Skip to main content

star trek - Is it known to whom Data was referring when he told the Borg Queen of his most recent intimate experience?


In Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg Queen comes on to Data and asks him when the last time he was intimate and he states how long it has been for him - is it known to whom he was referring? Based on the amount of time he states, it is possible or likely that he is referring to Tasha Yar?



Answer



UPDATE: After checking my star dates (and perhaps someone can verify this) it seems that it is not likely that Data is referring to Tasha Yar...


To start, here is the quote from IMDB (a full transcript can be found here):



BORG QUEEN: Are you familiar with physical forms of pleasure?



DATA: If you are referring to sexuality, I am... fully functional, programmed in... multiple techniques.


BORG QUEEN: How long since you've used them?


DATA: Eight years, seven months, sixteen days, four minutes, twenty-two...


BORG QUEEN: Far too long.



The episode "The Naked Now" is when Data and Tasha were, ahem, "intimate", and that episode occurred on/around star date 41209.2. This corresponds to March 17th, 2364.


The movie First Contact occurred on/around star date 50893.5. This corresponds to November 23rd, 2373.


Now, if I subtract 8 years, 7 months, and 16 days from the date of First Contact, I get a date of April 7th, 2365, which is not the same as the date when Data and Tasha had relations. This corresponds to a star date of about 42264.4, meaning that Data's last usage of his "multiple techniques" was somewhere between the episodes "Where Silence has Lease" (star date 42193.6) and "Elementary, Dear Data" (star date 42286.3).


Could Data have been "practicing" his techniques all by his lonesome? I would rather not speculate, but if we're looking for an in-universe explanation then the dates suggest it can't be Tasha Yar that he is referring to, unless he's into necrophilia. ;)


The most likely explanation is an out-of-universe one, suggested in a comment by Russell Borogove:




Most likely, the First Contact script writer, working in 1995, checked that The Naked Now aired in 1987, called that eight years, and added arbitrary month, day, etc.



So, it likely is Tasha that Data is referring to (since there is no evidence of any other intimate encounters), but the script writers just got their in-universe and out-of-universe dates mixed up.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more