#tng Violations

[filmjunky-99]

s t a r t r e k t h e n e x t g e n e r a t i o n created by gene roddenberry [violations, s5ep12]

'I hear that humming again.' - keiko

'Keep listening to it, and hold out the brush. See if anyone takes it from you.' - tarmin

'It's Obaachan! My grandmother. She's doing ink brush writing. I can remember it now.

She used that cup for cleaning the brushes, and it was my job to fill it with water and bring it to the table.

I would sit beside her and watch the most beautiful characters come from that brush. And the whole time, she'd be humming to herself.

I remember it like it was yesterday.' - keiko

[countesspetofi]

[proverbialschoolmarm]

[jxpper]

STAR TREK: the next generation | S5xE12 "violations" beverly crusher & jean-luc picard (ft. jack crusher)

" your imagination is in an awful place. don't believe in manifestation, your heart'll break. don't you understand? your mind is not your friend again. "

— your mind is not your friend | the national + phoebe bridgers

[bosesmikas]

Just wanna say, fuck anyone who says that Manny is in the wrong for telling Liberty the truth about Emma.

[youngpettyqueen]

I hope Riker kills this dude

[sshbpodcast]

Episode 110: Not Brought To You By Anyone

TNG: "Hero Worship" and "Violations"

We're stuck with a couple of clunkers this week, folks. First up, it's a crappier version of "The Bonding" when a boy decides he wants to be an android and that blithering idiot Troi agrees in "Hero Worship". After that, the very delicate topic of sexual assault is given a sci-fi twist and absolutely NONE of the delicate nuance or handling it needs in "Violations".

Also this week: hitting the brown note, Ghostbusters 2, and sponsors.

Content warning: see above. "Violations" is a sexual assault/rape allegory and there's a LOT of talk about it.

Timestamps: synopses: 2:00; Hero Worship: 12:00; Violations: 30:26

[startrekplotnthemes]

Season 5 Episode 12 Violations

The Enterprise has a group aboard and the episode starts with Tarmin, their leader, helping Keiko recall a past memory of her grandmother. The Ullians are telepaths skilled in helping others recall memories and Tarmin wishes to create a historical record of said memories to be preserved. While talking about his people he brings up his son Jev who has yet to reach his full potential. An annoyed Jev makes his exit followed by Troi who comforts him seeing his relationship with his father similarly to her own mother. The interaction goes well but after she reaches her quarters Troi finds herself recalling flashes of memory of a liaison with Riker. Starting as an innocent date the event quickly gets rough with Riker forcing himself onto Troi and as the recollection progresses Riker becomes transposed with Jev. This intense experience cause Troi to fall into a coma.

What follows is a suspicion of the Ullian delegation with Jev being the only one who talked with Troi. Riker and Crusher lead the investigation with the cooperation of Tarmin yet both fall to similar recollections as Troi ending in comas of their own. Before she collapses Crusher is able to identify Iresine Syndrome, a neurological disorder as what Riker and Troi experienced. Data and La Forge are able to identify the other recent cases of the syndrome on planets where the Ullians are present and the Ullians are further isolated.

Troi wakes up and goes to Jev for help who recalls mental tampering by one of his people. He forces Troi to recall the events again yet this time she recalls his father instead of Jev. Tarmin is set to be punished for his invasive use of his powers. Yet Jev cannot help himself forcing himself onto Troi as she goes to say goodbye, calling Troi too nice and forcing her to recollect the events once more. She is able to fight him off and Worf arrives in time to apprehend Jev, identifying him as the true criminal.

This is a story about sexual assault even if what Jev does is more mental based in its attack. It is intense potentially for people with experience in this category, especially considering that Troi has to recollect the events at least three times. While it is tough viewing it is true that such events have a way of sticking around. Traumatic memories have a hazy way of sticking around causing mental harm to the people involved. Troi is used as the flirt and frankly a figure of sexual enticement. The way her outfit is depicted compared to the rest of the crew and being her mother's daughter puts her as a more explicit character compared to others on the Enterprise. Taking place in the 90s it is good to see Troi able to fight off Jev in their final encounter, breaking away from his assault and fighting back. She breaks away from the role of the frail victim able to defend herself instead of being a pure damsel in distress.

[mellybaggins]

no lies detected.

[cantsayidont]

When attempting to critique the values of a long-running franchise like STAR TREK, it's important to draw a distinction between superficial issues and structural ones.

