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Star Trek TNG - Season 1 - Episode 13

Star Trek TNG - 1x13 - Datalore

Originally Aired: 1988-1-18

Synopsis:
Data meets his evil twin brother, Lore. [DVD]

My Rating - 6

Fan Rating Average - 4.78

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# Votes: 65 20 9 4 10 14 25 48 28 29 14

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Lots of exposition about Data here that is important in later episodes.

Problems
- When Riker makes a log entry early in the episode he cites the stardate as 4124.5. This was probably meant to be 41242.5, as Picard's log entry at the start of the episode cited 41242.4.
- When the away team is examining the children's drawings of the crystalline entity, Data's uniform briefly is shown displaying the same rank as Riker. It changes back in the next scene.

Factoids
- A conversation between Wesley and Data further confirms that the common cold has been eliminated in the 24th century.

Remarkable Scenes
- Data's off switch.
- The helm control tutorial detailing that space is not flat like an ocean and that one can fly up, down, diagonal, etc was a nice touch.
- Lore revealing the truth about his background in Data's quarters.
- A notable use of slang: Geordi: "Captain, I'm picking up a bogey coming in on a five o'clock tangent."
- Dr. Crusher running away on fire after getting phasered.
- Wesley beaming Lore off the ship.

My Review
This episode was a clever, fascinating character piece for Data, a character who up until now has been quite mysterious and unusual. Data was apparently constructed by a famous scientist known as Dr. Noonian Soong who had long promised the invention of a viable positronic brain, a concept originally conceived by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who Yar references directly. His work had apparently been long regarded as fruitless because word of the invention of Lore then later Data had not spread beyond his home colony. Dr. Soong had apparently disassembled Lore and began work on replacing him with Data after Lore's behavior turned out to be disruptive, but not before Lore had managed to summon the crystalline entity to wipe out the colonists. Data was left out in the open to be found by Starfleet (specifically the starship Tripoli) some time later while Lore was hidden away so as to do no further harm. At least until Geordi discovered Dr. Soong's secret lab...

In addition to the episode being loaded with wonderful tidbits and details about Data's construction and history, it is simply a pleasure to watch Brent Spiner play both Data and Lore. This take on the evil twin story compares quite favorably with William Shatner's performance in TOS: The Enemy Within, but not everything in the story is as well done. They could've stood to tone down Lore's overwhelming malevolence a bit. Good villains give us compelling reasons to believe why they're the heroes of their own stories, but we don't ever get a clear reason why Lore wanted to please the crystalline entity so much. There may be no reason other than sadistically wanting to destroy the community that rejected him.

Another curious plot point was the obsession with Lore using contractions and Data not using them when in fact we've seen Data use contractions many times before. He said "can't" in Encounter at Farpoint, "that's" in The Naked Now, and "I'm" in several episodes like The Last Outpost and Justice. Data also quite conspicuously uses "I'm" at the end of the episode, perhaps a deliberate choice on the part of the writers to show that Data has become more human as a result of this experience. Regardless of the intent of the writers, the presentation of this plot point is clumsy. It would've been better to simply say that Lore had a stronger, more informal command of language than Data. Not say that Data doesn't use contractions, but that he uses them infrequently because his language is frequently overly formal making him appear more artificial and less human.

Lastly, Picard's treatment of Wesley in this episode was strangely inappropriate, particularly after The Traveler had told Picard that Wesley is unusually smart and perceptive in Where No One Has Gone Before. You'd think people would put more stock in Wesley's intuitions after that or at least hear him out before barking at him to shut up. Overall though this is one of the strongest and most memorable episodes of the season so far.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-05-30 at 4:41am:
    - Near the end of the episode, Lore goes to a cargo bay and contacts the crystal entity. Lore tells the entity to attack the ship the instant the shields drop (for the beaming out of a tree). Then the fight between Lore and Data occurs. The fight ends when Data tosses Lore onto the transporter pad and Wesley beams him into space. Does the entity care what object beams out? Either way, the shields must drop. Since Lore told the entity to get ready for the beam-out, why doesn't it attack?
    - There have been a few episodes where Data has used a contraction. Like you said above, "it's not a big YATI." However, they spend this entire episode telling us that one of the differences between Lore and Data was that Lore used contractions and Data didn't. At the end of the episode, Picard asks Data if he is all right. Data responds, "Yes, sir. I'M fine."
  • From Bernard on 2008-09-02 at 7:50pm:
    One of my favourite first season episodes, I too love Brent Spiner here and in many episodes. Good insight into his past and into his character.

