sir patrick stewart – Trekking with Dennis

Ten Captain Picard Stories (To Celebrate the Life of Sir Patrick Stewart)

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the Star Trek franchise.

A couple of weeks ago, at time of writing, we learned that Sir Patrick Stewart – Star Trek’s Captain Picard – had passed away. That news hit me like a punch to the face, because The Next Generation had been my “first contact” with the Star Trek franchise some thirty-five years ago, and without Captain Picard… well, perhaps I would’ve never become a Trekkie. Sir Patrick Stewart brought so much to the role, and gave even some silly and wild sci-fi premises and storylines genuine gravitas with a masterful performance.

So today, to celebrate Sir Patrick Stewart’s life and his legacy as TNG’s captain, I thought we could take a look at ten Captain Picard stories together.

As always, I like to give a couple of caveats and explanations before we get started, so bear with me.

Photo of Sir Patrick Stewart at the Star Trek Picard S3 premiere — Sir Patrick Stewart at the *Star Trek: Picard* Season 3 premiere.

Firstly, all of this is the *subjective, not objective* opinion of just one Trekkie. If you disagree with my take on these episodes, films, or Captain Picard’s place in Star Trek… that’s okay. There’s enough room and enough maturity in the Trekkie community for differences of opinion and polite disagreement.

Secondly, I’m deliberately only picking episodes and films that I personally enjoy – and while I may make one or two negative (or negative-adjacent) points as we go along, the point of this piece is to be celebratory and positive, not critical and negative. Those of you who read my reviews of Star Trek: Picard (particularly the show’s second season and parts of its third) will know that I can be downright brutal, sometimes… but this isn’t the moment for that. I’m deliberately excluding stories I didn’t like or didn’t vibe with because… well, this isn’t the right time for that kind of criticism.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Star Trek TNG showing Patrick Stewart — Sir Patrick Stewart directed several *TNG* episodes in addition to starring in the show.

Thirdly, I’ve chosen a mix of fan-favourite episodes and films and some others that you might not have expected to see on a list like this one. I’m sure a lot of people went back to their TNG box sets or Paramount+ to re-watch some of their favourite Captain Picard stories when the news broke; I know I did. And I’ve seen that other folks on social media have put together similar lists to this one. Some of Captain Picard’s storylines are so iconic that almost any list like this should include them – but there are some hidden gems and underrated or underappreciated moments with the character that I want to call attention to, as well.

Finally, all films and episodes are listed below in the order in which they were originally broadcast; I’m not “ranking” these episodes, nor am I reviewing them in any way.

With all of that out of the way, let’s spend a little more time with Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Captain Picard Story #1:
Encounter at Farpoint
The Next Generation Season 1

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Encounter at Farpoint showing Picard's introduction — The very first shot of Jean-Luc Picard in the series.

Where else to start but at the beginning? Encounter at Farpoint is not entirely a Picard story, of course, but this is the episode which establishes the character and gives us a foundation for subsequent adventures to build upon. Captain Picard arrives almost fully-formed, though he softens a little as Seasons 1 and 2 progress, particularly towards Wesley. What fans in 1987 would’ve noticed more than anything else, though, is how *different* Picard’s style of command was from Captain Kirk’s. I think that’s something that those of us who came to TNG first, or who first encountered the show as kids, can sometimes overlook.

Encounter at Farpoint establishes Picard’s relationships with Dr Crusher and Wesley, as well as Troi, Riker… and Q. The latter would arguably become one of his most important – Picard made first contact (well, first *official* contact) with a totally new form of life; the very core of Starfleet’s mission. And he solved the mystery Q laid before him about Farpoint Station – saving another new form of life in the process.

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Encounter at Farpoint showing Picard on the battle-bridge — On the battle bridge.

In terms of individual scenes and moments, I’d highlight Picard’s first encounter with Wesley Crusher, letting him explore the bridge and even sit in his chair. Picard, especially in the first couple of seasons, had absolutely no time for children, and Encounter at Farpoint went out of its way to make clear that Picard was making an exception for Wesley; the son of a deceased friend.

The second scene I’d pick out is Picard’s first face-to-face with Riker. Picard is professional and polite, and clearly has confidence in Riker’s abilities – but their bond of friendship isn’t there yet. Ordering Riker to manually dock the star-drive and saucer sections felt like Picard setting a test for his new “number one,” and I think it did a lot to give their relationship a starting point to build out from.

Captain Picard Story #2:
Time Squared
The Next Generation Season 2

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Time Squared showing Picard in a shuttlepod with Pulaski, Worf, and Riker — A mysterious discovery…

Time Squared is an engaging mystery that seems to cast doubt on Captain Picard’s behaviour in a crisis. A time-shifted duplicate of the captain appears in a shuttlecraft, having apparently survived the destruction of the Enterprise-D. This is a horrifying discovery; not only do the crew learn that, somehow, the Enterprise-D might be mere hours away from destruction, but also that in the midst of that crisis, Captain Picard seems to have abandoned the ship.

There are some fun and creative visuals thanks to having two versions of Picard on screen together, and even though the episode was produced in the ’80s for TNG’s second season, these moments look really good. It must’ve been a difficult acting challenge, having to not only get into character – two versions of the character – but also to get absolutely perfect positioning and alignment during those scenes so that the process of splicing the frames together would work.

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Time Squared showing two Picards — Two Picards.

I also admire the way Time Squared takes a different and nuanced approach to time travel. Time travel stories are seldom my favourites in Star Trek; not only can visits to the modern day become quite dated, but there’s always the risk of paradoxes and other issues arising. But because Time Squared explains its time loop and the nature of the duplicate’s fixed, repeated actions… *and* because the second version of Picard is only from a few hours into the future, the end product works surprisingly well.

There will always be something profoundly odd about seeing Picard shooting… himself! And that’s another really creative idea that made for a tense narrative climax *and* a completely unique visual, too. All in all, this is a fun, creative episode which gives Picard a seemingly intractable problem to solve, with himself at the core.

Captain Picard Story #3:
Booby Trap
The Next Generation Season 3

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Booby Trap showing Picard in the transporter room — In the transporter room.

Booby Trap is a fun episode for Captain Picard insofar as we get to see a relatively rare glimpse of something that *he* finds fun and enjoyable. Seeing a piece of history through his eyes – a legendary starship he once built a model of when he was a child – is genuinely cute; like learning your grandfather used to paint or your uncle whittled spoons. The pure-hearted joy that Picard expresses upon discovering the derelict Promellian battle cruiser is unusual for him… and a lot of fun to watch.

Picard’s love of history and archaeology would go on to be a bigger part of his character as The Next Generation went along, and we kind of come to see Picard as quite a high-minded person, whose leisure activities are still these rigorous intellectual pursuits. Booby Trap wasn’t the first Picard storyline to introduce his love of history, but it’s one of the best early examples of how it was woven into the main body of an episode.

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Booby Trap showing Picard and Data at the helm and conn — Picard takes the helm.

However! Booby Trap makes the cut for one scene in particular. You remember the one, right? At the last moment, when the Enterprise-D is about to be drained of its last reserves of power, the crew have hatched a plan to escape the titular booby trap. But instead of Picard sitting in the captain’s chair and giving the orders, he calmly relieves Wesley and takes the helm himself.

I can vividly remember my jaw dropping when I first watched this moment unfold! Captain Picard is *driving his own spaceship*! Aside from the fact that this is a really fun moment, I think it says a lot about how well Picard knows his ship inside and out – and how he has hidden skills that don’t always come to the fore in every story. In this moment, with the crew’s safety on the line, Picard stepped up and took on that responsibility himself, and I’ve always loved the tense, exciting, and rather beautiful sequence that followed.

Captain Picard Story #4:
Disaster
The Next Generation Season 5

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Disaster showing Picard and the children by the turbolift — Picard with the kids.

Disaster isn’t Picard’s story alone; the episode is really an ensemble piece where all of the main characters – and several secondary recurring characters, too – get something to do. But what I like about the episode is how it *uses* these characters, pairing up different groups and throwing everyone into situations where we’d never normally expect to see them.

Captain Picard is in a turbolift with a small group of kids (the Enterprise-D’s science fair winners) when the ship loses power and becomes stranded. For Picard – established at the start of the series as not being fond of children – this is still kind of his own personal nightmare! At this point in TNG’s run, his attitude has softened somewhat, but he’s still clearly uncomfortable with the kids and unsure of what to say or how to interact with them. When disaster strikes, he has to step up.

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Disaster showing Picard holding a sign — Picard at the end of the story.