"Superficial" in this sense doesn't mean "minor" or "unimportant"; it simply means that an issue is not so intrinsic to the premise that the franchise would collapse (or would be radically different) were it changed or removed. For example, misogyny has been a pervasive problem across many generations of STAR TREK media, which have often been characterized by a particular type of leering-creep sexism that was distasteful at the time and has not improved with age. However, sexism and misogyny are not structural elements of the TREK premise; one can do a STAR TREK story where the female characters have agency and even pants without it becoming something fundamentally different from other TREK iterations (even TOS, although there are certainly specific TOS episodes that would collapse if you excised the sexism).

By contrast, the colonialism and imperialism are structural elements — STAR TREK is explicitly about colonizing "the final frontier" and about defending the borders, however defined, of an interstellar colonial power. Different iterations of STAR TREK may approach that premise in slightly different ways, emphasizing or deemphasizing certain specific aspects of it, but that is literally and specifically what the franchise is about. Moreover, because STAR TREK has always been heavily focused on Starfleet and has tended to shy away from depicting life outside of that regimented environment, there are definite limits to how far the series is able to depart from the basic narrative structure of TOS and TNG (a captain and crew on a Starfleet ship) without collapsing in on itself, as PICARD ended up demonstrating rather painfully.

This means that some of the things baked into the formula of STAR TREK are obviously in conflict with the franchise's self-image of progressive utopianism, but cannot really be removed or significantly altered, even if the writers were inclined to try (which they generally are not).

What I find intensely frustrating about most modern STAR TREK media, including TNG and its various successors, is not that it can't magically break its own formula, but that writer and fan attachment to the idea of TREK as the epitome of progressive science fiction has become a more and more intractable barrier to any kind of meaningful self-critique. It's a problem that's become increasingly acute with the recent batch of live-action shows, which routinely depict the Federation or Starfleet doing awful things (like the recent SNW storyline about Una being prosecuted for being a genetically engineered person in violation of Federation law) and then insist, often in the same breath, that it's a progressive utopia, best of all possible worlds.

This is one area where TOS (and to some extent the TOS cast movies) has a significant advantage over its successors. TOS professes to be a better world than ours, but it doesn't claim to be a perfect world (and indeed is very suspicious of any kind of purported utopia). The value TOS most consistently emphasizes is striving: working to be better, and making constructive choices. Although this can sometimes get very sticky and uncomfortable in its own right (for instance, Kirk often rails against what he sees as "stagnant" cultures), it doesn't presuppose the moral infallibility of the Federation, of Starfleet, or of the characters themselves. There's room for them to be wrong, so long as they're still willing to learn and grow.

The newer shows are less and less willing to allow for that, and, even more troublingly, sometimes take pains to undermine their predecessors' attempts along those lines. One appalling recent example is SNW's treatment of the Gorn, which presents the Gorn as intrinsically evil (and quite horrifying) in a way they're not in "Arena," the TOS episode where they were first introduced. The whole point of "Arena" is that while Kirk responds to the Gorn with outrage and anger, he eventually concedes that he may be wrong: There's a good chance that the Gorn are really the injured party, responding to what they reasonably see as an alien invasion, and while that may be an arguable point, sorting it out further should be the purview of diplomats rather than warships. By contrast, SNW presents the Gorn as so irredeemably awful as to make Kirk's (chronologically later) epiphany at best misguided: The SNW Gorn are brutal conquerors who lay eggs in their captives (a gruesome rape metaphor, and in presentation obviously inspired by ALIENS) when they aren't killing each other for sport, and even Gorn newborns are monsters to be feared. Not a lot of nuance there, and no space at all for the kind of detente found in TOS episodes like "The Devil in the Dark."

[noitsbecky127]

rebecca watches ds9: melora

oh god I’ve heard about this episode. oh god julian’s gonna violate medical ethics

goddamn ableist cardassians

julian you haven’t even met her yet and you’re already in love. that’s unhinged

ok they’ve met over voice chat at least

guess this was their Very Special Episode

girl you’re an ensign! why would you be allowed to go on a mission alone!

my dad just said “what a bitch!” i think he’s being unfair though

that’s a lot of gold-pressed latinum

oh what the fuck is that guy

quark what have you gotten yourself into now

quark what did you do to this guy

well that’s very straightforward!

why is melora’s hair like that

“i prefer to work alone” girl you’re in starfleet!

julian, whatever you’re doing, stop

he enters the room and immediately goes like “so are you single???”

