Recently, I was having an argument with a friend about who is the greatest movie or television robot/android. While there are a ton to choose from, the one that left a lasting impression on us was Star Trek: The Next Generation ‘s Data. From there we started to compare all of the other robots and androids to Data to see how they would all stack up. Some didn’t compare, some would simply destroy Data in a fight, but what about the human connection? What about Data’s constant striving to become more human? How did that reflect in the other robots and androids? Needless to say, this seemed like a fantastic topic for a Great Geek Debate, so here it is. Data vs. The Rest.

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Here’s a look at some (of the many) androids, robots and cyborgs that came before Lt. Commander Data and how Data stacks up to each of them. The main talking points are who would win in a fight (invariable conclusion to such a debate) and the quest for humanity.

Data vs. Gort

Gort stood about 8 feet tall (referring to the original The Day the Earth Stood Still, not the forgettable remake) and arrived on Earth to “preserve the peace.” Part of an interstellar police force, Gort had the power to vaporize anything that posed a threat and according to his buddy Klaatu, “He could destroy the Earth.” That kind of power can’t be ignored on any scale. He’s focused on his mission and is prepared to release destruction on command. Gort cannot be destroyed by modern weapons and only when a particular phrase is uttered does he shut down. (C’mon, you know it.)

Data was often injured in battle, even losing his head on at least one occasion. This created a human vulnerability that endeared him as more than just an android. He wasn’t intentionally destructive; hell, he even kept a pet cat. Data would never stand idly by waiting for a command to destroy a planet. That was Gort’s job. While one could clearly make the argument that Data is the better android, Gort could unleash his laser beam and simply destroy everything. Advantage: Gort

Data vs. C3PO

C3PO can understand and translate around 6 million different forms of communication. Mind you, he was designed and built by a young boy. While the Midi-chlorians might have been high in young Skywalker’s bloodstream, they didn’t help him build a droid with much of a backbone. Meanwhile, in a galaxy far, far away, Dr. Soong was busy creating a sentient android of his own with not only a backbone, but a bad-ass positronic brain. It’s never made clear how many languages Data can speak, but one has to assume the number is just as high as C3PO. Advantage: Data

Data vs. Kryten

Aboard the Red Dwarf mining ship, the Series 4000 “Slave Noid” named Kryten plays neurotic butler to the crew. After inadvertently causing the destruction of the last ship he was on, Kryten ended up on the Red Dwarf. Kryten is a slave. Plain and simple. While he strives to be a little more human under the less-than-strict tutelage of Dave Lister, he really has no intention of ever becoming human. In fact, when under extreme duress his head will actually explode. Sadly, this is revealed to not be a design flaw.

Data on the other hand, is no one’s slave. While he is meticulous and literal in following orders, he does have free will. At first, he doesn’t quite understand this free will, but after engaging in more than human activities like playing music and poker he starts to long to become more human. Where Kryten’s neurosis is his downfall on more than one occasion, Data’s confidence in his abilities saves the ship on numerous occasions. Kryten just puts his in constant danger. The choice is easy if you had to decide which nonhuman you’d rather have around. Advantage: Data

Data vs. Roy Batty

Roy Batty achieved through design what Data strove for years to achieve. Roy Batty learned how to be human, in fact “more human than human.” Built for military service but with a supergenius intellect, Roy Batty decided his “life” would be better served not taking orders. Roy kills his maker in his quest for a longer life and in return begins to slowly degrade. Finally he shows his truest human emotion, empathy, as he saves Deckards’ life before his own fades away. This resolution to his tale is truly inspiring for any android in existence, while the path has a bit to be desired, it being mostly evil and all.

We all know Data was not evil. But with the existence of Lore, we know that evil is just a positronic brain away. Lore showed us a side of Data that Data never presented. Lore’s quest for humanity was similar to Roy’s in that he chose methods of evil, even killing his own “father” to achieve his goals. When Lore leads the Borg and momentarily controls Data, we see that even Data is fallible. The strength of duty and his loyalty to the crew ultimately leads Data down the morally sound path and Lore down the path of destruction. Evil rarely triumphs, especially in movies and TV. Lore and Roy chose methods of attaining humanity that brought upon their destruction. As Data proved after finally getting the emotion chip, there are much better ways of becoming human. Advantage: Data

Data vs. Nestor

The first law of robotics states, “No robot may injure a human being or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” This law keeps the robot population from turning on their human creators, that is outside of the Matrix and Terminator universes. In Issac Asimov’s short story, “Little Lost Robot,” contained within his I Robot compilation novel, the intelligent robot of Nestor is introduced. Nestor was like all the rest of the robots, save for one tiny little tidbit. His first-law programming only contained the first part, “No robot may injure a human being.” When taken literally and directly, a robot could very well shoot a human being, as the robot did not injure the human, the bullet did. Hence the second part of the law.

When told under duress to “go lose yourself,” Nestor does exactly that. He gets lost, in the one place that it was hardest for the rest of the humans to find him — with the rest of the robots. While Data did not have a clan of himselves to hide in, early on he followed orders with a precise and literal obedience. Like Nestor, Data was indebted with the first law of robotics, something he took very seriously, which can be solidly proven when he ultimately sacrifices his existence to save Picard at the end of Nemesis. Data is clearly superior to Nestor as at the end of “Little Lost Robot” Nestor tries to kill his human creators in order to protect his individuality. Advantage: Data

Data vs. Steve Austin

Injured beyond repair in a plane crash, pilot Steve Austin was rebuilt into a fighting spy machine at the low cost of 6 million dollars. He then went to work for the Office of Scientific Intelligence and eventually married the Bionic Woman. One could only guess what their kids looked like.

Both Steve Austin and Data were in the occasional scuffle, Austin more than Data. When Data fought, he was very quick, physical and clean. He fought with brute force, mainly because he didn’t have the squishy weaknesses of a human. He fought with determination and always had his Captains’ back. Even when he was being seduced by the Borg (for 0.68 seconds), Data made sure his opponent was down, and one punch usually did the job. He could routinely be seen tossing foes across the room.

There is one aspect to Austin’s fighting style that really made it unique. More often than not, he fought in slow-motion action. I’m sure most of you will say that it was just camera tricks, but with the awesome robotic sound effects added, it was hard not to just enjoy a fight scene. The same couldn’t be said for Data’s fight scenes. The feeling there was, “Oh boy, Data is in a fight … it’s over already?” Not with Austin. When Austin was fighting — it was a fight. There was raw emotion involved as well. We didn’t see this emotion early on with Data, but later — after the chip was installed — his action sequences became more heated and he showed true anger.

While the government installed robotics within Steve Austin, making him less of a physical man, Geordi installed a chip in Data to make him more an emotional human. This is why Data is the better android as he can learn to be human, but Austin cannot shed all his human physicality to become an android. Advantage: Data

So there you have it. Data is the ultimate android. While he lost a battle to Gort, that’s only because Data doesn’t have the ability to destroy everything around him on a whim. You really can’t go up against that. In the end, Data is an geek icon that will be around forever in our minds and on reruns on the Syfy channel. Every movie robot, android or cyborg will always be measured up to him in our minds. In lieu of a really big poll, who are your favorites? I’m sure there are plenty I didn’t mention.

Photo: donielle/Flickr

See Also:

Great Geek Debates: Kirk vs. Picard

Great Geek Debates: Joss Whedon vs. J.J. Abrams

Great Geek Debates: Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter

Great Geek Debates: Pirates vs. Ninja



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