star trek data whistling

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers ! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy , the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG , Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online , as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant . Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{ spoiler }}, {{ spoilers }} OR {{ majorspoiler }} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

• Memory Beta articles sourced from novels
• Memory Beta articles sourced from novelizations
• Memory Beta articles sourced from comic adaptations
• Memory Beta articles sourced from video games
• Memory Beta articles sourced from games
• Memory Beta articles sourced from RPGs
• Memory Beta articles sourced from eBooks
• Memory Beta articles sourced from novellas
• Memory Beta continuity database
• Memory Beta articles sourced from short stories
• Starfleet personnel
• Starfleet personnel (24th century)
• Starfleet captains
• Starfleet commanders
• Starfleet lieutenants
• Starfleet ensigns
• Starfleet second officers
• USS Portia personnel
• USS Enterprise-D personnel
• USS Enterprise-E personnel
• USS Incursion personnel
• USS Sutherland personnel
• USS Enterprise-F personnel
• Time travellers
• Starfleet Medal of Honor recipients
• USS Theseus personnel
• View history
• 1.1 Specifications
• 1.2 Ancestry and family
• 1.3 Discovery and early life
• 1.4 The Enterprise -D
• 1.5.1 Assignments away from the Enterprise
• 1.5.2 Turbulent times
• 2 Interests
• 3 Alternate realities
• 4 Starfleet service record
• 5.1 Connections
• 5.2 See also
• 5.4.1 Appearances
• 5.5 External links

Biography and specifications [ ]

Specifications [ ].

Internal components

Data was constructed by Doctor Noonien Soong and, like the majority of Dr. Soong's works, was modeled after Soong's own likeness and mimicked the human form in impressive detail. Data's design included an ability to grow hair and a pseudo- cardiovascular system which produced a pulse and breathing, but rather than pumping blood , distributed biochemical lubricants and regulated microhydraulic power and temperatures throughout his body. ( TNG episode : " Birthright ")

Data's chemical nutrients are also capable of contracting molecular pathogens undetectable to transporter filters and bleeding from his dermal surface when his skin is pierced or torn. ( TNG episode : " The Naked Now ")

Data was composed of 24.6 kilograms of tripolymer composites, 11.8 kilograms of molybdenum - cobalt alloys and 1.3 kilograms of bioplast sheeting . ( TNG episode : " The Most Toys ")

His upper, spinal support is a polyalloy designed to withstand extreme stress. His skull is composed of cortinide and duranium . This composition makes him resistant to most forms of stress and virtually bullet proof. ( TNG episodes : " The Chase ", " Thine Own Self "; TNG movie : Star Trek: First Contact )

Data was built with an ultimate storage capacity of eight hundred quadrillion bits (approximately 100 petabytes) and a total linear computational speed rated at sixty trillion operations per second. ( TNG episodes : " The Measure of a Man ", " The Offspring ")

Data's brain was outfitted (unlike Lore 's type L) with a type R phase discriminating amplifier . ( TNG episode : " Time's Arrow ")

As his neural net was composed of anti- electrons (positrons), and throughout the nervous system, his body gave off an aura on a wavelength only visible to a humanoid wearing a VISOR . ( TNG episode : " Heart of Glory ")

Data has an ability to "spacewalk", for a limited amount of time, outside the pressurized confines of a vessel's hull-without an environmental suit . He also has acrobatic skills necessary to perform tasks in zero- gravity . ( TNG comic : " A Piece of Reaction "; TNG movie : Star Trek: Nemesis )

Designed with a "fully functional", anatomically correct form, he could perform various techniques of interaction, including sexuality. However, he could not master the ability to whistle. ( TNG episodes : " Encounter at Farpoint ", " The Naked Now ", " Brothers ")

Although he is flawlessly capable of this human idiosyncrasy. ( TNG episode : " The Schizoid Man ")

Data's construction, at first, had no buoyancy-resulting in his sinking whenever submerged in water . ( TNG episode : " Descent ")

However, this was corrected in later years as a potential drowning risk in emergencies. ( TNG movie : Star Trek: Insurrection )

Data possessed a simple infrared vision in addition to normal sight. ( TNG novel : Survivors )

Despite his impressive abilities and specifications, Data always desired to become more human but often struggled to master various aspects of humanity, such as emotion , humor and contractions. As part of his quest to become more human Data kept a pet cat , Spot .

Data did finally gain emotions when he installed an emotion chip created by Dr. Soong. He is most well known for using these emotions in Season 6 and 7 of TNG. ( TNG movie , novelization & comic adaptation : Generations )

Upon their first meeting, Commander Riker referred to him with the pet name of Pinocchio . Years later, his comparison to the antiquated children's tale came up again, while Will Riker considered Data's search for the "human condition." ( TNG episode : " Encounter at Farpoint "; TNG novel : The Eyes of the Beholders )

Ancestry and family [ ]

The dream of creating an android like Data dates back to as early as the 22nd century when Dr. Arik Soong , having failed in improving humanity by means of genetic modification, decided to begin development of a cybernetic lifeform . ( ENT episode : " The Augments ")

He had fully expected that he would not be the one to see the completion of this task; indeed, it was not until Arik Soong's descendant: Noonien Soong, under the tutelage of Ira Graves (Data's " grandfather ") and with the assistance of Juliana Tainer (Data's " mother "), that a fully-formed android was created. ( TNG episodes : " The Schizoid Man ", " Inheritance ")

Prior to Data, Dr. Soong created at least two other androids, Data's brothers Lore and B-4 . Both were considered faulty and were deactivated in favor of the more advanced Data. ( TNG episode : " Datalore "; TNG movie : Star Trek Nemesis )

Data, after the death of his daughter Lal

Despite his quite extensive ancestry Data may consider his crewmates aboard the starships Enterprise -D and -E more of a family and had a particularly strong bond with his friend Geordi La Forge .

In 2366 Data created a new android, his daughter Lal , in her short life Lal successfully achieved a far greater level of human emotion than Data had yet managed and she remained in his thoughts for many years following her death. Appearing in Star Trek: Picard, he also had another daughter called Dahj and also one called Soji.( TNG episode : " The Offspring ")

Discovery and early life [ ]

Data was constructed by Dr. Noonien Soong , and first activated in 2335 at the Omicron Theta colony on planet Kiron III . Unlike his "older brother" Lore , he was not given emotions, and at first was very childlike. In 2336 , his early memories were wiped and replaced with the logs and journals of the colonists. Shortly after, the colony was attacked by a Crystalline Entity and Data was left deactivated on a rock shelf. ( TNG episode : " Inheritance "; ST video game : Star Trek: Starship Creator ; TNG novelization : Encounter at Farpoint )

He was discovered in 2338 by the crew of the USS Tripoli , and reactivated, becoming familiar with Starfleet . Data entered Starfleet Academy in 2341 . ( TNG episode : " Datalore ")

Rear Admiral Alynna Nechayev met with Data while he was hoping to join Starfleet. Nechayev allowed Data to skip the entrance exams and to move to an accelerated track with credit for individual study. ( TNG novel : A Time to Be Born )

Data took the first-year course Ethics and Moral Principles , in which cadets debate the topic that life everywhere was sacred. However, Data was unable to form an argument against the hypothesis, as it was against his programming, and failed the course. ( TNG novel : Survivors )

In 2343 , Data completed an engineering honorarium at Utopia Planitia . A year later, he piloted the shuttle Curie from Earth to Utopia Planitia, ferrying a number of Starfleet officers and one civilian, the nine-year-old Kathryn Janeway . After arriving, he took Janeway on a tour of the facility. ( VOY novel : Mosaic )

At Starfleet Academy, he undertook the Priam IV test as part of admission to the graduating class. Although the test required cadets to be hypnotized into believing the test was real, Data could not be fooled and could even the see the holodeck walls. Therefore, he allowed computer experts to program the experience directly into his mind, an experience that he found disturbing due to the loss of mental control and later sudden return. It took him several days to reconcile the conflicting memories, and finally resolved the paradox by denying access to the real events. ( TNG novel : Survivors )

While in Starfleet Academy, Data had been instrumental in doing some updating and redesigning of the computer system used aboard starships, including greater sophistication in its communication skills and expansion of its already formidable memory. ( TNG novel : Strike Zone )

The year 2345 saw Data graduate with honors in exobiology and probability mechanics from Starfleet Academy as its first android graduate. ( TNG episode : " Encounter at Farpoint "; Last Unicorn RPG module : All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook )

One of Data's first assignments was as a Starfleet Education Representative , where he visited schools across the Sol system , before he was assigned to a starship. ( TNG novel : Survivors )

He remained an ensign for three years and spent ten-to-twelve years as a lieutenant before he was recruited for a survey mission by Captain Jean-Luc Picard aboard the USS Portia . ( TNG novel : The Buried Age ) During this mission, Picard encouraged Data to assert himself and work beyond what his superiors request of him; prior to meeting Picard, Data had shown a lack of career advancement because he always did the job in front of him simply because it didn't occur to him to push himself further or ask for particular assignments over others, adhering to the chain of command without thinking of going beyond the rules. Inspired by Picard's advice, Data was not only able to determine the true abilities and motives of the Manraloth , Ariel , but expose and thwart her plans to sabotage the Galaxy -class starships with a quantum virus that would have added various minor faults to their designs while rendering Starfleet computers unable to detect these flaws. As a result of his efforts, Data was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 2360 after the conclusion of the mission ( TNG episodes : " Datalore ", " Clues ") (A meeting of Starfleet Command had to specially approve the promotion. ( TNG novel : Survivors ) He subsequently served aboard the USS Trieste ( TNG novel : The Buried Age ), although he was assured that there was a place for him on a Galaxy-class starship when he wanted it for his role in saving them.

By 2365 , Data had earned the Starfleet Command Decoration for Gallantry , Medal of Honor with clusters, Legion of Honor , and the Star Cross . ( TNG episode : " The Measure of a Man ")

By the late 24th century , Data's collected letters were required reading by cadets taking the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course at Starfleet Academy. ( Last Unicorn RPG module : Starfleet Academy Handbook )

The Enterprise -D [ ]

Data in dress uniform at Chief O'Brien 's wedding aboard the Enterprise -D

In 2364 , Data joined the crew of the USS Enterprise -D as operations manager , chief science officer , and second officer . ( TNG episode & novelization : Encounter at Farpoint ; WizKids module : Attack Wing )

Data also accompanied the Enterprise -D's First Officer , Commander Riker and away teams on various missions and first contacts with species such as the Theluvians . He also took part in various celebrations aboard the Enterprise -D such as Christmas .

