One of Rom's most powerful moments was when he found out that Quark sabotaged Nog's Academy application. He slammed Quark against the wall and threatened to burn the bar to the ground if Quark ever interfered with Nog's happiness again.

Icheb’s parents are the worst by far - serving him up as bait for the Borg.

No mention of Dr. Bashir's parents? I would say having illegal genetic modifications performed on your child because you didn't think they were smart enough, is pretty shitty parenting.

I guess Janeway and Tom Paris are pretty bad, if the children they had while they were lizards count

Alexander could have been a great third wheel for Nog and Jake if things had been different.

Sulu's daughter was actually [ahem] introduced in Star Trek Generations onboard the Enterprise-B. She becoming a helmsman like her father might indicate that their relationship was quite healthy.

Okay, we need to talk about how great of a dad Data is in his short time of being a parent. We only get glimpses of it, but he allows his daughter to make her own decisions about her appearence, but doesn't give her free reign--she initially wants to appear like Troi, which Data kindly and patiently explains would be confusing, but allows her to explore other options. He is able to explain the difference between being laughed with and laughed at, while explaining why people do so in a matter-of-fact way that shows understanding and great care in his word selection. When he struggles, he seeks out help from the best parent he knows: Beverly Crusher. While sure, working at the bar may not have been the best thing, who better than Guinan to learn about the subtlties of human interaction? She then begins to outgrow and advance beyond Data. She sticks up for him with Admiral Haftel. Then, as Lal suffers a cascading failure of her nueral net, Data works tirelessly to try and save her, but ultimately is unsuccessful. Still, she thanks him for her short life, and truely loves him--something he is unable to recipricate. Data is a great dad.

I always got the impression that Carol never even told Kirk that he had a son.

I give Keiko credit for still trying to parent her child even after she was turned into a 12 year old.

I agree Alexander is kind of a big nothing of a character, but bringing him to DS9 and having him integrate with Jake/Nog into some kind of crazy trio could have been funny.

No honourable mention for Data? Even the brief moments he had to share were so lovely and poignant. Come on Vince! Get on it!

One of my favorite scenes is when Quark sabotages Nog's test. Rom tells him he will burn his bar to the ground if he ever messes with his sons's life again. Such a powerful scene.

Can we get a shout out for Grandpa Joe? I completely agree that Ben Sisco is the best parent in Star Trek but it's in large part because of his own father who wasnt a big part of DS9 but when he was there he was always a strong source of wisdom and strength to the main character of the show who acts as a father figure to everyone else throughout the rest of the show.

Nothing on the siskos interactions with his dad? Grandaddy sisko held great chemistry!

Sergey and Helena Rozhenko were beautiful parents. They were so loving and generous, and giving and supportive. I can't believe you didn't talk about them more. Their love for Worf was so moving and pure, they deserve all the praise and honor for being the perfectly wonderful parents that they were. And I loved all the things you said about Rom. They were so beautiful and true. Unlike others I never wondered why Leeta would fall in love with and marry Rom. It was always obvious to me. Rom's the best and I will fight anyone who says differently.

No discussion of quark and rom’s moogie?

Data. It's just one episode but Data's devotion to Lal deserves a mention. "His hands... were moving faster than I could see..." always gets me. And, especially in the wake of that wrenching scene in Picard, Seven as the adopted mother of Icheb as a great mother in direct contrast with his Brunali parents who designed him as a genetic weapon and sacrifices him to the Borg.

