Technically he’s a Spock stand in: hyper logical but not quite getting humanity.
This characteristic… In fact lots of characteristics get shared and mix and matched across DS9, TNG, and Voyager.
In Voyager Seven of Nine and The Doctor are the “not quite understanding humanity” characters. In DS9, it’s Odo.
Ideally newer Trek would do this too, but it might also want to have:
A quirky or modded engineer: LaForge, O’Brien, Scotty, Be’lana.
A superior strength character: Spock, Data, Odo, Worf, Seven of Nine, Tuvok.
…and maybe a couple of psychic characters, Spock, Kes, Tuvok, Seven of Nine, Benjamin.
You’ll probably also need some mentally brilliant characters, a Klingon, and someone who doesn’t fit in due to a negative background and is jaded about it.
…a brilliant doctor helps too.
These characteristics are needed so you can write certain storyline types and stand alone episodes.
Data was very interested in becoming more human, thus the Pinocchio reference. Spock had bemused disdain for humans and had no desire to be more like them.
The use of the characters throughout the shows are as you described though, a useful foil to show humanity through.
It’s great that the two characters discuss this topic, I think it’s in the multi-part TNG episode where Ambassador Spock is creating a dissident movement on Romulus.
In my mind I always imagined he was that way because the show’s writers wrote him that way as a modern Pinocchio stand in.
Technically he’s a Spock stand in: hyper logical but not quite getting humanity.
This characteristic… In fact lots of characteristics get shared and mix and matched across DS9, TNG, and Voyager.
In Voyager Seven of Nine and The Doctor are the “not quite understanding humanity” characters. In DS9, it’s Odo.
Ideally newer Trek would do this too, but it might also want to have:
A quirky or modded engineer: LaForge, O’Brien, Scotty, Be’lana.
A superior strength character: Spock, Data, Odo, Worf, Seven of Nine, Tuvok.
…and maybe a couple of psychic characters, Spock, Kes, Tuvok, Seven of Nine, Benjamin.
You’ll probably also need some mentally brilliant characters, a Klingon, and someone who doesn’t fit in due to a negative background and is jaded about it.
…a brilliant doctor helps too.
These characteristics are needed so you can write certain storyline types and stand alone episodes.
Data was very interested in becoming more human, thus the Pinocchio reference. Spock had bemused disdain for humans and had no desire to be more like them.
The use of the characters throughout the shows are as you described though, a useful foil to show humanity through.
It’s great that the two characters discuss this topic, I think it’s in the multi-part TNG episode where Ambassador Spock is creating a dissident movement on Romulus.