Summary
- Star Trek: Insurrection introduces a new ability for Lt. Commander Data – he can act as a flotation device.
- Data's emotion chip, a significant part of his character in Star Trek Generations, is mostly dismissed in Insurrection.
- The TNG movie sequels shift focus away from Data's emotional journey, with Insurrection ignoring his emotion chip altogether.
Star Trek: Insurrection gave Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) a weird new ability that Star Trek wisely forgot. After Data became one of the most beloved characters to emerge from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the TNG films leaned into that, with Data spotlight in a main storyline of each movie. After nearly being seduced by the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) in Star Trek: First Contact, Data begiss Insurrection on an undercover mission observing the Ba'ku people. After Data malfunctions, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) brings the USS Enterprise-E and its crew in to retrieve the android and investigate his mission.
As Captain Picard and the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew get to know the Ba'ku people, they uncover a conspiracy by Starfleet to relocate the Ba'ku without their knowledge. Because of the rejuvenating properties of the Briar Patch, the region of space the Baku planet is located in, Starfleet Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) allied with the enemies of the Ba'ku, the Son'a, in order to gain access to the healing properties of the Briar Patch. As Picard, Data, and Ba'ku villager Anij (Donna Murphy) are investigating, they find a Federation ship submerged in a lake on the planet. The ship has been equipped with a holographic recreation of the Ba'ku village.
