Data's first emotions. So many missed opportunities

[ConRefit79]

As I make my way through my TNG Blu-rays, so many questions keep popping up in my head. The latest is why with so many genuine and personal experiences Data was unable to feel before, do they have him go through much of Genrations with. giddy dumb humor? We saw his rights as a sentient being questioned, the loss of comrade and possibly first lover, birth and death of his daughter, betrayed by his brother and death of his father. And B&B go with a joke I don't remember and open sesame. And none of the other films touch on any of it to. What a waste.

 

[Cγrano Mudd]

One could make the argument that the "giddy dumb humor" was in fact a response to anxiety - the primal natural expression of a sentient state. Not that I believe that.

The real answer? Bad writing for shock value. Hey, here's an opportunity to infuse some "humor" into our Trek film! Humor's good, right? Worked in IV, right? Let's have the usually un-emotive android regale us with laughable stupidity. Heck, let's bring back Joe Piscopo! Data can finally join him and do that comedy tour...

I agree. What a waste. The whole film, actually.

 

[Tosk]

I always preferred the idea that Data developed his own emotions after so much time with people, writing new subroutines for himself, incorporating Lal's memories into his own etc...so him installing the emotion chip felt kind of cheap to me.

 

[Paradise City]

Data should be taking a sabbatical to learn to discipline himself because he gets very erratic for a time there and it's completely self inflicted and foreseeable. Picard chastising him to get his act together is all very well but he needs time off to do it. Having him on duty whilst being sporadically seized by violent mood swings ain't what you want in a crisis.

I wouldn't necessarily go back in time and rewrite the whole "emotion chip" stuff as it's been a useful device. But it is a corny concept, yes, as how do you "bottle" emotions exactly? Emotions are something that elude quantification. It's not something you can just stick on a chip and viola there's authentic emotions. You can simulate emotions but what's the difference between that and authentic feelings?

 

[mos6507]

I always preferred the idea that Data developed his own emotions after so much time with people, writing new subroutines for himself, incorporating Lal's memories into his own etc...so him installing the emotion chip felt kind of cheap to me.

I do too. There were times when it seemed like that was happening but maybe a lot of that was me reading too much into it. They should have had more of a real arc. Maybe the nature of series television, being able to watch episodes out of order, precluded too much change.

 

[Lance]

I wouldn't necessarily go back in time and rewrite the whole "emotion chip" stuff as it's been a useful device. But it is a corny concept, yes, as how do you "bottle" emotions exactly? Emotions are something that elude quantification. It's not something you can just stick on a chip and viola there's authentic emotions. You can simulate emotions but what's the difference between that and authentic feelings?

I suscribe to the theory that the emotion chip doesn't give emotions, but that the Soong androids are built with emotions as a natural state, but that Noonian put an 'inhibitor' on Data's emotions after the colonists took a dislike to Lore. Hence the reason why Data sometimes exhibits emotional behavior despite having no 'feeling' for what they mean. All the chip does is disable the inhibitor and give Data's neural pathways the 'missing link' they require to make an association between the emotion and the feeling that emotion inspires.

Lore doesn't have that inhibitor. Unfortunately, Lore is also a sociopath.

 

[eyeresist]

I actually think Data's emotions in GEN basically work. It's odd that the reactions people have, which are the cause for their complaint, are the reactions they were supposed to have. Data discovering humour is at first funny, then annoying, then horrifying. Am I alone in buying the horror of Data's situation, that the thing he always wanted now feels like the worst thing ever to happen to him? Or has my empathy chip gone haywire?

 

[Lance]

I actually think Data's emotions in GEN basically work. It's odd that the reactions people have, which are the cause for their complaint, are the reactions they were supposed to have. Data discovering humour is at first funny, then annoying, then horrifying. Am I alone in buying the horror of Data's situation, that the thing he always wanted now feels like the worst thing ever to happen to him? Or has my empathy chip gone haywire?

