10 Best Sci-Fi Movies Starring Star Trek Actors (That Aren't Star Trek)
2. Independence Day (Brent Spiner)
Robots and aliens are, let's be honest, the backbone of science fiction. Independence Day goes with the latter, and in spectacular, White House-destroying fashion, too. After a number of near-indestructible flying saucers arrive on Earth to lay waste to its largest cities, the President of the United States (Bill Pullman) is taken to the top secret Area 51, where he meets the base's lead scientist, Dr. Brackish Okun.
Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation may recognise this disheveled character as Brent Spiner, who manned the conn of the starship Enterprise as the android Lieutenant Commander Data from 1987 through to 2002. More recently, Spiner made appearances on both Star Trek: Enterprise (2004-2005) and Star Trek: Picard (2020).
Dr. Okun is a thoroughly unique character in Independence Day, standing out among the politicians and soldiers he works alongside. Though he appears to meet his grisly end at the tentacles of one of the base's preserved aliens, Spiner reprises the role in the 2016 sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, revealing the character to have simply been in a coma for the last 20 years.