| “ | Resistance...IS FUTILE. | „ |
| ~ Data to the Borg Queen after the quantum torpedoes missed a shot on the Pheonix, before smashing a gas tube, by steeling the Borg's phrase. |
| “ | I want to live, however briefly, knowing my life is finite. Morality gives meaning to human life, Captain. Peace. Love. Friendship. These are precious because we know they cannot endure. | „ |
| ~ Data's residual consciousness asking Picard to finally let him rest |
| “ | It says a great deal about the mind of Commander Data, that looking at the hukan race with all its violence, corruption, willful ignorance; he could still kindness. The immense curiosity. And greatness of spirit. That he wanted, more than anything else, to be part of that. To be a part of... the human family. We are such stuff as dreams are made of. And our little life is rounded... with a sleep | „ |
| ~ Picard's eulogy for Data |
Data is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe portrayed by actor Brent Spiner. Data is a sentient android who serves as the second officer and chief operations officer aboard the star ship USS Enterprise.
Though Data's strive for humanity and desire for human emotion is a significant plot point (and source for humor) throughout the series, he continually shows a nuanced sense of wisdom, sensitivity, and curiosity.
Data's positronic brain allows him impressive computational capabilities. Data experienced ongoing difficulties during the early years of his life with understanding various aspects of human behavior and was unable to feel emotion or understand certain human idiosyncrasies, inspiring him to strive for his own humanity. Data had a vast array of interests and hobbies - including painting, playing Sherlock Holmes on the holodeck, Shakespeare, music, and games of chance like poker.
In addition to his impressive computational abilities, Data was very strong due to his design. He was easily able to perform physical tasks that even individuals Worf and Riker would be unable to perform.
History[]
Data was designed and built by Doctors Noonien and Juliana Soong. He was the fifth android that the pair constructed. The first two prototypes died soon after creation due to unstable positronic matrices. The third android, named B4 was also believed to be a failure and deactivated, this third android eventually disappeared. The fourth android - named Lore - had a stable matrix but a warped, cruel personality. He was deactivated and dismantled, Soong intended to repair him.
Soong decided he wanted to try making one more android, convinced that he had found the answer that would allow the creation of a stable android that did not have an unstable matrix or personality. At first Juliana was opposed to this, fearing that Noonien would unintentionally create a second Lore or the new android would die from another cascade failure, but Noonien was able to talk her into trying one more time.
The couple then created Data. Data was programmed slightly differently, with a personality that did not include the complex emotions that had caused Lore to become mentally unstable. According to Juliana she and Noonien debated about whether Data should be male or female, Noonien solved that debate by building Data's head in his own image and walking into the lab with the head.
Soon Data was activated for the first time. Data was very much like an infant at first, struggling with motor control and sensory input. His personality required adjustment as Data was downright rude. The Soongs were also forced to write a modesty subroutine in order to convince Data to leave his clothes on - Data did not want to wear clothes as he was not affected by the elements, but colonists objected to an anatomically correct android running around naked.
The Soongs then wiped Data's memory and then programmed him with the memories and journals of various colonists.
Soon after Data's creation the Crystalline Entity attacked. Noonien and Juliana fled. At Juliana's insistence Data was left behind as she feared Data would become another Lore. Data was recovered by Starfleet when they responded to the distress call, and reactivated. His life was considered to have begun at that point.
The first few years after activation were difficult for Data as he achieved sentience, the evolution of his positronic brain was hard for him to handle. He briefly considered a form of suicide - shutting down and having his neural net wiped. He later decided to see his difficulties as challenges to be overcame.
Data applied to Starfleet Academy and was accepted in 2341. He graduated in 2345 and was commissioned as an Ensign in Starfleet. Assigned to the USS Trieste, he was promoted to Lieutenant four years later, and to Lieutenant Commander in 2360. Data was recruited for a mission by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who encouraged him to be more assertive and to go above and beyond in his duties.
Upon the completion of the Enterprise-D in 2364 Data was assigned to the flagship as second officer and operations manager.
