Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series) Time's Orphan (1998) User Reviews

Nothing good comes from exploring ancient caves in star trek.

[thevacinstaller · 6/10 · 3 December 2021]

I liked the performance of 18 year old Molly.

Rehabilitation does seem the better solution then to abandon Molly on her 'home' planet but hey ---- Parents do some crazy things for kids and as luck would have it this turned out to be the correct decision because they got toddler Molly back.

You could have gone in many different directions with this story. I think it would have been interesting if they kept adult Molly aboard DS9 and developed her character from this point on.

The Worf B-Plot successfully filled in time but also managed to tie-in to the parenting theme ---- so, that's something? I think this B-Plot may have been a meta message about the fanbase calling out Worf's inconsistent parenting history with Alexander.

It was nice to see Chester the cat.

Good idea for an episode but I felt it could have been explored and enhanced from what we got here.

Good concept badly executed.

[Island-Publius · 5/10 · 10 August 2010]

Every shows hits its weak phase - and Deep Space Nine started struggling around this time. The previous (very weak) comic Ferengi episode was followed by this very serious Molly O'Brien episode.

So much of it is rushed and shallow. The O'Brien's give up on getting back "their" Molly after a 20 second existential discussion on the nature of being - which they adjust to with little emotional consequence. Ultimately they decide to send her back to her primitive world 300 years previous, alone, with little or no discussion of whether they should all go as a family, or if they could settle on another uninhabited planet s a family. Just send her back to her cavewoman life - end of discussion.

All the while, Worf's inferiority complex about being a good father is thrust upon the viewer as a subplot with very little setup or explanation. At first it seems like it is going to be for comic relief - then it turns very soap opera like.

DSN is a great show, and had more great story lines subsequent - but there is a string of episodes at this time that show how dry the creative well had run.

Love-Hate

[Calaverasgrande · 7/10 · 10 June 2020]

This episode get's dinged a lot. I understand the complaints. But at the same time for some reason I connect with this story. The first time I watched this episode I hated it. There are a few plot points that are simply ludicrous. At the same time, it is that typical late season episode we see on various Trek series. Not part of the story arc, fleshing out background characters, either comical or poignant. Despite the trainwreck of the plot in the third act I like the poignancy of this story. I suppose it is something that came to me after I had experienced loss in my family. And also having children in your life makes you sensitive to the wounding of their innocence.

At this point it's a good idea to hip folks to how TV shows and movies get made. There is a perception that it simply get's written, they shoot the actors doing stuff. Then edited and that is it. In actuality it is more complicated. Quite often scenes and characters in a screenplay/teleplay do not survive to the shooting schedule. And even then, various scenes may end up taking longer or working out differently once they are committed to film. One of my good friends started off as a screenwriter, but instead had a slight career shift to set writer. She hangs out on the set all day and does on the fly re-writes for situations or dialogue that are not working out. That sounds niche, but it's fairly common. She bought a house and built a second house behind it with her re-writes.

I think that this screenplay started off as a good story, was shot and rewritten when some part or another wouldn't work and they just kind of kludged together the preposterous 3rd act to wrap up the story. After all, it's pretty competent up until that glitch. How else that could have been worked which makes more sense I do not know.

Nevertheless, nearly every time I watch this episode it gets the waterworks going. So on that alone I rate this at least a 6 or 7. My criteria for any episode is how well the story works. As entertainment, as a moral parable. As a tearjerker. If that story does that job it works. There are certainly episodes that do none of these!

How was this script accepted?

[lor_ · 18 July 2023]

With so many possibilities open to the fantasy/science fiction writer, I wonder why so many scripts tend toward the prosaic.

On the surface, it's a sentimental concept based on time travel: Colm & Chao's cute 8-year-old kid accidentally falls through a time portal and when they rescue her she's aged 10 years. Now Molly's back and she's become a wild child -after being alone on a deserted planet surviving for 10 years. She can't relate and complications due to her violent behavior turn the show into melodrama. It's irritating to watch, as the script piles it on the poor kid. The contrived sort of-happy ending is utterly phony and illogical. A subplot with Worf is pure soap opera, too.

Basically this is a stupid sci-fi riff on either Franocis Truffaut's "Wild Child" or Werner Herzog's "Every Man for Himself and God Against All".

