UNCUT - Galaxy's Child (TNG S4E16) | Star Trek Journey 197
Comments (96)
I don’t remember if this was brought up before, but Susan Gibney auditioned for Tasha Yar and Deanne Troi.
I always just wondered when women stopped wearing wedding rings.
The cringe meter from u2 was high throughout this episode!🙈🙈🙈
Yeah this is definitely not Geordi at his best. The initial events in Booby Trap may not have been his fault, but there isn't enough done here to address everything he did in this episode. This episode even tries to paint him as the wronged party even though he really should be the only one apologizing. In an odd way this is the exact episode I was looking forward to. The last TNG reactors I was watching were so offended by the Leah Brahms subplot that they cut the entire thing out of the video until all that was left was the space baby stuff. Then instead of their usual post episode discussion they berated the audience for their comments on an unrelated video, then just did a hard cut. I'm glad that everyone here is able to engage in more mature dialogue. Discussing these complicated scenarios may lead to disagreement, maybe even passionate disagreement, but sometimes that's when the show is the most interesting. I just wish the show had done a better job with Geordi's point of view. In all fairness, nothing he hid started out malicious. Mostly he was just in over his head. It could have been more of a good people make mistakes episode, but that would've required him to own up and/or just explain what happened rather than throw her outrage back in her face. The right conversation does eventually happen, but it's frustratingly off screen. It kind of makes the resolution unsatisfying.
You know, If people did take the holodeck to extremes and used it to have full relationships with people who weren't interested in them, or even do terrible things like kill/rape/torture people, that might actually be a good thing if it provides an outlet for those urges and keeps them from doing harm to actual people. As someone who's had to deal with a psychotic semi-stalker who lives in a world of delusion, I'm fine with them doing whatever they want to holo-me or my holo-husband as long as it keeps them the hell away from us. They can deal with the reality warp of doing that all on their own. Of course, then you get into do things created in the holodeck have life or rights? What if holograms have some form of sentience like we saw in The Big Goodbye? Is it ethical to create something just to torture it because we think it isn't "real?'
Just put them in their own holo cell to live out their lives like Moriarty, never knowing they are actually in a holo-prison.
In the writers' defense, "Clear browser history" wasn't in the common venacular in 1991.
Fun fact, the alien that attacked the Enterprise was seen again in Star Trek Online.
Ooooooh the mentions of Worf nude via chatgpt… wait until Ethics next season. All of Alex’s images will change! Also ALL of the tone for Geordi here are 90s nonsense, bereft of privacy and consent discussions, and probably a further reflection of Rick Berman’s influence. Geordi does have great charisma, but he’s morally wrong in this one, and LeVar hated being written like this. LeVar’s a smokeshow; him being cringelord who cannot talk to women is so implausible.
Even in the '90s people would be questioning Geordi's "ambush date." But looking at it now it seems a lot like the Nice Guy stuff you see now. Especially with him thinking she's reacting badly.
I like this episode but man it should be renamed "Cringe: The Episode"
If The Office is cringe level 10, this is a 2.
I'd probably put this one as a C+. I do like the space baby plotline, but it's not amazing, just a good unique concept. The whole Geordi/Brahms story is basically this emoji (😬) made manifest. At least they did address and wrap up that loose thread from Booby Trap. There are a few TNG edits on YT that paint Geordi as a psychotic stalker, and there's pretty heavy use of scenes from this episode. To be fair to Geordi, I don't think he took it past the kiss. As another comment pointed out, he did say in Hollow Pursuits that he realized when it was time to turn it off and walk away. It was pretty clear by the end of Booby Trap that he realized he was letting this program interfere with his life/duties(especially given how distracted he was getting when the ship was in danger), and he has been shown on dates between then and this episode. In all likelihood he probably forgot about that program until he heard she was coming. That said, if he was thinking he had a shot IRL, it would have made sense to delete the program as soon as he knew she was coming, and second, it takes like 5 seconds to ask the computer if she's married. Whole lot of awkwardness could have been avoided. Besides, even if he's gonna shoot his shot, start with a working dinner in 10 Forward and see if you can break the ice there. As to why the hologram and real Leah were so different, the computer is probably drawing from recordings of her public appearances (giving speeches and presentations and such). People tend to have a more practiced charm/friendliness in front of an audience or group of colleagues than they might in more private interactions. I assume by the time we see them in 10 Forward at the end they had already discussed the whole thing a fair bit and cleared the air. She probably realized that ultimately, he had only gone in with the intent of solving an engineering problem and ended up developing a crush on her and kissed a hologram of her, then moved on and forgot to delete the program. Definitely inappropriate and embarrassing, but mostly harmless in the end(especially given he didn't know she was married, and he didn't take it nearly as far as it's implied Barclay did). She still had every right to be pissed and really didn't need to apologize for her reaction. I think she was willing to forgive because she had come to respect him professionally and she HAD been pretty insufferable about Geordi messing with "her" engines when he was just doing his job. You don't get to be chief engineer on the flagship if you're a screw up. Also he did try to understand her perspective when it seems a lot of people are less forgiving of her abrasiveness. I do agree the 2 plots mesh well together, but this is a fairly mediocre episode IMO.
