Star Trek: Generations gave us one of the funniest Data scenes to ever exist

Thirty years ago today, Star Trek: Generations, the first film that featured the characters of Star Trek: The Next Generation, debuted, and though, it wasn't the most successful of the films (that honor goes to Star Trek: First Contact), it did bring us some great moments. Let's forget about Captain Kirk's death for a minute, as we know that's the part of the movie fans hated the most, and take a look at one of the funniest Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) scenes ever.

At the beginning of the movie, Worf (Michael Dorn) is being promoted, and Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) finds it funny to "remove the plank" rather than retract it. That, of couse, causes Worf to fall into the water. Data misses the essence of the joke even when it's explained to him, and he proceeds to push Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) into the water. That didn't turn out so well, and he doesn't understand.

Fortunately, Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) implants an emotion chip into Data, which allows the android to finally feel what he's been missing and wanting all of these years. His excitement knows no bounds, even when it comes to the everyday mundane tasks of his job. In fact, it's one of those tasks that delivers one of Spiner's best moments ever, if not the best, when it comes to comedy.

Data comes to the bridge of the Enterprise where Commander Riker asks him to find a way to scan for life forms. Data responds with "I would be happy to, sir," which leaves a confused look on Riker's face. He adds that he "just loves scanning for life forms." And what follows really sets this scene over the edge. Data breaks out into a song that shows his pure delight.

The looks on both Riker and Data's faces are priceless. And though Data had many other comical moments that preceded this film, this was, to me, the quintessential one that showed he found what he'd finally been looking for all along. He didn't just get to be human, he experienced the joy in being human.