Rascals
Posted by knabe4k@reddit | TNG | View on Reddit | 60 comments
Aside from maybe (but probably not even) Guinan.....why on earth would any of the shuttle occupants want to forgo the gift of 30+ years being added to their lives?
TheOneWhoRocks@reddit
Because people don't take children seriously, and it makes romantic relationships unworkable.
Serious answer for a silly episode.
caphis@reddit
I was actually somewhat surprised by Miles’ reaction. Yes, it’s weird and jarring. But I think character-wise, he’d have the capacity to get past it given Keiko is his actual wife and life partner, and she’s the one in the body. There would definitely need to be some explaining to do with outsiders, but Miles definitely could’ve shown a bit more empathy and love considering she went through what amounts to a disfiguring disability.
Frotzing@reddit
The audience needed to see right away that Miles was horrified by what had happened to her. We needed to quickly see, without a lot of uncomfortable exposition, that he was absolutely repulsed by the idea of romantic intimacy with a child. Anything other than an unambiguous "I hate this with all of my being" would have irredemably corrupted the character.
caphis@reddit
Perhaps, but it also raises the question of which will ultimately triumph- your personal level of disgust with a hideous physical disfigurement of your partner, or your love for them? I don’t disagree that Miles should be horrified and fear facing this question — but what I’m getting at is that he should’ve grappled with that out of view from Keiko. By himself or with the ship’s counselor, or a friend, would be the ideal (IMO) way to have handled it.
Happy1327@reddit
Im an adult. No one takes me seriously and my romantic relationships are unworkable too
TheOneWhoRocks@reddit
I'm posting to a TNG subreddit. The same goes for me, brother.
zombiehoosier@reddit
Maybe Picard just prefers to be bald.
PaleAd1124@reddit
Guinan would have to go through life with her voice dubbed over. That could get annoying.
Snailfreund@reddit
It sounds great on paper, but the cost is very high. People perceive you as a child and treat you accordingly. You don't belong to the world of adults anymore, but you can't hang around other kids, either. Social isolation would be the consequence. Best case scenario is probably when you're a mathematician, working at home, communicating by mail. But for Picard, a Captain? His career would be over. Even if his crew accepted the way he looks, how is he supposed to engage in diplomacy with people like Gowron, Gul Macet or Tomalak? It just doesn't work out. You receive an amazing gift, but you have to reinvent yourself from scratch. It does get easier once you become an adult again, though.
Northsun9@reddit
And the downside?
SignificantPop4188@reddit
Troi does mention to Picard that he could explore his love of archeology as a new career. I would totally take the extra 30 years and reinvent myself.
Fabulous-Sea-1590@reddit
I'm not sure it would get easier. The social isolation part would only compound. You watch your old life skip away, just out of reach, while it's basically impossible to form a meaningful relationship ever again. Your "peers" are all either a couple of decades younger than you experientially, or a couple of decades older than you physically.
TheBurgareanSlapper@reddit
The decision should’ve been tougher, but I can see it. Picard would’ve had to give up his career. Ro has serious PTSD from childhood and also would have to give up her second chance in Starfleet. Keiko would’ve had to give up her marriage to Miles (at least for a few years, possibly forever).
BeneficialSebast9020@reddit
It would have destroyed Molly
knabe4k@reddit (OP)
Eh. Arguably the only plausible reason. But kids that age are rather plastic. Daddy growing a beard is about the same change. She'd get over it. And have the benefit of her mom being around another 30 years
Middcore@reddit
On the other hand, setting aside any gender-based disparities in lifespan that might exist at the time, and the possibility of either of them being killed by a Negative Space Wedgie, Keiko is now like to outlive her husband by decades.
A sobering thought for her.
CaptainMatticus@reddit
That's the real thing to consider. I worked with a guy long ago who met his wife when he was 31 and she was 21. Now, at 65, he wanted to retire and she still had 10 years left to her career. "By the time she's ready to retire, I'll be in diapers. The pool boy will get to enjoy my money and all of that time with her!"
He loved his wife, he just wished they could've been closer in age.
MindlessNectarine374@reddit
Was that in the past or in the present?
CaptainMatticus@reddit
I knew him 17 years ago, so if he's still alive, he'd be 82 or 83 today.
MindlessNectarine374@reddit
My relatives of that age are very agile. I never heard that they would need diapers.
CaptainMatticus@reddit
Well your experience is everyone's experience.
Also, there's a thing known as "humor," which was indicated by his use of images like old men in diapers and pool boys banging one's wife while he's gone or incapacitated.
RaechelMaelstrom@reddit
Molly would have ended up like Alexander!
Stagnu_Demorte@reddit
Don't be silly, O'Brien is a good dad
greeneggiwegs@reddit
When hes not too busy being kidnapped, tortured, etc
BeneficialSebast9020@reddit
getmybehindsatan@reddit
They are only physically younger, all of their qualifications remain. There must be aliens of similar size already in Star Fleet so it shouldn't even be that unusual for people to get used to.
Sea-Quality4726@reddit
Surely Picard could at least take a short tour with the First Federation.
Cookie_Kiki@reddit
Ro was developmentally 12. If we adjust for the Bajoran calendar, she's basically the age that Wesley was when he was made an ensign.
man_vs_cube@reddit
In "The Neutral Zone" (the episode where they find the cryonically frozen humans from hundreds of years ago), Crusher explains that cryonic freezing was a brief fad that people did because they were extremely afraid of death at the time. It's not completely unambiguous, but the implication seems to be that 24th century humans... don't really fear death? They have some level of acceptance for dying after living "natural" lifespans? It's a strange speech by Crusher that caught me attention on a recent rewatch.
https://youtu.be/JHc4SKJCe3o?si=CKGLbaoGgvCyRGvG
medicus_au@reddit
Early Installment Weirdness. Gene was still at the helm and he had some good and not so good ideas, humans being totally accepting of death is one of them. In Season 3 there's an episode where a woman dies and her 10 year old son is supposed to be fine with it.
