FULL DISCUSSION - Star Trek TNG S2E3 - Elementary, Dear Data

While I haven't seen this episode several times it has always been one of the most memorable. I literally laughed out loud at the end of the conference room scene when Capt. Picard simply says, "Merde." We didn't have google translate in 1988 so I guess this is the first instance where we hear Capt. Picard swear.

Note that this episode represents a key character moment for Pulaski. At the beginning she is still very dismissive of androids. By the end she experiences attraction for and appreciation for Moriarti, who is completely an artificial intelligence.

You guys should read the book or listen to the audiobook of “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”

I love Dr. Pulaski, I was in the Navy, you don’t instantly get along with all your shipmates. Dr. Pulaski is abrasive, but I believe she means well. I like seeing diversity of thought in a show based on many characters.

Anyone else notice that there was a bit of a nod to the Big Goodbye at the end ? When Professor Moriarty was ready to be deactivated he said he did not like dragging out a goodbye. Picard then says "Ah yes a Short Goodbye." I thought that was basically referencing the Big Goodbye. I also loved how instead of the character remaining a villain, when he started to develop consciousness he actually became somewhat of a good guy.

I have no idea but you gotta think down the road they'll bring Moriarity back. In those days shows were 26 episodes a season and this was a good character they left an opening for. To be honest, I find him more interesting than Q. On a side note, maybe you should watch a Sherlock movie, or the show Sherlock for a modern version.

I'm with you, Alex, on Dr. Pulaski. I'm curious to see if and how your view on her will change over the course of the season; Josh's too of course. I never warmed up to her. Her unnecessary behavior towards Data is one thing, but just generally how she is and comes across to me (can't go into detail about it at this point) just puts me off completely.

As one of those that is very critical of the first two seasons, this is a keeper. While The Big Goodbye really created this "genre" within TNG. I actually thank , primarily due to the actors and writers getting a better feel for the characters and their dialogue (so growth), that while the concept of the Big Goodbye is excellent, that the finished product on Elementary, Dear Data is the superior overall product. And, Rob Bowman, certainly helps this episodes case, as he is easily the best director for the first two seasons of the show to date. Not abad for a kid.

On the dislike of Pulaski (I actually don't dislike her, with one real exception), its very understandable for three reasons. 1. Gates was fired, and we the audience were a little upset about it. So we did to some degree transfer that emotion to the character that replaced her. 2. By having her attack Data a character that was very popular. Really didn't do the actress any favors. 3. Her character is any many ways "Bones". Probably the most direct copy of a character type from TOS, for the same position. Now I love Bones, and I loved his and Spock's interactions which could be both heated and insulting. But Spock is different than Data. Spock was McCoy's match, he responded. He didn't just take it. Data in many ways is an innocent, So it really felt like bullying someone who couldn't defend themselves. Not a good look. at all.

Director Rob Bowman was originally in line and looking forward to directing The Big Goodbye, but scheduling gave the episode to another director. Extremely disappointed, he poured everything into the look and feel of Elementary Dear Data to the point some have remarked it looked a bit too good for this story.

I think the disdain for the doctor is because we like Data and see him as a person. Geordi is the stand in for us, defending Data to someone with a very myopic view of what makes something alive/a person.

In the list I made listing the episodes according to my ratings, this one is under "Best of the Best", the first such rating this season.

I think part of the hate towards Dr Pulaski is because she replaced Dr Crusher. Which isn't really fair. It is not her fault that Beverly isn't there anymore. They didn't fire Gates McFadden in order to bring in Diana Muldaur.

Glad to see you both really got into the themes and atmosphere of this episode. For as much of an absolute jumble as Season 2 is, it does have a handful of solid, foundational, world-building episodes. We will be revisiting themes and questions from this episode many times in the Seasons and Series to come. 😉

Thank you, Josh, for trying to keep an open mind about Dr. Pulaski; especially since Dr. Crusher was your favorite character from Season 1. Dr. Pulaski is actually a very good, purposefully written character. I'm so tempted to write a proper defense of her, but it would spoil things if it was posted before episode 21. In the meantime, Alex, as a Harry Mudd fan, if your only prior experience with androids was Norman, how would you initially view Data?

Are you just drinking fireball? Do we need to talk?

