Episode: Brothers. So let me get this straight...

[Trekker4747]

So on the ship there's an arboretum, makes sense. In the arboretum -according to this episode- there's a plant with poisonous berries/fruit on it. And because of this the ship doesn't keep the supplies/medicine to treat infection on board?

So when the kid brother of the kid seen in the beginning has eaten one of these fruits the ship has to rush to the Starbase to get the kid treatment?

Is it me or does this seem like a stupid idea? Why have on board a poisonous substance but not the necessary anti-poisons?

 

[JB2005]

^ I was under the impression they were on a starbase...still a stupid thing though!

 

[Finn]

*I was under the impression it was on a planetside settlement/community where the incident occured, which would make there being a poisionous plant nearby make sense. They wouldn't wipe out entire species on a planet since it would distrupt the local ecosystem.

 

[JB2005]

^But there being a posionous plant, surely it would make sense to have the antidote there...

 

[Daneel]

It's been a while since I've seen "Brothers", and I don't remember if it was specifically stated where this kid got sick, but I do recall the whole situation striking me as kind of odd -- and a little contrived.

I'll have to re-watch it one of these days to refresh my memory.

 

[Jack Bauer]

According to this http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TNG/episode/68460.html the kid got sick on the Enterprise.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

More problematic for the episode is the fact that it spent such a looooong amount of time on Data hijacking the Enterprise. Sure it makes for some suspenseful moments ... but it simply makes no sense. How could Data's root programming possibly allow for him to put SO MANY people in jeopardy? Wouldn't the homing beacon allow for the fact that Data could have been ANYWHERE? Shouldn't it have then made allowances for Data to get himself to Soong without jeopardizing people? If Soong was really that concerned about having Data be able to integrate himself into human society, then it's simply laughable that the homing beacon made Data act so much like a mindless robot. Imagine if the beacon had gone off a few episodes earlier in the midst of the Borg attack. Buh-bye Federation.

Furthermore, why are there no repercussions as far as Starfleet is concerned? No consequences? Not even something as simple creating safeguards so Data can't do that again.

It's all such a shame because the scenes with Data, Lore and Soong are fabulous. Watching Spiner put on an acting display like that is impressive, and the story itself is thoroughly compelling. I wish they'd spent more time on that and less time on needless contrivances like Data hijacking the ship, or the silly brothers who can't get along.

 

[Gary Sebben]

They were in the arboretum. They might as well have had a broken shards of glass statue in the middle of the garden with candy hanging off the sharpest parts.

And they agreed to keep these kids while their parents were on sabbatical? The ship is a baby sitting service too? You mean if I join starfleet I can take off with my wife for a year or two and just leave my kids on my ex-ship? Wow. And there's no better place to put children by themselves than a ship that goes into battle every other week. Why did they ruin such a great ep with such a dumb supporting plot?

 

[Hober Mallow]

Guess who wrote this episode? None other than Rick Berman. This was his first solo writing credit for the series.

Silly sub-plot aside, I liked this episode. Berman deserves a lot of the flack he gets, but I gotta give credit where credit is due. The Soong/Data scene where Soong explains why he created Data was one of my favorite exchanges of the series.

 

[Mojochi]

Furthermore, why are there no repercussions as far as Starfleet is concerned? No consequences? Not even something as simple creating safeguards so Data can't do that again

Starfleet is rather forgiving about consequences where the enterprise crew is concerned.

Picard's knowledge aided the Borg to destroy everyone at Wolf 359, (& continues to be part of them) & immediately after he got his implants removed, he's back in the office filling out reports & giving commands, while still noticeably suffering effects. You think they had second thoughts about that, when he let Hugh go? Hate to be the bringer of reality into the fiction, but that one doesn't go unchecked. They'll have some lengthy "observation" to place Picard in, after that

Honestly, if you're going to let that fly, you might as well have let the 13 year old "Rascals" Picard keep running the ship too

I'm sure they did bump up security protocol after Data's coo, but at least that was an isolated incident with finality

 

[Greylock Crescent]

It's on the same level as what happened to Geordi ... his VISOR was used to ill-effect in "The Mind's Eye" but no one thought to safeguard against it ... so his VISOR was used, once again, in Generations. I cannot fathom how Starfleet could be so completely incompetent and yet function as a viable organization.

