Rascals (episode)

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

Captain Picard, Ensign Ro, Guinan, and Keiko O'Brien are regressed physiologically to the age of twelve, by a transporter accident, but retain their adult memories, resulting in different reactions from each. When rogue Ferengi hijack the Enterprise, the young crewmembers, along with Alexander Rozhenko, lead the revolt.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

"Captain's log, Stardate 46235.7. Ensign Ro, Keiko O'Brien, Guinan, and I are returning to the Enterprise after a fascinating visit to the planet Marlonia."

Young crew — The away party as twelve-year-olds

Captain Picard, Ro Laren, Keiko, and Guinan are returning to the starship aboard the Enterprise-D shuttlecraft Fermi. Their recent visit to Marlonia was a botanic and archaeology expedition, during which Keiko found a specimen of Draebidium calimus and Picard found 700-year-old crockery, with inscriptions somewhat resembling early Taguan but more closely resembling Barolian designs. Suddenly, their shuttlecraft is enveloped by an energy anomaly. They are beamed out of the emergency, but their transport to the Enterprise is difficult – Chief O'Brien having been puzzled by the implications of a forty-percent drop in mass of the transportees, believing that he has lost one of them. When the four members of the away party are beamed aboard the ship, they and O'Brien are shocked by the materialization, on the transporter platform, of a twelve-year-old captain, bartender, botanist, and Bajoran ensign, instead of their adult selves.

Act One[]

Young Picard speaks to Data — "*Mr. Data, have you secured all of the shuttle debris?*"
"*Almost. It is being stored in shuttlebay two… sir.*"

The four Enterprise crewmembers, despite their new appearances, fortunately still have the mental capacity and memories of their former bodies. Since he seems physically fit enough, Picard immediately heads to the bridge to handle the situation. While dealing with the crew's discomfort at his appearance after he enters the bridge, he gives Worf the command to leave a class 4 probe behind to study the area and head to Ligos VII, once they are done salvaging the remains of the Fermi. Privately, in Picard's ready room, Doctor Crusher tries to convince him to relieve himself of duty, in case the transformation becomes more serious and begins affecting his mental capacity. He reluctantly agrees and places Commander Riker in command of the ship until further notice and retires to his quarters.

Elsewhere on the ship, Guinan and Ro are trying to adjust to their new lifestyles. Ro just wants to return to duty, while Guinan is enjoying this experience of being a child. She tells Ro she has not been this young in a very long time and intends to enjoy every minute of it. Ro complains constantly about how much she hates being a child, but Guinan insists on how fun childhood is. Ro leaves to contemplate her current situation alone in her quarters, although Guinan joins her in a turbolift.

Also, Keiko's situation is at odds with her family life, what with her being a wife and mother. Her husband, Miles, is confounded by the fact that she now resembles the image of a twelve-year-old girl. In the course of a difficult discussion with Keiko, who is worried about their marriage, he eventually reassures her that they will make it work but admits he does not know how to do so. Their daughter, Molly, does not recognize her mother when she comes to read her a bedtime story. Rather than telling Molly what has happened, Keiko leaves the room and Miles tells the story instead.

Act Two[]

"First officer's log, supplemental. The Enterprise has reached the Ligos system. We have begun to search for the missing Federation science team. Doctor Crusher reports no progress on a cure for the members of the shuttle crew."

Counselor Troi comes to see Picard. Exploring the possibility that he must grow up again, she suggests alternatives for him, should Starfleet not accept a child captain, such as getting another degree at Starfleet Academy or taking a sabbatical, and studying geology or archaeology. He admits the options have an appeal, but still seem like a big step, and feels like that would mean his life is moving backward, instead of forward.

Doctor Crusher compares the rybo-viroxic-nucleic sequences of tissues taken from Picard prior to the event and afterwards. It appears that the new sample is missing several key viroxic sequences. She explains to Riker that, somehow, these sequences were lost during transport. The same effect happened to Keiko's plants. By accelerating the growth, the plant became a normal, older plant, which means, if they do nothing, the four crewmembers will grow up again, like normal. She then gets the idea of using the transporter pattern buffer since she has all the affected crew members patterns on file.

Geordi La Forge arrives in the cargo bay with a sensor report to meet O'Brien. They proceed to study the shuttle debris and find the tritanium's molecular structure on the starboard side has completely broken down and can be easily crushed with the hand. La Forge decides to run a metallurgical analysis on it in engineering.

Meanwhile, Guinan finally persuades Ro to have a little childhood fun, which apparently allows Ro to relax and enjoy herself; they jump on a bed, each trying to go higher than the other.

