The Bonding

Episode aired Oct 21, 1989
TV-PG
45m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

3.6K

YOUR RATING

Susan Powell in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)

Action Adventure Drama Sci-Fi

A startling surprise awaits the crew of the Enterprise when a mission costs the life of a crew member, who left her son behind.A startling surprise awaits the crew of the Enterprise when a mission costs the life of a crew member, who left her son behind.A startling surprise awaits the crew of the Enterprise when a mission costs the life of a crew member, who left her son behind.

Director
- Winrich Kolbe
Writers
- Gene Roddenberry
- Ronald D. Moore
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

3.6K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Winrich Kolbe
Writers
- Gene Roddenberry
- Ronald D. Moore
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Ronald D. Moore's original idea was for Jeremy Aster to recreate his mother on the Holodeck. However, Gene Roddenberry nixed the idea, believing in the 24th century children would have a greater acceptance of death.

Goofs
In the teaser, Troi begins to sense the danger to the away team almost half a minute before it happens--we see two reaction shots of her *before* the explosions start to happen. However, as she is neither a precognitive (which would allow her to see the away team's future) nor a clairvoyant (which would allow her to see the trap awaiting the crew), there should be nothing for her to sense before the away team is attacked.

Quotes
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I'm told that your father is also dead.
Jeremy Aster: Yes, sir. He died five years ago, from a Rushton infection. I'm all alone now, sir.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Jeremy, on the Starship Enterprise, no one is alone. No one.

Connections
Referenced in Inglorious Treksperts: The Best of All Worlds: Trek's Greatest Seasons w/ Michael Sussman (2022)

Soundtracks
Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews27

Review

Featured review

10/10

Great Episode

So far from my chronological viewing of the series, this is the most moving episode yet for me. For anyone who has lost a parent, they can relate.

But this episode deals with death on different levels. It deals with the concept of the temptation of living in the past and ignoring the reality of loss, and mentions the strength of humanity in overcoming the acceptance of our mortality.

There is a great conversation between Data and Riker, where Data questions why we do not equally mourn the loss of those we are close to and those we are not. Riker makes a compelling comment while explaining this to an android, and it ends with Riker saying that if we mourned all loss of life equally, humans would have a much less bloodier past.

This episode brought laughs and tears. The ending with Worf and the boy was great, it made Worf out to have a decent and likable character inside of him.