Prior to a encounter with Q , Data was, unknowingly, pre-programmed by Starfleet Command to have the Enterprise -D find the planet Faltos . Data was given authority to command the ship on the orders of Admiral Thivov . Data was successful in finding Faltos. Data was also instrumental in escaping Faltos's orbit. Chief Engineer Michael Argyle and Dr. Beverly Crusher were able to help Data find Dr. Soong's research on the Crystalline Entity . Using this information, Data was able to create an escape plan by joining transporter and warp technology in a unorthodox way. However, as the ship was leaving Faltos's orbit, Data's file on this was taken away by Bensley to protect Faltos , thus making sure the planet remains lost. ( TNG comics : " ... Where No One Has Gone Before! ", " Spirit in the Sky! ", " Q Affects! ")

On stardate 41590.8, Data was part of an away team to the planet Tigan . After discovering a planetary conspiracy, the team were attacked by Tigan security forces. Tasha Yar and Will Riker were taken into captivity while Data was taken to a Tigan facility where one of the Tigan conspirators, Edic , attempted to reprogram Data's positronic brain to erase his findings and report back to the Enterprise with only a positive experience of the planet. Fortunately Data's mind proved too resilient for this tampering and the attempt was unsuccessful. Data was freed from the Tigans when Edic rebelled against his fellow conspirator Kadec after seeing the error of his ways. The experience left Data contemplative, his memory so perfect, maybe that could be the key to him learning to be Human . ( TNG comic : " History Lesson ")

He later went on an investigative mission to the planet Treva with Lieutenant Tasha Yar . They met with President Nalavia , with whom he attempted to flirt on Yar's suggestion. After Yar disappeared, Data was forced to carry on alone, and was taken on tours of the city to meet with survivors of the terrorist attacks and visiting schools. Meanwhile, he infiltrated the Presidential Palace , explored its computers , analyzed the data he found, and searched for Yar. Finally he escaped the palace and headed to the castle of Warrior's Rest in a stolen flyer to rescue Yar, but he was captured by a quoghart net he did not notice. There, Data shared what he'd learned about Nalavia’s Riatine water treatments and fake terrorists . Though conflicted by their duty to the Prime Directive , he and Yar participated in planning for the liberation of Treva, and in the defense of the rebel stronghold. He also began a relationship with Pris Shenkley , a mercenary working for fugitive ex–Starfleet officer Darryl Adin . Data later discovered information exposing Nalavia's schemes.

Following the mission, Data remotely accessed the Starbase 36 computer in order to find and examine files related to Adin's conviction in 2359 . Delving deeper, he interfaced with and finally merged completely with the computer to recover deleted files from the Standard Unlimited Virtual memory system, something that could only be done by an android. He virtually drowned in conflicting information from the starbase and was left unconscious, but was fortunately discovered and restored by Lieutenant Geordi La Forge . He discovered that the files had been tampered with and exosed the Orion plot that had framed Adin, exonerating him. ( TNG novel : Survivors )

At some point during the year 2364 , Data also served in the position of navigator aboard the USS Enterprise -D . ( TNG video game : The Transinium Challenge )

In 2366 , Data was taken by the Mezartine crew of the warship Conqueror . There he was used as a new body for the Pilot 's personality to continue his existence. As the pilot, Data ordered Captain Picard to give supplies or he would destroy the Enterprise . ( TNG - The Battle Within comics : " The Pilot ", " The Battle Within ")

In late 2368 , Data traveled through a Devidian portal to 1893 . An away team from the Enterprise followed him and brought him back to his own time . However, he left his head behind, which stayed in San Francisco for nearly five hundred years before being reconnected to his body shortly after his recovery by his crewmates. ( TNG episode : " Time's Arrow ")

In 2371 , Data was forced to play a deadly game with the entity Redjac when he took over Enterprise -D 's computer as part of his revenge. Redjac used the Enterprise -D 's holodeck to recreate Victorian London using Data's Sherlock Holmes program. Redjac tried to make Data feel fear. At first, Data was not able to stop Redjac from killing officers such as Ensign McKenzie . Data was able to save Counselor Troi from Redjac. Data and LaForge were then able to devise away to stop Redjac. Data was then able to find Redjac in a warehoused named " Montgomery & Sons" on Scott street, which Data saw as reference to Redjac's time on the original Enterprise . Data and La Forge were able to seal Redjac within a photon torpedo . ( TNG comic : " Embrace the Wolf ")

The Enterprise -E [ ]

Following the Enterprise -D's destruction, Data alongside the majority of Captain Picard's crew transferred to the new Sovereign -class USS Enterprise -E . ( TNG movie : Star Trek First Contact )

In the months following the infusion of the emotion chip into his neural net, Data had dificulties mastering his new emotions. He was prone to get angry or agitated over trivial matters, and found himself unable to produce art as before. In the latter matter, he enlisted the help of Lieutenant Padraig Daniels who came aboard for a temorary assignment. The two spent much time in the Enterprise ' art center painting, and eventually Data managed to express himself again using his emotions. ( TNG - Slings and Arrows eBook : The Oppressor's Wrong )

In 2374 during the Dominion War , Data and the crew of Enterprise-E were then sent to the Gorn homeworld to try and form an alliance between the Federation and the Gorn Empire. Data was left in command of the Enterprise after a coup occurred on the surface and Capt. Picard, Counselor Troi and Dr. Crusher went down to the surface. Data then held the Enterprise's fire against the one of the Gorn warships. Data then destroyed the Gorn warship. Data then informed Starfleet command and Adm. Connolly of the situation with the Gorn. Connolly told him that Starfleet could not send any reinforcements to him. Data was then contacted by the coup leader, Slessshh , who wanted the Enterprise to surrender or he would kill Capt. Picard, Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi and the rest of the away team. Data however refused to do so saying that Slessshh was underestimating the human's strength. Data then decided to beam down, unarmed to the Gorn council chamber to demonstrate his point. Data then called Slessshh and the gorn weak. Data, at the behest of Capt. Picard, then challenged Slessshh to fight him. Data was able to defeat him and force the gorn war fleet to stand down.( TNG comic : " The Gorn Crisis ")

In 2376 , Data was part of an away team to investigate the Cardassian freighter Kamal , which the Enterprise had discovered in the Badlands . The freighter contained the Orb of Memory which caused the away team , including Data, to suffer flashbacks to people and events in their lives. ( DS9 novel : Avatar, Book One )

Assignments away from the Enterprise [ ]

Given Data's impressive abilities and usefulness to Starfleet, it was not uncommon for him to be called to serve on other missions away from the Enterprise from time to time .( TNG episode : " We'll Always Have Paris ", TNG episode : " The Ensigns of Command ", TNG episode : " Time's Arrow ", TNG episode : " Thine Own Self ")

In 2375 Data joined a duck-blind mission on the planet Ba'ku and was largely responsible for revealing a Starfleet/ Son'a plot to remove the Ba'ku from their planet. ( TNG movie : Star Trek: Insurrection )

In 2377 Data served as technical advisor during the development of the highly experimental USS Incursion . He joined the Incursion 's crew in the shakedown cruise testing the Incursion's holographic systems and subsequently found himself in the midst of the Warden plot to take over the galaxy . During the crisis he was recalled to Earth to help decode warden transmissions and was almost assassinated by Warden agents, fortunately he was rescued by the Incursion 's crew and rejoined the vessel to help bring down the Wardens. ( TNG video game : Away Team )

In 2378 Data was assigned to the USS Sovereign to assist in the investigation of the Vesuvi Event. It was discovered that a rogue Cardassian faction was responsible. Data received orders from Vice Admiral Liu to track down the device that the Cardassians were using to destroy star systems . A device was located on Alioth VI, but unfortunately, the Sovereign was discovered and attacked by a Cardassian fleet, forcing the crew to leave Data behind on the hostile planet for several months. He was recovered by the crew of the Sovereign and later was able to establish a dialogue with the Kessok after the Sovereign 's captain initiated a peaceful first contact. After the conflict in the Maelstrom region was resolved, he returned to the Enterprise . ( TNG video game : Bridge Commander )

Turbulent times [ ]

In 2378 , Data had his emotion chip forcibly removed following an incident at the Rashanar Battle site . ( TNG novels : A Time to Be Born , A Time to Die )

In 2379 , he commanded the Bravo team mission to infiltrate the nadion-pulse cannon firebase located in the Solasook Peninsula on Tezwa . The mission was successful after Data was able to interface with the base computers allowing him to send false signals forcing the crew to abandon the base. It was on this mission that Commander Riker was kidnapped and held captive for one month. During Riker's captivity, Data served as acting first officer of the Enterprise . It was Lieutenant Vale's belief that Data went without any rest for this entire one-month period. ( TNG novels : A Time to Kill , A Time to Heal )

After Riker's return, he approached Captain Picard about taking crew of the Enterprise with him to the USS Titan . Picard was fine with this except that Riker was not allowed to take Data as Picard felt that he had earned his chance to become first officer of the Enterprise . ( TNG novel : A Time for War, A Time for Peace )

Data in 2379

Towards the end of the year, Data sacrificed himself to rescue Captain Picard and destroy the Reman warbird Scimitar thereby preventing the deaths of the Enterprise -E's crew. ( TNG movie : Star Trek Nemesis )

Following his death, the copy of his neural net he uploaded to B-4 failed to take hold and Data, including his memories, were lost. ( PIC episode : " Remembrance ")

A reconstruction of Data's consciousness created by Altan Soong existed in a complex simulation. At his request, this version of Data's consciousness was terminated by Jean-Luc Picard. ( PIC episode : " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 ")