I think you're a bit hard on the O'Brien's in general. Keiko and Miles are actually pretty good to great parents. Keiko sets up a school for the children on DS9 and when she is accidentally turned into a child in a TNG episode you can see genuine pain when Molly rejects her, that is not the sign of a bad parent. Later when Molly is transported into the past and is eventually recovered as a teenager, the O'Brien's do everything possible to try to care for her, reintroduce her into the 24th century, and even break her out, (with Odo's help) to take her back to that planet. Frankly their love was so great they were willing to give up their child in order for her to have the life she had become accustomed to, even though it meant never seeing her again, that isn't just paternal love, that is unconditional love. I also have to point out that yes Miles seems to be hated by the universe in general because of the way he is written and abused but Deep Space 9, can't be both too dangerous to raise Molly and Yoshi in and yet be perfectly fine for Jake and Nog to grow up there, the location matters far less then the love and Miles and Keiko are both the most realistic portrayals of parents and also two of the best one's we see. Yes their careers at times take precedence over their children but it normally doesn't appear to be done at the expense of their children the way it is with Worf's son, Alexander.

Man even in a video with a whole segment on Sarek as a parent, poor Sybok still can’t even get a mention. Also, forgot Ash Tyler and Lrel. I feel like hiding your child from one parent then pretending to kill him, throwing his fake baby torn off head in front a Empire’s government, while abandoning him with time traveling monks at least puts you in the “complicated parent” category.

No mention of Data? Let's ignore how he is with Timothy in "hero worship", as that is more friendship than parenting, but look at Lal: He weighs desire and rationale when consciously deciding to become a parent and makes every moment of his life from then on revolve around that role. Three points I think more parents should follow. He is completely informed, but not above seeking new information that falls outside that framework, seeking parenting advice from his friends. He makes a very clear effort to give Lal a better start than he had; for example, starting with the observation that not just gender, but every aspect of how we present ourselves physically influences every interaction (even when it shouldn't) and thus let's her choose her own appearance. He clearly shows an evolutionary leap in his desire to become more human; in becoming a parent he is doing something that he was in now way designed to do. And when things go terribly wrong, the dialogue where they describe the effort of repairing her is one of the few times he is pushed to his limits... And beyond that; when the cascade failure starts, you can clearly see worry; being a parent forced his "programming" to manifest an emergent pattern that he should not be capable of at that point. And before that there are hints of this; he is clearly proud of her, as a person. And takes some pride in his being a parent. I think the Lal episode is not only one of the best Data-episodes, it has informed some of my own views on how I hope to be now that I am a dad. But in the end, Picard is the best parent: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o9qWq7yD0LPRnpc.html

Both Rom and Nog start to see profit as something more than money.

Even Marc Alaimo says "but he didn't kill her! And he loved her!", as proof for why he thought Dukat was turning good and should've joined the gang and been a main cast member. I suppose that's why he acted the "thinks he's the protagonist of his own story" part so well, he really did believe it lol

I'm surprised you didn't praise Worf's parents more.

You forgot to mention with Noonien Soong that while he did force Data to highjack the ship to come to see him when he was dying, he evidently didn't bother to call his biological son that thanks to Picard we now know exists.

As a child of manipulative, narcissistic, and emotionally abusive parents who is now a parent myself, your take on Dianna's parenting motivation rings true to me.

you seem to have forgotten one of the best parents. Moogie. she taught Quark business, did her best with Rom. She supports and loves her kids, while not letting them run all over her even on the ferengi scenario. Part of why Rom is such a good parent is probably because of the example she set for him. And of course is Enabrin Tain a shitty dad? Or just had to make tough choices in a world where a son is a target....

Nothing about Joseph Sisko? not even a mention. I know he didn't play a massive part in the show. but he's still a dad, and we do get to see glimpses of the lessons he taught his son.

I feel like the arc of Jake and Sisko's relationship made it okay that Jake wasn't the last person to talk to his dad. Jake's an adult with his own life and his own destiny ahead of him. Cassidy and his unborn kid still need him, but Jake has learned all Sisko could teach him and is ready to stand on his own.

I'm going to say that Garak's dad was the worst dad in the entire series, maybe ever, worse Worf, and any dead beat dad in any series that men have ever created. Dukat...has issues, but Dukat has been portrayed as a family man before, and shown to love at least some of his kids normally. Garak's dad...? This realization only came to me years after I first saw his death scene, when I was older and wise enough to really interpret it. Garak asks Tane to basically admit that he was a good son, loved him, something like that, whatever, not important. Basically he wanted his dad to acknowledge him as his son. Tane goes on about some story of when Garak was a boy, and kept falling down on a bike, but picked himself up, and said "I was so proud of you then." and dies. It's only now that I realize what a shit move that was. Tane was an emotionless bastard who saw Garak first as a liability and then as a tool. He never allowed himself to love Garak, or care for him, and protects him primarily out of a social sense of pride/duty, instead of parental care. He protects Garak, if at all, less because he loves him and more because of the possible shame he would face if his enemies killed 'his son'. So on his death bed, when he's asking his son to kill his enemies and finish his business, after Garak asks for that one thing he never gave him, the bastard sidesteps it all with some sob story that could be interpreted as something meaningful, instead of just saying 'son I love' or 'I'm proud of you son', to make sure Garak fulfills his dying wish. It was then I realized, Garak has spent maybe his whole life, believing he was the son not good enough for his father, when in reality, he was a far better son, than his bastard of a father ever deserved. Long story short, fuck Tane, fuck'em!

Mr. Steve could I add one more to the crappy parents pile? B’Elanna Torres had a father who openly mocked both her and her mother to the point where she was ashamed to be half Klingon. Then he abandons her when she turned 12 and that really gives her a complex and fear that her husband will do the same. The way Tom handles that situation is one of the shining moments of Voyager for me. He tells her that he is not the kind of person who would do that.

One of the things I liked about Discovery is that it added more context to Sarek & Spock's previously established rift. Having Sarek be forced to choose which of his children can join the Vulcan Expeditionary Group (because of racist old Vulcans) & then having Spock (the child he chose) refuse the Vulcan Science Academy as a whole makes Sarek's displeasure with Spock's life choices make a bit more sense.

speaking of ben and jake, i remember watching the ds9 documentary and avery brooks said he wanted to set a good example for fathers since the norm became fathers leaving their kids. defintly came through his acting in the show. The actors, cirroc lofton and avery brooks, became really close off screen too. Always admired that aspect.

"Being a good dad not only improves his son's life, but his own life as well." So very true. If every parent could take that to heart, we'd have a lot more emotionally healthy people in this world.

For sake of completeness, Seven of Nine became an adoptive mother in Voyager. I'd like to think she did alright.

Daimon Bok is on the best list, right? I mean, he loved his son so much, he engaged in an unprofitable venture to avenge him, and profit is everything to a ferengi.

Dr. Mora! Not technically Odo's dad, but there's definitely a parental relationship there, and as complicated as their relationship is, it's definitely clear that Dr. Mora loves Odo very much in the couple of episodes he features in.

Lwaxana is the perfect replication of a loving mother, who is really a child upset her husband died. She honestly does love her daughter, but she never grew up, and never wanted to. She's a child of privilege who has used that privilege for positive social change, but she's still a child. Most of it is an act to hide how utterly miserable she is and how much she doesn't want her daughter to be as miserable as she is. She's old, scared, and alone, worse she is heartbreakingly lonely. She has no idea how to connect with people, including her daughter. Worf. The first time. Sometimes the best thing a parent can do for a child is know, they are not the ones who can take care of them. But yeah, after the first time? Why? your quarters aren't big enough? No, its a matter of you don't have time to do the hard thing. "Often-Wrong's got a broken heart Can't even tell his boys apart."

I get the feeling Rom always wanted what was best for his son. It's just that his idea of what is "best" changes over time.

The timeline concerning children has always baffled me. Alexander cannot be more than 3 years older than Molly O’Brien.

My favorite DS9 episode where they showcased Jake and Ben Sisko was “the visitor” and the episode where we saw Tony Todd do some of the absolute best acting of his entire career in that episode as the adult Jake dragging Ben along through his life. Heart wrenching episode and how broken Ben was whenever he found out that Jake had poisoned himself in order to stop dragging Ben through time with him and get him back to the past on board the Defiant that would save him.

