Ten-Forward: The Question of Personhood
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Riker and Troi step aside to probe Data's inner life; Troi admits she reads nothing from him while Riker pushes back, refusing to reduce Data to mere software and asserting there's more at stake than circuits.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Practical concern with an undercurrent of genuine care; discomfiture masked by brusqueness.
Delivers blunt but caring advice about living off-ship, interrupts to offer counsel, and refuses sentimental softness in favor of pragmatic guidance.
- • To give Data realistic, useful counsel about life outside Starfleet
- • To cut through ceremony and prepare him for practical realities
- • She believes truthfulness is kinder than false reassurance
- • She believes experience-based advice is the most valuable gift
Lighthearted and warm; a child's mix of levity and sincere attachment to Data.
Teases Data about proper present-opening, receives Data's arm around his shoulders and is called 'star pupil', participating in the intimacy of the farewell.
- • To participate in the farewell ritual and keep the mood personal
- • To show affection and receive affirmation from Data
- • He believes Data can be a mentor and friend
- • He believes small rituals (teasing, gifts) matter to social bonds
Smug and impatient; professional ambition and frustration leak into cruel humor when faced with the crew's attachment.
Appears framed in the doorway, sardonic and dismissive; derides the farewell, belittles Data with a carnival metaphor and positions himself as an instigator of the institutional challenge to Data's status.
- • To assert a scientific/ utilitarian view of Data and undermine anthropomorphic readings
- • To position Data as an object of study and himself as the authority on that study
- • He believes Data is fundamentally a machine and subject to experimental ownership
- • He believes public sentiment should not obstruct scientific inquiry or his research agenda
Calm, deceptively steady; a careful sadness and reflective acceptance beneath a surface of procedural courtesy.
Quietly hosting his own farewell: carefully opens a gift, reads the book title aloud, attempts social accommodation with children and colleagues, answers Maddox calmly and describes vocational plans.
- • To express gratitude and maintain social rituals during his farewell
- • To communicate plausible plans for his future (e.g., teaching) and preserve agency over his choices
- • He believes social rituals matter and are worth respecting
- • He believes he can present reasoned alternatives to others and that clear explanation protects his dignity
Quietly respectful and composed; pride in cultural gift-giving overlays stoic concern for a comrade.
Presents Data with an antique Klingon novel and offers a short cultural comment; stands reserved and ceremonially proud during the farewell.
- • To honor Data with a culturally resonant gift
- • To show solidarity while maintaining disciplined reserve
- • He believes ritual and gifts convey respect more effectively than speeches
- • He believes in duty-bound conduct even in emotional moments
Defensive and uneasy; outwardly assertive but inwardly conflicted about duty versus friendship.
Moves to Troi, questions whether she senses anything from Data, protests Maddox's intrusion and steps forward to confront him before being interrupted by Picard's com summons.
- • To defend Data from being dismissed as mere circuitry
- • To maintain the sanctity of the crew's farewell and protect his friend
- • He believes Data deserves respect and recognition of personhood beyond 'software and chips'
- • He believes institutional actors (like Maddox) can be dismissive and need to be challenged
Cautiously uncertain; professionally honest about perceptual limits and uneasy about overclaiming empathy.
Responds candidly to Riker that she cannot read Data, frames that absence cautiously, and entertains the possibility that the crew may be anthropomorphizing him.
- • To give an honest professional reading of Data's emotional availability
- • To temper the crew's assumptions and prevent projection from clouding judgment
- • She believes empathy has limits and that lack of sensed emotion does not prove absence of personhood
- • She believes clinical honesty is necessary even when it complicates friends' comfort
Grief-stricken and angry; personal loss overwhelms his technical composure, revealing raw sorrow and helplessness.
Sits apart nursing a drink, then rises and gives Data a fierce, wordless hug; speaks bluntly about unfairness and offers terse, loving parting words.
- • To offer comfort and human connection to Data in a moment of loss
- • To register and express dissent at Data being forced out
- • He believes Data is more than a machine and deserves humane treatment
- • He believes expressing attachment is necessary even if it changes his professional role
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Data deliberately rips the decorative wrapping paper to reveal Worf's gift; the crinkling and discarded paper punctuate the lighthearted ritual before the tone shifts, marking the boundary between ceremony and rupture.
A selection of glasses anchors the social atmosphere: characters nurse drinks, use them to occupy hands during awkward exchanges, and they visually mark the informal, intimate setting that Maddox disrupts.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Captain Louvois's office is the named destination of Picard's summon; it represents the immediate locus of institutional oversight and the formal theater where the forthcoming contest over Data's fate will be framed.
Ten-Forward is the social crucible where private affection, ritual and crew intimacy take place; it hosts the gift‑opening, Geordi's hug, Pulaski's blunt counsel and the visible intrusion of institutional antagonism.
Transporter Room Five is invoked by Picard's com as the immediate rendezvous point for the command response; its mention militarizes the casual scene and forces an institutional shift in action.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The crew's farewell grief (Geordi, friends) thematically parallels Picard's later effort to humanize Data legally—both moments emphasize that Data's value is relational and experiential, not merely technical."
"The crew's farewell grief (Geordi, friends) thematically parallels Picard's later effort to humanize Data legally—both moments emphasize that Data's value is relational and experiential, not merely technical."
"The crew's farewell grief (Geordi, friends) thematically parallels Picard's later effort to humanize Data legally—both moments emphasize that Data's value is relational and experiential, not merely technical."
"The crew's farewell grief (Geordi, friends) thematically parallels Picard's later effort to humanize Data legally—both moments emphasize that Data's value is relational and experiential, not merely technical."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"RIKER: "Deanna... does Data have... do you feel anything from him?""
"TROI: "I can't sense anything from Data. But that proves nothing. There are many minds from which I can read no meaning.""
"MADDOX: "A little farewell celebration?""