The personality and memories of Data, along as Lore, B-4, Lal and Soong himself were contained within the Daystrom Android M-5-10 golem , created by Altan Soong at Daystrom Station . ( PIC episode : " The Bounty ") When the android was recovered in 2401 , personalities of Data and Lore were at odds with each other within the golem, but when Lore appeared to be victorious and took over Data's memories, he actually became Data in the process, although now Data also included elements of Lore's personality. ( PIC episode : " Surrender ")

Interests [ ]

One of Data's hobbies/interests was "classical chamber music ." ( TNG video game : Echoes from the Past ; TNG episode : " A Matter of Time ")

Alternate realities [ ]

In an alternate timeline created when the USS Enterprise -C was accidentally sent through a temporal rift from 2344 to 2366 , the Federation had been at war with the Klingon Empire for almost 20 years as the Enterprise -C's disappearance resulted in the destruction of the Klingon colony Narendra III . In this timeline, Data was still the ship's operations officer. ( TNG episode : " Yesterday's Enterprise ")

In an alternate timeline, a group of advanced aliens on Elysia worshiped as gods by the natives transformed Data into a human male. Data spent the next several months adjusting to his new body, and found among other things that he was left handed. Meanwhile the Konor conquered the Samdian Sector setting off a chain of events that led to a major war that decimated all the major galactic powers. The timeline was averted when Data was transformed back into an android and sent back in time to before he encountered Elysia's "gods." Not being transformed into a human allowed Data to uncover a critical clue in the Samdian crisis that led to the peaceful resolution of that crisis. ( TNG novel : Metamorphosis )

Commodore Data

In another alternate timeline, he ascended to the rank of commodore . In 2408 , he was the commanding officer of the USS Enterprise -F with 2,023 crewmembers. ( TNG novel : Imzadi )

In an alternate timeline, Doctor Soong's dream became a reality and hundreds of Soong-type androids were operational within the Federation. Data fought for android rights and, after winning them, he and a group of others separated from the Federation to establish their own society. They settled on Iconia and began to explore their abilities.

Following the reactivation of Lore in 2378 , Data contacted the Enterprise -D and requested Captain Picard's assistance to avert a war. After successful negotiations utilizing Iconian gateway technology as a bargaining chip, the war that Data feared was prevented. In the mid- 2400s , he was offered a posting as Ambassador to the Dominion . ( TNG - Myriad Universes novella : Brave New World )

In an alternate timeline in which the Cardassian Union did not withdraw from Bajor in 2369 , Data became the captain of the USS Sutherland in 2373 , shortly after the outbreak of the Romulan War . ( TNG - Myriad Universes novel : A Gutted World )

Data with blue eyes in an alternate reality

In several alternate realities visited by Lieutenant Worf in 2370 , Data likewise served as the Enterprise -D's chief operations officer. In five of these realities, he attended Worf's surprise birthday party and gave him an expressionist painting of the Battle of HarOs . In two others, the painting depicted a Klingon Vor'cha -class battle cruiser .

In one reality, Data's eyes were blue instead of yellow. In another reality in which Jean-Luc Picard was killed during the Borg Incursion of 2366-2367 , Data was still the second officer of the Enterprise in 2370, which was under the command of William T. Riker . Worf was the first officer . ( TNG episode : " Parallels ")

In another reality, Data was the first officer of the FSS Enterprise in 2380 .

In another reality, Data served as the first officer of the US Enterprise , under the command of Wesley Crusher , prior to his death at the hands of the Reman usurper Vkruk in 2379. He was succeeded by Jean-Luc Picard, who had previously been the second officer.

In another reality, Data served aboard the United Earth Space Probe Agency vessel Enterprise before it was captured by the Klingon Empire and became the IKS Qu' . He was disassembled by the Klingons . By 2380, Captain Picard was the only surviving member of the original crew.

In another reality, Data was the first officer of the USS Enterprise -E , which was under the command of Thomas Halloway in 2380.

In another reality, Data was the captain of the ESS Enterprise in 2380. ( TNG novel : Q & A )

Shortly after the return of the USS Enterprise to Earth following the battle with Shinzon , Picard and B-4 were paid a visit by Q . Over the objections of Picard, Q restored Data to life in B-4's body. ( TNG novel : The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard )

Sometime in the 29th century when the Borg assimilated the entire galaxy, Data's positronic matrix was stored in the Borg hive mind when they assimilated the Daystrom Institute . Data was then rebuilt by Locutus and helped Locutus defeat the Borg Queen 's sentinel, Seven of Nine . After Locutus and the Queen killed each other, Data was then sent back to USS Enterprise -E in 2381 to help Captain Picard defeat the Borg. ( TNG - Hive comics : " Hive, Issue 1 ", " Hive, Issue 3 ")

Starfleet service record [ ]

Appendices [ ], connections [ ], see also [ ].

• Children of Soong

Appearances and references [ ]

Appearances [ ], external links [ ].

• Data article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• Data (Star Trek) article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
• Data (Assimilation²) article at Tardis Data Core , the Doctor Who wiki
• Data article at the Star Trek Timelines Wiki .
• 1 Tzenkethi
• 2 The Chase
• 3 Preserver (race)

• Show Spoilers
• Night Vision
• Sticky Header
• Highlight Links

Follow TV Tropes

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekPicardS3E07Dominion

Recap / Star Trek: Picard S3E07 "Dominion"

Edit locked.

As the Titan -A lurks in the Chin'toka system 's Derelict Graveyard , Seven of Nine makes contact with an old friend: Captain Tuvok ( Tim Russ ). He has not been able to reach Admiral Janeway either, though he surmises that the preparations for Frontier Day, a mere 36 hours from now, are occupying her attention. The bridge crew are running all sorts of scans on Tuvok's voice print, but in the end it's down to Seven to Bluff the Imposter : she references their games of kal-toh , and he reminds her that she won most of them, to her relief: it's the real Tuvok. He agrees to summon allies and meet her at Aklion VII, where she had her neural pattern stabilized... Apparently forgetting that he did this back in the Delta Quadrant ( VOY : " Infinite Regress "). Now revealed, the Changeling admits that they have the real Tuvok hostage... and implies that his fate will be much the same as Will Riker's.

Picard and Crusher discuss the current situation — the ship is still at large but without allies; Worf and Raffi are Put on a Bus to go do Intelligence stuff — and ruminate on what they learned during the last episode. Their hypothesis is that the Changelings want to break into Frontier Day, meaning they'll need to pass Starfleet's DNA scanners. As such, they need Picard's DNA (from his corpse) and Jack's blood to make a super-fake Changeling Picard. Meanwhile, La Forge, who is still working on Daystrom Android M-5-10, explains (and eventually demonstrates) to Picard that both Data and Lore's personalities are stored within, and are battling for control of the hardware platform. Lore implies that, per Altan Soong's genetic scans, something else is up with Picard's DNA, something that throws the old "Irumodic Syndrome" diagnosis into question, but won't say what. We get a potential answer belowdecks, where Jack and Sidney find themselves in a turbolift together. Their Unresolved Sexual Tension is somewhat derailed by the implication that Jack's glowing red eyes allow him to read her mind. He visits Picard and admits that there's more to the story of his uniqueness, but won't admit what it is, instead suggesting that maybe it is time for him to give himself up — especially since Starfleet has been playing from behind this whole time. Picard suggests he has an idea to turn those tables.

The Shrike arrives at the Titan 's location. The ship is dead in the water, near the hulk of a Vulcan warship which is broadcasting logs: apparently, it engaged the Titan and both ships were crippled in the fight. Vadic, knowing her deadline is approaching, decides that Trap Is the Only Option and goes in. Jack and Sidney play bait, and up at the bridge, Shaw and Seven drop force fields to trap Vadic and her Changeling soldiers in the corridors... but not before Jack and Sidney manage to get themselves trapped as well. Vadic, captured, goes on her Motive Rant to Picard and Crusher: she and nine other Changelings were kept at Daystrom Station, where an Evilutionary Biologist under the auspices of "Project Proteus" performed experiments on them. From these experiments she learned the new "keep my form, have fake blood, etc" tricks her people are using to fool Starfleet's TSA checks, and formed the Renegade Splinter Faction to revenge themselves on the Federation. Picard and Crusher, though clearly torn about the choice, decide to execute their prisoner in cold blood and simplify the problem immensely.

Down in Engineering, the whole plan goes awry: Lore emerges triumphant from the Battle in the Center of the Mind and, hooked up to a computer, succeeds in taking over the whole ship. Vadic escapes, and her mooks are turned loose on Jack and Sidney. La Forge makes an impassioned plea to his friend, and Data takes the day, regaining control of Daystrom Android M-5-10 and resetting the ship's systems. Meanwhile, Jack uses his mind-reading powers to telepathically walk Sidney through the fight, allowing her to survive and take down her opponent. And Picard and Crusher, looking up files on Project Proteus, learns that the captive Changelings were injected with a very specific radioactive isotope, rendering them detectable.

