Family

[TrekToday]

Plot Summary: Picard leaves the Enterprise under Riker's command during repairs and beams down to Earth to visit his family in France. He is charmed by his brother Robert's wife Marie and son Rene, but Robert still believes that Picard is arrogant and irresponsible; he does not want his son coming under Jean-Luc's influence. Meanwhile, the humans who raised Worf come aboard the Enterprise to visit him. Sergei and Helena Rozhenko are adoring parents and Worf is embarrassed by them. Elsewhere on the ship, Beverly Crusher sorts through a package she had left in storage and finds mementos from her late husband Jack, including a holographic message he recorded for Wesley before he died. As Picard comes to terms with his trauma from having been mutilated and used by the Borg, he considers taking an offer to head an ocean-bound scientific project on Earth, but a fight with his brother convinces him that he must be the starship captain spent so many years working to become. Worf ultimately appreciates his parents' unconditional love, even if they can't understand his Klingon sense of honor and the pain that his rejection by the Klingon council has caused. Beverly gives Wesley the recording of his father, who expresses his hope that his young son might someday follow in his footsteps to Starfleet. Picard returns to his ship in time to meet the departing Rozhenkos, who are effusive in their greeting and leave the captain smiling while Worf is once again mortified.

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To read the full reviews, please click here.

[Darth_Pazuzu]

If I'm not mistaken, this is probably the very first episode of Star Trek that didn't have any sort of science-fiction angle whatsoever. (Originally, what became the later episode Remember Me was going to be a subplot here, but it was ultimately decided to leave it out.) In a way, it also was a major step forward in making Trek episodes less "stand-alone" and in establishing the viability of greater continuity and story arcs.

[MacTrekker]

This has always been one of my favorites. It showed very well how much brothers can love each other without liking each other. The fact that it showed a crew member in recovery was a great step forward for Trek as well. Unfortunately, it was a lesson they forgot not long after (such as Worf running around the ship right after the episode where he had spinal surgery).

[lvsxy808]

Darth_Pazuzu wrote:

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If I'm not mistaken, this is probably the very first episode of Star Trek that didn't have any sort of science-fiction angle whatsoever. (Originally, what became the later episode Remember Me was going to be a subplot here, but it was ultimately decided to leave it out.) In a way, it also was a major step forward in making Trek episodes less "stand-alone" and in establishing the viability of greater continuity and story arcs.

Not only that, but also the TNG ep to feature not one single scene on the bridge.

[Brutal Strudel]

MacTrekker wrote:

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This has always been one of my favorites. It showed very well how much brothers can love each other without liking each other. The fact that it showed a crew member in recovery was a great step forward for Trek as well. Unfortunately, it was a lesson they forgot not long after (such as Worf running around the ship right after the episode where he had spinal surgery).

Picard's story was, by far, the best part of the episode. Worf's story drags it down in my memory and I'd completely forgotten the Wesley story. Had this episode solely focused on Picard as, say, "Future Imperfect" (not a good ep, btw) focused on Riker, it would have been one of TNG's handful of classics. Instead, it's a little over a third of one.

Picard has been through two shattering experiences in TNG--becoming Locutus and being tortured by Madred. Sometimes, I wish we saw more of those scars.

[Harvey]

I love this episode. It's a wonderful coda to The Best of Both Worlds, and one that was sorely needed. A shame The Next Generation never did more episodes like this, but it did pave the way for Deep Space Nine to do so.

[Nebusj]

Darth_Pazuzu wrote:

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If I'm not mistaken, this is probably the very first episode of Star Trek that didn't have any sort of science-fiction angle whatsoever. (Originally, what became the later episode Remember Me was going to be a subplot here, but it was ultimately decided to leave it out.)

Hm ... How would you judge ``The Conscience Of The King''? I suppose the voice-print stuff and the phaser overload and later fire are science fiction elements, but they're just a relabelling of fingerprinting and police revolvers, and the story isn't about them.

In a way, it also was a major step forward in making Trek episodes less "stand-alone" and in establishing the viability of greater continuity and story arcs.

I certainly thought it was a good thing and still do. According to the legends I've heard it drew awful ratings, coming in with an audience of nearly fourteen people, though, which if true seems to have put them off of trusting the audience to know big events require recuperation time.

[JonathonWally]

Always a personal favorite. As much I love SciFi, it's usually when they tone down the SciFi'ness down a bit and do a real humanity story like Family, or The Inner Light, when it's at its very best.

It also helps that Stewart is a brilliant actor and could really bring the "humanity"

[Agent Richard07]

^ "The Inner Light" was pretty scifi-ish. Having Picard get zapped by a device that forced him to live out a lifetime in 20 minutes, then "wake up" back on the Enterprise was a pretty intriguing concept.

As for "Family", I liked that we got an episode that took a break from the usual stuff, and the ending was especially good. It was one of the most memorabe that Trek has ever done. Too bad it got ruined by Generations.

[Saxman1]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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^ "The Inner Light" was pretty scifi-ish. Having Picard get zapped by a device that forced him to live out a lifetime in 20 minutes, then "wake up" back on the Enterprise was a pretty intriguing concept.

As for "Family", I liked that we got an episode that took a break from the usual stuff, and the ending was especially good. It was one of the most memorabe that Trek has ever done. Too bad it got ruined by Generations.

Agree with all above.

The TNG films took great pains to kill off a lot of secondary, one - shot or even main characters

(Kirk - "Generations"; Data - "Nemesis"...originally slated to be killed off in "Insurrection")

in the name of "upping the stakes for the big screen." TOS films had their share of carnage, but not at the expense of the main cast. All the deaths in the TNG films felt a little forced or hollow, as if killing characters off made the films better.

[Danoz]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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^ "The Inner Light" was pretty scifi-ish. Having Picard get zapped by a device that forced him to live out a lifetime in 20 minutes, then "wake up" back on the Enterprise was a pretty intriguing concept.

As for "Family", I liked that we got an episode that took a break from the usual stuff, and the ending was especially good. It was one of the most memorabe that Trek has ever done. Too bad it got ruined by Generations.

I still contend that they needed to bring him back to his family from the Inner Light. That would be been really powerful for us.

[JonathonWally]

Danoz wrote:

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I still contend that they needed to bring him back to his family from the Inner Light. That would be been really powerful for us.

I think that would have cheapened and possibly gutted the meaning of that episode.