Risa . The pleasure planet will frequently be referred to in all following Trek series and will appear again in DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin" and ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights". 
• Remarkable fact: The Tox Uthat was invented by a scientist named Kal Dano in the mid-27th century. The Uthat is a quantum phase inhibitor capable of halting all nuclear reaction within a star. 

Stardate 43779.3: The Enterprise is summoned to the Beta Stromgren system to make contact with "Tin Man", a strange organic vessel. They pick up the Betazoid Tam Elbrun, a specialist for first contacts with a controversial reputation. Elbrun, who feels uncomfortable among humanoids, is already secretly in telepathic contact with the creature that calls itself Gomtuu. The creature may be the last of its kind. Its crew was killed, and it now intends to commit suicide as Beta Stromgren is about to explode. The Romulans, who claim this region of space, are interested in Gomtuu as well. They send two Warbirds of which one is destroyed by Gomtuu, under the influence of the telepathic contact with Elbrun. Picard allows Elbrun to beam over to Gomtuu, and sends Data with him. When the second Warbird arrives, Gomtuu hurls the Enterprise and the Romulan ship through space, far away from Beta Stromgren. Data is transferred back to the ship just before the star goes nova. Elbrun decides to stay with Gomtun, their whereabouts remain unknown.

The episode deals with an interesting topic: the downside of being a telepath. Tam Elbrun was born telepathic, and unlike other Betazoids he never had the chance to slowly get used to it. When among humanoids, he is plagued by thousands of voices in his head that he can't simply switch off. And so he prefers the presence of non-humanoid creatures whose thoughts are more pleasant to him. I basically like this part of the story, but it is overall too verbose and it is let down a bit by Tam Elbrun's character. He is too much defined by that one quality. Apart from that Tam Elbrun is a stock character of the kind TNG already had so many: another civilian mission specialist whose reputation precedes him and who acts as a generic troublemaker that the crew doesn't get along with.

The idea of a space lifeform isn't new either. Actually, Gomtuu could have been just as well a member of the very similar "space jellyfish" species from "Encounter at Farpoint". There was no need to establish yet another species of living starships. And on top of everything there is a Romulan threat, which in this case is quite gratuitous.

Well, while overall the story isn't captivating, I like the chemistry between Tam Elbrun, Troi and Data, although I think there could have been a bit more of a conflict between Troi and Data when Picard allows Elbrun to beam over to Gomtuu, against her explicit advice.

• Remarkable dialogue: "Through joining they have been healed. Grief has been transmuted to joy. Loneliness to belonging." - "Data, you do understand." - "Yes, Counselor. When Tin Man returned me to the Enterprise, I realized this is where I belong." (Data and Troi)
• Data says, "Since there is no known natural phenomenon capable of travel at warp velocities, there are but two possibilities. Either it is a sensor malfunction, or another ship is following us covertly." He forgets the various space lifeforms such as notably the dikironium cloud from TOS: "Obsession" or the Zetarians from TOS: "The Lights of Zetar" that traveled at warp speed without being any kind of ship.
• Troi deems telepathic communication across several light years impossible, even for Tam Elbrun. However, in TOS: "The Immunity Syndrome" Spock sensed that the Intrepid with its Vulcan crew was destroyed many light years away, and Vulcans are definitely less renowned for being telepathic than Betazoids.
• After the Enterprise has been hurled away from Beta Stromgren by Gomtuu, Wesley reports that the new position is 3.8 billion kilometers away. That would translate to 3.5 hours at light speed. When the crew witnesses the star's explosion on the main viewer only a few seconds later, this should have happened 3.5 hours ago. Well, unless the viewscreen displays FTL sensor data, rather than an optical image.
• The creature nicknamed "Tin Man" calls itself Gomtuu. Gomtuu has roamed the galaxy for thousands of years. It may have come from beyond the galaxy. There were once millions of its kind, but Gomtuu may be the last one. Its crew died in an explosion when radiation penetrated the outer layers of its hull.
• Tam Elbrun is one of the few Betazoids who were already born with the ability to read minds, which turned out very confusing for him. As a specialist for first contact situations, he was involved in the Ghorusda disaster, in the course of which 47 of the crew of the USS Adelphi were killed, including Captain Darson and two friends from Riker's class at the Academy. The board of inquiry found that Captain Darson was being careless about Ghorusdan cultural taboos, but many put the blame on Tam Elbrun, who feels guilt himself for not warning the captain forcefully enough.
• The Enterprise has a higher top speed than a Romulan D'deridex class.

Hollow Pursuits

Stardate 43807.4: Lt. Reginald Barclay is a shy, nervous and unsteady member of Geordi La Forge's engineering staff. Unbeknownst to the rest of the crew he spends his spare time on the holodeck where he has created holographic versions of his superior officers. Geordi complains to Riker about Barclay, but Picard orders Geordi to try harder to get along with him. In an attempt to encourage him, Geordi seeks Barclay's advice when the ship is plagued by inexplicable malfunctions. Barclay suggests that these may all have a common cause. When Barclay once again does not show up for a staff meeting, Riker, Deanna and Geordi find out about Barclay's secret holographic activities. When the warp drive injectors too run out of control, Geordi's team with Wesley and Barclay finds out that the cause is a substance leaking from a cargo container which is spread throughout the ship by the crew members who have touched the container. Barclay and Geordi manage to eliminate the contamination in the nick of time. Barclay, with his newly developed self-confidence, deletes all his holoprograms - except for one.

"Hollow Pursuits" most notably adds a new facet to the holodeck as the arguably most important innovation of the 24th century. In most TNG episodes so far the holodeck was used for recreation, and while the holographic creations were always very personal, there was nothing overly intimate or embarrassing about it. Holographic entertainment was something meant to unite the crew in common activities, rather than segregate them. This was most visible in "The Big Goodbye" and "Elementary, Dear Data". In contrast, Barclay has created a world of his own that his fellow crew members are not meant to join and that they have a problem to accept.

Furthermore the holodeck was customarily seen as a new means to find distraction but not as a way to escape from reality. It was originally planned that in "The Bonding" Jeremy would recreate his dead mother on the holodeck, which would have been the first real case of holo-addiction in Star Trek. This leaves the captivating creation of Minuet in "11001001" that did have an impact on Will Riker. But he neither used the holodeck to compensate for real-life problems in the first place, nor did he have any trouble returning to real life. The case may have been somewhat different with Geordi La Forge and the holographic Leah Brahms that almost became a surrogate love interest for him. But then again Geordi is a character who was well able to sort out his life without the Leah Brahms character that he obviously retired until the real Leah Brahms reactivated it in "Galaxy's Child". Barclay, in contrast, does have more serious issues in real life, and his only attempt to resolve them takes place on the holodeck. Geordi mentions the word "holo-addiction" when he exits the holodeck after a visit to Barclay's program, but he did not seem to be familiar with the phenomenon until he noticed that one of his crew was affected.

Overall, "Hollow Pursuits" presents us a good blend of fun and thrill. The episode has hilarious moments, but remains serious enough to show Barclay as a crew member with psychic problems and lacking social acceptance, rather than as mere comic relief. Only the timing does not always work. I doubt that Geordi would send Barclay to Counselor Troi while there is a pressing task of performing a level-one diagnostic of the ship's systems. Likewise, Riker, La Forge and Troi waste precious time looking for "Master Barclay" on the holodeck while there are malfunctions all over the ship during a crucial mission.

• Remarkable in-joke: Geordi and Riker complain about Barclay always being late in the real world. In Barclay's holographic world, Riker is the one who who has to apologize for being late.
• Remarkable dialogue: "Maybe I'm not making myself clear, Guinan. Barclay, well, he's always late. The man's nervous. Nobody wants to be around this guy." - "If I felt that nobody wanted to be around me, I'd probably be late and nervous too." (La Forge and Guinan)
• Remarkable quote: "I am the Goddess of Empathy. Cast off your inhibitions and embrace love, truth, joy." (holographic Troi)
• Picard wants to encourage Barclay to carry on with his work, but uses the nickname that he himself ordered to dispose of: "Good. I look forward to your report, Mister Broccoli... Barclay." Barclay leaves. Data then lectures: "Metathesis is one of the most common of pronunciation errors, sir. A reversal of vowel and consonant, 'Barc' to 'Broc'." When he notices that the embarrassed captain doesn't react at all, Data quickly turns away to work on a console.
• Riker orders the computer to end Barclay's simulation but Troi interferes, saying that his reality shouldn't be destroyed abruptly. She argues that "it [the simulation] could provide us with valuable information about what's troubling him." Then Geordi, Riker and Troi run into Barclay's "Goddess of Empathy". Troi is upset and orders the computer to delete the character, but this time Riker overrides the command, saying, "We want to get more insight into what's been troubling the poor man, remember?" And so Deanna just walks by her holographic doppelganger, telling her, "Muzzle it!"
• Remarkable appearance: Dwight Schultz as Lt. Reginald Barclay will reappear in several more TNG episodes, in "Star Trek: First Contact" and in some Voyager episodes.
• Wesley's character on the holodeck is based on a painting by Thomas Gainsborough, "The Blue Boy" .
• The transporter test cylinders are actually US Navy sonar buoy casings .

The Most Toys

Stardate 43872.2: Data is presumed dead after his shuttlepod has exploded while returning from dealer Kivas Fajo's ship. Actually, Fajo has kidnapped Data to add him to his collection of unique creatures and artifacts. Data refuses any collaboration, and so Fajo doesn't have the desired "fun" with him. Fajo even threatens to kill his assistant Varria with a disruptor, only to break Data's resistance. Varria, who is tired of permanently being humiliated, helps Data escape from his prison. Fajo shoots her cold-bloodedly. Data seizes control of the weapon and points it at Fajo, but Fajo knows the android wouldn't be able to kill him. Meanwhile, the truth about Data's disappearance has been found out on the Enterprise. Data is beamed out from Fajo's ship - and O'Brien on the transporter console notices that the disruptor has been activated.

"The Most Toys" has a bad start, considering that the Enterprise-D serves as a cargo ship for urgently needed supplies yet again, like so often in TNG and only recently in "Hollow Pursuits". But the episode takes an unusual direction when Data's shuttle explodes. Data is separated from the rest of the crew, and the story carries on with two plot threads, both of which are quite interesting. The people on the Enterprise believe for most of the rest of the episode that Data is dead and try to cope with their feelings of loss. Data himself is a prisoner on Kivas Fajo's ship. He tries to escape and to put up resistance with ever increasing intensity, up to the point that he seems to have lost his inability to feel any emotions.

The arguably most noteworthy and most controversial aspect of the episode is that Data apparently fires the Varon-T disruptor at Kivas Fajo just as the transporter beam on him is activated and then lies about it when Riker mentions the activation of the weapon. We may still choose to blame a malfunction of the disruptor or of the transporter, but the intent is quite clear: After Kivas Fajo has shot Varria and has threatened to kill other crew members just to gain control of Data, Data either seeks revenge in an emotional reaction or he preemptively shoots Fajo to avert further harm to anyone else. In any case he does something that his programming shouldn't allow. Whether it is ethically correct or not, it seems that Data has taken a further step in his development. It is only a mistake that the incident is not further investigated and will never be referred to again.