“i’m not your doctor anymore” alright, so ig it’s ok to fuck

dad is bewildered at the concept of a klingon restaurant. i’m just wondering what they eat aside from gagh

quark is pulling out all the stops to get this guy to not kill him. somehow i doubt this plan will work

i wonder what melora and this guy are saying

alright! the lady knows what she wants

new julian lore! his father is a diplomat

and he played tennis! bro is just doing it all

tng had the dancing doctor and now we have the tennis-playing doctor

man poor melora :(

she really knows what she wants! outright asks julian to come in. you know what, good for her

low-gravity romance scene! idk if that’s a Thing in sci-fi but it should be

melora, floating with this hot guy: btw i’m single

god i love jadzia so much

wait i want to know more about those people who didn’t even breathe the same air and were together for 57 years

ig that scene prolly felt different when everyone and their mother wasn’t in an ldr

god i played fnv and now i can only hear mr house lmao

ah so that’s why this guy wants quark dead

odo hates that he can’t let quark die lmao

god i love when they technobabble

there’s gonna be a catch. there’s always a catch

odo will buy quark after he dies. nicest thing he’s ever said to him no doubt

ok, it seems good, now where’s the catch

oof, guess it doesn’t last long

ohhh, so she has to choose between floating and walking

something tells me she’s gonna choose floating

the little mermaid! yes!!!

melora was like “did she live happily ever after?” and my mom, who’s sitting on the couch doing the crossword, went “no, she died”

guess she’s a regular 24th-century ariel! choose between one world with her home, and another with love

i have no idea what’s going on with quark but i know it’s not good

melora no!

oh fuck yes melora!! get his ass!!!!!

why is the klingon singing

alright people exaggerated how bad julian was in this ep. i mean yeah he’s her doctor but he’s everyone’s doctor so unless we want him to die alone we gotta let him break the rules a teeny bit

i’m surprised they were still getting on well at the end of the ep though, she’s a one-off so i figured they’d break up

ig they’ll break up offscreen

[multiverserift]

I came across the question: If the USA is so bad, and Cardassia is meant as a metaphor for USA, there surely are a lot of illegal refugees wanting to come to Cardassia and become Cardassians, RIGHT?" Let's dissect that. I think the whole question is asked under a false pretense. Because Star Trek cultures are not meant to display "real" feeling cultures. We rarely see cultural diversity in a Star Trek culture. Because they mostly represent an archetype. Klingons all have something to do with honor. Vulcans have something to do with logic. Sometimes those broad strokes of cultural aspects are used to tell the story of a stray (Ferengi scientist Dr. Reyga in TNG: Suspicions) or someone caught between worlds (Spock, T'Pol, Worf, Quark), yes. But the cultures in Star Trek are mostly a canvas for a big problem or aspect, an idea.

The Federation is about hope and humanity. The good in humans won. We did it. The utopia is achieved, it is challenged, from within and without.

The Romulans were about the Cold War. About secrecy, militarism. More about them in a bit.

The Klingons are a bit more complex, because their role in the Star Trek universe changed over the years. Focussing on TNG era Klingons, they were the Proud Warrior Race© of Star Trek, the problems with that culture as a concept. Also, most Klingon stories in TNG were used to grow the character of Worf.

Now to the cultural aspect of Refugees. Ironically, we are first introduced to this concept by the Bajorans, violated by Cardassia. We see them through the eyes of Ro Laren (the one who assimilated into the Federation) and Captain Picard. Refugees, and Picard gives them blankets. How nice of him. Double ironically, we later in DS9 see the Bajorans deal with their own refugee dilemma enbodied by the Skrreeans in DS9: Sanctuary. And it's problematic, to say the least.

Where else do we see refugees in Star Trek? In PIC, and they are Romulans (here they are again). Sadly, PIC isn't very good at tackling those human condition problems, so it's all a bit superficial. Or maybe I should watch S01 PIC again. But I don't want to.

We also have the Caatati, the refugees disenfranchised by the Borg in VOY: Day of Honor, and they are desperate and aggressive, but we get a very Star Trek solution to the problem. Technology and Empathy, and it's kind of okay. Also, there is VOY: Counterpoint. But the refugee stuff is more of a background canvas for Janeway's boyfriend story.

