"Star Trek: The Next Generation" The Measure of a Man (1989)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Robert Scheerer

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator)
Melinda M. Snodgrass (writer)

TV Series:

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987)

Original Air Date:

11 February 1989 (Season 2, Episode 9)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

When Data resigns his commission rather than be dismantled for examination by an inadequately skilled scientist, a formal hearing is convened to determine whether Data is considered property without rights or is a sentient being. |

Plot Keywords:

Reference To Pinocchio | Captain | Warp Speed | Commanding Officer | Doctor

Cast

Patrick Stewart	...	Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Commander William T. Riker
LeVar Burton	...	Lieutenant Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn	...	Lieutenant Worf
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Commander Data
Wil Wheaton	...	Wesley Crusher
Diana Muldaur	...	Doctor Pulaski
Amanda McBroom	...	JAG Captain Phillipa Louvois
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Admiral Nakamura
Brian Brophy	...	Commander Bruce Maddox
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Guinan
Colm Meaney	...	Chief Miles O'Brien

Trivia:

This is the first episode to feature a poker game in Commander Riker's quarters. This would become a common feature of the show for its duration with various officers and crew participating.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Data is made to bend the rod of steel during his hearing, he bends it almost right in half with a kink at the top where it is bent and there is no more than an inch between each side. When Riker places the bent steel on the table, it is clearly bent in an arch by machine, likely a pipe-bender, with a much larger gap and has no kink were it is bent. It barely resembles the piece Data bent by hand.

Quotes:

Commander Bruce Maddox: [of Data] He is remarkable.
Captain Phillipa Louvois: You didn't call him 'it'.

It could be used in an ethics class!

Too many people look at the Trek stories and shows as "just science fiction" but Gene Rodenberry had much more in mind. This episode stayed true to Rodenberry's vision and made us think and question. It looked at themes of Civil Rights and Slavery.. it looked at ethics, morality and science all intermingling.

There was some excellent acting in this one. Whoopi Goldberg, Diana Muldaur, Patrick Stewart & Brent Spiner all played their prospective roles particularly well. But, in my opinion, it was the character of Riker that played the most difficult role in this story and Jonathan Frakes pulled it off excellently!

The character of Lt. Commander Data, the android crew member, was an ingenious invention of the Next Generation writers. Each time they explored his character the more interesting he became. This story, by Melinda M. Snodgrass, however, is the best of those explorations of character. It could be used in an ethics class! It is a definite "must see!"