I always thought the holodeck took personal logs into account, letters to her husband etc as well, when it created the avatar. So holodeck Leah is her more personal self, the side that her husband would see. But her outward persona, the one that doesn't get recorded anywhere, is much more brash. Since that part's not really on record, the computer didn't incorporate it in.
Yeah sorry but Geordi was a bit of a creeper
i watched where you beaned Alex like 10 times
Absolutely love this follow-up episode. I wanted a follow-up on the ethics of generating holodeck people and kiiinda got it. The B-plot with the space dumplings was just OK. I think of the topic of fantasies and reality as being a complicated subject because while fantasies are fine and maybe even healthy, things get gray when those fantasies become real in the holodeck. IMO Geordi's mistake was not putting a password on the program. And I do appreciate Guinan in this episode. She didn't go, "That's gross, you're disgusting, you're awful." She's wise and understanding and tolerant.
Nothing is real in the holodeck except the real people that walk into it.
I can completely relate to Dr. Brahms' disdain for all the changes made to her design. I work in architecture and always come across builders who change my designs without consulting me. In my case, it is my intellectual property they are messing with, and sometimes it also causes problems with building inspections because they don't understand the reasons behind my decisions and how they were made to comply with building codes. The latter tends to cost my clients a lot of money and gets me really pissed off. On the other hand, Geordie is a fully qualified field engineer and is making changes as needed for an operating starship. Leah needs to be a bit more forgiving than she is with Geordie over this stuff, and to her credit she does soften on this over the course of the episode.
I want to see you guys revisit the last episode about Riker being sexually coerced by that alien. This was brushed over in the episode and in your discussion, but that is textbook sexual assault. If you reverse the roles and put Crusher or Troi in Riker's boots and a male nurse with the same levity, this episode would be at the bottom of the barrel with "Code of Honor."
I generally overlook it, and even like the scene, for several reasons: 1. Riker is a lady's man. Usually he is the one making advances, and this is a fun reversal of the trope. With literally any other character, the scene would not work. 2. It mocks fanatics who fetishize aliens and monsters. (Vampires, Spock in ToS, furries, etc.) Riker know it's creepy and wants to get out of there ASAP... but he still can't resist getting laid. That's why it's funny. It is true that if it were reversed, it would be pretty unacceptable. But it isn't reversed. So I say chuckle at the scene and lighten up.
This episode is a great example of how limerence works. We meet somebody, either in real life or online. We know about maybe 10% of the real them, and we fill the rest in with what we want. That's what happened in Booby Trap. that 10% margin of error can make quite the difference. Eventually though, as Guinan says, the real person comes along and ruins our fantasy.
👍 Props to you, there are not many words around here that I don't know.
I love this one for the Geordie stuff, it gets an A from me. Thankfully the techno babble doesn't ruin it for me.
Remember to delete your holodeck history!!
You guys are way over reacting about what Geordie did. They don't say in the show that he has been using that program all the time, or made other ones to bang her. He fell in love with her holographic facsimile but I don't think it was that bad. Yeah he was awkward with the real Leah Broms for sure. Susan Gibney was also a frontrunner to become Captain Janeway for Voyager. Lost out to some Canadian actress the producers had a hard on for, but she failed miserably. Thankfully they went with Jeri Ryan's choice of Kate Mulgrew.
Didn't Jeri Ryan and Kate not get along?
What makes you guys great reactors is that when we get to the one episode I have to keep on mute half the time, I can tell by looking at you when it's okay to unmute.
What?
