THE PLOT
Data is transporting an unstable yet valuable substance, needed to treat a colony's poisoned water supply, from a trader's ship to the Enterprise. Just as he is about to leave with the final shipment, he is kidnapped by his hosts. His shuttle is blown up, simulating a space accident and thus faking Data's death.
Now Data has been added to the collection of Kivas Fajo (Saul Rubinek). Fajo has assembled a collection of rare items, ranging from works of art to otherwise extinct animals to banned weapons. He sees Data - the only sentient android known to exist - as his prize jewel. Data insists on resisting Fajo by any means at his disposal. With Fajo's security and personal defenses, force is not an option. But both guile and passive resistance make Data a tougher acquisition than Fajo may have counted on.
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Though he's as shocked by Data's "death" as the rest of his crew, he also knows that the need for the substance they've purchased from Fajo remains pressing. He has Geordi analyze what happened, but refuses to allow Geordi to work himself into exhaustion in his investigation. As their destination approaches for the decontamination, he firmly insists that he will need his chief engineer to be rested for the mission. Once the pieces of what Geordi, Worf, and Dr. Crusher discover create hope that Data actually is alive, however, Picard doesn't waste a second in ordering them to find Fajo.
Data: This is Data's episode, and is almost certainly his best episode as a character since Season Two's The Measure of a Man. Here, we see Data in opposition to a highly intelligent yet utterly depraved adversary. Data's response is to be unfailingly polite and straightforward. He is (he insists) incapable of anger and does not simulate it at any point. He tells Fajo up front that he will resist his wishes with every means at his disposal, and he proceeds to do so. His biggest victory, before Fajo escalates his own tactics, comes when the collector shows him off to a rival. Data simply does nothing. He is completely unresponsive, until Fajo's rival dismisses him as a mere mannequin. By doing nothing, Data enrages Fajo more than any action could have. At the end, we see that Data is prepared to kill Fajo and, despite his claims to the contrary, Data does seem to enjoy turning the tables on his tormenter in the final scene.
Worf: When selected by Picard and Riker to replace Data at Ops, Worf is put in the position of taking over a post for a fallen comrade a second time. When Troi presses him on this, Worf replies simply. He tells her that he will respect Data's memory in the same way he has respected Tasha's: by attempting to do the job as well as Data would have done. Troi respects his answer enough to do the unthinkable: Namely, stop prying. The little smile Troi gives at the end of the scene, by the way, might be the first bit of foreshadowing of the eventual relationship between the two characters.
Villain of the Week: Fajo (Saul Rubinek) is a highly effective adversary for Data. He has essentially unlimited resources, which makes it impossible for Data to escape on his own. He is very shrewd, and has no moral qualms about a single thing he does. He acknowledges that what he's doing is wrong, and makes clear in his acknowledgement that his does not trouble him. He tries to talk Data around to accepting his captivity, and Data has to acknowledge that Fajo is an excellent debater. But when Data makes clear that he won't cooperate, Fajo is perfectly fine by coercing him, with gradually escalating tactics. He is as evil a villain as we've seen, an embodiment of pure acquisition, motivated by n othing other than having whatever he wants at any given moment. Rubinek is outstanding, and he and Brent Spiner play extremely well opposite each other.
THOUGHTS
A basic recipe for drama: Put two very good actors in a room together, give both of them intelligent and iron-willed characters to play, and set them at odds. It would not be difficult to transform The Most Toys into a stage play. Though the cutaways to Enterprise are well-done, with the material involving Geordi, Wesley, and Worf well-scripted, the story here rests with Data and Fajo, and their war of wills.
Shari Goodhartz's script carefully shifts the balance of power back and forth between the two. Fajo obviously has the upper hand, given that Data is his prisoner and cannot, on his own, escape. But Data is very successful in frustrating Fajo's triumph, simply by not acceding to Fajo's wishes. Once Data has had his personal triumph, however, undercutting Fajo's gloating to his rival, the tables are turned again as we see that Fajo truly will stop at nothing to make Data bend to his will. Even in this, though, the script builds on Fajo's triumph by planting the seeds for Data's escape attempt. Each escalating piece of the conflict is in this way built on the piece that came before, creating a surprising amount of tension out of an episode that often is just two actors in a room, talking.
The material on Enterprise is good, too, even if it isn't as vivid as the Data/Fajo conflict. We see that Data's apparent death affects the regulars in different ways. Wesley is just stunned at Data's absence, while Geordi (Data's best friend) pushes tirelessly for an answer and actually explodes a bit in front of the captain when his analysis "doesn't make sense." Worf wants to honor Data's memory by doing his duties to the best of his ability. Picard keeps his crew focused on the task at hand, while mourning in private. It's all well-done. And if their discovery of Fajo's subterfuge is a little too quick and easy... Well, at least the script doesn't make the mistake of requiring them to rescue Data. By the time the Enterprise arrives, Data has already extricated himself - though the ship's arrival does prevent Data from taking an action he would likely have regretted.
Well-paced, well-structured, and superbly acted by Brent Spiner and Saul Rubinek, The Most Toys is an unexpected highlight. After a few "average" installments, this is first-rate episode.
Overall Rating: 9/10.
