Did this one get you in the feels too? Star Trek TNG reactions: ua-cam.com/play/PLQHhQlj8i5dqskzLNqeSNyMGa1rBWe3h1.html Original Series reactions: ua-cam.com/play/PLQHhQlj8i5drsrCtQd-FDuZZ99vKlPTyZ.html
This episode breaks me every time I watch it. My heart even goes out to the admiral at the end as he’s emotionally describing Data’s efforts to save her - he finally gets it.
Once upon a time my father said, with a chuckle, that my favorite question as a child was "Why?" There is more to the story of course but suffice to say, that scene you commented on really sticks with me.
After watching your last two reaction videos I can tell you that as you continue throughout the remaining seasons, the writing, the character development, and the acting all continue to improve. I suspect that you, like many of us who have been there from the beginning, will at some point consider these characters "family." I envy your journey - and appreciate your reactions.
"there are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders" O Captain! my Captain! One of Picard best moments and most memorable quotes.
@@SirChaosS their relationship is a little like Batman and Joker in the way it starts with disdain and an attempt to prove they're a hypocrite then a fascination with the fact they honor the codes they profess to believe in and finally a respect with plenty of agitation and provoking thrown in.
I love that cheeky little grin he gives when the Admiral threatens Picard's career. We know that being in Starfleet is all Picard ever wanted to do, so Admiral Halfwit thought Picard would buckle under that threat. But Picard would rather lose his career than abandon his moral compass. The man would lay down his life to protect the innocent, especially those under his command and this is why he's one of the best characters ever.
I really envy her to be honest. I wish I could watch TNG all over again for the first time. I've been watching TNG since I as was 5 years old. And watching someone watch it and enjoy herself makes me very happy.
@@alexvokoun9272 I think is why watching reactions is so satisfying. It's the closest we'll get to watching something again for the first time, especially TNG; a show serious fans know front to back.
@@alexvokoun9272 Agreed. Plus, Jen getting to see the episodes as a fully formed adult, getting to have the understanding and emotional impact of the things we missed at that age (I was born in 81 so I too was a TNG toddler). We never got to experience the full impact of these episodes, even as we caught on as we got older, because we already knew everything else happening. But at least we get to experience a fraction of it, watching Jen's reactions.
Also an interesting point of note that Data who "cannot" love, named his child Lal, Hindi for "Beloved". Even if he could not experience or express love for his child, he wanted her to know she was loved.
Frakes really developed a talent for directing over the years. First Contact still holds up pretty well from a film making side. I also appreciate Insurrection, to name two of his works.
@@w41duvernay Picard is right up there with the great commanders of film and TV entertainment. Patrick Stewart was such an inspired choice of casting. I can't imagine anyone else giving the performances he gave through the whole series.
The admiral was like “Picard you’re jeopardizing your command” and Picard smiled at him. Yeah… Starfleet may be blind sometimes but they’re not stupid. Picard was NEVER going to lose his command 🙄
The Admiral saying "you're risking your career" and Picard just smiling and nodding as if to say "I don't fucking care." The Captain is what I call "a quiet badass."
That last closeup on Data's face as he takes his seat on the bridge -- I always felt there was a small hint of emotion in his eyes. There was definitely something there... Brent Spiner is such fantastic actor!
"He's biting that female!" had me BURST out laughing the first time i saw this one. Another great Trek episode. I admit to choking back some tears by the end of it.
I was at a Star Trek convention the weekend after this originally aired. Someone had videotaped this episode and it was played one evening in the video room. Yes, this was before streaming. At the end of the show, everyone in the room was crying. Men, women, teens, children. Everyone. I watched this again a few years after becoming a father. The episode hit even harder 🥲
15:02 the way Admiral Haftel gets choked up talking about how hard Data was fighting for his daughters life. His hands moving faster than his eyes can see 😢
@@Vejitatheouji Indeed. It was a cascade failure brought on by her feeling emotion; it was only a matter of time before some other form of outside stimuli would have trigged an emotional response causing a similar collapse of her positronic matrix.
@@rabidrobbiethere are a lot of what if’s and it could of happened in another way, or in the future Data would of improved on her programming, etc. But, in that point in time, I agree it was that bastards fault. It was too early and too soon to dump so much on her. I felt there should have been some sort of “breaking in” process. 🤷🏼♂️
Nothing comes close to the enterprise going down in st3, or kirks desperate run towards engineering in ST2, of all the people we would want coming to save us its Kirk, yet this time, he couldn't cheat death
Data, the emotionless android, had some of the most emotional storylines. When Lal says, "I will feel it for both of us." this old man tears up every time.
Yeah, I never felt it was in the least convincing that Data didn't have emotions. It would have been more realistic for the crew to say that Data was developing emotions
@@seanmcmurphy4744 I think that Data does have emotions but they are intentionally hobbled as part of his development. As Soong said, he and Lore are virtually identical other than a few differences in programming. So, it is likely that after his experience with Lore (fully emotional from the get-go), Soong decided to allow Data to slowly develop so that he is stable as he develops.
