30th Anniversary TNG Episode Discussion Marathon

[Zeke]

Oh man, I could really have done without ever knowing that existed. A sequel with that name -- hell, a sequel at all -- is the kind of nonsense I would throw into a TJI.

[Nate the Great]

If you want a better sequel I recommend the Strange New Worlds story that I mentioned in the main post. It works a lot better. I don't own all of the volumes of SNW, but maybe later I'll check to see if I have that one.

[Nate the Great]

I looked through my collection of Strange New Worlds volumes, and I think I made a mistake. Picard doesn't send a message back in time to Kataan, he sends it back to the Progenitors from "The Chase".

[Nate the Great]

June 15th, 1992, "Time's Arrow Part One"

Fiver by Zeke

This episode wasn't discussed in the "Shoulda Been A Two Parter" thread, and it should've. The aliens should've had more development, and the only way they could've is if they ditched the Mark Twain subplot. Which would've been a shame, converting others to the Federation philosophy is always interesting given the different approaches used.

The Episode

SCIENTIST: Here, look inside the watch.
(an engraving - To S.L.C., with love. 30 November, 1889).

I don't know if this was a gift from his wife Olivia, but it's possible. Their anniversary is in February, so I don't know what November 30th could represent. Maybe it's from an old family friend, who knows.

PICARD: Triolic waves?
DATA: The by-product of an energy source employed by very few species because of its deleterious effect on living tissue.

You mean "humanoid lifeforms", right Data? Something tells me that Tholians or the Crystalline Entity or Gomtuu wouldn't be bothered by this stuff.

SCIENTIST: We've confirmed that no one has been in or out of this cavern in centuries.

How?

DATA: Interesting. There is a twelve percent decomposition of the bitanium in the neural pathway links.

Only mention of bitanium. One does wonder if this is completely natural and Data could replace it at intervals, or if this is a byproduct of being turned off for five hundred years and Data could avoid it.

PICARD: Could it be Lore?
DATA: No, sir. My brother's positronic brain has a type L phase discriminating amplifier. Mine is a type R.

Soong pretty clearly said that the only differences between Data and Lore were in their programming. Then again, Data said that his ears can't be removed and when they found Lore his ears weren't attached, but whatever...

DATA: There is no way anyone can prevent it, sir. At some future date, I will be transported back to nineteenth century Earth, where I will die. It has occurred. It will occur.

Why isn't anyone curious about where Data's body is? Surely they could've scanned the entire planet by now!

LAFORGE: Well, I can't tell you exactly who the aliens were, but I have found out a few things. The triolicised rock face tells us we're probably dealing with a species with microcentrum cell membranes. Triolic waves wouldn't harm them. It also might mean they're shape shifters of some kind.
RIKER: So they could have appeared on Earth as humans.

This seems like a bit of a leap. For that matter, why aren't they impersonating wild animals instead of using the plague as a cover?

LAFORGE: Data, this has got to bother you a little.
DATA: On the contrary. I find it rather comforting.
LAFORGE: Comforting?
DATA: I have often wondered about my own mortality as I have seen others around me age. Until now it has been theoretically possible that I would live an unlimited period of time. And although some might find this attractive, to me it only reinforces the fact that I am artificial.

I would argue that "comforting" is an emotion in this context, but moving on. I do like when Data's "emotions" run so counter to that of humans. He may want to emulate humans, but he's a culture of one, a culture that still trying to create a unique identity. And as the Vulcans say, infinite diversity in infinite combinations is a good thing. Surak himself was pleased to see that people are different.

LAFORGE: I never knew how tough this must be for you.
DATA: Tough? As in difficult?
LAFORGE: Knowing that you would outlive all your friends.
DATA: I expected to make new friends.
LAFORGE: True.

This does raise a valid point, what about Data's crewmates before the E-D? He never mentions them. For that matter, all we know of his life between the Academy and the E-D is his service on the Trieste.

GUINAN: That sounded like a very intense discussion.
LAFORGE: Yeah. They found Data's head a mile beneath San Francisco. Been down there about five centuries.

As SF Debris said, this is a bombshell that wasn't given the gravitas that it deserved.

