ST:TNG Season Five, Episode Ten "New Ground"

ST: TNG Season Five, Episode Ten "New Ground"
Production Order: 10
Air Order: 10
Stardate: 45376.3
Original Air Date: January 6, 1992

Okay, so I meant to post this two weeks ago when I announced that I would be posting again, but I've hit another snag: Netflix has flipped the switch that makes it impossible to get screencaptures now. I have access to TNG through three of my four streaming services, but they all have this block, including when watching via SafeMode or Incognito browsing. My choices now are to torrent like I did with movie #6, or start purchasing DVDs of each season. Since I have neither the funds to purchase decades of Star Trek, nor the room to store them, I am trying to torrent. But because owners are pulling shows to open even more streaming services that no one wants to pay for, everyone and their targ is returning to pirating, and the torrent servers are so overloaded that I keep getting booted from the site. The last two weeks the servers sat at pretty much 100% use, so I would watch two minutes, then get booted again, and there was no rhyme or reason to when fewer people might be on. Very frustrating.

Anyway, thanks for your patience. I'm hoping there are more days ahead when I can jump in and get those screencaptures easily.

Picard's Log 45376.3: "So this scientist on Bilana III has invented a new way to reach warp speed without warp. It's called the soliton wave, and we've been asked to help him run the first tests."

Oh man, is La Forge ever stoked for this shit. This is hardcore science mixed with warp engine stuff, and he cannot contain himself.

"We're watching history in the making!"

"Um, cool?" replies Data.
But he can't get either Data or Worf to get onboard, and runs after another engineer, hoping to get a high-five for science, or something.
Worf is paged to a communication station for a phone call from a nearby transport ship. Oh hey, it's his mom.

She tells him that they're in the sector, and hopped on a transport to come over for a visit. He asks if his father is with her, and she replies that he isn't, but she brought Alexander, because she thought it would be nice for them to do a quick catch-up. Probably a good idea. He hasn't seen his kid in at least a year, and does he talk to Alexander via subspace communication? Hopefully this isn't his first meet-up or call since K'Ehleyr died, but we have no idea. He doesn't really talk about Alexander. He agrees, and the pair beams over a bit later.

I really like Mrs R's clothes here. Simple, but with good lines.

She gets off the transporter pad and greets him, asking if he has grey in his beard. All good, it's a nice reunion. Then he walks over to the pad and Worf and Alexander exchange literal, formal "hellos" and a handshake. Ugh.

"It's nice to see both of you. How long can you stay?" asks Worf.

"I'm not going back," Alexander replies, slightly confused.

Worf turns to look at his mother, who looks guilty.

Worrisome music that builds to a dramatic crescendo! Opening credits!

Helena and Worf enter Ten Forward sans Alexander, and she makes a remark about how excited the little boy was to see the play area, explaining his absence.

"He's going to love it here!"

Making a lot of assumptions, Helena. And now we have to get down to brass tacks, because she's basically doing a drive-by drop-in: "here, you're in charge of this small human now." 

(Although honestly, turnabout is fair play. He did the same to them. "Turns out I'm a father, his mother was just brutally murdered, surprise! you're raising him!" Do the Rozhenkos have a "better to apologize than ask permission" policy in their family? Did Sergey do the same to Helena? "Hey, I'm home from Starfleet. Brought you another son!")

They sit at a table. "What's the deal?" asks Worf.

Helena talks briefly about what a joy it has been to have Alexander around, how their house feels less empty, ect, but when probed, she gets to the point: they're getting on in years, and cannot keep up with a small child.

"Also, sometimes he's hard to handle. Disobedient."

"Klingon children are difficult," he replies.

I'm sorry.

Did... did you just mansplain Klingon children to your own mother? You, who have never raised a kid? Are you shitting me, Worf?

"Yeah, I know," she tells him. But she's a little kinder to him than I would have been, because she's trying to talk him into something. "You should know that he doesn't always tell the truth."

Worf is alarmed that his kid is a liar.

"He needs the guidance of his father," says Helena. "You gotta do what you gotta do as a parent, but also, the transport ship back to Earth is leaving soon, so you gotta make up your mind pretty quick here."

