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A History of Star Trek 's Uneasy Relationship With Androids

Sci-fi has been fascinated with sentient synthetic life since its earliest days , but Star Trek , in particular, has had quite the tumultuous history with its own consideration of androids and their place in its far future. From classic interpretations of sinister ‘bots to one of the franchise’s most beloved characters, here’s everything you need to know about Star Trek ’s androids.

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Just a warning going in: This explainer will touch on plot details covered in the first episode of Star Trek: Picard near the end ( get caught up , it’s great!). We’ll post our usual spoiler image when we get there.

The Androids of the 23rd Century

You can’t talk about where androids end up in the Star Trek universe without also untangling the franchise’s relationship with human augmentation in general.

In the 23rd century of the original series (fleshed out in Discovery and eventually in the even-earlier predecessor Enterprise ), genetic augmentation of humankind has been outlawed since the mid-2200s, in the wake of the Eugenics Wars—a series of conflicts in Trek ’s 1990s over the decision to advance human civilization through selective breeding and genetic manipulation; these conflicts eventually sparked World War III—and the creation of bioengineered superhuman beings like Khan.

In the wake of that ban, there were still scientists interested in the idea. Arik Soong, an ancestor of Dr. Noonien Soong (who we’ll be discussing later), started his generation-spanning desire to explore human augmentation not through synthetic life, but controversial genetic engineering, entrusting his descendants to carry on his work.

But human augmentation in various forms is alive and well by the time of 23rd century Starfleet in spite of this ban. Despite it being against Federation law, microbiologist Paul Stamets becomes an augmented human on Discovery when he splices himself with Tardigrade DNA to pilot the titular ship’s spore-drive, enhancing himself further with cybernetic augmentation to better facilitate the process.

And speaking of cybernetics (and the eventual path to the development of synthetic life) and Discovery , you’ve also got cyborgs like Lieutenant Commander Airiam , an augmented human who, in the wake of a nearly-fatal shuttle crash, received major cybernetic upgrades—at this point in Trek history they were not as advanced as you may expect, though, with Airiam having to selectively manage the storage of her own memories to avoid overloading her augments.

But moving beyond human augmentation and to the androids we encounter in this earliest period of Star Trek on screen, it’s interesting to note that even with beings like Airiam as contemporaries, completely synthetic sentient life is a pipe dream. Every android we meet in the time of the original Star Trek comes from societies that exist outside of the Federation—from ancient, long-gone civilizations, or seemingly omnipotent beings whose grasp of technology is clearly established as being far beyond the current understandings of Starfleet.

On the “ancient civilization” front, you have androids like Rayna in “Requiem for Methuselah,” the creation of an immortal named Flint who, despite completely passing as a human female, was not advanced enough to deal with...the flirtations of Captain Kirk —she overloaded her circuits dealing with the intense emotional overload of her attraction to him and her creator. There were also the Mudd androids of “I, Mudd,” the servants of an unknown precursor civilization from the Andromeda galaxy dispersed as researchers and observers of the less-advanced species of our own galaxy until they encounter Harry Mudd, who naturally forces them to make him a harem of fembots to do his bidding. But as advanced as these self-replicating androids were, like Rayna before them, their adherence to logic in the face of emotional variability proved to be their undoing.

Separately, early Trek also featured androids that, while synthetic, were replicas of organic beings instead of their own selves. “I, Mudd” featured a few, notably Mudd’s recreation of his “beloved” wife Stella—but we also had the Exo III androids of “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” Even more advanced than the Mudd Androids or Rayna, they couldn’t just deal with emotions but developed their own android duplicator that could create a synthetic copy of an organic being, complete with their memories and personality.

Star Trek: The Motion   Picture also gave us a grim form of android in V’Ger’s creation of the Illia Probe, a hybridization of one of its sensor probes with the unfortunate body of the Enterprise ’s Lieutenant Illia, using her corpse essentially as a puppet. We also got the inverse of that idea in the Sargon-types of “Return to Tomorrow”—android “shells” designed by the disembodied being Sargon, intended to store the disassociated minds of the last survivors of his race.

Not only are all of these androids products of beings far beyond the capabilities of the Federation, they’re also all coded as inherently sinister—they are alien, antagonistic forces, whether passively observing our heroes as technological lessers or, in some cases, outright intended to replace them. It would take Star Trek ’s leap into a whole new century—and a whole new show—for the series’ portrayal of androids to radically transform and evolve.

Enter Soong

By the 24th century—and by The Next Generation —android technology had taken steps that were paradoxically massive and incremental. By TNG ’s 2360s, Federation-aligned scientists had managed to do what was so alien a century prior and create sentient synthetic life. Or, rather, one scientist had. One of Arik Soong’s long descendants, not a geneticist like his ancestor, but a renowned, infamous cyberneticist: Dr. Noonien Soong.

Based off a “positronic brain”—a completely technological, intricate recreation of a human’s nervous systems—Soong-type androids could achieve sentience unlike any previously known kind of android. They were also so difficult to make, no other scientist could effectively replicate the task of manually recreating positronic relays, and even Soong himself struggled. From his research lab on Omicron Theta, he only ever made six, seemingly the only ones to exist within the Federation at this point in time: two unknown protoypes, B-4, Lore, and eventually Data, who went on to serve in Starfleet as an officer aboard the Enterprise . His final android was, unlike his prior efforts, not a replication of his own youthful visage, but a recreation of his deceased wife, Juliana Tainer, who was actually advanced enough to be unaware of her android nature.

B-4, Lore, and Data are the most notable and important of Soong’s advancements in synthetic life. Though B-4 was a predecessor of Data and Lore, he’s actually the last Soong-type we met, appearing in the godawful Star Trek: Nemesis. While functional, B-4 was based on a simpler version of Soong’s positronic technology, in turn, giving him a simpler personality compared to his “brothers.” That personality was eventually overridden by Shinzon to make B-4 an unwitting spy, and then Data attempted to expand his sibling’s capacities by giving him his own archive of memories.

Lore, meanwhile, first introduced in the TNG season one episode “Datalore,” was B-4's successor. More advanced, Lore was also highly aware of his capabilities being far beyond that of a human, and eventually developed a narcissistic personality that, combined with his inability to balance his unstable emotional reactions, made him a threat to the human colonists living on Omicron Theta. It got so bad that Soong was forced to deactivate Lore and put him in stasis. Data was then created as a response—a Soong-type that had all of Lore’s intelligence and advanced abilities, but could also better deal with emotional concepts.

