star trek data meets his creator

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Inheritance

• Episode aired Nov 20, 1993

On Federation planet Atrea IV, Data encounters the former wife of his creator Noonian Soong who claims to be his "mother". On Federation planet Atrea IV, Data encounters the former wife of his creator Noonian Soong who claims to be his "mother". On Federation planet Atrea IV, Data encounters the former wife of his creator Noonian Soong who claims to be his "mother".

• Robert Scheerer
• Gene Roddenberry
• Dan Koeppel
• René Echevarria
• Patrick Stewart
• Jonathan Frakes
• LeVar Burton
• 16 User reviews
• 8 Critic reviews

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard

• Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker

• Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

• Lieutenant Worf

• Doctor Beverly Crusher

• Counselor Deanna Troi

• Lieutenant Commander Data …

• Dr. Juliana Tainer
• Dr. Pran Tainer
• (as William Lithgow)

• Ensign Gates
• (uncredited)

• Ensign Armstrong

• Starfleet Ensign
• Command Division Officer
• Operations Division Officer
• Operations Division Ensign
• Sciences Officer
• Atrean Aide
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia Fionnula Flanagan is an accomplished violinist in real life, and performed her own viola playing at the ship's concert. Fionnula Flanagan learned to play the viola while rehearsing this scene, spending a lot of time learning those six to eight bars of music, in order to make it convincing for the camera.
• Goofs When Data enters sickbay, he is carrying his violin and bow, as if he had walked to sickbay directly from the recital in Ten Forward, yet, when he is told to report to the transporter room because of an emergency on the planet, Dr. Pran Tainer has just been injured on the planet's surface. The time line makes no sense; both Dr. Pran Tainer and his wife, Dr. Juliana Tainer, have been present at Data's recital. How could the male Dr. Tainer have had time to transport to the planet's surface and begin work? And why isn't the female Dr. Tainer still wearing the outfit she had worn at the recital?

Lt. Commander Data : I would like to get to know you better... Mother.

• Connections Featured in Star Trek: Nemesis Review (2009)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews 16

• Jan 31, 2022
• November 20, 1993 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

The Life And Legacy Of Dr. Soong, The Creator Of Star Trek's Data

Early in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the android Data ( Brent Spiner ) explained his backstory to his new crewmates on the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. He knew that his creator was a man named Dr. Noonien Soong, and that he was discovered on a distant colony that had been destroyed. Data had no memory of his life on the colony. Later in the series, Data would learn he was not unique, as Soong also made an earlier model named Lore (also played by Spiner). Data had no emotions, but Lore did. Lore was also able to shake off his ethical subroutines and lives his life as a villain. He would recur throughout "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and would be up to no good in every appearance. Lore remembered Dr. Soong and the colony, but, being a devious liar, was coy about the actual details.

In the fourth season episode "Brothers" (October 8, 1990), Data and Lore were remotely "activated" to return to a secret laboratory deep in the galaxy. There, they found Dr. Soong (also Spiner) still alive and very, very old. It was in this episode where a lot of the Soong backstory and philosophy would be filled in, and Trekkies would take furious notes on the new canonical details about Data. 

Dr. Soong explains a few important things about himself in "Brothers." For one, he explained that making an android as advanced as Data is a careful and difficult affair. No cyberneticist has been able to recreate Data, and even Soong himself would have trouble perfecting the model (Lore's antisocial behavior was proof of his troubles). He also lays out, in plain language, why he wanted to make android clones of himself: By making offspring, Dr. Soong feels he can brush against immortality.

Dr. Soong's background

We eventually learn Soong was the result of a multi-generational obsession with constructing a "perfect human." The Soong family was long obsessed with eugenics, and when that failed, got into building androids. Dr. Noonien Soong was a curmudgeon and an eccentric. His ancestors were largely all supervillains. Perhaps Lore's propensity for evil was an unintentionally inherited trait that Noonien programmed into his brain without thinking about it. 

Some additional backstory: Dr. Soong once worked with a man called Ira Graves (W. Morgan Sheppard), who claims to have taught Noonien everything he knew. When Ira met Data in the episode "The Schizoid Man" (January 23, 1989), he described himself as Data's grandfather. It seems Dr. Graves merely wanted to shunt his consciousness into Data's body. After Dr. Graves and Dr. Soong split up, the latter moved to the above-mentioned colony. The colony was attacked from space by a massive intelligent crystal that consumed living matter, and Dr. Soong was assumed dead in the attack. Lore also escaped destruction by allying with the Crystalline Entity. As punishment, he was disassembled and locked in a blast-proof bunker. (Data later found and reassembled him.)

Dr. Soong was only able to chat with Data for a day before his death at Lore's hands. Dr. Soong aimed to give Data an emotions chip, a widget that would allow the android to feel for the first time. The chip was also meant to fill in Data's missing memories, allowing him to recall life on the colony prior to the Crystalline Entity attack. But Lore stole the chip and escaped. A lot of Data, then, remained a mystery. 

Other quirks of Data's brain

In later episodes, some of those mysteries were revealed. In the episode "Birthright Part I" (February 22, 1993), Data was zapped by a bolt of electricity, fell unconscious, and began hallucinating. It seems Dr. Soong programmed Data with the ability to dream. This was part of his "evolution," as Dr. Soong knew that Data would learn and grow and become more human over time. Dreaming was sort of like Data "leveling up." 

Dr. Soong was also married — in secret — to a woman named Juliana Tainer ( Fionnula Flanagan ). Data met her in the episode "Inheritance" (November 22, 1993). She died, but Dr. Soong was able to replicate an android clone of her, effectively making her Data's android mother. But she doesn't know she's an android, and her mechanical system is designed to trick medical scanners. In "Inheritance," it was also announced that Juliana had an aging program that would give her gray hair and wrinkles over time ... and that Data had a similar program. Dr. Soong, then, wanted his androids to look elderly over time. This was a handy way to incorporate actor Spiner's natural aging into a character that was ostensibly immortal. 

Oh yes, and in "Star Trek: Nemesis," it was revealed that Data also had a prototype older brother named B-4. His brain didn't work well. 

In recent "Star Trek" shows, ancestors of Dr. Soong began to emerge. The mystery of Data's creator was solved by a long-running intergenerational obsession that actually stemmed from unsavory motivations. Soongs of the past were miffed by humanity's imperfections and wanted to start tinkering with genes as a result. 

The other Soongs

Note: "Star Trek: Enterprise" takes place about a century prior to "Star Trek."

In a three-part episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" — "Borderland," "Cold Station 12," and "The Augments," which aired in early November 2004 — audiences were introduced to Dr. Arik Soong (Spiner), a mad geneticist who had been altering and "enhancing" humanoid DNA. Because he was banned from his eugenics programs on Earth (eugenics are a big no-no in the world of "Star Trek"), he was forced to implant Klingons with enhanced human DNA. This is why the Klingons from the original "Star Trek" looked more human from the Klingons in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." There was finally a canonical reason, and it was because of a Soong. At the end of the three-part episode, after Arik is arrested for his genetic shenanigans, he announces that gene manipulation isn't the right path. Perhaps he'd try cybernetics instead. Of course, it would take several generations to perfect ... 

In the first season of "Star Trek: Picard," set several decades after "Next Generation," audiences found that Noonien Soong, in addition to building robot "children," also had a biological child. This was Dr. Altan Soong (yet again played by Spiner), who was still building androids, even though doing so was deemed illegal. He lived in hiding on a hidden planet with a secret colony of android children. In a very Gene Roddenberry fashion, the androids all wore diaphanous robes. They also all had emotions. Just like with Dr. Noonien Soong, however, the color eventually came under threat from a massive, destructive space deity. Altan would shunt the consciousness of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) into an android body. Picard and Data now have that in common.

There was at least one additional Soong besides.

In the second season of "Star Trek: Picard," the timeline reached back even further. In a time-travel story set in the year 2024, audiences met  Dr. Adam Soong (you guessed it: Spiner), who was already growing clones and tinkering with genes. He had already grown an adult daughter (Isa Briones), but she was only the latest in a long line of short-lived meat-bots. 

