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sshbpodcast · 11 months ago

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Character Spotlight: Data

By Ames

It’s the man you’ve all been waiting for! He’s one of the most popular Star Trek characters of all time. He teaches us humanity and friendship and science. He’s the outsider character of his series and uses his unique perspective to open our eyes to the world and the people around us. And he loves cats! No wait, we already spotlighted Commander Spock. Just kidding. I’m, of course, talking about Lieutenant Commander Data!

It’s hard for us at A Star to Steer Her By to narrow down the best moments from our android friend because he gets to do so damn much between The Next Generation series and movies, and he’s also my personal favorite character on the show, but we’ve somehow managed it! So use your positronic brains to read on below and listen to our discussion on this week’s podcast episode (tricorder scan to 1:03:10) to see where we drew the line. Saddle up!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

You are fully functional, aren't you? As we mentioned in our Picard spotlight, “The Naked Now” has the strangest mix of great and terrible character moments, and I couldn’t not include the incredibly hot Data/Yar romance that it created. It’s just nice to know that Data is programmed in multiple techniques, a broad variety of pleasuring. And later, the physical acting we get from Brent Spiner in that lean and fall was great!

My thoughts are not for Tasha, but for myself While the rest of “Skin of Evil” and the anticlimactic death of Tasha Yar aren’t really our cups of tea, we do have to admit that the tribute scene at the end is moving and well done. And that final moment when Data and Picard talk (even so briefly!) about the point of the ceremony and how empty it will feel without Yar… I’m tearing up just thinking about it.

Tied game, we’re going into overtime I also have to give Data credit for all the times he uses his big android brain to solve a problem, an advantage he has over pretty much any other character. For example, when he busts Sirna Kolrami up in a game of strategema by forcing a constant stalemate in “Peak Performance,” it feels like a win because he thinks outside the fluorescent holographic box!

One android with a single weapon Every so often, we also see Data in command, questioning his leadership skills or having difficulty connecting with his peers (more on that one in a second). But when he’s the only one who can survive the radiation on Tau Cygna, he takes charge to get its colonists to leave by blowing up their aqueduct in “The Ensigns of Command.” Try withstanding Sheliak attacks now, losers!

Thank you for my life While some of us on SSHB didn’t care much for Lal, you’ve got to admit that all of Data’s actions in “The Offspring” are on point. From questioning why he shouldn’t be allowed to create life, to letting his offspring self-identify, to keeping her out of the hands of Starfleet, it’s all good parenting. But what takes the cake is the heart-wrenching farewell scene after he tries to save her.

He who dies with the most toys… is kind of an asshole While we don’t get the cathartic release of Data phasering the hell out of Kivas Fajo in “The Most Toys,” we do get to take some pride that he is capable of overcoming his ethical subprogram to do away with someone who really has no right existing. When Geordi says that he detects a phaser firing in the transporter beam, you know he just needed a fraction of a second more and Fajo would be toast.

Your request for reassignment has been noted and denied Like in the afore-mentioned “The Ensigns of Command,” Data has some trouble adjusting to command when he takes control of the Sutherland in “Redemption, Part II.” It sure doesn’t help that his racist XO Hobson undermines his every decision, but that doesn’t stop Data from single-handedly foiling the Romulans’ plan and telling Hobson exactly where to shove it.

I've never been to a better funeral When it’s apparent that Geordi has been killed in a transporter accident in “The Next Phase,” Data grapples with the loss of his best friend in a very touching way, similar to how he mourned Yar as we mentioned above. And before he solves the puzzle of the episode and saves them, Data throws the best funeral I’ve ever seen for La Forge and Ro! People are just dying for a funeral like that!

The most human decision you’ve ever made We gave Picard a lot of accolades when we discussed his standing up for Data’s right to live in “The Measure of a Man.” Data gets a similar moment in “The Quality of Life” when he refuses to trade the lives of the Exocomps for those of other beings. It’s a nice episode of paying it forward, and we also get to see the scientific method on high display when he and Crusher deduce the little guys are alive.

Radioactive. What does that mean? Speaking of the scientific method! Even with his memories wiped in “Thine Own Self,” Data is able to piece together why the radioactive materials are hurting everyone in the village on Barkon IV. And with that clear slate of mind, we see that in all forms, Data is curious, caring, and willing to help people who are in need, even if it gets him speared in the back a little bit.

Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature… We’d be remiss if we didn’t bring up Data’s beautiful relationship with his cat, Spot. As everyone on SSHB is a devoted cat person, we found it a treat whenever we saw Data interacting with Spot, testing which food she’d like, and writing cat poetry. The best might be when Data reunites with her after the Enterprise crashes in Generations AND he has the emotions to appreciate it!