• Nitpicking: Kivas Fajo's freighter has a top speed of merely Warp 3. Wesley calculates that in the 23 hours since Data's alleged death he could have traveled a distance of 0.102 light years, which is correct. On the other hand, it doesn't make sense that within this very small radius there are supposed to be multiple star systems and multiple Federation outposts.
• Remarkable quote: "For an android with no feelings, he sure managed to evoke them in others." (Riker)
• Kivas Fajo's shows exuberant joy and dances around after Data has woken up.
• Data remains totally passive, doesn't move at all and falls over like a mannequin, thereby embarrassing Kivas Fajo in the presence of his guest Toff.
• We see Data's Tasha hologram once again.
• Kivas Fajo has four Varon-T disruptor prototypes. The prop would later reappear as different types of weapons .
• Remarkable collection: Kivas Fajo has several sculptures, paintings and other unique items in his collection. Among them is a basotile - an abstract sculpture. There are some vases, of which one is noteworthy because it was made by the late Mark Off-Zel from Sirrie IV. He also has a Dali ("The Persistence of Memory"). The real painting, however, is smaller than the one in Kivas Fajo's collection. A small striped vase or jar in the collection would later find its way to the Enterprise, perhaps as an in-joke that the crew are taking revenge on him in this fashion? There is also a Roger Maris baseball trading card, ca. 1962 that smells like bubblegum. Kivas Fajo owns the last lapling, an overall reptilian creature with big blue facet eyes that was believed to be extinct. Furthermore we can see the "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci. According to the computer Fajo has also collected "the Rejac Crystal, the "Starry Night" by Van Gogh, the Lawmim Galactopedia, the Moliam Andi tapestries,..." Finally, Fajo brags about his four Veltan sex idols.
• Remarkable ship: The model of Fajo's ship Jovis previously appeared as the Husnock ship in "The Survivors" but was heavily modified.
• Remarkable facts: Data is composed of 26.8kg of tripolymer composites, 11.8kg of molybdenum-cobalt alloy and 1.3kg bioplast sheeting. 

Stardate 43917.4: The Enterprise is going to host a conference between the Federation and the mysterious Legarans. 202-year-old Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan has prepared this meeting for 93 years. Before he is beamed aboard together with his wife Perrin, his assistants, Ki Mendrossen and Sakkath, insist that Sarek needs rest. But Sarek carries on with his work regardless. When tensions arise among the Enterprise crew, Crusher and Troi find out that Sarek is the reason. He suffers from the Bendii syndrome, a disease which can disable an aged Vulcan's emotional control - and that of other people who get under his telepathic influence. Sakkath was able to alleviate the effects so far, but the strain just before the meeting is too much for Sarek. In order to save the conference, Picard agrees to a mind-meld with the Vulcan, so a part of Picard gives Sarek the strength for the negotiations, and a part of Sarek can live out his emotions in Picard's body.

Although several TNG stories, especially in the first season, heavily relied on motifs established in TOS, the writers largely avoided direct references to people and events of TOS. Except for McCoy's brief appearance in "Encounter at Farpoint" and the story of "The Naked Now" that continued in the same vein as "The Naked Time", TNG used to reference TOS only in the form of casual mentions. TNG was meant to continue the legacy, but rather by exploring new ground than by carrying on exactly where TOS left. This is the probably most important reason why the new series was set 100 years in the future in the first place and why we could see Vulcan characters on only two occasions so far (the girl in "Coming of Age" and Dr. Selar in "The Schizoid Man").

Towards the end of the third season TNG had matured to a series in its own right, and it was the right time to break with this tradition, by bringing back a character from TOS, and a Vulcan no less. "Surak" fortunately doesn't continue a story thread from TOS, which could have resulted in a sort of competition, because the fans would frequently compare the TOS episode and the TNG sequel.

Well, some fans may have had reservations before the episode first aired, because Sarek, an icon of TOS, would be shown in senile decay. However, thanks to the great performance of Mark Lenard the character of Sarek does not lose anything of his dignity. Even higher praise goes to Patrick Stewart, whose portrayal of Picard's emotional breakdown after sharing his thoughts with Sarek is outstanding.

Speaking of the captain's hard time with Sarek's emotions, it is absolutely plausible that he would choose the company of his confidante Dr. Crusher, rather than Counselor Troi's, although the latter is obviously better qualified. Yet, I would have wished for more involvement of Deanna Troi, who once again has only a vague feeling that something is wrong with someone's emotional state. In a story that is all about empathy, it is a missed opportunity to give the ship's resident empath something to do.

While the episode overall lives up to its high ambitions and high expectations, I find two aspects rather annoying. The first one is the hysterical hype about the Legarans. They are said to be mysterious. They need a special bathtub that no other than the chief engineer has to tend to. They are obsessed with the protocol (exactly like the Jarada in "The Big Goodbye" and the Sheliak in "The Ensigns of Command", by the way) and wouldn't talk to anyone unless all walls of the room are bare. Sarek needed no less than 93(!) years of preparation only to get them to the conference table tub. All this clichéd hyperbole turns out extremely anticlimactic because in the end we don't even see them! The second disappointment, speaking of clichés, is that the Bendii Syndrome is stated to be an extremely uncommon disease, rather than a normal effect of old age. While I understand the rationale that the rarity of Bendii makes it easier for Sarek's company to ignore or cover up his condition, I don't like the mystery factor and I don't like the idea that Trek characters frequently contract "extremely rare diseases".

• Sarek's negotiations to admit Coridan to the Federation ( TOS: "Journey to Babel" ) were successful.
• Data is playing the violin again.
• Picard will meet Sarek one more time in TNG: "Unification I".
• Remarkable quote: "It's ironic, isn't it? All this magnificent technology and we find ourselves still susceptible to the ravages of old age. The loss of dignity, the slow betrayal of our bodies by forces we cannot master. Do you still want to be one of us, Data?" (Picard)
• Remarkable scene: After joining his mind with Picard's, Sarek enters the bridge with new vitality and addresses Riker as "Number One".
• Remarkable facts: Sarek is 202 years old. Besides Coridan's admission to the Federation, he also negotiated the Treaty of Alpha Cygnus IX, and the alliance with the Klingons. Picard met him once, at his son's wedding. This son may have been Spock. Sarek worked 93 years in preparation of the treaty with the Legarans.

Stardate 43930.7: Lwaxana brushes off DaiMon Tog, who represents the Ferengi at a trade conference. The Ferengi kidnaps Lwaxana, Deanna and Will during their following vacation on Betazed, while the Enterprise is on a mission to explore a nebula. Aboard Tog's ship Lwaxana does her best to please her lovestruck kidnapper, while Deanna and Will manage to send a secret distress call by modulating the Marauder's warp field. Wesley, who is supposed to leave for Starfleet Academy, recognizes the signal, which is the rhythm of music played on the diplomatic reception during the conference. Lwaxana can persuade Tog to return Deanna and Will to the Enterprise, but warns him of Picard's jealousy. Picard scares Tog with a convincing performance as Lwaxana's lover who kills his rivals, so he releases Lwaxana as well. Wesley, who has missed his transport to Starfleet Academy, gets a field promotion to ensign from Picard.

I don't really know what to make of this episode. It is too farcical to be thrilling (except for the scene in which Wesley recognizes the pattern in the subspace signal), and not funny enough for a comedy (with the exception of Captain Picard's hilarious Shakespeare performance). I think it was a mistake in the first place to bring together the Ferengi and Lwaxana Troi in one episode, two recurring TNG guests that routinely serve as comic relief and whose behavior is rather stereotypical. The story accordingly consists of many clichés but rather little substance.

Hardly anything of significance happens in the first ten minutes. And this doesn't really change after Deanna, Lwaxana and Riker have been kidnapped, considering that the worst that happens to the two women is that DaiMon Tog removes their clothes. It is very predictable that Riker would easily overwhelm his guard, and that he would succeed before the mad Ferengi doctor could do harm to Lwaxana. The only positive surprises have already been mentioned: Wesley's realization that Riker is sending a signal to the Enterprise and Picard's Shakespeare performance.

• We can see how Deanna kisses the bearded Riker. In "Star Trek: Insurrection", however, she will claim that she never kissed him with a beard. Well, maybe she just tends to forget about the events in this episode.
• The way Riker outsmarts his guard in a game of 3D chess is reminiscent of Kirk's "fizzbin" ruse in TOS: "A Piece of Action".
• No one is relieving Riker and Troi's sole remaining guard, and no one is monitoring the arrest cell and its surroundings.
• Riker has no difficulty at all operating a console with only Ferengi writing on it.
• Remarkable dialogue: "Doesn't he realize that I am a daughter of the Fifth House of Betazed, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx?" - "The Sacred Chalice of Rixx is an old clay pot with mold growing inside it." (Lwaxana and Deanna)
• Remarkable quote: "Are we at war with the Ferengi yet?" (Deanna to Worf, after her mother has brushed off DaiMon Tog)
• "My love is a fever, longing still for that which longer nurseth the disease." ( Sonnet 147 )
• "In faith, I do not love thee with mine eye, For they in thee a thousand errors see; But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise, Who in despite of view are pleased to dote." ( Sonnet 141 )
• "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate." ( Sonnet 18 )
• "When I have plucked the rose, I cannot give it vital growth again. It needs must wither." ( Othello , Act V, Scene ii )
• "Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." ( In Memoriam - no, not by Shakespeare but by Alfred Tennyson).
• Remarkable joke: When the Enterprise takes on the pursuit of the Krayton, Picard orders Warp 8. When Lwaxana is safe aboard again, he orders a course to Betazed, Warp 9.
• Remarkable in-joke: DaiMon Tog's security code begins with "Kei-ee Yuri". This is a reference to the Japanese anime Dirty Pair. Dirty Pair returns the favor on several occasions.
• Remarkable appearance: Ethan Phillips, who plays Dr. Farek here, will later appears as Neelix on Star Trek Voyager.
• Remarkable aliens: We can see a Vulcan, a Selay, a Mizarian, a Bolian and a Zakdorn in Ten Forward.
• Remarkable re-use: Footage of Ten Forward from this episode will reappear in ENT: "These Are The Voyages".
• The power expenditure of the Gamma Erandi nebula is 5.34*10^41W.
• Oo-mox refers to massaging a Ferengi's ears, one of the species' most erogenous zones.
• The Ferengi Marauder Krayton is almost as fast as the Enterprise.

Transfigurations

Stardate 43957.2: A badly injured humanoid is found in the wreckage of an escape pod, but he recovers in only 36 hours. The man who suffers from amnesia is called "John Doe" by Dr. Crusher. He seems to have an amazingly salubrious influence on the crew: Geordi, for one, suddenly has the luck with women he was missing so far. When Worf breaks his neck, John heals him in an instant. A Zalkonian ship appears whose commander, Sunad, demands John's extradition. John's memory returns and he explains that he is not a criminal, but one of the first of his people to take the next step in evolution towards a being of pure energy, chased by a government that fears the unknown. Before the eyes of the bridge crew John eventually evolves to a new form of existence.

