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Old 03-25-2023, 03:14 AM
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Nate the Great Nate the Great is offline
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(the lovely Stephanie Beacham greets Reg)

While I know Moriarty actor Daniel Davis best from The Nanny, I know Beacham best from Seaquest DSV. I really should get around to rewatching that show one of these years. Not necessarily for Retrospective purposes, just to enjoy it.

MORIARTY: If you loved a woman like this, Lieutenant, would you be content to let her remain a simulation?
BARCLAY: You, you gave her consciousness?
MORIARTY: Yes, just as it was given to me.

And how was that, exactly? No doubt Data and Geordi closed the loophole from "Elementary, Dear Data" by now. You can't just tell the computer to make one particular holodeck character sentient.

Come to think of it, why haven't they asked the Bynars for their help in this situation? While I have no doubt that the code used on Minuet is still is no longer in the Enterprise computers, the Bynars would keep a copy of it on their homeworld, wouldn't they?

DATA: Through deduction, sir. Lieutenant Barclay and I tried to transport a simulated object off the holodeck, something that has never been attempted. Since the transporter itself is a simulation, the computer had no real data from which to create the transport logs.

Exactly. Moriarty may be in command of this virtual Enterprise, but that control is limited by his comprehension. It's one thing to slave ship's control to some levers in the holodeck's virtual world, but he can't understand everything in the computer without it either being reprogrammed to interface with his program or him learning about it manually.

DATA: Then I saw you working the PADD with your left hand. Commander La Forge is right handed, sir. A similar malfunction occurred in the Sherlock Holmes programme I was running before Moriarty first appeared.

Ugh. Talk about a mishandled Chekov's gun. At least writing with your off hand is exponentially more complicated than catching an object with it.

(Data throws his commbadge towards the warp core. The grid appears for a moment)

Yeah, that's not how that works. The illusion on the holodeck wall would come forward to let the commbadge pass through it, then create an image of the commbadge continuing in interrupted flight.

PICARD: Credit where credit is due, madam. I can see you are a woman not only of breeding, but of wit and sagacity.

Sagacity means having foresight and discernment. If this was coming from anyone but Picard I'd call them pompous.

COUNTESS: And you, sir, are a man of charm and guile. You remind me of Viscount Oglethorpe. He was a man could bewitch any woman who breathed.

Well that's icky. I would apply the comparison to Kirk way before Picard.

PICARD: Yes, I can. We have learned that if we uncouple the transporter's Heisenberg Compensators and allow them to re-scramble randomly, we can beam a holodeck object or a person off the grid with all of the cohesion of conventional matter.

This is Picard planting information, but even with that knowledge this is meaningless technobabble. The Heisenberg Compensator is used for the dematerialization process, not the rematerialization process. I jolly well expect a transporter to be able to put every particle exactly where it wants and at the right speed.

(shuttle Sakharov flies off)

Sakharov was a Soviet scientist who helped design their thermonuclear weapons, but was also an advocate for civil liberties and nuclear disarmament.

PICARD: But who knows? Our reality may be very much like theirs. All this might be just be an elaborate simulation running inside a little device sitting on someone's table. Well, we have a newborn star to study. Mister Barclay, you will keep that safe?
BARCLAY: Aye, sir.
(everyone else leaves)
BARCLAY: Computer, end programme.

Holodeck characters can't end their own program (except for EMH's and Vic, of course).

The Fiver

Barclay: Hey guys! You're never going to guess what happened!
La Forge: Something weird with the Holodeck?
Barclay: How'd you know?
La Forge: Well, look at who I'm talking to.

Yeah, Barclay walked right into that one.

Moriarty: Sure. Meet you in Ten Forward. (leaves)
Data: Hey, he can't do that! He's not a drawing of the Enterprise!

As has already been covered before, the holodeck can probably replicate simple objects if it looks like a user is trying to leave the holodeck with it.

Barclay: Hey, maybe we could beam her off the Holodeck.
Data: Sure, if we can lock on to her with the pattern enhancers
La Forge: An episode with Holodeck characters, transporter technology, and Barclay -- what are the odds?

I'm not sure that the double-dipping works in this case.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Phil and his readers also noted the handedness problem.
* It's weird that Data was so willing to defend the rights of the exocomps, but doesn't seem to care that much about Moriarty.
* Why would it matter of Moriarty vanishes if he leaves the holodeck? That's just the projection, not his actual program.
* When Barclay said "end program", why didn't the computer respond with the message that it's an invalid command?
* He brings up the multiple instances of holodeck objects leaving the holodeck. Once again, simple objects can be replicated as needed, but full puppets can't.
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