By Mf on Monday, December 7, 1998 - 02:07 pm:

Snodgrass' writing here is sensational. These are all grown-ups for once, with their own thoughts and ideas. There's a wonderful debate of the prime directive, with everyone in character (or, for once, having some). And she wrote some beautiful chemistry between Picard and Riker. This episode is what TNG - and Trek -should have remained.
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By Omer on Monday, December 7, 1998 - 03:54 pm:

I didn't like it. Data was WAY out of character, and the Prime directive should be kept. or broken, but be consistent
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By Jennifer Pope on Tuesday, December 8, 1998 - 01:15 pm:

I agree with Omer. I was cringing at Data's behavior the whole way through. I watched the episode twice, hoping to find something I missed which would explain his apparent change in character, but I gave up; now I'm trying to forget the episode altogether. What a thing to do to my second favorite character....
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By Mf on Tuesday, December 8, 1998 - 02:54 pm:

"character?" For once Data was showing some. Independent thought; self-motivated action. If this Data had been allowed to develop, they'd never have had to have cheated with that emotion chip. The alien here MATTERED to Data - and that made him more than a bucket of bolts. The later Data, amusing as he was, wasn't. As for consistency, this was consistent with Data's character up to that point. Take a look at Farpoint.
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By Jennifer Pope on Tuesday, December 8, 1998 - 06:31 pm:

Disobeying orders? Breaking important (supposedly) rules? Letting illogic and his non-existant emotions rule his actions? That's not the Data I know, either before this ep. or since.
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By Mf on Thursday, December 10, 1998 - 12:32 pm:

The concept of Data - - the only thing that could make him a compelling character - was that he'd be able to surpass being a tin man - he'd be able to be more than the sum of his mechanical parts. Somewhere in that hunk of tin there had to be a soul, or he'd be of less interest than your average borg drone. That was Roddenberry's idea. Berman abandoned that Data. Would the Data you've come to know really have taken up painting? Or kept a holo of Yar? Or held up his hand forcefully and refused to allow Q-Riker to make him human?
The Data who made that refusal refused to cheat to become human.
But in the end Q-Berman won. The shame is no one noticed.
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By Jennifer Pope on Thursday, December 10, 1998 - 02:56 pm:

I don't quite understand how breaking rules and acting against one's nature is a requirement for having character/soul. Data had a character - one that would not allow the things he did in this ep.
The Data I know does everything he can (within certain limits) to understand/become like humans; but because he has only a few faint emotions, his attempts pretty much fail. The painting, Yar's hologram, his poetry, his cat...all are attempts that can't become successful until he finally gets the full range of human feelings, which is (I think) partly what he realizes in 'Generations.'
This trying, again and again, is where his character comes through. Refusing Q was just another example of his determination and character. Showing such incredible lack of common sense and integrity as he did here was not.
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By Johnny Veitch on Sunday, February 28, 1999 - 01:34 pm:

At one point Picard makes a log recording, stardate 42737.3 and says that they`ve been in the system for three weeks. Yet, a few minutes later Data arrives and tells Picard about Sarjenka. Picard says "You`ve been communicating with this life-form for eight weeks?" They`ve only been in the system three weeks.
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By Keith Alan Morgan on Friday, April 23, 1999 - 07:50 am:

Why didn't the Holodeck computer put the saddle on the horse instead of on the rail?

Why didn't Picard just say, "Freeze program." or "End program." instead of tying up the horse? (If the actors had started to walk away would the horse have followed them? Would it have been that expensive to film Stewart and Sirtis on the black and yellow set?)

Why was Troi going to the Holodeck with Picard? The only reason I could see was that it gave Picard someone to talk to about his love of horses.

If Data is a higher rank than Worf, then why were Worf and Data acting as if their ranks were reversed? If it were Riker or Picard doing that work, would Worf have acted so imposingly? (I wonder if the earlier versions of this script featured a lower ranking person like Wesley, instead of Data?)

Why do they even need to assign someone to head up a geological survey and choose people to do the work? Isn't exploring space one of their jobs? Shouldn't these people be already assigned and working on these jobs before they even get to this sector? Do these people just sit around playing on the Holodeck hoping nobody assigns them to a mission? Like Engineering or Sick Bay or Stellar Cartography, I would think that this would be a 'department' on the ship with someone already in charge of it. (Unless that person wanted to spend more time on the Holodeck and asked Riker to assign someone else?)

