10 Biggest Star Trek Plot Holes
10. Is Data Immortal?
In Star Trek: Picard, the audience were treated to a wonderfully cathartic ending for Lt. Commander Data. He went out in a blaze of glory in Star Trek: Nemesis, an ending which left a lot of people feeling a bit...underwhelmed. This was not the ending that felt right for this iconic character, coupled with the fact that the film failed to impress at the box office.
The decision to create Data's consciousness from a single neuron allows much of the plot of Star Trek: Picard to unfold. Overall, it allows for the great ending to the character that we received. However, it also leaves a bit of a question in the air.
If Maddox could create this neuron, why leave it trapped in a solid state? With Soong, there was an entire planet of Synthetic life forms. The ability to create synthetic life, sentient at that, was clearly in their grasp. Leaving Data trapped the way that he was - was this an act of casual evil? Or simply ignorance in the face of their skills?
Some, though not all, of the extent of their skills are explored in the finale, most notably in the Golem that eventually houses Picard's consciousness. But alas, a satisfying explanation to Data's torturous existence is not among them.