‘ELEMENTARY, DEAR DATA’ (TNG)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This is one of the ‘Star Trek: TNG’ episodes that I really like from Season 2 and remember so well. This episode has Data and Geordi take part in a tricky Sherlock Holmes mystery inside the holodeck.
In this episode, Data plays Sherlock Holmes and Geordi plays Dr. Watson. This is to live out the fantasy of Data’s crime-investigating hero, since it was introduced in ‘Lonely Among Us’ from Season 1.
I’m pleased this episode gave us another opportunity to see Brent Spiner do his impersonation of Sherlock Holmes through Data’s character. And in this tale, Data dresses up in Sherlock Holmes gear.
But can Data solve a good crime mystery like Sherlock Holmes can? Well it doesn’t seem to be the case in this story, as Data seems be able to solve a Sherlock Holmes mystery in a matter of seconds.
This of course gets on Geordi’s nerves, as he wants to solve a Sherlock Holmes mystery with Data. He storms out of the holodeck the first time they do Sherlock Holmes, which leaves Data utterly baffled.
Geordi and Data talk more about this in Ten Forward, but Data is still confused. Dr. Pulaski overhears their conversation. She asserts Data is incapable of solving a mystery without knowing the outcome.
Taking on the challenge, Data and Geordi with Pulaski re-enter the holodeck to try to do another Sherlock Holmes mystery, but something different. This of course doesn’t work out as Data hoped.
The second attempt was to do a mishmash of Sherlock Holmes mysteries into one for Data to solve. But Data is able to predict the outcome of this mishmash anyway, with this to prove Pulaski’s point.
Eventually, Geordi decides to come up with a mystery that is unsolvable to Data by giving him a worthy opponent. This he inputs into his commands to the ship’s computer, as he activates the arch.
This is of course fatal, as Geordi asks the computer to give an opponent worthy for ‘Data’ to fight against instead of ‘Sherlock Holmes’. Thus the tale’s ultimate villain gets created: Professor Moriarty.
Daniel Davis guest stars as James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’ enemy in this episode. I assumed that Daniel Davis was an English actor playing this character. But he’s truly American, which surprised me.
This version of James Moriarty is pretty intelligent in the Enterprise’s holodeck during the episode. He’s able to see Data, Geordi and Pulaski, before a command is made to make him overpower Data.
Moriarty is able to distinguish that Data is not Sherlock Holmes and Geordi is not Dr. Watson when they confront him. He also accesses the ship’s computer when he activates the arch just like Geordi did.
This shocks Data and Geordi when this happens. It gets even more shocking when Data sees a picture of the Enterprise drawn by Moriarty in the holodeck. It’s tense as Data and Geordi walk out.
Also, Dr. Pulaski becomes a prisoner of Moriarty in the holodeck. But Pulaski is treated well by Moriarty. He offers her tea and crumpets when asking questions, but Pulaski denies any knowledge.
Data and Geordi relate all that happened to them in the holodeck when they meet Picard and the others for a meeting. Suddenly the ship shudders violently as a result of Moriarty’s enhancements.
Moriarty has found a way to control the ship and create a machine using 19th century standards to shudder the Enterprise violently. Picard decides to go with Data into the holodeck to see Moriarty.
This gives Patrick Stewart an opportunity to dress up in Victorian clothes just like Data in Sherlock Holmes gear. Worf also dresses up in Victorian gear, although he doesn’t actually go in the holodeck.
Inside the holodeck, Picard and Data confront Moriarty in order to find out what he wants and discuss terms. This is where the episode was a let-down for me, since the climax did feel very weak.
Don’t get me wrong, Moriarty becoming intelligent and not wanting to be a villainous fictional character was interesting. But I had expected a very action-packed climax compared to what we got.
It would have been good if Worf did go into the holodeck and help Picard and Data out. Instead, he just stands by and does nothing whilst Picard and Data save Moriarty’s program within the holodeck.
‘Elementary, Dear Data’ is a fairly good holodeck episode from the ‘TNG’ series. Despite the weak conclusion, there’s a good build-up to Data and Geordi as Holmes and Watson when they face Moriarty.
‘Elementary, Dear Data’ (TNG) rating – 7/10
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