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For other meanings, see B4.

B-4
B-4's head (right) held by his brother Data
Species:	android
Gender:	male
Home planet:	Omicron Theta (found on Kolarus III)
Portrayed by:	Brent Spiner

In the science fiction universe of Star Trek, B-4 is the name of a prototype for the android Data and Lore. B-4 was created by Dr. Noonien Soong. As was the case with Data, Lore, and Soong, B-4 was played by the same actor, Brent Spiner.

B-4 was first seen in the movie Star Trek Nemesis. He is a Soong-type android (named after Dr. Noonien Soong, their creator). He is one of the five other androids built by Dr. Soong before Lore and Data (hence the name, B-4). Picard does comment on Soong's apparent love of whimsical names shortly after B-4 is discovered.

B-4's history is somewhat suspect, because at one point Praetor Shinzon of Remus was able to obtain the disassembled B-4 and placed some special programming into him, so he could infiltrate the USS Enterprise-E to gain tactical information of the Federation from the ship.

Knowing B-4 would be found by the Enterprise-E, Shinzon left him disassembled on Kolarus III. After leaving Earth for Betazed, the Enterprise-E picked up the possible existence of another Soong-type android on Kolarus III. Going down to the surface, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Lieutenant Commander Worf and Lieutenant Commander Data found the disassembled B-4. After gathering up all of B-4's component parts, they managed to escape the Kolarans and get back to the Enterprise-E.

The crew reassembled B-4 and found a "redundant memory port" on the back of his neck. His "self-actualization subroutines" were underdeveloped, and he acted like an inquisitive child, asking such questions as "Why does the tall man have a furry face?". Data transferred all his memories and programs into B-4 in the attempt to make him more "normal", but this appeared to have failed when B-4 failed to recognize Engineering, simply saying "I am in a room... with lights".

A short time later, Shinzon activated B-4's programming. B-4 helped transfer information from the Enterprise to Shinzon, which enabled them to kidnap Picard. However, the crew of the Enterprise crew had found out that B-4 was a spy, and were able to replace him with Data, who had transported to Shinzon's vessel, the Scimitar, to rescue Picard. Once back aboard the Enterprise-E, Data deactivated B-4 so that Shinzon's programming could be removed, but clearly regretted the necessity.

After Data died sacrificing himself to destroy the Scimitar, the crew of the Enterprise-E was able to find and remove all of Shinzon's modifications from B-4's programming. He was later reactivated when he no longer posed a threat.

When Picard told B-4 about his "brother" at the end of Nemesis, B-4 was initially unable to understand the scope of Data's sacrifice, or how his quest to become human could have taught others about being human themselves. As Picard left the room, however, it became evident that the memory transfer may have been at least partially successful, as B-4 began singing the same song by Irving Berlin that Data had sung at the wedding of Commander William Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi. B-4 may continue to evolve - other Soong-type androids such as Data had a "childhood" of sorts where their systems evolved.

Unlike Lore, who was portrayed as a villain due to his self-serving actions, B-4 appears to be only a less advanced version of Data. Although, the judgment of the motivations of their actions is up to the viewer, as they were all following their programming algorithms.

• B-4 article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki