The Bonding (episode)

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"The Bonding"
TNG, Episode 3x05 Production number: 40273-153 First aired: 23 October 1989
←	52nd of 176 produced in TNG	→
←	52nd of 176 released in TNG	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 176 released in TNG Remastered
←	159th of 727 released in all	→

Written By Ronald D. Moore Directed By Winrich Kolbe
43198.7 (2366)
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Worf decides to take on the child of a slain subordinate, but the child is having trouble accepting his mother's death, especially when she mysteriously reappears.

[edit] Summary

[edit] Teaser

The ship encounters a planet that appears to be uninhabited. Captain Picard sends an away team to investigate, led by Worf. Picard learns that the planet was once inhabited by a race called the Koinonians, but due to a war, every last person on the planet was annihilated; the civilization seems to have killed itself off.

Captain Picard breaks the news to Jeremy

An accident happens to the away team; one of the members of the away team, Lieutenant Marla Aster, stumbles into an old mine and is pronounced dead on arrival to the ship.

[edit] Act One

Picard and Worf feel understandably very disturbed by this senseless death. The captain learns that the deceased crew member is survived only by a 12-year old son, Jeremy Aster. The son is now an orphan, as his father died when the boy was a child. The captain breaks the news to the boy, who takes it bravely, but muses that he is completely alone now. Picard reminds him that on the USS Enterprise-D, no one is ever alone.

[edit] Act Two

Worf still feels very unsettled with the situation, understandably as he was also orphaned by parents who died in the line of duty. He feels awful for the senseless death of the crew member, and has the idea of protecting the boy through a Klingon ritual that will bond the two together for life. Although Deanna Troi advises against showing too much affection to him so soon after his mother's death, Worf introduces himself to Jeremy.

An entity appears to Jeremy in the form of his mother

On the bridge, Data reports an odd energy buildup on the planet's surface. The energy expands upwards from the planet, touching the ship. Soon afterward, Jeremy is alone in his quarters when his mother appears to him, solid and seemingly real.

[edit] Act Three

Marla explains that the crew "made a mistake" and that she is not dead. At that moment, Worf enters to check up on Jeremy, and summons Picard and a security team to deal with the situation.

The entity posing as Marla Aster leads Jeremy to the transporter room, where Picard and Troi catch up with them. The entity explains that she wants to take Jeremy to the planet, where they will live a happy life. Picard and Troi attempt to reason with her, but she is adamant. They take Jeremy from the transporter room by force, and the entity vanishes.

[edit] Act Four

Troi comforts Jeremy as best she can, taking him back to his quarters – but the entity isn't gone for long, returning and transforming Jeremy's quarters into a facsimile of his house on Earth. She repeats her desire to return to the planet with Jeremy. To thwart her efforts, Riker remodulates the shields to block the energy from the planet; she again disappears.

With a surge of power from the planet, the energy being enters the ship again, transforming Jeremy's quarters once more.

[edit] Act Five

Picard talks to the entity, trying to establish its motives – it explains that their race of energy beings was living on the planet during the war that destroyed the Koinonian civilization there. They vowed never to let the conflict hurt another person, and feel responsible for the accident that killed Jeremy's mother. Therefore, they offer to raise him on the planet, and cannot comprehend why the Enterprise officers refuse to let them take him.

Picard summons Worf and Wesley Crusher to talk to Jeremy.

Picard summons Worf and Wesley Crusher to help explain his position – that Humans must learn to deal with loss in their own way, and that they become stronger people overall because of it. He argues with the entity: how would he live on the planet with no friends, no career, no family? Wesley explains that when his father died, he hated Picard for a time because he survived the mission that killed him. But the hatred faded away, and now he no longer thinks about it as much. Worf tells how his parents were killed at Khitomer, and he was raised by Humans – then makes his offer to perform the Klingon ritual with Jeremy, a ceremony that would make him a member of Worf's house. The energy being, seeing that he will be well looked after, leaves the ship.

Later, Worf and Jeremy go through the ritual, uniting their houses and making them brothers.

