When The Bough Breaks

DVD, TNG S1 (When The Bough Breaks)

Kind of the opposite of the original series episode 'And The Children Shall Lead'. They found a suitable tale to use the family side of the Enterprise, which is something that has been touched on since the beginning with Wesley, but here we see a wider effect of having children aboard. As ever, having the good Captain interact with children makes for high comedic potential, but at the same time the little girl is sweet! There are some quite touching little moments as the children get over the initial interest of new things and realise they aren't happy.

Jerry Hardin makes his first Trek appearance as the leader of the planet, and does an effective job of being impossibly horrible in a sympathetic, weary way. I never liked Riker's boyish enthusiam for this mythical planet of Aldea, and it seems a bit easy that they bump into it, but the idea is a good one, and the power source seen at the end is quite striking. I'm not sure what the message is for this story, however. Beyond the anti-child theft I suppose it would be something along the lines of technology not being the be-all and end-all and it shouldn't rule over people, but should be used in a beneficial way. Something like that?

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