USS Enterprise-D under attack by two Birds-of-Prey — The *Enterprise*-D under attack by the Ferengi renegades

La Forge and O'Brien report to Riker their theory: a molecular reversion field caught the shuttle and threw off the transporter lock, reconstructing the away party as children when it missed the RVN sequences. Crusher starts to confirm her transporter option with O'Brien when Riker is called to the bridge, since they have arrived at Ligos VII. Riker tells them they will discuss this option later and heads for the bridge.

The crew starts their investigation when two Klingon Birds-of-Prey decloak and start firing.

Act Three[]

Enterprise-D crew captured — "*You will cooperate with our salvage operations, or we will begin… executing your crew.*"

The Enterprise is able to fire briefly but quickly loses systems. Soon, the ship is boarded by Ferengi at multiple locations, including the bridge. Fortunately for the Enterprise crew, Riker manages to lock out the computer's command functions as the Ferengi arrive with weapons drawn. They begin transporting all able-bodied adults to the surface of the planet.

The leader of the Ferengi invaders, DaiMon Lurin, enters the bridge, and the Ferengi crew reports that they have secured the ship but don't have command access. Addressing Riker, Lurin declares the ship to be a loss and open for the claim to salvage according to the Ferengi Salvage Code, demanding the Enterprise officers help or the Ferengi will start killing them.

Act Four[]

The Ferengi decide to keep the children aboard the Enterprise. One of the Ferengi takes Picard to a schoolroom aboard the ship and leaves him there. Ro, Guinan, Keiko, and Alexander are already in the room. Ro knows the Ferengi have control of engineering and several decks, and the children have to assume the intruders have occupied the bridge. Ro suggest flooding the ship with Anesthizine to knock out the Ferengi, but Picard quickly turns this option down due to command functions being locked out. Because they are no longer adults, Guinan states that they may need to starting acting their age if they want to stop the Ferengi.

Lurin is enjoying the captain's ready room as Riker is brought in and tells him that his little adventure risks going to war with the Federation, but Lurin explains that he and his cohorts are not affiliated with the Ferengi Alliance and are in business for themselves. He reveals they plan to use the crew as additional slave labor in extracting vendarite from the planet, with the Federation science team already being used. Lurin plans to sell the Enterprise to the Romulans and threatens to kill the vessel's entire crew unless Riker helps him.

Picard and Guinan wrestle with trying to operate a computer in the schoolroom, which won't allow normal schematic information on the Enterprise-D, though they do manage to obtain a decent graphic representation of the ship in general. Ro and Keiko open up a panel to a Jefferies tube, and they all head in to begin putting in action what they have planned. Picard and Keiko lure the Ferengi in the transporter room out with a toy car, obtain phasers, and set up a force field around the transporter pad, while Alexander steals two hyposprays from sickbay, and Ro and Guinan head to main engineering and wait there.

Number One Dad — "*He's my number one dad!*"

Next, Picard needs to get to the bridge and talk to Riker. By tricking Berik, the Ferengi guard outside the room in which he is held captive, by acting petulant (as a child might), Picard manages to get him to bring him to Riker in the observation lounge, under the pretense that Riker is his father. Riker is surprised, but immediately plays along.

Act Five[]

Pretending to want to play computer games, Picard conveys a message, while sitting at the table in the observation lounge, to Riker to activate the LCARS net in the schoolroom, which would give them full access to the ship's computer systems. Once Picard is back in the classroom, Lurin threatens to harm the children if Riker does not unlock the computer and teach his lieutenant Morta how to operate the Enterprise. Riker pretends to instruct the Ferengi officer but only speaks in nonsensical technobabble. On the side, Riker unlocks the computer in the classroom.

When the "children" gain control to the transporter, they start using combadges, to beam the Ferengi behind a force field on the transporter pad, and the weapons deactivation program, to disable their sidearms. With the majority of the Ferengi confined, and with help from Riker, Picard disables the Ferengi on the bridge and confronts Lurin in the ready room with a phaser, thus ending the siege.

Ro and Guinan coloring — Ro coloring with Guinan and enjoying her second chance at childhood

"Captain's log, Stardate 46236.3. We have taken Lurin and his men into custody. The Ferengi Alliance has quickly disavowed any knowledge of these renegades. With the mining operation closed and our crew back on board, we can now turn our attention to other problems."

After the Ferengi are taken into custody, Doctor Crusher and Chief O'Brien use the transporter to successfully change Picard, Keiko and Guinan back into adults. However, at Guinan's suggestion, Ro decides to stay a child a little longer, so she can finally learn to enjoy her childhood.