In 2371 Data installed an "emotion chip", that his father had created into his positronic net. This allowed him to experience basic emotions for the first time in his life. However an overload caused the chip to fuse in to his brain. Data encountered significant difficulties in integrating his newfound emotions into his program. A couple years later Data developed the ability to deactivate the chip at will if he felt emotions were interfering with his duties, and eventually was able to remove the chip if needed.
Data died in 2379, sacrificing himself to save the crew of the Enterprise-E from Picard's clone Shinzon of Remus. As he had backed up the contents of his matrix into his recently discovered brother B4 before his death, thus Data is "reborn" through his brother.
Countdown[]
Data was later resurrected in B-4's body, which allowed the memories and personality to take control of his brother's body. Realizing how important Data was to the Federation B-4 deleted himself so that Data could live again. Working with LaForge and the Daystrom Institute Data had his new body's brain upgraded and re-created the emotion chip.
Afterwards Data returned to active duty within Starfleet, becoming the commanding officer of the Enterprise-E after Picard's retirement from Starfleet.
The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard[]
Following the death of his physical body in 2379 Picard was meeting with B-4 in his ready room when Q decided to pay them a visit. Q then resurrected Data inside B-4's body, and Data returned to duty soon afterwards.
Picard[]
Following the death of his physical body in 2379 the Daystrom Institute attempted to recover Data's memories from B4's brain. However since his brother's brain was considerably less advanced than his had been, the efforts to retrieve Data largely failed and the Institute felt that much of Data's memories and personality were lost. B-4 was later disassembled and held in storage at the Institute, and was still there in 2399.
However Dr. Bruce Maddox was able to recover a positronic neuron from B-4 that contained Data's memories, and used them to construct a re-creation of Data inside a computer simulation. Data lived within the simulation until 2399, when he was able to talk to Picard one last time and request that his former Captain shut down the simulation, allowing Data to finally die.
However, Data, along with B-4 and Lore, were uploaded into a new body, the Daystrom Android M-5-10, but during when Vadic and her rouge Changelings were carrying out their part in the endgame of the Borg Queen, Lore took control to help them, but Data later reasserted control through using the same move he used when playing poker with the rest of the Enterprise command crew: his bluffing, merging with Lore, leaving Data the dominant mind in control of their shared body, and turned the tables on Vadic and her forces, telling them he was the USS Titan-A's "friendly positronic, pissed-off, security system" as he ensured their takeover of the Titan failed, and Vadic ended up being ejected from the bridge, freezing to death in the vacuum of space before shattering on the Shrike before it too was destroyed by the Titan. With the original command crew of the USS Enterprise-D and USS Enterprise-E reunited, they soon discovered Vadic's alliance with the Borg Queen, and how some of Picard's leftover Borg DNA in his deceased body from his time as Locutus has been uploaded into the Starfleet mainframe and transporter system, meaning that Starfleet, and many of their younger members under the age of 25, were now sleeper agents of the Borg Queen, and why Vadic and her forces were after Jack.
They immediately return to Earth and Sector 001 to warn Fleet Admiral Elizabeth Shelby aboard the USS Enterprise-F about the Borg threat as she is celebrating Frontier Day and activating the new Fleet Formation protocol, but though Shelby is immediately alarmed by the mention of the very threat she witnessed the aftermath of firsthand years ago after the Battle of Wolf 359, and the Borg's second attempt to attack and assimilate Earth in the Battle of Sector 001, it is too late to prevent it. The moment Jack surrenders to the Borg Queen and is assimilated as Vox, voice of the Borg Collective and successor to Locutus, the Queen's endgame is triggered, and many young Starfleet crew members are assimilated into loyal Borg Drones. Data is forced to restrain Geordi when his own daughters Sidney and Alandra are among the assimilated, reminding him he'll be no help to them if anything happens to him and they need a plan. Realizing Data's right, Geordi calms down, and with the help of Seven and Raffi, they escape alongside Picard, Riker, Beverly, Troi, and Worf to flee to the Fleet Museum as Shelby and many unassimilated senior Starfleet personnel are killed by their own younger crew members before the fleet turns its aim on Spacedock, knowing that taking out the fortified space station will take down Earth's planetary shield and leave it vulnerable to an orbital bombardment.
