“In Theory”
Written by Joe Menosky & Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Patrick Stewart
Season 4, Episode 25
Production episode 40274-199
Original air date: June 3, 1991
Stardate: 44932.3
Captain’s Log: The Enterprise is exploring a dark-matter nebula. Data is supervising the modification of a bunch of photon torpedoes that will help reveal more about the nebula by illuminating it.
One of the people with whom Data is working is Jenna D’Sora, a member of Worf’s security team, who is also apparently a friend of many months’ standing. She tells Data that she bumped into her ex-boyfriend, Jeff Arton, and when he asked her to dinner, she said she’d think about it. Data immediately informs her that, per her instructions, he will now remind her of why she and Jeff broke up—and this is the third time he’s had to refresh her memory.
Data has also made a study of human romantic relationships, which he undertook after Jenna and Jeff broke up, in order to help be supportive of Jenna in her time of need. They then test the torpedo, successfully.
Later, in Ten-Forward, Data, Jenna, Keiko, and two other crewmembers play a concert, performing Reicha’s Wind Quintet #2. Data is playing the oboe, Jenna the flute. Jenna and Data talk, and Jenna starts to rip into her own performance, citing numerous things she did wrong—Data points out that he saw no severe technical issues with her performances, and the audience was oblivious to such nuances. (As a musician myself, I totally get where Jenna’s coming from, and often have to remind myself, as Data does her, that nobody else noticed or cared what I screwed up, as it was so minor as to be noticeable only by me.)
Afterward, they share a drink with the O’Briens, with Keiko complaining about Miles’s inability to put socks away, and Jenna starting to act surprisingly flirty toward Data.
On the bridge, Data examines the nebula, discovering that the density of dark matter is greater than expected. There are some Class M planets in the vicinity, and Picard orders a course change to check one of them out.
In sickbay, Crusher puts an instrument down on the table, and it falls to the floor. She assumes she just missed the table and puts it back, not giving it another thought. But, since they went to the trouble of showing it, it’s obviously important.
Cut to the torpedo bay, where Data’s modifying another torpedo. Jenna’s sitting nearby, reminiscing about her childhood. She tells Data how much she enjoys his company, and how good a friend he’s been. And then she kisses him before leaving the torpedo bay.
Thrown for a bit of a loop, Data goes to Guinan for advice. He has no experience in such matters, and he has no clue how to proceed. Guinan, however, refuses to give him advice, as this is a path best pursued on one’s own.
Upon returning to his quarters, Data is greeted by La Forge, who is carrying Spot. The cat got out of his cabin and wandered two sections away. But the computer shows no indication of having let anyone in or out.
Data then proceeds to do the exact same thing Wes did in “The Dauphin,” to wit, ask everyone in the credits for their advice. La Forge pretty much throws his hands up and tells him to go to Troi. (Given La Forge’s own romantic history, this is probably wise.) The counselor preaches extreme caution, as this is far more intense than anything he’s ever tried before. Worf also demurs, saying that Klingons don’t have relationships, they conquer what they want. (He also reminds Data that Jenna serves under his command, and if she is mistreated, he will be upset.) Riker, of course, is all-in—he thinks Data should totally go for it. Picard says he’ll be happy to provide Data with advice about understanding women as soon as he has some.
Data brings flowers to Jenna’s quarters and makes a move—in a hilariously stilted but actually kinda sweet manner.
Picard goes to his ready room, to discover that everything that had been on his desk is now on the floor under the desk. He requests Worf’s presence, but he detects no biotraces other than Picard’s. “You did not—” “No, I did not.”
Jenna comes to Data’s quarters and gives him a sculpture to help brighten up his cabin. He makes several mistakes in how he should respond—a critical analysis of the sculpture, rather than just thanking her for it, is but one example—but at least he’s making an effort to get things right, which Jenna appreciates.
The Enterprise arrives at the Class-M planet, but it’s not there—at first. Suddenly, it reappears. Before they can examine it, the computer registers explosive decompression in the observation lounge—but Worf reads no hull breach. When Data declares the atmosphere restored, they enter the lounge to find all the furniture bunched up against one wall.
Data walks into Jenna’s quarters, and declares, “Honey, I’m home,” with a contraction and everything. He then turns into a Stepford husband, talking like a 1950s lothario, fetching her a drink, and just generally acting kinda weird. He then starts to straighten up her quarters, but she doesn’t want him to do that. Concerned that he’s not paying enough attention to her, he tries to be more solicitous, but she thinks he’s acting very strange. He then manufactures a lover’s quarrel (complete with using more contractions), but the very artificial nature of it makes it pretty ridiculous, and Jenna says it’s not working. Then she tells him to kiss her. Afterward, she makes the spectacular tactical error of asking him what he was thinking, and he proceeds to supply the entire (lengthy) list.
The incidents are increasing, but there’s no indication as to what’s causing it. So far, nobody’s been hurt, but Riker suggests they continue the investigation outside the nebula. But as soon as the ship goes to warp, consoles start futzing out, there’s more explosive decompression, and things just escalate until Picard orders a full stop.
La Forge takes Van Mayter and Thorne to check out the structural damage between decks. After Van Mayter goes off in one direction, La Forge starts to give instructions to Thorne, when a horrible scream pierces the air. Running back, La Forge and Thorne find Van Mayter halfway in the floor. The floor disappeared, she fell through, and then it reformed around her, bisecting her and killing her instantly (and, based on the scream, painfully).
Data at last has a theory: there are pockets of dark matter in the nebula that cause matter to go out of phase when they collide. The deformations are also moving, so it’s difficult to navigate out. Data can only tune the sensors to detect the dark matter at very close range. Worf suggests using a shuttle, which is more maneuverable, to play stalking horse, finding the dark matter (and getting more easily out of its way) and leading the Enterprise through it.