To then watch that Admiral adjust his own opinions because of his privileged point of view? Perfection in a Star Trek context. I'm always quite impressed with the Admiral offering to assist Data and then describing the procedure to the others, afterwards. It wasn't only Picard who changed his mind, but Picard's loyalty to Data surely helped.
@@jamespfp Exactly. Haftel wasn't a bad person, and he didn't wish Data or Lal any ill will. He was there to represent Starfleet's interests, and several of his arguments had merit, and he had mentally decided to be the "bad guy" and order Data to let him take Lal back to the Daystrom institute. Unfortunately, Lal's positronic matrix was flawed and ultimately unstable. When her malfunction proved to be irreversible, his authoritative facade was broken and he saw Data for the father he was, and finally he was both touched and heartbroken that Lal would not survive.
@@corvus1970 It was kind of a contrived ending to the conflict, though. If Lal didn't happen to die at that particular time, Picard might have lost his command. Undoubtedly the writers decided we can't have that.
@@seanmcmurphy4744 I don't think so. In my opinion, it's likely that the legal ruling that prevented Data from being forcibly transferred before would be easy precedent for a decision allowing him and Lal to have self-determination in this situation, too.
Picard: "But I fail to understand how a 5 foot android with heuristic learning systems and the strength of ten men could be called a child." Data: AM I A JOKE TO YOU?
I love that Picard is 100% loyal to his crew, even though he doesn't support or fully understand it personally. To me he and Kirk (and two other Captains you will meet much, much later) are the epitome of an ideal Starfleet officer and represent what Star Trek is all about. Btw. i think this is is how people in charge should act in RL too. (sadly that's not the case at all.) Also, i think this Episode has become more and more relevant over the years since it was made. The worrisome thing about it is that nowadays (at least in Germand, where i live) there is almost a social pressure on parents and especially women to give their children to full day care in order to be able to work as soon as possible again after birth, instead of raising their kids by themselves. Ok, maybe i'm just old fashipned, but i think that this takes away one of the most basic and most fulfilling aspects of life itself, not just for the child, but also for the parent.
Every time, without fail, the scene when the admiral talks about how fast Data's hands were moving to stay ahead of Lal's cascade failure, always makes me tear up. And because Data can't cry, so I cry for him. What a directorial debut for Jonathan Frakes.
47 year old here, life long fan of all trek, this episode has never failed to bring me tears after dozens of rewatchings. Brilliant writing and acting. 👏
@@UtopiaBlue68 In the episode where the Borg first appeared ("Q Who"), Ensign Sonya Gomez was having trouble handling the deaths that had just occurred. Geordi basically told her that there was no time for that now and to concentrate on the job.
During the conversation between Troi and Picard in the hallway, I liked her comment "you've never been a parent", a nice callback to when she had a child in Season 2 👍
@@shuboy05 Huh... Sela, Wesley, Alexander, Lal, Kestra, Alandra, Sidney, and SPOILER. You could make a whole bridge crew out of their kids... you know if Wesley wasn't a Traveler and Lal wasn't dead.
The scene, where the admiral describes Data working with flying fingers... 😢😭. Star Trek has many great heartbreaking moments and beginning with that scene, the end of this episode is one of those. Getting emotional cause of a charactere who has no emotions - that's part of the magic of Star Trek and Data especially❤.
This episode always makes me emotional, especially the ending. This episode perfectly shows the genius of Data's character. He has no emotions, but he evokes great emotional feelings in all of his crewmates and friends, and us as the audience.
Absolutely LOVE how into this wonderful series you are. I hope you are now appreciating why everyone was saying "just wait until Season 3 onwards". It now stays at a superb level right through its finale. I saw these when they originally came out and have been enjoying reliving the series through your eyes. Loved it then, love it now.
I always had two thoughts regarding Data transferring Lal's memories into his brain: 1. I'm sort of surprised nobody asked him if that was safe. Lal's brain broke down; I would worry that having her memories could cause some kind of malfunction in Data, too - like a bug in software causing a computer to glitch out. But, nobody even brought it up as a concern, so I guess that's somehow not possible. 2. Since Data has Lal's memories, that means he knows what it feels like to kiss Riker.
I figure he definitely transferred her perceptions -- what she saw, heard, etc. -- and may even have transferred her thoughts. However, his own brain hardware isn't able to process emotions in the same way hers was, so he either didn't transfer them at all or only a simple record of them, like an annotated list on a piece of paper.
Also, Data's brain is proven stable. We don't know if there's a period where an Android's brain is vulnerable to instabilities. If Lal hadn't been forced to have a massive panic attack she may have lived to a point where such a cascade failure was no longer a risk.
I've been waiting for your reaction to this one. I watched this as a kid and it was the first TNG episode that really moved me. Naturally, it becomes more resonant as an adult.
There's a quote (sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson, sometimes to Edmund Burke, perhaps others) - "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." I think Picard's line about "men of good conscience" is probably referencing this quote.
Ah one of my absolute favorite episodes. Kicks you right in the feels. I'm so glad I grew up watching this show. It shaped a lot of my views on life. And I cried like a baby at the end of this episode.
This episode never fails to make me cry, the speech that data told Lal about striving for goals yeilds its own reward is so uplifting, overall one of the best episodes on any Trek show.
Data did all a father wishes he could in that circumstance. Genius, super-fast, skilled surgeon and engineer. It still just wasn't enough. The feeling, standing watch as another father, watching a damn miracle try to save another one, still KNOWING it's not enough -- the Admiral's tears are for that. That horror.
I was moved by this episode when I was a teen when it came out, but having become a father since ... it absolutely brings me to heavily watery eyes now. Every single time.
From my perspective, Data absolutely feels emotions. He just can't express them. I don't think he's even aware of his emotional capacity, because he's been told he doesn't have any.
Ahhh, this one was gut-wrenching. When the Admiral describes how Data was trying so hard to stay ahead of the problem, it just broke me. Knowing the helplessness of the feeling, and knowing a parent would do anything to save their child.
"The effort yields its own rewards" in that context is my fav Star Trek quote. I think of it often in my own life from exercise to learning, I might not win the olympics or a nobel prize but the discipline of working towards something is invaluable.
What a beauty! I cried too at the end of this episode of TNJ! When the envious admiral is amazed at Data's performance and sad that Lal will die... it really hits you in the positronic net! 🖖
This episode hits like a ton of bricks when you have kids. I watched it with my kids and had to leave the room at the end. “IT’S OKAY DADDY JUST HAS SOMETHING IN HIS EYE.” 😭😭😭
Hey Jen, as a father of my young daughter I was hyper aware that I needed to be a tutor of her experiences and her perspectives. ------- It was a tremendous responsibility and wanted to transfer the path that my parents gave to me, but also improve upon it. ---------- See you react to Data and Lau brought up many of those feelings. Thanks for taking us on the TNG journey with you. --------- You make see the show from a new perspective. Thanks for the journey.
I think it's pretty commonly accepted canon that Data does feel emotions in his own way. It may not be in a manner that's familiar or even recognizable to human beings, but he does have his own form of feelings.
you go from hating the admiral to crying with him. you could see how pained he looked as data fought for his child to live, only for that child to die. brilliant writing.
I tend to agree. I also thought it was important in that it shows Data really doesn't have emotions as you see in the way he reacts to Lal "dying" but I see a lot of reactors refusing to believe he doesn't have emotions. Or at least questioning that which I find odd after this episode.
I also like that the show is fairly committed to data being data, even if becoming human is thought of as a good thing. I forget the episode but someone who is attracted to him ask, don't you feel anything for me? And he responds, no I do not feel anything at all 😂 but it makes sense @0lyge0
@@0lyge0 Well, when even the characters in the episode question the idea of Data not having emotions, example Dr. Crusher's "Why do I find that so hard to believe?" is it any surprise that the audience would as well? I would say that his programming has evolved to the point of the true bare basic emotions, though not the intensities (after all his programming is a stripped-down and then improved version of Lore's after all). He is intentionally kind, he regrets if he offends someone, he misses people, he is concerned about them, he forms friendships including one which he values above all else, he is curious, he has the DESIRE to better himself... If none of that adds up to the true underlying base emotions, especially that of love; then love as we know it is a facsimile.
@@j.rileyindependentproductions but he isn't. This episode should have made that clear. Doctor Crusher thinks he can love her but I think that's meant to be taken as "in his own way" He doesn't have any emotions and when he does get them they overwhelm him, even the basic ones. But it's fiction so believe whatever you want.
@@j.rileyindependentproductions The reason that people can't believe he has no emotions is because of his actions. Data doesn't experience emotions, but he treats everyone with immense consideration, morality, ethics, kindness, and generosity. Data is a caring individual. As caring as Lore is cruel. While Data may not experience emotions, he evokes powerful emotions in others and they're almost always positive. Data does not experience love, but he acts with love. And he strives, he desires, he needs. For someone with no emotions he sure brings them out of others.
This episode was Jonathan Frakes' first directorial effort (hence, why Riker was on "personal leave" for half of the episode--Code for "Frakes needs more time behind the camera"). It does not disappoint and even Michael Dorn cites this as one of his personal favorite episodes of TNG.
this is one of the best episodes of the franchise. Hell, at the time it was an example of television at its very best Hallie Todd's performance was masterful. And, yes, if Lal's death did not rip you to shreds then you are not human. I tried to not be hyperbolic
This episode broke hearts and still upsets me to this day. Would have been interesting if it was a 2-parter. Well written and acted. When my Mother was dying the last words I could give her was "Thank You for my life."
Another episode that gets me misty sometimes is Reunion, particularly the end scene when Worf and Alexander are grieving the loss of K'Ehleyr, and Alexander is finally told that Worf is his father. First Alexander takes hold of his hand, then Worf pulls him in for a hug. 😭❤
"With all due respect, admiral, when there was only one Soong-type android in existence one lucky shot from a Romulan would have created exactly the same outcome. Funny how nobody at Starfleet mentioned it until now."
Jen, one of the things that makes you such a good reactor is your ability to show us your sincere emotions so clearly, so generously, so honestly. Tears are beside the point. I'm not keeping track, and I don't understand those who are, even in jest.
One of the many reasons TNG is one of the greatest series of all time. My fun Sci-Fi adventure show could punch you right in the guts with pure emotion and you would thank them for it.
Incredibly touching episode. How do we define life? Androids can potentially develop feelings such as Lal did. Data having the rights of a father. Great writing, and thanks for reacting to this show! Great followup to Measure of a Man in Data's story with Offspring.
Wow! Two Jen episodes in a weekend and they are both some of my favorite episodes! Like most of the commenters, at the end I was a damp mess. Thank you so much, Jen
Did this one get you in the feels too?
Star Trek TNG reactions: ua-cam.com/play/PLQHhQlj8i5dqskzLNqeSNyMGa1rBWe3h1.html
Original Series reactions: ua-cam.com/play/PLQHhQlj8i5drsrCtQd-FDuZZ99vKlPTyZ.html
Yes ma'am. I'm crying right now.
This episode breaks me every time I watch it. My heart even goes out to the admiral at the end as he’s emotionally describing Data’s efforts to save her - he finally gets it.
Once upon a time my father said, with a chuckle, that my favorite question as a child was "Why?"
There is more to the story of course but suffice to say, that scene you commented on really sticks with me.
Cry you said, just wait till season 5 episode 25 The Inner Light. Don't forget 10 boxes of kleenex.🪈🎵🎶🎵
After watching your last two reaction videos I can tell you that as you continue throughout the remaining seasons, the writing, the character development, and the acting all continue to improve. I suspect that you, like many of us who have been there from the beginning, will at some point consider these characters "family." I envy your journey - and appreciate your reactions.
"there are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders"
O Captain! my Captain! One of Picard best moments and most memorable quotes.
Well said, and your reference to Lincoln and Walt Whitman is appropriate.
Think we're starting to see why Q is so fascinated with humanity, and Picard in particular?
@@SirChaosS their relationship is a little like Batman and Joker in the way it starts with disdain and an attempt to prove they're a hypocrite then a fascination with the fact they honor the codes they profess to believe in and finally a respect with plenty of agitation and provoking thrown in.
I love that cheeky little grin he gives when the Admiral threatens Picard's career. We know that being in Starfleet is all Picard ever wanted to do, so Admiral Halfwit thought Picard would buckle under that threat. But Picard would rather lose his career than abandon his moral compass. The man would lay down his life to protect the innocent, especially those under his command and this is why he's one of the best characters ever.
@@Helbore Have to say, though, the ending of that conflict was kind of contrived, by killing off Lal
The actress portraying Lal did such a fantastic job.
She also did a great job on an episode of The Golden Girls! Two very different characters showing this lady was quite a good actress.
I agree. It's unfortunate that she couldn't make another appearance.
@@goyhoipolloiI never made the connection! Amazing!
Parents re-experiencing things through their children's new experiences is a lot like watching reactors reacting to things we've seen already.
I really envy her to be honest. I wish I could watch TNG all over again for the first time. I've been watching TNG since I as was 5 years old. And watching someone watch it and enjoy herself makes me very happy.
@@alexvokoun9272 I think is why watching reactions is so satisfying. It's the closest we'll get to watching something again for the first time, especially TNG; a show serious fans know front to back.
That's basically why I watch reaction videos on YT, it's almost like watching the movies/shows again for the first time through others
@@urieiwhenever someone is baffled as to why reaction videos exist, or why people watch them, this is the answer I give.
@@alexvokoun9272 Agreed. Plus, Jen getting to see the episodes as a fully formed adult, getting to have the understanding and emotional impact of the things we missed at that age (I was born in 81 so I too was a TNG toddler). We never got to experience the full impact of these episodes, even as we caught on as we got older, because we already knew everything else happening. But at least we get to experience a fraction of it, watching Jen's reactions.
Also an interesting point of note that Data who "cannot" love, named his child Lal, Hindi for "Beloved". Even if he could not experience or express love for his child, he wanted her to know she was loved.
This was the first episode directed by Jonathan Frakes😁
Frakes really developed a talent for directing over the years. First Contact still holds up pretty well from a film making side. I also appreciate Insurrection, to name two of his works.
@@Charles_Bro-son _Insurrection_ was _directed_ well, but the writing was atrocious.
Which is why I assume they tweaked the episode slightly so that he didn't need to be in front of the camera as much.
Loved Lal picking him off the ground and kissing him. She just did what we girls all wanted to do back then. :D
@@martineyles Exactly - it's the same reason Crusher got in - Gates McFadden directed that one😁
"Order a man to hand his child over to the state? Not while I'm his Captain."
LET'S 'EFFING GO!!!!!
Yeah, that's why he's our Captain.
ONE of those Captain Picard balls moments on TNG.
@@w41duvernay Picard is right up there with the great commanders of film and TV entertainment. Patrick Stewart was such an inspired choice of casting. I can't imagine anyone else giving the performances he gave through the whole series.
Ow dude, this is the REAL Picard!
"Let’s make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise!"
The admiral was like “Picard you’re jeopardizing your command” and Picard smiled at him. Yeah… Starfleet may be blind sometimes but they’re not stupid. Picard was NEVER going to lose his command 🙄
The Admiral saying "you're risking your career" and Picard just smiling and nodding as if to say "I don't fucking care." The Captain is what I call "a quiet badass."
I got the overwhelming impression Picard would rather throw away a career than swallow the dishonor.
That last closeup on Data's face as he takes his seat on the bridge -- I always felt there was a small hint of emotion in his eyes. There was definitely something there... Brent Spiner is such fantastic actor!
"He's biting that female!" had me BURST out laughing the first time i saw this one. Another great Trek episode. I admit to choking back some tears by the end of it.
I was at a Star Trek convention the weekend after this originally aired. Someone had videotaped this episode and it was played one evening in the video room. Yes, this was before streaming. At the end of the show, everyone in the room was crying. Men, women, teens, children. Everyone. I watched this again a few years after becoming a father. The episode hit even harder 🥲
Very true. Being a parent gives this episode a different level of meaning and emotion.
15:02 the way Admiral Haftel gets choked up talking about how hard Data was fighting for his daughters life. His hands moving faster than his eyes can see 😢
It's that bastard's fault in the first place.
@@rabidrobbie It probably would've happened anyways. As he said, it wasn't meant to be.
@@Vejitatheouji Indeed. It was a cascade failure brought on by her feeling emotion; it was only a matter of time before some other form of outside stimuli would have trigged an emotional response causing a similar collapse of her positronic matrix.
@@rabidrobbiethere are a lot of what if’s and it could of happened in another way, or in the future Data would of improved on her programming, etc. But, in that point in time, I agree it was that bastards fault. It was too early and too soon to dump so much on her. I felt there should have been some sort of “breaking in” process. 🤷🏼♂️
Yeah, that's the part that gets me the most.
There are probably three episodes of TNG that make me cry without fail. This is one of them.
Yep. The Inner Light is another. The end of the Best of Both Worlds, as well.
@@brianlafrazia8237 The Inner Light gets me every time too. There are more DS9 and Voyager episodes that bring a tear to my eye than TNG ones though.
"Lower Decks" is one that brings tears to my eyes.
Nothing comes close to the enterprise going down in st3, or kirks desperate run towards engineering in ST2, of all the people we would want coming to save us its Kirk, yet this time, he couldn't cheat death
@@brianlafrazia8237 The ending of Sarek is a gut punch as well, mainly due to Patrick Stewart's phenomenal acting.
Data, the emotionless android, had some of the most emotional storylines.
When Lal says, "I will feel it for both of us." this old man tears up every time.
Yeah, I never felt it was in the least convincing that Data didn't have emotions. It would have been more realistic for the crew to say that Data was developing emotions
Yup I feel the same way. This episode gets me every time.
@@seanmcmurphy4744 I think that Data does have emotions but they are intentionally hobbled as part of his development. As Soong said, he and Lore are virtually identical other than a few differences in programming. So, it is likely that after his experience with Lore (fully emotional from the get-go), Soong decided to allow Data to slowly develop so that he is stable as he develops.
34 years later, and this one still hits me like a truck.
the look on riker's face when he said, "your DAUGHTER?!" 🤣😅😂
For Captain Picard to put everything on the line to go against an admiral would inspire tremendous loyalty.
To then watch that Admiral adjust his own opinions because of his privileged point of view? Perfection in a Star Trek context. I'm always quite impressed with the Admiral offering to assist Data and then describing the procedure to the others, afterwards. It wasn't only Picard who changed his mind, but Picard's loyalty to Data surely helped.
@@jamespfp Exactly. Haftel wasn't a bad person, and he didn't wish Data or Lal any ill will. He was there to represent Starfleet's interests, and several of his arguments had merit, and he had mentally decided to be the "bad guy" and order Data to let him take Lal back to the Daystrom institute. Unfortunately, Lal's positronic matrix was flawed and ultimately unstable. When her malfunction proved to be irreversible, his authoritative facade was broken and he saw Data for the father he was, and finally he was both touched and heartbroken that Lal would not survive.
@@corvus1970 It was kind of a contrived ending to the conflict, though. If Lal didn't happen to die at that particular time, Picard might have lost his command. Undoubtedly the writers decided we can't have that.
