A Fistful of Datas

The Enterprise is awaiting a rendezvous so Geordi and Data decide to experiment with the ship's engines interphasing them with Data's neural net. Big ,mistake, as the old adage says, if ain't broke don't fix it.

Worf and his son and Counselor Troi are in a hollowdeck program from the old American west where Worf is a sheriff and Alexander his deputy. The safeguards go off and the other characters start looking like Data.

This was a little more light than most TNG shows. Michael Dorn slowly gees int the spirit of the west and Bent Spiner does an Alec Guinness like gallery of characters.

One not to miss.

It's and ongoing joke with my friend Chad but this tough Klingon character is often put down by what ever threat comes aboard the Enterprise. Very funny that he's not very macho for a Klingon. I would have been pretty ticked off if I was that actor. I mean come on. Let him do some UFC knockouts just to give him street cred in the galactic travels. I feel for ya Worf. They didn't write your character very well and it only gets worse for you once you are off the Enterprise and involved in some sort of political position. Very lame to say the least. Keep trying old boy and someday you'll lift that victory belt.

A holodeck episode means two things: something's going to go wrong, and the cast gets out of the office to stretch their legs for an episode. 'A Fistful of Datas' has a few things working in its favor. For one, it's the crew having fun with an old west tale (and making use of the backlot and SoCal sunshine); two, Patrick Stewart in the director's chair, which helps keep spirits high; three, the pitch-perfect casting of John Pyper-Ferguson, and this was probably the audition tape for his stint on "Brisco County Jr." But having Data go haywire allows Brent Spiner to mug for the camera and do funny voices. Add all this up and you've got a somewhat lighter story with a cast that's willing to go for it. It all comes together quite nicely.

7/10

One of the poorest episodes made. The poor writing was only exceeded by the poor acting and special effects.

Alexander talks his father, Worf, into using some time off to go back to the "ancient" West. That is, they go back to the Old West as a Sheriff and his deputy. At first, it is easy, because he simply punches out the bad guy. But Alexander doesn't like it because it is too easy. So they up the odds by making the holodeck program more sophisticated. Unfortunately, as often happens, a glitch occurs in engineering and they are left to fend for themselves. Also, all the bad guys begin to look like Data because it was during the use of his positronic brain that all this took place (he was wired to the computer and images of him are being sent to the holodeck). What occurs is a predictable shootout between Worf and the data/father of the young gunfighter that is in jail. There is one really good line. I'll paraphrase. The bad guy looks at Worf and says, "Is that your face or was your mother scared by an armadillo." The great humor is watching Worf use his stuffy dialect to speak to the characters. It is such a contrast. Back on board, Data begins to act like a stereotypical movie cowboy. Great fun. Deanna also plays a gunslinging woman who is just as formidable as the others.