“The Schizoid Man”
Teleplay by Tracy Tormé
Story by Richard Manning and Hans Beimler
Directed by Les Landau
Season 2, Episode 6
Original air date: January 23, 1989
Star date: 42437.5
Mission summary
The Enterprise has been sent on a priority 1 mission to assist Dr. Ira Graves, a cybernetic genius who has fallen ill and whose assistant has sent out a distress signal. But who has time for that when we can have a comic interlude! Troi and La Forge head to Data’s quarters because the android has something to show them.
LAFORGE: Did you damage your face, Data?
DATA: It is a beard, Geordi. A fine, full, dignified beard. One which commands respect and projects thoughtfulness and dignity. Well? Opinions?
TROI: It’s er, very different.
DATA: When I stroke the beard thusly, do I not appear more intellectual?
TROI: I’m sorry, I have to go now. Goodbye.
HEY COME BACK HERE. You have to sit through this, too!
But en route they pick up another distress signal, this time from the USS Constantinople, a transport ship with 2012 colonists aboard. To save two birds with one stone, the Enterprise initiates a near-warp transport of Troi, Lt. Selar (a doctor), Data, and Worf to the planet’s surface so that the ship itself may go rescue the Constantinople.
The away team discovers a beautiful but terrified young assistant, Kareen Brianon, and an irascible old man who loves to boss her around: Dr. Ira Graves. He refuses any and all treatment for his ailments (pain, shortness of breath, and irritability, or what we know as “the golden years”), which Lt. Selar pegs as Darnay’s disease–shortly to be fatal so I guess it doesn’t matter. More importantly, Graves recognizes in Data the work of Dr. Noonien Soong, and claims to be the “father” of Soong’s work and thus effectively Data’s grandfather. He and Data separate from the group and chat about how Graves has no real intention of dying. He has been working on a computer to which he can transfer his knowledge and consciousness. The two also discuss the ways in which Data is a cold, lifeless piece of machinery who can’t understand the complexity of human emotion or the raw primal fear of death, but Data helpfully mentions his “off” switch, which Graves notes carefully.
When the Enterprise returns to pick up its deposit, Data emerges from the recesses of Graves’ lab to announce that Graves died in his arms, third-act Shakespeare-style. Once they’ve beamed back to the ship (with the assistant), Picard confronts Data about not calling the doctor to help the deteriorating Graves. He shrugs it off. Hmm.
The crew assembles for Graves’ funeral, and Data has a few words to say. Well, more than a few:
DATA: Just look at that face. The face of a thinker. A warrior. A man for all seasons. Yes, Ira Graves was all that and more. But he was not perfect. Perhaps his greatest fault was that he was too selfless. He cared too much for his fellow man, with nary a thought for himself. A man of limitless accomplishments, and unbridled modesty. I can safely say that to know him was to love him. And to love him was to know him. Those who knew him, loved him, while those who did not know him, loved him from afar.
Everyone exchanges Looks. Picard confronts Data’s odd behavior, but the android chalks it up to the whole “granddad” thing and Picard agrees to let it go, though the niggling feeling (or what I like to call observable evidence) that something is wrong persists. Data resumes his post on the bridge, where Wesley basically asks WTF was up with that funeral speech. Data insults Wesley with aplomb and looses a series of insults and snide remarks directed at Picard for trying to “woo” Kareen by giving her a bridge tour. Picard has had enough–he demands that Data account for his actions. A self-diagnostic shows nothing wrong, but Picard actually suspects Data of lying. Troi “senses” that it may be psychological anyway and suggests a psychotronic stability exam, where they flash images of people, places, and things to gauge the subject’s emotional responses.
The results show that Data is actually two personalities: the weaker, submissive personality of the Data they know and love; and some other cranky asshole, who threatens to subsume Data completely.
Picard has Worf keep an eye on Data while they figure out a plan of action to get rid of the jerk. Data, despite being confined to quarters, has made his way to Ten Forward to terrorize the poor Kareen. The girl figures out what’s going on but rebuffs Graves’ offer of an eternity as an android. She is ready to start her new life, and without Graves. Angry, he crushes her hand and leaves.
