When Data finds the kittens in his quarters, he says that they were born "less than 24 hours ago". That's unlikely to mean that they were only born a couple of hours ago, so they must be well on their way to being a day old. If Spot promptly turned into an iguana, this must mean that they haven't been fed since they were born. I'm not an expert on feline survival rates, but I would have thought that day-old kittens which hadn't been fed since birth would either be dead or rapidly expiring - they certainly shouldn't be strong enough to be crawling about and mewing?

How did Data's cat manage to change sex?

This is raised in one the the Sev Trek comics (www.sev.com.au). Suggestions include getting too near the warp core.

Geordi better watch out then.

Doesn't it seem odd that Picard and Data would go off on a several-day shuttle trip to retrieve a problematic photon torpedo? Isn't this a job for a couple of underlings?

The creators try to justify this by having Riker himself question this decision, but the "explanation" offered by Picard is that he is "a fairly capable shuttle pilot" and that the photon torpedo tests "hardly require [his] presence". All this is believable, but it still doesn't explain why the captain seems so eager to set out on a road trip with Data for company. Is he perhaps trying to avoid Dr. Crusher?

Picard's actions throughout the episode could have been done by a non-main character. It would have been the perfect opportunity to show one doing something important in an episode.

It's true that a non-main character could have done pretty much everything that Picard did in this episode, but that would violate one of the cardinal rules of television: always use the same cast of characters. I'm pretty sure that the logic behind this "rule" is that, as the producer, you want to create an environment that the viewers feel comfortable in, that they know and that they want to come back to. A big part of this known environment is, of course, the"family" of characters that return every episode.
Actually the creators of Next Generation were pretty daring (for television producers) in breaking the rule with the "Lower Decks" episode.
However, subsequent episodes returned to the regular formula.

This question kind of reminds me of the creation of the Classic Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever". The screenplay was by well-known science fiction writer Harlan Ellison. Several years ago, I believe, someone published Ellison's original script, along with an interview in which
he made the typical "they butchered my script" statement. If you read the script, you will indeed find that it deviates markedly from the established Star Trek formula, which was even more rigid for Classic Trek than for Next
Generation, and that the producers deemed it necessary to make "major revisions". Ellison's original script includes at least one non-main character as central to the episode, and raises the problem of drug abuse on the Enterprise! As
a friend of mine said after reading it: "It's very nice, but it sure isn't Star Trek."

The truth is that the main cast is getting paid big bucks to show up every week and earn their pay. Hiring a guest star to play the part while the regular cast twiddles its thumbs does not make economic sense.

How did Spot get pregnant in the first place? Did she slip out of Data's quarters or something?

Or maybe another cat snuck in through a Jeffries tube, perhaps. Or maybe one of the crew thought it would be a good practical joke to play on Data - to let Spot get pregnant.

I guess Spot (or her boyfriend) forgot to take their injections!

You would think Data would have the sense to get Spot spayed, but then again maybe that's why he's now a she. It was a neutering gone wrong!

Didn't Data say that he was going to do genetic tests after the kittens were born to determine which of the ten or so male cats on board was responsible? (Kind of ingnoring that fact that Spot was in on it, too!)

J. Goettsche: There was a comment early in the show that Spot had escaped from Data's quarters on previous occasions.

Probably by the 24th century computers are no longer just User Friendly, but are now Cabbagehead Friendly and can be used by the common, or uncommon, household cat. (That's the real reason Spot jumps up on Data's console. She wants to check her email.;-) No doubt the Universal Translator also has a hand in this, translating Spot's "Meow" to 'Computer. Open door.'

It's mentioned non-humanoid life is also affected by the virus, a la Spot. Picard's fish don't seem to be affected, though.

I thought the reason Picard when on the shuttle mission was because testing the weapons system was highly tedious and he found an escape. That's why Riker has that little smile after Picard's explanation.

Don't you love Worf's pyjamas in this one?

