Episode no. Season 5
Episode 10 Teleplay by Grant Rosenberg Production code 210 | Directed by Robert Scheerer Featured music Dennis McCarthy | |
Story by Sara Charno
Stuart Charno | ||
"New Ground" is the 110th episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The tenth episode of the fifth season.
Worf is less than thrilled when his foster mother, Helena, arrives with his son Alexander. Although Helena and Worf's foster father, Sergey, had agreed to raise the boy after K'Ehleyr's death, Helena now reports that Alexander is having difficult time adjusting to his new life; he needs to be raised by his father on the Enterprise. Predictably, Worf, and Alexander have a difficult time adjusting to one another- a situation aggravated by a ship-based experiment that becomes life-threatening.
Plot
La Forge is excited about the first trial run of soliton wave transportation technology that the Enterprise will be assisting with. La Forge notes that witnessing the Soliton wave transportation would be like witnessing Zefram Cochrane engage the first warp drive, but his excitement is not shared by Data and Worf. Worf receives a communication from his human mother who requests to visit with his son Alexander. On arrival, they reveal that it was not intended for him to go back. Worf's mother explains that Alexander is too much of a burden on them. After enrolling Alexander in school, Worf finds many new problems with the arrival of his son. Alexander soon lies and steals during a school field trip.
During the wave transportation experiment, the Enterprise is damaged during a distortion and the test ship explodes. The wave exponentially increases in power and speed, set on a collision course with a colony at Lemma II.
Alexander continues to cause problems in school while Worf reviews his parenting habits. He contemplates sending Alexander to a Klingon school, believing that it is best. However, Alexander feels he is being rejected by Worf.
The Enterprise dissipates the wave with photon torpedoes. Alexander is saved from a damaged area of the Enterprise by Riker and Worf. Afterwards, Worf lets Alexander stay on the Enterprise.