The captain has had enough and confronts Data in engineering, finding a mess of unconscious personnel along the way. Graves refuses to give up Data’s body and dismisses any argument that Data’s personality is worthy of preservation, but when Picard mentions Kareen’s broken hand and the violence he’s done to the poor geek squad in engineering, Graves begins to have second thoughts.
PICARD: Graves, every man has his time. Every man, without exception. But you’ve cheated. You have extended your life at the expense of another. Graves, give Data back. Give him back.
DATA: Data is dead.
PICARD: No. He must not be lost. He’s not simply an android. He’s a life form, entirely unique.
DATA: Data is not human! He is–
PICARD: He is different, yes. But that does not make him expendable, or any less significant. No being is so important that he can usurp the rights of another. Now set him free!
Data whacks Picard upside the head and after an impressive pratfall, Picard falls to the floor unconscious. Uh-oh…
Later, Picard awakens and tracks down Data, unconscious in his room. When he awakens it’s obviously the real Data, and Kareen discovers that Graves has uploaded his brain to the ship’s computer. It is knowledge with no consciousness. Thankfully.
Data, much like the audience, wonders what the hell has been going on these last 50 minutes before they all joke it off as another hilarious misadventure.
Analysis
Every aspect of this episode fails for me. The humor isn’t funny, Graves isn’t sympathetic, and the moral “dilemma” about life is about as fleshed out as a sidewalk pamphlet. Compared to this, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” is a brilliant work of staggering genius.
There’s no emotional cohesion to tie together these people in this situation. It’s difficult to argue for Data’s continued existence when as a viewer you begin to forget what he’s like or why you should care, as nearly all of the episode is spent without him. I was further bothered that Picard never really argues that Data’s consciousness is valuable. He argues that all life is sacred (an argument that has never held much water with me), but doesn’t actually stick up for Data as a unique person. I think it would have been more powerful for Graves (or anyone!) to enter Data’s quarters and find Data’s paintings, his gift from Yar, his cat, a holodeck photo of him and Geordi–the touches of a life Graves as so selfishly taken. What convinces Graves to release Data isn’t the guilt at murdering life (Picard’s argument) or consciousness (my argument), it’s an entirely selfish fear of hurting people. Why does that convince him to let go? Can’t he just learn to better gauge his strength? More realistically, shouldn’t that kind of egomaniacal personality delight in his newfound power? Or is the implication that taking over Data–something he did was absolute ease–has begun a kind of mental deterioration that will only continue, until he’s completely insane? If so, I would have liked to see a stronger connection between those two things, and watch Graves grapple with the very real possibility of losing his mind, and Data’s along with it. Absent both Data himself and the cues of his life aboard, very little connection is made to show that losing Data would be a bad or sad thing.
The weak point here for me isn’t even Data, though, it’s Ira Graves. He’s another Okona-like colorful scamp, the kind of guy that writers think is charming and interesting but who I find irritating. When you see the distress signal from Kareen and see her look over her shoulder, you just know something is wrong. This man is violent and unstable. His treatment of Kareen is inexcusable, clinging to her like a bad cold and assuming there couldn’t possibly be anything in her life worth living for without him (or immortality). It’s also very unclear how much of this behavior is the result of the disease or just who the man is. If it’s the disease, shouldn’t that behavior disappear when he’s transferred to Data? If it’s who he is, why would anyone ever speak to him? There’s nothing to recommend the continued existence of his personality, so the moral arguments on his side lack force. If anything, it makes Picard’s argument that all men must die even stronger. Who’d want this asshole hanging around for eternity? But the set-up just doesn’t work anyway, because Graves, despite his conversation with Data, exhibits no actual fear or panic about his impending death. I was never moved to sympathize or care for this man. With “Little Girls,” Dr. Korby is a sad, lonely figure. I felt his fear of dying and I understood the choices he made. But Graves is just a cranky, misogynistic bully that the world is frankly better off without.
