The Lore/Data look alike situation did create storytelling opprotunities for them to impersonate each other, and gave Spiner a dual role to play. I think it worked out well. It occured to me recently that Data could show up in the new movies, someone could find him earlier. I think it would be tricky to do well, but I'd be excited to have Data around for at least one movie.
Data should've been a Stan Winston puppet, right from the start. Molded after Brent Spiner, voiced by Brent and stood-in-for by Brent, when walking, or doing anything complicated, that the puppet couldn't really get away with. Brent never would've had to be dipped in gold every day, for hours on end, and he could've still continued to star as Dr. Soong and other characters. And Brent's place in STAR TREK's history would be secure ...
That was the first name that came to my mind, too. But I'm kinda liking the idea of a CGI Data, perhaps performed by an actor wearing a motion-capture suit?
I'd rather just go with another actor in gold paint. We're all used to the recasts by now. Gosh, I wish this would happen.
It does, but I like it better for holographic characters like The Doctor on Voyager than for Data. Data *is* still supposed to be a material being, and at present there's no "there" there for CGI characters so far as I've seen - something is missing.
Data doesn't need to be all CG, just to use a body double and have his face replaced with a mid-TNG Brent Spiner's, akin to the young version of Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy. That tech isn't good enough to render a human convincingly but it is good enough for a convincing android face.
I'd rather have a new actor than a CGI face. I think it's an interesting idea, but I think you'd lose something in the tech. Maybe it would work with a hologram, that is an interesting idea.
I kinda like the idea of the gender flip. Would also make the encounter/relatinship with Yar interesting.