Data (and the other star trek characters like him)

ok so this one is more about a genre of characters thats in star trek.

im talking about Data, Odo, The Doctor. maybe more!

basically characters who arent human in some way, but want to be human very badly. usually they really are human all along but other people treat them as less than and they just want to be treated like a human

im gonna write about all of these characters and why they fit the genre and why i love them

Data

data is the first character i saw in star trek that fit this trope (i watched tng first, and still have not seen tos although i hear spock from that also fits this genre.)

hes an android who often finds himself confused abt various weird human mannerisms, while also wishing he could do many things that humans can

he often talks about how he wishes he felt emotions, hes often othered by people who refuse to recognize him as a fellow conscious being, hes just a general sweetheart, hes a hard guy to summarize!

something i find very important about data and which was crucial to him becoming a blorbo is the fact that even though i mentioned previously that he wishes he could feel emotions, he actually can! data feels emotions all the time, but because he often expresses it differently than others, him and others confuse this difference for a complete lack of emotion. but of course if ur view of how emotions can be expressed is so limited, some genuine emotion will not be recognized! its the most relatable part of data to me as someone who has also struggled with expressing my emotions "correctly". as someone whos often been mischaracterized as cold or unfeeling. when i see data i see someone whos just like me frfr

i also wanna note that even though practically every character will say that data cant feel emotions, picard did actually prove otherwise in season 2 episode 9 - the measure of a man. in this episode, some weirdo wants to dismantle data and argues that he should be able to because data is just a machine. picard takes the guy to court and proves that data is a conscious, emotional being. one way he proves this is by showing that data has kept a recording of a crewmate who died, something that would only make sense to do if he was sentimental about her death.

afterwards it feels a bit like picard forgot about this though because he never tells data that the way he feels and expresses emotion is real and valid, and just agrees with data any time he expresses that he cant feel emotions. i think its very clear in the characterization of data that we are meant to believe he can feel emotions, but i wish the show wouldve said it more explicitly.

either way though, data was a character who made me very happy to see on screen. also his friendship with geordi is great

also also i know that many other autistic ppl have said they related to data and found him to unintentionally be good autistic representation. one of the writers said hes glad it turned out that way because if he had tried to do it intentionally he wouldve probably fucked up. (i don't know if this is actually true)

Odo

odo is from ds9! hes a changeling/shapeshifter who gets put into many challenging situations wrt his identity. thats it thats the summary

and hes got some heavy romantic tension going for him with quark (until he moves on to kira instead)

🚧 under construction :) 🚧

The Doctor

the doctor is an emergency medical hologram who has to exceed the limitations of his programming when hes the only doctor voyager has left while stranded in the delta quadrant.

🚧 under construction :) 🚧