Reel Infatuation Blogathon: My Thoughts On Data: The Naked Now

"The Naked Now" is formally listed as episode 3 of the then brand new reboot of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: The Next Generation (in many ways, it is really the second episode, since the premiere episode was split into two parts).  The episode harkens back to an episode in the original series entitled "The Naked Time," in which members of the first starship Enterprise are infected with a strange substance that causes various forms of madness and hyper emotional outbursts--it is easily spread by the merest tactile contact.  In The Naked Now, the same malady strikes the latest starship Enterprise, with much more comedic results.  It culminates with one of the most unique behavior changes of the ship's only artificial person/android Data. The fact that he can be infected is not something that anyone aboard ship thought could happen.  Yet when he is sent to escort Tasha Yar from her quarters to sickbay, his original plans get waylaid--literally!

Data himself believes that because he is an android with a positronic brain, he is immune from infection, this is after all the main reason Captain Picard sends him to take Yar to sick bay. But, when he is literally seduced by Yar, who takes him into to her sleeping quarters and closes the door [*HOT*], he finds out  quite quickly that this is not the case! We next see Data returning to the bridge. It becomes immediately clear to the bridge crew that he has been affected, Picard is amusingly confused.  Data to Captain Picard, "...if you prick me [pause]...do I not leak?" Earlier in the episode, we've already been given an example of the straight-faced "humor" of Data, we he dryly starts a joke with "there was a young woman from Venus, whose body was shaped like a...."--he is abruptly cut off by Captain Picard--Data simply is confused (as is Worf)--Data: "Did I say something wrong?".  Now infected with this sex disease, Data becomes drunkenly cute, amusingly charming, and, yes, deeply sexy.  Of course, it helps that the behavior of the rest of the crew is descending into heightened sexual desires, in mostly comedic ways; with orgies obviously going on everywhere behind most closed doors--this provides Data's shocking drunken sexual behavior even more allure.  Add to that, the element that he probably just lost his virginity in some spectacular way--it's gets the viewers brain imagining all sorts of things.... There is also the back story that amidst all the increasing sexual depravity; that the Enterprise is slowly being pulled to it's demise.  And this is where the other sexy component comes in regards to Data.  He is literally the only one on board ship that can save them (with a little help from Wesley Crusher)!  A drunken crew member had pulled out all of the isolinear chips, bringing the ship to a complete "dead in space" stand still.  Data, with his positronic brain, is the only one who can replace the chips in the correct order in the small amount of time the ship has before it is destroyed.  This only adds to Data's allure!

Stricken Data!

Again, this is only the second episode into the series, and I had never seen Brent Spiner in any other role before this; but this episode was all it took for me to fall for Data, despite his lack emotions in the premiere episodes.  It is probably not all that surprising, since I had a serious childhood crush on another Star Trek character that struggled with the showing of any type of emotion: Spock (more on this in another post).  This episode is the first time we see Data with any sort of real emotion, and his silliness, amongst the sexual innuendo is so inviting in every way (and I mean every WAY) imaginable!