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thegreaterlink · 2 years

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Reviewing Star Trek TNG - S3E5 "The Bonding"

THE PREMISE

While investigating an uninhabited planet once occupied by the Koinonians, Worf and his away team accidentally trigger a mine from a war centuries prior. They're beamed directly to sickbay, but one of them, the ship's archaeologist Marla Aster, is pronounced dead on arrival. Picard delivers the news to her now-orphaned son, Jeremy. While Worf attempts to bond with Jeremy over their shared experience with loss, he struggles to connect with Jeremy as the latter blames him for his mother's death.

While some of the crew have their own ways of processing such a senseless death, Data reports an unusual energy buildup which soon approaches the ship. Suddenly Marla Aster appears alive and well, claiming that the crew made a mistake in pronouncing her as dead, and telling them that they're going to live on the planet together.

MY REVIEW

I wasn’t really sure how to feel about this episode.

On the one hand, this episode has a powerful theme at its core. As outraged as I was/am over the senseless nature of Tasha Yar's death, such a thing would be a semi-regular occurrence in deep space travel. Sure, her death was sudden and random, but nameless crewmembers die all the time. It’s practically in their job description. I only cared about Yar's death because she was a main character. A death like hers pulls the rug out from under us and confronts us with a surprisingly realistic outcome.

Wait a minute... did I just compliment "Skin of Evil?"

What have I become?

In all seriousness, these random nameless crewmembers have friends and family, people who care about them. The only difference between them and a main character is a lack of screentime, established personality and known identity. The character we see as Crewman #6 could be someone like Marla Aster, the ship's archaeologist and mother to a son named Jeremy.

The episode even uses Tasha Yar as an example. Data wonders why he doesn’t feel the same sense of loss that he did with her, and it’s because he simply didn’t have the same connection to Marla. We simply don’t feel a person’s absence as strongly unless they were someone dear to us.

It would be absolutely agonising to be in Picard’s situation: to be the one to tell this child that his mother is dead, that he is now an orphan, and that he was the one who sent her down there in the first place. In a sense, Jeremy is hearing of his mother’s death from the very man who took her from him.

On the other hand… I kind of wish it had been done differently.

For example, Picard feels at least somewhat responsible for the death because he was Marla’s commanding officer. So maybe he’d try to connect with Jeremy to make up for it. But through a mixture of Picard’s emotionally distant nature, especially when it comes to children, it completely breaks down.

We also get Worf offering to help Jeremy work through his loss, as he too is an orphan and understands what Jeremy is going through. But unfortunately this idea isn’t developed as much as it could be. As the leader of the away team, Jeremy blames Worf for his mother's death, and I would've loved to see them try to work through this together. Imagine the ever-stoic Klingon learning to open up to Jeremy, perhaps showing his more sensitive side as he opens up about his own experiences of loss for the first time.

Also, it feels strange to see the crew focus so much on the death of this random woman. Worf in particular airs out his grievances to Troi (where exactly I’m not sure - it kinda looks like they just cobbled some set components together), calling Marla’s death senseless. And he’s not wrong… but a close friend of yours died via psychic backhand from a sentient mud puddle, and you never got this passionate about her.

Part of me feels like the writers were trying to show a more detailed depiction of the senior crew in mourning than just a memorial service on a Windows XP background, but when they’re talking about a new character who was quite literally dead on arrival, it doesn’t have the same impact.

But this is supposed to be a review, not a fix fic. At this point I’m just bitching about stuff I wanted to see rather than looking at what’s actually in the episode. Let’s get back to that, shall we?

So yeah, suddenly Marla is alive again. Yay!

Also, Jeremy is alone in his quarters when she first appears. As far as I know they make no mention of someone taking care of this orphaned child. Thousands of crewmembers, and yet they couldn't even spare one to look after him?

Anyway, I'm sure any of us who have experienced the loss of a family member would give anything for them to show up alive again. And at first Jeremy is of course happy to see his mother. But even he realises that there's something fishy about what's going on. When Picard and Troi try to stop her, she takes Jeremy away by force, transforming his quarters into a perfect recreation of their old home on Earth, even recreating their cat, Patches.

