TNG S07E10

In this installment:
(viewed Monday, April 28th)

Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S07E10 - "Inheritance"

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"Inheritance"

• "Ferroplasmic infusion":  Treknology that crosses the bullsh*it line so hard that it doesn't even get its own Memory-Alpha entry ;P
• So, I guess S7 is when they decided to do episodes with everyone's mom?  First Geordi ("Interface"), then Troi ("Dark Page") and now Data.
  
  Ron Moore--who later when on to helm DS9 and the reboot of Battlestar Galactica--is reported to have said that these episodes were when he began to feel that TNG was running out of steam and needed to be ended.
  
  I can't say that I disagree with him, either.  As much as I adored TNG, and as funny as some of the Tweets from @TNG_S8 were, there's no denying that the story lines were getting a little ridiculous by this point.  There was still plenty of great stuff (including the series finale), but there was an awful lot of fluff too.
• Speaking of moms, the actress who plays Dr. Juliana Tainer (née Soong, née O'Donnell) is played by veteran Irish actress Fionnula Flagan.  Along with her various guest roles on Star Trek, she's known for her appearances in several other sci-fi/fantasy/horror films and television series--including The Others, Lost and Defiance.  Oh, and she was in The Ewok Adventure.  But let's not hold that against her ;)
• This episode contains references (although brief) to the mysterious Crystalline Entity.  I always enjoyed that particular "adversary".  I felt that it played nicely to the "Roddenberry-esque" side of Trek, being an unknown creature that was primarily dangerous only because it could not be understood and with whom communication was difficult (bordering on impossible).  It's more subtle than Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians or even the Borg.
  
  Don't get me wrong--I love those baddies.  As I've said before, with apologies to the Great Bird of the Galaxy, I've always (slightly) preferred the more militarized Star Trek of Nick Meyer (TWoK/TUC) and Ron Moore (DS9/FC) to the more exploratory Star Trek of--to put one example--The Motion Picture.
  
  But that doesn't mean that I don't love Roddenberry's vision for Trek almost as much, and I enjoy seeing it on the screen. It's something that I hope they'll turn to for the third of the Ambramsverse films, although have my doubts.  The writers of those movies are good at what they do (action, action, action!), but I don't know that they have that kind of grand, exploratory sci-fi film in them.
• So Juliana's mother thought that Dr. Noonian Soong was too old an eccentric to marry her daughter?  Based on what we know of Dr. Soong, that doesn't seem like an unreasonable opinion.  Brilliant though he may have been, every portrayal we've seen of him does make him seem a bit off his rocker.
• "This has been an interesting encounter, and an altogether unexpected one.  I would like to corroborate your story before we proceed further.  Excuse me, Doctor."
  
  Now that's how you greet your long-lost mother.  It's kind of cold, even for an emotionless android :P
• "Don't you believe her?"
  
  "I neither believe nor doubt.  I am simply trying to verify her assertions."
  
  I love you, Data.
• In this episode, they reconfigure the ship's phasers to form a tightly-focused particle beam in an attempt to re-heat the rapidly-cooling core of the planet Atrea IV.  Setting aside the absurdity of that plan, it's a good example of the schizophrenia surrounding the nature of phaser technology.  Is it an electromagnetic weapon?  Is it a particle weapon?  Is it a hybrid?
  
  Ultimately, the technical answer is that phasers are generally described as particle weapons, because they fire a focused beam of nadion particles.  The fact that the "nadion" is a fictional particle allows then to ascribe to it particle- or wave-like behavior as needed by the script :)
• "I am incapable of embarrassment.  Please continue."
  
  No child has ever regretted a statement more.
• "Someone's checked his calculations, of course?"
  
  Did your wife forget to tell you that her 'son' is a hyper-intelligent computational machine?
• "Even so, he is a machine.  Someone should check up on him."
  
  We're kind of all machines, dude.  Also, if that's your attitude then we're going to have some bad news for you in about 20 minutes.
• "Computer, please replicate one viola."
• Dr. Tainer learns in the course of a couple of days that both her estranged husband and her "granddaugther" are dead.  Bummer.
  
  
• Data's "mom" tells him that Dr. Soong created three prototype androids before Lore.  We don't know for certain, but it's safe to assume that one of them was B-4.
• "I've followed your progress for years.  I'm very proud of what you've accomplished."
  
  "Then...why did you never attempt to contact me?"
  
  YEAH MOM, WHY?!?
• Dude, your mom did the 24th Century equivalent of abandoning her baby in a supermarket parking lot.  Except the "baby" was an advanced artificial lifeform and the "supermarket" was a deeps-space outpost.  But, you know.  Same diff.
• Hey m an, just because your mom can adjust a plasma beam by hand and play the viola at 1,000,000kph doesn't means he's not who she says she is.  Or I guess, yeah.  Never mind.
• While examining Dr. Tainer's unconscious body, Geordi comments on her "aging program".  He states that it causes not only her appearance to change with age "like Data", but that her vital signs change with age as well (presumably not "like Data").
  
  To my knowledge (meaning "according to my terrible memory"), this is the first on-screen mention of a built-in mechanism by which Data's appearance changes as he ages.  Presumably this is to make him more human-like and acceptable to his biological colleagues.  But of course it's actually a clever little retcon to account for the fact that Brent Spiner is incredibly talented, but not ageless ;)
• Build an android to hold your dead wife's memories?  Nope, that's completely rational.
• "Wouldn't she be better off if she knows the truth?  Dealing with the reality of her existence?"
  
  "I don't think so.  She's believed she's human all her life.  The truth might be devastating to her."
  
  Neither of our doctor pals are wrong, Data.
• In the end, Data proves capable--unlike (allegedly; disproven multiple times) Vulcans--of telling a lie.
• "Take care of yourself, son."
  
  "Goodbye, mother."
  
  Right in the feels, man.  RIGHT IN THE FEELS.