Data, always wanting something fun to do, learned after attending a seminar how to improve upon his creator's work, which is a continuance of Isaac Asimov's work. He, without announcing his ambitions to anybody, and without even finishing the prototype android, and activating it during its own construction progress, successfully assembled a sentient android. He surprised his crew members Wesley Crusher, Geordi La Forge, Deanna Troi, and Captain Picard. The Captain had expressed outrage over what had happened, knowing that both Star Fleet Command and The Romulan Star Empire would hear about it.
Robotic Lal gets along with everybody not that much different from The Enterprise's Library Computer: You can communicate with it, and it responds adequately. It also occasionally asks questions such as why they must wear uniforms. Data explains their purpose as being simply an accepted custom. It nonetheless is permitted to walk about the ship without exterior drapings, yet can easily determine the gender of its crewmates. It is also this moment that despite seeming barely sentient, Lal acknowledges Data as Father, with a close mother child relationship with Deanna Troi, who happens to be the first female character that Lal is introduced to. Deanna works closely with Data both directly and behind the scenes during the entire existince of Lal in its robotic form. Deanna criticized Data for giving Lal an unfinished appearance. Data responded by saying that he wishes for Lal to help him decide the life path that seems desirable for Lal, since it is Lal's life to live. Doing so also accelerated Lal's construction, since Data subconsciously knew that creating the most advanced technology around would attract unwanted attention. It should be noted that with Data and Deanna being around Lal the most, two of Lal's choices somewhat resembled them.
PRODUCTION NOTES:
Lal was initially presented to us as a genderless machine that vaguely resembles a Humanoid. As far as production is concerned, this form of Lal is portrayed by actor Leonard Crofoot who was personally recommended by episode director Jonathan Frakes. He had noticed that Leonard's height and physique as perfect for the role of being Robotic Lal, thus not much was needed for clothing. Leonard simply wore the following items all made of Latex: Bikini Briefs, a Sports Bra, and a Head Piece that makes him seem bald with obvious facial ridges. Leonard is otherwise naked albeit covered in metallic body paint and as with his predecessor and role model character, given contact lenses. Leonard's voice was altered in post production, and since Lal's role model is Deanna Troi, his voice was altered a second time after Lal chose to be a Humanoid Female, complete with the same color of hair that Deanna has. Other actors and actresses that filled in for Lal (non speaking) include Kristina Kochoff as the Andorian Female (being the only one listed as The Enterprise Crew with caution expressed by Data) and Andy Wiley (the Will Riker esque human male) and Gary McMurtrey (a friend for Worf) ... aside from commenting that being a Klingon Male would provide positive benifits for Worf, she believed that Lal would have the least difficulty if Lal chose to be a Human Male. However, when she genuinely and humbly said that she likes the Human Female choice, Lal chose this form as well. For more information, look at her separate character guide.
