Why Brent!? WHY!?

This is my reaction to a thread post here: http://brentspiner.ning.com/forum/topics/arik-lore-younger-vs-older

I’m sorry this turned out as long as it did. If you manage to get through this whole reaction, I applaud you.

Lore's and Data's insides look like candy

Lore: Watching, especially, the episode ‘Brothers’, I always end up wanting to mother Lore. Or tinker on him, trying to make him more stable and balanced. Nurture him. There’s good in him, the sincere love he feels for both his father, Dr. Soong, and his brother, Data. The building blocks are there for goodness. Also, I do understand Lore’s frustration and anger. He didn’t get the love he deserved, and Dr. Soong’s argument that the logical step was to build Data first before working on Lore again, is not acceptable to me. However, I might be wrong and it was the most logical step. I would love to have a look at Dr. Soong’s designs, though I’ve got the distinct suspicion he didn’t write anything down, like any true developer.
I’m fascinated by Brent in all ages. There’s so much life in that man and so much joy. That comes out, every time, even in the more shy, depressed, repressed and nervous characters he has played. Not necessarily as the joy Brent, the actor, was feeling, but in the subtle performances he gave. From his performances you can tell Brent always threw himself at his work and went for it, and I like to believe, he still goes into new work with the same zeal. I agree, Brent should have won a multitude of awards for his work.

I agree with the ‘confidence’ argument. I’m not sure that confidence was absent when he was younger, or was misplaced and rather arrogance or cockiness. I think Brent always had the goods to back his confidence up. As for the ‘Daddy-like’ attraction; I’m not sure that’s true for me. I have a habit of being attracted to people who are quite a bit older than I am. I am 32, while most of my friends are around their 50’s and older. Even in my work I’m “nearly” the youngest by far. Only my manager is younger than I am. So, Brent fits well in the catalogue of people in my life.

As for Data’s reaction to other people’s emotional reaction, and this is based on my knowledge of computers which Data basically is: Data observed, saved (memorized if you will) and pulled out ‘experiences’ whenever applicable and acted as he memorized was right for that once experienced situation. That’s why he sometimes got it wrong, because people always do and say everything with underlying meanings and intentions in situations that might influence our reactions.

For some reason, this always makes me lust for Brent

That said: I think, most of the times, Brent has simply played Data as an android without emotions. I do agree Brent is too unasuming about that particular performance. What he did with Data is a thousand times more mysterious, complex and quite honestly brilliant, than he regards it. I mean, who else can play a character emotionless, but in the process evoke the missing emotions from viewers and actors alike? Name me one actor! And if you dare, explain to me how the hell that works?
This opinion was brought to you by Wiwik and made possible by Mr. Jonathan Frakes.

Let’s study some situations. I can understand why emotion was provoked when Data called Dr. Soong ‘Father’ and Dr. Juliana Taner ‘Mother’. It has everything to do with our own lives, our own parents and our knowledge of the importance of the relationships between parents and children. We understand how Dr. Soong and Dr. Taner felt at that precise moment.

This moment’s always at the front of my head: Data eating desert with his young worshipper in Ten forward. It’s from the episode ‘Hero worship’. The young boy doesn’t realize Data cannot taste his desert and that he only recognizes the ingredients, but doesn’t like nor dislike it. He tells the boy he would gladly accept all the negative emotions he might have, only to be able to taste/enjoy his desert. That evoked a very deep emotion in me (maybe because I absolutely adore deserts).
What I sense there is almost regret. On the other hand, Data does not have the ability to feel regret, so why should I feel sorry for him? However, I do in this instance.

Do I find Brent attractive? Yes and no. I could sum up a list of things I don’t like about him, but I won’t. I will tell you what attracts me about him: “His ability to sway me”. For about ten comments he makes which I don’t like, there’s always one comment he gets me in stitches with. For about ten things he does or doesn’t do which I don’t like, there’s always an understanding on my side of the why. I also always have to admit, if it had been me instead of him, I’m not sure I would have done as well. I’m not talking acting here, I know for a fact I couldn’t have acted it the way he did. His work is the one single thing I never have a doubt about, because for the ten performances I adore, there is only one moment that causes me itches in a bad way. I can live with most of them, or I just ignore them. No-one is perfect, I know that, and I’m not expecting Brent to be.

He fascinates me.