We see Picard not only comforting the children, but also overcoming an injury and eventually leading the group to safety from the damaged turbolift. He stays calm under pressure, and we see him having to confront a completely different kind of situation – one far more human than any alien or adversary from the far reaches of space!

This is also an episode in which Picard demonstrates genuine character growth. He turns the kids into his “crew,” symbolically giving away his rank pips to each of them, and at the end of the episode when the ship’s been repaired, he seems a lot more willing to give them the tour that he’d been so awkward and anxious about at the beginning. Disaster is a busy episode with a lot going on, but Picard’s storyline is one of the many highlights.

Captain Picard Story #5:
Chain of Command (Parts 1 & 2)
The Next Generation Season 6

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Chain of Command showing Picard, Worf, and Dr Crusher in a shuttle — The mission begins…

Sorry, how many lights are there, again?

I bet this one isn’t a surprise; Chain of Command is an iconic Picard story, perhaps second only to either The Best of Both Worlds or The Inner Light in many folks’ estimations. This is the episode in which Picard is captured by the Cardassians while on a secret away mission, and ends up being tortured by the wonderfully complex Gul Madred.

Sir Patrick Stewart and fellow British actor David Warner play off one another wonderfully; Gul Madred is surely one of Star Trek’s best one-off characters. After being lured by the Cardassians with fake scans of a weapon that Picard has experience with, he’s captured and taken to Madred for interrogation. The Cardassian torturer famously shows Picard four lights – but tries to break his spirit and get him to say that there are *five*.

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Chain of Command showing Picard's torture — Picard during his captivity.

We get several truly outstanding scenes between Madred and Picard, and the torture – though unpleasant to watch – never feels gratuitous nor that it crosses a line. The longer Picard spends in custody, the closer he seems to get to breaking, something he confesses to Counsellor Troi at the end of the story.

I think this has to be one of Sir Patrick Stewart’s most complex and outstanding performances as Captain Picard – certainly in The Next Generation. We see him stepping down from his role aboard the Enterprise, training for a secret mission, then how badly wrong it goes, before spending the rest of the story with Picard and his tormentor. It’s harrowing stuff, especially by the standards of Star Trek at the time, and Sir Patrick Stewart brought every ounce of Picard’s pain and suffering to life pitch-perfectly.

Captain Picard Story #6:
Emissary
Deep Space Nine Season 1

Still frame from Star Trek DS9 Emissary showing Picard meeting with Sisko — Commander Sisko meets Captain Picard.

DS9′s premiere might seem an odd choice, but Captain Picard plays a larger role than you might think – even though this is really Commander Sisko’s story (as well as an episode that has to introduce its audience to a whole new cast of characters! But I digress). After his assimilation and rescue in The Best of Both Worlds, we saw Picard take some time off and begin to process what had happened to him in the next episode, Family. But it wasn’t until Emissary came along, more than two years later, that Picard had to confront one of the Starfleet officers who’d been on the other side of that battle.

Now, I’d probably argue, in hindsight, that Captain Shaw’s blow-up about Wolf-359 in Picard Season 3 was more in-depth; we certainly spent more time there than we did here, at least from Picard’s perspective. But there’s something about Avery Brooks’ delivery in his first meeting with Picard that just… makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Still frame from Star Trek DS9 Emissary showing Picard at a desk — Picard aboard DS9.

Commander Sisko isn’t wrong to feel the way he feels; he lost his wife and was left to raise his son alone – not to mention friends and colleagues who also perished. From his perspective, Captain Picard played a role in that… albeit unwittingly. And Picard, it seems, has never come face-to-face with that *anger* before, certainly not in such a raw and emotional way.

Picard keeps it together, of course, and is professional and courteous towards Sisko. But the encounter clearly leaves him rattled, and he’s forced to relive those bad memories as he encounters a man who lost almost everything at Wolf-359. We know, thanks to First Contact and Picard, that Picard carried that guilt and those memories for a long, long time… but to really understand how bad it was for him, I think Emissary is a must-watch.

Captain Picard Story #7:
Starship Mine
The Next Generation Season 6

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Starship Mine showing Picard in a Jeffries tube — Crawling through a Jeffries tube.

Starship Mine shows us a rare Picard trait, and one that TNG used sparingly: brutality. After the Enterprise-D docks for a dangerous cleaning procedure, the ship has to be evacuated – but, at the last second, Picard discovers intruders aboard. He’s then trapped, alone, with a gang of mercenaries as the deadly baryon sweep begins to purge the Enterprise-D.

This is another “Picard out of his comfort zone” kind of episode… which seems to be a bit of a trend on this list, now that I come to think of it! But we see the captain alone, unable to rely on any members of his crew, having to use both his wits and his fists to overcome the mercenaries and stop them from making off with a dangerous weapon.

Still frame from Star Trek TNG Starship Mine showing Picard using a handheld communicator — Picard watches the mercenaries’ ship explode.

It’s also fun to see Picard out of uniform, and I’ve always felt there was something decidedly creepy about seeing the Enterprise-D powered down and almost entirely empty; it’s giving “liminal space” vibes, to use some modern lingo. Picard has to navigate these familiar halls knowing that danger could be lurking just around the corner, and he has to draw on every bit of knowledge he has about the ship to evade, outsmart, and defeat the mercenaries.

And then we come to his moment of sheer brutality. Confronted by the leader of the mercenaries, Picard seems to have no choice but to let her leave with her prize. However… it’s quickly revealed that Picard was able to sabotage the dangerous chemical’s container, meaning the mercenaries’ ship explodes mere seconds later. We almost never see such coldness or such calm lethality from Captain Picard, so when we do… wow. It packs a punch.

Captain Picard Story #8:
Generations
Movie

Still frame from Star Trek Generations showing a close-up Picard on Veridian — Tracking down Dr Soran.

No, this isn’t *just* on the list because we get Captain Picard and Captain Kirk together – though, admittedly, that’s part of it! I adore Generations, and a big part of the reason why is Picard’s role in the story. The whole sequence between him and Dr Soran, where they talk about the importance of time, is something that’s stayed with me since I first saw the film at the cinema more than three decades ago. “Time is the fire in which we burn” was Soran’s line; Picard would rebuff it at the film’s climax, but it’s a really powerful metaphor that’s always stuck with me.

Then we come to Picard’s emotional journey. He learns, towards the beginning of the film, that his brother and nephew have died. And, in a cruel twist of fate, the Nexus seems to offer him a glimpse at a very different life – a life in which he has a family of his own, children of his own, and in which his family name – something clearly very important to him – will continue for another generation.

Still frame from Star Trek Generations showing Kirk and Picard on horseback — Two legendary captains on horseback.

Picard has to actively reject… well, heaven. Or paradise. And it takes an almost impossibly pure-hearted and strong-willed character to make that kind of sacrifice. Picard demonstrates the very best of Starfleet’s values as he sets aside his own wants and his own desires to do the right thing and to help others – his crew, yes, but also the millions of inhabitants of the Veridian system.

The team-up with Kirk is really just the icing on the cake. We get some fun moments between the two men: Picard telling Kirk to do his duty and Kirk’s funny rebuttal, riding horses together, and eventually the high-stakes fight against Soran. But for me, Generations is really about Picard’s emotional journey – time catching up with him, the loss of his family, and the choices he makes.

Captain Picard Story #9:
Nepenthe
Picard Season 1

Still frame from Star Trek PIC Nepenthe showing Picard and Troi reunited — Reunited with Deanna Troi.

I was *beyond* excited for Star Trek: Picard’s premiere in 2019 and going into 2020; just check back to some of the (many) articles and columns I wrote here on the website in those days as evidence! After we saw an illusory Data in the season premiere, and also met Seven of Nine, Nepenthe took Picard and Soji to Riker and Troi’s house… and the reunion was moving and truly beautiful.

Unfortunately, Nepenthe suffers on a re-watch because of what came after – both in Season 1 and then later in Season 3. But in isolation, it’s still a fun episode, one which steps away from several of the narrative threads that had been running across the show’s first season to give us some quieter moments with Picard, Riker, and Troi. The moment Riker and Picard reunited after a long absence – both in-universe and outside of it – is still a striking and really emotional moment for me.

Still frame from Star Trek PIC Nepenthe showing Riker with Picard outdoors — Picard and Riker.

The setting of the titular planet Nepenthe is fun, too; Riker and Troi’s home has a real “cabin-in-the-woods” vibe, only with a few 24th Century mod-cons! After so much racing around, so much subterfuge and death in previous instalments, it was nice to step away from the frenetic action for a little while and just give these returning characters a bit of room to breathe.

We also get some fun character moments between Picard and Riker, Picard and Troi, and Picard and Soji, who are just beginning to establish a relationship. There’s drama and tension, sure, but what sticks out to me most about Nepenthe are those smaller moments; Picard and Soji encountering Kestra, Riker’s reunion with Picard, and everyone coming together to remember the late Data and to cook a pizza in a brick oven.

Captain Picard Story #10:
The Star Gazer
Picard Season 2

Still frame from Star Trek PIC The Star Gazer showing Picard in his uniform — Back in uniform.

Although it was ultimately let down by the rest of Season 2, when seen in isolation, The Star Gazer is a really fun and exciting story. We see Picard returning to Starfleet to serve as Chancellor of Starfleet Academy – giving one of his big speeches to a gaggle of new cadets. And then things take a turn as Picard visits Captain Rios aboard the all-new USS Stargazer. With Seven of Nine in tow, a strange message takes the ship to the site of a mysterious anomaly… and who should emerge but the Borg?

This version of the Borg, in this appearance, was truly terrifying; by far the most intimidating and overwhelmingly powerful that the faction had felt since sometime early in Voyager’s run. And Picard, still scarred by his own Borg experiences, including just a year previously aboard the Artifact, once again comes face-to-face with the enemy that’s haunted him for a long time.

Still frame from Star Trek PIC The Star Gazer showing Picard at the auto-destruct countdown — Staring down the Borg Queen…

Confronted with an apparently unstoppable foe – who’s using the USS Stargazer’s own Borg-derived technology to take over the ship – Picard has no choice but to order a self-destruct. It’s genuinely one of the most tense, exciting, and frightening sequences in all of modern Star Trek, and Sir Patrick Stewart rose to the occasion and absolutely excelled. Picard keeps his head when everything starts to go wrong, and ultimately prepares to sacrifice the ship (and his own life) in order to save the Federation.

And then, in the episode’s final moments, we’re introduced to the architect of all of this chaos: none other than Q! The character Picard met all those years ago is back for one last adventure. And, thanks to digital de-ageing, we get a fun scene between John de Lancie and Sir Patrick Stewart as Q talks about age and how much time has passed. Despite what happened next in Season 2, I can’t hate The Star Gazer. There are just too many fun ideas, creative visuals, and wonderful moments with this older version of Jean-Luc Picard.

So that’s all for today.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Star Trek PIC S3 showing Frakes, Stashwick, Stewart, and Dorn — Sir Patrick Stewart with three of his *Picard* Season 3 co-stars.
*Photo: Todd Stashwick on Facebook*

I wanted to do this sooner, but honestly, Sir Patrick Stewart’s death hit me quite hard, so it’s taken me a little while to revisit some of these stories and be ready to put (metaphorical) pen to paper about them. I hope the list has been interesting, and maybe I picked out one or two stories you weren’t necessarily expecting. Honestly, I could do another dozen posts just like this one; I had to exclude so many truly excellent stories and adventures with Captain Picard just to keep this list to a readable length! I guess that’s a testament to the character and how truly incredible Sir Patrick Stewart’s performance was.

If you were looking for a playlist to remember Sir Patrick Stewart, I hope I’ve given you an idea or two to get started. If it’s been a while since you’ve seen some of these – as it had been for me in a few cases – then why not go back to Paramount+ or your DVD box set and get lost in one or two of these episodes for a while? As we continue to mourn Sir Patrick Stewart’s passing, spending a little more time with one of the many characters he brought to life over the course of a long career just feels… right.

Thanks for joining me. If you want to check out my obituary of Sir Patrick Stewart, you can find it by clicking or tapping here. And, as always… Live Long and Prosper, friends.

Most of the Star Trek franchise (except for Prodigy) is available to stream now on Paramount+. Most Star Trek seasons and films are also available on DVD and/or Blu-ray. The Star Trek franchise – including all series, films, and properties discussed above – is the copyright of The Skydance Corporation. Two still frames (from DS9′s Emissary) were upscaled using A.I. tools. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

Remembering Patrick Stewart

Thu 29.10.26Thu 29.10.26Dennis

Gosh, what a brutal few days for the Star Trek fan community. Mere days after the passing of Walter Koenig, we have to say goodbye to Sir Patrick Stewart – Star Trek’s Captain Picard.

This one hits close to home for me. It was in the early 1990s that a young Dennis first encountered Star Trek: The Next Generation – falling in love with a fictional universe and a wonderful cast of characters. Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard was at the centre of that series, and it’s not unfair to say that without his calm, level-headed approach to the captaincy, TNG would’ve been a completely different kind of show. I first joined the Star Trek fan community because of The Next Generation, and because of the kind of captain that Jean-Luc Picard was. Sir Patrick Stewart brought that to the screen in an incredibly convincing way… and news of his passing is very sad.

Still frame from Star Trek Generations showing Picard at Kirk's grave — Sir Patrick Stewart has passed away.

Sir Patrick Stewart trained as a stage actor before making the move to Hollywood, and first cut his teeth on the stage in Manchester, before later moving to Shakespearean roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Between the 1960s and 2011, Stewart appeared on the stage in more than a dozen Shakespeare productions, as well as other plays. His first major roles in Hollywood productions came in the 1980s, with Excalibur and Dune being two of the more noteable. He was cast as Captain Picard in early 1987, ahead of full production on The Next Generation beginning later that year.

Outside of Star Trek, viewers might remember Sir Patrick Stewart from his role in the X-Men series of films, which were later rolled into the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also appeared in the 1999 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, which is a favourite of mine, he had a voice role in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which was remastered last year, and has had a recurring role on American Dad as the head of the C.I.A.

Still frame from the 1999 adaptation of A Christmas Carol showing Patrick Stewart as Scrooge — Sir Patrick Stewart in *A Christmas Carol*.

Sir Patrick Stewart returned to the role of Jean-Luc Picard in 2020 for Star Trek: Picard – a spin-off/sequel series focusing on the iconic character. And he’s also returned to his Marvel role in recent years, too.

A long career featuring some truly beloved and iconic roles is a sentence any actor would love to see written about them, and those words are never truer than they are for Sir Patrick Stewart. He may not have started out intending to be a space-man or a comic book hero, but those iconic roles have quite literally inspired generations of fans of sci-fi, fantasy, and beyond – and he leaves behind an impressive legacy as a result.

Sir Patrick Stewart at 2018 Star Trek Las Vegas — Sir Patrick Stewart in 2018.

I never had the good fortune to meet Sir Patrick Stewart, so I can’t share any fun little story or tidbit that you won’t have already seen elsewhere online. But I can tell you that the show he led had a profound impact on my life. In the early ’90s, as I was managing school and social life and adolescence as an awkward, nerdy little kid, Star Trek: The Next Generation was my happy place, my “comfort show.” Captain Picard and his crew provided an escape from the real world, encouragement, and a glimpse at a completely different way of life. I took inspiration from The Next Generation as I was growing up… and I like to think that I took on board some of Captain Picard’s lessons, too.

Just the other day, when Walter Koenig passed away, I said that it’s easy to just imagine that these people – the stars of Star Trek – who have been present for basically our entire lives… always will be. Even as time marches on and people get older, their passings can still hit hard. And – like many other Trekkies, I guess – I’m feeling that double this week. Even more so, perhaps, because Sir Patrick Stewart had seemed to be so active and involved until very recently; he’s scheduled to appear in the latest Marvel’s Avengers film later this year.

Photo of William Shatner, Gene Roddenberry, and Patrick Stewart at an event — Sir Patrick Stewart with William Shatner (l) and Gene Roddenberry (c) in 1991.

If you’re a regular reader, and you followed along with my Star Trek: Picard episode reviews a few years back, you’ll know that I wasn’t thrilled with every narrative decision that the series made. But I still remember that incredible feeling of anticipation that I had in late 2019 going into 2020 when Picard’s first season premiere was imminent. This character making a return, some eighteen years after I last saw him… that was something special, and it’s something practically no other character anywhere in fiction has gotten: a true epilogue.

That alone is testament to the incredible personality that Sir Patrick Stewart gave to Captain Picard; that fans were clamouring, all these years later, for the character to return. His performance elevated both The Next Generation and Picard – and the films he was part of, too – genuinely making them better. Even the silliest sci-fi or comic book premise was given genuine gravitas when in Sir Patrick Stewart’s hands, and the role he played in the successes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the X-Men movies, and more should not be overlooked.

Photo of the Star Trek TNG cast at an awards show in the 1990s — Sir Patrick Stewart with his *Star Trek: TNG* co-stars.