At the Fleet Museum, Data and the others are stunned to see that Geordi had recovered and been repairing the USS Enterprise-D for some time, replacing its destroyed stardrive section with that of its sister ship, USS Syracuse, but the saucer section still bears the scars from what happened at Veridian III. On the bridge, Data is nostalgic as he goes over to his old chair at the helm, before making sure from Geordi that the older Enterprise is not part of the Fleet Formation that the Enterprise-F and the current Starfleet were now linked to as part of the Borg Collective, and Geordi assures him it is safe from the Borg infection.
After the command crew all agree with Picard that they are his family and are with him to the end, and it was time to save the rest of their family as well in Jack, Sidney, and Alandra, Data mans the helm again as the Enterprise-D whirs to life, leaves the museum, and with Picard having Data lay in the course at maximum warp, the moment Data reports the course laid in and she's ready, Picard commands "Engage!" and the Enterprise-D, using the warp nacelles of her sister Syracuse, zips away from the museum to return to the Sol System.
As they approach, they receive a distress signal from UFP President Anton Chekov, requesting any ships hearing his message to avoid Earth at all costs as Spacedock is struggling to hold off the assimilated Starfleet as those assimilated on the space station try to break in to where he is as his aides urge him to evacuate in an escape pod. After the connection is lost, it is not long before Data detects a Borg signature coming from Jupiter. Redirecting course there, they find the Borg Queen's massive Super-Cube hiding in plain sight within the gases of Jupiter's Big Red Spot. Data remains behind as Picard, Riker, and Worf beam down to locate the beacon controlling Starfleet and find Jack. Once Riker and Worf send the schematics of the Cube to Data and Geordi, they find that the Queen was smart enough to place it in the heart of the Cube, where it would be impossible to reach. However, trusting his gut instinct, Data convinces Geordi, Troi, and Beverly to let him pilot the Enterprise-D in to find it and thanks to his positronic brain, he is able to easily navigate the Enterprise through the Cube and to the beacon, all the while with a smile on his face at the excitement of what he's pulling off.
When they find it, Data and Geordi realize that the beacon is tied to the whole Cube. If they destroy it, the whole Cube goes with it. This puts them in a prisoner's dilemma, but in the end, knowing any hesitation would spell doom for Earth and the Federation, after some indecision, with Riker and Worf's go-ahead, Geordi has Beverly destroy the beacon, setting off a chain reaction to destroy the whole Cube. They immediately set out to find Picard, Riker, and Worf, but Data has trouble finding them on his scanners. Luckily, Troi's telepathic bond with Riker allows her to help steer the Enterprise right to them, and they, along with Jack, are beamed to safety as the Enterprise escapes while the Borg Queen screams in fury as she is engulfed in flames and the Cube is destroyed, severing her control over Starfleet just as the surviving ships prepare to launch their orbital bombardment of Earth after subjugating Spacedock, freeing all of the younger crewmembers from their assimilation, but leaving them haunted by the atrocities they committed while under Borg control, with Sidney LaForge herself breaking down in guilt-ridden tears as Seven comforts her and assures her it is over.
As Data joins Geordi and Worf as everyone regroups on the bridge, he joins Geordi when Seven and Raffi contact the Enterprise to show that Geordi's daughters are alright, safe, alive, and grateful to their father for saving them from becoming Borg Drones forever. Shortly thereafter, Data and Geordi notice Worf having fallen asleep when they hear his snoring, much to their amusement.
A year later, Data joins the rest of the Enterprise command crew for one last toast and game of poker at Guinan's Ten Forward in Los Angeles, though when he tries to finish a lewd joke he once tried before, they quickly shoot it down as soon as he starts saying it.
| “ | Data: Oh, ahem. There was a young lady from Venus... Riker, Crusher, Troi, & Worf: DATA! Data: I always wanted to finish that. |
„ |
| ~ Data will never finish that punchline |
Trivia[]
- The late Kevin Peter Hall, Mark Lindsay Chapman, Eric Menyuk and Kelvin Han Yee were all considered for the role of Data before Spiner was cast. Menyuk was a finalist for the role, and was given the recurring guest role of The Traveler as a consolation prize.
- Data, along with Picard, Riker, and LaForge are the only four in the TNG main cast to wear the Voyager-style uniform in Star Trek: Generations.