One of the things I found striking about Sisko as a father is that he clearly has a temper, but that temper is *never* aimed at Jake.

We know more about Sulus parenting from the movie Generations... “When something is important to you, you make the time.”

I do love those intentionally bad segues.

‘the visitor’ was such a good father/son episode

Data? Lal totally counts. What about Tom Paris and Janeway's lizard kids? I'm sure they're totally fine, on that random jungle planet. Seven of Nine? Yeah, they were adopted, but come on. She went on a roaring rampage of revenge for one of them. That's parental love.

"Extra tasty crispy" Thanks Steve, I just spat iced tea all over my keyboard :p

I think one of the things that made the relationship between Benjamin and Jake Sisko as father and son is that Avery Brooks treated Cirroc Lofton like a son during the filming of Deep Space Nine. They did a lot of father and son activities. Avery would take Cirroc to the Laker games a lot with his real son. Avery would even introduce Cirroc to his friends like, "These are my sons" including Cirroc as one of 'his sons.' Cirroc Lofton mentions this in the Documentary film What We Leave Behind. I think that really did add to the feelings of familial love that came across the screen from both actors.

What about Picard? In the inner light he had experiences and it certainly seems as though it is Picard being a wonderful parent and grandparent throughout.

Lwaxana Troi also repressed the memories of her first child Kestra, the elder sister to Deanna, because they were too traumatic to deal with after Kestra's accidental death (TNG: Dark Page). Maybe this subconsciously (or subtelepathically if that's a thing) influenced Deanna to become a counsellor to help with her mother's issues.

As someone who had not so great parents this one really impacted me. Great stuff and I totally agree Capt.Sisko is the best parent in Star Trek

Everyone forgets that Picard was a father for an episode. In Inner Light he lived a lifetime where he had two kids. He cared about their relationships. Spent time with them. Took them on fun, educational field trips. Let his son quit school to become a musician. Was close to his grandkids. Sure, it was a simulation designed to give him a happy, memorable life. But by all it showed him doing, he was a great dad.

I'm somewhat surprised you never mentioned one of the more philosophically tumultuous parent/child relationships in DS9, though it was only in one episode...Bashir and his parents, they even go so far, for all their problems, to go to prison to protect their son's happiness, and it opens the door to a whole skillset of the character, he goes from brilliant doctor to (I think?) The first example of a good genetically engineered person.

Kestra was also Trois's sister, what a neat way to honor her Kestra was the oldest of Lwaxana's children. Tragically, Kestra drowned during a family picnic at Lake El'nar. The incident left Lwaxana so broken with sorrow, guilt, and regret that she decided to repress all memories of Kestra. She also deleted all diary entries pertaining to her. She destroyed everything that could possibly remind her of Kestra and also made her husband promise never to mention Kestra again. A picture of Kestra remained, however, secretly preserved by Mr. Homn. (TNG: "Dark Page")

Parents do have a huge impact on the development of a child. But, I have know some really crappy people that came from loving and attentive parents who did their best to instill good values. And I know a couple kids of former friends who turned out to be some of the most awesome people I know, and their parents were teenagers that still have yet to grow up. Economic and social status, school, friends all have an impact. And parents do have some control over those things. People are weird. And why we are how we are is also weird and complicated.

I feel like you missed an important element in why Ben and Jake's relationship felt so real: because it was. Avery Brooks and Cirroc Lofton do genuinely have a father-son relationship. Cirroc's parents were splitting up around the time filming started on the first season and between that and the filming schedule, he didn't see much of his father. Avery took him in and treated him as his own. Cirroc mentions Avery introducing him and his own son as 'my boys' on at least one occasion.

Admittedly, it would’ve been cool if Worf had brought Alex to DS9. We could’ve gotten some fun interactions with him, Jake and Nog.

I lost my father in an accident some years ago, and damn if DS9 didn't make me cry my eyes out on multiple occasions through the depictions of Ben and Jake Sisko. The show understood the importance of fatherhood so well, and knowing how it feels for that to be suddenly absent in your life like Jake experienced really spoke to me. 10/10 fantastic show.

