Star Trek: The Next Generation
"New Ground"
Air date: 1/6/1992
Teleplay by Grant Rosenberg
Story by Sara Charno & Stuart Charno
Directed by Robert Scheerer
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
Worf's human mother comes aboard the Enterprise and brings with her Worf's son Alexander, whom she intends to leave with Worf. The Rozhenkos are getting too old to properly care for a young boy who is misbehaving and needs his real father's influence in his life. This naturally turns Worf's duty-centric life upside down.
There's a scene where Worf stands in Picard's ready room and the intercom beeps; it's Alexander's teacher, who wants to schedule a parent-teacher conference. Beep again; this time Crusher, who wants to schedule the boy for a doctor's appointment. The humor is kind of obvious, but I enjoy this stuff nonetheless; it's always fun seeing the ultra-stern Worf thrown Human Situation 101 curveballs that are decidedly outside his comfort zone of Stern Security Guy.
This reasonable family drama is set against the testing of a new form of propulsion called the Soliton Wave, an experimental method of accelerating a ship to warp speed without warp engines. Geordi is positively giddy over the notion of witnessing this test, which is akin to breaking the sound barrier. The technical details of this Soliton Wave are plausible and simple enough to play well. But never mind any of that, because this is a character outing.
Alexander has behavioral issues. I'm not sure if the implication here is that Alexander's behavioral issues stem from his "Klingon tendencies," but such an implication wouldn't surprise me given that humanity has become so perfect that I can't even see the possibility a human child could or would — gasp — steal something. Worf finds himself stymied over the fact that Alexander does not obey him and continues to misbehave in school. After a second incident, he concludes Alexander must be sent to a Klingon boarding school to receive the proper guidance. (That seems like an awful quick conclusion to reach, but since this is an hour of TV, I'll grant it in the interest of dramatic expediency.)
No, this is not groundbreaking family drama. But it does offer a rare perspective of the domestic side of what is essentially a warp-speed traveling community. In particular, Worf's discussion with Troi reveals that Worf is considering sending Alexander away for the boy's sake and not his own. And it shows Troi being actually useful in the way her position was intended — as a counselor trying to help Worf deal with thoughts and feelings about this problem, with far less judgment than we often see from her in such situations.
Of course, there's no shortage of overcooked disaster-related storylines in TNG's fifth season, that's for sure. Spatial anomalies, nuclear winters, stellar fragments, and here this Soliton Wave, which ends up growing out of control and threatening to hit yet another colony. So the Enterprise must stop it. The way this jeopardy premise ends up directly affecting Alexander (who gets trapped under a beam after contrived disaster circumstances) is silly and predictable, but ultimately this story is about a father doing right by his son, and deciding he must be there for him. Not too shabby.
Previous episode: A Matter of Time
Next episode: Hero Worship
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52 comments on this post
Thu, Apr 7, 2011, 3:51pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Apr 9, 2011, 12:57pm (UTC -6)
It wasn't a terrible outing though, it had it's moments.
Fri, May 13, 2011, 7:02pm (UTC -6)
This one, first of all, features Worf and Alexander, both of whom can barely act their way out of a Targ cave, and second of all, turns TNG into the dreaded 90s family cliché formula drama. Are we expected to believe that the Son of Mogh would tolerate this trivial nonsense?
What I enjoyed from this episode was Worf's translation of said trivial 90s nothings into Klingon moral extremes. Star Trek works well when it's in allegory mode, but I think such a dramatisation works much better in, say VOY's "Fair Trade" or DS9's "The Alternate".
This episode's basically a snore-fest and features two members of among the most fearsome aliens in the galaxy enacting an episode of "Full House." No thanks.
1.5 stars
Thu, Sep 8, 2011, 8:35pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Sep 25, 2011, 10:31pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 8:15am (UTC -6)
Also, both plots are dull as hell and extremely by-the-numbers. So, an energy wawe slips out of control and threatens to destroy a planet while Enterprise rushes to the rescue. I mean, how many times have we seen this exact type of technobabble nonsense that gets resolved in a way that has no dramatic impact whatsoever?
