Housekeeping note: This week’s Tuesday-Friday schedule is now the new norm. Moving forward, new installments of the TNG Rewatch will appear mid-day every Tuesday and Friday. We’ll have “Sins of the Father” on Tuesday and “Allegiance” on Friday. Please adjust your lives accordingly…
“The Offpsring”
Written by Rene Echevarria
Directed by Jonathan Frakes
Season 3, Episode 16
Production episode 40273-164
Original air date: March 12, 1990
Stardate: 43657.0
Captain’s Log: Data, after attending a cybernetics conference, spends every spare moment in the lab. After several weeks, he unveils what he’s been working on to La Forge, Troi, and Wes: a child named Lal (the Hindi word for “beloved”). Data has been able to do what only Noonien Soong had been able to accomplish previously.
Picard is apprehensive to say the least, precisely because this is so momentous. His initial complaint is that Data did not consult him. Data, justifiably, points out that he has not observed other members of the crew consulting the captain on their procreation.
Data wishes his child to choose gender and form, and Lal decides to appear as a human female. She learns quickly, and with each neural transfer Data makes from his own brain her abilities and philosophical inquiries improve and increase. Data tries sending her to school, but that doesn’t entirely work as she is not well enough socialized for the older children and too advanced for the younger ones.
Starfleet Command, in the person of Admiral Haftel, is concerned that the Enterprise isn’t the right atmosphere for the new android, and that Data’s presence might well retard her development. Haftel comes to the Enterprise to inspect Lal and to see if she should remain on board (though it’s a show, really—he has no intention of doing anything other than take her). Picard does not feel that he can just order Lal away from her father, as androids are sentient beings with rights that he himself helped define.
Since school isn’t working, Data has Lal work with Guinan in Ten-Forward. It’s a good place to observe humanity. She learns about holding hands and kissing, to sometimes comic effect—but when she realizes that she is different from everyone around her, she questions why Data continues to try to be more human when he can’t be. He says that he’s struggled with that question all of his life. She then holds his hand. (She also uses contractions, something Data has never mastered.)
Haftel interviews Lal, making it clear that she’s to come to the Daystrom Annex on Galor IV with him—and without Data. Lal has no desire to do so, and Picard asks her what she wants.
She says she wishes to stay on board with her father, at which point Picard excuses her. She goes to Troi, because she is feeling emotions: fear at being taken away from her father.
Haftel then talks to Data, who refuses to volunteer to release her to the admiral. She is his daughter, and to give her up would violate every tenet of human parenting he has learned. So Haftel orders Data to turn her over, which, of course, he follows —
— until Picard belays the order. He will not allow Haftel to break up the family.
However, before Picard and Haftel can argue about it further, Troi calls Data in a panic. Lal is malfunctioning—though that malfunction is emotional awareness. Unfortunately, it’s also a symptom of a cascade failure. With Haftel’s help, Data tries to repair her, but every time Data attempts to fix a pathway, another one breaks down. There’s nothing to be done. Lal’s final words are that she loves her father.
Data incorporates Lal’s memories back into his own positronic brain, so she will live on, in a manner of speaking.
Can’t We Just Reverse the Polarity?: A new sub-micron matrix transfer technology enabled Data to transfer his positronic brain into another android.
Thank You, Counselor Obvious: Troi refuses to play along with Picard’s initial reluctance to think of Lal as a child, pointing out that Data is a father and Lal is his daughter, no matter how different it might be from the human method of procreation. To his credit, Picard comes around to this notion fairly quickly, but it’s to Troi’s credit that she’s already there from jump.
If I Only Had a Brain…: Data creates what he thinks is only the third Soong-type android after himself and Lore (since he’s not yet aware of Julianna Tainer and B-4, who will be revealed to him in “Inheritance” and Star Trek Nemesis, respectively) and the only other one still active (since he believes Lore to be lost after the events of “Datalore“; he’ll learn the error of that belief in “Brothers”). He is aware of his unique place in the universe, and is concerned that, if something should happen to him, he will be lost. By reproducing, he ameliorates that concern. (Haftel throws that argument back in his face later on by telling Data that having the only two Soong-type androids be on the same ship, one that gets into firefights and stuff, might not be such a hot idea.)
The Boy!?: When Wes was a child, he had trouble fitting in that was very similar to what Lal goes through. Crusher shares this with Data to help him figure out how to deal with Lal’s problems.
Syntheholics Anonymous: Guinan provides useful guidance to Lal in interpersonal interactions during the latter’s brief tenure as a waitress. She also does a mediocre job of trying to convince Haftel that it’s a good idea. (“Come on, Admiral—you’ve been in a few bars yourself”—not exactly a comment designed to get on Haftel’s good side…)
No Sex, Please, We’re Starfleet: Having just learned about kissing from Guinan (who had to correct Lal’s misapprehension that two humans were biting each other), Lal decides to give it a shot by kissing Riker (who has just come back on board after personal leave and doesn’t know about Lal). Data walks in on her kissing the first officer and asks what his intentions are toward his daughter. The look on Riker’s face when he exclaims, “Your daughter!?” is priceless. (Since this was Frakes’s first time directing, Riker’s screen time was limited to only two scenes, but he certainly made the most of that one.)
I Believe I Said That: “There are times, sir, when men of good consicence cannot blindly follow orders. You acknowledge their sentience, but ignore their personal liberties and freedom. Order a man to turn his child over to the state? Not while I am his captain.”
