Goldsman And Chabon On Data
2 min read
In last week’s Star Trek: Picard press event, producers Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman tease the fans. Note: Spoilers for Star Trek: Picard: Remembrance and possibly for future episodes.
Many fans wondered at the end of Star Trek: Nemesis if Data was gone forever, or if the download into B-4 meant that he was recovered. Today’s Star Trek: Picard: Remembrance seemed to close that door with the revelation by Dr. Jurati that most of the contents of Data’s neural net were lost.
But don’t be so quick to accept that closure. “There are so many implicit assumptions,” said Goldsman; “in that [idea that the Data and B-4 story is now finished] I cannot confirm or deny!”
“We had to start [with Nemesis because] if you’re going to continue to tell the story of Picard, you have to look at the last time you saw him,” said Chabon. “So the events and conclusion of Nemesis were always part of the recipe for us.”
“I think we’re dancing around [something] that’s an assumption in terms of what [story points] we’ve closed off,” said Goldsman; “and what we haven’t.”
“It’s a question we want you to be asking,” said Chabon.
I mean, it’s funny, in serialized television, your first three episodes are like your first act,” said Goldsman. “Any good first act sets up some things that are seemingly apriori, and then it’s like, ‘Oh well, maybe that’s not accurate.’ Remember, part of what we’re doing is making it for [fans], but also for my wife who has never seen an episode of Star Trek, right?
“So the re-establishment of the baseline — in order to create expectations — is really complex, where you have something that some people love so deeply, and then there are some people have no understanding [of why] that [Data to B-4] download is significant.
“The downloads from Nemesis will continue to be significant.”
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