Data's emotions are very legitimate. Indeed, I think the best use of the emotion chip is the scene where Soran kidnaps Geordi -- not only is Data paralysed by fear, but we tend to forget it's the first time he's ever even FELT fear in his entire life. No wonder he's confused, forced to sit there while his best friend gets beaten up in front of him, knowing that if only the chip wasn't installed he wouldn't hesitate to step up and save him.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

One could almost argue that Data needs to be relieved from duty. Suddenly becoming a wellspring of emotions after years of feeling none must be as crippling an affliction as, say, becoming a quadriplegic or having a sudden psychotic episode.

LOL imagine if it happened this way:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Lance]

Ideally he definitely needed time to explore his new emotions in, maybe, a more closed environment. Get used to them before taking them 'live'.

To be fair Data does try to suggest to Picard that he should be relieved from duty, but Picard simply says something to the effect that being able to deal with one's crippling emotions, and being able to learn to put them aside to focus on the job at hand, is a part of having emotion. Part of being human.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Ideally he definitely needed time to explore his new emotions in, maybe, a more closed environment. Get used to them before taking them 'live'.

To be fair Data does try to suggest to Picard that he should be relieved from duty, but Picard simply says something to the effect that being able to deal with one's crippling emotions, and being able to learn to put them aside to focus on the job at hand, is a part of having emotion. Part of being human.

Yeah, but most humans experience emotion from the beginning in little dribs and drabs. They don't have every emotion thrust at them at once. It's like being run over by a truck.

 

[USS Triumphant]

In my opinion, Data had the emotions that rise from reasoning and higher thinking the whole time - he was capable of friendship, of feeling loss, of recognizing and even admiring wit, of admiring things in other people generally, *of wanting to exist*, and so forth. What the "emotion chip" did was give him the equivalent of the reptile brain, so now he could experience rage, giggle-fits, jealousy that arises out of base emotion rather than accurate analysis of the situation (one could say he was jealous of the other officers being given a command role when he demanded the Sutherland, but it was a logical jealousy), irrational fear... some good things, but mostly, the things we strive to control in ourselves. Data's conversation with Spock in "Unification" was spot on. (Pun not intended, but I see it, and I'm leaving it anyway. )

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

So it's really the irrational/illogical chip then?

 

[Four Lights]

I agree. I was appalled. A real slap in the face for anyone who had known and loved the character from the TV show.

And as you say, probably done just to inject some "humour" into the film.

 

[USS Triumphant]

So it's really the irrational/illogical chip then?

Well, I guess *that* depends on how much mastery one has over their reptile brain, or in Data's case, the effects of the chip. If one is *rationally* angry - like I would say Data was over the events of "The Most Toys" - then the effects of rage, channeled properly, can actually be helpful. And Data pre-chip was capable, I believe, of experiencing friendship and love, but only the higher reasoning parts of that. As was demonstrated in "In Theory", he was only capable of emulating the romantic, irrational reptile brain parts of a relationship - and without those, he was extremely limited in his ability to warmly and properly express even the affection that he had for people that came from his higher mind. An inability that he visibly regretted, even though he would have insisted that he wasn't capable of that, because even Data himself seemed to have an erroneous understanding of his limits and abilities regarding emotion.

I wonder if that was partially the result of him believing, at least in part, the way that the colonists whose memories he carried perceived Lore, him, and Soong's work in general, and also perhaps assuming, at least early on, that the other organics - who were like his creator, after all - understood his nature and limitations better than he did when they told him what he could and could not do. When in fact they mostly weren't cyberneticists or if they were, they weren't as familiar with what Soong had created as they might have thought, and were probably bringing their own biases and prejudices to what they were saying to him.

 

[In_Correct]

As I make my way through my TNG Blu-rays, so many questions keep popping up in my head. The latest is why with so many genuine and personal experiences Data was unable to feel before, do they have him go through much of Genrations with. giddy dumb humor? We saw his rights as a sentient being questioned, the loss of comrade and possibly first lover, birth and death of his daughter, betrayed by his brother and death of his father. And B&B go with a joke I don't remember and open sesame. And none of the other films touch on any of it to. What a waste.

