Subject: Seconding all of your points, plus -
Author:
Posted on: 2014-03-08 20:40:00 UTC
- more ideas about Data and Dorian.
See, for me it's hard to decide who's more human because it's not just about their personalities and emotions (in which case Dorian is definitely more human) but also about how society treats them, and who their friends are, and what those friendships are like. Dorian is clearly treated as police property, while there's an entire episode where they explore the question of whether Data is property. Dorian responds to that treatment with some resentment (disliking the term "synthetic"), but so far despite being more emotional he's less vocal than Data, who corrects people who call him "it" and tells off an officer for challenging his command. This could indicate that Dorian was programmed to be more obedient than Data, whose creator was definitely trying harder to give him free will. However, it is also circumstances - Data's allowed much more autonomy, and has his superiors on his side, while Dorian can't really speak up without being seen as malfunctioning.
Then there's their friendships. Their human best friends couldn't be more different - Data was drawn to Geordi because Geordi accepted him and treated him kindly, while Dorian is drawn to John because John's the reason he got reactivated and he knows that underneath all the gruffness John's got a good heart. John and Dorian banter and needle each other, while Data and Geordi bond over their similarities. John dislikes his synthetic part and bickers with his synthetic friend, while Geordi likes his synthetic part and is kind to his synthetic friend. In a way, I feel like it would be more interesting to see Geordi and John discuss having android friends, because they have such radically different takes on it.
Data also has a much larger support system of friends - you kind of get the impression that any of the main characters would defend him.
I'm planning to write a crossover at some point - not sure if it's going to be the characters meeting or casting Data and Geordi as Dorian and John (or heck, maybe two different stories.) So I've spent a lot of time thinking about this.