UNCUT - Data's Day (TNG S4E11) | Star Trek Journey 192

McFadden a real dancer

Can’t wait till u get to season 6 because then you’ll have to start watching DS9 for certain things to make……..sense

8.2/10 for me, very good episode. Data's my favorite character and I loved being able to slow down and show more of his life, plus the Cheif getting more focus

for me it is S - not just because Data is my fav - but it moves me to tears at the end after making me laugh so many times - love the episode

It's a bit surprising that Data believes the myth that Vulcans are incapable of lying, but then again, Bones believed it too and one of his best friends was a Vulcan.

I can’t guys to get into season six!

To defend the minor b plot, which this season has proven they will drop when they want to This is Data's Day. The Enterprise is duped by a spy and is on the brink of destruction with a potential war to break out between the Federation and the Star Empire. Events he himself is personally involved with, momentous in history, any other day the a-plot, the main focus, capital H History The only reason the 20% of that is included at all is because it interrupted dealing with what he actually cares about, his friends. Maddox is getting is a long account of interpersonal struggles and bettering his understanding to help friends and "oh btw, yeah there were like 11 warbirds about to barrel down on us, but to get back to the wedding,"

Penpals angers me because the concept is perfect but the execution is so botched across so many levels.

Orange skin???

Yeah, I think A is about right for this one. It's memorable for the unusual format and O'Brien's wedding, and it's pretty good overall, but it's not one of those legendary eps like MoaM, Defector, YE, or BOBW. I do like the day in the life angle, and doing that from Data's perspective in particular was a great choice. I do feel like Data reverted back to late S1/early S2 Data here in some ways. Just last episode he was catching on that giving time estimates down to the second was irritating and stopped at minutes, whereas here he seems unusually obtuse about any kind of social interactions or human behavior. It's entertaining certainly, especially the "lunkhead scene", but it does make the episode feel like a throwback in a way. It is interesting that right after Wesley left and they no longer had to throw him a B plot every 5 eps or so, they decide to give Colm the most screen time he's got thus far(if I'm not mistaken). Not that I'm complaining, I'll take O'Brien over Wesley any day. As for the spy plot, it was fine. I've never been particularly fond of the performance of the spy posing as the ambassador myself. It could be argued that her seeming "off" is because she's a Romulan pretending to be Vulcan, but if she's been undercover for years or decades, would she not have perfected her mannerisms to avoid scrutiny? One part of this plotline I did rather like was Adm. Mendak. Alan Scarfe has a very distinct voice you can't miss, but moreover I appreciate how reserved he was in the handling of the situation. He didn't go all Tomalak and start threatening to take the Enterprise as a war trophy, he didn't open fire. He basically said "fair enough, you figured out our plan, but you're too late to do anything about it. Best you just accept you lost and go home, that way I don't have to blow up your ship". He's playing the game, he's working to give his people the advantage against the federation, but he's not itching to start a war. Couple little pieces of TNG trivia. First, this was the first episode to air in 1991. Second, and completely unrelated to this episode, I got curious as to how many TNG eps started with "The", and it's 41. 41 of 178 episodes! And some of those are 2 parters like Farpoint and BOBW, so less than 178 episode names. That's like 1/4 of the ep titles. I think the 6 ep stretch from The Enemy to The High Ground was the worst for this. Nothing inherently wrong with a title that starts with "The" but it can feel uninspired if it's too common.

Big Galaxy. Not Bug Galaxy. That's not for awhile yet.

Sorry, but y'all have no knowledge of how intelligence works. It not Bond types, it's the quiet types you never notice and they are usually on the foriegn "embasy staff" or at least that's their cover, having a major ambassador be a deep undercover spy for years to where she's risen enough in rank to influence federation policy- yeah there probably is a ton of stuff she knows and something they want to know right now. Personally I could do my own speculations in line with future continuity but that sort of thing isn't allowed. From a writer's pov, it opens doors. They don't have to even know what they took now. It opens up future contunuity. But maybe it'll never come up again. That's the thing with Trek, it's a bug galaxy and you never now for sure.

Can we talk about how the whole Romulan mess was ON Data? He DID have some intuition of some sort about the ambassador testing his security protocols but because she technically didn't violate any guidelines he didn't, if he had trusted his intuition he would have alerted the rest and the "ambassador" would have been captured as a prisoner.

For this episode specifically, I re-subscribed to Paramount+ (yes, I know it sucks) and watched concurrently with this uncut reaction, a feat that took about three times due to being interrupted by a hurricane with power outages. But it was worth it cuz I'm glad to see y'all's full reaction to one of my favorite Star Trek episodes ever. If I'm to "sample" a TNG episode with a random person, I almost always choose Data's Day, because I consider it a perfect balance of slice of life, humanity, and suspense. And it pleases me to have witnessed y'all get here in your galactic journey. Thanks for creating so much contact and spoiling us on a regular basis.

Josh & Alex loved an episode I loved, but a hair less than I loved it?!?! Time to get the pitchforks out.

Domino’s pizza smells like dog farts.

He gets to ignore the next goodwill gesture OR can do something aggressive and say well you killed that pro-peace ambassador"

NIGHT CREW!!!! Beer me!

We finally get a pay off on one of Josh's earliest savant predictions. The orange cat. I'm not sure which season one reaction he mentions it in, but it was early on. If I remember correctly, he even paired it with Data.

Thanks for pointing out that barbershop logo. Over the many times I've seen this episode, I never noticed it before. Also other new room is the "gift" store, with maybe higher energy replicators?

Keiko O'Brien joins the TNG family.

On a tech note, I had to video from this one just totally cut out, go to black a couple times. I closed the app and reopened, then it was fine, until it did it again. I hope it is just a temporary issue with Patreon. It did it on more than one wi-fi too.

You should call the discussion “Josh’s Day”

You probably don't remember but in TOS Conscience Of The King Kirk mentions how to give the crew the feel of day and night they use dimmer lighting during the night hours.

I ❤️ these style episodes in genre shows. Some of my other favorites include The Adventures of Superboy 3x15 “A Day in the Double Life” and Xena: Warrior Princess 2x15 “A Day in the Life.”

Did you notice the bug in the cat food as the cat eats the food? :)

The great thing about this episode is the reminder that the Enterprise is a place fully of people that are living there day to day lives like people everywhere. Between all the Starfleet duties and missions there are 1000 plus people living on this ship that still are dealing with everyday things like daycare, school, haircuts. Starfleet and civilian alike.

Mendek was played by Alan Scarfe I've seen him in a lot of stuff over the years. His rather distinctive way of talking made for some interesting characters. Sadly he died April 28th of this year.

Ah... I'm sure it's been said before, but you guys are gonna love Deep Space Nine.

1:17:30 That's not fair, though. Spock isn't a true Vulcan. He's half human. To hold Spock as the archetype of all Vulcans is misguided. It's sort-of like holding Worf as the archetype of all Klingons. He may be all Klingon, but he wasn't raised in the culture. Everything he knows about it he had to learn second-hand. If you want a "true Vulcan" you should first turn to Sarek, even though his appearances are limited. Keeping all of that in mind... Ambassador T'Pel was a Romulan masquerading as a Vulcan. The actress did an excellent job!

1:15:35 She's a Romulan who has been been a spy disguised as a Vulcan the entire time. She has been infiltrated inside the Federation for a long time, but we don't know how long. For whatever reason, her spy-time was over, so the Romulans orchestrated these "diplomatic negotiations" to get her back home without revealing her spy-ness.

1:09:14 Huh? The computer talked to Data in his quarters, and outside the holodeck just before the dance lesson scene. And in "The Loss" the computer made some alarm announcements when they were trying to dislodge from and escape the 2D creatures. Not really very memorable lines, but they're there.

What a terrible teaser. Ugh.

Wish we could see the moment Data met Spot. Could’ve been a good scene.

About Data and the night shift: each officer has a 4 hour watch twice a day, on a 3 shift rotation. Riker, Worf, Data are the Sr. officers who command the bridge over these watches. Picard doesn't hold a watch, but traditionally a captain would on a smaller ship. When you see all the Sr. officers on the bridge, it is usually because something critical is happening. And, well every episode is written around a plot where something critical is happening. For normal day to day operations, you probably see all the Sr. officers together on the bridge for brief periods. And there are other officers who are rated as watch officers that can stand in for one of the Sr. officers. This is all based on naval tradition.

Wesley is gone forever... as a regular anyway.

8:25 I had never noticed the barber pole graphic before!

I was under the impression that the ambassador was a long-term mole in Starfleet. I think she'd been in Starfleet for years. But it was a weak storyline.

