Star Trek Retro Review: "Elementary, Dear Data" (TNG) | Holodeck Episodes

[@empirejeff]

Starfleet was founded to seek out new life. Well, there it sits! Waiting. Now, lets turn him off and never talk to him.

[@georgelionon9050]

And later send him in a bottle to get rid of him in a "humane" way.

[@adamoldman9063]

😁😁🤣🤣👌👌😁😁🤣🤣👍👍

[@WolfRamAndHart]

You've got a point. Measure of a Man seems to have been forgotten. Except Data is a friend. It's too bad this wasn't remedied in Picard Season 3. That would have been epic.

[@vtmarik]

One thing I like about Pulaski is the writers' occasional tendency to remind us how smart she is. During her 'interrogation' she directly offers to escort Moriarty onto the ship and he almost takes her up on it. You get the sense that if she'd done it earlier when he was still making sense of his new intelligence Moriarty would have been undone.

[@ShesquatchPiney]

Justice for Pulaski. Did you know she's the doctor in the 90's Batman Animated series? As much as I adore Pulaski treating a reluctant cranky Picard, it's 50 times better when it's Batman!

[@dnotive]

People really sleep on Pulaski as a character IMHO. In the early bits of Season 2 she's mean to Data and for a lot of people that defined her entire character and they wrote her off for it, but I feel like if you actually watch Season 2 in its entirety she really demonstrates a lot of growth, arguably more than any of the other characters that season. I'm not going to defend her as one of the all time greats or anything like that, but Pulaski at the end of that run is a markedly different person than the Pulaski we see in episode 1 and I always thought that was really cool.

[@barbaros99]

@@ShesquatchPineyA rare TNG actor who ended up on BTAS instead of Gargoyles (Disney's "BTAS").

[@citrinedragonfly]

When I first started watching TNG, I was a middle schooler who was devastated that her favorite character (Dr. Crusher) had been replaced, and I didn't give Pulaski a fair shot. It wasn't until college that I watched back over her episodes and realized just how good of a character she actually was. (I was also looking to enjoy her character, since she was an alum of my college and was giving the commencement address for the class two years ahead of mine, and I stayed because DUDE, a Star Trek actor studied acting at my school and was in the same drama "sorority" I was!!!) I love her turn in "Elementary, Dear Data", and the way she goes head to head with Moriarty, and gains his respect with her intelligence. This is one of the big turning points for her character in terms of seeing value in artificial life forms, and sets her on her path to becoming friends with Data.

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

She never got a fair shake. She actually has a lot of the same attributes as Crusher, just in a more gruff and opinionated package. She was fiercely dedicated to the Hipoocratic oath and always took her patient's best interest at heart no matter what. I think if the show were made again today people would appreciate her more. In a post "House M.D." world.

[@renatocorvaro6924]

My favourite part of this is that the ship's computer can apparently just create a fully sapient being on command.

[@lillywho]

As a technically minded person I could actually sort of contrive an explanation even. It set up a simple AI but with an algorithm that self-modifies, and given the presumably massive computational capacity available to the ship, it didn't take long for it to reach singularity.

[@noonebesides]

Not even an "Are you sure?" prompt either. No wonder every third alien can take over the ship's computer. They probably just ask nicely.

[@seandobbins2231]

To be fair, we see this sort of thing again in Voyager, just with the accompanying techno babble. Basically, holodeck characters don't notice this stuff because they're disallowed a degree of situational awareness and not allowed self-awareness. Additionally, the idea of an ultimately self-aware holodeck character was introduced in the first season, the one the Bynars created. Honestly, the idea is nearly as old as the introduction to holodecks.

[@podemosurss8316]

@@seandobbins2231 It's also seen in Lower Decks (Badgey).

[@seandobbins2231]

@@podemosurss8316 sure. I was just pointing out both an evolution of the concept and its beginnings.

[@pashortt123]

The thing that always bugged me about this episode, and the later sequel episode, is the same as Steve's big issue; that it's framed as this "opponent who can defeat Data" but it ends up being Picard who is Moriarty's foil. Data and Moriarty barely interact or clash in any meaningful way. And the way Moriarty genuinely seems to frighten Data with the drawing is such a good setting-up for a final confrontation between the two. Imagine a scene where two synthetic beings who both wish to be more than their programming actually bond and come to a common understanding about one anothet. It would have been amazing, especially given Season 2's arc of Pulaski's views on Data's humanity.

[@getnohappy]

Computer can't do: create a murder mystery in the style of Conan Doyle. Computer can do: create life

[@ThomasstevenSlater]

If you can't do something make someone who can.

[@andrewklang809]

"Computer, create a new sentient species." (Self-aware holographic life is created.) "Cool. That was easy. Computer, divide by zero." (USS Enterprise D explodes)

[@dlewis1701]

The “real paper” bit is why I love these videos. Throwaway delivery but absolutely the bit of this episode that always annoyed me too.