Picard to Haftel when the latter tries to order Data to turn Lal over to him.
Welcome aboard. Nicolas Coster is fairly inadequate as Haftel—honestly, his portrayal is one of the episode’s few flaws.
However, the episode is made by Hallie Todd, who is simply fantastic as Lal. She modulates impressively from awkward to capable. Given less than 40 minutes to show Lal’s evolution and emotional collapse, she accomplishes it magnificently, being utterly convincing at every stage from the difficult beginning to the accomplished middle to the tragic end.
Trivial Matters: This is the first script by Rene Echevarria who, like Ronald D. Moore before him, sold it as a spec script and parlayed it into a staff position. Echevarria would remain on staff for the rest of TNG‘s run and, like Moore, move on to Deep Space Nine. He’s since worked on The 4400, Now and Again, Dark Angel, Medium, and Castle, among others, and is currently an executive producer of Terra Nova (working alongside Brannon Braga, who also got his start on TNG).
It’s also the first directorial endeavor by Frakes, and also the first time that a cast member of a Trek TV show has directed an episode of a Trek show. (He’s the third cast member to direct any kind of Trek endeavor, after Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner.) His effort was groundbreaking, as “The Offspring” broke the dam, and several other Trek actors have would go on to become directors (Patrick Stewart, LeVar Burton, and Michael Dorn among his castmates, as well as several actors from DS9 and Voyager). Frakes himself has gone on to become a top TV director.
This episode is a sequel of sorts to “The Measure of a Man.” In that episode, Picard established android’s rights within Starfleet, but—as, for example, former slaves during the Reconstruction era in the U.S. can attest—passing the law is only the first step. Changing people’s perceptions takes a bit longer.
Make it So: “Why is the sky black?” For the second time this season, Michael Piller picks a winner off the slush pile.
One of the primary complaints about TNG by its detractors (and even sometimes by its fans) is that the characters didn’t really change that much over the seasons. While that argument has merit for some, it most assuredly does not for Data, and this is a prime example. What happens in this episode is obviously shaped by his experiences, both specific (learning his origins in “Datalore,” being officially considered his own person in “The Measure of a Man,” bonding with Sarjenka in “Pen Pals,” possibly even his Q-granted laugh in “Déjà Q” and being flirted with in “The Ensigns of Command“) and in general (serving on a ship with families and children), as a scientific breakthrough enables him to take another step on the road to humanity.
The joy here is less in watching Lal’s development—though that is fun—than in watching Data’s. He learns to be a parent, and gets to experience the joy of discovery that he went through all over again. Spiner beautifully plays it, and puts the lie to the notion (codified in this season) that Data has no emotions. (Though the script itself recognizes this in the person of Crusher who expresses skepticism at Data’s declaration that he can’t feel love for Lal.) In particular, Data’s facial expressions as he helps Lal through various learning processes is delightful.
Of less interest is Picard’s arguments with Starfleet, mainly because Haftel is such a straw bad guy, played with minimal conviction by Coster. Some (okay, my housemates while I was watching this) have complained that the episode makes no sense because Picard already established android rights a year earlier. But changing laws doesn’t change attitudes, and there’s still a prejudice against androids, keeping some folks from thinking of them as people (Picard himself has it when he first learns of Lal).
This is an excellent episode, continuing the development of one of the show’s most compelling characters.
Warp factor rating: 9
Keith R.A. DeCandido wrote a conversation between Data and an inspector on the subject of his ability to feel emotions in his novel A Time for War, a Time for Peace, one of his many works of Star Trek fiction. Go to his web site for links to his blog, his Facebook page, his Twitter feed, not to mention ways in which you can buy his incredibly awesome books like the fantastical police procedurals SCPD: The Case of the Claw and Unicorn Precinct.
The part that I remember the most clearly is at the end, when (I am pretty sure it was) Haftel comes out of the lab, talking in astonishment about how fast Data’s hands were moving, trying to save Lal. One of the most emotional moments of the series, for me, anyway.
“The Measure of a Man” writer Melinda Snodgrass had reservations about this episode; she wasn’t sure it was time for the show to go back down the road she had taken it.
Personally, I agree that it is a wonderful character development piece for Data. Just as the heroes in “The Wizard of Oz” didn’t need the Wizard’s gifts, Data didn’t need the emotion chip. (This is proven especially true when Data shows remorse for his actions in “Descent,” but I know I’m jumping the phaser by a few seasons.)
I actually disagree with Keith about the conflict between Picard and Starfleet. Haftel may be a “straw bad guy,” but seeing Picard (again) fight Starfleet on behalf of Data is a not insignificant step forward toward Picard’s evolution from standing above his crew to walking among them (an evolution which Keith, of course, mentioned in a Biography show about the series).
All this aside, my favorite scene is the one in which Wes tosses the ball to Lal, and she raises her hands to catch it seconds after it bounces off of her.
“Please adjust your lives accordingly…”
Tuesday/Friday? Nooooooo! :-)
This is a fine episode, and I didn’t realize until now that it was Echevarria’s first script. (He’s a writer we make a point of following from series to series. In fact, I distinctly remember watching the pilot of The 4400 and wondering why it was so good, until I saw his name in the credits. Then I understood.)
