7.06 Phantasms

Rating: 3

Data’s exploration of his dream program causes concern when he becomes obsessed with the imagery, and when he misses appointments due to oversleeping. Amid ongoing problems with installing a new warp core, Data’s dream begins to haunt him, invading his waking states and causing hallucinations. Does the recurring dream appearance of three men wearing 1840s gold prospecting clothes have some basis in reality?

Comments

This episode was written by Brannan Braga and directed by Patrick Stewart.

This basic premise was recycled in the VOY episode scientific method.

Braga’s approaches too often rely on alternative realities, time travel, and dreams. For some reason he seems unable to write a story based in the real world, and yet that is where the truly exciting and real events happen. This story is better than his norm, intertwining dream and reality and building a nice character arc into Troi and Data’s characters.

After Data stabs Troi, Picard confines Data to his quarters. It was nice to see that he is escorted there by not one, not two, but three security guards, one of whom is Worf. This is a logical precaution for dealing with Data’s physical strength.

Nits

When Data was settling in for his nap, I found myself wondering, why have bed pillows gotten so small in the future? Data (and others) have these single tiny pillows that look almost useless. Is this the awful terror that awaits us? J

Riker says, "Data also saw a straw coming out of my head, and then Beverly found an organism in the same place." True, the straw was coming out of Riker’s head at the exact place where Crusher found the organism. We the viewer know that because we were there when Data had the dream. However, there’s one little problem. Data told Riker he saw a straw coming out of Riker’s head. He never said or indicated exactly where the straw was coming out. So how does Riker know it’s the same place?

Here’s a wide-ranging nit caused by creative technobabbling writers: When Troi’s shoulder exhibits a bruise or rash, Crusher pulls out something called an interphasic scanner and then discovers the organisms living on everyone. But here’s the catch: if you were aware that there were other planes of existence only visible with specialized technology like an interphasic scanner, wouldn’t you try to incorporate that technology into everyday life? Would you just go on, day to day, viewing things with human eyesight, while still fully aware that you could be seeing a wider range of pheomena with that interphasic scanner that you never use? Or would you use it on a regular basis to perform more systematic and wide-ranging scans?

Memorable Moments

•    The close-up of Data’s face, and his subsequent android-like subtle movements, when he wakes up

•    Worf’s ‘plate of the future’, on which he eats a piece of cellular peptide cake in Data’s dream, is pie-shaped (a logical idea, actually)

•    Troi as a cake is an image I will not soon forget, especially after Data slices into her

•    Data, repeatedly stabbing a knife into Troi’s shoulder as she screams

Quotable Quotes

Data: May I ask a personal favor?
Worf: Yes.
Data: Would you take care of Spot for me?
Worf: Your animal.
Data: I am afraid if I have another waking dream, I may injure him.
Worf: Or course. (yelling) Spot! Come here!
Data: Unlike a canine, Spot does not respond to verbal commands. Goodbye, Spot! (pause) He will need to be fed once a day. He prefers Feline Supplement number 25.
Worf: I understand.
Data: And he will require water. And you must provide him with a sandbox. And you must talk to him, tell him he is a pretty cat, and a good cat.
Worf: I will feed him.
Data: Perhaps that will be enough.
Worf: Achoo!
Spot: Meow!

Picard: Mr Data, what kind of cake is this?
Data: It is a cellular peptide cake.
Worf: With mint frosting!

Data: I wonder…what would Dr Freud say about the symbolism of devouring oneself?
Troi: Data! Sometimes a cake is just a cake!