For absolutely no good reason, Picard insists on piloting the shuttle himself, overriding Riker (who’s more qualified). Picard gets them past a few dark matter pockets, but one damages the shuttle, and they lose the link. Picard tries to guide them verbally, but then another pocket appears and wipes the shuttles engines. O’Brien beams the captain away before the shuttle explodes. At this point, they’re less than two million kilometers from the perimeter, and McKnight is able to navigate out of the nebula.
Data has prepared dinner for Jenna in his quarters, but she wants to talk before they eat. Jenna realizes that she’s been making the same mistake over and over. She broke up with an unemotional man, and dove into a relationship with someone who can’t feel emotions at all. Data’s kindness and attentiveness isn’t enough, because she knows that, deep down, she doesn’t matter to him because he has no emotions.
When Data asks, “Are we no longer a couple?” Jenna say that in fact, they are not. “Then I will delete the appropriate program.”
Can’t We Just Reverse the Polarity?: Dark matter can apparently make bits of the ship phase out of reality for a moment. Who knew?
Thank You, Counselor Obvious: Troi is concerned that Data is treating his relationship with Jenna like an experiment, and reminds him that, while he has no feelings that can be hurt, she does.
If I Only Had a Brain…: Data has expanded his musical repertoire to include the oboe. His friendship with Jenna goes back many months, and she made the literal-minded android promise to remind her why she broke up with Jeff if she ever considered getting back together with him again.
There is No Honor in Being Pummeled: Worf is the one who saves the day here, suggesting the shuttlecraft be used to lead the Enterprise on. Riker and La Forge jump all over him, but it was his idea. Dammit!
Syntheholics Anonymous: Guinan feels that everyone should experience their first love affair on their own. When Data reminds her that he has no feelings and therefore can’t love, she just smiles and says that that means it’ll be a very unique experience. (Sadly, the rest of the episode proves her wrong.)
No Sex, Please, We’re Starfleet: It is unclear whether or not Jenna and Data went beyond kissing. But we do know that he’s fully functional…
In the Driver’s Seat: Ensign McKnight returns, and she does a fine job of coordinating with Picard in the shuttle, and then is left to pilot the last million kilometers or so on her own.
I Believe I Said That: “Perhaps we have a poltergeist.”
“Sir?”
“A mischevious spirit.”
“Sir…”
“Perhaps not.”
Picard proposing an outlandish theory, and Worf refusing to play along.
Welcome Aboard: Rosalind Chao is back as Keiko, and we discover that she also plays the clarinet (and also hates picking up O’Brien’s dirty socks). Pamela Winslow makes a second appearance as McKnight (following “Clues“). And Michelle Scarabelli—probably best known in genre circles as Susan Francisco in FOX’s Alien Nation TV series, as well as the followup movies—is quite charming as Jenna D’Sora.
Trivial Matters: This is Sir Patrick Stewart’s first time in the director’s chair, to which he’ll return four times. Amusingly, four of the five episodes he directed were Data-focused.
This is the last time that Spot will be seen as an Angora. The cat’s subsequent appearances will be as an orange tabby.
Van Mayter gets a first name (Helga) and personality in your humble rewatcher’s Starfleet Corps of Engineers eBook Many Splendors (printed in the collection What’s Past).
Make it So: “Darling, you remain as aesthetically pleasing as the first day we met.” What a clunker of an episode. It’s never a good thing when a show starts repeating itself, and it’s compounded by the truly dreadful choice in episodes to rehash. Really, who thought it was a good idea to re-do “The Dauphin,” only without the gravitas?
Some of the go-to-each-of-the-crew-for-advice bits work better here than they did in “The Dauphin” (Riker’s was better here, certainly, and Picard’s line to Data was a classic), but it still is ground that’s already been covered.
And the relationship is just awful. Of course, that’s part of the point, that getting romantically involved was a bad idea for both of them. But that doesn’t make it any fun to watch—and it was such a nice friendship prior to that. And watching Data stumble through bad 1950s “romantic” clichés is just painful to watch.
The dark-matter B-plot isn’t much of an improvement. Twenty years later, we still don’t know much about dark matter, so I guess maybe it could do what the episode says it does. Kinda.
To Moore and Menosky’s credit, the minute the stakes are raised—when Van Mayter is killed (and brutally so; the image of half her body sticking up out of the floor was one that stuck with me for weeks after watching the episode)—the silly romance plot is abandoned until the ship is out of danger. Though that part of it has its moments of ridiculousness, not the least being Picard insisting on piloting the shuttle. This is a ship with a thousand people on board, they must have dozens of qualified pilots. In what universe does it make sense for the captain—who by his own admission way back in “11001001” hadn’t taken the conn in years—to be the one to do the incredibly risky piloting? (To make matters worse, he half-asses the job, and gets the shuttle destroyed. Imagine what might have happened with a good pilot.)
Ultimately, it’s a rehash of a Wesley Crusher episode. A really really bad Wesley Crusher episode.
Warp factor rating: 2
Keith R.A. DeCandido‘s latest novel, Goblin Precinct, is now available. A high fantasy police procedural (think Law & Order meets The Lord of the Rings), it’s the sequel to Dragon Precinct and Unicorn Precinct, and is available from Dark Quest Books. Go to Keith’s web site for info on how to get the book, whether an eBook or print book from an online dealer, or an autographed copy of the trade paperback directly from Keith.
One thing bothered me a lot about this episode, which you allude to but don’t make explicit. It is evident from previous episodes that Data and Tasha Yar weren’t just going through the motions, but that Data had some sort of feelings for her (no matter that he supposedly doesn’t have feelings). It always bugged me that this episode ignored that previous relationship entriely.
— Michael A. Burstein
Angora? I could have sworn Original!Spot was an Abyssinian.
The episode goes downhill once Data actually decides to try and experiment with romance. I just can’t see anyone agreeing to go along with something so strange and cruel to a woman in obvious need of something better.
I’d always thought (and read) that the original Spot, played by “Monster,” was a Somali cat, not an Angora.
