Warp Speed to Nonsense

Warp Speed to Nonsense

Monday, February 13, 2017

ST:TNG Season Two, Episode Six "The Schizoid Man"

ST:TNG Season Two, Episode Six "The Schizoid Man"
Production Order: 31
Air Order: 32
Stardate: 42437.5
Original Air Date: January 23, 1989

Just to be different -

Pulaski's Log, Stardate 42437.5: "So there's this super-smart dude who lives in pretty much complete isolation. His name is Ira Graves, and he lives on planet called Gravesworld, cuz I guess he's really into RPGs or something? Anyway, we got this message from his hot young female assistant that she needs help, but now no one is picking up the phone."

There's a pretty sweet single fluid shot technique used here where Pulaski gets into the lift, and when the doors close, you can see the busy corridor in the background.


When they open a moment later, she exits onto the bridge. I don't think they've done that before, but it's pretty awesome, and adds to the overall feeling that they're actually traveling through space in this sweet ship with it's turbolifts. As it turns out, they used bluescreen in the open doorway, projecting footage of both the corridor and the bridge. It's a neat effect, and one I wouldn't mind seeing again.


Once on the bridge, the crew collectively kvetch a bit about the fact that the assistant called for help, then hung up the phone.
Picard relates that Starfleet considers checking this out to be of great importance, because Graves is doing import science shit. Pulaski just wants to do some medical stuff.



In another corridor, Geordi and Troi are chatting while they walk. Data has asked to see them in his quarters, and Geordi mentions that he thinks Data is acting a bit insecure.
"Yeah, but he can't," laughs Troi. "He's an android."
"Maybe he can," Geordi suggests.
They enter Data's quarters, and Data calls to them from the bedroom. They find him in front of a mirror.
GOOD FUCKING GOD.
Kill it with fire!


Yes, Geordi, yes! Drag him down to Engineering and fix that shit!

Data thinks it makes him look more dignified.
Data: "When I stroke the beard thus, do I not appear more... intellectual?"
Dude, you're a computer with a human face. You do not get more intellectual than that.
When he asks for their opinions, Troi excuses herself and runs away laughing. Geordi is also attempting not to laugh.
Data is confused.

On the bridge, they are approaching Gravesworld (population: Graves and the aforementioned hot young assistant) when the assistant hops back on the line to ask anyone listening if they will come with doctors, because something is getting worse. Then she looks off to the side, startled, and the transmission dies.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!


Just as they're about to reach Gravesworld (I can't stop typing that stupid name), they get a spotty audio-only mayday call from a ship in the vicinity. It's a freighter carrying a crap-ton of colonists, and there was some kind of explosion, so a lot of people are going to need medical attention. Picard is all, "Who do we go to?" and Pulaski gives him a shorter version of "The needs of the many..."
"Okay, cool, but if you come with us to the freighter, which doctor is going to Gravesworld?"
"Dr Selar is awesome," she suggests.
"Okay, and both of these situations are right-the-fuck-now urgent, so how do we swing this?"
"Ooh, I know," pipes up Riker. "We can warp to the planet, then drop out of warp long enough to long-distance beam and away team to the surface, then immediately throw it in gear for warp again."
Just so we're clear: Riker is proposing that they slow down as they drive past the planet, and push the away team out of a still-moving car.
Picard agrees for some reason, and then calls Geordi, because he wants his chief engineer to do the beaming instead of that guy who doesn't even have a name yet, despite being in every season two episode.
The away team (Worf, Troi, Data, and a Vulcan medical officer, Dr Selar) assembles in the transporter room, and Geordi tells them that because they're being pushed out of a moving car, it might get a bit weird.
"What the hell does that mean?" asks Troi as they beam her off the ship.


They reappear on the surface inside of Graves' house, and Troi is unnerved.
"I thought for a second that I was stuck in that wall!"
"You were," replies Worf unhelpfully.
And then nothing more at all about that. Nothing about how that's the effect of near-warp transporting, no discussion of how or why they were stuck in a wall, or how they managed to get out. Nada.
Data calls the E to let Picard know that they beamed down all right.
Then Kareen comes in, the blonde assistant.
"Oh yay, somebody came!"


