When the Bough Breaks (Star Trek: The Next Generation) Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) attempts to negotiate for their release, Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) organizes a passive resistance among the children. The episode features Jerry Hardin in his first "Star Trek" role, and Brenda Strong. Mackenzie Westmore, the daughter of make-up supervisor Michael Westmore, along with Jeremy and Amy Wheaton, the younger brother and sister of Wil Wheaton, appear as uncredited children. 10.2 million viewers watched the episode, which was higher than the number of viewers watching the following episode. "When the Bough Breaks" received a mixed reception from critics who praised the performances of Stewart and Wheaton, but
Star Trek: The Next Generation also appeared in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". All episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" were made available on VHS cassettes, starting in 1991. The entire series was gradually released on VHS over the next few years during the remainder of the show's run and after the show had ended. The VHS for TNG were available on mail-order usually two episodes per VHS cassette. Paramount published all episodes on the LaserDisc format from October 1991 using an extended release schedule that concluded in May 1999. Each disc featured two episodes with Closed Captions, Digital Audio, and CX encoding.