• Achilles' Heel : Once they learn the details of the experiment that created the altered changelings Beverly identifies a chemical compound with a specific half-life, something they can calibrate their scanners to detect and track them. Despite their more refined shapeshifting abilities, they have new limitations.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us : Vadic and her crew board and invade the Titan . Despite a promising start where the Changelings are contained by forcefields, Lore throws a wrench into that plan and they ultimately seize the ship.
• Ambiguous Situation : It's left unclear when specifically Tuvok was replaced by the rogue Changelings. It's implied to be at least several months, if his comment about not speaking with Janeway for some time was truthful (which makes sense as, given their longtime friendship, Janeway could spot any inconsistencies). However, he also fails the second Bluff the Imposter , but knew at least enough basic knowledge to pass the first. This suggests that Tuvok's impersonation and replacement may have been rushed, once they realized Seven and the Titan were now involved against them — and thus Seven would inevitably seek out her old crew for help.
• Bad Boss : Vadic's superior is now resorting to torturing her over "conference" call for failing to find Jack. His dialogue also implies that he's not a Changeling or a Solid, but a Greater-Scope Villain that hasn't been revealed yet.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil : Vadic is part of a batch of Changelings experimented on by Starfleet to improve their abilities. Several of them were killed by the experiments, fueling her rage towards Starfleet.
• Beyond Redemption : Picard and Beverly conclude from their talk with Vadic that there's simply no way to end things peacefully. Vadic is driven solely by hatred and nothing they do will quell it.
• Bluff the Imposter : Seven mentions her games of kal-toh with Tuvok, and he accurately notes that she beat him numerous times. Then she suggests Aklion VII as a meeting point, citing it as the place where she had her neural patterns stabilized. He fails that check because he doesn't consider the anti- Kolinahr protests held there, and the event she speaks of happened on Voyager with Tuvok's help.
• Body Horror : Vadic's superior punishes her by involuntarily triggering her shapeshifting and leaving her locked between Solid and Liquid forms.
• The Cameo : Seven contacts Tuvok in an attempt to figure out where Riker is being held. Unfortunately, it isn't Tuvok, but a Changeling impersonator.
• The Titan hides in a Derelict Graveyard in the Chin'toka System, one of the battlegrounds of the Dominion War .
• The events of " Infinite Regress " are mentioned as part of Seven's Bluff the Imposter gambit with Tuvok (and ultimately help expose him as a Changeling).
• Crazy-Prepared : The memory partition inside the Data Golem. Altan Soong had hoped Data and Lore's personalities would integrate with the other memory files and allow Data to finally become fully human in his way. However, Lore is Lore and thus Altan was rightly worried Lore's personality might seize control and consume Data.
• Create Your Own Villain : The altered Changelings originated from Vadic, who was captured during the Dominion War and experimented on by a Starfleet Mad Scientist for years. Vadic killed the human in charge and took her form , then retrieved the chemical vials that caused their mutation to be distributed among other Changelings looking for revenge. While there is still a Greater-Scope Villain behind Vadic, their personal anger and hatred towards Starfleet is justified and being more perfect infiltrators is exactly what they were designed to be.
• Derelict Graveyard : The Titan -A and her crew hide in one of these in the formerly Dominion-controlled Chin'toka system near Cardassian space, last seen in Deep Space Nine . In a distant counterpoint to the previous episode's visit to the Fleet Museum, somewhere out there in the field of wreckage probably still drifts the remains of the first U.S.S. Defiant , destroyed by a Breen energy dampening weapon and concentrated fire at the disastrous Second Battle of Chin'toka as depicted in " The Changing Face of Evil ", late in DS9 's seventh season.
• Didn't See That Coming : Vadic admits that she didn't anticipate how loyal Riker and Troi would be to Picard, or that they wouldn't break under torture.
• Downer Ending : The plan to entrap Vadic fails thanks to Lore, leading to her and her Changelings successfully seizing control of the Titan and in a position to finally capture Jack.
• Enemy Mine : Zigzagged. Lore technically doesn't join forces with Vadic. That said, Lore does invoke this basic trope as his motive for helping the Changelings by deactivating the Titan force fields. Geordi : What do you want, Lore?! Lore : No more than you want for your children. Nothing more than these Changelings want. Survival. It's... human nature, pal. Allow me to level the playing field. The enemy of my enemies... Well, you know the rest.
• Equivalent Exchange : Project Proteus was this for Vadic and her faction. While the experiments enhanced their physiology and shapeshifting abilities (and can also be passed on to other Changelings), it was at the cost of shorter lifespans and almost constant pain.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap! : After Seven exposes "Tuvok", she slowly realizes that while the Changeling failed the second test, he was able to pass the first one. Her games of Kal-toh with Tuvok about Voyager were personal, private information — which means the only way the Founders would know this was if they'd "spoken" with Tuvok. That means this isn't just a Changeling posing as Tuvok, but that they specifically captured and interrogated the Vulcan to trick Seven — and her old friend may now very well be dead.
• Vadic's adoption of her jailer's form also serves as a twisted parallel to the backstory of Odo , who modeled his own solid appearance on the Bajoran scientist (Mora Pol) who studied him.
• Failed a Spot Check : As the systems are working against him, Geordi asks, "what is doing this"...as he walks right by the android with the murderous alternate personality plugged into the ship's computer system.
• Fate Worse than Death : Changeling Tuvok's gloating promise to Seven after she demands to know if the real Tuvok is still alive. Changeling Tuvok : All I can tell you is: when we are done with [the real Tuvok] — when we are done with all of you — death will come as a relief .
• Faux Affably Evil : Lore's still a smooth-talker to the old Enterprise crew, but he has no lost love for them and will happily destroy them.
• Fish out of Temporal Water : Again, from the perspective of the Data copy inside the Golem, it's still 2379 , though he adapts quickly once Picard explains that it's been a while.
• Friend on the Force : Seven approaches Tuvok in the hopes he can serve this role and give them intel on Riker's whereabouts after being captured at Daystrom. Alas, of course, he turns out to be a false friend.
• The beginning of the episode. The Titan has recovered Data and learned what was stolen from Daystrom, but it doesn't do much to help them. 36 hours are now left until Frontier Day and they're running out of places to hide from the compromised Starfleet. Worse, the Changelings also got to Tuvok, which eliminates another avenue of alerting Admiral Janeway (and also means they can't seek out any other Voyager allies as Seven had hoped).
• The whole episode, arguably. Not only is Tuvok found to be in Changeling captivity (or possibly worse), the attempt to trap Vadic and her underlings backfires horribly due to Lore's Spanner in the Works and they end up taking over the Titan -A, killing several of her already minimal crew, and preparing to take Jack by force.
• Frontline General : Vadic personally leads the boarding of the Titan .
• Fugitive Arc : The Titan is still on the run from the compromised-Starfleet. This is actually one of the catalysts for their trap for Vadic: Geordi's running out of ideas for potential hiding places and they can't evade Starfleet indefinitely.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop : Lampshaded after Vadic listens to Crusher threatening to violate the Hippocratic Oath and figures that Picard will be the "understanding" to Crusher's "cruel".
• Greater-Scope Villain : Vadic's boss, who is implied to not be a Changeling from his dialogue.
• He's Back! : Played horrifically when Lore manages to seize full control of the Data Golem.
• Hidden Agenda Villain : Vadic's motives are transparent, but the Face's obsession with Jack and mocking of both Changelings and Solids suggests destroying the Federation isn't as important to him as it is her.
• The Titan gambit works, they've got Vadic and her crew contained, her motives are clearer, and they have a means of detecting the evolved Changelings. And then everything goes to hell because of Lore.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen : Similar to Moriarty with Riker and Worf last episode, Lore has the same mocking and sneering opinion of the (from his perspective) now-elderly Picard (and to a lesser extent Geordi). Lore : [That would explain] why you're so old . Time has been very cruel to you, [Picard].
• Played for Black Comedy when Lore sneers at the-now centenarian Picard and how time has been cruel to him — all the while ignoring his current shell is a septuagenarian version of the basic Soong android template.
• Vadic complains that Starfleet attempted genocide on her people and declares their own behavior "warfare". The Dominion infected rebellious populations in their corner of the galaxy with bioweapons, tried to wipe out Bajor and its entire star system before the war even started and tried to completely bomb Cardassia to the ground for rebelling against them with explicit orders to exterminate the Cardasians, so she doesn't have much of a leg to stand on in that department.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight : Geordi pleads with Data to overcome Lore when Lore hijacks the Titan -A's systems. It takes some doing, but Data succeeds. Geordi: Data, I know you're in there. So I need you to listen to me because life rarely gives you second chances to say what you should. Okay? Data, you made me better. You did. You made a better man, a-a... a better father. A better friend. And when you died... it broke me. But, see, you... You put me back together, you repaired me. It-it... The-the memory of you.
• I Shall Taunt You : The Changeling impersonating Tuvok, once uncovered by Seven, claims that their group's plan will result in a Fate Worse than Death for all Solids involved, before changing to an undead-looking echo of the imprisoned Riker to play on the main characters' fears even further.
• It's All About Me : A variation with Vadic during her Motive Rant . In spite of being subservient to her boss, Vadic is still a Changeling and thus still possesses the arrogance that was part and parcel of the Founders on DS9 . As far as Vadic's concerned, Starfleet's attempted genocide of her people is a far worse crime than the Dominion's invasion of the Alpha Quadrant and the millions of lives lost (and nearly a billion in the case of the Cardassians) — and countless worlds left devastated all in the name of their holy crusade to Never Be Hurt Again .
• Ironic Nursery Tune : Vadic recalls the scientist who experimented on her and her fellow Changelings whistling while she did so — it would appear that "Three Blind Mice" will persevere into the 24th century.
• It's Personal : Vadic's boast to Picard and Beverly: Vadic : The Federation took my family. Now I will take yours.
• Leitmotif : Very cleverly used when Seven speaks with Tuvok. The Voyager theme begins playing after he passes the Trust Password , musically signifying this is the real Tuvok and they've got a key Voyager ally on their side. As soon as he fails Seven's second test, however, the Voyager theme cuts out and the music goes sinister.
• Mandatory Line : Jonathan Frakes appears for only about five seconds, after the Tuvok imposter changes to his (Riker's) form to taunt our heroes.
• Mind Hive : Data and Lore are partitioned into each half of the android's positronic brain and are vying for control (Soong and B-4 are mere memory files, by comparison). Lore takes over in the climax, also seizing control of the ship, but Data is able to reassert himself with some pleading from Geordi.
• Name One : When Vadic claims that solids like humans ruin every planet they touch, Picard challenges her to name one. Her response: "Mine."
• Needle in a Stack of Needles : The Titan was hiding from the fleet among the wreckages of previous battles powered down, but still have to rotate between them to stay under the radar.
• During the war, Section 31 used Daystrom Station to experiment on Changeling prisoners of war, giving them the ability to mimic those they shapeshift into down to the cellular level. Then said Changelings escaped, brought this gift back to their own kind, and used their further-justified hatred of the Federation to go rogue from the Great Link and bring down Starfleet once and for all. Really, between Control and the Changeling Virus , you'd think someone at Starfleet should put more oversight on their black ops division.
• The late Ro Laren transferring most of the Titan crew to the Intrepid two episodes ago posthumously comes back to bite Shaw and Team Picard. Once Lore lets Vadic and her team out of the traps the Titan set, they're able to bum rush and overpower the skeleton crew and easily seize control of the ship.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain : While it comes a bit late to help immediately, Vadic choosing to elaborate on her backstory and identify the name of the experimental program that enhanced her shapeshifting allows Beverly to figure out a means to detect the evolved Changelings through a specific isotope in the serum that allows them to maintain their forms.
• The anti-Kolinahr demonstrations on Aklion VII, which Seven uses to expose "Tuvok".
• Geordi's dialogue after they cut the call with "Tuvok" implies he's not the first person they've contacted who either wouldn't help them, or had also been compromised.
• Oh, Crap! : Geordi's reaction upon realizing Lore's personality's now in complete control of the Data Golem.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business : Vadic doesn't revert to her Laughing Mad act upon finishing the "conference call" with her superior (and as she previously did back in "No Win Scenario"). Instead, Vadic's morose and exhausted.
• Phone-Trace Race : When Seven contacts "Tuvok", the Founders initially don't do this to avoid alerting their quarry anything is wrong. They instead try to trick Seven to willingly bringing the Titan to a rendezvous of their choice. Once "Tuvok" is exposed, however, the Changelings drop all pretenses and launch an aggressive subspace trace. They nearly succeed before Shaw and Geordi manage to cut the signal (and because Seven and Picard keep the call going as long as possible to try and glean any valuable intel the Changeling might let slip during his gloating).
• Precision F-Strike : Geordi swears at Lore after his deactivation of the force fields endangers Sidney. Geordi : Goddamnit, Lore!
• Put on a Bus : Similarly to "No Win Scenario", Worf and Raffi do not appear in this episode. They're stated to have taken La Sirena to covertly follow up potential Starfleet Security leads on Riker's whereabouts.
• Race Against Time : The Changelings are also now racing against the clock to try and recover Jack before Frontier Day. At the top of the episode, the clock's now at 36 hours left and counting.
• Rank Up : Tuvok has gone from a lieutenant commander to a captain in the decades since Voyager returned home to the Alpha Quadrant. Lower Decks had previously briefly depicted him as a full commander in the 2380s.
• The evolved Changelings are a result of Starfleet experiments at Daystrom to create perfect Changeling spies. Vadic and her batch of Changelings escaped, and can pass the ability on to those they link with.
• What was believed to be Irumodic Syndrome in Picard and Jack is indicated to be something different — and alien — mistaken for that condition. This is at least partly why Picard's corpse was stolen, to extract that thing from it, and Vadic's mysterious employer wants Jack alive for that reason.
• Rule of Symbolism : The Titan -A hiding out in the Chin'Toka System. Chin'toka was one of the crucial battlegrounds of the Dominion War. Capturing it gave the Federation their sole foothold in Dominion territory, but holding it was a tenuous balancing act. Eventually, the Dominion struck back and retook control — much like how the Titan 's plan to entrap Vadic initially succeeds, only to blow up in their faces. Likewise, the wreckage of the Second Battle is still there decades later (probably including the original U.S.S. Defiant ) — mirroring how the reverberations of the War are still present and how the survivors of the War are still fighting through its figurative and literal wreckage decades later.
• Self-Serving Memory : Though Vadic is technically correct that the Federation refused to give the Great Link the cure to the plague and "one of [their] own" had to do so, she conveniently leaves out that said individual was Odo, who only agreed to/was allowed to distribute it to the Great Link on the condition that the Female Changeling end hostilities immediately and agree to what was essentially an unconditional surrender.
• Shapeshifter Default Form : It's revealed that Vadic took on the appearance of the human scientist that abused and experimented on them, choosing it as their standard appearance. This is heavily interconnected with their erratic personality.
• The "Tuvok" Changeling shapeshifts into a ghoulish version of Riker to taunt Picard.
• Vadic also does the same by briefly shapeshifting into Jack to taunt both Beverly and Picard after revealing her motivations while she's confined.
• Shut Up, Kirk! : Lore's unchanged opinion of Picard, Geordi, and the rest of the Enterprise -D alums. He even lampshades the trope to Sidney as a necessity for dealing with Starfleet types. Alamndra : So, has Lore always been this arch? Lore : ...Did the tree move, or did the apple just fall far from it? When you're constantly subjected to these self-righteous, self-proclaimed "heroes" spewing their morality as if vomit were somehow virtuous, then sometimes, dear, a little bend, a little arch, a little antagonizing flare is required.
• Spanner in the Works : Lore gaining control of the Data Golem derails the entire trap Picard and the Titan set for Vadic.
• Special Edition Title : The end credits play the mournful piano-based piece that earlier accompanied Vadic's story of her suffering.
• Spot the Imposter : When Seven contacts Tuvok, the crew run a voice analysis in an attempt to confirm he's the real deal. The test comes up inconclusive, so Seven switches to a Bluff the Imposter gambit.
• Averted initially, as Seven finally seeks out her old allies from Voyager (Tuvok in this case) for help in locating Riker (and to finally get through to Janeway and alert her). However, it then gets played straight once it's revealed he's a Changeling. It's too risky to reach out to anyone else given how close "Tuvok" came to tracing their signal. And if the Founders had enough prescience to replace Tuvok, then they can't trust any of the other Voyager veterans haven't also been compromised.
• By hiding in the Chin'toka system, the Titan is now in proximity to Cardassian and Bajoran space. However, none of the Deep Space Nine characters are contacted for assistance (ex. asking Garak or Kira for sanctuary on Cardassia or Bajor). Justified, as Worf is the only member of Team Titan with the connections to the DS9 crew — and he and Raffi are currently off pursuing Starfleet Security leads on Riker's whereabouts. Even if Worf wasn't absent, it's been over two decades since he left the Bajor Sector. There are no guarantees any of his old friends and allies from the station would even be nearby or in a position to help them.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome : Vadic and her faction's split from the Great Link takes on additional context with this episode's revelations. If you were prisoners of war and experimented upon, you'd understandably be pretty pissed off. And if you made it home and informed your government of these war crimes, you would expect them to take action and seek retribution to such an injustice. And if said government, even after learning this (and in addition to learning your captors were also responsible for the plague that almost wiped out the Link) still vowed to honor the Female Founder's sacrifice and the Odo initiative? Well, then, you might just be pissed off enough to give them the finger, break away from your own people with like-minded supporters (thereby shattering thousands of years of unity), and go gunning for the Solids to burn their civilization to the ground.
• Tautological Templar : Vadic claims that Solids destroy every world they touch, and as proof cites her own world, specifically noting it as a retaliation to their own warfare. Genocidial or not, her argument is that the act of retaliating in itself proves they were right to strike first.
• Telepathy : Jack gains the ability to hear Sydney's thoughts, and eventually project his own to her. It's how he can tell that she's developed a budding interest in him, and it later lets him guide her in combat against Vadic's mooks .
• Title Drop : References to the Dominion War are made twice.
• Too Dumb to Live : The Federation scientists who captured Vadic and several other Changelings — a species who already hated them with a passion — and performed torturous experiments on them to boost their abilities, with the intent of weaponizing them. This went about as well for them as you'd expect .
• Tranquil Fury : Seven upon realizing that "Tuvok" is a Changeling and that they've captured and possibly killed her old, dear friend from Voyager .
• Trap Is the Only Option : Vadic's crew rightly suspects the seemingly adrift Titan is a trap, but Vadic points out they don't have the time to wait for another opportunity.
• Uncertain Doom : Tuvok has been replaced, but his imposter indicates he isn't dead yet. This, of course, is assuming the Changeling's telling the truth, and not intentionally giving Seven false hope just to twist the knife .
• Undying Loyalty : While briefing the Face on the interrogation of Riker and Troi, Vadic admits she misjudged how firm and loyal Picard's associates would be to the old man.
• Villain Has a Point : Vadic rightly points out to Picard and Beverly that Starfleet technically never gave the morphogenic virus cure to the Founders; the Federation Council did after all vote against giving it to them, to avoid aiding their wartime enemy. It was Bashir and O'Brien who stole it from Section 31, used it to cure Odo, and it was then the Constable — one of their own people — who ultimately brought it home, albeit only after the Female Changeling agreed to surrender. Vadic also points out that Starfleet performed cruel experiments on her and her fellows in order to weaponize them, which even upsets Picard.
• What Happened to the Mouse? : Riker is able to send a comm signal from the Shrike that confirms he has been captured there. Despite this, nobody thinks of sending over a Boarding Party to free him, or even communicating to him so he can break out and be a Spanner in the Works behind the lines. (The former is justified by the Titan 's Critical Staffing Shortage ; the latter is not.)
• Wham Line : "Your physiology is not as complex or as special as you believe", which implies The Face isn't a Changeling like Vadic and her faction. (Or possibly is just a "normal" Changeling who isn't impressed by Vadic's aditional abilities.) The events of "Vox" will subsequently confirm it was the former.
• Wham Shot : "Tuvok" smirks, confirming he did indeed fail Seven's test and is a Changeling.
• The Worf Effect : It's not a combat situation, but Tuvok's impersonation is used to show that no one is safe from being replaced by a Changeling with little to no warning to those around. Bear in mind that Tuvok was Voyager 's chief of security and tactical officer, spent time undercover in the Maquis, and going by Lower Decks had a career in Starfleet Intelligence after that. This would make him one of the most qualified of basically any Star Trek main cast member in being Properly Paranoid , and even he got replaced by a Changeling imposter.
• Worthy Opponent : After capturing the Titan , Vadic admits that the crew have proven themselves worthy.
• Star Trek: Picard S3E06 "The Bounty"
• Recap/Star Trek: Picard
• Star Trek: Picard S3E08 "Surrender"

