The Offspring (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
| "The Offspring" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Next Generation episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 16 |
| Directed by | Jonathan Frakes |
| Written by | René Echevarria |
| Production code | 164 |
| Original air date | March 12, 1990 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The Offspring" is the 16th episode of the third season of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the 64th episode of the series overall.
The android Data creates a "child" of his own named Lal and tries to raise her, while Picard takes on Starfleet Research to keep them from taking her away.
Data invites Deanna Troi, Wesley Crusher, and Geordi La Forge to his lab and surprises them by introducing a featureless humanoid android, whom he created based on his own structural design and recent advances in Federation cybernetics technology, describing it as his child. He names the android Lal (after the Hindi word for "beloved") and encourages it to select a gender and appearance. With Troi's assistance and considering many of the on-board species as well as the databanks, Lal narrows down to four possibilities, including a Klingon male, which, as Troi points out, would make it "a friend for Worf", but in the end selects the appearance of a young female human.
Data first aids Lal with cognitive and standard behavioral algorithms, as well encourages her to interact with other members of the crew to learn behavioral and social customs. After a failed attempt to place her in school, due to the other children being intimidated by her, he places her under Guinan's care at Ten-Forward. This leads to some awkward moments, such as Lal misunderstanding the concept of flirting and kissing, which she first interpreted as "attacking" until Guinan makes an effort at explaining the practice. Intrigued by this, Lal engages in suddenly dragging and kissing Commander Riker over the bar, leaving him baffled and earning him a fatherly scolding à la "what are your intentions towards my daughter?" when Data walks in on them. Lal nevertheless adapts very quickly, even, to everyone's amazement, surpassing Data as stated by her ability to use contractions, something Data never achieved.
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