The first thing that struck me with this episode's opening was how the away team had none of the usual suspects. It sounded like Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), Ensign Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes), Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), and Keiko O'Brien (Rosalind Chao) were returning from a holiday of sorts and not an actual mission, so I guess that's why the unusual cohort. With the shuttlecraft they were in experiencing danger, all were beamed back aboard the Enterprise, but a malfunction in the transporter created a molecular reversion field, and brought them all back as pre-teens! Fortunately, their adult memories remained intact, which would serve them in good stead when a band of rogue Ferengi attacked the Enterprise after hijacking a couple of Klingon warbirds. That didn't say a lot for either the Klingons who lost their ships, or the Enterprise for getting gobsmacked by some pesky Ferengi, but you have to go with that premise for the rest of the story. Which was pretty lively, with the youngster foursome using their technical smarts to retake the ship's computer system and beam the individual Ferengi back where they came from one by one. The best moments in the story occurred when the young Picard (David Birkin) sought out his 'dad', Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), and Riker using all that scientific gobbledy-gook to frustrate Ferengi Morta (Michael Snyder). In another episode, all that nonsense might have actually meant something. Eventually, with the transposition matric locked into the transporter system, Chief O'Brien was able to return all the adolescent crew back to normal, which in his case would have been a relief, as daughter Molly objected to her younger mother (Caroline Junko King) reading her a bedtime story!
Say, I wonder if the Ferengi sent away wound up as teenagers?
Say, I wonder if the Ferengi sent away wound up as teenagers?