I think only the first half of this episode deserves praise, because of its credible depiction of 24th century medical technology and of John Doe's gradual recovery (with great make-up work). I like the mystery about John, whose name and origin remains unknown, and Geordi and Data's efforts to trace back his flight path. What I don't like is the gratuitous B-story about John giving Geordi the self-confidence to ask Christy Henshaw out for a date. And this is just the beginning of a sequence of events that establish John as some sort of a 24th century angel. He has a "spiritual connection" with Beverly, he heals O'Brien's dislocated shoulder and even Worf's broken neck.

Everything about John is just too good to be true. Knowing what kind of trouble visitors who don't reveal their true nature usually stir up on the ship, we would expect the depiction of John to be gradually revised in the course of the episode, for the worse, or at least for something more realistic. Well, it may be seen as a positive surprise that for once a guest character has no dark side, not even any hard feelings towards those who hunt him and who killed his friends. But the depiction of John as a homeless alien who is everyone's friend is so awfully likable that it becomes cutesy, a bit like Trek's version of E.T. only somewhat less cuddly.

It is obvious that "Transfigurations" was meant to comment on xenophobia, but I think it doesn't work. Many aspects of the story remind me of TOS: "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". However, while the TOS episode depicted the struggle between two sides both of which were (literally!) black and white at the same time, John is definitely all white whereas Sunad comes across as all black. It is neither desirable for a story to have such a blatant contrast between the two factions nor is it realistic. The question arises that even if John is an angelic being, who says that the same has to apply to the other Zalkonians that go through the transfiguration? Actually, after John has demonstrated his powers by teleporting Sunad over to the Enterprise, the "normal" Zalkonians have rather more than less reason to be afraid of his kind. Who says that the rapid evolution of their race that goes along with acquiring incredible powers doesn't produce a large number of Qs or worse, who take pleasure in tormenting "primitive" species?

On a final positive note, John's transfiguration is certainly fascinating and is definitely one of the reasons why the Enterprise is out in space, as Picard says: "It is our mission to seek out life in all forms. We are privileged to have been present at the emergence of a new species." I absolutely agree with him, despite my criticism of the circumstances and despite the bad science of the "rapid evolution" .

• Nitpicking: What happened to political asylum? Picard neither offers asylum to John, nor does he mention that option to the Zalkonian commander, which may perhaps earn him some time.
• Continuity: Poor Geordi. He still gave advise Wesley on girls in TNG: "The Dauphin", when Wesley had a crush on Salia and was too shy to let her know. Then his own date with Christy became awkward in "Booby Trap". And now he even has huge problem to invite her to a date in the first place as if he had never talked to her before.
• Remarkable quote: "I've been tutoring him. He learns very quickly." (Worf, to Data, about Geordi's new self-confidence that actually stems from John)
• Remarkable appearance: Doug Drexler , then a make-up artist on the series, appears as a command division officer in Ten Forward.

The Best of Both Worlds I/II

Stardate 43989.1/44001.4: Lt. Cmdr. Shelby joins the crew to examine the disappearance of the Federation colony New Providence, apparently caused by the Borg. A Borg cube appears and they demand that Picard personally surrender to them. Thanks to Shelby's quick-witted strategy, the Enterprise breaks away and hides in a nebula where Geordi modifies the deflector to serve as a weapon. When the Borg attack again, they abduct and assimilate Picard who now acts as their speaker, Locutus. Riker takes command of the ship, while a team led by Shelby beams aboard the Borg ship. They can do some damage, but don't manage to retrieve Picard. Back on the Enterprise, Riker orders Geordi's weapon to be fired - without any noticeable effect. Thanks to Locutus the Borg have all of Picard's knowledge about Federation technology and strategy. The Enterprise is not able to follow the Borg cube, which has resumed a course straight to Earth. A fleet of 40 Federation ships is going to engage them at Wolf 359. When the Enterprise arrives at the battle site, the whole fleet is lost. The Enterprise catches up with the cube again, and thanks to Riker's unusual and unexpected maneuvers Picard can be freed, while the cube is approaching Earth. Data is trying to get in contact with the Borg through Picard's implants. He finally gets a hint by Picard himself who says "sleep", just when Riker is about to give the command to ram the Borg ship. With a "sleep" command, Data disables the cube, which destroys itself by a power feedback.

"The Best of Both Worlds" is widely considered by fans to be the best Star Trek TNG episode. It is the most famous episode of TNG anyway and perhaps of all Star Trek. But what is so special about it?

First of all, it brings back the excitement to the franchise. TNG had a slow start. In the first three seasons there were occasional confrontations with the Ferengi, with the supernatural powers of unpleasant guests or with the present or past wrongdoings of the crew's own kind. There were a couple of really good moral plays. But very few episodes stood out, and none so far had a "wow effect". I don't mean to say that it needs a big threat to the civilization and to everyone's lives for an episode to be really exciting. On the contrary, it can become a big waste if the story doesn't work, considering that something so extreme can be done perhaps once every two seasons without exhausting the idea. The story of "The Best of Both Worlds" works perfectly. Pertaining to the excitement it invokes it is only rivaled DS9's "The Way of the Warrior", by DS9's final chapter and by "Star Trek: First Contact" in my view.

Secondly, "The Best of Both Worlds" involves the crew very personally. There were certainly some previous episodes in which members of the crew faced existential problems, such as notably Data in "The Measure of a Man". But overall it was rather symptomatic of early TNG that personal involvement was either quickly resolved a bit like Riker and Pulaski did when they killed their clones in "Up the Long Ladder", or it only occurred on the holodeck. "The Best of Both Worlds" goes much further when Picard is assimilated by the Borg to act as their spokesman Locutus (perfect participle of Latin loquor - to talk), to lead them in a war against his own people. But underneath the skin that was turned to gray we still recognize the captain. It is Patrick Stewart's merit that we can feel that the individual Picard is still there, although his actions as Locutus are determined by the collective consciousness. As Picard himself says in the end, he remembers everything that he did when he was part of the Borg, and we can believe him.

Thirdly, the character relations are played out very well. Everyone of the crew has a few good scenes, and interacts with everyone else. Even Guinan is involved when she first joins Picard on his "tour of the ship before the battle" and later gives Riker the advice to let go of the meanwhile assimilated Captain Picard. In a way it is her who passes the torch from Captain Picard to Captain Riker. It may not seem the right timing to add a Commander Shelby to the mix, and as a competitor for Riker's position no less. But her impulsive character works very well in the story, and the two-part episodes leaves enough time to develop her. Perhaps contrary to common belief I don't think she is unsympathetic. Only her initial interaction with Riker is a tad too aggressive, but Riker doesn't hold his fire either.

Fourthly, the episode is full of memorable moments and unusual plots twists to be remembered. The cliffhanger at the end of the first part is still unsurpassed today. I also like the idea that, after talking with Guinan, Riker changes his tactics and does everything to confuse the Borg, who have Picard's knowledge of him. Data and Worf's shuttle ride to free Captain Picard is one of the most exciting tactical operations ever shown in Star Trek, and appears quite realistic too. Finally, the idea that a simple command could put the Borg to sleep is priceless.

The excitement in "The Best of Both Worlds" comes from the story, from the actors and from the directing - despite or just because the simple visual effects of the time, the lack of hectic camera motion and of fast cuts. I would probably like to see the episode with state-of-the-art visual effects, but not with the visual overkill that present-day directors obviously deem necessary in their action series or movies.

Finally, the score of "The Best of Both Worlds" deserves praise. While it is overall not so much different than in previous episodes style-wise, the occasional chorus (representing the voices of the Collective?) is a remarkable feature.

• It is the first time in Star Trek that the ship's main deflector dish serves a special purpose. Later TNG episodes and especially Star Trek Voyager will frequently pick up this idea.
• We will see parts of the Battle of Wolf 359 in a flashback in DS9: "Emissary" .
• In TNG: "The Drumhead" Admiral Satie states that 39 starships an nearly 11,000 lives were lost at Wolf 359.
• O'Brien states that he beamed Riker to "the center of the town [New Providence]. " Riker, however, is standing at the edge of a large crater, with unscathed grassland right behind him. So O'Brien must have beamed him to the very edge of the former settlement.
• Worf's hair changes between the two parts of the episode.
• Why don't the Borg destroy the totally defenseless Enterprise or assimilate everyone after Riker's unsuccessful attempt of firing of the deflector? And once again after the rescue of Picard?
• When the Borg cube approaches the Terran system, it drops out of warp . And so does the Enterprise. In numerous other episodes warp speed inside a solar system is possible or is at least considered an option, so why not in this extreme emergency?
• Remarkable fact: Ship-to-ship transport at warp is possible if the speeds are matched.
• "Resistance is futile." (the Borg, heard here for the first time)
• "Commander Shelby, you'll lead the away team. Make it so." (Riker)
• "Mr. Worf. Fire." (Riker, in the famous cliffhanger at the end of part I)
• "The knowledge and experience of the human Picard is part of us now. It has prepared us for all possible courses of action. Your resistance is hopeless, Number One." (Locutus)
• When Shelby, Worf, Data and Crusher spot Picard on the Borg ship, the captain turns round, thereby revealing that he has been transformed into a Borg.
• The Enterprise arrives at the battle site of Wolf 359, to find that the fleet has been totally destroyed .
• Picard was the only freshman to ever win the Academy marathon, according to Admiral Hanson. He passed four upper classman on the last hill of the run on Danula II.
• New Providence on Jouret IV was one of the Federation's outermost colonies. It had 900 inhabitants.
• After the first Borg attack on the Enterprise eleven crew members are dead and eight are unaccounted for. The further casualties remain unknown.
• Wolf 359 is an actual star in Earth's galactic vicinity.
• Earth is located in Sector 001.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 3, Episode 5

The bonding, where to watch, star trek: the next generation — season 3, episode 5.

Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation — Season 3, Episode 5 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

More Like This

Cast & crew.

Patrick Stewart

Capt. Jean-Luc Picard

Jonathan Frakes

Cmdr. William Riker

LeVar Burton

Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge

Gates McFadden

Dr. Beverly Crusher

Michael Dorn

Marina Sirtis

Counselor Deanna Troi

Episode Info

The Bonding (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 1.7 Log entries
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Production history
• 3.2 Story and production
• 3.4 Sets and props
• 3.5 Deleted scenes
• 3.6 Continuity
• 3.7 Reception
• 3.8 Apocrypha
• 3.9 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest stars
• 4.4 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.5 Stand-ins
• 4.6.1 Deleted references
• 4.7 External links

Summary [ ]

The USS Enterprise -D encounters a planet that appears to be uninhabited. Captain Picard sends an away team to investigate, led by Worf . Picard learns from Data that the planet was once inhabited by a race called the Koinonians , but due to a destructive war , every last person on the planet was annihilated; the civilization seems to have killed itself off.

