UNCOVERING DATA ACTOR BRENT SPINER, THE MAN BEHIND THE ANDROID, BRINGS HIDDEN TALENTS TO THE LATEST 'STAR TREK' FILM.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

``Star Trek: Nemesis,'' the 10th feature film in the long-running science-fiction franchise, brings the ``Next Generation'' Enterprise crew to many a crossroads.

And none experience a bigger change than Lt. Cmdr. Data, the evolving android who, over the course of 178 television episodes and four movies, has become one of the most beloved of all characters in the vast ``Trek'' universe.

This came as no surprise to Brent Spiner, the actor who has gradually lain coats of humanity onto the golden-skinned, yellow-eyed machine over the years. After all, Spiner wrote the ``Nemesis'' screenplay, along with his longtime friend, ``Gladiator'' screenwriter John Logan, and series producer Rick Berman.

``In the past, we've always tried to figure out what could be written that would cross over to a general audience,'' says Spiner, a 53-year-old native of Houston. ``This time, we actually wrote a movie for the fans. And John being a fan - truly, he could quote things in the episodes we did that I had no memory of whatsoever - I think it wound up having more depth and emotion than most of our films have.''

Understandably for Spiner, getting his first screenplay produced was an emotional high as well.

``Well, it's the first time I've written anything that's been made,'' he explains. ``You know how that is; I've got a little stack of scripts here that have never seen the light of day outside of my office. So it was a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to do this. It was great to be able to affect the script from the ground up. Usually, we come in after the fact, give our notes and hope that some of them stick. But in this case, I was actually there from inception, and that was really exciting.''

The writing process was a full, three-way collaboration, although even Spiner's partners did not expect it to go that way.

``My assumption was that Brent was mostly going to be concerned with Data,'' says Logan. ``Y'know, because he's an actor and it's a great part. But that couldn't be further from the truth. He didn't care at all what we did with Data. He was like, 'I just want a really good movie.' ''

Relativity theory

In the film, an early, less sophisticated version of the android, B-4 (also played by Spiner), is discovered. But other major developments - Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) takes on a megalomaniacal clone of himself; Cmdr. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) marries Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and prepares to take the helm of his own starship - fill the screenplay, before a climactic sequence in which Data's fate hangs in the balance.

``We wanted to, basically, write a film that had to do with family of all sorts, and particularly the family that we have been for all these years,'' Spiner notes. ``The whole film has a kind of umbrella about family over it. There's the Picard and his clone/almost-son thing going on. There's Data and his brother. There's the family of the Enterprise. Even the (bad-guy) Remans and the Romulans are related.

``So we wanted major events to occur, change to happen in this family. Hence, we had a wedding, and people leaving in more ways than one.''

The momentous changes ``Nemesis'' presents have led to much speculation about whether this will be the current film cast's final voyage. Paramount Picture's promotional tagline for the movie even teases the issue.

``I think the marketing department actually came up with about the most wonderfully ambiguous line they could possibly have invented: 'A generation's final journey begins,' '' Spiner says. ``Well, it's clear to me that that means that if the movie is successful, then it's beginning, and if it's not successful, then it's the final journey.''

If the latter is the case, many will be unhappy to see the last of Data, a character for whom affection in ``Star Trek'' fandom is matched only by that for Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy from the original series, and perhaps Picard.

``Obviously, there were robots and androids in science fiction before,'' notes genre authority James Van Hise, who has written and edited numerous books and magazines about ``Trek.'' ``But Brent projected a very interesting characterization. Although technically, 'Next Generation' was supposed to be an ensemble show, ultimately Picard and Data emerged as the main characters.''

When ``Next Generation'' began broadcasting in 1987, it was generally assumed that Data was that series' answer to Spock, the logic-driven, half-Vulcan icon of the first crew. Spiner even jokes that the title of his autobiography will be ``I Am Not Spock, Either,'' a play on the name of Leonard Nimoy's memoir.

But Spiner quickly took Data in his own, unique direction.

``I don't think he's what Spock was about,'' the actor says. ``When I first started playing Data ... I initially thought of him as a growing child. He had a computer in his head that was positronic, so he was like a learning machine. Through the years that I've been doing him, he's gotten smarter and more sophisticated, just as humans do.

``But truthfully, I never really thought about it, and I still don't. I've just had this really excellent acting job that's lasted a lot longer than anyone anticipated, and that's all it's been to me. But honestly, I've never thought about it in any kind of terms of importance - because, really, it's not. I'm just an average actor who got lucky.''

