TNG Episodes where Data shows emotion

[edisraf]

Just watched Redemption 1 & 2 last night. In R2 it seems to me that Data shows a lot of emotion. And I can accept this as his way of dealing with humans. (Like Spock reasoning that it was time for an emotional outburst).

Anyway, I was wondering what other episodes there were where Data shows emotion.

raf

 

[Alrik]

Three that come to mind right away, not because it was overt, but because it was subtle:

The Most Toys
The Offspring
Legacy

 

[sonak]

heck he shows emotions like puzzlement and curiousity in practically every episode to the point of wondering why they bothered with the concept that he had no emotions.

 

[Shon T'Hara]

heck he shows emotions like puzzlement and curiousity in practically every episode to the point of wondering why they bothered with the concept that he had no emotions.

Remember, "showing" emotions isn't the same as having them. In Redemption II he wasn't actually angry, he was behaving in a manner that he calculated would get his snot-nosed XO to obey his orders. Displays of puzzlement and curiosity are probably manifestations of his programming, not genuine feelings.

 

[TroiFan4ever]

And don't forget Descent 1 where he choked the CRAP outta that borg.

 

[JRoss]

I think that the franchise would have benefited from Data realizing at one point that he has in fact developed emotions on his own, rather than just dumping them on him with a chip that he can deactivate at will. It would have been better for character development.

 

[Satyrquaze]

His laughing outburst in "Deja-Q"...

 

[Tosk]

heck he shows emotions like puzzlement and curiousity in practically every episode to the point of wondering why they bothered with the concept that he had no emotions.

Puzzlement and curiosity are not emotions though, are they?

I agree with Shon...there's a big difference between displaying the outward signs of emotions and actually having emotion.

With the exception of a few stray story points (like the aforementioned "Descent" and "Deja Q") there's not much that can be pointed to and stated "Data felt emotion there!"

And there are times when it is stated explicitly that he he faking the outward signs of emotion. (eg: "In Theory")

All that said, I too had always hoped that Data would realise or discover that he had emotions after a time. There's every reason to believe he wouldn't know it right away, having no frame of reference. I thought it could be cool that the reason he didn't achieve true emotions earlier was because he was specifically trying to, whereas emotions are (I'll quote the dictionary here 'cause it'll be better than my own fumbling words) "A psychological state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort."