Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) Hero Worship (1992) User Reviews

Data Cosplaying

[thevacinstaller · 7/10 · 5 April 2021]

A bit of a downer episode but not quite half bad.

Kids can come up with crazy beliefs in situations like the one Timmy went through. I remember blaming myself for my parents splitting up when I was 5 --- like, maybe I asked for Ice Cream one time too many. The weight of believing you are directly responsible for killing hundreds would be crushing and the kid actor does a solid job of portraying that burden.

I am not a counselor but Troi's idea of letting Timmy roleplay as an Android makes sense to me ---- He does re-discover his humanity through his BFF adventures with Data after all. And who wouldn't want to be an android?! I can't even stay up till after 12 AM anymore --- my body just dies on me.

I suppose it wouldn't make sense to have two Worf episodes in a row but shouldn't Worf had made an appearance? He should have at least had a cameo appearance where he tells the kid to 'be a man' and confront death like a WARRRIORRRR.

I'd say I like it more then most. I had a pretty rough childhood and I am pretty sure I repressed a bunch of BS, so I see a little bit of what I went through in Timothy. I wish I had a hot betazoid and an android to help me out though my life experiences, but instead I listened to bad music and got piercings and was really angry at the world for a decade.

Data the role model

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 30 June 2015]

The federation research ship Vigo disappeared while investigating a strange dark cluster so the Enterprise is sent to find out what happened. When they find the Vigo it is badly damaged and everybody is dead apart from a young boy. The boy, named Timothy, is only saved because Data's superior strength enables him to lift the heavy beam that is pinning down Timothy. Back on the Enterprise Timothy explains they were attacked by unknown assailants armed with phaser rifles leading to the assumption that a cloaked ship must have been involved and that suggests the attackers were Klingon, Romulan or possibly even the mysterious Breen but none has an obvious motive for such an attack. As the Enterprise searches for the attacking ship Data tries to help Timothy cope and the boy comes to see Data as a role model; as an android he is stronger, smarter and isn't encumbered by human emotions. He then decides that he too will be an android and starts mimicking Data's behaviour and speech patterns. Counsellor Troi suggests that for the time being it might be good to accept this coping mechanism. When the Enterprise enters the dark cluster they start seeing strange sensor echoes and then hit a wave that rocks the ship… soon things get worse in ways that mirror what happened on the Vigo; Timothy will have to remember exactly what happened if the Enterprise is to avoid the same fate.

This is the second in a row to feature a child character in a major role; thankfully Timothy is far less annoying that Worf's son. Joshua Harris does a good job in the role; he is particularly impressive as he mimics Data's speech patterns and various physical tics, as one might expect Brent Spiner also puts in a fine performance as Data. The idea of how a child might deal with tragedy is covered in an interesting way but the threat is ultimately a bit weak… perhaps I was just disappointed that we didn't get an appearance from the Breem! Overall a fairly entreating episode if not a particularly exciting one.

Two Kid Episodes in a Row

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 1 September 2014]

A ship is severely damaged. There is only one survivor, a boy of about ten years old. He is trapped under some heavy supports. Data rescues him by using superior strength, then has them beamed on board the Enterprise. This is another episode where a child has lost his mother and father and must try to cope. He becomes distant and won't listen to his teachers. He becomes attached to Data and wants to emulate, pretending to be an android himself. This, of course, is a survival method, but Data is given the task of trying to draw out of the young fellow what happened to him. The Enterprise has entered a field that is destroying the ship, acting similarly to the Vigo, the ship the boy was on. They are at a loss and want badly to draw information from the boy to see what was going on on the ship when it died. Data and the boy are quite humorous when they match each other's quirks, but this only goes a bit of the way. The episode depends too much on a tight little ending that is just too pat.

Mimicking an android.

[russem31 · 26 April 2006]

ST:TNG:111 - "Hero Worship" (Stardate: 45397.3) - this is the 11th episode of the 5th season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

When an Away Team including Data discovers a young boy named Timothy trapped in the wreckage of a research vessel that was reported missing in the Black Cluster, the boy is rescued by Data using his strength. Soon Timothy is intrigued by Data's unemotional state and starts dealing with the loss of his parents by mimicking him, a "hero worship".

At the same time, the Enterprise is bombarded by powerful shock waves from the Cluster. With the danger rising, only Timothy knows what happened and has the answer to save them. Can Data get Timothy to tell him?

Trivia note: Geordi recalls when he was 5 he was in a fire, he was fine because he was eventually rescued by his parents, though there was trauma like Timothy is going through. We see the Entperise school again. And, we see Data painting again.

Timothy fares slightly better than Alexander

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 8 September 2021]

Enterprise attends the scene of a damaged starship and Data rescues a survivor.

This is a decent episode with some strong performances and character moments.

