E is for Elementary Dear Data which begins with the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D hanging in space for the USS Victory. In this 28th episode of Star Trek TNG, Chief Engineer La Forge and Commander Data head off to the holodeck for some fun. La Forge suggests playing out a Sherlock Holmes mystery except theres a catch. Data cheats because he jumps to the end! The android accesses his vast memory banks and solves the mystery before it even plays out frustrating La Forge. So Dr Pulaski pipes in professing Data just isn't capable of deductive reasoning. He's a machine, a robot! Right? I mean look at how he talks, walks and computes. Datas got no instinct, so Geordi's determined to prove Pulaski wrong. The fun really begins when Geordi decides to create a new program with a unique mystery capable of defeating DATA!
(Lets think about that for a second. Data has an 800 quadrillion bits "positronic" brain capable of 60 trillion operations per second. Datas impressive positronic brain allows him to interface with other computer systems and process a large number of "thoughts" at once.)
So on the holodeck, Geordi instructs the Enterprise computer to create an adversary capable of defeating the fastest and brightest walking computer on two legs! This was enough to give Picard a meltdown. What this means is Geordi placed the entire Enterprise in peril by creating a super intelligent, sentient "lifeform" with total access to the main computer. Things get real interesting when "Moriarty" tries to leave the holodeck.
Is the definition of life "I think, therefore, I am" the only one that matters?
Will Moriarty cease to exist when the holodeck is turned off?
Trek long and Prosper, Trekkies and Trekkers
7 comments:
I was never fond of Dr Pulaski, I really did not care for the actress in general and she did not do it for me. I think the best Dr was the original McCoy and the holographic one on voyager.
Katie atBankerchick Scratchings
A very early episode, but I do remember that one!
This was a good episode. Nice blog.
Great episode! One of the first ones I ever saw and while I'm not a big fan of holodeck driven episodes, I enjoyed this one! Data is just too smart for his own good sometimes. :)
I liked this episode, but always wondered why they didn't deactivate those darn holodecks....something was always messing up on them!
It's ironic that we have Pulaski, who had a whole season, to thank for Moriarty, who has a greater legacy in two episodes. I liked Pulaski, by the way.
I thought Pulaski shook things up nicely - and this was a good episode!
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