When a character from the future tells Adam that his genetic research was about to be halted by the show's protagonists — because eugenics is icky — Adam immediately began doing villainous things to them. He ran over Admiral Picard with a car. Eventually, Adam's villainy would be stopped by his latest cloned daughter. As she fled, she trashed Adam's lab. Later, out of the rubble, Adam Soong would extract a folder marked "Khan Project." It seems that Data's distant ancestor would be responsible for creating Khan, the villain from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." 

The above-mentioned Altan would return in a recorded message in the third season of "Picard," explaining he had scooped up the android brains of Data, Lore, B-4, and a few Soongs and shoved them all into a composite body (also Spiner) that looks like it's in its early 70s. That was how Data, who had died twice in the past, was able to return for the series. It's a little farfetched, but Spiner seems to be enjoying himself playing all his characters at once. 

So Dr. Noonien Soong may have been initially presented as a benevolent (if a little self-obsessed) engineer who wanted to build children and push the limits of mechanical consciousness. As "Trek" has progressed, however, he became part of a dark legacy. 

Data's Entire Backstory Explained

Star Trek: The Next Generation gave Trekkies a whole host of new and incredible characters, from Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Geordi La Forge to William Riker and Deanna Troi. But perhaps the most memorable of the bunch was Data, everybody's favorite android.

With his super intelligent brain, Data was definitely an asset to the Enterprise crew, and his razor-sharp mind saved the day on more than one occasion. But due to his inability to feel emotions, he encountered all sorts of difficulties and challenges while boldly going where no android had gone before. But perhaps most importantly, Data allowed fans to ask some pretty big questions about the meaning of humanity and what counts as sentient life.

In other words, the saga of Data is absolutely fascinating, and today, we're taking a look at his tale. From his creation to his death and everything in between, here's Data's entire backstory explained.

The creation of Data

Star Trek: The Next Generation operated as a sort of space-based procedural, but that doesn't mean there was zero development over the series. As Jean-Luc Picard and the rest of the Enterprise crew fought conundrums of the week, the characters were built up throughout the show as stand-ins for concepts worth exploring. For example, we learned about conservatism and tradition through Worf, leadership through Picard, and empathy through Troi. As Data's entire life built toward the question of sentience and what makes a person a person, then we should probably start his story at the very beginning.

Data was created in the year 2336 by Dr. Noonian Soong. Soong was an incredibly well-regarded scientist, working for the Federation of Planets on issues of artificial intelligence. In particular, Soong wanted to create a powerful new android brain that could learn in the same ways that men could. Unfortunately, his first several attempts at creating a better android brain were flops, and he fled the Earth in shame. 

He ended up living on Omicron Theta under an assumed name. The far-out outpost gave him the space to study androids without fear of being discovered or ridiculed, and he built six androids during his time on the planet. This included Data, his fifth attempt. Data was built for Soong to test solutions to problems from his previous android Lore. Lore was built with the capacity to feel emotions, which led to feelings of superiority. Data had this ability removed in the hopes that Soong could figure out how to upgrade Lore and apply the solution before reactivating him.   

Adjusting to life among humans

Data's early life was difficult, to say the least. He was immediately eyed with suspicion by his neighbors, both because he was an unsocialized android with little grasp on how to act in the world and because his brother Lore was deactivated for harboring anti-human ideas.

To get an idea of Data's years on Omicron Theta, just picture the clearly middle-aged android known throughout the series, with the motor functions and reasoning skills of an infant. His differences from Lore made the adjustment to living in the colony all the more difficult. Unlike Lore, he had no ability to process human emotions, which left him unable to understand the need to be polite. His gruff demeanor with the other Omicron Thetans would've been enough to make him an outsider, but his lack of modesty made it difficult to convince the android to wear clothes. Because Data was largely anatomically identical on the outside to a human, this caused a bit of scandal in the small village.  

Data was saved by Juliana

Data made few friends among the people who lived on Omicron Theta, including his own creator. Data's older brother, Lore, was made in the exact image of Dr. Soong and was treated as a son by the inventor. Data, as his name suggests, was an experiment, a way to collect and troubleshoot problems to perfect Lore. But Lore eventually came to be impressed by Data, who learned at a much faster clip than his older brother. Free of the distractions of emotion, Data became a reservoir of knowledge and advanced to heights that Lore never reached. 

However, Soong's decision to imbue Lore with human emotions couldn't be swept under the rug with a simple deactivation. Knowing that he was to be turned off, Lore called in an alien intelligence to destroy the planet before his creator could flip the switch. The Crystalline Entity attacked the planet, and Data was only saved by Soong's wife, Juliana, who felt protective of all of the androids she helped create alongside her husband. But ultimately, the decision that shaped the rest of Data's life was actually made to save the pride of Juliana's husband.

See, Juliana feared that Data would fail, sending Soong into another tailspin like the one that led to him fleeing from Earth. Rather than allow that, she told her husband that Data was destroyed in the initial attack. Soong fled, leaving his two most successful androids behind on a dead planet.  

He was found by Starfleet

Data was found shortly after the attack, when an exploratory party from the USS Tripoli beamed down to the ruined planet. They rebooted Data, which cast him into a deep existential confusion. In an attempt to store all the knowledge of the colony in Data's young brain, Soong deleted all of Data's memories of his own parents. He had no understanding of who he was or where he came from, and he felt entirely unmoored from humanity. 

His neural networks in his artificially intelligent brain had to rebuild themselves, as he was cast back to square one. Unfortunately, he lacked the mentorship of his parents, who were much more forgiving of Data's lack of emotion and knowledge because they created him as a blank slate. Absent their leadership, Data briefly lost the will to live when he realized that he could fail in his ability to gain full sentience. His neural processes became more and more complex, and with each new layer of processes, Data ran the risk of making an error and causing a domino effect of machine failures. Faced with the terror of accidentally frying his own brain, Data considered deactivating himself and likened it to suicide in a heart-to-servos with the Enterprise 's Geordi La Forge. 

Ultimately, Data's innate love of solving puzzles pressed him forward. He treated rebuilding his own mind as a unique challenge that was only suited for someone with a complex computer for a brain, and as a result, he was able to push through.  

Data had to learn the ropes

Once Data was fully rebooted and no longer in danger of collapsing his brain, he decided to put his advanced learning powers to good use. As Starfleet was the group that rescued him from permanent stasis on an empty planet, he signed up for the Starfleet Academy. But one member of the Academy's selection board, Dr. Bruce Maddox, objected to allowing Data to attend. After all, Data would be the first-ever android admitted to the Academy that trained cadets for the Federation's exploratory and military wing. As all prior androids on Earth had nowhere near the intelligence and reasoning capabilities of Data, Maddox viewed Data as nothing more than a machine. However, he was overruled. Data excelled at the Academy, quickly becoming an expert in alien biology and the mechanics of probability. 

While he was a model student, as you might expect given his superhuman grasp of reasoning and problem-solving, Data still had trouble interacting with people. He came to be incredibly knowledgeable in several fields and graduated with honors, but his built-in limitations in areas like empathy and emotion made him an outcast. He was frequently the butt of jokes that were easy to make, as he had no grasp of humor and an entirely black-and-white view of the information he was given. Data was able to hone his book smarts, but he would struggle with the emotional side of things for the rest of his life.

Serving Starfleet

Data graduated with honors and was assigned to work on the USS Trieste . As The Next Generation featured many of the main players already well up the Starfleet ladder, it's difficult to imagine Ensign Data (and his existence as a repository for inhuman amounts of knowledge makes it even harder), but he served in that lowly rank for three years before being promoted to lieutenant. He earned his spot on the bridge 12 years later, with a promotion to lieutenant commander. It was at that point that Starfleet reassigned him to the Enterprise under the command of Jean-Luc Picard . 

Data's time aboard the Trieste  was mentioned only in passing throughout the series, but it was clear that Data took part in many important missions before ever taking a seat on the Enterprise . He shared that his ship had passed through an unstable wormhole in one particularly terrifying trip, and the Enterprise 's young ensign Wesley Crusher was cowed by Data's long list of Starfleet commendations.

