If the Cairn communicate completely through telepathy, why do they still have vocal cords?I'm no expert, but doesn't evolution remove things which are of no more use?

If I don't digest tree bark on a regular basis, why do I still have an appendix?

In other words, their telepathy might be a fairly recent development. Their vocal cords probably don't use enough energy to be a significant reproductive limitation, so they'd last a long time, though they might eventually atrophy and become useless vestigial vocal cords that don't produce much sound.

There are other uses for vocal cords, such as driving away predators. (Though telepathy would probably be pretty good at that too.)

An interesting real-world case of this: Most songbirds use sounds to attract mates or to defend territory. Crows, though, don't have mating calls and aren't territorial. But for some reason, crows still have all the complex songbird vocal equipment and can even be taught to talk. Either they have some other use for their calls, or their vocal equipment is totally useless but it's not really a problem so they haven't lost it yet.

I loved this episode! Both Marina Sirtis and Majel Roddenberry pulled off some great acting which carried us through a very emotional story that could have been dismissed as being formulaic. The writing I also thought was excellent, just excellent. I liked the way that Trek sometimes tells us that you don't need fancy special effects and gimicks to make for great television. All you need is the right script.

This had one of the most superb pieces of filming in the entire seven seasons. At the end of the flashback they showed a really short shot of Lwaxana and Ian weeping at the side of the river. Its brevity somehow made it all the more poignant. And a superb piece of acting by Majel who demonstrated here what a great actress she can be when given the right role. She can really cry - I was in floods of tears myself at the anguish she portrayed.

As much as the superb acting and story touched me, this episode contains my biggest nit.

The last scene left me in disbelief. Deanna hands Lwaxana picture of Ian, Kestra, and Deanna when she was a baby, telling her that "Mr.Homn said he saved it, in case someday you would want to remember her." MR.HOMN? How would Mr.Homn have known about Kestra? If I remember correctly, (I cannot look this up, someone took all my old tapes), Deanna MET Mr.Homn in the episode Haven. When she first saw him, she asked who he was. She then inquired what happened to her mother's old valet, and was told that the former valet's thoughts were becoming positively pornographic, and he was dismissed. Knowing Mrs.Troi was entering the phase in life when a Betazoid woman's sex drive increases exponentially, his dismissal may have been completely unfounded. Seeing how bossy Lwaxana sometimes gets with the help, I highly doubt the picture was passed down from the old servants.

Although yes, it was very sweet to have Lwaxana and Deanna holding hands when they came out of the telepathic link, but I cannot help but think it must have looked very silly to the people in sickbay, seeing a comatose Lwaxana scooch over to be able to reach her daughter's hand.

Also, as a Starfleet officers wife, wouldn't there be a complete medical record on Lwaxana's pregnancies? They made no mention of Beverly even trying to look for clues there.

Cableface & Mark: At the reception Geordi is explaining to Hedral that his VISOR let's him see and she says it's like her vocal enhancer. So while the Cairn apparently have vocal cords, they need a device to help them form words.

Also, even if they don't use vocal cords to speak with, there may be times when they need to make sounds. I think even if you are a telepathic species, I think situations like stepping on a sharp object will make most animals scream.

Finally, Cableface, evolution isn't as simple as you make it out to be. If having vocal cords caused the Cairn to die before they could reproduce, then the gene for vocal cords wouldn't get passed on. Since having vocal cords doesn't affect their ability to reproduce, the gene for vocal cords does get passed on.

The really big nit, or Changed Premise, is that the Cairn need to speak to communicate with members of the Federation.
Come with me to the Classic Trek episode Metamorphosis.
In this episode, it is explained that the Universal Translator analyzes thoughts of a species and searches for universal commonalities and translates them to English. Also it provides a voice for the Companion even though the Companion doesn't communicate verbally.
Therefore the Universal Translator could easily take the Cairn's thoughts and turn them into English words, without the need for vocal enhancers or struggling to think of the right word.

If Worf & Deanna had continued their relationship and gotten married, do you think Lwaxana would still call him "Mr. Woof"? (Or call them Mr. and Mrs. Woof? They could retire from Starfleet and open up a detective agency. ;-)

On pages 20 & 21 of the NextGen Guide II, Phil asks where Deanna got her accent since both parents don't have one. Well, maybe Mr. Homn taught her to speak? His one line in Haven sounded a little odd. With her father a Starfleet Officer and her mother an Ambassador, Daughter of the Fifth House, etc., etc., their duties probably kept them pretty busy so she probably ended up spending a lot of time with the servants.