I do have one major problem with this episode. I can still recall that when I first saw it, I very quickly came to the conclusion that Lal was going to die at the end. It was too obvious to me that the character couldn’t stay on the ship (because then the actress would have to join the cast), and I couldn’t see the episode ending with her being forced to leave with Haftel. Furthermore, if she did live, it would imply that Data now knew how to build more androids, and wouldn’t that be a game-changer? So, knowing how the episode was going to have to end from the very start cast its gloom over everything I saw.
— Michael A. Burstein
The ending always stuck with me as well. Haftel’s reactions and the resolution. It was among the most emotional events I ever remember witnessing on the show (or in the movies).
Love this one. Not in my top five, but I always stop and watch it when it’s on. Because the actual social aspects had already been mined in Measure of a Man, I find this a little fluffier story that focuses on character building. So, it doesn’t have the social significance, but does get you with the story itself.
Possibly my fav ep of all. At the end when Data tells Lal that he can’t feel love and she looks at him and says “I will feel it for both of us” gets me every time. One of the most poignant lines ever.
Probably my favorite Data episode. It doesn’t usually make the TNG top 10 lists – I guess following Yesterday’s Enterprise makes people forget it a bit? – but I think it’s up there.
Yep. This is a strong contender for best episode ever for me, as well, and Haftel’s delivery coming out of the operation at the end…just heart-rending. I was always sad Data never had a chance to try again.
I liked Haftel simply for him being an unlikable man. You start to realize that the jerks always become admirals whereas the true heros and men of honor are still captains. EG: jellico.
But it makes you love picard even more because he is not afraid to step out of line and take the heat because… He knows its right.
Jellico, Haftel,… They can follow orders and show out of the box thinking to get their rank but they also never step out of line even if its necessary.
Every time i watch this episode i want to skidoo into the show and slap Haftel so i consider that good for him to get such a strong emotional reaponse.
I didn’t think Haftel was too much of a straw man. People in powerful positions ignoring the law (or interpreting it their own way) is nothing new.
He does seem kind of one-dimensionally stern throughout the episode, but that makes his emotional moment at the end all the more powerful a scene.
I have to disagree with Keith about Nicholas Coster. I’ve always felt his performance in the post-surgery scene, the one that previous commenters have called out already, was very powerful and moving.
What I’ve always found interesting was how similar Lal’s death was to Rayna Kapec’s in TOS — in both cases, it was triggered by the android’s first real emotional crisis. It led me to believe that Soong may have learned cybernetics from Flint, and Jeffrey Lang incorporated a similar idea into his TNG novel Immortal Coil. I figure that the reason Soong built Data without emotions was because his (and Flint’s) previous positronic brains had the same cascade-failure problem when faced with emotional crises, so Soong designed a brain that was non-emotive and planned to get back to the emotion problem later. I figure Lore was a failed attempt to solve the cascade-failure problem. Instead of collapsing when faced with emotional dilemmas, Lore’s brain resolved the dilemmas by quashing all feeling for others and being motivated only by his own self-interest, rendering him a sociopath.
But I wish this episode hadn’t codified the “Data can’t use contractions” idea. It makes no sense that he couldn’t figure out how to do it, and he often did use contractions in the early first season. People think that “Datalore” established that he couldn’t use contractions, but it actually only said that he tended not to use them, that he spoke formally as a matter of habit or preference.
I’ll admit it….I am completely unable to watch this episode without just sobbing at the end. When Data says he cannot feel love for her and Lal says she’ll feel enough love for both of them…oh, man. I lose it. Without fail.
I suddenly feel like the only person who was wholly unmoved by Haftel’s speechifying at the end. I really thought Coster was wooden and unconvincing, even in that scene, though he was better there than he was in the rest of the episode. He wasn’t even a convincing bureaucrat, which might have worked with a blander affect, he was just another old white guy with a scratchy voice. Yawn.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Data has no emotions but wants a child? WHY?
roblewmac: He explains that in the episode. He is (he believes at this point) the last of his kind, and if he is destroyed, his entire species will be lost.
Also the notion that he has no emotions is, honestly, hokum, and I’ve always thought it to be horse hockey. Hell, Crusher ridicules the notion in this very episode.
As I said in the rewatch, I addressed this in Chapter 9 of my novel A Time for War, a Time for Peace, when Data is being questioned by the head of an inspection tour.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
No reason to think Data stopped trying. Maybe he continued to do offscreen research into the problems and never found an answer. Or being logical, he could have kept a successful creation secret so that it couldn’t be taken for study.
A standard computer could be programmed to use any grammar, but Data is not a standard computer, despite his ability to use computer storage and calculation. Maybe Data’s complicated mental pathways happen to have a random natural bias against using contractions. Damage and birth defects can have all sorts of weird effects on how a real brain handles language, so why not a simulated brain?
He likes music he likes fiction, he clearly prefers sex with one gender over the other, he clearly likes Jordi and Wesely better than let’s say Lore. The idea that he cannot LOVE something that he built is a cheap heart string grab.
@16: Data routinely used contractions in the early first season — even using them once or twice in the first half of “Datalore,” the very episode whose second half depended on the premise that he habitually didn’t use them. (That episode was a mess.) He quite notably used a contraction in the climax of “We’ll Always Have Paris” near the end of season 1 — “It’s me!” He often used contractions when quoting other people’s words or playing fictional characters. And he did continue to use contractions from time to time throughout the rest of the series, though Spiner and/or the producers claimed he was just talking fast. The evidence just doesn’t support the idea that he was incapable of it, rather than simply not in the habit of it.