Data is transporting an unstable yet valuable substance, needed to treat a colony's poisoned water supply, from a trader's ship to the Enterprise. Just as he is about to leave with the final shipment, he is kidnapped by his hosts. His shuttle is blown up, simulating a space accident and thus faking Data's death.
Now Data has been added to the collection of Kivas Fajo (Saul Rubinek). Fajo has assembled a collection of rare items, ranging from works of art to otherwise extinct animals to banned weapons. He sees Data - the only sentient android known to exist - as his prize jewel. Data insists on resisting Fajo by any means at his disposal. With Fajo's security and personal defenses, force is not an option. But both guile and passive resistance make Data a tougher acquisition than Fajo may have counted on.
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Though he's as shocked by Data's "death" as the rest of his crew, he also knows that the need for the substance they've purchased from Fajo remains pressing. He has Geordi analyze what happened, but refuses to allow Geordi to work himself into exhaustion in his investigation. As their destination approaches for the decontamination, he firmly insists that he will need his chief engineer to be rested for the mission. Once the pieces of what Geordi, Worf, and Dr. Crusher discover create hope that Data actually is alive, however, Picard doesn't waste a second in ordering them to find Fajo.
Data: This is Data's episode, and is almost certainly his best episode as a character since Season Two's The Measure of a Man. Here, we see Data in opposition to a highly intelligent yet utterly depraved adversary. Data's response is to be unfailingly polite and straightforward. He is (he insists) incapable of anger and does not simulate it at any point. He tells Fajo up front that he will resist his wishes with every means at his disposal, and he proceeds to do so. His biggest victory, before Fajo escalates his own tactics, comes when the collector shows him off to a rival. Data simply does nothing. He is completely unresponsive, until Fajo's rival dismisses him as a mere mannequin. By doing nothing, Data enrages Fajo more than any action could have. At the end, we see that Data is prepared to kill Fajo and, despite his claims to the contrary, Data does seem to enjoy turning the tables on his tormenter in the final scene.
Worf: When selected by Picard and Riker to replace Data at Ops, Worf is put in the position of taking over a post for a fallen comrade a second time. When Troi presses him on this, Worf replies simply. He tells her that he will respect Data's memory in the same way he has respected Tasha's: by attempting to do the job as well as Data would have done. Troi respects his answer enough to do the unthinkable: Namely, stop prying. The little smile Troi gives at the end of the scene, by the way, might be the first bit of foreshadowing of the eventual relationship between the two characters.
Villain of the Week: Fajo (Saul Rubinek) is a highly effective adversary for Data. He has essentially unlimited resources, which makes it impossible for Data to escape on his own. He is very shrewd, and has no moral qualms about a single thing he does. He acknowledges that what he's doing is wrong, and makes clear in his acknowledgement that his does not trouble him. He tries to talk Data around to accepting his captivity, and Data has to acknowledge that Fajo is an excellent debater. But when Data makes clear that he won't cooperate, Fajo is perfectly fine by coercing him, with gradually escalating tactics. He is as evil a villain as we've seen, an embodiment of pure acquisition, motivated by n othing other than having whatever he wants at any given moment. Rubinek is outstanding, and he and Brent Spiner play extremely well opposite each other.
THOUGHTS
A basic recipe for drama: Put two very good actors in a room together, give both of them intelligent and iron-willed characters to play, and set them at odds. It would not be difficult to transform The Most Toys into a stage play. Though the cutaways to Enterprise are well-done, with the material involving Geordi, Wesley, and Worf well-scripted, the story here rests with Data and Fajo, and their war of wills.
Shari Goodhartz's script carefully shifts the balance of power back and forth between the two. Fajo obviously has the upper hand, given that Data is his prisoner and cannot, on his own, escape. But Data is very successful in frustrating Fajo's triumph, simply by not acceding to Fajo's wishes. Once Data has had his personal triumph, however, undercutting Fajo's gloating to his rival, the tables are turned again as we see that Fajo truly will stop at nothing to make Data bend to his will. Even in this, though, the script builds on Fajo's triumph by planting the seeds for Data's escape attempt. Each escalating piece of the conflict is in this way built on the piece that came before, creating a surprising amount of tension out of an episode that often is just two actors in a room, talking.
The material on Enterprise is good, too, even if it isn't as vivid as the Data/Fajo conflict. We see that Data's apparent death affects the regulars in different ways. Wesley is just stunned at Data's absence, while Geordi (Data's best friend) pushes tirelessly for an answer and actually explodes a bit in front of the captain when his analysis "doesn't make sense." Worf wants to honor Data's memory by doing his duties to the best of his ability. Picard keeps his crew focused on the task at hand, while mourning in private. It's all well-done. And if their discovery of Fajo's subterfuge is a little too quick and easy... Well, at least the script doesn't make the mistake of requiring them to rescue Data. By the time the Enterprise arrives, Data has already extricated himself - though the ship's arrival does prevent Data from taking an action he would likely have regretted.
Well-paced, well-structured, and superbly acted by Brent Spiner and Saul Rubinek, The Most Toys is an unexpected highlight. After a few "average" installments, this is first-rate episode.
Overall Rating: 9/10.
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