Suddenly an accident befalls the away team; one of the members, Enterprise archaeologist Lieutenant Marla Aster , is killed when an unexploded mine detonates in a ceremonial chamber . She is pronounced dead by Doctor Beverly Crusher upon arrival at the ship.

Act One [ ]

" Jeremy, on the starship Enterprise , no one is alone. "

Picard and Worf feel understandably very disturbed by this senseless death. The captain learns from Counselor Troi that the deceased crew member is survived only by a twelve-year old son, Jeremy . The son is now an orphan , as his father died when the boy was a child. His only living relatives are an aunt and uncle living on Earth . Worf offers to go with the captain to tell Jeremy since he was the away team's leader. Picard says it is unnecessary, but does send another away team to the surface, headed by Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge , to conduct a detailed investigation into what happened.

On the bridge , Wesley Crusher tells Commander Riker that he understands what Jeremy will be going through since his father also died in the line of duty while under Picard's command. Accompanied by Counselor Troi – expressing to her his disapproval of the policy allowing families on board precisely because situations like this on the turbolift ride – the captain reaches the classrooms and he breaks the news to the boy, who takes it bravely, but muses that he is completely alone now. Picard gently places his hand atop Jeremy's and reminds the young boy that on the starship Enterprise no one is ever alone.

Act Two [ ]

" Be with him. Talk to him. But don't rush this. "

Data finds Riker drinking at a table in Ten Forward and asks why Humans often ask how well one knows the deceased. Riker explains by using Lieutenant Yar 's death . Data says he feels more loss when talking about Yar, and Riker says that is exactly how Humans feel when knowing someone close as opposed to someone one does not know well. Data muses why one should feel the same sense of loss when dealing with other people's death. Riker says that if that were true, Human history would be a lot less bloody. La Forge calls Riker just then to tell him he has returned from the planet and brought along a souvenir.

" Well… it seemed like they were left there to be found. " " Left by whom? There are no indications of life on this planet. "

In Picard's ready room , La Forge reports that five more explosive devices , left over from the Koinonian Wars , were found by the away team. However, unlike the one that killed Aster, these ones had recently been pulled up from the ground and defused despite there being no signs of any life on the planet.

Worf still feels very unsettled with the situation, understandably as he was also orphaned by parents who died in the line of duty. He feels awful for the senseless death of the crew member and frustrated that there is no enemy he can fight/kill to avenge her. While speaking to Troi in the Enterprise 's computer access room , he has the idea of protecting the boy through a Klingon ritual that will bond the two together for life. Although Troi advises against showing too much affection to him so soon after his mother's death, Worf introduces himself to Jeremy.

" Do you ever think about him, Mom? "

Meanwhile, Dr. Crusher has called Wesley to her office so that he can talk to Jeremy about the loss of a parent. Dr. Crusher reasons that having someone not that much older to talk to would help Jeremy. Wesley is uncomfortable to discuss this but Dr. Crusher reminds him that unlike them, Jeremy has no one else to fall back on for support. Wesley tells her he will think about talking to Jeremy and then asks his mother if she ever thinks about his dad. He says sometimes he can't remember what he looked like and then there are days like this one where he can remember every detail of the day, down to the last hug and Picard's eyes when he had to break the news. Dr. Crusher embraces her son as they both become emotional remembering Jack R. Crusher.

On the bridge, Data reports an odd energy buildup on the planet's surface. The energy expands upwards from the planet, touching the ship. Soon afterward, Jeremy is alone in his quarters watching old videos of his parents on a PADD , when his mother appears to him, solid and seemingly real.

Act Three [ ]

" I think somebody needs a hug… "

Marla explains to Jeremy that the crew "made a mistake" and that she is not actually dead. Then she tells him that they will live on the planet, in a home, just like on Earth. She promises that everything is alright. At that moment, Worf enters to check up on Jeremy, and summons Picard and a security team to deal with the situation.

The Koinonian energy form posing as Marla Aster leads Jeremy to the transporter room where she wants Chief O'Brien to beam them to the surface. Picard and Troi catch up with them. The entity explains that she wants to take Jeremy to the planet, where they will live a happy life. Picard and Troi attempt to reason with her, but she is adamant. Picard informs her that she cannot take Jeremy with her as the boy is his responsibility. They take Jeremy from the transporter room by force, and the entity vanishes.

Act Four [ ]

" He knows me. It's him. It's real. It's all real! "

Troi comforts Jeremy as best she can, taking him back to his quarters, but the entity isn't gone for long, returning and transforming Jeremy's quarters into a facsimile of his house on Earth and even recreating his pet cat , Patches . She repeats her desire to return to the planet with Jeremy.

Troi explains to Picard that the entity doesn't understand why there is such resistance from the crew. It only wishes to make Jeremy happy. To thwart her efforts, La Forge remodulates the shields to block the energy from the planet; she and the recreation of the house again disappear.

With a surge of power from the planet, the energy being enters the ship again, takes down a few security officers, and transforms Jeremy's quarters once more.

Act Five [ ]

" What reason would he have to live? "

La Forge gives the command to shut down all power to the transporters because even though the entities can come and go, Jeremy is flesh and blood and must use a transporter to leave the ship.

Picard talks to the entity, trying to establish its motives. It explains that there were once two races of Koinonians – one of energy , one of matter . The physical beings living on the planet engaged in a massive civil war while the energy beings refused to intervene/interfere. After the physical Koinonians destroyed themselves, the energy beings felt a terrible guilt that they might have been able to avert the tragedy if they had acted. They vowed never to let the conflict hurt another person, and feel responsible for the accident that killed Jeremy's mother. Therefore, they offer to raise him on the planet, and cannot comprehend why the Enterprise officers refuse to let them take him.

" Why did it have to be her? "

Picard summons Worf and also Wesley to help better explain his position – that Humans must learn to deal with loss in their own way, and that they become stronger people overall because of it. He and Troi argue with the entity: how would he live on the planet with no friends, no career, no family, no significant other? Wesley explains that when his father died, he hated Picard for a time because he survived and returned from the mission that killed Jack, even exhibiting a flash of that anger towards Picard as he recalls the memory, but he has since gotten over it. Hearing this, Jeremy is able to express his anger at Worf, but quickly understands that he is really just angry that his mother is gone and it was not actually Worf's fault.

Worf tells Jeremy how his own parents were killed at Khitomer , and he was raised by Humans – then makes his offer to perform the R'uustai ritual with Jeremy, a ceremony that would make him a member of Worf's House. The energy being, seeing that Jeremy will be well looked after, leaves the ship.

Later, Worf and Jeremy go through the R'uustai ritual in Worf's quarters, uniting their houses and making them brothers.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2366

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Away team is aboard, Captain. One dead on arrival. "

" How do you get used to it… telling them? " " You hope you never do. "

" He is an orphan; I am an orphan. He will understand. "

" I've always believed that having children on a starship is a very… questionable policy. Serving on a starship means… accepting certain risks, certain dangers… Did Jeremy Aster make that choice? " " Death and loss are an integral part of life everywhere – leaving him on Earth would not have protected him. " " No… but the Earth isn't likely to be ordered to the Neutral Zone , or to repel a Romulan attack. It was my command which sent his mother to her death – she understood her mission and my duty… Will he? "

" I'm all alone now. " " Jeremy, on the starship Enterprise , no one is alone… No one. "

" Let's just hope it doesn't blow us to kingdom come while it's figuring out how to blow us to kingdom come. "

" How well did you know Lt. Aster? " " We spent some time together. Not very well. How well did you know her? " " Why do you ask? " " Well you just asked me. " " But why do you ask the question? Since her death, I have been asked several times to define how well I knew Lt. Aster. And I heard you ask Wesley on the bridge how well he knew Jeremy. Does the question of familiarity have some bearing on death? " " Do you remember how we all felt when Tasha died? " " I do not sense the same feelings of absence I associate with Lt. Yar. Although, I cannot say precisely why. " " Just Human nature, Data. " " Human nature, sir? " " We feel a loss more intensely when it's a friend. " " But should not the feelings run just as deep, regardless of who has died? " " Maybe they should, Data. Maybe if we felt any loss as keenly as we felt the death of one close to us, Human history would be a lot less bloody. "

" Do you ever think about him, Mom? " " Your father? Sure, I do. " " Sometimes, I can't even remember what his face looks like. Scares me. " " It happens to all of us, Wes. Sometimes… I can't get his face out of my mind. "

" I cannot seek revenge against an enemy who has turned to dust centuries ago. Her death was senseless. The last victim of a forgotten war. "

" SoS jIH batlh SoH. " " What does that mean? " " It honors the memory of our mothers. We have bonded and our families are stronger. " " SoS jIH batlh SoH. "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

• First draft script: 7 August 1989
• Third revised final draft script: 23 August 1989 [1]
• Premiere airdate: 23 October 1989
• Michael Piller recommends this episode, among others, in a memo to John Wentworth, president of Paramount's Network Television Publicity department: 7 December 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 91)
• Mentioned approvingly in a one-page memo from Piller to TNG writing staff: 11 December 1989
• First UK airdate: 6 November 1991

Story and production [ ]

• This episode introduced Ronald D. Moore to the Star Trek writing fold, something he would be part of for ten years across three incarnations of Trek . Moore recalled, " I had been in LA for about three years, and I was doing an odd series of jobs – I was a messenger, I was an animal hospital receptionist… I did all kinds of things. Then I started dating this girl, and she had a connection to Star Trek: The Next Generation because she had helped work on the pilot, and she knew that I was a big fan of the original series. I had, like, books and posters and stuff in my apartment – I was a big fan of the old show. Next Gen was in its second season at that point, and she said, "You know, I could get you a tour of the sets." And I thought, "Oh, my god! I'd love to see the sets! It would be amazing!" It took, like, four weeks to set it up, and in the interim I just sorta decided to take a shot, and I sat down and wrote an episode. And I brought it with me. The guy who was giving the set tour, I conned him into reading it, and he turned out to be one of Gene Roddenberry 's assistants. He really liked it, and he gave it to my first agent. She submitted it through the front door to the show, and it went into the slush pile. And it sat in the slush pile for about seven months. When the third season began, a new executive producer came on board – Michael Piller – and he went through the slush pile, and found it and bought it and produced it, and asked me to do a second one. " [2]
• Piller recalled, " I came in without any shows to shoot. There were no stories and no scripts in the works, which is the greatest nightmare you can imagine. There's nothing to fall back on and the appetite of any weekly show is voracious, because as soon as you've got a script done you have to have another one right behind it and it continues that way. I went through every scrap of paper to see what was here from past administrations that I could develop. The first thing that came to my attention, the first thing I saw that had any value, was a speculative script that had been sitting around called 'The Bonding.' It appealed to me enormously. It needed a little work and hadn't tied the alien story in the other story quite right. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 187)
• The script went through a substantial rewrite by Melinda Snodgrass and Piller, and was according to Moore, "greatly improved in the process". ( AOL chat , 1997 ) He noted, " "The Bonding" was completely out of my hands after I sold the script. " ( AOL chat , 1997 )
• The biggest change to his script was that when Jeremy first learns his mother had been killed, he recreates her on the holodeck . Moore stated, " The thing I was playing with is what are the dangers of the holodeck. A kid goes in and recreates his dead mother. What do you do in that situation? They felt that they didn't want to do another holodeck show at that point, that it moved the focus away from the aliens. What sparked the idea was that we have this shipload of a thousand people, and this time they've brought their families. It never seems the series has dealt head-on with some of the question a family ship would inevitably bring up. I wanted to write a story about what happens when someone's mother dies, and what happens to that kid and our family on board the ship. That process naturally led to Worf, because he's an orphan as well. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 187)
• According to Piller, this change was at the behest of Gene Roddenberry , who objected that children in the twenty-fourth century would have a greater acceptance of death. It was Piller who suggested the alien involvement to fit the story into Roddenberry's vision. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 125; Fade In: The Making of Star Trek Insurrection [ page number? • edit ] )
• Moore attended one day of shooting of the episode, where he met Patrick Stewart for the first time. Moore recalled, " He was very gracious and friendly when he learned that I had written the episode and then asked me if I was writing another. I had just gotten the assignment for ' Defector ' and so I briefly told him the idea. He nodded his head, seemed intrigued, then said, 'Just remember one thing… the Captain doesn't do enough screwing or shooting in this series.' And then he turned and walked away. Now, THAT is the Captain of the Enterprise , if you ask me. " ( AOL chat , 1997 )
• Composer Dennis McCarthy recalled, " I had a difficult time conveying the sense of loss the child was feeling while simultaneously not losing sight of the threat of the alien entity. I had to juxtapose one over the other without losing sight of either during the whole score. It's melodic with a lot of sadness, but there's always that underlying threat, the potential danger. " ( The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 14 , p. 6)

Sets and props [ ]

• A model of a Constitution II -class vessel is on display in the Asters' quarters aboard the Enterprise -D.
• The bird sculpture seen in Marla Aster's home can also be seen in the reception area at Arkaria Base in the sixth season episode " Starship Mine ", in the conference room of the Maquis in the seventh season episode " Preemptive Strike ", and in Annorax ready room aboard the Krenim weapon ship in the Star Trek: Voyager fourth season episode " Year of Hell ".
• This episode features the second and final usage of the Enterprise computer access room , which debuted four episodes earlier in " Evolution ".

Deleted scenes [ ]

Several scenes were filmed but later cut from the episode during editing. These scenes came to light in May 2013 when Star Trek collector Cyril "Patchou" Paciullo (owning several more The Next Generation episodes work prints) uploaded the contents of an early work print VHS tape of the episode to the internet. [3] [4]

• Act 1, Scene 6 – Portions of the sickbay sequence involving Worf and Crusher.
• Act 1, Scene 12 – A scene of Picard and Troi visiting Jeremy Aster in his shipboard classroom. Features guest actor Raymond D. Turner as Aster's teacher.
• Act 2, Scene 16 – A long scene between Troi and Aster, regarding the boy's feelings towards his mother's death. Features Troi's description of her own experience losing her father as a child.
• Act 2, Scene 18 – Troi cornering Worf in a corridor to discuss his feelings.
• Act 2, Scene 22A – A portion of Worf's introduction to Jeremy Aster.
• Act 3, Scene 31A – A portion of the initial discussion between Jeremy and the Marla Aster impersonation; cut due to references to also-cut A2/S16, listed above.

Paciullo submitted his tapes to TrekCore , who in turn brought him into contact with CBS. [5] However, this tape was discovered too late for the deleted scenes of the episode to be incorporated in the remastered episode, or otherwise be included on the 2013 TNG Season 3 Blu-ray release, as was his tape of companion episode " Evolution ". Likewise, his tape of the second season episode " The Child ", was uncovered far too late for any inclusion of the deleted scenes on its 2012 corresponding release . Still, his tape of the fourth season episode " The Wounded " was just in time uncovered for the deleted scenes, remastered in high definition, to be incorporated as part of the bonus features "Deleted Scenes" on the later that year released TNG Season 4 Blu-ray set.

Continuity [ ]

• The fate of Jeremy Aster was never revealed. However, Marla Aster was mentioned once more, in TNG : " Ethics ". It can be assumed, however, that Jeremy was reunited with his aunt and uncle on Earth. According to Moore, while the writing staff considered bringing Jeremy back for future stories, but that kind of continuity wasn't really done then. Later, they had introduced Worf's son, and decided Worf's story had gone off in a different direction and Jeremy was back on Earth, sending him occasional postcards ( TNG Season 3 Blu-ray , episode commentary).
• Regarding the possibility of a sequel, Moore commented, " I've never felt like I wanted to follow up on Jeremy after "The Bonding". I'm not against it, but I don't have any interesting stories to tell with that character. " ( AOL chat , 1997 )
• He later added, " I was not a big fan of the actor playing Jeremy, so in that sense I wasn't disappointed at all. It would've been interesting to continue the relationship on the Enterprise (with a different kid), but at that point in Trek, no one was even willing to think about continuing storylines, so it never came up. " ( AOL chat , 1998 )
• In this episode, Riker and Data share an exchange reminiscent of one between Spock and McCoy in TOS : " The Immunity Syndrome ". In that episode, Spock muses that if Humans felt the death of large groups as strongly as they felt the death of one, "it might have rendered your [Human] history a bit less bloody." Here, Data wonders why Humans do not feel the loss of a stranger as strongly as they feel the loss of a friend. Riker responds, "maybe if we felt the loss of any life as keenly as we felt the death of those close to us, Human history would be a lot less bloody."

Reception [ ]

• Piller remarked, " I liked that show a lot and am very proud of it. I think it struck the heart of Star Trek , exploring the Human condition. This was a marvelous example of that. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 187)
• Director Winrich Kolbe opined, " Interesting show. I'm a little bit ambiguous about the little boy who I used to call Clark Gable, Jr. because of his ears. Again, it was a cute episode and a good one for Michael, but again it's not something that intrigued me that much. It's just not as strong as some of the others. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 187)
• A mission report for this episode by Robert Greenberger was published in The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 11 , pp. 9-13.
• Director Kolbe also remembers, " Vulnerability in Worf is an interesting concept, because the guy seems so invulnerable . To let him open up a little bit gives me a dichotomy I like. It's an intriguing concept visually and also as far as Worf is concerned. I have fond memories of that show. " ( The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 21 , p. 31)

Apocrypha [ ]

• While Jeremy Aster's story starts and ends with this episode, other sources show that Jeremy's relationship with Worf remained strong after his return to Earth: he seeks, and receives, romantic advice from Worf in DC Comics ' " The Lesson ", joins the House of Martok in Genesis Force , and has become close with Sergey and Helena Rozhenko , visiting them quite often, in Diplomatic Implausibility .

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 27, 21 October 1991
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 3.2, 3 April 2000
• As part of the TNG Season 3 DVD collection
• As part of the TNG Season 3 Blu-ray collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker

Also starring [ ]

• LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
• Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
• Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data
• Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher

Guest stars [ ]

• Susan Powell as Marla Aster / Marla Aster
• Gabriel Damon as Jeremy Aster
• Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Rachen Assapiomonwait as Nelson
• Michael Braveheart as Martinez
• George Colucci as security officer
• Jeremy Doyle as operations ensign
• Lorine Mendell as Diana Giddings
• John Rice as science division officer
• Lincoln Simonds as security officer
• Raymond D. Turner as Teacher ( deleted scene )
• Mr. Aster (voice)
• Command division ensign
• Command division officer
• Crewmember in engineering (voice)
• Operations division officer
• " Patches "
• Relief tactical officer

Stand-ins [ ]

• James G. Becker – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
• Dexter Clay – stand-in for Michael Dorn
• Jeffrey Deacon – stand-in for Patrick Stewart
• June Jordan – stand-in for Gabriel Damon
• Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
• Tim McCormack – stand-in for Brent Spiner
• Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
• Guy Vardaman – stand-in for Wil Wheaton

References [ ]

2340 ; 2346 ; 2354 ; 2361 ; accident ; acting ensign ; affection ; alien ; anger ; anguish ; anti-grav lift ; antimatter ; antimatter containment field ; antimatter containment pod ; Aster's aunt and uncle ; Aster home ; attack ; away mission ; away team ; betrayal ; body ; brother ; cabin ; cadaver ; candle ; captain ; career ; cavern ; century ; ceremonial chamber ; ceremony ; children ; choice ; class ; clock ; computer access room ; Constitution II -class ; corridor ; corridor A ; corridor B ; Crusher, Jack R. ; culture ; d'k tahg ; danger ; day ; dead on arrival ; death ; detonation ; distance ; dust ; Earth ; education ; emergency ; enemy ; energy ; energy field ; energy force (aka energy form ); energy source ; era ; evidence ; existence ; explanation ; explosion ; explosive device ; eye ; face ; father ; Federation ; Federation records ; feeling ; fiction ; force field ; friend ; Galaxy -class decks ; generation ; grieving process ; ground ; guilt ; hand held screen ; health ; heart ; " hello "; historical record ; home video ; House of Mogh ; hug ; Human ; Human history ; Human nature ; husband ; individual ; injury ; intruder ; investigation ; joy ; Khitomer Massacre ; " kicked me in the head "; kilometer ; Kingdom Come ; Klingons ; Klingon language ; Koinonian (energy form); Koinonian (physical being); Koinonian homeworld ; Koinonian Wars ; landing ; leader ; lens ; life cycle ; lifeform ; line of duty ; location ; love ; M-class ; magnetic flux ; main viewer ; manifestation ; manual override ; matter ; meaning ; memory ; meter ; microscope ; mission ; mistake ; mister ; Mogh ; mortal ; mother ; motive ; Much Ado About Nothing ; non-corporeal ; north ; number one ; offer ; orphan ; pain ; painting ; parent ; pattern ; person ; phenomenon ; philosophy ; physical being ; plan ; policy ; puppet ; quarters ; question ; R'uustai ; race ; radiation ; reality ; reason ; relative ; report ; revenge ; right ; risk ; rock ; Romulan Neutral Zone ; Romulans ; room ; scan analysis ; school ; sculpture ; security alert ; sensor ; shield harmonics ; ship's archaeologist ; sofa ; sorrow ; souvenir ; species ; spirit ; " stand by "; standard orbit ; Starfleet ; starship ; string ; subspace proximity detonator ; suffering ; surface ; survey ; sword ; thing ; tradition ; transporter ; transporter power ; Transporter Room 3 ; trap ; tricorder ; truth ; tunnel ; universe ; victim ; weapon ; wife ; Worf's mother ; Yar, Natasha ; year ; yellow alert

Deleted references [ ]

Betazed ; exoarchaeology ; Troi, Ian Andrew ; Troi, Lwaxana

External links [ ]

• " The Bonding " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " The Bonding " at Wikipedia
• " The Bonding " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "The Bonding" script  at Star Trek Minutiae
• " The Bonding " at the Internet Movie Database
• 1 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 Calypso (episode)

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Published Oct 23, 2022

Over 30 Years Ago, The Bonding Subtly Rebooted The Next Generation 

Here's why the fifth episode of TNG's Season 3 was an unquestionable game changer.

