Do you miss Data?

[Bry_Sinclair]

"I don't care" is a little harsh, but since I'm pretty 'meh' towards the situation then that was the only option available to me.

Data had a valiant death and it was a shame to see him die (though I like the character he isn't my favourite of TNG), though understandable given the fact he's played by an aging human actor (though part of me is convinced there was a line Data had about how his design allowed him to show aging--was there or is that just my mind playing tricks on me?).

Since I don't keep up on the litverse I'll have to pass on any further comment about the continuation of the character. But I was left very hacked off at the end of Nemesis when they hinted that B-4 looked ready to become Data 2.0. With his very human sacrifice for a friend and mentor, to have him resurrected in any way afterwards just cheapened all he'd accomplished.

 

[SPCTRE]

 

[Iamnotspock]

I'm a bit mystified by this. There hasn't been a TNG follow up since Nemesis, unless you count TATV, and his voice was in that one...

If we had a bunch of TNG movies after Nemesis, or Data was killed well before TNG ended....perhaps. But we all haven't seen the cast since Nemesis...

Exactly. Miss him in what?

 

[2takesfrakes]

Spiner was quite right that - physically - he was too old to play Data. I mean, even then, he had a baggy head and deep laugh lines, crow's feet and the whole bit. The make-up wasn't equipped to mask all of that. On television, TNG had taken casts of Brent's face and entire head, I believe, due to the Lore episodes, where we see him disassembled. I'm confident that "they" still had those in storage, somewhere and could've easily created a real "robot" of Data, using those molds. With some CGI to enhance the effect, it could've been quite convincing and only use Brent for walking and distance shots. Hell, they could've just used CGI to smooth out his wrinkles and tighten his jowels and all that! What would it have taken out of the budget, really? Just use sound and a strobe to represent a couple beaming effects, offscreen and that sort of thing ... There were ways around Brent's aging. Getarounds and so forth ...

 

[Timewalker]

I don't miss Data in the slightest, since I never liked him in the first place.

For people who do miss him, there are always the novels and fanfic.

I could easily buy the English originals of this novels, but I wait for the German translations. Time is dragging on, though.

I´m looking forward for the novels and I´m resistant against spoilers, but I have the impression that Data will be different.

B 4 on the other hand is only a shell, lacking Data´s personality.

Despite of that I´m happy to see him again in the novels as there is no on-screen Data anymore. So I miss Data at least until I´ll read Cold Equations.

I should have asked though: Do you miss Lore ????

If I don't like the good twin, why would I miss the evil one?

Let's put it this way: I do not miss ANY Star Trek character played by Brent Spiner. I didn't like any of them.

 

[mos6507]

I think the main problem is they didn't really deal with his evolution towards emotion in the right way. They just gave him the emotion chip and then they wanted to kind of back away from it. It would have been better for him to evolve into emotion without needing the emotion chip (sort of a bicentennial man) as it otherwise invalidates his personal growth.

 

[DonIago]

I'd probably miss Data more if I didn't feel he was overexposed in the films at the expense of other characters. And the transparent "homage" to TWoK in NEM didn't do him any favors either.

That said, I've liked what they've done with him in the novels.

Besides, I'm doing a TNG rewatch with newbie friends now (we're in S2), so he's not dead for me.

 

[ALF]

Don't be so linear, man!!
Data's a fictional character. He was neither dead nor alive, only in your mind do these states matter.

Put it this way - for 99.99% of TNG films or tv that you watch, Data is alive during those scenes. That's what matters. In my mind, he's always alive, with all the rest of the TNG cast.

Tasha Yar is a bit of a stretch though... she was in so few episodes and we really barely got a chance to know her.

 

[Melakon]

I miss actors who depart this earthly existence, not their fictional characters.

 

[Kilana2]

Don't be so linear, man!!
Data's a fictional character. He was neither dead nor alive, only in your mind do these states matter.

Put it this way - for 99.99% of TNG films or tv that you watch, Data is alive during those scenes. That's what matters. In my mind, he's always alive, with all the rest of the TNG cast.

Tasha Yar is a bit of a stretch though... she was in so few episodes and we really barely got a chance to know her.

... until Denise Crosby returned as Sela. Poor Tasha. Being killed by a creature is one thing, being taken by a Romulan high ranking member of the military against her will is another (and being executed in the end). At least Data´s sacrifice has a meaning.

