#star trek the offspring

[wwillywonka]

DAUGHTER - an original musical composition inspired by the star trek tng episode, the offspring

check it out on youtube

[clowngames]

When I was curious about Star Trek, someone told me to watch TNG's season 3 episode 16, The Offspring. Rewatching it now, it's very obvious why this is the perfect episode to watch to figure out if you like the show.

TNG isn't a serialized show so you can pick it up from anywhere. There are very few shifts in the status quo excepting where it's relevant in the highest budget episodes, so you could probably pick a random episode and hit play and be fine. That's how it would be if you caught it while channel scrolling when it originally aired, and that was the context in which it was written.

I don't recommend starting with episode 1, or really any episode from season 1. Not to say they're bad, but they're not the strongest sell. Someone can give it the 3 episode rule and decide it doesn't grab them because TNG hasn't actually figured out what it was going to be in those first 3 episodes, or the first 2 seasons. If you want someone to become a fan of Star Trek, I suggest recommending an episode rather than telling them to start from the beginning. They can go back and watch the early episodes if they like the show, like I did.

And here's why The Offspring is a great recommendation for a first episode:

It's Data-focused. Everyone always immediately loves him.

Specifically it focuses on the way Data and Lal express wants without experiencing emotions. While Data may not feel love for his daughter, his behaviors and attitudes toward her indicate something analogous enough to be equally meaningful. I think that lower stakes examination of Data's personhood is deeper and more intriguing than Measure of a Man.

It covers quite a bit of the emotional spectrum you get from Star Trek. It's cute, awkward, tense, and tragic.

There are very few important characters to keep track of (Data, Lal, Troi, Picard, Guinan, and the Admiral. Westly is also there)

Lal chooses her gender. Imagine if you could do that in real life? If you don't like the way Star Trek presents ideas that are analogous to current sociopolitical topics by making them aliens or robots so they can pretend it's not even about that, then you'll find out early on in the episode. If you do like that (I do), good news.

No space battles, no combat, no phaser fires. Just people asking the audience "wouldn't it be fucked up" and making the audience think about it. The battles will come, of course, but this is the type of episode that Trek fans complain there isn't enough of in modern Trek, and it's the type of episode I most missed when I finished the show.

[hollis-art]

my baby, my baby

[aless-was-here]

Beloved

[dat4l0re]

Star Trek TNG: The Offspring

[yarboyandy]

You'll always be apart of me

[baxial]

[geekysteven]

[yoshimickster]

Part 1 of Offspring

Picard: Commander Data I am just not about you having a child.

Part 2 of Offspring

Picard: You take away my android step-son's daughter and I will take away your LIFE!

[your-name-is-jim]

Sooo I just watched TNG season 3 episode "The Offspring" and I had to make this Space Husbands edit :D

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

#784

I feel guilty for saying this since she's so nice and easy to like, but Data's daughter Lal's original metallic form kinda scares me which is why I like her human form much more.

Note from Cleo: Lal's metallic form here

[m0rbs]

This audio going around the stupid clock app is slaughtering me

[liv-delius]

[alienantichrist]

Me watching “The Offspring”: I love Lal so much I cannot

Well its safe to say I also cried my eyes out because of that episode definitely didn’t recover from that

[dat4l0re]

[blorbo-brainrot]

Riker went from "Ah, cute new girl~" to "AAAH! Cute new girl?!?" in 1.5 seconds

"Commander. What are your intentions with my daughter?"