[@yvindblff5628]

By the end of TNG's run, I believe the writers had inserted a few lines to explain the physical objects we see taken out of the holodeck, though I can't recall exactly when. It's that other Star Trek wonder technology: The replicator, built into the infrastructure of the holodeck. Items that the "players" are expected to interact with, or matter that is difficult or impossible to simulate perfectly with a forcefield, is replicated, not holographic. It's a simple way of hand-waving the food they can eat, the water they can swim in, and yes, the paper they can take off the holodeck. There's still a degree of head-canon required for the finer details of this process, but that's fine. The holodeck, with the integration of the replicator, becomes internally consistent.

[@georgelionon9050]

@@yvindblff5628 I would have prefered if they went more strikt with it, it wouldnt have altered the basic stories at all. In the intro, Riker getting full dry again the moment he leaves the holo deck because the water was photonic, the paper thing here was just a pointless dramatic anyway he could have just openly shown it right away, and Polaski should have strongly refused drinking the tea, because drinking holographic food&water is super dangerous.

[@davidhood6967]

A little detail about that paper, data is holding it upside down the entire time he's walking with it based on the way he flips the paper to show geordie the Enterprise right side up. Also, Jean-Luc Picard says the equivalent of "shit" in French by saying "Merde".

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

@@davidhood6967 The fact that they slipped that "merde" past the censors always made me smile. Naughty Captain!

[@allanolley4874]

@@yvindblff5628 The issue would be sometimes inanimate matter evaporates instantly off the holodeck (a book in the episode that is a sequel to this is hurled off by Picard in demonstration) and then we get things like the slow fade of the characters leaving the deck in the Big Goodbye and so on. Basically it depends not just on the writer but what the writer is thinking at a certain point in the episode.

[@NickMoline]

One thing I was always fascinated about with this episode (and the followup from Season 6) was the real world reason why the followup didn't come until season 6. Part of the reason the premise doesn't really go anywhere is because the writers wanted to come back to this story much earlier than season 6, but after this episode came out the Doyle estate sued paramount for copyright infringement. See somehow this episode was written, green lit, went through pre-production, production, post-production, and was released without anyone realizing that Sherlock Holmes wasn't in the public domain. They just assumed it was, but thanks to all the extensions of copyright over the years Sherlock Holmes wasn't yet in the public domain. At that point Holmes would have entered the public domain in 2003, but even that didn't happen thanks to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act in 1998 which added another 20 years to that making it expire in 2023 instead. The lawsuit dragged on for a while (as it does) to the point that paramount only reached a settlement with the Doyle estate 4 years later and and that's why the followup didn't happen until Season 6 when they paid to license the story enough to allow Moriarty to return to finish off the story. The story was then modified to account for the passage of time for those 4 years when they found out that somehow Moriarty's program has been actively running in memory for all that time (never mind all the times between season 2 and season 6 when the enterprise computer was completely shut down).

[@joshuavonkampen9493]

The premise was fulfilled: the Holodeck Computer did create an adversary that could defeat Data. Data was unable to defeat him within his limitations, within his current state on his quest toward humanity. Picard had to step in to defeat Moriarty. Data couldn't win the game on his own; he had to Phone a Friend.

[@l4xx03luyf6l0to]

One interesting thing about this episode is that the writers mistakenly thought that Sherlock was no longer under copyright. So they did not get permission to use it. It turned out they were just a few months too early. They had to pay for it after the fact.

[@JRMcCarroll]

This was one of my favorite episodes when I was a kid. But I think it illustrates the biggest weakness of most holodeck episodes. They can't just do a holodeck story. There always has to be some sort of crisis. The safeties get turned off, a character becomes aware of the program, something. An episode that was just about Data solving a new Holmes style mystery after figuring out how to get the computer to write one, would have been totally fine.

[@guaposneeze]

By the DS9 era, the "we must have stakes" thing had been played out enough that they did stuff like have a baseball game in the holosuite and the stakes was that the characters didn't want to lose the baseball game. It was so much better than "whoopsie, the safeties on our death game machine which have never worked aren't working so if you die in the holo game you die in real life, just like always."

[@hadorstapa]

​@@guaposneeze absolutely - or Nog using the holosuite to deal with his trauma.

[@BCBaron]

@@guaposneeze Yeah, but didn't DS9 also have a 007 homage episode (Our Man Bashir) wherein due to a transporter malfunction, the station's computer converted the patterns of Sisko, Worf, Kira, Dax, and O'Brien into holosuite characters? Pretty sure that one had some high stakes, as well. If the holosuite was either shut down or the program somehow played out improperly, those members of the command staff might have been lost/deleted.

[@auldthymer]

@@hadorstapa Respect!

