Data's Complete Star Trek Timeline, Explained

Introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) quickly became one of Star Trek's most interesting and beloved characters. An advanced one-of-a-kind android, Data served as the operations officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Data's universal kindness and childlike sense of wonder made him difficult to dislike, and he remains an important part of modern Star Trek. Brent Spiner's nuanced performance helped make Data stand out among TNG's incredibly strong cast, and his quest to be human became one of TNG's best ongoing storylines.

Thanks in part to Brent Spiner's performance as Data (as well as his portrayal of Data's evil twin brother Lore and various Soong family members), Star Trek: The Next Generation's Data-centric episodes remain some of the show's strongest. Like Spock (Leonard Nimoy) on Star Trek: The Original Series, Data allowed TNG to explore humanity from an outsider's perspective. After the conclusion of TNG, Data played a significant role in all four Star Trek: The Next Generation films until his heroic sacrifice in Star Trek: Nemesis. Data was then absent from the Star Trek franchise until the character made a surprising return in Star Trek: Picard — not once, but twice.

Data Was Created By Dr. Noonien Soong & Found By Starfleet (2330s-2364)

Dr. Soong Built Data Sometime In The 2330s

Dr. Noonien Soong created Data on the planet Omicron Theta around 2336, as the fifth of six androids. Data lived out his earliest days among the colonists on Omicron Theta, learning from the world around him just as a human child would. At one point, Dr. Soong deactivated Data to upload the memories of the colonists to the android's positronic brain. While Data was deactivated, a Crystalline Entity attacked the colony, forcing Dr. Soong and his wife, Juliana (Fionnula Flanagan), to flee and leave Data behind. On February 2, 2338, the USS Tripoli found Data and reactivated him.

Data struggled without his "parents," but his neural net continued to develop as he achieved sentience. Because a Starfleet vessel had found him, Data chose to attend Starfleet Academy beginning in 2341. Although his lack of understanding regarding social cues sometimes made Data's life difficult, he achieved high marks and eventually graduated with honors in 2345. Data's first assignment was aboard the USS Trieste, where he advanced from an ensign to a lieutenant, before being promoted to lieutenant commander in 2360. Four years later, in 2364, Data joined the crew of the USS Enterprise-D as its operations officer.

Data Served On The USS Enterprise-D In Star Trek: The Next Generation (2364-2371)

Data Served On The Enterprise-D From 2364 Until The Ship's Destruction In 2371

As the operations officer on the USS Enterprise-D, Data participated in many away missions and was regularly left in command of the bridge for the night shift, as he did not require sleep. Data's android abilities and immunity to disease proved vital on numerous occasions and the Enterprise would have been destroyed several times over if Data had not been aboard. Throughout his time on the Enterprise, Data learned more and more about what it meant to be human, often with the help of his best friend, Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton).

In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, Data met his brother Lore and learned more about his creation. The following year, a Federation judge determined that Data was an individual and had the right to make his own choices. In TNG season 3, Data created an android daughter named Lal (Hallie Todd) based on his own positronic technology, although she later suffered a tragic cascade failure and ceased to function. Early in TNG season 4, Data met his creator Dr. Soong just before the elderly man's death at the hands of Lore. Data later had to deactivate his brother after Lore manipulated Data into allying with the Borg.

Data Died In Star Trek: Nemesis (2371-2379)

Data Was Killed In Action In 2379 & His Physical Body Was Destroyed

In the first film following the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek Generations, Data decided to install the emotion chip that Dr. Soong had created for him several years before. As Data adjusted to the emotion chip, he experienced strong outbursts of emotion that impacted his ability to do his job. Much of Data's emotion chip journey was played for laughs in Star Trek Generations, and the storyline was dropped as the movies progressed. In Star Trek: First Contact, Data was kidnapped by the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) and tempted to join her cause (for 0.68 seconds).

Data also played a central role in Star Trek: Insurrection, as he was the one to initially discover something amiss on the Ba'ku planet. In the final TNG film, Star Trek: Nemesis, the Enterprise-E discovered another one of Data's brothers, B-4. Despite B-4's less sophisticated positronic brain, Data uploaded his own memories into the other android's neural net. After William Riker's (Jonathan Frakes) promotion to captain, Data was poised to take over as First Officer of the Enterprise, but Picard's clone Shinzon (Tom Hardy) had other plans. In the end, Data sacrificed himself to save Captain Picard, the Enterprise, and planet Earth.

Data Returned (With A Twist) In Star Trek: Picard (2399-2402)

Multiple Versions Of Data Appeared In Star Trek: Picard

Despite his death in Star Trek: Nemesis, Data returned in Star Trek: Picard season 1. Data first appeared in the dreams of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, as the two played a game of poker and later as Data painted an image of his "daughter."Picard remained deeply affected by Data's death, and he later got the chance to speak with the android's consciousness in a simulation created by Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner). Upon Data's request, Picard agreed to terminate the android's consciousness, resulting in another death in 2399. Altan Soong, however, continued working on Data and eventually constructed a new synthetic body for the android.

Star Trek: Picard season 3 revealed that Soong had found a way to extract Data's memories from B-4, and he combined those with the memories of Lore and Lal. After an away team led by Captain Riker rescued the synth android from Daystrom Station in 2401, Data and Lore's personalities fought for control. In the end, Data won out and his personality became the dominant one, finally allowing the android to experience real emotions. From his love of his cat Spot to his fascination with Sherlock Holmes, Data remains one of Star Trek: The Next Generation's most lovable characters and he has one of the franchise's strongest character journeys.