Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. Six cards were made from The Big Goodbye, starting with...
PICTURE: Some hints, beyond the use of costuming, tell us we're in a period piece (the lamp, the sign), and the color palette is united in its "noir" feel. I know noir means black, but the card may be a bit too dark nonetheless, as Data's jacket melts into the background. The image does give off the right atmosphere, so it's still a 3.4.
LORE: I like the way they give away the persona - it's funnily written and doesn't forget to make him an android. It only gets better from there. The mention of his tan alone is priceless, as is his reputed geographic origin. The quote seems a little disembodied to me - we're not used to quotes being added to lore, mostly just quotes AS lore - but follows through on the joke. A very funny 4.5.
TREK SENSE: A common problem with Holodeck Adventures personnel is that despite, in this case, Data walking onto the bridge in this costume at the end of "The Big Goodbye", our favorite android wouldn't serve aboard a ship AS Carlos except in the most absurd of situations (and the card would have us believe he'd serve with Klingons, Cardassians, anybody). On these, we have to ask: Is this the character of Carlos or is it really Data? Well, Carlos wouldn't be an android with superhuman Strength, nor would a 1930s character have Computer Skill x2. Data, on the other hand, would be a Federation Officer with the ability to staff ships. If we accept him as some kind of improbable hybrid, here's what we get: The Data in him keeps his Computer Skill x2 by virtue of being able to program the holodeck. It's not HIS program though (unlike the Sherlock Holmes one), so it's not so much of a lock. As an android, he can't help but have 12 Strength, though his computer intellect is down to 10 because he doesn't understand the 1930s world as well as his native 2360s. Integrity is down to 7, I think, because Data was a little more "emotional" somehow in the first season, or should I say, a little more awkward interacting socially with people. Basically, Data's not as "pure" a character in his early and late (post-emotion chip) days. As Carlos, he would be Non-Aligned (from a time before Starfleet) and a Civilian. His special ability uses a little Dixonese (though unfortunately not as much as Dixon Hill's Business Card). It's just too bad that it's almost entirely conceptual. See, putting someone "on ice" is perfect Dixon Hill, but the draw deck and discard piles only exist as the future and past of the story. Ok, so the Dixon Hill stuff represents the past, and Carlos makes you draw from the past rather than the future. Cute, but of course, the discard pile is a much more recent past than that. I like that Dixon Hill has to be present, because everyone simply accompanied Picard into the program, they wouldn't go by themselves, but I don't really see why Carlos would bear this ability more than another character. Sure, Data's got a database full of facts from the past, but I think the literature expert from the same episode, Lt. Dan Bell, could have served even better. All of that conceptual stuff only amounts to a 1.7.
STOCKABILITY: Personnel that require another specific personnel to really work are troublesome enough without that trigger personnel being ultra-rare. If you're like me (and there's a better chance than not that you are), you don't have a copy of Dixon Hill. That means you have little chance of implementing Carlos' "on ice" policy. These reviews are usually written as if everyone has access to all the cards, but I'll make mention of problematic rarity when I come across it. Without Dix, you've still got a Non-Aligned android with all the perks that come with that "species", including very high STRENGTH and CUNNING. Though Holoprogram: The Office of Dixon Hill doesn't allow him to report any more easily, his Computer Skill x2 does. Quark's Isolinear Rods'll download him to your hand at the earliest convenience if that's what you want (he's not an OFFICER like the "real" Data). He's still a version of the Data persona, and there are a lot of versions to fiddle around with: Premiere and FC Datas are big skill horses, Data and Picard (gee, Carlos and Dixon Hill) will work equally well with the Romulans and Feds, and of course, there's fellow holo-geek, Sherlock Holmes. If you have access to the special skill, you can use Carlos to manipulate your deck in a new way by drawing cards from your discard pile (thereby recycling them very quickly) instead of your draw deck. You absolutely need Dixon Hill present, but the ability is like a super Res-Q or something, especially with cards that allow for multiple card draws. Now, remember that Sherlock Holmes? He's got card manipulation skills too: start as Sherlock (who plays on Baker Street) and allow John Watson to discard your hand, then replenish your hand using Sherlock's own skill, hide Carlos under a Storage Capsule, then switch to Carlos (just returned to hand) and retrieve that discarded hand with every card draw. It's convoluted, but you could go back and forth, back and forth, until you got exactly the cards you wanted. Want to go back to the draw deck? Just separate Carlos and Dix again. There's fun to be had for a skilled player, and the card still isn't a write-off for us common mortals who haven't gotten an ultra-rare since the Future Enterprise ;-). Computer Skill x2 alone is a good thing (Scanner Interference, Ferengi Ingenuity, other dilemmas and missions), and the first turn capability it allows makes a Crell Moset/Cybernetics Expertise deck manipulation deal come into play early. I give this "any Data" an excellent 3.9.
TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) That's what can happen when verb-like effects find their way into a skill box.
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