Another soft peddled episode that looks at a form of child abduction. I say soft peddled because real child abduction, at least in the news, usually deals with sexual abuse and murder of said child. Not always. I think I heard tell that disaffected or divorced parents comprise a good number of abductions, though I can't recall exactly.
The result is that you get an episode that looks at negotiating a way to get the children of the Enterprise back on board, yet in the end captain and crew resort to a Captain Kirk solution but without the action you might expect from Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Bones, et al.
So, again, it's a show designed for a broader audience overall; both sexes both younger and older than the audience for the old show produced in the 1960s.
I guess my real gripe here is why any of the producers decided that slapping on the Star Trek name was a good move for this TV show. Personally, had I produced it, given the themes, I would have situated it on a colony world in a space oriented civilization, but in a purely different fictional setting, or if it was to be the same fictional setting, then Star Fleet would be service that only rarely came to visit.
In this episode children are given everything they want, even a no-need to go to school desire is satisfied. It's allegorical for the abuse such victims suffer from their abductors, and again the show is geared towards not just a broader audience but one that has the female viewer in mind. In my opinion when you try to satisfy everyone you wind up satisfying no one. But perhaps that thinking is erroneous, as this show did develop a huge following in spite of its obvious flaws. Which tells me that the catering to both a broader and younger audience, with a stronger emphasis on female characters, served this show's function.
But, for all that, like I say Picard and crew rely on a Captain Kirk solution, but without the derring-do of neither Kirk, Spock nor the rest of the Enterprise's crew. That's because the emphasis wasn't on the plot as such but how the parties might talk or interact with one another to get the kids back to where they belong.
If you like that sort of thing, then more power to you. But, like I say, I stopped watching after the first season because of episodes like this, and their execution. Like the producers stated, "This is not your father's Star Trek", and they kept true to their word.
I'm done being angry about it, and now shrug my shoulders at the whole thing. No amount of protesting would change their minds nor magically alter the show to something I think I would have enjoyed. But it is galling to finally discover, after all these decades, the true agenda behind TV, why it's so hard to get into the film and TV industries, knowing that there are a few million writers and would be producers out there who would have done a better job, but were kept at arm's length for the afore mentioned reasons. And that in spite of the altering of the fiction, because the show had the Star Trek label on it, people ate it up regardless.
Child abduction is no laughing matter, but this episode is almost laughable. It keeps a serious tone but keeps the abduction and what happens to the children in G-Rated territory. Is that a good thing? I don't know. Again I never became a fan of this show, so you'll have to decide for yourself.
And I think that's all I have to say about this TV series.
