Star Trek: The Next Generation vetoed what could have been a fascinating story of Lt. Commander Data's (Brent Spiner) android daughter, Lal (Hallie Todd), being stolen by his evil brother, Lore (Brent Spiner). As the only android in Starfleet, Data initially believed himself to be one of a kind, until he met Lore in TNG season 1, episode 13, "Datalore." At first, Data was pleased to discover he had a brother, and he believed the best of Lore. Unfortunately, Lore quickly betrayed Data, attempting to feed the entire USS Enterprise-D crew to the dangerous Crystalline Entity.
As Star Trek: The Next Generation continued, Data met his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong (also Brent Spiner), and learned more about himself. After the events of "Datalore," Lore was presumed lost, leaving Data alone again. In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 16, "The Offspring," Data decides to continue his legacy by building an android daughter named Lal. While Lal only appears in one episode, some of TNG's writers considered bringing her back for a story that would have involved Lore attempting to reactivate her.
Star Trek: TNG Shot Down A Lore Stealing Data's Daughter Episode
TNG's "The Offspring" Almost Got A Cool Sequel
After Lal's tragic death due to cascade failure in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Offspring," Data preserves his daughter's memories within his own positronic brain, but it's never revealed what became of her body. In a 1992 convention appearance, TNG script coordinator Eric A. Stillwell revealed that TNG's writers had proposed a script in which Lore steals Lal's body and attempts to revive her with the emotion chip created for Data by Dr. Noonien Soong. It's unclear why this idea was rejected, as it would have been fun to see Lal again and explore her ability to experience emotions.
An emotional reaction caused Lal's positronic brain to go into cascade failure, but as technology improved, it's possible this problem could have been corrected. Lore would have certainly had his own selfish reasons for bringing Lal back, but this sounds like a fun Star Trek: The Next Generation story concept. On the other hand, "The Offspring" works so well on its own and Lal's return may have lessened the impact of the episode's tragic ending. Plus, it might have been too much to see Data lose Lal yet again because it's difficult to imagine the episode ending any other way.
How Star Trek: TNG Could Have Had A Data Android Family Saga
TNG Could Have Added More Chapters To Data's Story
If the producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation had made the story of Lore stealing Lal, it would have combined elements of several episodes to further Data's storyline. From Data meeting Lore in "Datalore," to Data being given rights in the TNG classic "The Measure of a Man,"to Data's daughter in "The Offspring," and Data's emotion chip in "Brothers," the unproduced episode could have been the conclusion to a multipart saga about Data and his family. Throughout TNG and modern Star Trek, several Soongs from the human side of Data's "family" have popped up, but it would have been cool to see his android family together.
Lore eventually returned for the "Descent" two-parter that bridged Star Trek: The Next Generation seasons 6 and 7, after which he was deactivated and the emotion chip put into safekeeping.
In Star Trek: Picard season 3, Data received an upgraded synthetic body with the ability to experience emotions. Created by Dr. Altan Soong (Brent Spiner), Noonien's son, this new android incorporated the memories of Lal, B-4, and Soong himself, as well as the personalities of Data and Lore. Data's personality eventually took over, but elements of Lore, Lal, B-4, and the Soongs live on within this newly upgraded version of the android. With this upgrade, Data not only achieved his goal of becoming (almost) human, but he also became the culmination of the Soong and android family saga that began on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
