Data's high-speed heroics

[Captain McBain]

Holdfast wrote:

---

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.

I think this is probably the correct answer. Although Data has been shown to use his non-human abilities in casual environments, such as when he was in the art class in "Masks" or when he built the temple for the boy in "Hero Worship."

[Mott the barber]

Don't forget him dodging the laser drill in "Home Soil."

[Leviathan]

...perhaps it's just that Tasha Yar told him fast was bad and it stuck?

[Genesis]

Leviathan wrote:

---

...perhaps it's just that Tasha Yar told him fast was bad and it stuck?

Which episode did she say that in? (I think I remember her saying it, I just forget the circumstances and would like to look it up)

[T'Preea]

I think Data only operated in high speed if the situation absolutely called for him to do so. Besides, it might effect his other operating systems if he remained in high speed too long. He could quite possibly overheat like humans do if they overexert themselves.

[Holdfast]

Leviathan wrote:

---

...perhaps it's just that Tasha Yar told him fast was bad and it stuck?

nice one.

[Mott the barber]

Genesis wrote:

---

Which episode did she say that in? (I think I remember her saying it, I just forget the circumstances and would like to look it up)

Don't think you'll find exactly that in an episode.

[Tiberius]

Captain McBain wrote:

---

For example, in "Starship Mine," he could have easily subdued the guy who shot Geordi with some high-speed maneuvers.

Ah, but that's not a matter of speed, it's a matter of leverage. Data probably could move his body fast enough to knock out the terrorists before they knew what was happening, but I doubt he'd be able to get enough traction on the carpet. And moving his arms fast could throw his body off balance too. he'd have to be bolted to the floor to prevent it.

Whenever we saw him doing things really fast, it was always small things. Moving his fingers really quickly so he could rapidly encode consoles, or shuffle cards. About the biggest thing we saw him move fast were his arms in "The Naked Now". And an arm is actually fairly heavy, so I doubt he'd be able to do it that fast without some bracing.

[Vanyel]

Shouldn't he have been able to catch the arrow that Deanna hit him with in Q-Pid? And shouldn't his accuracy with a phaser be perfect or near perfect? I would think his marksmanship should be something that he would never alter as lives may depend on him killing or stunning another. And if it is simply at target practice, again no need to alter his ability, you're not showing off if it is something you can do.

[Leviathan]

Mott the barber wrote:

---

Don't think you'll find exactly that in an episode.

...I'll try to explain. You see, when a mommy security officer and a daddy android are trapped in an episode called "The Naked Now" during sweeps week they get certain urges....

[Captain McBain]

Vanyel wrote:

---

Shouldn't he have been able to catch the arrow that Deanna hit him with in Q-Pid? And shouldn't his accuracy with a phaser be perfect or near perfect? I would think his marksmanship should be something that he would never alter as lives may depend on him killing or stunning another. And if it is simply at target practice, again no need to alter his ability, you're not showing off if it is something you can do.

I guess it's possible that Data didn't see the arrow coming.

Yes, Data's markmanship should be as close to perfect as possible. He should be much more accurate than Worf, Guinan, Yar, or any other humanoid in Star Trek.

[Timo]

This is assuming that accuracy depends on the user, rather than the gun.

But we witness the guns autonomously deciding where to aim, rather regardless of where the heroes point the guns - the beams erupt at weird angles to ensure a hit.

If aiming is already just 10% target selection by user and 90% target acquisition by the gun, then it doesn't make much of a difference whether Data or Guinan or Keiko O'Brien wields the gun. An experienced gunslinger (Guinan with her long actual experience, or Data with some downloaded experience) might have a shorter reaction time, though. And the phaser training range seen in TNG seems to be all about target selection and reaction time...

Timo Saloniemi

[Captain McBain]

Timo wrote:

---

But we witness the guns autonomously deciding where to aim, rather regardless of where the heroes point the guns - the beams erupt at weird angles to ensure a hit.

Timo Saloniemi

Could you name a particular episode where this is shown?

[Timo]

This is best seen when multiple heroes use their phasers side by side, and the angles differ. Say, in "Arsenal of Freedom" where Data, Riker and Yar aim at the same target:

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albu...arsenal158.jpg

(And this angle is particularly weird)

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albu...arsenal160.jpg

Or in "Too Short a Season" where Yar and Worf hold their weapons identically yet cut different parts of the wall:

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albu...ooshort169.jpg

It seems that the hand phaser typically is more like a whip than a gun in nature: one flings the beam to the target, and it sticks there, regardless of the orientation in which the weapon handle is thereafter held. Except that the hand phaser can do the flinging even before initiating the beam.

Timo Saloniemi

[T'Girl]

^ Actually in quite a few. It's pretty obvious that hand phasers are not bore sighted, but instead usually emit at some angle off center.