Stuff that make you wonder but not own thread worthy

[tomalak301]

I just noticed this on Pluto TV and I was wondering if anyone knew the answer. Right now the episode playing is Up the Long Ladder, but on Pluto TV, it says "Up the Long Ladder (aka, Send in the Clones)". Has the longer title always been the official title of this episode or when did the long version start. Or is this just a Pluto TV thing.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Up The Long Ladder (episode)

The Enterprise discovers two threatened colonies which must cooperate to survive. On the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D, Worf is at his post at tactical when he suddenly begins to feel uncomfortable. He is fighting the odd sensations the best he can. Captain Picard arrives on the bridge and...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

It was the title of a script revision.

 

[Farscape One]

"Up The Long Ladder" is the official title, as it is what is shown screen after the theme.

"Send in the Clones" was one of the script versions that made it close to the finish line. (Like how "Time Squared" is the official title but has also been called "Time to the Second".)

 

[Mojochi]

Spot's 1st appearance is in Data's Day. Nobody in The Most Toys mentions anyone needing to take over guardianship of Spot, once Data is presumed dead & they're rifling thru his stuff. So Data must not have his cat yet. Cats are an Earth species. Do you suppose Data got Spot while the ship was at Earth following BoBW & Family? He clearly took the cat in, maybe even as a kitten, without previous owner, as it seems likely no one but Data could've named Spot that specifically off of a name

I know it's kind of a joke, but are we supposed to really accept that Data couldn't figure out that Spot is historically known for being a dog's name? Or that he'd be oblivious that it's generally a name for one that has a... Spot?

There's just not enough Spot backstory. Let's not even get into him apparently not knowing the correct sex of his cat for a good long time lol

Wouldn't it be kind of irresponsible to bring Earth species off world? You'd think there'd be rules about that

 

[Farscape One]

Spot may have been born on the Enterprise. Another member of the crew might have had cats and they had a litter, and Data adopted Spot. He was certain Spot had never seen a rat or been chased by a dog (from dialogue in "Phantasms"), so it's likely Spot was born on the ship.

It's also possible that Spot was owned by another crewman who died and Data adopted after their death. (No evidence really points to this, but it's something that I just thought up as a possibility.)

 

[Mojochi]

Spot may have been born on the Enterprise. Another member of the crew might have had cats and they had a litter, and Data adopted Spot. He was certain Spot had never seen a rat or been chased by a dog (from dialogue in "Phantasms"), so it's likely Spot was born on the ship.

It's also possible that Spot was owned by another crewman who died and Data adopted after their death. (No evidence really points to this, but it's something that I just thought up as a possibility.)

Clearly, we're meant to think he's the one who cluelessly named the cat "Spot" though, right? Who else would name a cat a traditional dog's name, when it doesn't even have a spot on it?

This is what leads me to think he took in a new cat, either from Earth, or like you suggested, born in a litter from one of the other cat owners aboard ship. Either way, it would've been young enough for Data to know it hadn't seen a rat or dog

If Spot both ends up pregnant aboard ship, & was born from a shipboard cat pregnancy... That means there's a fair amount of random cat breeding going on aboard this ship, that I'm frankly not all that comfortable with lol

 

[Farscape One]

Clearly, we're meant to think he's the one who cluelessly named the cat "Spot" though, right? Who else would name a cat a traditional dog's name, when it doesn't even have a spot on it?

This is what leads me to think he took in a new cat, either from Earth, or like you suggested, born in a litter from one of the other cat owners aboard ship. Either way, it would've been young enough for Data to know it hadn't seen a rat or dog

If Spot both ends up pregnant aboard ship, & was born from a shipboard cat pregnancy... That means there's a fair amount of random cat breeding going on aboard this ship, that I'm frankly not all that comfortable with lol

I didn't think 'spot' was traditionally a dog's name. While Spot on TNG is the only example I know of a cat having that name, I've also heard birds with that name. (Buddy of mine years ago had a bird named Spot.)

At this point, there's really no such thing as a traditional name for a specific type of animal anymore.

 

[Commander Troi]

Spot was definitely traditionally a dog's name. It's in our childhood Dick and Jane books.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Up The Long Ladder (episode)

The Enterprise discovers two threatened colonies which must cooperate to survive. On the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D, Worf is at his post at tactical when he suddenly begins to feel uncomfortable. He is fighting the odd sensations the best he can. Captain Picard arrives on the bridge and...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

It was the title of a script revision.

Which makes no sense to include on TV like this. Who and their grandmother knows about this other than a small number of us and the people actually involved back in the day?

Outside those people, it looks like a joke made up by the person who entered the data for PlutoTV.

 

[Mojochi]

Spot was definitely traditionally a dog's name. It's in our childhood Dick and Jane books.

It was definitely commonplace enough at the time of TNG to assume this was a deliberate joke the writers set up specifically for Data, that he'd be so amusingly inhuman, that he'd search his database for common Earth pet names, never consider specifying cats exclusively, & stumble upon Spot, thinking it was universal... Maybe in hindsight we can imagine that in the 24th century they've lost that kind of animal naming specificity & that it's not weird, but in 1990, when they made this, it certainly was meant to be a decidedly odd name, for that specific reason

(Buddy of mine years ago had a bird named Spot.)

Any chance it had a spot on it? lol

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

So pet names are unispecies and transcend physical appearance in the 24th century?

 

[Mojochi]

So pet names are unispecies and transcend physical appearance in the 24th century?

I suppose it's possible

 

[fireproof78]

Which makes no sense to include on TV like this. Who and their grandmother knows about this other than a small number of us and the people actually involved back in the day?

Outside those people, it looks like a joke made up by the person who entered the data for PlutoTV.

Inside jokes are fun though: