UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S2E6 - The Schizoid Man
Added 2024-02-02 15:00:09 +0000 UTC
Comments
Shout out for early dvd menu complications via Memento. Kevin Smith also did similar tactics.
fassbinderfanny
2025-01-09 07:32:34 +0000 UTCMaurice Hurley has criticized this episode for damaging the character of Data. He says that since Data is presented as this very innocent, inoffensive character you'd never expect to hurt anyone. Then when Ira takes over, we see this arrogant, selfish character prone to outbursts of violence. I get the argument, but I think most can differentiate that it's not Data doing those things. And Picard wasn't predicting Graves would attack him. There was a second guy knocked out up against the wall near to Geordi, just hard to see in the low light. That said, I don't think this is a great Data episode, as he's barely in it apart from the first few and last couple minutes. It's a great Brent Spiner episode though. Particularly given how rigid a character Data can be, it must have been fun for Brent to stretch his acting muscles. Graves is.....well, he's a unique character. Definitely a lot of shock value moments like when he says "women aren't people", though clearly that was his own strange way of flirting. I suppose living alone with Kareen(who didn't push back on him at all) and his own massive ego, it's somewhat expected he'd become even more of an ass than he may have otherwise been. On top of that his illness was supposedly making him rather moody. Of course you'd expect that to go away once he transferred to Data and no longer had the illness. Definitely an unstable guy, but at least he did the right thing in the end. I'm still dubious that he could maintain all his emotions and personality when he transferred into Data. I suppose it could be argued his consciousness was translated into programming that allowed those things to be maintained. After all Lore seemed to have emotions. I'm still not buying that Troi can sense emotions from an android or hologram. It's an interesting episode, but I understand why some don't like it. I do think it something of a precursor to Measure of a Man with Picard giving that impassioned speech in defense of Data's personhood. Stewart and the writers are really starting to get a grasp of the character at this point.
Timothy Nikiforovs
2024-07-08 07:05:01 +0000 UTCyes, in the official schematics, the bridge module is supposed to be able to separate.
Timothy Nikiforovs
2024-07-07 09:29:26 +0000 UTCPlus she sensed Moriarty gaining consciousness. Always bothered me.
Timothy Nikiforovs
2024-07-07 09:22:27 +0000 UTCIf you can't-or won't understand and follow the rules you should be banned from commenting.
David Scudder
2024-02-05 17:57:11 +0000 UTCIf you refuse to follow the rules, or even acknowledge thier validity you should be banned from commenting.
David Scudder
2024-02-05 17:54:04 +0000 UTCExactly, it doesn't matter if you even think or know they have knowledge of the future of the show, just refrain from bringing it up, it's not that hard.
JD Nevesytrof
2024-02-04 18:45:54 +0000 UTCYes, you should not. Treat all comments on this channel as if it's 1988 and the show is coming out new and NONE of us knows what happens in future episodes!
Jovet
2024-02-03 22:48:35 +0000 UTCI guess I shouldn't tell them that Patrick Stewart appears in future episodes since it is information regarding anything THAT DOES OR DOES NOT HAPPEN after this episode.
Tristan Rose
2024-02-03 19:18:49 +0000 UTCOh my gosh, the final act of the draft script sounds INSANE. I'm glad they refrained from doing that. Perhaps in a different universe it happened that way^^
DataDroid
2024-02-03 19:05:50 +0000 UTC"NO SPOILERS - If it is information regarding anything THAT DOES OR DOES NOT HAPPEN after this episode, don't include it in your comment." Anything means anything.
JD Nevesytrof
2024-02-03 18:36:56 +0000 UTC"NO SPOILERS - If it is information regarding anything THAT DOES OR DOES NOT HAPPEN after this episode, don't include it in your comment."