The story is a solid drama with the best bits involving Data helping Timothy recover from an especially bad trauma. It has a subplot that contains most of the sci-fi elements that eventually merges with the main story to enable the guest character to complete his arc. It is nicely and sensitively written, but is a bit predictable.

Data has numerous enjoyable moments with Timothy, plus some good interactions with Counsellor Troi, who is written well in this episode.

Brent Spiner leads the episode very well and he has good support from Marina Sirtis and Joshua Harris.

This is the second episode on the bounce that involves a crew member supporting a child on board Enterprise. This one is slightly better than the previous, but it seems silly to have had two such similar stories right next to each other in the same season.

Alone again... Naturally

[hubbardamanda · 6/10 · 12 January 2020]

One of the few things the Trek Universe did that was annoying to further a plot was any time children were left alone, or the lone survivor of a wrecked ship, or a parent dies, the writers would leave the children alone on the ship, because you know small children have the capabilities to take care of themselves after losing family/friends/ all hands on deck! This is similar to the episode about the child who loses his mother in TNG episode " The Bonding" . The episode is ok, but the reality is that, no one especially a trained counselor, would leave a 12 year old or under alone for long periods of time when faced with a major disaster!

Data daddy.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 22 November 2014]

There is some sort of huge black cloud in space (and I HATE episodes involving clouds as they are a DULL enemy indeed). Somehow a Federation ship was destroyed in it and they find a lone survivor--a child named Timothy. However, the kid is naturally traumatized and the kid cannot talk about what happened in order to help them understand what happened. In fact, the boy has adopted an interesting coping mechanism--he's decided to be an android like Data, as Data does not experience pain. So, to avoid the pain of his parents' death, the boy lives in denial and spends a lot of time with Data. Can they eventually learn what destroyed the ship so that the Enterprise, too, doesn't suffer the same fate?

It's kind of cute seeing the boy interacting with Data--and Data acting like a surrogate dad. But, the whole cloud thing is pretty dull and the overall episode is middle of the road at best.

Data, a role model

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 5 December 2019]

The Enterprise is on a mission to a black hole to find a missing Federation science vessel. They find the ship with but one survivor, a young boy trapped in wreckage. It's Data who with his android strength moves the wreckage and gets young Joshua Harris to safety.

Young Harris is not following normal grief patterns. Instead he tries to emulate Brent Spiner who as an android seems invulnerable to him. Not like his most vulnerable late parents.

Scenes with Spiner and Harris are special as are ones with ship's counselor Marina Sirtis and the lad. A worthwhile story.

Android fatherly figure

[nbrettel · 10/10 · 23 April 2020]

As one of the most heartwarming episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Hero Worship" follows the Enterprise investigating the mysterious destruction of science star-ship, the Vico, which was last seen en route to investigate a large black cluster in space. The sole survivor of the tragedy is a traumatized nine year/ ten year old boy named Timothy. The android Data rescues Timothy from the ruins of the Vico, transporting himself and the boy onto the Enterprise.

While Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Worf and Geordi La Forge try to figure out what exactly happened, Timothy, who has lost both of his parents, looks up to Data as a potential father figure. As a way to ease, even suppress, his pain and survivor's guilt, Timothy begins to pretend that he is an android, going so far as copying Data's movements and speech patterns (from the quick, bird like neck movements to the stoic "That is correct" and "That would be acceptable" quotes). Following the instructions of Counselor Deanna Troi, The stoic and logical Data finds himself bonding with Timothy as he teaches the orphaned boy to be "the best android he (Timothy) could possibly be." in his own, wholehearted android ways.

In the end, it is Timothy's recollection and Data's observational intellect that helps Picard and the Enterprise crew find out what caused the Vico's destruction. The episode ends on heartfelt note that although Timothy has finally come to terms with his parents' deaths, he still considers Data as a friend.

The interaction between Timothy and Data is the heart and soul of this episode. In the past, there were episodes where Data showed a fatherly side to his emotionless personality - In "The Offspring", he created and cared for Lal, an young female android. In "Pen Pals", he answers to the intergalatic distress call of an alien girl named Sarjenka who is concerned about the strange natural disasters that are happening to her planet. But here, Data is a fatherly figure to someone who is neither android nor alien - but a human.

Affected by a tragedy that took his parents, Timothy finds himself looking up to his android rescuer as the older brother he never got to have and the father he didn't have anymore. Data finds himself looking after a boy as he tries to make him (Timothy) the best andorid he could possibly be. He learns about parenting (in the scene where he grooms Timothy's hair to look like his own hair and is befuddled by Timothy's constant jerking head movements) and that his presence as an "adult" is key to a child's recovery from trauma. It also makes him self-examine his own identity as an android and his ruminations of what being human is like (hence when he says, "I would risk feeling bad over anything, even if it means tasting my dessert").

