Data's emotion chip

[Discofan]

"Generations": It's fused to his "neural net"....

"First Contact": It can be turned on or off at will...

"Insurrection": It can be removed. (He didn't take it to go "observe" people, people with emotions. One would think it would be when he needed it the most but whatever...)

"Nemesis": Emotion chip? What's that? (Data's back to his initial self....)

 

[NCC-73515]

...and what's the problem?

 

[Discofan]

...and what's the problem?

Incoherence.

 

[NCC-73515]

How many years are between each of those?

 

[Discofan]

How many years are between each of those?

What's that got to do with anything?

 

[NCC-73515]

 

[Discofan]

ditto.

 

[Discofan]

Talk about character growth! After all this time, Data's back to his idiosyncrasies from fifteen years before!!! The odd man out, who doesn't crack a smile when everybody else is laughing their asses off...

 

[Kor]

Between GEN and First Contact, somebody apparently figured out how to help Data turn the chip on or off at will. I like to think it was Geordi, as that would be a great touch. But realistically speaking, Geordi was busy having his eyesight upgraded, and he probably didn't have enough familiarity with all that positronic mumbo-jumbo. So it was more likely some cybernetics expert such as the famed and renowned Bruce Maddox. Too bad Brian Brophy didn't make an appearance.

And then in the time that passed between FC and INS, further work was done, which "unfused" the chip from Data's neural net.

Much of NEM should just be ignored.

Kor

 

[Oddish]

I agree with Kor. In the years between Generations and First Contact, it's reasonable that Data would gain better control of his emotion chip.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I'm going to be the odd man out here and state that I *love* the fact that there is no emotion chip in Insurrection and Nemesis. The emotion chip was a cheat, a lazy cop-out to Data's "problem" of lacking humanity. He didn't need it. He shouldn't have gotten it. We don't see the ultimate decision here, but at least we can imagine that Data realized this.

Data wanted to be human, but he didn't need some special chip or reprogramming to achieve this. We know from "Data's Day" and "The Most Toys" that some sort of emotions always existed within him, he was just unable to regard them as such. And the lack of emotions in Nemesis is not an issue, either. He doesn't *need* to accurately imitate human behavior (which he can do, as seen in "In Theory"), he needs to be himself. Data's story should be one of acceptance with oneself, with all of one's idiosyncrasies, rather than changing your core behavior for the benefit of others. The Enterprise-D and -E crew always accepted Data wholeheartedly, and I like to think, at some point in the late 2370s, he learned to accept himself, and tossed that emotion chip in the trash.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

They should've had the emotion chip become like a cancer and damaging or corrupting other circuits, though because its fused in it can't be removed and Data faces his ultimate demise for trying to become more human. It would've been a better way to explain his erratic behaviour in Insurrection and would also have added more to his death in Nemesis, with sacrificing himself to escape the deterioration he was already suffering.

It could've opened up some interesting new routes for the character to take, though that would mean having to keep on top of the lore and what's happened in previous installments and taking the audience on a more character driven story rather than pew-pew ka-boom.

 

[Qonundrum]

"Generations": It's fused to his "neural net"....

"First Contact": It can be turned on or off at will...

"Insurrection": It can be removed. (He didn't take it to go "observe" people, people with emotions. One would think it would be when he needed it the most but whatever...)

"Nemesis": Emotion chip? What's that? (Data's back to his initial self....)

I bloody hated those inconsistencies at the time, regarding the TNG cast reunion parties masquerading as big screen action-flick movies. Continuity can be a bear, it's easier to gloss over or try to create explanations if what's made really works (e.g. how Khan knows Chekov, etc), but the advent of home video into the 1990s onward, combined with the last couple of decades with intertwining season-long (or more) story arcs, combined with word processing and full-featured script writing software such as "Final Draft", are some reasons why continuity is far more a deal now than back then.

At least generally speaking.

But GEN was still recent enough, and featuring a prominent enough scene (and entire walloping subplot!!) for a prominent character, there's no way for STFC (and onward) to be so cavalierly and grossly inconsistent. As with other things with the TNG reunion parties, the excuses got even more feeble and adding to the consensus at the time of "Trek Burnout".

If STFC onward were actually more than slick-looking eye candy, we'd all sit there and think of reasons such as "Geordi whipped out his big de-soldering iron to remove the chip and later added a socket so Data could put it in and take it out at will" or "Data added a new subroutine to compensate every time the chip was accessed", but Data is still a machine and a computer thinking independently of its programming is something best left to idle fantasy because Data would end up becoming Lore 2.0 soon enough. Actually, that almost sounds cool... if not a little cliche... but that would have been more watchable than a bunged up clone, complete with old photo of young-Picard being bald where TNG TV showed young-Picard having more hair than the chia pet version of him... not sure what's more insulting, thinking the audience is so thick they don't remember the TV show so for "character relating" they put in a bald photo as lame tokenism, or chia pets being an actual product sitting on the shelf next to that pet rock that has yet to grow and take over the city with...

Also, TNG did jump into the movies a bit too quickly and there was no real development for anyone. Worf came back, always for contrived reasons, with each movie being more and more lax. Even STFC's and they missed out with bringing in the proper DS9 crew, but then we'd have a nerdy Sisko vs Picard grudge match and that's not as exciting as the Borg's magical new powers with kinky nanotubules...

 

[Qonundrum]

I'm going to be the odd man out here and state that I *love* the fact that there is no emotion chip in Insurrection and Nemesis. The emotion chip was a cheat, a lazy cop-out to Data's "problem" of lacking humanity. He didn't need it. He shouldn't have gotten it. We don't see the ultimate decision here, but at least we can imagine that Data realized this.