StarTrek.com

In the original ‘60s Star Trek , if a random crew member got vaporized, impaled with a spear, or sucked dry by a salt vampire, Captain Kirk and company usually moved on pretty quickly. But, over 30 years ago, Star Trek: The Next Generation flipped the script on the sacrificial red shirt trope and shifted the entire storytelling tone of the franchise.

When Ronald D. Moore wrote the Season 3 episode “ The Bonding ,” he helped subtly reboot and reshape what fans came to expect from The Next Generation . This wasn’t only a space adventure series that happened to tackle social issues; the voyages of the starship Enterprise were also about very real explorers and the people they loved.

Episode Preview: The Bonding

Though “The Bonding” is a quiet episode, it starts with a bang; a crew member is killed before the credits even roll! Marla Aster wasn't anyone we’d heard of before, but rapidly, that kind of becomes the point. When Worf leads an away team to the surface of a planet for a low-key archaeological dig, a hidden explosive is tripped, and Aster — a Starfleet officer and archaeologist — is suddenly dead. Making matters worse, Lt. Aster was a single mom and her son Jeremy is now orphaned aboard the Enterprise . Although the plot of “The Bonding” does eventually bring in an alien science fictional element, the thrust of the story is mostly about the deeply personal consequences of boldly going where no one has gone before. “The Bonding” lingers on what it would really be like when someone was suddenly hit with an alien death ray, and examines what that means for a story beyond simply raising the stakes for the primary characters.

In a fraught and fantastic scene, as Picard and Troi are on their way to break the news to young Jeremy, Picard rants about how much he hates having families aboard the Enterprise . Picard feels like it's unfair to kids like Jeremy; his mom made the choice to join Starfleet, whereas her son was just along for the ride. Troi sympathizes, but it doesn’t change the fact that they still have to tell a little kid that his mom was killed by an alien explosive. Picard does not turn to the camera and say, “This never happened to the other captains,” but he very well could have. Captain Kirk certainly had to break some bad news to various crewmembers about loved ones (“Balance of Terror” comes to mind, actually), but telling a little kid their mother has died because of a fairly pointless and ancient alien tech? This is next-level realism. And the scene that follows sums-up exactly what The Next Generation would be like for the rest of its run. Because Jeremy Aster’s dad had also previously died, he says, “I’m all alone now.” Picard responds by taking Jeremy’s hand and responds firmly, “On the starship Enterprise , no one is alone,” and then with that extra Patrick Stewart emphasis, he says again. “No one.” You just got chills thinking about it, right?

This scene is important in many ways, but the historical context makes it even more significant. “The Bonding” aired on October 23, 1989, and was the fifth episode of the third season of The Next Generation . In 1989, this was a fundamentally different show than it had been for the first two seasons. The opening credits ditched our own solar system in favor of a lush, wild-looking final frontier, Gates McFadden was back as Dr. Beverly Crusher, and the crew were all rocking redesigned uniforms that actually looked like clothes people would enjoy wearing. The Enterprise crew felt cozy and comfortable, and as a result, the third season exudes a confidence and consistency in style and tone that, arguably, the first two seasons lacked. To be clear, The Next Generation was brilliant from the start, but visually and thematically, the series congealed and grew-up in Season 3. So, when Picard reached out and told Jeremy Aster that no one was alone on the Enterprise , in a sense, he was reaching out to all the viewers, too. The message of “The Bonding” was clear. With this crew, you were in good hands.

We tend to think of The Next Generation at its highest points, specifically, the famous Season 3 finale, “ The Best of Both Worlds ,” in which Picard is assimilated by the Borg and fans really had to sit through a summer wondering if Riker was the new captain. (I was 8-years-old, it was rough!)  But, what we forget is that, in order to get to those epic moments, TNG had to earn our trust, and part of that happened in a paradigm shift in the way it told stories, starting with “The Bonding.”

Famously, producer Michael Piller instituted two huge changes in the way TNG episodes were written in Season 3. First, the show began accepting freelance script submissions from literally anyone. Second, Piller decided the new recipe for episodes would be to make sure each story focused on the primary characters and their relationships in specific. Though this sounds like common sense, at the time, it was fairly radical.

In the 2012 book, Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , writer Ronald D. Moore tells it like this, “When Michael Piller came in, he made a creative decision to shift the focus of the show from being about the planet and the aliens of the week to our characters aboard the Enterprise and how characters are affected by the story.”

Moore’s perspective on this was singular. As the writer of “The Bonding,” Moore specifically benefited from the new open submission policy; prior to this episode, he wasn’t a screenwriter for television at all. But, after the policy change, “The Bonding” got Moore a job in the TNG writers’ room where he wrote or co-wrote several pivotal episodes of the third season, including the game-changing “ Sins of the Father .” That episode was literally the first time Trek canon visited the Klingon Empire, and also introduced TNG’s ongoing Worf storyline. Ronald D. Moore didn’t invent the Klingons, but in many ways, he perfected how we think about their culture and their internal struggles. In fact, if you rewatch “Sins of the Father” back-to-back with Star Trek: Discovery ’s Season 2 episode “Point of Light,” you’ll see that L’Rel l’s struggles to stabilize the Klingon Empire, neatly paralleling the aesthetics and themes established in TNG.

The effects of “The Bonding” and Ron Moore are bigger than elucidating Klingon canon. If Ron Moore hadn’t sold “The Bonding” as a freelance spec script to TNG for Season 3, he wouldn't have gone on to be a producer on Deep Space Nine or eventually create the award-winning rebooted Battlestar Galactica in 2003. Along with Brannon Braga, Moore also wrote the TNG season finale, “ All Good Things… ” as well as the films Star Trek Generations and the wildly popular Star Trek: First Contact . In essence, one story about a side character and her orphaned son, led to some of the boldest Trek adventures of all. In order to go big, TNG’s third season had to first go small. Episodes like “The Bonding” and “Sins of the Father” are interesting studies in the patient slow-burn of TNG, a type of storytelling that would briefly masquerade as one kind of episode, only to raise the stakes in a very personal way. For the first 15-minutes of “Sins of the Father,” the viewer thinks the episode is about the Enterprise taking on a bossy new Klingon officer named Kurn, but then, the real stakes reveal themselves — Kurn is Worf’s secret brother! In a microcosm, this is what TNG did best; unfurl a kooky sci-fi premise, and then raise the stakes not with action, but with deep-dives into character.

The climax of “The Bonding” may not be a TNG ending that would rank as the most nail-biting, but it is one of the smartest Trek scripts of all time. After Jeremy Aster’s mother Marla is killed, a well-meaning alien lifeform attempts to recreate her, and offers to take Jeremy into a fantasy life in which his mom, and even his old cat, are still alive. It’s kind of like the fantasy the Talosians give to Captain Pike and Vina in “The Menagerie,” only it’s a little kid and he’s got his whole real life ahead of him. Throughout the entire episode, Worf struggles with his guilt about the death of Jeremy’s mother, because, after all, he was the guy who was in command when she died. Like Jeremy, Worf is also an orphan, so he wants to bond with the kid in a Klingon ceremony where they celebrate the life of his late mother.

But Worf’s plans to do the right thing are being screwed-up by the alien-creature who is pretending to be Jeremy’s mother. Eventually, this all results in nearly half the cast, sitting down and talking to Jeremy about the realities of death. What’s so brilliant about this is that the story tugs on previously planted character threads in unexpected ways. Though the episode is ostensibly about Worf and Jeremy, the final moments allow Wesley Crusher to really vent about how much he used to hate Picard’s guts after Wesley’s dad died. Wesley admits he didn’t really like Captain Picard for a long time, which in some ways might have paralleled the shaky feeling fans had about The Next Generation in general. “I was angry at you,” Wesley tells Picard. “You came home and my father didn’t.”

For fans who were still longing to see Captain Kirk and Spock show up on the new Star Trek , this could have felt like a sublimation of those frustrations. Picard was the stuffy, no-nonsense leader of the new Enterprise , and for two seasons, fans weren’t quite sure what to make of him. But with Season 3, something began to lighten up. Picard was reaching out. Wesley was no longer mad at his new captain and, seemingly, no one else was either. The family had finally come together and nothing would ever be the same again.

This article was originally published on October 23, 2019.

Ryan Britt's (he/him) essays and journalism have appeared in Tor.com, Inverse, Den of Geek!, SyFy Wire, and elsewhere. He is the author of the 2015 essay collection Luke Skywalker Can't Read. He lives in Portland, Maine, with his wife and daughter.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. Internationally, the series is available on Paramount+ in Australia, Italy, Latin America, the U.K. and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. It will also stream exclusively on Paramount+ in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria later this year. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. STAR TREK: DISCOVERY is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com for more details! And be sure to follow @StarTrek on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

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Star Trek: The Next Generation's  Lieutenant Worf might have had Klingon blood in his veins, but his Starfleet training and his adoptive human parents instilled in him a sense of forethought that served him well. He knew that not every challenge could be solved with his fists, or his trusty Bat'leth, which meant brainpower would have to do the trick.

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Worf made a number of incredibly smart decisions during the course of the show that not only averted catastrophes, but helped him grow as an officer, a father, and a Klingon warrior. As such, he became one of the most unique of his kind; a man who could fight to the bitter end and just as easily as outthink his enemies.

Killing The Klingon Fugitives

In the season 1 episode "Heart of Glory," audiences got a crash course on Klingon culture when the Enterprise brought three on board. Worf soon learned that they had commandeered a freighter in an attempt to strike out on their own, in direct opposition to the Empire.

Rather than fall prey to their promises of glory and battle, Worf stuck to both his Starfleet training  and his honor as a Klingon warrior. When it became clear that he couldn't talk their leader down, he shot him dead, much to the approval of a Klingon commander who had come to take them back to the homeworld.

Bonding With Jeremy Aster Through Klingon Custom

When young Jeremy Aster's mother was killed during an away mission accident in the season two episode "The Bonding," he withdrew into himself out of grief. He was later approached by what appeared to be his mother, but it was in fact an alien entity that had taken pity on him, and wanted to ease his sorrow.

Picard convinced Jeremy that the illusion of his mother would bring him nothing but emptiness. Later, Worf encouraged Jeremy to bond with him as a blood-brother, under his family's name. This act gave a young boy a sense of belonging, and societal support.

Accepting Discommendation And Exile

When Worf's father was accused of collaborating with the Romulans during the infamous Khitomer Massacre, he set out to clear his family's name. In the process, he discovered that Worf's father had been scapegoated by the Klingon Empire, to cover up the actual collusion between the Romulans, and the House of Duras.

Knowing that if the secret got out, that it could trigger a civil war within the Empire, Worf decided to accept discommendation, which effectively meant exile from his people. It was the hardest decision of his life, but it saved the quadrant from plunging into a costly and violent war, making it one of Worf's most badass moments on the show.