When Data finally met his brother

The universe of Star Trek: The Next Generation  was big in theory but small in practice. In spite of the many light-years that Starfleet's advanced ships could travel with ease, every character on the Enterprise  was eventually tracked down by characters from their past. So it went with Data, though his troubles were explicitly sought out by the crew of the Enterprise .

Data was entirely unique in the universe, the only android with anywhere near his abilities. So it would make since that the explorers in the Enterprise would want to know more about where he came from. So they traveled to Omicron Theta to figure out Data's confusing origins, as they'd been deleted from his memory. Unfortunately, they found Lore. Data's long-lost brother was reassembled and reactivated by the clueless Enterprise crew, who knew nothing of his disdain for humanity. 

Lore lied to Data, saying that he was deactivated because he made the humans of Omicron jealous. He correctly pointed out that he was better at being a human than Data, and he rubbed his ability to comprehend emotion in his younger brother's face. When Data threatened to tell Picard more information about Lore, the new android subdued his brother and impersonated Data in an attempt to take control of the Enterprise .

Lore called in the Crystalline Entity yet again in an attempt to destroy the ship, but he was stopped when Data tossed him into the transporter, and Wesley Crusher beamed him out into space. However, it wouldn't be his last battle with Lore or the last uncomfortable appearance of his android roots. 

Data fought for android rights

Yet another figure from Data's past factored into one of the best episodes of The Next Generation . In "The Measure of a Man," Bruce Maddox reappeared in Data's life for the first time since voting against his Starfleet admittance. When Maddox appeared on the Enterprise , seeking to study Data's internal circuitry in an attempt to recreate his still unique brain, Data objected and refused to submit to a procedure he believed would kill him. 

Maddox countered that Data wasn't a sentient being and was the property of Starfleet, meaning that he had no rights to his own body. Maddox repeatedly referred to Data as "it" throughout the ordeal, refusing to give him pronouns reserved for humans. Eventually, Maddox forced a transfer of Data to under his own command, while Picard looked for a way out for Data. The android resigned rather than be subject to Maddox's commands, but Maddox countered before a Federation judge that Data had no rights to resign. As property of Starfleet, he had no rights to refuse orders or leave of his own volition.  

Ultimately, a trial was convened with members of the Enterprise serving as counsel. Picard defended Data while Riker represented Starfleet's position. Riker expertly laid out the case that Data wasn't a human, and a spooked Picard revealed that he was worried Maddox would be successful in creating new Datas with no rights — a race of superpowered slaves beholden to the Federation.

To prevent this, Picard laid out an incredible case for Data's humanity . He showed that Data could feel sentimentality and ultimately tore down Maddox in a cross-examination. As a result, the judge ruled that Data was officially a machine, but he was the property of no one.

The story of Data's daughter

At a certain point in life, a lot of people will feel like they're missing something — a child. And the same was true for Data, who was unable to have kids. However, the android was able to get around this by building himself a daughter named Lal. But given her incredibly advanced processing abilities and her rapid gleaning of knowledge, Starfleet yet again demanded the right to experiment on Lal in order to determine how she ticked. 

Data asserted his desire to protect his child and noted that he had parental rights over his young daughter, even as she moved beyond him. She gained the ability to experience emotions, but this eventually caused her neural network to short out and crash. Data experienced the entire span of having a child in a very brief time, and she died in his arms after telling Data that she loved him (something that Data couldn't share).

Almost human

As you might expect, Data did eventually gain the ability to feel emotions. See, Data's father had been hiding out and working on an emotional chip upgrade for his android son. He then sent out a homing beacon that overrode all of Data's other processes, forcing him to take control of the Enterprise and fly it to Soong's location. Unfortunately, Lore was also pulled in by the beacon. 

Data's ne'er-do-well brother stole the chip for himself and fatally wounded Soong. Dying, Soong warned that Lore couldn't function with a chip that wasn't built for him, but the bad guy was in no mood to listen, as Lore resented his father for deactivating him all those years ago. Sadly, Data got to yet again spend time with a family member in their final moments, though he told his father he wouldn't be able to grieve. 

Fortunately, Data was able to recreate Soong's chip and implanted it in himself. He was initially very unstable and unable to register the appropriate reactions, and the chip overloaded his neural network in a similar manner to his late daughter. However, he did eventually get himself under control, and when he found himself crying with joy after being reunited with a friend, Deanna Troi explained that his emotional chip was functioning perfectly.

Data was a soldier to the last

Though Data gained the ability to feel fear, he never stopped being an incredibly brave soldier for Starfleet. Much like another logically inclined Enterprise crew member — we're looking at you, Mr. Spock  — Data ultimately sacrificed himself to save the rest of his compatriots. 

Captain Picard was captured in a battle with the Romulan ship Scimitar , and knowing that he had to save Picard from death, Data jumped through a hole in the Enterprise , across the void of space, to gain access to the rival ship. When he found Picard in distress, he teleported his commander back to the Enterprise over Picard's protests. In one final act in service of Starfleet, Data fired upon the core of the of the enemy ship from the inside, detonating it in a massive blast. This killed everyone aboard, including Data, and allowed the rest of the Enterprise to escape. 

In Picard , the recent sequel to TNG , Data appears regularly but only in visions. The man who argued hardest for Data's humanity is deeply haunted by the fact that Data gave his life for him. But even though Data sacrificed himself while having the ability to feel emotions, he'd likely argue that trading his life for the rest of the crew was the logical solution.

Star Trek: Picard: how Data died, and his appearance in Picard explained

The death of Data explained, and what his appearances in Picard mean

If you've been watching Star Trek : Picard, you may have a few questions about Data, the android who appears in Picard's dreams – and who may very well be the 'father' of new characters Dahj and Soji. Data was an important character in The Next Generation, which this new series is a direct continuation of, and he led an interesting life. So here's everything you need to know about Lieutenant Commander Data, including how he ultimately died in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis.

• How to watch Star Trek: Picard
• When is Star Trek: Picard episode 2 released?
• Our Star Trek: Picard episode 1 recap

Who is Data?

Data was an android designed by Dr. Noonian Soong, a brilliant cyberneticist. Other androids exist in the greater Star Trek universe, but Data's positronic brain gave him a greater depth and nuance of personality – to the point where the Federation considered him sentient, with the same rights as any biological being. 

Data was unable to feel emotion, however, and struggled to understand the many idiosyncrasies of the human race. But he was still capable of loyalty, wisdom, friendship and sensitivity, which earned him many friends when he served aboard the Federation starship Enterprise.

How did Data join Starfleet?

A mysterious alien life-form known as the Crystalline Entity destroyed a colony on the planet Omicron Theta, and Data's deactivated body was discovered among the debris by the USS Tripoli. He was revived by the Federation, and was accepted into Starfleet Academy when it became apparent that he had achieved a level of sentience never before seen in a synthetic being. 

Data graduated, despite the social challenges of being the only android in the academy, and served as an ensign aboard the USS Trieste, before being assigned to the Enterprise-D in 2364 – which is where we meet him in The Next Generation.

How did Data die in Star Trek: Nemesis?

Nemesis was the last of the Next Generation movies. Released in 2002, it starred Tom Hardy as Shinzon, a clone of Picard who stages a violent coup and becomes leader of the Romulan Empire. At the end of the movie, Data sacrifices his own life to save Picard's, destroying Shinzon's ship in the process. Before he died, Data downloaded his memories into a prototype Soong-type android, B-4. But this model's positronic brain was not as advanced as Data's, meaning he had none of his brother's individuality or personality: just raw memories.

How can Data be in Star Trek: Picard?

Brent Spiner reprises his role as Data in Star Trek: Picard, only in dreams so far. Picard is still haunted by the loss of his friend, and the heroic sacrifice he made to save his life. So whenever you see Data in the new series, it's Picard experiencing a vision; an echo of the past. But who knows what the rest of the series has in store? Perhaps we'll see a return of the old Data at some point in this story – although that might cheapen his sacrifice in Star Trek: Nemesis somewhat.

Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox

Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.

Is Data still alive in Star Trek: Picard? 

Alas, the Data we knew from The Next Generation is gone forever. But a major plot point in season one of Picard is his memories – the ones he downloaded to B-4 – being used to create two 'daughters', Dahj and Soji. These android twins were designed by Dr. Bruce Maddox, a cyberneticist, using a process called fractal neuronic cloning. So while Lieutenant Commander Data of the USS Enterprise, lover of cats and Sherlock Holmes, is no more, his spirit lives on in them.