"You pretty much called 911 and then hung up," says Troi.
"Yeah, I couldn't risk being on the line too long," Kareen replies.
"How come?"
Graves comes in from another entrance. "Cuz she knew I'd be pissed off."
He's the small, angry "Get off my lawn!" type.


Kareen is insisting that he's sick and getting worse, and in order to head off an approaching argument, Dr Selar steps forward and asks her what she's seen.
The assistant rattles off some would-be symptoms that together, could be anything, and which WebMD would tell her that Graves has cancer.
"I'm as healthy as a Rigellian ox," Graves insists.
Right away, I hate this guy. He insults doctors, says he doesn't like people, then hits on both Selar and Troi. Like, in that douchey way where a guy you encounter on OKCupid sends you a dick pic, and when you ignore him, he calls you a stuck-up bitch and says you're probably a lesbian, anyway.
I dunno. Maybe he's secretly a nice guy, but is rotting away from the inside-out and grouchy over that fact, and Kareen wants to get him help because she wants the nice guy to resurface. Personally, I've known this guy for thirty seconds, and I'm already hoping they'll just leave and take the girl with them.


"I thought you didn't like people," Troi challenges him.
"Women aren't people. They're women," he replies.
...whut?
She introduces herself, and *vomit* says she's honored to meet him. Why, I have no idea. Brilliant douche bags are still douche bags. For instance:
"Yes, of course it is! This is one of the truly great moments of your life."
I... I can't tell if he's being facetious or not.



...whut?
Kareen was raised under a rock, and has never seen another species before. Apparently, she's always lived here, and her father died when she was very young, so Graves pretty much raised her.
OMG, Star Trek. Again with this shit?




I mean, based on your formula of older scientist and young hot female assistant, one or both of these people is probably an android. Also, he's probably freaking in love with her. Or she with him. Because unrequited love is all that ever happens in the science community.
Anyway, Graves tells Kareen that Worf is a Klingon, and that that Klingons do not look like Romulans, but they act alike. And Worf is now pissed as hell.
"No offense," adds Graves.
And Troi looks slightly less honored to meet this asshole.


So then, because Pulaski isn't here to insult Data, Graves jumps in to perform the duty for her. Data starts to introduce himself, and Graves interrupts by grabbing Data by the chin in an infantilizing way, and examining him before announcing that Data has "no aesthetic value whatsoever."
"Looks like Soong's work," he drawls.
No shit, Sherlock. Couldn't be because Soong modeled all of his androids after himself, could it?
Data asks if Graves knew Soong, at which Graves laughs and says that he taught Soong everything he knew, which kind of makes him Data's grandfather.
UGH.
Two things:
Firstly, because Data is not human and does not reproduce like humans, he can't technically have family in the traditional sense. He's absolutely entitled, like the rest of us, to adopt friends as family, but biologically speaking he isn't "related" to anyone. Unfortunately (spoilers), this show loves to introduce people who may or may not have been involved with the making or programming of Data, and they then claim to be his "(insert familial title here)."
"OMG, Data! My cousin was doing janitorial work in the corridor outside of Soong's lab when you were switched on the first time! That makes me your first cousin, twice removed!"
Secondly, we have now been introduced to a brother and a grandfather (and have discussed a father). All of these people so far have been dicks. Data is a nice guy. Why is it not possible for him to be "related" to someone who is not a quivering asshole? Sure, I get it - Data is the one sweet, innocent person to come out of this den of jackasses... but can't he have just one piece of fruit on his family tree that isn't completely infested with maggots? Can we maybe get it down to one maggot? Is that so much to ask?


Anyway, Graves is simultaneously ragging on Data and claiming to be his long-lost grandfather like he just found out the lieutenant-commander won the lottery yesterday, when he realizes that Selar has been scanning him. He turns on her like a rabid targ, nearly biting her damn head off for aiming a medical device in his direction. But then he actually wants to know what he's dying from, and she point-blank tells him he has the final stage of Darnay's disease (whatever that is). Kareen begs Selar to do something, but Selar tells them that Darnay's is always terminal.

Dramatic music, like we care what happens to this old douche bag! Commercial break!


Picard's Log 42437.7: "Fixed up the peeps on that busted ship. Going back to Gravesworld."

Graves and Data are working in Graves' office/lab/whatever, and Graves is whistling "If I Only Had a Heart" because he's a robophobic tumor on humanity. Data turns to ask him about the song he keeps whistling, and Graves insists that Data refer to him as "Grandpa."
"Seems more touching in my final hours."
Ugh. Just die already, you drama queen.
Data be ever-accommodating, asks about the song. For some reason, it isn't in his databanks, even though it seems like it should be. Seems like he'd know a bunch of random song melodies like that. Anyway, he doesn't, and without going into the stories of Oz, Graves tells him that it's a song sung by a mechanical man who longs to be human, and then finds out that he was human all along.
"It must suck for you, being very similar to humans, but not knowing what pain is," muses Graves. He then goes on to list off a bunch of the shittier experiences of being a human, and lamenting that Data can't have those experiences.


Graves: "Your existence must be a kind of walking purgatory, neither dead nor alive, never really feeling anything."


Charming.
"Oh, listen to me. A dying man takes the time to mourn a man who will never know death."
This guy is a basket of fucking kittens.
"We're a lot alike," he tells Data.
I fail to see how.

Elsewhere, Selar tells Kareen that Graves will go within a week, and that his behavior will get crazier than it already is, if that's actually possible. Then Troi reveals that Graves is "really fond of" Kareen. Kareen admits that she thinks that too, and maybe if she were older, they might have been a couple.
"Now he avoids me," says Kareen. "The only one he talks to is Data."
Girl, they've been on this planet like 30 minutes, not the past year. That's not enough time to claim that someone is avoiding you, and that they only talk to one person now.


We go back to the lab-office thing, and Data remarks that Graves is facing his death with stoicism, to which Graves spouts off some egotistical bullshit, and then makes the sad revelation that he can remember his life any way he wants now.
So let's fast-forward through his philosophical meanderings and get to the point: dude plans to check out using The Singularity. Basically, he's going to upload his essence into a computer so he can live forever as a self-aware robot.
Apparently, this was some kind of pipe-dream of his, and he figured out how to do it.
He's going to become his own horcrux.
"... thus cheating the Grim Reaper of his greatest prize."
Wow, this guy doesn't think much of himself, does he?
Then he reiterates that Data knows nothing of death or anything like that, because he can't die.
Data says that that's not strictly true, and brings up the fact that he has an off switch which, when thrown, basically renders him dead.
"Oh, yeah?" asks Graves, languidly interested. "Where would Soong put such a switch?"


Fucking creeper.

The E calls the away team to say they are ready to beam everyone up. Selar says she hesitates to break up the convo between Data and Graves, but she really wants to transport Graves up to the ship so she can start managing his health.
But then Data enters with an announcement:


Oh noes!
I'll cry all night.
Kareen is upset, but this pair pretty much sums up my feelings about this news.


Picard's Log, supplemental: "So that sucked. We couldn't complete the mission. And whatever genius thing Graves was working on when he died went with him. In the meantime, we're giving Kareen a lift to the nearest starbase so she can get on with her life."

Okay, three questions:
1. How have they not completed their mission? They were floating along in space when Kareen called out into the abyss. The mission was to check on Graves and see what was up, not to "save" him. You checked on him - mission complete.
2. WTF does Graves even do? They just keep calling him a genius, and a real smart guy. So far, all we know is that he figured out The Singularity and hasn't told anyone.
3. Did they give Kareen any time at all to pack or do anything else before carting her off? Kareen doesn't seem excited or like she'd like to be moving on - she sort of sadly stares out the window, and I wonder what kind of unfinished business she may have had at what seems to be her only home.

There's a brief scene in the ready room where Picard and Riker ask Data why he didn't call for Selar when he saw that Graves was dying. Data replies with some philosophical truism that everything must go in it's own time, and there was no need. Data requests to leave, then turns and asks if they will be "honoring" Graves in the manner he asked for as his dying wish. Picard confirms this, but sounds a bit annoyed to be asked, as though Data has brought this up several times already.

Not even half-way though this episode, and Picard is already over this shit.


Data goes to Ten Forward, where he finds Kareen sitting at a table, still staring out into space. He joins her and remarks that she "was always a stargazer," because that's not a weird comment for a near-stranger to make at all. He tells her that she was always beautiful staring up at the stars, and she asks if Graves told him that.
"Yes, he always thought that," says Data, "and he loved you, but he couldn't tell you. Do you understand?"
I hate that last question. So infantilizing.
"Yes, I understand," she says, but clearly looks like she's just realized that her Tinder date doesn't look like his photo.



"You were everything to him," Data finishes, and he reaches out to touch Kareen's hair, then stops himself, before turning and walking out of Ten Forward.
Kareen is left looking like she'd like to take the hottest shower possible.

We jump to Graves' funeral or memorial or whatever. Picard says a few things that you say about dead strangers ("he'll be missed"), then Data hops up next to the torpedo casing with Graves' body inside. And he gives the worst eulogy in the history of eulogizing.
Like, it's Derek Zoolander bad.


Direct quote: "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."





"Perhaps his greatest flaw was that he was too selfless."




"A man of limitless accomplishments and unbridled modesty."

Picard is done. "Data, shut the fuck up."
They beam the casing out into space, which is a bit less dramatic than shooting it out the torpedo bay, like they did with Spock at the end of Wrath of Khan. Either way. Kareen tears up. Picard gives her a small side-hug. Data gives Picard the side-eye.

Looks like in the next scene, Picard gives Data a talking-to about that stupid-ass speech. Data says he got a bit emotional because of "grandpa." Picard tells him that he's trying too hard to be human, and Data agrees that he will dial it back.
He leaves the ready room, checks out the ass of a nearby Blue Shirt, then enters the lift, whistling "If I Only Had a Heart."
Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Picard's Personal Log: "Data is bat-shit crazy. Suspect something went sideways."

Picard and Troi walk through the corridors of the ship. Troi says Data is acting more strangely than ever. Picard suggests that maybe the weird grandfather thing that Graves planted in his head has unhinged Data, and unlocked some secret level of emotion, and he's reacting to it.
"Maybe," says Troi.
Yeah, that seems likely.


On the bridge, Wes tells Data that his eugoogly was awesome, and I cannot figure out if he's being sarcastic or not. I think no?
Either way, if he's being sarcastic, Data doesn't notice, because he rolls out some heavy ego:
"Verbal composition at its most sophisticated level."
Is he serious? That was hackneyed crap.
"Your childlike mind cannot appreciate the timeworn wisdom of my words."
Wes and Riker think Data is being satirical or something.
Data the douche bag fumbles and says, "When you get to be my age, you'll understand."
"Bitch, what are you talking about?" asks Wes. "Chronologically-speaking, you're only a few years older than I am."
Wes and Riker are amused.
"You're only as old as you feel," Data tries to recover.


Picard and Troi bring Kareen to the bridge, and they stand next to Data's console while Kareen stares out of the viewscreen, Kareen is excited, and Picard says that he brought her here because he noticed that she's into science.
Data mutters that he noticed that Picard is into her.
"The fuck did you say?" demands Picard.
Data plays it off like he didn't say anything. He's a cheerful, obedient android.
Picard gives him some side-eye, then shows Kareen the science station. Troi watches Data also.
After a moment, data lashes out, shouting that Kareen will never go for Picard, because she doesn't like older men or stupid guys.
"Get your ass into the ready room," barks Picard.


