Star Trek Articles (12)
                Taken from the Public Domain

 Interview with/Profile of Brent Spiner/Lieutenant Commander Data

(1) Interview

Who could have predicted that one of the most popular characters
in television history would be a green blooded alien with pointed
ears, funny eyebrows and repressed emotions?  Likewise, who would
not be brave enough to lay odds that a super-intelligent android
with pseudo-emotions could eventually rival the Vulcan Spock in
popularity?  The character of Data in Star Trek: The Next
Generation has taken the American fans by storm, while adult
scripts ensure he is treated properly.  Data is certainly a point
of focus for many of the Next Generation episodes.  "I can't think
of any other character who has more to do than myself, with the
exception of the Captain," notes Brent Spiner, the man who plays
the machine.

Winning the role presented him with his first long running
television part and a chance for international recognition.  "I
had seen Star Trek before and I felt that it would be a nice job.
I'm slightly worried about doing it for a number of years, but
then I would worry about that with any show.  I'm lucky in that
I'm playing an extreme character, so that I'm not using up
everything I could possibly do.  It leaves me with the opportunity
to surprise people later on."

Spiner's career before Star Trek had varying degrees of success.
He lived in New York for twelve years; "The last seven of which I
made a living.  I began as a serious actor, doing Chekov and such
and ended up in several Broadway musicals, including The Three
Musketeers and The Big River.  I actually came to Los Angeles to
do a play of Little Shop of Horrors.  That was a few years ago.  I
got a fair amount of work for a while I was doing that and stayed.
My agent put me up specifically for the part of Data."

Initially the production team were unsure of how Data should look.
It was Gene Roddenberry's belief that the android should not be
flesh-toned, and so a number of different make-ups of various
colours were tried out.  A golden tint was finally agreed upon,
with Spiner's own hair combed back into regulation Starfleet
style.  "The make-up is really two different colours as my hands
are slightly different to my face.  It is intentional because it
is faster and it is not supposed to rub off onto anything.  In
reality, it does rub off - I have some notebooks which are covered
in my golden fingerprints which I'm going to sell for two thousand
dollars apiece one day!  The make-up artist users an opalescent
base which is then dusted with a golden powder.  It is like the
make-up in the silent movies - I can almost see myself as Rudolph
Valentino!  I also wear gold contact lenses, which do look very
convincing."

Some thought also had to be given to Data's speech patterns and
body language.  The actor must carefully tread a fine line between
the human and machine qualities of the character.  "Fortunately I
don't have to do a mechanical voice but I do have a more formal
delivery than most of the characters.  I'm not allowed to use

contractions like can't or won't, although I assume I will one day
because I am synthesising human behaviour so quickly."

As Science Officer, Data is frequently likened to Mr Spock by the
critics.  Brent Spiner, however, rejects any suggestions of a
similarity.  "I see Data as being on the operations side - he can
handle everything, from security to flying the ship.  This is
because he can retain so much information.  I'd say that Deanna
Troi (played by Marina Sirtis) is more like Spock.  Marina tells
everyone it's me, and I tell everyone it's her.  Neither of us
want the onus of that!  She is actually half human, half alien,
whereas Data is a machine.  Spock was not a machine."

Data's background is revealed in the excellent first season story
Datalore.  It gives Brent Spiner the chance to play two roles as
we meet Data's android twin Lore.  "Data was created to look after
the people on a planet surviving a holocaust.  He has been
programmed with all of their memories, and has a sensitivity for
emotion.  It is not real emotion he possesses - just an
understanding for it on a certain level.  He was programmed for
things like wonder, and wonder often leads to emotion on its
own."

With Star Trek: The Next Generation preparing for its third
season in America, it would appear that the series has been
welcomed by the audience.  The cast of the original Star Trek have
been complimentary, and many have visited the set at Paramount
Studios.  Brent Spiner even had the chance to play opposite
DeForest Kelley as Admiral McCoy in the opening episode, Encounter
at Farpoint.  "I've also seen William Shatner in the restaurant,
and Leonard Nimoy had been around the set.  Walter Koenig was here
one day, and George Takei.  Scotty must still be in the engine
room!"