Later on in DS9 Bashir laments his upcoming 30th birthday so they definitely still have fear of mortality.
MindlessNectarine374@reddit
I constantly meet people that tell they aren't afraid of death. Mostly old people.
medicus_au@reddit
10 year old kids though?
Hairy_Stinkeye@reddit
People say all kinds of wacky bullshit in the first couple seasons
NYnosher@reddit
It was explained pretty clearly for each character
knabe4k@reddit (OP)
All bullshit though. I want to cut my life expectancy by half to make other people like me? Fuck that. Take the unexpected windfall and run.
Middcore@reddit
"to make other people like me" is a weird way to minimize things like the very real career and relationship consequences they were facing,
knabe4k@reddit (OP)
That's entirely my point. They were young again. It was done.
Full stop.
They had the inverse of cosmetic surgery. They chose to be older to accommodate other people's preferences. They cut decades off their life because other people had issues.
Middcore@reddit
Yeah for sure bro, Keiko should have just told Miles, "If you're uncomfortable being married to a pre-pubescent girl, that's YOUR problem."
MarioJinn2@reddit
Picard going full Korra
"IM THE CAPITAN, AND YOU HAVE TO DRAL WITH IT"
lol thanks for that image haha
knabe4k@reddit (OP)
I read that quote in her voice. It sounded exactly like something she'd say. It came right after "MEO I am still your wife"
And her biological age was mentioned as close to 12. /9 biologically males and females are sexually mature in their teens. It wouldn't have been anything near a decade before it wasn't weird for either of them. Not really applicable at all.
No man is gonna object to his wife suddenly having the body of a teenager and the mind of a middle aged woman. After the shock wore off he 100% would have been cool with waiting it out.
Middcore@reddit
You're kinda starting to creep me out, man.
knabe4k@reddit (OP)
You're kind of missing the point that she was still the same adult mind. There is zero relatability to pedophilia. Mentally an adult. Literally mentally a middle aged woman. It's sci-fi, not grooming. Pretty sick place for you to take it.
TNG-ModTeam@reddit
No racism, sexism, queerphobia, or other bigotry is allowed in this sub.
Middcore@reddit
"Yes, this character looks like a child, but she's actually a 400-year-old demon spirit!"
knabe4k@reddit (OP)
I think you don't understand what quotation marks are for
DropBearSquare@reddit
What the hell? Just because YOU are sexually attracted to 12 year olds does not mean that all men are. You just outed yourself in a Star Trek sub. GTFOH!
BurdenedMind79@reddit
If you were Keiko would you be ok with giving up sex for the next decade and having your child despise you because they don't recognise you as their mother?
More life isn't necessarily a win if the time you get is shit.
FullMetal_55@reddit
I don't want to go through puberty again... fuck that noise...
DuranStar@reddit
The accident didn't actually make them younger it just rebuilt their bodies into prepubescent form. They weren't going to live any longer, they would still 'get old' and die around the same time as they would have normally. That's how they were able to be made back into their correct age. They all appeared the same age even though they had wildly different starting ages and were restored to their correct age with the same process even though that changed their age by wildly different amounts.
u2125mike2124@reddit
The silliness of that episode is that Guinean who at that point was already centuries old reverted back to a child. The same as a human and a Bajoran who are of similar lifespans.
But I guess this is just another example of the magic of TNG writers
Crimson60652@reddit
I mean for Guinan this would have tacked on 500+ years…
medicus_au@reddit
Like all transporter magic episodes, you just have to forget about it and move on.
It's a long-established tradition, heck the transporter split Kirk into his good and evil halves in like episode 3 of TOS.
Fuzzy_Builder_2153@reddit
If G was like 500 years older, and the effect was proportional, wouldn't she be a young mature (20-30ish) instead of a preteener?
knabe4k@reddit (OP)
Oh that's this whole other thing. Because K & P were both human. And their 20 year age gap didn't apply.
Cookie_Kiki@reddit
Well, Miles wasn't into it, Ro was uncomfortable with puberty, and Picard's head was hot under all that hair. Guinan had fun, though.
knabe4k@reddit (OP)
So I was a kid that had basically no puberty related issues. Awkward and nerdy sure but none of it related to puberty. But now in my 40s dealing with hair loss.....yeah....I dunno if I'd want to see the replay of the car accident happening on top of my head again.
TanningOnMars@reddit
Yeah, this was pretty well covered in the episode.
Now, what wasnt covered by TNG, or by any star trek, was the implications of this episode. With some work, im sure they could have made a reliable way to restore youth repeatedly...
...which might be why the writers never came back to it
BurdenedMind79@reddit
Same thing happened in "Unnatural Selection," when they used the transporter to de-age Doctor Pulaski. It should have been the start of a whole new medical science.
Middcore@reddit
There is a difference between 30 years being tacked on to the end of your life and you stay the same way you are now and gaining 30 years in lifespan by being reverted to the physical age of a child with all of the drawbacks that entails.
I'm puzzled how this is puzzling.
Used-Gas-6525@reddit
I think Keiko might start getting creeped out if Miles was still good to go with her. If not, she has to let go of the man she loves. That's not her everything, but it's something.