Data Episodes

LCDR Data

Ensign
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I'm a character guy. When I watch movies, or tv or read comics I need good characters. Star Trek the Next Generation has great characters and my favorite is Lt. Commander Data. Some of these may not be Data episodes but they have great Data moments.

I've seen
Encounter at Farpoint
The Naked Now
Datalore
Elementary, Dear Data
The Schizoid Man
The Measure of a Man
Penpals
The Ensigns of Command
The Offspring
The Most Toys
Brothers
Data's Day
Unification I and II
Hero Worship
Time's Arrow I and II
Descent I and II
Phantasms
Thine Own Self

Are there more Data episodes or excellent Data moments in episodes?
 
Oh yes, there are more :hugegrin:

In Theory (as Tosk stated), Inheritance, Silicon Avatar, The Outrageous Okona and Legacy are also centered around Data. Birthright part I is half about Data and half about Worf, and it has AMAZING Data scenes !! :techman:

And IMO there are some great Data moments in The Royale, The Child, Starship Mine, Peak Performance, Relics and Disaster, to name a few ;)
 
What constitutes a Data episode? In Genesis and Timescape he's the main agent of ship saving. In Masks and Fistful of Datas he is the hijacked villain. In Birthright, Pt 1 he's the B plot.
 
What constitutes a Data episode? In Genesis and Timescape he's the main agent of ship saving. In Masks and Fistful of Datas he is the hijacked villain. In Birthright, Pt 1 he's the B plot.

A Data episode is like fine wine. You don't know how to recognize it until you find it. Then you know xD
 
Silicon Avatar, The Outrageous Okona and Legacy are also centered around Data.
I wouldn't considered them centered around Data, although he is a prominent figure in them, but ultimately, Data is a prominent figure at almost all times on TNG, like Clues. That episode is entirely dependent on Data throughout, even though it's not specifically centered on him. He also figures prominently in Redemption, & Gambit as a full on B plot, about his official command experience

I also find him a wonderful component to Déjà Q, a being finding out 1st hand what being human is, & having to associate with a being who's undergoing the same journey, in a different way. Not all that dissimilar to his use in Tin Man. He might actually be the best part of those episodes.
What constitutes a Data episode?
Specifically? The same thing that constitutes a Geordi or Troi episode, them exclusively being the feature of focus to the story, like Inheritance. That's a Data episode, but Data is arguably the preeminent character to the whole show, because I actually think Data's development even dwarfs Picard's. As a result, Data is constantly a feature of focus, even more than Spock was on TOS. He gets more moments of interest, like the Schisms teaser, than any other character.

I'd consider The Quality of Life a Data episode. I might even include it in the Data character arc, because the sci-fi concept of artificial intelligence can't be broached on the show, without it routing through him at some level, just like The Schizoid Man. I think the only time it came up, where he isn't an influential presence is Evolution... & maybe Emergence

My list of what I'd consider exclusively Data episodes is...

Datalore
The Schizoid Man
The Measure of A Man
Pen Pals
Ensigns of Command
The Offspring
The Most Toys
Brothers
In Theory
Hero Worship
The Quality of Life
Descent 1 & 2
Inheritance


And Birthright Part 1, where Worf is the B plot, that's prepping the second half which is all him. I also consider Data's Day a Data episode, but it's unique, because it isn't about him at all really. It's about how he sees everyone else, akin to Hawkeye's "Dear Dad" episodes from the show M*A*S*H

Masks is a tough call, because It's not really about him. It's more a Brent Spiner episode, & Thine Own Self is debatable, because in some ways it seems like a Data episode, with Troi as a B plot, but she's in it enough that it might also be considered a fully shared episode

Interestingly enough, I don't consider Elementary, Dear Data a Data Episode, even though he's named in it, & it does feature an emerging AI. Oddly, that episode isn't even really about him at all, once he's done being used as the catalyst.

Edit: Man, that was a much longer post than I expected it to be lol
 
I'd consider The Quality of Life a Data episode. I might even include it in the Data character arc, because the sci-fi concept of artificial intelligence can't be broached on the show, without it routing through him at some level, just like The Schizoid Man.

I totally forgot about those ! You post makes me want to watch them again :D
 
I mean, I think it's ambiguous whether to consider episodes where a person is leading the efforts to save the ship as centering around that character. Because Data tends to be the leader in those kinds of episodes where most of the ship is disabled or mutated or frozen in some way.
 
I mean, I think it's ambiguous whether to consider episodes where a person is leading the efforts to save the ship as centering around that character. Because Data tends to be the leader in those kinds of episodes where most of the ship is disabled or mutated or frozen in some way.
Right. Plus, Data is easily the most unique character, the one who's most curious to everyone else. There's hardly a scene goes by where someone isn't explaining something, or engaging him in conversation about himself. Think about the dialog, about his poetry, he has with Geordi, in Schisms, where Geordi just keeps saying it was clever lol

Data is always on the receiving end of that kind of attention in the show, from little stuff like that, to more involved stuff, like planning Geordi's funeral in The Next Phase. That's why my list of episodes I consider exclusively Data episodes, are the ones that solely deal with him specifically, his family, his origin, or a particular relationship or encounter he has. Pen Pals is about an encounter of his, & so is The Most Toys, in a way.

That's why there's so few I actually consider Data episodes, maybe 15 or 16 total, 1 or 2 a season usually, just like most of the other characters/actors got. The rest of the time, he just happens to be in the foreground a LOT, because he is so integral to the makeup of the show, on the whole
 
What constitutes a Data episode? In Genesis and Timescape he's the main agent of ship saving. In Masks and Fistful of Datas he is the hijacked villain. In Birthright, Pt 1 he's the B plot.

Data is a cool and fun character.
I like him in every episode with the 100 percent exception being "Masks".
I loath that episode. And in sure Spiner is great in it, I just can't get past the ship being turned into a Meso/Egyptian/ whatever and 'poof' back to normal.
If they had just mentioned :
"Star date 534512, after a three month stay for repairs at Starbase 211, the Enterprise is now underway to the Vorga system where a strange outbreak of Applian flu......."

But I know, I know, continuation episodes in those days were pretty much unheard of.
 
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