@@seanmcmurphy4744 I don't think so. In my opinion, it's likely that the legal ruling that prevented Data from being forcibly transferred before would be easy precedent for a decision allowing him and Lal to have self-determination in this situation, too.
I love that she asks “Why is the sky black”, when traditionally the question is “Why is the sky blue”.
Turns out that answering Lal's question is even more complicated than answering why the sky on Earth is blue.
As a kid this bothered me so much. I mean, I understood that they are in space, but in space, there is no sky... lol
@@j.rileyindependentproductions It could be argued that in space there’s nothing but sky.
McBain - "That was the joke."
"My thoughts are not for her, but for myself. I keep thinking how empty it will feel without her presence. Did I miss the point?"
Picard: "But I fail to understand how a 5 foot android with heuristic learning systems and the strength of ten men could be called a child."
Data: AM I A JOKE TO YOU?
I love that Picard is 100% loyal to his crew, even though he doesn't support or fully understand it personally.
To me he and Kirk (and two other Captains you will meet much, much later) are the epitome of an ideal Starfleet officer and represent what Star Trek is all about.
Btw. i think this is is how people in charge should act in RL too. (sadly that's not the case at all.)
Also, i think this Episode has become more and more relevant over the years since it was made.
The worrisome thing about it is that nowadays (at least in Germand, where i live) there is almost a social pressure on parents and especially women to give their children to full day care in order to be able to work as soon as possible again after birth, instead of raising their kids by themselves.
Ok, maybe i'm just old fashipned, but i think that this takes away one of the most basic and most fulfilling aspects of life itself, not just for the child, but also for the parent.
I love when Jen says, “commercial break!”
Every time, without fail, the scene when the admiral talks about how fast Data's hands were moving to stay ahead of Lal's cascade failure, always makes me tear up. And because Data can't cry, so I cry for him.
What a directorial debut for Jonathan Frakes.
We Cry for him like he's a Cimmerian.
@@3Rayfire Damn right!🤘🏻
47 year old here, life long fan of all trek, this episode has never failed to bring me tears after dozens of rewatchings. Brilliant writing and acting. 👏
That's alright Jen, I will cry for both of us. This episode kills me every time.
I saw this episode as a child. Now, as an adult with a child, it hits me much harder.
You came CLOSE to crying! I sob like a teenage widow when the Admiral comes out and tells us she is not going to survive!
I’ve been watching Star Trek since the early 70’s ( I’m 58) and I cry every time I see this episode
Lal dying never makes me cry. The concept of Data just going back to work, unable to mourn is what always gets me.
Soldiers in war and conflict who lose friends and colleagues on the battlefield are trained to keep moving forward after loss.
@@UtopiaBlue68 In the episode where the Borg first appeared ("Q Who"), Ensign Sonya Gomez was having trouble handling the deaths that had just occurred. Geordi basically told her that there was no time for that now and to concentrate on the job.
During the conversation between Troi and Picard in the hallway, I liked her comment "you've never been a parent", a nice callback to when she had a child in Season 2 👍
And who would have predicted we’d see all of our favorite crew becoming parents in the future!
@@shuboy05 SPOILERS 😅
@@shuboy05 Huh... Sela, Wesley, Alexander, Lal, Kestra, Alandra, Sidney, and SPOILER.
You could make a whole bridge crew out of their kids... you know if Wesley wasn't a Traveler and Lal wasn't dead.
Top shelf episode. Still gets me. Every time. 😢
I ended up teary eyed through this. I've seen it multiple times, but it has been a while. TNG was peak television.
The scene, where the admiral describes Data working with flying fingers... 😢😭. Star Trek has many great heartbreaking moments and beginning with that scene, the end of this episode is one of those.
Getting emotional cause of a charactere who has no emotions - that's part of the magic of Star Trek and Data especially❤.
I forgot how brutal that ending was... Gosh. Tears.
Such a great, fun, contained and deep episode. TNG at its best again.
This episode always makes me emotional, especially the ending. This episode perfectly shows the genius of Data's character. He has no emotions, but he evokes great emotional feelings in all of his crewmates and friends, and us as the audience.
Absolutely LOVE how into this wonderful series you are. I hope you are now appreciating why everyone was saying "just wait until Season 3 onwards". It now stays at a superb level right through its finale. I saw these when they originally came out and have been enjoying reliving the series through your eyes. Loved it then, love it now.
I always had two thoughts regarding Data transferring Lal's memories into his brain:
1. I'm sort of surprised nobody asked him if that was safe. Lal's brain broke down; I would worry that having her memories could cause some kind of malfunction in Data, too - like a bug in software causing a computer to glitch out. But, nobody even brought it up as a concern, so I guess that's somehow not possible.
2. Since Data has Lal's memories, that means he knows what it feels like to kiss Riker.
I think it was a hardware issue.
Kissing Riker was probably what caused the cascade failure to begin. That's too much charisma for any artificial mind to process!
Great points.
