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| Data | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Next Generation character | |
 Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data | |
| First appearance | "Encounter at Farpoint" (1987) (The Next Generation) |
| Created by | Gene Roddenberry D. C. Fontana |
| Portrayed by | Brent Spiner |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Data Soong |
| Species | Soong-TypeSynthetic intelligenceAndroid-lifeform |
| Gender | Male |
| Title | Chief Operations Officer Second Officer |
| Affiliation | United Federation of Planets Starfleet |
| Family |
|
| Children |
|
| Origin | Omicron Theta |
| Rank | Lieutenant Commander |
| Posting |
|
| Position |
|
Data is a fictional character in theStar Trekfranchise. He appears in the television seriesStar Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), thefirst andthird seasons ofStar Trek: Picard, and thefifth season ofStar Trek: Lower Decks; and the feature filmsStar Trek Generations (1994),First Contact (1996),Insurrection (1998), andNemesis (2002).[1][2] Data is portrayed by actorBrent Spiner.
Data is aself-aware,sapient,sentient and anatomicallyfully functional maleandroid who serves as thesecond officer and chief operations officer aboard theFederationstarshipUSSEnterprise-D and later theUSSEnterprise-E.
Data is in many ways a successor to the originalStar Trek'sSpock, in that the character has superior mental skills and offers an "outsider's" perspective on humanity.[3]
Gene Roddenberry toldBrent Spiner that over the course of the series, Data was to become "more and more like a human until the end of the show, when he would be very close, but still not quite there. That was the idea and that's the way that the writers took it." Spiner felt that Data exhibited theChaplinesque characteristics of a sad, tragic clown.[4] To get into his role as Data, Spiner used the character ofRobby the Robot from the filmForbidden Planet as a role model.[4] Before Spiner was cast,Eric Menyuk,Mark Lindsay Chapman,Kevin Peter Hall, andKelvin Han Yee were considered for the role.[5]
Commenting on Data's perpetual albino-like appearance, he said: "I spent more hours of the day in make-up than out of make-up", so much so that he even called it a way ofmethod acting.[4] Spiner also portrayed Data's manipulative and malevolent brotherLore (a role he found much easier to play, because the character was "more like me"),[4] and Data's creator, Dr.Noonien Soong. Additionally, he portrayed another Soong-type android,B-4, in the filmStar Trek: Nemesis, and alsoArik Soong, one of Soong's ancestors in three episodes ofStar Trek: Enterprise. Spiner said his favorite Data scene takes place in "Descent", when Data plays poker on the holodeck with a re-creation of the famous physicistStephen Hawking, played by Hawking himself.[4]
Spiner reprised his role of Data in theStar Trek: Enterprise series finale "These Are the Voyages..." in an off-screen speaking part. Spiner felt that he had visibly aged out of the role and that Data was best presented as a youthful figure.[6] Spiner returned to the role for 2020Star Trek: Picard,[7] having been convinced by the advent ofdigital de-aging tools.[8] He also accepted because the negative fan reaction to the death of Data inNemesis took him by surprise, and the scene inPicard gave a new opportunity for a proper sendoff to the character.[9] Initially stating that the 2020first season ofPicard would be his final time playing Data,[10] Spiner returned to the role for the series' 2023third and final season, portraying an aged Data, Lore, and B-4.
Data was found by Starfleet in 2338. He was the sole survivor on Omicron Theta in the rubble of a colony left after an attack from theCrystalline Entity. He is asynthetic life form withartificial intelligence, designed and built byDoctor Noonien Soong in his own likeness (likewise portrayed by Spiner).
Hispositronic brain allows him impressive computational capabilities. He experienced ongoing difficulties during the early years of his life with understanding various aspects ofhuman behavior[11] and was unable to feelemotion or understand certain humanidiosyncrasies, inspiring him to strive for his own humanity. This goal eventually led to the addition of an "emotion chip", created by Soong, to Data's positronic net.[12] Although Data's endeavor to increase his humanity and desire for human emotional experience is a significant plot point (and source of humor) throughout the series, he consistently shows a nuanced sense of wisdom, sensitivity and curiosity, garnering respect from his peers and colleagues.
