7.10 Inheritance

Rating: 2.5

When the planet Atrea 4 is in danger of destruction due to solidification of the molten core, two Etrian scientists board the Enterprise to discuss strategies for averting a planet-wide disaster. One, a human female named Dr. Juliana Tainer, appears to know Data, although he has no memory of her. Surpringly, she claims to be Dr Noonian Soong’s wife and Data’s ‘mother’. Their reaquaintance and friendship proceeds well until Tainer reveals that she purposely abandoned Data on Omicron Theta, fearing that he would turn evil like his brother Lore.

Comments

Strangely, this is the second show in a row where an alien planet is in an environmental-type danger, and a male and female from that planet board the Enterprise to explain the situation.

There’s a nice reference to Data’s daughter Lal, seen in the entertaining third season episode The Offspring.

When debating whether or not to tell Dr Tainer that she is an android, would there be any advantage to creating a hologram of her, and then tell the hologram to see what her reaction might be? A variation on this technique seemed to work pretty well with Leah Brahms in the episode Booby Trap.

Nits

When Data and Dr Tainer beam down to the cave for the final time, Tainer steps onto the transporter wearing shoes with heels. When she materalizes in the cave, her heels have disappeared and her shoes are flat.

When the rocks under Dr. Tainer collapse in the cave, Data looks around, then squints in a distinctively non-android way. I think it was a little slip-up on his part that the director didn’t notice.

Bladerunner aside, surely an android would know it was an android. I mean, wouldn’t your forehead get itchy one day, and you scratch it, and a panel opens with blinking lights, and you say, "Hey! What’s that?"

I’m surprised that the decision on whether or not to tell Dr Tainer that she is an android rests solely with Data. Wouldn’t this be a decision that should be made by her doctor? And are there any laws regarding disclosure to a patient that must be followed here?

Memorable Moments

•    Brent Spiner does a great job of adding tiny subtle comic movements to his character (like when his mother assumes that Troi is Data’s lover), without appearing to move outside the boundaries of being an android. Spiner also does a fantastic job of playing his own father, Noonian Soong, all fitted out with some very nice ageing makeup. He presents the character with a different voice and look. There is little similarly between Soong and Data. It certainly gives you more appreciation for how restrained Spiner has to be in the Data role.

Quotable Quotes

"Well, the one thing that we couldn’t anticipate was that you didn’t seem to mind about being, um…naked. Some of the colonists objected to having an anatomically correct android running around without any clothes on. Oh, we asked you to dress. But you didn’t feel it was necessary because you didn’t suffer from the elements! We actually had to write a modesty subroutine to get you to keep your clothes on!"
- Dr. Tainer

"I do not know for certain, but I believe it is during my creative endeavors that I come closest to experiencing what it must be like to be human."
- Data