imaginary friends star trek next generation

Imaginary Friend (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Production history
• 3.2 Story and script
• 3.3 Production
• 3.5 Reception
• 3.6 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest stars
• 4.4 And special guest star
• 4.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.6 Stunt double
• 4.7 Stand-ins and photo doubles
• 4.8.1 Other references
• 4.9 External links

Summary [ ]

Clara , a young girl who just moved to the USS Enterprise -D with her father, Ensign Sutter , talks to Counselor Deanna Troi , discussing the nature of her imaginary friend named Isabella . Troi believes that Clara imagined Isabella as she moves from ship to ship often due to her father's career, and hasn't had the opportunity to sustain a friendship.

While the Enterprise explores the nebula, a small sphere of energy enters the Enterprise and roams about the corridors , sickbay , and finally the arboretum , where Clara is assisting Keiko O'Brien in planting nasturtium seeds. While there talking to the invisible Isabella, to her surprise, the imaginary friend appears to Clara in the arboretum seemingly in the flesh.

Act One [ ]

Isabella suggests to Clara that they explore the Enterprise together, despite the fact that Clara thinks she should inform her father. But Isabella insists that they go anyway and they leave the arboretum. The two spend all their time together. Increasingly, Isabella gets Clara into trouble by having her do things she knows are wrong, and leading her into off-limit places, including main engineering , where Data , Geordi La Forge , and her father Sutter were discussing potential names for the nebula. After his superior officer La Forge expresses his annoyance at Clara's presence in engineering, Sutter sternly orders that Clara return to their quarters. When Clara leaves, Isabella reappears. She says she needs to disappear while she is around the adults.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise is experiencing unexplained drops in velocity. La Forge thinks the ship is experiencing drag, as the engines are producing the same output. The rate of change in velocity decreases faster, but then Isabella tells Clara to wait and disappears. She returns, and the ship's velocity is back to expected. In engineering, Data examines this change in velocity and reports that it appears the problem simply corrected itself.

Act Two [ ]

" Collect your samples, Mr. La Forge. We'll proceed with caution. "

Generally others on the ship cannot see Isabella although Worf sees her when Clara and Isabella run into him in a corridor when they aren't paying attention. Worf too orders the young Sutter back to her quarters but after he enters a turbolift , Clara and Isabella return to running down the corridor. While talking to La Forge in engineering, Ensign Sutter asks him if he had parents serving in Starfleet when he was a child. La Forge says yes, his father was an exozoologist and his mother was in the command division and served on an outpost near the Neutral Zone . Ensign Sutter remarks that the experience must have been unpleasant for him, having to always be on the move. La Forge says that children are pretty resilient and as long as they know their parents love them, they can usually handle anything life throws at them.

Later on, Clara enters Ten Forward . Children on the Enterprise are usually prohibited from entering Ten Forward without an adult but Guinan allows it, taking on Clara as her personal guest. She has Clara sit up on the bar and serves her and Isabella papalla juice . Isabella is invisible during this time, but Guinan pretends, thinking Clara is pretending, too. She tells Clara that when she was her age, her best imaginary friend was a Tarcassian razor beast that put her to sleep every night. Counselor Troi then enters and escorts Clara out of Ten Forward.

Eventually, Troi sees that Isabella is getting Clara into enough trouble that Clara has to be with other children her age. Troi insists that Clara leave her friend alone to go play with others. She comes to invite Clara to a ceramics class, without Isabella. They leave and she reappears, now angry.

Act Three [ ]

The Enterprise is shaken again by the drag on the ship slowing it down. It stabilizes, but the drag coefficient is still unexplained. In engineering, La Forge and Sutter have determined there is a highly-charged form of plasma creating resonances on impact with the ship. They don't know how many there are, but they can modify the deflector dish to illuminate them for counting. They find, remarkably, an irregular lattice of about 47 million of the strands.

Meanwhile, Troi takes Clara to meet Worf's son Alexander at the class, and they create some clay sculptures together. Isabella, however, is causing trouble, first, by annoying Troi, knocking down her cup in her quarters, twice. Then, she ruins a Klingon -style clay cup Alexander was creating for his father when he isn't looking. He believes Clara caused it and complains to her. An upset Clara goes to the arboretum, crying. When Isabella returns, she is very angry that she left her. Saying she liked her and wanted to protect her earlier, now she doesn't care and says, " When the others come, you can die along with everyone else. "

Act Four [ ]

The strands are impeding the Enterprise 's ability to leave the nebula. They can't go to warp, and are forced to muddle through.

Meanwhile, Troi is concerned about her approach with Clara in Ten Forward. Guinan sits down at her table and admits to her imaginary friend, and says a child shouldn't need to give that up just because they get older. Then, Troi is called to the Sutters' quarters by Ensign Sutter when Clara is having trouble going to sleep because Isabella has been threatening her. Clara now tells Troi that Isabella isn't imaginary anymore, and that she and others like her will kill everyone aboard. Troi tries to assure Clara that sometimes the mind can imagine things that are just as frightening as something real. Troi tells her there is no way Isabella can hurt anyone and guides her to her room to search for her and then she suddenly appears and attacks Troi, who is knocked unconscious in Clara's closet .

