How many heads can one android have? In the 1992 Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter “Time’s Arrow,” Data’s android head is found deep in the Earth because, thanks to time travel, Data lost his head in the past, which at the beginning of the episode is his own future. This leads to some bootstrap paradox action, but it also raises a larger question: is Data’s head the same robot head in all timelines? What would happen if Data’s head from an alternate timeline were to enter “our” timeline? Is Data more than the sum of his parts, and is his soul contained in more than one head?
In the latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 — “Fully Dilated” — Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) returns as a fully functional, albeit purple, head. How does this Data head fit into Trek canon? We caught up with Lower Decks supervising director Barry Kelly to sort it all out.