With more than 170 TNG episodes, four films, and thirty Picard episodes, it’s impossible to pick a “favourite Captain Picard” episode or moment. There are just too many good, solid, and iconic performances and scenes with this character. Even in supposedly “lesser” episodes, scenes with Picard were usually fantastic. I’m struggling to call to mind a genuinely *bad* one, to tell the truth. Even in storylines I personally didn’t enjoy as much, Sir Patrick Stewart was always giving 100%, his performances were always impressive, and Jean-Luc Picard was always a fun, engaging, and enjoyable character.

A couple of years ago, Sir Patrick Stewart was interviewed on a podcast and teased fans with the possibility of some kind of further Picard project. Obviously, nothing ever came of that, but it’s sad to think that now… nothing ever can. We’ve had our final adventures with Jean-Luc Picard, and even if Star Trek returns to our screens in the years ahead – and I sincerely hope it will – we won’t even get so much as a cameo from Picard any more. I wasn’t necessarily *expecting* something like that. But it was nice to know that it was possible, if that makes sense. And now… it isn’t. We’ve had plenty of fun adventures with Picard and his crews over many years… but I would’ve been down for one more.

Still frame from Star Trek TNG showing the final shot of the finale — The final shot of *Star Trek: TNG*.

Tonight… I think I’m going to watch some of my favourite Picard episodes and stories. I’m not sure which ones just yet; there are so many to choose from. But it feels right to spend a little time with this character now that the man who brought him to life is no longer with us. And I shall raise a glass to Sir Patrick Stewart and to Walter Koenig, the two Star Trek stars we lost this week.

Thank you for joining me. It’s another sad day for the Trekkie community, but I find that there’s value in sharing my thoughts with you; I think we all feel a little less alone in our sadness if we know other people feel the same way. I hope this short piece has been interesting, informative, or helpful for you, as well.

The Star Trek franchise – including all properties discussed above – is the copyright of the Skydance Corporation. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

Star Trek’s “First Contact Day” event – roundup and impressions

Tue 06.04.21Sun 13.11.22Dennis

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Picard Season 1, Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1, Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-3, and most importantly, there are spoilers (including images) from the teaser trailers for Picard Season 2, Lower Decks Season 2, and Discovery Season 4. There are also spoilers for Prodigy.

Yesterday was “First Contact Day” – the 5th of April is the day in 2063 when humans made first contact with the Vulcans, as depicted in Star Trek: First Contact. We’ve seen the event celebrated within Star Trek on a few occasions, and apparently one dish often served is salmon! But we’re off-topic already.

The creative team in charge of Star Trek set up First Contact Day as a digital event, somewhat akin to last year’s Comic-Con @Home presentations, and other similar events that they’ve done periodically. It was marketed on social media, particularly on Facebook and Twitter. But it wasn’t 100% clear how fans were supposed to access the virtual panels – whether they were just going to be available on the website, on social media directly, or even via Paramount+. Even navigating to the right part of the Star Trek website took clicking through several links.

It wasn’t exactly clear how to get to this web page.

That confusion was entirely self-inflicted and clarifying it would have been easy to do. It was almost as if the social media/website teams were making watching the panels “live” – they were actually pre-recorded – as difficult as possible. Thankfully all five of the panels were later made available on YouTube (vital for me, so I could go back and take screenshots!) But while we’re complaining about Star Trek/Paramount+/ViacomCBS’ social media, if you want to watch the full panels on YouTube I advise you to do so fast – in the past, some Star Trek videos, including one of the trailers for the first season of Picard and last year’s Comic-Con panel I mentioned earlier, were taken down by YouTube’s copyright protection algorithm. Hopefully that won’t happen this time, but it’s worth keeping in mind the possibility.

One of the pre-event social media posts was really tantalising and very well put-together. A “teaser” clip of a viewscreen which briefly flashed up two numbers – that looked like map coordinates – got a number of Trekkies talking and speculating, successfully building up a degree of hype for the First Contact Day event. In 2021, this kind of audience engagement via social media is vital for any franchise, and I’m glad to see Star Trek at least making an attempt!

What looked like the bridge of the USS Discovery…

So let’s start with the big news!

We got teaser trailers for Lower Decks Season 2, Picard Season 2, and Discovery Season 4! In addition, we got to see the design for Captain Janeway in Prodigy. Each of the panels gave us a few clues and tidbits of information about these upcoming Star Trek projects, which was fantastic.

The mysterious numbers mentioned above did in fact turn out to be coordinates – for a convention centre in Chicago! Star Trek: Mission Chicago is going to take place in April 2022, and will be the first in-person convention since the coronavirus pandemic hit. Perhaps it’s because I was never going to be in attendance, but I’m not sure the convention was the strongest way to end the First Contact Day event. It was saved for the last moment by co-hosts Wil Wheaton and Mica Burton, and it just felt a tad anticlimactic after an event that had seen so much other exciting news.

For me at least, this wasn’t the strongest way to end the entire broadcast.

With so much going on, and so many amazing reveals, it’s hard to know what to talk about first! Let’s start with Prodigy, since the newly-revealed image of Captain Janeway is probably going to be seen as First Contact Day’s most iconic takeaway. While there was no trailer or teaser for the series, which I admit I had been half-hoping for, we did get a bit more information.

The series is set several years after Voyager, at roughly the same time as Lower Decks, in the 2380s. And the reason why none of the aliens we saw in the first teaser image a few weeks ago look familiar is because the show is set in the Delta Quadrant. The aliens are (presumably) all Delta Quadrant natives who are, according to the show’s creators, totally unaware of Starfleet or the Federation.

The new Captain Janeway design for *Prodigy*.

The version of Captain Janeway that they encounter is a “training hologram” that has been left behind on some kind of training vessel, presumably by the USS Voyager as it passed through the Delta Quadrant. This is the abandoned Starfleet vessel that had been mentioned in the show’s original description.

The design of Janeway is just fantastic. Modern Star Trek has not been shy about changing up classic designs, but Janeway retains her Voyager-era uniform and combadge, and the design manages to blend the way she looked in the show with a CGI-cartoon aesthetic just perfectly. Looking at her, you know immediately who she is! I honestly cannot fault the design, and I can’t wait to see her in action along with the new crew.

The premise of Prodigy has now fully taken shape. The setting has been laid out and the crew assembled. Now all we’re missing is the ship itself! Could that be the Delta Flyer?

The creators of Prodigy talked about how the new series will be great fun for kids, stimulating their imaginations and creativity. Both words, “imagination” and “creativity,” came up several times during the panel, and it sounds as though they’re really pushing hard for Prodigy to be something more than just background noise or brainless entertainment. The best kids’ shows do this, and as a result have a lot to offer kids and adults. There was a mention that Prodigy is for “all ages,” which is great!

Finally, Prodigy promised a number of surprises and connections to Star Trek’s broader canon, both of which I like the sound of! There was a hint that one of the characters we saw in the teaser image has a connection to The Original Series; my first guess was the rock-like alien perhaps being a Horta, as that was something I guessed at when I first saw the image. But we’ll have to wait and see on that!

Could this character be related to the iconic Horta?

So that was Prodigy. Since we’re looking at animation, let’s move on to Lower Decks next.

Creator Mike McMahan was involved in a panel that looked at Star Trek’s sense of humour. Considering how many “critics” attacked Lower Decks before it was broadcast for being an un-serious take on Star Trek, I think it was worthwhile to remind people that humour has been a huge part of the franchise going all the way back to The Original Series. McMahan in particular noted the interactions between Kirk, Spock, and Dr McCoy as being a great example of this.

The panel concluded with the aforementioned Lower Decks Season 2 teaser, and in a scant few seconds there was a lot going on! Here are just a few of the things I noticed: Rutherford’s implant is back, meaning his design remains unchanged despite the events of the Season 1 finale. Boimler, as promised, remains aboard the USS Titan, though his posting doesn’t seem to be going well!

Lieutenant Boimler doesn’t seem to be having “the time of his life” on board the USS Titan!

Jonathan Frakes will return as Riker, which we had assumed but hadn’t been confirmed. At one point, Mariner wore what looked like the anbo-jyutsu armour from Season 2 of The Next Generation – something Riker wore once in that show. A Miranda-class ship was briefly shown. And finally, there was a sequence in which Mariner appeared to be fighting several Cardassians!

There’s a lot to digest in just those few seconds, and taken out-of-context it’s hard to be sure of what’s going on! What we didn’t see was Boimler interacting with the other three main characters, and perhaps that’s to keep his fate a secret. Or perhaps it’s indicative of the fact that he will remain aboard the USS Titan for several episodes!