JD Nevesytrof
2024-02-03 18:36:46 +0000 UTCJust as the TNG production team had hoped to cast Richard Mulligan as Nagilum and Jerry Lewis as the Comic, they originally wanted actor Patrick McGoohan for the role of Ira Graves; hence this episode’s title, which it shares with an episode of McGoohan’s cult 1960s TV series, "The Prisoner." Tracy Tormé’s script derived from a combination of two premises for Data-centered episodes, one called “Core Dump” and the other called “Ménage.” W. Morgan Sheppard (Ira Graves), who passed away in 2019, had a small but memorable role in the 2011 "Doctor Who" episode “The Impossible Astronaut.” Sheppard is only the second actor the Target Audience has seen in Star Trek who has also appeared on screen in the "Doctor Who" franchise; the first was John de Lancie (Q), who appeared in three episodes of the "Doctor Who" spinoff "Torchwood" in 2011. Actors such as Sheppard who have appeared in both Star Trek and the main "Doctor Who" series are a more select group. (So far, no actors have appeared in both TOS and "Doctor Who," and, of course, the window of opportunity for that to happen is steadily closing.) By the way, Sheppard was 56 years old when he filmed this episode, only eight years older than Patrick Stewart. The name of Graves’ fatal illness is “Varnay’s disease” in the script. The final name, “Darnay’s disease,” may be a reference to the character of Charles Darnay from Charles Dickens’ "A Tale of Two Cities," whose identity his near-double Sydney Carton assumes at the novel’s climax. Data’s eulogy for Graves is one of the funniest scenes in TNG. To know it is to love it. The gimmick of locating crew members aboard the Enterprise by placing one’s hand on a computer wall panel and saying, “Tell me, where is so-and-so?” reappears in this episode for what I think may be the first time since “Encounter at Farpoint.” The final draft script (available on the Star Trek Minutiae website) had a significantly different final act. After telling Kareen he is alive, Graves begins boasting about his newfound propensity for violence. Worf enters with two security guards, but Graves knocks Worf out with a blow to the back of the head and stuns the guards with Worf’s phaser. Graves then speaks to Kareen about their future together and offers to build an android body for her, as in the aired episode. Graves goes to the Bridge, where Geordi is in the command chair, and holds him hostage with a phaser set on kill, demanding that Picard order the crew to vacate the Bridge. Picard reminds Data that Geordi is his best friend, and the Data personality surfaces for a moment, only for Graves to reassert control, cruelly saying, “He’s no friend of mine! I should kill him on the spot -- put him out of his blind misery.” After the Bridge crew evacuates, Kareen refuses to help defeat Graves by deflating his ego, saying she will not help destroy him. Picard goes to the Bridge to confront Graves, telling Riker to “attempt an external bridge separation” if he does not come back. I do not know if this terminology appears anywhere else in Star Trek, but I presume it means jettisoning the Bridge module from the rest of the ship, leaving Picard, Graves and Data floating in space to die. (The rest of the crew could then control the ship from the Battle Bridge.) Picard enrages Graves to the point that he attempts to strangle Picard, but Kareen arrives on the Bridge, telling Graves that she hates him and that “The thought of ever living with something like you makes me sick.” Graves almost slaps her but stops himself and leaves the Bridge, with Kareen telling him to leave Data’s body. Kareen, Picard, and the others find Data lying on the floor of his quarters; after they realize Data is himself again, Kareen notices a message on the nearby computer screen: “GOOD-BYE KAREEN. I’M SORRY.” Kareen says Graves put himself into the computer, but Picard replies, “The real Ira Graves never left the planet,” and the episode ends, with an abruptness which would have been highly atypical of TNG. Picard’s final line in the script is reminiscent of “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”, near the end of which Kirk tells Spock that “Dr. Korby… was never here.” At one point in the writing process, the script had a tag scene in which Data followed up his beard experiment by going bald! Edit: I'm not sure people have criticized Picard's last line in the script so much as simply compared it to Kirk's line.
Anthony Bernacchi
2024-02-03 18:23:42 +0000 UTCThis is one of those episodes I forgot how good it really was, not only story wise, but the acting - especially Brent Spiner, was on point. Even Ira was fantastic portraying that role, you could almost feel like you were in the room with them. A forgotten gem for sure.
