Plot – Everybody is trying to relax in their downtime and the story opens on a charming scene of Picard chilling and playing music and constantly being interrupted by his senior staff who simply cannot cut themselves off from their work. His exasperation as each of them visits and interrupts his practice. It’s not as funny as it perhaps thinks it is but it does highlight the chemistry between this cast effortlessly. I especially like Dr Bev telling Picard that he won’t be playing one of the leads in her play because he isn’t much of an actor. Worf would rather do anything than get stuck in a western in the holodeck with his son and so tries to find any assignment from his Captain to get out of it. And fails.
Character – It’s telling that Worf made an attempt to try and get out of visiting the holodeck with Alexander but wearily accepts his fate when there is no other option. He does love his son a great deal and that does translate on screen. The sparkle in his eye when he has beaten the crap out of several of the villainous cowboys is great. He really gets in the swing of things when he realises that violence is the order of the day in this environment.
Performance – Every line that comes out of Brian Boswell’s mouth sounds as though it has been memorised five minutes ago and he is desperate to try and remember it. He does this little smile when he gets them right. He was hardly the greatest asset to TNG.
In comparison, Brent Spiner gets to play several characters in this episode and commits to each one absolutely. His Frank Hollander is still and menacing, whilst he really gets the weaselly nature of his son right on the nail.
Production – I studied westerns at college and so I have some idea of the tropes of the genre and to my mind Patrick Stewart gets a couple of things very wrong that translates awkwardly to the screen. The town lacks any sense of bustle and excitement. When two travellers wander into town it is supposed to be throw at them danger, excitement and promise. This location looks like a wild west main street but there is no life to anything. More importantly there is a lack of lack open spaces that are the life blood of westerns (visually). If there is one thing that sells the genre it is sequences in wide open vistas suggesting that our heroes have visited the middle of nowhere. Stewart focuses on a couple of locations and keeps the camerawork small and intimate, which is a fatal mistake.
How did Doctor Who in the 1960s provide a more visually sumptuous, exciting, bloody and violent shoot out than an American production in the 1990s?
Best moment – The introduction of Counsellor Durango, the mysterious stranger who turns up and lends Sherriff Worf a hand. You can take the fact that Deanna Troi is the best thing in this episode however you will. She’s magnificent (and enjoy that moment because I don’t say it very often) because for once she is not shelling out psychological advice but simply getting into the spirit of the episode and having a whale of time. Sirtis seems more relaxed than ever and it is a joy to behold.
Any scene featuring Miss Annie is a riot. Worf doesn’t know how to handle the attention and so tries to avoid her amorous advances, only for Annie to think he is having an affair with one of the floozies down at the house of pleasure. It makes me wish that Miss Annie had been a character on the Enterprise who hunted down Worf on a regular basis.
I love the last two scenes. One features Worf standing in front of a mirror in his quarters wearing his Stetson and practicing his quick draw. The way he looks at his finger and smiles is so heart-warming. You feel that he has truly found his place on this Ship and is starting to loosen up. Finally, the shot of the Enterprise heading into the sunset is a joy to behold. It’s probably the loveliest final shot of any TNG episode.
Worst moment – how the episode tries to suggest there is an element of danger within the programme itself, which is never really felt. Troi and Worf both act like a calamity has befallen them but I often like to gauge a threat by how satisfying it would be if this was the thing that brought those characters down for good. If Troi and Worf were killed in a holodeck western surrounded by copies of Data it would be quite a bizarre end to their characters. The second everyone stops having fun it becomes a really bizarre threat.
I wish they hadn’t done that – What you have here is a game of two halves. A Fistful of Datas showcases the comic potential of Worf brilliantly. He’s especially deadpan in this environment. But it also highlights the lack of comic potential in Alexander, a character so unconvincing you would swear he was part of the scenery in the holodeck rather than a participant in the programme.
It’s unfortunate that in the one shot where the camera is allowed to get some scope and pull back on the location, the carpark behind the location is visible.
Worf using modern day tricks to prevent himself from being shot feels like a complete cop out. He should have used his wits and used the conventions of the genre against them somehow.
A reason to watch this episode again – A Fistful of Datas is a cute episode that is aiming high for belly laughs but only achieves mild chuckles because it is hampered by two very important elements. One is Brian Boswell who manages to make a high budget production seem to be a low rent amateur hour every time he opens his mouth and the other is Patrick Stewart, who directs this story as though westerns lack any atmosphere altogether. Westerns are all atmosphere, bustle, danger and hope. Stewart’s camerawork is leaden, his location feels deserted and lacking life. It’s Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner that provide all the fun moments; Worf is a natural fit for a western, Troi is loving every second of this and Data turns up in various guises throughout the programme that get more and more sillier as the episode progresses. It’s not a total write off but when you compare to other Trek comedies like Our Man Bashir and Bride of Chaotica it is far too indolent to truly make an impact.
**1/2 out of *****
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