Data's high-speed heroics

[Captain McBain]

Why didn't Data go into high-speed mode more often? He did so when the ship was in severe danger of being destroyed in "The Naked Now," and also did so in an attempt to save Lal's life.

Not too many times besides that.

Possibly Data refrained from doing this in order to appear more human, since his goal in life was to become human. That's all I can think.

Please don't answer 'budget,' or 'writers,' etc. I don't consider those explanations valid. I like to think of in-universe answers.

Thank you and have a wonderful evening.

[T'Girl]

We see high speed movement of Data's fingers, hands and forearms on more than a few occasion as he operates various consoles.



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[Leviathan]

Wear and tear on the ol' joints?

[Captain McBain]

Trannie~sylvania wrote:

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We see high speed movement of Data's fingers, hands and forearms on more than a few occasion as he operates various consoles.



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Yes, I forgot about Data's console manipulation. I guess maybe I was mainly thinking about Data's activity on away teams. For example, in "Starship Mine," he could have easily subdued the guy who shot Geordi with some high-speed maneuvers. He probably could've done so without them, though. Also, in "Silicon Avatar," Data was the reasonable choice to be called upon by Picard to override Dr. Maar's program, not Geordi.

[Trekker4747]

Leviathan wrote:

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Wear and tear on the ol' joints?

This seems likely, or something like it. Moving fast may pose some sort of "cost" elsewhere in Data's systems. He can probably move really fast but at the cost of accuracy, it takes more of his resources to "concentrate" on moving taking resources away from "thinking." Moving fast may use up more of whatever "fuel" Data runs on or keeps his mechanisms working properly. Somewhere there's a "cost" to moving fast to make it an impractical to do it all of the time.

Whether this is just a natural flaw in the Soong-Type Android design or cost/benefit "design flaw" Soong purposefully put in in order to force Data to "behave more Human" in order to better fit in.

Wear-and-tear MAY be an issue, but likely one easily repaired given how easily other repairs are made to Data after even more severe damage.

[Dream]

Answer: Because it would be less special if he did it all the time.

One of my favorite Data moments is when he used his speed to lock the Borg out of the ENT-E's computer with a encryption code in FC.

How many times did Data save the crew of the Enterprise? They were lucky as hell to have him.

[SchwEnt]

Yes, you would think Data would use his super abilities more often. If he can data keypad entry stuff at his Ops console superfast, wouldn't he do it all the time?

Better yet, if he can use his USB ODN whatever plug-and-play into LCARS, why even bother with manual entry?

Only thing I can think of is that Data really wants to be human to the extent that he will do things well below his abilities, just to emulate a human.

[Mojochi]

SchwEnt wrote:

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Only thing I can think of is that Data really wants to be human to the extent that he will do things well below his abilities, just to emulate a human.

This is the logical answer to most any question about Data's extraordinary qualities. This includes ordinary things like eating & sleeping

But all in all, it shows up as often as his super strength does. He works a console, he shuffles a deck. He reads at inhuman speeds. He sculpts & paints quickly in some episodes, & erects that model in Hero Worship

We just seem to notice it less, than when he does something of super human strength, & circumstances have been such that mostly his hyper dexterity isn't often needed in an emergency

& in many emergencies he moves at the same pace as everyone else, in order to keep the group safe, like when he ran from the Crystalline Entity

[T'Girl]

Is there any indication that Data can run unusually fast? I can see how he could run at "normal" speeds for a protracted period of time if he needed too.

If I need to, I can type about 120 words per minute, but usually I don't. Might be the same with Data, it would make him appear casually inHuman.

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[Captain McBain]

Trannie~sylvania wrote:

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Is there any indication that Data can run unusually fast? I can see how he could run at "normal" speeds for a protracted period of time if he needed too.

If I need to, I can type about 120 words per minute, but usually I don't. Might be the same with Data, it would make him appear casually inHuman.

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I think it's a reasonable conclusion. Data's 'metal muscles' make him much stronger than any human, so, similarly, these would make Data faster than any human, by a long shot. He can move his hands at super speed, so why couldn't he move his feet and legs at super speed, if he truly desired?

I figure it's like comparing the top speed of a horse to the top speed of a Corvette. The horse has no chance.

[Timo]

Just as an aside, Data might move much faster across terrain by jumping rather than running. Instead of constant fast movement of limbs, he could use bursts of activity, and do so at a series of locations where the ground is solid enough to support his superhuman pushing - rather than dig two ditches in the dirt by moving his legs cartoon-fast through running motions.

Then again, fast movement across terrain has never appeared to be a concern for our landing party heroes. One would expect them to employ a quick series of beamings, flying boots or ground/air vehicles - but since these are expensive tricks to pull, it's nice that the stories are written so that a landing party feels no need for mobility in the first place.

Timo Saloniemi

[SonicRanger]

Circus Peanut wrote:

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Moving fast may use up more of whatever "fuel" Data runs on or keeps his mechanisms working properly.

This seems likely... but it raises an obvious and unanswered question, doesn't it?

[Captain McBain]

Data states in "Insurrection" that his cells continually recharge themselves. So Data probably brings in his 'fuel' from his surroundings, much like Odo supposedly does.

[Timo]

Since Data was built in a Federation(ish) colony and operates in a Federation environment, perhaps he is simply hooked to a Federation wireless recharging network, the same that keeps padds and tricorders and phasers and commbadges constantly charged? That is, he "constantly" recharges whenever within range of the network.

Timo Saloniemi

[Holdfast]

I think Dr Soong designed Data to be as human as possible (minus Lore's little bugs), so unless required, he naturally limits the use of his non-human abilities. Of course, working in Starfleet means situations inevitably arise where those skills are needed. But he doesn't deploy them unless they are required.