Summary
- Lore's debut in Star Trek: TNG's "Datalore" resembles TOS' "The Enemy Within" with evil doppelgangers wreaking havoc on the Enterprise-D and requiring reintegration.
- Star Trek has a long history of exploring the concept of evil twins and doppelgangers, from the Mirror Universe in TOS to DS9, Discovery, and Picard.
- Lore and Data's story in TNG is just one example of the many doppelganger stories in Star Trek, starting with Captain Kirk's evil double in TOS.
Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced Lore (Brent Spiner) as the evil brother of Lt. Commander Data (also Brent Spiner) with a story that recalls a classic episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. In TNG season 1, episode 13, "Datalore," Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) takes the USS Enterprise-D to visit Omicron Theta, the planet where the android Data was found by Starfleet years before. As the Enterprise crew explore the now desolate planet, they find the disassembled body of another android that looks just like Data. When the new android is reassembled and activated, he declares himself to be superior to Data and says his name is Lore.
Although Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D crew initially show some apprehension about Data's android doppelganger, they soon begin explaining to him how the ship works. Despite all of the unknowns surrounding Lore, he basically has free reign of the ship and access to the Enterprise's computers. Lore believes himself to be superior to all humans, and he has formed an alliance with the Crystalline Entity that destroyed the colony at Omicron Theta. Lore renders Data unconscious and begins masquerading as his brother, and only boy genius Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) shows any suspicions about Data's odd behavior.
How Lore’s Star Trek: TNG Debut Rehashes Evil Kirk In TOS
Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1's "Datalore" feels very similar to Star Trek: The Original Series season 1's "The Enemy Within." In TOS, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is involved in a transporter accident that splits him into two halves. The doppelganger embodies all of the negative traits of Captain Kirk while the other embodies the quieter, kinder aspects of the Captain. Before the mishap is discovered, the Evil Kirk wanders around the Enterprise wreaking havoc, including assaulting Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney). The Enterprise crew soon realizes what has happened and begins working on a way to reintegrate Kirk's two halves.
Just as Lore pretended to be Data, the Evil Kirk also masquerades as his better half. The two Kirks face off and the Good Kirk eventually convinces his doppelganger that they can't survive without each other and must be recombined into one Kirk. Lore will eventually become a part of Data's consciousness as well, but this does not happen until Star Trek: Picard season 3. Before that, Lore and Data face off a couple of more times, with Lore always trying to manipulate or deceive those around him. TNG's "Datalore" reinvents several elements from TOS's "The Enemy Within," to tell a similar story of pesky evil doppelgangers.
Other Evil Doppelgangers In Star Trek
Stories of doppelgangers have been around since ancient times and science fiction, in particular, has always loved a good evil twin story. Since one of its earliest episodes, Star Trek has been interested in the idea of duplicates and evil doppelgangers. TOS season 2, episode 4, "Mirror, Mirror," even introduces an entire Mirror Universe populated by evil versions of nearly every Star Trek character. When Captain Kirk and some of his crew mistakenly transport to this universe, they encounter a Starfleet that destroys any civilizations that won't cooperate and punishes disobedient officers with agonizing pain.
Several other Star Trek shows have revisited the Mirror Universe, most notably Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Discovery. Discovery, in particular, included two major characters who came over from the Mirror Universe. Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) impersonated his Prime Universe self until Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) discovered his ruse, and Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) began her journey to redemption in the Prime Universe. DS9 and Star Trek: Picard also had the villainous Changelings, who could impersonate others for often nefarious purposes. Data and Lore in Star Trek: The Next Generation are just one example of the many Star Trek stories about doppelgangers, beginning with Captain Kirk's evil double in TOS.