Act Five [ ]

Afterwards, while Troi is being treated in sickbay by Dr. Crusher , Clara is brought in by Nurse Ogawa . Clara talks to her father and then talks to Captain Picard . The ship then shakes again and Picard orders the ship to stop. An energy being comes toward the Enterprise and starts to drain the shields . Then, more come. Picard decides to try to talk to Isabella in the arboretum.

Picard appeals to Isabella to show herself in the arboretum. Suddenly, Isabella makes herself visible to everyone. The crew learns that Isabella is actually an energy-based lifeform whose home is the nebula outside the ship. Isabella claims to Picard that she came to the Enterprise because the energy generated by the ship's graviton field generators are far richer than their normal sources of power. Picard tells Isabella that there are other ways to provide power and that her people should not destroy them. Isabella tells Picard that they should be destroyed anyway, because of the way the adults treat Clara. Picard begins to talk to her about the concept of Human parenting and he explains that the rules are there for her protection, and even Clara will make some rules for her children when she eventually grows up. Clara asks Isabella not to hurt them and wishes to still be her best friend, if she would like. Isabella is convinced and allows the ship to pass safely through the nebula. Before leaving, Picard keeps his promise to provide energy to the beings living in FGC-47 by having La Forge bring the ship's warp engines to full power and to direct that energy into the nebula. Isabella appears one last time to Clara in her bedroom and apologizes for frightening her. She tells Clara she never had a friend before and hopes she will return to the nebula someday. The Enterprise departs FGC-47 for open space.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" So, what are we gonna call this nebula? FGC- 47 just doesn't have the proper ring to it. " " Why don't we call it Sutter's Cloud? " " No, I was thinking about something more along the lines of the La Forge Nebula. It has sort of a majestic sound, don't you think? " " Given the selections, I prefer FGC-47. "

" It's just, I've never seen you before, not for real. " " Well, now you can see me for real. Doesn't that make you happy? "

" It is interesting that people try to find meaningful patterns in things that are essentially random. I have noticed that the images they perceive can sometimes suggest what they are thinking about at that particular moment. Besides, it is clearly a bunny rabbit. "

" I was going to protect you, Clara. I liked you. Now, I don't care. Now, when the others come, you can die along with everyone else! "

" Sounds scary! " " Oh it was! Especially when he smiled. "

" Can you only communicate by threatening a small child? "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

• Final draft script, and production meeting: 24 February 1992 ( [1] ; "The Perfect Mate" call sheet )
• Filmed: 26 February 1992 – 5 March 1992
• Special effects inserts filmed: 6 March 1992
• Premiere airdate: 4 May 1992
• First UK airdate: 17 May 1995

Story and script [ ]

• Rick Berman was an early supporter of this episode's premise. He commented, " Where else but in science fiction could you do an idea about an imaginary friend who turns out not to be imaginary? It's a story about an alien who takes the form of a little girl's imaginary friend and begins to perceive our world through the eyes of a child. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 245)
• The script for "Imaginary Friend" passed through several freelancers' hands before the final rewrite was given to Brannon Braga . While Isabella was a curious and friendly alien in earlier drafts, Braga took the character in a darker direction. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 201)) Braga recalled, " It wasn't quite working in its original guise and Jeri Taylor and Peter Fields and I broke the story and tried to make the imaginary friend more of a bad seed. Before, it was more like Puff the Magic Dragon and it was that the alien was simply curious and didn't have an evil intent. It just kind of laid there and was playful fluff. We decided to make the alien malevolent, where it's mean to the kid. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 245)
• A working title for this episode was "Invisible Friend". ( "The Perfect Mate" call sheet , [2] )
• Earlier scripts did not have Guinan appearing in this episode at all. When Whoopi Goldberg became available, her character was written in only days before shooting began. The cloud-watching scene with Data was originally written for Crusher and Troi, and later Guinan and Troi. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 201))

Production [ ]

