“Datalore” is written by: Robert Lewin and Gene
Roddenberry, from a story by: Robert Lewin and Maurice Hurley and is directed
by: Rob Bowman. It was produced under
production code 114, was the 13th episode of Star Trek: The Next
Generation, and was broadcast on January 18, 1988.
It seems the world has slipped into a parallel
universe where Gene Roddenberry is actually a good writer and not stuck in the
1960s frame of mind as “Datalore” is an episode that somehow almost entirely
clicks together to be a genuinely great piece of television and Star Trek. This is especially surprising since there are
three writers credited, though the idea and script are both largely coming from
Robert Lewin who is technically this season’s head writer despite only
contributing three scripts to the season and the show as a whole, “Datalore”
being his first contribution. It is also
Roddenberry’s last credited contribution as writer to Star Trek, though
he would remain as producer for the rest of the first season before being pushed
to the periphery until his death in 1991.
As a script, despite having a writing credit, “Datalore” lacks the
hallmarks of a Roddenberry script: it’s largely a focused character piece on
Data, exploring his past, the only larger science fiction idea that could be
Roddenberry’s influence is the general script questioning Data’s personhood,
however, in my mind it does feel as if Lewin as a writer is also developing
that idea further. If that idea was
Roddenberry alone, it would likely have been a simple yes or no and the rest of
the cast would immediately be acknowledging Data’s humanity and complete trust,
but “Datalore” actually decides to leave things in the air quite a bit. Picard as a character certainly treats Data with
personhood, but the introduction of Lore brings that into question. Lore is referred to specifically as an ‘it’
and not a ‘he’ by Picard. The episode even
has Data call this into question, bringing up the age old flaw in logic for
many people’s tolerance of marginalized groups: they are not tolerant of that
group if they are willing to still see individual members of that group as an
other. This is both explicit in the text
and quite possibly something that wasn’t as thought through by Levin and
Roddenberry had intended, this is still 1988 after all and is a bold idea to put
forward with the restrictions of 1980s television.
The actual plot of “Datalore” does have its roots in
science fiction as a whole: the premise is that the Enterprise returns
to the planet on which Data was found, investigating to discover an abandoned
underground colony and the remains of another android of seemingly the same
make and model of Data. While it is just
the setup for the episode, the scenes on the planet actually show off the best
of Rob Bowman’s direction, despite clearly reusing many of the sets from “Haven”
and “Hide and Q”, plus several props that have been in the show before and in
the theatrical films, these sequences are directed quite well. Bowman makes things seem vast and the cave
wall swinging outward is constructed in just the right way to create that
atmosphere of discovery. The laboratory
sets themselves are perhaps a bit scarce and clearly on a television budget,
but they are in line with the aesthetics of the show in general, plus those
scenes are brief. The episode really picks
up speed once the crew returns to the Enterprise, Lewin and Roddenberry
give the episode just a little bit of time before the second android, Lore, is
turned on and interacts, allowing Brent Spiner to really play up this anticipation
of someone discovering they are not alone and unique in a universe. The way Spiner plays and has played Data’s
emotions in this and previous episodes become integral for how he then goes on
to play Lore. Yes, with the same make
and model it becomes obvious that “Datalore” is doing the evil twin storyline,
but Lore as a character is immediately set apart from just being a copy of Data
by Spiner’s body language and delivery.
While the script points out Lore is more ‘human’ than Data because he
can use contractions, it is really all in Spiner’s performance for how evil he
is. Spiner plays Lore as almost
gleefully sadistic in places, annoyed that humans dared to think him too human
so he communed with a crystalline entity to kill them all. He also tries taking Data’s place on the ship,
providing the conflict for the A-plot.
Where “Datalore” drops the ball, at least in my eyes,
outside of not going as far with its premise as it perhaps could, is in having
Lore take Data’s place for the episode and the way the crew eventually discover
what has happened. It’s Wesley who ends
up deducing Lore’s involvement, the rest of the crew not believing him,
including Picard shouting at him “Shut up, Wesley!” which you might think if I
were following popular opinion I would agree with. However, it is not the fact that Wesley as a
character is annoying, he just doesn’t really fit so far with this plot. As a character, he hasn’t really had many
scenes with Data and this plot wants to posit that they are quite close as
characters when it would be more apt for say Geordi LaForge to take this
particular role, especially since if we’re being honest LeVar Burton hasn’t had
nearly as much focus as the other characters while Wesley has already had two
episodes with rather important subplots.
Wil Wheaton actually plays the material pretty well, especially at the
climax where Dr. Crusher is hurt and Wheaton just gives this look of fear that
everything is falling apart. It’s a bit
too close to the end, and Lore is quickly dispatched by Data in an action
sequence but there’s at least an attempt to write Wesley as a complex
character, even if Lewin and Roddenberry don’t really know how to write a child
character which is a recurring problem for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Overall, “Datalore” is honestly the best episode that Star
Trek: The Next Generation has done thus far. There are still problems and clearly places
for the series to grow, but like “The Big Goodbye” the week before it’s one
that works because it is a character focused story that is written from a
writer who understands that it is no longer the 1960s and that television has
changed. Lore as a character is perhaps
the best villain this show has introduced thus far and Brent Spiner is carrying
it all on his back, but it’s actually a great episode of Star Trek. 8/10.
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