Masks

Somehow, an Aztec-like culture invades the enterprise. They start by transporting artifacts and then use Data as a conduit to express their purposes. Why go through this whole complex procedure. Why not just do their will. Data begins to exhibit multiple personalities and Picard carries on discourse with him in an attempt to figure out what is going on. At least the Captain has been shown to be a true student of archaeology, a cosmic interpreter of mythology, an intergalactic Joseph Campbell. This gives him some sort of credibility. However, the whole thing bogs down when the creature/creatures become true forces. The solution is so simplistic. The conclusion is the worst of any episode I've seen. Watch at your own risk, although Brent Spiner is quite wonderful with his use of voices and his physicality. His Commander Data is one of the most entertaining and creative characters in all of science fiction.

Just guessing but I assume that most people that review this episode are fans of series and would rate higher than an independent reviewer. But if we can be honest about this particular episode, then this show was lacking in so many ways. And after watching the episode on two occasions, this was more about the many acting abilities of Brent Spiner than an entertaining view by the public.

When the Enterprise investigates a passing comet they find inside a mysterious religion facility deep inside the comet. Somehow the passing facility invades the Enterprise's computers plus Data's computer mind making the facility able to communicate with the crew by means of several strange characters that are projected through Data's computer brain. While the Enterprise is being transformed into a ancient alien city, Data's computer mind will hold the key to how Captain Picard can communicate with the forces that are holding the Enterprise.

Brent Spiner did his best at playing several characters but it was not enough to make the story interesting. In fact it was distracting seeing Data change into so many characters in which some had no relevance to the on-going problem the crew was facing.

Thinking I may have missed some important information during my first view, I watch the episode for a second time. Much to my chagrin the second viewing was worse than the first. Nothing had been missed. This was an uninteresting and confusing story that had little action and even less sense. Even being a fan of the series, this was one of the poorest offerings in the entire collection.

So, this episode is about some ancient probe or something transforming the Enterprise into some sort of temple? I don't really know what's going on there. But it is one of those episodes that I can just enjoy watching without thinking to hard.

The episode might be considered pointless. It does not contain any meaningful character development, it is not very interesting on a philosophical level and it is definitely not emotionally touching.

But it is highly entertaining. Even though it is often considered one of the weakest episodes of the series, I just love it for being absurd. It also contains some cool set design. I liked that.

So yeah, I would definitely recommend this episode, just because it will never leave you bored.

I agree with various points made from several reviewers.

Yes, Brent Spiner did a great job with this one.....but I still felt somewhat embarrassed for him as an actor----given the feeble script.

Yes, I would much rather watch "Spock's Brain" than this episode.

To my credit, I was able to watch it all the way through. But never again.

It just seemed to be embarrassingly bad.

I could not engage.

Brent Spiner (Data) is a great actor, that is not in doubt. Sometimes the writers rightly try to play to those strengths by allowing him emotion chips or having him play Lore or other characters with more range. In this case he's given a multiple personality disorder which could have worked had they gone to a set outside the ship and ultimately shown who was behind his personalities. As it was, it's just the core cast on the same old Enterprise sets and it played out like kabuki theater.