The Child (Episode)
| Series | Star Trek: The Next Generation |
| Season | 2 |
| Episode | 1 |
| Production Number | 127 |
| Release Date | 21 Nov 1988 |
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Stardate 42073.1: An alien entity impregnates Troi
The Enterprise is ferrying samples of a deadly plasma plague for study when Troi stuns the crew by announcing that she is pregnant. What she describes as a glowing white light impregnated her in her sleep. According to new Chief Medical Officer Kate Pulaski, the fetus will grow to full turm in just thirty-six hours. As Captain Picard and his officers debate the security concerns raised by the "invader," Troi announces flatly that she's having the baby. The counselor has a remarkably easy birth — her son, Ian, appears completely harmless but continues his unusual growth rate, aging eight years in twenty-seven hours.
Almost oblivious to all of this is Wesley Crusher, who seeks counsel from the mysterious new hostess of Ten Forward, Guinan, about whether to join his mother, who has left to head Starfleet Medical. He finally decides to stay on board. Meanwhile, one of the plague samples inexplicably begins to grow, threatening to break its containment and infect the crew within two hours. It turns out that Ian — or, at least, the life-force that took the form of the child to learn more about Humans — is inadvertently stimulating the viral sample's growth. A tearful Troi watches Ian revert to his real form; the virus stops growing, and the ship's mission can be finished.
Gladstone
Director
Rob Bowman
Writer
Jaron Summers & Jon Povill and Maurice Hurley
Starring
Patrick Stewart … Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes … Commander Will Riker
Brent Spiner … Lieutenant Commander Data
Marina Sirtis … Counselor Deanna Troi
LeVar Burton … Lieutenant, j.g. Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn … Lieutenant, j.g. Worf
Wil Wheaton … Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher
Guest Starring
Diana Muldaur … Dr. Kate Pulaski
Seymour Cassel … Lieutenant Commander Hester Dealt
R.J. Williams … Ian Andrew Troi II
Colm Meaney … Transporter Chief
Dawn Amemann … Miss Gladstone
Whoopi Goldberg … Guinan
Zachary Benjamin … Young Ian
Dore Keller … Engineering Ensign
