(SPOILERS!) Star Trek has introduced a new version of Data, and it is certainly unlike any version of Data that we’ve seen before – as the fan-favorite character is now a composite personality of the ultimate Soong Android.
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Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 6 saw Picard (Patrick Stewart), Riker (Jonathan Frakes), and the crew of the USS Titan launch an ambitious mission to re-investigate the “scene of the crime” of the Changelings’ heist at Daystrom Station. Riker joins Star Fleet operatives Worf (Michael Dorn) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) on the infiltration of Daystrom Station, but even with their blindspot in the A.I. security, the infiltration team is spotted by a proverbial “ghost in the machine.”
That “ghost” first takes the form of Moriarity, but the A.I. archvillain signals to Riker through a musical tune that he’s much more than he appears to be…
In the main vault of Daystrom, the team discovers a prototype android that Doctor Altan Inigo Soong built just before his death: this new android contains the combined memories of all the Soong android children: Data, his bothers Lore and B-4, as well as Data’s “daughter” Lal. Soong hoped to transfer his own brain into the android and integrate all the personalities into one cohesive mind – but he never got the chance to finish the process.
The infiltration team finds themselves overrun by Starfleet and has to make a hasty retreat (with help from Picard, Geordi La Forge, their kids, and a cloaking device stolen from a Klingon ship). Worf and Raffi get back to the Titan (Riker is captured) with Soong’s android in tow, and Geordi is able to activate it.
Data is the first personality that surfaces, as the former Enterprise commander has a touchingly childlike wonder at seeing his old shipmates all together again. However, the moment doesn’t last long: the remainder of the Soong android personas begin bubbling up, with Lore seizing control at one moment. In the end, the android proves useful at providing some literal data: what the Changelings stole from Daystrom and plan to weaponize: the original body of Jean-Luc Picard.
Star Trek fans have known since production on Star Trek: Picard Season 3 began that franchise veteran actor Brent Spiner would be returning in some form or fashion. Trailers had plenty of teases of Spiner playing Lore or Soong – but this ultimate amalgamation is an intriguing twist to what could potentially become a whole new era of character(s) for Spiner to play in the Star Trek franchise.
Star Trek: Picard: Season 3 is now streaming on Paramount+.
