TNG Flashback: The Bonding

From a certain point of view, "The Bonding" might be one of the most important episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. That's because it was the first episode written by Ronald D. Moore, and was in fact the very first sale of his writing career. Because of this episode, Moore would spend the next 10 years writing some of the best episodes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and then would go on to create the reincarnation of Battlestar Galactica.

Worf leads an Away Team to a planet whose inhabitants annihilated themselves long ago in a violent war. One of their still-active mines is triggered, instantly killing a member of the team, Marla Aster. She leaves behind her 12-year-old son Jeremy with no other parent, and the crew rallies around him to help him cope with the loss. But then an energy-based lifeform from the planet appears on the scene, creating a simulacrum of the boy's mother who attempts to take Jeremy from the Enterprise to live in an illusory world on the planet.

The story of how Ron Moore sold this episode is a true Hollywood tale that combines his obvious writing talent with knowing the right people. His girlfriend at the time had been a junior casting assistant on the pilot of The Next Generation, and knowing what a huge Star Trek fan he was, used her connections to arrange for him a tour of the set. He prepared for the occasion by writing the script for "The Bonding" and bringing it with him to force into someone's hands. It stayed in the slush pile for over half a year, but when new show runner Michael Piller took over, he was literally without any stories ready to go before the camera, and willing to look anywhere for relief. He found "The Bonding" in the slush pile, did a minor rewrite pass on it, and based on the good results, convinced Paramount to begin an open script submission policy for Star Trek. For the rest of The Next Generation's run, literally anyone anywhere in the world could submit a script for consideration (even without an agent), so long as they signed a release form.

What's great about this episode is that even though it seems centered on guest characters -- a hitherto unknown crew member and her son -- it's really about how the main characters react to events. Marla Aster's death causes "ripples in the pond," and nearly every character has at least one interesting scene showing how they're affected.

At the forefront, you see Worf trying to do right by this boy, as humans did for him when he was taken in as an orphan boy. You see Wesley forced to reexamine his feelings at losing a parent as a young child, and a very real conversation between him and Beverly about his father's death. You see Picard struggling with the fact that children are aboard the ship at all to be put in this situation. You see Counselor Troi get to counsel people in this episode -- and actually be good at it. There's even a tight little scene in which Data asks Riker about Aster's death, contrasting it with the death of Tasha Yar in a wonderful nod to continuity.

Supporting this very character driven material are some excellent camera placement decisions by director Winrich Kolbe. There are a lot of very tight close-ups on actors that allow you to see every muscle in their faces at work. A scene in which Troi offers advice to Worf is notable for an uncharacteristic obstruction in the frame, as we look on the characters through a grated wall. A tender moment in which Picard reaches for physical contact with the boy Jeremy focuses specifically on that gesture, not even showing the captain speak as he offers consolation. It's wonderful work.

So great is this character material that I find myself wishing there was no science fiction plot in this episode at all. The idea of a guilt-ridden alien posing as Jeremy's dead mother isn't a bad one, but it does seem to detract from the drama. Apparently, this element of the story was actually less prevalent in Ronald Moore's original script. He had Jeremy first escape to the holodeck to recreate his dead mother on his own, and then the aliens swept in, seeking to reproduce that simulation down on the planet. Gene Roddenberry objected to this, saying that humans in his future -- even children -- would not struggle so much to cope with a death, and so the alien subplot was punched up.

But it's the boy's stoicism at his mother's death that rings most hollow within the episode. Roddenberry's ideals may be noble and/or inspirational, but conflict is the life's blood of dramatic writing. The boy's woodenness is awkward in the finished product, and it's not helped by the performance of young actor Gabriel Damon. He's not really "bad," but he is limited. There are very few child actors of any given generation who would really be capable of pulling off a role this demanding. This episode merely got one who could say the lines without sounding too stiff.

Other observations:

• The disaster that claims Marla Aster's life in the teaser takes place off screen, and we see the reactions of the bridge crew instead. While this may have been primarily a budget saving move to avoid the need to show an alien planet, it does fit with the overall tone of the episode -- showing how our characters react to a death.

• Composer Dennis McCarthy does employ some interesting music with sinister undertones for the facsimile Aster, but his Klingon music in this episode falls far short of the great work done in other episodes by Ron Jones.

• Ronald Moore came to the set for one day of filming on this episode, and tells a wonderful story of meeting Patrick Stewart for the first time on the Blu-ray commentary track. By that point, Moore had already sold his next script for the show ("The Defector"), and found himself telling Stewart what he was working on next. Stewart's advice to/request of the young writer: "The captain doesn't do nearly enough shooting and screwing on the show."

"The Bonding" wonderful showcase for a number of the main characters. It's also a far more interesting look at the consequences of having children aboard the Enterprise than the first season's "When the Bough Breaks." Still, this episode could have been stronger still if the reaction of the young boy had been allowed to be more realistic, and if even more time had been given to the emotional drama. I give it a B+.