Noley Thornton , Whoopi Goldberg , and Brent Spiner relax between takes

• "Imaginary Friend" was filmed between Wednesday 26 February 1992 and Thursday 5 March 1992 on Paramount Stage 8 , 9 , and 16 . Special effects inserts were filmed on Friday 6 March 1992 on Paramount Stage 16.
• Larry A. Hankin filmed his scenes as wind dancer for the episode " Cost Of Living " during principal photography of this episode on Friday 28 February 1992 at " Image G ". ( "Imaginary Friend" call sheet )
• The production meeting for this episode took place on Monday 24 February 1992 at 2:00 pm. ( "The Perfect Mate" call sheet )
• Several contest winners visited the sets on Wednesday 26 February 1992 and Friday 28 February 1992 . On Thursday 27 February 1992 several licensing and merchandising people from Andrea Hein / Neil Newman visited the set between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm and the winner of the Viewers for Quality Television auction Tony Riccardi visited the sets on Monday 2 March 1992 at 9:00 am. On the last day of filming, Thursday 5 March 1992 , guests from Warner Bros. visited the set as well as personal guests of Leonard Nimoy , namely Irving and Barbara Ostrov and Sybil Nimoy. ( "Imaginary Friend" call sheets )
• Noley Thornton later appears in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , as Taya in the episode " Shadowplay ".
• This episode marks the final appearance of Sheila Franklin 's Ensign Felton who previously appeared in four episodes of the fifth season .
• This episode is the first Trek role of Jeff Allin who later plays Gedrin in the Star Trek: Voyager episode " Dragon's Teeth " and Ralph Furlong in the video game Star Trek: Borg .
• Stuntwoman Christine Anne Baur filmed a scene as stunt double for Marina Sirtis (her fall into the closet) on Friday 28 February 1992 on Paramount Stage 9 . This scene, however, was not part of the final episode. ("Imaginary Friend" call sheet)

Reception [ ]

• Brannon Braga named this episode's script as the most gratifying he had written in the fifth season . He credited this for the chance to write a show in which children played a large role. He commented, " I've taken to calling it Romper Room: The Next Generation . Kid stories appeal by their very nature. There's an innocence to kids and kids can have conflict. The funny thing about kid shows in the Star Trek universe is you can get conflict with kids because they're not developed yet like our perfect adults. In a strange kind of way, kids can have more problems and conflict than our regulars. They can still be imperfect. It is a fun episode and hopefully people won't be so sick of seeing children on the show. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 245)
• In another interview, Braga admitted, " I think it's one that people don't like very much. It was a cute little story, maybe a little predictable. The concept might have been better as a half-hour Twilight Zone episode than an hour of The Next Generation . " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 257)
• Rick Berman was pleased with the final episode. " I think it turned out quite nicely, and we got two great performances. It's very difficult to work with kids because they're not as experienced and you only get them for a few hours a day […] I would not rank this as one of my favorites for the season, but it was a lot of fun. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 245)
• Herbert J. Wright was fond of neither the premise nor the finished episode. He remarked, " It's not a show that dealt with our regulars and not a show that needed to be on Star Trek . I think Michael [Piller] was trying to do E.T. , but what made that film work is hard to do on Star Trek aboard the Enterprise . E.T. was an alien in a suburban neighborhood trying to get home. It was like the lost pet that turns out to be a genius alien. But 'Invisible Friend's' problem was how do you have, in effect, an adolescent alien? " Wright was also displeased with the shift in story direction exemplified by this episode. He opined, " I think the problem is that when you narrow your focus to what kind of show you want to do to the point where you're doing 90 percent personal stories and you're trying to do them in outer space on a 24th century starship, you're going to run into a brick wall and there's only so many times you can do that. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 245)
• A mission report for this episode by John Sayers was published in The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 21 , pp. 37-39.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 61, 15 March 1993
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 5.7, 2 December 2002
• As part of the TNG Season 5 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker

Also starring [ ]

• LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Lt. Worf
• Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
• Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

Guest stars [ ]

• Noley Thornton as Clara Sutter
• Shay Astar as Isabella
• Jeff Allin as Sutter
• Brian Bonsall as Alexander Rozhenko
• Patti Yasutake as Alyssa Ogawa
• Sheila Franklin as Felton

And special guest star [ ]

• Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Rachen Assapiomonwait as Nelson
• Bjork as a child
• Michael Braveheart as Martinez
• Debbie David as Russell
• Cooper as Reel
• John Copage as a gardener
• Tony Cruz as Lopez
• Dickinson as a Vulcan boy
• Lanier Edwards as a command division lieutenant
• Gina Gallante as a civilian
• Melba Gonzalez as command officer
• Eben Ham as an operations division ensign
• Melanie Hathorn as sciences officer
• Christie Haydon as a command division ensign
• Gary Hunter as a science division officer
• Kai as a science division officer
• Jacob as a child
• Arvo Katajisto as Torigan
• Ron Large as a command division officer
• Mark Lentry as a civilian
• Debbie Marsh as a civilian
• Holly McBee as a gardener
• Lorine Mendell as Diana Giddings
• Rad Milo as a civilian
• Michael Moorehead as a science division ensign
• Myles as a child
• Keith Rayve as a command division officer
• Richard Sarstedt as a command division ensign
• Victor Sein as a command division officer
• Théyard as a civilian
• Mikki Val as an operations division officer
• Dru Wagner as Daniels
• Watts as a child
• Christina Wegler Miles as a command division ensign
• a Ten Forward waiter

Stunt double [ ]

• Christine Anne Baur as stunt double for Marina Sirtis ( deleted scene )

Stand-ins and photo doubles [ ]

• David Keith Anderson – stand-in for LeVar Burton
• Candace Crump – stand-in for Whoopi Goldberg
• Johnny Hayden – stand-in for Noley Thornton and Brian Bonsall
• Joshua Henson – photo double for Brian Bonsall
• Mark Lentry – stand-in for Jeff Allin
• Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
• Tim McCormack – stand-in for Brent Spiner and Jeff Allin
• Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Sheila Franklin and Gates McFadden
• Richard Sarstedt – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
• Dennis Tracy – stand-in for Patrick Stewart
• Tuesday – stand-in for Shay Astar and Noley Thornton
• James Washington – stand-in for Michael Dorn

References [ ]

alien entity ; arboretum ; bearing ; best friend ; blonde ; blue ; Brentalia ; button ; Champs Elysees ; Children's Center ; childhood ; chocolate chip pancakes ; clay ; closet ; command officer ; cube ; cup ; cycle ; dark brown ; daycare center ; density ; drag coefficient ; drawing ; dress ; ears ; eggs ; exozoologist ; FGC ; FGC-47 (aka La Forge Nebula or Sutter's Cloud ); FGC-47 lifeform ; FGC-47 star ; fin ; gold ; grape juice ; graviton field generator ; grown up ; hair ; helper ; hot chocolate ; imaginary friend ; invertebrate ; Jokri River ; Kryonian tiger ; La Forge, Edward M. ; La Forge, Silva ; Maschinenmensch ; McClukidge ; Mintonian sailing ship ; Modean system ; nasturtium ; neutron star ; non-corporeal lifeform ; number one ; O'Brien, Keiko ; Paris ; pancake ; papalla juice ; phenomenon ; picture ; piercing ; purple omelet ; purr ; puzzle ; rabbit ; red alert ; Risa ; risk ; Romulan Neutral Zone ; round ; Samarian coral fish ; shore leave ; smock ; sugar ; Tarcassian razor beast ; Tavela Minor ; tea ; Ten Forward ; thermal interferometry scanner ; trionium ; turbolift ; warp field generator ; white ; yogurt and raisin salad

Other references [ ]

• Personal appointment log: Beaumont, Gabrielle ; Braga, Brannon ; child psychology ; Haymore, June ; McBee, Chris ; Miller, Patricia ; Personal appointment log ; Quist, Gerald ; Vescio, Elaina ; Ward, Lazard ; Zapata, Joy
• Evolution of Intelligent Life on Planet Denkir IV: Delphoidia ; Delphoidia cochrani ; Delphoidia cochrani obliquidens ; Delphoidia cochrani tempus ; Delphoidia moroboshi ; Delphoidia moroboshi lum ; Neopictis ; Neopictis gourami ; Neopictis spinotap ; Neopictis spinotap cochrani ; Oceosauroida ; Oceosauroida mendo ; Oceosauroida mendo shinobu ; Oceosauroida mendo shutaro ; Oniboshi lum ; Oniboshi lum ran ; Oniobshi benten ; Squaluformus ; Squaluformus vino ; Squaluformus vino shiro ; Vermacelli alfredo

External links [ ]

• "Imaginary Friend" at StarTrek.com
• " Imaginary Friend " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Imaginary Friend " at Wikipedia
• " Imaginary Friend " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "Imaginary Friend" script  at Star Trek Minutiae
• " Imaginary Friend " at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 5, Episode 22

Imaginary friend, where to watch, star trek: the next generation — season 5, episode 22.

Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation — Season 5, Episode 22 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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Cast & crew.

Patrick Stewart

Capt. Jean-Luc Picard

Jonathan Frakes

Cmdr. William Riker

LeVar Burton

Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge

Michael Dorn

Gates McFadden

Dr. Beverly Crusher

Marina Sirtis

Counselor Deanna Troi

Episode Info

• Web Channels
• Star Trek: The Next Generation

Imaginary Friend

While exploring a rare nebula around a neutron star, the Enterprise's safety is threatened by a little girl's imaginary playmate.

Patti Yasutake

Brian Bonsall

Sheila Franklin

Noley Thornton

Cast Appearances

Patrick Stewart

Jonathan Frakes

Michael Dorn

Gates McFadden

Marina Sirtis

Brent Spiner

Episode discussion.

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About: Imaginary Friend (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

"Imaginary Friend" is the 22nd episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 122nd episode overall. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, a child's "imaginary" playmate threatens the well-being of the Enterprise.

Star Trek: The Next Generation : "The Perfect Mate"/"Imaginary Friend"

"The Perfect Mate"

Let's get this out of the way first: there are Ferengi in this episode. They're on screen for less than ten minutes total, and they're really only here as a clumsy way to move the plot, but they're still as awful as ever. On a show that goes out of its way to treat different cultures with dignity and respect, the Ferengi remain a sore spot, a group of cringingly unfunny schemers who haven't developed much beyond their debut appearance in the first season's "The Last Outpost." Elmer Fudd is better defined than these morons, and far, far more entertaining to watch. I suppose the point is to show that greed for wealth is comically pathetic, unlike greed for power, which is scary and, let's be honest here, kind of cool. But it represents an irritating and persistent laziness on the writers, as the show keeps bringing them back for no good reason. It's like if Gargamel did guest spots on  The Wire,  only, y'know, awful.