I feel like I might have said this before, but this is a beautiful example of my theory. I don’t think Data doesn’t have emotions, I think that Data is programmed to think he doesn’t have emotions. All the emotion chip, in my option, is is something that negates that programming. Hence how Lore can jerk Data around; he’s not inducing emotions so much as he’s removing an inability to perceive existing ones, which makes far more sense.
And again, brain issues in humans make this entirely plausible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anosognosia
I wonder if the problem is a lack of time and experiences to knit the neural net together. Give them awareness of emotions from the get-go, and they end up in a feedback loop they can’t resolve? But with maturity this is less of a problem? Data has little difficulty with the emotion chip later (beyond its novelty creating distraction, which is to be expected).
I always thought what was meant originally was Data doesn’t experience emotions in the same way humans do, so he’s unable to fully realize he shares more with his crew than he thinks he does. His friends are able to discern this, but learned long ago that arguing with him about it was futile.
Granted, some episodes try to play it that he genuinely doesn’t have emotions, period, but those are rare compared to the “he’s got them, he just doesn’t understand them” camp.
I find it interesting that this is the only time in TNG we see (albeit briefly) an Andorian…and I think we go through DS9 and Voyager without them, too, and yet it’s one of the choices Lal selects for her final appearance.
The power of the ending lies in the audience *wishing* that Data could feel, because we’ve grown to love the bond between Data and Lal through the episode, and while we’re feeling the loss, and Lal’s feeling the loss, Data cannot. There are so many “If only you could…” moments with Data in TNG, especially post-third season.
I only wonder why Data didn’t take the opportunity to work on Lore in Season 7, after he’s been dismantled. I would think Data would relish the idea of trying again to mimick Soong’s work and create another lifeform like himself.
Great images on this review, btw.
This has always been one of my favorite TNG episodes of all time along with “The Best of Both Worlds” and “Sarek.” (What can I say? I like to cry, apparently.)
But I also have a bone to pick with Rene Echevarria (not really). This ep came out when I was 11 going on 12, and I was heavy into writing TNG stories in a spiral-bound notebook I carried everywhere. And because I thought Data was cool, I wrote a story where Data had an android daughter (imagining, of course, that I was her). Then I saw this episode, and was all “STAR TREK STOLE SOMETHING FROM MY BRAIN!”
Stupid collective unconscious. :)
What’s really spooky about this episode is that the beige colors and lighting typical of the Enterprise set really reminds me of hospital birthing floors and NICUs.
As for the admiral, I think his problem is that his character spends most of the episode representing a system or an institutional viewpoint rather than an individual’s. I mean, I think that it’s his function to be a chorus. Then all of a sudden at the end, he’s supposed to suddenly be a new, individual character. The flip is jarring, and the actor does the best he can with what he’s got.
I agree it’s one of the best episodes overall.
I agree with all who have said this is one of the best of TNG! It’s definitely in my Top 5. I can never manage to watch it without at least shedding a tear here and there…and this time around was no exception!!!!!
Like #5 and others have said, that line at the end…just opens the flood gates… :)
@19: I really like your theory! ;)
And Keith, this episode’s a 10 if there ever was one!! :p
I’ve been really busy pretty much for the last two months, but now that I almost caught up…whew!!! What a amazing run from Deja Q to this one! And I’ve still got Sins of the Father to watch! I love TNG!!!!!! *blush*
This was one of the episodes that hit me the hardest during my rewatch. Much like “Measure of a Man”.
My eyes they were quite wet. (The rewatch has been so good for me). Cant believe how much didnt impact me as younger Terror and Love. Its like a new show now with all its beautiful concepts.
I have a little boy (almost a year old) and I hope I can be as good a parent as Data :)
Regarding Data feeling emotions or love, I am also in the camp that he feels them (or is close) but doesn’t realize it. But then again, I also believe love is much more than emotion, and is more an act of will. So I think Data certainly can and does love.
One of the few that I can remember with complete clarity where I was when I saw it for the first time: Babysitting. The kid was in bed and I was up late watching TV. The end brought me to some pretty unexpected tears (“thank you for my life” — sheesh, that one just GETS me!). The parents came home right after the ending, and I had to quickly explain that their child was safe and sound… I was just bawling at an android father/daughter tale.
I was too young to catch the series during the initial run, so I came to TNG via the wonderfully complicated world of reruns. It made it tough to be a disciplined viewer, especially as a tween. But this was the episode that made me a committed fan. So solid for so many reasons (all of which are touched on above).
A great episode. I can’t help but feel that Haftel’s been hard done by in this review, though. Yes, he is a ‘straw bad guy’, but his attitude is entirely in keeping with Starfleet, which is protrayed overall as a benevolent, liberal, inclusive entity but which also has its bad side – bureaucracy, hierarchy, petty rules and ruthlessly ambitious career freaks. I imagine Haftel to be kind of how Bruce Maddox would be as an admiral: concerned only with science and the furtherment of technology. And as the review pointed out, changing laws is one thing, changing attitudes quite another. Anyway, a great episode and a stunning performance from the actress playing Lal.
“So without understanding humor, I have somehow mastered it!”
Love this episode. This blog is JUST what I needed to start watching through some of my old favorites again.