I remember liking this episode back when, but now I can’t exactly remember why. I guess I found the romance parts to be charmingly goofy rather than thuddingly bad, but not having seen this episode in a long while, I don’t know whether it would hold up.
Your comparison to The Dauphin in this review helped me nail down the biggest reason why I do not like In Theory at all. While The Dauphin is flawed and clichéd, I believe there is something inherently charming about watching a young person fumbling with love for the first time. And goodness knows Wheaton’s performance and general “barefoot boy with cheeks of tan” physical bearing served him well in that context – he was every bit the inexperienced/excited/confused teen. It rang true and had a sweetness that transcended, somewhat, the general lameness of the plot.
Here, I found myself marveling at the fact that Jenna appeared to indeed be a grown-ass woman. Cringe-inducing flirting is a given with an adolescent; with an adult who has had prior romantic involvement it makes one wonder if she has taken her meds. Who the hell flirts by diving on in with corny domestic comments? Every time I expect the camera to pan back and show Keiko and Miles exchanging disconcerted glances at this bizarre display, but they seem to think it’s just totally normal that their pal Jenna is suddenly doing a Debra Barone “oh these crazy hubbies of ours” impression. Of course, Keiko and Miles are no strangers to irritatingly childlike behavior when it comes to matters of the heart, considering they forced Data to act as go-between when their wedding almost collapsed. Nothing says 6th grade like “tell my fiance that the wedding is off.”
“Data has also made a study of human romantic relationships, which he
undertook after Jenna and Jeff broke up, in order to help be supportive
of Jenna in her time of need. They then test the torpedo, successfully.”
Wink wink, nudge nudge. Say no more…
@1: Michael, you’ve hit upon the key retcon made to Data’s character around the time Michael Piller came aboard. In the first couple of seasons, Data had the capacity for emotion; it was just underdeveloped and subdued. But from the start of season 3 onward, this was simplified into a complete lack of emotion. And I feel this episode shows why that was a bad idea. It’s hard to sympathize with Data here when he’s portrayed as simply not caring about anything that happens, not affected or changed by these events in any way.
And it never really made sense either. Data obviously had motivations, preferences, desires, dislikes, affinities, etc. It was always ethnocentric to say he had no emotions just because he didn’t employ human forms of expression like laughter or tears. Not to mention that there are people in real life who are brain-damaged in a way that leaves them emotionless — and they can’t even recognize emotion in other people, can’t even tell when it’s being expressed. (Although maybe that does make sense in Data’s case, since he’s had over a quarter-century to learn how to recognize humanoid emotional responses and he’s probably written a bunch of subroutines to tell him “That expression is a smile, connoting positive feeling” and the like, but still struggles with recognizing things like humor or sarcasm.)
Another little thing that bugged me was the use of the term “dark matter.” That’s just a placeholder term, something we call it because we don’t know what it really is, like “terra incognita.” Once we identify its true nature, we’ll probably stop calling it dark matter.
Once again, Keith, … on the nose!
Thank you for drawing the parallels with the Wesley episode: I totally forgot it!
I would have liked her to use Data as rebound droid; now that would have been fun to watch!
As for Picard piloting the shuttle…there must have been some sort of internal show politics where even though x character makes more sense in y situation (e.g. in this case Riker or any of the dozens of qualified pilots on board piloting the shuttle), the character who ends up in the situation was put there because the actor or someone influential on the show wanted that character to be put in that situation…either because they wanted more air time or just because they had never had Picard do it before, or because of some “show quota” à la Beverly doing the metaphasic shields episode instead of Geordi.
In Picard’s defense, he did fly the Enterprise quite handily in Booby Trap (http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/11/star-trek-the-next-generation-booby-trap) so there’s at least some continuity with him and his awesome piloting skills.
I loved the last line of the episode, and wished I could simply “delete the appropriate program” after a relationship had ended.
Christopher L. Bennett, thanks for bringing up Data’s retcon. I never bothered to look up the circumstances behind this, but I knew somewhere along the line their idea of Data changed and I hated it. Hated the stupid “emotion chip,” hated all of it. It was obvious the original conception of Data was someone who had some basic personality programming but had to learn the rest, and *was* learning, until they came along and said no, he wasn’t capable of learning until he was programmed from outside. That was a horrible idea. I wish we could retroactively fix it.
Although, if I’m remembering the episode correctly (because I haven’t seen it since it first aired) Data’s greeting of Spot after Jenna leaves kind of gives the lie to this whole retconned concept. I think.
I always felt like this show was a reaction to fangirls who insist on falling for characters like Data (and Spock) and writing bad stories about it. Jenna certainly acts like a self-insertion character in a bad fan fic.
At least Picard didn’t fly the Enterprise with an off-the-shelf joystick. That at least can be said in this episode’s defense.
Not a good episode at all; easily the worst of what was otherwise an exceedingly strong season. It does have one redeeming feature, though – the final scene. Data’s last line is delivered so dispassionately, and the final shot – him, in a room dimmed for romance but which now looks bleak in the twilight, holding Spot and looking on – was so completely desolate. It was not an emotion I ever associated with TNG, which can be so cloying at times.
Not really, although I’m not up on my history enough to be able to tell you if this would’ve been known at the time. But one of the defining features of dark matter is that it hardly ever or never* interacts with the kind of matter we interact with every day (photons, protons, neutrons, electrons, etc).
More generally I’d say that “we don’t know much” is a little incomplete as a description of the state of the field. We don’t know what it is yet, but we’ve ruled out a rather large number of things it could have been!
*where “hardly ever” is orders of magnitude less than neutrinos–the scaling I know is credited to John Bahcall, who said 100 billion neutrinos go through just your thumbnail every second, and in your entire life, your body might actually interact with one. This is also why the photon torpedo thing is funny: dark matter is transparent, as far as light is concerned.
Data- “She kissed me passionately in the torpedo bay”
Surely that line should be in “I believe I said that” – or perhaps I just have a dirty mind.
