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| Worf and Troi vs. Data in the Old West. |
The Enterprise has 48 hours of downtime, a welcome opportunity for the members of the crew to indulge in their own pursuits. Welcome for most, that is. But Worf's son, Alexander (Brian Bonsall), prods his father into taking him to the holodeck for an Old West-themed program. Worf is the sheriff and Alexander his deputy. Troi joins them as a mysterious stranger Worf deputizes to assist.
The first part of the program goes according to routine. Worf arrests the murderous Eli Hollander (John Pyper-Ferguson), and then must hold him until the U. S. marshal arrives to take him to trial. But Eli's father, the ruthless Frank Hollander, will soon be coming to get his boy out of jail, doubtless leaving a pile of bodies in his wake.
Back on the ship, Data and Geordi are experimenting with an interface that will patch ship's systems through Data in case of emergency. A power fluctuation causes elements of Data's memory to emerge throughout the ship, however. This influence extends into the holodeck. Soon, Worf, Alexander, and Troi are no longer facing down generic western thugs. Instead, they are battling Data - multiple Datas, in the role of every villain in the program!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: One of the burdens of command is apparently an inability to get any real time to oneself. The teaser shows Picard attempting to relax with a music program, only to face one interruption after another. The comedy in this scene is labored at best, but Patrick Stewart does an excellent job of showing Picard's steadily mounting frustration.
Worf: Though initially reluctant to participate in Alexander's holodeck program, as soon as he gets embroiled in a good old-fashioned fistfight, he confesses to seeing the appeal. He largely goes along with the game, until he meets Frank Hollander/Data, and recognizes that something has gone wrong with the program. There's a nice character beat at the end, when he has Frank at his mercy. Worf clearly wants to shoot, and probably would shoot if he and Frank were the only two people there. But he casts a glance at the watching Alexander and stays his hand, not wanting his son to watch him execute an unarmed man, even in a holodeck program.
Troi: Her father raised her on western stories, so Alexander's program sparks her enthusiasm. She throws herself into the role of the mysterious stranger, complete with western drawl and idiom. She (mostly) drops that tendency once it becomes clear that things have turned serious, and is a genuine aid to Worf in planning out a way to resolve the program and get them all out safely. Marina Sirtis seems to be having a particularly good time in this episode. The western look suits her, and her performance is relaxed and even funny. I usually cringe when Troi has a large presence in an episode, but Sirtis turns out to be one of the best things about this hour.
Data: Acts more as plot device than character in this episode, with the script allowing Brent Spiner to indulge his hammier tendencies by playing multiple western villains. He is quite good as Frank Hollander, the main baddie, and the episode's best scenes are the ones in which Frank and Worf face off. The notion of western villains with the speed, accuracy, and abilities of Data is an enjoyable one, and it's an amusing departure for Spiner, which goes a long way toward keeping this episode entertaining.
THOUGHTS
Though I question the wisdom of scheduling two light-hearted episodes back-to-back, I have to admit that I enjoyed A Fistful of Datas. That's largely a matter of personal taste, I suspect. I always enjoyed the classic westerns of the 1950's and 1960's, and this does an entertaining job of playing with those conventions. It's a standard western plot, with an outlaw family threatening an honest town marshall - and that sort of thin, linear story allows plenty of time for the script to have some fun thrusting Worf and Troi into the setting.
Unfortunately, this episode suffers from a need to give everybody something to do. The scenes on the main ship should only take up the minimum time needed to justify Data infecting the holodeck program. Instead, a solid quarter of this episode is given over to scenes with Geordi and Data studying Technobabble, with a full subplot about the western program affecting Data in his regular duties. None of this is anywhere near as fun to watch as the "A" plot, and the episode would have been far better-served had most of it been jettisoned.
What makes the episode work, for me at least, is the western story. Worf is an engagingly grumpy hero, Brent Spiner an enjoyably ruthless villain, and the actors all seem to be having a good time. The ending showdown, with a virtual army of Datas preparing to ambush Worf, is particularly amusing, and the way Worf turns the tables neatly recalls the very spaghetti western given a nod by this episode's title.
I strongly suspect one's tolerance for the episode depends heavily on one's enjoyment of old westerns. For me, it was a fun departure. For others, I suspect it would be an exercise in tedium.
Overall Rating: 6/10.
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