Star Trek: A Fistful of Datas

Episode: "A Fistful of Datas"

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 6, Episode 8

Original Air Date: November 7, 1992

via Memory Alpha

Something is wrong with the holodeck.  Worf and Alexander are in the midst of an Old West adventure when, quite unexpectedly, the bad guy turns up with Data's face - and more problematically, Data's abilities.  In time, all of the baddies get Data faces.  What's going on?  Might Geordi's experiment running the ship's computer systems through Data have something to do with it?

Holodeck episodes are always good fun.  I think it's particularly important that Star Trek reconnect with its western roots from time to time.  After all, Gene Roddenberry first pitched the concept as "Wagon Train to the Stars" and modeled the series as much after the Gunsmokes and Rawhides of the era as any of its SciFi predecessors.  The episode title is a spoof on A Fistful of Dollars, the Sergio Leone spaghetti western based on Miyazaki's samurai film Yojimbo, in turn inspired by Dasheill Hammet's The Glass Key.

Worf in period costume is always awesome.  I can usually do without Brent Spiner's over-acting but he makes it work here.

Food Notes

"A Fistful of Datas" includes the only canon mention of Klingon firewine.  

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

John Pyper-Ferguson played the role of Eli Hollander, the initial baddy in the Holodeck narrative before Data shows up.  Pyper-Ferguson was born February 27, 1964 in Mordialloc, Victoria, Australia, the son of two world-class Canadian athletes: Olympic swimmer Kathleen McNamee and runner Richard Ferguson.  He grew up in Vancouver, then went to the University of Alberta.

He broke through as the lead on the Canadian series Hamilton Quest in 1986.  Most of his higher-profile work has been on television, including roles on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Brothers & Sisters and Caprica.  Films include Unforgiven, Pearl Harbor and X-Men: The Last Stand.