The Most Toys

During a transfer of dangerous chemicals to the Enterprise, Data's shuttlecraft explodes and apparently kills him. As the Enterprise flies off to complete its mission of mercy, Data finds himself captured by an eccentric collector of rare and valuable exhibits who plans for Data to complete his collection.

An otherwise ordinary episode benefits greats from Rubinek's appearance as Fajo who had the chance to be a rare recurring baddie for TNG in his own right. Sadly, we are treated to just this one episode which doesn't allow the character the room needed to breath. Fellow guest star Daly isn't all that great and the ending felt far too ambiguous for my liking. But apart from that, I really enjoyed this episode.

This is one of the most-memorable NextGen episodes, of any season. Watching it for the second time last night (27 years after first seeing it!), I was reminded of the series' failure (in later episodes) to develop what is introduced here.

Data is put in an untenable situation, as he doesn't know he's about to be rescued. What should he do with Kivas? * The man is a murderer **, but Data's programming will not let him kill someone except in self-defense (or immediate defense of others). So why doesn't he just give Kivas a zetz im kopf and tie him up? (He has no trouble overpowering Kivas' goons.)

Instead, he decides to kill Kivas, a fraction of second after the transporter begins operating. He "explains" the weapon's discharge by saying "something might have happened". He later tells Kivas (in a subtly ironic tone) that he "has no feelings. I am an android."

Data's programming is (presumably) sufficiently complex for his experiences to alter his behavior, and even his world view. We see this in his speaking the literal truth, twisted to cover his real "feelings". But this potential for unexpected and even self-serving behavior isn't explored in later episodes. Perhaps it was decided that the audience would not tolerate turning a sympathetic character into a potentially threatening one.

* The name appears to be a reference to the "kivas and trillium" Spock was supposed to be a dealer in.

** Saul Rubinek gives a great performance going through the "agony" of deciding whether to kill his female companion.

This is a great episode that explores what Data is truly capable of doing given the proper circumstance. This episode addresses a variety of moral questions and for Data, not unlike Terminator's Skynet, the answer he arrives at is based on logic alone, or is it? :)

He looks down on his destroyed Starfleet suit as Kiva leaves the room!

At first, this episode seemed rather boring. Then, a few scenes later, Saul Rubinek took command. He plays the antagonist Kivas Fajo to perfection. As is the case with movies as well, a lot of these episodes are dependent on the screen writing and the acting. Whereas a lot of the acting by guest stars in the first two seasons of "Next Generation" was shaky, I find myself praising season three's acting quite often. Well, in my opinion, Rubinek takes the season three gold ring for his portrayal of a fat, ugly, psychopathic, lecherous nerd. And when his kidnapping of Data went from the addition of a rare piece to his collection to a possible solution to his twisted carnal desires, the writing went from great to spectacular.

This one is definitely in my top three for season three.