Related Content

But apart from that, this is actually a very interesting ep, one that takes on a plot with all kinds of potential for heavy-handedness or wish-fulfillment, and tries to deal with it with the seriousness and tact it deserves. (Again, apart from the Ferengi.) Even better, while there are definite ways to connect this to real life, the metaphor here is never all that specific. We're not dealing with rape or homosexuality or any of the other serious issues that  Trek  shows sometimes try and lecture on. This is more about characters and relationships through the filter of science fiction, and, for the most part, it lets us draw our own conclusions.

The  Enterprise  is once again doing chauffeur service, this time ferrying Ambassador Briam from Krios to a meeting with Chancellor Alrik of Valt Minor, for a negotiation of peace accords which will hopefully finally bring an end to a lot of fighting. Briam has a special gift for Alrik which he keeps stored in the  Enterprise 's cargo bay, even going so far as to request that Picard make that bay off limits to everyone else on the ship—and for good reason. After the Ferengi trick their way on board the ship (the sabotage their own craft to make it look like they're in need of rescue), one of them breaks into the cargo bay, and starts fiddling with the "gift," which looks sort of like a glowing amber egg. He knocks the egg over by accident, and just as Picard and Briam arrive to survey the damage, the egg flashes out of existence, leaving behind a stunningly beautiful woman. Who immediately says to Picard, "I am for you, Alrik of Valt," which is about as good a reason for changing your name as I've ever heard.

The woman is Kamala, played by a young Famke Janssen, and it's on her that the episode hinges. She's the metamorph I mentioned above, and she's culturally and genetically hardwired to please whatever man she's closest to, by sensing his feelings and desires and then tailoring her personality to suit them. Which is a tricky notion, to say the least, but even trickier is the fact that she's on the ship so that she can marry Alrik as part of the peace accords, to seal the deal, so to speak. When she bonds with someone for life, she sets herself in whatever personality that mate prefers the most, which makes this, from a certain light, a pervasive and inescapable form of slavery. Picard does his best to play the non-interference card (most likely because he's as attracted to Kamala as anyone, and can't trust his own impartiality), but Beverly tells him that the whole set-up is wrong, and that he needs to do something about it. Which is he doesn't—but does—but doesn't. It's complicated.

What do we want in romantic partners? And, more importantly for this episode, what do we want our romantic partners to want out of us? There's a lot of conversation here about Kamala's needs, about just how much she can truly be expected to make her own decisions (she says that she has no problems with marrying Alrik, believing that this was what she's essentially "made" for), and just how susceptible the men of the  Enterprise  are to her charms. Riker, unsurprisingly, gets a couple of kisses; around him, Kamala is aggressive, playful, and, ahem, educated. Around some miners the  Enterprise  rescued, she's rowdy, and nearly starts a fight. Around Worf, she growls. And around Picard, she's… intrigued. Unlike the others, Picard is largely resistant to her seductions, which of course rouses her interest, and she starts trying to spend more time with him. Picard keeps resisting, but this becomes even more difficult when the Ferengi inadvertently injure Briam, and Picard is forced to handle the upcoming ceremonies himself.

There's obviously a certain amount of fantasy in here, and just how much fantasy is left up to the individual viewer to decide. Everyone at some point or another has imagined themselves with the perfect lover, with someone who would sense your innermost yearnings, the ones you could barely articulate yourself, and then act on them in ways that left you satisfied like no one else ever could hope to satisfy you. This is called "being 15." Although maybe younger for girls? Anyway, it's a teenage fantasy, is my point, because when you're a teenager, when you're just figured out that your genitals are like biological transformers, and the thing you've been using as a "car" for your whole life is also a totally bitchin' robot. So you don't really know what you want, and you dream of someone who'll come in and know all there is to know about you, all the things you don't really understand yet, and even better, they recognize your  real  self, that self nobody else gets, the self that in your deepest darkest heart, you worry may not really be there. Which isn't to say that older people don't occasionally pine for this very specific concept of perfection, but as you get more mature, and come into your own, you realize how silly the whole idea is, how a relationship based on one person subsuming themselves entirely to the other's needs is deeply unhealthy for both parties. Or maybe you just realize it's impossible, and so the fantasy becomes an occasional idle daydream.

The point being, this isn't something that could actually happen in any sustainable way, outside a fantasy or science-fiction context. Kamala is a construct, created specifically to give Picard a moral problem to solve, and because of that, she runs the risk of being more idea than character, which, when you combine that with the fact that one of the crucial aspects of what little character she does seem to have is her ability to change herself at will to reflect someone else, makes for a potentially troubling situation in deed. Kamala could've simply ended up a male power trip, and watching Picard resist her charms is sort of like a sensitive male's power trip. (See, he's too good to give in, but she keeps pushing him, and as in all grand romances, eventually, the pushed will fall, and whose fault would that be?) Then there's the fact that we get a few jokes about having men assigned to Kamala specifically because they're resistant to her charms (Briam is too old, and Data is, well, Data), but we never see Kamala hanging out with a woman. This is Dude's Only, ladies. Sorry! (Although apparently, Krios is jammed full of male empathic metamorphs, so now you have a good idea where you should head on your next vacation.)

