Special bond kids and actual offspring that go poof

[Replica Picard]

There are memes and threads that give Worf grief for being a bad father to Alexander. But how many other times did we have episodes where our main cast developed a special bond with a child who is then never heard from again?

- Riker's "son" in "Future Imperfect" (Barash aka "Jean-Luc") was never heard about again.
- Data develops a special friendship with Timothy in "Hero Worship", but he was never heard from again.
- Picard becomes a real father figure to Jason Vigo in "Bloodlines"...who again, is never heard from or of afterward.
- Worf adopted Jeremy Aster in the episode "The Bonding", and he's never mentioned again, even during all of the times when in TNG and DS9 when he'd have definitely been immediately relevant.
- Janeway and Paris have, so far I know, never tried to follow up on what happened to their mutual offspring from "Threshold".
- The Borg baby from "Collective" was never heard from again - though it was apparently in Seven's care/custody.

It'd be nice if one of the shows taking place after "Nemesis" fills in some of these gaps.

 

[Lord Garth]

Worf adopted Jeremy Aster in the episode "The Bonding", and he's never mentioned again, even during all of the times when in TNG and DS9 when he'd have definitely been immediately relevant.

Knowing Worf, he threw up his hands, sent Jeremy to a boarding school until he was 18, then told him he was on his own.

 

[XCV330]

there should be an entire new series called Star Trek Salamanders that deals with Paris and Janeway's children's triumphs and difficulties in trying to find a place in Federation society and a cool wet rock to hide under.

 

[marlboro]

What about Trip's kid from Unexpected?

Was he the first and second human to have an interspecies child?

 

[Qonundrum]

There are memes and threads that give Worf grief for being a bad father to Alexander. But how many other times did we have episodes where our main cast developed a special bond with a child who is then never heard from again?

Worf also took on some of Wesley's step-parental duties. That disappeared too, long before Wesley had! (Or it's all done off-screen. Until seasons 5 and 6, where it was proven once and for all that it's more likely for the best for it to be offscreen.)

- Riker's "son" in "Future Imperfect" (Barash aka "Jean-Luc") was never heard about again.

Worse, he's in a specially shrouded/cloaked environment - even though mommy fled (okay, as a decoy?). I'm sure he grew up and went to the Federation's sanctuary for giant aardvarks and the new food replicators wouldn't be in until Tuesday... oh dear...

And how Riker also took on some of Wesley's development like a stepdad but that went nowhere, except teaching him how to pick up women. :|

- Data develops a special friendship with Timothy in "Hero Worship", but he was never heard from again.

Which may be for the best. They probably put the kid in front of a 24th century Nintendo and that was that.

- Picard becomes a real father figure to Jason Vigo in "Bloodlines"...who again, is never heard from or of afterward.

I always decided the Ferengi faked it... then the Romulans would later on too...

- Worf adopted Jeremy Aster in the episode "The Bonding", and he's never mentioned again, even during all of the times when in TNG and DS9 when he'd have definitely been immediately relevant.

I think Jeremy became besties with Timothy and opted to stay on the 1701-D because they were nearing breaking the high score...

- Janeway and Paris have, so far I know, never tried to follow up on what happened to their mutual offspring from "Threshold".
- The Borg baby from "Collective" was never heard from again - though it was apparently in Seven's care/custody.

She ate it. Whipped out the hibachi grill and BBQ sauce. Nom nom nom!

It'd be nice if one of the shows taking place after "Nemesis" fills in some of these gaps.

If these characters were deemed forgettable pedantic throwaway filler back then, why bring them back just to get thrown into dumpsters?

 

[Qonundrum]

there should be an entire new series called Star Trek Salamanders that deals with Paris and Janeway's children's triumphs and difficulties in trying to find a place in Federation society and a cool wet rock to hide under.

If they weren't fried by phaser that would have been mighty tasty sushi... nom nom! I couldn't see Seven doing that. But it's more likely she used them for target practice like skeet shooting.

 

[XCV330]

I'd rather not know what happens to kids from TNG era

Spoiler

since Picard series might well kill them all

 

[Replica Picard]

I'd rather not know what happens to kids from TNG era

Spoiler

since Picard series might well kill them all

I'm okay with that, as long as it's a well-written and interesting story or stories.

 

[XCV330]

I'm okay with that, as long as it's a well-written and interesting story or stories.

I'm really not

 

[Nerys Myk]

Welcome to episodic TV. Where little has consequence or follow up.

 

[1001001]

Welcome to episodic TV. Where little has consequence or follow up.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Some MB info I scrounged up (by looking at MB):

- Riker's "son" in "Future Imperfect" (Barash aka "Jean-Luc") was never heard about again.

Featured in "Losing the Peace", Barash spent some weeks on the Enterprise-D before being dropped off at Starbase 718 and eventually settling on Earth in Vietnam and rising to become Director of the Federation Displaced Persons Agency in the 2380s.

- Data develops a special friendship with Timothy in "Hero Worship", but he was never heard from again.

No MB info, but since he's from another ship, and his parents were dead, I assume he was dropped off at the nearest starbase and sent to his closest relatives at the earliest convenience. Special friendship or not, Data just can't keep the kid.

- Picard becomes a real father figure to Jason Vigo in "Bloodlines"...who again, is never heard from or of afterward.

Don't know what happened to him. But, he was an adult who was dropped off on his home planet at the end of the episode and the series ended four episodes later.

Given Picard's recently proven absent-mindedness with his surrogate children, it's completely in-character for him not to follow up on Vigo's life and career.

- Worf adopted Jeremy Aster in the episode "The Bonding", and he's never mentioned again, even during all of the times when in TNG and DS9 when he'd have definitely been immediately relevant.