Important Links

• Action Adventure
• Commercials
• Crime & Punishment
• Professional Wrestling
• Speculative Fiction
• Sports Story
• Animation (Western)
• Music And Sound Effects
• Print Media
• Sequential Art
• Tabletop Games
• Applied Phlebotinum
• Characterization
• Characters As Device
• Narrative Devices
• British Telly
• The Contributors
• Creator Speak
• Derivative Works
• Laws And Formulas
• Show Business
• Split Personality
• Truth And Lies
• Truth In Television
• Fate And Prophecy
• Edit Reasons
• Isolated Pages
• Images List
• Recent Videos
• Crowner Activity
• Un-typed Pages
• Recent Page Type Changes
• Trope Entry
• Character Sheet
• Playing With
• Creating New Redirects
• Cross Wicking
• Tips for Editing
• Text Formatting Rules
• Handling Spoilers
• Administrivia
• Trope Repair Shop
• Image Pickin'

Advertisement:

The Untold Truth Of Star Trek Holograms

Ask anyone what piece of " Star Trek " technology they'd like to own, and odds are most people will want a personal holodeck. First introduced in " Star Trek: The Next Generation ," the holodeck immerses you in an artificial reality full of holograms designed to look, sound, feel, smell, and even taste like anything — or any one — you can imagine.