This episode (and “Yesterday’s Enterprise” right before it) are my earliest memories of Star Trek in general, and like other have posted here, I was a commited fan as soon as I watched this one. I was only 9 going on 10 when the episode originally aired so I couldn’t watch like I wanted to, but the following year I watched the new episodes regularly starting at season 5 ( I was able to catch on the previous seasons in reruns as TNG was in syndication back then.) For those reasons, and the fact the episode is so profound and beautifully well-acted, “The Offspring” holds a special place in my heart. It made me a fan of Star Trek in general, and I had to have more.
Even as a 10-year-old, I cried at the end, especially during Lal’s farewell, and still do to this day (not ashamed to admit that.) The whole episode is a joyride with an incredibly sad and poignant ending, as I believed as a kid (and now as a 32-year-old) that Data loved Lal without question, even is his own way. “I will feel it for both of us.” Incredibly powerful. A back-to-back 10 with “Yesterday’s Enterprise.”
Count me among those who, very much against my will, got all sniffly at the end. But it wasn’t the “I will feel it for both of us” line, it was Lal looking into Data’s eyes and saying “Thank you for my life.” Wow.
I don’t remember how I found this rewatch in the first place (I’m not a regular visitor to Tor.com), but when I decided to buy the Blu-Ray discs to go back and watch the series from the beginning, I knew I would be going through this as I went through the discs.
I can see that I’m going through this rewatch in the same way that some others have, with some of those people explicitly stating my view and some people implying it. I originally started watching during the 3rd season with my dad when I was 8, and the show finished when I was 13. My dad asked me recently why I felt the need to go through the Blu-Rays since I had already seen most of the episodes. I told him that a big part of it was knowing I would watch the episodes differently as a 32 year old. And this example is such a prime example of it. 8 year old me – “Oh, Data made another android. Cool.” 32 year old me – “What a powerful episode about a sentinent being’s rights and the love of a father and a child.” It’s so much fun “rediscovering” many parts of this series that I simply couldn’t appreciate the first time around as a child.
I thought the Andorian representation was weird; aren’t they supposed to be blue or white? Weird too that every single part was green, clothes and all, like they were lazy and just took someone in a furry antennae hat and adjusted the tint, lol
Lest we forget, Gates McFadden would also go on to direct an episode (even if a number of fans would rather forget the episode in question).
And reading the “Genesis” page, I’m glad she got some props for her skill there.
Yeah, the turn from hard-ass, beauracracy-serving Admiral to actual human being was jarring at first, but the end of the speech rescued it, for me. At first I was like “Whaaaaaaaat, you suddenly care now?” But then when he described watching Data work, it made a lot more sense, especially combined with the overwhelmed delivery; he didn’t want to care about Data and Lal but he couldn’t help himself after watching that display.
The only real sore spot for me here is Sirtis is unusually stiff and leaden as Troi in this one. She’s not the best actor on the show, but she’s usually pretty good at making her lines seem natural and conversational even when the lines are a little absurd. I wonder what happened there.
My favorite scene was the Riker scene, by far. You’d think after the dealings in “A Matter of Perspective” and this episode, a dude would swear off the womanizing.
Perhaps the best/worst part of this episode is how supposedly meaningful it is that Lal can use contractions while Data can’t. Besides the fact that Data uses contractions throughout the run of the show, the premise is fucking ridiculous on its face because Speak & Spells from the 1980s could use contractions. 2-year-olds can use contractions. Hell, even parrots can use contractions. But a sophisticated android with a positronic brain that can run 6 trillion tasks simultaneously can’t use contractions? Really? Why not? I get not being able to feel emotions, but contractions? It’s one of the dumbest ground rules introduced in this series, and instead of ignoring or retconning it (as they do with tons of other things), the writers continued to bash their heads against the wall with it.
Otherwise, it was kind of a joke. I always thought the admiral offered to assist so that he could someone convince Data to let Lal leave and/or the sabotage Lal so that she would die for sure (since he didn’t like the idea of Data controlling a very important piece of technology). I still think this latter interpretation is possible.
@3 That’s not a flaw. All the best tragedies let you know that the tragedy is going to happen. (In fact, it is really, really hard to make a good “twist” tragic ending. I’ve actually never seen it done.)And that’s what this episode is, a tragedy. No, not a traditional tragedy, as Lal is a secondary character. The tragedy belongs to Data, and how he’s going to deal with creating life and then losing it is a key part of this episode.
And, yes, he has emotions. He’s always had emotions. But he can’t “feel” them. They don’t quite correspond with human emotions, and he can’t detect them in himself. His growth to finding emotions is really his quest to become human, which is why the emotion chip bugs people as much as it does. But I’ll save that discussion for later.
100% agree with the point about the contractions a couple of posts above this one. It seems like some old 1950s scifi idea that someone came up with in a couple of seconds and didn’t give any thought to. If Data can understand that saying “Greetings” is the same as saying “Hello”, yet the former sounds for formal, then he can understand that “I am” can be said instead as “I’m” to sound less formal.
I really liked this episode, anyway. I didn’t realise Frakes directed it; I just thought Riker was absent to raise the impact of the kiss scene. I actually thought “Good job Riker isn’t here or he’d probably start flirting with Lal” and not long after that scene happend. I also really admire how they had the admiral not be a dick at the end. He genuinely seemed moved and had learned the error of his ways. It would’ve been that easy ending if he’d remained an asshole throughout and walked off at the end saying “I told you she needed proper supervision!”
