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TNG episode #29: Elementary, Dear Data

 
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 12:42 pm    Post subject: TNG episode #29: Elementary, Dear Data Reply with quote

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ELEMENTARY, DEAR DATA episode #3, s2 / Air Date: 12/5/88 written by Brian Alan Lane; Directed by Rob Bowman

_______ Star Trek STNG - Elementary, Dear Data


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This was the next holodeck-centered story (after The Big Goodbye in the 1st season).

This one suggests — subtly — the dangers of really advanced computer technology; remember The Ultimate Computer episode from TOS? Or, of course, the Terminator & Matrix film series?

It seems like the more advanced these computer programs get, the more dangerous it gets for humanity — even in the Trek universe. It's a bit strange to look at a TNG episode in which all the conflict and danger is centered around the holodeck, supposedly strictly an entertainment device, like a future version of a computer game. It's like — aren't there enough problems in outer space?

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What is a little goofy in this story is that La Forge, Dr. Pulaski and Data combine their trouble-making talents and cause the threat to the Enterprise! Since they have 3 days to wait for a rendevous with another starship, the Victory, they kill time playing Sherlock Holmes & Watson in the holodeck. Everything is too easy for Data, who has memorized all the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This frustrates La Forge.

Then big-mouth Pulaski chimes in, claiming that Data would fail if faced with a new unwritten challenge. La Forge ups the ante by asking the computer to create an adversary which could defeat Data. This results in the upgraded Moriarty holo-character (Daniel Davis), a program which becomes self aware.

It now comprehends the existence of the Enterprise and the 'outside' world. It captures Pulaski and even threatens the ship with some weird machine.



Daniel Davis is very good as the newly-enlightened "Moriarty program" and he returned in a sequel in the 6th season (Ship in a Bottle).

This episode again offers thoughts about artificial intelligence and different perspectives to reality. But the concepts here raise interesting questions without providing any answers. As mentioned, this hints at a dangerous aspect to the computer technology, but there are no discussions about creating more safeguards.

Someone like La Forge says one wrong thing to the computer and a holo-character gains control of the ship. Shouldn't there be talk of revamping the systems? And why, for that matter, would there be an option for the safety measures being 'off' anyway? Just asking for trouble is my outlook.

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Also, there is no conflict resolution to the intriguing story. Moriarty simply changes his mind about proceeding as he planned after a chat with Picard — very anti-climactic, an on-going problem with story structure on early TNG episodes. Still.

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10



BoG
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 12:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I enjoyed this episode when I first saw it, but I have to admit that Bogmeister's assessment of the problems with the story's execution are correct. Apparently screenwriter Brian Alan Lane was so fond of the concept that he didn't want to address the fact that it made the safeguards on the computer look ineffective!

Mr. Lane might have considered the idea of explaining the danger which the computer created as being the fault of glitches in a recent upgrade. But that would have probably been too ambitious for the audience in 1988. PCs were only about a decade old, so most of the public was that familiar with the intricacies of computer software.

But Bogmeister's was right about the episode leaving a lot of unanswered questions. The strength of the story lies in it's characters, and they carry the story pretty well.

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Krel
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In the original version, Picard figured out that if Moriarty could affect the Enterprise, then that meant that he was now real, and he could walk out of the holodeck whenever he wanted. The idea of the master of crime running loose in the universe scared Picard half to death. His solution was to lie to Moriarty, and trick him into going into storage.

Gene Roddenberry nixed this ending, as it didn't fit his socialist utopia vision of the future. He said that Star Fleet Officers NEVER lie under any circumstances. They are better than that and will deal with any consequences.

This was one of his many edicts that caused writers to flee the show.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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The ship's computer could become sentient and provided Moriarty with the ability to think like a human being. But a holodeck character is limited to the confines of holodeck because of the holo-emitters which create it.

So, the idea that Moriarty's body could become real and leave the holodeck is impossible . . . unless the holodeck somehow managed to do what the replicators did, and it manufactured a solid, self-sustaining body for him.

I supposed that would explain it.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:18 am; edited 2 times in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Trivia for Elementary, Dear Data December 05,1988 }

The impressive Victorian London set was constructed on Stage 16 in three days. Workers worked around the clock to build the street, 2 alleys, warehouse, wharf side, Moriarty's lair.

The estate of author Arthur Conan Doyle contacted Paramount Studios informing them that the estate would require a usage fee for the character of Sherlock Holmes should the series ever use the famous detective again on an episode.

Daniel Davis was a wonderful guest star on this episode.

Yes, their are unanswered questions and the resolution is unsatisfying in spite of the awesome sets and fine performances.

This was an intriguing premise about the Holodeck and A.I. awareness.

Unfortunately ST:TNG would shovel out more episodes of the Holodeck run amok so that it became an ongoing joke.

It's a wonder Star Fleet Command didn't shut the Holodecks down until its numerous bugs were worked out.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 2:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
The ship's computer could become sentient and provided Moriarty with the ability to think like a human being. But a holodeck character is limited to the confines of holodeck because of the holo-emitters which create it.

So, the idea that Moriarty's body could become real and leave the holodeck is impossible . . . unless the holodeck somehow managed to do what the replicators did, and it manufactured a solid, self-sustaining body for him.

I supposed that would explain it.

I don't ever remember the Enterprise computer becoming sentient in the show. But I haven't seen all of the episodes so I could be mistaken. Anyway, it was Moriarty that was sentient in the episode, not the Enterprise's computer.

In the beginning of the show they were unclear on exactly how the holodeck worked. In early episodes people left the holodeck wet with water, or covered in snow. The early explanation for that, is that the holodeck used replicator technology for the deck so the water, snow or food was real. That is how they could interact with the simulation.