As for Mr. Homn working for the Troi's, leaving their service, then working again for Lwaxana after Mr. Xelo was fired. Maybe it was Mr. Homn's father, old Mr. Homn, who worked for the Troi's until he retired/fired/died, then when young Mr. Homn was old enough, replaced Mr. Xelo?

After Picard states there is a seven year gap, and the first couple of deleted entries disappear at the top of the screen, it looks like Deanna then leans in to take a look and states that it starts about a year after her parents married. Now maybe she saw the stardate before she leaned in, but if she could see it from where she stood, why go in for a closer look? Did she think she could make out some of the erased words?

Isn't it amazing that Lwaxana's mental landscape looked just like parts of the ship?

Mr. Homn teaching her to speak? Well, I sure hope not. Speech is first learned from parents and environment, right from infancy, not just when one starts formal education. In order for Homn to have taught her speech, this would mean that he raised her from infancy, feeding her, comforting her, playing with her, showing her affection, etc., which would've caused Troi to imprint upon him rather than her parents, and would've seriously jeopardized the parent-child rapport with Lwaxana and Ian Andrew. Is this why Deanna and Lwaxana's relationship is so strained?

Mr.Homn still might be the culprit - after all, Luigi, there's precedent for the kind of parent-child separation you're describing there in the 'upper-class' homes of many societies.

If he in fact was little Deanna's primary caregiver - and I think KAM's on the ball there - chances are good she'd have learned to mimic any accent he might have had pretty fluently.
Governesses in Victorian families at least (vide Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey) were carefully chosen for their 'correct' accents...the better to help the kiddies lose any trace of the speech patterns they'd picked up from Nanny.

KAM: On pages 20 & 21 of the NextGen Guide II, Phil asks where Deanna got her accent since both parents don't have one.

:: I don't have one (Guide II, that is. Is it free?). But do we know that Lwaxana doesn't have one (an accent)? Is she speaking English, or is it the UT?

Is the Guide II free? Well, that would depend on how good the security is at your local bookstore.

The NextGen Guide II (or The Nitpicker's Guide For Next Generation Trekkers, Volume II, for long) was the Chief's third book. You might be able to find a copy in a used bookstore, or, if you're lucky, there might still be a bookstore with some copies on the shelves.

For some more information on the book go here

This episode marks the last time we see Lwaxana Troi on STTNG

And there was much rejoicing!

When Lwaxana & Deanna wake up at the end of Lwaxana's "dark page", they are holding hands in Sickbay...ALONE! What happened to Crusher, Picard & Maques? Wasn't Maques supposed to be the "bridge" between Lwaxana & Deanna?

I must say too that Kirsten Dunst (Hedril) REALLY blossomed nicely over the years. She would later become Mary Jane in the new "Spiderman" movie.

The only part of this story I didn't like is that Lwaxana never told Deanna she had a sister. It seemed so selfish. I mean, sure it was tragic, but Deanna has the RIGHT TO KNOW.
On a personal note:
My dad lost his twin brother a few months after he was born. Yet, my grandmother told my dad about his twin brother that died.

The only part of this story I didn't like is that Lwaxana never told Deanna she had a sister. It seemed so selfish. I mean, sure it was tragic, but Deanna has the RIGHT TO KNOW.

John, I do entirely respect your family grief...but unless your dad's twin died violently, in an accident your gramma felt she could have prevented, there's no comparison between her situation and Lwaxana's.

Really, Lwaxana isn't hiding the truth from Deanna in the first place - she's hiding it from herself because she can't even begin to face the pain and guilt the loss of little Kestra caused her.
Not the best way of handling the situation - but free of selfish motive. Certainly Deanna has a right to know, but her mom is literally incapable of telling her. Even the most cursory glance over this ep makes that obvious.

Makes you wonder about Ian's view towards it, then...

I just saw this episode again, and while many of you seem to already have similar views I should say this nontheless.

Dark Page obviously isn't an episode to view if you're having a really rough time for any reason, but it is one of my favourite epsiodes from a purely dramatic view just because when I watched it yesterday I nearly cried (and I'm a 21 year old man who very rarely cries at all, so that should say something). I don't know why it got to me as much as it did, since the episode had never really made me do that before, but that was still something I find personally impressive. If I could track down the writers I'd hand write a letter of kudos.

