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After two seasons, Jean-Luc usually continues to playStar Trek: Picard, it's time for oneTNGReunion. But what are the circumstances of this reunion?
Welcome back toStar Trek: Picard! Last time we left our heroes, they... you know what? It does not matter. The "previously on…” is more or less irrelevant. This third season is almost entirely a fresh start.
But for the record, most of Picard's new crew is now his old crew. Rios stayed in the past. Jurati is a Borg queen. The songs are basically in the wind. The last thing we checked was that Seven and Raffi are dating. And Picard is dating someone too - Laris.
As for Picard's actual old crew, here's what we know. Riker and Troi live on Nepenthe with their daughter Kestra. Data is dead (again). Wesley Crusher helps lead a team that keeps time in order. And that's actually a thing. According to theStar Trek: PicardRoman "Last Best Hope" Geordi worked at the Utopia Planitia shipyard and Worf was captain of the Enterprise. But none of this is official canon - as far as we know.
"What's going on with Beverly Crusher," you might be wondering. Well funny you should ask.
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Star Trek: Picard– To boldly recap
Beverly Crusher awakens on her ship to the sound of an invading force. She immediately rules out the only other crew member who appears to be on board. And then she wipes out the masked aliens trying to board.
Bleeding and with more intruders on the way, Crusher sends an encrypted message using the Myriad codec to Admiral Jean-Luc Picard. At Chateau Picard, Laris and Picard discuss their moveChaltok IV. He looks forward to giving up his past and material possessions so he can rest and write his memoirs.
But that night, he receives a distress call from Beverly on an old Enterprise D comm badge. In the message, Crusher says she has included coordinates for their location. She says the word "Hellbird" and instructs Picard not to trust anyone, not even Starfleet. Laris tells Picard to investigate.
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Picard and his number one
Picard meets Riker at Ten Forward to share what he knows with Riker. Riker recognizes the word "Hellbird" which refers to a virus on the Enterprise D during her battle with the Borg. Riker uses this knowledge to determine Crusher's true coordinates. It is in the Ryton system - outside of Federation space.
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Riker has a question: Why did Beverly cut everyone off? Knowing they can't trust anyone, Riker hatches a plan. But someone overhears their conversation and they look angry.
Meanwhile, on M'Tala's Prime, Raffi appears to have left Starfleet and gone back to drugs. She and Seven apparently broke up. She asks her dealer for information about stolen Daystrom Institute technology. If she can help Starfleet, maybe she'll get back in.
The only information her dealer gives her relates to "the red queen". It turns out that Raffi wasn't kicked out of Starfleet - she's undercover. And she has a handler whose face she has never seen as he took in all her information. The handler refuses to meet in person, but urges Raffi to find out who or what the Red Lady is.
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A titan among ships
Back with Picard and Riker, the two set out to conduct a fake surprise inspection aboard the USS Titan-A. You have to convince Captain Shaw to change course for the Ryton system, but he's "not a friendly face". Luckily, Shaw's first officer is Seven of Nine. And the woman at the top is even happier: Sidney LaForge. Yes, daughter of Geordi LaForge.
That is the good news. The bad news is that Captain Shaw is turning down Picard and Riker's past missions. And after giving them a faux fair hearing, he makes it clear that the Titan will not go to the Ryton system. Lucky for Picard and Riker, Seven feels more loyal to them than to her captain.
After demanding (and receiving) an explanation, Seven reveals that she disobeyed orders and takes the Titan to the Ryton system. She instructs Riker and Picard when to steal a shuttle and make way for the fog in which Crusher's ship is hiding.
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The Red Ladies
After a long search, Raffi finds out what the Red Lady is. She, or rather she is a statue of Enterprise C-Captain Rachel Garrett, which will be ceremoniously dedicated on the upcoming Frontier Day. While recruiting Starfleet, home of the new Garrett statue, Raffi receives an emergency message. But it's too late. What appears to be a portal weapon, Starfleet's recruitment center devours from below before dumping its remains over the city.
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Back with Riker and Picard, they board Beverly's ship, where they find evidence of a battle. On the bridge, Picard finds Crusher in a biotube - and she's on the verge of death. Unfortunately, Riker found the other ship member holding Riker at gunpoint.
Picard talks the other crew member down and asks who he is. The answer: Beverly Crusher's son. There is no time for that revelation, however, as Riker and Picard have guided the mysterious masked aliens to the ship's location. Crusher's son says they've encountered these aliens everywhere they go, but they always have different faces.