Data’s creation was a landmark moment not just in terms of Federation science, but upon first contact with Starfleet in the form of a landing party from the USS Tripoli —which found Data abandoned by his creator and his fellow colonists on Omicron Theta after an attack on the planet by the Crystalline Entity—he became a landmark in Federation ethics, too. “Measure of a Man,” one of TNG ’s most iconic episodes, dealt with the ramifications of Data’s existence as a synthetic, sentient being. The complete scarcity of android lifeforms within the Federation made Data’s place as a member of the Enterprise ’s crew an abnormality, a being respected as a Starfleet Officer but not actually given any of the fundamental rights a citizen of the Federation has.

His ascension through Starfleet Academy and into the organization itself was opposed by Daystrom Institute cybernetics researcher Bruce Maddox, and Maddox’s own desire to break Data down and research his positronic brain to see if the Federation could craft its own synthetic life sparked Data’s quest to be recognized as an individual. What followed, as seen in “Measure,” was an unprecedented legal tribunal that ultimately lead to a ruling that not only was Data an individual citizen of the Federation, but that should more androids of his kind ever be created, they would be tantamount to the establishment of a new species.

Despite Maddox’s opposition to his status as a being, Data kept in touch with him, encouraging the scientist in his work to create more androids—and even experimented with expanding his own development with the use of an emotion chip, which allowed him to physically stimulate and experience emotion for the first time...to varying degrees of success.

It was, however, never meant to be. Over the course of The Next Generation , and even beyond in the Star Trek timeline, androids were still incredibly scarce beings. Data himself attempted to create one in the form of his “daughter” Lal in TNG’s season three episode “The Offspring.” After attending a Federation cybernetics conference that discussed the development of “submicron matrix transfer” technology, that would allow the already-existing neural network of a functioning positronic brain to be duplicated and inserted into another, Data set about creating his own Soong-type advancement, declaring the product to be his daughter. Unfortunately, while Lal was in many ways more advanced than Data, the transfer process was still imperfect, leading to brain degradation that ultimately forced him to shut her down.

With Data’s own demise during the events of Star Trek: Nemesis , and both B-4 and Lore deactivated (the latter permanently, the former stored for research purposes by the Daystrom Institute after Data attempted, and ultimately failed, to transfer his own memories to his body), it would seem that, coming into Star Trek: Picard , the Federation’s development of Android technology had hit a considerable roadblock. Scientists had developed a way to replicate positronic neural nets, but with only B-4's limited—and compromised—brain available, creating a successor to Data was seemingly far out of reach.

A Post-Data World

Two decades after Data’s death in Nemesis , the world we encounter in Picard has once again undergone dramatic changes in the field of android development, even if his death has also stagnated it at the same time.

By 2389, for example, lower functioning Androids than Soong-types have become an accepted form of manual labor. They are seemingly not afforded the same kinds of rights as Data and are perhaps a replacement for holographic labor (as glimpsed in Voyager ’s seventh season episode “Author, Author,” which established that, unlike Soong-types, holograms capable of achieving sentience akin to Voyager ’s Emergency Medical Hologram had yet to be afforded citizenship in the Federation). Well, that is, until an android workforce at the Utopia Planitia shipyards was corrupted by an unknown force and used to stage a terrorist attack that decimated one of Starfleet’s most important dry docks, scuttling a flotilla of ships intended to offer evacuation relief to Romulans fleeing the destruction of their homeworld.

If Data’s death hadn’t already stagnated synthetic sentience research in the Federation, the attack on Mars did—the loss of nearly 100,000 Federation citizens (and a valuable source of industry) led to a complete and total ban on synthetic life. And even without it, the creation of an android akin to Data’s capabilities was still centuries away from development.

Picard ’s debut episode “Remembrance” tells us that prior to the ban, Federation scientists at Daystrom’s synthetic research division (led by Bruce Maddox himself) were on a path to developing something akin to an organic equivalent of the Sargon-types Kirk and his crew encountered in “Return to Tomorrow.” They’d have flesh-and-blood bodies that could house a positronic brain. But Data’s death meant access to functioning neural networks with which people could stage a submicron matrix transfer was all but impossible.

Except the episode reveals that Maddox, who fled Daystrom in the wake of the all-but-shutdown of its synthetic research, apparently managed to gain access to remnants of Data’s positronic network before his death. As explained to Jean-Luc Picard by one of Maddox’s former co-workers, Agnes Jurati, Maddox was working on a theory called “fractal neuronic cloning”—which, unlike submicron matrix transfers, would allow the creation of a full positronic brain out of an individual synthetic neuron. Except it apparently wasn’t just a theory, and Maddox, using a fragment of Data’s neurons, created two identical androids (the process apparently requiring a pair of cloned organic bodies): Dahj and Soji Asher.

Right now, little is known of just how advanced Dahj and Soji are in comparison to Data—whether they were, because of the cloning process, equally capable or even more advanced. Like Data’s successor in Soong’s Juliana android, neither Android is aware of their synthetic nature. Or at least, Soji isn’t, with Dahj’s enhanced abilities—enhanced hearing, advanced hacking skills, and even strength and combat techniques—being activated when she is attacked by mysterious Romulan assailants.

Whatever either she or Soji are capable of, however, they represent an entirely new generation of android in the Star Trek universe—and are about to be more vital to not just Picard, but the Federation at large, than ever imagined.

With Picard revealing its focus on the creation of Data’s legacy—and how it might return the Lieutenant Commander himself—it’s clear we’re about to get even more exploration of androids, their rights, and the boundaries of what it means to be post-human in the franchise than we’ve perhaps seen it tackle in years. Just how Trek ’s relationship to one of sci-fi’s most enduring technological feats will evolve remains to be seen, but for now, as always, it seems like it will continue to be a tumultuous and fascinating one.

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Star Trek: Picard's premiere reveals new Android life and digs deep into Trek canon

Credit: CBS

Philip K. Dick may have famously wondered if androids dream of electric sheep, but Star Trek: Picard is wondering why ex-starship Captains dream about dead androids. In the opening scene to the newest ongoing Star Trek series, Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) dreams of the deceased synthetic life form with a heart of gold, Lt. Commander Data ( Brent Spiner ). Later, Picard tells his Romulan housekeepers that "the dreams are lovely... it's the waking up I'm beginning to resent."

Jean-Luc is waking up to a changed Star Trek world, one that has taken various stories about A.I. from Star Trek: The Next Generation and given that future a hard left turn.