Guess they came to a decision, because in the next scene, Worf and Alexander are walking through the corridor, and Worf is asking his kid the kinds of questions that an adult asks a kid they don't know, because they don't know how to talk to this specific kid.

"Did you like school on Earth? Your teachers? You were staying in my old room, how was that?"

Y'all, I'm starting to think that this really is the first time he's interacted with Alexander in the last year.

Shit's awkward.

They go into the school section, and meet the teacher, Miss Kyle.

She asks questions of them both, but Alexander has opted to ignore her and look around. Is he using the cover of "new experience in a new place" to cover the fact that he's being rude? The tone of this scene certainly seems to make it that way.

They sit down to do paperwork, and Miss Kyle asks Alexander how to spell his last name. He ignores her. But he can't when the teacher asks Worf for Alexander's date of birth, and he doesn't know. There's a long silence, then Alexander sighs and drops his act, telling her his birthday. Kind of sad. Worf had a whole year to find that out and didn't.

Miss Kyle is quickly figuring out that this will be easier if she just asks his Earth school for his records, and asks before they go how long Alexander will be onboard the E.

"We don't know yet," says Worf.

Alexander goes Surprised Pikachu. 

This poor kid. His mother is murdered, his father dumps him on his grandparents (he doesn't really know any of them!), then after a year or so, his grandparents dump him back on his father, and his father doesn't know if he will stay. No wonder he's acting out. I would too!

Picard is sitting in his ready room, annoyed. Apparently, Worf is late for their meeting, and he rushes in and makes apologies.

"I had to enroll my kid in school."

This is not news to Picard, as he nods.

Picard forges on: they're about to get several new security officers.

Miss Kyle pages Worf, who looks briefly panicked before telling her "go ahead."

She wants to talk about placement tests for Alexander.

"Not a good time!" he interrupts, trying to get back to his meeting with his boss.

Picard starts talking about the security Golds again, but Crusher calls Worf.

"I need to schedule a physical exam of Alexander, and get his records from Earth -"

"Not fucking now!" yells Worf.

"No rush," says Crusher breezily.

Okay, I need to know: this ship has families aboard, but it is still military. Why are the teacher and the ship's doctor calling Worf while he's on duty? Is there not some way for them to look up his work schedule and determine when a better time to call might be? If this is happening during a meeting with the Big Boss, could it not also happen when he's on the bridge, calculating when to fire torpedoes? What about other parents on the ship? Would teachers call Crusher when she's performing surgery, or delivering a baby? Send. A Fucking. Email.

Fortunately, Picard is mildly amused at these interruption, as opposed to Worf, who is fuming.

"Okay, look: you're not the only crewmember dealing with a new family member on board. Go do the things, and we'll talk about security stuff later."

Worf seems mortified. He stiffly thanks Picard and leaves.

 Later, we get a little mileage on our B-plot, as the senior crew meets up in the Obs Lounge with Dr Ja'Dar to hear about the soliton wave experiment. He explains that they'll have their ship waiting in space within range of a lab on their planet. When the wave is activated, it'll push the ship in the direction it needs to go, and when the ship approaches the destination planet, a lab on that surface will deactivate the wave, and it'll coast to a stop. The E will follow the experiment ship fairly closely to watch what kind of readings it gets, to determine if the tech is sound, and what adjustments still need to be made.

Riker jokes that La Forge is about to be made redundant.

"Hope so!" says La Forge cheerfully.

(It's kind of weird to hope you'll be put out of a job, but I know how he feels: I did cat rescue for 10 years, and rescuers want nothing more than to be jobless. Spay and neuter your pets, please. Thx.)

Worf is clearly attempting to get some work-life balance here, but his coworkers keep dragging Life back into Work, as is evidenced when he returns to his station, and Troi pops out of her chair like a freaking jack-in-the-box to talk to him about Alexander. She just starts going on about how great Miss Kyle is, blah blah blah, and you can tell Worf just wants to get his shit done, but then she interrupts to ask him if he's going on the father-son field trip today.