This episode is truly something worth watching.

Kid identifies as an android

[derekcharles · 7/10 · 11 November 2023]

From a dramatic point of view, Hero Worship is standard TNG fare with few if any standout moments. However as a thought piece, it becomes one of the more interesting attempts to help its oft younger audiences to get a grip on complicated issues. In this case, it's identity and the natural tendency for children to struggle with it in early adolescence. What this episode cleverly shows is that it's perfectly natural for kids to be confused, especially in times of stress, and that it does not necessarily have to be life-defining. It can be a mere phase.

As a psychologist of several decades, I'm aware the subject of dysphoria is much more complex than any wiki definition or social media explanation can transmit. Unfortunately in the current climate any attempts at a rounded conversation quickly becomes embroiled in prickly commentary and nervous mediators. However, the fact that this episode depicts an albeit sci-inflected version of the disorder means it cuts thru any of that contemporary controversy. And in doing so, it allows us to appreciate that "Hero Worship" has much to teach the modern world about the potential transience of the disorder and of course the dangers of adults *wholly* embracing it in order to avoid dealing with deeper problems.

In short, the episode becomes a typically well considered episode of TNG where the characters become models for the audience as we all weave our way thru these choppy waters. For example, we see Troi advising Picard and Data to show an appreciation for wider context in which the troubled child is operating. In doing so, she encourages a crucial sensitivity to the very nature of adolescence itself as well as the tendency for young teens to use external models as they abstract (after all they are mere novices at this skill) their own age-appropriate internal stress into something that it is in fact not. Of course the kid wasn't an android. But he needed to believe he was for that short period of time so that his mind could adjust to the trauma. This is why Troi advised a soft indulgence-wait him out-as opposed to the fanatical and extreme solutions some might reach for today.

This is what TNG always did so well. It gave its largely youthful audience a safe platform on which to excavate and evaluate their burgeoning sensibilities and rapidly evolving feelings alike. To cast their mind into the safe space of science fiction and reel it back into the real world edified and better informed than it had been before.

Counselor Troi's weird methods

[ThunderingTim · 5/10 · 19 October 2017]

This is nowhere near the worst episode, nor the best. A ship is adrift in space and while the crew figures out what happened as the Enterprise faces the same fate, the lone survivor, a young boy, deals with his loss by "becoming a robot."

The Boy

As far as child actors go (they're usually annoying on the show) the kid here isn't half bad. He portrays fear and guilt very well. He did not bother me. He acted the robot parts out with a stiffness that's more bad acting than robotic but for this one episode he was okay.

Data

Data has many episodes about finding a companion, making him feel less alone. Brent Spiner is always a fine actor, and he does okay with this mediocre episode. Still, at no point do I fell Data really bonds with the kid. Sure he likes him, Data likes everybody. But a real bond I wouldn't call it.

Ahhhh Troi

Leave it to Counselor Troi to not only skirt her responsibility as a therapist, leaving it to the least qualified person on board, but actually applauds the child ditching his humanity. Any decent psychologist would snap him out of it before it becomes irreversible; they would confront him with his feelings and discuss his emotions; they would encourage him to interact with other kids his age. They would realize a swift intervention would be preferable, especially with the ship at risk, rather than let the alienation become deeply rooted.

Troi does the opposite. Handing an emotionally distressed boy to an emotionally challenged android; seems happy that he no longer answers basic questions normally; and looks on coldly as the boy loses touch with fellow classmates. The only reason this all works is because TNG NEVER allows Troi to be wrong and to show us that she's fallible, as a real person would be. Her human side deeply fails her here, her Betazoid powers falter yet again when they are most needed, and when someone (I think Picard) reasonably asks whether this escapism should be allowed as it seems unhealthy Troi asserts herself without any arguments or proof to back her up that is perfectly normal for a PTSD human to ignore his humanity and embrace an emotionless alter ego.

Troi as a character

It says something about how much I like TNG that I also like Troi despite her many bad points. Here she shows a few of them. I like her the most out of TNG women (but not if you count K'Ehleyr) but she is sometimes very annoying.

Most of the time she hunts down unwilling patients in the corridors; she scans people without asking permission; she will publicly embarrass fellow officers rather than respect their privacy (check out "Loud as a Whisper", where she forces Worf into confessing something and Picard, as usual, appreciates Troi's blunt mental invasion). Whenever she loses her ability she becomes a cold, uneasy woman no-one really likes. This implies that without having the upper hand because she senses what others can't, she isn't a social or warm person. She's also the worst bridge officer since sliced bread and only passes the test by forcing Riker to give the clue she needs, and only after failing 3 times.