But, fear not Trekkie purists! None of this means that the fragile Star Trek canon has been changed, and in fact, all this new android stuff has a precedent. Here's how the plot of Picard has reimagined Trek 's androids, and in doing so, rediscovered the wonder of one of science fiction's oldest conundrums: What happens when you make the perfect synthetic human?

**Spoiler Alert: There are spoilers below for Star Trek: Picard Season 1, Episode 1: "Remembrance."**

After dreaming of playing poker with Data aboard the USS Enterprise-D , we find Jean-Luc Picard at his family's wine vineyard, in La Barre, France. In case you forgot, despite his English accent, the character Jean-Luc Picard is French, which is why he has a French name and loves red wine. Jean-Luc is having a rough time, and things get even rowdier as we cut from 24th century France to 24th century Boston. Here we meet a bright young student named Dahj (Isa Briones), who is giving her boyfriend the good news that she just got accepted into the Daystrom Institute.

If you remember your Star Trek history , you might recall this is a really prestigious tech hotspot in the future. And, if you really remember your Star Trek history, you also might remember the Daystrom Institute gets its name from a guy named Richard Daystrom, who, in the original series episode "The Ultimate Computer," invented an A.I. that was supposed to run a starship — then, that A.I. started killing everyone until Kirk yelled at it. So, if hearing the word "Daystrom" makes you worried about rogue computers and killer robots, you're right! Because soon, Dahj and her boyfriend are attacked by helmeted thugs who are worried about her "activating."

Pretty soon, she activates , and like Trinity in The Matrix , easily takes out all of her attackers. From that point, the writing's pretty much on the wall: Dahj is some kind of android, and for some reason, she has visions of Picard. While this is going on, Jean-Luc gives a cranky interview to an interstellar news service that has promised not to ask him why he left Starfleet and then asks him why he left Starfleet. We're led to believe this news is for the people of the Federation, but really clever exposition for the audience.

See,14 years prior, Picard was all set to rescue the Romulans from a giant supernova (thanks for that, J.J. Abrams ) but his plan got canceled after a bunch of Synths (a word now interchangeable with androids) went bananas on Mars and destroyed the rescue armada specifically built for this purpose. To this day, no one knows why the Synths went rogue, but all synthetic lifeforms were subsequently banned, and the Romulans were not rescued. Seemingly in protest, Picard left Starfleet, and at this point, is still clearly pretty ticked-off about all of it.

After walking out of the interview like a '90s British pop star, Jean-Luc has a glass of wine with his dog and quotes Shakespeare from All's Well That Ends Well .

Spoiler alert: Things do not end well.

Dahj finds Picard, and fairly quickly he decides that he's going to take care of her. After everybody has some tea and wine, Picard goes to bed and again dreams of Data. This time, though, his former android shipmate is asking him to help finish paint an oil painting. When Picard wakes up (he wakes up three times in this episode to be clear), he realizes he has a version of this painting in his house, and another version of the painting hidden away in what can only be called a high tech storage unit at Starfleet Headquarters. Dahj has mysteriously vanished, but Jean-Luc is way more interested in figuring out why he's dreaming of this painting.

In the one in his house, you can't see the face of the person in the painting, but when he hits up his storage unit, Picard finds another nearly identical painting, but this one has a face and it's Dahj. The painting is called "daughter."

Picard and Dr. Jurati (Alison Pill) talk human-looking androids. (Credit: CBS)

Suddenly, Picard runs into Dahj, who followed him from France all the way to San Francisco, presumably by beaming around, but we're not really worried about that. Picard is convinced she's an android, and basically tells her this. Dahj doesn't accept it at first, but they don't have time to worry about it because pretty soon the thugs are back, and they're out to kill Dahj.

In the episode's biggest twist, these thugs — who are revealed to be Romulans — are successful. Dahj is blown up by a giant bomb. Jean-Luc wakes up for a third time, back at his house in France, but this time, none of that was a dream. It all really happened. Picard then hightails it to the Daystrom Institue in Okinawa where he meets a robotics expert named Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill).

Jurati's got nothing to do all day because studying actual androids has been banned, so Picard wants her to tell him how a flesh and blood android — who looks human inside and out — could be possible. She reveals to Picard that one of her colleagues, Bruce Maddox, was maybe fooling around with making secret fractal android clones. Bruce Maddox previously only appeared in one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation — "The Measure of a Man" — in which Maddox briefly tried to rob Data of his autonomy, so, yes, this is a very deep Trekkie cut.

Eventually, after Picard shows Jurati Dahj's necklace, it's revealed that this special kind of android could be created in pairs; meaning, there is a second version of Dahj out there somewhere. From there, we cut to Romulan space, where a young woman who looks exactly like Dahj — and is called "Dr. Asha" — is working at some place called the "Romulan Reclamation Site." But, when the camera pulls back, this reclamation site is clearly a Borg ship . And cut to credits.

Data's "mom"; Dr. Juliana Tainer (Fionnula Flanagan)

The return of the Borg ship is a pretty neat cliffhanger, but it's also not the big news.

From the trailers, we knew the Borg would be back, so that wasn't much of a shock. What is a shock is that Picard is floating a new kind of Star Trek android that is nearly exactly like older androids with one big difference: Presumably, Dahj (and her "sister" Soji) don't know they are androids, and would never be identified as such because any medical scan would make them look perfectly human.

Star Trek has come close to giving us this kind of android before, but not quite. Juliana Tainer (Fionnula Flanagan), a duplicate of Data's own human "mother" in the TNG episode "Inheritance," was similar: An android who believed she was human up until the moment the circuits in her head were revealed. In the original series episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?," the deranged Dr. Roger Korby makes an android duplicate of Captain Kirk before it is eventually revealed that he, too, is an android duplicate of himself, complete with wires hanging out of his damaged hand. Androids that are supposed to pass for humans are also employed by con-man Harry Mudd in both Short Treks and the original series episode "I, Mudd."

And, yes, Data has had a daughter before, the android Lal (Hallie Todd), who was constructed by Data in "The Offspring," but tragically "died" because Data couldn't figure out how to make her positronic brain stable. Lal also knew exactly what she was, and had no delusions that she was android.

So, all of these previous Star Trek androids are close to the idea of Dahj and Soji, but with one crucial difference: They all had very visible circuitry once you got down to it. Other than her superhuman strength and classic Data processing speeds, Dahj bleeds like a human and, perhaps more importantly, thinks she is human. This makes her more like a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica or the replicants from Blade Runner than anything we've ever seen on Trek .

