TNG: “Datalore” and “Angel One”

Date: February 29, 2020

Season 1, Episodes 12 and 13

Setting the Stage: I watched both episodes, via Netflix, on Feb 29. I wrote the outline of this, but never got around to posting it, so you might get a bonus two articles today. I never got a chance to post it because I’m at Pensacon in Pensacola, FL. I got to have dinner with some good friends and, of course, made some new friends because I don’t have a shy bone in my body. The restaurant we ate at went all out in Star Trek theme and we sat in a room that had a ton of TOS stuff while they were looping TOS episodes, so it’s fitting my writing music today is the Star Trek Mega Suite.

Another day of plugging Bad Ass Moms: http://kck.st/2SimbnD and happy belated Leap Day to you all!

Favorite Quotes from “Datalore”:

Picard: All right, all right. Legitimate questions about any of this need not be asked apologetically. You feel uncomfortable about aspects of your duplicate, Data. We feel uncomfortable too, and for no logical reason. If it feels awkward to be reminded that Data is a machine, just remember that we are merely a different variety of machine. In our case, electro-chemical in nature. Let’s begin to handle this as we would do anything else.

Picard having “the talk” with Data, Riker, and La Forge

Picard: But the point of this is, whether you and it have approximately the same capabilities.

Data: We do, sir, and your referring to him as an it suggests that I, too, fit into the category of a thing.

Picard: I see your point. My apologies.

Data: Gladly accepted, sir.

A little apology goes a long way.

“Datalore” has the Enterprise heading to Data’s home planet and everyone seems more excited than him. Strangely enough the world is dead now and appears to have been for some time. Data was given the colonist’s memories but he doesn’t know why. La Forge finds an opening to a cave and the away team explores and find an underground laboratory where Data was built and assembled. They find a disassembled “Data” so they take it back to the ship for assembly.

They put together the other Data, clearly the evil twin, who calls himself “Lore”. Lore calls Data “my brother” but he wants to please humans much more than Data does, and also lies and says that Data was created first. Data and Lore discuss Dr. Soong and Lore reminds me of Brainiac with a facial tick. We find that Data was created to replace Lore because Lore was too human and unnerved the colonists. Lore puts something in Data’s drink that incapacitates Data as Lore gives a long villainous speech regarding the crystalline entity that killed the colonists and switched uniforms to go posing as Data.

Dr. Crusher is suspicious as Data had been protective of his “off” switch and Wesley hears Lore-posing-as-Data say “isn’t it” instead of the more formal speech that Data usually uses. As Riker and Wesley report to Picard, the crystal structure attacks the vessel and “Data”, who is really Lore, communicates with it in an attempt to get it on board. There’s also this great bit where everyone tells Wesley to “shut up”.

Everyone on the bridge become suspicious and Worf gets owned in the elevator. Dr. Crusher and Wesley revive Data, and I’m confused why Lore doesn’t know the entity’s name? After a brief battle, Lore is spaced and they just let the crystalline structure go off into space.

I was all into this episode until the ending, it was just so… anticlimactic. As a vessel for showing Spiner’s acting range while also having the “good vs. evil twin” episode, it was fantastic. There are a few mysteries to solve: where did Data come from, why is there another, what happened to the colonists, where did the crystal structure come from? We don’t really get answers to all of these questions, but enough to feel okay about the episode. I wish there was something more to this, but I can’t think of anything other than 6 slices of rye toast with butter and seedless blackberry jam.

Favorite Scene from “Angel One”:

 “Angel One” has the Enterprise looking for survivors of a ship that they encountered and they find a matriarchal society at the planet, so Troi is given permission to make first contact. The lead woman won’t answer if there are survivors on planet, but the away team is shown to a place to rest. There are four men who survived but are now fugitives and in hiding, it’s all very suspicious. Back on the ship, Wesley and his friends are sick after visiting the holodeck on a ski trip and he’s likely infected Picard and Worf. The Enterprise scans the planet for an element that might find the men and Riker dons an indigenous outfit. Dr. Crusher orders Picard to his quarters, Worf says he might sneeze, and La Forge is now in charge and has a go at saying “make it so”.

Riker has entirely too much chest hair to make the outfit work, but he does it in the name of diplomacy. Yar, Troi, and Data beam over and find the male survivors while Riker stays with Mistress Beata. Ramsey, one of the survivors, identifies that the men have taken wives and have had children and have made a home on this planet and they just won’t leave. Ramsey explains how they were when they first landed and how they were dismayed at how men were treated. Riker and the Mistress have a little sexy fun time, and Trent looks super sad he didn’t get invited to the party. Back on the ship, everyone is now sick.

When the away team comes back and says the men refuse to go, Mistress Beata sentences them to death. Riker agrees to take anyone who wants to leave Angel One, except Dr. Crusher will not let anyone beam up aside from Data. Data calculates there are still 48 minutes to do something to stop the execution before they are left behind, as there’s also a Romulan threat going on in the Neutral Zone. Riker delivers a speech, I am sure in order to take up the whole, ahem, now 47 minutes Mistress Beata orders the execution until Ariel yells at her and they go off to commune about what to do. Dr. Crusher figures out the inoculation and everyone prepares for beam up, until the execution is stayed and the survivors are exiled. The away team beams back up and everyone on the Enterprise is now on the mend. 

I really like the outfits the women wear on Angel I, but aside from that there were so many things wrong with this episode. I totally understand that the writers were going for a flipped society where the men are objectified and the women are the ones who run the government but considering how I feel about our unequal society in real life, I don’t really like seeing it here either. The men’s outfits remind me of men’s figure skating, Riker is absolutely not as good as Picard at giving speeches, and the ending was not really great. Okay it’s good that no one was executed, but they were exiled for trying to change society because those in charge didn’t want things to change. All in all, I can’t go higher than pocket pairs on this one.

TA Out!