Why did Data never change his appearance?

[Christopher]

^Also, the original intent was to process Mira Furlan's voice to make her sound androgynous, but this was dropped shortly before the pilot aired, perhaps because it sounded bad or perhaps because JMS changed his mind for other reasons. So the decision to let the character be female was essentially made before the broadcast of the pilot, and was followed through when her makeup was redesigned to be more feminine for the series proper.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

...I remember a similar thing happing in Babylon-5 when they made Delenn look more human because the actress bitched about the make-up

As I understand it, there was always the intention to change Delenn's appearance. Initially Delenn looked somewhat male (in the pilot, now called "The Gathering"), and that appearance was to be maintained, which was to make the change to a human/Minbari female all the more drastic.

For some reason, tho', one of the changes made between the pilot and the first weekly episode was that even in her initial Minbari form, Delenn looked fairly female. Apparently the change to a human hybrid was always planned, tho'.

^Also, the original intent was to process Mira Furlan's voice to make her sound androgynous, but this was dropped shortly before the pilot aired, perhaps because it sounded bad or perhaps because JMS changed his mind for other reasons. So the decision to let the character be female was essentially made before the broadcast of the pilot, and was followed through when her makeup was redesigned to be more feminine for the series proper.

IIRC, JMS was a little disappointed that he didn't carry through with Delenn being a male that transfigured into a female human-hybrid. He thought it nifty to have a transsexual character on an American SF television series.

E! did a behind the scenes show, hosted by Scott Baio, of "The Gathering," where Mira Furlan talked about the character and the make-up. She liked the challenge of playing a male character--after all, she was an accomplished stage actress. She did comment, in this and other interviews, that the make-up was occassionally alienating (pun intended).

Furlan did object to the solid black contacts Delenn was originally going to wear in the pilot film. She felt that the contacts would take away her greatest acting tool--her eyes.

 

[diankra]

...I remember a similar thing happing in Babylon-5 when they made Delenn look more human because the actress bitched about the make-up

As I understand it, there was always the intention to change Delenn's appearance. Initially Delenn looked somewhat male (in the pilot, now called "The Gathering"), and that appearance was to be maintained, which was to make the change to a human/Minbari female all the more drastic.

For some reason, tho', one of the changes made between the pilot and the first weekly episode was that even in her initial Minbari form, Delenn looked fairly female. Apparently the change to a human hybrid was always planned, tho'.

But one thing on B5 which was unplanned and caused by the actresses having problems with the make-up was all the coming-and-goings of G'Kar's aide: Mary Woronov couldn't stomach the Narn make-up beyond one episode, a second actress had a panic attack during her first day on set and walked out, and Julie Caitlin Brown was having skin trouble by the end of season one and asked to leave.

 

[Finn]

*snap fingers*

Data technically did change his appearence aside from the beard thing and the hair streak thing. He gained weight.

 

[Neutral Zone]

Could be that the creators didn't think of changing Data's appearance?

Alternatively, perhaps because no matter what Data did to feel or become human he never quite succeeeded, so until he became human on the insde he could never make himself human on the outside?