Resistance is fully functional We noticed in our TOS spotlights that it’s in the movies that most characters get to shine, and First Contact is that chance for Data. His scenes getting tempted by the Borg Queen are dead sexy and you can’t tell me otherwise. And his betrayal of the Collective by purposely sparing the Phoenix and then fumigating engineering to kill Borg Queen are the climax we all needed. I’ll be in my bunk.

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Worst moments

I am stuck Especially in the early seasons, Data got used to make bad fish-out-of-water jokes. It was a silly habit the show had of depicting him as naïve about human culture even though he’s lived in it for years (and has the memories of the Omicron Thetans when the show remembers). Seeing him get stuck in a fingertrap in “The Last Outpost” is just such an example of dumb sight gags to make him look goofy.

I can’t use contractions, sir This is just a pet peeve of mine that could have been fixed so damned easily. Listen, writers, if you’re going to make it a plot point that Data can’t use contractions in episodes like “Datalore” and “Future Imperfect,” then be consistent. Run an apostrophe search in Microsoft Word and replace them, because in episodes like “We’ll Always Have Paris” when he states “It’s me,” it pisses me off.

Take my Worf, please! Don’t worry, we’re not done pointing out all the bad jokes told at Data’s expense that we see throughout the series (oh god, and just wait for the movies). And it’s a shame because Brent Spiner himself has such great comic timing and delivery, but when you make his jokes so obviously idiotic like in Ames’s least favorite TNG episode “The Outrageous Okona,” we cringe so hard.

Is anybody out there? We mentioned this one in our prime directive chat before, since Data just tramples all over it, but “Pen Pals” has some good discussion on the pros and cons of the situation. But that doesn’t excuse Data for making the decision on his own to get involved with the Dramen people, much less to bring Sarjenka onto the bridge (for crying out loud), necessitating a Pulaski mind wipe!

One seven three four six seven three two one four… There are a handful of times in TNG that we find it a terrible idea that Data (or any single being) has as much power as they have, considering how often they get possessed by things or duplicated by other things. So when Data single-handedly takes over the Enterprise in “Brothers,” disrupting the mission to save Willie Potts’s life, because Soong hacked into his brain, we raise eyebrows.

Jilting by association While I could joke that Data ever introducing Miles and Keiko was a mistake (and I have!), there’re still a lot of bad moves he makes regarding their relationship in “Data’s Day.” When he gets stuck in the middle of their nuptial stress, he’s so clueless how to handle the situation and keeps making things worse when, frankly, Miles and Keiko should have kept things to themselves.

Who programmed the book of love? Moving on to even more lousy relationships: Data’s brief, unnecessary romance with Jenna Desora in “In Theory” proves to be just another example of too many “Data doesn’t understand humanity” jokes that we hoped the show was over by this point. But alas, he’s written himself a love program to basically treat the situation like a sitcom and we were done with it.

Point that thing somewhere else From the moment Data stands directly in front of Bashir’s mystery device in “Birthright, Part I,” it’s obvious he’s going to get zapped by it. Really, Data? You couldn’t have stood literally anywhere else than in front of what is clearly an energy beam? And the rest of the episode, we’re stuck going on a dream adventure, and you already know how I feel about those!

Stop it, stop it, stop it Like in “Brothers,” it just seems weird to have Data getting controlled by his kooky family members when it happens again in “Descent.” This time, Lore has given Data the emotions he thought he wanted all along, but it turns out the very first emotion Data embraces is sheer rage. When he takes pleasure in killing Borg, you know maybe emotions just aren’t for him, and yet…

Open sesame! …when we get to Generations, Data has a fully fledged emotion chip that really needed more testing first. We’re subjected to just way too many of those dopey Data jokes, from Open Sesame to Mr. Tricorder to cackling at a 7-year-old joke. And to add kidnapping and torture to insult, it’s when Data is having a particularly bad reaction that Geordi nearly gets killed by Klingons!

I have been designed to serve as a floatation device We’re not done yet with the Data humor (and just way too much humor in general that doesn’t land) in Insurrection. While this film really gives Jean-Luc his time to shine, the rest of the cast are treated like afterthoughts, including Data who seems to be around for punchlines, like remarking about how the women’s boobs feel firmer, and serving as a life preserver.

Going out in a blaze of failure Finally, I need to criticize Nemesis yet again, as I am wont to do. It’s just… Data’s sacrifice for Picard is so unearned. I’d debate that it’s worse than the Kirk sacrifice in Generations that we put in that Worst Moments list too. Most of it is probably the abysmal script. I’ll sum it up by saying this: if you can’t make me care that my favorite character died, you’ve done something wrong.

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Now that we’ve found Data’s off switch, we can wrap things up this week. Don’t worry, we’ve got tons more character spotlights for the coming weeks, so keep your sensors here, journey over to SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts to follow along with our Enterprise watchthough, break the Prime Directive with us on Facebook and Twitter, and delete that comedian holoprogram from the computer!

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