Before young Crusher can explain who the aliens are, a huge ship appears that looks like a cross between the Enterprise-D and the Reman shipStar Trek: Nemesis, the scimitar.
Fade to black.
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Star Trek: Picard– To boldly check
Star Trek: Picardstarts each season on a strong note. The Next Generation is no exception. The Season 3 premiere reintroduces our characters, sets up our mystery, and leaves us on a suitably menacing cliffhanger. But that's the thing - it's hard to trust those early episodes precisely because they're always good. And then the execution of the stories that build those episodes is always mediocre. It's hard not to overtake yourself at this point.
focus on the good. It's very nice to see Beverly Crusher again. Watching Beverly take care of a bunch of mysterious aliens on her own is exciting, both because it shows us a new side of the character and because it makes us wonder how she got to be the person she is now.
It's also very nice to see Will Riker. The nextPicardever got to recapture the glory days of TNG was in a Season 1 episode called "Nepenthe". In this episode, Picard seeks protection from Riker and Deanna Troi. Jonathan Frakes has a wonderful warmth in this episode and brings it back again for The Next Generation.
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Seven and Raffi
One of the problems with the first two seasons ofStar Trek: Picardis the supporting actress. Rios, Jurati and especially Elnor never fully gel. All are now gone from the scene. And after a scene with Laris, that character is out too. I wish I could say I'm sorry to see her go, but I don't.
Seven of Nine, now the number one aboard the USS Titan is back and better than ever. After the revenge killings in season one and the seaming and confusing of her case of the Borg Sads in season two, this season seven is much more focused. She is a commander. She fights with the overconfident Captain Shaw. And she chooses to take risks and do what's right for her boyfriend, Jean-Luc. Their motivations feel clear and I cheer them on.
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Raffi, on the other hand, is still a bit rough in "The Next Generation". It's interesting how she both fakes and doesn't fake her ongoing substance abuse problem. And the scene where she's late to stop a terrorist attack is really harrowing. But that primary trait that she has where she's mad all the time? It gets old before it starts. Hopefully she finds her center in the upcoming episodes.
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Die Titan-Crew
The absolute highlight of "The Next Generation" is Captain Shaw. He's grumpy, he hates jazz, and he has no patience for "senior officers" who want to mess with the good he's up to. He is sympathetic in his unsympathy. He openly hates the former Borg. As with Ben Sisko, I suspect we'll eventually find out why.
There's this intriguing situation between Shaw and Seven where he refuses to call her by anything other than Seven's original name, Annika Hansen. He basically calls her dead, which is super gross. But what it does work is everyone knows it's gross except Shaw. It feels authentic to both Shaw and Seven. You have a core conflict and I look forward to seeing it resolved.
And of course it's also exciting to see a LaForge at the top. Sidney "Crash" LaForge is so named because she crashed several Shuttlepods. Their cheering at the sight of Picard and Riker mirrors that of the audience and that's just great.
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Things I'm not so sure about
People change over time. Who you are now is certainly not who you were two decades ago. I accept that our beloved "TNG" characters need to change. However, I struggle with the idea that twenty years ago Beverly Crusher just stopped talking to everyone. Really? And no one knows? Don't these people have the 24th century equivalent of Facebook? i don't buy it It feels like the characters in this case were changed for the sake of the narrative and not because it makes sense.
Related: We have the idea that Riker is with Deanna and Kestra. Why? They all seem to hit it off in "Nepenthe," so what's up? I'm not saying it can't work in the long run. I say this feels a bit forced in the short term.
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Stray viewing platform
There are many Easter Eggs in The Next Generation. Crusher's ship alone is loaded with it. The theater masks stem from Beverly's love of theater. The log playing is that of Picard from The Best of Both Worlds Part I. Crusher has an award related to Cor Caroli V, where she helped eradicate the phyrox plague. This is something we never see but hear in the episode "Allegiance". Even the pearl necklace is reminiscent of the episode "The Big Goodbye".
But apparently everyone is wondering about the gear that says "Jack Crusher," aka Beverly's long-dead husband.
Riker laments that nobody wants to buy the Enterprise-D statues. Laris mentions Chaltok IV, a Romulan colony mentioned in the Voyager episode "Time and Again". The new Titan is a Neo-Constitution class ship, a nod to the original USS Enterprise. The Titan had a lot of built-in jazz that Shaw removed. And Shaw refers to Picard and Seven as "former ex-Borg" for obvious reasons.