It is the beginning of the end for Data. Every TNG Movie they pick on Data even more.
Generations: They install the emotion chip. The only time I enjoyed it was when Data "just LOVES looking for life forms!" and begins singing and scanning for the life forms as if his console was a musical instrument.
But they really should have not bothered with the emotion chip.

First Contact:
They ripped his face off.

Insurrection:
He runs around like a loose dog.
And then inflates himself in the water despite this absolutely making absolutely no sense.

Nemesis:
They kill him.

The subplot in "Brothers" about The Emotion Chip should have never happened. Instead, Noonien or in the other episode Julianna should have explained to Data that he DOES have emotions. The very fact that he feels alone among organic life forms sounds emotional. And even though he has felt emotions despite claiming not being programmed to feel emotions, he is capable of controlling them even more capable than Vulcans.

... until he installs an Emotion Chip.

 

[Workbee]

For "Brothers", I kinda of wish they pulled a "Spaceballs" at the end and had the dying Soung tell Data the chip was bupkis and he just needed to believe in his ability to experience the emotions as he had them. Sure it would have been a little cheesy but I dislike the concept introduced that Data was somehow physically incomplete. Worse, they made the missing piece a plot device to dangle out there. So much effort went into very successfully establishing him as a unique character (in spite of the fact we saw numerous androids in ST before) - that's is a trait to be celebrated. Introducing the emotion chip effectively says Data's absence of emotions made him inferior. Whether the writers wanted to allow Data to develop emotions on his own through learning and experience or him never having them and learning to accept and grow in his own way, either would have strengthened the character.

Heck, even if they had done "Brothers" with the emotion chip but had it destroyed by the end (Lore fries it with too much power) that could have worked too by forcing. Data to face that he has to overcome the loss and move forward (sorta like Edward Scissorhands). Though the impact is undermined because up to that moment Data had no clue the chip existed.

All that said, I want to put this the right perspective - I think it was a (very understandable) misstep in what was otherwise a fantastic episode, and an overall marvelous job developing the character though out the series. Rigors of a weekly series often leaves little room to revise and refine concepts of individual stories, and by and large there was a great deal of effort that went into Data's character growth. Little things like how he shows more perceptiveness and understanding with Worf in 10-forward in Birthright. Or his handling of asserting authority with Work in Gambit - nice callback to Redemption II. Or in a homage to Asimov, Troi quoted Data saying along the lines of his thinking processes are easier when he is with his friends (I don't have the quote handy and trying to write this on my mobile phone is hard enough). Taken separately, these demonstrated how Data's difference is 1) Does not make him inferior 2) as far as friendships and his being a friend, his different "physiology" makes no difference.

With so many characters and character traits that were alien by 20th century human standards compared to TOS, an area the TNG floundered at was introducing them to the bigger audiences. As a result, these characters either got superficial traits exaggerated or they got sidelines for much of the story. Hence the regression of Data in the beginning of Generations to his early TNG seasons inability to judge appropriate context in pushing Crusher in the water, as well as the cringe-worthy overacting of extreme emotions in the later half of the film. As far as the movies success was concerned, I think introducing the chip was the right call. But from the perspective of developing the character, generations was the wrong time to do it.

 

[STR]

Hence the regression of Data in the beginning of Generations to his early TNG seasons inability to judge appropriate context in pushing Crusher in the water,

Honestly, pushing her into the water was funny, especially as she knocked Worf back in on the way down. It's everyone's hostile reaction that was cringy and out of context.

 

[Paradise City]

I think Data asking a sincere question of Crusher then a split second later dumping her in the water was a social misstep

 

[eyeresist]

Honestly, pushing her into the water was funny, especially as she knocked Worf back in on the way down. It's everyone's hostile reaction that was cringy and out of context.

I think it works because it puts us in Data's shoes: going by what he was told, pushing Crusher into the water IS funny, but his crewmates are messing with him (slightly cruel but ultimately harmless). Or maybe their point is that only Worf gets "Worffed". Anything else is messing with the natural order of things.