Ensigns Tendi, Rutherford, and Mariner in the *Lower Decks* Season 2 teaser.

Lower Decks Season 2 looks to be coming together nicely, and there was a lot shown off in the teaser that seems to be from quite a few different episodes. We now know that Lower Decks Season 2 will premiere on the 12th of August, which is pretty much one year after Season 1’s debut! So that’s fantastic news, and it means we’ll get at least some Star Trek this year!

Discovery’s fourth season is also scheduled for 2021, though no date was confirmed. After an interesting panel which focused on Nichelle Nichols and a documentary that has been made about her and her work and influence over women at NASA called Women In Motion, Sonequa Martin-Green introduced the first Season 4 teaser trailer.

Before we look at the teaser in depth, I enjoyed the Women In Motion panel. One point that came up is the value of representation, which was something Michelle Hurd (Star Trek: Picard’s Raffi) discussed at length. Representation matters in entertainment, and I’ve had an essay in the pipeline on that very subject for a while. One of these days I’ll get it finished!

On to the teaser trailer. The first thing to note is that Discovery’s uniforms have been changed. The grey design appears to have been retired in favour of a more colourful look – the basic layout of the uniforms appears to be very similar, but the colours have changed. This is something I predicted a few weeks ago, and I look forward to seeing more of the new uniforms at some point soon; it’s difficult to assess them fairly from a few short scenes in a teaser!

Owosekun and Burnham sporting the redesigned, more colourful uniforms in the Season 4 teaser.

After the Burn in Season 3, it seems as though Discovery is returning to another “natural disaster” concept in Season 4. An “anomaly” described as being five light-years in diameter seems to be threatening both the Federation and other worlds, perhaps meaning there will need to be some working together to figure out a solution.

After Seasons 1 and 2 both ended up being about fighting and had major villains to defeat, it was a nice break for Discovery to largely have to deal with a scientific problem in Season 3, so I think the same concept could work well again. I just hope that it doesn’t end up feeling either repetitive, as though copying the Burn, or anticlimactic, coming after the galaxy-wide catastrophe and simply not being as impactful.

Damage to the USS Discovery in the Season 4 teaser.

When I heard talk of a gravitational anomaly that was several light-years wide, my first thought was the Nexus, as seen in the film Generations. That “energy ribbon” was known to be able to damage starships and even planets, and though we didn’t see any evidence of the Nexus, perhaps it could be the cause of this strange anomaly?

It looks as though the USS Discovery takes a beating in Season 4, and may even end up destroyed or irretrievably damaged! At one point, Burnham was the sole figure on the bridge and had to wear a helmet, presumably because of the extent of the damage suffered by the ship. Though the uniforms have been redesigned, I didn’t see any significant changes to the internal design of the USS Discovery itself, which is something I think would be nice to see now they’re established in the 32nd Century.

Burnham in some kind of armour or space suit in the Season 4 teaser.

It was great to see Cleveland Booker back, and it seems as though David Ajala will be back as a regular cast member for the show. Book was such a fun character in Season 3 that I’m thrilled he’s back. He wasn’t in a Starfleet uniform, so it seems as though he’s keeping his status as an outsider. That worked well in Season 3, so why change what works?

Lieutenant Detmer appears to have upgraded her cybernetic implant! We saw at least one glimpse of a scene in which the USS Discovery appeared to lose artificial gravity, which is something rarely seen in Star Trek. We saw the return of the President of Ni’Var, who appeared in Season 3, as well as the debut of a new character who seems to be a Federation official.

At one point, the ship appears to lose its artificial gravity!

Saru was shown briefly, and looks to be in some kind of diplomatic or ambassadorial role based on the few seconds he was on screen. We also saw one other Kelpien, a couple of unknown aliens, and Burnham once again talking about togetherness and unity as ways to tackle the threat they all face – presumably this anomaly. And most importantly: Grudge is back!

So all I can think to say is “wow!” Discovery Season 4 looks action-packed to say the least! We didn’t see either Admiral Vance or Kovich; the latter we know is returning but I certainly hope Admiral Vance will be back as well. Oded Fehr’s performance in Season 3 was fantastic, and it’s wonderful to have a Star Trek admiral who does what’s right and isn’t an adversary; it makes a nice change!

The USS Discovery was also briefly glimpsed in the Season 4 teaser.

Based on what we saw, Discovery Season 4 looks fantastic, and getting confirmation that it’s aiming for a 2021 release is great news as well. Though no date was given, at this stage I would assume (alright, guess) that we’ll see something of a repeat of last year, with Lower Decks running from August to October, and Discovery Season 4 picking up sometime in mid-October; certainly before Halloween. It would then run through the autumn and winter before concluding sometime in the New Year. That was 2020’s pattern, and with Lower Decks scheduled for August, I think we can reasonably guesstimate that the same thing will happen this year as well.

That brings us to Picard, which was one of the first things we saw! The Picard Season 2 teaser was totally unlike the Lower Decks and Discovery teasers, being comprised of no filmed scenes and featuring no characters – which makes sense, given how early in production the season is! Despite that, however, in the short teaser we actually got a lot of information – or possible information – about what might be going on!

A model of the USS Stargazer in the Season 2 teaser.

Firstly, time travel appears to be involved. Specifically, travelling backwards in time. This was represented by an hourglass running in reverse. We also saw the teaser linger very prominently over a model of the USS Stargazer – Picard’s first command. There was also a glimpse of Paradise Lost, an epic poem about falling from grace and the rejection of God. I’m sure that’s a tease at something… but what? Then we got the biggest bombshell of the entire teaser: Q is returning!

John De Lancie, who plays Q (and who recently appeared in Lower Decks) joined Wil Wheaton and Sir Patrick Stewart to confirm Q’s return, and it was great to see him back! The combination of time travel plus Q seems to make for an interesting setup to the new season!

John De Lancie will reprise his role as Q in *Picard* Season 2!

The USS Stargazer was under Picard’s command for more than twenty years, seemingly from the 2330s to the 2350s. Having spent so much of his life aboard the ship, revisiting it makes a lot of sense for the show! It’s also an almost-blank slate, as aside from a few references and lines here and there across The Next Generation, the Stargazer’s exploits are largely unknown. We do know that the ship was involved in the Cardassian Border Wars, and that Jack Crusher served aboard the ship before being killed. In voiceover, Picard talked about time being the real “final frontier,” and about the desire to do things differently.

A couple more hints about the storyline and Q’s involvement came in the panel which followed. Sir Patrick Stewart made a couple of references to Q appearing in an “episode” using the singular, so perhaps Q will be back for just one appearance! It doesn’t sound as though Q caused whatever time-related event is happening, which is also a point of note.

The very creative way Q’s involvement was announced!

Q’s arrival was said to come at a “shattering moment” – perhaps the moment that time shattered? Or perhaps a moment in which Picard feels traumatised, as Sir Patrick Stewart and others made reference to Picard being “traumatised” both by his past and whatever is going on in the new season.

There seemed to be a hint that Picard may visit more than one time period, as well as Jonathan Frakes’ inclusion suggesting that Riker may make a reappearance in Season 2 as well. My first thought, putting all of these elements together, is some kind of follow-up to the events of All Good Things, the finale of The Next Generation. In that story, Q allowed Picard to move between three time periods in order to solve a puzzle – events in the future were having a causal effect on events in the past! Perhaps some kind of similar “anti-time” story is on the cards?

An hourglass running backwards was one of the key visuals in the teaser.

Q appeared in the first episode in which we met Picard – Encounter at Farpoint right at the beginning of The Next Generation’s run. As I said once, it would be poetic if he were also to appear in the episode – or at least the season – which marks Picard’s end as a Star Trek character as well. Though a third or even fourth season of Picard was said to be there for the taking if Sir Patrick Stewart wanted to do it, I wonder if Q’s inclusion in Season 2 may mean that it will be the last season of the show – and may even see Picard killed off.

That’s pure speculation on my part, though!

With production having only been going on since late February, I’m not surprised that Picard didn’t have more to show at this stage. It seems certain we won’t see Season 2 before next year, and that’s actually okay! As excited as I am to continue the journey, we’ll have plenty of Star Trek to get stuck into later this year.

What relationship will *Paradise Lost* have to the plot?

So that wraps up my thoughts on the three teasers (plus one image) that we got during yesterday’s First Contact Day event. Before we go, though, I want to talk briefly about the other panels.

This year is the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: First Contact (gosh I feel old now, as I remember seeing it at the cinema!) There was a panel hosted by Wil Wheaton that featured Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, and Alice Krige – the actress who played the Borg Queen in that film. It was a very sweet panel, as all the participants had fond memories of working on the film.