Now to the Cardassians. Short answer to the question "Are there refugees that try to refuge into the Cardassian Empire?" is: We don't know. Long answer: We don't know because it's not the point of the Cardassians. What's the point? Easy: Fascism and Authoritarianism. And the stories about refugees in fascist states are more interesting when refugees try to get OUT from there. Which is what we get in DS9: Profit and Loss and DS9: Ties of Blood and Water.

We see Cardassia lose its authoritarian state to (kind of) moderately democratic rebels, only to get usurped by Dukat, sold out to the Dominion and get eaten by a merciless war machine. Which is ironic, because this is the heart and core of many authoritarian states. Which is, also, kind of the point.

The point is not "refugees". Because that topic isn't a Cardassian topic. Then there would be the topic of the refugees that Cardassia CREATES. Which is also interesting when I'm writing from a western country (Germany here), because, let's face it, we are not exactly the good guys here. Maybe there should be a few Star Trek episodes about this.

So to understand Star Trek, you have to understand that the races mostly embody a central aspect. Ferengi? Predatory Hypercapitalism. Betazoid? British MILFs. Vulcans? Horny math teachers trapped in the bodies of apathetic decathlon athletes. And don't get me started on Andorians, because to understand Andorians, I'd have to get into the context matters of ENT and oboy, it's a deep hot pocket of interesting facts. Lower Decks also did some nice things with Orions and Tendi. ENT failed the Orions. Man, I would have loved to see live action Tendi in SNW. I could ramble on but I stop now. Also, slightly altered repost because I still have no clue how the reblog distribution system of tumblr works.

[thegeminisage]

tng enjoyers are you out of your fucking minds

[worldcatlas]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (part 2)

We’re back to the big screen to finish up Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and discover even more exciting shades of beige.

In part one, I skipped over a brief appearance by the Klingons because you can barely see them, but with a bit of photo editing, we can take a closer look.

Why are their bridges so dark? Do targs have sensitive eyes?

Interestingly, they wear a style of uniform we would later see in TNG and beyond – all grey leather and metal studs – rather than the “sparkly sweater vest” uniforms Klingons usually wore in the original series. Although it’s a significant and unexplained departure from their small-screen appearance, I have to say, it’s a lot easier to take these Klingons seriously.

Remember these guys? Star Trek wants you to forget.

I also skipped over a brief appearance by a lil’ guy in a space suit, but we’ll get back to this costume later.

You just float there for now.

Picking up where we left off, Kirk steps off a shuttle sporting a handsome new uniform in slimming charcoal grey and white. It maintains the gold rank braids on the cuffs from the original series uniforms, but adds a futuristic belt, military-style shoulder marks, and a solid metal Starfleet badge. A stiff, quilted collar adds a touch of “space suit,” as well. All in all, a very sleek space-age outfit that feels like a solid upgrade to the brightly-coloured sweaters of TOS.

I can’t wait to see how everyone else looks in this cool new uniform! 

We also get a momentary, blurry glimpse of some excellent-looking Vulcan robes in black and gold, but once again, this beautiful costume barely gets a moment of screentime before being whisked away.

He had to hurry off to fix his eyebrows, I get it.

So… as it turns out, only admirals get the cool new penguin uniform, and everyone else is stuck with space scrubs. They don’t even get a metal badge (not even hard-working Scotty!), just an embroidered patch with a silver Starfleet delta against a coloured circle indicating the wearer’s department.

At least he gets the cool belt.

Up on the bridge of the Enterprise, It’s a full-on Situation Beige. Crewmen buzz around the bridge in every imaginable shade of white, off-white, tan, taupe, and ecru, blending in nicely with the bulkheads.

Fashion crimes notwithstanding, I think there’s also an OSHA violation or two going on here…

Not even Uhura is immune to unflattering shades of khaki, although she does give us a quick glimpse at the Apple Watch-like wrist communicator worn throughout the film. It’s a great accessory that would unfortunately be rendered obsolete by the comm badge as the franchise moved on.

This woman deserves fashion, dammit!

Chekov, Sulu, and other crewmen model a few interesting variations on the theme, including a tight-fitting polo, a standard crew neck, and an awkwardly-tailored sport coat that can’t possibly be regulation.

You know, for uniforms, they’re not very… uniform.

While others, like Commander Decker, enjoy tight-fitting jumpsuits in the beige-est possible shade of blue. Somehow, I just don’t get a sense of authority from a man who looks like he’s been vacuum-sealed inside his footie pajamas.

Oh boy, you can see Commander Decker’s whole entire Commander Decker.

