5.11 Hero Worship

Rating: 2.5

Data rescues a young boy from a disabled ship and becomes the boy’s hero. The boy takes on the personality of an android, masking the tragedy that killed his parents, and that makes finding the perpetrators a mystery that the Enterprise crew must solve on their own.

Comments

This episode was written by Joe Menosky, from a story by Hillary J. Bader, and directed by Patrick Stewart.

It’s quite unusual that the producers decided to air two episodes back to back about older crew members mentoring young boys – was this an attempt to grab a younger audience?

Nits

Why does Data tell Timothy that his service record does not qualify him to be captain? Data has been in Starfleet for over 20 years and has an exemplary record. In addition, he felt his deserved a captaincy during the blockage against the Romulans in the episode Redemption II.

Why doesn’t Data quickly explain to Picard why they should drop shields? He has time to give a short, meaningful explanation, rather than just staring at Picard (which is more of a human strategy anyway).

Memorable Moments

•    Data attempting to yawn

Quotable Quotes

"His world is gone, Data. We’re going to have to help him build a new one."
- Troi