Imaginary Friend

[Trekker4747]

I don't get this episode, TNG, like TOS before it, masked the episodes as being an entertaining way to "preach" to the audience some moral ground or whatever. TNG was a little more heavy-handed than most, some of the episodes the message is muddy, some of the episodes the message is weighed down with Berman's ultra-clean, don't piss anyone off, bullshit. And sometimes the message is a bit... Huh?

Which brings me to the episode "Imaginary Friend." Which pretty much seems to be that, "Kids, sometimes parents make rules to protect you so don't get all pissed off and destroy starships when your mommy and daddy don't let you roam around engine rooms or bars."

Huh? Who in the audience was this "message" for? Were adults watching this episode like, "Gee! You're right Star Trek! Rules ARE good to protect kids with!"

I don't get it, but whatever. It's an episode I've always found fairly decent for an episode where a lot of focus is put on a kid's POV, something many movies and shows do not do very well at all. Though I think Troi's counseling of Clara by encouraging her behavior is... odd. I'm not a counselor, and certainly not a 24th century counselor, but it seems to me that enocuring Clara so much to presist in having an "imaginary friend" isn't exactly healthy for the little girl. Oh, that's the other "message" of this episode. Psychotic behavior is acceptable as Guinan says she has imaginary friends. So dimentia in the 24th century? Acceptable for people to have.

And Data says he sees a "bunny rabbit" in the nebula's clouds? When has Data ever talked like that?! Shouldn't he have said, "clearly the cloud formation is that of a oryctolagus cuniculus." But no, saying "bunny rabbit" is so much more of a Data thing to say.

And Picard's speech to Clara's "imaginary friend" -really an alien living in the nebula- at the end made me think that we should've had an episode where Picard has to talk a computer into destroying itself by mind-fucking it with logic.

 

[indolover]

it was an exploration of humanity episode. A bit like The Masterpiece Society, The Measure of a Man, The Drumhead, etc.

To me, the shining light of Trek is its ability to be deep and thought provoking, but I agree this ep didn't do it. In TNG, The Drumhead, The Measure of a Man, Tapestry, Family, Clues, and The High Ground were all better exploration of humanity episodes.

 

[SchwEnt]

I get the general idea of the eps.

Another eps where humanity is observed by an outsider, and the alien observer takes the form of a human in order to experience "humanity" or some such.
We've seen this lots of times before. And sometimes for drama or comedy or pathos or satire.

And in this case, humanity is observed from the viewpoint of a child, which could be an interesting take on the subject.

Okay, I get the idea. But I never really cared much for the eps at all.

 

[Trek_princess]

I've always liked this episode. The little girl who plays the main character (don't remember her name) is a good actress. She also did a good job in an episode of DS9 - the one with the holographic village.

 

[startrekwatcher]

I like the episode. A somewhat interesting alien threat and the idea of it judging humans by how they treat their children is neat. The lit up web was also a pretty cool visual for TNG.

Never really got the hate for this one.

 

[Holdfast]

This ep has grown on me over the years. I never used to like it, but rewatched it a month or so ago and enjoyed it. Not brilliant, but more intriguing than I remembered it.

PS. to Trekker: I can understand Troi initially encouraging Clara to talk to her imaginary friend and play with her. By playing with her "friend" (actually, an aspect of Clara's own personality, before the alien appears) Clara has the opportunity to learn about herself. With appropriate observation and guidance from Troi, it makes good sense to let Clara explore this aspect of herself and it should let her grow as a human being. Of course, the appearance of the alien messes this strategy up completely.

As for Guinan having had an imaginary friend, she's clearly not psychotic. She has full insight that the pet Targ was not real, but it was still a comfort to her and again, an aspect of herself that she has come to terms with. The concept of an unconscious part of oneself gaining a separate identity in order that it can be understood by the conscious mind is not all that unusual, really.