Log entries[]

Memorable quotes[]

"Look at these fragments. They're… they're very nearly in perfect condition, and yet they're seven hundred years old."
"So is my father."

- Picard and Guinan

"So, what the hell am I supposed to do now?"

- Young Ro, getting used to being a child again

"You are asking me to step down."
"You are still Jean-Luc Picard. What do you think you should do?"

- Young Picard and Crusher, after she advises him to hand command of the Enterprise to Riker

"Well, I should be doing something, instead of just standing around, waiting for them to find a cure!"
"You're right. Let's go play."

- Young Ro and Young Guinan

"[Childhood] was a long, depressing period of my life and I was grateful when it was finally over. I'd rather not relive it."

- Young Ro, to Young Guinan

"I haven't been young for a long time and I intend to enjoy every minute of it."

- Young Guinan, to Young Ro

"It's… I don't know, but this feels wrong somehow."
"Miles Edward O'Brien, I am still your wife."

- Miles O' Brien and Young Keiko, readjusting to married life

"You could return to the Academy. Take another degree. Brush up on your Latin."
"And be Wesley Crusher's roommate?"

- Troi and Young Picard, discussing Picard's choices while waiting for his body to mature again

"[…] I've spent my life looking forward […]"

- Young Picard, about his attitude toward life

"It's a child's computer, remember? Computer, can you show me a picture of the inside of the Enterprise?"
"Yes, I can. The Enterprise is a Galaxy-class starship. Do you know how to spell Enterprise? E-N-T-E-R-…"
"Delete audio!"

- Young Guinan, the elementary school computer, and Young Picard

"This is the first time these Jefferies tubes haven't seemed cramped."
"How much farther do we have to go?"
"About fifty meters. Don't tell me you're tired."
"I'm not as young as I used to be."

- Young Ro and Young Guinan

"I need to see my father. … I need to see him right now! … I need to see him now! Now, now, now, now, now, now, now, n- – Stop it; you hurt me! I want my father! I want my father!"

- Young Picard, to Berik

"Thanks, Number One."
(A Ferengi guard eyes Picard and Riker with suspicion)
"- He's my number one dad!"
(Picard and Riker embrace, grinning widely)

- Young Picard, plotting with Riker to recapture the Enterprise

"I believe you're in my chair."

- Young Picard, as he points a phaser at Lurin in his ready room

"How do you feel?"
"I feel fine. Everything… seems a little smaller."

- Crusher and Picard, after the latter is returned to being an adult by the transporter

"Did you do this one, too?"
"Uh-huh. I did that one, all of them!"

- Adult Guinan and Young Ro, discussing Ro's drawings

Background information[]

Production history[]

Writers' first draft script: 10 November 1991
Third draft script: 12 August 1992 [1]
Final draft script: 4 September 1992 [2]
Premiere airdate: 2 November 1992
First UK airdate: 23 August 1995

Story and script[]

Whoopi Goldberg and Cosmo Genovese — Goldberg and script supervisor Cosmo Genovese on set

This episode's story idea was bought by Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor during the fifth season. The script went through a number of rewrites before being assigned to Ronald D. Moore. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 223)
Moore recalled, "When Michael bought the premise I thought he was completely insane: An Away Team rematerializes on the transporter as children — with adult minds! I tried again and again to bury this idea, which of course meant that I would get saddled with the inevitable rewrite when the script came in. I just thought it was a ludicrous idea and wanted nothing to do with it. That said, once I got the assignment, the professional writer in me had to commit to the material and do the best with it that I could, so I tried very hard to bring humor and Humanity to the proceedings, chiefly through the Guinan/Ro story." (AOL chat, 1997)
In another interview, he remarked, "It was not my favorite assignment and it was a difficult show to write." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 264)
Taylor noted that Ferengi were chosen as antagonists because "Would you believe four little kids could retake [the Enterprise] from the Cardassians?" (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 223)
Langford was named after a woman Moore was dating at the time. He commented, "She wasn't a fan and we stopped going out soon after, so I don't think she ever saw it!" (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 223)
Moore referred to the scene where Riker confuses the Ferengi with fictional technology as his "salute to technobabble". (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 223)
As a self-described "liberal arts moron", Moore turned to science advisor Naren Shankar for assistance. Shankar remembered, "The problem was that it was virtually impossible to come up with a sensible explanation and so we kind of did a lot of hand waving on this episode." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 264)
"Rybo-viroxic-nucleic" (RVN) was invented by Moore and Shankar in the hope it would be a pleasing sound of letters that would not invite close scrutiny. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 223)
As originally scripted, when the Ferengi begin to board the Enterprise, both Worf and Data were rendered unconscious by the intruders. [3] In the final episode, Data remained uninjured and was held captive along with the rest of the bridge crew.
Jill Sherman Donner was credited as co-writer on the third draft script but was not credited in the actual episode. [4]