Chris Thomas: Spot has always been female

Also, if there are 10 UNNEUTERED MALE CATS on the Enterprise that place must stink to high heaven with all their spraying. Plus, there must be hundreds of kittens, half-grown cats, and full-grown offspring by now. Unneutered cats will have a litter every year.

Which other episodes have referred to Spot as "she", rather than "he"?

In the 24th century, they've probably found a way to stop un-neutered cats from creating a foul smell. And it's possible there is a birth control device for animals available through an injection, similar to the one Sisko and Kasidy mention in DS9. Data would be on the hunt for the cat that had missed its injection.

Chris and Anonymous:

I recommend the exhaustive Spot website:

http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/gibson/2/spot.html

While Spot was female in every other episode, as this website explains, Spot did experience a mysterious spontaneous sex change in "Forces of Nature" for that episode alone.

In Phantasms Data asks Worf to look after Spot for him:
"He will need to be fed once a day. He prefers feline supplement 25. And he will require water, and you must provide him with a sand box. And you must talk to him. Tell him that he is a pretty cat, and a good cat..."
Worf: "I will feed him."

Spot is then female in Force of Nature and then obviously female in Genesis, given the pregnancy. So Spot appears to be a hermaphrodite.

Chris, Data said that he would be subjecting all 10 intact male cats to DNA testing after Spot's kittens arrived. If your theory about the DS9 type birth control device were true, then why would Data need to perform such tests? He would only need to seek the cat(s) who had missed their shots, or rather, find the owners who had missed them. Mass DNA testing would be superfluous if all cats were normally on birth control

At the risk of sounding totally disgusting...

My sister's cat had a virtual sex change operation. First he was neutered... Then when he was about 10, he got a UTI, and the vet had to ... err... ummm... cut it off and reroute the plumbing. He just didn't have the plastic surgery to put the other things in...

Did you, um, help him redefine his identity after that, get some new hobbies and so forth?

That's vaid point anonymous, which cat owner is going to confess? It might be someone playing a practical joke on Data.

Or what if it was an alien impregnation a la "The Child?"

An entertaining episode...although very implausible. Nevertheless, it was interesting to watch..

Ok-enough about Spot, Lets move on. Here is one you probably didn't notice. When Troi joins Worf in Ten Forward, look around. The place is packed. Now cut to the end of the scene when Worf quietly excuses himself (not), look around..in the space of about 5 minutes, the place is deserted!

Jayson: Happy hour must have ended! Proof? Go to your local bar on a Monday night during football season after the game.

I wonder if crew members throw their cats out at the end of the day? Could explain it, but never have seen any stray cats around the Enterprise - D
which brings out another point - Where did these cats "mate"? In a jeffries tube? Or maybe Mot is running more than a barber shop.

Of course, Worf does have a "Strong, earthy smell" according to his companions on DS9...

I wonder if the recent findings in the Genome Project will affect the nitpicking of this episode?

Actually here is a possible anti-nit from the below page.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,41869,00.html

"5. What was once known as "junk DNA" -- sequences of DNA that repeated and were thought to be useless -- actually provides a "fossil" record of human evolution that looks back 800 million years."


Hence, maybe de-evolution is possible under the right circumstances . . . ok, so I'm reaching!

Watch Data's flashlight when he and Picard enter Troi's quarters. There's one shot when Data points it directly at the camera, and you can see it's not turned on! In the next shot, Data is shown from the side peering through a doorway, and you can see the flashlight is on again.

P.S. This has to be one of my least-favorite, technobabble-filled, totally implausible, with everyone acting stupidly out of character, hated the instaneous conclusion TNG episodes ever. (Yes, there was more than one, sadly).

Why does Data need a flashlight when his eyes are almost as good as Geordi's VISOR?

What was the big deal about having to retrieve one dinky little torpedo anyway in an uninhabited asteroid field?

Same "big deal" about having to retrieve one dinky little land mine in an uninhabited swampland.

Just because it's not regularly inhabited doesn't mean nobody will ever go there.

In fact, if they HADN'T retrieved the torpedo, that would have been a major nit. Starfleet isn't about to just let torpedoes be out in space. Imagine if someone had captured it? The Romulans, the Maquis?