Being able to make predictions isn't in and of itself a deal breaker for me. It's not that I don't appreciate when a show outsmarts me, in fact I really appreciate when it does, but in general I prefer something predictable that makes sense versus something unpredictable that doesn't. Not being able to predict a show doesn't necessarily mean it's well written either. It's only an issue for me if I predict something that the characters in the show should also have figured out for themselves. If Data is having misgivings about T'Pel based on his brief interactions, it's strange that nobody else suspects a thing before the reveal at the end. I'm not even limiting it to the Enterprise crew. Assuming she was a spy the whole time and not just a recent replacement, did nobody else in Star Fleet ever suspect her including other Vulcans? So it's not outsmarting the show that's the problem here. It's outsmarting typically smart characters.

Typically the lights on a night shift are dimmed because it is for human health. Keeps our rhythm regular. In my hospital at least, the ER is the only place we do not dim the lights because of the nature of the work in that department. As for the Romulan spy, I equate her character to Russian spies in the Cold War where they sent people to live as Americans, but work as spies for the Soviet Union. A good dramatized example of this is the TV series 'The Americans'. In that series a man and a woman are coupled together by the Russian government to live as husband and wife in the U.S. and they go as far as having children for their cover. They are given objectives via drop offs to acquire intelligence for the Soviet Union and on occasion sabotage.

This was a great Day in the Life Comedic episode, Spiner is so go, and this episode has call backs to MASH as they did these type of episodes the "Dear Dad" episodes all the Time. Plus the actrees that marries the Chief marries Corporal Klinger

Personally, I would never criticize that shot of Deanna.

"He might not be in another episode for like four episodes." Remember that.

My understanding has always been that the ambassador was always a spy, who was in deep cover and had been gathering information about the Federation for years. The Enterprise's mission is just a ruse to extract her from the Federation - maybe she was also trying to gather some info on the Enterprise, but I don't think that was the primary mission.

The sex scoreboard Riker 8 new +1 (edited here pointed out that Riker scored in this ep) Troi 3 Data 1 Picard 1 Worf 1 Jordy 1 & 1 I Broccoli 2 i Chief 1 new +1 Keiko 1 new +1 extras: Although adding 1 for the chief assumes he did have sex. He did just get married after all. (that one is going to come back and bite me in hate mail)

OMG, Josh's voice over! <3 <3 <3

A thought occurred to me watching this one for the umpteenth time. Does Data ever disclose to Picard that the “ambassador” made the request to Data? If I were Picard and I found this out after she had been beamed back to the Warbird and revealed to be a spy I would be furious. Clearly if Picard knew about this conversation it would have raised suspicions. So either Data didn’t report it OR Data did report it and Picard dismissed it. Either way, it makes one or the other (or both) look uncharacteristically like idiots.

"The ending music is always the same"?! How dare you utter such blasphemy! By the way, I'm very impressed by Alex picking up on the Romulan plot twist! You guys pick up on things I've never noticed before, like the hair coloring in the barber shop or the painting in the background mirror. That's a big part of what makes your reactions special. Also, I never realized how confusing the opening of this episode could be when watching in airdate order. But I agree that calling Data "the father of the bride" is a VERY strange way to phrase things. I kinda thought you'd like this episode even more, since you often mention wanting to see a "day in the life" episode and that's really what this is. And it features O'Brien getting married!

Totally agree with you on the Vulcan ambassador/Romulan spy, Josh. That performance kept it from being an S episode for me.

Regarding Data and friends - yes, I think that a lot of his friendships are from circumstance, but as you said, a lot of OUR friendships are those of circumstance. That being said, he specifically said he considered Geordi his "Best Friend" and I think it's because of shared interests and the "ease" of their conversations.

Who has haircuts when you have transporters, you would just beam yourself back to a 2 week earlier version that had shorter hair.

Point of Clarification, T'Pring was Spock's wife-to-be, T'Pau (T'POW) was the Vulcan amdassador in Amok Time.

Rosalind Chao (Keiko) was one of the final candidates for the role of Tasha Yar.

To me, the Data/O'Brien stuff is S tier and the ambassador mystery B plot is B tier. There are better ways the whole "let's shut the audience out of what is going on" thing is done in some future stories. Average the two and that is why I also ranked it A. Also, I laughed every time you guys said "kee ko"

You’ll return to this one later and it’ll be an S. I enjoy this episode every time I rewatch it, never gets boring.

Here in Denver, Pizza Hut and Dominos always have the opposite delivery times. Dominos is always fast and Pizza Hut is usually 2-3 hours.