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Questions, questions, subtleties
There are a lot of obvious questions, the biggest being "How can Beverly have a son and who is the father?" But there's a lot of other stuff in the stew as well. Why are the crushers hunted by aliens and how can these aliens change their faces? Why does Shaw seem to have something against the Borg? Who destroyed this Starfleet building and why?
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But my big question is: Raffi's handler is Worf, right? Because they call Raffi a "warrior," and that's a pretty classic Worf move. If he is, hopefully we won't have to wait long before we see him in person.
All in all a solid start. 4/5 stars
Until next time, this is your humble recapper signing off. Computer: Exit program.
Author:Lina Morgan
Lina is a 10+ year veteran entertainment journalist whose artists include SYFY Wire, Looper and Screen Fanatic. She has written comic book scripts for IDW Comics and Zenescope Entertainment and has written Doctor Who shorts for BBC Worldwide. She is a longtime podcast host and producer who has worked on Who Won the Week, SYFY's Every Day series and the Amazon podcast Untold Story. She is currently the co-host of the New York Times endorsed podcast Song vs Song.
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FAQs
What is Captain Picard's famous saying? ›
"Make It So": As the Captain's command to set things in motion, Picard used this time-honored catchphrase as far back as The Next Generation's pilot episode, "Encounter At Farpoint—Part 1."
Who created the Transwarp conduit in Picard season 2? ›The conduits were created based on data gathered by the USS Voyager from their encounters with the Borg.
How did Picard become human again? ›During his confrontation with the the Borg Queen, Picard learned that she wanted Locutus to be more than a drone; she wanted Locutus to be her counterpart. Picard managed to defeat the Borg Queen and save humanity once again.
Who is Jean-Luc Picard wife? ›In novels by Pocket Books, Picard has married Beverly Crusher, and they have a son named René Jacques Robert François Picard. Jean-Luc also corresponds regularly with Marie, his sister-in-law, who still maintains the family vineyards.
What is the most famous line in Star Trek? ›1. "Live Long and Prosper"
What was Captain Kirk's phrase? ›The OG Captain Kirk was known for his command, “Execute!” In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, he uses the decisive phrase twice. Slightly less cool was Edward Jellico, captain of the USS Enterprise-D, who liked to tell Riker and Troi to “Get it done!”
Who got warp capability before Ferengi? ›It is stated in Star Trek: Star Charts (p. 55) that Klingons had achieved warp capability in the year 930. Quark, however, stated in "Little Green Men" that the Ferengi would have had warp drive before the Klingons, had he delivered warp technology to Ferenginar in 1947.
Who created the Borg? ›Borgati's “off-shoot” The final two episodes of Star Trek: Picard season two saw Agnes Jurati become a Borg Queen.
Are the Borg ever defeated? ›“Did the Borg ever get destroyed?” No. Arguably, they may have taken a hit at the end of Voyager, but they were not destroyed. The producer of Picard has confirmed this: “The old Borg, the resistance is futile Borg, they are still out there.
What mistake did Picard make? ›
Picard's rage for the Borg has him arguing with his crew, and his greatest mistake is not listening to his crew, which he later does.
Did Picard become a synth? ›Back in the Star Trek: Picard Season 1 finale, “Et in Arcadia Ego Part 2,” after Jean-Luc Picard died, he was reborn in a Synth body called a “Golem.” Essentially, the words “Synth” and “Golem” are fairly interchangeable with “android,” insofar as Synth tech evolved out of the androids (like Data) from The Next ...
Who is Picard's daughter? ›Olivia Picard was Jean-Luc Picard's daughter during his Nexus experience in 2371. Olivia Picard was played by Olivia Hack. According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia (3rd ed., p.
Who turned down the role of Jean-Luc Picard? ›Edward James Olmos
A few years later, Olmos was offered the role of Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. (Battlestar Galactica Panel, FedCon XIV, 24 May 2015; [17]) He had to turn it down as he was busy with other projects. [18] His Hollywood Walk of Fame star is right next to Patrick Stewart's.
Beverly and Jean-Luc have married, but still serve together on the Enterprise-E. They have a son named René Jacques Robert Francois Picard, named after Picard's older brother (Robert) and nephew (René).
