Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

The Ensigns of Command (1989)

Brent Spiner: Lieutenant Commander Data

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Data has stunned some colonists with a phaser] 

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : That was the stun setting.

  [he changes it] 

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : This is not.

• Gosheven : I really was willing to stay here and die for this.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I know that. This is just a thing. And things can be replaced. Lives cannot.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : Among humans, a kiss usually serves to seal a friendship, or indicate support. Attraction. Affection. In this context, I must assume that your intention was to express... support.

  Ard'rian McKenzie : You really don't understand human behavior, do you?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : That is something of an understatement.

• [last lines] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [about Data's recent violin concert]  Your playing is quite beautiful.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Strictly speaking, sir, it is not my playing. It is a precise imitation of the techniques of Jascha Heifetz and Trenka Bron-Ken.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Is there nothing of Data in what I'm hearing? You see, you chose the violinist. Heifetz and Bron-Ken have radically different styles, different techniques, and yet... you combined them, successfully.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I suppose I have learned to be... creative, sir - when necessary.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Mr. Data, I look forward to your next concert.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : Get word to Gosheven. Tell him I am coming to the pumping station. Tell him I am going to destroy the aqueduct.

  Ard'rian McKenzie : He'll try to stop you.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I sincerely hope so.

• [Data has disabled the aqueduct with his phaser] 

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : I can reduce this pumping station to a pile of debris, but I trust my point is clear. I am but one android, with a single weapon. There are hundreds of Sheliak on the way, and their weapons are far more powerful. They may not offer you a target. They can obliterate you from orbit. You will die - never having seen the faces of your killers. The choice is yours.

• [Data has been assigned to organize the evacuation of a Human colony on Tau Cygna V, a Sheliak planet] 

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Sir, if I do not succeed, how violent is the Sheliak reaction likely to be?

  Commander William T. Riker : The treaty is the only thing that prevented them from eradicating the colony the moment they discovered it.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Ah.

  Commander William T. Riker : "Ah" is right, Data.

• Gosheven : Here we stand!

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Then here you die.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : Perhaps this is a situation where excessive honesty can be detrimental.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : [Data enters Ten Forward carrying a violin and notices Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher sitting at a table facing the stage]  Captain. Doctor. I am honored by your presence but... may I suggest you attend the second concert.

  Dr. Beverly Crusher : Why Data?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Ensign Ortiz will perform the violin part. My rendition will be less enjoyable.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Oh?

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Although I am technically proficient, according to my fellow performers I lack

  [gestures by shaking his fist near his chest] 

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : soul.

  Dr. Beverly Crusher : Data, telling us why you're going to fail before you make the attempt is never wise.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : But, is not honesty always the preferred choice?

  [Beverly looks amusingly at Captain Picard] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Excessive honesty can be disastrous - particularly in a commander.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : [looking somewhat intrigued]  Indeed.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Knowing your own limitations is one thing. Advertising them to a crew can damage your credibility as a leader.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : Because you will lose their confidence.

  Dr. Beverly Crusher : And, you may begin to believe in those limitations yourself.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : Do you believe my suggested course of action should be followed?

  Ard'rian McKenzie : Of course.

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : In spite of the fact that I am an android?

  Ard'rian McKenzie : Because of that fact. I don't have any silly prejudice against computers; I like them. Not that any computer we have is half as sophisticated as you are.

  [Data looks at a primitive dummy made up of metal parts] 

  Lt. Cmdr. Data : No. I would say not.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data , Ard'rian McKenzie : [respectively, after having kissed the other]  You appeared to need it.

• Lt. Cmdr. Data : Perhaps that is a part of our difficulty. Words are all we have been using. Humans seem to take much stronger notice of actions.