The less said about the Alexander plot, the better. Again, it's so painfully cliche and routine that it's... well, painful to watch. alexander has problems, he steals and lies, so we have to sit through several dull scenes where Worf spouts out nonsense about honor and duty without actually revealing anything new or important characterwise about him or his son. And sure enough, in the end their interpersonal father-son conflict isn't resolved by, you know, themselves, but by oh-noes-Alexander-will-DIE! moment that forces Worf and his son to come to an understanding of sorts.
My God, this is just unwatchable.
/rant
Sat, Nov 26, 2011, 10:42pm (UTC -6)
Silly plot contrivances, oh how I hate thee...
Tue, Dec 13, 2011, 10:04am (UTC -6)
I believe the reason Trek and other scifi avoid use of 3D is simply because it films better. When the Enterprise D goes vertical to escape the dyson sphere in Relics, it's a cool visual. It would look odd if two ships approached each other at a 30-degree tilt to each other. The only perhaps practical answer is that the ships use the plane of the galaxy as arbitrary up-down axis.
Even in the 20th century, pilots in warplanes think 3-dimensionally. They don't fly upside down much because we have gravity, but they frequently attack from above or below.
@Paul: "I just watched this episode after a decade or more and man is it boring. It showcases the TNG A/B plot format in the worst way possible. The two plots have absolutely nothing in common until a manufactured crisis brings them together in a dreadfully mechanical way."
I hadn't ever considered this until you said it, but this episode DOES in fact remind me of a bad Voyager episode; trade Alexander and Worf for Naomi Wildman and her mother and I could totally see it. Voyager relied heavily on manufactured A/B convergence based on action plot devices.
Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 12:26am (UTC -6)
Thu, Jun 7, 2012, 9:18am (UTC -6)
Sat, Jun 9, 2012, 3:57pm (UTC -6)
"This is going to be like being there
to watch Chuck Yeager break the sound barrier or Zefram Cochrane engage the first warp drive!"
^^This bit of unintentional foreshadowing (to Star Trek: First Contact) is one of the reasons why I love TNG.
Sun, Jul 1, 2012, 9:56pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Feb 24, 2013, 3:21pm (UTC -6)
Is this not a serious warp speed weapon?
Mon, Jul 15, 2013, 11:46pm (UTC -6)
I like how his mom handled it. 'O son how nice to see you. Here take your brat!'
Wed, Jul 24, 2013, 7:54am (UTC -6)
All that said, of course, the episode is very slow-paced and the low-key family drama doesn't really use the show's metaphorical structure to do much of anything different than any other family drama might do. The resolution is too quick and forcing Worf to save Alexander in a jeopardy plot is fairly ludicrous -- yeah, Worf is strong! good to know. (I admit that, goofy though it is, I like Alexander's insistence that they save those endangered animals; it's nice to see Alexander caring about something, and especially resonant given that his mother is dead forever and that this is probably the reason for his acute awareness of death.) I don't think it's a good show -- but it is good that the show ultimately comes down on the side of responsible parenting even if it's unglamorous. The soliton wave stuff is also mostly useless. I guess I'd say a high 2 stars -- since ultimately only a few scenes really clicked and most of it was a bit of a blur and not particularly resonant.
Wed, Dec 25, 2013, 1:45pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Jun 1, 2014, 7:56pm (UTC -6)
Anyway, the episode works better in theory than it does in practice. Alexander was introduced for good or ill, and it doesn't necessarily look good of Worf to completely abandon his son. And given that Worf is often a one-trick pony, it's admirably to give him a softer side. Clearly Klingons care deeply about family, so why not see some of it? Why not show Worf struggling to be a dad, to deal with honoring his dead wife and allowing Alexander to learn of his human side, and Worf's desire to raise a Klingon son?
