Data Saving the day

[Mojochi]

I wonder about this in a couple ways, firstly because I've never really bothered to tally all the times & ways that Data has somehow saved the entire crew, due to being an android, artificial life form, super computer & superman, whether it was directly, indirectly, single-handedly or in conjunction with other crew members' efforts.

Basically any time the crew might have perished were it not for having Data on board. Secondly, I wonder if in a way, this plot device was overused so much that it was something of a detriment to the show

So, I'm wondering what everyone thinks about it. I personally think it was certainly overused from a dramatic standpoint, but I don't think it negatively affected the show, and when I was a 1st time viewer, I found it interesting whenever Data happened to save everyone in a new way. Kind of an "Ohhh Yeah!" moment

I'm interested to know about them all too. I certainly can't think of all the events myself, so I'd appreciate any I've forgotten being mentioned by others, even if they might be less significant, but not as standard as just being good at his job kind of thing... I guess



Genesis = Immune to the mutation

Cause & Effect = Received a coded dekyon emission & determined it's message

The Game = Immune to the addiction

Disaster = Able to prevent containment breech with direct link to the computer

Night Terrors = Immune to the R.E.M. deprivation

Best of Both Worlds = Direct link to the Borg Collective, via Locutus

I'd say Clues might be an exception, because though he saves them, in the end, he is the reason they were in jeopardy to begin with, & Redemption pt. 2 he saves the day, but maybe as a legitimate captain (Good at his job). Not sure about those two.

Any I missed? Well Always Have Paris, maybe?

Oh, & I guess Nemesis, lol

 

[LeadHead]

Data wasn't immune to the time distortions in "We'll always have Paris" he just didn't get as disoriented as a result.

Another Data saves the day is "Cost of Living" when life support goes down, he takes the ship to the asteroid belt and gets the sparkly ship destroying stuff to leave the Enterprise.

 

[Green Shirt]

I'd rather have Data saving the day instead of "Shut Up Wesley".

 

[sonak]

It was used a lot as a plot device, but Data could be used as an obstacle for the crew as well, in "brothers," "descent," etc., so he wasn't there just to be the ace in the hole.

 

[T'Girl]

Was Data capable of saving the day?

Data: "Fully."

 

[Vinkula]

Genesis = Immune to the mutation

I actually wanted to see Data mutating to a calculator

 

[MikeS]

The Mind's Eye Through some nifty detective work he figures out that Geordi is acting under Romulan influence.

 

[Tom]

For the movies: First Contact and Nemisis, although if Data had not been captured in First Contact Picard could have just blown up the ship and left in an escape pod. It's funny how in the other 2 TNG movies Data was kinda detrimental, he could not get to Geordi in Generations and was malfuntioning in the begining of Insurection.

 

[JarodRussell]

I started to get annoyed of the "Data malfunctions" plot device, but not of the "Data saves the day" one.

 

[Gary7]

Don't forget, there are other people who save the day. Picard, Riker, Geordi, Worf, and others have stepped in and had it not been for them, all would have been lost.

But Data is of course an incredibly valuable asset because of his above-human capabilities. I don't think Data saving the day was overdone. However... what I really felt was missing from TNG was reports about other ships being lost. There were a few, but not much. We didn't get any "Starfleet News" exposure. How do people keep up with current events going on in the Federation? But even beyond that... would have been great to hear about some near-destruction exploits of the NCC-1701C and NCC-1701B.

 

[Mojochi]

certainly others have saved the day, or they have worked together to do so, and Data has managed to save the day by traditional means, I just mainly meant that they tended to have him save everyone solely due to some circumstance revolving around him being an artificial life form, a superman, or supercomputer, wherein if he hadn't been that in that capacity, they would all have perished

I bet Starfleet would do anything to have one on every ship, like the amnesia stricken Data & Laforge postulated in "Conundrum"

 

[Alrik]

I bet Starfleet would do anything to have one on every ship, like the amnesia stricken Data & Laforge postulated in "Conundrum"

Commander Maddox wanted to do just that in The Measure of a Man.

 

[Bosch571]

Cause & Effect = Received a coded dekyon emission & determined it's message

of course in this case he only fixed a problem he himself coused by offering his flawed sugestion, so if clues doesn't count this one doesn't either

 

[Mojochi]

Cause & Effect = Received a coded dekyon emission & determined it's message

of course in this case he only fixed a problem he himself coused by offering his flawed sugestion, so if clues doesn't count this one doesn't either

I've thought a great deal about that point over many viewings of the episode. (Which I love)

Riker's suggestion (Thinking like a pilot) Move the Enterprise by any means available, in this case, decompression thrust

Data's suggestion (Thinking like a technician) Move the object that is going to collide with the Enterprise, with our technology

Both suggestions have merit. Picard is the one who ultimately chooses between them, & he chooses Data's because it is the better idea, redirecting the incoming object with your technology, rather than trust the randomness of decompression thrust to move you out of the way, which would be more of a last ditch effort

It was the better decision, but it just wasn't the right choice this time. In fact, the way that the scene was shot, it almost looked like both tactics together might have brought about the success, leaving you to think that maybe neither of them alone could have done the trick

Data saving them all by being able to pass info from one loop to the next is the real Data Saves The Day moment. They might not have been able to do that without him