Then there’s all the little plot shortcuts: the fact that Data readily discusses the mere existence of his off switch (come on), the way that Graves makes no attempt to even pretend to be Data, and the oddity of Graves recognizing Soong’s work but not Soong’s face! If there had been a stronger emotional core here–if Data’s impending extinction had been given any weight whatsoever, if Graves had truly had to face death and it frightened him, if Picard had really made a case for death the way that Kirk did because death is what gives meaning to life–I would have looked the other way. But the shallowness with which these issues are approached just draws attention to the flimsiness of the rest of the plot.
On something of a side note, as this show keeps attempting (and failing) at comedy, I’ve been thinking a lot about the dramatic shows that were really successful at comedy. The early comedic X-Files episodes are absolute genius; Breaking Bad can leave me in stitches. So what are they doing right that TNG is doing wrong? Part of it, I think, is that TNG always draws agonizing attention to the fact that A Joke Is Being Told. With the beard scene, Geordi and Troi can’t hold it together. They start laughing at Data, and then Data asks why they’re laughing, and it’s a whole Look At This Joke thing. Later, with the funeral scene, the director goes to painstaking lengths to give you a reaction shot from every person there at least once, usually twice. It takes its jokes too seriously and its ideas not seriously enough. Every time something funny is supposed to be happening, the show loses respect for its characters. The reasons why cats are funnier than dogs* is because cats exude a quiet dignity that’s utterly betrayed by their actions. These characters don’t (yet…) have that dignity, and instead they look like dogs rolling around in shit. Not. Funny.
This only gets a Warp 2 because at least Brent Spiner got a chance to act a little.
*See: the internet.
Torie’s Rating: Warp 2 (on a scale of 1-6)
Thread Alert: Believe it or not, I have absolutely no problem with any of the costumes in this episode. The warm earth tones coordinate well with Graves’ retirement home, Kareen is wearing a perfectly reasonable shift dress, no one’s hair looks 80s-fabulous… good job, team!
Best Line: DATA: When I stroke the beard thusly, do I not appear more…intellectual?
Trivia/Other Notes: The title of the episode is from an episode of The Prisoner by the same name that also deals with identity crises. Patrick McGoohan was originally going to play Graves. I guess he thought better of it?
A deleted scene involves Data shaving his head Picard-style, following the Riker beard.
The plot is a combination of two ideas: Graves transferring his consciousness to Data, and Data unleashing a flood of repressed memories of the colonists he grew up with, including the split personality of two men in love with the same woman. Just be grateful you didn’t get stuck with that episode.
Previous episode: Season 2, Episode 5 – “Loud as a Whisper.”
Next episode: Season 2, Episode 7 – “Unnatural Selection.”
Since I last watched this episode before I saw The Prisoner, the casting trivia and episode title went right over my head. I’ll have more comments and my rating later today when I have more time, but for now I’ll just point out that this is episode Number 6 of the second season…
Torie has really said just about everything that needs to be said about this tremendously forgettable episode. This actually draws on two TOS episodes: “Little Girls” and “Return to Tomorrow”. Despite the correlation, I suspect either Tracy Tormé or somebody higher up the chain heard vaguely about the transhumanist concept of uploading consciousness and thought it would make a neat story idea. (Actually, it could have, but this wasn’t it.)
What is it with Star Trek and the lone scientist in a remote outpost? Science hasn’t worked that way since the very early 20th century, and the lone scientist (with beautiful daughter) hasn’t been a science fiction trope since the 40s (when several SF writers got a look at government funded science projects from the inside). This is at least the second time we’ve seen it in TNG. There was sort of a reason for it in “We’ll Always Have Paris”, but the team there was way too small.
I’ll forgive Graves not noticing that Data looks like Dr. Soong. That hadn’t been established yet. IIRC, the first episode with Soong didn’t even plan for Data to look like him. There was a casting problem or something and Spiner lobbied for the role.
TNG never really made their humor work. Occasional one-liners or moments, sure, but not full on funny stories. DS9 managed it a few times and I’m not sure about VOY, but for TNG they never really managed more than a complete scene.
Honestly, the single most watchable thing about this episode can be summed up in one word: (Dr.) Selar.
Memory fails, is this our first TNG era Vulcan?
