The Most Toys

Saul Rubinek has a field day as a collector of rare items who has designs on Data (Brent Spiner) in this memorable episode. Rubinek's "Kivas Fajo" has no scruples and will do whatever is necessary to enlarge his assemblage of rarities.

The verbal sparring between Spiner and Rubinek gives credit to the super job done by the series' writers.

Character veteran Nehemiah Persoff, heavily hidden under some truly grotesque makeup, has a small part as one of Fajo's fellow collectors.

The ending, wherein Data, must make a life-threatening decision is indeed stunning.

It is not to be missed.

I was totally taken in by Fajo's despicable character. In just a few minutes, he made me despise him. His whiny being, his mean spiritedness, his entitlement, all lead one to find him as bad as they get. When he kidnaps Data so he can display him as a prize, he gets more than he bargained for. The only way he can get the Android to obey his wishes is through threat to another crew member who has been loyal to him for most of her life. He has not regard for life or loyalty and may be the most self-centered character on record. I did love that his collection of artifacts included a 1962 Roger Maris Topps baseball card (the year after he broke Ruth's single season record). The one thing that Data doesn't do for him is to perform for his friends when they come one board. What good is this stuff if you can't impress someone with it? Kudos to Saul Rubinek whom we've seen in countless character roles over the years. The diminutive elf with the razor's edge is inscrutable to the bitter end.

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? :)

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.

Yes, greed. Seen it. If I were God, I would convert all the greedy into one huge pile of money and burn it. But for now just line them up for the steam-roller queue and don't forget put in reverse for double-tap.