Data is one of my favorite characters in all of Star Trek lore. He's so sincere and earnest, yet he often falls short in his attempts to become more human. The best that others can do is patiently appreciate the effort and be encouraging. A prime example is in the TNG episode "Schisms", in which…
Tag: Data
Super Celebrities at the Super Megafest
At Super Megafest 2009, Brent Spiner did stand-up comedy and Peter Tork did the Monkees walk. Read one fan's review and check out some photos.
White and Trekkie
What could make Weird Al Yankovic's music video for White & Nerdy even nerdier? Setting it to Star Trek: The Next Generation.
TNG at 20: The Voyage Continues
Twenty years ago this autumn, I was a sophomore in college. I remember watching the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation (or TNG) with friends. While most of us were fans of speculative fiction, we had little idea of how entertaining and influential TNG would become. I had grown up on the writings of…
TNG at 20: Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Spock Gone?
It was the best of generations, it was the worst of generations. Finally, after so many years, Star Trek was returning to our homes. The excitement was tangible: the teaser clips showed this wonderful (albeit strange-looking) new Enterprise, one that made Kirk's Enterprise seem like the family runabout. But never mind all that — it…
TNG at 20: T-Minus One Week and Counting
October 4th marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. A year after Russia beat America into space, the White House responded with a document, Introduction to Outer Space, urging America to win this race: The first of these factors is the compelling urge of man to explore and to discover, the thrust of…
To Serve and Protect
Speaking of top films lists, Entertainment Weekly has published, in preparation for Transformers: The Movie, "our 10 favorite mechanical men (and fembots) in movie history". The list honors good guys such as the Iron Giant (a hero after my own Superman-inspired heart, and the subject of scrutiny in the film studies course I taught), Data,…
Databits
Via TrekToday comes this neat, two-page interview with Brent Spiner. He talks about the fortieth anniversary of Star Trek (which every surviving Trek alum is doing this year), Threshold, Enterprise, J. J. Abrams, and more. I've always enjoyed the "trying to be human" characters of Star Trek, even if it has become cliché by now….