Trek Talk Tuesday #2: Insufficient Data
Let's talk some Star Trek TNG.
I've said before that the typical story of a TNG episode tends to be duller than those of The Original Series. Just last week, I saw an episode of each, and in TNG, the entire story revolved around a girl who turns out to be a Q (powerful being from another dimension for uninitiated), and how she made her choice between being human and being a...Q. It's decidedly dull. On the other hand, in TOS, Kirk and Spock (aided by historical figures of Earth and Vulcan history) are pitted against four villains of history in a death-match by curious aliens who wish to observe the battle of good v evil. Cheesy yes but more engaging.
Because of the vanilla flavor of the week to week storylines themselves in TNG, what makes the show memorable is a handful of key characters - Piccard and Worf especially. The third memorable character, however, is the android Data. And personally, I have several problems with the concept of Data.
For starters, everything about his appearance feels less like the creators being bold and innovative and more like the costume and make-up department being lazy. In-universe a robot having the ability to make breathing motions is superfluous. But behind the scenes, that's how you gloss over the reality that a human is playing the character. These little decisions add up to make Data an incredibly human android in mannerisms and appearance. According to the show, he only lacks emotions, despite constantly exhibiting curiosity which itself is a human emotional trait.
Data's emotional lack is the main focus of his character. Again, this is less about innovation and more about smoothing over the laziness of the design department. He looks so human outwardly, that in order to remind the audience that Data is a robot, they overplay his lack of emotions. There is nothing robotic about Data - honestly, his story works just as well if he was a mutant or a clone trained not to have emotions (like a Vulcan) and experiencing differing desires on this score.
Another aspect of Data that doesn't work for me is the attempt at awkward humor. It works for the first few episodes but his awkwardness again feels less like a robot and more like a mutant-clone raised away from human society.
How would I have done Data differently? Assuming he stays an android, I would have had the designers give me a robot with more classic sci-fi characteristics - obvious metal exterior, a masked face, maybe accordion joints etc.
Something in the tradition of the classic pulp-robot designs:
Not only does this remove the "almost human" element, it also allows for Data to remain the same age (a difficulty that plagued TNG as Brent Spiner the actor became older).
Generally speaking, the entire aesthetic of Next Generation shuns the classic sci-fi look, a look which the Original Series embraced. Which only adds to the feeling that the Next Generation is a sci-fi show that wants to be something more "sophisticated." I believe the use of the sci-fi visual heritage is a major reason behind the success of Trek's rival Star Wars. George Lucas used the robot from the 1927 film Metropolis as the visual inspiration for C3PO. Sci-Fi of the golden age functions like a mythology for the genre, but none of that heritage impacts TNG the way it did TOS.
In terms of acting, Brent Spiner is a good actor and good casting choice regarding his vocal ability, and the idea of a robot character is an honored trope in sci-fi. Some of the great icons of Sci-Fi are metal rather than flesh and bone - C3P0 and R2D2 from Star Wars, "The Robot" from Lost in Space, and Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Data might be an iconic character to many Trek fans, but can anyone honestly say he is an iconic robot? I think not.
That's all I have today, next time I think I'll talk about a character who's execution I do like: Dr. Leonard McCoy.
I've said before that the typical story of a TNG episode tends to be duller than those of The Original Series. Just last week, I saw an episode of each, and in TNG, the entire story revolved around a girl who turns out to be a Q (powerful being from another dimension for uninitiated), and how she made her choice between being human and being a...Q. It's decidedly dull. On the other hand, in TOS, Kirk and Spock (aided by historical figures of Earth and Vulcan history) are pitted against four villains of history in a death-match by curious aliens who wish to observe the battle of good v evil. Cheesy yes but more engaging.
Because of the vanilla flavor of the week to week storylines themselves in TNG, what makes the show memorable is a handful of key characters - Piccard and Worf especially. The third memorable character, however, is the android Data. And personally, I have several problems with the concept of Data.
For starters, everything about his appearance feels less like the creators being bold and innovative and more like the costume and make-up department being lazy. In-universe a robot having the ability to make breathing motions is superfluous. But behind the scenes, that's how you gloss over the reality that a human is playing the character. These little decisions add up to make Data an incredibly human android in mannerisms and appearance. According to the show, he only lacks emotions, despite constantly exhibiting curiosity which itself is a human emotional trait.
Data's emotional lack is the main focus of his character. Again, this is less about innovation and more about smoothing over the laziness of the design department. He looks so human outwardly, that in order to remind the audience that Data is a robot, they overplay his lack of emotions. There is nothing robotic about Data - honestly, his story works just as well if he was a mutant or a clone trained not to have emotions (like a Vulcan) and experiencing differing desires on this score.
Another aspect of Data that doesn't work for me is the attempt at awkward humor. It works for the first few episodes but his awkwardness again feels less like a robot and more like a mutant-clone raised away from human society.
How would I have done Data differently? Assuming he stays an android, I would have had the designers give me a robot with more classic sci-fi characteristics - obvious metal exterior, a masked face, maybe accordion joints etc.
Something in the tradition of the classic pulp-robot designs:
Not only does this remove the "almost human" element, it also allows for Data to remain the same age (a difficulty that plagued TNG as Brent Spiner the actor became older).
Generally speaking, the entire aesthetic of Next Generation shuns the classic sci-fi look, a look which the Original Series embraced. Which only adds to the feeling that the Next Generation is a sci-fi show that wants to be something more "sophisticated." I believe the use of the sci-fi visual heritage is a major reason behind the success of Trek's rival Star Wars. George Lucas used the robot from the 1927 film Metropolis as the visual inspiration for C3PO. Sci-Fi of the golden age functions like a mythology for the genre, but none of that heritage impacts TNG the way it did TOS.
In terms of acting, Brent Spiner is a good actor and good casting choice regarding his vocal ability, and the idea of a robot character is an honored trope in sci-fi. Some of the great icons of Sci-Fi are metal rather than flesh and bone - C3P0 and R2D2 from Star Wars, "The Robot" from Lost in Space, and Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Data might be an iconic character to many Trek fans, but can anyone honestly say he is an iconic robot? I think not.
That's all I have today, next time I think I'll talk about a character who's execution I do like: Dr. Leonard McCoy.
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