[edit] Log Entries

Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2366

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Jeremy, on the starship Enterprise, no one is alone. No one."

- Picard

"Let's just hope it doesn't blow us to kingdom come while it's figuring out how to blow us to kingdom come."

- La Forge

"Maybe if we felt the loss of anyone as keenly as well felt the death of one close to us Human history would be a lot less bloody."

- Riker

"I cannot seek revenge against an enemy who has turned to dust centuries ago. Her death was senseless. The last victim of a forgotten war."

- Worf

[edit] Background information

This episode introduced Ronald D. Moore to the Star Trek writing fold, something he would be part of for ten years across three incarnations of Trek.

Ronald D. Moore's own words on his introduction:

"I had been in LA for about three years, and I was doing an odd series of jobs – I was a messenger, I was an animal hospital receptionist… I did all kinds of things. Then I started dating this girl, and she had a connection to Star Trek: The Next Generation because she had helped work on the pilot, and she knew that I was a big fan of the original series. I had, like, books and posters and stuff in my apartment – I was a big fan of the old show. Next Gen was in its second season at that point, and she said, "You know, I could get you a tour of the sets." And I thought, "Oh, my god! I'd love to see the sets! It would be amazing!" It took, like, four weeks to set it up, and in the interim I just sorta decided to take a shot, and I sat down and wrote an episode. And I brought it with me. The guy who was giving the set tour, I conned him into reading it, and he turned out to be one of Gene Roddenberry's assistants. He really liked it, and he gave it to my first agent. She submitted it through the front door to the show, and it went into the slush pile. And it sat in the slush pile for about seven months. When the third season began, a new executive producer came on board – Michael Piller – and he went through the slush pile, and found it and bought it and produced it, and asked me to do a second one."

Regarding a sequel:

"I've never felt like I wanted to follow up on Jeremy after "The Bonding". I'm not against it, but I don't have any interesting stories to tell with that character." [1]

Originally, the story was written to deal with young Jeremy Aster's loss of his mother and how the alien being saw this need and tried to fulfill it. Gene Roddenberry told Michael Piller that children in the 24th century would deal with death in a more understanding way than shown in the original script. This gave Michael Piller the idea to put a spin on the story which became the completed episode after a re-write by Ronald D. Moore.
Scenes cut from the episode included an extensive scene at the school (Raymond D. Turner's appearance was cut completely) and another scene where Counselor Troi talks to Jeremy Aster in his quarters and tells him about her feelings when her father died.
The computer access room makes its second and last appearance after "Evolution".
A model of a Constitution-class vessel (refit configuration) is on display in the Aster's quarters aboard the Enterprise-D.
The fate of Jeremy Aster was never revealed, Marla Aster however was mentioned once more, in TNG: "Ethics". It can be assumed, however, that Jeremy was reunited with his aunt and uncle on Earth.
At around 16:30 when an energy source on the planet's surface is detected, the main viewing screen displays and zooms in on a picture of Valles Marinaris which is located on Mars.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 27, 21 October 1991.
UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 3.2, 3 April 2000.
As part of the TNG Season 3 DVD collection.

[edit] Links and references

[edit] Main Cast

[edit] Guest Stars

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

Michael Braveheart as Ensign Martinez
George Colucci as a security officer
Lorine Mendell as Diana Giddings
Lincoln Simonds as a security officer
Raymond D. Turner as the teacher (scene cut)
Unknown performers as
- Conn ensign
- Male engineer

[edit] References

anti-grav lift; antimatter; antimatter containment field; antimatter containment pod; Archaeology and anthropology officer; archaeology; candle; Ceremonial chamber; computer access room; Constitution-class; Crusher, Jack; d'k tahg; death; Earth; Federation; force field; Kingdom Come; Klingons; Klingon language; Koinonian; Koinonian homeworld; Koinonian Wars; magnetic flux; non-corporeal; Patches; Romulan Neutral Zone; Romulans; R'uustai; radiation; Rushton infection; school; Security alert; shield harmonics; Starfleet; subspace proximity detonator; trap; tricorder; Yar, Tasha

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