Why would it take five hours to set up a scanner for Dilithium? Isn't dilithium one of the things that makes the ship work? Wouldn't any devices that can find things vital to keeping the ship up and running be a priority item and already installed and ready to work???

Geordi thinks it might be their place to interfere and Riker says, "Well, that takes care of Fate." I thought Fate meant that every action and thought was already planned. Could Riker have meant Free Will?

Data says, "Two to beam up." then quite a bit of time passes before they actually dematerialize. Did O'Brien fall asleep again?

Why does O'Brien say, "There is going to be hell to pay." when he sees Sarjenka? Wasn't he listening when Data said, "Two to beam up."? Who did he think the second person was?

Picard orders Data to take Sarjenka to Sick Bay, then he contacts Dr. Pulaski and asks her if she can erase Sarjenka's memory, but when they get to Sick Bay Data somehow knows that Dr. Pulaski is going to erase Sarjenka's memory. Was Picard speaking to Dr. Pulaski on an open line or can Data intercept ship's communication?

Was I the only one confused? They spend 8 weeks going through 3 or 4 different star systems and yet all the stars seemed to be named either Selcundi or Drema?

I just want to go on record as stating that this is my least favorite Next Gen episode. I watched it once, back in 1989, and have never watched it since.

Don't watch A Matter Of Perspective then.

Or "The masterpiece society"

Why exactly do the senior staff meet in the observation lounge to discuss the matter of preparing Wesley for leadership? First of all, Wesley is already studying in his off time. Second, while the assignment they give to Wesley is a good thing, the sense I get from this scene is that they feel they are somehow obligated to give him this opportunity, which makes no sense. Officers attain skills and sharpen talents in the Academy. Wesley already has a three-year head start on all of them from his duties from the first season to his departure for the Academy in Final Mission. How many other officers get to helm the flagship for three years before entering the Academy? As it is, Wesley already has a huge advantage in this, yet the senior staff speak as if it is somehow obvious that Wesley has to be given this new assignment. In addition, Picard says he will one day feel the burden of command, but for all they know, Wesley may opt to remain an engineer, scientist, researcher, or helmsman, and not choose the command track at all.

Under nits for Hollow Pursuits, Phil pointed out how that was the only episode to feature the entire engineering team working on a problem, a rare absence of the "We-have-to-use-all-the-regular-characters Syndrome." Similarly, this episode is also the only one that shows an entire science team reporting to Picard on their findings on the planetary tectonics.

After Wesley’s meeting with the senior staff in the observation lounge in Act 1, Worf inspects Data’s project, then stumbles over a piece of equipment. He gives Data a dirty look, and Data says he’ll get rid of the stuff, to which Worf replies in an admonishing, tough-guy-bordering-on-insubordination tone of voice, "GOOD." Am I missing something here? Isn’t Data Worf’s superior officer? Is this the proper way to address one’s CO?

Speaking of Data’s mess, one would think Data would be a bit more orderly.

Why does the senior staff meet in Picards’ quarters to discuss the Dreman’s plight, rather than the observation lounge?

When Data goes to the holodeck to tell Picard of his contact in the last scene of Act 2, and tells him about Sarjenka’s "Is anybody out there?" message, Picard, quite poetically, says that there is a certain lonliness in such a message. Data agrees, and says he is glad Picard understands. Is it in character for Data to see "lonliness" in such a message?

For that matter, Am I the only one who thinks Data’s actions in this episode toward Sarjenka seem to stem from emotionalism? Or did Data visit the Guardian of Forever, find out what Nikki Cox would look like in 10 years, and go "Hubba, hubba!"?

When Data beams to Sarjenka’s quarters in the last scene of Act 4, he operates a very sophisticated door/window that seems to dissolve in order to open. Given that this technology, which is very similar to the door on the timepod Rasmussen stole from the 27th century in A Matter of Time, does it seem likely for a Drema IV to have this type of technology? And if they do, wouldn’t they have sensors and satellites able to detect the Enterprise? Or starships, for that matter?