The fact that Moriarty was aware of and could interact with the world outside of the deck meant that he was now real, he just hadn't realized it. In the original ending Picard was frantic to neutralize him before he figured out that he could simply step out of the deck.

Can you imagine what the master of crime could do to the NextGen world? It's fun to ponder.

David.
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
I don't ever remember the Enterprise computer becoming sentient in the show. Anyway, it was Moriarty that was sentient in the episode, not the Enterprise's computer.

The fact that Moriarty was aware of and could interact with the world outside of the deck meant that he was now real, he just hadn't realized it.

I was intrigued by your concept, and I wanted to verify that you had indeed proved that Moriarty somehow left the holodeck and become “real”. I read the Memory Alpha plot summary for the second Moriarty episode, Ship in a Bottle.

I was disappointed when I learned that Moriarty actually “faked” his surprising moment when he walked out of the holodeck and into a corridor — along with all the scenes in which he supposedly strolled around the ship with Picard.

Mortiarty had learned how to control the computer well enough to create a “program within a program” which made Picard, Data, and Barclay think they were on the real holodeck with Moriarty — when in fact they were on a simulation of both it and the rest of the ship!

So, my earlier suggestion that the computer might have created a physical body for Moriarty was not valid, since Moriarty remained a holodeck character throughout the episode, and he himself ended up being tricked in the conclusion. He thinks he’s been given a shuttle and allowed to leave the ship, when in fact he’s inside a one-foot-squared cube that contains a computer and the Moriarty program.

He doesn’t realize the cube is creating his fake world “outside the holodeck”.

My assumption that the computer became self-aware on its own is based on the fact that Geordi ordered the computer to create a foe who could defeat Data. To do this, I assumed the computer somehow altered its operating system to expand its abilities, making itself sentient in the process.

I like that idea simply because I tend to think the computer would need to be sentient to fully understand how to create a character who demonstrated sentient behavior.

To use a simple analogy, an artist who is colorblind can't create a beautiful painting which captures all the vibrant colors of the actual landscape he’s trying to depict.

So, I think the best explanation for Moriarty's true nature is that he’s a subroutine of the main computer’s program, designed by the computer itself to create an apparent human being who is in fact sentient.

I think the computer achieved this incredible feat by first "upgrading" itself when Geordi gave it a command which, in effect, told the computer to do exactly that. (Future computers will, I’ve read, be able to design and upgrade themselves.) Then the computer applied its new understanding of sentience to the holodeck character it created.

And here's another intriguing idea that just occurred to me! Very Happy

Remember the episode in which Ryker fell in love with a holodeck woman who seemed to have a special quality which suggested sentience? Her name was Minuet, and Memory Alpha describes her as "highly astute and self-aware".



Minuet was created by the ship's computer after the Bynars secretly uploaded a gigantic quantity of data to the computer to protect it from an EMP burst generated by a nova near the Bynar's home world.

The episode's title is 11001001, and it aired in season one. The Moriarty episode aired in season 2. So, perhaps the computer was already sentient long before it was ordered by Georgi to create "a foe that could defeat Data."

However, 11001001 ends with the Bynars removing the gigantic quantity of data they had uploaded, and when they did that, the computer could no longer create the sentient version of Minuet.

Does that mean Minuet's sentience was dependent in some way on the data which the Bynar's added to the computer?

Well, maybe.

Minuet was specifically programmed by the Bynars to distract Ryker during their covert computer operation. So, perhaps she was just a product of the Bynar's advanced computer skills, and the Bynar's data wasn't needed to make her sentient.

If that's true, she ceased to exist only because the Bynars removed the complex program they designed to create her.

The big difference between Minuet and Moriarty, of course, is that the computer went a step further and created its own character who was self-aware.

Like you said, it's fun to ponder! Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:17 am; edited 1 time in total
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Most of the holodeck episodes seemed to be a chance to get away from the cosmic-space crisis of the week and tell a more character driven internal story.

That being said I enjoyed most of them. The Dixon Hill stories got to be a bit noirish and the Sherlock Holmes ones were just fun to watch.

The ONE series I enjoyed the most though were the CAPTAIN PROTON stories from ST:VOY!

From Memory Alpha Wiki :

"Captain Proton, Spaceman First Class, Protector of Earth, Scourge of Intergalactic Evil, at your service!"



Captain Proton was the protagonist of the holographic novel The Adventures of Captain Proton, a story created by USS Voyager crewmember Tom Paris.



In the story, Proton has a sidekick Buster Kincaid, played by Harry Kim on a number of occasions, and a secretary, Constance Goodheart.





He fought against the "evil forces" of Doctor Chaotica and Queen Arachnia.





The program was built to look like 1930s science fiction B-movie serials.











During this program, the holoprojectors would display in black and white. Real people and objects entering the holodeck would also appear in monochrome.




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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I was not really very impressed by the Dixon Hill holodeck episodes. Rather than just let Picard enjoy his P.I. fantasy and actually solve his fictional case, the writers chose to make it yet another "holodeck malfunction" story.



If the idea of an entire episode about Picard as the P.I. seems too far removed from a Star Trek story, perhaps the episode could start with Picard wrestling with a dilemma connected with the ship's current mission, and he decides to get his mind off the problem for a while by enjoying some holodeck time.

At the end, when he succeeds in solving a case as Dixon Hill, he leaves the holodeck feeling refreshed and more confident. Then he solves the problem concerning the mission by using something he learned while pretending to be Dixon Hill.



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~ The Space Children (1958)
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