He tells her politely that they can't attend.

"Why not?" 

Gettin' pushy there, Troi.

"Because I have to fucking work."

You know when you work retail, and your friends and family are constantly asking you all November and December what your holiday plans are, and you tell them that you are working, and they butt in with a Can't You Just?

"Can't you just get that day off? Can't you just ask your manager? Can't you just call out sick?"

NO.

That's what this feels like: Can't You Just drop everything for me/ Alexander/ this weird new situation? Dude needs some time here - time to do his job, time to adjust to the situation, time to interact with his kid, time to get things squared away for both of them - and he only has time for one of these things at a time.

Troi puts on her counselor hat and tells him in a Serious Tone that the field trip would be a good way for him to meet the parents and other kids in Alexander's new class.

He hesitates, then agrees to go, meaning that he'll have to put off those personnel reviews that Picard wanted him to do. 

He needs some FMLA, stat.

We skip to the field trip, where dads and kids are in the biolab looking at a white rhino diorama, while Miss Kyle explains that they went extinct in the 22nd century.

Cool. I love it when Star Trek makes a prediction about the human race, and we fail hard in real life. (If you're keeping score at home, the last male white rhino died in 2018. The remaining two are females, and science is excited to let us know that now, we have five viable white rhino embryos.)
Miss Kyle moves over to a cage with animals in it. She explains that they're called gilvos, and that they're a threatened species, and that the E is transporting them to a new habitat on a different planet. Alexander, who has been looking at another diorama, is suddenly interested, and moves to the cage. When Miss Kyle excuses the group to explore, she approaches Alexander, and tells him that the lizard models are for everyone to play with, and not his to take.

Worf is aghast. "My kid didn't steal anything. Did you?"

"Nope," says Alexander.

"I saw him put it in his jacket," she replies.

Worf checks Alexander's pockets, and surprise: a plastic lizard. Worf makes a "well, shit" face.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Worf's Personal Log, 45376.8: "Well, Mom was right: my kid's a liar. So now I gotta deal with this crap, and honestly, I'd pretty much rather do anything else."

Worf and Alexander are back in Worf's quarters, and Alexander basically sits in a chair while Worf lectures him about honor. Because Alexander's gonna not only understand that, but go along with it? Come on, Worf. His mother had no patience for Klingon stuff, and I doubt his grandparents were spoon-feeding him stuff about honor.

When Worf demands to know why Alexander stole the model and then lied about it, Alexander replies "I don't know" to both questions. That's valid. Sometimes you do dumb shit, and you don't know why. Especially when you're a kid.

They talk about Kahless and his brother Morath, who fought for 12 days and nights because Morath did something dishonorable. Then Worf tells Alexander that he lost everything when he was five, but he still had his honor (really? At five? Okay, then.).

Alexander apologizes for his behavior, and promises not to do it again.

Worf accepts his apology, and says that it's good enough for him, and he won't bring it up again.

Which, you know, is not terrible parenting.

Troi catches Worf in the corridor later and asks how the field trip went. He explains what happened, and how he handled it, and while I don't think he did a bad job, he has an air of "don't worry, I conquered parenthood" when explaining it.

She offers to help him if there's further conflict, but he turns her down. They enter the bridge.

Time for more B-plot.

The test ship has been towed into place, the wave is ready to be fired up, and Picard wishes Dr Ja'Dar good luck.

They start the wave, and the ship takes off like a shot. The E follows closely at the wave's heels, monitoring speed and whatnot. La Forge says it's going faster than predicted, but still within parameters, and it has an efficiency rate of 98%.

"Holy shit," says Data, "That's 450% more efficient than our warp drive."

Picard has Riker tell Science Lab 3 to test for gamma emissions, and all hell breaks loose. The wave's efficiency rate drops to 73%. The warp bubble becomes unstable. The wave begins expanding outward, and hits the E like a ton of bricks.

"Brakes, brakes!" yells Picard.

The wave gallops away from the halted Enterprise, and poof -

The test ship explodes.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

When we return, everyone gets up off the floor and returns to stations. The blowback from the soliton wave and subsequent explosion have left the E listing. A few injuries coming in, but mostly their warp drive is out.

