TNG - The Measure of a Man

This episode obviously deals with the nature of Data, making the point that the fact that Data is a sentient machine, rather than just a regular machine, gives him more rights than any normal machine may have. By way of making this point, The Measure of a Man also deals with the more fundamental question, “What is a soul?” It makes the point that what truly what makes any human being superior to the computer on which I am currently typing this article is the fact that human beings have a soul and are self-aware and computers do not. The main plot of this episode is riveting because of the subject matter. Through the hearing regarding Data, we learn what makes man, different from a toaster. The subplot of this episode, regarding the past relationship between Picard and the head of the judge advocate general’s office is extraneous, it does nothing whatsoever to further the plot line; it just wastes time and seems out of place in the episode. Despite the existence of the episode’s subplot, the content of the main story line of Measure of a Man makes it a very memorable episode.