B-4 (Star Trek)
For other meanings, see B4.B-4 was first seen in the movie
Star Trek: Nemesis. He is a Soong-type
android (named after Dr.
Noonien Soong, their creator). He is one of the five other androids built by Dr. Soong before
Lore and
Data.
B-4's history is somewhat suspect, because at one point Praetor
Shinzon of
Remus was able to obtain the disassembled B-4 and placed some special programming into him, so he could infiltrate the
USS Enterprise-E to gain tactical information of the
Federation from the ship.
Knowing B-4 would be found by the
Enterprise-E, Shinzon left him disassembled on
Kolarus III. After leaving
Earth for
Betazed, the
Enterprise-E picked up the possible existence of another Soong-type android on Kolarus III. Going down to the surface, Captain
Jean-Luc Picard, Lieutenant Commander
Worf and Lieutenant Commander Data found the disassembled B-4. After gathering up all of B-4's component parts, they managed to escape the Kolarins and get back to the
Enterprise-E.
The crew reassembled B-4 and found a "redundant memory port" on the back of his neck. His "
self-actualization subroutines" were underdeveloped, and he acted like an inquisitive child. Data transferred all his memories and programs into B-4 in the attempt to make him more "normal", but this appeared to have failed.
A short time later, Shinzon activated B-4's programming. B-4 helped transfer information from the
Enterprise-E to Shinzon, which enabled them to kidnap Picard. However, the crew of the
Enterprise-E had found out that B-4 was a spy, and were able to replace him with Data, who had transported to Shinzon's vessel, the
Scimitar, to rescue Picard. Once back aboard the
Enterprise-E, Data deactivated B-4 so that Shinzon's programming could be removed.
After Data died sacrificing himself to destroy the
Scimitar, the crew of the
Enterprise-E was able to find and remove all of Shinzon's modifications from B-4's programming. He was later reactivated when he no longer posed a threat.
When Picard told B-4 about his "brother" at the end of
Nemesis, it became evident that the memory transfer may have been at least partially successful, as B-4 began singing the same song by
Irving Berlin that Data had sung at the wedding of Commander
William Riker and Counselor
Deanna Troi. B-4 may continue to evolve - other Soong-type androids such as Data had a "childhood" of sorts where their systems evolved.
Unlike Lore, who was truly evil, B-4 appears to be only a less advanced version of Data. Some have described B-4 as being "childlike". As Data was also very childlike when he was first created, this leaves open the possibility that B-4 will mature in the future. He has been seen as a possible replacement for Data. However, the fact that
Brent Spiner has aged visibly since playing Data may prevent that, unless another actor is hired to play B-4. It also must be noted that in the seventh-season episode of
Next Generation, "
Inheritance", it was established that Data had an aging program that ages his appearance.
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