# ID this ST:TNG episode? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854 "2012-01-18T01:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/1 "2012-01-18T01:55:43Z")
In this episode, they are trying to teach Data how to make small talk. They pair him with a diplomat (the actor who played Scully’s dad on _X-Files_ and an Army officer on _Twin Peaks_) to make completely inoffensive chit chat. Anyone know the specific episode? ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/2 "2012-01-18T02:13:42Z")
[Don S. Davis](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0204493/) is the person you’re thinking of from _Twin Peaks_ and _X-Files_, but I don’t remember him in a ST:TNG episode, and I can’t find anything that says he was in one. What I do find from [Memory Alpha](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Data): > [@](#): > > In 2369, Data incorporated a subroutine for small talk. At the recommendation of Captain Picard, he studied [Commander Hutchinson](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Calvin_Hutchinson) while the Enterprise underwent a baryon sweep at Arkaria Base. Dr. Crusher was the first person Data tried to engage in small talk using his observations of Hutchinson, to her astonishment and delight. (TNG: “[Starship Mine](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Starship_Mine_%28episode%29)”) Hutchinson was played by [David Spielberg](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818578/). ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/3 "2012-01-18T02:30:49Z")
_Starship Mine_ is the episode you’re thinking of, though the guy you’re thinking of is a completely different short bald dude. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/4 "2012-01-18T03:15:42Z")
That’s the one! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/5 "2012-01-18T03:55:25Z")
One of my favorite episodes! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/6 "2012-01-18T17:47:02Z")
I swear at one point Brent Spiner gets Frakes and MacFadden to break character and laugh at him, and they kept it in. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/7 "2012-01-18T19:32:03Z")
What was the point of the whole “hostage situation” deal in that episode? ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/8 "2012-01-18T23:09:24Z")
Call me Hutch! ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/9 "2012-01-19T00:39:11Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > What was the point of the whole “hostage situation” deal in that episode? As I understand it, hostage situation was a contingency, not the primary plan on the surface. The gang organizing the heist of WMD from Enterprise engines placed confederates on the staff at Hutchinson’s party, to observe and make sure that the Starfleet personnel didn’t go back to the ship or do anything else to give away the job while it was in progress. Now, they failed to keep Picard from slipping back on board for his saddle. But he seemed confident that he’d be back before the sweep started, so maybe they assumed that he’d be no trouble. But the events actually precipitating the hostage situation contingency had nothing directly to do with ‘Enterprise’. The hostage takers wouldn’t have been planning to use the weapons if circumstances didn’t force them to. But when Geordi spotted the weapons, they had no choice but to proceed, IIRC. Does that clear things up a little? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/10 "2012-01-19T02:44:03Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > As I understand it, hostage situation was a contingency, not the primary plan on the surface. The gang organizing the heist of WMD from Enterprise engines placed confederates on the staff at Hutchinson’s party, to observe and make sure that the Starfleet personnel didn’t go back to the ship or do anything else to give away the job while it was in progress. Now, they failed to keep Picard from slipping back on board for his saddle. But he seemed confident that he’d be back before the sweep started, so maybe they assumed that he’d be no trouble. Yeah, that just highlight the big dreams mixed with tunnel vision of the series’ writers. The senior staff was at the cocktail party - that leaves nearly 800 Starfleet personnel assigned to the _Enterprise_. If there was a serious concern of someone going back to the ship, why concentrate on just a handful of them? That just tips them off that something is going on. Of course, another factor is the somewhat annoying principal that all the primary actors must appear, however briefly, in every episode. > [@](#): > > Does that clear things up a little? It clarifies some of the weaknesses of the show’s writing; I still consider it a plot hole. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/11 "2012-01-19T03:03:35Z")
There are episodes where not every regular appears. Troi is absent in quite a few, ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/12 "2012-01-19T03:13:30Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Yeah, that just highlight the big dreams mixed with tunnel vision of the series’ writers. The senior staff was at the cocktail party - that leaves nearly 800 Starfleet personnel assigned to the _Enterprise_. If there was a serious concern of someone going back to the ship, why concentrate on just a handful of them? That just tips them off that something is going on. Well, we have no idea what other measures might have been taken with regard to other Enterprise personnel. It was natural for Hutchinson to invite Picard’s senior staff to a reception - that probably had nothing to do with the plot. We’re not really sure what the rest of the crew are doing while they’re evacuated from the Enterprise - or even (and this is somewhat wild surmise,) whether they’re all on the same planet where the sweep is being performed, or if some considerable number were offered shore leave elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/13 "2012-01-19T03:21:31Z")
I remember this episode. At the time it aired, the fandom got a big kick out of referring to it as ‘Die Hard Picard’ due to the action antics. Fun ep to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-st-tng-episode/609854/14 "2012-01-19T05:03:56Z")
You can also see Tim Russ, the actor who went on to play Tuvok on ST:VGR, as one of the bad guys in “Starship Mine”: [Devor | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Devor)