And yet, even those comparisons aren't quite right.

Two of these three people are androids. (Credit: CBS)

The episode begins with Picard wondering if Data has a "tell" during a game of poker. Most secret androids in all forms of science fiction tend to have a tell: circuits that spill out, robotic voices, or the deep need to say "affirmative" instead of "yes."

The Cylons on Battlestar had glowing red spines sometimes, and even the Replicants in Blade Runner were susceptible to the famous Voight-Kampff test that proved they were synthetic. Westworld hosts look human but underneath their skin, they all have very "robotic" exoskeletons and very obvious robot brains. So, although Picard is standing on the shoulders of all this Star Trek canon and a ton of other science fiction precedents that came before, these "flesh and blood" androids are the show's way of forging a path ahead.

With these robots, there's no "tell." At all. It's a small, subtle difference, but it is, in its own small way, a tiny bit of new blood in a long line of robot stories. These androids are virtually indistinguishable from humans. We can't tell them apart from us, and they're dreaming about humans.

The subtle change Star Trek: Picard has made to the robot formula is straightforward but smart. If robots were real, but there was nothing about them that was different other than their abilities and how they were made, would they still count as robots? It's not a new question per se, but Picard presents it in an innovative and elegant way. This may not be an entirely new, strange world of androids, but Star Trek: Picard is exploring it boldly.

• Star Trek: Picard

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Published Jul 28, 2019

Catching up with 'TOS'' Android Andrea

We spoke with actress Sherry Jackson about what it was like to transition from child star into infamous Trek guest.

StarTrek.com

This article originally ran in June of 2014.

Sherry Jackson played the android Andrea in “ What Are Little Girls Made Of ?,” in which she sported a gravity-defying outfit, kissed Captain Kirk and earned her place in Trek history. However, Star Trek was but one credit in her career. Jackson also co-starred as a regular on the sitcom Make Room for Daddy and appeared in memorable episodes of Twilight Zone, Lost in Space, Batman, The Wild Wild West, The Incredible Hulk, Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island and CHiPs .

Jackson is retired these days, but still makes the occasional autograph show and convention appearance. In advance of her appearance at Star Trek Las Vegas 2014, Jackson agreed to chat by telephone about her Trek experience, her career and her life today.

Go all the way back. You’d done an episode of Gene Roddenberry’s pre- Trek series, The Lieutenant. Did that have any impact on you winning your role on Star Trek ?

JACKSON: I don’t know. I didn’t remember that Gene Roddenberry was on that show. That’s a show that, excuse my immodesty, but I liked performance in it, and I loved working with Gary Lockwood. He was very serious about the work and wasn’t just doing it by the numbers. We’d work out a scene and make it the best we could make it. But with Star Trek , my agent called and said, “I want you to go on this interview.” So I went, but I’ve never cared particularly for sci-fi. I liked 2001 , but I’m not a geeky sci-fi person, and I’ve actually not watched any of the other Star Trek episodes or movies. But to answer your question, I had to meet with Gene Roddenberry three different times before he decided he wanted me for Star Trek.

Your costume in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” is unforgettable. What do you recall of the fittings as William Ware Theiss brought it to life on you?

JACKSON: Bill Theiss was just wonderful. Bill and Gene Roddenberry and myself… all three of us were designing that outfit. It was like some mechanical engineering job to make it work. I can tell you a couple of stories about the outfit. I invented the slit up the front of the leg on it. I’m only 5-foot-4 and I wanted to look taller. That made me look taller. The outfit just became magical. Also, hip-huggers weren’t around at that time, but apparently after that episode, hip-huggers came into fashion. I’m sure it was because of Star Trek .

Andrea, for an android, certainly expressed plenty of emotion and sensuality.

JACKSON: If you look closely, you can see the transition, which is very nuanced. I was acting that role like I would play a human, in a way, because I knew there had been androids before Andrea, but I hadn’t seen any shows or movies with androids and I had no concept of an android. So I created what I thought the android would feel or not feel. Of course, in the beginning, she doesn’t feel. She just obeys orders. And then she gets feelings and you see her slowly come around to those feelings, and that’s really a shock to her.

You shared some nice moments with Majel Barrett, Michael Strong and William Shatner. What do you remember of working with them?

JACKSON: Well, Majel, at that time, was dating Gene Roddenberry, I think, but I didn’t know that. She was playing her role, the strong independent woman, and she was also like that on the set. She wasn’t a warm, huggy, fun, goof-off kind of person. She was very business-like. She did her scenes and knew her lines. She was a professional. Michael Strong was a theater actor, and I loved working with him. He was also doing what I was doing, because he was playing an android. When he broke down, I thought, “Wow, this is really good work here.” Ted Cassidy was just a doll, too. And Shatner… well, what can I say? He’s a nice person. Of course, he was kind of flirting with me. But overall, I enjoyed working with Shatner.

Just before we got on the phone to do this interview with you, we watched the episode again. And we replayed and replayed the scene in which the trigger is pulled on the phaser. Once and for all, who pulled the trigger?

JACKSON: You know, that’s a good question. I’m not sure myself.

You’re one of the rare actors who successfully transitioned from child star to teen actor to adult actor. Did you realize at the time just how rare it was to accomplish that?

JACKSON: Yes, I knew it was very, very difficult, partly because of the laws of the Board of Education.  You could work when you were younger than six, but you could only work limited hours. So they’d rather hire someone who was seven but looked five. If you think about it, it’s why you saw so many short actors on screen, especially the boys who grew up to be [male adult] actors. But I kept getting work, and I was very grateful for the opportunities.  It was my goal to work. I wanted to do more mature roles. I couldn’t stand it when they called me “pigtailed moppet Sherry Jackson.” I said, “Someday, I’m going to change that.” Star Trek was really the beginning. Then, when I saw myself in Gunn , I said, “Now, that’s a grown-up woman.” I thought for a minute that, “I don’t ever have to work again,” because I’d reached my goal of making that transition, but then I kept on working.

What are some of other credits you’re proudest of?

JACKSON: Everyone seems to like something different, which I think is great. I really enjoyed Trouble Along the Way , which was a movie I did with John Wayne. Michael Curtiz, who directed Casablanca , directed that. That picture was hard work, but I really enjoyed the experience and like my performance in it. And I loved John Wayne. He was very good to me. I watched the film not too long ago. Sometimes when you watch yourself you think, “The performance just isn’t there” or, “Ugh, that wasn’t good.” That film, I think I was very, very good in it.

