Spiner Multiplicity

[Clyde.]

Why did Brent Spiner get tapped to play so many different characters in TNG? He of course was Data, and it makes sense that he played his brother Lore, and his dad as well. Yet Mr. Spiner (while still looking like Data) was also cast as Dr. Ira Graves in the “The Schizoid Man,” an inmate in “Power Play,” the townsfolk in “A Fistful of Datas,” and in “Masks” he played and an entire civilization...

Did Mr. Spiner’s acting ability warrant the extra roles? Was Data too flat a leading character? Favoritism? Or is it simply commonplace for Trek actors to play a variety of roles?

 

[Jedman67]

In Schizoid Man, he played Graves who possessed Data's body; if any other actor had played him it wouldn't make sense.
In Power Play, Data was again host to an alien consciousness possessing him.
In Fistful of Datas, the holodeck malfunctions and replaces all the townsfolk with holographic - wait for it - Data's.
And in Masks, he plays an alien entity who again possessed his body.

So in all those cases, Spiner was playing a version of Data.

 

[Paradise City]

If you've got a humanoid android, you've got the possibility of a creator, a twin, multiple personality and so on. You've got a holodeck, you can do that too. Writers think this stuff up before they necessarily reference the specific actors range.

If Frakes had of been asked to do the android role, we'd probably get much the same thing.

 

[JRoss]

Not sure if troll...

 

[Mojochi]

He was clearly the character actor on the show. Plus, they spent a large portion of time devoted to him & Patrick Stewart. Also, as time goes on, tv writers tend to collaborate with the actors on directions to take. (Hence the English Frenchman) Spiner would easily prefer to offer up something more than just an emotionless android all the time, given the nature of his career prior to Star Trek. In fact, it's a wonder they ever went with a comedic character actor to play Data at all. I can't say I'm experienced enough to know, but it would seem to be counterintuitive, even if it's hard to imagine anyone else being quite as iconic in the role, in hindsight

 

[Clyde.]

In Schizoid Man, he played Graves who possessed Data's body; if any other actor had played him it wouldn't make sense.
In Power Play, Data was again host to an alien consciousness possessing him.
In Fistful of Datas, the holodeck malfunctions and replaces all the townsfolk with holographic - wait for it - Data's.
And in Masks, he plays an alien entity who again possessed his body.

That's an accurate description of the plot devices employed to facilitate the additional characters portrayed by Mr. Spiner. Yet other actors characters could've enjoyed similar plot devices as well

So in all those cases, Spiner was playing a version of Data.

Indeed Mr. Spiner always looked like Data but those were different characters.

 

[Clyde.]

If you've got a humanoid android, you've got the possibility of a creator, a twin, multiple personality and so on. You've got a holodeck, you can do that too. Writers think this stuff up before they necessarily reference the specific actors range.

Good point, being a humanoid android does open up a lot of unusual possibilities.

If Frakes had of been asked to do the android role, we'd probably get much the same thing.

Perhaps, yet Mr. Frakes wasn't nearly as skilled an actor. Gotta think Spiner's acting ability was a factor as well.

 

[Tenacity]

Frakes also played Odan.

Various characters were possesses in one way or the other during the show, so to of had Riker taken over by Ira Graves somehow would not have been that difficult. It made sense that Data was identical to Lore, however I see no pressing reason to have Soong played by Spiner.

 

[Kevman7987]

I see no pressing reason to have Soong played by Spiner.

Wasn't Spiner as Soong an almost last minute addition as the original actor they wanted was actually unable to take the role (and died soon afterward)?

 

[Jedman67]

That's an accurate description of the plot devices employed to facilitate the additional characters portrayed by Mr. Spiner. Yet other actors characters could've enjoyed similar plot devices as well

Indeed Mr. Spiner always looked like Data but those were different characters.

The plot in all those cases involved Data being possessed, which requires either the same actor or one who looks close enough to fool the audience.
Riker's transporter "twin" didn't need to be played by Frakes but being that the character was a variant of the "prime" Riker it didn't make any sense to cast another actor (excepting stunt doubles and stand-ins for background or rear shots)

 

[JasonJ]

I can't help but to think of Spiner in Night Court... lol.. oh that was a great guest character. I enjoyed seeing data play other roles, or the roles play him, or Spiner playing the roles, whatever... he did it well... very very well.

What irks me more is the first season of any show and the obvious "still figuring out who the character is" BS. I.e Data and Spock in season 1 of their respective shows, smiling/smirking ... a lot.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Wasn't Spiner as Soong an almost last minute addition as the original actor they wanted was actually unable to take the role (and died soon afterward)?

Yep, Keye Luke was the original choice to play Soong. I don't know if it was his death that prevented it, though.

 

[JesterFace]

Yep, Keye Luke was the original choice to play Soong. I don't know if it was his death that prevented it, though.

I don't know how trustworthy info these sources provide but...

Wikipedia says:
Luke played Governor Donald Cory in a 1969 episode of Star Trek entitled "Whom Gods Destroy", and was going to play Doctor Noonien Soong in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Brothers" but illness prevented him from doing so; Brent Spiner ultimately took over the role.

Memory Alpha says:
According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, Luke was briefly considered for the role of Doctor Noonian Soong in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Brothers" when it was thought having Brent Spiner play three roles in the episode would not be feasible.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The android is also the easiest character to justify having his brain hacked by something.

 

[Mojochi]

The android is also the easiest character to justify having his brain hacked by something.

I don't know about that. They actually hammer home the telepath possession pretty hard on TNG too. Clues, Power Play, Eye of The Beholder, & Man of The People, are all situations where Troi had her consciousness hacked, (Though Power Play had as little to do with her telepathy as it did Data's programming, since O'Brien got possessed too) Also, in the case of Night Terrors, her subconsciousness got hacked. Plus, there was the weird-assed rapey thing in Nemesis.

Honestly though, after all the ways the biological lifeforms get mind-jacked, it by far outdoes any of the number of ways Data got hacked. The Inner Light, Frame of Mind, The Mind's Eye, The Battle, Eye of the Beholder, Night Terrors, Sub Rosa, Conspiracy, The Nth Degree, Attached, Clues, Power Play, Man of The People, The Game, Violations, Nemesis, The Best of Both Worlds, & arguably Conundrum, if you want to think of memory erasing as a mind-hack, which is apparently something even Starfleet knows how to do from time to time, like in Pen Pals. Clearly, cerebral mind control is far more commonly achievable than positronic, & that's not even counting the wide array of ways a Q can screw with your head, like Amanda Rogers did to Riker in True Q. Did I miss any? lol

Data only got hacked about as many times or in about as many ways as the Enterprise herself, Descent, Brothers, The Schizoid Man, Power Play & Masks, and all but 2 of those took the 3 best cybernetic minds in existence to achieve it without some strange anomalous thing being involved.