Star Trek: The Next Generation/Tear Jerker

Examples of Tear Jerkers in Star Trek: The Next Generation include:

• "The Inner Light" has been known to reduce grown men to tears.

Eline: Now we live in you. Tell them of us... my darling.

• Both the episode "Sarek" and Mark Lenard's last scene as Sarek in "Unification I" are beautifully sad in their portrayal of the tragic degeneration that comes with age to even the greatest men.
  • Sarek's battle with Bendii Syndrome is essentially the Vulcan equivalent of Alzheimer's. But instead of his memory, he is losing his emotional control, the cornerstone of Vulcan society and civilization.
  • Captain Picard struggling with Sarek's emotions after their mind meld in "Sarek" allows us to see Sarek's despair over the death of Amanda, his first wife, made even worse since Sarek feels that he never truly revealed the depth of his love for her.
  • Sarek's plea to Picard in "Unification I" after Picard has come to find out why Spock is on Romulus.

Picard: Sarek, we're a part of each other. I know that [Spock] has caused you pain. But I also know that you love him. Sarek: Tell him, Picard.

• • And then there's the Reality Subtext about it - Sarek's decline and eventual death mirror the timing of Gene Roddenberry's own. "Unification I" is also dedicated to Gene Roddenberry.
• Kevin Uxbridge's confession at the end of "The Survivors".
• O'Brien talking his former captain out of his crusade in "The Wounded".

Maxwell: I'm not going to win this one, am I, Chief? O'Brien: No, sir.

• • During that scene, the two of them taking turns singing the oh-so-appropriate "The Minstrel Boy".
  • Before that, O'Brien's reveal that his animosity towards Cardassians is because they made him have to kill during the war.

O'Brien: I don't hate you, Cardassian. I hate what I became, because of you.

• The last fifteen minutes of "Dark Page".
  • To specify, Lwaxanna reliving the death of her first child, Kestra, while Deanna was still an infant.

Deanna: (last line) Tell me about her. I want to know everything.

• • • Even before that there's spoiler: Deanna meeting the memory of her father who all but begs her for them to be able to talk this one last time, and Deanna's tearful response. There's a reason they used to call A Day in the Limelight "Good Troi Episode".

Deanna: Goodbye, daddy.

• Then there's "Darmok", in particular the scene where Picard recounts The Epic of Gilgamesh to the dying Captain Dathon, and with it they finally understand each other.
• Data deactivating Lore in "Descent, Part II", even though Lore is a Complete Monster.

Lore: I...love you...brother.

• The death of Lal, Data's daughter, in "The Offspring"

Lal: I feel... Data: What do you feel, Lal? Lal: I love you, father. Data: I wish I could feel it with you. Lal: I will feel it for both of us... thank you for my life.

• • Admiral Haftel, who had been sent to take Lal away, standing in the corridor on the edge of tears talking about how Data had worked so hard and so fast (beyond Haftel's ability to even see what he was doing) to try and save her. He may have been a Jerkass to Picard and Data, but he wasn't all bad.
• The closing speech of "Tapestry".

Picard: There are many parts of my youth that I'm not proud of... there were loose threads... untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I pulled on one of those threads... it had unraveled the tapestry of my life.

• • If that weren't enough, Riker then muses about a daring, headstrong, foolish Picard, which opens up Picard to telling stories of his youth.
• "Family", whose Fan Nickname is "The Best of Both Worlds Part III", has a few:
  • Jean-Luc's breakdown after a fight with his brother Robert.

Jean-Luc: You don't know, Robert, you don't know. They took everything I was. They used me to kill and to destroy, and I couldn't stop them! I should have been able to stop them! I tried. I tried so hard. But I wasn't strong enough! I wasn't good enough! I should have been able to stop them. I should, I should. Robert: So, my brother is a human being after all. This is going to be with you a long time, Jean-Luc. A long time.

• • Jack Crusher's message to Wesley.
  • Worf's parents concern for his recent discommendation.
• The ending of "Brothers".

Crusher: They're brothers, Data. Brothers forgive.