Apparently, he moved to Earth and was living with his aunt despite his Klingon adoption. Later novels have him grow up to be an archaeologist and join the House of Martok.

- Janeway and Paris have, so far I know, never tried to follow up on what happened to their mutual offspring from "Threshold".

Not well covered on MB, but the SNW story "On the Rocks" tells of the travails of the three offspring (Harry, Tuvok, and B'Elanna) and the message that Voyager later sent down to comfort them and urge them to conquer that planet and one day set out to the stars.

- The Borg baby from "Collective" was never heard from again - though it was apparently in Seven's care/custody.

I've always assumed that the Borg Baby died, and that was sad, but everyone else (including Braga) just says that the Baby was dropped off with her people offscreen.

 

[NCC-73515]

- Riker's "son" in "Future Imperfect" (Barash aka "Jean-Luc") was never heard about again.
- Data develops a special friendship with Timothy in "Hero Worship", but he was never heard from again.
- Picard becomes a real father figure to Jason Vigo in "Bloodlines"...who again, is never heard from or of afterward.
- Worf adopted Jeremy Aster in the episode "The Bonding", and he's never mentioned again, even during all of the times when in TNG and DS9 when he'd have definitely been immediately relevant.
- Janeway and Paris have, so far I know, never tried to follow up on what happened to their mutual offspring from "Threshold".
- The Borg baby from "Collective" was never heard from again - though it was apparently in Seven's care/custody.

It'd be nice if one of the shows taking place after "Nemesis" fills in some of these gaps.

Barash looked great, I'd love to see him again.
Timothy and Jeremy probably went home to live with other relatives. Would be funny to see Timothy at the Daystrom institute and Jeremy doing something connected to Klingon culture.
Voyager couldn't follow up on the thresholdians, they probably couldn't sustain a large enough gene pool to survive very long.

 

[Orphalesion]

Jeremy definitely went home to his uncle and aunt, as was mentioned in the episode. Worf didn't "adopt" him, they performed a ceremony that would make them "brothers" so they could honour their mothers together. And looking at what happens to Worf's brothers if they interact with him it's probably better for Jeremy to stay away.
Though he should have shown up at Worf's wedding.

Jason Vigo showed up in the last season of TNG. Also I think his relationship with Picard at the end was more along the lines of "I'll write you a letter of recommendation/help you get medical treatment should you need it" Picard was very busy with his work and the Romulans in the decades to come. Who knows where Vigo even is at the time of PIC.

The salamanders...well the majority of amphibians don't provide any after-birth care. Plus we do not even know whether they are sapient. If humankind loses its upright posture, opposable thumbs and such in "future evolution", why not sapience? So there's a chance that if they had kept the babies, they would have been more along the line of pets than children.
Imagine you give birth to a frog. Not a talking or sapient frog, just an ordinary, everyday frog that behaves exactly like any other amphibian of its kind and will never amount to anything more. Would be a very surreal situation...
(In fact I think we have an indication that Tom and Janeway, and by extension their offspring, weren't sapient in their salamander forms; Tom and Janeway seem to have no/muddled memories of what they did, such as not being sure who initiated the mating)
Unless we get confirmation in actual canon that those salamanders are sapient, I'm convinced that they are not.

For Barash, I don't think Riker was under any special obligation to become his surrogate father or something. All Barash did was trapping him in a simulation, and all Riker did was helping Barash escape the simulation. I assume Barash was handed off to guardians that could actually care for him.
Not sure why this should be any different than any other time a main character rescued a one-off character.

Timothy is one of the more egregious examples, since Data seems more the type to check on people he's interacted with, however briefly, and it would have been nice to get some background mention (Data writing a letter to him or something). But other than that he was probably sent to live with family or guardians.

As for the Borg baby, I think there was a joke about it crawling into the Jefferies tubes never to emerge again. I like to think that's true and that it is living there and occasionally attacks unsuspecting crewmen, living off their spinal fluid.
But yes, I think officially it was said that the baby was returned to its planet of origin.

the three offspring (Harry, Tuvok, and B'Elanna)

Ugh Seriously? I hate when offspring in fiction is named after already established characters, it makes the parent characters seem like they have no life outside the other characters that were on the show.

 

[1001001]

- The Borg baby from "Collective" was never heard from again - though it was apparently in Seven's care/custody.

I was at a convention many years ago, and someone in the audience asked Kate Mulgrew what happened to the Borg baby.

She said Neelix served him up in a delicious orange sauce.

 

[Tenacity]

in the decades to come. Who knows where Vigo even is at the time of PIC.

been lost in a cave for years.

The salamanders...well the majority of amphibians don't provide any after-birth care

while it's possible that the doctor wouldn't have been able to "de-evolve" the children, would it have interesting if janeway had him try?

 

[somebuddyX]

while it's possible that the doctor wouldn't have been able to "de-evolve" the children, would it have interesting if janeway had him try?

There's some dope slash fiction potential right there as Janeway and Paris learn what it really is to be parents and, maybe, a little something more. Things are heating up on this week's Star Trek: Voyager. Only on UPN.

 

[Orphalesion]

while it's possible that the doctor wouldn't have been able to "de-evolve" the children, would it have interesting if janeway had him try?

Now that's an interesting thought. Makes you think how different Voyager had been with three little babyleins around with Janeway and Tom as their parents. They could have even said that the salamanders mature so quickly that they would have devolved into 8-10 year old human children.
If Naomi wildman wasn't around by that time, I suppose they would have taken their place. For some reason I also imagine Janeway leaving Tom to do most of the parenting work, since it seemed she was happy to assign him any work that needed be doing.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

Welcome to episodic TV. Where little has consequence or follow up.

This.

 

[Tenacity]

Welcome to episodic TV. Where little has consequence or follow up.

Just like non-episodic (only takes longer).