I spent doing this:
Another really long reaction. Bear with me, or just go do something useful, like watching Brent.
In one of the comments it was said that if Lore didn’t have such intense resentment, he may have gone on to great things. However, it’s not resentment alone that ruined Lore, it was also an attitude problem. Just like Counselor Troy once said to Data, emotions itself aren’t negative, it’s what we choose to do with it. I agree with that, for a part. Even from resentment, great things could come. However, Lore choose to go the opposite way. If he was anything like me, he’d gone on his way proving everyone, and especially, Dr. Soong wrong by becoming a great, I don’t know, leader, scientist, comedian….
I do agree with the notion that multi-sensory input modalities linked to decision and human emotions is a tenuous balance at best. If only Dr. Soong had given Lore the attention he needed, things might have turned out quite differently. We might have had Lore on the Enterprise instead of Data. Ooh, I just had a dazzling idea, what if Dr. Soong had improved Lore first and then built Data; you could have had the fantastic twin. Ooh, the possibilities!!!
I love Lore. Not for his bad-boy ways, but for the good I recognized in him. I saw possibilities and I believe with the right attention, Lore could have become more than his programming. I love Lore for his frustration, his anger, his pain, his sincere love, his complexity, for who he is in basis. He deserves a fair chance, just like any other android, just like Data. That fair chance was taken from him, and it frustrates me (in a fictional way) just as much as it frustrates Lore.
Brent and humor…That’s another one I can go off on a tangent on. I understand his sarcastic humor; hell, I do it myself all the time, I’m even veering towards cynical. However, I also know not everyone understands and people tend to be offended at the weirdest things. Then again, I might just be downright rude. Same goes for Brent. I think Brent can be hilarious. I think Brent can come off rude. I don’t think he means to be rude. In some cases, had I been standing behind him, I would have told him off. Not because I thought he was rude, but because I feel someone perceived it as rude. Sometimes, you just have to hold back. And sometimes, it’s not as funny as you think.
Maybe a reason I like Brent, and I’m laughing to myself now, I do tend to fall for the guys who are not only sarcastic, but also whine a lot, or for the grumpy ones. With grumpy I mean the act they’re playing out, while deep down, they’re sweethearts and joyous.
I love watching actors work. I tend to search for the weak spots in performances, which usually comes down to seeing the actor rather than the character. Yes, most actors bring themselves into the role. I don’t think they do it on purpose. I think, no matter what you do, you always bring yourselves into your actions, beit building androids (I’ll come back to this one), or beit acting. There have been moments in Brent’s performances where I thought: “Oh, there’s Brent!”. Most of the times, I saw Data, or whatever character he was playing. Though I think I can now recognize his style. I see it the least in Data, which made me think Data was a real full job to play, while in all other characters, bits and pieces of Brent were present. That doesn’t mean I think Brent’s a bad actor. Not at all. I think he’s brilliant.
People not understanding Brent’s jokes don’t necessarily lack intelligence, they just don’t get his jokes. My boyfriend, a really smart guy, doesn’t get jokes. Whenever I’m joking he’s taking it serious. You have no idea how often I have to tell him I was just joking. His brain is just not equipped for distincting jokes, but it is brilliantly equiped to solve software problems. I probably would have brought him in to tinker on Lore and laugh at him concerning humor. He and Data would make an interesting, beit scary, combination. Geordie should be careful not losing his best friend.
I don’t know how someone can’t recognize a joke, but it happens without taking away from their intelligence. Humor in any case, is an interesting concept. You can’t blame Data for not getting humor. It’s one of the most complex things associated with people.
Brent doesn’t play just bad guys, or good guys for that matter. Brent always plays much more than the characterization we can see on the surface. Brent always adss a complexity to the characters. None of Brent’s characterazations are flat or simple. I’m going to say something ironic now: Brent always makes characters real people. That includes Data. That’s why I love his work.
If I had to choose, I wouldn’t want to. I love both for different reasons. I would have tinkered on Lore to make him more balanced and goodness. I would have nurtured Data and explained human ways to him. I would also tinker on Lal. I would have been exhillerated at finding out there is fully functional android with all the emotions, aging process and all that humans are used to in the form of Juliana, Data’s “mother”. I would have become as obsessed as Dr. Soong was, like I am now with my contest scheme for the club I volunteer doing time registration for. Putting it together, that’s the art. Don’t lose your vision, always go for even better. I’m not claiming to be as brilliant as Dr. Soong, I am certainly not, but I can try, right?
Would Lore be more popular than Data if STTNG was broadcast now? Of course I can’t be sure, but I don’t think so. I think why characters are popular has to do with writing, performance and also what personal style and technique an actor brings to it. Yes, time probably might have its influence as well, but when I look around at popular characters now, the good ones are still very popular as well, just not in TVD at the moment.
Now, don’t you think we get to know Dr. Soong through his androids? Even Soong acknowledges they’re probably more alike than they think.
*Stares at her sandwich.* After about two hours still haven’t eaten my lunch. It was about 12.30 pm when I bought the sandwich. It is now 2.49 pm.
here: http://brentspiner.ning.com/forum/topics/data-lore?id=4788475%3ATopic%3A2040&page=2#comments
If only I had something useful to do...
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