So good idea, but this episode just seemed to go through the motions, with a convenient action shot at the end to provide a cheap conclusion.
That said, there was one great scene. After Worf finds out Alexander did lie and did steal, we see them together in their quarters. Now, presumably Klingon childraising is like a boot camp, and we expected Worf to lay into Alexander for his dishonesty and moral failings. Instead, Worf sat him down and explained WHY honor was important. Not only was it good for Worf's character, but it also told us about his childhood.
Alexander's behavior is very believable for a boy who feels abandoned. He lost his mother, felt rejected by a father he barely knew, and was then rejected by his foster parents (although he was apparently acting out before that). It doesn't excuse his behavior, but it is understandable. However, Worf went through much the same thing as a child. He lost his parents, his family, everything he knew. He could just as easily have been a problem child, but instead seemed to be very stable. And Worf explained the difference to his son; he found religion. It was that Klingon code of honor that kept him from lashing out, and it was that Klingon code of honor that made him the fine upstanding citizen he is today. It simultaneously helps us understand WHY Worf is such a fundamentalist (because it was all he could cling to, and because it served him so well), but also why he is having so much trouble dealing with his son. Klingon honor worked so well for him, but Alexander has rejected that religion. And he has not accepted any other moral code of ethics, and thus is behaving so badly. We see that Worf has a point in trying to instill a sense of honor in Alexander, even if the boy will never be a true Klingon warrior. Worf at least wants the best parts of that religion to filter to his son.
And so after that speech he gave to Alexander, it was downright heartbreaking to see it not get through to him. I really, really felt for Worf when he learned Alexander was still misbehaving. Yes, it was oversimplistic of Worf to believe a 3-year old boy (or however old Alexander is; gestation periods seem to be awfully fast in the future) would grasp everything and turn things around with one speech, but Worf poured his soul out to Alexander. And he rejected his father completely. No wonder Worf felt so lost. And yet still he tries. And even though Worf's honor has done him so much good, and if Alexander would just accept it he would be so much better a person, Worf must try to put it aside to deal with his son afterwards. It's why he couldn't send Alexander to a Klingon school. With no sense of honor to begin with, how could Alexander survive? But how can Alexander survive anywhere without a belief system to cling to? No wonder Worf said that Alexander staying here would be the more difficult challenge. Worf will have to learn to raise a seriously mentally messed up kid.
(Looking back, I think it makes sense that Alexander was practically suicidal in DS9. Clearly he never did find any religion to live by. His messed up childhood seemed to dissipate while living with his father, but he still had issues. And it seemed he never solved them. Kinda tragic, really. )
And one other tiny bit of good acting. Worf is really mad at Alexander, and tracks him down to the holodeck. There he sees Alexander fighting in his calisthenics program. For a moment, Worf loses his anger and looks on with pride as Alexander fights, just like any good parent would. Very nicely done.
Darn it, I'm convincing myself that it's better than I originally thought. It's still not a great episode, but perhaps it is at least decent.
Fri, Aug 8, 2014, 2:57pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 4:42pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Apr 20, 2015, 10:13am (UTC -6)
The more important plot, of course, is Worf's reunion with his son. I enjoyed that part more and also found it more believable than the other plot. I must admit to a certain satisfaction in learning that school kids in TNG sometimes encounter problems such as misbehaving in class. To me, the idea that humanity has somehow been perfected in the future has always been laughable. Some kids will always act out and need guidance, and other parts of society will also always be less than exemplary.
That said, I liked how Worf handled his new role of father, and liked the idea that the boy will remain with him on the Enterprise. I liked both Worf's and the boy's acting, and also liked seeing Troi doing her job well for once instead of just stating the obvious. ("I sense he may be hiding something, Captain.") I must question, however, why the Enterprise in TNG is carrying families in the first place. It's not like the ship isn't threatened with destruction in every other episode. It seems like Starfleet realized that a starship was a dangerous place for kids in TOS but forgot about that a few decades later.