Alex, give Dr. Pulaski time to grow on you. The character would never be allowed to be Chief Medical Officer on any Starfleet vessel, let alone the Flagship (Enterprise), if she weren't the best of the best OF the best. As TV shows go on and actors are "seen" bringing out character moments that are interpreted by them from what's on the written page, the writers of those shows become more and more invested, or inspired, or enthralled on where those characters can be taken - including their back stories. Look at all of Star Trek's characters from TOS to TAS and now TNG: they all have interesting arcs, and Pulaski has been seen in just three stories so far by you guys. KEEP WATCHING, and let us know how you feel about and/or perceive her character arc when Season Two is at an end. I sure wish I could say more about her, but I promised not to give any spoilers..............................

For Data, it's the destination; for Geordi and the rest of us, it's the journey. Loved seeing Patrick Stewart in his 19th century duds. Gave me vibes of his one-man Scrooge performance. You guys should add Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes movies to your list. I found them both to be quite enjoyable.

So I love that Alex has already clued into Data's trademark head movements when he's processing something.

I've always been annoyed that by the way Geordi flips over that paper, he was looking at an upside down picture of the Enterprise. But the director was maybe excited by the flip-over reveal visual so he left it like that.

When I first saw these as a kid, It took a sci-fi like STNG to get me interested in crime noirs (The Big Goodbye) and Holmes (Elementary, Dear Data). That's how great this show is. It got me way deep into other genres and it's a spaceship with advanced humans and aliens. That's just incredible.

So the picture of the Enterprise. It is drawn on paper and remains solid. This is not a mistake, in the orginal story Picard looks at the picture and says something along the lines of "as intelligent as he is, we are fortunate that he never put it together" or words to the effect that Professor Motarity could have left all along. However, someone decided that made Picard a liar, and it was written out. However since then it has been proposed that the holodeck simply uses replicator technology for simple "inanimate" things like food and paper (hence if you eat a meal in the holodeck and walk it..it doesn't suddenly come energize and frizz out in your stomach as you leave).

This episode was nominated for two Emmy awards: Outstanding Costume Design for a Series, and Outstanding Art Direction for a Series.

Many people have this episode on their list of the ten best episodes of the entire series.

The thought just occurred to me when you mentioned if the Moriarty character could be brought back or if it really has consciousness because it was just made out of energy...in the franchise there are many instances of beings....usually far more advanced....being composed of just energy. A couple being in TOS. So the computer should be able to reintegrate the character with no memory loss, or it actually was aware of time passing while in "storage".

heavy stuff. lemme smoke a bowl and get back to you on this one

In season 2 there is a deliberate effort to course-correct something which rubbed many of the audience the wrong way in season 1. I don't want to say what this is yet (because we get variations on it in several episodes). At the time I thought this was just odd writing and it left me scratching my head in puzzlement. Recently I read a review of season 2 which explained exactly what the writing team were at. I'll say more once the guys finish S2.

This is the thing with TNG Season 2, I think most people will agree. When Season 2 is good, it's *really* good. When its bad, it's... Awful. I think it's fair to say that it has much higher peaks and valleys than Season 1, and at the same time doesn't have quite the consistent quality of seasons 3-5. Which is why you'll find that there's a fairly consistent belief that season 1 is "just bad" and Season 2 seems to have a higher variance of people who love it and people who hate it.

More than most episodes, this one makes me wonder what Geordie sees when he looks at things like everything on the holodeck, or a pencil drawing on a piece of paper that somehow Data was able to carry out... But I still love this episode and the idea that the only thing keeping the computer from being sentient is it hasn't been asked to do anything that requires it.

I think it’s Moriarty who subtly proves Pulaski wrong by demonstrating that an artificial intelligence can be given consciousness. When Picard tells Moriarty that Data is more than a machine, Pulaski no longer disputes it.

Regarding the Bones/Spock vs Pulaski/Data comparison: To me it's different because Bones teased Spock but he respected him, meanwhile Pulaski has no respect for Data and sees him as nothing more than a talking calculator.

It is a minor point, but Data carries a holographic piece of paper off the holodeck. I can't see why the drawing of the Enterprise D by Moriarty couldn't have been shown to the audience while in the holodeck. Data could then have rushed to the holodeck control panel and the suspense would have been that the holodeck programme couldn't be shut down. Instead we get a delay of the reveal of the drawing.

I just thought the murder was Moriarty's attempt to delay Data and Geordie

Daniel Davis played the butler on the tv show the Nanny

I've actually been aboard the real HMS Victory! It's now a museum ship, dry-docked at Portsmouth, UK.