You forgott Sareks first child Sybok, who went nuts, embraced emotions and went looking for god ...

Sometimes I wonder what Worf would have been like as a parent if he had actually had children with Jadzia... having so many other experienced parents around, he might have learned a lesson. Sisko is the best of them though. I had just gotten into DS9 when I got accepted into university and had to decide whether to move abroad. So I put on The Visitor and let Avery Brooks chew me out about not throwing my chances away. The next day, I accepted.

I used to think Lawaxana was such a horrible character and parent as well. Until I got to binge both TNG and DS9 in order of airing instead of taking 6 months or 7 years to view them. Once I understood how lonely Lawaxana was after the death of her husband and so many other failed relationships, and how deeply hurt she was at the death of Kestra (to the point of it literally driving her crazy at the time then nearly killing her years later), that made her overcompensate way too much with Deanna, it made her way more... sympathetic? She wanted so intensely to be happy herself and pushed Deanna so hard to find her own happiness. Her intentions were usually good but badly implemented.

Riker has a pizza oven and makes pizza he’s the best parent

I feel like you should have at least mentioned Voyager's episode where the doctor is a dad in the holodeck and when 7 of 9 takes care of those borg kids.

🙀I can’t believe my ears about what you are saying about Lwaxana Troi!? I always loved Majel Barrett as Lwaxana she reminded me of Rosalind Russell’s Auntie Mame.

Regarding Jake, I always felt that once Jake didn't join Star Fleet, he was dropped as a character--literally! Jake's storylines were replaced with Nog's! I know the actor playing Jake was busy graduating from school, but how the writers treated him the last two years was a let down!

Naomi Wildman was a great recurring character. Her appearance on the series was one of the only things that truly made Voyager feel like a long journey back to Earth. I liked the episode where her and Seven were the only ones not affected by hallucinations of seeing Earth, because Voyager was her only home. The surrogate parent-child relationship with Seven and Naomi, and later Seven and Icheb, is definitely worth a mention since you're talking about parenting. And Icheb's bizarrely gruesome death in Picard just to serve as a plot point actually pissed me off quite a bit, despite the fact that I enjoyed that series as a whole. I really looked forward to seeing that side of Seven being developed more... Ok, I'm done now, just felt like that was really important to mention since not all parental relationships are biological in nature.

Honorable Mention to Papa Picard, whom we see recreated from Picard's thoughts by Q in "Tapestry", and from the descriptions of him by Robert it was probably an accurate recreation, where he greets his dying son, who is in his 60s, with "I knew you'd fuck this up somehow."

I think it’s worth mentioning that time when Odo adopted a sick infant changeling. He clearly was a good dad for that short time and would have continued to be had it not ended tragically through no fault of his own, to the point where the infant changeling chose to sacrifice its few remaining moments to link with Odo and restore his shape shifting ability. Odo’s “dad” from the same episode could definitely go into either the bad or complicated categories since he was very bad when Odo was young but became a decent parent and grandparent in the episode through helping Odo with the infant changeling.

I remember hearing that Avery Brooks put so much into the role because he recognized that there weren't many good black father figures on TV, so he had a responsibility to do his best.

We actually do get to see something of what Trip and T’Pol are like as parents through the episode E2, where we see their alternate timeline middle aged son Lorian. It seems at least that version of them would fall into the “good parents” bucket.

As far as Sisko connecting with Cassidy instead of Jake... Yes, fatherhood has been central to Sisko's character, but by that point in the series, Jake is a grown man. Whereas Sisko's journey with Cassidy was just beginning. I think that's the more important relationship at that point in time - or at least the one that needs his attention.

Funny the way you describe Sarek is exactly how some would describe Spock. Trees and apples and all that.

James T. Kirk: "You damn Klingons... you killed my bastard!"