Yes, the new guidance/target system could probably be quite valuable for the Federation's enemies. Such a prototype simply has to be recovered.

Also by recovering it they can examine it and discover what went wrong.

I thought it was a bit much for Picard and Data to handle the torpedo retrieval, but the way Picard expressed his desire, I took it as more him wanting to get out and stretch his proverbials. OK, so Data might not need to have gone...

In the TNG II Guide, it is mentioned that since arachnids are not part of out descendants. However, I have a reason explaining Barclays 'devolution'.
At the end of 'Realm of Fear', Barclay is introduced to O'Brien's pet tarantula, who proceeds to crawl towards Barclay as the episdoe ends. Some time in the past, the tarantula was exposed to some radiation that mutuated it in some way (a la Spiderman). Anyway, when the tarantula crawls towards Barclay, he does something to scare it, and as a result he is bitten by it. As a result, some of the spiders DNA gets into Barclay, and infects him, however it lies dormant until the dormant T cell is activated in 'Genesis'. Then, as we all know, Barclay becomes SpiderBarclay, and when we're not looking, goes climbing up the walls and spinning webs across Main Engineering

It doesn't say much for medicine when even in the 24th century they can't come up with reliable contraceptives. Nurse Ogawa's statements do not indicate that her pregnancy was planned. You'd think as a nurse she'd make sure her boyfriend had had his injection.

So, Data plans to give his insight on being an expectant father to Andrew and this insight is based solely on his experience with his cat? Oh, yes, that will help a lot. What about all the writings of various authors about fatherhood, through all of written history? Wouldn't that provide far more valuable insights?

One of the diseases Barclay thinks he has is the Tarellian Death Plague. Would that be the same plague that Wyatt Miller is trying to cure? If Barclay thinks he has it, why is he just wandering around the ship possibly infecting everybody?

When giving instructions to Barclay about Spot, Data says, "Picard and me". Shouldn't he say "Picard and I", or is Data's grammar program de-evolving also?

I liked it when Barclay asked about the father of Spot's kittens and Data said, "I intend to run a full DNA analysis on the kittens...''

Maybe Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn should be cast in a new production of the old radio show, Mr. and Mrs. Bickerson?

Worf doesn't like people coming up behind him and that night in his room he runs around as if worried about something coming at him, then he goes to sleep on the floor with his back fully exposed. Shouldn't he sleep with his back to the wall?

Worf has a stuffed mattress, but in Unification I the Klingon captain tells Picard that Klingons don't pad their beds. (Or words to that effect.)

After spitting venom at Dr. Crusher, why doesn't Worf spit venom at the crew member who tries to stop him?

Why is Barclay only partly devolved when everyone else is fully devolved?

Picard & Data are examining Troi in her quarters and Data says, "At a fundamental level she is no longer human." I thought Troi was only half-human?

It's mentioned that crewmembers are devolving into something from their homeworlds.
First wouldn't a person's homeworld technically be the place they were born & raised & not the world where their race evolved?
Secondly wouldn't this devolution cause problems for crossbreeds whose ancestors evolved on different worlds?

To keep Worf from getting to Troi in Sick Bay, Picard takes some artificial pheromones and leaves Sick Bay by another door, but then he forgets to close the door!

Worf's acid supposedly ate through metal, but Picard's shirt sleeve seems to be okay. (To hell with metal! Start building ship's out of fabric!)

Why does Picard just sit there with these tiny little acid burns on his hand instead of getting medical attention?

At the beginning of the show, Dr. Crusher said Barclay had Iradema Flu, but toward the end of the show Picard pronounces it Uradema Flu.

Dr. Crusher suggests naming the disease after Barclay. Well, isn't this a nice way to avoid naming the guilty party? If Crusher had done her job and fully examined Barclay for possible side effects, instead of just injecting him so he would leave, this whole mess might never have happened.

Another potentially interesting weapon. Get it released on an enemy ship & eventually the crew will be unable to attack other ships.