Molly grows older after falling through a time portal

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 26 August 2010]

While the Chief and his family are visiting Golana, a Bajoran colony, his daughter Molly goes off to play but get in to difficulty. The Chief tries to rescue her but she falls into what turns out to be a time portal. It appears that she has gone three hundred years into the past. They scan the device and manage to bring Molly back from the past but rather than bringing back an eight year old Molly they bring her back as an eighteen year old meaning that she has been all alone on an uninhabited planet for ten years. It looks like she just wants to go back to Golana, they take her to a holographic version and all appears to be well but when their time on the holosuite is up she becomes violent, trashes Quark's bar and attacks a customer with a broken bottle. He presses chargers and it looks as if she will have to be treated in a Federation facility. The Chief thinks this will be bad for her so breaks her out of the holding cells with the intention of delivering her to Golana three hundred years in the past. When they send her through the portal she finds young Molly and then sends her back through to her parents

While the chief and Keiko are working to teach Molly who she is and who they are Jadzia offers to baby-sit their son Yoshi as she had been looking forward to examining a passing comet Worf takes over the job thinking how he does will prove his worthiness to have a child of his own with Jadzia.

For the first half of this episode I wasn't too impressed but after Molly went wild I Quark's things picked up and it got more exciting. It was nice to see Odo break the rules and help the Chief. It looked like the ending was going to be fairly daring but ultimately it was a cop out and young Molly returns home none the worse for her accident.

"B____cks!"

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 16 July 2023]

Molly O'Brien disappears through a time portal.

This is an okay episode that includes decent character moments.

For me the plot unfolds in a mostly contrived way as it includes certain events that feel like they happen because the writers want to have their cake and eat it with painful emotional moments and happy endings. As some reviewers have correctly pointed out, the Federation is supposed to be an advanced, progressive society, which makes the treatment of Molly feel especially forced into the story to create the central dilemma.

I like the interaction between characters in various family situations. The O'Brien family, plus the likes of Worf, Jadzia and Odo are all used very well during interactions with each other. The Worf and Jadzia scenes in particular work well considering what happens in the season finale.

All actors are on good form, particularly Colm Meaney, who always impresses when the writers make his character suffer.

Missed subplots

[pajone39 · 6/10 · 23 October 2021]

Some people hate children, my condolences so their reviews are not take seriously. I love children and I loved part of the concept of parents trying to deal with a suddenly aged wild child. But as has been pointed out there surely would have been highly qualified psychologists who could have treated Molly. Even if by nothing else by a hologram of a Psychologist like counselor Troi.

I was a bit miffed that Worf didn't show much concern about Molly AFTER ALL he DID deliver her. That USUALLY creates a bond.(Star Trek The Next Generation "Disaster") But alas the writers were too busy trying (and failing) to be clever.

Unlike some I did like the older Molly sending the younger Molly back knowing full well her life would change.

So Much for the Wise & Compassionate Federation

[northbonmot · 2/10 · 10 May 2019]

The Trek franchise is renowned and beloved for addressing OUR societal issues in the context of the enlightened future Star Trek inhabits. This episode takes a run at addressing the care of special needs children and utterly fails with gusto.

A child in today's reality would have fared much better than Molly did in this vision of the future. Parents, friends, institutions and professionals of today would have done so much more for her.

Molly's initial rehabilitation is left almost entirely to her parents with virtually no support from the Federation's vast resources. Bashir does little other than stand by with sedatives when things get out of hand. The Enterprise had a ship's counselor but there doesn't appear to be a single psychologist in residence on the much larger and far more psychologically demanding environment of DS9.

They create a holosuite version of older Molly's environment to help her feel secure during the rehab, but she's forced out of it because two Klingons won't give up their reserved time. Sisko could have demanded the facility be appropriated to deal with this emergency. Worf has been called upon to convince other Klingons to make more challenging accommodations than give up a recreational holosuite reservation. And when Molly responds to the trauma of being forcibly removed from her comfort environment, the response is to put her in jail.

Molly's parents don't fight for her care. They decide to throw her back to her life of isolation and deprivation AND destroy the time portal so she can never be recovered. Wow! With all the resources of the Federation this is the best they could come up with? Jail, institutionalization or disposal.

Star Trek offers an optimistic vision for many aspects of the human future. But if you ever find yourself in need of compassionate care for an individual with special needs or psychological trauma, you'd be far better off pointing your temporal portal to early 21st Earth (as imperfect as that is) than to the Final Frontier.

It's that or hire better writers.

The O'Briens at their best!!!