Pulaski needs to scan Sarjenka’s brain structure to see if she can erase her short-term memories of Data and the Enterprise. Understandable. But shouldn’t’ she run scans on her body chemistry as well before injecting her with a hypospray? The same problem occurs in the beginning of The Quickening(DS9). The creators do fix this by Parturition (VOY), but only because it serves as part of the plot tension between Paris and Neelix. (Imagine that: Voyager getting right what NextGen and DS9 both got wrong!)

When Data arrives with Sarjenka in the transporter room, O’Brien ask where he’s going, and when Data says the bridge, O’Brien replies, "With that?", referring Sarjenka. Is this proper etiquette for referring to a little girl? I know that O’Brien is unfamiliar with the Dremans, but surely he’s acquainted with other alien races. Does he use that pronoun when referring little girls of those races? I’m sure he wouldn’t be too pleased if Worf or Kira referred to Molly as such.

For that matter, Am I the only one who thinks Data’s actions in this episode toward Sarjenka seem to stem from emotionalism? Or did Data visit the Guardian of Forever, find out what Nikki Cox would look like in 10 years, and go "Hubba, hubba!"?

That was Nikki Cox I never knew; of course the last time I saw that ep was before I saw Unhappy Ever After.

Also you're right about O'Bryan calling her "that" almost all of the races we have seen on Trek have male and female genders that can be easly determined. BTW if it was Nikki Cox as she looked after she grew up he would have no trouble figuring out her gender.

No kidding.

It's been a while since I last saw "Where No One Has Gone Before" but I seem to recall that the Traveller told Picard that Wesley was like a Mozart regarding warptheories and propulsion. So why does they assign him to a geological survey. If it's absolutely necessary (and like must here I don't think it is) for him to get some "commanding experience" why don't they put him in an engineering team.

KAM asked:
Why do they even need to assign someone to head up a geological survey and choose people to do the work? Isn't exploring space one of their jobs? Shouldn't these people be already assigned and working on these jobs before they even get to this sector?
And Teral wondered why Wesley was assigned a geological survey.
It's because many of the crewmembers are taking turns, learning about each other's disciplines, not only for a well-rounded education, but also just in case one specialist isn't available, another with almost as much experience, can take his/her place.
Wesley also has the potential to learn lots of things, and someday might find his geological knowledge useful in solving some physics puzzle. ST novels by Reeves-Stevens have suggested that dilithium has atomic bonds which reach into the 4th dimension; it looks to us like quartz, but future technology will make it possible to distinguish between ordinary lithium and dilithium. So that's a physics feature Wesley would be interested in.
About the high-tech door in the home--that might be the only one on the planet.
When Sarjenka encounters Troi she acts terrified. Why? Was there something in the script which we didn't see? Was it just some random element of mystery the writers didn't bother explaining? Was Sarjenka an impostor who thought Troi might expose her?
And why didn't anybody ask her or Troi about it?

I didn't think much of this episode, either. Imagine this scenario:
Carl Sagan and everybody else must evacuate the United States because of some disaster. Meanwhile, his daughter contacts UFO aliens on her ham radio in her bedroom and doesn't tell anybody. One of the aliens comes for a visit, wipes her memory so she won't remember him, but leaves a souvenier so she will have something to remember him by. The alien doesn't find out, or even ask, where everybody else went.
Which parts of that scenario are plausible?

Where did all the other inhabitants of the planet go, why didn't anybody ask, and why didn't Phil mention the nit in the Guide?d

If they went into space, they're ready for contact, the Prime Directive doesn't apply, no problem. If they went into underground shelters composed of superstrong materials, that suggests and advanced technology, but would they really be that safe?

I can describe this episode with one word: YAWN!

I wonder how much helium the little girl had to inhale to get her voice to sound like that?

On the Planet Drema IV there is a scene where Data opens that sophisticated door. In the background you can see volcanos (sp.?) erupting magma. Watch Datas hand. It becomes transparent.

Nikki Cox, as someone pointed out, became hot and appeared in the weird "Unhappily Ever After" sitcom. She had her own sitcom, the creatively named "Nikki," where she played a showgirl. She can currently be seen on "Las Vegas" as special events coordinator Mary Connell.

I found all that out on imdb.com too!

Actually, I think I used the now revamped tvtome.com site. But I can't remember for sure.

Its amazing how much Nikki Cox "developed" after this episode.


