7:6 Phantasms – The very, very memorable (and fun!) episode in which Data’s dream program, with bizarre imagery of destruction and cannibalism, starts to intrude on waking life. (Why does anyone in the 24th century know what a ringing phone sounds like? My own children only know it from old movies.)
I think there are a few big unanswered questions by the end, though:
- Data has a subconscious mind? That’s an even bigger deal than being able to turn on a dream program. So his positronic net can perceive things which his conscious mind does not notice (even interphasic things invisible to the naked eye), figure out that they’re a threat, and come up with a solution for them which it can then only communicate to his conscious mind via disjointed metaphoric imagery? I think Dr. Soong had waaay too much time on his hands.
- So… Is this going to happen again? I mean, if Data’s subconscious once again detects something threatening, is it again going to force Data into fugue states that can result in “irresistible impulse” injuries to other crewmembers? Or does Data at least manage to write a subroutine curtailing any sleepwalking/sleepstabbing actions?
7:7 Dark Page – Everyone’s got to get their final “personal episode” in this season, so Deanna and Lwaxana get theirs here. Lwaxana is teaching a new, completely telepathic race how to think in and use language (boy, it’s a good thing that they already had a fully formed tongue and larynx); but between the strain of being “always on” telepathically, plus to similarity to the little telepathic girl (aw, lookit cute little Kirsten Dunst before before anyone knew who she was!) sends her into a coma because of a Deep Dark Secret.
…the Deep Dark Secret being that she and Deanna’s father had had a little girl before Deanna, who accidentally drowned when Deanna was a newborn.
I don’t know that it’s really an important story in the grand scheme of the Federation, but at least we all now know why she was always overprotective and infantilizing to Deanna. In case anyone was wondering.
7:8 Attached – More “final character bits!” Picard and Crusher are captured by a hostile faction of a planet which wants “partial” admission to the Federation (it turns out that both factions are koo-koo paranoid nutcases) and implanted with mind probes which will eventually, once they figure out human brains, allow the aliens to read their thoughts. And how do they work? Well, they’re linked, transmitting thoughts back and forth between them s it figures out the nuances of human brains, which means that Picard and Crusher start hearing each other’s thoughts.
And given that they’ve had a decades-long relationship characterized by friendship and almost-guilty almost-romance, you better get the popcorn ready.