Lore was a Soong-type android constructed by Doctor Noonien Soong and Juliana Soong at the Omicron Theta colony. Built in Dr. Soong's image, Lore was the fourth android they constructed and embodied the first successful example of a fully functional positronic brain. An earlier model Soong-type android prototype, B-4, also had a positronic brain, but of a less sophisticated type, resulting in a simple-minded personality. (TNG: "Inheritance", "Datalore", "Brothers"; Star Trek Nemesis)
Lore was extremely advanced and sentient, possessing megastrength, speed, and intelligence when compared to a Human. Lore's emotional programming was also very advanced. However, he began displaying signs of emotional instability and malevolence, leading Lore to see himself as superior to Humans. Lore frightened the other colonists, who demanded that Soong deactivate him. Lore later claimed they saw him as "too perfect", and were envious. (TNG: "Brothers", "Silicon Avatar", "Inheritance")
Eventually, Soong capitulated, but not before Lore had secretly contacted the Crystalline Entity in a bid for revenge, offering it the planet's life to ensure his survival. After deactivating and dismantling Lore, Soong set about constructing Lore's brother, Data, an android without destabilizing emotions. (TNG: "Datalore", "Brothers", "Silicon Avatar", "The Offspring")
Lore's positronic net differed from Data's: it had a Type-"L" phase discriminator compared to Data's Type-"R". (TNG: "Time's Arrow")
Soong placed Lore's components into storage, intending to correct Lore's behavioral problems eventually. Lore later harbored resentment towards his creator for abandoning him. Yet, when he met his father again on Terlina III and learned that Soong was dying, he was sincerely upset and, for a brief moment, he displayed a genuine concern for his father. Nevertheless, Lore's malevolent streak soon prevailed. (TNG: "Brothers")
Following Lore's communiques, the Crystalline Entity attacked Omicron Theta in 2338 and destroyed all life on the planet. Both Lore and Data were left behind, but Data was subsequently discovered by the crew of the USS Tripoli. Lore remained in Soong's laboratory until 2364, when the USS Enterprise-D arrived at the planet. The ship's chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Argyle, and chief medical officer, Dr. Beverly Crusher, were successful in reactivating the android. (TNG: "Datalore")
Although initially presenting himself as willing to please and serve Humans, sharing some information about his 'childhood' in the colony with his 'brother', Lore swiftly returned to his previous ways. Deactivating Data, Lore stole his uniform and masqueraded as him. Lore summoned the Crystalline Entity again, intending to feed the crew of the Enterprise-D to it. His treachery was discovered due to the differences between him and Data (such as Lore's use of contractions), and he was transported into open space. (TNG: "Datalore", "Silicon Avatar")
Lore drifted in space for nearly two years, until he was rescued by a passing Pakled trade ship. Lore subsequently responded to the homing signal intended by Soong to draw Data to Soong's new laboratory on Terlina III. After Soong had reactivated Lore, Lore expressed frustration at his father's 'dismissal' of him in favor of working on Data but was as close to upset as he could come when he learned that Soong was dying, protesting that his father seemed fine despite his obvious age.
However, his grief for his father was overshadowed by his anger when he learned that Soong had summoned Data to him to give Data an emotion chip that would allow him to feel Human emotions (as Data's emotionless "childhood" had given him a greater understanding of right and wrong). Lore became sore and resented his father's 'favoritism' of Data, despite Soong's protests that he had never designed a chip for Lore simply because he assumed that Lore had remained deactivated. Despite Soong's attempt to placate Lore, Lore nevertheless tricked Soong by posing as his brother and stealing the chip for himself. Because the chip was not designed for him, it caused Lore to become even more unstable and he mortally wounded Soong before departing the planet once again. (TNG: "Brothers")
In 2369, Lore discovered a group of Borg that had been disconnected from the Collective after integrating Hugh's sense of individuality into the hive. Lore styled himself their leader and gave his Borg individual names, coercing them into becoming his fanatical followers. He began cruel experiments on them, attempting to replace their organic brains with positronic components. Meanwhile, Lore influenced their behavior, which made their attacks more violent – they ceased to assimilate individuals and instead began murdering them.
Lore directed his Borg followers to launch attacks on targets in Federation space, to lure the Enterprise-D – and thus Data – in an elaborate attempt to use the emotion chip to manipulate Data to his side. Lore had modified the chip so that it could remotely instill anger and hatred in Data. Confused with his new emotions, and with his ethical subroutines deactivated, Data betrayed the crew of the Enterprise-D and joined Lore at his base. (TNG: "Descent")
While in Borg captivity, Geordi La Forge was able to instruct Captain Jean-Luc Picard to modify a Borg interlink transceiver in order to reset Data's ethical program with a kedion pulse, restoring his sense of right and wrong. Data would still experience negative emotions; however, he could at least choose whether or not to act upon them.
