star trek picard season 3 alien ship

Everything You Need To Know About The Main 'New' Ship In Star Trek: Picard Season 3

In the first two seasons of "Star Trek: Picard,"  many Trekkies may have sensed something was amiss. While those seasons did feature Picard (Patrick Stewart) commanding a group of rogues that might be said to resemble an ersatz "crew," they weren't in uniforms, and — quite noticeably — they weren't operating from the bridge of a starship. All of the Trek shows up to that point had been explicitly about the operations of Starfleet, and each series was essentially a workplace show about the staff of either a Federation vessel or a Bajoran space station. "Picard," in removing the "home base" element, emerged as a different dramatic entity altogether. It was a violent ensemble mystery show. For many Trekkies, that didn't ever quite feel correct. 

This was by design, of course. The creators of "Picard" seemed to be adhering to a self-imposed mandate to make their new "Star Trek" as unlike old "Star Trek" as possible. Additionally, as lead actor Patrick Stewart said in a 2019 video interview with TVLine , he would only agree to appear on the show if he was allowed to play the part out of uniform. He didn't want "Picard" to be a retread of familiar Trek territory. 

After two seasons, it seems that both Stewart and the show's creators have warmed to the idea of more traditional Trek iconography, and much of the third season of "Picard" will once again take place on a starship and all its related indicia. Many of the characters will be wearing uniforms, and familiar notions of diplomacy and technical acumen will creep back into the series' central themes. 

As such, the central ship — as well as its capabilities and its captain — will be vital going forward. 

Officers, I introduce you to the U.S.S. Titan-A.

The history of the Titan

The U.S.S. Titan was first mentioned in the 2002 feature film, "Star Trek: Nemesis." Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), after spending over a decade serving as the first officer on two different ships named Enterprise, is finally going to get the promotion he frequently advocated for, and just as frequently turned down. In "Nemesis," he finally marries his first love, Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis), and agrees to leave the Enterprise to serve as captain of the Titan. 

The Titan, NCC-80102, is a Luna-Class starship that measures about 450 meters in length, according to online fan websites. That would make it slightly larger than the U.S.S. Voyager and not much bigger than the original U.S.S. Enterprise from the 1960s. "Nemesis" did not depict the Titan in action, although the 2020 animated series "Star Trek: Lower Decks"  – set only a few years after the events of "Nemesis" — would see the Titan a lot. One of that show's main characters, Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid) was a nervous careerist, often driven to neuroses by his desire to get promoted. Boimler would eventually get his wish and serve briefly as the ship's conn officer. 

As a commanding officer, Captain Riker proved to be an enthused, danger-courting maverick, always a little too eager to fly his ship into danger. He seems to have taken the "boldly go" part of "Star Trek" a little too seriously. Riker's crew consisted of men and women of action, each one an Indiana Jones in the making. Eventually, Boimler transfers off the ship, unequipped for the danger that Riker regularly liked to face. Worry not, as he was replaced by a transporter clone. The Titan is mentioned several times on "Lower Decks" thereafter.

The Titan-A

On the second season of "Picard," the Titan was mentioned in dialogue as one of the ships that a graduating ensign was going to be stationed on. It was surprising to hear the name of the Titan on "Picard," as that show takes place some 22 years after "Lower Decks," and ships don't tend to stay commissioned that long. At least not without a massive retrofit. 

In terms of redesigns, something similar seems to have happened with the Titan in those aforementioned 22 years. The ship on "Picard" is the U.S.S. Titan, NCC-80102-A, now commanded by one Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), and seems to have undergone a dramatic re-build. It's now referred to as a Neo-Constitution Class, and Riker appears to have served as its first captain; Shaw mentions that when he took command, he decided to (heresy!) delete Riker's jazz collection from the ship's computers. The Titan-A is mostly new, but will still possess a lot of parts left over from its older skeleton. 

For reference, the original Enterprise from 1966 was a Constitution-Class vessel. This new Titan still appears to be quite small, and doesn't appear to feature certain comforts and amenities. "Picard" doesn't take audiences into, say, its holodecks, lounges, or mess halls, but it's seemingly more functional than the Enterprise-D of yore. 

Importantly, though, it serves as a central base of operations for the series as a whole. There are rooms where characters can regularly meet to discuss solutions to immediate problems. There is a bridge where characters can survey the show's drama. Just by being on a starship, "Picard" is more Trek than it has ever been.

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‘star trek: picard’ showrunner says goal was to make “best ‘next gen’ movie we never got to see”.

Terry Matalas dives deep into the season three premiere and reveals the emotional conversations he had with the cast of the '90s show to sign them up for one final voyage.

By Phil Pirrello

Phil Pirrello

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Thanks to the third season of Star Trek: Picard , good things continue to happen in threes for the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew.

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The former co-creator of SYFY’s 12 Monkeys and his team reached back into what Piller did with Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D, while also deepening the characters and their relationships in ways that fans have never seen before. And, in the process, pulled off one of the biggest creative turnarounds in recent TV history. 

