Snape versus Data

Here it is:

DataLore Mania - Confessions of a Fan

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...

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.

DataLore

This is actually an interesting discussion, or rather a sharing of loving one actor’s work. It brings me back to my wonderings how and why Brent as Data and also as Lore struck a chord with me. I’m pretending Brent never did anything else but Star Trek, and it still leaves me with an impressive catalogue of characters Brent played. Anyway, Data and Lore, this time especially Lore.

Data and Lore, in that exact order

There’s one scene that resonates most with me. It goes something like this: Data: I am not less perfect than Lore.
Lore: *babbling and complaining to Soong about how Data is Soong’s favourite and so on and so forth…*
Data: I am not less perfect than Lore.
Lore: *turns to Data and mimicks Data mockingly and with mocking voice* I am not less perfect than Lore.

It was then that it struck me how Lore felt. I love the beauty of his anguish, his brotherly love and envy at the same time. What also stuck in my mind was Lore’s reaction when Soong told him he might not be able to ask him anything anymore since he was dying. Lore was sincerely shocked saying things like: “You’r e not that old” and “You look fine”. Lore’s complexity, the fact something in his source code and possibly some external interference have caused Lore to be the “evil twin” brother fascinates me. The way Lore is, miserable and misguided, sensitive and vulnerable, makes me want to look at his source code and see if I can stabilize him. He does deserve that much.

My loving for Lore is a combination of my fascination with what I desribed above and Spiner’s performance as Lore. Very recognizable, maybe Spiner drew from his own brotherly feelings. I know for a fact he has a brother.

Dr. Noonian Soong at old age. In fact probably about a few
hours before his death. Just guessing here.

What always puzzled me was Spiner saying it was easier to play Lore (compared to Data) because he was closer to him. I can see that and yet and can’t help but feel a little worried.

I said this to my bf not too long ago. If I was on the Enterprise I would put a lot of time and patience in exploring and explaining emotions to Data. What I did not mention to him was I would probably also get into cybernetics to try and fix Lore. To make the story complete, I would become just as mad and obsessed as Dr. Soong. I could actually write that story; bits and bops have already taken shape in my head.

This is a discussion about Brent, Data and Lore and why they're attractive: Discussion

Crimson Red

There’s this strange side effect to YouTube. Not only can you waste seas of time with no effort at all, it also fuses strange connections in my head.


I associate Damien Rice‘s song Volcano with Alan Rickman. I associate Vampire Weekend’s Giving Up the Gun with Jake, as well as the Shoes’ Time To Dance. These connections are easily explained.

I once found a fanmade tribute to Alan Rickman on YouTube. The little video was set to Volcano. Jake appeared in both Giving Up the Gun and in Time To Dance. And now I’m sort of addicted to a fanmade video tribute to Data, or to be precise: Data’s Ouchies. She, the video maker, timed the frames perfectly with the music having the bass in the song compliment what you see in the video. She’s done this well, it got me hooked. I really like the bass in the song.

I’m also fascinated by Data getting damaged and/or turned off. For some reason, half of the time, it makes me laugh. It gives him a vulnerability.


Part of the video in which the bass is very prominent.

 The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN1b4zWn5PY

The title of the video can be derived from the song’s lyrics. It’s also almost the only bit of the lyrics that finds it way into my brain. All the rest of the words are just sounds to me.

The song is Take Me to the Hospital by The Faint.

Also the word is out: My manager walked passed me and noticed I had a YouTube vid on. He took a step back to check what I was watching. Then he remarked something about Data, something like me having a crush on him. It made me laugh.

Seriously, from a dead prince to a fictional android. Even I’m impressed.

Real Life Fictional Characters

In the announcement show Peter Capaldi said when he looked in the mirror the Doctor was already looking back at him, but he was not quite yet the Doctor.


Funny he should say that.

Since my Star Trek love has returned I’ve been looking sideways and weirdly at Brent Spiner who played Data the android. As Data he has his hair slicked back, his face covered in gold powder and he wears yellow lenses. It gave him a completely different look and with that he changed into a different person; Data. It was not only the actor making the character, it was the character partly taking over. Something changed in that man when gold with yellow eyes. In Data I can’t see Brent and in Brent I can’t see Data. Even his voice is different and the way he speaks is different. I can’t hear Data in Brent, nor can I hear Brent in Data.The contrast is especially clear when he’s playing opposite himself as respectively Data and his creator Dr. Soong. There’s a moment in the episode Birthright where Soong and Data are practically standing nose to nose and the camera is taking a close profile of both. That’s the same man staring (at nothing in reality) at himself. Blue into yellow, skin against gold dust (don’t know the material Data’s face is made of). Every time I’m baffled how different he is. Data even seems to be a bit taller than Soong.

Back to Doctor Who.