[gritfrombray-1 · 10/10 · 20 February 2007]

As a big fan of both Colm Meaney and Rosalind Chao I loved this. These two are one of the best coupled pair of actors I've ever seen. So believable as a married couple and are always real close. When tragedy occurs and their daughter Molly is lost they really pull out the stops as a Mum and Dad. When Molly returns and is, without too much of a spoiler, different, their work with her as a Mum and Dad is really touching. Molly's slow realization of herself and her parents is handled well. Have to laugh at Colm Meaney and his yelling " Oh ***** " on the planet as it was truly hilarious! Odo's turning a blind eye to the O'Briens breaking the elder Molly out of her cell was great character stuff and shows a rare moment for Odo who is quite conservative and rarely has an impulsive moment. The story finishes off on a nice note without too much tech babble to ruin it

a script with no logic

[Zaffy-1 · 3/10 · 8 July 2017]

I gave it 3 just cause I can't give a DS9 a 1.. This was awfully stupid. I cannot accept intelligent people wrote this script.

First, I will ignore the fact that a 8 years old child managed to survive ALL ALONE in a planet without any presence of civilization for 10 years. I guess it was a magic place without diseases, no dangerous animals, perfect weather, everything was eatable and nutritious and in case you fell and hurt yourself your wounds healed themselves.

Now, after she comes back to present time, we have a girl that has grew up on her own in nature and cannot adjust back in civilization.

So in the 24th century (twenty fourth century), the only way they can handle with her is putting her on the brig or keep her sedated. Then someone mentioned a kind of institute where I assume experts like psychologists would help her. Oh, finally someone started making sense! But no... the most logical thing for her parents was to throw her back to the past and let her live and die ALL ALONE. Like every caring parent would decide to (NOT).

Sigh..

A script by amoebas for amoebas...

One of the best episodes of DS9!

[rickkingmusic · 10/10 · 20 January 2011]

This episode of DS9 had me in tears as I watched the drama unfold. It pulled all of the right strings to make this 46 year old man ball his eyes out!

As others have explained, the O'Brien's take the kids to the planet Golana for a bit of family time and a picnic. Molly, their 8 years old daughter, ends up wandering off and falling into an old ruin. It just happens that this ruin contains a time portal that has activated and she falls through it as the Chief is trying desperately to grab for her. The people from DS9 quickly respond to the emergency and work to find a way to get Molly back.

Well they succeed, however the Molly that returns to DS9 is now 18 years old and have been alone and with out human contact for 10 years. They try everything to help her adjust to her new life among people and her family. But unfortunately it doesn't work and the O'Brien's are forced to return Molly to Golana and back through the portal from where she was rescued. The grown Molly returns to the past and finds the 8 year old Molly alone and crying inside the cave where the portal is located. She send the child back through the portal to the O'Brien's, who are about to destroy the portal from their side, knowing that by doing so she was erasing herself and the past 10 years of her life. You know that she knew by the look in her eyes as she uttered the word "Home" as she faded away into nothingness. The O'Brien's have received there little girl back!

Just as a side note, the subplot with Worf and how he confronts parenthood was OK, as it provided several brief comedic moments.

As a parent myself, I could only imagine how I would feel if that happened to one of my children! And the overwhelming joy that they must have felt when she returned! Well needless to say, I was very moved by this episode when I viewed it for the first time recently. I had thought that I had seen all of the episodes already, but some how this one was missed. I am glad that I had the chance to watch it! It was well acted by Colm Meaney and Rosalind Chao, and Michelle Krusiec was fantastic as the older Molly! All I can say is WOW!

This is the most ridiculous plot

[albert-bentall · 1/10 · 15 June 2021]

This story makes absolutely no sense. Why would they send their little girl back after only a week of trying to get her back to normal. As if you would condemn someone to a life of solitude on a deserted planet, your daughter most of all.

Ridiculous.

B plot shines brighter

[frankdeg-14734 · 4/10 · 14 April 2020]

Can't stand the main Molly plotline in this episode. The acting is rough around the edges by no fault of the actors. The writing is sloppy. It's honestly just stressful to watch Molly freaking out only to cut to Yoshi crying. Mollys character gets more and more irritating to watch as the episode develops.

Worfs side plot and character moments is the only redeeming part of this episode.

It's the 90s people

[sublimeintentions · 8/10 · 8 November 2022]

Ok let's address people complaining about how backward they are for people living in the future. Well in fact it was The 90s . And that how people behaved in most parts. That was their idea of the future which of course seams backwards to us now.. Every show is a reflection of the time it's created in. That's all guess work. For example in Star Trek discovery, they address gender and pronouns as if in the effing far distant future any of that will be relevant. It's relevant now and so it depicted in the show. Now for the actual episode l. I loved it apart from one thing . NO PARENT WOULD SEND THEOR 18 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER TO A DESOLATE EFFING PLANET BECAUSE SHE IS HAVING AN EFFING TANTRUM but maybe they would have in the 90s LOL.

