Data Love

Mod: You guys see each other a lot, I know the cast stays in touch. How does it feel to be up on the stage again? Is it surreal or does this feel like just another day at the office? 

How long has it been since you’ve used them?

Eight years, seven months, sixteen days, four minutes, twenty-two–

Far too long.

A commission that I finished recently, it’s Data and Spot! I had so much fun working on this!

Data feeling very proud of himself while gambling at the Royale.

Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data

Season 2, Episode 12: The Royale 

My father used to say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I laid the first stone right there. I'd committed myself. I'd pay any price, go to any lengths, because my cause was righteous. My intentions were good. In the beginning, that seemed like enough.

Altan tells Sutra that he’s okay with dying if the humans leave them “no choice.” He likens himself and organics to “the dinosaurs” dying out.

But, this deleted scene also hints at Soong’s extra robot body, the android Golem being a method for his rebirth.

Data

Data’s Day (S04E11)

TROI: When exactly did you feel this other emotion?

DATA: It was just after I had killed the Borg. I looked down at his body. I felt something.

TROI: If you had to give this feeling a name, what would you call it?

DATA: I believe it was pleasure.

CROSIS: You are not like the others. You do not have to be destroyed. You can be assimilated.

DATA: I do not wish to be assimilated.

CROSIS: Resistance is futile. You will not resist what you’ve wanted all your life. I was like you once. Without feeling. But the One helped me. He can help you too. He can help you find emotion. Have you ever felt a real emotion, Data?

Data continues working, but for some reason he feels compelled to answer Crosis’ questions.

DATA: Yes. On Ohniaka Three, I was forced to kill a Borg. I got angry.

CROSIS: You enjoyed it. That surge of emotion inside you as you watched the life drain from your victim. It was unlike anything you’ve ever felt before.

CROSIS: You’d like to feel that way again.

DATA: Yes.

CROSIS: You’d do anything to feel that way again, even if it meant killing someone.

DATA: No. That would not be ethical.

CROSIS: You don’t sound very sure of yourself. Is your ethical programme functioning? Data? Do you have a friend?

DATA: Yes. His name is Geordi.

CROSIS: If it meant that you could feel emotions again the way you did on Ohniaka Three, would you kill your friend? Would you kill Geordi?

As I was walking down a street in London, I suddenly thought, I know I can do better. So I went back in — you said it was OK — and I did another audition. It wasn’t good enough to get the job, but it was far better. You said, “I’m so glad that you came back,” and that gave me such strength throughout my career, and I’ve never forgotten it.

Stewart: Oh, Henry, that’s a delightful story. I’ve had some bad audition experiences in my career — directors who took telephone calls while I was actually doing my audition.

I started sitting in on auditions when we were filming “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” I was shocked by how brusque and offhand my fellow producers and directors were with actors. And I would always make a point of getting up from behind the table, shaking hands with them, asking how they were. Until my fellow producer said to me, “Will you stop doing that? You’re not allowed to make friends with these people!”

Cavill: I have grown up watching you with my father on “The Next Generation.” Can I ask one question, because I’m interested? In Brent Spiner and Data’s eulogy, you said, “Such stuff / As dreams are made on.” Was that your influence?