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Let me redeem the Synth storyline!

I believed it.

Well, it isn't IMPOSSIBLE... but neither is a clone of Soong. It's just not efficient.

This is a prime example of Pavel Checkov's Gun: if you set up Data in the first scene of your story, you ought to pay-off Data later. And if you are going to create flesh and blood androids for your story, then make Data flesh and blood.
 
Fiction is rarely efficient.

And seeing as how Palpatine came back in the books and films I'd say some writers find it very efficient.

Nuh nuh nuh, you are ignoring my obvious point. In ROS, Palpatine just returns, no explanation at all. That is bad storytelling, plain and simple.

I am not sure what you mean by "fiction is rarely efficient". Fiction has to move a character's story along and leave out all the bathroom breaks. But when I say "efficient", I mean that there was a pretty smooth way to use Brent Spiner sans makeup in this story, and it was to make him the reincarnation of Data, human at last-- his dearest wish.
 
Nuh nuh nuh, you are ignoring my obvious point. In ROS, Palpatine just returns, no explanation at all. That is bad storytelling, plain and simple.

I am not sure what you mean by "fiction is rarely efficient". Fiction has to move a character's story along and leave out all the bathroom breaks. But when I say "efficient", I mean that there was a pretty smooth way to use Brent Spiner sans makeup in this story, and it was to make him the reincarnation of Data, human at last-- his dearest wish.
Nah, I just found the Palpatine comment amusing, as though believability was key.

Also, Spiner doesn't want to play Data. Recast?
 
But when I say "efficient", I mean that there was a pretty smooth way to use Brent Spiner sans makeup in this story, and it was to make him the reincarnation of Data, human at last-- his dearest wish.
Neither is less efficient than the other. The story being told will unfold the way the writers and actors want it to. Spiner had no interest in playing fully human aging Data, IIRC.
 
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Nah, I just found the Palpatine comment amusing, as though believability was key.

Also, Spiner doesn't want to play Data. Recast?

Still have to disagree with you. A story that ignores basic logic and takes its audience for granted will be as satisfying as... well, ROS.

Not sure what you mean about Spiner. I am only referring to Picard Season One. Is Spiner not playing Data in the reunion? Jezus, just flush this fucking show down the crapper already.
 
Still have to disagree with you. A story that ignores basic logic and takes its audience for granted will be as satisfying as... well, ROS.
I found it satisfying. Mileage will vary.
Not sure what you mean about Spiner. I am only referring to Picard Season One. Is Spiner not playing Data in the reunion? Jezus, just flush this fucking show down the crapper already.
By last reports Spiner is not interested in playing Data.

And no. The show has one more season.
 
Then that is just more incoherence, since the Zhat Vash fear them as intelligent, and obviously the Federation banned them because they thought along similar lines. I am saying that the synths should actually have been sentient, or part of an experiment to create sentience. Then, they are not robots, not are they enslaved Datas. They are just being put to work until their minds emerge.
The Zhat Vash weren't afraid of the Mars synths, in themselves (although they were very worried about what they represented in terms of development), they simply used them as a tool to make the Federation afraid of all synths, whether sentient or not, by sabotaging them and making it look like a spontaneous malfunction. And they did that because the Zhat Vash themselves were afraid that continuing research into the creation of sentient synths would lead to galaxy-wide devastation.
 
The Synth storyline is done. It was season 1's thing, season 1 resolved it, it's been more or less forgotten in season 2 and I don't expect it to return in season 3 amidst the TNG reunion.
 
Now, let me continue and redeem the Data story in season one:

Rather than Brent Spiner playing Noonian Soong's made-up son, why not just have it be Data himself? Data's brain has been reconstructed from the recovered positronic neuron (by someone else), but in order for Data to gain the emotions he always wanted, he had to be made mortal, and given a perishable humanoid body (the same kind Picard got). This is his final evolution.

Therefor, we get an actual reunion with Data, but he has essentially become human and wouldn't need any awful make-up or deep-faking.

The only way I could ever see Spiner playing as Data again is in Lower Decks. And at that point, he may as well play Lore, Noonian Soong, Arik Soong, Altan Ingio Soong and Adam Soong in the same episode. Call it “A Fistful of Soongs”.
 
This is a prime example of Pavel Checkov's Gun

The term is simply “Chekhov’s Gun.”
It’s creator was Anton Chekhov. He was a playwright.
Pavel Chekov was the navigator aboard the Starship Enterprise. He was also a fictional character.
 
I assumed the original poster Death Ray referenced Pavel rather than Anton in jest, guess not.
No no no... Anton Yelchin only PLAYED Chekov. He wasn't the real Chekov. That was Walter Koenig. (I don't know if either owned a gun, however, though we can thank Walter for the famous "Koening's Razor" principle that states you should never introduce a razor into your story where Chekov's Gun would suffice.)
 
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Random thought: I wonder how Rick Berman and Brannon Braga feel now that Kurtzman has finally inherited the mantle of most hated man in Star Trek.
 
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