Best of Starshit: The Measure of a Man

The Measure of a Man is the best episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Yes, Best of Both Worlds and Yesterday's Enterprise are more spectacular but MoaM (as I will now refer to it as) is the best written episode of Star Trek period. Most of it is just people standing around in rooms talking and that is fine.

The episode revolves around a court case which is a pretty common trope in Star Trek as most TV writers have experience writing courtroom drama and also, and perhaps most importantly, courtroom drama is cheap to make. Melinda Snodgrass, who wrote this, actually was a lawyer which is probably why the case-building stuff actually makes sense. Here's a suspiciously attractive lawyer talking about the legal stuff in the episode while wearing the wrong uniform because this episode was from season 2 when Starfleet officers still dressed like a bobsleigh team:

The plot is this: Starfleet Neurodivergent Commander Maddox was to disassemble Data for science...

Here's more of Maddox so you can really get a full feel for the guy...

Data doesn't want that. A court case happens. Data is defended by Picard and the JAG forces Riker to act as prosecution, threatening him with all kinds of shit if he throws the case. This provides extra stakes and saves money on hiring another actor.

Riker decides 'frick it' and gives it 100%...

This sucks and Picard is utterly despondent. He decides to break into the Enterprise bar and get drunk and Guinan finds him there. The two have a heart-to-heart and Picard realises that it is not just his friend who is in danger from this case, but the ethics of the entire Federation...

Hey! Modern TV writers: This is how you tackle social issues in Sci-Fi. See?

Full of the Beans of Social Justice, Picard storms it in court the next day, putting that fricking nerd Maddox in his place...

All this leaves is the awkward question of how Data and Riker move on from this. Fortunately, Data deploys facts and logic (although the writer says she thought that Data could, in fact, understand emotions even if he could not feel them)...

Riker would get the chance to prove himself non-chud in a later season by falling for a totally valid so remember that. Personally, I think Riker would frick a hole in the wall so... meh.