What a smoldering scene-stealing hottie as portrayed by Suzie Plakson! Plakson seems to be the only actor other than Nimoy who really groks Vulcans—the aloof curiosity, the cool detached demeanor, an arch, amused and active sort of intellectual superiority. Too many actors do the whole “jaw clenched and pulsing, seething volcano of repressed emotions boiling beneath the surface” schtick, or seem perpetually annoyed. The acting subtext appears to be, “I am repressed from emoting,” rather than, “I am secretly amused and made curious by what I am seeing.” Hey, to be smart among blundering dumb people can be its own joy!
It’s a testament to Plakson that she also portrays one of the franchise’s most complex and interesting Klingon characters a few episodes hence. Her K’Ehleyr is similarly one of the more canny and interesting depictions of a character other actors might render as a unidimensional stereotype. The only Klingon I’ve ever seen (Worf included) that might be fun to hang out with at a beach resort.
—
Torie’s analysis of Data’s dilemma is spot on.
Data’s transformation reminds me of an old episode of Taxi, where IIRC Andy Kaufman’s character spends a weekend studying men’s magazines and returns to work aping the demeanor of a crude, swaggering, utterly dislikable flaming a-hole. He becomes trapped in the persona. And you get the sense this horrid a-hole is much more like the REAL Kaufman than the one we’re accustomed to seeing.
Point being, you don’t have to tune the dial on these characters more than a notch or two to make them hatable. I mean, Data is pretty much Data here—just as much a “malfunctioning goof” as usual, only in an arrogant, malevolent way. Like Kaufman’s character, Data’s wide-eyed, self-effacing infantilism is what makes him likable as a character; replaced by a personality well aware of his gifts and superiority, he becomes a jerk.
Torie’s spot on, but compared to some of the other episode this was moving in the write direction. I totally agree that TNG enever grokked comdey, but in part I can’t help but wonder if they thought too highly of their characters. With TNG humor was nearly alwaus joke telling, while in TOS humor came from the characters themselves and their interaction with the situaution. To do that sort fo humor you have to pull Kirk off his action hero stand and cover him in tribbles but I get the vibe that you’d never to that to Picard it’d be disrespectful or something.
While watching the writer in me re-wrote the concept behand Data’s character. I kept him an android wanting to knwo what it mean to be human, but since his personality is just software, wouldn’t it make sense for him to keep trying different personalities they way we might try outfits looking for what looks good on him?
(This occured to me when troi came in with the ‘we’re going to lose Data’ panic and I muttered, ‘What you don’t have a backup?’)
Trivia for a crap episode: the man playing Ira Graves is the father of geek ever-present Mark Shephard (Badger in Firefly, Crowley in Supernatural, the lawyer whose name I forget in BSG, Canton Everett Delaware III from Dr Who, the firebug in S1 X-Files), and was himself both “Blank Reg” in Max Headroom, and the head of the Vulcan council on the JJ reboot.
But I agree, the wrong character type entirely for the plot. He’d have been better as Blank Reg, who really was kind of a charming rogue.
So… what was up with Picard’s Random Shakespeare Interlude, which everyone else in the scene just kind of pretended didn’t happen?
Did they just have a couple minutes to fill, somebody told Patrick Stewart he had to read Shakespeare because typecasting, and he’s enough of a pro that he pulled it off with a straight face?
@2 DemetriosX
You left out “Turnabout Intruder,” with which—from the perpsective of quality and drama—it shares much pedigree.
@ 1 Eugene
You should’ve gotten this episode. I haven’t seen The Prisoner (I KNOW I KNOW).
@ 2 DemetriosX
Have you noticed that the only transhumanists in this world are genius whakadoos? You’d think there’d be a religion out there, with plumbers and maids and whatever, not just one guy.
I wasn’t really sure if the Soong thing happened later, so I’ll give the episode that.
@ 3 Lemnoc
I barely noticed Selar. She’s onscreen for like 60 seconds! I thought she was doing a Kirstie Alley impression.
@ 4 bobsandiego
I think Data is much more than software, but not at this point in the series. He begins as software, but grows by experience in a human way.