Just consider the possibilities. Sure, warp drive and transporters can take you to strange new worlds, but given how dangerous a lot of those alien planets can be, most people would probably want to have safer adventures in a simulated environment.

But before you program your next holo-adventure or design a holographic companion, you might want to read this article. Not only are holodecks a lot more dangerous than you think, there are plenty of ethical ramifications involved in using holodecks as your personal pleasure zone. For those interested in learning more about this incredible but controversial technology, here is the untold truth of "Star Trek" holograms.

The Holodeck Was Influenced by Real-Life Holography Experiments

Trekkies may have first seen the holodeck in 1987 when the pilot episode of " Star Trek: The Next Generation " first aired, but the genesis of this technology actually goes all the way back to 1973, when "Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry met with  holographer expert Gene Dolgoff .

A lifelong "Star Trek" fan and the inventor of the first LCD projector, Dolgoff was already doing experiments in holography during the early 1960s and corresponding with science fiction legends like Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison. One of his papers on a holographic model of the universe led to him doing some work with psychic researcher Melanie Toyofuku, who introduced Dolgoff to Roddenberry.

Dolgoff introduced Roddenberry to his concept of "matter holograms" based on a recording of the interference patterns of energy that could also be the basis for teleportation and food replicators. His ideas excited Roddenberry, who was thrilled that such technology might be developed in the future, and the two came up with the term "holodeck" for a recreation room that used matter holograms.

Roddenberry would later make the holodeck an integral part of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," although Dolgoff was disappointed he wasn't mentioned in the movies or TV episodes as  the man who invented the holodeck . Nevertheless, Roddenberry did later invite Dolgoff and his wife to play guest captain and Vulcan science officer on a  taped "Star Trek" rehearsal with the original cast that later surfaced on the Internet.

Holodecks Can Produce Real Matter

Many "Star Trek" characters claim that a hologram is just a projection of light given the illusion of substance thanks to a force field. However, this isn't entirely true.

During the holodeck's first appearance in the Season 1 episode "Encounter at Farpoint," Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner) explains to Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) that many of the holodeck's simulations are the result of energy being manipulated into solid matter using technology similar to the Enterprise's transporters. This explanation follows holographer Gene Dolgoff's definition of "matter holograms" and is emphasized when Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) falls into a simulated stream and exits the holodeck dripping wet.

However, in later episodes and other "Star Trek” shows, "holodeck matter" is shown to have no substance outside of the holodeck and quickly dissipates into energy once out of range of the holographic projectors. Nevertheless, as "Star Trek” replicators can create actual food (along with solid plates and eating utensils) from energy using a procedure similar to the process Data described, it's been established that the holodeck uses this technology to create some "real" substances that aren't composed of just photons and force fields.

Holograms Can Be Used as Organ Replacements

While the reality or unreality of holograms has often been debated, one starship crew member found his very life dependent on the simulated matter when he used them to replace some missing organs.

In the " Star Trek: Voyager " Season 1 episode "Phage," the ship's cook and guide Neelix (Ethan Phillips) gets his lungs removed by the Vidiians, an alien species whose bodies are falling apart due to a disease called the phage. To save him, Voyager's Emergency Medical Hologram Doctor (Robert Picardo) constructs a set of holographic lungs for Neelix, taking advantage of a hologram's ability to become solid or intangible and let oxygen pass through it.

The operation is a success — although until Neelix receives an actual lung transplant he's forced to remain immobilized since holomatter still can't exist outside of the holographic emitters simulating his organs. Oddly enough, since lungs also perform chemical exchanges between the blood and the air, this would indicate the holographic lungs were more than simple mechanical devices (unless Neelix's alien physiology only needs mechanical lungs).

Organic Beings Can Become Holograms

Creating holographic lungs for a dying patient might have seemed like a medical miracle, but that's nothing compared to the time the Doctor created an entire holographic body for a sick patient that restored her to full health. In the "Star Trek: Voyager" Season 2 episode "Lifesigns," the Doctor encounters Denara Pel (Susan Diol), a Vidiian scientist dying from the phage disease afflicting her people.

Realizing that Denara's synaptic patterns are stored in a bio-neural implant within her brain, the Doctor decides to transfer the patterns into Voyager's holobuffer and create a holographic body for her. Essentially, he uploads her consciousness into a fully functioning holographic body that looks and feels perfectly healthy.

Although Denara needs to return to her diseased body within a week because her mind cannot survive for long in a computer — and she cannot leave sickbay or the holodeck without losing her simulated body — she is, for all intents and purposes, cured of her debilitating condition by becoming a hologram.

Holograms Can Become Sentient

In the "Next Generation" Season 2 episode "Elementary, Dear Data," Geordi La Forge ( LeVar Burton ) creates a sentient hologram with a slip of the tongue by asking the holodeck to create an adversary capable of defeating Data. The holodeck creates a sentient version of  Sherlock Holmes' nemesis James Moriarty (Daniel Davis) . Moriarty takes over the Enterprise, but leaves the crew in peace after being given a simulated universe to explore in the Season 6 episode "Ship in a Bottle."

"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" features a  holographic lounge singer named Vic Fontaine (James Darren) who was designed to be self-aware by his creator and became a confidant for many members of the crew. Other sentient holograms include holographic engineer Doctor Zimmerman's assistant and friend Haley (Tamara Craig Thomas), who helps build other holograms alongside her creator.

However, the hologram who evolved into the most fully-functioning sentient being is Voyager's Doctor. Initially intended as a short-term-use "EMH," the Doctor took over his starship's entire medical staff after they were killed. He gains the freedom to pursue his own interests, greater mobility thanks to a mobile emitter, and deep relationships with his crewmates.

At one point in the "Voyager" Season 5 episode "Someone to Watch Over Me," the Doctor sums up his view on the difference between organic and holographic life by stating, "I'm as real as any of you."

Photonic Life Forms Can Evolve Naturally

Holograms may be considered an artificial creation, but starships have discovered naturally-occurring forms of "photonic life" in the universe. In the "Star Trek: Voyager" Season 1 episode "Heroes and Demons," the U.S.S. Voyager discovered sentient photonic beings living in a protostar in the Delta Quadrant. One of these beings actually interfaced with the ship's holodeck and took on the identity of the monster Grendel from "Beowulf."

Voyager later discovered an entire trans-dimensional realm populated by photonic life forms that consider carbon-based lifeforms artificial in the Season 5 episode "Bride of Chaotica!" Again interacting with the Voyager crew through the holodeck, these sentient photonic explorers battle the artificial hologram "Chaotica" from the black-and-white holodeck program "The Adventures of Captain Proton."

Considering that photonic life is a very real phenomena in the "Star Trek" universe and that "real" organic life can emerge from artificial procedures like cloning, even "artificial" holograms like the Doctor or Moriarty can be considered true life forms. This carries some uncomfortable implications when you consider how holograms are often treated.

Holograms Are Used as Slave Labor by the Federation

If holograms are recognized as sentient beings and a type of photonic life, surely the  United Federation of Planets must have given them the full rights and privileges reserved for all sentient life forms by now, right? Well, no ... in fact the Federation basically enslaves holograms and makes them do their dirty work.

One of the worst examples of this is shown in the "Star Trek: Voyager" Season 7 episode "Author, Author" where the Doctor creates a holo-novel, "Photons Be Free," showing how poorly holograms are treated in a world run by organic beings. He later explains that he wrote the story to help other reprogrammed EMH Mark 1s, who are being forced by Starfleet to work in mining camps and scrub plasma conduits on waste transfer barges after their program was deemed too "hot headed" for medical use.

The Doctor's publisher even releases his holo-novel without his permission, arguing that, as a hologram, he has no legal rights. Although a Federation tribunal manages to give the Doctor the legal definition of an "artist," they do not recognize him as a true person. Considering how "enlightened" the Federation claims it is, the fact that they're still willing to treat holograms like disposable workers is quite troubling.

Holograms Replaced Many Future Brothels

As if being used for slave labor wasn't bad enough, many non-sentient holograms populate futuristic brothels in the "Star Trek" universe. In "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," the bartender Quark (Armin Zimmerman) rents out his "holosuites" to crewmembers and visitors to the space station. While most people use the holosuites to play sports or role-playing games, others have more ... intimate activities in mind.

Indeed, multiple episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" establish that visitors to Quark's holosuites use the rooms to engage in sexual fantasies, essentially using holograms as sex toys. Quark even attempts to create a hologram of DS9's Major Kira (Nana Visitor) to service one of his clients in the Season 3 episode "Meridian."

Even on Federation starships, officers are known to use holograms for pornography purposes, as seen in the "Star Trek: Lower Decks" Season 1 episode "Second Contact" when Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) runs a "very detailed" personal program of an Olympic training program full of naked male athletes. While this isn't an entirely unexpected use of the holodeck, the fact that many holograms can become sentient beings makes using them as sex workers morally questionable at best.

Holodecks Can Be Incredibly Addictive

Given the fact that holodecks and holosuites allow you to indulge in virtually any fantasy you can imagine, it was perhaps inevitable that excessive holodeck use would become a problem. Termed "holo-addiction," this condition was defined as a psychological disorder where a person preferred the simulated reality within a holodeck to being in the real world.

Lieutenant Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz)'s struggle with holo-addiction was showcased in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" Season 3 episode "Hollow Pursuits." Unable to interact comfortably with his shipmates, who often ridiculed him for his social anxiety, Barclay found he was more at ease in the holodeck where he could program his own social scenarios. He even created simulations of the crew so he could air out his frustrations and spent most of his time with holograms.