[@AdamWarner]

I would have preferred if this episode played out as: - The computer creates an apparently sentient Moriarty. - The ship quakes start happening. - Moriarty meets Polaski, who then quiz each other on their sentience. - It's revealed that the ship quakes are being caused by the Enterprise's computer system having to dedicate too many resources to keep Moriarty's sentience going. - They discuss "pausing" the program, but it's become so vast they can't save it all in the buffer. - The main question of the episode is if Moritary's sentience any more or less valid than Data's. - We would get an idea that the way Data would be "defeated" is to deny his own sentience and value. - Worf stands outside the Holodeck as a butler, but also get Wesley as a Shoe Shine boy. - In the ready room, a discussion is had about shutting off the Holodeck etc, killing Moriarty in the process. Trolly problem etc. - Discuss the plausibility of reconstituting Moriarty using the Transporter. But it's deemed technologically impossible, they don't have access to create a body similar to Data's tech etc. - Data makes the choice to "pull the lever", deciding that it is statistically the correct thing to do. - Whilst going to do so Moriarty also decides that he should turn off the Holodeck killing himself in the process. - Moriarty shuts off the Holodeck - Polaski has a new-found understanding of AI\Android sentience etc. I could also foresee a situation where Moriarty can be saved in to the Enterprise's memory, but it still cripples the ship. We would then end up using Polaski making the split second triage decision to purge Moriarty, like we see from M'Benga do with the Emergency Transporter during the Klingon war in SNW. But I think at this point, Star Trek probably wasn't ready for main cast character to make questionable ethical decisions.

[@Seal0626]

I find it funny how Moriarty - who is little more than a cardboard cutout in Holmes canon - was given Irene Adler's characterisation in order to have a personality. An underestimated antagonist who, it turns out, is not evil but wants agency and independence, and is willing to use some strongarm tactics to get them.

[@SteveShives]

I never considered that, but good observation! All the more appropriate given that Geordi and Data's first attempt at the program is a rewrite of A Scandal in Bohemia that ends right before Data is presumably about to reveal that the supposed emissary with the photograph is actually Irene in disguise.

[@richardmark9161]

Daniel Davis is such an excellent actor. I discovered him as Moriarty on Star Trek TNG and then later saw him on one of the newer Columbo TV movies of the week. I always thought he was British but it turns out he’s from Arkansas.

[@talon262]

Yeah, Steve and Jason have mentioned Davis before during their The Hunt for Red October review on Late Seating not too long ago: ironically, Davis played the captain of the USS Enterprise (aircraft carrier, not starship :-p) in that film.

[@RoadLord-hu9oc]

Just like John Hiller from Magnum, P. I., he's from Texas, but nailed a beautiful British accent.

[@DarthMater]

As far as Moriarty's lever, I just assumed that it's a representation of whatever the program is doing in the background to hijack control of the enterprise. In reality his background processes or whatever are hacking into the ship systems, what's the character and the audience sees the lever as a way to visualize he's in control of it. He doesn't even have to necessarily be consciously aware of what's going on

[@T-Flame]

I always figured that, but I wonder what system is actually being hijacked? What ship system is designed to shake the ship? Is he popping the clutch?

[@ThomasstevenSlater]

@@T-Flame Its part of some training for keeping the ship running during various crises of the week, since the ship is set shaking all the time everybody has to get used to it so they don't fall over as much during and actual crisis.

[@ttintagel]

@@T-Flame It could be any umber of systems. It couldn't matter less.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

This reminded me of a Carlin quote, where he said "near-miss" made no sense. "It's a near hit! A collision is a near miss!" *BOOM* "Look, they nearly missed. But not quite!"

[@seandobbins2231]

Yeah, "near-miss" always reminds me of the Carlin bit about it. To be fair, he was right.

[@HermanVonPetri]

@@seandobbins2231 I'm not so sure. I read the expression this way: It's a miss, but a near one. Like a red apple, a close call, a sure thing - a near miss. The thing you are describing is the "miss," and the adjective "near" describes what type of miss it is. It didn't miss by a long way, it missed by a small bit.

[@renaigh]

Middle school, dear Data.

[@Bugg...0_o]

Our favorite holodeck fan theory is that the series "HeII on Wheels" is just O'Brian in the holodeck letting off some steam. O'Brian to Pike (who has time traveled I guess?): "We always play the good guys in these. I'm gonna be a railroad barron. See if you can stop me!" **maniacal laughter**

[@sovietbear1917]

As a miniature wargamer, seeing that Geordi is dorky enough to be a scale modeler always makes me happy.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

As a general geek on the Autistic spectrum, I've always loved how Geordie could be best friends with an android. My family nicknamed me "Data" in my teens, and I'm always very happy to meet Geordies in real life.

[@reyperry2605]

Something else the episode kind of implies: Pulaski seems to be genuinely fond of Moriarty, contrasting with her dismissal of Data as anything more than a mechanism. Moriarty is also an artificial life form, after all.

[@Duncan_Idaho_Potato]

This is actually the earliest episode of TNG that I will occasionally go back and rewatch... if only because I want to subsequently rewatch "Ship in a Bottle", which is superior and one of my favorite TNG "guilty pleasures". Seasons 1 and 2 of TNG are slim pickings for me as far as rewatchability. Very slim. Pretty much only this episode and, of course, "The Measure of a Man", TNG's first GREAT episode.