Dr Ja'dar calls to check on them, and they compare findings.

"I'm sorry it didn't work," La Forge tells him. "It was cool to see for as long as it lasted."

"Hope you can be there when we try again," Ja'Dar replies.

Jae sighting!

Worf shows up to a parent-teacher conference with a "what now?" look on his face, and Miss Kyle starts out with compliments: Alexander is smart, and he'll probably be a good student based on his test scores. But his behavior sucks. He's kind of an aggressive jerk to the other kids, and he talks back.

And here we go again: the Klingon who has been a parent for a hot minute starts Klingon-splaining Klingon children to someone who has more experience with kids than he does.

Just stop, Worf. These women are humoring you.

Alexander steals from the other kids, and starts fights, then gaslights them, claiming he did no such thing.

"He also told me that you told him that Klingons do not listen to teachers."

Worf goes all Surprised Pikachu. "I didn't say that!"

Miss Kyle waves him off. "Of course not." 

She starts to tell him that Alexander is struggling emotionally and taking it out on the others, and that she would suggest they both go to Counselor Troi for help on this matter, but he stands up, and demands that the computer tell him where Alexander is now.

"Holodeck four," says Majel.

Worf storms out of the teacher's office.

He gets down to the holodecks, and finds that Alexander is using Worf's calisthenics program.

Oh.

The program that was running when he was conceived.

That's not... weird.

When Worf goes inside, he sees Alexander battling it out with the skull-headed monster, and he's doing alright, wielding a bat'leth that's clearly too big for him. He takes down the monster with some effort, and for a brief moment, Worf has a "that's my kid, the tiny warrior" look on his face.

He pauses the program, and Alexander, excited by his victory, turns greets Worf.

Worf remembers that he is here because his kid is in trouble at school. "You didn't ask permission to take my bat'leth or come down to the holodeck," he says evenly.

"You wanted me to be a warrior!" Alexander argues.

"Yeah, and I also wanted you to listen to your teachers, but you're being a little shit in class. Not cool."

Alexander starts shouting. "She hates me and makes up stories about me! She's lying!"

Worf takes the bat'leth, and tells Alexander to go back to their quarters.

"You said we could go see the gilvos again!" Alexander protests.

"Yeah, not anymore," Worf replies. "You promised me you would quit lying and stealing, and you're still doing both."

Then: "I have failed in my duties as your father."

Okay, that's a bit harsh -

"You do not understand what it means to be Klingon."

What.

That's... that's not really the entirety of your job, Worf. Your job as a parent is to raise a functional adult who is capable of getting on with other adults. You're looking at this like it's a binary of honorable or not honorable. Can you add honor and Klingon stuff in there? Yeah, but in the end, your kid has to be able to function in both Klingon and non-Klingon situations, and right now, he's struggling. Deal with his lying and stealing and the underlying emotional issues causing that, and make "honor" the Klingon sprinkles on your parenting doughnut.

"I'm gonna send you to a Klingon school," Worf decides. "Then you can learn what it means to be honorable." 

Cool. So this kid has rarely had any stability ever in his young life, and you're gonna shake things up again?

Up on the bridge, Riker checks in on how well things are proceeding with ship repairs while the Enterprise picks itself up and checks for tiny rocks in its skinned knees.

La Forge is trucking along, but needs to replace some things, and it's going to be another hour. Data has sensors back online, and he's checking for the soliton wave.

"Oop," he says. "The wave is still headed for the colony at the receiving station, but the speed has jumped up to warp 4."

They get Dr Ja'Dar back on the line to report this new situation.

"Power has increased by a factor of 12," says Data. "It'll have increased by a factor of 200 by the time it reaches the receiving station."

"Can we still stop it when it reaches its destination?" asks Riker.

"Fuck no," says Ja'Dar. "With that kind of power, it'll not only take out the station and the colony, but it'll blow half the planet away."

