Lt. Commander Data came on board the Enterprise as the, Riker dubbed, 'Pinochio', of the crew. Until the movie, physically, his programming had not been altered. But you can definitely see the change in the android from the first to the seventh season. Data, the only android known besides his evil brother Lore, was third in command of the Enterprise. He had an affair with the former security chief of the Enterprise, Tasha Yar, and had met his long lost father, Dr. Soong. He was also best friends with a crew mate, Geordi La Forge. All this from someone who was
considered a machine. Impressive? Yes. But only when you actually think about how the writers treated the character in the first season. If you don't consider how much Data has changed, then you just think of him as one of the gang.Data has also had a daughter, Lal, born/created in 2366, but didn't survive what you could call adolecence. That episode, airing in the fourth season, was excellently written.
For a machine, Data has had a lot of personal struggles in the seven years we knew him weekly for. His dealings with Lore, or his struggles with grasping human emotion. Until the movie, he had laughed once, thanks to Q (John De Lancie). I'm anticipating the movie just to see how Data is now, after having emotions for a while.
Brent Spiner can definitely act. Like Jonathan Frakes, he's hit it up out side of Trek in the television world, appearing in many shows, just a couple include Mad About You, and Cheers. He also played the out of touch scientist/doctor in Indenpence Day.