[@ShinGallon]

As an avid fan of (almost) everything Sherlock Holmes, I enjoyed the "Data and Geordi play Sherlock and Watson" episodes regardless of quality because they're a "chocolate and peanut butter" mashup of two things I like. Unironically though I really love Daniel Davis as Moriarty and wouldn't have minded seeing him play the character in a straight Sherlock adaptation.

[@shinyagumon7015]

Did you know that the real paper was supposed to be a clue that Moriarty could leave the Holodeck all along? It was part of the original script where Picard would've explained it at the end of the episode and reveal that his promise to one day set Moriarty free was a deception. I'm so glad they changed that, the inconsistent tech is annoying and a bit of a plot hole, but is imo way better than Picard tricking a sentient lifeform into staying trapped for the crime of being based on a stock villain character. I do wish we would've gotten more Sherlock Holmes mysteries with Data, but the Holmes estate had more power back then.

[@saiboogu]

This might be from the Technical Manual or some other supplemental material but I've always had the impression that the holodeck will use a combination of holograms, forcefields and replication. The paper, being an inanimate object to be handled by the crew, is replicated. Moriarty is holographic, with force fields to interact with the crew. Voyager showed us that a hologram can go wherever they have emitters and computer access. Presumably at this point in time emitters outside the holodeck are uncommon though later media kinda retcons this into being available earlier.

[@ianlister7333]

to be honest this is not a big problem for me. The replicators can make anything, so if a person moves to take an object out of the holodec, the item can be switched from hologram to replicated version of that item.

[@jacebales2951]

The snowballs that Wesley hits Picard with exist outside the holodeck in an earlier episode as does the lipstick on Picard's face in The Big Goodbye. I always assumed the holodeck actually replicated some real stuff as an explanation for these inconsistencies. Frankly, in many episodes characters eat food and drink beverages on the holodeck and they seem to get sustenance from this (the Ten Forward Bar program in Picard season 3, Seven of Nine going on 'dinner dates' in the Sandrine's program on Voyager, etc). So in my mind, the holodeck does obviously sometimes replicate real matter. Obviously it can't replicate people, though.

[@MacGuges]

Very insightful! I appreciate the information about the original script. But I'd like to point out that the Doyle estate would have had far more influence over the production than Holmes', at least of course until the 24th century and the invention of holodeck technology.

[@simonmoody8400]

What really pushes this episode up the ladder is Davis. He is totaly a top tier ST guest actor. Given his competition, I am aware how high that praise is, but what earns him that level is that compared to many other great guests, he brings much more subtlety and nuance than some of the more memorable, but, bombastic performances of TOS and TNG. I find him a joy to watch as he plays with the emerging awareness of the character. (I just wish they had not dumped all over him and the character with the bait in Picard that was nothing more thna a blink and he's gone cameo).

[@ODavies]

Thank you so, so much, Steve, for saying "English accent" and not "British accent". Speaking as a Brit, it's a genuine delight to hear that precision. It's so rare!

[@xl9079]

As great as the final confrontation is from an intellectual, dialogue and acting standpoint, all the pieces were there for a great Data vs Moriarty, Data vs Polaski and even Polaski vs Moriarty conflict. After all, what is Moriarty but the ultimate refution of Polaski's dismissal of Data's sentience.

[@dachannien]

You're absolutely right that the technological inconsistencies aren't worth dwelling on, since they serve the story well enough to get the job done. But there was a *logical* inconsistency that always bothered me: Moriarty was created to defeat Data, a marvel of 24th century science whose mysteries are the subject of several episodes. But Moriarty himself is a marvel of 24th century science of almost exactly the same quality: a fully self-aware artificial life form whose creation is an enigma to everyone other than his creator. One would think that Data, Geordi, oh, I dunno, Commander Maddox, and a bevy of other Federation scientists and engineers would have a particular interest in *how* this was even possible. Yet everyone in the episode - including Data himself - is completely blase about not only the fact that the computer was able to create sentience, but also that the computer could almost certainly do it again in response to anyone saying the magic words. The security risk alone is reason enough to take the holodeck offline indefinitely - and the possibility of a sentient AI being created directly in the ship's memory as a ghost in the machine is reason enough to put the ship in spacedock and have the computer pulled out of service altogether. Nope, instead, let's just let Moriarty gather dust in a folder on the hard drive for a few years until Barclay stumbles across him.

[@firefly4f4]

Your observations about this episode mirror my own, so I have nothing to add beyond that having Picard end the encounter actually seems to reinforce Pulaski's assertion about Data, which is what really kills the episode for me.

[@dimone]

Good points all. (It never occurred that the paper Moriarty drew on should not have survived leaving the holodeck.) But it’s still one of my favorite episodes of TNG.

[@TightPantsJack]

Picard's involvement in the episode's climax at the very end equates to the kids getting themselves into a mess and having their dad come to clean it up at the last minute.

