Star Trek: The Next Generation

During the programme Phantasms, Data experiences his inaugural unsettling dream, which soon manifests tangibly and plunges the entire crew into a genuine, distressing ordeal. The crew must confront the consequences of Data's dream becoming reality. The episode follows how this transformation affects each member of the team.

Phantasms is a programme presented in an episodic format. It falls under the broader genre of episodes, offering a self‑contained story within the larger series. The structure is designed to deliver a concise narrative that can be enjoyed in a single sitting, fitting comfortably into the programme’s overall framework. In this particular installment, the focus centres on Data experiencing his very first unsettling dream. What begins as a personal, disturbing vision quickly escalates when the content of that dream materialises in the real world, turning into a genuine nightmare that the rest of the crew must confront. The episode tracks the transition from a solitary, imagined fear to a shared, tangible crisis affecting everyone on board. The shift from imagined terror to lived horror underscores how the crew becomes entangled in the consequences of Data’s dream. As the nightmare unfolds, each member of the team finds themselves caught up in the same distressing scenario that originated in Data’s mind. The narrative therefore follows the crew’s collective response to an event that started as a private, psychological episode for one individual but soon becomes an external, pressing ordeal for the whole group.