I have to disagree with KRAD about that this episode is an example of a TNG character changing through the episodes. If Data had tried to make another android even in the first episode of season 1, it wouldn’t have been out of character for him. Sure you can draw together a flow of events with previous episodes, but Data’s natural curiosity and investigative nature is mainly what led to this. The way he acted with Lal is also like how he’d have acted 2 seasons ago. You could place this episode in season 1 and Data would be played the same.
Still, it’s a very well done episode that covers a lot of different interesting moments and has a genuine emotional resonance to it. Also, Lal is very cute indeed. When I saw the 4 possibilities of Lal’s appearance at the start, I thought “please let it be her that (s)he chooses.” I do wonder how much of an impact that has on making the episode enjoyable. If Lal had retained his/her original appearance, I must reluctantly admit I don’t think it would’ve worked as well, at least for me. I also have to wonder if at some point the plan was for Lal to be offered the choice between various child bodies, at would befit her stage in life better and enable her to fit in (more, at least) with the other children, yet that idea was moved away from due to the fact a bad child actor would’ve completely ruined the episode.
One of my favourite TNG episodes, and definitely my third season favourite. Lal manages to combine traits that should be incongruous, being clumsy and graceful and super-strong and fragile all at the same time. She’s totally convincing as an android child, different from a human child and also different from an (android or human) adult. Data is a wonderful father, and the dialogue is great.
It’s also one of the rare good Troi episodes. From Lal wanting to choose her appearance, to “It’s a girl”, to the fact that Lal comes to her for help when she’s scared, those two have a beautiful relationship. Even better, Data and Lal get support from both Guinan and Troi, without Guinan outshining Troi. And Wesley and LaForge are both quite likable in the initial scene.
Starfleet threatening to take Lal away from Data (supposedly) for her own good is a good plot idea, because similar things have happened time and again in our own societies. If one year ago there still was some doubt whether Data was even a person, it makes sense that someone would consider him unfit to raise her.
I was annoyed with Picard’s first reaction. Even if he wants to be asked in advance, there’s no reason for him to get so shouty. But at least he redeems himself later in his dealings with Starfleet.
Once again status quo is god. Obviously Lal has to die because Data dealing it being a parent MUST be a one off thing.
On a really off topic note, we can see Picard doing a ‘double facepalm’ in this episode. We could see the famous ‘facepalm’ gesture in the last Q episode just a few shows before.
Great episode. I was actually moved by Haftel’s description at the end of how desperately Data tried to save Lal at the end. Very ‘human’ of Data in fact.
I like how ‘The Orville’ just says fuck it, we’re creating a whole race of androids with the Kaylons who have no pretense of humility. I never quite bought how Data would be the only android going forward, made no sense other than casting reasons.
To be contentious, one for the social justice warriors out there…
In the 24th century Data’s child says ‘and I am gender neuter, inadequate’.
This was one of two episodes I saw that persuaded me to start watching TNG, as I didn’t like the 3 or so episodes I caught of the first two seasons.
This is one of those episodes where watching it again, after seeing a heck of a lot of quality television in the 30 years in the meantime, gets me thinking. When Data says “I cannot show her love” and Beverly goes “Why do I find that so hard to believe?” I just thought that if this episode was made about 27 years later, Counselor Troi could have sat down with Lal and Data and watched a couple of episodes of Doctor Who. Specifically “Dark Water” and “Death in Heaven”.
“And I don’t need an army, because I have them. Because love isn’t an emotion, it’s a promise.” That line is exactly what Data needed to hear. That, or Neo saying “Well, love is an emotion.” And Rama-Khandra (sp?) replying “No, it is a word. What matters is the connection that word implies.”
This isn’t really one of my favorite episodes, although it’s still a great one. I agree with Keith about Haftel – one of the weakest spots is his portrayal, and his character in general. I agree with a previous comment that it’s possible for there to be mini-dictator admirals, which is how he comes across, but his blatant dismissal of Data’s parenting skills and Lal’s wishes are a bit too over-the-top. That, in turn, makes his sudden change of heart about Data when they are unsuccessful at saving Lal unconvincing to me. It would have played out a lot better if he’d shown some consideration, but also had a more compelling reason to take Lal. The other flaw I see – that’s also been mentioned – is that there’s no practical way for Lal fit in the TNG framework, so she seems doomed. That’s an artificiality, but it makes the ending feel a little foregone.
One missed opportunity is that this episode really doesn’t tie in with Measure of a Man. Really, the whole subplot with Haftel is a rehash of “Measure.” Why doesn’t Cdr. Maddox reappear? I suppose they were still in a place where they worked hard to avoid anything resembling a story arc, but it really seems they could have built off Measure, rather than Haftel contradicting what would seem to be a legal precedent.
That said, Data probably grows more in this episode than any other. His decision to procreate is logical, and he defends it well when Picard questions it (and I think Picard’s reaction is reasonable, given the unusual circumstance and that he’s caught off guard). I do like his speech, even if it is a rehash of “Measure of a Man.” It’s always good to see Picard draw a line in the sand, and Stewart does a great job of it again. I especially like the line about asking a man to turn his child over to the state. The biggest thing that stuck with me is that Data must have come away with a greater understanding of emotion. Lal, for whatever reason, discovered emotion, and Data carried the memory of that. I’m with those who’ve stated that the emotion chip was a stupid idea. I recently caught part of Generations, and I really prefer the “unemotional” Data. The thing is, he does develop emotions over time, it’s just that instead of some part of him immediately telling him how to feel, he has to develop them over time by observation.
