So, in case you missed the previous 33 years. Captain and later Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, commander of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) and USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E), protagonist of the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and the feature films Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). A celebrated commander, a born diplomat, a cautious politician. Jean-Luc Picard facilitated the first contacts with 27 alien races, including the Ferengi and Borg. He was the first to encounter the Q essence. Picard was assimilated by the Borg and later freed from the influence of the collective mind. Jean-Luc Picard is the Star Trek hero who has lasted the longest on screen – 7 seasons (178 episodes) of Star Trek: The Next Generation plus 4 feature films. The story of Captain Picard is one that the current generation of directors and writers working on sci-fi movies and TV series have grown up with.
And while 79-year-old Sir Patrick Stewart has had many interesting theater, television and film roles in his career, he is remembered specifically as Captain Picard, which, while slightly annoying for the actor, also makes him proud of the work he did. And although after the resounding failure of Star Trek: Nemesis, which received smashing ratings and did not repay its own budget, Stewart said that he would never return to Star Trek again, Alex Kurtzman, after the success of Star Trek: Discovery, who after the success of Star Trek: Discovery signed a five-year contract with CBS Television Studios to develop and expand the Star Trek universe, persuaded the actor to take part in a new project, which will be dedicated to the last voyage of Captain Picard. Patrick Stewart not only agreed, but also co-produced the series, but on the condition that it be serious in tone and different from what has been done within the Star Trek universe before. Now you know who to blame for the fact that Star Trek: Picard is nothing like the classic Star Trek series.
Twenty years have passed since the traumatic events of Star Trek: Nemesis, when his old friend Lieutenant Commander Data sacrificed his life to save his captain. Picard, who retired with the rank of admiral after a conflict with Starfleet leadership, lives on the family estate in the south of France. He grows grapes, makes wine, reminisces about the past, and socializes only with the two Romulans who help him with chores. One day, an injured girl shows up at his estate who knows she must find Picard, but doesn’t understand how she knows this. After some investigation, Picard discovers that she is Data’s “daughter” based on his neural network. The girl dies before the captain’s eyes, and Picard sets out to find her sister and the answer to a mystery somehow connected to Data, the destruction of Romulus, the synthetic rebellion, and… an abandoned, disconnected Borg cube.
Star Trek: Picard is really different from the rest of Star Trek. The version of the future shown in it is even darker than the future (in the series’ chronology, the past) we saw in Star Trek: Discovery. It seems that the ideals of the old Starfleet, explorers, peacekeepers and scientists, have long been forgotten. Here, Starfleet has actually left another civilization for dead, banned any research into synthetic intelligence, and generally behaves in an extremely suspicious manner. This is not the Starfleet whose ideals were served by Archer, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway. In this Star Trek, both the Federation and Picard are despised for their cowardice and indecisiveness.
On the one hand, this stark divergence from the mood of classic Star Trek may alienate older fans of the series who would like to see the bright version of the future invented by Gene Roddenberry during the darkest hours of the Cold War. A world in which everyone works for the common good, everyone is honest, determined, and does the exceptionally right thing. Well, those ideals, characteristic of sci-fi not even of the 60s, but of the 50s, are already outdated, Star Trek has long needed a shake-up and some rethinking.
Of course, Star Trek: Picard is made primarily for those familiar with the Star Trek universe. There are enough references to both The Next Generation, which is understandable, and Voyager, and even The Original Series. Crew members of not only the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) and USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) appear in the series, but also the USS Voyager (NCC-74656) – Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes directed several Picard episodes, by the way), Counselor Diana Troy, Lieutenant Commander Data, Seven-of-Nine. Not only that, but true fans will also recognize some of the locations, such as Vasquez Rocks, popularly known as Kirk’s Rock, the backdrop against which Captain James Tiberius Kirk once fought the dreaded Mountain in the Arena episode of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series (that fight is also known as the Worst Fight in Cinematic History). In addition, the series’ writers use recycled uniforms, switches, and phasers from the days of The Next Generation. The stylization of the old series, done with a modern understanding of design and interfaces, looks good, as do the visuals in general.
However, it is possible to watch Star Trek: Picard without knowledge of the previous parts of Star Trek. All moments critical for understanding the plot are explained, although new viewers will not, for example, feel certain emotions towards the same synthetics, Romulan and Borg, at the moment of their first appearance on the screen. That’s probably for the best, though. It seems that Star Trek: Picard, the main theme of which is the relationship between artificial and natural minds, is trying to tell us something new about the Star Trek universe and the problems that were not revealed in the previous episodes. By the way, at times it seems that Star Trek: Picard echoes the game Detroit: Become Human, because the focus here is also the reprehensible attitude of humans and Romulans to androids.
In our review of the anthology series Star Trek: Short Treks we said that the last episode of the second season of Short Treks is a kind of prologue to Star Trek: Picard, and it is true. But you don’t have to watch it at all, in the third episode of Picard we will be shown in detail what exactly happened on Mars.
The main thing that Star Trek: Picard has to reproach is the very low pace of the narrative. Four whole series Captain Picard only gathers the crew and only in the fifth series he really starts his journey. Yes, there is very little space in this series about space. But plenty of mystery, conspiracies, secret police agents, spies and sleeper agents. This is not space fiction, but rather a thriller with conspiracy theory elements. Unusual for Star Trek.
Like Discovery, Star Trek: Picard tells us one story throughout the season. The format of one episode – one story, characteristic of the classic Star Trek, is not popular today, only police procedural series are filmed that way nowadays. This is another factor that may push away fans of classic Star Trek from the show.
I may be biased, but the modern development of the Star Trek universe makes me happy. Yes, Picard is not like any of the previous series, but it’s incredibly warm and lamplike. There’s a sense that despite all the darkness the writers are pushing, Jean-Luc Picard, always the paragon of a Starfleet officer, will eventually banish all the superficiality and get Star Trek back on track.
The Star Trek: Picard series airs on CBS All Access once a week. So far, five of the planned ten episodes of the first season have been released, and the channel has already renewed the series for a second year.
Conclusion:
An interesting interpretation of Star Trek, on the one hand developing the universe in a more modern manner, on the other hand contradicting many aspects of classic Star Trek
Pros:
Jean-Luc Picard and other characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager; intricate story with thriller elements and conspiracy theories; lots of references to classic Star Trek; pretty good graphics; unusual visualization of familiar elements of the Star Trek universe
Cons:
Low narrative pace; very little actual space in the space series; dark side of the Star Trek world that contradicts the classic series
Star Trek: Picard.
Genre fiction
Creators Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, Michael Sheibon, Kirsten Beyer
Starring Patrick Stewart (Admiral Jean-Luc Picard), Allison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Daj and Soji Asher), Michelle Hurd (Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Santiago Cabrera (Cristobal “Chris” Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Brent Spiner (Data), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), and more.
CBS All Access Channel
Year of release 2020-
Episodes 10
IMDb Sites
