The Measure Of A Man

 I recently re-watched "The Measure of a Man." If you haven't seen this one, I urge you to spool it up right now. Although I have a whole list of "If you only watch..."episodes, this one always stands out as one of the truest, most heartfelt, most committed to the "what makes someone human" concept in Star Trek and SciFi. I always say, "Watch this one. Just watch it. If you don't watch any other Star Trek--watch this one."

Ok, if you didn't take a 45 minute break between the last paragraph and this one to watch the episode, and you haven't seen it before--basically, an engineer shows up and wants to disassemble Data. He hopes to build many more Datas and station them all over Starfleet. He sees Data as property rather than as a person. He denies Data's humanity. The entire episode is based around argument over whether Data has the right to choose his own destiny.

"The Measure of a Man" is iconic. A lot of people have written a lot of things about this one and that intimidates me a little bit. But, this blog is all about my personal experiences with Star Trek and I'll never forget my experience watching this episode for the first time.

I didn't see this one until I was in college. Somehow, it always went by me and Netflix Instant (or DVD money) didn't exist back then. But, on a winter day, in Northern Kentucky, when I'd just got back from some mid-morning anthropology class, I sat down to watch Star Trek reruns. I was excited when this one came on because I knew from the first that I'd never seen it. For the next hour, I couldn't look away. A while later, when my soon-to-be-husband came home, I was still puffy-faced from sobbing. Like a little kid, I ran over every plot-point in the episode and, when I came to the end, I started crying again.

Here's the thing, I've seen this episode many, many times since that day. Time has passed. I got married, went to grad school, moved across the country, wrote three novels, had my five-year-anniversary, and started a crazy Star Trek blog all in the time since I first saw the episode. And yet, when my husband came home from work the other night and asked what I'd watched that day, I answered, "The Measure of a Man" and ran off the plot-points again (for no one's benefit because he's also seen this one a dozen times) and, when I got to the end, I choked up and tears rushed to my eyes and I couldn't finish.

So, again, I urge you to seek out this episode. It's a prime example of what Gene Roddenberry started doing in the 60's and what he continued to do until the day he died. It's what Star Trek continued do after he was gone and what it does even now. This episode questions what it means to be human. "The Measure of a Man" is a perfect example of Star Trek. Or, at least it is for me. I'd love to hear your opinion.