I figure he definitely transferred her perceptions -- what she saw, heard, etc. -- and may even have transferred her thoughts. However, his own brain hardware isn't able to process emotions in the same way hers was, so he either didn't transfer them at all or only a simple record of them, like an annotated list on a piece of paper.
Also, Data's brain is proven stable. We don't know if there's a period where an Android's brain is vulnerable to instabilities. If Lal hadn't been forced to have a massive panic attack she may have lived to a point where such a cascade failure was no longer a risk.
This is probably my single favorite episode of TNG. I laughed, I cried at the time it aired and still do both. It really affected me.
I had not seen this episode since I became a parent. I cried like a baby when you got to the end. Data has always been my favorite character.
I've been waiting for your reaction to this one. I watched this as a kid and it was the first TNG episode that really moved me. Naturally, it becomes more resonant as an adult.
Seeing Data as a father makes this one of the best episodes. The ending is heartbreaking, and beautiful.
This is one that over the years has grown more special to me. Definitely an emotional episode.
There's a quote (sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson, sometimes to Edmund Burke, perhaps others) -
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
I think Picard's line about "men of good conscience" is probably referencing this quote.
There are many variations of that quote, it seems. The one I'm familiar with is "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".
Ah one of my absolute favorite episodes. Kicks you right in the feels. I'm so glad I grew up watching this show. It shaped a lot of my views on life. And I cried like a baby at the end of this episode.
Yes this got me teary eyed in the end too. 😢😢😢😢
It's so refreshing seeing someone get so excited about something I love so much.
This episode never fails to make me cry, the speech that data told Lal about striving for goals yeilds its own reward is so uplifting, overall one of the best episodes on any Trek show.
15:20 - *_YOU we’re GONNA cry? I cry EVERY TIME I rewatch that scene and Lal’s goodbye!!_* 😭😭😭
Love it when they take the show to a whole new level of themes and deep concepts 💕
One of the best and most heart wrenching performances of any episode of Star trek. Big probs to Hallie Todd as "Lal"
Data did all a father wishes he could in that circumstance. Genius, super-fast, skilled surgeon and engineer. It still just wasn't enough. The feeling, standing watch as another father, watching a damn miracle try to save another one, still KNOWING it's not enough -- the Admiral's tears are for that. That horror.
I was moved by this episode when I was a teen when it came out, but having become a father since ... it absolutely brings me to heavily watery eyes now. Every single time.
Its the characters like Data that make Star Trek such a great show.
From my perspective, Data absolutely feels emotions. He just can't express them. I don't think he's even aware of his emotional capacity, because he's been told he doesn't have any.
wow that is a fascinating description of Data
Ahhh, this one was gut-wrenching. When the Admiral describes how Data was trying so hard to stay ahead of the problem, it just broke me. Knowing the helplessness of the feeling, and knowing a parent would do anything to save their child.
The ending of this one is an absolute gut-punch that almost had me in tears just watching it again.
So now Data has the memory of kissing Riker....
Every single, solitary time I watch that episode, I bawl like a baby. It gets me every time. I wanted her to live so much.
"The effort yields its own rewards" in that context is my fav Star Trek quote. I think of it often in my own life from exercise to learning, I might not win the olympics or a nobel prize but the discipline of working towards something is invaluable.
Great episode. I wept when Lol died, too.
Lal picking up Riker and giving him a big kiss is one of my favorite Star Trek moments. 😂
What a beauty! I cried too at the end of this episode of TNJ! When the envious admiral is amazed at Data's performance and sad that Lal will die... it really hits you in the positronic net! 🖖
This episode hits like a ton of bricks when you have kids. I watched it with my kids and had to leave the room at the end.
“IT’S OKAY DADDY JUST HAS SOMETHING IN HIS EYE.” 😭😭😭
"What is my purpose?"
Data: "Pass the butter"
Lal: "Oh my god."
This episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes (Riker)
This episode has been making me cry for over 30 years pretty much without fail!
Hey Jen, as a father of my young daughter I was hyper aware that I needed to be a tutor of her experiences and her perspectives. ------- It was a tremendous responsibility and wanted to transfer the path that my parents gave to me, but also improve upon it. ---------- See you react to Data and Lau brought up many of those feelings. Thanks for taking us on the TNG journey with you. --------- You make see the show from a new perspective. Thanks for the journey.
I think it's pretty commonly accepted canon that Data does feel emotions in his own way. It may not be in a manner that's familiar or even recognizable to human beings, but he does have his own form of feelings.
you go from hating the admiral to crying with him. you could see how pained he looked as data fought for his child to live, only for that child to die.
brilliant writing.
Maybe the best Data episode.
I tend to agree. I also thought it was important in that it shows Data really doesn't have emotions as you see in the way he reacts to Lal "dying" but I see a lot of reactors refusing to believe he doesn't have emotions. Or at least questioning that which I find odd after this episode.
