Warning: HUGE spoilers ahead forStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, episode 7, “Fully Dilated.“Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 5, episode 7, “Fully Dilated,” proves that Brent Spiner’s Commander Data remains one of the most belovedStar Trekcharacters, and he’ll hopefully continue to return to the world of Gene Roddenberry’s vast space opera time and time again. After playing Data inall seven seasons ofStar Trek: The Next Generationand the show’s sequel movies,Spiner has reprised the character and adjacent roles in several other spinoffs. There was no disputing his importance to theStar Trek: The Next Generationcast, but Spiner’s cameo inStar Trek’s animated comedy solidifies his legendary status.
Spiner has also played several members of the Soong family, such as his creator, Dr Noonien Soong. This has allowed Spiner to be involved up and down theStar Trektimeline without always playing Data. However, Spiner’s most prolific comeback in recent times was his announcement as part of theStar Trek: Picardcast- a show that became a spiritual and eventually direct successor toStar Trek: The Next Generation. After theend ofStar Trek: Picardseason 1,Spiner made a bold Data prediction, butStar Trek: Lower Deckshas proven the statement wrong for the second time.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Is The Second Time Spiner Has Played Data Since Saying He’d Never Do It Again In 2020
Spiner last came back as Data in 2023’s Star Trek: Picard season 3
Speaking withTV Guidein 2020,Spiner discussed his role inStar Trek: Picardseason 1, wrestling with the idea of playing Data again after so long. One of his biggest concerns was his age, but then stated that he “did it in such brief sequences that it was fine.” In the same interview, the actor also declared that he “wouldn’t really entertain the idea of doing it again,” with fears that it would be “unrealistic.” Thankfully, he played Data again inStar Trek: Picardseason 3, and has also done so again inStar Trek: Lower Decks' final season.
Star Trek Brings Back Captain Picard’s TNG Enterprise Like Generations Never Happened
Star Trek: The Next Generation’s USS Enterprise-D and Data return in Star Trek: Lower Decks, but did Generations and the TNG movies happen?
Spiner hasn’t been absent fromStar Treksince his comments in 2020, as he returned to the cast ofStar Trek: Picardfor a second season. The difference was that he was playing Adam Soong, yet another member of the family tree of Data’s creator. Plus, his return as Data inStar Trek: Picardalso allowed him to reprise another long-standing role - Lore, Data’s brother. So,Spiner’s love for the franchise is evident, so it doesn’t seem to take much to tempt him back each time. Hopefully, there is still more of Brent Spiner as Data in the saga’s future.
Star Trek Keeps Finding Inventive Ways For Brent Spiner’s Data To Return
Data’s origin makes him a difficult character to write out forever
Data’s story came to a natural conclusion decades ago, so there has had to be a great canonical reason each time he has been brought back.His resurrection inStar Trek: Picardseason 1 was well-written, and the fact he ended the run by being written out again also worked. That being said, there was no wayStar Trek: Picardseason 3’s reunion of theStar Trek: The Next Generationcastwould have been the same without Data’s presence, and the writers allowed it to happen by directly addressing Spiner’s concerns about his age compared to the characters' heyday.
Spiner voicing Data from the Purple Universe is a brilliant way of letting the actor reprise his most famous role.
Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 delved deep into the franchise’s bag of famous sci-tropes to bring Spiner back as Data again in “Fully Dilated.“Prime Universe Data is dead by the time ofStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, as his sacrifice in 2002’sStar Trek: Nemesishadn’t yet been reversed byStar Trek: Picard. So, Spiner voicing Data from the Purple Universe is a brilliant way of letting the actor reprise his most famous role. Plus, Purple Data is so similar to Prime Data that they may as well be the same character - color scheme notwithstanding.
Spiner’s Cameo As Purple Data Proves Why Star Trek’s Animated Content Is So Vital To The Franchise
Animated Star Trek shows can allow more legacy characters to appear throughout the franchise’s timeline
AlthoughBrent Spiner was able to shelve his worries about being too old to play Data again in live-action, the concern isn’t completely invalid.Star Trekhas been an active franchise for a very long time, and as such, many actors have aged out of reprising their roles during certain eras. Although de-aging technology has been used to fix this at times, animatedStar Trekshows are a far more elegant solution that allows for a much greater level of flexibility.
The Relative Of A Star Trek Villain From The Original Series Has Now Joined Starfleet
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 6 just introduced a new Starfleet ensign descended from Zeus, the king of the Greek gods himself.
Using Purple Data as an example, it wouldn’t have made sense for Spiner to play him in live-action, as Purple Data would have looked older than his Prime Universe counterpart.Another supporting argument is Kate Mulgrew’s comeback as the voice of Admiral JanewayinStar Trek: Prodigy. Although Mulgrew could still return as Janeway at her current age, it would only really make sense if she were to do so around the time ofStar Trek: Picard. For these reasons and many more,Star Trekmust continue to make more animated shows afterStar Trek: Lower Decksends.
1
2
“Shades of Green”
3
4
“A Farewell to Farms”
5
6
“Of Gods and Angels”
7
8
9
10
Star Trek: Lower Decks
Cast
The animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks follows the support crew on one of Starfleet’s least significant ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380. Ensigns Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and Tendi (Noël Wells) have to keep up with their duties and their social lives often. At the same time, the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.