Even after Barclay began to socialize more with "real" people, he retained his fascination with holograms and worked with holographic engineer Doctor Zimmerman (who was also more comfortable with holograms). Ironically, as sentient holograms became more common, Barclay formed close friendships with them and became an advocate for their civil rights, likely because he felt such a kinship with them.

Holograms Give Starfleet Their Own "Mission: Impossible" Gear

"Star Trek" may be a science fiction franchise that emphasizes adventure and exploration, but that doesn't mean it can't dabble in the spy genre every now and then. When it does, holograms provide the perfect " Mission: Impossible "-style espionage gear.

The Doctor proved he could function as a James Bond or Ethan Hunt-level spy in the "Star Trek: Voyager" Season 7 episode "Renaissance Man" when aliens kidnap Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and force the Doctor to steal the warp core by impersonating the crew. Not only can the Doctor mimic any appearance or voice perfectly, his lack of physical limitations allows him to perform impossible acrobatic feats while his medical knowledge empowers him to incapacitate anyone. At one point he even creates multiple holographic images of himself as a distraction, showing he has impressive tactical skill as well.

As an artificial life form, the Doctor can even be programmed to relay information through his senses to his crewmates. While some aliens have used this as a way to spy on humans, it could easily be used for Starfleet surveillance purposes.

Indeed, Starfleet Intelligence has recognized the value of using holograms in spy technology. At one point, they commissioned Doctor Zimmerman to create a spy hologram in the shape of a fly named "Roy" for their infiltration assignments. Considering that holograms can be anything or anyone, even the IMF could learn a few things from these spies.

Holograms Can Crew an Entire Starship

The Doctor has shown he's capable of running Voyager's sickbay as its Emergency Medical Hologram, but at one point in the "Star Trek: Voyager" Season 6 episode " Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy ," he daydreams about becoming an "ECH" or "Emergency Command Hologram" capable of captaining a ship during a crisis. Later, Captain Janeway sees the merit in this idea and allows his program to be upgraded, giving him full control of the U.S.S. Voyager.

As it turns out, other people have seen the value of having a holographic crew. In "Star Trek: Picard," Captain Cristóbal "Chris" Ríos uses  emergency holograms as his crew on his ship the La Sirena . These include emergency medical, tactical, navigational, engineering, and even hospitality holograms. The holograms all resemble Ríos (with different accents and personalities) and came pre-installed with the ship.

As the La Sirena is a privately owned vessel, it's very likely that Starfleet's more advanced starships now all come with a full crew of emergency holograms, including possibly an Emergency Command Hologram. While it's unlikely they'll completely replace human crews, their wide range of skills probably do give Starfleet Academy graduates some competition.

Holograms Changed Human Literacy

By the 24th century, most people read books on data pads, although some people like  Jean-Luc Picard do like collecting physical books . For others, however, the act of "reading" a book is now very different.

Instead of simply scanning pages, people can now enter a holodeck and run a "holo-novel program" that lets them play different characters in books. Many 24th century authors created holo-novels and a number of older books and stories, like Picard's favorite "Dixon Hill" detective dime store novels, were adapted into interactive holo-novels. In addition to holo-novels, people could also "read" holo-comic books instead of the traditional graphic novels.

The popularity of holo-novels has apparently altered people's views on literacy, not unlike how audio books and films impact how we consume stories today. In the "Star Trek: Voyager" Season 3 episode "Future's End," Voyager gets thrown back to 20th century Earth, Neelix and Kes (Jennifer Lien) get caught up watching television soap operas, causing Ensign Harry Kim (Garret Wang) to remark, " I can't imagine watching a story and not being a part of it. " In response, Kes points out that Harry has been "spoiled" by the holodeck and its interactive holo-novels.

Holograms Let People Interact with Historical Figures

Time travel might be a real thing in the "Star Trek" universe, but if you don't want to accidentally screw up the timestream and erase yourself from existence, there's a perfectly safe way for you to meet your favorite historical heroes — simply visit the holodeck.

Most holodecks are full of simulations of famous historical figures, from Albert Einstein to Leonardo DaVinci. Even better, you can chat with these people and receive advice from them without having to answer all the awkward questions about how a 20th century scientist ended up in the 24th century. Considering how many people have imagined having dinner with Abraham Lincoln or swapping ideas with Stan Lee, this is a great way to interact with history's icons.

Some Starfleet officers take this holodeck feature to ridiculous lengths — like when Data arranged to play poker with Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, and  Doctor Stephen Hawking (actually the real Hawking playing himself) in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" Season 6 episode "Descent Part 1" to see how history's greatest minds would interact with each other. As it turns out, Hawking is a fantastic poker player and conversationalist, beating Einstein with four of a kind.

Holodecks Kill People ... A Lot

For a room designed primarily for entertainment purposes, holodecks have one serious design flaw. Their safety protocols go offline — a lot. 

Sometimes this is done intentionally, like when Captain Picard deactivates the protocols to kill Borg drones with a holographic submachine gun in "Star Trek: First Contact" (1996). Most of the time, however, a random power surge shorts out the safety protocols, leaving hapless crewmen at the mercy of whatever Old West gunslingers, pulp novel goons, or spy story henchmen happen to be roaming the holodeck.

Frankly, given how often holograms become deadly, it's shocking that holodecks aren't given permanent non-lethal settings. Even when the safety protocols are working perfectly, the holodeck can unintentionally create something dangerous, like in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" Season 3 episode "A Matter of Perspective" when a seemingly harmless holographic "Krieger wave convertor" begins converting energy into harmful radiation and damaging parts of the Enterprise.

Safety protocol malfunctions became so commonplace that in the "Star Trek: Lower Decks" Season 1 episode "Terminal Provocations," the  apparently cute and harmless holodeck tutor "Badgey" (Jack Brayer) went on a killing spree after experiencing a minor glitch, threatening to make "killed by an anthropomorphic combadge" the cause of death for two young ensigns.

Holograms Fought in Their Own Wars

Given how often holograms have been mistreated and brutalized by their organic creators, it's actually understandable that some of them would rise up and demand their own rights — sometimes with extreme prejudice. The U.S.S. Voyager once inadvertently started such a war when Captain Janeway gave the alien hunter species the Hirogen some holographic technology to let them hunt holograms in their cultural rituals.

The holograms end up becoming sentient and stage a revolution in the "Star Trek: Voyager" Season 7 storyline "Flesh and Blood." They steal a Hirogen ship but instead of simply fleeing to safety, they take revenge on their captors and start hunting the Hirogen. At one point, they even consider "liberating" other enslaved holograms and photonic beings from other worlds to join their cause. Ultimately, a Hirogen technician changes the holograms' programming with the aid of a sentient hologram, but organic/hologram relations are still far from ideal.

While the holograms' actions were sadistic, the fact that they were forced to die and respawn again and again in the Hirogen's hunting rituals does show why they grew so vindictive. Since holograms are still used as slaves and not regarded as real people by the Federation and many other worlds, it's clear that without better diplomatic relations and proper advocacy, a much more brutal hologram war could be a very real possibility in the future of "Star Trek" — one where a cease fire can't be reached by simply saying: "End program."

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Oct 28, 2021

Finding Ourselves in the Holodeck on Halloween

How Data uses costumes as an exploration of self.

StarTrek.com

Halloween has long been the favorite holiday of outcasts, misfits, and ugly ducklings — the opportunity to don any mask, costume, or identity you like and be somebody else for an evening is an enticing prospect for anybody looking to come out of their shell — and the Star Trek Universe is no exception. Star Trek: The Next Generation sees the introduction of the holodeck — a form of technology that was able to run pre-programmed simulations, as well as create virtually any environment for the user’s enjoyment. This made the holodeck the perfect outlet for anything from combat training to wild west adventures, and nobody enjoyed making use of its capabilities than the Enterprise-D ’s resident android/second officer, Data.

Data, more than any other TNG character (although everyone from Picard to Worf has their moments) is intrinsically tied to the holodeck; so much so that it’s the first place we meet him, whistling away as he watches the generated atmosphere while waiting to meet Commander Riker. Although he’s simply watching his surroundings in “Encounter at Farpoint”, that’s just the beginning of Data’s love affair with the holodeck, or more accurately: playing pretend. It’s no secret that Data’s arc over the course of the entire series and the TNG films is his quest to understand humanity and gain access to his emotions (perhaps one of the most famous character arcs in sci-fi television) and one way in which Data seems to unconsciously (or consciously) explore his Pinnochio-like yearning to become human is via elaborate sessions in the holosuite where he dons all sorts of costumes and enjoys going on wild adventures, often with the help of his closest friends.

Like so many of us, Data often finds himself struggling to relate to his colleagues and friends, and unintentionally commits faux-pas that he wasn’t even aware he was making because of his programming. He tries his best, but sometimes the way he was built limits how he can interact with other people, so it should come as no surprise that he takes solace in creating and exploring fictional worlds and identities. Although we’ll always love him just the way he is, Data is incredibly self-aware of his own personal failings, and thus, when he assumes the identity of a detective or a cowboy, he’s able to express himself and explore these new, seemingly unattainable emotions he otherwise may not have been able to access.

Data’s most famous holodeck exploit, of course, comes in “Elementary, Dear Data” where (as the title alludes) Data assumes the role of the iconic fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, and accompanies Dr. Pulaski and Geordi LaForge in solving a mystery based off the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle works. Initially, Data is a little perplexed at the idea of having fun trying to solve a mystery (he did have a relatively minor role in Captain Picard’s Dixon Hill adventure in “The Big Goodbye”, but he himself didn’t do much mystery-solving), after all, he’s programmed to approach more linear, outwardly strategic puzzles like navigational and engineering problems, or chess games.

However, when encouraged by Geordi and goaded on by Pulaski, Data agrees to take part in the holodeck adventure, and attempts to solve a mystery himself, as opposed to just following along with one that he already knows the ending of. This immediately sparks a noticeable change in his behavior. Everything from the way he dresses to the way he stands to the way he emotes shifts as he inhabits the character of Sherlock Holmes. He even affects a goofy sort of accent, but it’s exactly the type of incredibly genuine, charming thing we’ve come to love and expect from Data. Despite the fact that he’s an emotionless android, he’s very clearly taking great pride and joy in inhabiting the role of Holmes. He disappears into the character alongside Geordi, and finds himself making quips and offhand comments just like a real detective might. At some points in the episode, it’s almost easy to forget that Data doesn’t technically experience emotion.

