ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

"Family" was the fourth episode of the fourth season and aired on October 1, 1990.

Written by Ronald D.Moore and directed by Les Landau.

While the Enterprise-D is in dry dock; Captain Picard returns to his home on Earth at the French vineyards where he grew up.

"Family" is considered one of the most heart stirring episodes produced by ST:TNG and is a fan favorite.

And Gene Roddenberry absolutely loathed it.

GR felt that the plot for this episode had no place in his vision for the 24th century.

He felt that by the 24th century hostile relationships between siblings as seen with Picard and his brother, Robert, would be non-existant.

In fact, the federation was a utopia with no interpersonal conflicts whatsoever.

Such an edict by GR made writing for the series a huge challenge.

GR was also not pleased about the negative implication regarding how Picard's parents raised Jean-Luc & Robert.

Script writer Ronald D.Moore felt that after the events that occurred in "The Best of Both Worlds" parts one & two that Picard would have been negatively & profoundly affected by his assimilation by the Borg.

He would be suffering from PTSD and would not simply & easily pickup where he left off prior to his capture.

Picard resuming command of the Enterprise-D as if nothing happened was both unrealistic and insulting to dedicated fans of the show.

RDM wanted to explore the impact upon Picard as well as his estrangement with his brother.

Producers Michael Piller & Rick Berman asked RDM to meet them in GR's office to discuss RDM's script for "Family."

GR harshly criticized the script, which left RDM feeling crushed.

All these years later, RDM still recalls the pain from that day.

Producers Rick Berman & Michael Piller liked RDM's script and supported him and got the episode made in spite of GR's dislike of the script.

Trivia; This episode would be unique in several other ways.

It has no scenes taking place on the bridge.

It has no science "B" subplot story.

Data doesn't appear.

Two subplots were considered and then dropped. One was about a child stowaway on board the Enterprise.

The other was about a paranoid's nightmare about disappearing crew members. This plot line would be used later in the episode "Remember Me" with Dr. Crusher being the one who experiences crew vanishing.

The location for the Picard estate in Labarre, France was actually shot at a private dryland operation near Lancaster, CA. SW of Edwards Air Force Base.

The heat during filming was extreme at the time.

[Bud Brewster]

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Mike, on behalf of all our members I'd like to thank for your amazing post!

The info you shared is an amazing glimpse into the mind of Gene Roddenberry. His vision of mankind's future was both bold and noble — but we've all suspected that it was totally unrealistic.

Your post proves that.

I know we all desperately hope that mankind will someday evolve into angelic beings who have more in common with the Krell than with creatures who have the deeply flawed natures we now possess.

But that just doesn't seem likely to happen in the near future . . . and in fact, I don't think it will ever happen!

TNG's Family presents Jean-Luc Picard as a courageous and complex human being who experienced a terrible ordeal — and yet fought to recover his stolen humanity! The fact that he succeeds proves that he is much more noble that some "highly evolved" version of mankind who no longer has do deal with the pain and anguish which (for example) every soldier experiences during the horrors of war!

I admire Gene Roddenberry's high hopes for mankind — but I'm appalled by his unrealistic belief that mankind will improve because we simply create "a utopia with no interpersonal conflicts whatsoever."

That sounds more like the Vulcan society than mankind! And I've always assumed that Star Trek's primary message about the difference between Vulcans and humans was that we DID successfully deal with interpersonal conflicts . . . while Vulcans did not!

Mike, your post is a real eye-opener. It clarifies troubling things about Roddenberry's nature which I have always suspected.

Thanks!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

You're welcome Bruce, I am always pleased that you and fellow members get a kick out of anything I post.

And I always greatly enjoy having this fantastic forum where I can post & read the post from you and other members.

Gives me food for thought.

Yeah, Gene was a visionary, but at the same time his desire to depict humanity individually — and the Federation of Planets as a whole — as totally perfect was simply unrealistic.

We all carry both angels & devils within us, and that's the truth.

I can imagine just how onerous the task had to be for the writers for ST:TOS & ST:TNG was when they had to write ''perfect people."