Tue, Aug 4, 2015, 10:34am (UTC -6)
Is it well trend upon ground? Yes.
So what?
I'm not one of those people who demand that everything be original. The whole "Hollywood is out of new ideas" crowd really bugs me actually. I don't mind when an episode or a movie or whatever else is a retelling of a tried and true story. A good story retold is still a good story.
"New Ground," while again not groundbreaking, does have some good stuff on display. Worf and Alexander get some nice character development. Troi is - *GASP* - actually used effectively, and as a counselor no less! And, they don't hit the reset button at the end of the episode. It would have been extremely easy for them to ship Alexander off to the Klingon school and have Worf just go back to doing his usual routine. But, they didn't. They decided to keep Alexander on as a recurring character and I highly applaud them for that.
The problem the episode has is the B-plot with the Soliton Wave. It's completely unnecessary. It's obviously only there to provide the final manufactured crisis with Alexander trapped in the lab. The Gilvos just happen to be the lab that will be exposed to radiation. Isn't that convenient? Alexander runs off to see the Gilvos again. Isn't that convenient? The lab is massively damaged in the trip through the Wave while Alexander is in it. Isn't that convenient? Alexander is pinned under the conveniently fallen beam. Riker, Worf, Alexander and the Gilvos all get out just in the nick of time. Isn't that - what's that word again? - convenient? As another commenter said - this is TNG's A and B plot formula at its worst.
And of course, the Soliton Wave itself makes no sense. Warp speed without warp drive. How?! If you don't have something warping the fabric of space-time or slipping you into an alternate dimension or something, you can't go faster than light. Look, science was actually my least successful subject in school, but.... Physics 101, people! And, of course, all the manufactured drama at the end could have been easily avoided if the writers hadn't yet again failed to realize that space is three dimensional! People, you don't have to go through the Wave. Just go over it!
Still, it's nice to see the really good character development on display here.
7/10
Thu, Sep 24, 2015, 2:00pm (UTC -6)
But that said, there are some interesting beats here. The Troi-Worf scenes do indeed show Troi in an effective role. The addition of Alexander at the end is indeed a ballsy move, as it means a new character direction for Worf. And the B-story indeed lets us have a TOS style 'staggering sideways to simulate movement' bridge scene, and you can never have enough of these. 2.5 stars.
Wed, Sep 30, 2015, 6:20pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 2:35pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Sep 1, 2016, 9:36pm (UTC -6)
Oh and the one thing that struck me as hilarious is Alexander's holodeck fight scene. It reminded me of a parody out of the Simpsons with Maggie replaced by Alexander slaying monsters 10x their size.
Tue, Sep 5, 2017, 6:42pm (UTC -6)
I suppose TNG will have these types of episodes to show how a key crew member deals with family issues. I think Worf's actions were pretty typical for a parent and I liked how he explained honor to his son instead of say, using violence (or whatever a Klingon would do). I'm not sure though how his character really developed. I don't think we saw something new out of Worf.
As for the B-plot of the Soliton Wave, this was ultra-stupid for me. So some scientist find a way of generating a wave to propel a ship at warp speed -- so it can go really fast in 1 direction, and then what? It rapidly grows out of control, blows up the ship and causes damage to the Enterprise. It's just a poorly thought out plot device to get Alexander hurt and Worf to be heroic in rescuing him and allowing him to stay on the Enterprise. Super full of cliches that had me shaking my head.
1.5 stars for "New Ground" -- did not do a sufficiently good job of "family drama". Putting a stern soldier-like guy like Worf in a different kind of situation without really making him learn something new about himself is a waste. It's worth shedding light on these family type of situations given how many episodes there are but for too long this episode was just tedious to watch.
Tue, Oct 10, 2017, 10:51pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 9:14pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 12:59pm (UTC -6)
Ari, I don't know what you mean about the teacher. She seemed reasonable and caring to me
Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 12:10pm (UTC -6)
Alexander is kind of prissy for a human boy, much less a three-fourths Klingon boy.
