Actually he uses tons and tons of contractions, not just in this episode. I believe he does in episodes before this one too; besides, no crew members look at him suspiciously the other times!
In an early one, what's the name of it, "We'll Always Have Paris", I believe, where there's Picard's old lover Michelle Phillips, and some kind of temporal accident, where little snippets of time double back on themselves; and at the end there are 3 Datas trying to figure out which one needs to dump the antimatter into the temporal fissure at just the right moment. Anyway, after all that, one of the Datas says "It's me." Unarguably. So there's one.
This may be an old subject now, but just thought I'd mention that there are many times in "Encounter at Farpoint" in which Data uses contractions. It's all part of developing the quirks of a character that they came upon the "no contractions" rule. Remember, in "The Cage" and "Where no man has gone before," Spock smiled!
Another instance of Data using verbal contractions is in the first episode where Picard uses his "Dixon Hill" personal. When Crusher comes in looking for him, Data (in character) uses several verbal contractions, including "he's" when referring to the Captain. Now, if Data can use contractions while in character, why cannot he use them when he is being his normal self?
Actually as a correction to the Spock issue, there are quite a few episodes that have him smiling, or trying to hide his emotions, remember he IS half human, and as such he does have emotions, he just tries to get hide them, or use logic instead. Tuvok on voyager has had a few episodes where he shows emotion. I believe that there is a chip inside their heads that help them to ward off their emotions, but in TOS, perhaps that chip was not designed well.
I have seen him in the TOS episode Charlie X, and he is playing the harp, while Uhura is singing about him, and he smiles several times...
one thing though, shouldn't this issue go as a slip up in "The Original Series" category, and not in "The Next Generation" category??
I forget the name of the episode...but a crew woman has fallen in love with Data, and he agrees to share a romance with her. In one scene, he enters his quarters and says "Honey, I'm home." I can't think of any other usages of contractions other than what has been mentioned.
This is something I will need to watch for. I remember in the episode where Ryker is kidnapped by the little alien with his own "holodeck," when he's supposedly lost his memory of 16 years, he figures out it's all not real because Data says "can't." So he really shouldn't be able to use contractions.
Actually, in the episode "Datalore", Data says "I'm fine" at the end of the episode, not "can't". Maybe you should watch more carefully before posting to a slip-up site.
Regarding the "Dixon Hill" episode, that was the one where the safetys were off, and that fat guy was trying to escape the holideck. Data said,
"He's on ice"
"I'd like to take a gander"
"He's getting grilled"
The "Honey, I'm home" was when that chick was falling for him. Forget the name of the episode off hand. In that episode he also said, "you CAN'T tell me what to do, YOU'RE not my mother!!!"
In "The Offspring", Data says "I haven't quite mastered" contractions.
"Encounter at Farpoint", Data says to Picard, "At least we're acquainted with the judge".
"Code of Honor" - the episode where Data was joking about the "kiddilies"? He says, "I've told 662 jokes...".
It's almost an egg, isn't it? Just the fact that he's continuously using contractions, yet claims he can't at every free opportunity.
There are much funnier slip-ups on Star Trek, why pick at these little things. I mean Brent Spiner (Data) does a bloody good job talking so properly most of the time. Imagine how hard it would be, using those big words all in a row like that!
And just remember, it is just a Television show!
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