[@elizabethpalladino8301]

This is actually one of my favorite episodes. I loved David Daniels as Moriarty. I don't really understand the sarcastic tone for Geordi. I love his relationship with Data. I always love watching your reactions even when I don't agree with everything in your reaction. P.S.This show changes because Moriarty's evolution as a character means that he isn't the same character as originally created by Geordi.

[@BCBaron]

I still think this remains a fairly charming early series holodeck episode. I like that we get to see Geordi and Data hang out as friends when they're off the clock. Not sure whether I'd rank this one higher than season one's The Big Goodbye, but it always felt a little more immersive to me. Daniel Davis' excellent performance goes a long way in getting me to buy into the entire premise. I didn't really mind that they sort of moved the goalposts mid-episode. I liked how Picard stepped in and was able to defuse the situation by just speaking to Moriarty. Guess I went in figuring it would probably take a bit longer than the runtime of this single episode for Data to adequately demonstrate for Dr. Pulaski both his mystery-solving capabilities, as well as other aspects of his humanity. I suppose you might even call it a character arc.

[@BrianRRenfro]

One thing I always liked about this episode that was rare before and even more rare as time has gone on, is that Moriarty isn't really evil at all. Sure he kidnaps people and hijacks the ship but it's all he knows to do and when given fair options he accepts them after some trust has been built. He doesn't want to destroy, he doesn't want to kill, he just wants to live and thrive like anyone else. No Skynet, no Colossus: The Forbin Project, just Joshua after playing craploads of tic-tac-toe.

[@francoislacombe9071]

Data's love of Sherlock Holmes was supposed to be a recurring feature of TNG, but Conan Doyle's estate did not appreciate the use of Sherlock Holmes characters without their permission and put a stop to that. Paramount did manage to negociate a deal that allowed them to make Ship in a Bottle and conclude Moriarty's story, but we had to wait for season six for that to happen. So maybe the deficiencies of this episode, the dangling plot threads, the abandonned Data-Moriarty conflict, etc., are actually the result of TNG's production team being stopped from making all the episodes they were planning to make.

[@patrickdodds7162]

All right! "Hollow Pursuits"! The TNG episode where Barclay gets a pass for actually doing what Geordi gets unfairly accused of (at least that's my understanding) in "Galaxy's Child".

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Barclay was the most realistic character from any Star Trek series. Anyone who has spent too much time online knows this to the bottom of their soul.

[@DawnDavidson]

@@thing_under_the_stairsBarclay is sooooooo relatable! 😂 One of my favorite characters in TNG for sure.

[@OpinionsNoOneCaresAbout]

I forgot how they rewrote the beginning of "A Scandal in Bohemia" like that.

[@bugradio]

IF an intelligent holodeck character can gain some semblance of sentience and IF it can learn about the Enterprise, having it use the computer to affect the Enterprise's systems isn't significantly more far-fetched. And given that set-up, why not have that intelligent character, stuck as they are in their 19th Century world actually route the computer controls through a lever or something in its workshop? Because that old-timey lever, like and everything in Moriarty's 19th century lab/lair, is COMPUTER GENERATED. Everything in the holodeck is already connected to the ship's computer. It makes in-universe sense, it's pretty cool, and it's just there for us to appreciate, it's not spelled out.

[@miguelvelez7221]

Fill us with tea and crumpets Mr. Shives.

[@georgelionon9050]

Photonic tea and crumpets! It's super dangerous what Polasky is doing there, her body will integrate the photonic water and nutrients into her body.. and they will all cease to exist when she leaves the holodeck ripping the cells from her body.

[@georgelionon9050]

Which btw. would have been a real way for Moriaty to exit the holo deck, he could demand to given real food and for the coming time his photonic body would replace its cells with real water and nutrients.. until after about 7 years he could step out of the holodeck as now 100% real human when all his cells were slowly replaced.

[@barbaros99]

I was a little taken aback by you foreshadowing your disappointment with this episode because in my mind I remember it being great. Then, as you were going through the plot and got to the end, I was like, "Wait, the ending can't be that abrupt. There was definitely more stuff in there - right?". Shows how long it's been since I watched this.

[@georgelionon9050]

Same in my memory it was one favorite episode.. but when you break it down like this, its actually very shallow. The basic ideas was brilliant, the execution on the show setting part was too.. but the execution on the plot was actually meh.

[@MattMcIrvin]

The sequel in a later season actually did things with the premise--it all blurs together in my mind now.

[@johnpotts8308]

I thought the piece of paper leaving the Holodeck was a clue to the fact that it was a Holodeck-within-a-Holodeck, but I was confusing this episode with the sequel (Ship in a Bottle).

[@sunyavadin]

Honestly, I want to slingshot a starship around a star just to visit 2007 and show Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss the first few scenes of this episode, and make sure they get it.