This episode has brought me to tears.

No nits here.

During the second mind link scene, the camera zooms in on Lwaxana then on Deanna...the same way the camera zoomed in the first time they tried the mind link....in other words, TPTB used the same footage.

The Cairn must be a truly exceptional species - either that, or humans are particularly dull. Linguists will tell you that children raised through infancy without exposure to spoken language can never grasp the concept of it, even at a still young age like 8 or 10. And teaching an entire planet's population (or even their elite) to handle this totally alien form of communication ... no wonder Lwaxana looks so tired.

Maybe the Cairn are smarter than humans.

This post has been edited by the moderator.

A very young Kirsten Dunst appears as Hedril. This was about a year before her big break in "Interview with the Vampire" that catapulted her into the public eye.

Why didn't Deanna tell her mother about Ian's death from "The Child"? That way it might help make Lwaxana feel better knowing that Deanna also lost her child at a young age.

Deanna didn't want to expose her mother to another ion storm...

Just a note...I LOVE all the close-ups of Deanna Troi / Marina Sirtis in this episode

Well, apparently the Trek producers/writers were tired of the critisism from fans about Lwaxana being used in Trek only for comic relief ("Half A Life" notwithstanding) and decided to give her...

AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS EPISODE!!!!

And as for what it was...meh. I really having nothing to say about it. It was 7th Season TNG. What the hell do you expect? Right?

Of course, she'd go back to DS9 twice more after this and be just as annoying as usual. Somehow causing everyone to fall in love with each other in "Fascination" (dont ask me to explain that one, I dont have a clue how the hell she did it). And that was one of the worst episodes of the series IMO, it being on about the same level as any of the Ferengi-oriented ones.

And then came "The Muse". Lwaxana is PREGNANT! And the father will take the child away from her to raise by himself, as per the customs of his race! AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Like I said before, what were they thinking, making Lwaxana have a baby at her age? I know that in the 24th century, it wouldn't be a problem to conceive a child at older ages because of the advancements in medical technology, but why did the writers think that making her have another kid would be at all appealing for her character? DId they really believe that this would make her more sympathetic and likable? Because it did absolutely nothing for me!

Remember: Lwaxana appeared to be at least in her 70s. And Deanna (yeah, remember her?) is at least 40 at this point in the Trek Timeline. So why was this done? Can anyone help me understand this?

That's it for this one.

Maybe comments about the episode where Lwaxana is pregnant should take place on that episode page, but I'd just say briefly here that she's not human and, unless it's established somewhere that Betazoids are similar to humans, it's possible that they could remain fertile for years or even decades longer than human women normally are.

Can I also say again, more on topic, that I found Dark Page really moving. It wasn't without its nits but Majel acted her socks off and her emotional scenes were tragically beautiful.

Well, Callie, I would have to disagree with you on that one. But it is nice to see that you're still around here and still post at times. Unlike some others I could mention, you haven't just given up and gone away when things got a little rough. Namely, when I started to disagree with them. Know what I mean?

I'm just saying that after years of The Daughter Of The Fifth House (and whatever else is in the title) was being used as comic relief in the series every time we saw her, it just seemed to come comepletely out of nowhere that now, all of a sudden, she should be pitied and felt sorry for. I'm sorry, but I just dont buy it.

This is one of the rare cases where I actually like the actress better than the character. That's right, I admired and respected Mrs. Roddenberry much more than I ever did Mrs. Troi.

And I think you all know by now how I feel about Frakes, Sirtis, and Spiner. And Shatner? Ummm...

The less said about him, the better!

"This episode marks the last time we see Lwaxana Troi on STTNG." - John L. in 2003

"And there was much rejoicing!" - "Jean-Luc-Picard" afterwards

True dat!

Phil pointed out my biggest problem with this story in one of his guides.

How can a telepath as strong and observent about what others are thinking as Lwaxana is lose track of her eldest daughter(possibly either another telepath or empath) for long enough for the child to get trapped and drown when she knows there's open water around???

This one question really cut down on the impact of this story for me--it's hard to feel sorry for someone who has had to go so far from thier normal mode to foul up so badly.

Or at least--that's how I feel.

Kestra is blonde because the casting director obviously think little blonde girls work better on the mothers in the audience in these situations (see also: Sydney Wade as Melody Pond in Doctor Who).

Picard revealed tat Riker and Deanna named their daughter, Kestra.

No doubt after Deanna's sister.