“A Fistful of Datas” is episode eight of season six of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise is in orbit as their rendezvous with a supply ship has been delayed 48 hours. The crew are pursuing their own projects and Captain Picard is in his quarters practicing with the flute from “The Inner Light” when Geordi and Data arrive. Geordi wants to take the engineering computer offline and connect Data up as to see if he can function as an emergency backup. The captain tells them to go ahead. Geordi is suggesting other things; the captain tells them to do it. Then Dr Crusher arrives; she wants to talk about a play. The captain says he has no time, but is disappointed to hear he’d only have a minor role. Then Worf arrives, wanting to stage ship wide security drills; the captain says to wait until they get their new personnel. Worf then suggests maintenance checks on the phasor array; the captain asks if there’s a reason to give himself more work. Worf says not, but when he returns to his quarters, Alexander wants to know if they can go ahead. They can. They enter the holodeck in Deadwood, 19th century Earth, the Ancient West. Worf asks what his function is. Sheriff; Alexander is the deputy. Worf is pleased to hear he’s law enforcement.
In engineering, Data’s head is open and he’s plugged into the computer.
On the holodeck, on seeing a brothel, Worf asks Alexander if he wrote the program himself. Mr Barclay helped. Worf will have a little talk with him. They hear a gunshot, as in the saloon someone is shooting a wanted poster depicting himself, Eli Hollander. Alexander tells Worf Eli is the bad guy. Worf ends up knocking Eli out with one blow. Alexander thinks that’s too easy, stops the program, ups the difficulty level then rewinds it.
This time, people bolt from the saloon when they enter. One of Eli’s friends breaks a chair on Worf to no effect; he takes down the man and another, saying he begins to see the appeal of the program. Eli draws a gun on him, but Eli’s hat is shot off by a rifle-wielding Troi. Alexander asked her to join them.
In engineering, Data suffers an energy fluctuation to his neural net. On being unplugged from the computer, he twirls the tricorder and tucks it in its holster.
Eli has been arrested and Worf is asking Alexander what his rights are in this century. Eli is threatening them that his father will break him out. Worf says he will deal with Pa Hollander. Troi, now smoking and really getting into the part, drawls that Worf is no match for the Hollanders. She objects when Worf gets out of character. Worf wants her help. She wants paying. After sending Alexander to get some cash to pay her, Troi explains to Worf that her father used to read her stories about the Ancient West and she always wanted to play the part of the mysterious drifter. The woman from the saloon arrives; it seems obvious she has a relationship with the sheriff. Troi tells them to go have fun. Worf claims to be busy, the woman thinks he’s seeing a lady from the cathouse and slaps him in the face.
The captain is in his quarters and wants the Mozart piece playing back. Partway through, the computer changes it to something else, but insists it’s Mozart. Dr Crusher, Commander Riker and two crew are rehearsing; she asks Riker to read his lines. What he reads is clearly not a play; it’s Data’s ‘Ode to Spot’ from “Schisms”. The doctor pulls him up; Riker says he’s reading what the dialogue is on his PADD, but he knows it’s Data’s poetry. In engineering, Geordi says there’s a problem with the data retrieval net, possibly from their experiment. He will see if it’s spread to other systems and Data will run a self-diagnostic.
Data is being affected by the Wild West program. More worryingly, the program itself is being affected by Data. Holodeck safeties are now off – because they never work correctly as holodecks are designed to kill the crew – and Pa Hollander is played by Data. As are more and more parts. Making the program significantly more dangerous.