New Ground
We already replaced Wesley at the conn, but apparently we need a replacement child actor as well
They’re developing a new method of propulsion using soliton waves and LaForge is super thrilled about it. He’s the only one, though, both on the Enterprise and on the sofas on other side of the TV screen. But don’t worry because this unexciting B-plot won’t have a chance to bore you because it will be completely overshadowed by the even less exciting A-plot. It seems that Worf’s son Alexander is going to be joining us... permanently. On the plus side, an extra Klingon onboard (well, an extra three quarters of a Klingon). On the minus side, we got rid of Wesley just over a year ago and now we have a replacement child who’s even younger. Strap yourself in for a bumpy ride in more ways than one.
Words
While writing “Reunion”, the production staff gave serious thought to having Alexander remain on the Enterprise with Worf, but they were wary of it for reasons that on the whole were perfectly sound. However, there was a pitch from Sara and Stuart Charno (who wrote the brilliant O’Brien episode “The Wounded” last season) that was about Worf having to deal with his responsibilities as a parent, and it was put into production. As Michael Piller later commented:
We thought it would be a lot of fun to have a young Klingon and to see what Worf would be like as a father, and to use Alexander to see different parts of the ship.
Oh dear. Anyway, for some reason (most likely the regular writing team’s disinterest in this concept), Rick Berman brought in his old friend Grant Rosenberg to put together the screenplay. Like Berman, Rosenberg had been an executive producer on a few TV shows, and he had written two episodes of classic MacGuyver, but he was hardly an experienced writer. As the resident Klingon expert, Ronald D. Moore gave an uncredited script edit on the final result, and seemed reasonably happy with it:
Worf is more Klingon than the Klingons are. He doesn’t seem to have a real good sense of humour, he doesn’t laugh a lot. The Klingons are these boisterous Vikings in space, and his whole relationship with his son is geared towards making him the perfect little warrior. The fact that Alexander’s mother didn't share any of those ideas immediately puts the two in conflict, which was good because that’s the essence of drama and it’s built-in stories of the two of them knocking heads.
Apparently, country music singer and songwriter Eddie Rabbitt came to visit the set during the filming of this episode. History does not record whether he was disappointed not be visiting during a more interesting episode. The Trek community at large, certainly, were not impressed and there was a flood of moaning and gnashing of teeth from the fanbase afterwards.
Acting Roles
This is the first appearance of Brian Bonsall as Alexander. As director Robert Scheerer recalled:
The little boy was wonderful. He was the kid from Family Ties. Boy, did he love his character! He had more fun on this show with the makeup, putting it on and wearing it. On the first day, Brian was a little nervous, and it showed in his work. But from the second day on, he was a real pro. Michael is big and hulking, but he’s also a very sensitive guy. Talk to him on the basis of a father’s love and he understood it – all the frustrations a father has to deal with. He was excellent.
I have to admit, much as I am no fan of this episode, Bonsall nails his role, and works very well paired with Michael Dorn’s Worf. It is also nice to see Worf put out of his comfort zone.
Bonsall appeared in seven TNG episodes including this one, but seemed to have given up acting after the series ended - until 2018, when he took on a role, followed by another one in 2022. Like many child stars, he got into a bad place for quite a while, but as far as I can tell he seems to have straightened out his act in recent years.
Marina Sirtis’ Troi gets to do some actual counselling here, although her job is basically to bite her tongue while Worf makes terrible parenting decisions.
I love seeing Georgia Brown return as Worf’s foster mother, even though it’s a small role here. It was also her very last, as she passed away later in the year that this aired.
Alien-of-the-week is Richard McGonagle as Dr Ja’Dar, and this actor crops up twice in Voyager as well.
His role is incredibly dull and his make-up is so heavy he can barely act in it. His career is full of voice work - I worked with him on FusionFall, but never met him. He was voicing the Ben 10 alien Four Arms, who he also played in several of the cartoon series in that franchise. You might also have seen him as a judge in The Practice (16 appearances), or Murder One (9 appearances over two different shows), or Civil Wars (4 appearances), or Close to Home (3 appearances), or two other shows where he appeared once as a judge. Oh, and let’s not forget Judge Roboticus in Duck Dodgers. Talk about typecasting! This is, as far as I know, the only time he was cast as a scientist.
Below decks, Sheila Franklin is back as ‘Ensign’, although she’s named as ‘Ensign Felton’ in the screenplay…
…and we also get Jennifer Edwards as Miss Kyle.
Her career has been mostly bit parts, although she played Valerie Whitmore in MTV’s final soap opera, Spyder Games, for 12 episodes. Perhaps more interesting for Trek fans: her brother Geoffrey was married to Denise Crosby for seven years.
All in all, the performances in this episode are fine. That’s not the problem. It’s that nobody really cares about anything that happens.
Models, Make-up, and Mattes
There’s a fair amount of SFX to enjoy at least. For a start, there’s some nice new alien make-up that we see here and never again.
Plus, we get to see skully-boy on the holodeck again, played by stunt coordinator Dennis Madalone. It’s the last appearance of this hologram character in TNG, although it also appears in DS9.
And of course, there’s also a sock puppet, which is always a hoot!
It was designed and put together by makeup supervisor Michael Westmore and puppeteered by Alison Elbl. It looks like a giant stick insect, and behaves like one too. They managed to make this into a plot point as well. It’s not even its only appearance, as it pops up again in DS9, believe it or not! Not bad for an animated sock.
But the big SFX project this week is making the soliton wave come alive. The wave itself is okay...
...but the studio miniature is the best thing about it.
It’s modified from the defence ships we saw flying from Mars in “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”. It has a very small role here - blink and you’d miss it! - and sadly it’s just about the most interesting thing about the episode.