It’s been a while, but we’re back with the next round of deleted scenes from TNG Season 7, exclusively available on Blu-ray!

On the Blu-rays, each cut sequence is featured in context with clips from the final episode, and we’ve got a full breakdown and analysis of the first scenes below.

Episode 7.16: “Thine Own Self”

Scene 10: Young native Gia explains the history of Data’s new name.

Jaden, the new name given to an disoriented Data, was chosen without explanation in the final cut of this episode. Gia describes the story of Jaden as “a boy who looked different from everyone else… a handsome nobleman who was put under the spell of a demon.”

It’s a nice little bit of backstory for this planet, but it really kind of hits a little too squarely on the theme of the episode. Probably a good elimination.

Episode 7.17: “Masks”

Scene 8: The food and beverages in Ten Forward are getting a bit weird.

An early scene cut from the beginning section of this episode finds Worf, Geordi, and Riker discussing the mysterious comet, when all of a sudden Riker realizes that his snacks and drink order have become far from normal in Ten Forward. Geordi analyzes the blue beverage, and is dismayed to discover it appears to be some type of blood!

It’s an amusing conversation, with Worf announcing how much he likes the new drink (before learning what it has become), and foreshadows the transformation about to sweep through the Enterprise — likely cut for time, this opening sequence would have been nice to keep.

Episode 7.17: “Masks”

Scene 25: The senior staff discuss Data’s surprising new personality changes.

While Beverly and Deanna recap the new personalities beginning to emerge from Data’s positronic brain, Riker wonders why they aren’t able to just wipe the problematic areas of the android’s memory.

This discussion is basically pure redundancy, and was an obvious removal to save both time and story delays.

Episode 7.17: “Masks”

Scene 37: Everybody wonders why the D’Arsay archive is taking over the Enterprise.

While Worft jumps to the conclusion that the alien archive is acting as some sort of weapon — completely invading and disarming the Enterprise — Riker leans more to the peaceful end of things, imagining a culture building the probe as a method of saving some part of an ancient civilization.

It’s nice to see the crew debating the nature of the probe, but since it’s pure speculation with no information — and since the audience, at this point, is just as in the dark as the Enterprise team — the removal of this conversation is of no concern.

Episode 7.19: “Genesis”

Scene 18: Worf’s mysterious aggression continues to build.

Riker arrives on the bridge, only to find that somebody’s turned up the heat — meanwhile, the situation is continuing to escalate Worf’s already-heightened emotions. After complaining to Riker about Troi’s command of the thermostat, he stomps to the turbolift and leaves.

We already saw Worf and Troi fighting over the temperature controls earlier in the episode, and this is just more of the same.

Episode 7.20: “Journey’s End”

Scene 5: Picard drops by Wesley’s quarters and receives a very frosty welcome.

When Picard arrives to welcome Wesley back to the Enterprise, he finds the cadet still in bed at what seems to be a fairly late hour of the morning. Though he offers to come again later, Wesley drags himself to the replicator for coffee, and proceeds to give fairly abrupt responses when the captain tries to engage him in conversation.

Look, we know that Wesley’s being a jerk to everybody, and it’s pretty surprising to see him giving off this attitude to Captain Picard — but the screaming match he has with Beverly later on in the story does a much better job of driving home his state of mind. We didn’t need two of those types of scenes in this episode.

Episode 7.21: “Firstborn”

Scene 14: K’mtar finds a way to motivate Alexander into continuing bat’leth practice.

Alexander has such little enthusiasm for his father’s planned combat training that he literally drags his bat’leth behind him as the trio of Klingons walk through the corridor. K’mtar does his best to lift the young Klingon’s spirits, as Worf continues his role as taskmaster.

This is a kid that really doesn’t want to be headed to fighting practice — Alexander drags his sword along, letting it hit the floor with a loud *thump*. It’s not a lot of meaningful dialogue, but it’s another layer of insight into just how far away from Worf’s expectations the youngster is.

Episode 7.21: “Firstborn”

Scene 23: Troi reminds Worf that he’s been a good father, despite his concerns.

As Deanna does her best to console him, Worf shares his fears for Alexander’s future: if he fails to take hold of his Klingon heritage, the fate of the House of Mogh may be in jeopardy.

This is a much more nuanced discussion showcasing Worf’s concerns for his son’s upbringing than some other times we’ve seen this kind of talk, and really would have been great to save.

Episode 7.22: “Bloodlines”

Scene 40: Jason Vigo tries to use his ‘street smarts’ to outwit Daimon Bok.

In an effort to keep his captor from killing him, Jason tries to convince Bok that he’s of no value to Picard; that the captain cares more about the Enterprise crew than the man assumed to be his son.

This elimination is really no big loss; it’s standard hostage/captor fare which does nothing to advance either the characters or the story.

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There’s more cut footage yet to come, as we’ve still got both “Preemptive Strike” and “All Good Things…” ahead!