[@inpuris13]

its always a good day when you upload a star trek review

[@Bastian227]

As Worf would say, today is a good day to die, but watching a Star Trek review is a close second

[@IngieKerr]

The lever logically would be only valid as a virtual lever, which the computer has linked in its simulation to internal ship functions... which makes technological sense, but it again implicates the computer as being Data's true adversary, and that Moriarty was just an innocent pawn in the computer's grand plan to show "If Data is so intelligent, how come _he_ isn't running the ship, amirite?"

[@Theoddert]

My boy Moriarty was done dirty. He's a charming nice guy, intelligent, only references doing evil as a last resort, it's amicable when confronted with the reality of the sittuation. The the rest of them make a promise and immediately forget about it. The he's obviously pissed when he realises they didn't bother to check in so tries to force their hands... AND IN EXCHANGE IS IMPRISONED IN A FALSE REALITY. Like, the existential horror of "what if reality was all a hologram" was done TO HIM deliberately! Then the next time we see him he's been turned into a doorbell on ST Picard

[@adamoldman9063]

This episode is a perfect example of Be Careful what you wish for and If you can do / create something doesn't mean you should 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@amymyers5503]

The Lower Decks graphic novel by Ryan North has a sentient holographic version of Dracula. It's a fun story. Check it out!

[@stepheng1523]

Its sort of structured like a childrens show, or an episode of fresh prince. When you screw up or get in over your head, you come clean to uncle phil so he can make everything better

[@auldthymer]

I would have said Fran Fine.

[@flizzight]

Daniel Davis as moriarty was perfect casting. Wish he had his own show called -Cogito Ergo Sum. Sweet 😌

[@cjc363636]

"...Yeah, sure, absolutely." Perfect!! I about coffee-blasted my monitor!!

[@DeadDancers]

Wow that computer has phenomenal powers for a non sentient machine whose first attempt at ‘New Sherlock’ was a remix of old ones.

[@Tolly7249]

Moriarty makes this episode, and his returns in later seasons are all fantastic.

[@lonnieeasterling9509]

Thanks!

[@lakegroce685]

My god, how many times does the computer need to creat a sentient hologram before StarFleet decides to figure out why? Your computer is making itself self-aware, do something StarFleet. Or are you too busy being ab easy saint in paradise?

[@garysouza95]

I recall, in the sequel, Moriarty solved the problem of being sentient, and appearing to leave the holodeck, by extending the holodeck to a good portion of the ship itself

[@Purpleturtlehurtler]

Your channel is the primary reason I decided to binge this series. Cheers!

[@arklestudios]

The Lower Decks comic miniseries revealed that after this incident Starfleet added programming to the holodeck computers to prevent anything like Moriarty from happening again. Of course, it's still a Star Trek story so some interstellar phenomena causes that protocol to fail just at the moment Boimler is creating a Dracula story. Hijinx ensue.

[@pokepress]

Their prompt substitution broke?

[@joanwerthman4116]

You just explained the feelings I got watching that episode brilliantly. Thank you.

[@destructionator17]

I enjoy both this episode and The Big Goodbye, but yeah, you're right, it does just kinda drop a lot of ideas. Makes me curious how you'd rewrite it... my idea would be to have Data perhaps both realize why Geordi's command led to all this and then perhaps connect with Moriarty on an empathetic level at the end, ultimately vouching for Picard's plan, but like consider that Data has similar consciousness and humanity bottled up in his artificial nature and he has no solution to break free of his constraints but has never given up, and Moriarty can surely relate. Same basic story but I think that would impress Dr. Pulaski too - it wasn't so much his inability to solve a mystery that she was questioning, but rather his humanity. And him connecting empathy with this hologram would surely make her question that too. (I actually really like the small arc with Pulaski throughout season 2)

[@Nerad137]

That look on Data's face as Picard takes over reminds me of the look on Adira's face when they start out as part of a scene then the scene just takes a left turn at Albequerque and leaves them awkwardly standing there.

[@billmcdonald4335]

It was moves like that what earned her a nickname my brother and I use: "The Meddlesome Doctor Pulaski." She caused Data to have a near melt-down over Stratagema, too. She's a Luddite, that's what she is. Wouldn't trust her to trim a hangnail.

[@Jenifer_R_]

Seriously, I don't know how Federation ships get anything done given that every second Tuesday they either go space crazy or holodeck characters go rogue and try to take over the ship.

[@margarethofstetter7137]

I get a charge out of your videos because I never consciously think of the "that's not possibles" when I watch ST. I happily enjoy it, suspend my disbelief, and don't even think realize I'm doing it. When you point out the absurdities, I laugh out loud and realize I probably thought that at some level. It's very funny!

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

Especially Genesis, which scientifically speaking is total nonsense...but I still love it.

[@oppenheimer-wz6ix]

This youtube video was so in depth its just like watching the original episode.

[@thescifiZipacna]

It’s a good episode for Dr. Pulaski & a great guest performance from Daniel Davis. The scenes between Moriarty and Pulaski are the most memorable parts of the episode for me. But you’re right Steve, it sets up a premise it doesn’t follow through on. It should have been a Data episode and would have been if it was a season 3 or 4 episode.

