Spiner does an awesome job chewing scenery in "Datalore". It's worth watching over and over on just his performance alone.
How was season 1 received at the time?
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Spiner does an awesome job chewing scenery in "Datalore". It's worth watching over and over on just his performance alone.
"Datalore" is great, except for the logic problem of Wesley talking common sense but Picard being too taken with the idiot ball in his hands to see that Wesley is talking common sense. "Shut up Wesley!" is a *great* soundbite 
, but it does make the Captain look pretty stupid not to even see the possibility that Lore and Data could have swapped places.
, but it does make the Captain look pretty stupid not to even see the possibility that Lore and Data could have swapped places.
I'm not a fan of DATALORE. I just hated the use of the standard soapopera trope of "the evil, identical twin," for one thing. For another, I despised Lore's facial twitch to seperate him from Data, for the audience. There's a lot I can't stand about this episode. But, when Lore inquires of Wesley, "... are you prepared for the death you've earned, little man?" ... I totally buy the threat, there. Brent's a good actor, unfortunately, Data had his share of crap episodes, too ...
"Evil twins" go back to the silent film era. As to Lore, I can't say this for certain, but my gut tells me that Lore's facial tick is an homage/reference to Metropolis, in which the Maschinenmensch (machine-man/robot) is made into a duplicate of the character of Maria, but is easily distinguished by a facial tick. Either it's a wild coincidence or someone knew their SF film classics.
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One thing about "Datalore" really bugs me. Did they actually beam Lore out into space and just take off or was that actually a retcon from "Brothers"? Other than Wesley saying "Lore's gone sir, permanently", there's no real indication of that. I would have assumed Wesley just did what Chekov suggested Kirk to do with the Klingons in "Day of the Dove", just leave Lore to be unmaterialized.
I imagine that transporters must have all sorts of safeguards against dissipating something in the beam, so it would take some extra effort to achieve the effect. Given the haste with which Wesley acted, it's more likely that he just beamed Lore into space.
Given that Lore was beamed into space intact, how do we justify the Enterprise just leaving him out there? Once the threat has been neutralized, he can be safely retreived and deactivated or imprisoned.
My fanwank: the crystal entity picked him up and carried him away before deciding he was useless and dropping him, far from the Enterprise.
My fanwank: the crystal entity picked him up and carried him away before deciding he was useless and dropping him, far from the Enterprise.
Yes, I'm aware of METROPOLIS and even own a copy, myself. There is nothing brilliant about a facial twitch, whether it was in that movie, or in TNG. It's just the obvious thing to do - rather childish, really. In fact, I've seen it before, on guest villian of the week in crappy, old television shows. I'm all for there having been copies of Data, or other versions, at least. Handled correctly, it would've been a very interesting investigation into what NEMESIS so incompetently presented. But, oh well ... we got Lor and his facial twitch ... and it's got its fans.
Oh, I don't know about that, really. If you've got a writer's gift for imagination, a lot of possibilities crop up. But the problem is that when these writers want to get a story out quick, an evil twin is easy to write for. Just follow the formulae of Evil Twin disposes of Good Twin and tries to take over his life, instead. Good Twin escapes his bondage, defeats his twin and reclaims his life. There was so much to mine here and they just wouldn't do it. It was just easier keeping it in Soap Opera territory. Why work harder than you have to, you know? And I understand there's time pressures in writing any show. But TNG, with all the needs a science fiction show has, it's got to have good writers onboard, and not some hack trying to pad their resume.
"Datalore" is flawed, but the evil twin trope is the least of its problems because of Spiner's distinct performances and Rob Bowman's direction elevate it to an extent. Without such elements, the episode would have just been a typical evil twin gimmick. "The Enemy Within" is another good example, having an evil twin plot but actually making the most of it by examining the traits that makes Kirk who he is and how the two halves cannot function without each other.
The character of Janice Rand was not well-served by "Then Enemy Within." Kirk, her captain ... not a doppleganger, mind you, he's an actual aspect of the good captain, tries to rape her. As to whether it was meant to actually represent having gone "all the way" with it, or not, it's very hard to tell, for me. I suspect, though, we are meant to take what we see as happening "literally." So, she scratches him and runs off, only to be questioned by the very same man who just tried to rape her, like ten minutes later!!! The "good" side of the man, true, but ... the same man, none-the-less! In showing a rape scene like that, in the first place, it does seem kind of bold for Sixties television. On the other hand, it makes Kirk look really bad, to know - not just suspect, but to know - that he, himself, really is capable of raping somebody. No alien influence, this time, this is part of whom he truly is. And Rand is just given these odd assurances by the man who raped her that things are not always what they seem ...
Well, yes. I think it's very clear from the episode that the "impostor" was interrupted before he could get very far in his attempt.
Attitudes about rape at the time were very different. Its psychology and emotional impact weren't really understood, not by the male establishment, anyway. So it was seen as just a case of a man getting carried away in his natural desires -- as an improper and insensitive act, an unfortunate loss of control, but not really as a brutal assault. Which is why it wasn't considered inappropriate for Spock to tease Janice about the impostor's "interesting qualities" at the end.
Yes!!! Spock's "one of the boys" attitude throughout was surprising! Like, when Janice does get assualted, instead of accepting what Rand tells him, Spock's like, "it's illogical that the Captain would rape ... so, naturally, there must be an imposter on board." Then, like you said, Spock's razzing Jan about how she digs Kirk's lust and manhandling ways ... there's that "one of the boys" 'tude, again! "She was asking for it."
Someone new to STAR TREK can't be expected to know, or want to know, about Sixties television. Or what audiences of that era were about. They are being presented with STAR TREK as-is and stuff like that is jarring, frankly. I love TOS, it's such camp, so much fun, for the most part. And it certainly served as a solid foundation for my favorite STAR TREK - TNG - making it the best in this beloved franchise. But yeah, some of this stuff is just too hard to overlook, dismiss or "forgive." And no CGI is going to cover that up!
Someone new to STAR TREK can't be expected to know, or want to know, about Sixties television. Or what audiences of that era were about. They are being presented with STAR TREK as-is and stuff like that is jarring, frankly. I love TOS, it's such camp, so much fun, for the most part. And it certainly served as a solid foundation for my favorite STAR TREK - TNG - making it the best in this beloved franchise. But yeah, some of this stuff is just too hard to overlook, dismiss or "forgive." And no CGI is going to cover that up!
And even easier to cast for....
The part of him that tried to rape her was his primal side, unfettered by the civilized restraints of his other half. The whole Kirk wouldn't be capable of raping her. Being split into those two halves was definitely an "alien influence" of a sort.
Nor could the producers of a 1960s television show be expected to know what cultural mores would be like generations in the future and tell their stories in a way that would be palatable to viewers in the next century. TOS, like any piece of entertainment, is a product of its time. You should indeed take it "as-is", and if you don't come to the show forearmed with knowledge of 1960s culture, then make watching the show a learning experience.
As long as "Code of Honor" exists, TNG fans have no room to look down at other parts of the franchise.
Especially when it has "Angel One" under its belt.
No one was defending the artistic merit of the decision. I was merely pointing out where it likely came from.
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