I unfortunately get to re-watch this more often than most of you but the thing that stands out on multiple rewatches is Jenna’s behavior not Data’s. Her behavior is cringe-worthy but is interesting as well as Data’s ret-conning – what makes this episode terrible for me is all the crew’s behavior. Picard takes such a supportive role in Data’s development but answers the one person guaranteed not to be judgemental about his behavior with cliche? Troi is usually so involved in Data’s emotional development and chooses now for professional detachment? We talk about retconning Data but in this episode the whole crew is retconned :). I would have probably ranked this episode midrange but thanks to keith i will for ever after associate this with the Dauphin – the horror…
@@@@@ CLB…
You brought up a good point and something that always bothered me with the retconned Data… in the first couple seasons he seems like he’s experienced things, but from Season 3 onwards, its like he’s never done anything at all. Data is 28 years old (sorta) by the time he’s assigned to the Enterprise, a Lt. Commander who has served on other starships, and an Academy Graduate. Are you telling me he’s never had a relationship? Not once? It’s like suddenly he’s a completely blank slate prior to being on the Enterprise. Brent Spiner himself says that most of the fanmail he got was from women wanting to have a relationship with Data, and that’s fictional. So inside that fictional universe, not one woman has said, “Data’s a little pale, but he doesn’t forget to pick up his socks, is always polite, and can lift heavy objects?”
To me this is just lazy writing. All the other main characters have some form of prior experience/backstory. Riker and Troi have a backstory (thanks Peter David and Imzadi) and both have acknowledged service aboard other starships. Picard has a backstory as commanding officer of the Stargazer. Worf has a backstory as the first Klingon in Starfleet and a survivor of the Khitomer massacre. Geordi doesn’t have much of a backstory, but given that he’s a very junior officer at the start of the series, that’s understandable. Heck, even O’Brien who isn’t a regular has a backstory with Setlik III.
Each of these characters come on board with some element of past experiences that affect them once they’re on board, but really doesn’t. The Crystalline Entity and Lore are things that happened to Data as circumstance, not things he participated in. I get that Data is supposed to be the ultimate outsider observing humans, but on the other hand, he’s been at this a while. Making him seem this naive is just plain dumb.
Mike: Riker and Troi’s backstory was established in the pilot episode, so the person you want to thank is Gene Roddenberry (who lifted the backstory for those two lock, stock, and funny accent from Decker and Ilia’s backstory in Phase II/The Motion Picture), not Peter David. Peter did flesh it out in the novel Imzadi, true, but it all came out of what was established in “Encounter at Farpoint.”
Oh, and La Forge served on other ships prior to the Big E, including the Victory, as seen in “Elementary, Dear Data” and “Identity Crisis.”
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Another little thing that bugged me was the use of the term “dark
matter.” That’s just a placeholder term, something we call it because
we don’t know what it really is, like “terra incognita.” Once we
identify its true nature, we’ll probably stop calling it dark matter.
You mean, like “black hole?”
I’m a little late to the party but I wanted to comment on the retcon anyway. I kind of felt that even though the “no emotion” idea has been present for a while up to this point, there still seemed to be all these hints that this was not really the case. In “Legacy,” Data is holding that rock or whatever that Ishara Yar gave him, and seems to display some emotion and to genuinely be bothered and affected by that whole thing. In “Data’s Day” we see him tapping his fingers nervously after saying that someone with emotions would be unsettled. He is also “highly motivated” to solve the mystery in “Identity Crisis” because of Geordi. And all of these episodes were from THIS season. So it seems like when they got to this episode, they just dropped the ball and just didn’t get it. He goes from saying that he is probably not as close to being human as he aspires right to asking if they should start dinner. And at the end he is just stroking spot in a way reminiscent of B-4. And obviously he cares for Spot! Even the fact that he has a pet shows how important being human is to him…so having a relationship like this and going through his first break up should actually be a pretty big deal to him and a big part of his development. But then he just sweeps it under the rug like it was nothing.
Otherwise, I remember liking this episode the first time I saw it. I thought at the time that Data’s cliched attempts at romance worked as a joke and his purposeful lover’s quarrel was funny. You also can’t forget Guinan’s line, “Don’t look at me,” which prompts Data to turn away from her physically.
And nitpicking here–Data was playing the oboe, not the clarinet.
Also a little late to the game (still trying to get the move finished!) but I also felt they mishandled Data’s character here. I have also noticed the trend to overly simplify his character even though there are many past episodes that do indicate he had some capacity for emotion, caring, etc. Even if they aren’t ‘feelings’ in the human sense – maybe he just programs the appropriate happy/sad response – sometimes I feel like that’s all I’m doing at times too! I don’t always ‘feel’ everything.
As for the relationship, it really, really bugged me. I actually felt Jenna was this awful stereotype of the needy, over emotional woman. I might perhaps be the wrong person to give my thoughts on this, since I have been told multiple times that I am not a ‘typical’ woman, and in fact, I have sometimes suspected I’m a high functioning Aspergers (although I actually have no problem detecting emotions in others, which seems to be one of the main traits, so I might just be weird).
But…gaaah. She irritated the heck out of me. I think it IS possible for somebody to have a relationship with Data (assuming that you didn’t have hang ups over the android-ness), but it would be somebody who did not need emotional gratification to be happy, but rather would just want the pleasant companionship. I feel like that about myself a lot. I know that ‘happy’ is considered an emotion to but to me it is the state that occurs when I know, intellectually, that things are the way they are supposed to be. It’s not that I am completely emotionless – I certainly feel surges of happiness, sadness, excitement, affection, humor from time to time. I just think it’s a lot less often than the average person, and it doesn’t bother me that I don’t always ‘feel’ happy.
I actually can’t stand the message that relationships are supposed to involve games (ie, Data wasn’t REALLY supposed to go back to his painting, even though she said to) and dishonesty. I actually found all of Data’s responses, including his ‘what are you thinking’ response, interesting and refreshing and honest and the kind of things I would want my husband to say. I don’t have a need to be the total center of a person’s universe.
