Alternate Casting: David Gautreaux as Data

[alpha_leonis]

So a lot of us know part of the story behind "Star Trek: Phase II". When they were still considering developing a second TV series with the original crew, and Leonard Nimoy was uninterested in returning to play Spock, the producers created a new Vulcan character named Xon, and cast David Gautreaux to play him.

Later they decided to make a feature film instead -- convinced Nimoy to come back -- hence no more need for Xon. Stephen Collins and Persis Khambatta got to keep their created-for-TV roles as Decker and Ilia, but Gautreaux was given a consolation role as the commander of the Epsilon 9 station that got nixed by V'Ger. The character of Xon was never seen in any "official" version of Star Trek.

Instead, Xon was rewritten to become Data on TNG; they made him an Android instead of a Vulcan, but essentially he was the same character. What if, as another "consolation role", they had brought in Gautreaux instead of Brent Spiner? TNG premiered only nine years after Phase II was cancelled in lieu of TMP; Gautreaux was (is) still a working actor, of a similar age to Brent Spiner (Gautreax is two years younger.)

Was it ever a consideration? Could it have worked?

 

[sonak]

Vulcans aren't really the same as androids, nor would playing the role be exactly the same. Playing a Vulcan is playing an emotional being that's repressing their very passionate nature, serene on the surface but still of deep feeling. Data was supposed to not have emotions, but then he frequently exhibited both confusion and curiosity, so...


I can't see Gautreaux improving on Spiner's performance. Spiner just did a great job with Data.

 

[Armored Saint]

If I'm not wrong, Data's first incarnation isn't Xon, but Questor played by Robert Foxworth.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Foxworth as Data? That could've been awesome. Of course, he would have been in his mid 40s by then, so the "ageless" problem would have creeped up faster than it did Spiner. I think Foxworth is 8 or 9 years older.

 

[T'Girl]

Data's first incarnation isn't Xon, but Questor .

This.

An entire scene was lifted out of the Questor pilot and inserted into the episode The Royale.

 

[HIjol]

Interesting...I think he (Gautreaux) could have done well from a make-up and physique point of view, but Spiner brought a host of other performances and perspectives that would have been hard to beat...I do not know David's body of work, but I would love to see some side-by-side comparisons of his and Spiner's versions of Data...the technology may soon be there to make it virtually happen...

 

[Armored Saint]

Interesting...I think he (Gautreaux) could have done well from a make-up and physique point of view,

I'm not so sure. Gautreaux facials traits are pretty vulcanish. I suppose that's why they casted him as Xon. It would have been normal to have Xon looking a Spock II, but it would have been odd for Data.

 

[sonak]

Foxworth as Data? That could've been awesome. Of course, he would have been in his mid 40s by then, so the "ageless" problem would have creeped up faster than it did Spiner. I think Foxworth is 8 or 9 years older.

the age thing was never a big deal. At any point they could have added a line or two about a program that simulated "natural" aging in Data.

 

[Avro Arrow]

^ Kind of like they actually did in "Inheritance".

 

[2takesfrakes]

As much as Brent Spiner hated being stuck wearing that make-up 10 hours a day, he probably wouldn't have minded losing out to Gautreaux, anyway. I saw a trailer for a TNG porn once (a Fan Film, of sorts, I suppose) and whomever they had starring as Data actually played him in a way that I'd wished that Spiner had. I don't know what the guy's name was, but I'm sure it was something lewd ... and crude.

 

[Melakon]

Comparing IMDB credits, by the time TNG started casting, it looks like Brent had been working more regularly than David, and had much more film for his presentation reel. David was quite fortunate, in that TMP appears to be only his second film credit. He did not get as many guest appearances as Brent during the period, and may have been focusing on theatre.

 

[Armored Saint]

Foxworth as Data? That could've been awesome. Of course, he would have been in his mid 40s by then, so the "ageless" problem would have creeped up faster than it did Spiner. I think Foxworth is 8 or 9 years older.

the age thing was never a big deal. At any point they could have added a line or two about a program that simulated "natural" aging in Data.

The aging problem was Spiner's own concern after 15 years of playing Data. I'm looking the list of considered performers and it goes from Freddy Krueger (1947) to The Traveller (1959), but I think any of them could have expressed the same concern after 15 years.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

I think I read years ago in Starlog magazine that Gene Roddenberry said he wanted Data to look like Pinocchio, which Spiner resembles, Gautreaux does not. So, no I cannot see David Gautreaux as Data.


Navigator NCC-2120, USS Entente
/\

 

[Ithekro]

I was wondering how they could get Gautreaux's hair to seem manufactured and plastic like Spiner's seemed at times.

 

[sonak]

Foxworth as Data? That could've been awesome. Of course, he would have been in his mid 40s by then, so the "ageless" problem would have creeped up faster than it did Spiner. I think Foxworth is 8 or 9 years older.

the age thing was never a big deal. At any point they could have added a line or two about a program that simulated "natural" aging in Data.

The aging problem was Spiner's own concern after 15 years of playing Data. I'm looking the list of considered performers and it goes from Freddy Krueger (1947) to The Traveller (1959), but I think any of them could have expressed the same concern after 15 years.

right, but as I wrote, it was not an unfixable issue-all they'd have to do is put in a scene where they describe how Soong programmed a "natural aging appearance" subroutine or something. Just like actors changing in "doctor who" or different actresses playing "the oracle" in the Matrix, writers have to write their way around these things a lot.


oh and by the way, see John De Lancie as Q for the same issue. Since Q can make himself appear however he wants, they could just have Picard ask him why he looks so much older, and just have Q explain laughingly that he wanted to make Picard feel better by making himself look older.

 

[Armored Saint]

Yup, I totally agree, but he also could have programmed it by himself to follow his friends and crewmates. The Schizoid Man and especially All Good Things show he's able to do that.

I think a part of the problem is his lines in Insurrection when he talks to the kid. He complains about an age stagnation.

 

[Melakon]

I was wondering how they could get Gautreaux's hair to seem manufactured and plastic like Spiner's seemed at times.

They could have done it with a wig.

 

[Armored Saint]

I think I read years ago in Starlog magazine that Gene Roddenberry said he wanted Data to look like Pinocchio, which Spiner resembles, Gautreaux does not.

In this case, they could have taken Paul Reuben.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Yes, Xon is a precursor to Data.

Xon realizes that the reason that Spock performed so well in his tasks on board the Enterprise was that he was half Human and therefore could understand emotional Human nature. In order to perform as well as Spock, he knows he is going to have to eliminate his Vulcan revulsion at emotional displays. He is, in fact, going to have to reach down within himself and find the emotions that his society has repressed for thousands of years so that he will have some basis for fully understanding his Human associates.

What this means is: whereas Spock was engaged in a constant battle with himself to repress his emotions in order to be more Vulcan-like, Xon will be engaged in a constant struggle within himself to release his buried emotions to be more Human-like for the sake of doing a good job, his primary considerations. This will be at least as difficult for him as it was for Spock to maintain his stoic pose. Also, we'll get humor out of Xon trying to simulate laughter, anger, fear, and other Human feelings.

I've always seen Data as the love child of Xon and Quester.

 

[Kevman7987]

I've always seen Data as the love child of Xon and Quester.

This must be why Data was "bio-mechanical" in the first season of TNG. He was half Vulcan, half robot...