Changes: Data (Star Trek)

Revision as of 00:00, 15 August 2017

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, Shakesphere, 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.

The couple then created Data. Data was programmed slightly differently, with a more personality that did not include emotions that had caused Lore to become mentally unstable. At first Juliana and Noonien debated about whether Data should be male or female, Noonien solved that debate by building Data's head in his own image.

Soon Data was activated for the first time. He was very much like an infant at first, struggling with motor control and sensory input. His personality required some 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.

Soon after his creation the Crystalline Entity attacked. Noonien and Juliana fled, 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 signifigant difficulties in intergrating 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, there remained a hope that Data could be recovered.

Online Continuity

In the Online timeline researchers at the Daystrom Institute, with help from Geordi LaForge, were able to unlock the Data matrix inside B4's body. Data however objected to being restored at the expense of B4, and created a subroutine to delete himself. Before Data could stop him though B4 deleted his own matrix in order to allow Data to survive. Data's matrix took over B4's body. Working with the scientists at the institute Data was able to upgrade his new positronic brain and recreate his emotion chip. Data returned to duty in Starfleet and by 2387 was the Captain of the Enterprise after the retirement of Captain Picard.

Novel Continuity

In the novel continuity Data was restored to life by his father Noonien Soong. Soong had transferred himself into an advanced android body after the death of his original body in 2367. He had started work on a new android body for Data, however he was unable to complete his work due to the Borg invasion of 2381. When Data's matrix needed a new body to survive, Soong sacrificed himself to provide Data with that new body. Data returned to Earth to recover the body of his daughter Lal, and using what he learned from the immortal Flint and his father resurrected her as well.

In 2386, working with his daughter Lal, Data helped Julian Bashir defeat the artificial intelligence Uraei, which had spent the past two hundred years running Section 31.

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