Star Trek: Picard is released every Thursday on CBS All Access in the US, and every Friday on Amazon Prime internationally. 

• More of a Star Wars fan? Here's what we know about The Mandalorian season 2
• Everything we know about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

KKR vs SRH live stream: How to watch IPL 2024 final today – Knight Riders Need 114

FA Cup final live stream 2024: How to watch Man Utd vs Man City online and on TV, team news

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra rumored to get a big camera upgrade

Most Popular

• 2 'Today’s computers are horribly inefficient': How a US startup is going Apple's way — combining hardware and software to crack AI's big 99% power consumption problem
• 3 Here’s what iPad upgraders are doing with their old iPads, instead of trading them in
• 4 7 new movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix, Prime Video, Max, and more this weekend (May 24)
• 5 Intel says its supercomputer broke the exascale barrier – and what makes that claim even more impressive is it's still being built
• 2 Q-Pixel uses III-V compound microLED pixels to create world’s highest resolution active-matrix color display.
• 3 Intel says Aurora supercomputer broke the exascale barrier, is fastest AI system in the world "for open science”
• 4 Here’s what iPad upgraders are doing with their old iPads, instead of trading them in
• 5 These luxury smart binoculars from Swarovski Optik use AI to identify up to 9,000 birds and other wildlife, and I’m hooked

Screen Rant

Every time data commands a starship in star trek: tng.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Data's 10 Best TNG & Star Trek Picard Episodes

10 weirdest things about data's body in star trek, 3 yellowstone stars returning for new spinoff after reportedly resolving pay dispute.

• Data shines as a skilled commander, proving himself worthy of leading the USS Enterprise-D multiple times.
• Despite facing bias as an android, Data's quick thinking and confident leadership skills always prevail.
• From overcoming a viral outbreak to saving the ship from Romulan threats, Data excels as acting Captain.

Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) takes command of a starship on five separate occasions in Star Trek: The Next Generation , and he proves himself to be an incredibly skilled commander every time. For seven seasons on TNG , Data serves as the second officer on the USS Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Data's android abilities and resistance to disease or mental coercion prove invaluable on multiple occasions, and the Enterprise would have been lost several times over if not for Data. Data's quest to discover his humanity became a major storyline on TNG , but the android never seemed overly concerned with climbing the ranks.

Still, Data proves to be an excellent acting Captain, and it's a shame he was not left in charge more often. Although Data is briefly shown to be in command during the night shift, he rarely commands the ship during more active missions. Data only serves as acting Captain of the Enterprise when both Captain Picard and First Officer Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) are incapacitated, which doesn't happen very often. As an android, Data occasionally faces open animosity or unconscious bias from those who do not believe an android can command a starship. Every time Data takes command, however, he proves those who doubt him wrong, with his quick thinking and confident leadership.

Data returned in Star Trek: Picard season 3 with a newly upgraded synthetic body. It remains to be seen if the android will ever get to command his own starship, but Captain Data does have a nice ring to it.

Star Trek: The Next Generation’s beloved android Lieutenant Commander Data features prominently in some of Star Trek’s most enduring episodes.

5 "Angel One" - Star Trek: TNG Season 1, Episode 14

Data takes command when everyone comes down with a bad flu..

In the main storyline of Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "Angel One," Commander Riker leads an away to a planet governed by all women. While Riker begins a romance with the planet's leader, Beata (Karen Montgomery), on the planet, Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew begin falling ill. As more and more crew members come down with the Quazulu VII virus, Data is eventually the only one left to take command of the ship. The virus does not affect Data, and he remains in command of the Enterprise as Riker and the away team negotiate the release of survivors from a shipwrecked freighter. Although the Enterprise was meant to be headed toward the Neutral Zone, Data interpreted his orders in a way that allowed him to wait for Riker and the away team to complete their mission first.

4 "Brothers" - Star Trek: TNG Season 4, Episode 3

Data takes command when his programming takes over..

In Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "Brothers," Data single-handedly hijacks the Starship Enterprise after his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong (Brent Spiner), activates a homing beacon. Not only does Data take control of the bridge, but he also locks everyone else out and then activates a series of forcefields so he can get to the transporter room without interference. As Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew try to regain control of the ship, Data beams down to the planet and meets Dr. Soong. Before long, Data's evil twin brother Lore (Brent Spiner) arrives, having been drawn there by the same homing beacon. Lore steals an emotion chip that was meant for Data, and injures Dr. Soong, leaving Data one last moment with his dying creator.

3 "Night Terrors" - Star Trek: TNG Season 4, Episode 17

Data takes command when everyone needs a good night's sleep..

After the USS Enterprise-D encounters the derelict USS Brattain with a mostly dead crew, Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) begins having strange nightmares. Before long, the Enterprise crew members grow irritable and begin hallucinating. Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) determines that no one on the ship except Troi has been able to achieve REM sleep since they encountered the Brattain. Since Data does not require sleep, Picard places the android in command of the ship. Data works with Troi to determine the cause of the sleeplessness, and they eventually figure out how to escape the Tyken's Rift the ship has been trapped in. Before he transfers the Enterprise back to Picard, Data's last order is for everyone to get some much-needed sleep.

Every fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation knows that Lt. Commander Data is "fully functional," but what other quirks does his android body have?

2 "Redemption, Part II" - Star Trek: TNG Season 5, Episode 1

Data takes command of the uss sutherland..

Data's first major conflict while in command comes in Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "Redemption, Part II," when he is assigned as acting Captain of the USS Sutherland. When a civil war breaks out among the Klingons , Picard orders Federation ships to create a blockade with a detection network to prevent the Romulans from aiding the Klingons. Although Picard initially does not assign Data a command, Data asks why and Picard gives the android command of the Sutherland. While in command, Data faces prejudice from his new First Officer, Lt. Commander Christopher Hobson (Timothy Carhart), who does not believe an android can command a ship.

Data proves to be an excellent commander even in times of crisis.

After refusing to let Hobson transfer to another ship, Data faces continued pushback from the insubordinate First Officer. However, Data remains confident in his own abilities, putting Hobson in his place and eventually proving him wrong. When the Klingons find a way to disrupt the detection network, Data saves the day with a ploy that reveals the cloaked Romulan ships waiting to breach the blockade. Data proves to be an excellent commander even in times of crisis, and Captain Picard praises him for his quick thinking and clever tactics.

1 "Gambit, Part I" & "Gambit, Part 2" - Star Trek: TNG Season 7, Episodes 4 & 5

Data takes command when captain picard and commander riker go missing..

While investigating Captain Picard's supposed death, Commander Riker is captured by a group of mercenaries. With Picard presumed dead and Riker missing in action, Data takes command of the Enterprise. Data tracks the mercenaries holding Picard and Riker, meeting their ship at the next outpost they planned to destroy. From the mercenary ship, Riker surreptitiously sends a message to the Enterprise detailing the mercenaries' flight plan. As Data orders the Enterprise to beat the mercenary ship to their next location, Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) questions Data's orders. Data then calls Worf to the Captain's ready room, telling the Klingon that his actions were inappropriate for a First Officer.

Data handles himself well as Acting Captain, even when he experiences pushback from the crew.

Worf understands Data's critique, and the two officers agree not the let this confrontation ruin their friendship. When the mercenaries later board the Enterprise, Data plays along with Riker and Picard's ruse even though he does not fully understand their plan. As in "Redemption, Part II," Data handles himself well as Acting Captain, even when he experiences pushback from the crew. Data not only trusts in his own abilities as a commander, but also trusts Picard and Riker to do what they can to help from their side. As well as Data does as acting Captain, it's surprising Star Trek: The Next Generation did not find more ways to put the android in command.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to stream on Paramount+.

• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)

Star Trek: Picard - Learn About Data With These 10 Next Generation Episodes

By Kevin Wong on January 24, 2020 at 5:06PM PST

GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Here's all the Data you'll need.

