Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) Bloodlines (1994) User Reviews

DaiMon Bok is once again a big jerk!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 6 December 2014]

In the first season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", DaiMon Bok tried to drive Picard crazy and kill him. Well, the fun-loving DaiMon Bok is back--and this time he pledges to kill Picard's son...though as far as Picard knows he doesn't have one! So, the Captain thinks back and realizes that one woman might have given him a son many, many years ago. What follows is a strange little episode, as Picard tries to make up for lost time with a rather irresponsible and strange young man. And, of course, he tries to stop Bok before he can do very bad things.

All in all, this is a decent but forgettable episode. It's mildly interesting to see the Captain think about what his life could have been like and the ending didn't seem all that surprising. Worth seeing but nothing more.

Picard and Son

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 17 October 2014]

This is another effort to come up with something worthy to finish off the final season. In this one, Picard, who was forced to blow up a Ferengi vessel in an earlier episode, is confronted by the Ferengi whose son was on board that ship. He has sworn revenge and tells Picard that he has a son, unknown to him, and the D'Aimon is going to execute him. Picard finds the "son" and brings him aboard the Enterprise to protect him. Apparently, the Captain had had some dalliance in the past and this young rebellious guy was the result. Unfortunately, the Ferengi leader seems to have access to the ship and is set upon making PIcard pay. The episode involves Picard getting to know this young man and do what is right. Once again, there is a kind of pall over the episode and it just doesn't work that well.

REVIEW 2022

[iamirwar · 5/10 · 18 October 2022]

An unmanned probe is closing in on our position. There are no identifiable armaments but it does contain a holographical image of a Ferengi who has a message for the ears of our captain.

Who is Jason Vigo? Who is Miranda Vigo? Does our Captain have a son?

We're off to the Camor System at warp five. I have to say that at this stage in the TNG story I found it hard to take threats from the Ferengi seriously, especially with the familiarity that had formed with the Ferengi characters that were by now appearing on the DS9.

It's a boy... and so we are going to suffer another 35 minutes of son trying to bond with father and neither of them getting very far. There are bound to be recriminations at the fact that Jean-Luc impregnated Miranda and then did a runner. Clearly, the difference of opinion with Bok is bound to take a back-seat to the father/son story development and I feel we are all going to be the poorer for that fact.

This episode supposedly has links to the season one episode, The Battle, although there has clearly been a realignment as to the significance of certain characters. I truly phased out of this one a good twenty minutes before the end although Bok's character was interesting. Otherwise it's cringesville.

This Episodes Clue: Daimon Birta

(Answer's to all episode clues will appear in the reviews of season seven, episode 25: All Good Things, Part One.)

Sequel episode.

[russem31 · 4 May 2006]

ST:TNG:174 - "Bloodlines" (Stardate: 47829.1) - this is the 22nd episode of the 7th and last season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

As happens with any series that's been on as long as TNG, they start having sequel episodes and this episode is no exception. DaiMon Bok (from the 1st season episode "The Battle", this time played by Lee Arenberg instead of Frank Corsentino), seeks to avenge his son because he thinks Picard killed him while he was captain of the Stargazer. In "The Battle", he gave Picard the Stargazer back as a "gift" but at the same time used a mind probe to make him relive the incident and ruin his life. With that plan averted, DaiMon Bok lost his rank.

Now, he's back and a DaiMon again - to avenge his son, he will now kill Picard's son (which comes as a surprise to Picard since he never knew he had a son!) - his name is Jason Vigo. Picard feels he has a responsibility to protect him against Bok and goes to his rescue on Camor IV before it's too late.

But, is Jason really Picard's son?

You'll never look at your hairline the same way

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 13 March 2022]

Daimon Bok (from the first season episode 'The Battle') hails Captain Picard.

This is a fairly silly episode, but it is rescued by Patrick Stewart's performance.

'The Battle' for me was a reasonably good episode, but Bok was a forgettable villain that I had no interest in seeing again. The character is reintroduced with a Kahn-like obsession for revenge on Picard. Lots of threats are made, but it's obvious that everything is going to work out fine.

The scenes involving the character Jason are good for one reason: Patrick Stewart. He makes the random concept of a late season 7 appearance of Picard's son to be watchable, due to his realistic performance and eloquent delivery of dialogue.

The sci-fi elements of the story are not great by Star Trek standards, but I can't go into detail with spoiling important parts of the plot.

Is Picard a father?

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 26 September 2015]

Picard is in for quite a surprise when the Enterprise discovers a Ferengi probe which delivers a message from DaiMon Bok; he blames Picard for the death of his son fifteen years previously and he promises to kill Picard's son in revenge… a son Picard wasn't aware that he had! After some research Picard learns that a woman he had a brief relationship with over twenty years ago had a child not too long after he last saw her. The Enterprise manages to find the boy, who is now twenty three, and a DNA analysis quickly establishes that he is indeed Picard's son. The boy, Jason Vigo, doesn't seem interested in getting to know his father but the captain tries to get closer to him, even after learning of Jason's criminal past. Even though Jason is on the Enterprise Bok manages to kidnap him; if Picard is to save him he will have to teleport to Bok's ship alone.

This is a decent enough episode, certainly better than the previous couple of episodes. The opening immediately grabs the viewers' attention as there had been no previous mention of Picard's son… not surprising given that he was unaware of him. Bok is a decent antagonist although the idea that he could beam on and off the Enterprise seems a bit unlikely; one would think the Enterprise would have better security. Ken Olandt does a decent enough job as Jason and Lee Arenberg is fun as Bok but it is Patrick Stewart who impresses the most as Picard comes to terms with the news that he has a son and that he is about to be killed. The twist in the ending was reasonable but not really necessary. Overall not a bad episode but ultimately fairly forgettable.

It's a boy!

[thevacinstaller · 6/10 · 26 May 2021]

It's an interesting episode but I cannot say that I was truly captivated by it. This episode is mostly a character study on Picard dealing with being a 'father' and I enjoyed how he truly did attempt to be a good father and reach out to his son.

If you are really reaching for deeper meaning in the episode then you can grasp onto Daimon Bok being an example of the insanity that can happen when losing a child. I can't say I blame the guy ---- That's a level of grief and loss that is unimaginable. He needs some serious time with counselor Troi to somehow deal with this loss in a proactive manner.

What I found interesting about this episode is that Patrick Stewart had a bad father in real life. I wonder how that experience tied into his performance and perception of what a good father might be?

Good performance by Patrick Stewart in this one but there was not enough in this episode to keep my fully engaged.

Picard finds a son

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 24 September 2017]

The Enterprise receives an unusual holograph on its bridge and addressed to Patrick Stewart. It's a Ferengi Daemon played by Larry Arenberg who says he's going to kill a son that Picard never knew he had. That's in revenge for Picard killing a son of his in battle years ago.

Said son turns out to be Ken Olandt, son of a woman that Picard had been involved with in his younger days. Olandt is 24 now and a bit of a scapegrace. Nevertheless he's happy that he has a father now as is Patrick Stewart.

However there's still the vengeful Ferengi to be dealt with and he's developed some kind of long range transportation system that has bedeviled the Enterprise crew. In the end all the truths are revealed about Picard, about Arenberg, and about Olandt. Dr. Crusher has a big part in finding those truths.

Ken Olandt is engaging and likable in this story, the kind of son you would Jean-Luc Picard would have. Olandt and Stewart have some good scenes together.

Also for once we have a Ferengi motivated by something more than riches.

Sir Patrick knows his craft

[boylej84 · 8/10 · 21 April 2020]

It doesn't matter how silly the script is or how elegant the words are on paper, Patrick Stewart is an amazing actor. I enjoyed his performance in this very much.

not one of the better ep's

[MiketheWhistle · 6/10 · 11 July 2020]

There are more ep's in season 7 that had really out there plots such they I greatly disliked them. This one isn't one of those, but it's not one that I really like either.

