The Measure of a Man

This Story: Season 2 Episode 9 (production code 135)
TNG Overall: Episode 35
Trek Overall: Story 135, Episode 137
Airdate: 13 Feb 1989
Written by Melinda M. Snodgrass
Directed by Robert Scheerer

Notes

• Melinda Snodgrass’ first contribution to Star Trek.  There would be a lot after this. :)
• Space station footage here was reused from Wrath of Khan.
• The courtroom was a redress of the battle bridge.
• The first episode that mentions the “Daystrom Institute” – an entity that would become a much larger thing in modern trek like “Star Trek Picard”.
• The issues about legal rights here would come up again next season (in “The Offspring“).  That time the issue was if Data had parental rights over his creation/daughter “Lal”.
• Tasha Yar is seen as a hologram projection during the court scene, but she doesn’t speak. A reference back to her “relations” with Cmdr. data in “The Naked Now” is made.
• The broadcast version of this episode is 47:42 long, but on the Season 2 Blu-Ray, there was a “hybrid cut” (55:51) and a “first cut” version (57:45) using various bits of deleted scenes (some from crappy quality VHS copies of work scenes).   There are some images below explaining the different versions of this taken from a short 1:30 video on the blu-ray.
• Melinda Snodgrass said this on her own blog in the comments area about this episode…  “As to the issue of law in Gene’s vision. He nearly killed The Measure of a Man because according to Gene there were no lawyers in the 24th century because if people had criminal intentions they “had their minds made right”. I found that chilling. I also pointed out that you have contracts that have to be negotiated and conflicts of law between different legal systems, and divorces, etc. etc. There was no way there would be no lawyers in the future.”

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