This is one those episodes where it would have been interesting to see what happened afterwards. It's entirely possible that some members of the ship hunted and possibly ate other members. We know one crew member was killed and the most likely suspect was Riker. He was the only other person on the bridge

Data states that the computer detects 1,011 life forms. Unless I am greatly mistaken, plants are also life forms.
Also, considering the state the crew is in, how would the computer distinguish the difference between the true pets and animal specimens on board and what used to be the crew? Not counting the kittens we know there were 13 cats on board, Spot and the 12 males. Then there is Picard's fish...

In the NextGen Guide under Rascals, Phil commented that 1,014 was a magic number for crew members. Well, subtracting Picard, Data & the dead guy, we get 1,011. Perhaps like elevators this is the maximum occupancy that the Fire Marshall will allow on board ship?

On page 57 of the NextGen Guide II, Phil states that Spot should be a Saber Toothed Tiger. The proper term is Sabertooth Cat, not tiger.
Also Spot is a Biting Cat, whereas a sabertooth is a Stabbing Cat, a different and extinct line of Feline. Spot would be as likely to become a Stabbing Cat as a Human would be to become a Lemur or Marmoset. ;-)

I wonder if there was some psychological factor in some of these transformations?
Troi, who is a half-breed, with parents from two different worlds, becomes an amphibian, which lives in two different 'worlds.'
Worf, a hunter, becomes the biggest and baddest predator on the ship.
Nurse Ogawa, who is about to become a mother, looks a little like the ancient human called 'Lucy.'
Some people feel that Riker's attitude toward women is Neanderthal.
Barclay becomes something that people wouldn't think twice about stepping on.
Captain Baldy would have ended up covered with hair. ;-)

Why wasn't Data affected? Shouldn't he have turned into a CD-Rom drive, or some other extinct ancestor?

KAM: It doesn't say much for medicine when even in the 24th century they can't come up with reliable contraceptives. Nurse Ogawa's statements do not indicate that her pregnancy was planned. You'd think as a nurse she'd make sure her boyfriend had had his injection.
Luigi Novi: Why does this speak well of medicine? It speaks badly of Ogawa and Lt. Powell's preparedness. Obviously, there is reliable contraception, because we see later The Dogs of War that men and women take injections, and you yourself refernece it by saying Ogawa should've made sure Powell did so.

KAM: Worf has a stuffed mattress, but in Unification I the Klingon captain tells Picard that Klingons don't pad their beds.
Luigi Novi: I noticed that too. At first I thought it was some rehabilitative directive from Crusher following Worf's back injury, but he does the same thing with Kurn in Sons of Mogh(DS9). Luckily, they fix this by Bar Association(DS9), when they actually show him removing the mattress on a bunk when he moves into the Defiant.

Poor Gates McFadden! She got stuck directing this unbelievable episode. I saw in on TNN and I was shaking my head in disbelief through most of the story.

OK...Troi is "de-evolving" into a fish...she is found in her tub...fully clothed. Fish wear clothes? Couldn't the SFX crew put some kind of scaly makeup on Marina Sirtis' body to make her look more "fishy"? (I'd help put it on )

The same thing happens to the rest of the crew. Couldn't they cover Frakes' body with fur? Couldn't they cover Barclay's body with fuzz?

You get the idea.

Why would the devolved Riker have torn his clothes off? As for Troi's amphibian lifeform and Barclay's insectoid one, their brains may have lost the capacity to perform complex physical tasks like removing clothing.

Luigi asked: "Why would the deevolved Riker have torn his clothes off?" Very simple...the same reason Kirk did...to show off his manly chest! (His "beefcake", if you will.) (Sounds of girls screaming and fainting)

I must note that I find it unlikely that Troi REALLY takes a bath fully clothed. (She clearly has her uniform still on when Worf comes in & bites her cheek) Couldn't the props dept. find some "extra-sudsy" bubble bath to cover Marina Sirtis' "naughty bits"? I mean, they did in "Insurrection"

ALL BUT TOO CONVENIENT AWARD:

Crusher is sprayed with Worf's venom thereby removing her character from the major plot of the show....thereby allowing Gates McFadden to get off the stage & direct.