Olandt did an ok job, but I was truly creeped out by his making the moves on Troi. In real life their ages are pretty close, but their characters ages are far greater and it just seemed creepy to me.

Again in real life, the Stewart and Olandt age difference makes it possible for a father-son relationship, but for their characters I think by putting together dates and ages over the series makes it a tad unlikely and obviously birth control was used in the future.

It brings back a past adversary and that storyline of itself is ok. So watch it, but you may not like it.

A Senior Trekker writes....................

[celineduchain · 5/10 · 16 March 2022]

The final season of Star Trek, the Next Generation gave us some splendid episodes and also a fair share of stinkers. Everyone knew by this stage that they would not be renewed and attempts were made to wrap up various story lines before they said their final goodbyes. There is still a great deal to be enjoyed.

Another unexpected relation turns up in Season 7 courtesy of Picard's old adversary, an embittered Ferengi by the name of Bok. This time it is the Captain's previously unknown, long-lost son. The young man, Jason, is played by Ken Olandt who was already well known for his part in the Sci Fi series Super Force and in reality considerably older than the character he portrays here. I like that the young man has such a chequered past and shows unfeigned disinterest in forming any sort of bond with Picard. Somehow, it makes him more plausible.

Of course, it all turns out to be a scam and we find out that Boc has secretly altered Jason's DNA to be a match for Picard with the intention of doing away with this "son" in revenge for the Captain's killing of his own son during a battle twenty years before. Unusually for Star Trek, Boc was a returning character played by a different actor this time around. However, both actors, Frank Corsentino and Lee Arenberg, had a number of Star Trek appearances to their credit, due in no small part to their ability to sustain all that heavy prosthetic.

We find out very little about Picard's brief relationship with Jason Vigo's mother, Miranda. In fact the whole back story seems to have been contrived to let him off the hook for not keeping in touch with her. Nor do we get any idea about who was the real father or why he was kept from the child. It is all a bit unsatisfying and something of a waste of time.

Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.

Enjoyable but disappointing ending. Could have been much better.

[wwcanoer-tech · 6/10 · 22 February 2022]

The idea of a unknown son in danger is good and provides good scenes for Picard but it needs more refinement to increase the tension and make it plausible.

If DaiMon Bok wants to kill Picard's son, why warn Picard? Perhaps because Bok hasn't been able to locate the son. Searching for and then running to grab that son does the job that Bok perhaps wasn't able to do. This obvious risk is not even mentioned before the Enterprise dashes off to rescue him. It should be mentioned as a risk.

There is a moderately interesting puzzle as to how Bok is contacting them. It is incredibly foolish for Bok to use a secret transport method to talk to Picard when normal communication would do. Repeating any covert action increases the chance of discovery, so us it sparingly. Bok's objective is to cause Picard fear and pain, so far more effective would be to transport threats. Have a jug of juice and ornate glasses appear in both the captain's and son's room. Spike them with a sedative. Picard sees the jug as out of place and immediately calls to his son, who does not answer, they rush to his room and find him unconscious. Bok then calls them a needles Picard about how it felt when he thought his son might die and then boasts about being able to reach out and kill him at any time.

Alternatively, since Picard is a history buff, Bok could transport historical objects used for killing or punishment. Since Picard is French, leave the blade of a guillotine on his desk and show how vulnerable the son is by appearing in the son's room and locking him into a guillotine that is missing the blade. Surely that would drive up the tension far more effectively.

Ideally, it would be a series of threats that gradually increase. The enterprise detects the transport method but cannot detect the source because it is only used to beam objects to the enterprise. Later, when Bok beams the son off the Enterprise, then they can follow it to locate the destination and send Picard there.