Yesterday I already remarked how every actor who played the Doctor has put something of himself into the Doctor. What can I say? I don’t know Peter Capaldi well enough to say something about how he’s going to play the Doctor. Steven Moffat did remark they’ll go a completely different direction with Peter compared to Matt. If we base our speculations on roles Peter has played in the past, this 12th Doctor could become a much darker personality. That’s an avenue I’m very interested in. Who knows what dark secrets the Doctor has to hide.

It seems a little ironic to me. Yes, Matt’s Doctor was a bouncy Doctor. I believe under all that bouncing and running the Doctor is hiding very dark secrets. To the eleventh that was the way to hide, and maybe even forget, about all the dark secrets he’s hiding. That gives Matt’s Doctor a certain dark edge. Who knows what we’ll find out in the 50th anniversary special.

Let’s see what happens. I’m sure the Doctor will inhabit Peter Capaldi soon enough. He is reaching out already. I’m already greeting Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, so that’s a good sign.

Doctor Who - 50th Anniversary Special

As you all may know, it’s 2013.


This year is the 50th birthday of the series ‘Doctor Who’. In honour of that impressive birthday all kind of projects are undertaken. I must admit, I’m hardly up to date. I do know Moffat and team have been working on an 50th anniversary special and David Tennant and Billie Piper will return in their respective roles as the Doctor and Rose. John Hurt, not a Doctor Who alumni, will also be in the special and is the Dark Doctor, or something.

The reason I know so little is, beside being distracted by Dutch royals and Star Trek, I’m trying to remain as spoiler free as possible. But I am an impatient fan. So from time to time I fall for temptation and search for news. The latest rumour is that Paul McGann is involved as well and it has something to do with the Last Time War.

Not one of the Doctor's incarnations

This post is not about those rumours. This post is about my wishes.

The Doctors
First I’d like to discuss the Doctor and his many incarnations. Just like many fans I would love to see all Doctors together interacting. That poses a few problems:
1. Some of the actors who played the Doctor are no longer with us;
2. Some of the actors who played the Doctor are still with us, but don’t look like themselves anymore;
3. Too many Doctors in one story could be a problem for that story.

I’m sure if I put my mind to it I could come up with more problems.

A solution could be a recast of those who are dead and those who changed too much. I’m against. It seems disrespectful in every way and the Doctors would not be the incarnations as we know them. That would be only distracting and I love the different incarnations the way they developed. Those actors and their performances have given their incarnations a certain ID and taking away from it seems wrong. It’s supposed to be a tribute, isn’t it? Why tribute something that never was and probably never even will be after the special. Sounds like a massive ID crisis for the Doctor.

The Companions
I’ve never really thought about who I’d like to return. Quite honestly, I could do without any of the old companions. Let Clara be the companion, that’s enough.

On the other hand, I’d love to see some companions interact, like Jamie and Leela. Any situation in which an enemy is aproaching would become instantly interestingly violent. I would love to see the Doctor try and stop them attacking.
Or to see Rose and Amy interact. They would tear each other’s hair out, wouldn’t they?

Not one of the Doctor's companions

I did once make up a conversation between Captain Jack (the guy who can’t die) and Rory (the guy who comes back to life every time). Of course I can’t remember it now. It went something like this:
Rory: I was in New York with my wife. I died and now I’m here.
Jack: You came back to life?
Rory: Yeah, and it’s not even the first time.
Jack: *extending hand* Jack Harkness *looking Rory up and down* Yeah, I know that feeling. It doesn’t affect you much.
Rory: *confused/embarressed/scared* What…?

Hmmm, it would be nice to have Captain Jack back; I’m curious of how he would interact with Matt’s Doctor. And of course I miss Rory.

Events
What I’m not sure of is, the story being about the Time War. I like the legend. I like the mystery around the Time War. I’m afraid that if we get to see something about the Time War, it’ll be disappointing and relieving some of the mystery.

That brings me to Paul McGann who played the 8th incarnation of the Doctor. It is suggested we’re going to see the regeneration. I have no clue of what the 8th Doctor is doing in this special. And that brings me to John Hurt. Some suggest John Hurt will be the Doctor inbetween the 8th and 9th incarnation. It could be so; he was wearing 9’s leather jacket.
Of course there will be focused on the question ‘Doctor Who’ and I’m sure John Hurt has a big part in that story. He is the same man as the Doctor, but did something not in the name of the Doctor. I’m sure the special will make everything clear, but right now, I have no idea how to take this.

Conclusion
I have not been thinking too much about it, cause it makes me even more impatient. I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic.

I hope. Moffat is good in screwing specials up, like 2011’s Christmas special.

Not even Star Trek's Data (but the man who plays...)

Favourite non-DW quote comes from Data and O’Brien had no clue what Data wanted to know, but me, with my Wikipedia and Monty Python knowledge knew immediately what Data wanted to know. But I couldn’t have said it better:

“I’m curious; what’s the etymology of that idiom?