Data's Clinical Intrusion
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data interrupts Picard's art class to inform him of the away team's readiness to return from Tanuga Four.
Picard invites Data to examine the students' paintings, leading to a critique session.
Data critiques the students' paintings, starting with Ensign Williams' work.
Data critiques Lieutenant Wright's painting, noting its fusion of surrealism and Dadaism.
Data delivers a detailed and harsh critique of Picard's painting, upsetting the Captain.
Picard dismisses Data after the critique, masking his frustration.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Quietly attentive; likely curious and slightly nervous when an authority figure critiques their work but remains respectfully passive.
Ensign Williams' canvas (Woman with flowers) is shifted into view; Williams steps aside as Data pronounces a sharp, formal appraisal of their style before Data moves on.
- • Learn from critique to improve technique
- • Participate respectfully in the communal creative exercise
- • Maintain composure in presence of senior officers
- • Senior officers' feedback can be instructive
- • The holodeck class is an appropriate place for constructive criticism
- • Remaining unobtrusive preserves one’s place in the class
Not present physically; his implied death and research generate tension and urgency offstage.
Referenced indirectly by Data as the subject of the away team's survey at Tanuga Four; his work catalyzes the mission update that intrudes on the class, making him a narrative absent presence that reorients Picard toward duty.
- • As an absent agent, his work's state prompts the away team's actions
- • Provide factual, investigable material that will shape the Enterprise's response
- • Scientific data matters to command decisions
- • His experimental results require verification and produce consequences
Neutral and detached; fulfills role without influence on the interruption or its emotional fallout.
The nude female model remains as the quiet visual focus of the class; her stationary presence structures the scene but she is not spoken to or emotionally engaged during Data's interruption.
- • Maintain pose and professional composure
- • Enable students' artistic practice through steady presence
- • Her role is to be observed but not to participate
- • Remaining motionless preserves the integrity of the class
Maintains outward composure while feeling embarrassed, defensive, and stung; that calm cracks into frustrated, impulsive anger expressed through a symbolic act.
Seated in the holodeck art class, Picard puts aside his paintbrush when Data arrives, invites Data to inspect other students' work, listens while visibly clouding, forces polite replies, then storms the interaction by angrily applying bright red paint to his own canvas.
- • Preserve the sanctity and privacy of his restorative ritual
- • Avoid showing vulnerability in front of a colleague
- • Deflect attention from his own work by directing Data to other paintings
- • Reconcile the distraction of duty (Tanuga Four) with his need for private space
- • Art class is a private sanctuary where command concerns should be temporarily suspended
- • Data's clinical honesty, while valuable, can wound because it lacks social tact
- • Maintaining decorum is essential to command presence
- • Acknowledging distraction from duty is dangerous—he must control appearance
Clinically neutral and curious; focused on accurate transmission of information and objective analysis rather than social diplomacy.
Enters the holodeck, delivers a concise mission update about Tanuga Four, then physically inspects three paintings in sequence and issues an exacting, academically phrased critique before exiting politely when Picard rebuffs further help.
- • Inform Captain Picard about the status of the Tanuga Four away team
- • Assess Picard's artwork out of genuine aesthetic curiosity
- • Provide precise, useful feedback as he perceives it
- • Fulfill duty to be helpful and informative
- • Clear, exact description is the most useful form of communication
- • Aesthetic evaluation is a valid form of observation to be reported
- • Emotional impact of commentary is secondary to factual correctness
- • Off-topic social niceties are unnecessary if efficient communication is achieved
Reserved and slightly self-conscious; used to critique and willing to accept it without protest.
Lieutenant Wright's painting (Woman with violin) is presented to Data; Wright steps aside while Data issues a complex, academic reading of the work's stylistic lineage.
- • Receive and process feedback on technique
- • Maintain a respectful presence during the interruption
- • Not overshadow the class dynamics
- • Constructive criticism is part of artistic progress
- • Senior officer attention is not to be squandered
- • Holodeck classes are safe spaces for improvement
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The holodeck doors mark the physical boundary between private restorative space and shipboard duty: they open to admit Data's formal entrance and later allow his exit, materially enabling the interruption that triggers Picard's emotional reaction.
Picard's personal paintbrush is present as the token of his ritual practice: he initially puts it aside to acknowledge Data, later interacts with his brushes and jar, and its earlier placement signals the transition from creation to confrontation when he ultimately lashes out with paint.
The 'Woman with violin' canvas is one of the student works Data inspects aloud; it functions as a foil in the sequence, allowing Data to demonstrate his analytic method and to displace attention away from Picard's painting temporarily.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Tanuga Four is not physically present but is invoked by Data's opening line as the site of the away team's survey and Doctor Apgar's work; the location functions narratively as the offstage crisis pulling Picard away from the holodeck and framing the stakes behind the interruption.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data's harsh critique of Picard's painting leads to Picard's frustrated reaction, showing his vulnerability and setting a tone of emotional tension that parallels his later struggles with Riker's case."
"Data's harsh critique of Picard's painting leads to Picard's frustrated reaction, showing his vulnerability and setting a tone of emotional tension that parallels his later struggles with Riker's case."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"DATA: We have arrived at Tanuga Four, Captain. The away team has completed its survey of Doctor Apgar's work and is ready to return to the ship."
"DATA: While suggesting the free treatment of form usually attributed to Fauvism, this quite inappropriately attempts to juxtapose the disparate cubistic styles of Picasso and Leger. In addition, the use of color suggests a haphazard melange of clashing styles. Furthermore, the unsettling overtones of proto-Vulcan influences..."
"PICARD: Thank you... Mister Data."