    You have mentioned above already, but I have to repeat one of the funniest things I have ever heard Geordi say,'Captain I'm picking up a bogey coming in on a five o'clock tangent'... really?? Care to supply co-ordinates? Gets me every time, I love it.
    The scene in the turbolift with Lore and Worf is quite disturbing also.
  • From Jumbo on 2009-08-07 at 1:52am:
    The "Shut up Wesley!" was horribly out of character, but also hilarious. I was laughing so hard I had to pause my DVD when Picard and Beverly yelled at the poor kid. That scene is one of the main reasons I love this episode so much :)
  • From Rubin on 2010-06-27 at 8:12pm:
    First thing I noticed was that "Dr. Noonian Soong" sounds an awful lot like "Khan Noonien Singh"...
  • From CAlexander on 2011-02-27 at 9:47pm:
    I particularly like the first half of this story, when everything is mysterious and they are learning about Lore. I also like how uncomfortable they are about offending Data, that seemed like a nice human touch.

    You are right about the twitching being annoying and irrelevant. All it does is waste screen time; the story would have unfolded in exactly the same way without it.
  • From Percivale on 2011-11-30 at 12:26pm:
    Many people point out that Picard and Riker's treatment of Wesley was unreasonable. Over the top? Yes. Unreasonable? no.

    Wesley did have a reasonable suspicion. But, if you pay attention, he never actually states this in uncertain terms to his superiors. Instead, he passive-aggressively expresses frustration that everyone else is trusting Data. This is socially unproductive, inefficient behavior in general, but it is universally not accepted in authority-based organizations like Star Fleet.

    I would say that this is a refreshing instance where the writers understood how healthy, authority-based organizations work. Sadly, the officers' reactions really are over the top, once again demonstrating the writers' notion that setting boundaries is "mean."
  • From g@g on 2012-02-06 at 5:49pm:
    I actually *liked* how Picard yelled at Wesley to shut up. It was uncharacteristic and kind of shocking. What I didn't so much like was how he was still arrogant and unapologetic even after he was proven wrong, at the end.

    But the initial outburst - that whole scene was quite nice. Not only did Picard yell at Wesley, (even though Wes had a valid concern and was being quite polite about it) but he also practically shooed a protesting Beverly off the bridge. It was a subtle demonstration that the master of composure and diplomacy is very very human, and prone to losing it a bit on his own bridge, under special circumstances.*

    * Fair to say that a giant life-consuming crystal thing edging its way into your shields while your second officer is dealing with doppelganger issues certainly qualifies as special...although, relatively speaking, he'll face worse in the future.
  • From Alexander Uziel on 2013-12-15 at 6:15pm:
    Wesley: Have you got a cold?
    Data: A cold what?
    Wesley: It's a disease my mom says people used to get.

    These little bits are scattered throughout the first couple of seasons and they are noteworthy, not simply for the fact that they are flatly contradicted by repeated trek episodes after the second season, but because they highlight the utopian influence of Gene Roddenberry in the writing room. Gene was constantly rewriting scripts in the first season, usually to conform to his more idealistic, utopian philosophy. The writers fought against this and it wasn't until the piller/taylor/moore staff came aboard that this sort of stuff was minimized.

    Also, these exchanges are kind of annoying since they are just so blatant and out of place that it sounds like Roddenberry was preaching to the audience.
  • From tigertooth on 2016-08-07 at 10:24pm:
    If Noonien Soong is well known, how was Data in Starfleet for decades without anybody noticing the resemblance? Especially given that Soong was known for working on a positronic brain?

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