Lastly, I just have to say how great it is to see Riker stumble into the situation – being typical Riker, and paying the price.
Ultimately, this is an episode that kind of hit or miss. I’d say it’s not top shelf material because, while it takes you out of the typical TNG pattern like “The Inner Light,” it doesn’t totally suck me in. I’ll call it an 8, but it’s really hard to grade a re-watch: it could be a 6 one year, but it might jump to a 9 another.
Rewatched this wonderful episode again to tie in with events of Star Trek: Picard.
How wonderfully prescient @16 Anony’s comment of 8 years ago was!
I don’t think this was a rehash of the equally wonderful “Measure of a Man” in any way. That episode saw Data legally recognised as a being whose rights were the same as any other life, that’s not the same thing though as giving him parental rights over someone he created in his image. The Federation would have the right, indeed the duty, to care for an orphan child in what was recognised as its best interests – even if that child resisted. Obviously events prevented us from getting a resolution to that question, but it was and remains an intriguing one
I absolutely love this episode. Data really set an example of what a father should be like. He refused to set aside his role as a parent, something I wish more fathers would do. I sometimes imagine Data thinking of Lal after he began using his emotion chip. I had hoped he would have tried again to create an offspring.
Yeah, I have to agree that the entire “gender” discussion wouldn’t pass muster today. Personally, I’m not offended by it, but I’m positive that a lot of folks would be. First thing I thought when I did this rewatch.
I’ve seen this episode upteen times now, but not with my spouse. She immediately declared that Haftel had murdered Lal by sending her into a sudden panic, thus creating the “meltdown”. If she had been left alone and allowed to develop naturally, she would have gradually come to grips with her emotional awareness. An interesting theory.
I think the idea was that she was unstable and wouldn’t survive, Haftel or not. Her first encounter with any negative situation might have triggered the meltdown eventually.
A great episode indeed, but I get bothered by the final scene, with Picard ordering Data back to work. No offer of bereavement leave, no memorial service, no interment, just “Mister Data, will you take your position?” and curtain.
Here is the difference as I see it. If one of the other characters said to Lal “you are gender neuter. That is inadequate.” that would be offensive. But if Lal says “I am gender neutral, inadequate,” that is the character expressing their view of themselves. Lal wants a gender.
Simply, if someone has the right to declare they are gender neutral (and to be clear I support their right to do so) then they also have the right to declare they want a gender.
Just a wonderful episode and one of my favorites (in my top 10 for TNG). Hallie Todd is excellent as is Brent Spiner as usual. Nice moments of humor as well as drama and heartbreak. In fact it’s some of those last moments at the end between Data and Lal that never fail to make me lose it and so sometimes I don’t want to watch this episodes knowing that will happen. I do love how the crew, really some of the senior officers like Troi, Geordi, Picard, and also Wesley rally around their friend Data in support. It was cool to see the choices Lal considered on the holodeck before choosing her ultimate form. I do agree the Andorian was oddly green and also looked kind of insectoid in posture to me. Excellent first directorial outing by Frakes, the first and really the most successful graduate of “Paramount University” as he called it. And also a wonderful spec script by Echevarria. Melinda Snodgrass did an uncredited rewrite of the script as Echevarria said in an interview that he failed to complete the task himself so it was Snodgrass who came in to polish it. And so Echevarria said that it was really Michael Piller who gave him a second chance to do a complete teleplay which was “Transfigurations.” I also like the behind the scenes story of how Whoopi Goldberg refused to say the line “when a man and a woman are in love…” and changed it instead to “when two people are in love…” However, this was another case (“Captain’s Holiday” being another example) where there was originally going to be a same-sex couple in the background holding hands in Ten Forward but then the producers found out and made sure that would not be filmed.
49. Electone
Every time I watch this episode I come to the same conclusion as your wife. Haftel is a murderer and if he hadn’t terrified Lal (what child wouldn’t be terrified at the thought of being separated from a trusted caretaker?) she would have developed naturally, emotional awareness included. There’s an earlier scene where Data declares that because Lal used a contraction she has exceeded his programming. I think he created a more advanced android as opposed to an android that wouldn’t have thrived under any circumstances. It also wonderfully touches on the secret wish of most parents to see their children do more than they did. Such a great episode! It’s always hard for me to watch, never gets old, and I always want to slap Haftel.
54. ml294
49. Electone
Every time I watch this episode I come to the same conclusion as your wife. Haftel is a murderer and if he hadn’t terrified Lal (what child wouldn’t be terrified at the thought of being separated from a trusted caretaker?) she would have developed naturally, emotional awareness included.
I think this is a false conclusion. Haftel is not a murderer. He had no intention of causing Lal’s death. To be a murderer you have to have intent. I am not arguing that his intention might not have been (and that is pure speculation) the cause of Lal’s malfunction. That just doesn’t make him a murderer, of even guilty of man slaughter. He had no reason to suspect such a malfunction would happen.