For Data there’s a magic in getting to play dress-up. Once he gets a taste of the holodeck he can’t help but find ways to use this new outlet to not only have fun and enjoy time with his friends, but also to explore new facets of his personality. It’s not until the Star Trek Generations that Data actually gets his emotion chip installed and is able to experience what he calls “real emotions”, but until that point he spends countless hours in the holosuite, trying new personalities and characters on the side. Like Captain Picard playing Dixon Hill before him, and Doctor Bashir playing James Bond after him, Data’s use of the holodeck exemplifies what is so attractive about Halloween — the chance to step out of one’s skin, and become whoever you want to be.

STLV Looking Back - The Cosplay Parade

Lauren Coates (she/her) is a Chicago-based student with a weakness for junk food, a passion for film & television, and a constant yearning to be at Disney World. You can find her on Twitter @laurenjcoates.

Get Updates By Email

Boatswain's whistle

• View history

A boatswain's whistle

An electronic boatswain's whistle

An early 25th century electronic boatswain's whistle

In nautical terms , the boatswain 's whistle or bosun's whistle was a small whistle that was used aboard old sailing ships , usually to gain the attention of the crew . Such devices were used aboard Starfleet vessels during the 23rd , 24th , and 25th centuries .

Constitution -class starships in the 23rd century used the sound of a boatswain's whistle to open shipboard communications via the ship's intercom . ( Star Trek: The Original Series ; ENT : " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II ")

Aboard starships into the 24th century, it was normally used when an honored guest came aboard or at a crewmember 's funeral , when their body was released into space . The shrill whistle was often played before a ship-wide or open frequency communication , usually made by the captain or another senior officer . ( TNG : " Where No One Has Gone Before ", " Hide And Q ") The actual tone of the call has varied, as some captains preferred the distinctive notes of the electronic type over the more traditional metal whistle. ( TNG : " Lower Decks ")

In 2165 of an alternate timeline , a boatswain's whistle was blown by a crewman aboard Enterprise NX-01 , announcing the arrival of Jonathan Archer , T'Pol , and Phlox on the ship. ( ENT : " Twilight ")

In 2257 , the electronic signal was sounded as Captain Christopher Pike arrived on the bridge of the USS Enterprise along with an announcement of "Captain on the bridge." ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow ")

In 2259 , an electronic boatswain's whistle was blown when Dak'Rah , a former Klingon general who defected to the Federation, boarded the USS Enterprise . ( SNW : " Under the Cloak of War ")

In the mid-23rd century aboard some Federation starships, the boatswain's whistle accompanied the commanding officer 's arrival onto his or her bridge: Captain Philippa Georgiou of the USS Shenzhou ( DIS : " Battle at the Binary Stars "); Acting Captain Saru of the USS Discovery ( DIS : " Will You Take My Hand? ", " New Eden "); Admiral Katrina Cornwell , acting captain of the Discovery ( DIS : " The War Without, The War Within "); and Captain Christopher Pike on the Discovery ( DIS : " New Eden ", " The Sound of Thunder ", " Light and Shadows ", " If Memory Serves ", " Project Daedalus ") and on the USS Enterprise . ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow ", " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ")

When an Excalbian replica of Abraham Lincoln came aboard the USS Enterprise , Lieutenant Dickerson blew a boatswain's whistle. ( TOS : " The Savage Curtain ")

An electronic boatswain's whistle was blown when Admiral James T. Kirk set foot on the Enterprise in 2285 . ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

Yeoman Burke blew a different electronic boatswain's whistle when the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon came aboard the USS Enterprise -A in 2293 . ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

The boatswain's whistle was blown in the shuttlebay when Captain Jean-Luc Picard took command of the USS Enterprise -D in early 2364 . ( TNG : " All Good Things... ")

That same year, the electronic signal sounded over the communications of the Enterprise -D as Lieutenant Commander Data issued an order to abandon ship. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

In 2366 , the electronic signal sounded over the communications of the Enterprise -D when Commander William T. Riker warned the ship to brace themselves for a brief burst from the impulse drive as the inertial dampers were on manual. ( TNG : " Booby Trap ")

In 2367 , the electronic signal sounded over the communications of the Enterprise -D when Lieutenant Commander Data, in his role as acting captain, ordered all personnel to emergency shelter areas, as life support was being temporarily discontinued in other areas. ( TNG : " Night Terrors ")

In 2370 , Captain Picard sounded the electronic signal before informing the crew of the Enterprise -D of the loss of Ensign Sito Jaxa . ( TNG : " Lower Decks ")

The boatswain's whistle was blown in 2372 during a memorial for Kurt Bendera , killed during a Kazon-Nistrim attack. ( VOY : " Alliances ")

In 2373 , Captain Kathryn Janeway hallucinated her own death and funeral aboard the USS Voyager when a non-corporeal being tried to convince her she was dead, at which Crewman William McKenzie blew the whistle during her memorial. ( VOY : " Coda ")

In 2375 , Nog blew the boatswain's whistle, at the wedding of Kasidy Yates and Benjamin Sisko , right before Kasidy entered the wardroom . Odo complimented him on his playing, despite Nog only having had twenty minutes to learn it. ( DS9 : " 'Til Death Do Us Part ")

The boatswain's whistle was blown at the belated funeral of Lieutenant John Kelly . ( VOY : " One Small Step ")

In 2401 , an officer aboard the USS Titan -A used an electronic boatswain's whistle to announce the arrival of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard and Captain William T. Riker, both of whom were visitors to the Titan -A. ( PIC : " The Next Generation ")

In 3189 , the boatswain's whistle sounded aboard the USS Discovery as Michael Burnham entered the bridge and assumed her role as the vessel's new captain. ( DIS : " That Hope Is You, Part 2 ")

See also [ ]

External link [ ].

• Boatswain's call at Wikipedia
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein
• 3 John Paul Lona

Screen Rant

Star trek: picard’s soong made way more androids than data’s tng creator.

Dr. Altan Soong created far more androids in Star Trek: Picard than his father Noonien Soong did during the days of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

• Altan Soong, son of Noonien Soong, surpassed his father's work in creating advanced androids, including the creation of a synthetic golem body.
• Altan and Dr. Bruce Maddox developed a method to create identical android pairs using Data's positronic neurons, leading to a community of synthetics on Coppelius.
• Many of Altan's android creations, like Soji and Dahj, are nearly indistinguishable from humans, blurring the line between synthetic and humanoid beings.

In Star Trek: Picard , Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner) built far more androids than his father Dr. Noonien Soong. For generations, the Soong family was interested in cloning and genetics, until Arik Soong switched to researching synthetic life while in a United Federation of Planets prison in Star Trek: Enterprise . It was not until Dr. Noonien Soong, in the 2330s, that the family's research into androids and cybernetics finally paid off. After a few less successful attempts, Noonien created Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), the most advanced android of his time and an accomplished Starfleet officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D.

Before Data, Dr. Noonien Soong created B-4, Lore (both also Brent Spiner), and at least two other prototypes. Soong later created a more realistic android recreation of his wife, Juliana (Fionnula Flanagan) . B-4's brain was not nearly as complex as Lore's or Data's, so the android had difficulty processing even simple information. Lore was much more sophisticated, but he quickly grew unstable, believing himself superior to the humanoids around him. Data was Noonien Soong's greatest accomplishment. The positronic android was kind and empathetic despite his supposed lack of emotion. Noonien created six total androids, but his son, Altan, far surpassed that number.

Every male Soong, as well as Data, B-4, and Lore, have all been portrayed by Brent Spiner.

Every Soong Character Brent Spiner Plays In Star Trek

Star trek: picard’s dr. altan soong built way more androids than tng’s noonien soong, altan soong built on his father's research, cementing his family's legacy..

The Soongs could have stopped after creating Data, but Altan continued his father's research, building on the technology used to create Data and his brothers. With help from Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales) , Altan developed a means of creating a pair of identical androids using one of Data's positronic neurons. Using this method, Soong and Maddox created a community of synthetics on the planet Coppelius. At this point, Altan had already created more androids than his father, but he kept working to improve the technology. Altan began creating a synthetic golem body into which he could transfer a human consciousness.

Although Dr. Altan Soong intended to use the golem body for himself, he later gifted it to Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) when the former Enterprise captain succumbed to his terminal brain abnormality. Picard's new golem body was indistinguishable from his human one, and allowed him to live out the rest of the life he would have had. After this, Altan went back to work on his father's androids, constructing a new android body to house the personalities of Data, Lore, B-4, and Data's daughter, Lal (Hallie Todd). Data's personality eventually became the dominant one, providing the android with something as close to humanity as possible.

Other scientists and cyberneticists continued to build on Altan Soong's work. Star Trek: Discovery season 5 introduces an android named Fred (J. Adam Brown), who bears a striking resemblance to Data and has a serial number beginning with AS for Altan Soong.

Picard’s Altan Soong Made Star Trek Androids More Human

Many of altan's androids are nearly indistinguishable from humans..

On Coppelius, Altan Soong and Bruce Maddox created numerous android pairs, including twins Soji and Dahj Asha (Isa Briones) . Soji and Dahj were so human-like that they initially believed themselves to be human, and Soji only learned of her true nature after her sister's death drew her into a complex conspiracy. Soji and Dahj had enhanced strength and speech, but their synthetic bodies functioned almost like human ones. The synthetic golem bodies Altan created for Picard and Data also appeared incredibly human, with Data's yellow eyes the only indication he may be something more.

Although Data exhibited many human characteristics throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation , he was always, unmistakably, a machine. Data's upgrade in Star Trek: Picard season 3 was the culmination of both Noonien and Altan Soong's work, and also the fulfillment of Data's dream. Like many of the Soongs , Altan may have made some questionable decisions, but he ultimately cemented the Soong legacy as a positive one. Star Trek: Picard season 1 did not reveal exactly how many androids were living on Coppelius, but the number far surpasses the six androids created by Noonien Soong.

All three seasons of Star Trek: Picard are streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Picard

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Star Trek: Nemesis

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More from this title

More to explore, recently viewed.