Uxbridge Heirloom Music Box

An ornate, compact wind-up music box—worn at the edges like a treasured keepsake—whose small mechanical waltz springs to life when the lid is wound. The box's decorative surface and aged patina mark it as a family heirloom kept in the Uxbridge living room. Characters handle it with quiet reverence: Data lifts and winds the box, its simple melody filling the ruined parlor and, unexpectedly, bleeding into Counselor Troi's mind aboard the Enterprise, converting domestic calm into psychic alarm.

5 appearances

Purpose

To play a short waltz melody when wound; functions as a domestic keepsake and sentimental object for private moments.

Significance

Serves as a narrative clue and psychic trigger: its waltz transforms uneasy curiosity into urgent alarm by psychically invading Troi, anchors the emotional register of the Uxbridges' refusal to leave home, and catalyzes the crew's realization of a nonphysical threat. The box links personal loss, domestic ritual, and the larger mystery driving the plot.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

5 moments

S3E3 · The Survivors

Waltz in a Ruined House

An ornate, family heirloom music box sits on a small table; Data lifts and winds it, producing several bars of a waltz. The melody suffuses the ruined parlor and — unbeknownst to those present — psychically transmits to Counselor Troi aboard the Enterprise, converting domestic nostalgia into an urgent psychic alarm that reframes the artifact as both clue and vector.

Before: Resting on the living-room table as a treasured family heirloom in Rishon's possession, undisturbed.

After: Handled briefly by Data; the music winds down and the box returns to its place on the table, remaining physically intact but newly significant as an unexplained trigger.

View full event

S3E3 · The Survivors

Refusal of Rescue — The Uxbridges Choose Home

An heirloom wind-up music box sits on a small table; Data lifts and winds it, producing a few bars of waltz that fill the living room and — through an unexplained empathic or telepathic link — intrude on Counselor Troi aboard the Enterprise. The box turns a domestic keepsake into the first sign of a nonphysical phenomenon.

Before: Resting on a small table in the living room, worn but intact and in Rishon's care.

After: Handled by Data as the tune winds down; physically unchanged but now implicated as the likely source or conduit of an empathic signal.

View full event

S3E3 · The Survivors

Sanctuary Interrupted — Picard Forces Kevin's Conscience

The heirloom music box provides the scene's opening intimacy: its gentle waltz underwrites the couple's blissful privacy. When Picard and Worf burst in, the box winds down and dies, its halted melody marking the abrupt end of domestic safety and serving as an audible metaphor for interrupted innocence.

Before: Wound and playing on a table in the living room, accompanying Kevin and Rishon's waltz.

After: The mechanism has run down and the music has stopped; the box remains physically present but its music no longer shields the couple from external intrusion.

View full event

S3E3 · The Survivors

Ultimatum in the Parlor

The Uxbridge heirloom music box supplies the scene's intimate, domestic mood; its winding melody is abruptly silenced when Picard and Worf enter, converting private warmth into an audible punctuation of intrusion and emotional rupture.

Before: Wound and playing while Kevin and Rishon waltz in the living room, projecting domestic calm.

After: The mechanism has run down and is silent, the music having stopped as the confrontation begins.

View full event

S3E3 · The Survivors

Ultimatum in the Uxbridge Parlor

The Uxbridge heirloom music box supplies the domestic soundscape that defines the couple’s intimacy; its mechanical winding and eventual stalling underscore the sudden rupture when Picard interrupts — the music’s death marking the transition from private calm to public crisis.

Before: Wound and playing in the center of the living room, providing a soft waltz for Kevin and Rishon.

After: Allowed to run down and stop when Picard bursts in; remains physically present but musically inert, its silence amplifying tension.

View full event