Stardate: 42073.1
Original Air Date: November 21, 1988
Writers: Jaron Summers, Jon Povill, and Maurice Hurley
Director: Rob Bowman

“It’s me… I have to leave you now or it will be very bad for everyone.”

This Season 2 opener begins with some inspiring scenes of the Enterprise-D and its Repulse shuttle as it clears Docking Bay 3. We learn there has been an outbreak of an unclassified plasma plague in the Rachelis System. The Enterprise-D is on an emergency run to ‘audet IX to collect specimens of the deadly plague and transport the specimens to Science Station Tango Sierra. Also, Geordi has designed a containment module to keep the specimens alive, he has also now been promoted to “chief engineer.” There is a new medical doctor, the curmudgeonly Dr. Katherine Pulaski, who transfers aboard the ship replacing Dr. Crusher (who has been appointed head of Starfleet Medical), though her son Wesley remains aboard the Enterprise-D. He is scheduled to leave the ship soon, but he is reticent. The present mission will delay his reunion with his mother.  

Suddenly, Data notices a random energy transference to the Enterprise. A tiny beam of light floats throughout the ship and finds a home inside Counselor Troi, unbeknownst to anyone. Soon, Counselor Troi reveals she is pregnant and the child is growing rapidly inside her. She is set to deliver the baby in thirty-six hours even though normal gestation for a Betazoid like Counselor Troi is ten months. The leadership team under Picard discusses this alarming development, and whether or not the fetus should be aborted or not to prevent any threat to the ship. However, Troi announces she will be keeping the baby.

Shortly thereafter, she delivers a baby boy and names him “Ian Andrew” after her father. However, strangely there is no pain and no trauma during birth –it was effortless for Couselor Troi. And within one day, Ian appears to be almost four earth years old and he continues to rapidly advance in age until he is eight years old. Soon, the Child becomes the source of an unusual form of “Eichner radiation” which threatens the plasma transfer aboard the Enterprise. Ian decides he needs to die and he cannot be revived as a “life-force entity.” He was born to Troi ins an effort to learn more about the human life cycle. He doesn’t actually die, but rather releases his energy from its mortal coil.

In the end, Ensign Crusher has requested to stay aboard the ship and the Enterprise heads for the Morgana Quadrant.

My Thoughts on “The Child”

This episode is a massive step up in quality from most of Season 1 –it contains the familiar look and feel of TNG for those of us who watched it growing up in the ‘90s, even if Picard is still stiff and easily disgruntled, and his unusually cold relationship with Wesley Crusher makes for some awkward television moments. Also, the introduction of Dr. Pulaski as a cantankerous background figure sadly leaves a sour taste in many fans’ mouths –she is hardly a sufficient replacement for Dr. Crusher. It is strange how the whole crew simply observes Troi’s birth scene, and her wild outbursts leading up to the birth scene seem out of character.

While this isn’t the worst episode of TNG, a far better interpretation of the script for “The Child” by Jaron Summers and Jon Povill can be found in the fan-filmed episode for “The Child” in the online “Star Trek New Voyages” series. It was originally intended to be an episode in the cancelled “Phase II” series in the 1970s, but the new “New Voyages” series offers a wonderful tribute to the tone and feel of TOS.   

Writer/Director

Jaron Summers and Jon Povill wrote the original script idea, and it was later revised by Maurice Hurley for TNG.

The episode was directed by Rob Bowman.

Star Trek Trivia:

• This episode was based on a pitched script for TOS that was also suggested as a storyline for the abandoned “Phase II” project in the 1970s. It involved a female crew member becoming pregnant. Apparently, the original script idea was Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens’ book Star Trek: Phase II: The Lost Series (1997) and it was adapted into an episode of the fan series Star Trek: Phase II (also known as Star Trek: New Voyages). I personally watched the “New Voyages” fan episode and it is a wonderful tribute to TOS. It can be freely viewed on youtube and comes highly recommended to Trekkies. In my view, the “New Voyages” version of “The Child” far surpasses the TNG episode.
• TNG used an old script idea due to the ongoing 1988 Writers Guild Strike which caused delays to the release of Season 2.
• This is the first episode to feature Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg, who wanted to play a character on the show a la Nichelle Nichols as Uhura in TOS which initially inspired Goldberg to become an actress). Her character is named after Mary “Texas” Guinan, a prohibition-era speakeasy owner.
• Also new is Riker’s facial hair, and Geordi as chief engineer, and Miles O’Brien as transporter chief (Colm Meaney).
• This is also the first episode to feature the Ten-Forward bar.
• Worf is wearing a new uniform with a new bandolier.
• Dr. Katherine Pulaski was played by Diana Muldaur. She was intended to play the character akin to Leonard McCoy in TOS.
• Why did Gates McFadden leave the show for her role as Dr. Crusher? There have been vague allegations of sexual misconduct, and she claimed she wanted to have more control over her character. Officially she departed the show, but she was actually fired by Hurley.
• Marina Sirtis, who played Counselor Troi, was happy with this episode because she felt her character was overlooked in the first season, as did Gates McFadden and Denise Crosby.
• Worf calling for Troi to have an abortion was apparently explored in a novel entitled A Rock and a Hard Place by Peter David.
• In one scene, Data corrects Dr. Pulaski to say that his name is pronounced “Day-tah” not “Dah-tah.”
• A Delovian Souffle is briefly mentioned in this episode.
• The dangerous radiation emitted by the child is called “Eichner radiation.”

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