I do really appreciate your smooth yet not-at-all subtle explanation about nonbinary identities being valid. You did explicitly mention NB identities earlier, but still, very cool!

I had always surmised, based on the dialogue between Carol and Jim, that Kirk was under explicit instructions from Carol to "stay away", hence why he hadn't kept up with or even knew what his son looked like. For me that's reinforced by his reaction in the turbo lift when he's informed he has an incoming communication from Carol Marcus, clearly a sore spot for him as he points out to Bones. The impression I took away was that their relationship ended poorly, based on his career, and that Kirk had done as she'd asked, though it seems to have pained him to do so. As someone who has always wanted to be a father and at this stage in my life will likely not get that chance anymore, I could imagine it would be horribly painful to see my child growing up without me, knowing that I couldn't ever be a part of their life. I could see myself deciding to not keep tabs on them specifically because of the futility of it and the pain it would cause me. Perhaps it was similar for Kirk?

Can't believe you forgot Janeway and Tom straight up abandoning their salamander babies that one time. (threshold day is coming up!)

I'm sure Dukat treated his other children better than Ziyal, and Tain used to lock Garak in a closet and didn't even acknowledge that Garak was his son until his deathbed. I think Tain is the worse one on the parenting aspect.

What about Odo with the baby changeling? I thought did a pretty decent job. And joining the chorus singing Seven's praises in her treatment of the Borg children, especially Icheb.

As always I found this video hilarious, but I have to object to your implicit characterization of Miles O'Brien as an irresponsible parent. The endless perils he underwent were not because he was living on the space station; they came because God hated him. Travails would have followed him anywhere. On the other hand, on at least one occasion he got to see Kira Nerys naked, so that probably compensated for at least one of his torture sessions.

I always assumed the computer was semi-sentient and for some reason just enjoys messing with you.

Nog, Jake, Alexander, Rugal and Ziyal would have been a great group of friends! I'd also add Ba'el from TNG, if she could move to the station. She and Ziyal would have lots in common, and Alexander certainly wouldn't judge her by her heritage, as Worf did.

How about Janeway as a grandparent? She was on the other side of the galaxy when her dog had puppies. Just wow.

I would like to add for consideration for the worst parents: Julian Bashir's mother and especially his father in DS9. They decided that Julian wasnt smart enough at age 5 or 6 so they decided to get an illegal operation done that genetically altered him changing both his mental and physical capabilities and forcing him to hide who he is for his whole life. Then when there is a Julian's secret gets out, his father gets mad at Julian for not wanting to keep hiding who he is so that his parents don't have to worry about going to jail. His father worries about himself, not Julian, despite it being his own fault for him going to jail, not something Julian did. And his mother, instead of owning up to what they did, tries to convince Julian they were in the right and guilting him into seeing they were right. And while Julian's father does go to jail for him in the end, they still don't apologize or say what they did was wrong. And if you consider The Nexus play canon, then Julian's father also would get frustrated and upset with Julian before his genetic enhancements. And after then, he would show off Julian's intelligence to people. When Julian called his father his architect, he wasn't kidding. Richard Bashir seemed only interested in using Julian to make himself look good. And if he since he didn't get his perfect son, he decided to create him.

Seeing Riker and Troi as good parents in Picard made me particularly happy because as a kid watching Star Trek as a family (Voyager was our weekly family show, but my dad was a pretty big trekkie so I grew up with Next Gen too) Riker always looked like and reminded me so much of my dad, and he was a pretty good parent.

I think Lwaxana Troi is roughly mediocre parent, in terms of other parents I've known in real life. Certainly light years better than Worf. Also, as a character I find her to be a lot like a lot of people I've known in person. I don't like her as a person, but I do like her as a character.

You forgot Janeway, she had children and left them all alone in the delta quadrant

I'm a little surprised Data didn't get a mention. Head did have his daughter for a short time.

Dukat had a raktagino mug that said "Galaxy's #1 Dad" (which he made for himself). Tain had one that said, "I almost blew up the Founder homeworld and all I got was this lousy mug."