Lord knows child acting must be the toughest kind to cast and direct. But you'd think someone first in casting and later in directing would have found some way to draw a little more rough-n-tumble out of the character.
I think Alexander would have been chewed alive in a Klingon school.
Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 5:17pm (UTC -6)
From what little they explain about it, I don't see any practical use for a starship that needs to be able to go in and out warp and change directions in an instant.
I suppose if it's a highly energy efficient and far safer than it proved to be in this test, maybe it would be a better way to transport raw goods between two stable places -- say Earth to Vulcan.
I'm not sure how the test ship wasn't smacked to bits at the beginning of the experiment. And like someone else said, this thing seems to have a better future as a defensive weapon than a way to get around.
Romulan ship decloaking? Just Soliton Wave it back to its side of the Neutral Zone.
Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 3:37pm (UTC -6)
Alexander's misbehaving seemed convincing enough to me but I do get the point about it needing to be a Klingon child being bad as humans are altogether paragons of virtue in Rodenberry's unrealistic humanist vision of the future.
Michael Dorn , as usual, makes this episode work.
Sat, Oct 13, 2018, 7:00pm (UTC -6)
This is about the point in the series where I really notice how awful the music has gotten. Ron Jones is gone, and McCarthy/Chattaway are completely neutered. Everything is just lame brass chords now. Ugh.
Thu, Apr 18, 2019, 10:04pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 12:35am (UTC -6)
Future outcome: Little Worf will grow up to write an excellent, Pulitzer-acclaimed novel about his terrible father and their difficult relationship, read and cherished by millions across the galaxy.
Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 8:29pm (UTC -6)
Basic truism: Any ST episode involving Alexander that does not end with him lying dead in a pool of blood is by definition a poor episode.
Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 9:53pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Jul 28, 2020, 8:00pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 4:44pm (UTC -6)
1) Worf's facial expressions. Thet terrifically capture the angst of a serious dude confronted practically without warning by his new role: that of wet nurse at the PTA meeting.
Highlights: Warrior Worf is emasculted in front of Picard (who at first is shown wearing his best Locutus face) while Beverly calls in asking if Alexander has taken his Milk of Magnesia.
2) Worf secretly witnesses Alexander's effective use of the batleth weapon on the holodeck and is for an instant pkeased to see that Alexander is not a hopeless wretch; he then launches into a lecture about Alexander not asking permission first. What a perfect rendition of the parental no-win situation.
Highlight: Alexander never sees his father's look of pride and Worf foolishly assumes that his platitudes about honor have resonated. Alexander remains a pain-in-the-butt.
3) Alexander, upping the ante on his pain-in-the-butt status, disobeys Worf, leaving his quarters and going to the cute little gilvos creatures. Sure it is a ancient plot device (i.e., petulent brat already in trouble makes matters worse by playing hooky and in the process getting trapped in the proverbial abandoned mine shaft....referencing a late 50's (probably) episode of The Rifleman).
Highlight: pathetic as this is, Alexander is unwittingly responsible for saving the endangered and very rare Gilvos creatures. The would have died if Akexabder had been obedient. It is precious watching Riker with two of them under each arm as exits the zoo lab suffering from 24th century smoke inhalation.
The episode is watchable indeed, and worth a 6/10 or better. I also loved the delivery of the line "I did not say that I was ready for the grave." by the actress who played Worf's mother...a very respectable scene, that!
Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 4:51pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Aug 16, 2020, 9:33am (UTC -6)
This one plays out extremely predictably. The sub-plot about the magic energy wave is too thin to rescue it. And where does all its energy come from? It appears to grow in size and power until it's big and beefy enough to destroy planets that happen, against literally astronomical odds I would have thought, to get in its way.
i started to get mildly interested seven minutes from the end when the two plots converged and Alexander is trapped, in a particularly brazen cliche, under a steel beam. Strange that a starship should have less reliable fire suppression than I'd expect in a modern building in the present day.
