In some of the earliest production notes for “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” written back in 1987, Data was described as having been built by a species of aliens that audiences would never see. The aliens were described as “Earth Asian,” and Data was intended to be played by an Asian actor. Actor Kelvin Han Yee famously auditioned for the role. John Lone was briefly in consideration as was Kim Miyori, back when Data was (very briefly) transformed into a female character. The final audition actually came down to Spiner and Mark Lindsay Chapman. When Spiner was selected, only then did the physical design for Data begin in earnest. Makeup artist Michael Westmore was the one who invented Data’s pale skin and yellow eyes. 

The aliens who built Data would have also implanted his brain with the memories of their homeworld, and Data would have an amalgamated personality of every surviving member of the species, now presumably lost forever. That’s an ambitious sci-fi idea, but perhaps difficult to portray in an everyday performance on primetime TV. That kind of concept is far better suited for sci-fi literature. 

Some of that origin story made its way into the script for “Datalore.” By on-screen Trek mythology, Data actually did have the personal logs of the lost members of his “childhood” colony implanted into his positronic brain. Data, however, had no emotions, and could only access the logs when asked. The colonists’ memories didn’t dictate his personality. Also, they were all humans in the final draft. No aliens in sight. Well, other than the crystalline entity that killed them.