Lore (Star Trek)

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Lore
Lore from the episode Descent
Species:	android
Gender:	male
Home planet:	Omicron Theta
Portrayed by:	Brent Spiner

In the fictional Star Trek universe, Lore is the name of a prototype for the android Data, often referred to as his 'evil brother' and was played by the same actor, Brent Spiner.

[edit] Overview

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Lore was built on Omicron Theta after B-4 (possibly), but before Data, by Dr. Noonien Soong. It was initially unclear whether Lore's personality defects arise from errors in his design, or from his having more "human" features than Data. At one point Lore states that he is a more perfect form of Data, which could make Lore feel he was better than humans and could do as he feels but regardless, Dr. Soong felt it necessary to deactivate and disassemble Lore. His plan was to build Data to create a perfect positronic brain/android and then once the design was perfected, repair the faults in Lore. This was stated by Dr. Soong in "Brothers". Before being disassembled, Lore contacted the Crystalline Entity, which destroyed the entire colony. Later in the series, Lore's behavior seems to get an explanation when Data's ethical program is deactivated. This suggests that Lore had no such program, or was capable of keeping it off.

In 2364, Data discovered his "brother" Lore, and Dr. Beverly Crusher led the team that reassembled him. However, Lore's psychopathic tendencies soon became evident: he deactivated Data in an attempt to take over the Enterprise. Lore was transported off into space just before he had a chance to kill anyone ("Datalore").

In 2367, Dr. Soong summoned Data to Terlina III in order to give him an emotion chip that would allow him to experience human feelings; however, Lore was summoned by the same signal. Dr. Soong told Data that he and Lore are "virtually identical," except for some minor programming. In this episode it is showed that even though Lore hates humans, he does care for his father/creator. When he Dr. Soong tells him he is dying, Lore becomes very emotional. An example of this is when he keeps saying "You look fine", while on the verge of tears. Lore posed as Data and tricked Dr. Soong into giving the chip to him. The chip was designed for Data, and was clearly affecting him, almost like a narcotic. Lore then attacked Soong, and escaped with the chip. (It could be assumed that the emotion chip intensified his emotions, namely his anger and his father for dismantling, his favoritism towards Data, and Soong not building Lore an emotion chip, but this is only speculation.) The Enterprise crew found Data and Dr. Soong, who soon died from his injuries ("Brothers"). It is important to note that in episode ("Time's Arrow: Part I"), when an android head resembling Data's is discovered, Data determines it is his own and not Lore's because of a different type of Phase Discriminator.

In 2370, Lore ran into a group of Borg who had been cut off from the collective. Lore became their leader for a while, and lured Data into helping him fight the Federation by deactivating his ethical program. Eventually, the group of Borg rejected Lore's leadership. Data was forced to shoot Lore in self-defense, and then proceeded to deactivate Lore. Lore's last words were "I love you, brother". (But it is not known if he meant it, or was trying to convince Data not to deactivate him) ("Descent").

Afterwards, Data finally dismantled Lore for good, but kept Lore's emotion chip. It is not known what was done with Lore's remains after Data dismantled him. Regretting what he had done to Geordi La Forge while under Lore's control, Data refrained from using the chip until 2371. (Star Trek: Generations).

The special effects that allowed Lore and Data to appear in the same frame were quite sophisticated for American television at the time. In one scene Lore puts down a glass of wine which Data then picks up. This was achieved by the use of a moving split screen.

[edit] Appearances

*Star Trek: The Next Generation*
#	Episode	Appearance
113	"Datalore"	Enterprise and Data discover Lore on his home planet in the Omicron Theta system
403	"Brothers"	Data discovers his maker, Noonien Soong, and brother Lore are still alive.
626 701	"Descent"	Led the Borg