 

[nx1701g]

The arboretum had nothing to do with the events of Brothers:

In the episode (off screen) Willie Potts and his brother Jake Potts were on the surface while the Enterprise was on shore leave at Ogus II. They were playing a hi-tech form of laser tag and Jake made pretended to be killed by the laser to scare his little brother. Willie ran away and hid in a nearby forest for several hours where he ate a fruit called a cove palm. It had been infested by parasites that the Enterprise had no means to treat.

 

[Trekker4747]

Just the same. It seems foolish to allow the children to play on the planet without properly being informed about local poisonous plant-life or having the necessary treatments for those poisons.

 

[nx1701g]

^ I'm pretty sure that it was something they never imagined could have happened. From how it sounded in the episode the planet was urbanized so they may not have imagined that there would be any threats or that the children would go into the forest.

 

[Mojochi]

It's on the same level as what happened to Geordi ... his VISOR was used to ill-effect in "The Mind's Eye" but no one thought to safeguard against it ... so his VISOR was used, once again, in Generations. I cannot fathom how Starfleet could be so completely incompetent and yet function as a viable organization.

Yeah, another good example. Note how shortly after that, Geordi has the implants

 

[LaBarre]

Just the same. It seems foolish to allow the children to play on the planet without properly being informed about local poisonous plant-life or having the necessary treatments for those poisons.

This seems silly to me. You are out in space, exploring and learning as you go. A child gets sick from something on a planet that you visit, and suddenly it's the fault of the equivalent of the the World Health Organisation!

I mean, let's all stay home - and I mean vacuum sealed in all of our own particular homes - that way the kiddies won't be confronted by potentially dangerous new things that might, just might, have the potential to kill them, or their parents, friends etc.

Doesn't read like normal human behaviour to me, never mind ST.

 

[Timo]

Agreed. Not to mention that it doesn't sound realistic that there would even exist an antidote for every poison and ailment out there. Less so for such an antidote to be present on a random starship, which probably represents a lesser concentration of UFP excellence than a starbase in the general case.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Gary Sebben]

I mean, let's all stay home - and I mean vacuum sealed in all of our own particular homes - that way the kiddies won't be confronted by potentially dangerous new things that might, just might, have the potential to kill them, or their parents, friends etc.

I think what this will boil down to in the end is that families on a star ship was a dumb idea then and its a dumb idea now. The E and other ships were sent into mind bogglingly dangerous situations on a regular basis. Tinman, the Borg, super novas. Putting kids on a ship like that is barbaric and reckless.

 

[CTM]

It's on the same level as what happened to Geordi ... his VISOR was used to ill-effect in "The Mind's Eye" but no one thought to safeguard against it ... so his VISOR was used, once again, in Generations. I cannot fathom how Starfleet could be so completely incompetent and yet function as a viable organization.

You obviously haven't spend most of your life dealing with large unthinking bureaucratic organizations such as the Military or the Government. I have. Take a look at the Peter Principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle and remember that it most applies to the policy makers. Incompetence in these large organizations is normal - expected, even mind-numbingly predictable. Changes as you suggest often take YEARS to wind their way through the bureaucratic tangles to all too often make the wrong choice (entailing even more years to reverse that decision). Even the largest organizations on Earth today are small compared to what Starfleet and the UFP government must be. I could easily see these things taking DECADES to work out - if not more.

 

[Tuxedo Dragon]

I mean, let's all stay home - and I mean vacuum sealed in all of our own particular homes - that way the kiddies won't be confronted by potentially dangerous new things that might, just might, have the potential to kill them, or their parents, friends etc.

Its interesting on the Enterprise Bridge crew ended up getting a ship that didn't support families after the Enterprise D went down.