Why would they even let Data in Starfleet Academy?

[od0_ital]

... He is "Lt. Commander Data" for the entire run of TNG and the movies, while his colleagues were promoted (Picard and Crusher were the exceptions). Why?

Well, Picard is an exception 'cause if he got promoted, he wouldn't be on the Enterprise anymore. And while he remained a captain, he did get the bigger, better Enterprise in the movies.

And Crusher got a promotion in position, if not rank, durin' the second season.

Data was also the second officer, and was the first to replace Riker (as seen in TNG 'Peak Performance').

As for why he didn't move up, I'd say lack of ambition...

 

[Trevacious]

Incidentally, I was perplexed by his destruction in "Nemesis", as we saw in "All Good Things"

The future is never really the future in Star Trek.

 

[Gary7]

Incidentally, I was perplexed by his destruction in "Nemesis", as we saw in "All Good Things" that he was still functioning in Picard's retirement years. Is that just a continuity oversight?

No, it's a different timeline...or possibly a figment of Q's imagination. Just like the three-nacelled E-D.

Yeah... you're right. I should have seen that. One of those "Q" futures. Of course, we learn of Riker taking command of the USS Titan, rather than the next Enterprise... (although it is conceivable he could command a future Enterprise).

Data was also the second officer, and was the first to replace Riker (as seen in TNG 'Peak Performance').

As for why he didn't move up, I'd say lack of ambition.

You're right about that in Peak... forgot about it. True, one could say it was lack of ambition as to why he didn't move up... but that didn't seem like Data to me. He is an optimizer, someone who looks for ways to do things better. I'd just chalk it up to "no room in the story line" for attention paid to his rank. Still, it would have been nice to see him move up at least along with his colleagues.

 

[Alrik]

Data was not promoted because both the show runners and the writers over looked it. Data was both ambitious and capable of a higher rank. This was proven in Redemption II.
When commands were handed out and Data was not assigned to one, he pressed Picard stating that obviously he did not see him as ready for command. When Picard recognized his error, Data ended up being a very effective Captain for the Sutherland. He also was the one that had the forward thinking to foil the Romulan plot, which stopped the Klingon Civil War, and he ended up getting a commendation because of it.

 

[Yevetha]

Didnt he became the Captian of his own ship?

 

[Marten]

Didnt he became the Captian of his own ship?

He gets temporary command of another ship in one episode, and command of the Enterprise when Picard and Riker were absent in another. Can't remember the names right now, though.

Furthermore, in the non-cannon comic Countdown, B4 with Datas memories, commands Enterprise permanently.

 

[Alrik]

Didnt he became the Captian of his own ship?

He gets temporary command of another ship in one episode, and command of the Enterprise when Picard and Riker were absent in another. Can't remember the names right now, though.

Furthermore, in the non-cannon comic Countdown, B4 with Datas memories, commands Enterprise permanently.

I just spelled out why, where, and when three posts ago.

 

[Doug Otte]

Remember Lal?

I imagine Data was a lot like that while he was at the Academy.

Bingo. Just like human brains store a lot of info, but it takes experience to "burn" in the synapses for certain paths to obtain the needed info for various situations. Android brains also require experience to become efficient at retrieving and using all the knowledge.

I have a vague memory of Data even mentioning this fact. Anyone...?

You might be thinking about Legacy, when Data is explaining to Ishara about how he is able to have friends. Here's the exchange:

ISHARA
But you don't have feelings, do
you?

DATA
Not as such. However, perhaps
even among humans, friendship is
sometimes less an emotional
response, and more a sense of
familiarity.

ISHARA
(understanding)
You can become used to someone.

DATA
Exactly. As I experience certain
sensory input patterns, my mental
pathways become accustomed to
them. The inputs eventually are
anticipated. And even "missed"
when absent. When something once
expected is no longer there.

Thanks. That's probably the quote I remember, but I thought maybe there was another one when he met his "mother", or perhaps even in "Brothers." Still, it makes my point.

Doug

 

[Alrik]

Thanks. That's probably the quote I remember, but I thought maybe there was another one when he met his "mother", or perhaps even in "Brothers." Still, it makes my point.

Doug

No problem. Now that you mention it, I think there might have been something more in The Offspring, but I'm not certain. I'll have to look into it when I've got more time.

 

[Ninjacore]

For prestige, Star Flet could show off their unique android officer and make the Klingons, Romulans and so forth jealous, well they thought he was unique till his evil brother appeared.

