Data is a self-aware, sapient, sentient and anatomically fully functional male android who serves as the second officer and chief operations officer aboard the Federation starship USS Enterprise-D and later the USS Enterprise-E. Data is in many ways a successor to the original Star Trek's Spock, in that the character has superior mental skills and offers an "outsider's" perspective on humanity.

[4] Spiner reprised his role of Data in the Star Trek: Enterprise series finale "These Are the Voyages..." in an off-screen speaking part.

[7] He also accepted because the negative fan reaction to the death of Data in Nemesis took him by surprise, and the scene in Picard gave a new opportunity for a proper sendoff to the character.

He is a synthetic life form with artificial intelligence, designed and built by Doctor Noonien Soong in his own likeness (likewise portrayed by Spiner).

It is stated that he was deactivated in 2336 on Omicron Theta before an attack by the Crystalline Entity, a spaceborne creature which converts life forms to energy for sustenance.

Lore fails in an attempt to betray the Enterprise to the Crystalline Entity, and Wesley Crusher beams Data's brother into space at the episode's conclusion.

It was in the Star Trek prequel "Star Trek: Enterprise" episode "The Augments" that the origin of Data can be traced back to a scientific theory created by genetic engineer Arik Soong, ancestor to Data's "father / creator" Noonien Soong, who noted that his theory would take generations beyond his lifetime to develop into a practical working model.

Arik Soong created the theory while serving life imprisonment for recreating the discontinued "Augments" program which originally started the Eugenics War of the late 20th century.

The Picard of 25 years into the future goes with Geordi La Forge to seek advice from now Professor Data, a luminary physicist who holds the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge University.

In Star Trek: First Contact, Data has managed to gain complete control of the chip, which includes deactivating it to maintain his performance efficiency.

In the film Star Trek: Nemesis, Data beams Picard off an enemy ship before destroying it, sacrificing himself and saving the captain and crew of the Enterprise.

It is revealed that Dahj and Soji Asha are Data's daughters, created through fractal neuronic cloning, a procedure developed by Dr. Bruce Maddox.

It's believed by Riker that while Data's memories had previously been unrecoverable, the lifting of the ban on synthetics had allowed Soong to work on it more and properly extract them from B-4.

The android entity holds valuable information on Daystrom's research projects, and Data's persona reveals that the antagonists of the season have stolen Picard's original dead organic body.

Afterwards, Data attempts to adjust to having an artificial organic body and everything that comes with it and is last seen playing poker with his Enterprise crewmates at the Ten Forward bar in Los Angeles.

The alternate Data is shown to share many of his prime counterpart's traits and even some of his experiences, such as a close friendship with Geordi La Forge and getting trapped in 19th century San Francisco.

After the Enterprise briefly crosses into the prime universe via a mysterious interdimensional rift "while battling some evil clones of Tasha Yar, or something," Data is left behind and his shuttle crashes on Dilmer III, a pre-industrial planet experiencing time dilation.

Data's head -- the only part of his body to survive -- is recovered by Starfleet lieutenants Beckett Mariner, D'Vana Tendi, and T'Lyn, but a transporter mishap strands them on the planet for a year of relative time.