‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘Galaxy’s Child’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

One particular behavior that all of us are guilty of, is taking the time to lose ourselves within the framework of a fantasy, and there is good reason as to why we do that. After all, sometimes the world and everyday life are simply too much to bear and enjoying a fantasy or two helps us to escape and settle our minds. And sometimes… fantasies give us hope, especially when it comes to dating. Because when we meet someone that catches our eye and dream of what could be a fulfilling relationship, our spirits our lifted and we feel good about taking a chance on love once again. But while fantasies do indeed have their merit, they also have their respective dangers.

Because if we spend too much time using them to escape everyday life, we quickly lose sight of what matters and likely shirk our responsibilities in the real world. And of course, if we hold too tight to romantic fantasies, they can poison a relationship or ruin a potential one when the realities that come with a relationship don't match our fantasy's expectations. If anything, all of this is relevant to our discussion today… simply because the problems that accompany fantasies, specifically ones revolving around love, served as the focal theme for the next episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. For ‘Galaxy’s Child’ saw Dr. Leah Brahms come aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise for an inspection and well, that put Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge over the moon.

For he truly believed that he would be able to connect with Leah on a fundamental level and make the romance that he started with her holo-persona in ‘Booby Trap’ an outright reality and well… that idea went about as well as one might expect. Because the real Dr. Brahms was nothing like her hologram and the friction that she experienced with Geordi burst his bubble quick and left him somewhat despondent. Until of course he came to realize that living in a fantasy world in regard to love was a waste of time and that building a real connection with someone mattered more than anything else. And at the very least, he was able to forge a friendship with Leah and well, that’s all that we really need to discuss when it comes to this episode’s theme. Since its commentary on fantasies was pretty clean cut and dry.

Which is why it is a wonderful thing that this story had more to offer than a straightforward analysis of this concept. Since there was the whole matter involving the ‘Child’ from the episode’s title. For this particular tale took the time to shake things up for the crew by giving them a unique task, one that involved a random encounter with a peanut shaped alien that attacked the Enterprise because it was giving birth. And the unfortunate response from the crew, one involving phasers, killed the mother and motivated the crew to save the baby and well… the baby decided that the 1701-D should be its mother and suckle energy from it. Which led to a frenzied and difficult, and eventually successful push to get it to its own kind and to get it to detach from the ship. Something that was made possible by Geordi and Leah and well, in the end, this was simply a lighthearted and fluffy tale.

One that really did a wonderful job of showing us how much life matters in the 24th Century since Picard was devastated over hurting a life form and risked plenty to save its offspring and it also allowed for Geordi to shine. Because let's be honest, this really was the first true Geordi-centric tale in TNG. Granted we've had quality moments with him before and ‘Booby Trap’ did make him the focus. But this one really let us get to know the man, and come to understand that he's a huge romantic and would do anything to find true love and that he's truly passionate about his work. As evidenced by his defense of the changes he made to Leah's precious engines and well, there's no faults to be found in this tale. It's just a good old fashioned, character-centric Next Gen episode that puts a smile upon your face and you can never go wrong with that. Until next time.

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