"The original crew are part of the history of the ship.  Kirk was
mentioned in The Naked Now because it was the same virus which
attacked the old Enterprise.  It is never mentioned what
eventually happened to them all, and I doubt it ever will be.
They will always be a point of reference, as Jeffery Hunter as
Captain Pike was to them."

The strong relationships between the original crew were certainly
one of the reasons for Star Trek's success.  Twenty years on the
cast of The Next Generation are finding their own chemistry, and
as the series progresses the character interplay looks like
becoming just as successful.  Part of the reason for this is good
scripts, the rest is the sense of camaraderie which permeates the
studio.  "The relationship between the cast is excellent - they're
a good bunch of people.  Everybody got on very quickly.  When I'm
not here I miss them.  I could enjoy working with them for six
years if it happens that way."  With Star Trek - in all of its
forms - more popular than it has ever been, six series of The Next
Generation looks almost guaranteed.

(2) Profile

Lieutenant Commander Data (as played be Brent Spiner) is probably
the most interesting single character in the series. Along with
Lieutenant Worf, he serves to remind us that we are aboard a
starship of the United Federation of Planets - and the crew are
most certainly not limited to ordinary human beings!  Data is an
android, but one so accurately fabricated that he could easily
pass for human if it were not for the slight golden tint to his
artificial skin and his unusual yellow-tinted eyes.  A number of
stories centre around Mr Data, and by the end of the first series
we probably know more about his background than we do about any of
the other characters.

Constructed by Doctor Noonian Soong on the far-off world of
Omicron Theta, Data was in fact the doctor's second android
creation.  The first, Lore, was deemed by the colonists of the
planet to be just too human - almost perfect, even down to skin
coloration and emotional responses.  Data was the result of these
protests - noticeably less human in external appearances, and with
a slightly more stilted speech pattern.  Unfortunately, Lore's
responses were more human than even Dr Soong could have predicted,
and rather than be shut down he appears to have brought about the
destruction of the entire colony.  This tale is elaborated upon in
the first season episode Datalore.

One human aspect which Data has retained is the curiosity and
naivete of a child, and he constantly finds himself in awe of the
simplest of things.  He also has an insatiable desire for
knowledge, although his computer-like application of some human
concepts can be entertaining.  Memorable occurrences include his
hilarious encounter with Tasha Yar in the second episode, The
Naked Now, his attempts to learn to paint (under the guidance of
the blind navigator, Geordi La Forge), and his obsession with the
Sherlock Holmes mysteries following a throw-away comment from
Picard.  This latter storyline even forms the basis for an entire
episode early in the second series, in which Data spends some time
portraying the great detective in a Holodeck based adventure
(Elementary, Dear Data).

Data initially finds friendship a difficult concept, but as the
voyage continues he develops a strong relationship with navigator
Geordi La Forge, and also with the young but extremely bright
Wesley Crusher, with whom he can discuss endless technical
matters.  He has no preprogrammed feelings or emotional at all,
but as time passes we see some of the emotional responses of those
around him gradually rubbing off on the android, who desperately
desires to be fully human and experience true emotions like his
friends - just the opposite, in fact, of Mr Spock in the original
Star Trek series.

As an android, Data is immensely strong and has an enormous
capacity to absorb information, indeed, he is often used as a kind
of walking encyclopaedia by the rest of the bridge crew - although
sometimes the incessant flow of information which even a simple
question might generate can be counter-productive!  He also has
great difficulty understanding the human concept of humour, much
to the amusement of the rest of the crew.  Slang terminology also
causes him problems, and occasionally it proves necessary to widen
his education a little for him to be able to follow the
conversation....




                              - o -