Note: This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.
In Birthright, Part I, Data picked up the ability to dream. Normally, this
wouldn’t be a big deal. The thing is that Data’s an android. (There was
no mention of electric sheep, in case you’re wondering.) This is the
first episode since then that deals with that ability.
At
first, it’s just confusing. Data dreams of come miners dismantling part
of the Enterprise. When Data asks them to stop, the miners turn to
attack data. At that point, he emits a high-pitched noise. As the
episode progresses, Data’s dreams become more involved. He sees Dr.
Crusher drinking out of Commander Riker’s neck. Counselor Troi is lying
on a table; her head is real, but her body is a cake. Worf is eating a
piece and says that it’s delicious. Data feels compelled to cut into the
cake.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise is having problems of its
own. New parts were installed at a starbase, but the warp drive won’t
work. This is frustrating because Picard was invited to a function and
has run out of excuses to not attend. Now that he really does have a
problem, it looks like he’s trying to get out of it.
Data has a
real problem. Being an android, it’s not clear whether or not the same
psychological rules apply to him. Dreams come from the unconscious, but
does Data have an unconscious? If so, what do the dreams mean? If not,
why are the dreams so violent? It gets to the point where Data is having
waking dreams and even attacks Troi.
The solution to this
episode is pretty ingenious. I don’t really feel compelled to reveal
what happens here. However, I will say that it was probably best to have
this as a separate story rather than try to integrate it into
Birthright II. This is some major character development for Data. There
have been episodes where Data’s programming has malfunctioned or Data
has been taken over, but this is more than that. This is either what
Data was designed to do or a side effect of that. When Data oversleeps,
Troi points out that it may have been the intent to have Data do so from
time to time.
The rating I want to give this episode is 4.5
stars, but I’m going to round up. The dreams don’t come across as cheesy
or cheap. In fact, it’s about what I would expect from Data. It was
interesting to see Data hooked up to the holodeck so that Captain Picard
and Chief Engineer La Forge could see what Data was dreaming about.
Someone who’s never seen the series before isn’t really going to
understand a lot of what’s going on. Someone might be able to figure out
most of it by watching, but I think there are a lot that would ask
questions if they were given the opportunity. However, I do recommend
this episode.
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