Next, we are treated to a great crowd shot that really shows off the scope of the costume department’s efforts, with dozens of varied uniforms packed into the scene. It makes me feel a little bad for going after the colour palette so hard, considering the difficulty of coordinating so many pieces.

Then again, it really is giving “thermal underwear in space.”

There are a few noteworthy variations in the crowd, including the guy with an uncovered electrical socket in the front row, but my favourite is probably this Native American officer with cool beaded accessories.

Chakotay could learn a thing or two.

The next character to make their big screen debut is the ship’s doctor, Leisure Suit Larry Dr. McCoy, in a fly as hell, disco-ready outfit, complete with gold chain, oversized belt buckle, and a frankly criminal amount of chest hair. And let’s not even talk about the beard. Thankfully, the good doctor soon cleans up and changes into uniform.

Still too much chest hair.

Next, we pay a visit to engineering to see Scotty, who has gotten a significant costume upgrade. Along with his fellow warp core enthusiasts, Mr. Scott sports a heavy-duty, protective-looking white suit with a strange socket (or antennae?) on the chest, surrounded by concentric circles of padded fabric that really make you wanna plug something in there. Oddly, the costumes also feature black rubber collars that presumably attach to their matching helmets, but do not appear at all sealed to the body of the suit.

They’re air-tight…ish.

Fortunately, the suits also include a handy, built-in to-do list.

Memory aids can be helpful for a… mature crew.

Last but not least, the old gang is finally back together as Spock joins the crew, feeling absolutely no emotion about how slick he looks in these long-sleeved Vulcan robes. I love the matching grey tones between the high-collared shirt underneath and the embroidered Vulcan script on the outer garment (though I’m sure this was a purely logical choice).

It says “zip up here.”

Sadly, Spock is quick to follow protocol and changes into a Starfleet uniform as well. However, he does keep the collared undershirt, creating an ensemble that – in a nice nod to TOS – closely resembles his old uniform.

Spock appreciates consistency.

Uhura has also gotten a costume change, and although they still won’t let her out of Beige Hell, she has at least gotten a smart two-piece pant suit that looks a little more comfortable. In addition to being more flattering, this uniform also includes the gold rank braids at the wrists.

Maybe the replicators in the 2270s only have one colour of ink.

Some plot happens, and the ship’s navigator, Ilia, gets hijacked by an alien entity. After briefly experimenting with no costume, she manifests this wild sci-fi bath robe with a huge Dracula collar. The asymmetrical hemline is super cute, but the belt at the waist could be a bit higher and more fitted. I do like how the pink lining inside the collar complements the robo-transmitter implanted in her collarbone.

The bad news: an alien has taken over your body. The good news: they put on a cute fit~

The back of the collar is a nice touch as well, tapering into a heart shape that flatters the actress’ perfectly-shaped head.

So smooth.

On the other hand, I cannot agree with V’ger’s choice of psychically-manifested footwear for this outfit. Clear plastic high heels might look futuristic, but they’re completely impractical for walking through a ship with perforated deck plating, running through sandy-floored caves, or standing near a warp core without melting.

At the other end of practicality, we are introduced to some members of the ship’s security team, who are inexplicably dressed like old-timey football players. They sport shiny helmets, phaser holsters, and crotch-protecting armour in a lovely chocolate brown. While it does break up the beige, it feels a bit silly to see combat guys ready to rumble on a Starfleet vessel.

I think they saw what the Klingons were wearing and got jealous.

Deciding to accessorize, V’ger tries on a headband belonging to her host. It’s a lovely beaded and sequined piece, with a gold charm dangling at one side, and very nearly reminds the navigator who she used to be.

Does this accessory clash with my parasitic control of another sentient being?

Things are getting intense story-wise, and Spock suits up in a shiny red “thruster suit” to take care of business – that is, an EV suit painted safety orange and strapped onto a rocket that looks like it was built with spare kitchen utensils. The whole ensemble is incredibly bulky, but believably looks like a rocket-belt-type contraption that might’ve existed in the 1970s.

Do what you have to do, Spock, but I’ll need my colander back before dinner.

We’re treated to a close-up on the suit’s gloves as Spock pilots the contraption, revealing plenty of details, including more structural quilting. I like the raised details along each finger on the gloves, implying some kind of built-in system, perhaps heating or robotic assistance. The frame of the thruster suit (painted beige) contains a control panel, with buttons on every surface. This segment detaches from the suit itself, so there are also buttons built into the left sleeve.

