Star Trek Has A New Data Replacement 32 Years Later

It would be no overstatement to say that Data is one of Star Trek‘s most important characters. The Next Generation took the basic idea of Spock – a logic-driven crew member attempting to understand humans while simultaneously finding them a challenge – and took it to another level by putting an android on the bridge. Data fundamentally altered Star Trek mythology, and his legacy was made apparent by Star Trek: Picard in the most poignant of terms.

Star Trek has introduced several Data-like characters since The Next Generation ended. The Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager evolved the concept from an android to a hologram, while Star Trek: Prodigy‘s Zero brought back robotic representation among a main ensemble. Still, there hasn’t ever been a true replacement for Data in Star Trek‘s recent history… until now.

Starfleet Academy’s SAM Is Star Trek’s New Data

Star Trek: Voyager‘s Doctor possessed a sarcastic, humorous personality that separated him from Data’s rigidity and fish-out-of-water place on the Enterprise. Star Trek: Prodigy‘s Zero, meanwhile, was more of a cartoonish character that lacked the nuance of a human actor’s live-action performance – a quality instrumental in Data’s impact and longevity.

That leaves Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s SAM as the most Data-esque character in the franchise since the android himself. Despite being another photonic like Voyager’s EMH, SAM was programmed without preexisting memories, giving her no real basis for processing human life, and making her personality far more like Data’s than the Doctor’s.

And whereas the Doctor’s primary function was to keep Voyager’s crew in ship-shape health, SAM acts as an emissary for the photonic race, learning about organics and reporting back. To further her mission, she takes up hobbies, studies Earth history, and inserts herself eagerly into new situations.

Just as SAM attempts to learn about organic life and all its quirks, Data spent his time in Star Trek: The Next Generation striving to become more human. And just as SAM took up playing the theremin and reading Thornton Wilder, Data took up painting and read classical fiction. Famously, he also adopted Spot the cat, which is something SAM would undoubtedly love given the chance.

More than any other Star Trek character, SAM is the first Starfleet officer since Data to passionately delve into the many facets of organic life, attempting to uncover its secrets, appreciate its wonders, and ultimately, become more “human” in the process.

Starfleet Academy Episode 8 Cements SAM As Star Trek’s New Data

As a byproduct of Data wholeheartedly embracing the human condition, he often had the ability to see beauty in the mundane. Data could appreciate the small moments other crew members took for granted, and his quest for human understanding quickly became a two-way street. Data always wanted to be more human, but sometimes the humans needed to be more like Data.

Data would spend hours just watching his cat, and learned to fully appreciate basic emotions like happiness and wonder. Data was almost childlike at times, appreciating the things organics had simply stopped noticing.

In Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 8, Sam follows the same path. She finds joy in a toothbrush, she marvels at every human interaction, and she uses the play Our Town to help fellow cadets see through those same optimistic eyes, valuing individual moments in spite of the universe’s infinite vastness. SAM becomes Star Trek‘s new Data by being the mindful voice of wise naivety. Let’s just hope she doesn’t have an evil twin lurking somewhere out in space…