@ 5 CaitieCat
Huh! Did not know that.
@ 6 DeepThought
Not to mention the fact that the point of that poem is to show only your work will survive you, and Picard is using it to talk about actual immortality. ShakespeareFail.
@ 7 Lemnoc
I’m not sure I see the Turnabout Intruder comparison. I think the immortality angle is more important than the body swap one.
@Torie
Selar must’ve made some impression on someone somewhere. According to the Memory Alpha Wiki, she gets paged (w/o appearance) in multiple future episodes. …Maybe it’s a Tracy Torme thing.
In a vast desert, even the occasional mudpuddle seems an oasis.
—
Alas, you’re probably right about the “Turnabout” thing. The parallel is the mistaken identity of counterfeit personality, an imposter aboard. But since Goofy Grope-y Graves never spends one sly second trying to actually convince anyone he is, in fact, Cmdr. Data the parallel is stillborn.
I think one source of inspiration for this was the previous year’s “Big” starring Tom Hanks along with the lesser body swap movies from that same period. (What was the one with Dudley Moore?)
On the lack of humor. On thinking back over TNG, I feel that they weren’t able to let the characters simply be funny until very late in the series (only on a few occasions) and mostly with Worf. The same seems true in the TNG movies. “Assimilate This!” Worf also had some fun lines in Insurrection while Data’s attempt at humor in that one fell flat. In the Original Series the humor seemed to come naturally to the characters. Kirk’s “That should be just about right.” in Tomorrow Is Yesterday (My mother just beat Kirk in saying that when the episode first ran.) was funny and very different from TNG’s ‘Hey, watch this. This is really funny.’ attempts at humor. Another difference in the approaches to humor was that TOS usually punctuated the humor with a charming music cue. While some might point to those cues as calling out the jokes, I see them as signals that it’s okay to laugh, you will not miss anything. I don’t remember any coordination between music cues and humor in TNG.
On thinking about it. I’d have to say that TNG’s approach to humor seems to have been inspired by the TV comedies of that time. “Married With Children” for one. How many of Data’s attempts at humor could have worked had they been spoken by Al Bundy? Or, was Al Bundy a played out joke by then? (I hardly watched MWC.)
@10 Ludon
I was just thinking that TNG’s problems with humor might have stemmed from the fact that their approach was tremendously out of date. Just two weeks ago we got a pretty good lesson in what they thought was funny. And it turned out to be Borscht Belt standup and fourth-rate slapstick. The fact that they wanted Jerry Lewis originally, rather than Joe Piscopo, says something, too, though I don’t know if it’s in their favor or not. Eventually, they figured out that humor had to flow from the characters, although they never figured out how to sustain it for more than one scene at a time. But at this point, you can see them pausing for the rim shot.
@Lemnoc #3
I understand your point about how just a little exaggeration makes these characters intolerable, but I’m not sure I agree — or rather it feels a little like “If they were different they’d be unbearable.” Which, sure, but if people were different… to me the reason Graves is not fun to watch (aside from the gropiness) is that he’s got nothing to back up his supposed cleverness. He’s done what Picard did almost instinctively in first season — interfaced with a machine — and he’s supposed to be really smart, but otherwise we just see completely socially inept blundering coupled with unbearable arrogance. That isn’t Data’s personality on steroids, and it takes serious blindness on the part of the crew not to realize it immediately. (In retrospect, maybe the beard scene isn’t just a joke at Riker’s expense; maybe it’s supposed to show that Data has been doing some funky experimentation lately, and that’s why the crew entertains the idea that he isn’t possessed…) Those arrogant bastard characters are entertaining when they’ve got something to back it up occasionally, but Graves is just tedious. You can admire the arrogant bastard if he’s got the goods. Otherwise it’s like watching The Office.
@ humor discussion
I think part of why this humor fails is the same reason the drama fails — it’s too earnest, too unwilling to commit. It replaces taking its concept and characters seriously, complete with realistic flaws and off days and hobbies and tensions and senses of humor, with taking itself overly seriously, so the jokes have to be cordoned off, the speeches hamfisted manifestoes, the plots contrived. It’s too much Wagner when it should be a bit more Donizetti…
@12 DeepThought
Good thoughts.