 

[The Badger]

How could it possibly be fair for any of the other students with Data there at Stafleet Academy?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Starfleet Academy does not exist so that it's students can compete on a level playing field for their own personnel goals. It exists so that it's parent organisation, Starfleet, can get the best officers possible. Data attended the academy because he had a great deal to offer the service.

 

[Kelthaz]

How could it possibly be fair for any of the other students with Data there at Stafleet Academy?

Competition.

Data raised the bar for every other cadet there. No different than a cadet Spock who probably attended an overwhelmingly human Starfleet Academy in the 23rd century. He was stronger, able to retain far more information and could do complex math equations in his head. Not exactly fair for the human students in attendance.

This is a bit off topic, but since when were Vulcans intellectually superior to humans? Sure, they've got super strength and that fancy inner eyelid, but I've never seen anything to indicate superior intellect.

 

[od0_ital]

^

Wasn't there an episode of TOS that showed how many folks Kirk had to use to replace Spock?

Also, the openin' sequence of Spock's retrainin' on Vulcan in The Voyage Home.

There's gotta be a reason why most of the science officers seen in TOS & the movies were Vulcan.

 

[YARN]

since when were Vulcans intellectually superior to humans? Sure, they've got super strength and that fancy inner eyelid, but I've never seen anything to indicate superior intellect.

No, he is just randomly able to report figures to five decimal places (even when asked to perform computations - he typically just rattles these figures off the top of his head) and is always able to speak competently on every topic of conversation.

Balance of Terror - gives a report on an asteroid with making use of a reference book Kirk holds up for him.

The Ultimate Computer - is the only person able to hold a meaningful conversation with Dr. Daystrom about his computer circuits.

Requiem for Methusela - is able to authenticate paintings and compositions as original works by long dead artists - just by looking at them!

The Cloudminders -- Kirk and Spock go to the city of uber smart people floating in the clouds - Droxine instantly latches on to Spock as the only person from the away team worth talking to.

DROXINE: I hear that, intellectually, Vulcans are as highly evolved as Stratos city dwellers.

Star Trek IV - We see Spock rehabbing by working out multiple complicated logical and mathematical problems - AT THE SAME TIME! He is only stumped when asked "How do you feel?"

When an alien planet needs to steal a brain, whose brain do they steal? McCoy? Kirk? Scotty? No, Spock has the juicy brain THAT CAN RUN AN ENTIRE FREAKIN' PLANET!

 

[Kelthaz]

No, he is just randomly able to report figures to five decimal places (even when asked to perform computations - he typically just rattles these figures off the top of his head) and is always able to speak competently on every topic of conversation.

I'll give you that Spock is very intelligent, but that doesn't mean all Vulcans share his intellect. Other Vulcans such as Tuvok, Vorik, or T'pol don't come across as any more intelligent than their human peers.

 

[Ninjacore]

Data is a computer, so technically he could just download all the schools educations in like what 5-6 seconds?

 

[Ninjacore]

No, he is just randomly able to report figures to five decimal places (even when asked to perform computations - he typically just rattles these figures off the top of his head) and is always able to speak competently on every topic of conversation.

I'll give you that Spock is very intelligent, but that doesn't mean all Vulcans share his intellect. Other Vulcans such as Tuvok, Vorik, or T'pol don't come across as any more intelligent than their human peers.

The vulcans were always smarter I felt.

 

[YARN]

I'll give you that Spock is very intelligent, but that doesn't mean all Vulcans share his intellect. Other Vulcans such as Tuvok, Vorik, or T'pol don't come across as any more intelligent than their human peers.

Later Trek has had some rather un-Vulcan Vulcans appear from time to time. The deeper you go into Trekdom the more you will find contradictions and complications.

There is, however, on-screen evidence which establishes that Vulcans, as a race, are more intelligent than humans.

Droxine, for example, is intellectually interested in Spock because of his race.

In TMP Kirk remarks that he'd prefer a Vulcan for the science station.

In TOS, the crew basically concedes that Vulcans have an intellectual edge over humans, but that humans make up for IQ with EQ -- intuition, creativity, spirit, emotional reasoning, etc.

We did witness a sort of dumbing down of Vulcans and a rather bizarre humanizing of Vulcans who had no human half to reconcile (full-blooded Vulcans), but I think it is still safe to say that your average Vulcan is intellectually superior to most other anthropoid species in the Trek verse, even if the margin appears closer than it did in TOS.

 

[The Rock]

Good points everyone. I didn't see it from your perspectives. Now I do!