The Good: Humor, Acting, Moments of character
The Bad: Ridiculous plot, Silly scientific explanation
The Basics: With a strong science fiction plot, "Rascals" survives the de-aging of a few key people by keeping an emphasis on character.
Star Trek The Next Generation did so much right that it was hard to accept when they did something so terribly wrong. And "Rascals" is on the edge of that. They have one of the weakest ideas, but they pull it off surprisingly well, making us believe in the circumstances. So, in a situation that is almost impossible to suspend our disbelief, Star Trek The Next Generation gets away from the phenomenon and focuses on the characters it affects instead.
In "Rascals," Ensign Ro, Guinan, Keiko O'Brien and Captain Picard become trapped in a phenomenon while returning to the Enterprise in a shuttlecraft. When they are beamed out of it, they are de-aged. They are all preteens and the ramifications of this are diverse: Picard is unable to keep the respect of his officers to command, Miles O'Brien feels distanced from Keiko, Ro's childhood issues resurface, and Guinan decides to enjoy it. When the Enterprise is attacked by Ferengi privateers, it's up to the children to liberate the ship.
So, this is a fairly ridiculous idea; de-aging the crew. The last time this was attempted, it was in the Star Trek Animated Series. If you haven't heard of it, you're not alone. I'm fairly sure those episodes are not considered Trek cannon. Anyway, this is a silly idea, de-aging the crew. But even with the most foolish idea, Star Trek The Next Generation manages to pull it off in a practical way. Instead of being caught in a phenomenon that affects the entire crew, only a few people are affected and the transporter is quite convincingly blamed. This, then, becomes an issue for the transporter, not some ridiculous spatial anomaly.
And the characters that they chose are interesting ones to pick. Picard makes an obvious choice, because we need someone to care about. Guinan is a fun choice because we know she is quite old and it makes sense to have someone enjoying the predicament. But Ro is a clever choice; she's not used to such bizarre occurrences and this throws her in a way that seems very realistic. As a result, her place in the episode is one of the more interesting. But the one that is most damaging and intriguing is Keiko. Being married and having a daughter, the greatest number of consequences ensue from her being de-aged. The scenes with her and O'Brien, where Miles is hesitant to even touch her because of the implications of her being a preteen are quite powerful.
What "Rascals" hinges on, then is the character development and the acting. Captain Picard's character development is crucial to the believability of this episode. After all of his years of disliking children, he finds himself one again and that's a difficult place for him to be. Finding limitations in using the computer and relating to his former subordinates, puts a reasonable and realistic amount of stress on the captain and it is dealt with with maturity and sensibility.
The acting in the episode is a mixed bag. Isis Jones, who plays the de-aged Guinan, is bland and lacks Whoopi Goldberg's facial control or subtle vocal abilities. As a result, her portrayal of the young Guinan is somewhat disappointing. In a similar vein, Caroline Junko King, who plays the younger Keiko delivers excellent lines and had good body language, but lacks the ability to produce Keiko's cadences and vocal styles enough to suspend our disbelief entirely.
Megan Parlen, in contrast, has Ro Laren completely nailed. She is able to pull off irritable quite well and she manages to get around several difficult lines with the sense of annoyance that characterizes Ro. She makes us believe she is Ro. Similarly, David Tristen Birkin picks up on enough of Picard's idiosyncrasies to sell us on truly being him. Birkin has a posture of dignity that ultimately throws this episode over into the recommend field.
"Rascals" is an episode that turns off many viewers immediately by its very hard, rather obvious science fiction plot. There's no way to escape that this is science fiction and if you don't like the genre, this is not the episode to sell you on it. But if you do, this is a piece that rather effectively takes a campy science fiction plot and makes something pretty worthwhile out of it with good acting in the key places and a strong emphasis on character.
[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Sixth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the penultimate season by clicking here!
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5/10
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© 2011, 2008, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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