When they both exit, Troi tells Riker that she's sensing bad human emotions coming from the resident robot.

In the ready room, Data tells Picard that he is willing to accept an apology from Picard.
"WTF is wrong with you?" demands Picard.
"Nothing, I'm as healthy as a Rigellian ox," Data replies.
"Run a diagnostic," Picard says.
Data closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them. "Nope. Totally fine."
"I think you're full of shit," asserts Picard. "Go down to Engineering with me to get a full diagnostic from Geordi."
(Ugh, that sounds gross. "I heard Geordi's giving full diagnostics down in Engineering.")
So they do. Geordi runs some wand over Data's body, and turns up nothing. Picard makes a stubborn Data wait in the corridor for him, then remarks to Geordi and Troi that it's out of character for Data to be insubordinate. Troi suggests that if their tests turn up no physical abnormalities, they should run some brain tests instead.
So she drags Data back to his quarters and hooks little blinking pads to his forehead to monitor his brain activity while he watches a video. He bitches about doing it. She reminds him that they all had to do this at the Academy. He claims it was a waste of time then, and a waste of time now.
"STFU and do the test," she says, sick of his shit.
Images flash on the screen in front of him, including ones of Yar and that little bitch Remmick (the guy who ended up being bug food). 


Geordi and Picard are in the ready room, discussing Data's possible issues, when Troi comes in. She's run the test three times to be sure, and she has the results: Data has split personalities (now known as dissociative identity disorder). There are two personalities: the weaker one is actually Data, and the stronger (less stable) one is this asshole who hates authority and thinks he's a genius. If they don't fix him, the stronger personality will take over completely, leaving nothing of OG Data.
Dramatic music! Commercial break!



Picard's personal log: "Got to the starbase. Gonna drop off Kareen so she can take some transport back to Earth. Suspect that Graves somehow screwed with Data before his death, and he's acting oddly because of that."

Picard and Troi are walking through the corridor, talking about Data. Picard had ordered Data to remain in his quarters, but a quick check with Majel Barrett reveals that he's in Ten Forward.
"Oh, FFS," mutters Picard, and he calls Worf to have him spy on Data. Then he pages Dr Selar to the ready room so he can ask her what happened on Gravesworld.

Data approaches the little blonde scientist in Ten Forward.
"Hello, Clarice Kareen," he purrs. "We don't have to pretend anymore. You know it's me."
"Is it really you, Ira?" she asks.
"Yep." Data/Ira notices Worf come in, and he leans close to Kareen. "Before I died, I switched Data off, and uploaded my consciousness into his body. It's awesome! I didn't think I could maintain this much of myself. Anyway, I can love you now like I couldn't before, because now I'm young and strong, and I'll live forever."
Kareen starts to cry, and like the narcissistic asshole he is, he guesses at what's bothering her: "Oh, you must be sad because I will live forever now, and you won't. It's okay, I'll build an android body for you too, and we can be immortal together."
"No way," she tells him. "I don't want to be a machine. They won't let you get away with this."
He squeezes her hands, and she cries out that he's hurting her.
He gets up and leaves.



Worf asks Picard if he should follow Data.
"Naw, it's cool," says Picard.
He's in the ready room with Troi and Selar, and they've figured out what's happened, based on the (now revealed) fact that Graves was an expert in cybernetics.

Picard goes down to Engineering, where Data/Ira is leaning over the catwalk around the warp core.
"I know what you did," says Picard. "And I want to talk to Data."
"Naw," replies Data/Ira. "Fuck that guy. He was just a machine, not as good as me."
Picard takes that little quasi-lift up to the second level.



Oops, Geordi is lying unconscious on the catwalk.
"Um, WTF?" asks Picard, carefully examining Geordi for injury.
"They said I couldn't come up here," replies Data/Ira.
He seems mildly guilty about that, and it's clear that he was not prepared to deal with Data's ridiculous strength. It also seems that there's another injured crew member who came up here with Geordi.
"Okay, look," Picard says calmly. "What you did was kind of cool, and the experiment was obviously successful, and you're to be commended there, blah, blah, blah. But this seems off, you know? I think you intended to keep working on this, and build yourself an android body, but then you found out that you were going to die like right the fuck now, and Data was just conveniently there."
Data/Ira looks like he wants to tell Picard he's wrong, but doesn't.
Picard calls sick bay to ask about Kareen.
"Her hand is broken in two places, and we're just about to fix her up," replies Pulaski.
Data/Ira looks a bit stricken.
"Accidents," he says. "All accidents."
Picard informs sick bay that they'll need some medical assistance in Engineering.
"How many more?" asks Picard. "Look, you were supposed to die. We all get a certain amount of time in life, but you cheated, and took someone else's in order to extend yours. You have to give Data back. He wasn't yours for the taking. He's unique and significant, and he adds value to the universe."
Data/Ira gets angry and backhands Picard, who falls back into the wall and slumps onto the catwalk.
The android-man looks a bit spooked at himself.


A little later, Data/Ira is gone, and Picard is being helped up by Pulaski. Picard asks the computer where Data is, and they all go down to his quarters to find him lying on the floor. They kind of sneak in and call his name to wake him up. Data opens his eyes and asks why he is on the floor with people standing over him.
"I think he's back," decides Picard.
Kareen calls Picard over to one of the computer consoles, which is running code that sometimes displays the name "Graves."
"He put himself into the computer," says Kareen cheerfully.
I don't know why she's acting like this is a happy ending. There's still a guy with a narcissistic personality disorder running around inside the flagship of the Federation. A guy who acted in a creepy, abusive way toward her and accidentally broke her hand trying to convince her to take him as a lover.


Picard's Log, supplemental: "Dropped Kareen off at the starbase. Also, Ira Graves is currently living in our computer database. Like, not any of the human parts, but the information parts."

Oh so, that brings your "weird dudes who live in our computer banks" count up to two then? Ira Graves and James Moriarty? Maybe you should consider dropping these dudes off at the starbase also, just in case. Cuz you claim that Graves is just like code or something now, but have you watched this show at all, Picard? Your computers are just as vulnerable as anything else, and now you have guys living in them. At one point, you were too.

So Data doesn't remember anything after Graves essentially stole his body.
"You don't remember anything?" asks Wes. "Even that crappy speech? To know him is to love him?"
"Wow, that's really awful," remarks Data. "Maybe it's better that I wasn't conscious. I didn't do anything stupid, did I?"
Riker Sassy Moment: "You wrestled a Klingon targ."
"OMG, let's just go," sighs Picard.
"Wait -- did I win?" asks Data.