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Worf goes to see Troi. Don't know how he ended up there, but it's the right move. She walks him to the idea that Alexander is acting out because his entire fucking life, starting with his mother's death, has been one unpleasant surprise after another, and he has zero control over it. That that's what one does when one has no idea how to handle feelings. She also tells him that it would be normal for Worf to be mad at K'Ehleyr for having his kid, not telling him, and then dying, leaving him alone with Alexander.

Therapy: that shit's where it's at, y'all.

Worf goes back to his quarters, where Alexander is rage-packing.

"I want you to understand why I'm sending you to a Klingon school," Worf begins calmly.

"Because you don't want me!" Alexander yells back. "You're ashamed of me!"

"That's not true," Worf states.

"Yes it is! You only care about your honor!"

Worf starts to shout back, and you know he's gonna say that this new accusation isn't true, either. But he stops, and the look on his face says it all: Alexander read him like a book, and it's absolutely true. (Therapy: helping you to get get your shit figured out.)

Then he says something else that's true: "If your mother were here, she would not like us to fight."

Doing good, dude. Now don't fuck it up by using that as an excuse to treat your kid like shit.

Alexander is still pissed. "If my mother were here, she wouldn't be sending me away!"

Also true.

Unfortunately, we don't get the next bit, because Worf gets paged to the Obs Lounge.

He leaves, telling Alexander to stay in his quarters, that he'll be back soon, and they can continue their discussion.

An angry Alexander flips his suitcase.

Imma give Worf an 8 here. He kept his cool for the most part, and is starting to get a little perspective.

Worf reports to the Obs Lounge, where La Forge and Data tell Picard and Riker that they have two plans to stop the soliton wave:

1) use the engines of the E to match the frequency and amplitude of the wave and neutralize it; or

2) set off a bunch of photon torpedoes in front of the wave to break it up.

La Forge is uncertain of this first plan, because the amplitude and frequency of the wave is constantly changing, so trying to match would be an uphill battle. Setting off the torpedoes in front of it has a better chance of working, but this plan has a rider: the wave is now traveling at a little more than warp 6, so they'll not only have to catch up to it, but get out in front of it, which means going through it.

"Why can't we go around it?" asks Riker.

"It's not only been increasing in speed, but also increasing outward into space," explains Data. "It would take too long to go around."

Me:

Me:

Me: So we're going to ignore the Z-axis? You can't go over or under? 

Me:

Me: Fine. Whatever. Do it.

Just when I think that Worf is not here for any reason that to segue more smoothly to the B-plot, Picard finally turns and asks what current shield strength is like.

"About a third," Worf admits.

"I guess we're all getting seasick, then," Picard decides.

Other than my complaint about the Z-axis, I don't have much to say about this scene, except for the fact that I had to watch it three times to get the gist of their plan... because the way that Data and La Forge are sitting is really distracting. Was it easier to fit them both into frame this way? Are they just Guys Being Bros? Or were they simultaneously shooting the cover for their 80's new wave album? Feels like a moment Data+Geordi shippers would screencap and use as "proof" that they would make a good couple.

There's a brief scene here where they go back to the bridge, and they catch up to the wave before jumping in it, riding it, and coming out in front. The helm is keeping pace just ahead. The "rough ride" was over in a few seconds, but Worf reports the damages gained: shields at 12%, transporters and tractors offline. A few bumps and bruises.

Then we get a hot second of Alexander wandering into the biolab to see the gilvos again.

Back to the bridge for more problems: because of shields being down, when they fire the torpedoes, certain parts of the ship near the tubes are going to be flooded with radiation, and will need to be evacuated.

"Do the thing," agrees Picard.

Oh no, wait - there's a fire in biolab 4.

"Cut it off to prevent oxygen from letting it spread."

"There are life-forms in there," Data interrupts.

"We're transporting endangered animals," Riker tells him.

"Yeah, those too, but I meant humanoid?" Data interjects.

"Majel," says Picard, "who is in biolab 4?"

"Alexander Rozhenko," says Majel.

Swooping close-up on Worf!

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Picard calls biolab 4, but Alexander doesn't answer. They can't transport him out, because those are down. And now we get some back and forth in an effort to build tension: the speed of the ship is dropping, because La Forge lost some power couplings when they went through the wave.