55: I hope Haftel had to live with his guilt over Lal’s death for a very long time. Does anyone else feel that Lal Mk1 resembles Kryten (Patrick Stewart is a major fan of Red Dwarf)? And what would the episode have been like if the first actor to play Lal also did for the rest of the episode? Troi’s statement about giving Lal a more human appearance has always bothered me. Why should it be human and not one of the dozens of other species out there (the downside is she would probably never be accepted as one of them)?
@56
I think Haftel felt terrible about Lal’s death. You could see it in his face.
I don’t think Troi’s statement reallly meant humans as a species. Star Trek used that word a lot and likely meant sapient species. I think Troi meant Lal should take a more “non-machine” appearance. (That could still be problematic, of course) Remember that two of Lal’s finalist choices were a Klingon and an Andorian.
Just found this and have been bingeing it.
That Haftel functionally scared Lal to death really hurt when I watched this the first time. I wished to state that first before the rant proper starts.
I’ve always found it interesting that what Haftel was arguing wasn’t that Lal and Data didn’t have rights per say, but that Data was an incompetent caregiver. He tries to make arguments that Data himself might influence Lal’s development negatively. He even makes some arguments in the ‘gifted child’ vein when talking about giving her a more appropriate environment. His arguments are weak, often dependent on assumption, but he tries to seem level headed and charming initially.
The fact that what he actually wants is to deprive Lal of her parent, an authority figure who would be above Haftel, is made clear but not addressed directly after the ten forward incident. He drops his facade and reveals that he wants Lal to obey him and have no interference. This does not bode well for his intentions toward her were she taken from the Enterprise. I got a very strong feeling that she’d either be disassembled as Bruce Maddox intended with Data to make more copies, or used as the programing base for copies.
Haftel does his best to convince the others until that villain unmasking freak out. Data, up to a point, stands firm that he will not relinquish custody of his daughter. The biggest flaw for me wasn’t that Androids had rights, but that the established context, child custody and caregiver competence, wasn’t addressed directly as a point of law.
If it had been then Data could have countered by saying something along the lines of Haftel not having authority as that was a matter for the family courts system and Picard backing him up when Haftel tries to order Data anyway. I don’t enjoy when they have Data back down ‘because rules’ unless those rules are valid in context. Like him refusing an order regarding a civilian because Starfleet protocol does not give the person issuing the order authority to have them arrested for the stated reason to me is sensible. I feel like not exploring that was a missed opportunity. Particularly since it would have only taken a sentence or two at most to change the scene slightly and keep it on track.
The bit at the end where Haftel is in awe of Data hit different for me I think than most people. Haftel had up to that point based some of his arguments on Data not being sufficient in comparison to Daystroms technicians. As much as he wanted to make more Soong type Androids, he’d failed to understand the actual depth of Data’s abilities. In that moment he’s humbled but also aware that he played a role in the death of the single one he might have gotten away with functionally stealing for study. His hubris and insistence on no compromises has put his ambition beyond his reach permanently.
Its an episode that made me cry and can still evoke feelings. I don’t watch things I don’t enjoy enough to get this picky about them.
Hallie Todd is truly fantastic. The delivery of “He’s biting that female!” is hilarious and her emergent feelings just so beautifully heartbreaking. Plus, I love that Data’s holographic selections for Lal’s appearance seem to have included Debra Winger as Drusilla on Wonder Woman.
Nicolas Coster, who played the polarizing Haftel, has passed away at the age of 89.
https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/8466831/nicolas-coster-dead-89-santa-barbara-mourns/amp/
I overall like this episode; Lal is great, Data and her interactions are lovely, Data learning about parenting is brilliant for his character development. Riker getting hoist by his own petard in 10-forward had me laughing out loud. Picard quickly progressing from having to be schooled that Lal is a child to actually defending that status is an example of why I like Picard so much — he’s eminently capable of and open to learning, and doesn’t really kick and scream a lot when a growth experience hits him in the noggin.
The contractions conceit is complete garbage, and seeing it perpetuated against all evidence and sense made my spine itch. The gender discussion didn’t offend me, but it made my eyes roll because trans people won’t have disappeared by the 24th century, and if anything, being gender-neutral won’t be seen as “inadequate” anymore — I really expected better awareness from science fiction writers at that point, but wasn’t really surprised when I didn’t get it.
But first and foremost, what stuck solidly in my craw, was Haftel.
Haftel: “You’re not a parent, Captain. I am. I have learned — with difficulty — that there comes a time when all parents must give up their children, for their own good.” Ah, the unmitigated gall.
I bet the reality of it is that all his children are in therapy, and no longer speak to him because he is a lousy, emotionally abusive parent.
Haftel is such a unidimensional villain that he distracted from what was good. If he had had more nuance, had shown something more than raw ambition to get his hands on a Soong android, Picard (and I) might have faced more of a dilemma, and it would have been a better show, one that might have made me think rather than immediately disregard the heartless egotist. I didn’t go quite so far as seeing him as purposely responsible for Lal’s breakdown, because how could he have known? And he didn’t want her non-functional. But I don’t think he had her well-being in mind. I can more easily see him take her apart, like Maddox wanted to do with Data — and he didn’t want her father anywhere near, not because Data might have been a negative influence, but because Data would have protected her against nefarious “scientific” plots. At the end I did not see a sudden conversion to an empathetic person either, though he probably was genuinely humbled by Data’s capabilities — what I saw was a man sorry for himself; who got so close to what he wanted, but instead he was the one who set the tragic failure in motion. It wasn’t meant to be? No, Haftel, we call that hubris.