Krige in particular spoke very highly of working with the cast of The Next Generation, and being welcomed aboard by a team that had been working together for almost a decade at that point. There were some lighthearted moments too, as Frakes was quizzed over his “Two Takes Frakes” nickname! It was a lot of fun, and it’s nice to see that, even after so many years, the cast still enjoy one another’s company.

The *Star Trek: First Contact* 25th Anniversary panel.

The only panel I haven’t touched on yet was that hosted by Mica Burton in which several designers and artists participated. It reminded me of a book I own called Aliens and Artifacts which similarly looks at makeup, uniform design, prosthetics, and so on, and how all of those things are created by artists behind the scenes.

It’s always interesting to learn a little more about how these things work, and it was neat to hear from some of the folks who have been involved with designing new aliens, new uniforms, and other aesthetic elements that go on to be iconic and emblematic of Star Trek.

So that’s it! First Contact Day was interesting, and we got to learn a lot about upcoming Star Trek projects! The return of Q in Picard Season 2, as well as a time travel story, sounds interesting. Discovery Season 4 looks to be playing up the strengths of Season 3. And Lower Decks looks like another wacky good time! It was great to see Captain Janeway’s design in Prodigy, as well as learn a little more about that series. Though I hoped to find out when it will debut or even see a trailer, I’m content to wait and let the creators get it ready first!

I had fun with First Contact Day, and I encourage you to check out all of the panels in full if you haven’t already. At the very least, watch the teasers for yourself! You can find all of the First Contact Day panels by clicking or tapping here to go to the Paramount+ YouTube channel.

The Star Trek franchise, including all properties mentioned above, is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

The ad campaign for Paramount+ has been surprisingly strong

Tue 09.02.21Dennis

In early March, CBS All Access is being relaunched under the new name Paramount+. As a Trekkie, I’m invested in the future of Star Trek, and it’s my hope that Paramount+ will be a successful, stable home for the franchise in the 2020s and beyond. The rebranding of CBS All Access is in many ways a positive thing, especially as ViacomCBS will be taking Paramount+ international, beginning with launches in Australia and the Scandinavian countries.

At the same time, though, I can’t help but feel that, if CBS All Access had proved to be the runaway success ViacomCBS was hoping for, the rebranding would be unnecessary. ViacomCBS has never been totally up-front about subscriber numbers, viewership, or revenue, so it’s hard to tell how big of a success CBS All Access has really been. But we’re drifting off-topic.

The rebranding has led to an ad campaign in the run-up to next month’s launch of Paramount+, and I have to admit that I’m surprised at how fun the commercials have been.

As someone who doesn’t watch broadcast television any more, I don’t actually see a lot of ads. But because I follow Star Trek and Paramount+ on social media I’ve seen most of the adverts made for the new service, including one which was broadcast during the Super Bowl – the single biggest and most valuable day of the year in terms of television advertising in the United States. The fact that ViacomCBS paid millions of dollars for a Super Bowl commercial shows how seriously they’re taking the launch of Paramount+.

Star Trek has been front and centre of this ad campaign, with the stars of Discovery, Picard, and the upcoming Strange New Worlds all being featured prominently. There was also a separate Star Trek Universe ad that showed off the franchise. These ads have been clever and funny, and above all they’re memorable. After being shown prominently during the Super Bowl, and being discussed online, I don’t think there can be many folks in the United States who are unaware of the impending arrival of Paramount+ – and hopefully that has already begun to translate into pre-orders and subscribers to the service.

Sir Patrick Stewart during the Super Bowl ad.

Sonequa Martin-Green reprised her role as Michael Burnham – albeit in the “old” Discovery uniform – for the ads, and Anson Mount returned as Captain Pike too. We also saw Ethan Peck’s Spock, and of course Sir Patrick Stewart was heavily featured and narrated the commercials. The message was clear: Star Trek is back, and the best place to see it is on Paramount+.

A couple of years ago Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, passed away. There was a campaign online to have the song Sweet Victory from the cartoon incorporated into the Super Bowl halftime show, but fans were left disappointed when it was only given the barest of mentions. The Paramount+ Super Bowl ad featured the song – as SpongeBob SquarePants is a Nickelodeon show, and Nickelodeon is a ViacomCBS company. This alone has brought a huge amount of online attention to Paramount+ from fans who felt the 2019 Super Bowl didn’t go far enough, and whoever it was in ViacomCBS’ marketing department that came up with the idea deserves a raise!

Hopefully it will be a “sweet victory” for Paramount+!

There are still arguably too many streaming platforms, especially in the United States. And over the next few years we’ll see which survive and which end up either closing down or amalgamating in order to remain competitive. Paramount+ is not quite at the same level as Netflix or Disney+ – but ViacomCBS have a huge advantage over the likes of Apple TV+ in the sense that they can draw on a huge library of content that they already have. They’re not starting from scratch with original content nor having to pay expensive licensing rights to other people’s films and shows. In my opinion (as someone watching from the outside) that does give the service a boost.

As SpongeBob SquarePants showed during the Super Bowl, building up goodwill and using nostalgia to hook in fans – especially younger ones – is a step in the right direction as Paramount+ gets ready for its debut. I never used CBS All Access as someone who doesn’t live in the United States, but one of the criticisms levelled against it was that it didn’t have a lot going on. Besides Star Trek – which was the flagship franchise, especially when it launched – a lot of folks felt that CBS All Access was rather barebones, and I know of a lot of people who would subscribe during the run of a show they wanted to see – like Star Trek: Discovery – and promptly unsubscribe when the season was over. Hopefully Paramount+ will have enough new and legacy content to prevent that from happening.

Anson Mount, Stephen Colbert, and Sir Patrick Stewart dancing to *Sweet Victory*. Not sure who the animated guy is… maybe someone from *Archer*?

Paramount+ is also promising live sport – something relatively uncommon in the streaming world. Here in the UK, Amazon Prime Video have paid for the rights to some Premier League football (soccer) matches, but as far as I’m aware there aren’t many other platforms that do so regularly. If sport becomes a big part of Paramount+, that will certainly be another way to attract subscribers.

So the ad campaign has been fun, and it was especially cool to see Star Trek at the Super Bowl! I doubt that’s happened before! I’m rooting for the success of Paramount+, and I hope it will be a successful home for Star Trek – and its promised “mountain” of other content – going forward. Please bring it to the UK soon – I know of at least one person who’ll subscribe!

Paramount+ will launch in the United States on the 4th of March 2021. Launches in other countries and territories are already planned for early- and mid-2021. The service will be the new digital home of Star Trek. Paramount+, the Paramount logo, and all titles mentioned above are the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

Star Trek: Picard Season 1 – one year later

Sat 23.01.21Mon 21.11.22Dennis

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Picard Season 1. There are also minor spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Discovery.

Time certainly flies, doesn’t it? It was one year ago today that Star Trek: Picard Season 1 debuted in the United States (and a day later in the rest of the world). It’s not unfair to say that I was incredibly excited about this series, which would take the Star Trek timeline forward in a significant way for the first time in eighteen years. Though I tried hard to keep my hype and expectations in check, there was no getting around how much I was looking forward to Star Trek: Picard.

As we hit the first anniversary, I thought it could be a good moment to look back on my remembrances (ha! get it?) of the show as well as what the first season achieved, what it did well, and where it came up short.

If you were a regular reader a year ago, you’ll recall from my reviews that the season started very strongly. In fact, I named Remembrance (the season premiere) the best Star Trek episode of 2020 – a year which, for all its problems, saw 33 episodes across three shows. I rank Remembrance very highly among modern Star Trek episodes, and I’d even compare it favourably to Deep Space Nine’s Emissary, perhaps placing them joint-first as the best Star Trek premieres.

The finale, on the other hand, let the season down somewhat. Carefully-established mysteries that the show had slowly build up over the preceding eight episodes felt rushed through in a two-part conclusion that dumped new characters, a new location, a new faction, and whole new storylines into play right at the very end. The season also ended with a plot hole unexplained – why Dr Maddox travelled to Freecloud – and the disappearance of main character Narek, whose storyline was dropped halfway through the second part of the finale.

So despite enjoying Picard overall, as I look back a year later at Season 1, I’m afraid I have to say that it was a mixed bag.

From the moment Star Trek: Picard was announced it shot to the top of my list of shows I was excited for. I may have talked about this in the run-up to the season, but I remember feeling distinctly underwhelmed when Enterprise was announced in 1999. I wasn’t particularly interested in a Star Trek prequel, and while the show had heart and told some exciting stories, there was a sense really since Voyager ended and Nemesis had been in cinemas that Star Trek wasn’t moving forward.