Humor: Important to step back and realize when this episode aired, pre-cable, the brickwall standup comedy club was a bit of a television novelty, and a cultural fad. Hard to believe (I had to look it up) but Seinfeld was just beginning to air, building an entire schtick around the form of standup comedy and redefining television comedy as it went.
Strikes me there are two broad types of comedy on TV in this era: The situational kind, where the characters find themselves in ridiculous predicaments and say absurdly funny things as part and parcel of their broadly drawn characters. Then there’s a kind of meta-humor, which we the audience are supposed to be in on at the expense of the characters, such as when Picard doesn’t know what a fork is or naively bumbles his Dixon Hill narrative.
Bringing on Jerry Lewis seems a klunky way to fuse the two (they’re so effete they don’t know he’s lame, hoo-ha!). And it fails.
Seems to me comedy was in a very transformative stage in the ‘80s, with the shock schlock of Lenny Bruce and George Carlin becoming VERY common fodder, almost prosaic, and even Vegas old schoolers like Buddy Hackett getting too purple for Prime Time. Henny Youngman went from joker to joke in this era.
—
Good point about TOS’s score, which was AFAICT a lot richer and more diversified than we’ve seen (and will see?) in TNG. At the close of an episode, you’d have either a dramatic score or sometimes, as they’re ribbing one another, a lilting lighthearted score. TNG’s more muted. And TOS had the balls to lovingly mock its own tropes. dep1701 made a comment about that recently in “Patterns of Force,” Spock commenting on Kirk’s natural ability as a convincing Nazi.
TNG doesn’t give us much of this, beyond—of course—Worf, the ultimate straight man. And, I agree, when it does it is partitioned… humor apartheid.
I do recall reading somewhere ST writers complaining that the franchise was written in an older form, an older style, that clunked with what was happening with writing on other contemporary shows.
For sure, you don’t see teasers and openers like Miami Vice. You don’t see a lot of asynchronous unfolds, changes in narrative view, etc.
Maybe the fact that the structure of TNG was kind of dorky and uncomfortable for modern writers explains some of the dorky comedy and uncomfortable moments.
I actually did enjoy this episode, and much of the humor works for me. Data’s speech draws some stares and Wesley mocks him for it, but I find it really funny. What a great, ridiculous speech from a pompous, condescending bastard. I remembered his lines perfectly, even if I had forgotten just how darned creepy and messed up the whole thing is.
For me the strong points are definitely Dr. Selar and W. Morgan Sheppard (even as an utter jerk), and getting to see more of Brent Spiner’s range. It’s also nifty to see the “near-warp transport” unfold, even if it doesn’t make much sense and seems kind of like an unnecessary risk.
Torie pointed out the episode’s many flaws, and I also have to question whether Graves could feel emotions with Data’s android mind. It might have been interesting for him to discover that he no longer feels anything for anyone, and question the quality of the life he could lead in this artificial body. The episode also touches on the human soul again, when whatever makes Graves a person somehow gets lost in the transfer to the Enterprise computer–which presumably reinforces that Data has a soul.
Although it would have been great if Graves had recognized Data from his resemblance to Soong, I did notice that Data speaks of Soong in the past tense, but Graves uses the present: “I taught him everything he knows.” Could be that Graves doesn’t know Soong is supposedly dead, or maybe he knows that he’s actually alive somewhere…
For me, the bigger problem is that as soon as Graves tells the android about his plan to transfer his brain to a computer, we can kind of see where this is headed, right? And if he can guess where the off-switch is, maybe he didn’t need Data to tell him at all–that at least might have injected some suspense in the plot. There was also the issue of Picard cutting Data a lot of slack for completely inappropriate behavior, more than he probably would have offered anyone else, regardless of the reasons?
