The Most Toys

The Enterprise-D is called to assist a colony world that has suffered contamination to its water supply. Because of this, they meet with the Jovis, a ship owned by the Zibalian trader Kivas Fajo (Saul Rubinek). Fajo is one of the few vendors of hitritium, an extremely rare medicinal compound capable of neutralizing the contamination. Because hitritium is a volatile substance that cannot be beamed aboard, Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner) is assigned to shuttle Fajo's cargo from the Jovis to the Enterprise, which will take several trips. Just before the final trip, the crew of the Jovis, led by Varria, kidnap Data; after filling the shuttlecraft with equivalent materials, they rig the shuttle to explode en route. The Enterprise crew perform a cursory scan of the debris and believe Data is dead, but due to the emergency, are forced to leave the Jovis without a more detailed study.

Data is reactivated in a secured room and is met by Fajo. The trader explains he collects rare and valuable objects and has kidnapped Data due to his uniqueness. Varria visits Data telling him to change out of his Enterprise uniform and to sit in his chair; however Data still refuses to follow orders and remarks that based on what she tells him of her relationship with Fajo, he and Varria are both Fajo's prisoners.

While lamenting the loss of their friend, Geordi concludes that he's missing something about Data's destruction. Geordi takes his hypothesis to Picard and Riker, stating that the reason he can't find anything is there's nothing to indicate any malfunction. He explains that the only option is pilot error but doesn't believe it as the odds are too vast to calculate. Picard gives him some words of solace and dismisses him. Picard and Riker select Worf as Data's replacement.

In an effort to make Data comply with his wishes Fajo says that he isn't at war with anyone and is in fact Data's liberator. He prods Data about whether or not he is capable of killing anyone, and Data states that he is programmed to never kill except in defense, and thus would be incapable of murder. When Data still refuses to submit, Fajo splashes a solvent on Data's uniform that dissolves it so he will be compelled to change his clothes.

Geordi and Wesley run through Data's communications during the shuttle trips with Geordi noting that Data follows protocol to the letter. Wesley further points out that Data didn't report the shuttle clearing the cargo bay of the Jovis on the final transmission, per protocol. Geordi and Wesley conclude that for Data to not follow standard procedures, such as not reporting something wrong, is not like him unless there was something wrong with Data himself.

Data remains defiant against Fajo's attempts to make him an object of display, purposely remaining silent and immobile when Fajo shows off his collection to a rival trader (Nehemiah Persoff). Only when Fajo threatens to kill Varria with a very rare and illegal Varon-T disruptor does Data agree to follow Fajo's orders.

The Enterprise arrives at the colony and use the hitridium to neutralize the contamination, but find it works far more quickly than it should. They soon discover that someone purposely created the contamination that would require hitridium, leading the crew to suspect Fajo of staging the whole scenario to kidnap Data. They quickly return to the last-known location of Jovis to track Fajo down.

Varria decides to help Data to escape. During the attempt, they set off alarms that alert Fajo, and when he gets there, uses the Varon-T disruptor on Varria, killing her without remorse. Data picks up the spare Varon-T that Varria had possessed and threatens to use it on Fajo. Fajo in turn threatens to murder more of his assistants if Data doesn't comply to his demands, believing that Data's programming will prevent him from shooting Fajo and to preserve the assistants' lives by submitting. Fajo further taunts Data to shoot him, mocking him as "just an android" incapable of feeling rage at Varria's death. However, Data logically realizes that the only way to preserve human lives and his own autonomy is to kill Fajo and gets ready to shoot him, much to the latter's shock. The Enterprise arrives and suddenly beams Data back aboard, discovering that the disruptor was in the process of discharging. Data is met in the transporter room by Commander Riker, and requests that Fajo be taken into custody, with Riker responding that arrangements have already been made. When Riker asks why the disruptor was energized, Data only offers that something may have happened during transport. Fajo is placed in the Enterprise brig.

In the brig Fajo asks Data if he's happy, lamenting the reversal of their situation, but says defiantly that he will add Data to his collection one day. Data informs Fajo that his stolen collection has been confiscated, and all his possessions returned to their rightful owners. Fajo remarks, "It must give you great pleasure." Data replies "No, sir, it does not. I do not feel pleasure. I am only an android." He then leaves a stunned Fajo alone in the brig.

• David Rappaport, a well-known British dwarf actor, had originally been cast for the part of Kivas Fajo. Rappaport struggled with depression during his life, and attempted suicide shortly after filming some scenes as Fajo. (Rappaport later died by suicide on 2 May 1990, three days before the airing of this episode) Saul Rubinek was brought in to take over the role and complete the episode. Select scenes with Rappaport were included in a special In Memoriam reel on disc five of the third-season TNG Blu-ray set.[1][2]
• The episode's title comes from a popular saying found on bumper stickers and T-shirts in the 1980s which read, "He who dies with the most toys wins."[3] The quote is originally attributed to flamboyant millionaire Malcolm Forbes.[4] An alternate retort to that phrase is, "The person who dies with the most toys is still dead".

Famous artwork is heavily featured in this episode, to demonstrate Fajo's taste in what he considers unique and valuable.

• Among the artifacts that Fajo has collected, there is a copy of Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory. The copy was created by artist Elaine Sokoloff.
• Although it is never seen, Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night is mentioned by the Enterprise computer as one of the artifacts collected by Fajo.
• In a small scene before the one where Fajo threatens to kill Varria with a disruptor in order to get Data to obey him, Data is looking at Leonardo da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa, trying to imitate her famously enigmatic smile.

• Star Trek The Next Generation DVD set, volume 3, disc 6, episode 2

Wikiquote has quotations related to: "The Most Toys"

• "The Most Toys" on IMDb
• "The Most Toys" at TV.com

• "The Most Toys" at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

• "The Most Toys" at StarTrek.com
• "The Most Toys" rewatch by Keith R.A. DeCandido
• "The Most Toys" rewatch by Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club