One for lemonade, one for ice, and one for diet Romulan ale.

We also get a good look at the back of the suit without the rocket attachment when Spock mind melds with V’ger, revealing more quilted details, including some hilarious concentric squares on the butt. From this angle, the suit is mostly the work of the prop department, who have done an excellent job making the hardware look both hi-tech and capable of playing Betamax tapes.

I think my Grandma had one of those on top the TV.

Kirk comes thrusting to the rescue in his own suit, and soon Spock is whisked away to Sick Bay for another costume change. I think this is meant to be a futuristic hospital gown, but it really looks like they’ve just wrapped the sheets around his legs and pinned them in place with binder clips.

In case the doctors need quick access to his thighs.

On the other hand, the sleeveless top is a whole look, and I love the hood with contrasting orange lining.

Not gonna lie, I’d wear it.

As a bonus, Doctors McCoy and Chapel have evolved into their final form: an all-white medical uniform with an oddly rounded collar, shoulder marks, and – notably – a rod of Asclepius embroidered on the left breast, in lieu of a Starfleet delta.

Missing a couple buttons there, Doc?

In the climactic finale, our brave crew suits up for one last away mission in suede jackets, taking advantage of the material’s natural beige hue. Unusual for Trek, they appear to have several large, prominent pockets – but any unease is quickly dispelled by the reassuring presence of decorative quilting along the arms. Speaking of which, the left arm of each jacket bears a reflective stripe that, curiously, does not seem to indicate rank or department, as Spock alone has a red armband.

Fascinating.

With little to differentiate their outfits, Decker decides to accessorize with dramatic lighting and sparkles. Lots of sparkles. Met-Gala-rolled-in-a-Michaels level of sparkles, a.k.a. the correct amount for any outfit. And with that, the Earth is saved.

What was the point of the film again?

[gaykarstaagforever]

"The Cloud Minders" is actually really good, because Kirk actively violates the Prime Directive (which they don't name, but), but he only does this because 1) he needs to get a mineral from here to another planet real fast or their entire biosphere will collapse, and 2) these people are dipshit racists with an ancient caste system, which is based entirely on an easily-cured disorder caused specifically by some of them being exposed to the mineral in question.

Obviously this is still human cultural imperialism interfering with the development of a native culture of an alien planet. But these people also suck real hard so, eh...?

This is one of the rare examples of Kirk doing pretty much exactly what Picard would do in TNG, minus a good speech and less wrestling with the same woman twice (and clearly enjoying it).

Plus this happens:

[nothingbeforenothingagain]

Thinking more about Bruce Maddox…

PIC S1 is so foul to Data, and Maddox is particularly awful to him.

From Data's perspective, he went from living on the Enterprise a free and emotional being in 2379 to a brain box on Maddox’s desk incapable of interaction in the late 2380s. Which was basically Maddox’s view of Data when he met him - a box on wheels. (I have a whole other post half-written about this and how deeply traumatizing PIC S1 was for Data and how Maddox’s isolation of Data drove him to suicide but that’s too long for here…)

Maddox should have never kept B-4's body for research, and especially shouldn't have kept Data's consciousness for research. They should have been treated like organic people and put to rest. Data never allowed Maddox access to Lore or Lal in his lifetime, though it seems he and Soong has gotten hold of them by PIC S3.

Not only was he conducting weird experiments on their corpses, but Maddox was explicitly doing it to violate Data’s reproductive rights.

Clearly Maddox sees Data as property when he just makes him a bunch of children post-mortem without considering the ethics of the situation.

Data's children now (biosynths) aren't even remotely similar to him or the daughter he DID choose create (Lal). Maybe Data wouldn't even approve of this new direction.

If Maddox absolutely couldn't do it without Data's neural engram, which seems to be the case, it's inarguably a violation of his reproductive rights. He is using his essence to give life to more synthetic lifeforms.

At the very least, it’s like taking his organs post-mortem without consent. Worf was allowed to refuse a life-saving blood donation to a Romulan in TNG's "The Enemy," but Data's ENTIRE FUCKING CONSCIOUSNESS can just be taken for research without any regard for the philosophical implications? That's not equal treatment -- Data is still a second-class citizen in the Federation and Maddox's eyes.

And now that Data’s back in PIC S3, instead of being able to experience a broader humanity, he will be thrust into the galactic spotlight as the progenitor of a whole civilization that idolizes him. There go his dreams of getting married and building another android that is in any way reminiscent of himself.