Enterprise, the Kelvin reboot films, Discovery, and even Short Treks all told stories in the 22nd or 23rd Centuries, and though those stories were enjoyable and fun, there was a lot left behind in the 24th Century that was never explored. What would become of the characters we knew, of the Federation, of Starfleet, and all the other factions, races, and planets? The 24th Century had been Star Trek’s biggest era – with 517 episodes of television and four films starring three crews and a huge supporting cast of secondary and recurring characters.

Moving the timeline forward beyond *Nemesis* was something I really wanted to see from Star Trek.

The 24th Century was also “my” Star Trek era. The Next Generation was the first Star Trek series I watched, and it was literally my way into being a Trekkie. I have a great fondness for the shows of that era, and I consider it to be not only the time when Star Trek was at its most successful in terms of viewership (and finances) but also the closest the franchise has to a “Golden Age.” So to see that era abandoned for prequels and mid-quels wasn’t exactly disappointing, but it wasn’t something I was wild about.

So for eighteen years (Nemesis was released in 2002) Star Trek hadn’t moved forward in terms of the timeline. And even when Discovery launched and established itself with Short Treks and a spin-off, there was still no plan to revisit the 24th Century. Picard came along like a breath of fresh air, and I was incredibly excited, hyped up, and interested in what the series would bring. That was my mindset going into the premiere and each of the subsequent nine episodes.

Picard was not Season 8 of The Next Generation – and I didn’t want it to be. I was very keen that the new cast be given an opportunity to establish themselves within the franchise and become fan favourites for a new generation of Trekkies. What I hoped for was that, in thirty years’ time, people would be clamouring for a Dr Jurati series or Star Trek: Elnor with the same vigour I have for Picard. And I think, in that sense, we’ve begun to see at least the beginnings of that.

A lot of television shows don’t really settle in until Season 2, which is where the overused term “growing the beard” comes from. I’ve used that expression myself a few times, but in the aftermath of Discovery’s recent outing it seems to be the only phrase that critics are using to describe the show and it’s honestly put me off! But we’re off topic. There was perhaps a degree of leniency on my part going into Season 1 of Picard; a willingness to let some minor issues slide in order to see the show continue to build and grow. And as underwhelming as the Season 1 finale was, I’m hopeful that Season 2 can build on the foundation that has been laid.

The crew of La Sirena at the end of Season 1.

Though there was the mystery of Dr Maddox’s location, the Romulans’ scheme, and later the beacon to contact the super-synths, what Season 1 really was, when you boil it down, was a team-up story. Picard, over the course of ten episodes, put together a new crew and gave them a reason to work together. Establishing each member of the crew, giving them a side-quest of their own, and binding them together to follow Picard was the primary accomplishment of the season.

I’ve used the analogy of the Mass Effect video game series once in relation to Star Trek: Picard already – when it comes to the basic existence of the super-synths and their beacon. But there is a second point of comparison that is interesting to me, and may be to you if you’ve played those games. In Mass Effect 2, much of the game is comprised of Commander Shepard recruiting a crew. Each member of the crew needs to be brought on board, then later a side-mission is given in which players can earn their loyalty. Picard Season 1 played out similarly.

Elnor in Season 1. Recruiting him for the mission took up one episode.

Raffi wanted to go to Freecloud to reunite with her son. Dr Jurati had a secret plot to kill Dr Maddox. Elnor had to resolve his lingering emotional issues with Picard. Rios had to put together the pieces of what happened aboard the USS Ibn Majid. Seven of Nine wanted revenge for Icheb. Each of the main characters – at least those on the mission to save Soji – had to be recruited and then have their side-quest resolved before the story could reach its conclusion. This isn’t just a story from Mass Effect 2, it’s something many team-up stories do.

As I mentioned when considering some preliminary ideas for Season 2, finding a way to keep this crew together will be something that the next chapter of this story needs to address. Because they came together to do a single task – rescue Soji – and then continued to help the synths on Coppelius and prevent the arrival of the super-synths, they’re done. Their mission is complete, and Season 2 will have to find a believable reason for keeping them together. But that is a challenge for next time!

The super-synths were called off at the last moment.

Each character we met was interesting, and none felt unoriginal or bland in the way some secondary characters can in a story which primarily focuses on one person. We’ll deal with Picard himself in a moment, but for now: Elnor was a lonely member of an all-female sect, and also had abandonment issues after Picard’s disappearance. Rios pretended to be the roguish “Han Solo” type, but had serious post-traumatic stress following his former captain’s murder-suicide while aboard the USS Ibn Majid. Raffi was a flawed genius whose drug problem had dominated her life and cost her her most important relationships. Dr Jurati had been brainwashed into murdering someone she loved. Narek was the spy with a heart of gold – but instead of being a cliché he turned that trope on its head by sticking to his mission to the end. Dahj and Soji were different from one another – androids unaware of their synthetic nature. One was drawn to Picard, the other deeply suspicious of him.

Then we had the reintroduction of several legacy characters. Dr Maddox, who we met in The Next Generation, had continued his research after his meeting with Data, and eventually was able to develop his own line of androids. Seven of Nine had helped Icheb become a Starfleet officer, but lost him when she was betrayed by Bjayzl. Riker and Troi, who had married in Nemesis, had a family – but their son had died. Hugh was perhaps the most successful of all the legacy characters, the ex-Borg who had taken full advantage of his own liberation to assist hundreds or possibly thousands of other ex-Borg on the Artifact.

There was tragedy and drama aplenty in each of the characters we met, but none of it felt forced or contrived in the way some drama shows can. This wasn’t a soap opera, it was hard-hitting. Picard Season 1 may not have followed the traditional episodic Star Trek formula, but it had a distinctly Star Trek tone – it used its sci-fi setting to examine real world issues. It did so in a tense, dramatic, and exciting way, and expanded on themes from The Next Generation and elsewhere in the franchise, looking at basic rights such as the right to life.

The attack on Mars can be analogous to many different recent and historical events, but the reaction to it is certainly reminiscent of the western world’s post-9/11 outlook. The aftermath of a tragedy allowed a nefarious faction to push through a prohibition on certain groups of people. Islam was not “banned” after 9/11, but as recently as 2016 Donald Trump talked of a “ban on people from Muslim countries” – these restrictions were in place for much of his term as President.

The attack on Mars was a significant event in the years before Season 1 of *Picard* is set.

The theme of the season was in realising that we mustn’t judge whole groups of people by the actions of a few. This could apply just as much to the supporters and voters of Donald Trump in 2021 as it did to Muslims and others. The fanatics who attacked the United States Capitol a couple of weeks ago are no more representative of the 70+ million Trump voters as ISIS or al-Qaeda are of Islam. That is the message of this synthetic ban storyline: not to be so quick to judgement, and not to allow those with a pre-existing agenda to force the issue.

The Zhat Vash quietly infiltrated Starfleet, and slowly began poisoning the minds of Starfleet officers and Federation civilians. We have the literal expression of this metaphor via the mind-meld – this represents how those with an agenda are using propaganda and “fake news” to unduly influence the discourse. These themes are buried in the narrative, but they are there – and open to interpretation. This is how I see some of these storylines having real-world comparisons, but it may not be how you or someone else sees it. Fiction is always subjective, and that’s okay. If you disagree, that’s great!

As I’ve said before, a story doesn’t just have merit because it can be seen through a real-world lens. In some cases, pushing too far in that direction can lead to a narrative being less enjoyable. So Picard balanced out some of these contemporary metaphors with a truly engaging and mysterious Star Trek story.

We saw these events from Picard’s point of view, and he’s such a great character for telling this story because he didn’t know exactly what happened and why, just as much as we as the audience didn’t know. So when the synths attacked Mars, his life, his career, and his whole world fell apart. We meet him at the beginning of the season premiere as someone who’s fallen into a major depression. Dahj would be the catalyst for bringing him out of that – but it wasn’t until the mysteries and conspiracies had been unravelled and brought to light that he could truly move on.

We went on that journey with Picard. We began together, not knowing what had happened on Mars, not understanding why, and then along comes Dahj. She was equally mysterious: who was she, why was she seeking out Picard, who were the assassins that were trying to hurt her? And as we learned more about both of these elements of the story, this chapter of Picard’s life – and the lives of those around him – came into focus.

My criticisms of the season finale generally don’t stem from the fact that any of the narrative decisions were bad, but rather that I wanted to see more. We rushed through Sutra’s story, Dr Soong’s story, and the end of Narek’s story. We don’t know anything about the super-synths, and precious little about the civilisation on Coppelius. There was scope to know more if the season had been structured differently and perhaps extended by an episode or two, and that’s really where I felt things came unstuck.

