Cheap Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 27: The Child (Video) (Larry Shaw, David Carson, Gabrielle Beaumont, Timothy Bond, Kim Manners, LeVar Burton, Richard Compton, Jonathan West, Marvin V. Rush, Michael Vejar) Price

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Customer Reviews of Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 27: The Child

Riker has gained a few pounds and a new beard, and Wesley's mother has been promoted to Chief of Starfleet Medical (the actress, Gates McFadden, was on maternity leave in real life) and veteran of the original Star Trek series, Diana Muldaur, is her replacement, Dr. Pulaski. Pulaski is a fiesty, older, in-your-face, no-nonsense doctor - not just a replica of Dr. Crusher. Wesley (the "child" officer on the ship) is pensive about leaving Enterprise and going to the Academy and struggles with his wants and desires, versus his need to fit in, follow orders and do what is expected of him. Whoopi Goldberg makes her debut as Guinan, the host of Ten Forward, and as is revealed in later episodes, a member of a race dispersed around the galaxy due to the Borg - and Guinan herself is at least 400 years old.

A small pixie-like spark wanders through space and penetrates the hull of the ship, wandering from room to room - it enters Counsellor Deanna Troi's quarters while she is sleeping and in a not-so-subtle maneuver, gets under the covers and climbs up to her nether regions. Troi bolts up in bed, startled. The next thing we find out is that she is pregnant, in her first tri-mester - the problem is that that the child was conceived only 11 hours prior to the the first trimester. Pulaski briefs the senior staff and estimates that at its rapid rate of growth, the baby will make his appearance in 36 hours, considerably shorter than a normal 10-month Betazoid pregnancy.

As the senior staff have an abortion vs. pro-life debate, Troi looks at the fetus on the viewer - the fetus inside her. The male child is genetically like her - half Betazoid, half human. She sees the heart beating through his transparent skin and sees his tiny limbs move and announces that she intends to keep the baby.

In a few days the baby arrives, looking very much like he is her child. She names him after her father, Ian Andrew. Picard hears the news and only a few hours after the birth, he goes with the doctor to Troi's quarters to pay respects to her and the baby. Much to his shock, the "baby" is now in appearance as a 4 year old child. He is bright and can talk. The expressions on Pulaski's and Picard's faces are priceless...a very well acted scene that can give you goose bumps.

In just another day he appears to be a child of 8 and his cognitive abilities are in step with this age. Suddenly, alarms start going off in Cargo Bay 3 - one of the specimens is growing and at the rate of growth, will push out of its containment area in less than a day, putting the Enterprise and even nearby planets in grave peril. Due to the nature of the "plasma plague" that is growing, jettisoning the cargo will do no good, since it can develop into a spore in open space and attach itself to a ship's hull or end up on a nearby planet as the solar winds drive it along its merry way. The most innoccous of the specimens would kill all life on the Enterprise in a matter of hours.

An unusual type of Eichman radiation is stimulating the growth of this specimen, and the source of radiation appears to be coming from young Ian Troi. The end result will put a lump in anyone's throat. This is a bittersweet episode with some light-hearted moments. There is an episode that later reflects on Troi's pregnancy and son Ian, so it's a pivotal episode. Trivia buffs will notice that the Computer's voice is still some unidentified male, not Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.

A Good Beginning For Season 2
Episode 27: The Child. One of the best episodes of season 2, this episode revolved around the pregnancy of counsellor Deanna Troi. After having been impregnated by a mysterious alien lifeform, Deanna soon discovers her child's amazing talent: aging several years in a matter of hours. Several changes were made to the cast and settings of Star Trek: The Next Generation for the beginning of season 2, most importantly the replacement of Doctor Crusher who was portrayed by Gates McFadden with Diana Maulder's Doctor Pulaski. Geordi LaForge was finally given an important role:chief engineer. Commander Riker sported a beard and moustache.Whoopi Goldberg was added to the cast as Guinan, the mysterious bartender in ten-forward.Lieutenant Worf got a gold uniform to support his position as security chief. All in all ,episode 27 "The Child" was a solid season primere

Bibilical Meaning of this Epsiode
It seems to me that this Episode has some Bibilical meaning in similarity within it. Think about it, Counsellor Troi acts like a Virgin Mary, and her son, Ian, is the Child Jesus, who sacrifices himself to save the rest of the crew of the Enterprise. Make sense, No? I'd say this is one of the best episode I've ever seen. It's very touchy.