I think "Mate" works on the whole, though, for a couple key reasons. The first is that Janssen, in addition to being, let's not kid ourselves here, really rather lovely, does a fairly good job of showing how much Kamala enjoys flirting with men. This gives her a certain degree of autonomy; sure, she's hardwired to get pleasure from making others happy, but so is most everybody, and there's nothing malicious or mindless about her, not really. She nearly starts a bar fight in Ten Forward, but it's not that much of a "nearly." The ep could've gone the way of her walking around the  Enterprise  screwing with every guy's head, throwing everything into chaos. Which would've been fairly painful, I'm guessing. But it doesn't go that way. Instead, we're given a sense of someone coming into their own as a sexually aware, potentially powerful individual.

Which makes the ending (the other reason why I think this works) all the more intriguing. As the episode goes on, and Picard is forced by circumstance (and his own desire) to be closer to Kamala, the question becomes whether or not he'll give in to the temptation, and, more importantly, whether or not he should or can help the lady out of her situation. Now, anyone watching this who thinks Picard will succumb to Kamala's charms hasn't been paying attention. If James "The T is for Libido" Kirk could resist a similar seduction in "Elaan of Troyius" , there's no question Picard will do the same, and for much the same reason. But the more he comes to care for her, and the more we see her as a person, the more her proposed marriage to Alrik seems like a bad idea. It's necessary, to ensure the lives of millions, and there really isn't anything else that  could  happen, but if the episode were to simply end with her doing her duty, and Picard looking pensive, well, that wouldn't be enough.

Although she  does  do her duty, and we  do  get a shot of Picard looking pensive (two, in fact), there's a twist here I wasn't expecting. Remember that "permanent bonding" I mentioned earlier, where Kamala sets herself with one person for the rest of her life? It's a dangerous idea, in a way, because it creates an inherent power imbalance—once's she's busted her VHS recording tab (kids, ask your parents), she can't change her mind if the relationship goes sour, even though her partner will have no problems doing so. I thought this was just part of the fantasy, and it sort of is, but it also allows for Kamala to make a decision near the end of the episode that allows her to preserve who she is, while still following her obligations. She bonds with Picard. She's supposed to bond with Alrik, and she still marries him, but Picard is the one she imprints on.

You could read this in different ways. You could say it's a horrible example of a woman needing a man to make her "complete," or that Kamala's choice to bond with Picard wasn't actually  her  deicision, just the choice that her Picard-focused self made. Those interpretations don't seem entirely unreasonable to me, but I choose to think of it in a more positive light. The perfect fantasy mate is so often a reflection of our own desires because we want to find someone who can show us who we are, who can bring out what's best in ourselves and believe in us in a way that we can't always manage on our own. Kamala does this for others, but I think with Picard, she finds someone who's equally good at reflecting. Picard's job as captain, after all, is to inspire his crew, to drive them to be their greatest selves. The title of this episode, I'd say, has two meanings; it's hard to imagine Kamala finding anything quite like what she experiences with Picard with anyone else. And while the ending isn't a happy one, it's at least one that gives her the respect of making her own decisions.

Stray Observations:

• Another reason this works: it's Patrick Stewart. The age difference is a little icky, and Picard is basically treated as the ideal man here, but, c'mon. It doesn't really seem implausible, does it?
• "I'm just curious to know what lies beneath." "Nothing. Nothing lies beneath. I'm really quite dull."
• This episode cribs a surprising amount from the  TOS  ep "Elaan" mentioned above. (Also, I think those early  Trek  reviews of mine aren't half bad, although I'm amazed at how much more I write these days.)
• Beverly and Picard's chats together are really very charming. And it also gives us this line: "Beverly, may I take off the uniform for a moment?"
• Oh, and Alrik is unsurprisingly something of a bore. He even views his marriage to Kamala as the least interesting part of the negotiations. But he's not actively evil, so hopefully Kamala won't have too unpleasant a life ahead of her.

"Imaginary Friend"

Or The One Where We Meet A Little Blond Snufflapagus And She Is Pissed

There's a Ray Bradbury short story called "Zero Hour" that I kept thinking of while I watched this episode. The story is in  The Illustrated Man , which is a good collection if you're interested in tracking it down, and it's a creepy story to be sure. (I find Bradbury the most enjoyable when he's trying to scare the hell out of me; there's a contrast between his ebullient corniness and horror that hits me very hard.) A bunch of kids start playing with imaginary friends, and the parents don't believe in them, and, well, I won't spoil it or anything, but it's not a very long story, and if you remember "Imaginary Friend" at all, you probably see where I'm coming from here. The problem being that "Friend" isn't five or ten pages long, it's a full forty-five minutes, and while it has some effective scenes, it doesn't really entirely work. The whole thing is pretty ramshackle and clumsily sown together, which is something that tends to happen with shows once they get a little long in the tooth, I've found. Maybe it's because it gets harder to tell new stories, so people just cram a bunch of old ideas together and hope for the best.