• K'Ehleyr being murdered in "Reunion," with Worf and Alexander arriving just in time to watch her die.

Worf: You have never seen death. (Alexander shakes his head) Then look... and always remember.

• The ending of "Lower Decks".
• The end of "Silicon Avatar": Dr. Marr has just killed the Crystalline Entity in order to avenge her son Rennie, who was killed by it several years prior. Data, who has many of his journal entries, tells Dr. Marr that Rennie was proud of his mother's career and would have been sad that she'd thrown it away for revenge. This situation plus her expression of remorse... tear-inducing.
• The end of "The Defector," in which the eponymous character commits suicide after a serious Kick the Dog moment, realizing that he can never see his wife or daughter again, and it was all for nothing.
• The end of The Outcast when Riker arrives to late to save Soren from the operation that wipes out her gender identity (her species is androgynous, and views gender identification as a perversion).
• "Here's to ye, lads." Hell, whenever Scotty isn't being epic or funny, he's bringing up the Manly Tears in the episode Relics.
• Ro Laren talking about her childhood in Rascals.
• The Heroic Sacrifice of the third Exocomp in The Quality of Life.
• Tasha's funeral, as she gives a series of goodbyes to all of her friends.
• The early scene in the Ready Room in The Most Toys: The Enterprise crew believe Data to be dead, the victim of a shuttle explosion; this scene is filled with Geordi, and even Riker and Picard, trying to fight against the notion that Data is dead. But the clincher, the line that starts the waterworks for me, is from Hamlet, which after Riker has left, Picard reads from his gift to Data, the collected works of Shakespeare: "He was a man, take him for all in all; I shall not look upon his like again."

• The episode "The Best of Both Worlds" had a ton:
  • Picard sheds a single tear, as he's powerless to stop the Borg from altering his mind and body. Add in Ron Jones's epically sad music and a Klingon would weep.
  • After failing to save the captain, Riker walks into Picard's office and looks at his empty chair and sadly asks "What would you do?"
    • In that same scene, Guinan walks into the office a few seconds later and tells Riker the hard truth:

Guinan: It would've been easier if he just died, but he didn't. They took him from us a piece at a time. You're gonna have to do something you don't want to do... You have to let go of Picard... Guinan: Did he ever tell you why we were so close? Riker: No. Guinan: Oh... Then let me just say that...our relationship is beyond friendship - beyond family. And I will let him go. And you must do the same. There can only be one captain - and that is now your chair.

• • A short but powerful scene in which the Enterprise witnesses the complete defeat of the fleet at Wolf 359.
    • Including the ship that Riker would've been commanding, if he hadn't turned down the promotion.
• In the following episode, "Family" Picard suddenly breaks down and cries, admitting to his brother how wretched he feels that he couldn't stop the Borg from taking over his mind. To see Jean-Luc "Bad Mo-fo" Picard cry is hard enough, but when you factor in Patrick Stewart's acting, it just becomes too much.

Jean-Luc: "They took everything I was. They used me to kill and to destroy, and I couldn't stop them! I should have been able to stop them! I tried. I tried so hard. But I wasn't strong enough! I wasn't good enough! I should have been able to stop them. I should, I should." Robert: "So, my brother is a human being after all."

• Star Trek: The Next Generation "Skin of Evil". Tasha Yar's final messages do it to me every time. Even 20 years later. Interestingly, today is the 20th anniversary of that episode's first broadcast.
  • Especially "I hope I met death with my eyes open."
  • This line got cut: "Data...It did happen."
• 'Yesterday's Enterprise' is simply one episode-long Tear Jerker and Crowning Moment of Awesome. Picard's still fighting as flames rise higher and higher around him, the moment that Tasha and the Lieutenant have when she reports to the Enterprise-C (especially 'But I don't want you here...'), 'Tell me about - Tasha Yar...', 'Let's make sure history never forgets the name - 'Enterprise' ..., and my all-time favorite:

Tasha Yar: Guinan told me that I die a senseless death in the other timeline. I didn't like the sound of that. I've always known the dangers that come with a Starfleet uniform. If I am to die in one - I'd like my death to count for something.

