Stardate: 42523.7
Original Air Date: February 13, 1989
Writer: Melinda M. Snodgrass
Director: Robert Scheerer

“I am the culmination of one man’s dream.”

The Enterprise-D is en route to the newly established Starbase 173 for port call. Crew rotation is scheduled and the ship will be offloading experiment modules. The base and forces are close to the neutral zone to respond when needed against the Romulans. Data, Riker, Miles O’Brien, Geordi, and Dr. Pulaski are all playing a game of five card stud in which it is revealed that O’Brien is superstitious. Data hilariously searches for Riker’s poker face and he doesn’t understand a bluff.

Meanwhile, in Ten Forward Picard spots an old acquaintance, Phillipa Louvois, who is in charge of the 3^rd Sector JAG office. She previously prosecuted Picard about ten years ago when he served aboard the Stargazer court martial trial. As they speak to one another, Louvois says she now has no staff except for “one terrified little ensign.” She recently came back to Starfleet, and in the course of their exchange, Picard is playfully adversarial towards her. In response she calls him a “pompous ass” but also “a damn sexy man” (her candor is hilarious in this episode).

Admiral Nakamura introduces commander Bruce Maddox to Picard. Bruce Maddox is associate chair of robotics, Daystrom Technological Institute. Maddox first evaluated Data at the Academy but he opposed Data’s entry into Starfleet, and now he plans to disassemble Data and duplicate Dr. Noonien Soong. Maddox claims he has developed a positronic brain but has not yet figured out how the electron resistance across the neural filaments can be resolved. It starts to become apparent that he lacks the specifics needed for the experiment (he refers to Data as “it” rather than “he”), and he wants to install a Data on every starship in the fleet. Picard opposes the disassembling of Data, but Commander Maddox invokes a Starfleet regulation loophole (the Acts of Cumberland in the early 21^st Century) which leads Data to fully resign from Starfleet in order to sidestep the experiment. However, Maddox brings forward a legal challenge –can Data actually resign from Starfleet? Or is he merely a piece of property owned by Starfleet? Does Data have any agency over himself?

In answering this legal challenge, Picard has the ship’s computer pull all the regulations on the transfer of officers, while Data plans to refuse the experiment. Data wonders: since Geordi’s eyes are far superior to ordinary human eyes, Data asks why aren’t all human eyes replaced with cybernetic implants? In other words, why are all humans not being perfected with increased artificial intelligence. But then he realizes the problem is that he is not a human. Picard goes to Louvois for help, but she is forced to open an official, court proceeding to address the dispute over Data –whether he will be disassembled by Maddox or continue as an officer aboard the Enterprise. Picard as the senior-most officer will be required to defend Data in the hearing, while Riker as the second-most senior officer is compelled against his will to support the Starfleet regulation against Data. It sets up a deeply complicated situation.

During the trial, Riker delivers a masterful interrogation of Data –he has Data bend a metallic rod, and he pulls off Data’s hand by saying: “The Commander is a physical representation of a dream, an idea conceived by the mind of a man. Its purpose: to serve human needs and interests. It’s a collection of neural nets and heuristic algorithms. Its responses dictated by an elaborate software written by a man, its hardware built by a man… and now a man will shut it off. Pinocchio is broken, its strings have been cut.” After this Riker dramatically shuts off Data and the case appears to be closed.   

Picard asks for a brief recess and he talks about the situation with Guinan in Ten Forward but she reminds Picard that throughout history across many different worlds there have always been “disposable people” enslaved beings used as property to do the hard, dirty work. Inspired by her words, Picard then launches his defense by acknowledging that Data is a machine, perhaps a different type of machine than a human; he was created by a human, perhaps not unlike a child. Picard shows the courtroom a recording Data keeps of Tasha Yar with whom he was once intimate (as featured in “The Naked Now”), as well as a book given to him by Picard. Commander Maddox is then called as a witness – Picard asks Maddox what his definition sentience is –why is Picard sentient but Data is not? Isn’t Data intelligent and self-aware, and perhaps even consciousness? Does Data have a soul? After all, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life.

In the end, Louvois rules that Data needs to have the freedom to explore that question himself. However, Data encourages Maddox to continue his work, and Maddox finally refers to Data as “he” rather than “it.”