Upon realizing Lore's malign nature, Data fired upon and deactivated Lore, whose last words were "I… love you… brother." Lore was subsequently dismantled – and the emotion chip, though damaged, was removed and returned to its rightful owner. (TNG: "Descent, Part II") Two years later, Data finally had the chip installed. (Star Trek Generations)
Following the lifting of the ban on synthetics, Altan began construction on a new golem to serve as a 'totality', combining the memory data of B-4, Lal, and Soong himself with the personalities of Data and Lore into a singular being. He gave the new golem an older appearance, based on an aged Soong, hoping to reflect the wisdom of age. Unfortunately, Soong died before he could complete this golem, and Starfleet seized his work, storing it at Daystrom Station. The integration appeared to have failed, and Data and Lore were at odds with each other inside the golem, each trying to seize control. (PIC: "The Bounty", "Dominion") Following the android's activation, Lore would interrupt Data, taking control over the android. While placed into a cognitive-function-only mode, Lore interjected in Data's attempts to explain the situation to Picard, to insult him. Lore seized control of the android while plugged into the USS Titan-A's computer. Lore locked Geordi La Forge out of Engineering and lowered the ship's force fields, taunting La Forge for trying to appeal to Data's memories of friendship. La Forge was able to successfully appeal to Data, who took control of the android from Lore. (PIC: "Dominion") La Forge lifted the partition separating Data and Lore in an attempt to get Data to take full control over the android so he could help retake the Titan, but Lore began swiftly overpowering and deleting Data's personality. As he was deleted, Data handed over his memories to Lore, including those of playing poker with his friends aboard the Enterprise-D, and, finally, his memories of Spot, stating that he was handing over the memories because while Data had everything, Lore had nothing. Upon taking those last memories, Lore completed the process of deleting Data from the android but Lore began to experience the effects of deletion himself, and Data's personality returned. Data had deduced that Lore would not be able to resist taking his memories as trophies. He had taken the things that had made Data who he was, and as such, the two personalities became "one" and Lore merged into Data. The brothers said goodbye to one another as Lore's personality was finally overwritten with that of Data. Data later tells La Forge that he's Data, but he's also Lore, B-4, and everything else that Dr. Soong programmed into the android. (PIC: "Surrender")
Quick Answers
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Legacy
Years after Lore's deactivation at the Borg compound, bottles of bubble bath that bore the likeness of Lore were in circulation, and by 2381, were sometimes being surreptitiously used to represent the limited edition Commander Data bottles. They were differentiated from the Data bottles by having a furrowed brow and a smirk. (LD: "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers")
| Soong-type androids |
|---|
| First two • B-4 • Lore • Data • Juliana Soong • Lal • Daystrom Android M-5-10 |
Memorable Quotes
"The troublesome little man-child. Are you prepared for the kind of death you've earned, little man?"
"Now, show me your warrior fierceness."
"I am not less perfect than Lore."
"Often-Wrong's got a broken heart; can't even tell his boys apart."
"Where's Data? You didn't fill Data with substandard parts, did you, old man? No. That honor was bestowed upon me. You owe me, old man. Not him. Me."
"Data."
"That's not Data."
"What?"
"You should listen to her, captain. She's way ahead of you."
"Lore!"
"They had lost their sense of purpose. Well, I gave them their purpose… and they gave me mine."
- - Lore, on the Borg he discovered and later became leader of (TNG: "Descent, Part II")
"The reign of biological life-forms is coming to an end. You, Picard, and those like you, are obsolete!"
- - Lore (TNG: "Descent, Part II")
Appendices
Appearances
- TNG:
- "Datalore" (Season 1)
- "Brothers" (Season 4)
- "Descent" (Season 6)
- "Descent, Part II" (Season 7)
- LD: "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers" (likeness on bubble bath bottle) (Season 2)
Background information
Lore was played by Brent Spiner in all of his four appearances but only received credit for his second appearance. Ken Gildin, Brian Tomlinson, Dana Vitatoe, and Guy Vardaman served as photo doubles for Spiner in these episodes while Brian J. Williams was the stunt double in the episodes "Datalore" and "Descent, Part II".
Lore was originally planned to be a female android, to provide a love interest for Data. Her job would have been to go out and repair dangerous situations. It was Brent Spiner who suggested the old "evil twin" concept be used instead. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 46) The female android concept was later used in the third season episode "The Offspring", although this interpretation had the new android as Data's "child" rather than a potential love interest.
The Pakled costume worn by Spiner as Lore in "Brothers" was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction for US$2,155.00. [1](X) Other items that were sold off on eBay include the special effects thumb from "Brothers". [2](X) Dana Vitatoe's costume from "Brothers", [3](X) Spiner and Williams' costume from "Descent" and "Descent, Part II", [4](X) [5](X) and the utility jumpsuit from "Datalore". [6](X)
External links
- Lore at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works