Dialog in "Datalore" establishes some of Data's backstory. It is stated that he was deactivated in 2336 on Omicron Theta before an attack by theCrystalline Entity, a spaceborne creature which converts life forms to energy for sustenance. He was found and reactivated by Starfleet personnel two years later. Data went toStarfleet Academy from 2341 to 2345 (he describes himself as "Class of '78" to CommanderWilliam Riker in the series premiere "Encounter at Farpoint"—with "honors in probability mechanics and exobiology", although canonically may only refer to thestardate) and then served inStarfleet aboard the USSTrieste.[13] He was assigned to theEnterprise under CaptainJean-Luc Picard in 2364. In "Datalore", Data discovers his amoral brother,Lore, and learns that Dr. Noonien Soong created Data after Lore. Lore fails in an attempt to betray theEnterprise to the Crystalline Entity, andWesley Crusherbeams Data's brother into space at the episode's conclusion. Lore claimed that Data was "less-perfect", which was a lie, as Soong later confirmed to Data in "Brothers"; the only real difference between the two of them "was some programming" (Lore's positronic net differed from Data's: it had a Type-"L" phase discriminator compared to Data's Type-"R"; see episode "Time's Arrow").
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It was in the Star Trek prequel "Star Trek: Enterprise" episode "The Augments" that the origin of Data can be traced back to a scientific theory created by genetic engineer Arik Soong, ancestor to Data's "father / creator" Noonien Soong, who noted that his theory would take generations beyond his lifetime to develop into a practical working model. Arik Soong created the theory while serving life imprisonment for recreating the discontinued "Augments" program which originally started the Eugenics War of the late 20th century. This links the Data storyline to that of Khan Noonien Singh from theoriginalStar Trek.
In "The Measure of a Man", a Starfleet judge rules that Data is not Starfleet property.[14]
Data's family is expanded in "The Offspring", which introduces Lal, agynoid based on Data's neural interface and whom Data refers to as his daughter. Lal "dies" shortly after activation. In "Brothers", Data reunites with Dr. Soong. There he meets again with Lore, who steals the emotion chip Soong meant for Data to receive. Lore then fatally wounds Soong. In "Descent", Lore returns, using the emotion chip to control Data and make him help with Lore's attempt to make theBorg entirely artificial lifeforms. Data eventually deactivates Lore, and recovers, but does not install the damaged emotion chip. In "Inheritance", Soong's former wife Juliana reunites with Data, though the crew discovers she was a gynoid duplicate built by Soong after the real Julianna's death, programmed to die after a long life, and to believe she is the true Julianna unaware of the fact she is an android. Faced with the decision, Data chooses not to disclose this to her and allows her to continue her normal life.
In "All Good Things...", the two-hour series finale ofThe Next Generation, Captain Picard travels among three different time periods. The Picard of 25 years into the future goes withGeordi La Forge to seek advice from now Professor Data, a luminary physicist who holds theLucasian Chair atCambridge University.
In the filmStar Trek Generations, Data finally installs the emotion chip he retrieved from Lore, and experiences the full scope of emotions.[15] However, those emotions proved difficult to control and Data struggled to master them. InStar Trek: First Contact, Data has managed to gain complete control of the chip, which includes deactivating it to maintain his performance efficiency. In the filmStar Trek: Nemesis, Data beams Picard off an enemy ship before destroying it, sacrificing himself and saving the captain and crew of theEnterprise. However, Data had copied his core memories intoB-4, his lost brother who is introduced in the movie. This was done with the reluctant help of La Forge, who voiced concerns about how this could cause B-4 to be nothing more than an exact duplicate of Data.
In thefirst season ofStar Trek: Picard, Data is seen in Picard's dreams, playing poker with him in Ten-Forward, and later painting in the middle of the vineyards of Chateau Picard. It is revealed that Dahj and Soji Asha are Data's daughters, created through fractal neuronic cloning, a procedure developed by Dr.Bruce Maddox. These neurons were apparently salvaged from B-4, who had been dismantled and placed in storage after his positronic net was found to be too primitive to integrate Data's memories. However, Data's consciousness is revealed to still exist inside a quantum simulation crafted by Maddox and based upon memories retrieved from the neurons Maddox salvaged from B-4, the equipment holding the network now in the possession of Altan Soong, Noonien Soong's biological son. After Picard dies, Altan Soong transfers Picard's consciousness into a golem intended for his own consciousness and Picard meets with Data inside the simulation. Data requests that Picard terminate his consciousness, which would allow Data the experience of dying, believing that he could only trulylive if he had a finite lifespan. Once Picard awakens, he carries out Data's wish and Data's consciousness rapidly ages to death, Picard giving a brief eulogy as he observes that what made Data remarkable was his ability to see humanity's worst traits and still aspire to the best parts of thehuman condition.
