#95, The Most Toys, The Next Generation, Season 3, Episode 22

Here's the first entry for The Next Generation on the list, with 'The Most Toys.' I'm not unbiased here. The Next Generation is my Trek.

What's Klingon for 'Boo-yah!'? 

I think of Season Three of TNG as the season where the show found its legs. When it got it's space-crap together. When they ridded themselves of the zipper onesie, moved past left-over Phase II scripts, and started to get out of the shadow of The Original Series. There were hints of greatness throughout the first two seasons. Notably, 'Measure of a Man,' (later in the countdown), 'Matter of Honor' (which holds a special place in my heart because it may be the first episode of Trek I ever saw), 'Elementary My Dear Data,' 'Q Who?' and 'The Emissary.' But Season Three is, in my mind, when The Next Generation started to click.

Then, I re-watched 'The Most Toys.' On the whole, it's not a bad episode, but suffers from the production design. The sets, makeup, and costumes for the alien baddie Kivas Fajo and his crew have not aged very well. And in instances, look downright silly.

"Why, whatever are you saying?' — Kivas Fajo

However, if my gushing over seeing Brent Spiner as Dr. Soong in the three-part Khan-fest on Enterprise wasn't enough of an indicator, Data is one of my favorite characters in all of Trekdom. And there's a whole lotta Data in this episode. And the interchanges between Data and his captor are well-written.

An insanely wealthy, and amoral monster who is obsessed with unique artifacts throughout the galaxy. He's a collector who's private museum includes the Mona Lisa, a bird-thing that's thought to be extinct, a Joe Dimagio baseball card (complete with gum), and now, the universe's only known sentient android. He went through this ridiculously complicated scheme to kidnap Data, convince his crewmates that he perished in a shuttle accident, and put Data in his personal museum of one-of-a-kind object d'arts.

Meanwhile on the ol' 1701-D, as they with Data's passing, the rest of the crew start to realize that something was wrong with the accident and they hunt for the truth behind what happened to Data.

Data and Fajo go back and forth about the morality of keeping a sentient being as property. About passive resistance. About his personhood. About his rights as a living being, even if he is an artificial one. It would make a nice companion episode to 'Measure of a Man.' Spiner let's Data play in the quiet moments when he's alone with the other Exhibits. Playing with the alien bird-thing or trying to imitate Mona Lisa's smile.

Sentient Android, mint in box. 

Here's the thing I observed about Kivas Fajo. He's written as a stone-cold sociopath. His actions are taken without any consideration of anyone but self. He's insanely wealthy, and keeps his servants in line with the threat of torture and death. He kills on a whim and is single-minded in his mission to subjugate Data and bend the android to his will. Sit in the chair, android. Do as your told. Entertain me and my guests. This is your life until I tire of you and then put you in storage. I extrapolated that last part. Once he's stopped, in the Enterprise's brig for  he even promises to one day own Data again, as if the whole incident was a mere inconvenience to his obsession of possession. On the page, Fajo could be terrifying.

But he's not. The way he's played is effeminate, flighty, and flamboyant. He comes across as a spoiled brat rather than a threat. It's distracting from the weightier conversation of Data's newfound status as a slave in this man's private collection and the lengths to which Data must go to regain his freedom. And it's kind of disappointing, because there's a lot of good dialog here, undercut by a directorial choice. Data comes within milliseconds of vaporizing Fajo with an illegal disruptor as the only way out to not only free himself, but Fajo's other servants as well.

Throughout the episode, Data attempts passive resistance, trying to adhere to his Starfleet training and ideas. But when faced with the choice between slavery and freedom at the price of violence, he makes the latter choice. The only thing the stops him from that act a chance teleporter from the Enterprise that beams him to the safety of the ship. Data goes back to his duty, with only him knowing how close he came to killing someone.

It's a moment his crewmates never see — a super-intelligent machine who's made the decision that his survival is necessitated by the logical choice to override his programmed ethics and kill.

And it's a great moment, in an otherwise uneven episode.

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Next up, #94 in the Top 100 Episodes of Trek of All Time. An accident leaves Troi in charge and it's a 'Disaster.' Season 5, Episode 5 of the Next Generation.

Troi-centric episodes are usually a warning sign, but I remember this one being not bad. We'll see.