Star Trek: Picard has arrived, and it's clear right at the start that the titular character's relationship with his former second officer, the android Data, is an important aspect of the series. If you're hoping to dive back into The Next Generation to (re)familiarize yourself with the android's best moments, we've gathered up some key TNG episodes you should check out.

Now that we know the lovable android Data will return in CBS All Access 's Picard , it's time to remind ourselves why he was such a fantastic character. But is the Data that appears in Picard the real Data? Is it a hologram? Or perhaps it's B-4's body, coupled with Data's positronic brain? We won't know until the show premieres.

But if it is really is Data, then Star Trek: Picard will continue one of the greatest arcs in the Star Trek franchise's history: Data's never-ending quest to become human. There have been similarly themed arcs in other Trek shows: the Voyager Doctor's attempts to move beyond his holographic nature, and Seven of Nine's assertion of her individuality. But Data's arc remains the most moving and detailed.

Star Trek: Picard News and Features

• New Star Trek Show About Captain Pike Is Happening, Titled Strange New Worlds
• Star Trek: Picard - What Are The Tal Shiar And Zhat Vash?
• Star Trek: Picard - What Are The Romulans Doing On The Borg Cube?

There are 178 television episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but not all of them are essential. To help you prepare for Star Trek: Picard, here are the 10 essential, must-watch Data episodes that will tell you everything you need to know about our favorite android. And if you liked this gallery, check out our interview with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Quark, our mini-history of the Borg , our gallery of essential Picard episodes , and our breakdown of the best Star Trek: Picard theories .

Disclosure: CBS is GameSpot's parent company.

1. "The Measure of a Man"

Episode: Season 2 Episode 9

The first entry on our list is also considered the first "great" TNG episode. A Starfleet scientist wishes to disassemble Data in order to study him and create more androids like him. "The Measure of a Man" quickly becomes a courtroom drama, in which Picard must argue for Data's life and his status as an individual, rather than the property of Starfleet.

2. "Deja Q"

Episode: Season 3 Episodes 13

Q, an near-omnipotent alien, must learn to function as a mortal, after his people turn him into a human being as punishment. The dilemma is mostly played for laughs, but the best parts of the episode involve Data, who patiently guides Q in human social interactions and the power of food to affect one's emotions.

3. "The Offspring"

Episode: Season 3 Episode 16

One of TNG's most touching episodes, "The Offspring" introduces Lal, an android who Data constructs as his daughter and begins teaching about the world. It covers similar thematic ground as "The Measure of a Man," but it adds some additional, poignant commentary about the difficulties of fatherhood.

4. "Brothers"

Episode: Season 4 Episode 3

Data gets recalled by his creator Dr. Noonien Soong, who wants to give Data something important. Unfortunately, the same recall attracts Lore, Data's evil android brother, and complications ensue. "Brothers" is notable for how actor Brent Spiner performs multiple roles as Data, Lore, and Dr. Soong. There are earlier TNG episodes that characterize Dr. Soong and Lore, but this episode is the best of them.

5. "Data's Day"

Episode: Season 4 Episode 11

A lighter episode than most, "Data's Day" follows Data around for an entire day as he interacts with every member of the senior crew. He mediates a couple's relationship, learns to dance, and navigates his friendships, all in his naive, ironically insightful manner.

6. "Hero Worship"

Episode: Season 5 Episode 11

Data discovers the last survivor on an adrift vessel: a small boy who is understandably traumatized by the incident he's suffered. Because Data is the one that rescues him, the boy begins to confide in him, and Data must help him embrace and deal with his negative emotions. It's no small task for an android who cannot feel emotion himself.

7. "A Fistful of Datas"

Episode: Season 6 Episode 8

This is a holodeck episode starring Worf, who is cosplaying in a Wild West scenario with his son Alexander. But then, all the villains start resembling Data, and the safety protocols go offline, which means the lead bullets register real damage. "A Fistful of Datas" is funny for all the right reasons, and it features multiple campy, scenery-chewing performances by Brent Spiner.

8. "Descent"

Episode: Season 6 & 7 Episodes 26 & 1

Data encounters the Borg. And when he kills a drone, he experiences anger (and more disturbingly, pleasure) for the first time. This pair of episodes involves Data's evil android brother Lore, who has organized a subset of the Borg into his personal army. These episodes also include an appearance by Hugh the Borg, who will also appear in Star Trek: Picard.

9. "Phantasms"

Episode: Season 7 Episodes 6

Data has nightmares as a result of his dream program, which lead to some of the weirdest visuals of Season 7. Counselor Troi appears in his dream as a sheet cake, which Lieutenant Worf is eating. Commander Riker appears with a straw in his head, and Dr. Crusher drinks from it like a coconut. And eventually, the dream imagery begins bleeding over into Data's real life.

10. "Inheritance"

Episode: Season 7 Episodes 10

Data meets the former wife of his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong, and he learns details about his formative "childhood," which was erased from his memory processors. "Inheritance" is both sweet and sad, and it comes with an 11th hour twist that places everything you've just seen in a new perspective.

11. Star Trek: Nemesis

And lastly, watch Star Trek: Nemesis. Even though it's a movie and not a television episode, it's the most recent instance where we've seen both Picard and Data.

Picard said it best in this film: "In his quest to be more like us, [Data] helped us to see what it means to be human… his wonder, his curiosity about every facet of human nature allowed all of us to see the best parts of ourselves. He evolved. He embraced change because he always wanted to be better than he was."

• Leave Blank

Phantasms (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Production history
• 3.2 Continuity
• 3.3 Reception
• 3.4 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest stars
• 4.4 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.5 Stunt double
• 4.6 Stand-ins
• 4.7 References
• 4.8 Other references
• 4.9 External links

Summary [ ]

Data is walking through the corridors of the USS Enterprise -D , when he encounters Geordi La Forge standing against a bulkhead . La Forge tells him they have a plasma conduit to install as they are bringing the Enterprise 's new warp core online in less than three hours. Data tells him he will proceed to deck 20 and begin modifications. As he leaves, La Forge shouts after him, " This oughta be a lot of fun! " Walking further up the corridor, Data sees three workmen destroying a warp plasma conduit . He first asks if they have authorization to work here, then tells them he must ask them to stop, and after he speaks, he emits a high-pitched sound through his mouth. The workers tell him to be quiet, then attack and dismantle him, first his left arm, then his right leg, and then ultimately his head. A startled Data suddenly wakes up in his bed.

Act One [ ]

The Enterprise is leaving Starbase 84 after installing a new warp core. Captain Picard has been invited to the annual Starfleet Admirals' Banquet on Starbase 219 by Admiral Nakamura . Picard lists all of the negatives about attending the banquet to Commander Riker – making dull conversation, uninteresting food , and boring speeches . Riker asks Picard if there is some way he could get out of attending and Picard says that, after six years, he's run out of excuses to avoid it.

Meanwhile, in engineering , Data can't stop talking about his nightmare . In the nine months since he has activated the dreaming program, he has had 111 dreams, but this appears to be his first nightmare. La Forge assures him that nightmares are a normal part of dreaming, and that being preoccupied with them is also part of the Human experience. They are interrupted by Ensign Tyler who triumphantly has just finished calibrating a electro-plasma system module and expresses her joy in learning engineering techniques from La Forge, and it is obvious she has a crush on him. La Forge is uncomfortable, but politely suggests she work with Lieutenant Farrell to check the deuterium cartridges next to get her out of his hair.

Soon, Picard calls in to La Forge and Data to attempt to activate the new warp drive . Picard orders Ensign Gates to set a course for Starbase 219 and engage at warp six. The Enterprise prepares to enter warp, but the ship's warp field collapses and the ship just sits in space. La Forge reports that they have run into problems with the warp plasma conduit. He informs Picard that he is going to have to reconfigure it. The Enterprise will now be delayed for several hours.

In his quarters , Data observes his cat sleeping and wonders what Spot dreams about. Counselor Troi visits Data to talk about his nightmares, and encourages him to continue with the dream program. She wishes him a good night and he wishes her the same.

