[TNG] Season 3, Episode 16: The Offspring
Rating: 2
This episode goes over some of the themes we’ve seen before with Data, and uses the story to overload us with fish-out-of-water android business. I was never very amused with that sort of thing with Data, and it’s less watchable with the new character. It starts to get pretty good near the end though, bringing it to a 3.
Update: we previously rated this episode a 2, but people can change ok
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Read more at Memory Alpha
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Notes:
Data made an android. He calls it his child
Troi: “Why didn’t you give it a more human look, Data?” She’s calling your kid ugly, Data
Data keeps acting like there’s no big deal, and it’s just like any other case of procreation
Data’s child, Lal, has to choose what it will look like. One option was a weird green Andorian
Data teaches Lal about all kinds of stuff, like sitting down
Lal goes to school, but she doesn’t fit in
Data tells her “They were laughing at you, not with you. They are afraid of you because you’re different.” No, they’re laughing at her because she’s a huge dork. Not because they’re afraid of her
They re-hash some of the themes from “Measure of a Man” only it’s not as good. This guy wants to take Lal. It’s never effectively explained why this guy wants her so bad, or why it’s so impossible to study and train Lal on board Enterprise
Lal uses a contraction. Data can’t even do that!
Lal kisses Riker
The mean Starfleet guy comes aboard Enterprise and argues with Picard. It’s always a positive for an episode when Picard argues
The mean Starfleet man tells Lal that she has to leave the ship
Lal starts to freak out and break!
Data tries to fix her
But ultimately he can’t save her. Lal tells Data that she loves him, and Data says he doesn’t feel love, sorry. Aww, how sweet
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