While Novocaine and Neighborhood Watch do not seem to have much in common with Star Trek, Jack Quaid's Companion tackles at least some of the same topics. Following Quaid's Josh and his robot girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher), Companion explores the dangers of treating androids like mindless machines. Companion (which is currently available to stream on Max) is certainly not the first or the last film to address this topic, but it's an incredibly fun (and bloody) take on the genre that boasts wonderful performances from both Quaid and Thatcher.
Star Trek: TNG Tackled Android Rights Decades Before Jack Quaid’s Companion
If We All Followed Star Trek's Lead, There Would Be Fewer Robot Uprisings
Throughout Companion, Josh and his friends manipulate Iris, using her as a tool to accomplish their own ends without any regard for her feelings or desires. Eventually, Iris decides she's had enough and turns against her human creators. While topics surrounding robots and artificial intelligence remain incredibly relevant, Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2's "The Measure of a Man" explored many of the same questions in 1989. The episode follows the android Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) as he's put on trial to determine whether he's the property of Starfleet.
Data starred in some of Star Trek: The Next Generation's greatest episodes and his quest to be human became one of the show's best storylines.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) fights for Data's right to make his own choices, and Starfleet ultimately finds in Data's favor, preserving his autonomy. AI was a dream of the distant future in 1989, but Star Trek still understood the dangers of creating a sentient race of androids without rights. Iris never got the chance to make her own choices in Companion, and no one was around to fight for her, so she took matters into her own hands. A lot of bloodshed could have been avoided if the humans had seen Iris as another lifeform rather than a tool to be used and discarded.
Will Jack Quaid Return To Star Trek?
Star Trek Should Find A Way To Bring Back Jack Quaid
Jack Quaid may be taking a break from Star Trek at the moment, but that doesn't mean he will never return to portray Brad Boimler. In the Lower Decks crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, "Those Old Scientists," Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome proved they could expertly bring their characters into live action. With such great actors and characters, it would be a shame to let them go to waste. Between multiverse storylines and time-traveling shenanigans, surely Star Trek can find a way to bring Jack Quaid back to the franchise.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 ended with the creation of a stable wormhole to the multiverse, opening up the possibility for stories featuring characters from across the franchise. Last we saw Boimler, he remained aboard the USS Cerritos, serving under the command of the newly promoted Captain Jack Ransom (Jerry O'Connell). It remains to be seen if Boimler's story will continue, but here's hoping Star Trek finds some way to keep Jack Quaid a part of the franchise, even as his level of fame soars to new heights.
