‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘Rascals’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It is definitely safe to say, that each and every one of us… run into important lessons in life that we genuinely wish we could have learned when we were younger. For we know that having that knowledge would have saved us a great deal of suffering or strife in say, our 20s or our outright youth. But alas, the vast majority of us know that such thoughts are fleeting and that we cannot go back and know what we know at a different age and move on with the lesson in hand. But for some, this thought is something of an outright obsession since they struggle with learning lessons later in life, for various reasons, and ironically, for some, this is such an engaging idea, that they feel a need to bring it to life creatively and oddly enough, the next episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, opted to explore this concept in a fascinating manner.

For ‘Rascals’ sees Captain Picard, Ensign Ro, Keiko and Guinan go through quite the transformation thanks to a transporter accident. One where they emerge from the matter stream as pre-teens. Which of course puts them in a precarious situation emotionally and mentally since no one will listen to Starfleet officers that are straight up kids and of course, kids can’t tend bar nor can they dispense advice without life experiences, nor can a kid be properly seen as a wife. But of course, they eventually make themselves useful when rogue Ferengi take over the Enterprise, since they can in fact… use their knowledge of childhood and adulthood to surprise the ship's new foes into submission. 

Which is a plot that surprisingly allows for quite the intelligent and fascinating story to take place. One that does make it inherently clear that being a kid with an adult mind, would actually be quite the awful and boring experience. In large part because of the reasons outlined above, but also because the thrill of growing older and taking part in new experiences wouldn’t be present in the slightest. For one would know what is coming and would handle those matters easy, making the mind and heart stagnant and that’s something we all know we need to avoid. Which means that in essence, this story and its explorations are designed to point out several important lessons to those desperate to have done things differently in life.

For instance, this story points out… that we can make a difference after all with the lessons we learn at critical points in our lives, by sharing them with those that are young. So that we can in fact, set someone else up for success and heal a wound in the process. But most important of all, this episode works to teach us, that life is a wild and beautiful experience. One filled with ups and down and while it would be great to take away the downs… they define us and they shape us and the sooner we realize how every moment and lesson, both good and bad have given us strength, the faster those fleeting thoughts dissipate from our minds, and we can focus on new lessons and new experiences with the wonderful people that surround us. 

However, while it is obvious that this unique tale offers up some deep ideas and concepts that stay with you after this episode has come to an end, make no mistake about it… it teaches us these things, in a supremely fun manner. Because seeing a child Picard trying to command the Enterprise is both quirky and hilarious, as was seeing him embrace the temper tantrum side of childhood he left behind long ago, in order to save the ship and while this is one that some fans love and others cannot stand, this writer personally feels that this episode deserves some merit. Simply because it really is quite the original story for certain, and you can never go wrong with a fun episode of this show that has a lot of heart and some depth and meaning for the audience to chew upon. Until next time.

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