Data's Love Life
- Thread starter Mojochi
- Start date
Resistance is feudal.
*pause*
What?
*pause*
What?
I'd like to think that Vulcan culture is more heterogeneous than it appears in the show.
But why? Why must Data have a love life? What's the point?
I have never gotten the impression that having a love life, a partner, soul mate (however you want to characterize it) is something that Data innately wants or has an urge or need for.
When he was dating Jenn, his whole dating experience seemed more like a science experiment than an organic emotional connection with Jenn. Data did it for the sake of imitating what humans did.
As Jenn said, she really didn't matter to Data. She also said that everything Data did seemed "forced". Data was just going through the motions of dating and courtship. It was a façade. None of it really mattered to Data. He didn't need it. But when Data does date, he is playing with the emotions of the person he is with, like he did with Jenn. That would not be fair to the person he is dating.
But if Data should insist on dating, maybe he should take some advice from Sarek. Sarek somehow managed to wed a human Amanda, who openly stated that she was sick and tired of logic, yet she inexplicable stayed with Sarek. That relationship didn't make any sense. So much for logic.
I have never gotten the impression that having a love life, a partner, soul mate (however you want to characterize it) is something that Data innately wants or has an urge or need for.
When he was dating Jenn, his whole dating experience seemed more like a science experiment than an organic emotional connection with Jenn. Data did it for the sake of imitating what humans did.
As Jenn said, she really didn't matter to Data. She also said that everything Data did seemed "forced". Data was just going through the motions of dating and courtship. It was a façade. None of it really mattered to Data. He didn't need it. But when Data does date, he is playing with the emotions of the person he is with, like he did with Jenn. That would not be fair to the person he is dating.
But if Data should insist on dating, maybe he should take some advice from Sarek. Sarek somehow managed to wed a human Amanda, who openly stated that she was sick and tired of logic, yet she inexplicable stayed with Sarek. That relationship didn't make any sense. So much for logic.
Yes, while humans (a majority, anyway) have a 'need' for companionship, Data does not. It really is nothing more than a science experiment to him. The Data/D'Sora story was good for pointing this out. It didn't need any further rehashing.
Data seeks to improve himself and become more Human. Part of being Human is our ability interact and the joy that comes with it. Having a companion and partner is a furtherance of that, it's a natural part of who we are, and Data no doubt has seen this and want to add it to himself.
It's rare to get it right the first time, Data will have to accept that he is going to make mistakes, and strive to learn from them.
There are other fish in the sea.
From Data's Day
Look, I'm not saying the show needed a whole story arc devoted to a Data relationship. Frankly, I'm glad they didn't have any relationship arcs to any great extent. However, I find your entire post to be a complete misrepresentation of Data
This is a guy who takes it on himself to plan his best friend's funeral. He shows concern and personal investment in all the relationships he embarks on. Hell, I count 4 separate times he's befriended little kids, on the show. He's a character that chose to create an offspring, and suffered confidence loss over a strategema game
He SAYS and believes he has no emotions, but he clearly does, just not comparably human ones, and that's the ordeal. No one ever questions what he espouses. To people, like Jenna it may SEEM like they don't matter to him, or that it's all just a computer query or lab experiment, but it so totally isn't. He is genuinely relieved in "The Next Phase" when Geordi is still alive. They matter to him
The problem with the relationship with Jenna was HER. She thought something about him that was wrong. She began the relationship, like so many of us do, without knowing who he really is, without understanding him, and that's forgivable, because I'm of the opinion that he doesn't even really understand himself yet, but as diverse as the Trek universe is, I have no trouble imaging the possibility of there being someone who DOES understand who he is, and what he brings to the relationship, and finding value in it, just like Troi said above
It may seem like a computer running an elaborate subroutine to US and her, but it is without a doubt much more, and that was the whole point of the Data character after all
Why wouldn't Data want companionship? He is clearly capable of forming friendships, so a romance would not be out of the question.
Data is a sentient being. It's in the nature of all such beings to want companionship. Data isn't more likely to want to be alone just because he's an android. He's alive, and anyone (and anything) that's alive, wants company.
Data is a sentient being. It's in the nature of all such beings to want companionship. Data isn't more likely to want to be alone just because he's an android. He's alive, and anyone (and anything) that's alive, wants company.
Yes & yes
And his efforts towards making a relationship work shouldn't be waived off as inconsequential just because they come off as programmed responses. Not everyone has the luxury of being exactly the same as everyone else when it comes to relating to people. (Nor should we ever wish for that) His way is no less valid, imho. He'd just need to find someone who understands him, and values him as he is.
And his efforts towards making a relationship work shouldn't be waived off as inconsequential just because they come off as programmed responses. Not everyone has the luxury of being exactly the same as everyone else when it comes to relating to people. (Nor should we ever wish for that) His way is no less valid, imho. He'd just need to find someone who understands him, and values him as he is.
What we do know is that Data shows little desire for pursuing romantic relationships, and until she suggests dating him - Data is oblivious to this crewmember as a romantic partner.
She kind of had a point, she wanted Data to appreciate her the same way a human would and he couldn't. Data added and removed her from his life easily with very little weight to the entire experience.