Anyway, I got through it.
Fri, Jul 2, 2021, 12:15pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:58am (UTC -6)
I can see why Picard is not comfortable around kids. Alexander is not like a Klingon at all, just like a bratty human with makeup.
The solitobabble didn’t provide much entertainment either. Next…
Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 12:29pm (UTC -6)
Well, of course, Alexander is probably not much like "real" Klingon kids. Not only is he genetically part human, he has been raised in more humanlike settings his whole life, first with his mother, then with his grandparents. On the Enterprise, he is on a Federation ship with a mostly human crew. Even Worf has not lived among Klingons since he himself was a young child. He is really only guessing at what "Klingon children" are supposed to be like.
SPOILER ALERT FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T WATCHED DS9:
I have always been frustrated with what the writers did with Worf and Alexander in DS9. TNG had shown us a Worf who was deeply honorable, and who had grown in his appreciation of the human part of his experience. We had been shown a relationship with Alexander that started off rocky because Worf was projecting onto Alexander his own desire to be 100% Klingon despite having barely experienced Klingon culture, but we had also been shown that relationship growing through a lot of effort not only by Worf and young Alexander, but also by Alexander's schoolteachers, the ship's counselor, and the adult Alexander from a possible future. Worf had given Alexander permission to lay down his bat'leth and find his own future.
Then in DS9, we were told essentially that sometime after we stopped seeing him, Worf abandoned Alexander, who ended up embittered and ill-prepared for the Klingon life he for some reason decided he wanted. Yes, it's true that the optimistic peacetime universe of TNG made it easier for a young Klingon to contemplate a non-warrior's life than the dark days of DS9's Dominion War, but that, too, was a decision of the writers that I did not care for. Even in the face of war, I would have preferred not to see Worf lose practically all the personal growth that had been his character's arc throughout TNG, and to lose his improved relationship with Alexander as if all that growth had never happened.
Fri, Feb 18, 2022, 7:18pm (UTC -6)
Also about Worf, but a different comment: It irritates me when Riker says "We’re going to have to [whatever]" and Worf says, "Agreed." Who's asking you to agree? A Federation ship is not run as a democracy; Riker is your superior officer and has made a decision — he's not seeking your input or approval.
Fri, Feb 18, 2022, 7:31pm (UTC -6)
"Future outcome: Little Worf will grow up to write an excellent, Pulitzer-acclaimed novel about his terrible father and their difficult relationship, read and cherished by millions across the galaxy."
Titled "Worfy Dearest"
Tue, May 10, 2022, 11:46am (UTC -6)
The episode had SO much promise. The opening scenes were about some new fakaktana superluminal travel technology and that's what I thought the focus was going to be on but alas! We ended up being treated to Worf's struggling with his, um, struggles and way-too-many-and-too-long talkie-talkies with his narcolepsy-inducing mother, the teach., and Troi (Diana, take a day off, for Pete's sake!).
One star.
Nay, a half a star.
And that only because of the cool warp wave C.G.I.
Sat, May 21, 2022, 1:04pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Mar 27, 2023, 4:27pm (UTC -6)
As usual, it's the performances that make the experience worthwhile. Brian Bonsall plays a kid in need of his dad well.
I suspect, if direction didn't feel the episode had to have some kind of antagonist, the teacher might have been an in-joke of "system" personalities.
Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 12:11am (UTC -6)
The (unintentionally) funny thing about this story is that Worf is dreading being a single parent on a ship with free schooling, free unlimited counseling, free everything, where people are practically going to throw themselves on him to help with Alexander. And this is what he's dreading! Just think of single parents now with no support network and no free anything.
Thu, Jul 20, 2023, 9:59am (UTC -6)
Tue, Sep 26, 2023, 9:09pm (UTC -6)
Way too convenient ...
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