the ending of "hero worship"

[daveyjones]

i've been doing a blu ray rewatch of TNG straight through, and up last night was "hero worship." the ending stuck with me. timothy is the one who provides data with the information he needs to save the enterprise. it's sort of a chinese finger cuffs situation—the more power they apply to the shields, the more the shockwave amplifies which is threatening the ship. timothy remembers that the vico, the ship from which he is the lone survivor, was destroyed in the same way, and data tells picard to lower the shields, saving the enterprise from destruction.

after everyone is safe, is timothy acknowledged for his role in saving the ship? no.

is he even thanked by picard or data or anyone else? nope.

he's just dropped off back at his classroom / daycare to brood about having emotions again and not being an android. sucks to be timothy.

 

[Tosk]

There's a reasonable time jump between the last two scenes. For all we know they threw him a party. With hero sandwiches.

 

[Qonundrum]

But if there weren't any, Data wouldn't be spinning his gyros over that...

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The episode was mostly about his emotional state thinking he was responsible for the disaster. Showing a scene like that would be off tone and off pace.

 

[daveyjones]

The episode was mostly about his emotional state thinking he was responsible for the disaster. Showing a scene like that would be off tone and off pace.

i mean, just thank the little guy! acknowledging his contribution to saving the enterprise would have provided additional emotional closure for his feeling responsible for the vico's fate.

 

[amp]

i've been doing a blu ray rewatch of TNG straight through, and up last night was "hero worship." the ending stuck with me. timothy is the one who provides data with the information he needs to save the enterprise. it's sort of a chinese finger cuffs situation—the more power they apply to the shields, the more the shockwave amplifies which is threatening the ship. timothy remembers that the vico, the ship from which he is the lone survivor, was destroyed in the same way, and data tells picard to lower the shields, saving the enterprise from destruction.

after everyone is safe, is timothy acknowledged for his role in saving the ship? no.

is he even thanked by picard or data or anyone else? nope.

he's just dropped off back at his classroom / daycare to brood about having emotions again and not being an android. sucks to be timothy.

But only after Timothy lied about the circumstances for much of the episode. If he had told the truth in the first place the Enterprise crew might have figured things out much sooner and never gotten themselves into trouble.

Frankly, they should have brought the little bugger up on charges and stuck him in that penal colony where they sent Tom Paris.

---
More seriously, I noticed that in this episode it looks like they give Timothy his own quarters. The kid is like eight and just suffered the traumatic loss of his parents and all his friends aboard the Vico. Why would they leave him alone?

It's not the only time we see this either. After Jeremy's mother dies in "The Bonding" they leave him in the quarters he shared with her. Which of course allows him to be accosted by the alien pretending to be his mom.

 

[Mojochi]

Thank you Timothy for answering that question we asked you days ago

 

[daveyjones]

Thank you Timothy for answering that question we asked you days ago

more like, thank you timmy for remembering what happened on the vico just in time to tell data so he figures out to lower the shields mere seconds before the enterprise is destroyed in the episode finale. thank you timothy for giving us good televised drama! telling us how to save the ship forty minutes ago would have made for a much shorter episode.

 

[Nakita Akita]

Shorter episode, more time for hero sandwiches.

 

[Finn]

But only after Timothy lied about the circumstances for much of the episode. If he had told the truth in the first place the Enterprise crew might have figured things out much sooner and never gotten themselves into trouble.

Frankly, they should have brought the little bugger up on charges and stuck him in that penal colony where they sent Tom Paris.

---
More seriously, I noticed that in this episode it looks like they give Timothy his own quarters. The kid is like eight and just suffered the traumatic loss of his parents and all his friends aboard the Vico. Why would they leave him alone?

It's not the only time we see this either. After Jeremy's mother dies in "The Bonding" they leave him in the quarters he shared with her. Which of course allows him to be accosted by the alien pretending to be his mom.

The kids are more evolved in the 24th century. Tim would have mastered Calculus by this time.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

What if they'd kept Timothy on as Data's adoptive son?

 

[somebuddyX]

TIMOTHY: Warp power to the shields. They said that too, Data. I'm positive.
PICARD: Shut up, Timothy!

 

[Oddish]

What if they'd kept Timothy on as Data's adoptive son?

He could scarcely have been a worse parent than Worf.

In a more serious note, Timothy probably had living family somewhere. The Enterprise would have arranged to deliver him safely, which was not shown due to the activation of the Mighty Reset button.