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Star Trek Picard is Bringing Back a Dark Next Generation Storyline
Star Trek: Picard reveals that the show may be paying off one of the darker possibilities from Star Trek: The Next Generation - an army of Datas. The latest trailer for the much anticipated continuation of Jean-Luc Picard's story gives audiences their first glimpse of William Riker and Deanna Troi, Picard's crewmates from the Enterprise, as well as some dazzling special effects shots, surprisingly featuring a very old school Romulan Bird of Prey.
We also get another sizable hint at what Data's role in the series will be. The breakout character from The Next Generation, Data seemingly met his end in Star Trek: Nemesis - the final film featuring the TNG cast - in an effort to save Picard from the evil clone Shinzon. Data was survived by B-4, an earlier prototype android that looked exactly like Data, but lacked his intellectual and spiritual drives. The first Picard trailer revealed that B-4's disassembled body resides in a research facility, perhaps to be exploited in the ways Data would never allow.
Indeed, this is a scenario Data was directly confronted with in the classic The Next Generation episode "The Measure Of A Man." When cybernetic researcher Commander Bruce Maddox demanded Data be handed over to him as Starfleet property, a trial was commenced in which Picard himself defended Data's rights. It was eventually decided Data was a sentient life form, and he declined Maddox's research, which very well could have led to a Soong-type android on every Starfleet vessel. Something like that would have felt a little too close to an underclass slave race for the Federation's high minded ideals.
But it's becoming clear Starfleet is not exactly the same organization it once was in Star Trek: Picard. Not only is Picard himself no longer part of the organization, but Starfleet veterans like Riker and Star Trek: Voyager's former Borg drone Seven of Nine have also seemingly left Starfleet behind, and there are mounting hints that the Federation may be on unsure footing in the overall galactic power scheme of the late 24th century. After all, they were already weakened due to Borg and Dominion aggression when last we visited this era of Trek.
As Picard is taken on a tour of a facility by an android looking host, he is shown a much more overtly Data-looking android in cold storage - seemingly one of thousands, with the designation "F8" on its forehead. Picard looks deeply uneasy at this being's existence, and it's likely no coincidence that Picard's new crew includes a young cyberneticist.
The Borg are almost certainly going to be the main thrust of Star Trek: Picard's plot, which seems to be playing heavily with the ideas of artificial and non-organic life that so defined The Next Generation; in addition to Seven of Nine, the former Borg drone Hugh from the classic TNG episode "I, Borg" is also returning to the world of Star Trek. Tying Data and his convictions into those themes seems obvious, though exploiting him in this way could prove to be be a shocking final straw between Picard and a Starfleet he no longer recognizes. Picard is clearly still haunted by Data's ultimate sacrifice, and honoring his fallen friend's legacy may mean more to him than any organization could at this point in his life.