TROI: Have you ever heard Data define friendship?
RIKER: No.
TROI: How did he put it? "As I experience certain sensory input patterns, my mental pathways become accustomed to them. The inputs eventually are anticipated and even missed when absent."
RIKER: So what's the point?
TROI: He's used to us, and we're used to him. It's like finding out someone you love has a terminal illness and--

I like this exchange.

DATA: I am perceiving an apparent change in the way others behave toward me. For example, people abruptly end conversations when I appear, just as you did when the turbolift doors opened. Is that an accurate observation?
RIKER: Not at all.
TROI: (same time) Yes.
RIKER: Yes.
TROI: You're right, Data. And it's not a very nice thing to do.

Why can't the later Trek shows have moments like this?

DATA: Sir, it is standard procedure that the second officer accompany the away team.

I don't like how vague this is. I don't think that any given combination of officers should be "standard procedure", it should be mission-specific.

This also butts against something that's irked me for decades. Why is Data called the operations officer when he acts like a science officer most of the time? Having a science officer in the standard away team seems much more logical than referring to a position in the chain of command.

Does Data just not look good in blue, or is the yellow uniform supposed to complement his makeup in making him look more alien?

DATA: Captain, there is no rational justification for this course.
PICARD: Then I'll be irrational.

Great moment. Whoever said the human race was logical?

DATA: I appreciate your concern, Captain, but, to employ an aphorism, one cannot cheat fate.
PICARD: Cheat fate? Perhaps we can't, Mister Data. But at least we can give it a try.

"It does not matter that we will never reach our ultimate goal. The effort yields its own rewards."

LAFORGE: Well, whatever or whoever is there, we're out of phase with it, but we're only talking by a fraction of a second.
WORF: A fraction of a second would make them invisible?
LAFORGE: A millisecond, a year, it wouldn't make any difference. If what we're reading is true, then we're occupying the same space but in a different time.

This is one bit of technobabble that never made sense. Usage of a hyperspace dimension would be more logical. If these guys normally exist in the higher dimensions they would be able to choose how they're perceived in the lower ones. Their form of shapeshifting would be more complicated than that of Changelings or salt vampires or Garth of Izar or whatever.

DATA: My voice will be transmitted on a delay correlated to the phase adjustment. That should allow me to maintain verbal contact.

Yeah, this is nonsense.

DATA: Another lifeform. An ophidian. It seems to be restricted by a forcefield.

Ophidia is the common ancestor of all modern snakes. I think the screenwriter just wanted to sound fancy.

(Data finds a discarded copy of the San Francisco Register, Sunday August 13, 1893, proclaiming a cholera outbreak)

SF Debris thinks that cholera was a late change from the original tuberculosis.

BEGGAR: I'll take a dime.

Why am I so obsessed with doing inflation calculations? Ten cents in 1893 is three bucks today.

DATA: Sir, I need temporary lodging.
BELLBOY: Looks like the missus booted you out in the middle of the night.
DATA: I understand the source of your misperception.

I get the common joke that these guys are running around in pajamas, I just don't find it particularly funny.

DATA: I am a Frenchman.

Why French? I get that the creators wouldn't want to resort to Yellow Peril-style prejudices, but there has to be another nationality that Data resembles more than French.

GAMBLER: Ah. Mes parents sont originaires de Bourgonais. Je suis ne a la New Orleans.
DATA: Alors, nous sommes presque frères. Je suis heureux de vous connaitre.

"Ah. My parents are from Bourgon. I was born in New Orleans."
"So we are almost brothers. I am happy to meet you."

Bourgon is in northwest France, nowhere near where Picard grew up.

GAMBLER: Family heirloom?
DATA: In a manner of speaking. It is a crystalline composite of silicon, beryllium, Carbon seventy, and
SEAMAN: Gold.
DATA: Gold.
GAMBLER: I'll give you three bucks for it.
DATA: I accept.

Carbon-70 is a fullerine, a spherical molecule similar to a buckyball (Carbon-60). C70 was discovered in 1985. If you put alkali metals in the holes of the larger rings you get a conductor, which I assume is the purpose of including it in a commbadge.

Three dollars in 1893 is a hundred bucks today. At today's gold prices that's two grams of gold. So yeah, Dukat here is totally ripping Data off.

[Nate the Great]

PICARD: I don't want anyone else going in alone.
LAFORGE: I can probably create a large enough subspace field to encompass everyone.

