Episode: Brothers. So let me get this straight...

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I thought Data taking over the ship was the coolest thing, because I'd been watching the damn show for three years wondering if the producers had ever given the slightest thought to how unstoppable and dangerous he was. Technologically sensible or not, the way that he improvised that absurdly long password in the certainty that he could recall it perfectly in an instant and no one else could possibly crack it was just perfect.

 

[Anwar]

I'd like to see Spock pull that off .

 

[Hober Mallow]

After this incident they built a remote control for Data's off switch.

 

[Timo]

After Riker got wooed by that Ktarian agent in "The Game", did they install an electroshock chastity belt on him?

It sounds asinine to impose perverse limitations on people like Data or LaForge just because they once erred. They could go to jail for it, if that's the socially agreed-upon punishment for naughtiness. They could lose their jobs. But there's no way in hell they could be forced to undergo humiliating surgery that will limit the rest of their lives.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Greylock Crescent]

You obviously haven't spend most of your life dealing with large unthinking bureaucratic organizations such as the Military or the Government. I have. Take a look at the Peter Principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle and remember that it most applies to the policy makers. Incompetence in these large organizations is normal - expected, even mind-numbingly predictable. Changes as you suggest often take YEARS to wind their way through the bureaucratic tangles to all too often make the wrong choice (entailing even more years to reverse that decision). Even the largest organizations on Earth today are small compared to what Starfleet and the UFP government must be. I could easily see these things taking DECADES to work out - if not more.

And yet we see time and time again how the crew of the Enterprise quickly adapts to adversity. It's Picard's ship and he's responsible for everything that takes place on it. It's certainly not unreasonable for either Starfleet or even Picard to have certain safeguards in place (and no, Timo, I'm not talking about "perverse limitations" on the characters). An internal sensor to detect whether or not there are any unusual signals coming into the ship that might "activate" Data, or access LaForge's VISOR would do. But that would mean such plot devices couldn't be used in future episodes and future writers would *gasp* have to think of something new.

The real problem here is shoddy and lazy writing in these episodes in question. The biggest problem with "Brothers" is that, while the whole Data Hijack sequence is really cool and fun to watch, it's written without a single thought to consequence. You can't tell me that even the Military would allow someone to hijack a ship-of-the-line and impose no sanctions whatsoever, no matter what the bureaucracy might be like. And yet there's not one word about it in the episode. You wouldn't need a bureaucracy to settle the matter, a simple line from Picard would have done the trick.

 

[Timo]

An internal sensor to detect whether or not there are any unusual signals coming into the ship that might "activate" Data, or access LaForge's VISOR would do. But that would mean such plot devices couldn't be used in future episodes and future writers would *gasp* have to think of something new.

I don't see how those would have affected the subsequent plots. When Data or LaForge were compromised again, it was due to new and exotic signals that Starfleet was unable to sense or track. So even if an alarm was in place (and one may well have been installed after the "Brothers" incident), it would not have noticed the signals used in "Mind's Eye", or those affecting Data in "Masks", or Soran's El-Aurian high tech in ST:GEN. This particular plot device would remain perfectly valid, just like the analogous plot device of "villain telepathically controls one of the heroes".

As for sanctions on Data, it'd be up to Picard to decide whether to prosecute or not. Since there was no harm done, he might wish to protect Data from consequences - and he would have the means, since Starfleet has never been shown tracking the movements of its frontline vessels in particular detail, and captains have extreme leeway with what is done with their ships. Picard could simply send Starfleet a set of logs wherein he himself took responsibility for the minor detour to Soong's hideout, or then gloss over the incident altogether. Remember Donald Varley from "Contagion"? He spent half a year AWOL, performing acts of war left and right, and there was no indication that he'd have been held particularly responsible even had he lived. Ends justify means in starship operations, in TNG and TOS alike.

Let's also not forget that Picard has covered for Worf several times - and Worf usually left behind a trail of bloody corpses! At least Data didn't kill anybody.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Anwar]

Heck, Sisko covered for Worf when Worf assassinated Gowron...

 

[Mojochi]

After Riker got wooed by that Ktarian agent in "The Game", did they install an electroshock chastity belt on him?

Yeah, I forgot about that one I guess they all have had their weaker moments

The one that gets me is when Geordi & Data are talking in "Force Of Nature" about the crazy lady who killed herself to prove warp travel was damaging. Geordi was beating himself up over it, saying he had been in positions where no one believed him & that he should have listened to her

And then Data said "I doubt you would have gone to such extremes" or something like that, which I guess we're not supposed to remember that only six episodes earlier, Geordi was willing to get himself killed just to prove his mother was still alive

 

[Timo]

Perhaps Data was being therapeutic about it? In a nudge nudge, wink wink manner?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Let's also not forget that Picard has covered for Worf several times - and Worf usually left behind a trail of bloody corpses! At least Data didn't kill anybody.

But there was an episode -- can't remember which one off the top of my head -- in which Picard does place a reprimand in Worf's records. It's something like that which would have made the hijack sequence more palatable. Something to show the consequences of his actions.

And yeah, you can almost always find ways to explain away the missteps the writer's have made. And if you've no problem with the writing in this episode or subsequent ones, that's cool. But for me, the bottom line is that writing went for style over substance -- the "hey, let's watch Data do something crazy" without ever really thinking what it'd plausibly mean for his character. Which, to me, in an episode that was otherwise all about character is inexcusable.