I also hate clutter, so I kind of cringed at her trying to junk up his quarters, and then he couldn’t even put the thing where it would look the best!
Granted, this is all under the assumption that, despite what this episode is trying to say, Data IS capable of caring for somebody and expressing that in his own way and isn’t just some programmable companion. There might be others who wouldn’t mind that, but I think even I would want a little more than that.
And also, for the record, I AM happily married ;)
crzydroid: Whoops! Thanks for the instrument correction. It’s been fixed….
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Brent Spiner did his best with some pretty awful dialogue. His performance is really the only thing that makes this episode watchable.
I think you’re being a bit hard on this epsiode. The scene where Data conjures up a lover’s quarrel was mostly awful, but the ending of that scene when Jenna asks Data what he was thinking during their kiss was a nice touch. Other than the majority of that one scene, I thought the rest of the depiction of the romance worked.
Calling it a retread of The Dauphin is unfair. The very idea of Data attempting a romantic relationship is so completely different than Wesley (or any other character) doing the same that the comparison makes little sense. The only similarity I see is that both Wesley and Data went to the other main characters for advice.
I know this is a bad episode but it’s one of very few that actually make me laugh out loud. Data’s reaction to Guinan saying “don’t look at me” is brilliant, and Picard’s reply to him is great.
If you ignore all of Data’s previous emotional development I think he is good in this episode. Brent Spiner is in great form playing the emotionless android who doesn’t understand humans. If this episde had been in season one I think it would have been great.
I guess I am the exception here, but I liked the episode. Sure, the fact that they make Data appear “more emotionless” than in previous episodes is a misfire, as is Picard navigating the shuttle, but overall I liked it. Spiner is awesome as usual, I found Jenna charming and sweet and the scene with the dead crew member is one of the most chilling ones in TNG history. And no, Data attempting to have a romantic relationship is nothing like Wes in The Dauphin. Also, the last scene with Data and Spot is brilliant
Loved this episode! Watching Data try to be a good boyfriend was touching and funny, even though he was so awkward at it, but his intentions were so pure. And I really empathized with Jenna’s struggles. I found this episode to be funny, sad, and sweet.
I agree Data does actually seem to have some low-level emotion, but it’s so mild it still makes sense that he’d be acting so bafoonishly when trying out a romantic relationship for the first time.
And I don’t see why it gets compared to The Dauphin. I like what Etherbeard said in regards to this:
What was that lump on Data’s back after he sings that Italian song. his line is “I could organize your closets for you.” Look at his back.
Actually, we do know that Data didn’t have sex in this episode – by his own admission to the Borg Queen in First Contact…
Unfortunately, I have to agree with the review and most of the comments that this was a poor episode. It’s unfortunate because I think they could have done a lot with the premise. It’s not like women can’t be attracted to Data. I think that Spiner, like Nimoy before him got a ton of fan mail from ladies drawn to “emotionally challenged” characters. But it’s like they just decided to turn away from the Data moves closer and closer to human while never quite getting there” rubric and went all “no emotion whatsoever”. And yeah, not sure why Picard insisted on piloting the shuttle.
Is it me or did the script call for endangering Jenna somewhere over the course of the second half? They could have brought the two storylines closer together that way and connect them. Get some suspense.
And while I´m on this … how on earth could they have missed the opportunity of bringing Jennas messy quarters in relation to the mess the dark matter made? They could have at least pulled off a joke! Or, you know … Jenna starts to clean up every time (or Data does it for her), but the next day its totally messy again. And then Jenna vanishes, gets sucked somewhere, and Data has to save her. I know, damsel in distress. But still, way better than the 50s husband cliché stuff they were going for.
Hmmmm…. While I agree that the majority of this episode was forgettable at best, the final shot of Data sitting with Spot was worth the price of admission alone.
It’s a shame that writers could never decide wether Data is capable of ‘artificial’ feelings or not.
Wasn’t it established that he really liked Yar? I mean she recorded a message for him and he kept it in his personal belongings. He considers a few people of the crew his friends. How would that be possible if he didn’t ‘enjoy’ the company of some more than the company of others?
That being said, Data’s quarrel with Jenna was cringeworthy and yet funny to watch. But I agree that this certainly isn’t one of the better episodes.
I think it would have been more scientifically accurate if they’d made it a poltergeist.
@21 lisamarie we are in agreement again. This episode drove me nuts because I found Jenna’s behavior was exactly as you described. I’ve also been described as atypical for female behavior, whatever that means, so there’s that. Lol. But I do think Data would be completely capable of a relationship. We’ve seen hints of relationships already with friends and it seems like it could have been so much more beautiful and subtle as he tried to figure out the next step rather than having it be buffoonish. The redone character as ‘now he is devoid of all emotion’ annoyed me as well as others have mentioned.
The one line that did crack me up was after the kiss and Jenna asked what he was thinking. I dated a scientist who would have similar responses to a question like that. He was exceptionally kind but so intelligent that he was off the social norm so his response would literally be eight things at once, including he liked me but also was working on the formula to better power the camera on the ship to photograph Neptune or something. It made me laugh and love him all the more because I knew he really cared about me – but as you said I did not have to constantly be the center of his universe and I was still fulfilled and happy. I think something far more nuanced would have been so much better for this concept.
And the last scene with Spot, powerful that one.
@21 I was actually diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome around the age of 22–so, about 8 or 9 years ago now. One of the reasons it did take so long to diagnose me is because, when I was a child, Asperger’s was still considered a “male” condition. The thing is, it’s much more difficult to diagnose it in women because we don’t present the same way that men do, and the way our symptoms differ from theirs hasn’t been as well documented–because, like I said, it was originally assumed that it only affected boys.