Raising Alexander On Board The Enterprise

After being exiled, Worf was reunited with his lover K'Ehleyr, who also brought Alexander, his young son, on board. A shocked Worf struggled with the notion of his son being forced to accept blame for his father's dishonor, though K'Ehleyr insisted that she didn't care.

When K'Ehleyr began poking around classified Klingon files to find out why Worf was exiled, she drew the attention of Duras, who killed her in cold blood. Worf got his revenge, but Alexander was suddenly left without a parent. Alexander went to live with Worf's adoptive human parents for a short time, but they realized he needed a father and a role model. The decision to raise him on board the Enterprise was turbulent and challenging, but Worf ended up cementing one of the most important relationships of his life .

Fighting In The Klingon Civil War

When the Klingon Empire was threatened with civil war, Worf decided to leave Starfleet, and serve on his brother's vessel under Chancellor Gowron's banner. The decision was a smart one, as the Romulans were ready to seize a key moment, and gain a foothold on the sector.

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Thanks to Worf's bravery, his honor was reinstated, his discommendation lifted, and his father's name cleared of the lies that Duras had spread. It also brought stability back to the Empire and drove out the Romulans who were collaborating with the Duras family.

Refusing Commander MacDuff's Orders

When the crew of the Enterprise had their memories wiped by alien technology, they were left in disarray. The aliens then deposited one of their own, disguised as Commander MacDuff, a fictional character designed to manipulate them into destroying their greatest enemy.

MacDuff tried to play on Worf's warrior instincts in an effort to gain his loyalty, but when the time came to fire on their vastly inferior enemy, he refused. This was a test of character for Worf, who was prone to going on the offensive during the slightest threat. Here, he stayed his hand, and kept his cool, saving many lives in the process.

Choosing Life Over Suicide

When Worf's spinal column was shattered during an accident, he was left permanently paralyzed. Under Klingon culture, ritual suicide was the only answer, which many considered one of his worst moments on the show . The trouble is, Worf had a young son to think of; one who wasn't interested in adhering to notions of Klingon warrior honor, or duty.

A morally ambiguous doctor convinced Worf to undergo a radical, and dangerous procedure that would replace his spinal column. He nearly died during the procedure, but managed to recover. He then went through a difficult rehabilitation period in order to learn how to walk again, with Alexander at his side, happy to help.

Having Fun On The Holodeck

Worf was all business, almost all of the time, and the concept of leisure was a rather foreign one. He did spend time on the Holodeck, but mostly to hone and sharpen his exceptional combat skills by fighting a series of aliens and monsters. To Worf, it was a way to sate his Klingon bloodlust, without taking any innocent lives.

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Alexander, on the other hand, was fascinated with fictional interactive stories, including one that took place in Earth's wild west. Though initially reluctant, Worf joined him on the Holodeck, pretending to be the Sheriff of a local town. He quickly grew to love the role and managed to bond with Alexander at the same time, even if a computer glitch nearly got them killed.

Allowing The Kahless Clone To Represent The Empire

When the extremely influential Klingon named Kahless had seemingly returned to lead the Empire, nobody was more shocked than Worf, who was going through a bit of a spiritual crisis at the time. Gowron was enraged, believing this character of Klingon legend to be an imposter sent to supplant his authority, and claim the Empire for himself.

Eventually, the truth came out - Kahless was a clone of the original Klingon folk hero. Rather than expose the farce, Worf convinced Gowron to use him as a figurehead to inspire the entire Klingon people, and give them hope for a new age. Gowron reluctantly agreed, and another potential catastrophe was averted.

Working With His Brother To Relocate An Alien Race

Worf's human brother Nikolai Rozhenko was a loose cannon, but a good man at heart. He loved Worf but had fallen out of favor plenty of times due to his recklessness. It came to a pinnacle when Nikolai violated the Prime Directive by integrating himself too closely to the Boraalan people, including fathering a child with one of them.

When the Boraalan world was threatened, it became necessary to relocate them to another planet. This involved a careful smoke and mirrors game that took place entirely on the Holodeck, masquerading itself as a perilous trek to a new land. Worf decided to aid Nikolai by pretending to be a fellow Boraalan in order to save the people from annihilation.

NEXT:  Captain Picard's 10 Smartest Decisions in Star Trek: TNG

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‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is over. Now Alex Kurtzman readies for ‘Starfleet Academy’ and ‘Section 31’

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In “Star Trek” terms, and in the real world of “Star Trek” television, Alex Kurtzman, who oversees the 21st century franchise, might be described as the Federation president, from whose offices various series depart on their individual missions. Indeed, to hear him speak of it, the whole enterprise — honestly, no pun intended — seems to run very much on the series’ ethos of individual initiative and group consensus.

The first series to be launched, “ Star Trek: Discovery, ” has come to an end as of Thursday after five seasons on Paramount+. Others in the fleet include the concluded “ Picard, ” which brought “The Next Generation” into a new generation; the ongoing “ Strange New Worlds, ” which precedes the action of what’s now called “The Original Series,” from which it takes its spirit and several characters; “Lower Decks,” a comedy set among Starfleet service workers; and “Prodigy,” in which a collection of teenage aliens go joyriding in a starship. On the horizon are “Starfleet Academy,” with Holly Hunter set to star, and a TV feature, “ Section 31, ” with Michelle Yeoh back as Philippa Georgiou.

I spoke with Kurtzman, whose “Trek” trek began as a writer on the quantum-canonical reboot movies “ Star Trek ” (2009) and “ Star Trek: Into Darkness ” (2013), at Secret Hideout, his appropriately unmarked Santa Monica headquarters. Metro trains glide by his front door unaware. We began the conversation, edited for length and clarity here, with a discussion of his “Trek” universe.

Alex Kurtzman: I liken them to different colors in the rainbow. It makes no sense to me to make one show that’s for everybody; it makes a lot of sense to make a lot of shows individually tailored to a sect of the “Star Trek” audience. It’s a misnomer that there’s a one-size-fits-all Trekkie. And rather than make one show that’s going to please everybody — and will almost certainly please nobody — let’s make an adult drama, an animated comedy, a kids’ comedy, an adventure show and on and on. There’s something quite beautiful about that; it allows each of the stories to bloom in its own unique way.

Do you get pushback from the fans?

Absolutely. In some ways that’s the point. One of the things I learned early on is that to be in love with “Star Trek” is to engage in healthy debate. There is no more vocal fan base. Some people tell you that their favorite is “The Original Series,” some say their favorite is “Voyager” and some say their favorite is “Discovery.” Yet they all come together and talk about what makes something singularly “Trek” — [creator] Gene Roddenberry‘s extraordinarily optimistic vision of the future when all that divides us [gets placed] in the rearview mirror and we get to move on and discover things. Like all great science fiction, you get to pick your allegory to the real world and come up with the science fiction equivalent. And everybody who watches understands what we’re talking about — racism or the Middle East or whatever.

What specific objections did you find to “Discovery”?

I think people felt it was too dark. We really listen to our fans in the writers’ room — everybody will have read a different article or review over the weekend, and we talk about what feels relevant and what feels less relevant. And then we engage in a healthy democratic debate about why and begin to apply that; it seeps into the decisions we make. Season 1 of “Discovery” was always intended to be a journey from darkness into light, and ultimately reinforce Roddenberry’s vision. I think people were just stunned by something that felt darker than any “Trek” had before. But doing a dark “Star Trek” really wasn’t our goal. The show is a mirror that holds itself up to the times, and we were in 2017 — we saw the nation fracture hugely right after the election, and it’s only gotten worse since then. We were interpreting that through science fiction. There were people who appreciated that and others for whom it was just not “Star Trek.” And the result, in Season 2, Capt. [Christopher] Pike showed up, Number One showed up, Spock showed up, and we began to bring in what felt to people more like the “Star Trek” they understood.

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You’re ending the series after five seasons. Was that always a plan?

You know, we were surprised we didn’t continue, and yet it feels now that it was right. One of the things that happened very quickly as streaming took off was that it radically changed watch patterns for viewers. Shows that used to go 10, 12 seasons, people would tap out after two — like, “I got what I want” — so for any show to go five seasons, it’s a miracle. In ways I don’t think we could have predicted, the season from the beginning feels like it’s the last; it just has a sense of finality. The studio was wonderful in that they recognized we needed to put a button on it, we needed a period on the end of the sentence, and so they allowed us to go back, which we did right before the strike, and [film] the coda that wraps up the series.

“Discovery” is a riot of love stories, among both heroes and villains.

There’s certainly a history of that in “Star Trek.” Whether or not characters were engaged in direct relationships, there was always a subtext of the love between them. I believe that’s why we love the bridge crew, because it’s really a love story, everyone’s in a love story, and they all care for each other and fight like family members. But ultimately they’re there to help each other and explore the universe together. If there’s some weird problem, and the answer’s not immediately apparent, each of them brings a different skill set and therefore a different perspective; they clash in their debate on how to proceed and then find some miraculous solution that none of them would have thought of at the outset.

One of the beautiful things about the shows is that you get to spend a long time with them, as opposed to a two-hour movie where you have to get in and out quickly and then wait a couple of years before the next one comes along. To be able to be on their weekly adventures, it affords the storytelling level of depth and complexity a two-hour movie just can’t achieve in that way.

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It’s astonishing how much matter you got into these things. Some storylines that only lasted an episode I remembered as seasonal arcs.

The sheer tonnage of story and character we were able to pack into “Discovery” every episode was kind of incredible. The thing to keep in mind is that “Discovery” was made as streaming was exploding, so what I think you’re also seeing there is a lot of writers who were trained in the network world with an A, B and C story applying it suddenly to a very different kind of storytelling in a much more cinematic medium. And when you have that kind of scope it starts to become really, really big. Sometimes that works really, really well and sometimes it was too much. And we were figuring it out; it was a bunch of people with flashlights in the dark, looking for how to interpret “Star Trek” now, since it had been 12 years since it had been on a television screen.

Are you able to course-correct within a season?

Sure. You get people you really trust in the room. Aaron Baiers, who runs Secret Hideout, is one of my most important early-warning systems; he isn’t necessarily in the room when we’re breaking stories, but he’s the first person who’ll read an outline and he’s the first person who’ll read a script. What I value so much about his perspective is that he’s coming in cold, he’s just like, “I’m the viewer, and I understand this or I don’t understand it, I feel this or I don’t feel it.” The studio executives are very similar. They love “Star Trek,” they’re all die-hard fans and have very strong feelings about what is appropriate. It then goes through a series of artists in every facet, from props to visual effects to production design, and they’re bringing their interpretations and opinions to the story.

Did “Strange New Worlds” come out of the fact that everybody loved seeing Christopher Pike in “Discovery?”

