Jammer's Review

Star Trek: The Next Generation

"Data's Day"

Air date: 1/7/1991
Teleplay by Harold Apter and Ronald D. Moore
Story by Harold Apter
Directed by Robert Wiemer

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

In what proves to be a nice little device, "Data's Day" employs the conceit of Data writing a letter to Bruce Maddox (the guy who put Data's rights on trial in "The Measure of a Man") in order to supply us a first-person narration and a "day in the life" approach to observing everyone's favorite android. Data does not sleep, so the episode appropriately begins not with him waking up, but with him running the bridge's night shift just before everyone else clocks in.

The story's approach is structurally refreshing — and because it involves Data's bafflement over human emotions, it has an amusing whimsy. Sure, we've seen most of this before, but this time we get to experience more of it from Data's point of view. The story thrusts him into the middle of the upcoming wedding of Keiko and Miles O'Brien, and when Keiko has cold feet, she unwisely uses Data as the conduit for communicating this information to Miles. Unaware of the emotional fallout of a wedding being called off, Data delivers the message to Miles as if it's good news. Not a hilarious joke, but a whimsically effective one. Data's bafflement is offset by those, like Geordi, who take human nature for granted; Geordi assures Data that the wedding, inevitably, will go forward.

Worth the price of admission is a scene where Crusher teaches Data how to tap dance, which reveals the disparity between his technical abilities and his social understanding. He can match step for step the most complicated tap-dancing moves, but is at a loss as to where to look and when to smile while slow-dancing.

Amid the lighter elements is a mysterious plot involving Vulcan Ambassador T'Pel (Sierra Pecheur) and a rendezvous with a Romulan warbird onto which she is to beam for negotiations. When T'Pel is apparently killed in a transporter accident, it's Data's natural ability for logic that is able to discover that she was not, and that she's actually a Romulan spy returning home with information. (The ensuing standoff, for once, ends with the Enterprise retreating with empty hands.) While this more meaty plot seems at odds with the story's lighter tone, in the context of Data's observations and narration, it works. "Data's Day" is not groundbreaking, but it is pleasant.

Previous episode: The Loss
Next episode: The Wounded

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5 comments on this review

Chris - Fri, Mar 7, 2008 - 2:32pm (USA Central)

The end of "Data's Day" was another example of why I loved the Romulan arc. The showdowns were incredible, and in this case the Enterprise actually retreated due to being outnumbered.

It was a constant chess game between the two sides, with each trading the advantage (in "The Defector", there was the fantastic showdown, with Tomalak's chilling description of how we would display the Enterprise's broken hull in the Romulan Senate, only for him to be surrounded on all sides by Klingon Birds of Prey).

The episode also contained a classic line from Data:
"My hair does not require trimming, you lunkhead"

Jay - Fri, Jun 15, 2012 - 6:26pm (USA Central)

A nice change of pace episode, but it was quite a stretch that when Data asked Beverly to teach him to dance, that she would assume tap dancing of all things (especially since she is well aware that the O'Brien wedding is impending). Clearly it was wrriten as an excuse for Gates and Brent to show off.

Wiliam - Wed, Aug 29, 2012 - 11:13pm (USA Central)

I love Data's Day and the theme of learning, growing, exploring.

I think this is a great introductory episode to the world of Trek to a novice, too.

Krog - Tue, Nov 6, 2012 - 1:15am (USA Central)

Along with war, disease, and poverty, I hope by the 24th century we will have also eliminated tap dancing.

PeteTongLaw - Sun, Mar 24, 2013 - 10:40am (USA Central)

It's interesting to compare these kind of simple yet very compelling TNG stories to Voyager episodes. Here we have tiny references to past episodes that only diehard fans would care for and casual viewers would not notice (e.g. Bruce Maddox) - it doesn't necessarily matter to the plot but it's a nice way to reward loyal viewers. Also, it lays the groundwork for Drumhead. TNG was great for allowing arcs to build without doing serialization. You can enjoy each one individually without seeing the others but if you watch them all they weave together quite nicely. Finally, we have the interaction between the main characters and the re-occurring ones (e.g. O'Brien's). TPTB for Voyager seem to think this doesn't work and chose to eliminate references to previous stories even where such omissions were actually to the point of distraction; rarely allowed for story arcs (particularly after Season 2) and for an odd reason had almost no re-occurring characters (again, particularly after Season 2). The lack of re-occurring characters is an issue because it really distracts from the realism of the show when everyone else on the ship is merely an extra who doesn't speak or interact with the 7 main characters. Obviously TNG had its fair share of extras mindlessly manning bridge and engineering consoles, but obviously there were the handful of other TNG crew (Ro, O'Brien, Ogawa, Barclay) who are not central to the plot but through their interaction with the main characters help to make the starship seem like an actual place where people live and work.

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