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CGI Data

Digital actors in a Star Trek movie?

  • Yes

    Votes: 18 75.0%

  • No

    Votes: 6 25.0%
  • Total voters
    24
CaptainSpirk

CaptainSpirk

Lieutenant
Red Shirt
Hello everyone,

Since Hollywood is using digital technology to de-age actors to make them look younger, a la Robert Downey, J.R. in "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR", Michael Douglas in "ANT-MAN", Carrie Fisher in "ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY" and even resurrecting dead actors in the recent "ROGUE ONE", will Trekkies accept a digital Brent Spiner as a younger Data or an ageless Data? Brent Spiner wouldn't have to worry about aging again and can play Data forever. They could even de-age the whole cast or resurrect the old cast for a time-travel story.

What does everyone think about this? From one Trekkie to another.

Live long and prosper.
 
Absolutely. One reason Brent Spiner had Data killed off was he was getting tired of the idea of Data showing signs of aging. With this CGI ability, Nemesis would have never happened....

Also, it could have Spock appear the way he looked during TOS, during the TOS movie era, as he shouldn't have aged that much older, if they decide to create more TOS movies digitally like they did with Rogue One...
 
As a brief cameo in another movie or show, sure. As a main or supporting character in an otherwise live-action production, not a chance in hell.
 
Jedman67 said:
As a brief cameo in another movie or show, sure. As a main or supporting character in an otherwise live-action production, not a chance in hell.
Click to expand...

I would prefer another TNG film than another Kelvin universe film. Or a Deep Space Nine film. Q should have been a villain instead of the Romulans in Nemesis. Don't know why they didn't use him for that.
 
I'm okay with a digitally de-aged Data as long as it is for one last TNG film (by the way, Stewart said recently he wouldn't mind making one more). But he has to pull a Schwarzenegger -- he has to get back into shape, not only so not every square inch of him as to be younger (or de-fatted), but also so he's in the physical shape to possibly do things his younger self did on the series.
 
There's really no reason to, because Data said he simulates aging in the episode with his android mother (but they just forgot about it in the movies for some inexplicable reason).

Also, he's dead.
 
Nemesis would be strichen from the canon record, and Data can slow down or even stop the agining process if he choses. It's best as nobody is going to buy an adriod that spent about thirty years in Starfleet prior to joining the Enterprise, suddenly deciding to age about TNG's time and becoming fat and double if not triple chined. And then "UUUMMMph" sound of sitting down.
 
What the hell was Data doing all those years...in the 2340s? The 2350s?
 
I had to go look things up. The U.S.S. Tripoli found him in 2338. I'm not sure where this comes from, because I don't recall it being said in the series, but he attended Starfleet Academy from 2341 to 2345.

Served on the U.S.S. Trieste from 2346 until his transfer to the Enterprise in 2364.


It's a a good question what the hell Data was doing. Last year we had a thread that was something about thigns that confused you in Trek and I brought up how nieve Data was -- he'd been in Starfleet for over twenty years, yet by the Enterprise time he seemed to be fresh off the android assembly line. He did all that serving, yet we never hear of any friends or passed close crew. He has a case full of awards and commondations, yet we don't know for what or how he even managed any of that being so nieve, further more I don't recall him getting anything else wonce he was on the Enterprise. Did he just suddenly decide once transfered that he had enough medals?


The character of Data was really not that well thought out in advance.
 
Data died in an easily resversible way. B4 has his katra.

Deaging actors for single appearances is fine, doing it for main characters probavly not. The Rogue One characters looked a little awkward and they worked because they weren't on screen very long. Use them for major roles you run into uncanny valley issues.
 
^That may be true today. But down the road, it probably would be doable.
 
What'd the point be? TNG is dead to CBS. The films were mediocre at best, the TNG-BluRay had lackluster sales, and it's streaming revenue is probably breaking even at all.
Not happening, not now, not ever.
The closest you'd get is if Discovery does well enough to spin off a new show set in the TNG era and keep some of the names, but they sure as hell won't be giving Stewart or Spiner a call for the lead.
Although if you're just speculating a "what if" for the fun of it, go ahead :)
 
^I'm talking about using that cgi thing more than a couple moments of Leia saying Hope. I agree TNG isn't coming back.
 
How about TNG adventure in the spirit of 'All Good Things...', the actors don't need to look as young as they were during the series, 20-something years has passed, no CGI Dataface needed, B4 is Data after the memory transfer. I'm not sayng it has to have anything to do with AGT but time has moved on about the same as Q's future version in AGT. Let's see if anything is like it was in 'All Good Things...'

TNG season 1, 1987 -> 2364
TNG season 7, 1994 -> 2370
Next TNG movie, 2017 -> 2393

And, of course, they are on a Galaxy class ship, Ent-E had a brainfart and was thrown into trash, Ent-F was a freighter, now there's a new Ent-G. :)
 
Finn said:
Absolutely. One reason Brent Spiner had Data killed off was he was getting tired of the idea of Data showing signs of aging. With this CGI ability, Nemesis would have never happened....
Click to expand...

I always thought that was odd reasoning. He knew he could just stop showing up to the casting calls, right?
 
Finn said:
Absolutely. One reason Brent Spiner had Data killed off was he was getting tired of the idea of Data showing signs of aging. With this CGI ability, Nemesis would have never happened....

Also, it could have Spock appear the way he looked during TOS, during the TOS movie era, as he shouldn't have aged that much older, if they decide to create more TOS movies digitally like they did with Rogue One...
Click to expand...

I assume aging in Star Trek is that you reach old, and then just stay in old longer, rather than staying in youth longer.
 
Finn said:
Absolutely. One reason Brent Spiner had Data killed off was he was getting tired of the idea of Data showing signs of aging..
Click to expand...

Getting tired OF aging, or of NOT aging? Seems to me the latter would be more likely.

I would think Brent wouldn't be too happy about having to layer on all that makeup just to keep his age the same all the time. If Data could age, or at least appear to, that'd make it easier to play the role, wouldn't it?

(I was under the impression that Data himself did not have the aging program, but Juliana Tainer did. Because that's how Soong designed them both.)
 
Spiner could do the voice over and even the facial inflections. There's no technical or moral problem for him to get the CGI treatment. Seems the ideal solution. Whether there's a commercial or general interest with Spiner in reprising that role is a different debate.
 
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