Data's first emotions. So many missed opportunities

[Paradise City]

They are hazing Worf for his promotion. So everybody is in that jovial frame of mind with Worf at the centre of attention. .

Data takes Crusher aside to have a frank conversation and in a split second dumps her overboard. It's almost as if he attacked her and noone really knows why he did it. Of course everybody appreciates it's just Data harmlessly screwing up but it's awkward. And all this to set us up for the emotion chip business later on.

 

[eyeresist]

DATA: Doctor, I must confess I am uncertain as to why someone falling into freezing water is amusing.
CRUSHER: Oh, it's all done in good fun, Data.
DATA: Fun?
CRUSHER: Fun.
DATA: I do not understand.
CRUSHER: You've got to get into the spirit of things. Learn to be spontaneous. Live in the moment. Do something unexpected. Get it?
DATA: Got it.​

Crusher tells Data that unexpectedly pushing someone into freezing water is a good thing. If she didn't want a sudden immersion, she should have explained more carefully.

 

[Lance]

It is, also, very funny. Despite what the characters themselves repeatedly try to tell us.

I always feel a little bad for Data. Geordi and the gang basically guilt him. He only puts the damn chip in because he thinks he misunderstood what funny is... when in actual fact he got it *exactly* right.

 

[eyeresist]

It is, also, very funny. Despite what the characters themselves repeatedly try to tell us.

I always feel a little bad for Data. Geordi and the gang basically guilt him.

Yes, if there's anything to object to, it's that Data's friends are messing with him. I don't know how much experience he had detecting lies during the series.... A quick google says 'none'.

 

[Thomas Elliot]

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.

Yes! I completely agree. I would like to have seen Data experiencing emotion, and having it being an integral sub-plot that runs through the TNG film series. When he feels fear for the first time in Generations, that was great. But all the dumb jokes, singing, etc was really annoying.

A lot of missed opportunities with that film series.