From: gwangung@carson.u.washington.edu (Roger Tang)
Subject: CONCATENATED CRITIQUES: TRUE-Q, A FISTFUL OF DATAS, QUALITY OF LIFE
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 20:35:00 GMT

	
	OVERALL GRADES:
	TRUE-Q:			2.4 (of a possible 4.0)
	A FISTFUL oF DATAS:	3.4
	QUALITY OF LIFE:	2.9


	About TRUE-Q.....

	Like a lot of other Season 6 shows, this episode had a good, basic
structure which is seriously marred by a lack of competent craftsmanship to
build an adequate climax. For example, the introduction of Q was delayed
until the middle of ACT II, instead of being the tag of Act I, where his
introduction loses all the impact it should have had.

	Another example was the easy resolution of Amandas dillemma. Very
little time was spent developing it; she had no time to think about it, there
was very little internal conflict. SHe had a very easy time deciding what
she wanted to do. Feh. That's not drama.

	Which is a shame. The basic conceit of Q and the Picard being forced
into a situation where they HAVE to cooperate is a nice one (except for
inveterate Q-haters). It was unfortunate that the inevitable conflicts and
choices the characters had to make were brief, abbreviated and underdeveloped.

	About A FISTFUL OF DATAS

	A nice change of pace episode, with some real characterizations and
personality bits. I was particularly taken with Troi's affection for the
Western (as well as her skin-tight leather pants)(*ahem*). It's a believable
interest, and, more importantly, it makes sense as a character trait in
that the Eastwood archetype is basically the opposite of what Troi is.

	Also nice was the gradual development of the Data-psychosis in the 
holodeck. It did not hit all at once, but developed gradually. It FELT
right.

	What mars this episode is the lack of thoroughness of the crew in
checking out the holodeck. A throwaway line about checking the holodeck and
everything LOOKING OK would have done the trick (perhaps followed by one
inside the deck saying that the three were on their own because the malfunction
would indicate the safety interlocks were on when they werent't....)

	Still, the improvement in the Worf/Alexander relationship and the
believable extension to the characters were the nice part of this show.

	About THE QUALITY OF LIFE...

	I liked this show. Unfortunately, I should have REALLY liked this show..

	Like TRUE-Q, this show had a very workable premise marred by ham-handed
craftsmanship in building climaxes. Forget about the crap about this
episode copying HOME SOIL and EVOLUTION; that's something only True Fans
really worry about. Determining life and sentience is something that is
part and parcel of the Big-E's mission, and it's understandable that new
shows may somewhat cover what's been done before. The REAL question is whether
it's done BETTER.

	Unfortunately, the answer is "Somewhat. But not enough."

	I think the choices to be made were correctly assayed: a new life form
vs. Picard and Geordi. The stakes were high enough to make it a true cjhoice.
But I think the building of tension was way too slack; the dillemma was
reduced to a talking heads scene between Riker and Data. Too, Frakes made the
major blunder in this episode, which was, ironically, in his own acting,
playing the scene with far too much anger. He missed the intrinsic irony of
the scene which is that Data failed to ASK the exocomps what their wishes were,
the exact same error that Farallon made.

	Of the acting, I think Spiner did a nice job, emphasizing Data's
surface differences with humanity, while letting his actions say long and
loud his essential simiarlity with humans. Frakes' directing job, with
the exception of his scene with Data, was competent and improving in his
camera work, with smoother storytelling and better selection of unusual
camera angles to augment the storyline; much less jarring and obvious.
As usual, his work with ACTORS was very good, particularly with Spiner; it
makes me wonder if he's more cut out for stage work....

	Some added niceties was Dr. Crusher's characterization. Nice impishness
and a nice character extension with her sparring with Worf. And (to add my
obligatory sexist pig note) she looked damn fine in her white sparring robe...

	NEXT: Lots of reruns until the Deep Space Nine launch...

 
.
-- 
Roger Tang, gwangung@u.washington.edu
Producer Emeritus, Asian Theatre at the UW
	"The definition of balls is for a non-singer to go karaoke singing
with the cast of a musical revue."