30th Anniversary TNG Episode Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

DATA: That is Lal, my daughter.
JULIANA: Your daughter?

No really, why doesn't Juliana know all this stuff already? Data would have an enormous entry at Memory Alpha by now.

DATA: The acoustics in Ten Forward are most favourable.

I doubt that. The very shape of the room is ludicrous in terms of achieving proper acoustics.

JULIANA: Do you think you'll ever try to create an android again?
DATA: Perhaps. I created Lal because I wished to procreate. Despite what happened to her, I still have that wish.
JULIANA: How do you know the same thing won't happen? Creating a stable positronic matrix is very tricky.

I think Data understands that very well, Juliana, you don't need to lay on the guilt! Then again, after the exocomps you'd think he'd have more experimental data to work with. For that matter, he'd know about the EMH project by now and would be using the information from that project as well.

I refer you to the novel Immortal Coil where Flint creates an android based both on Soong tech and Zimmerman tech to try having an immortal mate again. But she falls in love with Data instead.

DATA: I was not aware he created other androids before my brother.
JULIANA: There were three of them. They were like children to us. Losing them was very painful.

I'm having trouble with this idea. B-4 wasn't exactly fully sentient, I shudder to think what the other two were like.

JULIANA: I didn't want to bring you with us. I was afraid if we reactivated you, you'd turn out like Lore. I made Noonian leave you behind.

I'm confused about this one, but that's another screed.

JULIANA: I just don't want you to misunderstand my answer. No, I wouldn't have left you behind if you'd been my biological child.
DATA: Is that because you place more value on biological life than on artificial life?
JULIANA: Absolutely not. I cherished every android your father and I created as if it were my child. Even Lore.

Which raises the question of where Altan Soong came from and where he went. It was made clear that he's not Juliana's son.

RIKER: Why does the scanner read her as a human?
CRUSHER: Because she has a feedback processor designed to send out a false bio-signal.

I'm still dubious about this one. Maybe Soong could upgrade the thing to keep up with advances in tricorder technology, but odds are he didn't get the chance to do so after the Enterprise launched.

SOONG: She was injured when the Crystalline Entity attacked. We made it as far as Terlina Three but, she slipped into a coma. When I realised nothing could be done for her, I built an android. I tried to perfect my synaptic scanning technique so that I could transfer Juliana's memories into a positronic matrix. I didn't know if it would work, but I had to try.

That was Graves' specialty, not Soong's. Another problem is that there was no chance that Soong was able to take all of the necessary equipment from his lab during the evacuation. Are we to believe that he was able to build it IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!

DATA: What happened?
SOONG: I made a terrible mistake. I never really let her know how much I loved her. So she left me.

Sheesh, talk about hackneyed soap opera dialogue.

PICARD: Data, there might come some time in the future when she would find out anyway. Another accident, perhaps. Maybe it would be easier for her if she learned the truth from you.
CRUSHER: I can tell you that if I were in her place, I would rather be told by my son than by some stranger.

A good point. I'm glad that they're able to consider the possible ramifications without fear and still trust Data to make the right decision.

DATA: I find I am having difficulty separating what would be best for her from what would be best for me.
TROI: What do you mean?
DATA: If she knew she were an android, we would have something to share. I would no longer be alone in the universe.
TROI: I know how much that means to you, Data.

And this is why Data is such a great character. He can be a bit selfish, but he still wants to do the right thing.

JULIANA: On Atrea there is a saying, that a child born from parents who love each other will have nothing but goodness in his heart. I guess that explains you.

But didn't this same set of parents create Lore?

The Fiver

Captain's Log: We are in orbit of Penthara IV, where... I'm sorry; my heart just isn't in this anymore. Nobody even reads these things. Will! Get over here and finish the log.
First Officer's Log: So there me and Deanna were, all alone --
Captain's Log: --When I threatened to demote Commander Riker to Ensign if he ever tried to turn my logs into dime store dirty novels.
First Officer's Log: Aww.

"You know how much money you can make writing dime novels?" "What?" "A whole lotta dimes." I still miss Legend, it deserved better than what it got. The only good part of it ending is that it freed up Anderson for Stargate SG-1.

Juliana: We put on a pretty good concert, you and I.
Data: Mother, I have noticed that your playing of that piece was flawless. How do you maintain such a level of perfection?
Juliana: I don't, dear. It's a recording.
Data: Ah! Do you carry many different tunes with you?
Juliana: No, only eight tracks at a time.

Eight tracks were before my time, but I thought that their audio fidelity wasn't really that great. That's why LPs lasted for so long.

Data: It appears we've angered the volcano gods. The planet is destabilizing. Starfleet protocol says to sacrifice a virgin to appease their demands.
La Forge: Oh no you don't! Geordi awwway! (runs down passageway)
Data: Okay, Plan B. Invincible man and random visitor.

I want to believe that this is a Joe vs the Volcano reference, but I doubt it.

Soong: You're probably inquiring about the warranty on Juliana. It's expired. So is she. Crystalline Entity, snowflakes, coma. Couldn't stand her dead, so Juliana is the first android to have a consciousness downloaded to it. Gettin' all this?
Data: Actually, there was this one time we, I mean I....
Soong: Quiet Schizoid.

Always nice to see a reference to Ira Graves.

Memory Alpha

* Flanagan's role in "Dax" was before this. The past is the future, the future is the past, the whole thing gives me a headache...

Nitpicker's Guide
* Both Troi and Geordi should've detected that Juliana wasn't human, but they didn't. Oops.
* Soong must've chased Juliana down, deactivated her, put in the chip, and then left. How awkward.
* Phil points out that Soong programmed Juliana to shut down if she learned the truth, saying that this means that Data's quandary is pointless. I would argue that once Data knows about this programming he could deactivate it.
* He wonders how Soong could create such a perfect human facade after Data and Lore. I would argue that with Data and Lore the colonists forced him to make the androids easily identifiable.
* Geordi casually says that Data has an aging program when it was previously established that he's functionally immortal. I get that this is a handwave to explain that Spiner's getting older, but frankly I don't like it. And he never should've appeared in Picard, by the way.