A stain on the white vest of Starfleet

[tomsly-40015 · 2/10 · 25 November 2023]

As others already pointed out, this episode is full of questionable actions and situations.

When Miles and Keiko lose Molly in a time portal, they luckily are able to get her back, but she has aged by 10 years. She spent those 10 years alone on a planet and had to survive without any contacts to other species. Back on the station she of course has a hard time to fit in again. Her language skills have deteriorated and she acts like a wild animal being caged.

The worst parts of this episode are, that everyone seems to just give up on her. Miles and Keiko try for about a week to socialize her again but fail. Miles seems to be more worried about being behind repairs on the station because he has to spend time with his daughter than to actually care for her. Keiko also is very cold and distanced towards her own daughter. Which real parents would act like this in such a situation? Even today, most parents would rather quit their jobs to be with her daughters that need help. And in the time of Star Trek where money means nothing, quitting a job would even be easier!

Also, where is the help of Starfleet? Aren't there any psychiatrists and specialists? I mean, Starfleet constantly fights wars and people get trapped in all sorts of anomalies all the time. Treating traumas should be a daily business for Starfleet and there should be experts in masses to help Molly finding her way back into life again.

But the only idea Miles and Keiko come up with is dumping her daughter on that lonely planet again and destroy the time portal so she will be trapped there forever! Wow, who does not want to have parents like that! Dooming her child to a life full of loneliness and despair. Without the chance to ever fall in love or having a family on her own.

It is very unlikely anyhow that an 8 year old child, growing up on a space station where food comes from replicators, would have been able to survive alone on a lonely planet. She would have had no clue how to find food, how to harvest crops, go hunting etc. Most likely she would have poisoned herself by eating something dangerous. Even adults that know in theory how to make a fire, struggle when they are on a survival training in the wild.

And then an 8 year old could would have managed to survive alone? Also, she had no tools, no medicine. The slightest scratch could have caused an infection and without antibiotics she would have propably died. We know from our own history that people died to infections caused by simple wounds. And it is amazing, how smooth her skin, silky her hair and perfectly pristine her teeth are. Living in the wild without access to doctors, she would have looked a lot differently. Just compare this to people on earth, that live a poor life as farmers in some remote regions without electricity or tap water.

Times Orphan is a hit!

[wdtice · 10/10 · 22 June 2022]

Young, older to young over again... oh my!!

This show is one of the best O'Brien episodes in all of Star Trek that reminds me that Star Trek is a Family Show from start to finish.

Degenerate

[frankelee · 1/10 · 14 June 2022]

I just don't get the point of this episode. It's like the writers either don't get or openly scorn the premise of the series they're writing. This is the 24th century, we're supposed to be in a far more evolved state, with technological wonders that can do amazing things and solve incredible problems, but even then their are crises to be faced. But this should not be one of them.

There's a little girl in need of serious help, and the vaunted Federation is seemingly useless and pointless. The space station environment suddenly becomes a remote town in the old west where little can be done to help. It's so devoid of reality it's just diminishing for the entire series.

Terrible.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 24 January 2015]

Season six of "Star Trek: Deep Space 9" was odd. While there were many great episodes, there also were a far larger than normal number of bad episodes...really, really bad episodes. Try watching "Resurrection", "Statistical Probabilities", "His Way", "Valiant" and "Profits and Losses" and you'll see what I mean! Yup, there were some pretty bad season six entries and "Time's Orphan" might just be among the worst.

The show begins with the O'Briens off world for a picnic. While scampering about, Molly falls into a hole and enters a temporal distortion (and temporal episodes are usually quite bad). When they manage to get her back, she's 10 years older--and a wild maniac of a child. Can they get the original Molly back or will they have to take her out of pre-school and get her a kennel instead?

While you must suspend disbelief to enjoy sci-fi, this one required you actually turn off your brain. The worst parts clearly are at the finale--as the O'Briens' behaviors make little sense. Overall, pretty weak and one you would just as soon skip.

Can We Move On?

[Hitchcoc · 3/10 · 8 November 2018]

If one is willing to accept what happens to the little girl in this episode, it's still a stretch to accept the ending. Once in a while, people who experience things they have never observed are able to paste together solutions. In these Star Trek offerings (most of the time) they work to cure the problem. If the time thing is at work here, how could they have the science to deal with it in a few short days. From Poltergeist to Twilight Zone, the idea of a child lost in some supernatural realm has been explored. The solutions have always been suspect. We know from the outset that some magical thing will rear its head and take care of everything.