Im also amazed that no one here thought that Data should be court-martialed for his actions here since someone on the "Time Squared" board was ready to lock Troi up for leaveing sick bay after Picard told her to stay there. Guess that is a bigger crime than violaiting the Prime Directive huh?

Like almost everyone else here, I felt Data's actions very out of place for the emotionless character the writers tried to portray him as. It felt to me as if this role originally belonged to someone else but they assigned it to Data for some reason. I think it would have been far more fitting to give this adventure to Wesley, as a science nerd he easily could have been fiddling around in his spare time and stumbled onto the signal. Wesley also would have been a far more likely to be affected by the loneliness of the little girl's transmission and have been compelled to act on it.

My wife also pointed out the utter waste of Dilithium here. isn’t this the stuff that makes starships go? and don’t they travel through space looking for things? things that make them go? Oh wait that is the Pakleds, regardless it seems they should have found a way to beam up all the dilithium deposits and give themselves a nice little stockpile while at the same time saving the planet. That way at least when Picard is brought before a board of inquiry for violating the prime directive (AGAIN) he could at least offer up:

"Sir, we discovered massive deposits of Dilithium on Drama IV and while mining the planet we discovered that there was a sentient race living there, fortunately only one child discovered our existence but Commander Data was successful in bringing her onboard without alerting any other inhabitants, we erased her memories and replaced her. unknown to us our mining operating seems to have solved some geological problems the inhabitants were having.”

Instead the official report looks like this:

“Yes sir while conducting a survay my 2nd officer was conducting scans for artificial transmissions, he actually went out of his way and heavily modified our systems in order to find one....yes he did this all behind my back, yes my security chief knew about it...no...no he didn’t tell me either. Well anyway my 2nd officer made contact with a little girl on one of the planets and was so touched by her story that he....yes my second officer...yes the emotionless android. Anyway he told me her sob story and I ordered him to cut off contact with her. Instead he put her on speaker phone and once everyone in the room turned into warm butter and went "awww" at the whiny tone of her voice well I decided to throw the prime directive out the window and help the little brat. wait it gets better you see while helping a planet from disaster and altering the entire civilization's future my 2nd officer decided to beam down to the planet and help the munchkin and while he was down there he decided to beam her up to the ship. yes yes I know this was again without my knowledge but what can I say, these seasoned star fleet officers on the flag ship...who can control them?? anyway we decided to wipe the kid's memory so there would be no proof we were there....well besides saving the entire planet. so we drop the kid back off at her house, we don’t really know if the mind wipe worked because she was asleep when we left, she may not remember anything....or she may remember it all.....or she may never wake up. we really have no idea. Anyway if she wakes up and she isn’t a vegetable she will go on about her life never knowing anything happened......well except for the Alien nick knack my second officer left her to remember him by. yes yes I know she is not supposed to have any recollection of this whole ordeal but you know those emotionless androids they can be SO irrational at times well anyway that is our whole story...um no...no we didn’t manage to salvage any of the massive dilithum deposits on the planet, we just thought they looked pretty but we didn’t do anything with them. What that? the other worlds in the nearby systems having the same problems? NAH we didn’t do anything to them, we left them all to rot, no scared little girls on those worlds. Oh you meant did we get any of the dilithum off those worlds? no no we sure didn’t. so I expect a court marshal out of this right...no? in fact I should expect an offer to take over Star Fleet Academy and a promotion to admiral soon??? Why thank you sir, I will be sure to turn down your offer and spit in your eye when the offer is made. Thank you sir, have a great day!"

Where the heck did Picard and the other get their moral high horse in this episode? Debating noninterference based on the principles of the Prime Directive is one thing... but sitting around with arrogant conceit in Picard's quarters arguing about the significance in the grand cosmic plan of their interference or noninterference? Sounded to be like a bunch of self-righteous, self-important prigs trying to find an emotional out to excuse a course of action they'd already decided on. It was sanctimonious and absurd. If you're going to debate whether to follow or break the Prime Directive, do it based on the Prime Directive, not a bunch of subjective claptrap and questionable moral judgments. (Frankly, I prefer the Earth policy of the Good Samaritan rule to the Prime Directive in situations like this- or 'Homeward' or Enterprise's 'Dear Doctor'- and I think if you evaluate the noninterference directive from a moral instead of legal standpoint, a 'Good Samaritan' viewpoint- we should help if we can, if not, we're guilty of criminal negligence- what was discussed here was neither law nor morality but some sort of philosophy mixed with a generous dose of nonsense... and left the TNG crew looking very poor to the audience, IMHO.)

