"The Measure of a Man" Line-by-Line

[LeadHead]

(Later, in Ten Forward, Picard talks with Guinan)

Guinan: Do you mean his argument was that good?

 

[Leandar]

Picard: Riker's presentation was devastating. He almost convinced me.

 

[LeadHead]

Guinan: You've got the harder argument. By his own admission, Data is a machine.

 

[Leandar]

Picard: That's true.

 

[LeadHead]

Guinan: You're worried about what's going to happen to him?

 

[Leandar]

Picard: I've had to send people on far more dangerous missions.

 

[Ziz]

Guinan: Then this should work out fine. Maddox could get lucky and create a whole army of Datas, all very valuable.

 

[Leandar]

Picard: Oh yes, no doubt.

 

[LeadHead]

Guinan: He's proved his value to you.

 

[Leandar]

Picard: In ways that I cannot even begin to calculate.

 

[CoveTom]

GUINAN: And now he's about to be ruled the property of Starfleet. That should increase his value.

 

[Leandar]

Picard: In what way?

 

[Brian]

GUINAN: Well, consider that in the history of many worlds there have always been disposable creatures. They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do because it's too difficult, or to hazardous. And an army of Datas, all disposable, you don't have to think about their welfare, you don't think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people.

 

[Leandar]

Picard: He's talking about slavery.

 

[Ziz]

It's "You're talking about slavery."

Guinan: "I think that's a little harsh."

 

[CoveTom]

PICARD: I don't think that's a little harsh. I think that's the truth. But it's a truth we have obscured behind a comfortable, easy euphemism: property. But that's not the issue at all, is it?

 

[LeadHead]

(Back in the courtroom)

Picard: Commander Riker has dramatically demonstrated that Lieutenant Commander Data is a machine. Do we deny that? No, because it is not relevant. We are too machines, just machines of a different type. Commander Riker has also reminded us the Lieutenant Commander Data was created by a human. Do we deny that? No. Again it is not relevant. Children are created from the building blocks of their parents DNA. Are they property? I call Lieutenant Commander Data to the stand.

 

[Leandar]

^^Finishing:
Picard (cont.): What are these?

Data: My medals.

 

[LeadHead]

Picard: Why do you pack them? What logical purpose do they serve?

 

[Leandar]

Data: I do not know, sir. I suppose none, I just wanted them. Is that vanity?