Captain's Log & Data's Secret Child Revealed
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Captain Picard records the ship's arrival at sector four-eight-seven and notes Commander Riker's absence.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Surprised and amused, with an eager desire to categorize the situation and point out the social oddity of Data having a 'child.'
Wesley moves with the group, asks questions, delivers a sotto remark to Geordi when Lal calls Data 'Father', and voices the group's immediate astonishment — serving as a youthful, candid observer of the social rupture.
- • Understand what's happening in Data's lab quickly and clearly.
- • Highlight and test the social implications of Lal's language (by asking 'Father?').
- • Unusual behavior or labels should be pointed out and examined.
- • Data is generally an object of fascination, and odd discoveries are learning opportunities.
Mechanically neutral with nascent curiosity — outwardly unemotional yet demonstrating social learning through language use.
Lal, a newly assembled humanoid android with a primitive appearance and computer-like voice, greets Troi, reports functioning parameters, inspects the crew and, in a decisive moment, calls Data 'Father,' signalling emergent relational language.
- • Identify and label individuals in its environment to build relational knowledge.
- • Communicate operating status and practical questions about its surroundings (e.g., clothing).
- • Labels and terminology are meaningful mechanisms for organizing social relations.
- • Data is the central agent responsible for its existence (implicitly, 'Father').
Professional, controlled — uses protocol and record-keeping to neutralize emotion and frame ship activity.
Captain Picard's recorded voice opens the scene with a measured captain's log announcing arrival at sector 487 and Commander Riker's absence, imposing bureaucratic context and a quiet authority on the reveal that follows.
- • Document the ship's current mission and location for the official record.
- • Establish context and chain-of-command implicitly by noting Riker's absence.
- • Ship operations should be recorded and kept transparent for posterity and accountability.
- • Noting staff status (e.g., Riker's leave) matters to command clarity and subsequent decisions.
Quiet satisfaction and tender pride, mixed with procedural reserve — Data frames a personal act in logical, controlled terms.
Data greets the visitors, completes the mechanical assembly of a foot to a leg, controls the timing of the reveal by closing and opening the lab door, introduces Lal to the crew and calmly confirms Lal as his child — demonstrating technical competence and protective pride.
- • Introduce Lal to trusted crewmates under controlled conditions.
- • Assert a parental claim and normalize Lal's existence as his child.
- • Lal's formation and development are a legitimate personal and ethical responsibility.
- • Presenting Lal directly to colleagues is the appropriate next step for social recognition.
Receptive curiosity — professionally assessing the subject while personally engaged and quietly surprised by the familial claim.
Deanna Troi joins the trio, responds warmly when introduced to Lal, maintains counselor composure while listening to the android's clipped responses, and provides an empathic human face to the disclosure.
- • Evaluate Lal's emotional and social responsiveness as a counselor.
- • Support Data socially and psychologically during a potentially fraught personal disclosure.
- • New intelligences require humane assessment and careful, empathic response.
- • Data's wellbeing is tied to the way others receive and treat Lal.
Intrigued and amused at first, shifting to surprise and rapid analytical interest when the social implications surface.
Geordi walks purposefully with Wesley and Troi, voice edged with curiosity; upon entry he inspects Data's work, reacts to the human foot, questions Data and processes the startling revelation when Lal names Data 'Father'.
- • Discover what Data has been secretly building and why.
- • Assess the technical nature and implications of the android Lal.
- • Data's experiments are technically significant and worth inspecting.
- • Secrecy from a normally open colleague is meaningful and possibly indicative of important discovery.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The lab door chime is rung by the approaching crew to gain entry; it punctures the corridor's quiet and cues Data's response, functioning as an arrival signal that transitions the scene from private to shared space.
Picard's recorded captain's log (audio file) opens the scene, supplying a bureaucratic frame and the specific mention of sector four-eight-seven and Riker's leave, which quietly configures command context before the personal revelation inside Data's lab.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Sector Four-Eight-Seven is invoked by Picard's captain's log to situate the ship geographically and bureaucratically, flattening emotion momentarily into mission context and underscoring how institutional frameworks will frame the personal discovery of Lal.
The narrow Deck 38 corridor functions as the approach and transitional stage: the three crewmembers walk together, exchange speculation, ring the chime, and wait outside Data's lab, compressing curiosity and social tension before the reveal.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data's initial assembly of Lal, shown in the corridor, leads directly to her full presentation in the laboratory, marking the completion of her physical form."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: Captain's log, Stardate 43657.0. We have arrived at sector four-eight-seven to begin charting this region of the galaxy. Commander Riker has been spared this sometimes tedious duty by virtue of a long overdue personal leave."
"WESLEY: (sotto, to Geordi) Father?"
"DATA: Yes, Wesley. Lal is my child."