Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

In Theory (1991)

Brent Spiner: Lieutenant Commander Data

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : Captain. I am seeking advice in how to...

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Yes, I've heard, Data. And I would be delighted to offer any advice I can on understanding women. When I have some, I'll let you know.

• Lt. Jenna D'Sora : The Book of Love, chapter 4, paragraph 17: when your girlfriend arrives with a gift, stop whatever it is you're doing and give her your undivided attention.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I should not have resumed my painting?

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : No.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Despite your suggestion that I continue?

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : Exactly.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I have much to learn.

• Guinan : Data, if I didn't know you better, I would say you were a little... preoccupied.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Lieutenant D'Sora just gave me what could be considered a very passionate kiss in the torpedo bay.

• Lt. Jenna D'Sora : This is all part of a program?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Yes. One which I have just created for romantic relationships.

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : So I'm, erm... I'm just a small variable in one of your new computational environments?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : You are much more than that, Jenna. I have written a subroutine specifically for you - a program within the program. I have devoted a considerable share of my internal resources to its development.

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : Data... that's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me.

• Lt. Jenna D'Sora : Data... sometimes people blindly make the same mistake again and again.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Are you currently experiencing this phenomenon?

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : I didn't see it until today. I got out of a relationship with an unemotional man. And I got right back into another one - with... with a man who's... absolutely incapable of emotion.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Hm... There does appear to be a recurring motif.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : Jenna - are we no longer... a couple?

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : No, we're not.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Then I will delete the appropriate program.

• Lt. Jenna D'Sora : [reminiscing about the past]  Those times were really special... I wish we were back there now, you and I.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : The unidirectional nature of the time continuum makes that an unlikely possibility.

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : [nonplussed, then laughs]  That's what I love about you, Data. You make me laugh.

• Lt. Jenna D'Sora : [chatting to the O'Briens about Data]  He came over to my quarters the other day to give me a music lesson, and he said the funniest thing.

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : [to Data]  How did you put it? About, erm, about the mess?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I believe I observed that you seem to have an aversion to orderliness.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : My programming may be inadequate to the task.

  Counselor Deanna Troi : We're all more than the sum of our parts, Data. You'll have to be more than the sum of your programming.

• Guinan : What do you think of her, Data?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I find her to be a competent officer; highly motivated... though somewhat lacking in her understanding of the theory underlying the dilithium matrix application.

  Guinan : I meant personally.

• [Jenna visits Data in his quarters with a sculpture as a gift] 

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : You have often expressed dissatisfaction with the spartan nature of my quarters. Is this an attempt at embellishment?

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : The cat's out of the bag.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : [looking around for his cat]  Spot?

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : No, I mean I... you've caught me in the act.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : [attempting to simulate a quarrel]  You don't tell me how to behave; you're not my mother!

• Lt. Jenna D'Sora : Kiss me.

  [Data obliges] 

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : What were you just thinking?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : In that particular moment, I was reconfiguring the warp field parameters, analyzing the collected works of Charles Dickens, calculating the maximum pressure I could safely apply to your lips, considering a new food supplement for Sp-ot...

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : I'm glad I was in there somewhere.

• Guinan : It's not good to advise people about their first love affairs. That's kind of something people have to figure out for themselves.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : But I am not capable of love.

  Guinan : Then it's gonna be a very unique experience.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : Honey? I'm home!

• Commander William T. Riker : Data, when it really works between two people, it's not like anything you've ever experienced. The rewards are far greater than simple friendship.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : How far, sir?

  Commander William T. Riker : That's what I'm hoping you're going to find out.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : [after the "quarrel" with Jenna]  In my study of interpersonal dynamics, I have found that conflict, followed by emotional release, often strengthens the connection between two people.

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : But... there's something so forced and artificial about the way you're doing it, Data. It's just not the real you.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : With regard to romantic relationships, there is no real me.

• Lt. Jenna D'Sora : As close as we are, I... I don't really matter to you. Not really. Nothing I can say or do will ever make you happy or, or sad... or touch you in any way.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : That is a valid projection. It is apparent that my reach has exceeded my grasp in this particular area. I am, perhaps, not nearly so human as I aspire to become.

• Guinan : [Data is acting unusually pensive]  Data, if I didn't know you very well... I would say that you were... preoccupied.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Lieutenant D'Sora has just given me, what you might call, a very passionate kiss, in the torpedo bay.

  Guinan : [amazed]  Really?

  [Data nods. Guinan walks around the bar counter so that she is standing next to Data] 

  Guinan : ...And?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I was intrigued.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : [Jenna has given Data a glass abstract sculpture as a gift]  You have always mentioned that my quarters are spartan. Is this an attempt to make it less Spartan?

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : [smiling]  The cat's out of bag!

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : [looking around for Spot, the cat]  Spot?

• Keiko O'Brien : [Keiko and Miles are talking to Jenna and Data at Ten Forward]  For the first five weeks after we were married, Miles would dump his socks on the floor and I would pick them up. Then, I realized that I would cleaning his socks for the rest of my life! So, I stopped. I thought, he would get the message and take care of it himself. Well... a day goes by... two... a week... ten days! By now, the pile of socks was about a meter high!

  Chief Miles O'Brien : It was *not* a meter high!

  Keiko O'Brien : I couldn't take it any more, I scooped the pile up and dumped it into the cleaning processor... and I am still doing it!

  Chief Miles O'Brien : [admiringly]  And a good job she does of it, too.

  [Keiko playfully pushes Miles and they laugh] 

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : Oh, Keiko, you sound so much like Data! Just the other day, during music practice he said to me...

  [to Data] 

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : What was it you said... about the mess?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I said that you seemed to have an aversion to orderliness.

  [Miles and Keiko laugh] 

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : [lovingly wrapping her arm around Data's arm]  So, he gallantly offered to help me straighten it up.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : [deadpanned]  And a good job I did of it too.

  [Data winks; Miles, Keiko laugh, while a smiling and laughing Jenna places her head on Data's shoulder] 

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : Darling, you remain as aesthetically pleasing as the first day we met. I believe I am the most fortunate sentient in this sector of the galaxy.

• [after talking to Data in the torpedo bay] 

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : I better be going... with your permission, Commander.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Permission granted.

  [Jenna is about to leave, when she stops and goes up to Data. She kisses Data on the cheek. Data looks at her, surprised] 

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : I don't know if you are aware of this, but you are very handsome.

  [Jenna places her fingertips underneath Data's chin, so he is looking up at her. She gives Data a passionate kiss on the lips] 

  Lt. Jenna D'Sora : I'll see you tomorrow...

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : [Jenna leaves. Data looks on with a pensive and intrigued, even androidishly love-stricken expression]