34:00 Here is how I interpret this part of DS9, and also the final scene with Jake and Kira looking outside the portal. First of all, if Ben has only one window left to speak to another corporeal being before joining The Prophets, it would need to be Cassidy. She's a human woman who's seeing the uncertainty of now raising a new child on her own on an alien space station. It would mean everything for her to have that assurance from Ben that he'll be back. As for Jake? Let's remember two things about him: #1: he's a grown man and not a child anymore, and #2: he's technically not fully human. The first is obvious, the second is that he's also partially descended from The Prophets, meaning he might have some of the same connection to them as his father does. Both those factors together mean he already has some understanding at two levels of the decision his father had to make, and that his father is out there, somewhere. The final shot is of him and a Prophet devotee Kira looking out into the strangeness of outer space signifies they know they're just a small part of a larger cosmic game that's being played.

You know, I kinda wish that the O'Briens went into something of a co-parenting arrangement with Major Kira. She did help carry their second child to term, and she obviously grew close with the both of them. I realize that they were kinda pushing it with Dax's "lesbian" relationship, and knowing what I now know about Rick Berman, he would not have been cool with polyamory.

I always thought you was arguing with the computer

several ppl have mentioned data as a parent, which was lovely to see, but few others brought up a similar episode involving odo. we had never seen him that tender and nurturing before. he immediately felt a kinship with his baby, and instead of letting his painful upbringing negatively affect his parenting, he wanted what was best for the little changeling, and for it to grow up feeling safe and encouraged. odo has the best episodes😢

Nepenthe is my favorite episode as well, but mostly because I'm a Larry Niven nerd, and they name-dropped the kzinti. There was an animated series episode involving them, written by Niven. No, I've never been certain of Canon status for that episode, but with that name drop in live action trek, Thrint, Tnuctipun, and Kzinti must canonically exist in Trek, as well as Niven's known space.

Bad Parents: Paris: "So those frog monsters... they are kind of our kids... right.... " Janeway: "Biologically, yes. Two to beam up, " Paris: "Oh, thank you thank you thank you..... don't tell my dad,"

Dude, forgot about Phlox.

Can we get a recognition of Motherhood for Seven of Nine? Some of my favorite moments from Voyager include her being the surrogate mother figure for the Borg children, secondary adult figure for Naomi, and you can't tell you didn't feel her grief for One, the 29th Century drone. I'm also sure someone may argue the same for Janeway with Kes and Seven. And because I want to cover all bases, both the Doctor and Data themselves when they had their respective offspring. Data allowed Lal to choose her identity, and the Doctor may have at first done it to experience what it was like to have family, but he still cared deeply for them in the episode and we could argue that he may have continued the program beyond said episode. If anything, I just want acknowledgement for "Mother Seven."

In O'Brien's defense, if he had requested a transfer to Earth, the Borg would probably have sent a dozen cubes to assimilate the planet.

Great video, though I'm a bit disappointed you didn't cover Data and his daughter. Not the one from Picard, since that's hardly a 'daughter' in any meaningful way, but Lal. He created a child, allowed them to choose their own form , and supported them 100% through their development. Though she ultimately didn't survive, he did everything in his power to avert that. Not sure where you'd put him in the good/bad parent matrix, but that's big Dad energy if nothing else.

On the topic of Kirk having a kid he didn't intend to I'm with Steve on this. A vasectomy in Star Trek is probably a over the counter Flintstone gummy that comes in multiple flavors that you pop one and it just makes you sterile for 8-12 hours or something.

3:28, I love the way you very politely said "Use a rubber." Not surprised with an English Major. 😄

I think the final scene with Sisko and Cassidy showed that he accepted Jake as his own man, and considered Cassidy as equal in familial status to his first wife. He knew Jake would accept any message he sent through her. And he was saying that he wouldn't miss being a dad for his new child. His relationship with Jake was the most important one because for most of the show, it was the only one. But his true focus was family in general, and by the end, his family had grown.