I must note that there is NOTHING mentioned about Crusher "de-evolving". Did Worf's venom make her immune?

Wasn't she put in stasis? There are different kinds of "stasis" in Trek and maybe this was the one where all biological functions are completely stopped?

Yes, she was put into statis. However, I never thought of the bio-functions being halted. Interesting.

Going back to the discussion about Spot, in Phantasms, Worf was asked to care for Spot. According to Volume 2 of the Nitpicker's Guide, Spot looked different after returning. It was suggested that Worf injured Spot during Bat'leth practice and got another cat to replace Spot.

So the answer is simple. Worf simply made a mistake as to Spot's gender when aquiring a replacement.

The link between a new cat, that cat's changed gender, and Worf using bladed weapons is too hideous to contemplate.

You'd think that if he were going to replace the cat, he'd get one of the same breed. When we first saw him/her in Data's Day, he/she was a Somali breed, but in later appearances, was an orange tabby.

How do I tell this replicator to make lasagna?

"Computer, Lasagna"

how hard was that?

>>So, Data plans to give his insight on being an expectant father to Andrew and this insight is based solely on his experience with his cat? Oh, yes, that will help a lot. What about all the writings of various authors about fatherhood, through all of written history? Wouldn't that provide far more valuable insights?

That's why it's so funny!

>>We know one crew member was killed and the most likely suspect was Riker. He was the only other person on the bridge.

Possibly, but I thought that the dead Conn officer had been shredded by some kind of clawed animal. I don't remember it well, though.

I thought it was Worf.

MORONIC SCENE: Spot de-evolved into a lizard. REAL DUMB!

But is it really any dumber than any of the other de-evolutions?

Troi-fish wasn't bad. But could've been better....like add scales to her (naked) body

Barclay-spider was interesting, but not very good.

Worf-proto-Klingon was COOL!

Riker-caveman was believable.

Picard-marmoset was silly.

Ogawa-ape was excellent.

This whole episode was an excuse to try and get a horror movie story in trek.

JAL - Barclay-spider was interesting, but not very good.
That's the one I would have listed as dumbest.

Another problem is that not only is it de-evolution, but also part evolution as well as some people are 'devolved' down the 'evolutionary tree' then stop and climb up an entirely different 'branch'.

Neanderthal Man is not considered by most to be a direct ancestor of man, but a side branch, although there are some differing theories.

Spot would have had to devolve back through the mammal-like reptiles to the reptiles & then back up the lizard line to become an iguana.

IIRC the earliest fossil spiders are found in the Silurian Era, around 400-500 million years ago.

Possibly the genetic info for a direct evolutionary line might be found in the junk DNA, but where would the DNA for a spider be in human DNA???

Troi-fish wasn't bad. But could've been better....like add scales to her (naked) body
Like you would notice anything besides the nudity.

Marina Sirtis said at the convention that she HATED wearing the fish make up. She also hated being wet through most of the episode.

can't say I blame her. I've had body paint and latex on. Both are not comfortable to wear.

That's why I always smirked at the 'at home' scenes in the Trek-based film Galaxy Quest where Dr. Lazarus (the spock-type character played by Alan Rickman) apparently NEVER takes off his makeup appliances, even when he's at home! :-)

wondered about something,.. since Barkley partially "de-evolved" into a spider-like creature, does this mean he might have some alien DNA. the Humans; Riker, Ogawa, and to some extent Picard began "mutating" into cro-magnon types.

Funny; though I'd be the last person to defend evolutionary science since I don't even believe evolution itself is anything other than junk science (Irreducible complexity. Go look it up.), and the evolution shown in this episode is bad and unscientific even by evolutionary standards (people don't evolve, populations do, as a certain kind of variation dies off from it)- but I believe that I have to offer one defense of the 'science' in this episode (from an in-universe perspective.)

