[One man. One exercise bike. One surgery. 135/178 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.]
Oh, you read that right: ExerTrek. As part of my recovery from the back injury and surgery, I’m starting with fifteen minute bursts of cycling during Star Trek. The limp is gone, the pain is greatly reduced, and the only issue I’m having is with back strength — something perhaps helped by a little more exercise.
So the title of this episode has a little pleasant irony.
Here, Data discovers that tools used to maintain some boondoggle government project might well be sentient — and he risks Captain Picard’s life while proving the point.
Strange as this is to say, Dr. Crusher is probably the best asset of this episode. We see her in several scenes, making piquant observations and helping Data formulate his theory. She gets most of the better lines (way better than Dr. Farallon does in all her petulant snottiness), and she’s the spine of the story in a way.
Also on the plus side, everyone seems far more comfortable here than they have in previous seasons, sitting in chairs like normal people, leaning forward to pay attention, standing and leaning and actually talking instead of delivering lines.
(On the minus side, the music is a bit ham-fisted, swelling as the Exocomps perform their brave feat of selfless engineering.)
My grade: B.
[Time on bike: 15 minutes.]