It´s alright for me that there a people who don´t like both Data and Lore (and Soong for that matter).

There are means to keep even dead characters alive: clones, androids, Mirror Universe counterparts, transporter duplicates, Q involvement.......

 

[Kor]

But I was left very hacked off at the end of Nemesis when they hinted that B-4 looked ready to become Data 2.0. With his very human sacrifice for a friend and mentor, to have him resurrected in any way afterwards just cheapened all he'd accomplished.

Yes, I also believe it cheapens the loss. The open-ended B-4 storyline should have been left out completely. And the TOS movie franchise should have ended with TWOK, for the same reason.

Kor

 

[Jeyl]

But I was left very hacked off at the end of Nemesis when they hinted that B-4 looked ready to become Data 2.0. With his very human sacrifice for a friend and mentor, to have him resurrected in any way afterwards just cheapened all he'd accomplished.

Yes, I also believe it cheapens the loss. The open-ended B-4 storyline should have been left out completely. And the TOS movie franchise should have ended with TWOK, for the same reason.

Kor

As great as the death scene was for Spock, I think what we got post-TWOK was worth the inconvenience of undermining it. For the first time in a long time, the cast were really into what they were doing on TWOK, and after finding that spark they were bummed out that it was essentially over. But when Leonard came back to direct Star Trek III and IV, we got to see a side of the whole crew we never got to see before. Couple that with the final installment with Star Trek VI, it was all a well rounded and well told story that carried on the themes from TWOK.

As for Data? Sadly, I do not miss him. I never liked his "Quest to be human" because in a universe with many different life forms, why pick human? Or for that matter, why not be your own thing? Being able to do things differently shouldn't be looked at as something that holds you back.

Data: I am superior sir, in many ways. But I would gladly give it up to be human.
​

That's what I don't like. Data wants to 'conform' and bury his gifts along the way. And throughout the entire series, everyone is on board with this. No one makes any kind of discussion as to why becoming a human is better than being an Android, especially when his gifts have saved the Enterprise on an almost weekly basis.

 

[Kilana2]

Data´s quest to be human was what I liked in the first place. He is not that "machine", simply stronger and faster than everyone else but lacking emotion. So many AIs in SciFi are simply superior machines surrounded by fancy technologies and explained by technobabble. I´m fully aware that not everybody likes Data. There are also devoted Kirk fans and fans who don´t like him. I like the critical debates here and not pure hero worship. You´re comments are all appreciated, no matter your positions.

 

[Starborn Dragon]

I really can't fault Spiner to not want to play Data anymore. he played him for a good fifteen years.

And by the way, since he is an android, he can change his physical appearance at his own whim.

 

[eyeresist]

I don't miss Data, I miss B-4.

 

[Kolrad]

I missed TV series Data when he got replaced by wacky movie Data.

 

[ALF]

^^ Yeah, a lot of people felt that way. He was a departure in character from the series for sure. At least they must have listened to the fans and let him "deactivate [his] emotion chip" during First Contact. I love that scene.

 

[Kilana2]

^^ Yeah, a lot of people felt that way. He was a departure in character from the series for sure. At least they must have listened to the fans and let him "deactivate [his] emotion chip" during First Contact. I love that scene.

I refered to it in the TNG "Data´s love life" thread. It must have been telepathy .

Spoiler: Data - Litverse

they even took away his emo chip in the novels, if I´m not mistaken. So he died essentially without, which is eventually better

 

[Athena28]

I also know that Brent Spiner didn´t want to play an ageless Android while getting himself visibly older.

which would be fixed by a single short scene and a few lines of dialog
"I have developed an aging program to slowly change my exterior appearance, to better fit in with my friends"

not much different from his beard which definitely happened and his skunk streak from all good things which may have actually happened or just been a Q illusion

I wondered about that, too. It had been explained on TNG. He could've gone on forever with his aging program.

 

[Mage]

Nemesis basically set it up so that B9 (or whatever his name is) would *become* data. Any sense of loss was immediately nullified by that.

And Nemesis never happened, anyway.

Kor

I never saw it as that. In life, we share our memories with the ones we love. We tell our stories, so that part of us lives on in those we leave behind. For most of us, that is our family. Data would never have that. Now, with his memories being part of B4, part of him lives on.

And, as I also felt was made clear well enough in Nemesis, B4 would never be capable of 'becoming' Data. His positronic brain was simply not capable of it. So no, B4 was never ment to become Data.