Geordi didnt create the program to be a pervert. Happenstance and the fact Geordi didnt realize exactly how sophisticated the holodeck is cause things to spiral out of control. And why would he tell her about the program considering of how much he and Dr Brahms got of to a rocky start. And its not that serious for her to act so offended because The Holodeck Is Not Real!!!!!!!! He did not violate her for that reason and the fact that he didnt create it with the intent to sexualize her. If the computer program would have acted cold towards him or similar to how the real doctor treated him initially there would have been nothing romantic for him to latch on to.
YOU get it! 🏆
Susan Gibney :)
30 years ago, and dudes were still simping over women and women were calling men creepers... some things never change.
Simping?
An interesting entry into the Sex Scoreboard Riker 9 Troi 3 Data 1 Picard 1 Worf 1 Geordi 1 NEW - 1i Broccoli 2 i Chief 1 Keiko 1 Extras: The publishers of the Bangin Board have decided to reduce Geordi's score by removing the Imaginary Brahms notch on the bed post. This was a tough decision but it was believed that he was only creepy (thought about it) and not creepy as hell (aka Broccoli-ed her). So Jordy goes from 1 + 1i to just 1.
One of the weakest episodes this season 🤦🏻
"Like boiling frogs"...that went dark fast..
Nothing "dark" about that.
As for anybody being able to access that holodeck programme, that makes sense. it was created as a tool to help solve an engineering problem. It was never meant to be a personal programme. Granted, when it went that way, deleting or restricting it might have been a good idea.
I just started the episode and I love how Alex immediately thinks about the holodeck program and how it looks. if only Geordi had been that aware.
1:01:10 The view was from the starboard nacelle (the warp drive pod thingy).
55:50 Picard was going to go finish off that bottle he opened in "First Contact"! hahaha
C for "Cringe"
51:41 Geordi answered this in "Hollow Pursuits." When he was talking about holo-addiction with Barclay, he admitted to having fallen in love in the holodeck once, but that he know when it was time to say goodbye and turn it off.
There are no cameras outside the ship. It's all the sensors recording data around the ship & the surrounding area. What's seen on the view screen is that data presented as video footage. This is why in the season 2 episode Peak performance when Riker & Picard did the war games, Riker's ship was able to make the Enterprise display a Romulan ship attacking them. They were able to feed false data to the Enterprise's sensors so the view screen displayed a ship when there wasn't one. Technically a ship doesn't need to bend light around it to "cloak" itself. You would just need some way through a hull or shields to not be picked up by sensors of any near by ship. Then it would appear invisible till someone looked out a an actual window or took a space walk & saw it by eye
Cameras (or their 24th-centrury equivalent) would be a form of sensor, you know.
33:33 Yes, they are.
I have an explanation for the view of the creature from outside: Data launches 3 probes to watch the creature(s). They were likely still out there watching the birth and newborn. There's your external point of view shot. :)
Nah, view from the nacelle.
20:00 He really is protective about "his engines"
18:30 hahaha @ Alex
13:11 kph = kilometers per hour
"woke garbage"
Geordi did nothing wrong. If you think he did, when does your atonement quest to confess and apologize to everyone you've ever had a private fantasy about begin?
Until you guys said it I never paid attention to the frequent close ups. Now it’s quite obvious!
“They killed off Kaylar. Why didn’t they kill off Brahms? Does Geordi get special treatment?” Huh?
They only kill off the ones we care about. Or make them suffer. You know who I'm talking about.
The camera angle seems to me like it could be a camera on one of the warp nacelles. They’re back there, behind the neck of the ship, and a bit off to the side, just like the camera angle.
the top of the warp nacelles is lower than the shuttle bay doors, while that camera angle is from above, plus it's to centered to line up. I think as others have said that image is likely a hyper realistic recreation based on sensor data
Barclay was just off camera in engineering laughing his butt off in this episode.
I remember seeing the teaser of this episode ( now that I am Seeing the reaction ) cause i was like “ is that Lea or is he back in the holodeck ?!” It was crazy to see her again!
I ultimately gave it a B, as well. I agree with you about the blame-excusing that Geordi gave. I think Levar Burton was not too happy about the writing for this episode, either.
As somebody who finds mushrooms absolutely disgusting, I'm glad the fungilli never made a appearance.
Hey there are two of us! Always hated cheese and mushrooms. Felt like an alien as a result.
the camera shot of junior at the back is for sure from a camera on the right warp nacelle.