So you very well could have high-functioning Asperger’s Syndrome like I do. I don’t necessarily have difficulty recognizing emotions in others. Some of the more minute nuances of how those emotions are expressed are probably lost on me, or at least more difficult for me to notice. I feel like I do sometimes have a bit more difficulty pinpointing why certain emotions are being expressed–like, okay, this person is angry, but I have no idea why or whether it was something I did that caused it. They can explain to me why they feel angry, but to me it still doesn’t necessarily make any sense why they reacted that way.
I do definitely understand not necessarily needing to feel anything. A lot of the time I don’t know how I feel about a certain thing, and that’s totally okay with me. I don’t need to feel one way or the other. Certainly there are things that make me laugh, or make me feel happy, or sad, or angry. There are certain things that make me very angry. I think other people probably do find me a bit cold or distant–certainly they find me to be rather shy and quiet, because I am–although I do have kind of a dry sense of humor that I think catches other people by surprise, because they aren’t expecting it.
The thing that people don’t take into account about people like me is that our condition means that we’re bad at certain things that other people do naturally, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn to do those things better. Yes, I’m not very good at social interactions, they make me incredibly nervous, but I feel like I’ve definitely improved over the years. I don’t make all the same mistakes I used to, because I’ve observed what people don’t react well to and changed my behavior accordingly. That’s kind of what you have to do when interacting with other people doesn’t come naturally.
Coming back to Trek, I’d imagine that Data would learn and, in his own way, evolve in that same manner. That’s something they seemed to acknowledge in earlier seasons and eventually came back around to, but seemed to forget about for awhile after the retcon others have mentioned, which I think is really unfortunate. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Data was the character I identified with the most as a child, and continue to do so as an adult. People with Asperger’s Syndrome are used to feeling like outsiders, and Data’s struggle to understand humans was and is a struggle that we know only too well.
I’ve got to say, this is one where I totally disagree with Krad’s opinion. I’m working my way through the full Star Trek oeuvre, I hadn’t seen this one before, and it has become one of my top rated episodes. The comedy of Data’s fumbling attempts to be romantic as learned by his research into cultural references works well, and is brilliantly balanced by the fundamental tragedy of the episode – that doing all this was false to his normal self that Jenna was drawn to. It definitely differentiates itself from “The Dauphin” by delving into the idea that effort and good intentions aren’t enough to build a relationship on, and that there has to be something more.
Ultimately, this is a top example of what a Data episode should be: Using his outsider nature to show where the cultural illusions we pretend (consciously or not) to believe in fail to work in reality. Choosing romance as the subject was an inspired decision: I doubt there is any other field of human experience where the reality and the idealised beliefs we have are more catastrophically divergent.
I’m pretty sure the reason the writers had Picard piloting the shuttle was because Patrick Stewart was directing the episode, and it was easier to direct everyone else without him on the bridge for the suspenseful scene. The writers sure didn’t handle this inconvenience well at all. Even a throwaway excuse like, “Will, I’ve piloted shuttles through nebulae like this before,” would’ve been better than the self-righteous line he gives Riker.
@36/Denise L,
“I feel like I do sometimes have a bit more difficulty pinpointing why certain emotions are being expressed – like okay, this person is angry, but I have no idea why or whether it was something I did that caused it.”
I consider myself to be highly sensitive and empathic, yet many people’s emotions seem inscrutable to me in the sense of trying to account for them. I think that many people have internal stuff going on that isn’t part of ongoing reality, and since you don’t have access to that you’re not going to be able to know what they’re responding to. There was a time when I also had social anxiety, until somehow I began to accept that other people were responsible for their own emotions, and that I wasn’t the cause of them or responsible for making them feel differently. Of course I might choose to alter my behavior for someone, as part of a relationship where we learn to make allowances for each other. And I might seek to influence someone to feel differently, although the way I would do that would not be to say “You shouldn’t feel that way!”, but to explore what prevents that person from feeling differently. I generally consider that there are multiple ways to feel about something, and if someone has settled on some particular emotional reaction, that probably means they have somehow gotten “stuck”. For example even in the case of one’s response to a child molester, it is possible to choose between feeling rage, horror, disgust, or pity and compassion (presuming they must be damaged and acting out abuse they themselves have suffered. For the sake of clarity, in any case I want them removed from society so they won’t do any more damage).
At the risk of saying something you will find obvious, there is always a question of how much something is either a hardware or a software problem. People often find themselves seeking out people who behave in similar ways to their parents, as if they are still trying to practice and make that relationship work out right. If you had parents who were inscrutable and took a blaming response to your not being able to read and respond to them as they wished, then you might find yourself seeking out other people who are like that, and thus continually finding people to be inscrutable and difficult.
By the way, I’m an Unschooler, and Unschoolers are outsiders. Until the rest of the world comes to its senses, at least. :)
I don’t think Data is particularly out of character here, he was just led into an unfamiliar situation that he didn’t know how to deal with. He’s shown traces of genuine friendship that could extend to a romantic situation. The mistake made was to set it on the course of a formal relationship too quickly. He became buried in duplicating the conventions of a standard relationship (which she encouraged), instead of working with her to develop their own practices that suited their unique pairing. The more he tried to do what he was “supposed to”, the more disconnected they became–because that was taking him away from the behavior that attracted her in the first place, and his own natural (if muted) emotional responses.
I feel like some couples could learn from that, even if it’s not so literally true in their case.
Count me among the few commentators who liked this episode. I always thought of it as an interesting exploration of Data’s personality, and also as a reminder that he is not just a guy with a pale face, but an android without emotions. To me that makes him more interesting, so I was always in favour of the change of Data’s character from season 3 onwards. (It also made the emotion chip possible and the incredibly funny scenes in “Generations” after he turned it on). And I also cannot see why this should be a remake of the awful “Dauphin”. Wesley’s love story has absolutely nothing in common with Data’s relationship, the only similarity being that Data too asks his friends for advice. This reference was actually quite funny. And I also disagree with the comment about Picard steering the shuttle. I can understand that as captain he feels responsible for the safety of his ship, and I am also ready to accept any excuse for giving Picard some part of the action. :) To me this is not one of the outstanding episodes, but certainly a decent one. I would rate it 5 or 6 (not more because the dark matter story is lame).