Production[]

This episode was directed by Adam Nimoy, the son of Leonard Nimoy. He also later directed "Timescape". Naren Shankar remarked, "For Adam, that was a helluva way to make a directorial debut. Directing kids is not easy under any circumstances." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 264)
This episode was filmed after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine pilot, "Emissary" (although it aired two months earlier). ^{(citation needed • edit)}
Two shots of the battle against the Birds-of-Prey were reused from "Yesterday's Enterprise".

Cast and characters[]

Adam Nimoy and David Tristan Birkin — Adam Nimoy directs Birkin

As Ro was not seen returning to an adult in this episode, the writing staff considered having her choose to remain a child. Jeri Taylor commented, "Where else but on Star Trek could you do something like that? But it seemed too drastic for us, and we were sort of squelched on that." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 223)
This episode marks the only appearance of Hana Hatae (Molly O'Brien) on the series. The character of Molly O'Brien was previously played by Angela and Angelica Tedeski.
Mike Gomez and Tracey Walter previously appeared together as different Ferengi, Tarr and Kayron, respectively, in "The Last Outpost". Michael Snyder also previously played a different Ferengi, Qol, in "The Perfect Mate".
The young Picard is played by David Tristan Birkin, the same actor who played Captain Picard's nephew René Picard in the episode "Family". David was actually fifteen years old when "Rascals" was filmed.
The actress who played Young Guinan, Isis J. Jones, also played a young version of Whoopi Goldberg's (Adult Guinan) character in the movie Sister Act, which was released the same year as this episode aired.

Continuity[]

This is the last episode of the series, chronologically, in which Miles, Keiko, and Molly O'Brien appear. Soon thereafter, Miles O'Brien transfers to Deep Space 9, accompanied by his family. An earlier version of him does, however, appear in TNG finale "All Good Things...", in scenes set in 2364. Although Miles appears as early as DS9 pilot "Emissary", both Molly and Keiko make their first DS9 appearance in "A Man Alone".
There is a reference to this episode in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fourth season episode "Bar Association". In that episode, Odo cites the case of the Ferengi invaders as an example of security breaches aboard the Enterprise-D.
Captain Kirk and crew had undergone a similar change (reverting to children) in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Counter-Clock Incident".
Picard pretending to be Riker's son recalls the episode "Future Imperfect", in which Riker had a son named "Jean-Luc" in a holographic simulation of the Enterprise-D.
In this episode, Miles O'Brien shares a coffee with Keiko in the late evening. By the Deep Space Nine second season episode "Armageddon Game", either Miles made a point to stop drinking coffee in the afternoon or Keiko apparently forgot that he does occasionally drink coffee late in the day. It could also be a one-off, given the strangeness of the situation.
Guinan is ultimately able to get the classroom computer to display a rudimentary diagram of the Enterprise which shows the classroom as being towards the port-side forward edge of the saucer section. As Picard directs Guinan to Engineering, the insert shot shows him indicating that a service conduit will take them towards the forward edge of the saucer, and then to a Jeffries Tube clockwise around the saucer (towards Starboard). He then notes that they will "still have to cross [a] corridor before you get to Main Engineering". This is inconsistent with Main Engineering generally being depicted as being far aft of the classroom, and many decks below, on deck 36 in the stardrive section. When they are actually shown to make the journey, they do descend at least one deck by ladder (a step Picard doesn't mention) after travelling through a Jefferies tube.

Reception[]

Ronald D. Moore ultimately wasn't fond of this episode, with the exception of the subplot featuring Guinan and Ro Laren. "I did end up liking [it] in the end," Moore said about that element of this installment. "I still cringe when I think of the episode (the Ferengi capture the Enterprise in a couple of broken-down Birds of Prey???) but many people have told me how much they like it." (AOL chat, 1997)
Rick Berman referred to this outing as a "fun" episode with a "very imaginative" story. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 23, No. 6, p. 18)

Video and DVD releases[]

UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 67, 17 May 1993
As part of the TNG Season 6 DVD collection

Links and references[]

Starring[]

Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker

Also starring[]

LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

Guest stars[]

And

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

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Rascals (episode)

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