A Surprisingly Moist Fart
2024-02-03 17:51:24 +0000 UTCAnything that happens related to any future episodes is a spoiler here. Plot points, characters, actors, etcetera. Treat this channel as if it's 1988 and no knowledge of any future episodes or stories is known because they haven't been aired yet!
Jovet
2024-02-03 08:46:57 +0000 UTCI maintain there is a huge difference in Troi interpreting the behavior and actions she witnesses coming from data, and her relating emotional awareness she senses from Data.
Jovet
2024-02-03 08:43:28 +0000 UTCWhen you pointed out the ADR, it was probably because they were tracking the two actors talking in the corridor and most likely using a wheeled cart. And that probably made noise.
Mike Rogers
2024-02-03 08:38:28 +0000 UTCNot really a spoiler.
Philbot
2024-02-03 07:49:17 +0000 UTCI'm referring to the actress, not the character, there are lots of actors that play lots of different parts and are not always imediately recognizable, ie Jeffrey Combs. I'm pretty sure they have realized by now that Star Trek reuses guest actors for various roles.
Tristan Rose
2024-02-03 07:03:39 +0000 UTCWhy do you feel the need to spoil them when they specifically ask you not to?
JD Nevesytrof
2024-02-03 06:56:42 +0000 UTCWhy do you feel the need to spoil them when they specifically ask you not to?
JD Nevesytrof
2024-02-03 06:56:38 +0000 UTCJovet, she did state it was coming from Data :) But of course since at that point they don't know yet that it's Graves in the body that's the only thing she can know
DataDroid
2024-02-03 06:28:34 +0000 UTCIra Graves is played by Crowley’s father. Badger from firefly’s dad..
Philbot
2024-02-03 06:13:18 +0000 UTCDr. Selar will be mentioned offscreen for the next 5 years.
Philbot
2024-02-03 06:07:01 +0000 UTC@Tony Bain That is an interesting point. But I would expect any emotion "coming from" Data to have been noticed by Troi at some point. If one wants to argue another point, it's a bit cloudy how Troi can sense emotions that aren't generated by biological means, but I believe it's been made clear that she can sense emotions from Lore.
Jovet
2024-02-03 03:45:02 +0000 UTC@DataDroid Troi did not state she felt/sensed it coming from Data. That is what tells me she merely assessed his behavior and what had just occurred.
Jovet
2024-02-03 03:43:03 +0000 UTCIntroducing Suzie Plakson as Dr/Lt Selar. You will see her again throughout Star Trek, be fun to see if you will be able to recognize her each time.
Tristan Rose
2024-02-03 03:29:09 +0000 UTCI don't believe it is a spoiler to say that Brent has already played more roles than anyone on the show so far. This is one of a few episodes that I know I've seen multiple times, but every time I watch it the memory is gone almost immediately.
KatWithAttitude
2024-02-03 01:47:08 +0000 UTCShe's asked if something is wrong when she looks a certain way after Data making a scene on the bridge and she replies that she feels intense burning jealousy and that it's coming from Data. Though she should have been at least surprised to pick up any kind of emotion from him as soon as Graves was in Data's body. that's Clearly something that is not normally there even if it isn't such an intense emotion like jealousy.
DataDroid
2024-02-03 01:23:20 +0000 UTCCorrect LOL!
StonyD
2024-02-03 01:10:56 +0000 UTCIt sounded like she was just reacting to his behavior, though.
Jovet
2024-02-03 00:17:15 +0000 UTCShe does, after he blatantly tells Picard off on the bridge
James Bottas
2024-02-02 22:57:23 +0000 UTCIt's a pretty "cliché" story.
Jovet
2024-02-02 20:35:53 +0000 UTCThe more shots, the more they don't like it...?
Jovet
2024-02-02 20:35:17 +0000 UTC25:25 Why doesn't Counselor Troi sense Graves-Data's emotions?
Jovet
2024-02-02 20:13:55 +0000 UTC3:08 That view of the bridge is actually really neat. As is Pulaski's turbolift trip.