Data wanted to be human, but he didn't need some special chip or reprogramming to achieve this. We know from "Data's Day" and "The Most Toys" that some sort of emotions always existed within him, he was just unable to regard them as such. And the lack of emotions in Nemesis is not an issue, either. He doesn't *need* to accurately imitate human behavior (which he can do, as seen in "In Theory"), he needs to be himself. Data's story should be one of acceptance with oneself, with all of one's idiosyncrasies, rather than changing your core behavior for the benefit of others. The Enterprise-D and -E crew always accepted Data wholeheartedly, and I like to think, at some point in the late 2370s, he learned to accept himself, and tossed that emotion chip in the trash.

I liked how they kept him emotionless. Their acknowledging the chip or removing it or using its off switch was just not ideally handled.

Had STFC not opted for the cheap comedy route, they easily could have said that the fused chip burnt out and luckily Data's other bits were not affected... Sorry for the pun... The chip was a cheat, good for one movie only, and that should have been that. Instead they dragged it along for more and more sequels, not really deciding if they'd ever want to use it again. "NEM" almost got it right except every TNG movie prior to that one brought it up, either to explain to the audience whether or not Data would be performing or not - and to the point it was as iconic as seeing the Enterprise ship glide across the screen. If NEM didn't have the ship on screen, people would be taken aback just as much and wondering where the heck it went to*.

Pavlov deserves an extra brownie for that glass of milk, that's all I know...




* I suppose one could say audiences were expected to figure that out on their own... and yet the same movie had young firm bald Picard in a photo despite TNG having numerous episodes with a hair-filled Picard. Seems a trifle inconsistent, no? Especially when, of the two scenarios, having a photo with young firm Picard with hair would still be easier to sell to the audience that he's looking at an old photo with sufficiently similar facial feature layout and all... Nope. TNG films went out of their way to set up the plot, with each leaving the thing open-ended. They should have capped it after GEN or STFC ended and not do the song and dance of "He didn't bring it with him" or "he turned it off like how we turn off the ability to move a hand" or "he fed it to Spot so he'll have it back in a couple of days" each time.

 

[diankra]

The chip was always a bad idea. The end of Data's 'journey' should be him realising he does have emotions, and always did, they are just different to human or Klingon or Vulcan, unique to him.

 

[Discofan]

The chip was always a bad idea. The end of Data's 'journey' should be him realising he does have emotions, and always did, they are just different to human or Klingon or Vulcan, unique to him.

You mean he's the tin man of the Wizard of Oz?

 

[at Quark's]

I can buy Data gradually getting better control of the chip (FC) and eventually learning how to get it out, again, if so desired (INS).

As for Nemesis perhaps he switched off his emotion ship as soon as those positronic signals were detected and he realised : 'oh sh**, there's at least going to be a subplot about me, and judging by how early in this adventure we find it, it probably will even tie into the main plot. Better shut it off for this adventure, just to be on the safe side.'

 

[jackoverfull]

In Generations crusher says that with time she’ll be able to remove the chip, so I don’t see the problem.

Also, I don’t see a problem with data gaining more control on his emotions over the years. Just because you have emotions it doesn’t mean you have to cry or whisper emphatically all the time.

 

[Qonundrum]

In Generations crusher says that with time she’ll be able to remove the chip, so I don’t see the problem.

Also, I don’t see a problem with data gaining more control on his emotions over the years. Just because you have emotions it doesn’t mean you have to cry or whisper emphatically all the time.

Wouldn't Geordi be a better candidate for fiddling with a walking circuit board? Okay, he was abducted by Soran, but I'll get to that more in a moment...

The same movie even states, via Picard as relayed by Crusher, the chip was fused and could not be removed:

TROI: Then why did you decide not to remove the emotion chip?
DATA: At first I was unprepared for the unpredictable nature of the emotions. However having experienced two hundred and sixty-one distinct emotional states, I believe I have learned to control my feelings. They will no longer control me.

The scene renders the entire argument moot, noting there's nothing prior to the scene suggesting Crusher figured out how to remove it. A scene cut for time, perhaps? There's also no on/off switch. Is not removable. Is sidelined by Data adding in his own code to react to each of those 261 distinct conditions adequately. Again, turning Data into Lore 2.0 would have been more fun...

True, "Datalore" shows Crusher and Chief Engineer Scottywannabe inserting the peripherals into their respective torso sockets, but Starfleet is not loaded with a bunch of artificial life forms and Data was unique - as told to the audience more than often enough. Maybe she's a backup, but it's still not the purview of someone in biological medicine*, and all those people wandering around Engineering would be more capable for anything beyond plug'n'play components such as shoving a leg into the torso socket like what anybody can do.

* which has its own set of complications but at least components within biology don't change and require re-learning as fast as technology.

DATA: Captain, ...I cannot continue with this investigation. I wish to be deactivated until Doctor Crusher can remove the emotion chip.

Data seemed real sure of Crusher's "prognosis". Was he so sure Geordi would never be rescued and didn't trust anyone else in Engineering to fiddle with his parts?! Holy Eeyore, Batman!

 

[jackoverfull]

Wouldn't Geordi be a better candidate for fiddling with a walking circuit board?

Perhaps. But even in early TNG It’s crusher *and* the CE to work on data together, as he’s actually quite similar to a living being.

The same movie even states, via Picard as relayed by Crusher, the chip was fused and could not be removed:

As you quote yourself: data wants to be deactivated UNTIL the chip can be turned off, not forever. It’s never in question that the situation is only temporary.