The standoff on Bok's ship was disappointing. In any real world, since it takes time for a transported person to appear, they would stun any intruder on sight. Bok would tie up the unconscious Picard and wait for him to awake, gleeful that Picard is there to watch his son's death. Then Picard, from a position of weakness, can expertly talk his way out of a no-win situation, convincing Bok's accomplices to subdue Bok. (ex. He's not a DaiMon, the Ferengi authorities have been notified and are on their way to bring Bok back to prison, the Enterprise now knows how to track this ship and will arrive within 10 minutes, there is no escape, etc.)

Why have the revelation that he is not Picard's biological son? That's not needed to deflate Bok. If the writers want to run with that, then there should be foreshadowing. During Beverly's medical exam, she could discover an implant, broken bone, a scar, or something that the son didn't know that he had, and he could recant a story of some weekend when he blacked out and lost track of time (the time needed to change his DNA). After Picard's hair joke, he could say that his hair has already started to recede and that it started after that blackout incident (perhaps not explicitly but both being stated as "one year ago." Bread crumbs for attentive viewers to follow.

If a true son, then Bok could be headed to a Federation prison where he cannot bribe the guards. Or otherwise explain how Bok will not be able to repeat the attempt.

Other annoyances: How can the transporter get an adequate lock on a person that the sensors cannot fully identify? Doesn't make sense, so skip it. Also, skip the "He's in danger just when we arrived." What a miraculous coincidence. Laughable. Just find him and transport him.

Why is there a Federation planet that lacks food?

A made-up son

[tomsly-40015 · 4/10 · 26 September 2023]

So, we see Bok again. A Ferengi that Picard met before. Picard killed his son several years ago when he destroyed a Ferengi ship that started firing on his former ship. Bok still wants revenge and comes up with Picard's unknown son that is a product of a short romance Picard had with a woman 25 years ago. And Bok threatens Picard to kill this new found son to revenge the death of his son.

Later we learn, that the DNA of this person has been changed by Bok to trick Picard in thinking, this is actually his son. So, I wondered: Bok must have digged in Picard's romantic past to find out with whom he had sexual encounters which could resulted in offspring. Then he had to found a woman that has a son or daughter from an unknown father that would fit to the time the romantic relationship took place. I wonder how he accomplished that when not even Picard's closest friends knew about this woman in question. On top of that that woman even died several years ago. Bok surely needs some crazy tech to gather that kind of information to later trick Picard in making him believe he is indeed the father of this son.

"So, you see, there really isn't any point in our getting acquainted."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 2 May 2024]

This episode explores the possibility that Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) might have fathered a son while on shore leave on Earth roughly twenty-four years earlier. That son (Ken Olandt) is now being used as a pawn between the Captain and a Ferengi posing as a DaiMon, intent on seeking revenge for the death of Bok's (Lee Arenberg) son when Picard ordered the destruction of a Ferengi vessel after it provoked an attack against the Captain's prior command, The Stargazer. Bok's son was killed during that encounter, an event that had festered with Bok for fifteen years. Though Captain Picard makes a gallant effort to get to know his 'son' better, Jason Vigo (Olandt) wasn't exactly enthralled with the idea and maintained a discreet distance. However, after Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) established Picard's paternity, a further examination of Jason following a seizure revealed that he had a rare neurological condition contributing to a degenerative disease known as Forrester-Trent Syndrome. This had a bearing on the story's resolution when Bok transports Jason to his Ferengi vessel, with Picard following closely behind to challenge Bok's assertion that he's going to kill the son Picard never knew. In true Ferengi fashion, Bok was using Jason as a ploy to extort a huge ransom for the young man, having resequenced Vigo's DNA to make it look like he was Picard's son. The inherited degenerative disease was a dead giveaway that Jason wasn't Picard's son. Just as in the first season episode 'The Battle', Bok, now exposed for posing as a DaiMon, was arrested once again, to be returned to his home planet for punishment. Considering how cunning and scientifically intelligent Bok was in both episodes, you would think he could have put his skills to better use. Interestingly, two different actors portrayed the disgraced Bok in the separate stories, Frank Corsentino in 'The Battle', and Lee Arenberg in this one.