Ugh, Star Trek. Why do you always follow up great episodes with lousy ones? Or racist ones? Or ones that are completely forgettable in the space that it takes Netflix to load the next episode?
The idea of a guy achieving The Singularity before death isn't terrible, it's just the execution sucked. Part and parcel of it is the writing and the story behind it:
So Hans Beimler and Richard Manning wrote one script called "Core Dump," which was about a dude who was very smart and wanted to upload himself into Data's system. In that story, Data and the E crew knew about the procedure, and were down with it. And Tracy Torme wrote a different story about Data, one that involved the fact that he received the memories of the colonists from the planet where he was created. There were two colonists in particular who would affect Data in this story: a lovesick, jealous nerd and a lothario. Both were in love with the same woman, and when that woman, who survived the Crystalline Entity attack, came onboard the E, it would trigger these two personalities, making Data flip between them like he had dissociative personality disorder. Basically, Tracy thought Brent Spiner was really talented, and wanted to showcase it in an episode where Data would be moving between two distinct personalities.
The Powers That Be liked the first story better, and asked Torme to do the rewrite. Torme ended up combining the two ideas. Producer Maurice Hurley didn't like the finished episode, calling it "science fiction bullshit." His biggest problem with it is that Data is a fairly innocent character, and they were tainting him by having Graves inhabit his body. He gives the fairly accurate analogy of a little girl french kissing some guy - there's a lost innocence there.
Now for me, I know what the backstory is to the writing of this episode, but I have a third, wholly unprovable headcanon here: one of these writers plays too much D&D. My evidence - the name of Ira Graves' planet sounds like a fucking RPG module. Gravesworld? Who are they kidding? Then you have Graves himself, looking to extend his life by taking that of another, and using it as a vessel. Dude is a lich king, and Data is his immortal phylactery. Roll for initiative. Two? Okay, dude vacates Data, but uploads part of himself into the ship's computer, losing his humanity in the process, but distributing his wealth of information to the rest of the Federation (body looting),
My problem with this episode was mainly Ira Graves. Dude was completely unlikable, and I can't see why Kareen was ever found of him. He's like that relative you remember fondly... until you realize what an abusive dick that person actually was, and the fond memories fall away until you get a much clearer view of that person as a whole. Kareen will experience this, just not until years later.
I didn't feel bad when Graves died initially, and had no sympathy when he caused those "accidents" that made him feel guilty. Nor did his uploading himself into the E's computers give me the warm fuzzies like it appeared to give Kareen. And I have to say that I agree somewhat with Maurice Hurley here: Data is a very specific kind of character, and he needs to be handled carefully, or you risk making him come off as disingenuous.


Red deaths: 0
To date: 1
Gold deaths: 0
Blue deaths: 0
Obnoxious Wes moments: 0
Legitimate Wes moments when he should have told someone to go fuck themselves: 1
To date: 1
Sassy Geordi moments: 0
To date:2
Sassy Wes Moments: 0
Sassy Worf Moment: 0
To date: 2
Sassy Riker Moments: 1
To date: 4
Sassy Picard Moments: 0
To date: 7
Sassy NPC Moments: 0
Sassy Data Moments: 0
To date: 3
Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 1
To date: 13
Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 1
To date: 8
Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
To date: 1
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 1
To date: 9

Episodes Left Until We Get Rid of Pulaski:



Fun Facts:

- Once again, Star Trek has named a character or episode after someone they had in mind for a part... which then fell through. In this case, the title comes from a 1960's sci-fi show "The Prisoner." The star of that show, Patrick McGoohan, was originally supposed to play Graves.
- At one point, Picard quotes a Shakespeare sonnet.
- In the original script, the showdown between Picard and Graves was supposed to take place on the bridge.
- In an early draft of the script, when Data's beard project failed, he tried out a bald head like Picard. Fortunately, it was deleted.
- The image of Yar in the brain test scene is the first time Tasha is referenced.
- Shots of the Genesis Project also appear in the brain test images.
- This is the first TNG episode where a torpedo casing is used as a casket.
- According to the stardates, this episode takes place before "Loud As a Whisper."
- This is the only TNG episode to have an away team that does not contain any full humans (Troi is half-human, Data is an android, Dr Selar is Vulcan and Worf is Klingon).
- This is the only onscreen appearance of Dr Selar, despite the fact that she is mentioned several more times in the series.
- This is the first time that W. Morgan Shepard appears in the Star Trek franchise. He will appear three more times.
- This is also the first time that Suzie Plakson appears. She will also appear three more times in the Star Trek franchise.



I took this lovely photo of Curie, and for some reason the camera eliminated the middle part of the photo...? It's like the opposite of panorama.






1 comment:

  1. It's amazing that, for how many ties I've seen TNG, i fail to miss every repeat of an actor in a different role. I was reading this blog and saw the pic of Dr Selar and was like "WTF is that K'Eylar?!" and was super-pleased to find out it was. Didn't notice it 'til today.

    Something about Suzie that does it for me every time... <3 Her and Michelle Forbes (Ensign Ro)...

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