I don't think the viewscreen images come from what we would think of as cameras. I think it comes from the sensor data.
A camera would be a type of sensor...
Dude, I always get hungry for pasta on this episode.
When you mentioned Mario 64 I just imagined them slinging the alien into an asteroid and it exploding
been wondering for a while why chosen to use the profile pic of myspace founder Tom?
Levar B. has always hated this plot line of the creepy guy obsessing over an AI girl
If only it were just an AI girl. I think Riker catching feelings for Minuet for example is fine. Everyone is allowed their fantasies, and she was a completely fictional creation. Whole different story when it's a real person, even assuming that kiss was as far as it went.
With the advent of AI video creation, VR gaming devices and so on, it won't be too long until we're able to do something very similar to the holodeck. Amazing how a 30-year-old episode is able to spring up an ethical dilemma that will apply to us now. Personally, I still feel like it's not an issue provided you keep it private. I actually don't think Geordi needed to tell Bhrams about the program at all, rather, he needed to keep it locked away. As you mentioned, no passwords? Come on. Keep your private affairs private. If they spill out into the public, naturally there will be some potential friction and awkwardness generated from it. Overall, solid little episode, I think C+ to B is the perfect slot for a very strong "formula" style episode.
This is one of the cringiest episodes. The show wants us to sympathize with Geordi against this cold, icy, bitch. It does not old u well at all. Not “Code of Honor” bad, but bad.
In my opinion, Brahms was a little bit into Geordi, hence why she turned around so quickly at the end. She gave him some interesting looks in 10 forward. She felt like he was one of few who truly understood her.
Wishful thinking
Really felt like they could have used an extra 10 minutes for them to resolve their personal problem.
Why? They resolved it off-screen, and were laughing about it in Ten Fwd.
In my head canon, because of the ships sensors the crew has a full, multi layered 3D picture of the enterprise and its surroundings. This is why the computer can produce a visual picture from every angle and distance. Based on what you see especially later in DS9 and Voyager, this is in my oppinion the most likely explanation...
How do the ship's sensors capture energy that is radiating away from the ship?
I was another E vote. I tried watching along with you. Got to the scene in Geordie's quarters with him dimming the lights and playing music, and I had to nope out. It wasn't uncomfortable humor - it was just uncomfortable, and to me, unwatchable.
Curious but, what exactly about it makes you feel uncomfortable? He's a bloke shooting his shot, at this point in time he doesn't know she's married. He has a false idea of her created from the holodeck sure, but that image would be replaced by the real Brahms in time (had they actually dated).
Potstickers 🤣🤣🤣 just picturing those in a frying pan lol. Im sorry. Just too good and too ridiculous at the same time. Maybe this episode should have been called: “Galaxy’s Potsticker”. 😂
You have to give them that they haven't heard of deep fakes and dating platforms in 1991.
Funny they are using metric system. I dont remember if TOS uses it too.
I mean they use metric all the time without it being mentioned. Even the Warp scale is metric in the sense that Warp 1 = C (299,792,458 metres per second). Because we know the exact speed of light as a universal constant we can define the length of a meter in relation to C.
I might be alone in this, but I actually liked the episode Booby Trap better. Not necessarily because of the Brahms/Geordi stuff, which was still interesting, but the main plot if Booby Trap itself. It was a lot more tense, and the Premelian Battlecruiser was really cool, and the tone of that episode. One thing I also liked about Booby Trap was Ron Jones’s musical score. Im a big believer that great music enhances an episode or movie. The echoing fleeting trumpets, highlighting the call back to an ancient war is fantastic. But this was a decent episode.
Totally agree with the boys thinking the aliens look like pierogies/pot stickers. Shit, now I'm hungry.
The Geordi "I'm actually a NICE GUY!" Works much better here than it does in real life when you IM some woman who is outta your league and she ignores your hellos until you freak out. Lol
I had a calzone a couple weeks ago that looked a lot like Junior. It was delicious.
Me when Target Audience has a better cold open than SNL: 🥹
SNL has been on a roll lately.
"oh no" indeed !
Data: "uh ohhhh"
I'm glad Josh did not have a hammer in his hand.....
Ahh Mets game starts shortly.... Meh probably a bunch of pregame nonsense, can get this in (But then what about NFL Primetime hmm) Gonna have to watch that on replay lol