In any case, I had a good time with this one and it does feel like a progression in storytelling, where the teaser and the A and B plots mesh together more or less seamlessly. It could have gone a lot deeper, of course, but the dialogue is generally good and the characters are starting to feel like a family. Torie criticized the fact that we aren’t shown any reasons why we should care about Data in this episode, but since it’s a television series, I’d argue that viewers are expected to have at least some familiarity with the characters from week to week. And hey, at least we get to see Yar in those flashes in the psych test, which is kind of cruel of Counselor Troi, actually. Unfortunately, this episode only reminded me of the events to come in Star Trek Nemesis.
Warp 3.
—yes–not the greatest episode–but not the worst one either—and raise your hand if you think the bearded data could do the most interesting man commercials–“stay thirsty my friends”—i’m glad lemnoc mentioned suzie plakson–c’mon–she has got some of the best stage presence out there–that is why they brought her back—and i like the graves character–he would be an interesting drinking companion—-and the red shirt cliches–and kirk the computer destroyer–how about when the enterprise shows up–the scientist involved will either die or have their work fail–whether it’s daystrom or crater or farallon–all your research is unimportant in the face of creating drama–sorry, baby!—
@Eugene #14
Thanks for bringing up the near-warp transport nonsense. I’d meant to say something about that but forgot. I’ve asserted the general problem of TNG from this period is substituting pomposity for importance. So the humor doesn’t work, the drama doesn’t work, the characters don’t work, because it all feels like posturing.
The near-warp transport thing is a prime example: it’s a cynical (or perhaps just clueless…) attempt to manufacture synthetic tension. There is no reason to do it; dropping out of warp for the five seconds it takes to run a transporter has never been presented as a big deal and the episode doesn’t even try to sell us on the idea that it is. Moreover, even if it’s presented as dangerous, we have zero expectation that anything bad will actually happen; instead we Thrill! as the Away Team Takes a Cab! or something. It is the opposite of interesting; it is boring, it creates anti-tension, and therefore had no place being written, let alone being filmed.
Now it could have been interesting if the episode had the courage of tying actual risk to a supposedly dangerous action. What if this procedure actually had rematerialized Data inside a wall, and the rest of the ep were about trying to get him out or put him back together? Maybe the dying reclusive genius could make his last act rescuing his would-be rescuer or something? And we’d all learn an important lesson about how haste makes waste? At least it would’ve been something other than the recycled TOS plot, while following reasonably from the previous events in the narrative…
Good storytelling should never waste time with anything boring and useless, nor can good writing afford to substitute pomposity and manipulation for honest and sincere exploration.
@16
Good points about the transporter fiddly time waster. I felt the same way when some similar analog of the stunt was used in the recent Star Trek film… (only there it was perhaps even a little worse).
The mind boggles at the physics of it. Presumably what is being “beamed” is beamed according to Einsteinian laws, with the “beam” likely moving slower than the ship at high warp. Moreover, what’s the range of the transporter—given the ship has probably crossed one or more million miles by the time the transporter is engaged and the cycle has completed. And, taking into account that problem, the beam would arrive shifted into beyond gamma rays. How can their equipment compensate for that kind of velocity / energy differential?
Better give Pulaski a mop and bucket to sponge up the spatter.
I wish they’d brought back Dr.Selar in person, rather than just mentioning her again. I thought she would have been a great recurring character. Imagine for the possibilities for commentary on medical practices, bedside manner and logic versus emotion when practicing medicine.
When I first saw this I had high hopes of her becoming a tertiary character, like O’Brien or Ogawa. I used to hope for that quite often when they’d bring on a character like Sonya Gomez, or Robin Lefler that they’d bother top give some personality to. Fortunately we finally did eventually get someone to shake things up with Ro Laren, but it would have been nice to have had some more of these background ( speaking ) players return. In fact ( getting WAAAAY ahead here ) I wish they’d done the episode “Lower Decks” much earlier in the series, and had those characters recur to give color commentary, so to speak, on events taking place.
Actually, thinking about my last statement, maybe that’s more a comment on how non-involving the main cast was at this point, rather than how interesting the newcomers were.
@ 19 dep1701
Exactly. The main cast is so bland, any newcomer is a welcome change.
That eulogy could have been written by Third Rock‘s Dick Solomon for his own funeral.
Was that really the best take they could get of Marina Sirtis explaining the exam results?