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My Thoughts on “The Measure of a Man”

In what is easily the best TNG episode thus far, we are treated to an eerily timely story that questions and explores the idea of prejudice against non-human synthetic beings –or artificial intelligence. Should an Android like Data be granted any rights? Gradually throughout the episode, all seems lost as we sympathize with Data while we deeply despise the stereotypically out-of-touch and incredibly unlikable Starfleet bureaucrat, Commander Bruce Maddox. And there is a fascinating metaphysical and ontological examination in this episode of redefining the boundaries of personal freedom, and also the question of how, or if, android memories will survive (perhaps similar to themes explored in films like Blade Runner and books like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). I was impressed with the way this episode ended on a somewhat ambiguous note as Data is not simply legally granted full autonomy over himself (which would have been a predictable cliche), but rather he was permitted to explore this question for himself.

This is an inspiring, aspirational episode. At one point, Picard comments “Starfleet is not an organization that ignores its own regulations when they become inconvenient” even though there have been numerous instances of Starfleet captains violating the Prime Directive. Nevertheless, “The Measure of a Man” points to the highest aspirations of Starfleet, rather than its worst failures. And while I adore an excellent legal drama like “The Measure of a Man,” the idea that Riker would be forced to oppose his own captain in a haphazard trial which forces him to become an adversary to his superior officer is completely farcical. Even if it was gripping to watch. Another few questions I have with this episode concern the urgency Commander Maddox seems to embrace in needing to dismantle Data –Why weren’t other options explored for disassembling Data? Were there other ways Commander Maddox could have constructed a new android? Couldn’t he have used the information learned in the dismantling of Lore (Data’s “brother”) in the season one episode “Datalore”?

Regardless, “The Measure of a Man” is a brilliant, unmissable episode of TNG.

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Writer/Director

This episode was directed by Robert Scheerer and the story was written by Melinda M. Snodgrass.

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Star Trek Trivia:

• This episode is the first in TNG to feature a first poker sequence. After numerous recurrences, it was featured as the final scene in the series finale “All Good Things…”
• In this episode, Admiral Nakamura says for 500 years every ship that has born the name of the Enterprise has been legend.
• The character of Commander Bruce Maddox is later mentioned in future TNG episode “Data’s Day” and appears in in Star Trek: Picard albeit played by John Ales.
• Captain Phillipa Louvois was played by Amanda McBroom, a Broadway performer who appeared in several television shows. Louvois later appeared in the non-canon TNG novel Articles of the Federation.
• Clyde Kusatsu played Admiral Nakamura in this episode and he would later appear in “Phantasms” and the TNG series finale “All Good Things…”
• During Data’s trial he references the fact that he and Tasha Yar were once “intimate” –a reference to the early first season episode “The Naked Now.” She later died in the first season episode “Skin of Evil.”
• Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29 is quoted in this episode: “When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state.”
• The book Worf gives to Data as a parting gift is “The Dream of the Fire” by K’Ratak. It was in the hands of the Klingons that the novel attained full stature, but Dr. Pulaski disagrees.
• The hearing over Data’s rights is held on stardate 42527.4.
• The exterior shot of “Starbase 173” in this episode used a miniature model previously made for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and reusedin Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
• Data’s commendations: valor and gallantry, medal of honor, legion of honor, the star cross.
• The set for the courtroom aboard Starbase 173 was actually a redress of the Enterprise-D’s battle bridge set. This set was also previously used in such episodes as “Conspiracy” among several others.
• In this episode, Data claims he has an ultimate storage capacity of 800 quadrillion bits, his total linear computational speed has been rated 60 trillion operations per second.
• Writer Melinda Snodgrass, who wrote this script, is a former attorney and an accomplished novelist known for writing the science fiction Circuit trilogy among other books including a Star Trek novel entitled The Tears of the Singers (1984), a TOS pocket book. She has been the co-editor and frequent story contributor to George R. R. Martin’s long-running Wild Cards shared world series. She has written scripts for various shows including the rebooted The Outer Limits series in the ‘90s and also several additional TNG episodes. She also worked on L.A. Law and Reasonable Doubts. “The Measure of a Man” was partly inspired by the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision. The script was accepted for TNG due to the 1988 Writers Guild Strike. Snodgrass was recruited as a staff writer and script editor along with Leonard Mlodinow and Scott Rubenstein. Four episodes later, the latter two left the series and Snodgrass became the only writer/editor on staff for the remainder of the season. She was promoted to executive script consultant for the third season, but left the staff after the end of that year.
• Technically, Denise Crosby makes an uncredited cameo as a digitized Tasha Yar in this episode.  
• This episode is often regarded by fans as the first truly great episode of TNG.  

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