"Best to fire those torpedoes now," La Forge advises.

"When we fire those torpedoes, biolab 4 will flood with radiation," Data points out.

Worf has already moved toward the lift. "Can I go get my kid?"

"Yeah, take Riker, too," says Picard. "Data, how long before the wave hits the colony?"

"Four minutes."

"You got three minutes to hit the right part of the ship, rescue Alexander, then get the fuck out," Picard tells Riker and Worf.

Riker and Worf reach biolab 4 quickly enough, but the door controls have shorted out. Worf is on a mission. He pushes Riker out of the way and fucking takes the wall apart to get to the circuitry. Then he delicately moves the circuit parts around to restart the door controls and hits the Open button.

Flames burst out of the open door.

They rush in and start yelling for Alexander, but get no response.

Up on the bridge, Data reports that the wave is starting to catch up to them.

In a smoke-filled biolab 4, Worf realizes that he is standing near the gilvos, and flips over some fallen beams. Bingo. An unconscious Alexander is on the floor under another beam. He calls Riker over, and together, they try to lift the beam. No go. Riker dashes off to find something to make a lever.

Alexander coughs and asks for Worf. "I'm scared. My leg hurts."

Worf has "Mom Lifts Car Off Kid" moment, and manages to move the beam off of Alexander, just as Riker rolls up with a lever. Riker has a hilarious "well, fuck" moment here before tossing the lever aside and helping Worf pull more debris off Alexander.

Worf grabs up Alexander, who shouts "The gilvos, they'll die!"

Riker protests initially, but they're just right there.

"We need to fire the torpedoes!" Data warns. "Wave coming up on our six!"

Picard tries calling Riker. No answer. He tries calling Worf. Same.

"Out of time!" yells Data.

"Fire the torpedoes!" Picard calls.

The ship fires, the wave dissipates.

And Worf and Riker stumble out of biolab 4 with Alexander, and the gilvos.

Picard calls again.

"We're here, we're out," pants Riker.

Um, y'all should probably hoof it out of the radiation zone, Riker.

Down in sick bay, Crusher does one last scan of Alexander, and tells him that he's lucky, because he only ended up with a broken leg and some smoke inhalation. Then she tells Worf that she wants to keep Alexander overnight for observation, before leaving.

"Did I get you in trouble?" Alexander asks.

Worf seems surprised that Alexander is thinking of him. "Don't worry about it."

"Am I in trouble?"

 "Yeah," says Worf. "But we can deal with that later."

Alexander makes an earnest plea to be good at the Klingon school, and make him proud, and Worf pauses.

"Klingon schools are designed to toughen up their students through physical and mental challenges. But if you want a bigger challenge... you can stay here, and slog through my crappy parenting."

"I accept," says Alexander formally.

And they smile at one another, and Worf remarks that he thinks K'Ehleyr would be pleased.

So this episode is not great, but it's not the worst Star Trek has to offer, so there's that. It just kind of... exists? I mean, they needed a way to reintroduce Alexander back into the cast as a tertiary member, and it serves that purpose, but I'm definitely not putting up there as an exemplary piece of craftsmanship.

The low-down: when Alexander was brought in on Reunion, several things were in play: they needed Duras to die, and Worf to get involved. How to do both? Bring back K'Ehleyr, then have her murdered by Duras. How to make Worf really give a shit about a woman who was essentially his ex? An Oops Baby. The thing was, the writers didn't really want to deal with adding Alexander to the roster at that point, as they had bigger fish to fry, so they shipped him off to the Rozhenkos.