Jovet
2024-02-02 19:51:46 +0000 UTCI've always thought it was obvious. *ducks*
Jovet
2024-02-02 19:48:08 +0000 UTCThe Prisoner, Gilligan's Island, Fantasy Island, LOST.....all the same island....
StonyD
2024-02-02 19:24:11 +0000 UTCI don't have much memory of this episode. Upon the rewatch, I quite enjoyed it. I do agree it started to drag a bit near the end when the audience was ahead of the characters. I felt that Bret Spiner's acting outweighed that for me.
Ca$hWednesday
2024-02-02 19:06:18 +0000 UTCWhen I stroke the beard thusly, do I not appear more... Intellectual? this is a line me and my best friend would say to one another all the time as a running gag. It's burned into my mind. and naturally, I wear a beard lol
James Bottas
2024-02-02 19:01:33 +0000 UTCI mean its already in real life a pretty old and rarely used phrase anymore, for obvious reasons
Derek Orr
2024-02-02 18:45:42 +0000 UTCI watched 'The Prisoner' for the first time several years ago. Thoroughly enjoyed it. However that final episode isn't going to please everyone.
Numinous2019
2024-02-02 18:36:03 +0000 UTCThe effects of the near-warp transport, enjoyed by all... ;p
StonyD
2024-02-02 18:23:32 +0000 UTCI think I am going to start counting how many shots of Fireball per video to measure how much they like the episode...
StonyD
2024-02-02 18:18:27 +0000 UTCIs your app updated?
Josh (Target Audience)
2024-02-02 17:43:22 +0000 UTCTarget Audience “General Chat” on the App doesn’t work for me. It never has. Anyone else get an error message?
PIG
2024-02-02 17:40:58 +0000 UTCI agree with you. I'm just a sucker for puns like these, it makes me crack up. Especially as, in the same scene, Data explains to Graves how he had difficulty determining what funny is and then saying something like that xD If he only realized that
DataDroid
2024-02-02 17:27:53 +0000 UTCWhile we should kind of be past Data's misunderstanding of language by now, I figure that could be an obscure enough term, or a very old-fashioned one, he could not be familiar with.
Joe Concepts
2024-02-02 17:01:59 +0000 UTC"He pulled a Lenny." Very nice analogy, Josh. Of Mice and Men indeed. Or Of Machines and Men? I agree with your comment about Brent Spiner: best actor of the series (with apologies to Patrick Stewart).
Collin Freeman
2024-02-02 16:58:07 +0000 UTCThough the ITC tv series The Prisoner is more avant-garde That series episode titled the schizoid man is better than the one from TNG. totally different tv styles I highly recommend the 1967 The Prisoner series total of 16episodes
Thicketdweller
2024-02-02 16:46:12 +0000 UTC"That is because I am an incredible man, possessing an iron will and nerves of steel. Two traits that helped me become the genius I am today as well as the lady killer I was in days gone by." "You condone homicide, sir?"
DataDroid
2024-02-02 15:54:30 +0000 UTC"We were seduced by the glamor of it all" always has me on the floor
DataDroid
2024-02-02 15:52:57 +0000 UTCI'm so impressed that you were able to pick up IMMEDIATELY the subtle change in Data (i.e. Brent Spiner's acting) that he's still like Data but not QUITE, after Graves transferred his consciousness into him. Love it
DataDroid
2024-02-02 15:52:20 +0000 UTCHis Night Court appearances are hilarious. Every time I hear or read the word stampede I start chuckling.
Monty Crawford
2024-02-02 15:42:53 +0000 UTCThe best parts of this episode are Brent Spiner and Suzie Plakson. Spiner was actually experienced with comedy before TNG, and if you search “Brent Spiner Night Court” on YouTube you can see his recurring role as the head of a poor West Virginia family with comically bad luck. And a female Vulcan is always a good thing.
Glenn Johnson Barnes
2024-02-02 15:06:19 +0000 UTC