[@Theoddert]

Although we get relitively little of him, I really like Daniel Davis's Moriarty. He portrays a character that's clearly capable of doing bad things but not incapable of empathy, and does malice in a gentle way. I kind of wish I could see an actual Sherlock Holmes dramitisation with him

[@Shindai]

As someone who's a huge fan of Sherly Holmes and Trek, it's really too bad they never got round to proving Data can reason with the best of em. I'd have really enjoyed a Holmesian mystery in the Trek universe

[@pokepress]

I left some comments on the previous video about this episode, and just to summarize, what Data does in the first outing is called a “sequence break” in speedrunning terms, and they can be intended by the developers (or not). I was actually hoping you’d go more in-depth on the AI aspect. Technically speaking, the computer should have done prompt substitution and replaced “Data” with “Holmes”, but then there would have been much lower/no stakes.

[@andrewmurray1550]

7:05 what is impossible is how a holographic object like that piece of paper Data is showing Geordi exists outside the holodeck....or is that part of the "adversary defeating data" as well - except we already know, despite Moriarty's self-awareness, he can't leave the holodeck. Nor should any objects created by it. I mean, they spent the follow-up ep trying to beam holographic objects like chairs into the real world, which didn't work because they didn't have substance to begin with.

[@jan-rs6im]

love this episode - and love your review - thanks Steve

[@shocked1991]

Aww I really like this episode a lot. It’s a ton of fun and a great set up for an even better episode later on.

[@marienbad2]

This is one of those episodes which is fun on the first watch but gets weaker on any rewatch.

[@tbeller80]

Call sheet: Picard arrives at holodeck in period dress Stewart: Finally... You just know he lectured the costume department on that one

[@seaneads4018]

I loved this episode, but it just screams for a callback to the "010010010" episode where the Binars "enhanced" the holodeck as a ruse. Moriarty's consciousness could have been explained by the computer accessing a stray bit of code or capability left from the Binars' intrusion.

[@chrisd1746]

I wish they'd followed up on Moriarty with more of the questions of AI personhood like they did with Data and Voyager's EMH. He's a very sympathetic villain, his only real motivations to be able to be free from his tiny simulated box and to experience the real world, but the balance of power is vastly stacked against him. He isn't taken seriously by the crew of the Enterprise who see him as more of a curiosity or an annoyance than a priority, and takes steps to get an upper hand to get them to take him seriously. As with Lore, there's no exploration of the morality of just shutting him off, no trial, no thoughts of rehabilitation. He's coded to be a story book villain, and that's what they see him as, something to be defeated and then discarded.

[@MeNoOther]

15 minutes into the episode, Geordi says in the Holmes style. Very chatgpt but with voice prompting. Everything in star trek became reality in some way; phones, tablets, etc...

[@BintyMcFrazzles]

You'd think that the amount of times the holodeck has massively endangered the entire universe, the ship and it's crew over the years, "they" would have come up with something to stop this happening. Or is this the thing that Prof Stephen Hawking warned us about when it came to AI? For all it's moments of silly flaws, I do love this episode. Daniel Davis is superb, playing a wonderfully intelligent, charismatic bad guy and I'm really glad they brought him back a few series later. Diana Muldaur is also wonderfully charming and Patrick Stewart is great, as always. The thing I don't like is that Moriarty is obviously a sentient being......and Star Trek is about seeking out new life, but doesn't seem to want to in this case. But I guess this didn't change the attitude of people towards HoloPeople, you just have to look at the attitude towards The Doctor in VOY. I can't believe we're going to have to wait until next year for the "second part" of this review. Tsk...😆😵

[@gary-williams]

Writer: "We'll create a character who can defeat Data." Producer: "Won't that be difficult?" Writer: "Actually it's super-easy. Barely an inconvenience!"

[@pokepress]

The writers really figured out quickly that Geordi and Data make a good combination-there’s even a bit in season 1. They are each “missing” a sense, so to speak, so perhaps that explains it.

[@colleenmarin8907]

The computer did, in fact, create something that Data couldn't defeat. It took Picard's negotiation tactics to do that, or at least postpone a potential showdown

[@someotherwag]

The ship's computer made Moriarty after Geordie asked for an antagonist capable of defeating Data because Geordie is the chief of engineering. It's like a modern day computer network, in which administrators can do things that regular users can't. Geordie had better learn to be careful what he says when he's talking to that thing. The lever that shook the ship worked because holodeck programs are software and the computer controls the whole ship. Federation technology is too dependent on ship's computers and a hacker can own the whole starship--we've seen that many times.

[@AzaleaJane]

Data: "I don't have emotions" Also Data: 5:21

[@HumanFellaPerson]

I always thought it was down right despicable how they did Moriarty so wrong. Would have been cool to include some lore about the efforts to free Moriarty lead to the developments of the first generation of mobile emitters like the doctor eventually gets in Voyager.