10/10 best episode of all time, everyone else go home.

Obviously this isn't really Marla Aster back from the dead. Only main characters get to come back from the dead. Just ask Spock. It's actually a Koinonian energy form posing as her and using energy from the planet to create these images. Troi explains that the entity doesn't understand the crew's resistance, as it's only trying to make Jeremy happy. It feels responsible for Marla's death, as the war which created the landmine which killed her could've been avoided if they had intervened.

This is all well and good, but in a plot like this a higher life form just feels unnecessary. Just let the characters explore the theme of grief without the monster of the week getting in the way. I understand Star Trek has always used science fiction concepts to explore complex themes, but for once I actually would've preferred a more grounded episode.

Picard summons Worf and Wesley (I mean he uses the comm to tell them to come to the quarters, he doesn't literally summon them like he's playing Yu-Gi-Oh) to better explain his argument - humans will inevitably experience loss and must learn to deal with it, because they become stronger people because of it.

It reminds me of the scene from The Final Frontier where Kirk refuses to let Sybok remove his pain because it's an integral part of who he is. The only real difference is that I think it was done better in that movie.

Yes, I just said that this theme was better explored in an unironically great scene in what’s widely regarded to be the worst Star Trek movie. Don’t @ me.

(Skip to 6:16 to see what I'm talking about.)

youtube

We’re also told that Picard was leading the away team when Jack Crusher (Wesley's father) died, and he had to break the news to Wesley afterwards. This leads to a great moment when Wesley gets to let out emotions which you can tell he’s been holding back for years: anger and resentment towards Picard for effectively taking his father away, with excellent acting from Wil Wheaton. I admit that the resolution to this little conflict feels a bit half-baked, since part of me wishes Wesley and Picard had had their own scene after the fact to work everything out, but at the same time it's meant to show that Wesley has moved past this and no longer blames Picard for what happened, so it's still good.

In turn, this allows Jeremy to express his own anger towards Worf, but he clearly realises that he's just angry over his mother's death and that Worf isn't really to blame. We finally get some of the bonding-

-I wanted when Worf tells Jeremy how his own parents were killed and he was raised by humans, and then offers to perform the R'uustai ritual with Jeremy to make the latter a member of Worf's house.

And the entity leaves the ship, content that Jeremy is going to be well taken care of. The episode ends with Worf and Jeremy performing said ritual, uniting their houses and making them brothers.

Wow, this is the second episode where Worf has had a great dynamic with a character we'll probably never see again.

This episode saw the introduction of Ronald D. Moore into the Star Trek writing team. Moore would write for Star Trek for ten years across three separate series, developing a close working relationship with Brannon Braga, with whom he co-wrote several episodes as well as the first two TNG movies.

7/10 - Not bad by any means. I would've preferred it to be done a bit differently, but as it stands it's still done well.