What was the most iconic line of all time? ›A jury consisting of 1,500 film artists, critics, and historians selected "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", spoken by Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in the 1939 American Civil War epic Gone with the Wind, as the most memorable American movie quotation of all time.
What did Captain Kirk say at the end of every episode? ›This quote is often attributed to Captain Kirk, but he never actually said it. The more common saying was "Energize," or "[One, Two, etc.] to beam up."
What is number 1 name in Star Trek? ›Una Chin-Riley, commonly and originally only known as Number One, is a fictional character in the science-fiction franchise Star Trek. She is Christopher Pike's second-in-command during his captaincy of the starship Enterprise.
What is Spock's famous line in Star Trek? ›"Live long and prosper" and "the needs of the many" are just a few of the actor's finest lines.
Why is Kirk Yellow and Picard wear red? ›They actually correspond to the ship's various service roles. The gold shirts are worn by the command division, which includes Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Sulu, and Pavel Chekov. Red uniforms belong to the engineering/communications division, including chief engineer Scotty and communications officer Uhura.
What does the T in James T Kirk's stand for? ›
In the name Captain James T Kirk, the T stands for Tiberius.
How old can Ferengi live? ›Legends of the Ferengi, by Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe, states that Ferengi could live up to three hundred years. This is based on Phlox's claim that Hudak, an adult Antaran, was able to live for another sixty years.
Can the Borg assimilate the Ferengi? ›The Borg probably would not assimilate any Ferengi technology because, to my knowledge, it's all less advanced than the stuff that the Federation has. They'd probably just blow everything up and maybe use the population as drones.
Why did they change the Ferengi? ›The writers decided that the Ferengi ultimately failed to appear sufficiently menacing, instead replacing them with the Romulans and Borg as primary antagonists. Throughout the rest of the series, Ferengi characters were primarily used for comedic effect.
Are the Borg aware of Q? ›And since the Borg did not know about Q, for them, it might have appeared as an untamed tease, baiting them into the alpha quadrant. At the end of the day, whether Q's actions helped or hindered the Federation are almost second to what his true intentions were. If he helped, it's unlikely that he did it on purpose.
Who was the Borg Queen before she was assimilated? ›According to "Shinsei Shinsei", the Borg Queen's name was Danzek.
Who was the first Borg Queen? ›The first Borg Queen (Alice Krige) made her debut with Star Trek: First Contact (1996) as the Borg sought to erase a historical moment in Starfleet history—First Contact Day—traveling back in time to prevent the creation and need of the Federation.
Does Janeway become a Borg? ›Tuvok, B'Elanna Torres, and Captain Kathryn Janeway have been assimilated as Borg drones aboard Tactical Cube 138, but their personalities remain intact thanks to a short-lived anti-assimilation inoculation developed by The Doctor.
Why does Guinan not recognise Picard? ›As the showrunner, Terry Matalas has explained, “This Guinan wouldn't remember Picard because in this alternate timeline, the TNG story 'Time's Arrow' never happened. Because there was no Federation, those events did not play out the same. No previous relationship exists.
Is Janeway the Borg Queen? ›In Peter David's 2007 Star Trek: The Next Generation novel, Before Dishonor, which is set after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, Janeway is assimilated by a rogue faction of the Borg, and becomes their new Borg Queen.
Did Q create the Borg? ›
Hurley was also the writer of "Q Who?" and the person who, basically, created the Borg. Again, at this point, the scariest thing about the Borg was their hivemind and their planet-scooping abilities. However, by the time TNG entered its third season, the writing staff had changed significantly.
Did Romulans create Borg? ›It's possible that the big secret of Star Trek: Picard is that the Romulans are actually responsible for the creation of the Borg Collective. We learn in “Maps and Legends” about the Zhat Vash, a secret cabal within the already super secretive Romulan Tal Shiar.
Did Wesley Crusher create the Borg? ›No. Maurice Hurley created the Borg.
Why did Picard abandon the Stargazer? ›In 2355, the Stargazer was attacked and severely damaged by an unknown vessel in the Maxia Zeta system. Picard was able to destroy the attacking vessel, using what would later be named the Picard Maneuver. The Stargazer was overcome by fire and severe damage during the battle and had to be abandoned.
Is Vulcan destroyed in Picard? ›Using his space mining vessel, Narada, Nero created a singularity in Vulcan's planetary core as part of his quest to avenge the destruction of Romulus that Spock failed to save. The resulting implosion destroyed Vulcan, killing most of its six billion inhabitants.