• "The Inner Light" is one long Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, but the end, where Picard plays Kamin's tune on the flute... I dare you not to choke up.
  • "Now we live in you. Tell them of us... my darling."
  • And then the follow-up episode where Picard falls in love, and tells the woman what happened in "The Inner Light" because "I want you to know how much my music means to me, and how much it means to me to share it with someone." Then they play the tune together in a maintenance tunnel so that it echoes through the entire ship.
• The end of the finale, "All Good Things..."- "You were always welcome", followed by Picard beginning the card game with the pull-out to the ship as it enters the nebula - he chokes up just thinking about it for some reason. The perfect finale.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation's episode The Bonding was just one big tearjerker from beginning to end. Even Wesley was tugging on heartstrings in that one.

"On the Starship Enterprise, no one is alone."

• The death of Data's daughter, Lal, as a result of Cascade Failure in ST:TNG episode The Offspring. Especially her final few words to her father.

Lal: I love you, father. Data: ...I wish I could feel it with you. Lal: I will feel it for both of us.

• • Her last words always bring a tear to my eye.

Lal: Thank you for my life.

• • Another tearjerker? Lal's name actually means "beloved".
  • The admiral's description of Data's desperate attempts to save Lal.

Haftel: There was nothing anyone could have done. We'd repolarize one pathway and another would collapse. And then another. And his hands started moving faster than I could see, trying to stay ahead of each breakdown. He refused to give up. He was remarkable.

• While on the subject of Data, I'm surprised no one mentioned the end of the episode Brothers, and the death of Data's creator/father.
• Also on the subject of Data — I may be alone here, but I always found Descent to be a little bit sad. Especially Data's simple "Goodbye, Lore," when he finally deactivates Lore for good. Emotionless, my foot.
  • Definitely not alone. But for me, I teared up at Lore's last words as Data deactivated him: "I love you... brother..."
    • Indeed; it was always debatable whether Lore did love Data or not, personally I think he grew from the initial you're my replacement hatred to actually genuinely respecting him. After all, he went to a lot of trouble to convince Data to join him and the rebel Borg.
• The scene in "Darmok" where Picard tells the story of Gilgamesh to the dying Tamarian captain: "He who was my friend through adventure and hardship is gone forever."
• Picard gets a truly beautiful monologue in the episode "Where Silence Has Lease", where - with everyone on the ship doomed to die in twenty minutes - he talks to Nagilum disguised as Data.

Data: I have a question, sir. Picard: Yes, Data. What is it? Data: What is death? Picard: Oh, is that all? Well, Data, you're asking probably the most difficult of all questions. Some see it as a changing into an indestructible form, forever unchanging; they believe that the purpose of the entire universe is to then maintain that form in an Earth-like garden which will give delight and pleasure through all eternity. On the other hand, there are those who hold to the idea of our blinking into nothingness, with all our experiences, hopes and dreams merely a delusion. Data: Which do you believe, sir? Picard: Considering the marvellous complexity of our universe, its clockwork perfection, its balances of this against that, matter, energy, gravitation, time, dimension... I believe that our existence must be more than either of these philosophies. That what we are goes beyond Euclidian or other practical measuring systems and that our existence is part of a reality beyond what we understand now as reality.

• • This YTMND doesn't help much, either, syncing the final part of his monologue with Barber's Adagio for Strings, showing images of various galaxies and nebulae before finally showing Picard arriving in Heaven.
• The acting in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Half a Life" was a little on the dry side, but at least part of it. Lwaxana Troi (Deanna's overbearing mother) has fallen in love with a scientist who has just turned sixty, and is heading back to his planet to commit a customary ritual suicide. Lwaxana isn't happy, and Deanna finds her furious mother trying to teleport down to the planet and chewing the authorities' ear off about the custom... before breaking down in tears. The scene that follows is a very emotional moment between mother and daughter that no doubt touches home to many people who have lost a parent (and includes one of the rare moments where Deanna willingly uses telepathic speech with her mother - she usually goes out of her way not to).