A lot of people have a beef with the 'evolutionary tree' as presented in this episode, branching off with different variations; but having just watched this episode, I believe Data exposits (in Sickbay, or just before?) that the T'cell junk DNA Watchacallit(tm) picks up various unrelated bits of genetic code from throughout the evolutionary process, not just from the singular branch it belongs to- and yes, the science of this 'DNA osmosis' is just as suspect- but it suggests that each human has a veritable roulette-wheel of numerous bits of unrelated, different-branch 'junk DNA' waiting to be re-activates, not just one set- hence why crewmembers de-evolve into things not in their own standard evolutionary tree. (Spider-barclay, Lizard-spot). No, it's not a very good explanation, and yes, it does just offer a whole new ridiculous concept to nitpick... but at least they tried. :-)

Andrew: ...I don't even believe evolution itself is anything other than junk science (Irreducible complexity. Go look it up.)...

I've responded to this here.

Phil called this "the most nitpicked episode of Star Trek ever". And I totally agree. Nothing in this episode made any sense, and for the life of me I could not figure out what the creators were trying to say.

I know about Dramatic License and Suspension Of Disbelief and all that, but this episode was the most baffling and mind-boggling mess of any episode in all of TNG's run.

I don't think that ANYTHING that occurred in this episode is even remotely possible in the basis of reality!

Bad science, bad genetics, lack of consistency and numerous continuity errors (one obvious one being Spot giving birth after having been a male since his debut in the fourth season), and many more besides!

But I don't blame the actors this time, or the actor who directed. I just think that this episode was what is today known as an "EPIC FAIL!" And after seeing it a few times, it made me really dislike the last season of TNG, as we were being subjected to substandard drivel like this!

That's all I have to say about this.

---

quote:

And after seeing it a few times, it made me really dislike the last season of TNG, as we were being subjected to substandard drivel like this!

---

No, Chicago Hope couldn't have won; it wasn't even on the air then. Picket Fences won the "Best Dramatic Series" for that year. (Moderator, if you will, please make the change and delete this post. Thanks.)

Actually, I think "The Outrageous Okona" is the worst TNG episode, with "Code Of Honor" and "Angel One" coming in a close second and third.

I haven't seen "Emergence" in a real long time, but I do recall that the Enterprise "gave birth" to a totally new lifeform, which seems completely ludicrous to me!

If Spot's maternal condition was not applicable to recover the humans on board, only a pregnant humanoid, then how did all the animals on board get cured?

Interestingly enough, the solution is right in the episode, but wasn't used.

Data could have studied the commonality between Spot and Nurse Ogawa, found the common factor, and derived the "universal" cure.

I liked "The Outrageous Okona". If only for Teri Hatcher (Lois of Lois & Clark) playing the traporter operator. She can beam me up any time.

I also like "Angel One." IMHO, "Code of Honor" and "Emergence" are average as best. All of them were better than "Shades of Gray" and most of Season 2.

I gotta say, fresh off of a re-watch of the second season, I was surprised to find that Shades of Grey WASN'T the worst episode there. I'd still rank Up The Long Ladder far lower. Which I was not expecting! :-) Emergence, though- just re-watched that too- maybe not a classic, but still fun.

"I gotta say, fresh off of a re-watch of the second season, I was surprised to find that Shades of Grey WASN'T the worst episode there. I'd still rank Up The Long Ladder far lower."

Well Andrew, that's because you were so offended at the scene where Riker kills his half-formed clone that was being bred from DNA from stolen tissue samples. You already said so on that episode's board. And that is your right. I myself have no significant religious beliefs, however I would not think of putting down other people's beliefs. So that means that even though I do not entirely agree with some of your opinions concerning various TNG plots, I respect your right to express them.

Bottom line, Shades Of Grey is just *one* of my least favorite TNG eps. And yeah, UTLL was pretty bad too, I would have to agree with you.

But The Outreagous Okona is STILL the one I despise the most!

The tag on Troi's door reads "Lt. Cdr". Troi was promoted to a full commander a few episodes back, in "Thine Own Self". Or, maybe since she de-evolved, she also went down in rank.

Gates McFadden directed this one.

She did a good job for her first time behind the camera, IMO.