A bit late to the party, but I agree with tjareth. Neither Jenna nor anyone else Data addressed thought of telling him not to use his behavioural model simulations, as that, imo, was his greatest mistake, as it kinda nixed why Jenna liked him in the first place.
Data was fully committing to the romance of it, as best he could, and I don’t think he was that wrong in what he was doing. And he was honest. And Jenna never bothered to REALLY talk to him. There was an attempt at “drop everything when your gf is around”, but that was still at the cute stage, not when it moved to problematic. She could at least attempt at “could you try not think of 4 different things at a time when kissing me?” And she also outright invaded his personal space with trying to make his room less shiny, not the best thing to do. So all in all, I think his unemotional self wasn’t the only problem.
And about retcons, imo Data suffers greatly from inconsistent characterization and returning to status quo. Both his emotional and unemotional concepts would work, if only explored consistently.
There’s a good episode in there somewhere… Maybe I identify with this episode because, like Data, I seem to be speaking a different language, operating on a different wavelength with the opposite number.
Anyway, @@@@@Seryddwr hit on something: that last scene very nearly pays off what’s a sometimes painful episode. Spiner makes the best of some mediocre writing. I think the rough outline had a lot of promise on this episode, but nothing went right from there on. It doesn’t ever feel like Jenna invested in the relationship, and Data apparently hits the “reset” button just before the end, so in terms of the relationship, there’s nothing to really take seriously. Pretty sure somebody mentioned it before, but the idea that Data needs to treat this as “not just another experiment,” but somehow Jenna can do no harm, is pretty inconsiderate. What if Data decided based on this that romance is impossible? The whole relationship seems pretty one-sided, and Data comes out the loser. I just wish the two could have shown more investment in the whole thing, and that there was some real loss (and learning) rather than a ho-hum ending. That said, I do appreciate the ending not being an empty cliche. I guess I’d say I feel for Data, and one of the few things the episode gets right is allowing it all to come to a bittersweet conclusion.
The B story, as mentioned, really could have used some attention as well. I don’t think it’s that bad, it’s just that we have the first act, where it’s something odd going on that seems immaterial, then in the second act the whole Data relationship disappears and it’s a crisis. Just a blind fanboy observation, but could we maybe have had the relationship story come to a head, and then the two of them put aside their differences and come together and solve the issue?
Ultimately, I view this episode more favorably, but it’s not a winner. I like it for the bits of humor and ‘can’t always get what you want’ ending. Like Picard’s line, “I will be delighted to offer any advice I can on understanding women. When I have some, I’ll let you know.” or Data’s “perhaps I could help you re-arrange your closet.” It’s frustrating because I really believe all the ingredients are there, but it feels like a last-minute effort. I think if it’d had a couple re-writes, you could have seen a lot more meaning and growth for Data, and the dark matter storyline could have fit in better. As it is, I give it warp 6 for first watch, and a 5 overall.
I agree, a pretty poor episode in an otherwise great season. A 2 seems fair. I think the story was botched in that it could have been much funnier and more interesting than it was. It was similar to “The Dauphin” and the story of Data’s “first romance ” seemed inevitable but it’s a shame it wasn’t handled better here than it was. And I also agree with others that Data already had a loving relationship with Tasha Yar even if it wasn’t fully depicted on screen. So it was too bad that wasn’t acknowledged. I didn’t like how the B-plot of the dark matter had no thematic relevance to the A-story or even tangentially connect, like Jenna being in jeopardy from the dark matter or her quarters at least being messed up because of it. The story of Data attempting a relationship could have probably been enough to fill the episode but I’m sure Rick Berman would have never allowed that after already making the exception for “Family.” So instead we’re saddled with a disconnected ship-in-jeopardy of the week plot. We’d see even more of this type of awkward A-story/B-story mish-mash in the 5th season like “Cost of Living.” The shot of Van Mayter being bisected by the floor was very disturbing to me as a 12 year old and even now as an adult. What a horrible way to die. Even as a kid I couldn’t help but wonder how her body would be removed from the deck or who would get that lucky task. Maybe they could just beam her body out? And I suppose Michelle Scarabelli did fine with her role but I just didn’t like her character at all. I kept thinking what is wrong with this woman to fall for an obviously emotionally unavailable life form that couldn’t reciprocate feelings for her. I think she should have been going to Troi for therapy. The only scenes I actually enjoyed were Data coming to Guinan, Worf and Riker for advice on romantic relationships. Those scenes were amusing at least.
UGH, this episode. I hate to be crass, but it’s no mystery why “Jeff” left Jenna. She’s a completely dense, needy, annoying character, and got exactly what was coming to her by trying to develop a relationship with an android. Yes, this lesson that she learns is the point of the story, but who cares? This is a crew member I had no interest in whatsoever. This is nothing against actress Michelle Scarabelli. She was perfectly fine, doing her best with the material she received.
I did like Brent Spiner’s performance as Data while role-playing in the “Lover’s Quarrel” scene. It was supposed to be ridiculous, obtuse and awkward and he pulled it off.
The dark-matter subplot, although asinine, was the better part of the episode. But it will never make sense as to why Captain Picard insisted on piloting the shuttlecraft, and why the crew let him.
@45/Iron Rob: I think Captain Picard piloting the shuttle could have more to do with a real-world reason: Patrick Stewart in season three made it a point to the writers that he wanted Picard to get more action, whether that be screwing women or punching out aliens. One obvious example of this edict is “Captain’s Holiday” and one could add Picard piloting the shuttle without good reason as more evidence of this same directive .