Lwaxana: But I'm crying. I don't cry... Deanna: You cried when Father died. We both cried.

• The episode Dark Page was worse, when it's finally revealed that Deanna had a sister who drowned while she was a baby; her mother has suppressed the knowledge of Kestra's existence ever since, and now she finally breaks down and hugs the illusion of her daughter, and says goodbye.
  • Earlier in the same episode where Deanna is tormented by the illusion of her father (conjured by Lwaxana in an attempt to make Deanna stop searching for her inside of her own dreamscape), he sings her a familiar childhood song, and wants to talk to her, because "they'll never have that chance again." Watch it, weep. and go call your father.

Deanna: ...Goodbye, Daddy.

• • • "Half a Life" and "Dark Page" are especially powerful since Lwaxana is a character usually Played for Laughs. To see such a brassy, sassy Large Ham emotionally stripped raw is pretty shocking.
• The TNG series premiere "Encounter at Farpoint" has one - DeForest Kelley's last-ever appearance as the immortal Dr. "Bones" McCoy.

McCoy: Well, she's a new ship, but she's got the right name. Now you remember that, y'hear? ...Treat her like a lady, and she'll always bring you home.

• While on the subject of beloved classic characters, "Relics" should also be mentioned here for what was a wonderful tribute to James Doohan. The Enterprise comes across a Dyson Sphere with a crashed ship on its surface, after beaming over they discover Scotty alive, over 70 years after the events of Star Trek VI. However he struggles to adapt to the differences in this new time, the Tear Jerker comes when he goes onto a holodeck simulation of the original Enterprise bridge and sadly walks around the empty room, knowing all of his friends are long gone. All he can do is raise a glass and sadly toast:

Scotty: Here's to ye, lads.

• The episode Sarek is particularly rough going for anyone who's lost a loved one to Alzheimer's. The legendary Ambassador Sarek comes aboard the Enterprise to conclude a peace treaty, but it turns out his mental health is deteriorating at a frightening rate. In order to keep him stable enough to finish the negotiations, Sarek mindmelds with Picard to regain a measure of his self-control. Unfortunately, this leaves Picard a screaming, despairing mess, channeling all of Sarek's repressed emotions and love for his son Spock, falling apart in Beverly Crusher's arms. Patrick Stewart acts the hell out of this scene, but it's not easy going. And while we're on the subject of Sarek, there's also Unification where he dies.
  • There's also a Reality Subtext, as the first episode was written around the time of Gene Roddenberry's decline and the second, where Sarek died, was dedicated to Gene, who had died not long after it was filmed. It's about the decline and death of the father of Star Trek, giving it a more personal Tear Jerking touch.
• The Naked Now had Tasha indulging with Data under the influence of a virus similar to the TOS episode The Naked Time. Her later That Didn't Happen excuse, to what we find later is one of his most cherished memories, leaves us heartbroken for someone who can't be.
• It comes up again in Measure of a Man when the Captain is seeking out examples of Data's humanity to show the court how wrong it would be to dismantle him - he shows the only holophoto Data has is of Tasha... and then the looks on the faces of the court, including people who had considered him as nothing more than an elaborate automaton, as Picard makes Data tell them exacly why she's so important.
  • More wrenching still is that Data attempts to avoid answering the question out of respect for Tasha. Picard answers this concern quite calmly and no doubt accurately.

Picard: Under the circumstances, I don't think Tasha would mind.

• More Data in The Measure of a Man. Riker's guilt for playing devil's advocate, not to mention essentially committing multiple acts of battery, shows that their friendship has evolved from what it was. Data's forgiveness of same, noting that he did what he had to do, shows that not only does he understand humanity more than he thinks, he embodies some of our best traits.
• K'Ehleyr's death in "Reunion," where she uses her last bit of strength to place Alexander's hand in Worf's. And then Worf lets out the Klingon Death scream, and sounds utterly heartbroken.

Worf: Have you ever witnessed death? Then look, and always remember.