Let’s end the conversation by bringing everyone up to date. How is life treating you these days?

JACKSON: I’m just enjoying retirement and yoga and studying things and learning Spanish. I’m doing all kinds of things, and it keeps me busy. I like having a busy schedule.

You still attend the occasional autograph show and you’ll be heading out to Las Vegas in August 2014 for Creation’s big Star Trek convention. It must be fun to meet the fans…

JACKSON: I love it. My fan base is from 17 years old to about 80, which is phenomenal, and a lot of them are Star Trek fans. I get letters from all over the world. And I hear from many fans on my website. At the conventions, I enjoy spending time with them, seeing what they’re like, hearing where they’re from, if they have kids. The joy of it is talking to them.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Star Trek Las Vegas 2019 runs from July 31-August 4. Get your tickets now .

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How to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds from anywhere in the galaxy — streaming guide and official trailer

Here's how you can watch the new sci-fi series from anywhere.

How to watch in the USA

How to watch from anywhere, official trailer.

You don't need a starship to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds online, we've got everything you need to know to stream the new series from anywhere on Earth (and beyond). The first episode premieres on Paramount Plus today, May 5th, with new episodes added every Thursday until the season finale on July 7th. 

The most recent addition to the Star Trek universe, Strange New Worlds is a direct spin-off from the popular series Star Trek: Discovery and follows Kirk's predecessor Captain Christopher Pike (played by Anson Mount) and the crew of the USS Enterprise as they explore new planets throughout the galaxy. Since it's a prequel to the original Star Trek series, you can also expect to see the younger versions of characters like Spock and Number One that you may remember from Star Trek: Discovery. If the trailer below is any indication, Strange New Worlds is destined to be a lot of fun and may even join the ranks of the best Paramount Plus shows . 

Trekkies in the US, South America, Australia, and other countries where Paramount Plus is available can easily stream the show as episodes are added each week, but if you're outside of those places at the moment, you'll need to get a little creative and use a VPN . Keep reading to learn how you can watch the sci-fi series from anywhere, plus we'll share a look at the official trailer. 

Paramount Plus: plans start at $4.99/month

The CBS streaming service Paramount Plus is the official home of all things Star Trek, in addition to original programming like Halo and The Offer. Plans start at $4.99 per month and you can get the first week free if you sign up today. The first episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will premiere Thursday, May 5th, and new episodes will be added weekly. 

ExpressVPN: Try it risk-free for 30 days

If you're out of the country when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds drops, you can bypass geo-blocks and still log into your Paramount Plus account by using a VPN like ExpressVPN. 

Right now, the company is also offering a 30-day money-back guarantee for new users, so you could simply sign up, stream to your heart's content while traveling, then cancel your subscription with zero hassle if you no longer need or want the service. 

New to the world of VPNs and totally confused by what we described above? Don't worry, you can learn everything you need to know by reading our list of the best VPN services .

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• Cast & crew
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In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

• Gene Roddenberry
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• 276 User reviews
• 99 Critic reviews
• 16 wins & 31 nominations total

Episodes 80

Photos 1999

• Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk …

• Mister Spock …

• Lieutenant Leslie …

• Nurse Chapel …

• Ensign Freeman …

• Yeoman Rand …

• Announcer …

• Beta 5 Computer …
• Security Guard …
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Stellar Photos From the "Star Trek" TV Universe

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Did you know

• Trivia In the hallways of the Enterprise there are tubes marked "GNDN." These initials stand for "goes nowhere does nothing."
• Goofs The deck locations for Kirk's Quarters, Sickbay and Transporter Room vary (usually between decks 4-7) throughout the series.

Dr. McCoy : "He's dead, Jim."

• Crazy credits On some episodes, the closing credits show a still that is actually from the Star Trek blooper reel. It is a close-up of stunt man Bill Blackburn who played an android in Return to Tomorrow (1968) , removing his latex make up. In the reel, He is shown taking it off, while an off-screen voice says "You wanted show business, you got it!"
• Alternate versions In 2006, CBS went back to the archives and created HD prints of every episode of the show. In addition to the new video transfer, they re-did all of the model shots and some matte paintings using CGI effects, and re-recorded the original theme song to clean it up. These "Enhanced" versions of the episodes aired on syndication and have been released on DVD and Blu-Ray.
• Connections Edited into Ben 10: Secrets (2006)
• Soundtracks Star Trek Music by Alexander Courage

User reviews 276

• May 17, 2006
• How do they maintain Gravity on the the U.S.S. Enterprise ? .
• All aliens on all planets speak the English language?
• What does "TOS" mean?
• September 8, 1966 (United States)
• United States
• Star Trek: The Original Series
• Backlot, Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
• Desilu Productions
• Norway Corporation
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 50 minutes

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L'ak's Species Revealed In This Week's Star Trek: Discovery Episode 'Mirrors'

A huge addition to Star Trek lore.

I'm intrigued by how L'ak's face changes into a solid state when he first takes of [sic] his helmet in #StarTrekDiscovery's "Red Directive".

I did that on set. I can morph my own face. I'm very talented.

Jack Kiely is a writer with a PhD in French and almost certainly an unhealthy obsession with Star Trek.

How-To Geek

How to stream every 'star trek' tv show in 2022.

Stream every TV episode in Star Trek history.

Read update

After reviewing our guide we've replaced any outdated links so you can watch every Star Trek show uninterrupted.

Quick Links

Star trek: the animated series, star trek: the next generation, star trek: deep space nine, star trek: voyager, star trek: enterprise, star trek: discovery, star trek: short treks, star trek: picard, star trek: lower decks, star trek: prodigy, star trek: strange new worlds.

With its grand, inquisitive take on space exploration, Star Trek has been a staple of TV for 50-plus years. The sci-fi franchise spans multiple shows, with various starship crews exploring the galaxy. Here's how to stream every Star Trek series.

UPDATE: 10/11/22

Related: How to Stream Every 'Star Trek' Movie in 2022

Although it only lasted for three seasons in the 1960s, the original Star Trek has become one of the most influential TV series---and pieces of science fiction in any medium---of all time. Creator Gene Roddenberry's utopian vision focuses on exploration rather than conflict, as the starship Enterprise seeks out "new life and new civilizations." Led by William Shatner's hotheaded Capt. James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy's logical Vulcan Mr. Spock, and DeForest Kelley's irascible Dr. McCoy, Star Trek remains a sci-fi gold standard.