I like this episode just fine, and I liked “The Dauphin,” too. I think what some reviewers are missing is that these episodes are basically intended as relationship advice for somewhat-socially-inept 7th graders (who, after all, were a big part of TNG’s target audience). That’s why the relationships seem “adolescent”: they’re not actually about relationships between adults, even if the characters are ostensibly adults. As someone who was in 7th grade when this episode came out, I felt like TNG was talking to me. Of course, you could argue that nobody (even 7th graders — or maybe especially 7th graders!) should be taking relationship advice from a TV show, but “be yourself” is fairly sound advice, and definitely better than you’d get from the majority of late ’80s/early ’90s mass media.
Quoth Dave Palmer: “I think what some reviewers are missing is that these episodes are basically intended as relationship advice for somewhat-socially-inept 7th graders (who, after all, were a big part of TNG’s target audience).”
Wow, do I not remotely accept any of the things you say in this sentence. *laughs*
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
krad: Do you not accept that 7th graders were an important part of TNG’s core audience? I think some Star Trek fans are so defensive about it being perceived as a “kids’ show” (which, of course, it’s not) that they can’t bring themselves to admit that adolescents and pre-adolescents were, are, and always will be a major part of the audience — and yes, certain elements of the show are directed towards this audience. I think this defensiveness was at the root of a lot of the Wesley-hatred in the first few seasons of TNG.
Anyway, sorry you didn’t like this episode, but apparently it’s Patrick Stewart’s favorite, so at least I’m in good company.
Dave: I don’t accept what you actually wrote, which is that 7th graders are a big part of the audience. If it was, just based on numbers, Trek wouldn’t have lasted for 55 years and counting. And I seriously doubt that was the target audience of the script writers, based on, y’know, the entire rest of the franchise……… *laughs*
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Well, 7th graders grow up. What age were you when you first encountered Star Trek? What age do you think most people were when they first encountered Star Trek? While some people come to Star Trek as adults, I think it’s pretty clear that Star Trek primarily hooks people as adolescents and pre-adolescents, and is able to maintain their interest through adulthood because of its great storytelling and all of the other things we love about it. But the younger fans are a huge part of the fan base, and pretending this is not the case (or that the series writers wrote exclusively for “adult” fans) is simply a denial of reality. Gene Roddenberry specifically talked about Wesley Crusher being aimed at the younger fans — and, as I mentioned, a lot of the hatred directed towards the Wesley character was from fans who were insecure about having elements aimed at younger viewers in what they considered to be “their” show.
Well, it’s called “The Next Generation” for a reason. Sure, it’s a serious, adult show that tackled serious, adult topics, but the writers and production staff were also well aware of younger viewers, and took them into account without “talking down” to them.
Dave: okay, but the leap from that to “This really terrible love advice is being written as if 7th graders are talking to each other” is a huge one that I don’t buy. It’s trying to say that the bad writing was on purpose in order to cater to a statistically tiny portion of the fan base.
And I was much younger than that when I started watching Trek…
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
As is the case most of the time (from season 3 on) I like this episode. My big issue is Picard piloting the shuttle, Data should have been the pilot. Then after he almost does not make it and upon his return he acts casual about their next date while she is horrified he almost died, then this leads to their breakup and that final scene.
This is one of those episodes during my rewatch that I couldn’t remember–I just thought it was boring. But as I watch, I now remember Data/Jenna’s relationship and, and it’s going to be painful to watch. This ep wasn’t just boring; it was cringe-worthy.
I’m glad my wife and I weren’t alone in making a joke of “testing the torpedo”.
Riker’s glee when encouraging Data’s exploration of romance comes off as extraordinarily skeevy. That screenshot pretty much says it all.
@47-52: I was a 7th grader during TNG’s run and I don’t feel like the show developed my romantic relationship skills lol.
Also, I do wonder what sex with Data (because he’s an android) would be like. There’s comedy in that from Jenna’s perspective but obviously you can’t go there in a “family-friendly” show like TNG.
@56. garreth — “I have reviewed all available educational materials in Federation databases as well as pornography from dozens of cultures whose sexual activity is known to be compatible with that of humans and synthesized a technique from those of…”
@57/Arben: My mind was going more to how hard Data gets (or already is) lol.
I just watched this one again, and I stand by my rating. It’s not a bad watch; it’s just got a lot of unfulfilled promise, and some obviously clunky elements. There is only one thing that really detracts, and that’s the sense that Data is a walking box of algorithms in this episode. I’m not sure whether Joe Menosky or Ronald Moore deserves more of the blame (and I like a lot of Moore’s episodes), but after a lot of growth in the character up to this point, Data gets taken back to season one. Which is too bad after episodes like The Measure of a Man, Tin Man, and The Most Toys.
But putting aside the regression, I don’t know why anyone’s acting surprised or annoyed that the relationship plays out awkwardly, and I don’t care for the suggestion that Jenna should have known better. She saw something in Data, he’s not a bad character or looking to take advantage of her, so why not live and learn? The biggest criticism of her is that she seems to enter the relationship as if she hasn’t noticed that Data’s an android. Then she acts almost shocked and dismayed when he acts like an android. Obviously I think that gets taken too far, but on the other hand, you’d expect some awkward moments. Without getting too far into what might have been, it would have been good to see some of the sort of empathy you saw in Data in earlier episodes, and for Jenna to leave with more of a sense that she’s leaving something of value behind, not walking away from a slot machine. Anyway, criticisms aside, I’m glad the show went there. We’ve seen dalliances from pretty much all the main characters, and even if this stab at Data (no pun intended) stumbles, it’s still more thought-provoking for me than most romancish episodes.
It’s a bummer they didn’t have D’Sora appear in the background of previous episodes for some kind of build up/continuity. They did this with Sonya Gomez when they thought she might be a love interest for Geordie and later with Robin Lefler. This was a thin A story that would be best have been a B story scattered across several episodes. Yeah, I know, episodic TV in the era didn’t work that way.
As for B story: “Will, it’s my ship” to navigate the spatial anomaly of the week? Really? Not only does that deserve a low rating, you have to question whether this episode is in your personal canon of episodes that really happened.