Drama = conflict. Perfect people don't offer conflict, and they're a fantasy to boot.

I recall reading Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Stracynski saying in an interview that when he was about to produce B5, he figured that all the problems, quirks, flaws, weaknesses humanity has will follow them right out into the stars.

I find it intriguing that ST:TOS & Mission:Impossible — which are considered "sister shows" because they both were produced by Desilu, both debuted on TV in the fall of 1966, and both were unlike any TV series before them — also have another thing in common.

Gene wanted perfect people, as we've noted with ST:TOS.

M:I creator Bruce Geller wanted his Impossible Missions Force team to be ciphers. Little to nothing of their personalities was to be in evidence while on an assignment.

Almost nothing of the mission team members personal backgrounds or private lives is ever revealed over the course of the show's seven seasons.

Geller insisted upon this with his writers. You could create the villains and anyone not on the team with any characterizations you wanted to . . . but never the IMF team.

The audience knew that the IMF team were the good guys, and nothing else.

Peter Graves joined the show as a regular cast member & IMF team leader Jim Phelps on the second season of the series and would remain with the show until its cancellation in its seventh season.

He told about an early episode he did where, at the finale when the villains had been stopped, how he turned to the camera and smiled.

Graves was letting the audience know that Phelps was pleased that they got the bastards.

Geller edited the scene, so the smile was gone.

He informed Graves that the IMF team do not convey any such opinions regarding a mission.

They get in & get it done, exit.

No one associated with Geller really understood why he wanted his IMF agents to remain devoid of any signs of their true natures or character.

Anyway, I always found it interesting that two different & very talented creators had a somewhat similar approach for their regular cast members.

Roddenberry wanted perfect people; Geller wanted blank slates.

[Krel]

I can't remember the question he was asked, and this is most probably not an exact quote. But Rod Serling once said, that no matter how far in the future, or how far mankind travels, people will always be people.

David.

[johnnybear]

Unless they're apes?
JB

[Krel]

Then that would be apekind not mankind.

David.

[Pow]

A Few Nits.

As Wesley enters the holodeck, the camera gives us a full view of Jack Crusher in his uniform which is the same kind as worn by the original Enterprise crew in The Wrath of Khan.

Jack isn't wearing a communicator badge.

Then Wesley starts up the message, Jack now has a communicator badge on his chest.

Does anyone else find it odd that Jack Crusher is wearing a uniform just like the ones worn by the original crew in The Wrath of Khan, and its sequels?

Jack recorded this message only eighteen years ago. Did Starfleet really use that style of uniform for that many years?

Item: Why not? If you look at our American military uniforms today compared to decades ago, have they been radically updated all that much?

It seems to me that it's completely plausible that a particular style of Starfleet uniform could remain little altered over a long period of time.

Technological advances can come along rapidly, but clothing doesn't always follow at the same speed.

[Krel]

I don't remember the name of the episode, but when they showed Picard as a young Star Fleet Officer, he was wearing a WOK uniform.

David.

[johnnybear]

I found it odd when Robert asked Jean Luc about his experiences with the Borg and said, "What did they do to you out there?" Almost as if he thought it was Starfleet or another humanoid race had tortured him. Wasn't he told about the Borg or that they wanted to convert the entirety of humanity into their ranks?
JB

[Bud Brewster]

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Well said, Johnny!

I've always thought that the threat posed by the Borg should have united all the spacefaring species in the galaxy and caused them to declare all-out war on those sick, inhuman creatures.

Completely destroying the Borg would be the only way to safeguard the sentient beings of the galaxy from being assimilated. And it would have provided a merciful end to the pitiful existence of the countless lifeforms the Borg had converted into mindless drones.

The Federation's laudable respect for life should NOT apply to beings who have been converted into Borg drones — unless there was a way to wipe out the Borg collective, free all the drones, and provide them with effective medical treatments that could repair all-or-most of the damage the Borg had done!

Sparing someone from death when they are being tortured for decades is more cruel than granting them an end to their suffering.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)