Plot Synopsis: After a computer malfunction Worf, Alexander, and Deanna are trapped in an Old West holodeck program where an increasing number of villains and characters resemble Data.
Plot A and B Analysis: The teaser gives us just a tease: the crew have 48 hours of free time. Picard is in his quarters practicing his Ressikan flute, Data and Geordi (whom I’ll call Beardy again, as LeVar is growing a beard) want permission to try an experiment, Beverly comes to bother him about playing a part in the play, and Worf tries to give himself more work. We discover why when Alexander plants an “ancient west” hat on him, and we realize it will be a Holodeck episode. Plot A is about Worf’s adventure in the Holodeck, there is no plot B. Data and Geordi’s experiment, that Data can act us a backup computer if the Enterprise computer goes down, results in a–wait for it–Holodeck malfunction! Worf and Alexander and Deanna have fun in their program until the malfunction results in Data showing up, only it’s not Data. The computer begins replacing characters’ images with ones that look like Data, with all of his abilities. Sheriff Worf ends up having a showdown with the evil Frank Hollander, a villain “with the speed and accuracy of an android.” It resolves in a wonderfully satisfying, memorable ending.
Favorite Scenes: Everything in the Holodeck is just great. Everything about Brent’s performance–or performances–is great also. The way Brent says “Eli!” at about 33:40 is exactly the way I’ve said it to my friends named Eli in real life. Watch at 36:11 when Data says “you got it pardner” and see LeVar trying not to laugh on camera. Worf has some great lines too, especially his comedically-angry “are you alright?!” to Alexander in the 41st minute. Brent gets the last laugh as a woman, and the final shot of the Enterprise flying off into the sunset is great touch.
Use of Cast/Characters: There are lots of pieces of character development in this episode, which I enjoy. This is a Worf episode and he is center stage, having an adventure with his son. He does a great job as a sheriff and a father. We learn of Deanna’s love of the Ancient West which she got from her father growing up; Beverly and Riker return to the theater and acting for the first time since The Nth Degree. Data gives one of my favorite performances ever in this episode. This is a much better example of Spiner playing multiple characters than the nonsense we see in Masks next season. He is terrific as a villain, and really funny later as practically everyone else in the Holodeck. Even his bits of breaking character on the ship are wonderful, such as in the 31st minute where he spits on the floor of the ship, right in front of Picard and Riker, and then winks at it. Cracks me up every time. Picard and Riker don’t have a lot to do, each having one or two scenes. It is good to see Picard’s flute again. Beardy works with Data quite a bit and is tangentally involved with the plot. Brian Bonsall is the guest star and he’s just fine.
Blu Ray Version: Take a look at the back of Alexander’s video game prop at the end of the 3rd minute. The back of it is face plates for old 5.25″ floppy drives. At 14:10 freeze frame and look at Eli Hollander’s hat. Specifically the string coming out the right side of it so it can get whisked away when Deanna shoots it. If you freeze at 34:15 you’ll see Eli in the background is clearly played by someone other than Brent.
Nitpicks: Patrick does something wrong again, as a director, in this episode. It’s an editing mistake similar to the mistake he makes back in Hero Worship. In the 40th minute we see Hollander get the gun thrown to him, cut to Worf touching his gun, Hollander pointing the gun at Worf, Worf finally clearing the gun from his holster and somehow shooting the gun out of Hollander’s hand. Nope, I don’t think so, Worf would be dead. It would be better if we see Worf reaching for his gun right after watching the gun flying through the air, then Hollander catching it, Worf drawing his gun, Hollander pointing the gun, then Worf shooting the gun out of his hand. Also, even though Deadwood is in South Dakota, there’s a big map of Arizona in Worf’s office.
Overall Impression: This is one of the best Holodeck episodes ever, plain and simple. When I think of really good TNG Holodeck episodes I think of The Big Goodbye, Elementary, Dear Data, and this one! It’s also a great Worf-centric episode, though Deanna, Data and Alexander are featured as well. It’s great fun from start to finish. While Worf is the star, Brent is the other excellent high point, bringing fantastic life to his characters. I’ve heard there are some that don’t think this episode is that good, but I think those people are dumb. I rate this episode an entirely unapologetic 5 out of 5 stars.
Behind the Scenes/Trivia: This is an episode that is more rewarding for folks who have seen the whole series. We see Picard’s flute from The Inner Light. I was excited at first to see it, but it was a bit strange to watch him playing a regular, non-Ressikan tune. Was it weird for anyone else? Also in the same shot, take a look at Picard’s chair and you’ll see it has the tapestry from back in Who Watches the Watchers. Snippets of Data’s cat poetry are from Schisms. Beardy is back! The previous time we saw him trying to pull a Riker was in The Outcast. We see Spot again. Brent is notorious for talking about how much he hated the cat, which I think is great.
The title is, of course, an homage to the Clint Eastwood’s first spaghetti western, A Fistful of Dollars. Everyone should see that one, as well as For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. If you haven’t seen any of them you owe it to yourself, as Data is really playing Lee Van Cleef’s character from the films. Brannon Braga and Patrick Stewart used the classic western Rio Bravo as a template for the episode plot. There is a visual reference to Shane, another classic, where Alexander is looking out under the doors of the saloon in minute 41, watching his dad decide whether or not to kill Hollander. I think this is the only Western I’ve ever seen where nobody actually dies.
Patrick Stewart has said probably the most fun he had directing an episode was this one. There was a stressful day, though, because Warner Brothers only gave them one day to shoot all of the western exteriors. His assistant director told him ‘this day is just not makeable’ because of all the work they had to do with that one day. They had to do all the setup and rehearsals in the dark, and began shooting at dawn. There is one scene where they had no light left and had to light it artificially, where Data comes out from behind a door, which starts at 39:40.
Previous to this episode, on holodeck episodes the music was supposed to be sci-fi/space music instead of what was actually going on in the scene. This episode changed that, where the composer was actually allowed to write western-inspired music for a western-theme episode. From here on out, that’s how the music would be done.
Dorn tells a story about how early on, the cast had to work with a lot of smoke on the sets, and Patrick complained to the Screen Actors Guild because they thought it was excessive, and probably unsafe. That was good, until it was his turn to direct. Dorn says the shots in the bar scene had so much smoke it almost looked like it was on fire! Dorn felt sorry for the actress playing the bar maid, because there was tons of smoke billowing up behind her, then Patrick’s voice: “More smoke!” Take a look at the bar scene starting in the 12th minute and if you watch for it you’ll see smoke pouring out from behind the bar and other places. Tons of smoke in the 25th and 26th minute too. Lastly, this episode won an Emmy for Sound Mixing.
Missable/Unmissable? This episode is one of the most enjoyable of season six: unmissable. The next episode is unique in all of TNG.