The one original idea here is Clara, and her imaginary chum Isabella. Clara has been moving from ship to starbase to ship with her father, Ensign Sutter, and that's not easy on a little kid. So she's seeing Troi now. Apparently her dad is so far in over his head he'll latch on to any potential mother figure for his child; which makes me think of Worf and Alexander (who shows up briefly here, by the way, but is largely unobjectionable), and also makes me wonder how much of Troi's time is spent providing counsel for single fathers. Maybe someone's looking for a replacement mommy. At least that would be a reason for the therapy appointment, because from what we see here, Isabella is a perfectly pleasant little girl, friendly, polite, and, of course, creative. There's a strangely over-protective vibe that runs through all of  TNG 's episodes about parenting, maybe (although I can't immediately back that up, this is just an impression). Anyway, Clara seems like a cool kid, and as Troi tells Sutter, there's no reason to be concerned that she has an imaginary friend.

Which would be the end of it, except the  Enterprise  is investigating a nebula, which means of course that something strange happens. (I wonder if Picard allows time for "Weird Shit" whenever he does the  Enteprise 's weekly schedule.) A red light pops into the ship and starts whizzing around, before finding Clara, hearing her talk to Isabella, and then manifesting as Isabella in the flesh, which kind of freaks Clara out. But hey, when I was little, I talked to Popeye a lot, and if he'd suddenly appeared, I'd've eventually gone along with it. When you're little, you don't realize how many impossible things there are. So Clara shows Isabella around the ship—and of course starts getting in trouble because she's going places she shouldn't be going. The  Enterprise  starts having engine problems, and Isabella keeps glaring and demanding things, and Clara keeps telling people that it's Isabella's fault, and nobody believes her. Ugh.

I hate this kind of story. I hate watching people refuse to believe someone, and then accusing that (basically innocent) someone of causing all the trouble. It calls up a lot of deeply uncomfortable associations in me; we can idolize our youth all we want, but the truth is, being a kid means being powerless in the face of a whole lot of grown-ups. They're supposed to be the responsible ones, they're supposed to be in charge, but really, they're just bigger and they have cooler cars. We're brought up to believe that if we tell the truth, we're doing the right thing, and things will be okay, especially if we haven't done anything wrong. To watch this girl tell the grown-ups the absolute fact, and see her lectured and ignored anyway, is just off-putting as hell. It violates one of the sacred covenants of childhood: the Grown-ups Are Always Right. Which isn't a bad sort of story to tell, inherently, because the grown-ups  aren't  always right, and one of the ways we join their ranks is by realizing their fallibility. But Clara is too young and alone for that kind of maturity, so we just see her running into the same problem, and not being able to do anything about it.

This is also because, despite the title and the main story hook, this episode isn't really  about  Clara. We do spend a lot of time with her, but there's this weird shifting sensation about two-thirds of the way through, once it becomes obvious to everyone that Clara hasn't been lying after all. (This is after Isabella takes Troi down, and thankfully, nobody tries to blame the little blond girl with force-lightning powers on Clara.) Picard basically takes over, and its his decisions that resolve the big conflict. It turns out (I swear to god, I try not to use that phrase in every review, but it's so damnably  convenient  during plot summaries) Isabella was sent over by a group of life forms out in the nebulae who were trying to decide if they should kill everyone on board the  Enterprise  or not. So Picard makes an impassioned speech about how the importance of proper childrearing techniques (seriously), then fires an energy beam into the cloud of life forms to give them some food to munch on.

What's strange is that this sort of story really should've been told largely through Clara's perspective. She's the one with the special knowledge (although she doesn't understand it) about what's really going on, and she's the one the aliens choose to interact with. She's the one who has our sympathy through most of the episode, and there really should be some sort of cathartic HA! moment when she finally manages to turn the tables and stand up for herself. But there's no moment like that. Picard does all the heavy lifting for her, and the only reason anyone else on the ship realizes what's going on before it's too late is that Isabella decides to reveal herself to Troi. Arguably, this is more realistic, because, hey, Clara really is a little girl, and little girls aren't necessarily going to have a lot of defensive power against strange life forms. By having Picard step in when he does, we avoid having another Wesley situation, where another kid saves the whole ship through a lot of contrivance and exaggerated ability. (It's not that I have a hard time believing Wesley was smart. I just don't believe he was perfectly smart all the time, or that, at fourteen or whatever, he was the biggest genius on a ship full of smart people.)