Seasons 1-3 of Star Trek are streaming on Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

Watch on Paramount+

Thanks to the popularity of Star Trek reruns, NBC brought back Gene Roddenberry and many of the show's writers and actors for this animated version, which lasted for two seasons in the 1970s. It follows the continuing adventures of the Enterprise crew and has been considered an extension of the original series, with characters and concepts that later made their way into live-action. The animation may be rudimentary, but the stories are every bit as thoughtful and layered as the episodes of the original series.

Seasons 1-2 of Star Trek: The Animated Series are streaming on Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

Related: The Best TV Shows on Amazon Prime Video in 2023

Following the continued success of Star Trek reruns and theatrical films, creator Gene Roddenberry launched a new series with a new Enterprise crew, set even further in the future. Starring Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, The Next Generation continues Roddenberry's focus on a harmonious future, while expanding on alien races and galactic regions introduced in the original series. Co-starring Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, and more, The Next Generation has become every bit as iconic as its predecessor, setting the stage for decades of Trek to come.

Seasons 1-7 of Star Trek: The Next Generation are streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

Overlapping with the end of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine is the first Star Trek series to take place away from the Enterprise, set on a space station located in a volatile area of the galaxy. Avery Brooks leads the series as Capt. Benjamin Sisko, overseeing an unpredictable crew of Starfleet officers and alien allies, along with an entire station's worth of residents and businesses. In its later seasons, Deep Space Nine introduced serialized storytelling to Trek for the first time, gaining a reputation as the darkest and most mature Trek series to date.

Seasons 1-7 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

Related: The 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies on Max in 2023

Returning to the exploratory missions of a starship, Voyager takes Star Trek into an entirely new quadrant of the galaxy. The crew of the titular vessel is transported via a mysterious energy wave into an area of space where Starfleet has never been. Capt. Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) must lead her crew on a long journey home, while navigating the unfamiliar threats in this strange new region. Voyager expands the scope of Star Trek's universe while introducing fan-favorite characters like the holographic Doctor (Robert Picardo) and the former Borg Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan).

Seasons 1-7 of Star Trek: Voyager are streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

A prequel set in the years before the formation of the galaxy-spanning United Federation of Planets, Enterprise takes place on the starship Enterprise a century before it's occupied by Capt. Kirk and his crew. The primarily human crew is led by Capt. Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), as inhabitants of Earth are just beginning to explore the galaxy and encounter some of Star Trek's familiar alien races. Enterprise features a more action-oriented focus than previous Trek series, setting the tone for Trek series and movies to come, and its later seasons are driven by long-term serialized stories.

Seasons 1-4 of Star Trek: Enterprise are streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

After a dormant period of more than a decade following the cancellation of Enterprise, Discovery brings Star Trek into the streaming era with another prequel. Set after Enterprise but before the original series, Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham, the science officer on the starship Discovery. The first two seasons explore the early days of the Federation and revisit many classic Trek themes and characters. In later seasons, both the starship and the show are thrust forward hundreds of years into the future, truly going boldly where no Trek has gone before.

Seasons 1-4 of Star Trek: Discovery are streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

In conjunction with Star Trek's streaming revival, this anthology of bite-size episodes provides supplemental stories for the new Trek era. Some are standalone pieces highlighting minor characters or side stories from Star Trek: Discovery, while others tie more closely to ongoing plots from Discovery (and later Star Trek: Picard as well). It's another way for Star Trek's creators to illustrate their expansive universe of galactic space exploration.

All episodes of Star Trek: Short Treks are streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

Related: The 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies on Hulu

Patrick Stewart reprises his Star Trek: The Next Generation role of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in a series set 20 years after Picard's last Star Trek appearance. The retired Picard returns to active duty with a new mission and a new crew, in a slower, more character-driven story than other Trek series. In addition to Stewart, actors from other past Trek series, including Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, and Jeri Ryan, make appearances, as Picard struggles to find his place in a changed Starfleet that no longer reflects his values.

Seasons 1-2 of Star Trek: Picard are streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

The first animated Star Trek series since the 1970s is also the first overtly comedic Trek series, focusing on a group of lower-level recruits who do all the grunt work on intergalactic voyages. Set around the end of the Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager era, Lower Decks takes place on the Cerritos, a Starfleet ship mostly assigned to minor missions. The creators combine gentle mockery with a deep love for and knowledge of Trek lore, which makes them perfect for taking the franchise down a peg.

Seasons 1-3 of Star Trek: Lower Decks are streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

Related: How to Stream Every 'Matrix' Movie in 2022

Star Trek returns to animation again for this family-friendly series aimed at bringing in a younger audience. Like Star Trek: Voyager, Prodigy takes place in the remote Delta Quadrant, where a rowdy group of young aliens from a prison colony discover an abandoned Starfleet ship. They take control of the ship so they can escape their grim circumstances, in a harsh backwater beyond the reach of the United Federation of Planets. As they flee the colony's cruel overlord, they're trained in starship operations by a hologram of Voyager's legendary Kathryn Janeway (voiced by Kate Mulgrew).

Season 1 of Star Trek: Prodigy is streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

A spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery, Strange New Worlds takes place on the Enterprise before Capt. Kirk took over, when it was led by Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). Pike is joined by younger versions of familiar characters who've served on the Enterprise, including Spock (Ethan Peck) and Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). In contrast to the heavily serialized storytelling of other modern Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds focuses primarily on single-episode stories, enhancing its throwback style.

Season 1 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming on  Paramount+ ($4.99+ per month after a seven-day free trial).

Fred (android)

• View history

Fred was a Soong-type android , built based on Doctor Altan Soong 's designs. His creator honored Soong through Fred's serial number , AS-0572Y, which was printed on the internal memory drive . Fred expressed a particular fascination for linguistic quirks.

In the 32nd century , at over six hundred years of age, Fred worked as a fence at the settlement on Q'mau . He was one of the few fences in that era interested in 24th century artifacts , which was known to Cleveland Booker .

In 3191 , Fred was approached by couriers Moll and L'ak to move items they had taken from an eight-hundred-year-old derelict Romulan science ship . Among the haul was a tan zhekran formerly owned by Doctor Vellek . After opening the box, Fred found Vellek's journal and, upon reading it, offered Moll and L'ak three bars of latinum for the lot. However, his anxious demeanor betrayed the fact that the journal was far more valuable than his offer. When Fred refused to return the journal to Moll and L'ak, they killed him and his bodyguards .