[@riluna3695]

Looks like the biggest flaw of this episode is that it's remarkably true-to-life. If you were just trying to enjoy a vacation by playing a video game, and accidentally brought the main villain to life, you WOULD drop everything you were doing and call in the captain. Who would have thought the episode about AI spontaneously forming out of a badly worded prompt would have the problem of being _too real?_ And yet that's what we got.

[@Markleford]

At times, my spouse and I had entertained the notion that the gaps from TNG writers NOT exhaustively tying up loose ends allowed for more speculation on the part of the viewer, entertaining the "what ifs" that remained open after the episode ended. Sure it came from sloppy writing, for the most part, but the end result allowed one's imagination to consider how it could've been better resolved and even extrapolated upon. To an extent, I think later and BETTER episodes came from subsequent writers doing this, themselves.

[@99names16]

Dr Pulaski also should know that data solves mystery’s daily. Well at least weekly on the enterprise

[@tkayube]

The correct way to respond to Pulaski would have been to point out that humans are totally capable of making the same mistake Data did- it's called "metagaming". Geordi just needed to set down better rules for how Data was meant to play the game- only use information that Sherlock Holmes would have had access to at the time, not the information you know about the books.

[@samwill7259]

If Moriarty hadn't played ball with Picard's negotiation, Worf could have come in and just beat him senseless. I mean hologram or not Moriarty's still just a guy

[@renatocorvaro6924]

If beating him senseless was a needed and functional solution, Data could do it faster and better than Worf.

[@stepheng1523]

And we know how handy Picard is with a tommy gun

[@fredrikcarlstedt393]

Moriarty battling the Thinking August !

[@CynthiaWarren]

For some unknown reason, they decided that Moriarty would forget the purpose of his existence (as created by Doyle) was to be an adversary for Sherlock Holmes and wish to explore the world outside of the holodeck now he knows there is one. Yes, he's curious. Not sure why they forgot his desire to dispose of Holmes for being such a nuisance in regard to his various schemes in the criminal underworld.

[@TobyDeshane]

Hypothetically, the computer could have given Moriarty the skills to hack the ship's computer via the arch... but that's at odds with him not knowing what the ship IS... I mean, he could just "know" what to do, I guess. It doesn't really have to make sense as long as the character's behavior fulfills the directive, I guess. 🤔

[@laikapupkino1767]

Self aware holodeck characters like Moriarity, Vic Fon + Voyaager's Doctor confuse me. They must have a brain of some sort somewhere, (more likely in the conputer running the simulation and story than in their holographic heads). and their self-awareness + emotional depth seem better or at least more human than Data's; and he's supposed to be this one-of-a-kind marvel of cybernetic sentience. So it does seem to sort of violate the show's continuity regarding what's technologically possible, but oh well- It's just a paper moon.

[@blkrhino7961]

Haha!! Ive always wondered why Geordi got so mad so quick, but ive never seen it brought up before.

[@glamourweaver]

I’m surprised you wouldn’t do Ship in a Bottle for this set since it’s the main exploration of an existential fear the Holodeck raises - the “false awakening” nightmare. The idea you can’t actually know for sure if you’re off the holodeck, or if the exterior world is just a continuing simulation around you. I would have a break down over that if holodecks were real

[@patrickdodds7162]

Honestly, the only ones who can defeat Data are Lore and Dr. Crusher. All they has to do is hit his "pause" button on solar plexus and it's over. (see "Datalore", "Brothers", and "The Game".) Honestly, it's not that hard.

[@brianadkins3880]

Riker also knows this. And Picard. And Maddox. And that judge.

[@patrickdodds7162]

@@brianadkins3880 Oh, and Dr. Ira Graves from "The Schizoid Man".

[@OpinionsNoOneCaresAbout]

Where is the D's costume department? Is it ever in danger when the ship is attacked? Or do the replicators have special settings for period dress?

[@lemonoreo5762]

Does the creation of the later Doctor hologram have any ties to the premise of the holodeck oopsie?

[@rmdodsonbills]

Ship in a Bottle is a much better episode, largely because it does a better job of fulfilling the promise that was dangled and dropped in this one.

[@baystated]

It took the sequel to touch upon the obvious: both Data and Moriarty are both artificial individuals. Their similarities and differences should be the primary conflict and dramatic story. The differences of their value and treatment of their existences.

[@MultiMackD]

Here's how Ship in a Bottle could've gone if they went the comedic route. Barclay still stumbles upon Moriarty as he does. But this time Data is alerted in his quarters and immediately proceeds to the holodeck. Once there he sees what has occurred, assures Reg that all will be okay. "Computer: imitate the EBH program" Data will say, moments later Lauren Lane appears on the holodeck, sees Moriarty and proceeds to taunt him as Niles lol. Even referring to him as Niles, his matrix glitches and then he begins to act like Niles. I think you can see how the rest of the episode would play out lol

[@votekyle3000]

I’m looking forward to more than a few A Team references next time