Dr. Crusher "drinking" from Riker's head

Data begins to dream. Opening his eyes , he is in Ten Forward , and Worf is nearby at a table, enjoying a piece of cake . Data asks what kind of cake it is. " A cellular peptide cake, with mint frosting. Would you like a bite? ", Worf says. Data declines, and his attention turns to Dr. Crusher and Riker at the bar . Riker has a drinking straw coming out of his head, and Crusher is drinking something out of it. There's a telephone ringing in the background. " Aren't you going to answer that?, " Riker demands. The workmen are also there, and again Data emits the high-pitched scream. They tell him to be quiet, and he shuts his mouth. One hands him a knife, and he cuts at a cake which forms the body of Counselor Troi. Troi pleads with him to stop hurting her, but he doesn't.

Troi, Worf, and La Forge are standing in Data's quarters and wake him up. They tell him he's overslept . " That is not possible, " he says, but it has happened nonetheless.

Act Two [ ]

In engineering, La Forge finds nothing wrong with Data's internal time base and his primary systems check out fine. He theorizes that perhaps it is part of the program, that Data is supposed to oversleep at times, and that his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong , may have intended it, as it is part of the Human experience. He asks about Data's dreams and comments that imagery must have been strange. " Strange, " Data says, " is not a sufficient adjective to describe the experience. "

Data consults Sigmund Freud in the holodeck , but after the psychologist comes up with a bizarre theory – telling Data that the nightmares are related to Data's desire for his mother and his impotence – Data leaves.

Admiral Nakamura calls the Enterprise , demanding to know when Picard will arrive for the banquet. The captain assures him he will be there on time. Shortly afterwards La Forge and Data again try to activate the warp drive, but there's another problem and the Enterprise is adrift. Nakamura is again contacted with the "bad" news.

" Are you going to answer that, commander? What are you waiting for?! Answer it! "

In engineering , Data and La Forge work on the problem. Tyler comes by again briefly for a plasma inverter , still with a crush but La Forge doesn't have time to talk to her. Data then starts seeing dream imagery while he's awake. He sees a "mouth" on La Forge's neck , and the brace coil he holds looks like the knife with which he cut the "cellular peptide cake". He hears the telephone ringing again and Riker appears with a straw sticking out of his head, insisting he answer it and points at Data's chest area. Data opens his own chest, finding a dial telephone. He picks up the receiver. " Hello? " he asks. " Kill them. You must kill them all, before it's too late. " It is Freud's voice. La Forge wakes him out of it, and Data turns to see him and Tyler.

Act Three [ ]

Data goes to Troi for counseling. With Data's insistence that the technical reasons are ruled out, she suggests they start regular sessions. Data is excited at the prospect at developing a new neurosis, which amuses Troi, and looks forward to the next meeting. Until then, Data is to discontinue the dream program and Troi recommends that he take time to reflect on the experience.

Data confronting Troi

In his ready room , Picard insists to Nakamura privately that he will be on-time, and will not need a tow ship to bring the Enterprise to the starbase. He goes to engineering and nervously suggests actions over the shoulder that La Forge and Data have already tried. When he suggests going over to reconfigure the isolinear chips , La Forge tells him that he and Data have the situation under control and asks him to just let them take care of it. Then, Tyler suggests that Picard could assist in moving the antimatter storage pods and they leave to get to it. However, meanwhile Data stares at the brace coil and is compelled to leave, unnoticed. He finds Troi in a turbolift and stabs her with the tool, first asking her to hold very still.

Act Four [ ]

Riker and Worf find them, and in the observation lounge after getting Troi to sickbay , Data claims that he saw another mouth on her shoulder, and he had an uncontrollable urge to eliminate it. Data is relieved of duty and confined to quarters while La Forge prepares a sub-polymer scan, the last remaining scan he can think of, since everything else reports nothing wrong with him.

Meanwhile, Dr. Crusher treats Troi's stab wound, but it mysteriously fails to heal. When Crusher removes the vascular pad , she discovers a rash , but also cellular degradation and an interphasic signature. She asks Martinez to get an interphasic scanner , which reveals an interphasic organism on the wound.

Worf brings Data to his quarters and confiscates his phaser. Data then takes the precaution of asking Worf to take care of Spot, since he isn't sure what he might do. Worf reluctantly agrees, and, on his way out, finds out he is allergic.

In sickbay, Crusher tells Picard and Riker about Troi's cellular degradation. She uses the interphasic scanner to show them the creature she has discovered on Troi, and another on herself, which are visible only with the scanner. She tells them that she has scanned all of her medical staff and these creatures have been found on almost all of them. Her analysis has determined that the creatures have attached themselves to their epidermal layers with osmotic tendrils. Using the scanner on Picard and Riker, Crusher finds one on Riker's head and another on Picard's neck. She notes the creatures are tapping directly into their bloodstream and they are spreading.

Act Five [ ]

Crusher reports in the observation lounge that the creatures are feeding on the cellular peptides of the crew's cells. They don't yet know how to destroy them, but if they don't, the cells of their bodies will disintegrate and they will all collapse into nothing more than a few pounds of chemicals. Picard and La Forge both think the creatures may be connected to Data's odd behavior, because their locations correspond to objects in Data's dreams. They tell Data about their discovery, and say that they want to connect him to the holodeck, so they can observe his dreaming.

Once there, La Forge and Picard observe Data, who again finds himself in Ten Forward, and then in Sigmund Freud's office. The telephone in Data's chest is the one from Freud's desk. The three workmen are also there, again dismantling a plasma conduit, leading La Forge and Picard to believe that the creatures are also linked to the malfunctioning warp core. Data makes the shrieking sound, which immobilizes the workmen. Data wakes up, ending the dream simulation, and says that he understands everything now. He explains that the workmen represent the parasites, Freud's phone calls were warnings about the danger they represent, and that they are weak against an interphasic pulse. By reconfiguring Data's positronic brain to emit an interphasic pulse, the creatures are killed.

La Forge explains that the new warp core must have been infested with the interphasic organisms from Thanatos VII , and that's why the engineering staff had so many problems initializing it. In order get warp power back up, he will have to construct a new conduit , which will take at least six hours, meaning that Picard gets out of attending the admiral's banquet once again. La Forge suggests to the captain that he can speed up the construction, but Picard tells him he wouldn't want to put the safety of the Enterprise at risk.

Troi visits Data in his quarters, and after listening to the details on the dreams from Geordi, she states that " turnabout is fair play ", and brings him a snack: a cake in the android's shape. " I wonder what Dr. Freud would say about the symbolism of devouring oneself, " Data says. " Data, " Troi responds, " sometimes a cake is just a cake. "

Memorable quotes [ ]

" This oughta be a lot of fun! "

" Be quiet! "

" I've just received a message from Starfleet Command. " " Bad news? " " You could say that. I've been invited to the annual Starfleet admirals' banquet. " " My condolences. "

" Can't you think of some excuse to get out of it? " " After six years, Number One, I don't think I have any excuses left. "

" Now let's see how fast she can run. "

" I have often wondered what Spot dreams about. His twitching and rapid breathing would seem to suggest anxiety. But Spot has never seen a mouse, or any other form of rodentia. He has never encountered an insect or been chased by a canine. "

" Goodnight Spot. " " Meow. "

" Good work, Tyler. I thought he'd never leave. "

" Mr. La Forge, why isn't my ship moving? "

" Commander La Forge? " " Speaking of nightmares… "

" Dreams are the royal road to the knowledge of the mind. "

" Sounds like it must have been pretty strange. " " "Strange" is not a sufficient adjective to describe the experience. "

" Tell me more about this, uh… cake. " " It is difficult to explain. Counselor Troi's body… was a cake. "

" I believe I can fit you in, uh… next Tuesday, hmm? " " That will not be necessary. Computer, end program. "

" Hold… very still, counselor. "

" Do not interrupt! "

" Kill zem. You must kill zem all, before it's too late. "

" What is it? " " The question is, what are they . "

" Normally I would wish you pleasant dreams. But in this case, bad dreams would be more helpful. "

" He will need to be fed once a day. He prefers feline supplement number 25. " " I understand. " " And he will require water. And you must provide him with a sandbox. And you must talk to him. Tell him he is a pretty cat. And a good cat. " " I will feed him. " " Perhaps that will be enough. "

" Mr. Data, what kind of cake is this? " It is a cellular peptide cake. " (With mouth full) " With mint frosting. "