Why are the Borg decimated in Picard? ›On stardate 50984.3 the Borg faced their destruction after they invaded Species 8472's fluidic space with intent to assimilate this species. Unfortunately – for the Borg – Species 8472 DNA encoding was so dense that nanoprobes could not assimilate their cells. Species 8472 responded with an all out attack on the Borg.
Did Picard used to be Borg? ›The season three finale saw the return of The Borg, the seemingly unstoppable villain introduced a year earlier. The Borg captured Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and transformed him into Locutus of Borg, a de facto spokesperson for the collective consciousness. The episode ended with Picard's No.
Does Picard still have an artificial heart? ›He awakens to find himself in an otherworldly realm where he is greeted by the god-like alien Q. Q explains that the weapon that shot Picard (a "compressed teryon beam") destroyed his artificial heart and that a natural heart would have survived the shot.
Will Wesley Crusher be in Picard? ›Wil Wheaton made a surprise return to the Star Trek family when he appeared in the season two finale of Star Trek: Picard. Returning not as Wesley Crusher but a Traveler, Wesley was there to recruit Dr. Adam Soong's daughter, Kore, and show her a new path in life.
How is Renee related to Picard? ›René Picard was a male Human and the son of Robert and Marie Picard. He was the nephew of Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard through his father. He lived with his parents in La Barre, France on Earth.
Is elnor gone from Picard? ›
Evan Evagora's character, Elnor, was killed in the first episode of Season 2 — the actor spent most of the season absent before the character was revived in the season finale. Evagora has also confirmed via Instagram that he won't be back for the show's final season writing.
Why is picards brother not in Picard 2? ›Picard's Brother Is Referenced
Well, turns out he is just out of the house. Robert Picard is currently away at school in the 2310s. It explains his absence in the second season of Star Trek: Picard. While Robert may be gone as of Star Trek: Generations, he is survived by both Jean-Luc and his wife.
We know that Data dies in 2379, given the events of "Star Trek: Nemesis," and that in 2381, Picard was promoted to admiral and left the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E for an unknown special assignment. Three years after this, in 2384, Picard supposedly leads the greatest rescue armada in history.
Who did Jean-Luc Picard marry? ›In novels by Pocket Books, Picard has married Beverly Crusher, and they have a son named René Jacques Robert François Picard. Jean-Luc also corresponds regularly with Marie, his sister-in-law, who still maintains the family vineyards.
Why does Jean-Luc Picard call his nephew uncle? ›He makes his only appearance in the fourth season episode Family, portrayed by David Tristan Birkin. René and Jean-Luc were very close and the boy admired his uncle, sharing his interest in exploring the stars. As a running joke between the two, René would call his uncle "nephew" and Jean-Luc would call René "uncle".
What does Picard say before warp? ›Yep it's classic. Picard's "engage" and "make it so". Also, kirk's "take us out" and styles's "execute".
What does Picard say in the mind eye? ›Qu'vatlh ghuy'cha' baQa'
In the Star Trek episode, The Mind's Eye, Governor Vagh was convinced the federation was supplying weapons to Kriosian rebels. Picard replied with the phrase, "Qu'vatlh ghuy'cha' baQa'," at which point Vagh complimented him on his mastery of Klingon cursing.
For Star Trek: The Next Generation, the phrase "Its five-year mission" was changed to "Its continuing mission" and the phrase "where no man has gone before" was changed to "where no one has gone before". This version of the phrase was said by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart).
Why does Picard say make it so? ›Picard says "make it so" because it's a more eloquent, elegant way of basically saying, "Just do it already." Picard is a classy guy!
What is the scariest Star Trek episode? ›“All Those Who Wander” - Strange New Worlds
And then, of course, the penultimate episode of Strange New Worlds' first season has to be on here, because it is by far and away the scariest Star Trek has ever been.
Why does Picard say there are 4 lights? ›
For some fans, "Chain of Command" resonated in a real and terrifying way. “There are four lights!” Those are the final words Captain Jean-Luc Picard shouts out to his torturer, Gul Madred. Good prevails over evil and all is well with the world.
What did Scotty always say to Captain Kirk? ›No matter how much Scotty claims “she can'nae take any more, captain”, CEO Kirk will always reply “Scotty - I need more power!” Splunk customers such as Family Search accelerates its time to delivery drastically with 900 deploys per day, and with Splunk Enterprise, Vertu ensures optimal quality of its code.