Another ghastly episode

[hswasserman · 1/10 · 6 June 2021]

It's like psychotherapy and medical science don't exist in the 24th century. Sure people don't get sent thru a time portal and age ten years every day, but are you telling me the people on DS9 are this ignorant about how to deal with a problem like this? Of course send her to a facility. There will be professionals there who will know how to take care of her and help her with her developmental issues. It's not like there has never been a person stranded in the wild who needed to be reintegrated back into society. Therapists and doctors and whatever scientists who are relevant could have helped Molly. But no Miles and Keiko couldn't do that. Molly's better off with them on DS9.

No instead their genius plan is to send Molly back to the place where she is all by herself. Sure, she survived for 10 years there and wanted to go back, but does anyone think human beings should live all by themselves without any other human contact? Who thinks that is in her best interests?

DS9 showed a similarly shocking ignorance about psychology and medical science in the episode with Worf's brother. He felt he had lost his honor, he was suicidal, he didn't seem like he could go on. Any therapy? Any medication? Any hospitalization? Nope, the best Dr Bashir could come up with--likely on his own without consulting any other doctors or medical journals--the best he could come up with was to erase his memory and change him into a different person. Seriously? If someone did that nowadays the doctor's medical license would be taken away, he'd be sued, he might even go to prison.

What is the writing process for DS9 episodes? I'm sure the series overall is good but there are some truly horrendous episodes!

By far the dumbest written episode in DS9 for me

[rusafetlknme · 2/10 · 13 March 2020]

A number of highly unlikely things have to go wrong for this episode to begin another amount for the ending and in the middle the seemingly worst parents ever.

Would you quit your job to be with your daughter? O'Brian thinks theres a better way..

Just watch it for how bad it is.

Again, no one can write a good O'brien's story

[kkashkari · 2/10 · 26 June 2019]

I wish the writers could give the O'Brien's good scripts and character developments. They just dealt with the family members as extras that can talk!

Here in this episode, the concept was great, yet the execution was kind of "bad". too many things could have happened with them, but again, writers would choose the cheapest way to do it.

One bad choice after another

[lisa-cangelosi · 2/10 · 19 June 2023]

I agree with what many reviewers say about the idiocy of sending "18 year old Molly" back into the portal... to be alone forever.

However, in my opinion the most idiotic statement of the entire episode comes much sooner. It is when Dr. Bashir (when explaining why they can't send older Molly back and retry getting her back at the age she fell in) said: "then no one will grow up to be this Molly. You'd be erasing her existence."

Every single time I watch this, my reaction is: And so what?! So the horror of spending 10 years in isolation without any contact would be wiped away! The O'Briens seem to accept it without a single objection!

The irony is that's this is what ends up happening at the end of the episode anyway!

A story that collapses under its own bad logic

[dirvingman-62136 · 4/10 · 26 December 2023]

There's a seed of a good idea in here. Miles and Keiko's kid, Molly, essentially turns 10 years older and goes feral in the blink of an eye. Will they be able to integrate her back into society?

Unfortunately, the execution of the idea is haphazard. To start with, the obvious solution to the problem is explained away very lazily. They say they can't just beam out a younger Molly, because it will erase the experience that older Molly has had...not taking into account that they've already messed with the timeline by beaming out older Molly.

So, the rest of the episode operates on borrowed faith from the viewer. Then it gets to a point where Miles is assaulting Bajoran security officers just to sneak back to the time portal and drop Molly back in time. Credulity is strained and broken by this point. The only good part of this episode is an amusing slice-of-life B-story involving Worf, Dax, and Worf's childcare abilities.

Weak, Uninspired and Missable

[silverfox-33651 · 2/10 · 2 May 2020]

Lets us be under no illusion. We all felt a sigh of relief when Molly disappeared.

There was some sadness, however, when we realised Keiko wasn't joining her.

Child actors are often poor, and this is forgivable, but Rosalind Chao doesn't have the lobes to carry her character and is often a weak line in any storyline.

In this story there is no way they would get a daughter back after 10 years.

Epecially not wearing the same bracelet, yet that bracelet is the 'oh lookie' thing that provides the proof this is her.

Were all the good writers off that day?

An appallingly bad story.

Still, on the bright side it is the last we see of Keiko until the final episode cameo.