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ao3feed-imzadi · 2 years

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Drama Comma Pain

Drama Comma Pain https://ift.tt/D0oldIM by ScientistsDoItPeriodically Jean-Luc Picard of the λ-7913verse is born to the Picard Family the usual way in the year 2311, his skin unmarred by a Soulmate Mark. As Precocious as he is, he struggles to thrive in his tumultuous childhood as reactions to his lack of a Mark go from 'Aww sweetie your Mark will Bloom when the Time is Right' to 'My Condolences' far quicker than this bent-but-not-broken youngster can manage to abide. Just when the Ensign Picard begins to come to terms with his lot in life, his Mark Blooms- and with it comes more pain than he can ever imagine. Words: 731, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Star Trek: The Next Generation Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Categories: Multi Characters: Jean-Luc Picard, Data (Star Trek), Beverly Crusher, Wesley Crusher, Jack Crusher, Nyota Uhura, Robert Picard, Yvette Picard, William Riker, Worf (Star Trek:TNG/DS9), Deanna Troi, Tasha Yar, Geordi La Forge, Guinan (Star Trek), Maurice Picard Relationships: Beverly Crusher/Jack Crusher/Jean-Luc Picard, Data/Jean-Luc Picard, William Riker/Deanna Troi, Data/Tasha Yar Additional Tags: Prologue Beverly Crusher/Jack Crusher/Jean-Luc Picard, Lambda-Seven-Nine-Thirteen-verse, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Hanahaki Disease, Parallel Universe from Canon, Prose So Purple It's Blue, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Scifi Nonsense, Everything is Wrong with Picard, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Baggage, Love Usually Isn't Easy and it Sure as Fuck Ain't Here, Changes to Picard's Age, Changes to Beverly and Jack Crusher's Ages, Emotional Data (Star Trek), Discussions about the Nature of the Soul, Discussions about the Nature of Soul Marks/Mates, Dubious Ethics, Throwing Some Canon Shit Out, Keeping Some Canon Shit, No Beta we die like Data, Major Character Death (Eventually), Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Mark-Related Phantom Pains, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Sad Ending, no happy endings here, References to Real People, References to Suicide, (We're gonna talk about Linkin Park You've Been Warned), Picard Loves 21st Century Musical Artifacts, Picard's Interests are Being Changed, My First Work in This Fandom, Canon-Typical Morality Discussions, I wrote this for me but you can read it too, The Prologue is going to be Written a Little Differently Paced than Later Chapters, POV Third Person Limited, This Wine is very Bitter and only Mildly Sweet, Picard Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, I write tragedies AND sins, aro/ace data, demiromantic/ace Picard, Data/Jean-Luc Picard is Endgame and is Planned to be Queerplatonic, Canonical Child Abuse, Canonical Character Death via AO3 works tagged 'William Riker/Deanna Troi' https://ift.tt/KEhCYIl July 09, 2022 at 09:26AM

#IFTTT #imzadi #will riker #deanna troi #star trek #ao3feed #fanfic #riker x troi #AO3 works tagged 'William Riker/Deanna Troi'

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clarkimagines · 4 years

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Jean-Luc Picard, Tasha Yar, Data Soong, Beverly Crusher, and Wesley Crusher When you Have a Panic Attack

Requested by anonymous, I hope you’re okay. I’m here if you need to talk or anything!

Jean-Luc Picard:

He would be a bit surprised by your behavior, but immediately give you a break from your duties. He’d sit you down and try to get you to talk about how you were feeling. Once you told him what you needed, he’d help you through it with a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

Tasha Yar:

Tasha was no stranger to panic attacks—she knew that little things could build up or bring back bad memories, and she told you so. She held you through the panic attack and rubbed your back soothingly, and encouraged you that you were safe and that you could make it through the panic attack.

Data Soong:

He’d be a bit confused by your actions at first, but as soon as he realized what was happening he’d download a manual on how to help. He’d lead you in a grounding exercise, asking you what you see, hear, smell, and feel to get you more focused on your surroundings. Afterward, he’d check in with Dr. Crusher to make sure he did the right thing and would be prepared in the future.

Beverly Crusher:

She recognized the signs of a panic attack immediately during one of your checkups. Immediately, she made sure she was acting calmly and told you she knew what was happening. She made sure you knew how to take care of yourself, asked you if you’d like some music on or if you wanted to talk about it. She mainly stayed quiet and let you work through your feelings.

Wesley Crusher:

He’d be very worried for you and ask you lots of questions to make sure you had everything you needed. He’d give you a hug and sit with you, and he’d reassure you he didn’t think you were weak or silly for having a panic attack. After it was over, he’d talk to you about what caused it and help you figure out ways to prevent them and make sure he knew your triggers.

#star trek tng #jean-luc picard #tasha yar #data soong #beverly crusher #wesley crusher #jean-luc picard imagine #tasha yar imagine #data soong imagine #beverly crusher imagine #wesley crusher imagine #jean-luc picard x reader #data soong x reader #tasha yar x reader #beverly crusher x reader #wesley crusher x reader #star trek tng x reader #star trek tng imagine #preference imagine

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ds9-mug · 3 years

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Pouring one out for the boys Tasha Yar

#sorry for this one :(#imagine that the mug is actually eating armus and picard is just watching approvingly #green mug #star trek #star trek tng #picard #armus #skin of evil #tasha yar #not really a timeline compliant mug sorry

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vortahoney · 4 years

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I just want every Star Trek woman to give me a kiss. Is that too much to ask

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halfblood-fiend · 4 years

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Wait, w h a t ? ?