Coppelius Station was the setting for the two-part finale.

From an aesthetic point of view, Picard blended The Next Generation-era elements with a style firmly centred in modern-day sci-fi. The design of La Sirena reflects this – it was clearly not a Starfleet ship. Inside and out, La Sirena has touches of Star Trek, but stands apart and very much does its own thing. Beginning with the redesign of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and carrying all the way through to Discovery, we’ve seen starship interiors with certain visual elements – angled corridors and hallways, grey or blue pastel carpeting, panels with distinctive lines, the warp core as a glowing column, and so forth. La Sirena has some hints at some of these, but is much closer to ships seen in The Expanse, for example, and other modern sci-fi properties in other ways.

Within the Star Trek fandom, starship designs and uniforms are both subjective things with a range of opinions on which are best. And before anyone rushes to judgement to say La Sirena looks bad or they dislike the mermaid-combadges, I’d say that we need to give the show time for its aesthetic to grow on us. There have only been ten episodes of Picard compared with 176 of The Next Generation, and those episodes are only a year old. Obviously nothing in Picard will feel as “iconic” yet – but as time goes by and we spend more time in this era that may happen.

I adored the design of La Sirena. It felt like a runabout mixed with a hot-rod, and I think that shows to some extent the personality of Captain Rios. This is his ship, and he’s put his personal stamp on it – as we saw in a very funny (and incredibly well-acted and well-filmed) sequence with five different Rios-holograms. After the blue boiler suits of Enterprise were followed up with another all-blue look in Discovery I was also glad to see more colour back in the two new Starfleet uniform designs which debuted in Picard. The one in the “current” time (that we saw people like Riker and Commodore Oh wearing) was my favourite of the two when compared to the design seen in flashbacks, but both were neat.

The only aesthetic problem I felt Season 1 had was its outdoor filming locations and their lack of variety. We visited locations on Earth which were supposedly in France, Japan, and North America, as well as half a dozen planets, and each looked exactly like southern California. Because Picard had ten episodes and almost all of them had some outdoor filming this was amplified far more than it had been in the likes of The Next Generation, which would see fewer outdoor shoots with more episodes in between them. But as the season progressed, the fact that each planet Picard visited was a barely-disguised location within a few miles of Los Angeles detracted from the look.

Some locations, like the planet of Aia, were beautifully created in CGI, but then ruined when scenes on the surface not only didn’t match the CGI creation of the planet (the colour and tone are way different). What made no sense to me about the Aia scenes in particular is with so little time spent there, why not use a sound stage? Rig up a planet that looks genuinely different instead of using an outdoor filming location. We only saw two or three scenes set on Aia, all around the beacon, and I honestly just thought it was a wasted opportunity. Vashti, Nepenthe, and Coppelius all felt very samey because of the decision to shoot outdoors in the same area, and that’s just a shame to me. I would love to see some more variety in Season 2 – either by travelling to shoot on location further afield, or by using indoor sound stages that can be made to look different each time.

So we come to the man himself: Jean-Luc Picard. I mentioned earlier that he was depressed, and the way this part of his story was conveyed was heartbreaking and wonderful. I recently wrote an article looking at the characterisation of Luke Skywalker in the 2017 film The Last Jedi, because he was also depressed in that story. It was one that some Star Wars fans hated, but it resonated with me. Picard’s story in Season 1 resonated with me too, for many of the same or similar reasons as I explained in that essay.

Depression and mental health are not easy subjects to convey in fiction, and Picard itself had a scene in the episode The End Is The Beginning which unfortunately painted a pretty stereotypical picture of mental health. But Picard’s story was much better, and very well done overall. It showed that anyone – no matter how heroic they have been in the past – can fall victim to depression. Picard lost his fleet, he lost his role in Starfleet, and instead of saying “no, the right thing to do is to help so I’m going to fight on,” he collapsed. He hit a problem that he couldn’t solve, suffered a humiliating defeat, and gave up. He spent years in quiet retirement – which was more like a self-imposed exile – because of how he felt.

That is powerful in itself, as it shows how anyone – even heroes that we want to put on a pedestal – can fall victim to depression. The same was true of Luke Skywalker. But what came next is equally important – Dahj gave Picard a reason to believe in something again. Not only was there a mystery to figure out, which can be tantalising in itself, but Picard was the only one capable and willing to help Soji – so he stepped up. Where he had fallen into the lowest point of his life, he found a reason to believe and that set him on the path to recovery. I find that a powerful and inspiring story.

Dahj inspired Picard and gave him a cause to believe in.

There were two cathartic moments for me in Season 1 that I didn’t know I needed to see. The first was with Seven of Nine. During the latter part of Voyager’s run, Seven was my least-favourite character. She was annoying, arrogant, and worst of all, after learning some “lesson in how to be human” from Captain Janeway or the Doctor, she’d seemingly reset and forget it ever happened by the next episode, requiring her to “learn” the same lesson in being human many times over. She was repetitive and boring. But in Picard she had finally moved past her Borg years and embraced her humanity and emotions – even though she lost Icheb, seeing her get so genuinely angry and react in such a human way was something wonderful to see – and was performed beautifully by Jeri Ryan.

The second cathartic moment came from Data. His death in Nemesis wasn’t something I was happy about, but within the story of that film I remember feeling at the time that it worked. However, looking back I can see how, for example, seeing Picard and the rest of the crew laughing and moving on at the end of the film was perhaps not the right way to end the story. Data didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone – his sacrifice happened in a brief moment, and after saving Picard he was just gone.

Data’s consciousness remained in the digital afterlife until Picard shut it down.

Picard carried that regret with him in a far more significant way than the closing moments of Nemesis hinted at. Riker and Troi did too, and we got to see both of them express that. Picard poured his heart out to Data when he was in the digital afterlife, and the scene between the two of them was something incredible. It was something I as a fan needed to see, to put Data to rest properly after all these years.

In a sense, Picard and Data’s story is an inversion of the story Kirk and Spock went through in The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home. After Spock’s death, Kirk would stop at nothing to find a way to bring his friend back to life – even stealing the Enterprise. While Picard set out on his journey to save Data’s “daughter” from harm, what he ended up doing was bringing a final end to Data’s life. There was no way to save Data, nor to transfer whatever remained of him into a new body. The only thing Picard could to for his friend was finally allow him his mortality, and permit him to die. As Kirk might’ve said, that sounds like a “no-win scenario.” But as Kirk never really had to learn – at least until the moment of his own death – those scenarios exist every day. It might sound cool to say “I don’t believe in no-win scenarios” and push to save everyone all the time, but that isn’t possible. It’s a fantasy – and Picard confronted the genuine reality of death in a way Kirk never had to.

Picard shut down the remaining part of Data permanently.

Data had desperately yearned to be more human. From his first appearance in Encounter at Farpoint when he struggled with whistling through to the introduction of his emotion chip in Generations and beyond, all Data wanted was to feel less like an android and more like a human. Mortality is one of humanity’s defining characteristics – especially when compared to machines and synthetic life. By shutting down Data’s remaining neurons and consciousness, Picard gave him perhaps the greatest gift he could give – and Data achieved his goal of getting as close to humanity as possible.

As I look back on Season 1 of Picard, I can see that it had some flaws and some issues. But none of them were catastrophic, and even though there was one episode that I described at the time as a “misfire and a dud,” the season as a whole was great. It started off with what is perhaps the best premiere of any Star Trek series, and though the ending was imperfect we got some amazing story-driven dramatic Star Trek.

Dr Jurati beams the crew of La Sirena aboard.

Perhaps Season 1’s legacy will be defined by what comes next. Not only by future seasons of Picard, but by other shows and films set in or around this time period, expanding the Star Trek franchise and pushing it to new places. The Next Generation served as a launchpad for two other series and four films, and perhaps Picard has similarly laid a foundation upon which more Star Trek will be built. That’s my hope, at any rate.

Even if that doesn’t happen, though, Season 1 was an entertaining ride – with a few bumps in the road as mentioned. We got to learn a lot more about some of Star Trek’s factions – the Romulans in particular, but also the Borg – and meet some genuinely interesting new characters. Despite some leftover story threads from Season 1, Season 2 is potentially wide open to tell some new and interesting stories when it’s finally ready to be broadcast. I can’t wait for that!

Star Trek: Picard Season 1 is available to stream now on CBS All Access in the United States, and on Amazon Prime Video in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The Star Trek franchise – including Picard and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.