How Brent Spiner Played Three Roles in TNG’s 'Brothers'

Filmmaker Andrew Muir of The Art of Storytelling explored the powerful story arc and the technical ingenuity behind the iconic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Brothers”. Muir praised Brent Spiner for his ability to portray multiple roles within the same scene, specifically Data, his “brother” Lore, and their father, Dr. Noonien Soong.

How is it that all three characters in this episode are played by Brent Spiner? … So, Spiner actually spent three full days on set with director Rob Bowman and visual effects coordinator Robert Legato, blocking out every scene and taping off marks so that when it came time to actually shoot, there would be less downtime for the crew. Then they shot all of Data and Lore’s shots in one day, and all of Soong’s on another. Both days required a lot of makeup, but Soong’s took four hours.

Muir further explores how the narrative structure and character dynamics shape Data’s pivotal arc as he confronts his sibling rivalry with Lore, says goodbye to the father he has just met, and considers what it means to become more human.

In the previous Lore episode, he had told Data that the colonists envied Lore, and so Data was created as a less perfect alternative. That turns out to have been a lie. …And this is a big moment for Data, who suddenly realizes that he’s not inferior to his brother. In fact, he is the chosen son, as Soong reveals that his reason for calling Data home is that he has perfected the emotion chip.