I always forget until I watch it again, but the dance partner the computer conjours for Data bears a resemblence to Tasha Yar. Because of course the computer would remember crew member's preferences. Dang cookies.

how do we make keiko Asian? hm let put chop sticks in her hair

As someone who did overnight work in offices for years, we always adjusted the lights dimmer at night. It feels really uncomfortable to have things at daylight levels when your body know it's supposed to be darker.

There's a lot of real life stories of actual spies who stayed undercover for years, in disguise and all. So I don't agree that that was weak at all. It's one of the better "B plots" in the whole series imo (if it even counts as a B plot.. I think the whole episode is just one big A plot). Great episode though, glad you guys enjoyed.

I've been waiting 2 years to watch this episode with you. This is a definite S, you guys. It's everything you've asked for. I'm frankly astonished. I've watched this episode maybe 10, 20 times, and I never noticed lipstick, wigs or other meaningless flotsam. Way too much overthinking. But I still love you guys. Keep up the great work.

I figured they dimmed the lights during the night shift on the ship to mimic the day night cycle on earth that the crew would be used to. I know i'd hate to be in an environment where it is daytime all the time.

Perhaps Q is a mystery. Perhaps his episodes don't always have "Q" in the title. Now you're dodging mines in an empty field. Or is it empty?

This is the first time I've ever considered how much Data's virtual dance partner looks like Tasha

My soft-pilot for any non-Trek friends. Maybe my all-time favorite single TNG episode.

Brent Spiner said the most difficult cast member he had to work with in the series: Was the cats! Yes, there were multiple critters used

It's a A+ The dude gets the boutonniere, and the Ladies get the Corsage echhh echh Florist here

The DATA'S DAY Josh joke at the begining of the dicussion.... chef's kiss.

Colm was filming three different movies during the early part of the season. Die Hard 2, Dick Tracy, and Come See the Paradise. Gates McFadden has an extensive background in dance. In the 70s she taught dance and choreography at the University of Pittsburg, Harvard, and George Washington University. In the 80s she worked at the Jim Henson Company as Director of Choreography for Labyrinth, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and Dreamchild. An interesting side note: Brent Spiner is the godfather of her son.

Josh, Alex. Trust me you’re definitely missing things, Only time will tell

Oh a lovely episode, with the introduction of the greatest supporting character - Data’s cat.

Robot Chicken had a gag called "Star Trek Night Crew" that jokingly established that there was a whole other bridge crew who manned the bridge from 11pm to 7am. It was pretty funny and had Patrick Stewart doing the voice of Picard and Chris Pine doing the voice of the "alternate Captain."

I really like the slice of life Star Trek episode. It's really the first time we just follow a "regular" day on the Enterprise. Some people hate slice-of-life, but if the characters are good, I'm a big fan

This is a solid episode. The next one is the one i'm excited for though. Yes, indeed.

Kirk (Kirok) married Miramanee in "The Paradise Syndrome". Not a great episode but he did get married.

I did S tier this. Not just for the Data focus, but for all the little mundane everyday stuff we see. The barbershop, the dancing doctor, calling Geordi a lunkhead all those little things, Worf picking out a gift..even the wedding itself. I love that stuff as it just breathes so much life into the ship and crew itself and grounds it so much more than a traditional episode. I almost only gave this an A as well mostly because I think the B plot with the ambassador kind of falls flat and doesn't really add much. Other than the little bit of narration from Data. The wrestling wedding gag cracked me up too. Romulan HHH shows up on the vid screen with Keiko going through an interstellar drive through chapel o' love lol Screw you Tes... I mean Obrien! See you at "Hell. In. A. Neutral Zone."

Great Reaction you lunkheads

That's something I never thought about. They have a holodeck, so the wedding could be held ANYWHERE... but O'Brien and Keiko get married at the bar.

There must be better pizza choices in your area

The Dancing Doctor and Tap Dancing Data!!! (Although he did have a double for some shots.) At the time this aired, I had just moved away from several years of competition dance as a kid, which included tap dancing, so I thoroughly enjoyed that scene. I really like this episode. It's a light episode and even though there's not much of a plot and it's a 'Day in the Life' type of episode, since it's Data that made it more fun.

Aren’t we lucky that Data didn’t ask her to teach him how to Riverdance?!!

Hey Alex, adjust your shirt so Spock stops making that creepy face. Try the "Alex Maneuver".

Waitaminute 2 hours for delivery? Holy shit.

Let’s go!