" I wouldn't want to sacrifice the safety of the ship. "

" Sometimes a cake is just a cake. "

Background information [ ]

Hair stylist Patricia Miller on the set

Stewart, Sirtis, Joy Zapata , and June Abston Haymore on set

Data's torso, opened

Production history [ ]

• Final draft script: 17 August 1993 [1]
• Filmed: 18 August 1993 – 26 August 1993
• Premiere airdate: 25 October 1993
• First UK airdate: 14 February 1996

Continuity [ ]

• During his discussion with Sigmund Freud in the holodeck, Data states he has no mother. He meets his "mother", Juliana Tainer , the wife of his creator, Noonien Soong , four episodes later in " Inheritance ".
• Data mentions he had discovered his ability to dream nine months before. This refers to the events of " Birthright, Part I ".
• Jenna D'Sora 's gift to Data from " In Theory " can be seen on a shelf in Data's quarters.
• The modified warp core was again used for the warp core of an alternate Enterprise -D in " Parallels ".
• Data's head prop from the episodes " Time's Arrow " and " Time's Arrow, Part II " was reused in this episode when one of the workmen decapitated him.
• In this episode, Data refers to Spot as a male, whereas later "he" appears to be female and in fact even has a litter of kittens in " Genesis ".
• When Data goes through his Human ritual of getting into bed, his Sherlock Holmes outfit from " Elementary, Dear Data " can be seen hanging from his coat rack.

Reception [ ]

• This is one of the few Star Trek episodes to be slightly edited for screening by the BBC in the UK: the scene in the turbolift when Data confronts Troi with a knife (which caused some upset among audiences in the US) was trimmed to remove the actual moment of stabbing. Syfy channel's UK airing of this episode to date still has this edit.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 79, 9 May 1994
• As part of the TNG Season 7 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William T. Riker

Also starring [ ]

• LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
• Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
• Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

Guest stars [ ]

• Gina Ravarra as Tyler
• Bernard Kates as Sigmund Freud
• Clyde Kusatsu as Nakamura
• David L. Crowley as Workman

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Joe Baumann as Garvey
• Brandy as Spot
• Michael Braveheart as Martinez
• Bud as Spot
• Debbie David as Russell
• Cameron as Kellogg
• Tracee Lee Cocco as Jae
• Gerard David, Jr. as operations ensign
• Matt Goodrich as command officer
• Grace Harrell as operations officer
• Clay Hodges as illusory workman
• Rad Milo as operations ensign
• Monster as Spot
• Michael Moorehead as sciences ensign
• Kevin Pentalow as illusory workman
• Keith Rayve as command ensign
• Joycelyn Robinson as Gates
• Oliver Theess as command division officer
• Mary Thompson as operations officer
• Female civilian
• Medical officer (voice)

Stunt double [ ]

• Brian J. Williams as stunt double for Brent Spiner

Stand-ins [ ]

• David Keith Anderson – stand-in for LeVar Burton
• Debbie David – stand-in for Brent Spiner
• Michael Echols – stand-in for Michael Dorn
• Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
• Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
• Richard Sarstedt – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
• Dennis Tracy – stand-in for Patrick Stewart

References [ ]

2364 ; 2369 ; adjective ; Admirals' Banquet ; analogy ; antisocial ; bloodstream ; cake ; camel ; canine ; cellular decay ; cellular level ; cellular peptide ; centimeter ; chronometer ; cigar ; counselor's office ; confiscation ; deuterium cartridge ; directed dreaming ; dismemberment dream (dismantlement dream); ego ; engineering ; engineering staff ; epidermal layer ; EPS module ; Farrell ; feline supplement 25 ; frosting ; Galaxy class decks ; German ; hemoglobin ; id ; impotence ; impulse system ; insect ; interphasic organism ; interphasic scanner ; jazz ; leech ; level 3 diagnostic ; medical staff ; microfracture ; mouse ; muscle spasm ; neurosis ; nightmare ; number one ; osmotic tendril ; oversleeping ; painting ; pickaxe ; plasma conduit ; plasma inverter ; psychoanalysis ; rash ; rodent ; Rozhenko, Alexander ; sand box ; sexual desire ; sexual inadequacy ; sidearm ; Soong, Noonien ; speech ; stab wound ; Starbase 84 ; Starbase 84 planet ; Starbase 219 ; Starfleet Command ; statue ; straw ; Ten Forward ; tendril ; Thanatos VII ; tow ship ; transference ; tricorder ; Tuesday ; warp plasma conduit ; Woman Holding a Balance, A ; yawn

Other references [ ]

• Interphasic Scan Display 277: anaphase ; cellular data analysis ; interphase ; metaphase ; preprophase ; prophase ; telophase

External links [ ]

• " Phantasms " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Phantasms " at Wikipedia
• "Phantasms" at StarTrek.com
• " Phantasms " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "Phantasms" script  at Star Trek Minutiae
• " Phantasms " at the Internet Movie Database

How is Data in 'Star Trek: Picard' if he died in 'Star Trek: Nemesis?'

In Picard season 3 episode 6, "The Bounty," Riker, Worf and Raffi Musiker's away mission reunites them with an old friend, but how?

• How Data died in Star Trek: Nemesis
• Data lived on in B-4
• Another Data head?
• Why is Data old now?

What can Data do now?

Warning: Spoilers ahead if you haven't watched "Star Trek: Picard" episode 6, The Bounty .  

Even though Spock died saving the Enterprise in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," Star Trek used the restorative powers of the Genesis planet to bring him back. So when Data made a noble sacrifice of his own in "Star Trek: Nemesis," it wasn't really a surprise when the door was left open – albeit slightly – for the android's future return.

"Star Trek: Picard" season one on Paramount Plus focused heavily on Data's legacy, introducing a family of synthetic offspring and revealing that his consciousness had been preserved in a virtual simulation. Jean-Luc Picard subsequently watched his friend die for a second time, but the show’s third season has just dropped the bombshell that – in true "Jurassic Park" style – something has survived.

In Picard season 3 episode 6 , "The Bounty," Riker, Worf and Raffi Musiker's away mission to the top-secret Daystrom Station reunites them with an old friend, an android with a familiar face who's been given responsibility for the facility's security. But how did Data (still portrayed by actor Brent Spiner) survive certain death in "Star Trek: Nemesis?" Why does he look so much older now? And is he still the same android we knew on the Enterprise-D? These questions and more are answered below.  If you're behind, you can catch up on Star Trek: Picard Season 3" with our Star Trek streaming guide .

• Want to watch Star Trek on Paramount Plus?   Here's a free trial
• Subscribe to Paramount Plus starting at $4.99/month

Didn't Data die in Star Trek: Nemesis?

Yes. "Star Trek: Nemesis" is the 10th film in the Star Trek movie franchise and the last to feature the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." It features a clone of Jean-Luc Picard called Shinzon who's out to get Picard (and the Federation), with Data discovering an earlier prototype of himself called B-4 along the way.

In the film's climax, the Picard clone Shinzon had rigged his Romulan/Reman (don't ask) warbird, the Scimitar, to unleash its lethal thalaron radiation weapon on a severely damaged USS Enterprise-E. With Picard on board the enemy vessel, transporters inoperative, and the crew trapped in the quintessential no-win scenario, Data came up with his own solution to the Kobayashi Maru test. 

Effectively blowing himself out of an airlock, Data leapt across the void of space to the Scimitar and placed an emergency transport beacon on Picard, who was instantly beamed back to the Enterprise. With the weapon nearly charged, Data fired his phaser at the thalaron generator, destroying himself and the ship in the process. He had sacrificed himself to save his captain and the crew, a fact Picard subsequently struggled to live with. RIP, Data. 

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Data lived on in B-4, or DID he?

Data wasn't the only android built by his creator: genius cyberneticist Dr. Noonian Soong (also portrayed by Brent Spiner). 

"Evil twin" Lore (Brent Spiner again) tormented the Enterprise crew on several occasions throughout "The Next Generation," and "Nemesis" introduced the earlier prototype model called B-4 (say the name out loud). Before his death, Data used B-4 as a kind of hard drive to back up his memories and personality, but – aside from sharing Data's ability to recite Irving Berlin standards – B-4's neural pathways lacked the sophistication to replicate his late brother.

