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In the TNG episode The Offspring, we see that Data has built a Soong-type android in the form of Lal, his daughter. It also reveals to us that this was made possible by content discussed at a recent conference that Data attended. My question: can we actually determine how long it took Data to build Lal and, if so, how long did it actually take? (Perhaps working on stardates between episodes?)

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    44 mins plus commercials =P
    – 22nd Century Fza
    May 6, 2014 at 9:09
  • Just saying - the reason I ask this is to get a rough idea of the minimum time required to build a Soong-type robot (considering Data would have had replicators accessible and he would have been ridiculously fast compared to Dr Soong) so that we could get an idea of how quickly Starfleet would be able to build such an android (note I say build, not necessarily program)
    – Often Right
    May 7, 2014 at 7:57
  • I get you are very into Star Trek. In your bio you claim to have only seen "Seasons 1 & 2 of TOS, 6/7 seasons of TNG, a little DS9, 1/2 of VOY and 1/2 the movies." Is this still accurate? I only ask because if you are so passionate that you ask dozens of questions about this topic, why don't you just watch the rest of it? And if you have, updating your bio would be a kindness to others who see you ask almost only ST questions while not having finished watching the very thing that holds most of your answers.
    – Meat Trademark
    May 7, 2014 at 10:24
  • I hope that doesn't sound mean, but why only watch part of something that makes you ask SOOO many questions? I really don't get it.
    – Meat Trademark
    May 7, 2014 at 10:28
  • @MeatTrademark That bio is up-to-date. Most of my questions though come from the episodes that I watch (when I talk about TNG for example, I haven't quite finished season 4 yet, but I've seen everything else). As for the other shows, I don't quite have the time I'd like to watch them all (I'm in my last year of schooling now, so there's lots of work).
    – Often Right
    May 8, 2014 at 2:50

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Yesterday's Enterprise, the episode before The Offspring, began on stardate 43625.2

During "The Offspring", the stardate when everyone was called to see Data in his lab was 43657.0

ASSUMPTION: Data's cybernetics conference was about half way between those two events, near stardate 43642, so we can estimate about 16 stardate increments between the conference, where Data started working on Lal, to the point where it was ready to unveil.

1000 stardate increments go into a solar year, so 1 day = 2.74 stardate increments. Therefore 16/2.74 = 5.84 days. So Data created Lal in around 6 days.

And on the seventh day he rested.

Apologies for the numerous assumptions. If you take it to the largest possible extreme, that the conference was immediately after "Yesterday's Enterprise", it took up to 12 days to create Lal.

So between 6 and 12 days.

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    +1 for the "and on the seventh day...". Plus it's a good answer. :p
    – JohnP
    May 6, 2014 at 14:59
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    I think that 6 days is probably closer, possibly even fewer days. WESLEY: And cautious. He kept the lab locked every minute. Checking the door every minute (even if it is just a trigger program setup to notify him if it ever unlocks) for 12 days seems a bit much, even for Wesley.
    – Xantec
    May 6, 2014 at 15:09

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