Computing ‘Star Trek’ data

Brent Spiner’s eyes are blue. This may come as a surprise to many people familiar with the actor from his best-known role. It takes yellow contact lenses, not to mention darkened hair and a coat of gold-tinted body paint, to transform Spiner into Data, the inquisitive android from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Underneath the shiny makeup, Spiner is a versatile actor who has appeared on Broadway in the Stephen Sondheim musical “Sunday in the Park with George,” and in “1776.” But the 53-year-old Houston native will always be best remembered as Data, a role he played in the “Next Generation” TV series (1987-94) and in subsequent movies.

In “Star Trek: Nemesis,” which opened Friday, Spiner also plays B4, an earlier model of the android.

How is it to play Data again?

It’s like summer camp. You get to come back and play with your friends.

You’re also credited as a writer on “Nemesis.” Have you ever written for “Star Trek” before?

Surreptitiously, yeah, but not upfront. A lot of what we worked on in the “Nemesis” story is: What haven’t we done, and what haven’t we seen? We wanted to do a really great action picture, but to make it about something and give it emotional depth.

Are you a Trekkie?

I wouldn’t say so. I think “Star Trek” is good stuff, and I think it’s a really honorable piece of pop culture. But I was always more drawn to comedy.

Do you consider yourself a comedian?

Comedy is definitely the way I see things. And I think that from the beginning, [“Star Trek” creator] Gene Roddenberry saw Data as the comic relief on “Next Generation.”

What about those hard-core Trekkies?

In general I think “Star Trek” fans have gotten a bad rap through the years. “Saturday Night Live” perpetuated this myth that “Star Trek” fans are weird people. They’re not. They’re no more weird than Deadheads or any other kind of fans. They’re just people who enjoy “Star Trek.”

There’s talk of “Nemesis” being the last “Star Trek” movie.

If the movie’s successful, we’ll make another one. If it’s not successful, we won’t. We tried to end on a note of hope, and there’s no certainty about what’s going to happen next.