Star Trek TNG: Firstborn

[crankyconner]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/t273.php

Personally I'd like to know who the man was who sent Alexander back in time. Q?

[Wargriffin]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/t273.php

Personally I'd like to know who the man was who sent Alexander back in time. Q?

Probably Klingon Batman that gave Admiral Janeway her super Shuttle

[CrypticMirror]

Ah the episode where Worf manages not to be a horrible parent to Alexander. I think the rating seems fair.

[FaxModem1]

And Star Trek once again shows that you HAVE to follow your culture's teachings, no matter what, even by force of time travel if necessary.

Poor Alexander, Worf wants nothing to do with him, unless Alexander does what Worf thinks is right. Again, I think Worf is like a Football Dad, forcing his son to join the team, and try to become quarterback, no matter what. When Alexander doesn't measure up, he sends the boy away and practically disowns him, only to have to join the Klingon Defense Forces to get his father's time of day. I'm a little aghast that Chuck openly embraces this and just thinks of Alexander as a 'wiener' and that's the end to it.

Because at the end of the day, "Worf is right, and Alexander should have just embraced his bat'leth harder."

[bronnt]

What Chuck nails is that this relationship is constantly retreading the same ground. The idea of sending Alexander to a Klingon academy was broached almost as soon as he showed up on the Enterprise. Then it was rejected. And now that same idea is being brought up once again, so we can hit all the same story beats: It's okay if Alexander doesn't want to be a warrior even though Worf really wants him to be one. When Alexander shows up on Deep Space Nine, we're going to tell another variant of that exact same story.

Ultimately, what they needed was to actually take the next step with this story, where Alexander starts taking steps on a career path. Maybe he starts taking an interest in history, in the hopes that he'll be able to gain some diplomatic understanding. At some point, someone should have realized that every conversation between Worf and Alexander was basically the same, and then tried to come up with something new. The BEST Alexander story is probably that Wild West holodeck episode because at least we see them doing something different.

[pilight]

Yeah, he's got to make a choice before he turns 13. Never mind that Alexander is four years old in this episode...

[Mickey_Rat15]

This is the episode that makes Alexander's choice to join the Klingon military in DS9 inexiplicable. Except it does explain why he is such a screw-up, skipping over the training in his childhood.

"Rite of Ascension, Father? Is that the one with the painsticks?"

"Yes, it is glorious!"

"Right, Dad, I think I'll pass"

[FaxModem1]

What Chuck nails is that this relationship is constantly retreading the same ground. The idea of sending Alexander to a Klingon academy was broached almost as soon as he showed up on the Enterprise. Then it was rejected. And now that same idea is being brought up once again, so we can hit all the same story beats: It's okay if Alexander doesn't want to be a warrior even though Worf really wants him to be one. When Alexander shows up on Deep Space Nine, we're going to tell another variant of that exact same story.

Ultimately, what they needed was to actually take the next step with this story, where Alexander starts taking steps on a career path. Maybe he starts taking an interest in history, in the hopes that he'll be able to gain some diplomatic understanding. At some point, someone should have realized that every conversation between Worf and Alexander was basically the same, and then tried to come up with something new. The BEST Alexander story is probably that Wild West holodeck episode because at least we see them doing something different.

The writers treated Alexander mostly like a burden, one to be gotten rid of as the soonest opportunity. Seeing him interact with Jake and Nog would have been interesting. Potentially seeing Alexander grow up as more of a bridge would have been interesting, especially as Worf would never think to do anything non-Klingon. Which is a shame, as exploring the different path Klingons who DON'T want to be warriors take would be one they could have explored. The nearest we got with that was with Torres, and she still had a lot of Klingon cultural baggage that she went through over the course of Voyager.

[Rocketboy1313]

Alexander was always a weak link story wise.
It is hard to work with children, especially little kids.

So... Don't introduce a little kid as a character.
Make Alexander a teenager. Have him be wishy washy about lots of things, as teens are, and then have him fix on an interest and go with it.

I am basically saying he should have been Jake on DS-9.

Personally I'd like to know who the man was who sent Alexander back in time. Q?

Having this be a Q episode would have made it 10x's more interesting. Also would have fit with the character of Q as a teacher. Showing a possible path for Worf's son and manifesting that regret to change things in the past. Kind of a twist on "Tapestry".

Let me just say that Q was also under utilized for his potential as a genie that grants personal insights.

[FakeGeekGirl]

The writers treated Alexander mostly like a burden, one to be gotten rid of as the soonest opportunity. Seeing him interact with Jake and Nog would have been interesting. Potentially seeing Alexander grow up as more of a bridge would have been interesting, especially as Worf would never think to do anything non-Klingon. Which is a shame, as exploring the different path Klingons who DON'T want to be warriors take would be one they could have explored. The nearest we got with that was with Torres, and she still had a lot of Klingon cultural baggage that she went through over the course of Voyager.

Seeing Alexander on DS9 interact with Jake and Nog would have been neat. Three totally different kids from different backgrounds - a lot of potential for stories there. Would also have been cool to see him interact more with Dax, considering his mother died when he was so young.

They really could have done a lot with his character if they had flexed their imaginations a little more. I agree with what was said earlier that that old west one is the best Alexander episode because it may be cringey as hell but thank God it's something different.