Beneath the paint

Maybe not that average. Trained by Cecil Pickett, the remarkable high- school drama coach who also started Dennis and Randy Quaid, Robert Wuhl, director Thomas Schlamme and many others on their paths to Hollywood success, Spiner is an accomplished stage performer (``1776,'' ``A History of the American Film,'' ``Big River'') and has appeared in many off-``Trek'' film and television projects, including ``Independence Day,'' ``Phenomenon,'' ``Introducing Dorothy Dandridge'' and last summer's ``Master of Disguise.'' He even released a recording of himself crooning pop standards, ``Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back.''

But Spiner says he owes the lion's share of his success to ``Trek's'' late creator, Gene Roddenberry - in more ways than one.

``It has been a blessing for me in all sorts of personal ways,'' the actor acknowledges. ``My lifestyle improved dramatically once I started playing this character. But career-wise, it's had very little impact because, for the most part, nobody knows who the hell I am. Which is fine; it's like I'm always the new guy in town. I've managed to do other work, but very little of it because I was on 'Star Trek.' ''

Obviously, it's Data's jaundiced makeup and eyeballs that save Spiner from Trekker typecasting. But they also represent the role's biggest curse as well as a blessing.

``It's horrible,'' he admits. ``It is the downside of the job. The makeup is a drag, but everybody wears makeup - they don't have to take it off with kerosene, which I have to do with this stuff, but ... the contacts are what's really horrible. They are prescription contacts; they just don't happen to be my prescription. They just can't get it right, ever. And they're damaging, honestly. At the end of this film, I went to see an ophthalmologist because I was having trouble reading in the mornings. He said, 'That's because your corneas are wavy instead of smooth like they're supposed to be.' I said, 'Would you testify to that in court?'

``They'll be fine within a year,'' Spiner adds, indicating he was just joking about a lawsuit. ``They haven't done permanent damage yet, fortunately.''

Whether or not there will be more opportunities for eyesight deterioration, Spiner has his hands full for the foreseeable future. Partner Loree McBride gave birth to his first child, a son named Jackson, in June.

``We're keepin' him,'' papa chirps. ``We've given him his trial run, he passed all of his tests, and we're keeping him for the long run. He's a great kid, got a wonderful personality, he hardly ever cries. We took him in for a polio shot the other day. He didn't cry. The doctor asked us if he was OK. 'Yeah, he's just too happy.' ''

Or, perhaps, he's really an android.

``That may be the sequel we're talking about,'' Spiner says. ``It may be starring him, not me.''

Time to retire the enterprise?

``Star Trek: Nemesis'' is being advertised with the line ``A Generation's Final Journey Begins.''

What in the universe does that mean? Could it spell the end of ``The Next Generation's'' crew, who took over the movie franchise from the original TV series cast four films ago?

``There is some sense of breaking up that old gang of mine in this movie,'' acknowledges Trek overseer Rick Berman. ``This is certainly not the last 'Star Trek' movie, but as to whether it's going to be the last 'Next Generation' movie is yet to be seen. Usually, within two months of when these movies open, I get a call from Sherry Lansing or John Goldwyn at Paramount to kind of start the whole process over again.

``But at this point, this has not at all been discussed,'' Berman says of ending ``TNG's'' cycle here. ``There's that promotional phrase, but as to whether the next film is going to be a 'Next Generation' film, a film using all new characters or, possibly, a film using some characters from 'Next Generation' and some characters from other series, that's all yet to be designed.''

Data portrayer Brent Spiner, who co-wrote ``Nemesis' '' screenplay with Berman and ``Gladiator'' scripter John Logan, adds that ``we wrote it keeping in mind that this could be the last one. Should this turn out to be that, I think the story is fitting and all of us are happy with it.''

So what does the Captain say?

``The end of 'Next Generation' has been hovering in the air since halfway through the first television season,'' notes Patrick Stewart, who plays Enterprise boss Jean-Luc Picard. ``So we have lived, in a sense, day-to-day, always with this series. The studio is teasing the world with the thought that this might be the end, as you can see from the poster. But a Paramount executive said to me last month, 'Emphasis has to be put on the last word of that sentence.' ''

- Bob Strauss

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) STRANGE NEW WORLDS

`Star Trek: Nemesis' takes the franchise - and Brent Spiner's Lt. Cmdr. Data - into uncharted areas

(3 -- 4) no caption (Brent Spiner as Data)

(5) STEWART

Box:

Time to retire the enterprise? (see text)