Spock is still the more intriguing character, as he goes on a journey that is just a tad more believeable than Data's. I like them both, again as stated above, but Spock gets my vote for what it's worth.
Spock vs Data
- Thread starter spockrocks
- Start date
YARN
Fleet Captain
No Spock strives to become less human. TMP is the culmination of his journey - he realizes that the end-point he sought his whole life is empty. From then on, he pursues a healthy balance of logic and emotion.
Which doesn't mean his journey is the exact same thing as Data's. There are differences of origin and the underline reason why each character undergoes what they do in the series and films. You are reading more into it than needed I feel.
Because, in my opinion, there was more to work with with Spock as an alien with human blood in him but who was constantly at odds with his half-human heritage despite spending much of his service time around other humans.
Wheras Data is an android who should not have aspirations beyond his admittedly advanced programming but does want to be human nonetheless, which seems overall like something put in there just to make him more interesting. Data should not have been a parrallel Spock. I just find it less credible than Spock as a character.
Wheras Data is an android who should not have aspirations beyond his admittedly advanced programming but does want to be human nonetheless, which seems overall like something put in there just to make him more interesting. Data should not have been a parrallel Spock. I just find it less credible than Spock as a character.
He is programmed to exceed the limits of his programming, that's why he is a lifeform and not merely a machine. He desires something which he can never reach which makes him sentient. Only we humans are so crazy, we desire e.g. a sexual partner even if we cannot get him whereas apes are far more pragmatic and rational.
I agree though that Spock's tension between his two sides is more interesting than Data's linear journey. Furthermore Data lacks the unconscious so Spock is more interesting because he can say something while actually thinking something else, the last scene of "Amok Time" being the most memorable example in which he lies.
I agree though that Spock's tension between his two sides is more interesting than Data's linear journey. Furthermore Data lacks the unconscious so Spock is more interesting because he can say something while actually thinking something else, the last scene of "Amok Time" being the most memorable example in which he lies.
Your point is well said and well taken, sir.
internal conflict and struggle with identity is far more interesting than a Pinocchio complex.
Also, with Spock they avoided the whole "have the outsider flatter the Humans by telling them how awesome they are." Instead, Spock offered a genuinely different perspective.
Also, with Spock they avoided the whole "have the outsider flatter the Humans by telling them how awesome they are." Instead, Spock offered a genuinely different perspective.
Spock.
Data for me
A.V.I.A.F.
Captain
I never liked Data. Just another Pinocchio rip-off. Spock hands down! 
Because Spock's journey is one that millions of humans have already taken. Where each parent is from a different culture. This was especially prevalent after World War II and the Korean war as you had many GI's who had children with Asian women and brought them and their children to the U.S.
Data was more akin to an orphan trying to find an identity. When they changed the character origin from alien creation to human it kinda lost its punch.
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