Doing this was a bit of a cop out, but it added another layer to Alexander's story: this kid keeps being passed around. We have no idea if K'Ehleyr took him with her on every diplomatic mission, but the odds are that the answer is no, which means he was being deposited somewhere while she worked on certain missions. One parent, but lots of guardians. Then she's brutally murdered, and it seems he will go to this brand-new parent, but nope, passed off again to strangers. Strangers who are presumably kind to him, and maybe they'll show him some Klingon stuff that they showed Worf, but what good does that do? K'Ehleyr wasn't into that. She actively pushed it away. Now this kid has human grandparents who aren't sure if they should raise him as human, Klingon, some kind of mixture? And a year later, Alexander is back on his father's doorstep. Contrary to K'Ehleyr, Worf is All About That Klingon Life, and at the first sign of hardship, Worf is talking about moving Alexander to a Klingon school, where they probably would have eaten him alive. Like, he's 1/4 human, with a mother who hates Klingon ways, and a father who suffered through a discommendation. Worf probably would have shunted him to Kurn with the instructions "don't tell them whose son he is." Not great, considering that Alexander already had Worf pegged as being obsessed with honor and appearances.

I'm really okay with a good, flawed character. I think Worf is interesting, and making him a crappy father doesn't sit horribly with me. I should revise that: he's an unprepared father. Alexander showed up like the fucking Spanish Inquisition, and Worf was forced to just deal with it. So what does he do? He puts on some bravado and pretends that he knows all about child-rearing when he actually knows nothing. This is an unknown battle. He seems reticent at first to take anyone's advice, but he appears to get at least some of it after he shows up in Troi's office. (I still wonder why he did that, but I'm not counting the gift horse's teeth. He went, he got good advice, things improved.)

So now we have a kid that's carrying too much emotional baggage, and a father who hadn't even prepared for the idea of fatherhood, let alone considered being a single parent. It's a nice layer to add to the character of Worf. He tried to chicken out on parenthood, this guy who wants everyone to think he's fearless.

And the bottom line? This episode wasn't fantastic, but it was a piece of the story that needed to be added, so it was.

*shrug*

Fun Facts:

- Michael Piller brought the idea for Alexander's arc back for season five, so they could explore Worf as a father, see things through the eyes of a young Klingon, and see other parts of the ship via Alexander.

- The original Alexander was played by Jon Steuer in season 4's "Reunion," but was recast in this episode. Showrunners wanted someone slightly older, who could work more hours, and had better acting chops. Jonathan Frakes guessed that Steuer being a shy kid probably got him recast, as he didn't have a "little warrior" vibe.

Jon Steuer as Alexander

- Jon Steuer was replaced by Brian Bonsall, who would play Alexander in another six episodes spread over seasons five, six, and seven. Bonsall had played Andy Keaton for three years on Family Ties, and producers liked that he had a lot of acting experience.

- Both Michael Piller and director Robert Scheerer were impressed by Bonsall's work. Scheerer noted that Bonsall really enjoyed the character of Alexander, and playing around in his Klingon make-up.

Bonsall between takes

- This is Georgia Brown's last performance on Star Trek as Helena Rozhenko, and sadly, her last performance before she passed away in 1992.

- Richard McGonagle, who played Dr Ja'Dar, will appear twice in Voyager.

- Brannon Braga reported that this episode didn't do very well with audiences. He felt that episodes that featured too much character development came off as soap opera-y. Rick Berman thought that the episode was done well, but didn't stand out. Both seemed to come to the conclusion that character pieces + weak sci-fi b-plots = weaker episodes.


Red deaths: 0
To date: 1
Gold deaths: 0
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Blue deaths: 0
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Unnamed color crew deaths: 0
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Sassy La Forge moments: 0

To date: 3

Sassy Ro Moments: 0
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Sassy Worf Moment: 0
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Sassy Riker Moments: 0
To date: 7

Sassy Picard Moments: 0

To date: 0

Sassy NPC Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Data Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
To date: 1

Sassy Keiko Moments: 0

To Date: 3

Sassy Crusher Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Troi Moments: 0
To date: 2
Sassy Guinan Moments: 0
To Date: 1
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 0
To date: 2

Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 0
To date: 24

Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 0
To date: 8

Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
To date: 0
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 0
To date: 1
Picard Maneuvers: 0
To date: 3
Tea, Earl Grey: 0
To date: 2

Mentions of the number 47:

To date: 1

Don is looking very dapper in his matching
boots and sweater combo. (Himbs had to get
IVs for an upper respiratory infection.)