I also like that the show is fairly committed to data being data, even if becoming human is thought of as a good thing. I forget the episode but someone who is attracted to him ask, don't you feel anything for me? And he responds, no I do not feel anything at all 😂 but it makes sense @0lyge0
@@0lyge0 Well, when even the characters in the episode question the idea of Data not having emotions, example Dr. Crusher's "Why do I find that so hard to believe?" is it any surprise that the audience would as well?
I would say that his programming has evolved to the point of the true bare basic emotions, though not the intensities (after all his programming is a stripped-down and then improved version of Lore's after all). He is intentionally kind, he regrets if he offends someone, he misses people, he is concerned about them, he forms friendships including one which he values above all else, he is curious, he has the DESIRE to better himself... If none of that adds up to the true underlying base emotions, especially that of love; then love as we know it is a facsimile.
@@j.rileyindependentproductions but he isn't. This episode should have made that clear. Doctor Crusher thinks he can love her but I think that's meant to be taken as "in his own way" He doesn't have any emotions and when he does get them they overwhelm him, even the basic ones. But it's fiction so believe whatever you want.
@@j.rileyindependentproductions The reason that people can't believe he has no emotions is because of his actions. Data doesn't experience emotions, but he treats everyone with immense consideration, morality, ethics, kindness, and generosity. Data is a caring individual. As caring as Lore is cruel. While Data may not experience emotions, he evokes powerful emotions in others and they're almost always positive. Data does not experience love, but he acts with love. And he strives, he desires, he needs. For someone with no emotions he sure brings them out of others.
This episode was Jonathan Frakes' first directorial effort (hence, why Riker was on "personal leave" for half of the episode--Code for "Frakes needs more time behind the camera"). It does not disappoint and even Michael Dorn cites this as one of his personal favorite episodes of TNG.
Frakes says it was an easy episode, because it was a Data episode those don't miss. Basically a lay up.
this is one of the best episodes of the franchise.
Hell, at the time it was an example of television at its very best
Hallie Todd's performance was masterful.
And, yes, if Lal's death did not rip you to shreds then you are not human.
I tried to not be hyperbolic
This episode broke hearts and still upsets me to this day. Would have been interesting if it was a 2-parter. Well written and acted. When my Mother was dying the last words I could give her was "Thank You for my life."
Data has emotions, he just doesn't realize he has them.
I completely forgot about Troi’s line about Captain Picard never being a parent! That line feels different now….
I know the editor can't include everything, but "He is BITING that female!" is one of my favorite moments in all of Trek
"Thank you for my life" gets me every single time.
As a father this is by far my most favorite episode. Thank you so much Jen. You rule!
Remember that the admiral chose to use the words "she won't survive much longer."
6:24 Data says the nicest things, even when he doesn't intend to! 🖖😎👍
Data's goodbye to Lal may have sounded "cold" but was very emotional. My heartstrings still get tugged by that scene.
Another episode that gets me misty sometimes is Reunion, particularly the end scene when Worf and Alexander are grieving the loss of K'Ehleyr, and Alexander is finally told that Worf is his father. First Alexander takes hold of his hand, then Worf pulls him in for a hug. 😭❤
"I will feel it for both of us" hits right up there with "Where do you think we are?"
"With all due respect, admiral, when there was only one Soong-type android in existence one lucky shot from a Romulan would have created exactly the same outcome. Funny how nobody at Starfleet mentioned it until now."
Did they forget about lore?
@@qbasicmichael They tried to. I believe at this point Lore is floating in space somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
one of the most heart renching episodes, if not the most.... we all need someone to love...
Jen, one of the things that makes you such a good reactor is your ability to show us your sincere emotions so clearly, so generously, so honestly. Tears are beside the point. I'm not keeping track, and I don't understand those who are, even in jest.
At 16:26 I suspect the lady helmsman leaving is the actress who played Lal. The long hair covering the face is suspect.🤔
Interesting how the Admiral's demeanor changed after working with Data to save Lal. 🤔
One of the many reasons TNG is one of the greatest series of all time. My fun Sci-Fi adventure show could punch you right in the guts with pure emotion and you would thank them for it.
Season 3 and 4 is when the show is at its A game
Data showed himself a good father, so responsible and driven, that I could well say he was a better father than many.
I love that within the first few minutes you’ve already asked “will he be allowed to keep him?”
Data's desire to be human and learn everything there is to know about us. Is precisely what makes him more human than most.
This is simply my favorite Star Trek episode ever!
Incredibly touching episode. How do we define life? Androids can potentially develop feelings such as Lal did. Data having the rights of a father. Great writing, and thanks for reacting to this show! Great followup to Measure of a Man in Data's story with Offspring.
Wow! Two Jen episodes in a weekend and they are both some of my favorite episodes! Like most of the commenters, at the end I was a damp mess. Thank you so much, Jen
When she is learning I just hear "More input! More!"
I think Lal and Johnny would've gotten along well.
"I know kung fu." 😂
An emotional episode every time I see it. Glad to see you watch this one.
shed a tear even though I've seen this many times
I've been waiting a long time for you to watch this one. It's one of my favorites, and I enjoyed your reaction.