But this is where it gets complicated ... The first season of "Picard" revealed that Data's consciousness had survived after all. Along with Soong's human son, Altan (also Brent Spiner), cyberneticist Bruce Maddox – who'd previously tried to prove Data was Starfleet property in classic "TNG" episode "The Measure of a Man" – used a process called "fractal neuronic cloning" to replicate a virtual Data from one of B-4's neurons. This version of the android lived in a "massively complex quantum simulation" until Picard agreed to his old friend's request to help him die for a second time.

There's another Data head in Star Trek: Picard, but whose is it?

Data, Lore and B-4 were all crafted in Noonian Soong's image, so it's almost impossible to tell them apart. It seems most likely, though, that the disembodied head we see in the top secret Daystrom research facility belongs to B-4. 

First, we know from Picard's meetings with Dr. Agnes Jurati in season one that B-4 is in Starfleet’s possession. Second, when Will Riker reminds us that "Data copied everything he was onto B-4," the camera very deliberately cuts to the android head.

There's still a chance, however, that this is a misdirection, and that the head belongs to Lore. We have no idea what happened to Soong's more problematic son after his Borg misadventures in "TNG" two-parter "Descent" – we know he was dismantled but everything beyond that is a mystery. So while it's conceivable Starfleet have brought Lore back somehow, the show would have to fill in some gaps in the canon to explain his presence here.

The head probably isn’t Data's. The explosion at the end of Nemesis was pretty cataclysmic, and besides, if part of Data had survived, surely Maddox, Soong and Starfleet wouldn’t have resorted to using neurons from the inferior B-4 to bring him back.

Why is Data "old" now?

Picard season one used some clever digital tricks to de-age actor Brent Spiner to look like he did in "The Next Generation" era, but the Data we see in "The Bounty" looks much older. His complexion is also much more human.

While the change undoubtedly saved some money on the show’s VFX budget, there's also an in-universe explanation. This is an entirely different type of synthetic body to Data's, much more similar to the "golem" the late Altan Soong gifted to Picard, allowing to survive his incurable irumodic syndrome. 

Soong Jr. had originally planned to transfer his own consciousness into the golem before he died, but ended up going down a very different route. He instead decided to combine the consciousnesses of Lore, B-4, Data and Lal (the "daughter" Data built in "TNG" episode "The Offspring") in one body, aka Daystrom Android M-5-10. Soong built this older-looking version "with the wisdom and true human aesthetic of age. With the hope that in totality, something, someone will rise to be the best of us."

 That's the million-dollar question, though it's clear there's much more to this new-look Data than simply managing the security systems at Daystrom Station. It’s also clear this isn't quite the Data we knew and loved. 

Altan Soong never got the chance to finish the project before he died, leaving the various personalities vying for supremacy within the vessel. Data still recognizes Geordi La Forge, Picard and the rest of the crew, but with Lore also lurking in that shared mind, this resurrected body could be a danger to everyone.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom on Facebook and Instagram .

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Richard's love affair with outer space started when he saw the original "Star Wars" on TV aged four, and he spent much of the ’90s watching "Star Trek”, "Babylon 5” and “The X-Files" with his mum. After studying physics at university, he became a journalist, swapped science fact for science fiction, and hit the jackpot when he joined the team at SFX, the UK's biggest sci-fi and fantasy magazine. He liked it so much he stayed there for 12 years, four of them as editor. 

He's since gone freelance and passes his time writing about "Star Wars", "Star Trek" and superheroes for the likes of SFX, Total Film, TechRadar and GamesRadar+. He has met five Doctors, two Starfleet captains and one Luke Skywalker, and once sat in the cockpit of "Red Dwarf"'s Starbug.  

'Alien' heard us all scream 45 years ago today. Here's what it was like on opening day

This Week In Space podcast: Episode 112 — Mars on Pause?

Will a 'rare' lineup of planets be visible to the naked eye in the night sky on June 3?

Admin said: How is Data in 'Star Trek: Picard' if he died in 'Star Trek: Nemesis?' : Read more

• OneOfTwelve Data already had a built-in aging program according to the TNG episode with his "mother" Juliana. Reply
• Newhouse75 That head is in Mark Twains time. Don't forget. The one in the future was used to restore Data in The future. Reply
• Backcountry164 It's called plot armor. Tripping over yourself making excuses for lazy writers seems pointless... Reply
• View All 4 Comments

Most Popular

• 2 'Alien' heard us all scream 45 years ago today. Here's what it was like on opening day
• 3 This Week In Space podcast: Episode 112 — Mars on Pause?
• 4 Towel Day 2024: What's the deal with towels in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?'
• 5 A billionaire hopes to upgrade the Hubble Telescope on a private SpaceX mission, but could it really happen?

Marvel is making a second WandaVision Disney Plus spin-off for 2026 – and it'll star Paul Bettany as White Vision

V ision, the android superhero played by Paul Bettany in Marvel's expansive cinematic universe, is reportedly getting a Disney Plus spin-off series – and it's expected to arrive sometime in 2026.

According to Variety , the forthcoming show, which has been the subject of numerous rumors over the past two years, appears to be moving forward at Marvel HQ. If the as-yet untitled series meets its apparent 2026 release window, it'll debut on the service five (!) years after WandaVision , which is the last time that we see Bettany appear in a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) project. It'll also be released around two years after the aformentioned series' first spin-off Agatha All Along , whose September 2024 release date was confirmed by Marvel in mid-May.

Previously, it was expected that Bettany would reprise his role as White Vision – a resurrected version of the synthezoid who died at Thanos' hands in Avengers: Infinity War – in a Marvel Phase 5 production titled Vision Quest . It's unclear if this will be the series' official title, nor do we know who else might appear as part of its cast. We've reached out to Marvel and Disney for an official comment, and we'll report back if we receive a response.

What we do know is that the White Vision-starring project comes with a change of creative direction. We'd previously heard that a Vision series was in the works from WandavVision creator Jac Schaeffer, before they pivoted toward development on Agatha All Along . Now, Variety reports that the reins for this second spin-off have been handed to Terry Matalas, who will serve as its new showrunner. Matalas was an executive producer on Star Trek: Picard on Paramount Plus , but he was also the head writer on the Star Trek series' third and final season, which was met with critical acclaim.

Creative vision

For a TV show about an artificial being finding their purpose, tapping Star Trek talent is a very good move. The iconic sci-fi franchise's history of synthetic life forms seeking meaning and purpose in the cosmos – the android known as Data, who was a key figure in Star Trek: The Next Generation and also featured in Star Trek: Picard , had a similarly existentialism-led character arc in both shows. If Matalas can bring some of that narrative and character development substance to White Vision, he'll be more than a safe bet to lead one of the MCU 's many in-development shows.

If Bettany and Matalas are teaming up for a White Vision series on Disney Plus, aka one of the world's best streaming services , it'll somewhat fly in the face of Marvel's insistence that it's a) reversing course to favor quality over quantity with its line-up of films and TV shows, and b) that new MCU Disney Plus shows will be easier to jump into from now on .

The latter point is particularly pertinent to Vision, who's a figure with a substantial legacy in the MCU. After debuting in 2014's Avengers: Age of Ultron , he's gone onto have an increasingly important role in Marvel's cinematic juggernaut. Fans who have stuck with the MCU through its recent trials and tribulations, then, are far more likely to get the most out of Vision's TV show than those who haven't. Depending on the narrative direction of said series, it might not be so easy to simply "jump into" Vision Quest (or whatever it ends up being called) and follow the story it tells, either.

Still, with a new look, all-white body, a fresh start for the resurrected character, and the likelihood that Marvel will give newcomers some necessary exposition whenever the show airs, the comic giant hopes new viewers will be able to jump in fresh. Let's hope Matalas and Bettany can *ahem* make it so.

You might also like

• Find out how to watch the Marvel movies in order, including the ones that Vision appears in
• Marvel's X-Men movie reportedly finds its writer, and MCU fans say it's an underwhelming choice
• Marvel's Fantastic Four movie adds Natasha Lyonne to its cast, and MCU fans think she's perfect for one role