Q; What can Troi mean when she says that it is amazing how different species manage to communicate?
A; We might surmise here that she is talking purely from her own personal point of view as an empath. To Troi, it could possibly seem fantastic that different species, separated as they are by cultural divides et al., can manage to communicate at all through the medium of mere language. This is perhaps why the learning of languages may be spoken of with some awe, as it is here by Troi, and by Picard in an earlier episode (I must blushingly confess that I don't know which one as I made no note at the time), when he spoke in admiration of a chap who had learnt, I think, twenty-five different tongues. Any translation device will have its limitations ("ugly bags of mostly water", anyone?) as there are experiences recognised and expressed by individual cultures which other cultures may only describe by using the original culture's language. "Deja vu" springs to mind here. A chap who could speak in several original tongues, therefore, might be expected to be a seasoned and worldly chap.
I'm afraid that this is an episode from which Data comes out very badly. When we first see him, he is clearly nervous about the coming recital. Why? He's an android, with no feelings. Later on, he is clearly surprised when he's passionately kissed. Why show surprise? He's an android. (Quite apart from which, we were led to believe that he boinked Tasha in the episode 'The Naked Now'. I find it hard to believe that after that experience, anyone, android or not, would be fazed by a kiss). To use his own words at the end of the show "I have no feelings of any kind". What utter rubbish. It's plain as day that he does, and frequently, too.
Incidentally, Picard is still speaking when he is transported by the Sheliak, one of the few times I can think of that anyone has managed to say anything while their molecules were dispersed (I discount Lwaxana, as I've pointed out earlier).
When the Sheliak ship turns away, it banks, just like an aeroplane. Why? I thought planes made that manoeuvre against air pressure, which as a rule is conspicuously absent from space . . .
Evolution The Ensigns of Command The Survivors Who Watches the
Watchers? The Bonding Booby
Trap The Enemy The Price The Vengeance Factor The Defector The Hunted
The High Ground Deja Q A
Matter of Perspective Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father Allegiance Captain's Holiday
Tin Man Hollow Pursuits The Most Toys Sarek
Menage á Troi
Transfigurations The Best of Both Worlds
Part One