The idea of sending the entire senior staff is just ridiculous. First of all, why is Worf being considered, they know it goes to 19th century Earth. You can't just cover up his ridges with a hat like Spock did. Second of all, if the 1701 had a historian on staff to help in situations like this, I expect the E-D to as well. What has Whalen been up to, anyway?

WORF: If we find Commander Data, it may be our fate to die with him in the past. If our remains are in that cavern, they would have turned to dust long ago.

Bones will decompose in soil in a few decades, maybe a century. But in that cavern they'd last five hundred years easy.

GUINAN: It's a Tzartak aperitif. It's very, very touchy.

In a DS9 novel Tzartak apertifs were the most expensive drink sold at Quark's.

(Data picks up the anvil with one hand, then realises what he's done wrong and drops it)
DATA: Ow.

Saying Sound Effects Out Loud is always funny.

BELLBOY: What are you going to do with the anvil?
DATA: I require a low intensity magnetic field core. I believe the iron mass of the anvil will provide that.

And I believe that the odd shape of the anvil would result in an odd shape for the magnetic field. Stone knives and bearskins indeed...

CLEMENS: The eminent scientist Alfred Russell Wallace has revived the theory that Earth is at the centre of the stellar universe.

Wallace discovered the theory of natural selection/evolution independently of Darwin. He was one of the first scientists to worry about the environmental impact of human activity. He opposed eugenics, supported women's suffrage, and opposed militarism. His Wikipedia page indicates many opinions that indicate he would be an easy convert to the Federation gospel.

I don't find any references to Earth being the center of the universe, however.

CLEMENS: According to our best geologic estimate, the Earth is approximately one hundred million years of age. Perhaps it is less, perhaps more.

These days we think the Earth is four and a half billion years old.

GUINAN: But if the Earth is not alone, and there are millions of inhabited planets in the heavens.
CLEMENS: Quite my point. Man becomes a trivial creation, does he not? Lost in the vastness of the cosmic prairie, adrift on the deep ocean of time. A single one among countless others.
GUINAN: Someone may argue that a diamond is still a diamond, even if it is one amongst millions. It still shines as brightly.

There's a lot to break down here, however I won't do so.

DATA: The Enterprise.
GUINAN: Is that a clipper ship?
DATA: It is a starship.

In 1893 the USS Enterprise was a screw sloop being used as a training ship. "Screw" means steam-powered propellers, "sloop" means a sloop of war, a warship with only one level of large calibre guns.

CLEMENS: A starship? What registry would that be?

Shouldn't Clemens wonder what a "starship" is? The current Enterprise didn't have a registry.

GUINAN: Ah. Did my father send you here?

Guinan's father is mentioned in "Rascals" as still being alive.

DATA: I am from the twenty fourth century, where you and I serve aboard a starship.

Guinan may have an "official" civilian posting, but I'm not sure if that counts as "serving".

The Fiver

Captain's Log: The Enterprise has received an emergency summons to Earth. We're not overly concerned -- from here in orbit, Florida looks fine.

Grrrr, Enterprise, grrrr...

Picard: Your evidence that aliens were in California in the 1800s is all well and good, but why is it worth this specific ship's time? We're very important.

"We're supposed to be escorting ambassadors to a conference at this very moment!"

Yes, I'm sure there's a nebula somewhere that hasn't been scanned enough yet. So much for boldly going...

Picard: Mon Dieu! Data, is... is that....
Data: Fascinating. I am certain I did not leave my head in San Francisco.

"I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was written in 1953. The best known rendition is by Tony Bennett, but as a Millennial I best remember the reference from Joey on Friends.

Data: Do not be upset, Geordi. It is a relief to me to know that I am mortal.
Geordi: What, just because you don't want to outlive your friends? You'll always have Commander Riker -- he plans to live forever.

"Generations" reference aside, I think Riker's victory against the Borg has ensured his immortality already.

Riker: We can't let this happen! We have to find a way to keep Data's head and body together!
Troi: We could "accidentally" beam them into an enclosed space for a while, forcing them to work out their differences.
Riker: It's just crazy enough to work! And then more crazy, so no.

Groan.

Geordi: Anyway, the point is we can't see these aliens without a phase discriminator. And none of the ones on the ship are sensitive enough....