I really have to credit Akiva Goldsman with this. He knew that I was going to bring Pike into the premiere of the second season of “Discovery,” and said, “You know, there’s an incredible show about Capt. Pike and the Enterprise before Kirk takes over; there’s seven years of great storytelling there” — or five years, depending on when you come into the storyline. I said, “We have to cast a successful Pike first, so let’s see if that works. Let’s figure out who’s Number One, and who Spock is,” which are wildly tall orders. I hadn’t seen Anson Mount in other things before [he was cast as Pike], and when he sent in his taped audition it was that wonderful moment where you go, “That’s exactly the person we’re looking for.” Everybody loves Pike because he’s the kind of leader you want, definitive and clear but open to everyone’s perspective and humanistic in his response. And then we had the incredibly tall order of having Ethan [Peck] step into Leonard [Nimoy’s] and [Zachary Quinto’s] shoes.

He’s great.

He’s amazing, just a delight of a human being. And Rebecca Romijn‘s energy, what she brings to Number One is such a contemporary take on a character that was kind of a cipher in “The Original Series.” But she brings a kind of joy, a comedy, a bearing, a gravitas to the character that feels very modern. Thank God the fans responded the way they did and sent that petition [calling for a “Legacy” series], because everybody at CBS got the message very quickly. Jenny Lumet and Akiva and I wrote a pilot, and we were off to the races. Typically it takes fans a minute to adjust to what you’re doing, especially with beloved legacy characters, but the response to “Strange New World” from a critical perspective and fan perspective and just a viewership perspective was so immediate, it really did help us understand what was satisfying fans.

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What can you tell me about “Starfleet Academy?” Is it going to be Earth-based or space-based?

I’m going to say, without giving anything away, both. Right now we’re in the middle of answering the question what does San Francisco, where the academy is, look like in the 32nd century. Our primary set is the biggest we’ve ever built.

So you’re setting this —

In the “Discovery” era. There’s a specific reason for that. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set “Starfleet Academy” in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now.

It’ll be a nice fantasy, but it’s not really going to be authentic. What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on “Star Trek: Discovery,” where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn’t room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It’s an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it’s a very funny show, and it’s a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.

And I’m very, very , very excited that Holly Hunter is the lead of the show. Honestly, when we were working on the scripts, we wrote it for Holly thinking she’d never do it. And we sent them to her, and to our absolute delight and shock she loved them and signed on right away.

And then you’ve got the “Section 31” movie.

“Section 31” is Michelle Yeoh’s return as Georgiou. A very, very different feeling for “Star Trek.” I will always be so grateful to her, because on the heels of her nomination and then her Oscar win , she just doubled down on coming back to “Star Trek.” She could have easily walked away from it; she had a lot of other opportunities. But she remained steadfast and totally committed. We just wrapped that up and are starting to edit now.

Are you looking past “Starfleet” and “Section 31” to future projects?

There’s always notions and there are a couple of surprises coming up, but I really try to live in the shows that are in front of me in the moment because they’re so all-consuming. I’m directing the first two episodes of “Starfleet Academy,” so right now my brain is just wholly inside that world. But you can tell “Star Trek” stories forever; there’s always more. There’s something in the DNA of its construction that allows you to keep opening different doors. Some of that is science fiction, some of it has to do with the combination of science fiction and the organic embracing of all these other genres that lets you explore new territories. I don’t think it’s ever going to end. I think it’s going to go on for a long, long time. The real question for “Star Trek” is how do you keep innovating, how do you deliver both what people expect and something totally fresh at the same time. Because I think that is actually what people want from “Star Trek.” They want what’s familiar delivered in a way that doesn’t feel familiar.

With all our showrunners — Terry Matalas on “Picard,” the Hagemans on “Prodigy,” Mike McMahan on “Lower Decks,” Michelle Paradise, who has been singlehandedly running “Discovery” for the last two years, and then Akiva and Henry Alonso Myers on “Strange New Worlds” — my feeling is that the best way to protect and preserve “Star Trek” is not to impose my own vision on it but [find people] who meet the criteria of loving “Star Trek,” wanting to do new things with it, understanding how incredibly hard it is to do. And then I’m going to let you do your job. I’ll come in and tell you what I think every once in a while, and I’ll help get the boat off the dock, but once I hand the show over to a creative it has to be their show. And that means you’re going to get a different take every time, and as long as those takes all feel like they can marry into the same rainbow, to get back to the metaphor, that’s the way to keep “Star Trek” fresh.

I take great comfort because “Star Trek” really only belongs to Gene Roddenberry and the fans. We don’t own it. We carry it, we try to evolve it and then we hand it off to the next people. And hopefully they will love it as much as we do.

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Why Star Treks "Incredibly Optimistic" Next Show Is Set In Discoverys Timeline Explained By Executive Producer

• Starfleet Academy is set in the chaotic aftermath of a cataclysmic event, offering a more relatable and authentic experience for young viewers.
• The show focuses on the first class back after 100 years, inheriting the responsibility of exploration in a world recovering from the Burn.
• Starfleet Academy promises to be optimistic, fun, funny, and emotional, reflecting the feelings and experiences of young adults today.

Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman explains why Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century. Kurtzman, who is co-showrunner with Noga Landau, is also directing the first two episodes of Starfleet Academy, which is scheduled to go into production in the fall and will film on the largest sets ever constructed for Star Trek . Kurtzman also confirmed that Starfleet Academy will be both based in San Francisco and in outer space.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times , Alex Kurtzman discussed the present and future of the Star Trek franchise. While careful not to reveal spoilers, Kurtzman delved into why Starfleet Academy , which is the latest spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery , is set in the 32nd century and how he hopes it will be more relevant to the next Star Trek series' target audience of young adults . Read his quotes below:

[Starfleet Academy is set] in the Discovery era. Theres a specific reason for that. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing hes inheriting an enormous mess to clean up, and its going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and thats a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set Starfleet Academy in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, its not going to speak to what kids are going through right now.

Itll be a nice fantasy, but its not really going to be authentic. Whatll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm which was the Burn, as established on Star Trek: Discovery, where the Federation was greatly diminished. So theyre the first wholl inherit, wholl re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasnt room for that during the Burn everybody was playing defense. Its an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; its a very funny show, and its a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.

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Star Trek's Alex Kurtzman Reveals How Starfleet Academy Cast Holly Hunter

Starfleet academy will be led by an academy award-winner.

Star Trek on Paramount+ recently announced Star Trek: Starfleet Academy cast Holly Hunter as the series lead. An Emmy and Academy Award-winner, Hunter will be playing an unnamed Captain and the Chancellor of the Academy . Alex Kurtzman revealed to the Los Angeles Times how Hunter was cast to lead Starfleet Academy :

Im very, very , very excited that Holly Hunter is the lead of the show. Honestly, when we were working on the scripts, we wrote it for Holly thinking shed never do it. And we sent them to her, and to our absolute delight and shock she loved them and signed on right away.

Holly Hunter joins Michelle Yeoh as a fellow Academy Award-winner to headline a Star Trek project on Paramount+. Before Yeoh won her Best Actress Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once , she lent her prestige as Emperor Phillipa Georgiou on Star Trek: Discovery . Casting an actress of Hunter's status, and Yeoh previously, speaks to the calber of actor Star Trek can now command . Holly Hunter's Chancellor will be the guiding light of the next generation of cadets in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy .

Source: Los Angeles Times

Cast Holly Hunter

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Writers Noga Landau, Gaia Violo, Alex Kurtzman, Tawny Newsome

Showrunner Noga Landau, Alex Kurtzman

Franchise Star Trek

Number of Episodes 10

Where To Watch Paramount+

STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.

Jeremy Renner Left ‘Mission: Impossible’ Franchise Because ‘It Requires a Lot of Time Away’ and ‘I Had to Go Be a Dad’ — but He’s Now Open to Return

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Could Jeremy Renner ‘s “ Mission: Impossible ” character William Brandt be back in action?

In a new interview with Collider , Renner — who starred in 2011’s “Ghost Protocol” and 2015’s “Rogue Nation” alongside franchise star Tom Cruise — reflected on his decision to leave the franchise and hinted that he would be open to returning.

“I was supposed to do more with them,” Renner said of the “Mission: Impossible” cast. “I love those guys. I love Tom so much. We had so much fun, and I love that character a lot. It requires a lot of time away. It’s all in London. I had to go be a dad. It just wasn’t gonna work out then.”

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“Maybe now that my daughter is older that could happen,” Renner told Collider. “I’d always jump into a ‘Mission: Impossible’ anytime and back into Brandt. It’s great.”

At the end of “Rogue Nation,” Brandt decided to retire from his career in the Impossible Mission Force — but, unlike some “Misson: Impossible” characters, Brandt left the franchise alive, making a return even more likely.

The untitled eighth “Misson: Impossible” film is currently slated for 2025. Though it was originally thought to be the last of the franchise, Christopher McQuarrie — who has directed the last two films — stated last year that future installments are on the table.

Renner, perhaps best known for playing Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has made a triumphant return to acting after a snow plow accident in January 2023 left him with blunt chest trauma 30 broken bones. He is currently starring in Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ series “Mayor of Kingstown,” the third season of which premieres on June 2.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

Set almost 100 years after Captain Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers sets off in the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on its own mission to go where no one has gone before. Set almost 100 years after Captain Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers sets off in the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on its own mission to go where no one has gone before. Set almost 100 years after Captain Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers sets off in the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on its own mission to go where no one has gone before.

• Gene Roddenberry
• Patrick Stewart
• Brent Spiner
• Jonathan Frakes
• 321 User reviews
• 162 Critic reviews
• 39 wins & 61 nominations total

Episodes 176

Photos 3429

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard …

• Lieutenant Commander Data …

• Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker …

• Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge …

• Counselor Deanna Troi

• Lieutenant Worf …

• Doctor Beverly Crusher …

• Enterprise Computer …

• Wesley Crusher …

• Chief Miles O'Brien …
• Youngblood …

• Lieutenant Natasha 'Tasha' Yar …

• Doctor Katherine Pulaski …

• Nurse Alyssa Ogawa …

• Ansata Terrorist …

• Ensign Ro Laren …

• Keiko O'Brien …
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Stellar Photos From the "Star Trek" TV Universe

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Did you know

• Trivia Almost everyone in the cast became life-long friends. At LeVar Burton 's 1992 wedding, Brent Spiner served as best man, and Sir Patrick Stewart , Jonathan Frakes , and Michael Dorn all served as ushers. Man of the People (1992) (#6.3) aired on that day.
• Goofs It is claimed that Data can't use contractions (Can't, Isn't, Don't, etc) yet there are several instances throughout the series where he does. One of the first such examples is heard in Encounter at Farpoint (1987) , where Data uses the word "Can't" while the Enterprise is being chased by Q's "ship".

[repeated line]

Capt. Picard : Engage!

• Crazy credits The model of the Enterprise used in the opening credits is so detailed, a tiny figure can be seen walking past a window just before the vessel jumps to warp speed.
• Alternate versions The first and last episodes were originally broadcast as two-hour TV movies, and were later re-edited into two one-hour episodes each. Both edits involved removing some scenes from each episode.
• Connections Edited into Reading Rainbow: The Bionic Bunny Show (1988)

User reviews 321

• chrisbrown6453
• Sep 8, 2000
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• September 26, 1987 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official site
• Star Trek: TNG
• Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant - 6100 Woodley Avenue, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA (location)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 45 minutes
• Dolby Stereo

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