Bloodlines

This episode originated during the filming of "Masks", when producer Jeri Taylor asked Patrick Stewart if there was anything about his character that he'd like to see fleshed out. Stewart mentioned the Ferengi, Bok, from the first season episode "The Battle". He found it interesting that Bok was still out there somewhere, still hating on Picard. Taylor handed the idea over to Nick Sagan to flesh out.

The original concept for the episode was that Bok had genetically engineered Picard's son from birth, using one of the mind balls to implant memories of Picard abandoning him on the Stargazer. He then used the ball to make Picard think he had abandoned his son on the Stargazer and then had a mental break where he buried the memories of him. The idea was to torture Picard with the notion of having had an actual son whom he had abandoned and then literally forgotten.

Ron Moore was not a fan of this episode. He thought Bok was too minor an antagonist to bring back, and that the episode "Suddenly Human" had already explored the idea of a father/son type relationship with Picard.