And yet whether or not this is more realistic, it still leaves us with an episode without a center. Clara is sweet enough, but we've never seen her before, so we don't have all that much invested in her. Her father, Sutter, is a more traditional  TNG  character, but he's ill-defined here, just sort of generally worried and impatient and bland. (At one point, he touches Picard on the shoulder to get the captain's attention, and I really wanted Picard to snap at him to back the hell off.) And of our main characters, only Troi and Picard get enough screen-time to qualify; Troi is mostly on hand to help introduce us to the Sutter family, to put Clara in situations where Isabella can act up, and then to get zapped. (And again, I have to question Troi's empath abilities. Even if she can't sense if someone is lying, she at least should've been able to tell that Clara was terrified and  something  more than met the eye was going on.) Picard is hardly even in the episode till the final ten minutes or so. And it's an odd ten minutes.

The whole ep, Isabella has been set up as creepy as all hell. The actress, Shay Astar (who would go on to play Joseph Gordon-Levitt's girlfriend on  3rd Rock From The Sun , among other things), isn't going to set the world on fire, but she is effectively unsettling; there's a definite  Bad Seed  sullenness going on there. But when Picard confronts her, she explains how it's all some kind of test, and she rails about how awful the adults are to Clara, which means of course everyone deserves to die. Instead of finding a way to defeat Isabella and her sparkly friends, Picard explains why it's necessary to create boundaries for children, and Isabella accepts this, leaving only to return briefly at the end of the episode to apologize to Clara for causing so many problems. The whole finale feels grafted on, because it's not like anyone was questioning the basic role of parents in a child's life, or even that Clara was ever treated  that  badly. Clara is pushed to the side for most of the end, and really, it's like they got the "imaginary friend" idea, and then tried to through in some science crap to justify it (which I imagine happens with at least half the stories on this show), but couldn't come up with a good way to end it. As is, this is little bit of good idea, some effectively unsettling scenes, and lot of shoulder-shrugging.

• Oh right, Guinan was in this. And her presence made things even more confusing, because I guess she was trying to teach a lesson about the importance of imaginary friends? Or something? It was bizarre. (My roommate also objected strenuously to Guinan lecturing Data about finding shapes in the clouds, because it was "the same old bullshit" about "how science is boring and you need to make up crap to make it beautiful." And he's right, it was dumb.)
• I didn't hate Alexander in this. Although his voice still grates.

Next week:  The Borg are back in the appropriately titled, "I, Borg," and Geordi and Ro have adventures in "The Next Phase."

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Imaginary Friend

Cast & crew.

Whoopi Goldberg

Brian Bonsall

Alexander Rozhenko

Noley Thornton

Clara Sutter

Ensign Daniel Sutter

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© 2011 CBS Corp. All Rights Reserved.

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Star trek: the next generation : imaginary friend (1992), directed by gabrielle beaumont.

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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

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• Nightmare Fuel : "Isabella" is, quite frankly, kind of terrifying, with a flat monotone voice and really dead eyes. It really says a lot of Clara's loneliness that she still clings to Isabella for as long as she does.
• Isabella is played by a very young Shay Astar, one of those actresses you've probably seen in all sorts of stuff—most notably, Ernest Scared Stupid , a recurring role on 3rd Rock from the Sun , and All Cheerleaders Die .
• As for Noley Thornton, she went on to play another endearing little girl on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Shadowplay ."
• The Woobie : Clara's dad keeps getting posted to new ships, and even she acknowledges how she never gets to make any friends as a result. And then Isabella screws things up for her when she tries to make friends with Alexander. Poor Clara.

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Imaginary friend (1992), noley thornton: clara sutter.

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Isabella : I came to say I'm sorry I frightened you.

Clara Sutter : That's okay.

Isabella : And I misled you. I wasn't really your Isabella.

Clara Sutter : For a while you were.

[first lines] 

Clara Sutter : I like to cook all kinds of stuff, like yogurt and raisin salad, chocolate chip pancakes and... purple omelets.

Counselor Deanna Troi : [disgusted]  Purple omelets?

Clara Sutter : You put grape juice in the eggs. Isabella doesn't like it very much. She says it tastes funny.

Counselor Deanna Troi : I can see her point.

[Guinan and Clara talk about imaginary friends] 

Clara Sutter : If the other grown-ups don't understand, how come you do?

Guinan : Well, maybe because when I was your age, I had one.

Clara Sutter : You did?

Guinan : Mmm.

Clara Sutter : What was she like?

Guinan : It... wasn't a she.

Clara Sutter : What was *he* like?

Guinan : It wasn't a he.

Clara Sutter : 'It'?

Guinan : It was a Tarcassian razor beast. It had dark brown fur and gold eyes and huge spiny wings, and it would fly past so fast nobody could see it but me.

Clara Sutter : Sounds scary.

Guinan : Oh, it was. Especially when he smiled.

Counselor Deanna Troi : Maybe you could draw me a picture. I'd love to see what she looks like.

Clara Sutter : You don't think she's real.

Counselor Deanna Troi : I think she's real for you, and THAT is real enough for me.

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