Roddenberry’s Star Trek TNG Data Concept Was Fulfilled By Picard Season 3

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) finally became everything Gene Roddenberry wanted him to be in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Soon after TNG began, Data became one of the show’s most popular characters, and his journey to discover his humanity became one of the best parts of the show. As an android, Data was unable to experience human emotions, but he still grew to care about the people around him in his own way. Data had a lovely and subtle story arc over the course of TNG’s seven seasons, but it wasn’t until Picard season 3 that the android got his ultimate wish.

Star Trek: The Next Generation primarily focused on stand-alone episodic stories, and Data’s quest to be human was one of the few arcs that lasted throughout the entire series. Although Data took steps backward in a few episodes (such as TNG season 4’s “In Theory”), he generally became more human-like as TNG progressed. Picard season 3 finally saw the culmination of Data’s quest for humanity, but Brent Spiner felt Data’s TNG arc still fulfilled Roddenberry’s original plan for the character. In the Star Trek oral history, The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Brent Spiner discusses Data’s story arc on TNG. Read his full quote below:

It was Gene’s concept from day one that Data would begin as a blank tablet and, from being around humans, he would absorb their qualities and idiosyncrasies through osmosis. By the end of the entire experience, he’ll be as close to being human as possible—and still not be one. I think we’ve been successful at that. If you ran the whole series from day one to the last episode, you would see that occurring naturally. Maybe it would occasionally slip once or twice, but for the most part it was a clean arc toward Gene’s idea.”

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Picard Season 3 Fixed Data’s Questionable Emotion Chip Storyline

Data is now as human as he can be.

Although Data had a wonderful story arc on Star Trek: The Next Generation, the TNG movies undid much of the character’s progress. Data’s emotion chip was introduced in TNG season 4, episode 3, “Brothers,” when the android visited his creator, Dr. Noonian Soong (Brent Spiner). Dr. Soong had created the chip as a way to give Data emotions, but Data’s evil brother Lore stole the chip for himself. After Lore was eventually dismantled, Data kept the emotion chip, but didn’t install it until Star Trek Generations. Generations turned Data’s emotional journey into a series of gags, making the feelings generated by the emotion chip feel like a parody of the real thing.

Thankfully, Star Trek: Picard season 3 fixed this problem, not once mentioning any kind of emotion chip. When Data returns in Picard season 3, he not only has a newly upgraded synthetic body, but also the ability to experience emotions organically. Data becomes as close to human as he could ever hope to be, and his Picard season 3 storyline feels right for the character. Data gets to experience real feelings, without his emotional reactions being played merely for laughs. Picard season 3 builds on Data’s Star Trek: The Next Generation storyline without sacrificing any of the characteristics that made the character so great in the first place.