star trek - Why were Data's eyes yellow?

Was there any reason why Dr Soong chose for Data's eyes to be yellow? I can understand that he wasn't going for a completely human-looking android based on his skin color, but why yellow eyes?

Answer

In universe, I'm not sure there's ever been an explanation for why that specific color was chosen. However:

Data in an alternate timeline depicted in 7x11 ("Parallels") does have blue eyes instead of yellow.

Out of universe, when Brent Spiner asked Roddenberry why Soong couldn't manage to give Data life-like skin, Roddenberry replied, "what makes you think what you have isn't better than skin?"

Also, Spiner went through several makeup tests to create Data's eventual look: which is actually created with gold paint on his skin and gold contacts.

So, in universe, it could have been because the yellow iris material helped him see better than what more human-looking materials could achieve. This may have been similar to why Geordi eventually received occular implants with electric blue irises instead of more conventional coloration.

It's also likely that Soong deliberately avoided making his early androids look human. His goal was simply to create androids — fully sentient robots with humanoid form and personalities. His goal wasn't necessarily to create replicants of himself, which has even more serious social, moral and security implications. (Though he did eventually create a replicant of Juliana Tainer).

So they needed to be humanoid enough to be able to live amongst humanoids, but they weren't meant to be mistaken for actual humans. And seeing as humanity had already come into contact with alien species, their pale skin and yellow eyes wouldn't really be an issue for anyone.

Comments

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