THAT'S HOW YAR DIES??

#Fiend watches Star Trek #I imagined there would be more More??#what was even that ep??#whaaaat?#Star Trek #TNG #ep: Skin of Evil #Tasha Yar

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randomnessunicorn-imagine · 5 years

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Tasha Yar x Gender neutral reader! 📺

{ Oh, cool!

If someone wants to send some Christmas memes, here I am!

This one was so sweet to write ~ }

PROMPT: 📺 Our muses watch Christmas films together!

🎄 TASHA YAR 🎄

We cannot say Tasha has a big Christmas Spirit sinceshe has never celebrated it before. Then she does not believe in god and inthese things. Where was god when she needed him? When she ran away full of fearand terror through the obscure and scary streets of her planet? Why didn’t god helpher or comfort her? She does not believe in such evil god.

Since she is on the Enterprise, her spirit has changeda lot and, thanks to the Captain and all the wonderful people she met here, shehas gained some of that lost faith. Well, she still does not believe in god butshe now believes in people (a little more) and she is no more scared or wary asshe was before. She considers this ship as the family she never had and so evenher heart got soften. More or less.

You explain to her that Christmas is not only areligious celebration. You work here as a scientist and so, you don’t believein God and these irrational things but you still like celebrating it because it’sa chance to spend some beautiful time and relax with the people you love. Foryou, it’s more a social event than something spiritual.

Other than that, you care a lot about Tasha and youtruly want to spend this moment with her, you want to see Tasha serene and happy,at least at Christmas. She is always so austere and tough and you think she deservesa little peace of mind since she works so hard, she is so efficient andprofessional in her job but she never takes a break.

At first, when you propose to her your idea, which you wanther to take a break and spend Christmas with you and the other officers, she answersit’s a stupid thing and Christmas is even more stupid. People should be goodall the year and not only once year, Tasha says it’s hypocrite and uselessanyway. It’s not for her and she has more important things to do than wastingher time with such senseless and childish festivity.

Actually, you don’t believe a word she says and Tasha is just acting harshly as usual.

Somehow, her behaviours amuse you because she just doesnot want to admit she truly wants to spend some amazing time with her friendsand she keeps being stubborn but you know her heart. You know Tasha is a lovableand sweet person and, under her granite heart, there is a girl who wants to beloved and understood. She has spent so much time alone in the dark that she isnot get used to this new light, she is not alone anymore and she has to acceptthat there are so many people who love her. One of those people is you and,actually, she is glad you are so patient and gentle with her. Maybe she shouldtry to give a chance to this Christmas, just for you.

You propose to her to watch some Christmas movie andmaybe it can help to resurrect her dead Christmas spirit. Movies are great, itsounds like something vintage to her but it can be funny. A movie has neverkilled anybody.

Since you are a playful and ironic person, you choosea very particular movie, The Grinch. Of course, you don’t want to say she is aGrinch but maybe she should open her heart a little more.

Somehow, she finds the movie really amusing andinteresting and for the first time, you see her laughing like a little girl.

You can see that her heart melted and then sheunderstood the true meaning of Christmas. She understands it’s not only apretext to be good or receive gifts but it’s a state of mind, a precious momentshe can spend with the ones she loves, she can relax and think about herself withoutany worries. The past is gone and maybe she should not think about it all thetime. The present is now, she will lose so many wonderful things if she keepsthinking about the past and maybe she will lose the chance of being happy.

Tasha is flattered, she thanks you, she truly neededto be persuaded, and she feels lucky having someone like you by her side.

Even if she acts cold and distant sometimes, you don’tgive up and you stay. You are her sweet and gentle Cindy Lou. You made herunderstand the true meaning of Christmas and love.

#ask #anonymous #star trek #star trek tng imagines #star trek tng headcanons #star trek tng #star trek tng scenarios #star trek tng x reader #star trek the next generation #star trek the next generation headcanons #star trek the next generation scenarios #star trek the next generation imagines #tasha yar #star trek tasha yar #tasha yar x reader #x reader #christmas

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