I think this joke was stretched a bit too far.

Data: I am afraid I possess no currency. My wallet was caught in a mechanical ricepicker.

City of the Edge of Forever references aside, the ricepicker story is hilarious and uncomfortable at the same time...

Picard: All right, I know we're all concerned about Commander Data....
Riker: We've got to get him back! He's worth fifty Dr. Crushers!

Where did that one come from?

Clemens: I have tried, Madam Goldberg, but such opponents tend to insist on getting a word in.
Data: Guinan! It is me. Your friend Data, whom you know.
Guinan: Huh?
Data: We serve on a starship together.
Guinan: Whoa. Uh, would you folks excuse me for a minute? This is my nephew, um, Rube... he tends to hit the sauce.

As much as I like Rube Goldberg, this joke was too much of a stretch.

Guinan: Starship, huh? Did my never-again-to-be-mentioned father send you?

Actually, he was mentioned back in "Rascals" as well...

Data: In my time, the opposite has been demonstrated. Even the Vulcan Science Directorate finally conceded the point when a disgruntled Starfleet captain arranged for their headquarters to be brought into the 653rd century for --

I can't find a reference to the 653rd century at Memory Alpha. What is this a reference to?

Memory Alpha

* Last TNG appearance of Marc Alaimo. Dukat appearances kept him busy after this.
* Data identifies the 1873 Colt 0.45 as being double action. It's only a single action, oops.
* Apparently Data used this definition of friendship in a conversation with Ishara back in "Legacy." I didn't remember that. Then again, I'm not fond of Ishara or that episode.

Nitpicker's Guide
* Captains not going on away teams is treated as official policy when in fact it's Riker who made up that "rule" specifically to keep Picard safe.
* Once again people board a turbolift and the thing starts moving without the new occupants giving a destination.
* Phil accepts the time offset creates invisibility thing, but thinks that Data should've just winked out instead of phasing out.

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

June 1st, 1992, "The Inner Light"

Fiver by me

I'm skipping the fiver coverage, given that I already made a dicer thread on it. Here's a link to the actual fiver, feel free to gush about it. My ego can never get enough stroking.

Picard: Yeah, right, as if they could be Windows-compatible!
Probe: Wanna bet?
Picard: Yeazzzzz.....

Haha, sucker.

Only mention of either of these, although a ship made out of "crystalline ceramic" appears in "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth." I'm dubious as to whether you could make a spaceship out of ceramic materials.

Well, the space shuttles used ceramics to survive the heat of re-entry, right?

[quote]Various sources say that the Federation has about fifty planets during the TOS era and 150 planets during the TNG era. I'm not sure that even Kirk could memorize 50 planets.[quote]
People memorize 50 states and their capitals all the time? Also, 150 planets seems way low to me for TNG.

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

The Fiver

"I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was written in 1953. The best known rendition is by Tony Bennett, but as a Millennial I best remember the reference from Joey on Friends.

My best-remembered reference for it is The Far Side.

Picard: All right, I know we're all concerned about Commander Data....
Riker: We've got to get him back! He's worth fifty Dr. Crushers!

Where did that one come from?

I hope Spiner wasn't being paid fifty times as much as McFadden . . .

Riker: No sign of aliens so far, sir. We'll -- are you all right, Deanna?
Troi: I... I sense... humans!
Riker: (eyeroll) Yes, Deanna, there are humans. There's a Klingon and a part-Betazoid too.
Troi: I also sense hatred. Of you. By me.
Worf: Whoa! Even I sensed that.

Classic.

Geordi: Ahh, there are life signs here. They're just out of phase with us.
Riker: I guess you're the man for the job, then. Should I get Ensign Ro too?
Geordi: Different kind of phase. We're occupying the same space, just at different times.
Worf: Big deal. Oh, look! I'm standing where you were standing 20 seconds ago! I must be out of phase! Wooooo!
Riker: (pout) I wanted to get Ensign Ro.

Also a great bit.

[Nate the Great]

Maybe by "150 planets" they mean "150 subgovernments." One imagines that each of the four founders had many planets under their umbrella. We also know that Betazed has colonies, Rigel has many worlds, etc. Furthermore, you'd have to imagine that the Xindi count as one planet for the count.