Apart from this she either fails at sensing something, shaking her head looking hopeless, or states the obvious. Check out the pilot episode ending, where the entire bridge crew looks on in transfixed marvel and wonder as space jellyfish (yes I said it) emerge and Troi out of nowhere yells "Sir!" distracting everybody, ruining the moment, and then saying "...wonderful". Come on, we don't need that. I bet everyone was mad at her.

Conclusion

Hero Worship is not a bad episode but the A plot feels like the B plot and therefore you don't get invested in one and forget the other. When we finally see the solution to the ship's problem I had utterly forgotten it had one to begin with. Troi allows a boy to flee his emotions in the least healthy way and by some miracle the boy isn't scarred for life. It's another Data-deals-with-a-pseudo- android-episode and not the best. The boy actor is okay but not great, Data (and Spiner) seem a little lost, Troi shows herself to be a bad counselor, and the ship is in peril part slips so far in the background you tend to forget it. It's a watch once episode. Not bad, far from great, 5/10

REVIEW 2022

[iamirwar · 7/10 · 15 September 2022]

A research vessel, Vico went to investigate the interior of a black cluster but the ship has been destroyed. Data rescues a boy, and in a way to repress his own pain, the boy begins to mimic Data.

I have to wonder, when they come up with these stories, where do the writers get their stories from?

Hilary J. Bader was responsible for this story. She also wrote the TNG episode 'The Loss,' and she would go on to write a later TNG episode as well as several for DS9... This is the second episode on the bounce that has focussed on the interactions between a young boy and a member of the Enterprise crew. This is yet another child who had suffered a traumatic experience, and once again we are trying to unravel the psychological effects that experience has had on the child. It has to be agreed that both this story and 'New Ground' share many similarities.

Of course, a child pretending to be an android has a different angle to that of a Klingon boy wanting to live up to the expectations of his father. This one worked quite well. We can all relate to the idea of a child trying to mimic an adult and so it is not a great stretch of the imagination to suppose a child would want to mimic the actions of a living doll, or android. The mystery of what happened to the research vessel 'Vico' also remains to be explained. Are we about to meet the Breen? Only Timmy might provide us with the answer. That would be acceptable.

This Episodes Clue: Religion, Marriage, Burial.

Data Jr.

[Samuel-Shovel · 4/10 · 8 April 2020]

In "Hero Worship" a young boy whose the sole survivor of a starship disaster latches on to his savior Data and starts to emulate his android ways. Meanwhile the rest of the crew tries to figure out just what happened to this boy's home ship.

Weird episode. The boy's thought process and grieving process kind of make sense I guess? Him and Data have a few good moments but I found most of this episode fairly dull, especially the resolution to the starship's demise.

An inoffensive episode but extraordinarily dull...

"I am designed to exceed human capacity."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 19 February 2024]

When the Enterprise encounters an unmanned vessel adrift in space, they find a lone survivor aboard, a young boy traumatized by an attack on the ship and the loss of both parents. Saved from the wreckage by Commander Data (Brent Spiner), the boy Timothy (Joshua Harris) begins to bond with the android officer, so much so that he fancies himself an android as well to shield himself from the pain of his situation. While the story has its quirky moments in which Timothy emulates Data's characteristic head movements and twitches, it becomes a bit more ominous when he becomes convinced that he destroyed the Vico, the ship he was rescued from, by virtue of brushing against a control panel at the exact moment it was damaged by a severe wave front intensity produced by a black cluster the ship was caught in. Knowing this had to be coincidental, Data and Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) try to reassure him that he had nothing to do with the Vico's destruction. It's when the Enterprise itself becomes victim of the same black cluster that Timothy actually has a hand in helping save it by reconstructing some of the dialog aboard the Vico just before disaster struck. The trick was to reduce warp power to the Enterprise's protective shields instead of increasing it, since the wave front intensity drew its strength from proximity to escalating warp energy. Given Timothy's initial aggressive behavior and acting out due to the loss of his parents aboard the Vico, I thought it might have been a good idea to introduce him to Worf's son Alexander from the prior episode 'New Ground' so they could share experiences. I wonder why the writers didn't think of that.

Weak episode with nothing of interest

[drew1116 · 2/10 · 13 January 2024]

I'm a TOS fan, but I recently read Patrick Stewart's biography and thought I would try a few episodes of TNG.

Honestly, there's nothing in this episode. It's just a boring who cares, non-science fiction soap. There's no tension, no drama, nothing compelling, just straight up storytelling that belongs on the Hallmark Channel.

An episode about a traumatized boy. That's Star Trek? What am I missing?

I'm 200 characters short. Although I've only seen about 10 episodes ever of TNG, one of the things that I was turned off by was the lack of difference between the lead characters. They all seem so similar except for Data.

Oh, and the acting comes across as very wooden. I'm sure this is because the actors themselves aren't given anything to work with. I suspect that some of them are probably very good in the right roles.

Maybe TNG isn't for me.