Likewise, Picard played a ridiculously fallacious dance around Pulaski's arguments- asking her if a natural disaster should be stopped (yes) or a plague (yes) or a war (no) or an oppressive government (no), and then declaring, essentially, "Well, now that we've shown that Doctor Pulaski isn't certain..." :-) Honestly, she had clear opinions on all four issues and a line clearly drawn between what was appropriate and what wasn't- and Picard used the fact that all four answers weren't identical to suggest that she was unsure and didn't know where the line should be drawn in interfering! That is the exact opposite of the truth, which is that she had very specific and clearly delineated beliefs about where the line should be drawn. All in all, between this scene and Data's inexplicably rebellious and bizarre behavior, this is about as under-your-skin an episode, IMHO, as TNG produced (well, along with Measure of a Man...) as if everyone is going out of their way to be unlikeable. Good results in the end, but the methods taken for getting there are so convoluted, intellectually dishonest, fallacious, and plain ol' obnoxious that only 'the ends justify the means' seems to be used to- or remotely able to- excuse or defend them.

The special effects were great, though, and O'brien had a great scene.

"Where did all the other inhabitants of the planet go, why didn't anybody ask, and why didn't Phil mention the nit in the Guide?d" - stephen

Sarjenka says they fled somewhere (caves?) for shelter but that she left the shelter to come back for her radio; Data took her to the Enterprise because he didn't think she could make it back to the shelter safely.

This is probably off-topic, but Nikki Cox (Sarjenka), in my opinion, used to be really attractive. Unfortunatly, she has had some bad plastic surgery in the last few years, and now, her face looks terrible! It's a real shame.

She acted in the shows "Unhappily Ever After", "Norm", "Nikki", and "Las Vegas". She also had a small part in "The Nutty Professor II".

Anyway, this episode had a LOT of Plot Oversights, according to Phil in the Guide. I don't know of any others that have not already been pointed out, but I did like the singer stone Sarjenka had. Too bad it would not sing for Data. He wasn't organic, maybe that's why!

Why did Nikki Cox have plastic surgery?
As Andre said, she didn't need it.

I really disliked Wesley's science team. First the one guy complains that it'll take 5 hours to set up a scanner (so what? You have somewhere better to be, mister? How about I report your lack of cooperation AND work ethic to the captain???), and then when Wesley orders him a second time to do the scan, he's all, "Yes, sir! Sure, Wes!". Why no whining this time? Did he finally get around to eating his lunch, so now he can concentrate on his work with a full tummy?!

And I despise people who finish.
Other people's sentences. It's almost.
Like the one person is.
Actually two.
That married couple made their report to Picard in that way, finishing the answer to a question in two parts. How did the other one know when to speak? Why not let your spouse give the full answer, and you answer the next question.

Disregarding how this episode gives Data some character or emotion, yadayadayada, he's still a machine,. and was still programmed with the Prime Directive. Breaking the Directive is the equivalant of ignoring his programming. It really made no sense. If he's programmed not to kill, can we expect him to simply kill someone because it'll make him seem more 'human'?

The Chief made a good point in his book-- Data gives Sarjenka the singer stone.
PULASKI's singer stone!
In other words, if he didn't replicate one on the ship, because we never saw him get permission from Pulaski to give it to the little girl (and she wouldn't have given it anyways, since she just finished erasing Sarjenka's memory), this means Data stole it!
Add theft to the charges against Data, in addition to breaking the Prime Directive.

Keith Alan Morgan on Friday, April 23, 1999 - 07:50 am: Why didn't the Holodeck computer put the saddle on the horse instead of on the rail? It was most likely programmed this way so the rider would be in the habit of putting the saddle on themselves.

Why would it take five hours to set up a scanner for Dilithium? Isn't dilithium one of the things that makes the ship work? Wouldn't any devices that can find things vital to keeping the ship up and running be a priority item and already installed and ready to work??? The various components may have been in storage, and only brought out when needed.

Hopefully adult Sarjenka didn't go down adult Nikki Cox's route of reducing herself to her T & A