Star Trek's AI Icons - Data & The Doctor

In this episode of Journey Through Sci-Fi, James and Matt delve into the Star Trek universe to explore two of the franchise's most iconic artificial intelligence characters: Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager.

Through a selection of classic episodes, we examine how Star Trek has explored questions of AI consciousness, identity and the rights of artificial beings.

From Data's struggle to be recognised as a sentient individual to the Doctor's evolution from medical program to fully realised personality, these stories reveal why Star Trek remains one of the most thoughtful explorations of artificial intelligence in science fiction.

Episodes Discussed

Star Trek: The Next Generation

• S02E09 – The Measure of a Man • S03E16 – The Offspring • S04E03 – Brothers

Star Trek: Voyager

• S01E11 – Heroes and Demons • S02E03 – Projections • S05E11 – Latent Image • S06E04 – Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy

Journey Through Sci-Fi explores the history of science-fiction storytelling one subgenre at a time.

Follow the show for deep dives into the films, series and ideas that shaped sci-fi.

CONTAINS SHOW SPOILERS

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