What happened to B4?

[Messianni]

It's been a while since I've seen Nemesis and to my recollection, they never really explained just what happened to B4? Obviously he was on the Enterprise at the end of the movie, but it was in drydock at the time. Once it relaunched, did B4 stay with Picard or was he perhaps handed over to Starfleet?

"Measure of a Man" showed that Data, as an artificial lifeform had rights, but was this exclusive to him or would it, with Data's memories inside of him, extend to B4 as well? I could see where one might object to B4 being handed over to Starfleet as they wanted with Data (and his daughter Lal) in the past, but B4 is equivalent to a child; he wouldn't really be able to operate well on his own, much less on a starship.

(P.S. please no "well Nemesis sucked so who cares" BS. Yeah, we get it. Looking for real opinions here.)

 

[Timo]

There would be little motivation for B4 to try and join Starfleet, I think. And perhaps Data inside him wouldn't want that sort of life, either, having already been there, done that.

But yes, B4 is aboard the ship at some timepoint long after they have gotten home. Makes little sense unless he wants to stay aboard - or is wanted to stay aboard - in the future as well. (Then again, it makes extremely little sense for Picard and B4 to be meeting aboard a defunct starship no matter what.)

The original script had the Picard/B4 chat happen right after the battle, before a towship had arrived to get them home. I guess that would have been even more ambiguous regarding B4's future, but more logical overall.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hermiod]

I guess the judgement applies to all Soong-type androids. However, there's a big difference between Data (and Lal, Lore, Julianna Tainer etc) and B4. B4 is, to be blunt, the Soong-type android equivalent of a mentally handicapped person.

In addition, if he is to be considered sentient then he can be charged with treason against the United Federation of Planets.

I have always found Starfleet's demands that various androids be handed over to them to be quite disturbing. Does Starfleet demand that all of its officers hand over their firstborn children to them for experimentation ?

 

[Timo]

Sure. Just remember "The Child".

Of course, Starfleet also demands that the officers themselves be handed over to them for experimentation if there's risk involved. Or have we forgotten poor Chekov who was running out of samples to give? Military personnel always give up certain human rights when signing on. (And until proven otherwise, Lal was just Data in a different package, hence military property!)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Messianni]

You're not the only one. They just don't seem to learn when it comes to artificial life. The Doctor and holographic rights is another prime example.

Really, though, would they actually charge him? Being the Soong-type android equivalent of someone who is mentally handicapped, can he be held accountable when, really, he didn't have the capacity to understand what he was doing was wrong?

Really, would the Enterprise be a good place for B4? Who knows what other stunts he might try to pull. I just have a feeling Starfleet would want to keep him under supervision with someone specializing in androids at some special facility... though sadly, I have a feeling they wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to take him apart bit by bit and study him, which they were denied the chance to do with Data.

 

[Hermiod]

If Data had been alive, then maybe it would have been a good idea to place B4 under his supervision. Without Data, he's best off in the android equivalent of a hospital where his obvious problems can be worked on.

 

[Nebusj]

Ah, B-4 just figured out if you're an android and you act like you think and move fast enough to make half the crew redundant they're going to send you off into the high-danger zones or else try to tear you apart to figure out how to make more of you. If you instead act like you need the concept of a ``cheese sandwich'' explained to you four times before you get it, they'll just leave you alone and you can go back to your daily blogging.

 

[Trekker4747]

Wouldn't it have been nice if B4 was left activated and had HIM make the decision to sacrafice himself for the good of the crew, that Data and the rest of his experiences with the -E crew made him grow a little and want to do something good to cap his life?

 

[Messianni]

Trekker4747 said:
Wouldn't it have been nice if B4 was left activated and had HIM make the decision to sacrafice himself for the good of the crew, that Data and the rest of his experiences with the -E crew made him grow a little and want to do something good to cap his life?

That would have been great.

But, you know, that would have involved... good writing and characterization...

Psh. Who needs that, right?

 

[Kurtman]

Nebusj said:
Ah, B-4 just figured out if you're an android and you act like you think and move fast enough to make half the crew redundant they're going to send you off into the high-danger zones or else try to tear you apart to figure out how to make more of you. If you instead act like you need the concept of a ``cheese sandwich'' explained to you four times before you get it, they'll just leave you alone and you can go back to your daily blogging.

:thumbsup:

 

[Kryton]

He's still around, contentedly scrubbing plasma conduits.

 

[sbk1234]

I never got a definitve explaination of how much of Data's memories/experiences were successfully saved in B4, and how that personality would come out to "take over" the personality of B4.
In my mind, the Enterprise crew chose to keep B4 around to try and find out those answers, perhaps in a desperate attempt to try and find some way of saving Data. To me, that would explain why he was still there at the end.
Personally, even though I liked the film, I never liked the cliche of ANOTHER Data look alike. So I choose to think that B4 never evolved beyond the IQ of a glass of water.

 

[Therin of Andor]

sbk1234 said:
I never got a definitve explaination of how much of Data's memories/experiences were successfully saved in B4

Because we don't know. I could tell you one answer, or the exact opposite, and either could turn out to be correct. Or neither.

Who knows, some day a movie might get written where the B-4 does eventually learn to cope as a Data analogue, fully absorbs Data's memories and skills, accepts the Data name... and becomes the Professor Data we met in "All Good Things..."?

Or the B-4 becomes an immortal janitor.

 

[sbk1234]

^^^^^My point exactly! I like that they left it purposely ambiguious for the above mentioned reasons.

 

[Shatmandu]

B4 was SH8.

GO, FU

 

[golakers]

Nemesis? What's that? Certainly not a canonical Star Trek film.

 

[Sec31Mike]

I would give Geordi a week to see if he could fix him. Otherwise, he is a security risk and should be permanently deactivated.

 

[jayrath]

Though he is essentially a child, Riker is amazed at B4's counting ability after he drops a box of toothpicks. Riker and B4 set out on a cross-galactic trip filled with misadventures, during which the commander finds that has come to love his strange new friend. After they land in Las Vegas, they win countless bars of gold-pressed latinum, counting cards and gambling.

 

[Messianni]

Strangely enough, B4 insisted on getting underwear from Kmartia IV and always had to set some time aside to watch Arbiter Wapner of The Andorian's Court.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Shatmandu said:
B4 was SH8.

GO, FU

english, please!