Trek Thursdays: Trekking Towards Sixty #18 — “The Measure Of A Man” And “Drumhead”

On September 8th, 1996, an intrepid crew of explorers boldly went where no one had ever gone before on television. At that moment, Star Trek was born. A series that launched a franchise that has kept a firm grip on audiences for decades.  

As the sixtieth anniversary approaches, we here at Comicon are ready to celebrate one of the greatest science fiction franchises. While Star Trek has graced the silver screen, most of its life has been on our television screens. So, that’s where our focus shall remain.  

Every week through September 8th, we’ll be spotlighting two Star Trek episodes, from any and every iteration, that we feel are some of the greatest. At this point there are over 950 episodes of Trek, so it goes without saying some favorites won’t make the cut for this list of 60. 

Order, order in the court! 

One of the beauties of science fiction is that it can also tap into various other genres pretty easily. Trials are something we’ve witnessed numerous times on Trek at this point in the franchises’ lifespan. Some of them are just fine to forgettable with a rare few being heralded as some of the best Trek.  

Good thing this whole column is about the latter.  

Both entries this week come from the Star Trek: The Next Generation era and heavily feature Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) doing his best to bring justice and equity to his ship and beyond.  

-RED ALERT: SPOILERS FOLLOW- 

“The Measure Of A Man”
Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 2, Episode 9 (02/13/1989) 

Synopsis: A stalwart member of the Enterprise crew and one of a kind (sort of), Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) finds his very existence as a sentient being on trial. Captain Picard must prove his second officer’s sentience to stop a scientist from disassembling and replicating the android across the fleet.  

If you mention courtroom and Star Trek, this is likely the episode people will mention quickly. For a very good reason.  

This is a damn good episode.  

It’s an episode fully focused on what being sentient means, and where the limits have to be considered. Commander Bruce Maddox (Brian Brophy) has a dream of creating a whole slew of Datas to make sure every ship in the fleet has one of the android.  

There is a lot to parse in this episode despite how on paper “simple” that it seems to be. While Data is very much part of the crew at this point, Picard tries to convince Data to submit to Maddox’s plan, which would require dismantling Data, for the sake of the fleet, only for Data to throw it back to the Captain that his status as not a human is the only reason Starfleet feels emboldened to order this. He makes the valid point that they would never order every crew member to undergo a procedure to remove their eyes to be replaced with cybernetic implants, similar to Geordi La Forge’s (Levar Burton) visor.  

Everyone is pulling out their A game in this episode. We witness Picard reckon with Data’s words and use that to fight for his second officer, while Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) is tapped to do the opposite. Forced to prove that his colleague and friend is nothing but a machine. On this side we watch as Riker is torn apart, fully believing his friend to be sentient and not wanting to have to state otherwise.  

The moment that Riker turns Data off and states, “Pinocchio is broken; its strings have been cut” is jarring on so many levels. The remorse and guilt are heavy on Riker’s face and body in that moment. He’s doing what he can to work the case, since he must — otherwise the judge will just rule for Maddox summarily — and feeling horrible the whole time.  

Having Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) be the one, despite her not being human, to point Picard to the fact that Maddox would be creating a slave race is an apt one (both from the skin color of the actress but also the fact that Guinan is centuries old from an advanced race and has seen a lot).  

Picard arguing that we’re all “just machines of a type” and “being created by a man” just describes birth is a solid argument, as is the fact that the determining factor in the case is the fact that Data has various gifts and mementos that heavily indicate feelings and connections. Oh, then the moment that Picard uses Maddox himself to actually prove that Data meets most criteria for sentience and the final one, “consciousness,” is too nebulous to define.  

This episode still is a banger, and actually came back around with the first season of Star Trek: Picard. There see Maddox again and see the fruits of his work, a whole race of Soong style androids that have their own home world and civilization.  

Also, it’s the first time we see the crew playing poker together, so that’s a great moment too. Especially so, since their poker games became a sentimental staple, all the way through the Picard era. 

“The Drumhead”
Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 4, Episode 21 (04/29/1991) 

Synopsis: When an act of sabotage leaves the Enterprise Warp Drive damaged, an overzealous admiral begins a witch hunt amongst the crew to find the culprit. Determined to find a conspiracy, she points a finger at Picard and accuses the captain of treason.  

Once more, Picard is tapped into a courtroom, this time ending up on the stand himself and facing accusations. A warp core hatch exploded, sabotage is considered, and a visiting Klingon exchange officer is the major suspect. Connections to rumors of the Romulans having schematics of the Enterprise set off various alarm bells.  

Jean Simmons really delivers as retired Rear Admiral Norah Satie, the daughter of the apparently famous Judge Aaron Satie. Everything that Starfleet should stand for is threatened in the moment as Satie begins to unravel what she thinks is a conspiracy. She begins throwing accusations around and leaving people exposed and in danger through her actions.  

Even when Data and Geordi definitively prove that the hatch explosion was an accident from defective materials, Satine refuses to believe it. Young medical technician Simon Tarses (Spencer Garrett) becomes the focus of her ire. While the Klingon officer J’Dan (Henry Woronicz) admitted to stealing plans (he believes Klingons are weaker when with the Federation), she’s not satisfied that he wasn’t working with others.  

Tarses’ only “crime” turns out to be him hiding the secret that his heritage was half Human and Romulan rather than half human and half Vulcan as he had put on his application. Picard’s defense of his crewmember causes Satine to throw the treason accusation at him, her mind now dead set on finding someone to punish and judge against.  

There is a whole bit in this episode where the quest for “justice” becomes something warped and disgusting, pointing fingers at the so-called “other” rather than looking in the mirror at our own sins and issues. It’s something that we’ve seen far too many times in history, including in our present times.  

Too many people with power abuse it and seek to punish others with that power, and as Picard says, we must stay vigilant in such matters. Especially when there are always numerous people waiting in the wings to strike and spread fear and mistrust in the name of righteousness. 

Come back next week as we dive into two more of Star Trek’s greatest episodes.