Data often seems more human than he's technically supposed to, since they wanted him to be a likeable character. But being a machine, technically if Geordie died he would calculate it at a loss but would not feel anything about it. The show breaks its rules about that often because it would be disturbing to portay him as actually a machine with no emotions.
For example, technically he didn't feel anything when his daughter died, so they had to add the line about him saving parts of her so that he didn't seem heartless.
Data would have no problem getting dates, I think it's more down to the fact that he has little desire for it outside of curiosity. But since they always break their rules about him, I'm sure they could have him actually be in a successful relationship if they had wanted.
She kind of had a point, she wanted Data to appreciate her the same way a human would and he couldn't. Data added and removed her from his life easily with very little weight to the entire experience.
Data often seems more human than he's technically supposed to, since they wanted him to be a likeable character. But being a machine, technically if Geordie died he would calculate it at a loss but would not feel anything about it. The show breaks its rules about that often because it would be disturbing to portay him as actually a machine with no emotions.
For example, technically he didn't feel anything when his daughter died, so they had to add the line about him saving parts of her so that he didn't seem heartless.
Data would have no problem getting dates, I think it's more down to the fact that he has little desire for it outside of curiosity. But since they always break their rules about him, I'm sure they could have him actually be in a successful relationship if they had wanted.
That's at the heart of why I have to question what they're saying about him. If they are always "Breaking the rules" then maybe they aren't rules as such. Maybe we're expected to believe he's more than the baseline of what he assumes. They don't just break the rules. They go out of their way to dispel them. For example, in the scene during "Data's Day" when they're about to head off to the Neutral Zone, and Data remarks that if he had emotions, he'd be nervous, then he notices himself nervously drumming his fingers on the console, and even shows a sign that he finds that curious. Even Soong suggests he has the ability to evolve into a fully rounded individual, during the dream sequences in Birthright. I have to assume he isn't emotionless completely
If memory serves, he looked pretty darned "emotionally" happy when Tasha determined he was fully functional and gave him the new nickname, "Jewel", and then led him to the boudoir.
I agree with those that say that not only is he design-able to have a relationship, but also curious and eager to have one, for many reasons, from experiencing it to wanting it on a "personal" level.
I miss him!
no, no, not like that...not that I am a Positroniphobe, just not my type!
I agree with those that say that not only is he design-able to have a relationship, but also curious and eager to have one, for many reasons, from experiencing it to wanting it on a "personal" level.
I miss him!
no, no, not like that...not that I am a Positroniphobe, just not my type!
If Data never got romantically involved with anyone, I never would've missed it, myself. But for him to be programmed with sexual desire is a hard thing for me to accept, as he's all plastic and fiberglass and whatnot. It's like ... where's the horniness coming from? There's no passion involved, it's all about technique, as far as what he might deliver in the sack. But what are an androids erogenous zones? This would assume that a Human programmer would know how metal and rubber experience, sensation-wise. And that doesn't play out, for me. Data's capable of intellectual attraction and love, I have no doubt of that. But I don't believe he's actually capable of making 'Love.' That's what he gets for being an android, though. There are just some things that are always going to be beyond his reach, beyond his understanding, no matter how much he wants to simulate that. And in a way, it's kind of reassuring to know that in the future, Humanity still can't be quite duplicated by engineering marvels. Humanity can't be bottled and sold! It's still a real special place ...
"
This is the Question that drives us....
And when do we start training for that...
And this, my Friend, sounds like a cracker-jack plot driver for "Star Trek nuIV; Message in a Bottle" !!!
(SWIDT?, the whole "Seafaring/Starfaring connection for Star Trek, coupled with your "...Humanity can't be bottled")
'Frakes ,you make an excellent case, and I will amend my Post to believing that Data has the curiosity and wish to have a relationship, and the ability to engage in many aspects of one, but Sexual Congress would be beyond his reach.
...don't even...
Hmm...might be time for a DataPoem!
Data is known to be able to get the condition from Yar via his pores and after his experiance with her seems quite satified with himself.
As for being programmed with "multiple technique" I wonder if that was programmed by his creators, or if he picked that up while at the Academy and his 21 years in Starfleet at that time.
As for being programmed with "multiple technique" I wonder if that was programmed by his creators, or if he picked that up while at the Academy and his 21 years in Starfleet at that time.
I hope you write it! You've been too quite, as of late, on the STAR TREK poetry side of town. Your readership is demanding more product, HIjol ...
As for Data's Love Life, would there even be any debate or discussion on the matter if he were a STAN WINSTON plastic robot, modelled off of Brent Spiner? Or a Box on Wheels? No. Not at all. He'd probably be assumed to attach sex toys to himself and that would be enough conjecture on the matter. BUT..........because he's played by a Human wearing face paint, now, ALL of these possibilities of what he might experience or be capable of become limitless and worthy of investigation. There are those who dismiss the fact that Data's portrayed by a Human actor in makeup as having anything to do with that, but I don't really buy it. Again, were he realised as a puppet, a lot of conjecture about Data would never eventuate, more than likely.
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