Fred's body was later brought to USS Discovery and examined by Commander Paul Stamets and Doctor Hugh Culber . They were able to download the last fifteen teraquads of data from Fred's ocular processing unit , which included the contents of Vellek's journal. ( DIS : " Red Directive ")

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10 best Star Trek apps in celebration of its anniversary

Published on September 20, 2021

Star Trek celebrated its 50th anniversary back in 2016. It’s amazing the franchise has lasted this long and generated such a large cast of memorable characters. Picard will always be the be the best captain, but I also don’t think Voyager is bad, so what do I know? There are tons of new ways to engage with Star Trek on your mobile devices. Most of the apps on our list will let you read or watch the series — it’s really easy these days. There isn’t much else but do we need anything else? Let’s look at the best Star Trek apps for Android.

The best Star Trek apps for Android

• FANDOM for: Star Trek
• Google Play Books

Movies Anywhere

Netflix or cbs all access, ntsenterprises apps, your web browser.

Price: Free / Comic prices vary / $5.99 per month

Comixology is arguably the best app for comic book fans. Star Trek has few a comic book series and most of them are here. The app acts as an excellent reader for comic books, with a few different viewing options. Additionally, comics are usually reasonably priced. Plus, the app syncs between devices, and comics are downloadable for offline reading if needed. Most of the comics go for between $5 and $10. However, you can also do $5.99 per month and read all of the comics you want. The choice is yours.

See also:  The best comic book apps and readers for Android

FANDOM by Wikia

Price: Free

FANDOM is an excellent app for Star Trek fans. It’s a community database for the Star Trek universe, with hundreds of articles by fans, quick facts about characters, and all kinds of other stuff. Additionally, you can discuss the series with other fans, recommend changes to existing pages, and otherwise engage with other Trekkies. It’s a neat and interactive platform for fans of Star Trek, and also entirely free with no in-app purchases. There are ads, but they’re not bad. There used to be a FANDOM app for every individual topic, but the developers rolled everything into a universal app relatively recently so that’s what we’re linking to now.

Price: Free / Varies

Facer is a watch face app for Wear OS, with a variety of functional watch face themes. You can add stuff like weather, battery percentage, and other such functions. Yes, there are also several good Star Trek watch faces available. In fact, this is one of the best ways to make your Wear OS devices look like a Star Trek device. This is a neat way to express your love of Star Trek right on your wrist all the time. Facer is a free app. Some of the watch faces may cost a few bucks, but nothing serious. It’s relatively easy to use once you get used to it.

See also:  The best Samsung Galaxy Watch apps for your Galaxy Watch 3, Active 2, and more

Google Play Books / Amazon Kindle / Nook

Price: Free / Book costs vary

There are a bunch of Star Trek books and most of them are on various ebook outlets. Google Play Books, Amazon Kindle, and Nook are the big three. Google Play Books has the most friendly setup for Android users, though Amazon Kindle often has more competitive prices, and the Kindle devices provide a more natural platform for reading. Nook is a lot like Kindle but a little bit smaller in scope. In any case, most of the Star Trek novels are available on one or all of them. Amazon also lets you buy hard copies if you want those, too. Any of these make for good Star Trek apps.

See also:  The best eBook reader apps for Android

Price: Free / Movie prices vary

Movies Anywhere is an excellent video streaming service for movies. It lets you log into Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Google Play Movies, Vudu, and a couple of others. You can watch any movie from any services you have purchased. You should be able to find basically any Star Trek movie you want between all of those services. After all, some here aren’t even available on streaming services like Netflix. Plus, the app has a decent UI, Chromecast support, and decent stability. It had a bit of a rough start, but it’s improved since its early days.

See also:  The best movie apps for Android

Price: Free trial / $8.99-$15.99 per month

Perhaps the best option on the list is either Netflix or the CBS All Access streaming app. Both contain a very large number of Star Trek episodes. Netflix offers the original series, The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, and the animated series. CBS All Access also has basically every episode of Star Trek out there, including the new series Star Trek Discovery. Hulu also has an excellent selection of Star Trek stuff. All these services cover the TV stuff better. You may need Movies Anywhere to watch all of the movies. All of these work as good Star Trek apps.

See also:  The best video streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, and many more

Price: Free / Up to $3.99

NTSEnterprise is a developer on Google Play and, from the looks of things, a huge Star Trek fan. This developer has a ton of Star Trek themes, soundboards, live wallpapers, and other stuff. Most of the developer’s themes are for Total Launcher, so you’ll need it to use them. However, it’s probably the best looking and most functional LCARS theme on Google Play. The soundboards and live wallpapers are also excellent and the developer also has some extras like a note taking app, a GO keyboard theme, and some other neat stuff to complete the effect. The apps usually have a free version and a premium version. The most expensive app we saw was $3.99, but most are $1.99

Price: Free / $3.99 per month / $24.99 per year

Reddit is a good place for Trekkies to talk to one another, gather news about the series, and discuss old episodes and movies. There are a few Star Trek subreddits, including r/StarTrek, r/TNG, r/Voyager, and r/DaystromInstitute. They all handle different types of discussions and different parts of the franchise. The main Reddit app is fine. There are some good third-party Reddit apps as well. You can also get rid of ads and add a few additional features for $3.99 per month or $24.99 per year, but you absolutely don’t need that to enjoy it.

See also:  The best Reddit apps for Android

Price: Free with in-app purchases

Zedge is probably the best app for ringtones, alarm tones, and notification tones. You can find a metric ton of Star Trek sounds for your phone here, including sound effects from various movies and shows. Most of them are high quality and Zedge even has some wallpapers as well. There are other ringtone apps and soundboard apps, but Zedge has more options. Plus, the vast majority of its content is completely free. It has a small marketplace for creators, but you probably won’t find Star Trek stuff there yet.

See also:  The best apps for notification tones and ringtones

Unfortunately, outside of NTSEnterprises and FANDOM, there aren’t a ton of Star Trek apps on mobile. However, there are still a metric ton of websites. There are sites to help you determine the current stardate, look up various timelines and summaries, and plenty of other websites for fans. It’s about as good as it gets for Trekkies since the app market for them is so small. Still, there are some entertaining sites out there for fans and the rest of the apps on the list should help fill in the blanks. We recommend Firefox because it was updated in 2020 with a bunch of good stuff and it’s actually pretty good.

See also:  The best Android browsers for surfing whatever website you want

If we missed any great Star Trek apps, tell us in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists .

Thank you for reading! Try these out too:

• The best Android themes, theming apps, and customizations
• The best icon packs for Android (by developer)

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Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery introduces its own data .

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 introduces an android who bears a striking resemblance to Star Trek: The Next Generation's Data.

• Discovery season 5 introduces a Soong-type synth similar to Data, connecting to TNG and Picard storylines.
• Fred, a synthetic with ties to Data's creator, Noonien Soong, showcases advanced technology in the 32nd century.
• With themes of humanity and artificial intelligence, Star Trek: Discovery continues to explore interesting connections and mysteries.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 1 - "Red Directive"

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere introduced a Soong-type synth who looked a lot like Data (Brent Spiner) from Star Trek: The Next Generation . Throughout TNG , Data became one of Star Trek's most popular characters, with his child-like curiosity and lifelong quest to explore his humanity. Created by cyberneticist Dr. Noonien Soong (Brent Spiner) in the 24th century, Data was the most advanced android of his time. With his enhanced strength and ability to process massive amounts of information in seconds, Data proved invaluable as a crewmember on the USS Enterprise-D.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 begins with a bang, as Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery are thrown into a galactic treasure hunt hundreds of years in the making. In Discovery season 5, episode 1, "Red Directive," Discovery sets out in pursuit of a mysterious Romulan artifact from 800 years ago. When their target is stolen by couriers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis), Michael reaches out to Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) for insight as to where the couriers might try to unload their haul. This leads Discovery to a fence named Fred (J. Adam Brown), a synthetic with the same distinctive pallor and yellow eyes as Data.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Star trek: discovery has its own data-like android named fred, in only one episode, discovery season 5 has more connections to tng than any previous season..

Moll and L'ak reach Fred first in Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere with their prize of a Romulan puzzle box. When they present the Romulan artifact to Fred, he remarks that he has "not encountered one of these for 622.7 years," revealing a clue about the android's age. Fred makes quick work of the box, as well as the handwritten journal found inside. After reading the entire contents of the book in mere seconds (as Data often did on TNG ), Fred makes an offer that's too low for L'ak and Moll. Sensing Fred's upcoming double-cross, L'ak remarks that "it's been a while since we've seen a synth anxious."

When Fred attempts to keep the book, Moll and L'ak attack, eventually killing the android fence. Michael and Book arrive too late to catch Moll and L'ak, but they beam Fred to Discovery to look through his memories. As Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) examines Fred, he discovers the android's serial number to be AS0572Y, remarking that AS must stand for Altan Soong (Brent Spiner) , the son of Data's creator, Noonien Soong. Introduced in Star Trek: Picard season 1, Dr. Altan Inigo Soong created a population of synths on the planet Coppelius, all using one of Data's positronic neurons.

Data returned in Star Trek: Picard season 3, with a newly upgraded synthetic body, as well as the ability to experience organic emotions and physical touch. These upgrades brought Data as close to being human as he could possibly be.

Discovery Already Has A Synthetic Like Picard

Jean-luc picard received a golem body in star trek: picard, as did gray in star trek: discovery..

While it appears that Fred is dead (unless Stamets can find a way to revive him), Star Trek: Discovery already has another, more advanced synthetic in Gray (Ian Alexander). The partner of Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio), Gray was thought to be dead, but they were later revived when their consciousness was transferred to a synthetic golem body. Gray followed in the footsteps of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), who received the same kind of synthetic body in the final episode of Star Trek: Picard season 1, after succumbing to a terminal brain condition.

Even if Fred remains dead, here's hoping Star Trek: Discovery reveals more information about the intriguing android and his connection to Data.

Even during the 25th century of Star Trek: Picard , synthetic and android technology improved significantly since the creation of Data, although very few beyond the Soong family understood the science behind it. Still, Picard's golem body , like Gray's, was indistinguishable from a human (or a Trill, in Gray's case). It's unclear why and how a synth resembling the earliest version of Soong's androids would exist in the 32nd century, and Fred's admission that he is over 600 years old certainly raises some interesting questions. Even if Fred remains dead, here's hoping Star Trek: Discovery reveals more information about the intriguing android and his connection to Star Trek: The Next Generation's Data.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery air Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star trek: the next generation.

Where to find Borussia Dortmund vs PSG on US TV: May 1, 2024

Paramount+ is now offering a 7-day free trial promotion for new subscribers, giving fans the ability to watch a ton of soccer fans (and other content) for free.

After the 7-day trial, Paramount+ is just $5.99 per month.

Paramount+ features more than 2,000 live matches each year. In addition to Serie A, the extensive portfolio of soccer properties also includes Coppa Italia, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League; The Women’s Cup; NWSL; Concacaf national team competitions (Men’s World Cup Qualifiers, Women’s World Cup Qualifiers, Men’s Nations League, and Women’s Nations League); Argentina’s Liga Profesional de Fútbol; Brazil’s Campeonato Brasileirão Série A; and AFC competitions (AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar, AFC Champions League, AFC Women’s Asian Cup and AFC Asian Cup).

Paramount+ includes exclusive original programs such as: Halo , Star Trek: Discovery , Frasier , Lawmen: Bass Reeves , and Evil , as well as movies including Mean Girls , Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning and more. You can also stream CBSN (CBS News), CBS Sports HQ and ET Live, as well as — with the Premium Plan — your local CBS network.

Paramount+ is available on PC or Mac as well as Roku, iPhone and Android phones, Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, PlayStation 4, Samsung smart TV, Vizio and XBOX One.

Courtesy of World Soccer Talk, download a complimentary copy of The Ultimate Soccer TV And Streaming Guide , which features details on where to watch all of the leagues from around the world on US TV and streaming.

To find out when soccer games are on, download the free Soccer TV Schedules App which includes listings of all of the live soccer matches available in the United States (available on Apple iOS devices and Android devices ).

Here are the steps to sign up for your 7-day free trial to Paramount+:

1. After clicking the ‘Try It Free’ button , you’ll see the following page that explains the two choices you’ll find. Click ‘Continue’ to be presented with the options:

2. Choose between the ‘Paramount+ Essential’ or ‘Paramount+ With Showtime’ options. If you want to save over 15% with an annual plan, click the Annual option. Then hit ‘Continue’ to move on.

3. Next, you’ll need to create a free Paramount+ account:

4. Enter your contact details, and click ‘Continue’ to move to the next step.

5. The following page explains the free 7-day trial:

6. Enter your payment details and then click ‘Start Paramount+’ to begin your free trial.

Photo credit: Imago

Star Trek™ Fleet Command

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