In thethird season ofStar Trek: Picard, Data is revealed to have been revived by Altan within a new synthetic body, having partially merged with Lore, B-4, and the memories of Altan Soong himself. It's believed by Riker that while Data's memories had previously been unrecoverable, the lifting of the ban on synthetics had allowed Soong to work on it more and properly extract them from B-4. The new android was requisitioned by the Daystrom Institute, Starfleet's foremost advanced research center. Riker,Worf, andRaffi Musiker steal the android, and bring him aboard the USSTitan, where he is reunited with Picard. The android entity holds valuable information on Daystrom's research projects, and Data's persona reveals that the antagonists of the season have stolen Picard's original dead organic body. However, it takes several hours for La Forge to re-engineer the android to allow Data's persona to truly dominate it, with Lore's persona dominating in the meantime. Data's persona is seemingly unable to overpower Lore who has taken over theTitan's systems, but upon realizing that Lore envied the compassion and empathy Data developed from his memories, Data eventually surrenders them to Lore. Lore initially regards them as his battle trophies; they consume him, reintegrating Lore and reconstituting Data, allowing him to fully take over the new body and reprogram theTitan's systems against the Changelings. Data's personality is thus newly enriched, and attains its most human-like state with Data stating that he is Data, but also Lore, B-4, Lal and everything else that Soong had programmed into the android.
In the series final episodes, the Changelings are revealed to be working with the Borg who take over Starfleet. Data plays an instrumental role in the final defeat of the Borg, piloting the rebuilt USSEnterprise-D to the heart of a Borg cube overJupiter on a gut feeling, a feat that La Forge had believed to be impossible for even a computer or the best pilot to accomplish. Afterwards, Data attempts to adjust to having an artificial organic body and everything that comes with it and is last seen playing poker with hisEnterprise crewmates at the Ten Forward bar in Los Angeles.
InStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5's "Fully Dilated," an alternate universe version of Data gets trapped in the prime universe. This version of Data, who is purple, is still active in 2382 rather than having been destroyed years earlier and serves on theEnterprise-D which is similarly still intact. The alternate Data is shown to share many of his prime counterpart's traits and even some of his experiences, such as a close friendship with Geordi La Forge andgetting trapped in 19th century San Francisco. After theEnterprise briefly crosses into the prime universe via a mysterious interdimensional rift "while battling some evil clones ofTasha Yar, or something," Data is left behind and his shuttle crashes on Dilmer III, a pre-industrial planet experiencingtime dilation. Data's head -- the only part of his body to survive -- is recovered by Starfleet lieutenants Beckett Mariner, D'Vana Tendi, and T'Lyn, but a transporter mishap strands them on the planet for a year of relative time. During this period, Tendi finds a way to power Data's head and reactivate him and he provides her with advice and help with her science. Data is eventually beamed to the USSCerritos where he recommends both Tendi and T'Lyn for the open senior science officer position. The crew load Data's head into a torpedo casing and fire it back through the rift to be recovered by theEnterprise on the other side.
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Spot is Data's pet cat and a recurring character in the show. Spot appears in several episodes duringTNG's last four seasons, as well as in the feature filmsStar Trek Generations andStar Trek: Nemesis. She first appears in the episode "Data's Day". Spot originally appears as a maleSomali cat, but later appears as a female orangetabby cat,[16] eventually giving birth tokittens (TNG: "Genesis"). InStar Trek: Picard, his memories of Spot are the last ones that Data "surrenders" to Lore.
Like Spock,[17] Data became asex symbol and Spiner'sfan mail came mostly from women. He described the letters as "romantic mail" that were "really written to Data; he's a really accessible personality".[18]
Robotics engineers regard Data (along with thedroids from theStar Wars movies) as the pre-eminent face of robots in the public's perception of their field.[19] On April 9, 2008, Data was inducted intoCarnegie Mellon University'sRobot Hall of Fame during a ceremony at theCarnegie Science Center inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[20]
Spiner himself released an album of old pop standards from the 1930s and '40s entitledOl' Yellow Eyes Is Back, a reference to the contact lenses he wore as Data, as well as a play on the name of theFrank Sinatra album,Ol'BlueEyes IsBack.[21]
The Robot Hall of Fame inducted four new robots: Lt. Cmdr. Data from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," LEGO Mindstorms, NavLab 5 and Raibert Hopper.
