In this episode, Worf, his son Alexander Rozhenko, and Deanna Troi are trapped in the holodeck where the characters resemble Data and have his superior abilities.
[2][3] The Enterprise has arrived 2 days early for a rendezvous with a supply ship, USS Biko, and the crew spend the extra time pursuing personal activities.
Worf gets into a gun battle and is wounded, and he and Troi find that the holodeck safety protocols are off and they cannot end the program.
Data and the ship's computer are restored to normal, and Worf promises to join Alexander on the holodeck for another adventure in Deadwood.
As a final nod to the Western genre where heroes are often seen riding off into the sunset, the episode concludes with the Enterprise flying toward and seemingly into a star that is half obscured by a nearby planet.
[3] This episode was noted in 2017 for its humorous elements, Western theme, and for Data's presentation as a woman of the old American west.
[7] In 2019, Screen Rant ranked "A Fistful of Datas" the tenth funniest episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The episode was released as part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation season six DVD box set in the United States on December 3, 2002.