The first two seasons of the popular series — which centers on Sir Patrick Stewart’s now-retired iconic sci-fi hero, Jean-Luc Picard — proved to be a mixed and somewhat underwhelming affair for Trekkers. Picard didn’t so much “boldly go where no one has gone before” as he played space pirate-ish and spent a lot of time terrestrial-bound. Matalas, a lifelong Star Trek fan and former Star Trek: Voyager PA, was driven to make the third and what’s billed as the final season of Star Trek: Picard feel like one worthy of the title.

“It was important to me to give these characters and the fans an adventure that felt not only like Star Trek , but also like the best Next Gen movie we never got to see. That they deserved to have,” Matalas tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview prior to the Feb. 16 season three premiere, “The Next Generation.” 

Matalas and his collaborators looked at the best of the Berman era of TNG , as well as that of the Star Trek feature films starring The Original Series crew, to give Picard’s final mission its biggest stakes yet.

And it always started with Dr. Crusher. 

“I always had this idea to meet her in a way that felt totally unexpected,” Matalas explains. “You’d see [Beverly] sort of waking up, popping into frame, but not being in a traditional Starfleet uniform,” Matalas explains. “She would be on a kind of older, rundown ship — having to grab a phaser rifle and defend her property.”

It was also important to Matalas to show that she’s still a doctor, albeit more of a “Doctors Without Borders”-type. She’s out there on the edge of the Final Frontier, without Starfleet’s protection, determined to help those struggling to help themselves as her oath to “do no harm” is sorely tested. Also tested was Matalas’ budgetary limits when it came to bringing Crusher’s opening phaser rifle battle to life. Much like his counterparts on TNG , he and his VFX crew were very mindful of how much each weapons blast costs to render on screen.

What Matalas also counted on was having to meet with each of the main TNG cast members and pitch his take to give their characters what their final big-screen voyage, 2002’s disappointing Star Trek: Nemesis , could not: A compelling, character-driven sendoff. 

“Beverly was the least explored character in all of the feature films, especially in Nemesis ,” Matalas says. “And certainly [the writers and I] knew what the big overarching story was going to be this season, and it begins with her. So she would be the very first person you see this season.”

But the first person Matalas spoke to was the show’s lead actor. 

“I had to sit down with Patrick, at his dining room table, and take him through the story I had in my head for the season. And I was lucky that he was one hundred percent onboard,” says the showrunner. “And then, one by one, I met with everyone else and, once again, I was lucky enough to have them onboard to help shape this story together.” 

The most emotional story conference occurred between Matalas and LeVar Burton, who plays the once-blind, former chief engineer Geordi LaForge.

“I had this vision of seeing Geordi as a family man. It’s a story that will pay off for him towards the end of the season that I thought was emotional and satisfying,” says Maltas. “And when I got to explaining that part to him, tears were running down his face. And, seeing that, triggered me to do the same exact thing.” 

Burton has spoken about his hurt that Geordi did not have a real love interest in TNG , making this development all the more meaningful for him.

The emotional real estate devoted to everyone from Picard to LaForge gives each member of the cast more dramatic scenes to play than they had during all seven seasons of TNG and the four movies combined. That meant that the creatives and the actors had to be in lockstep with developing the season’s storyline.

“It was important to me that the entire cast feel comfortable and onboard with where their characters were. And where they were taking them,” Matalas says. “I didn’t want any of them doing anything they did not want to do, or did not feel would be right to do, for their character. They’ve been living with their characters for over 35 years, they know their characters better than I ever will. And it was an incredibly satisfying, collaborative experience.”

“I think it was the first thing I said when I sat down to write it was: I cannot wait to take the ship out of Spacedock,” Matalas recalls, mindful of the fact that the TNG crew never had such a moment on the big screen. “I wanted to do it with that sense of wonder [from the original movies], that sense of nautical tradition. Of going out into the Final Frontier on a starship.”

To do so, composer Stephen Barton ( 12 Monkeys ) helped reprise classic Trek melodies from Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner and blend them into his new score. Also key to pulling the sequence off was locking down the design of the new-but-familiar spacedock, which first made its appearance on screen in 1984’s Search for Spock .

“Those poor visual effects artists,” Matalas says with a laugh. “They went through many, many revisions because – it’s not an ILM model. It’s digital. And some considerable time has passed, so Spacedock can’t just look like it used to. But you want to see it in a new way as well, to use it in this 25th Century-set story and honor what came before, so it requires a lot of back and forth but, wow, they did an amazing job.” 

“It was really hard,” Matalas recalls. “Poor Dave Blass must have submitted no less than 600 Shrike designs. I think of Kirk’s Enterprise facing off against the Bird-of-Prey and that those two are perfect rival starships. And so I wanted something that felt kind of equal in size, but was something kind of scary and also something you kind of want on your shelf. Something you wanted to pick up and fly around, and it was important that the ship would have a signature sound that you could make when you picked it up [to play with], the things I would do when I was kid. We just wanted to make the ship feel iconic, have a distinguished design and presence.  We finally got it to that place with this one.”

New episodes of Star Trek: Picard stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

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Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premiere “The Next Generation” Review: The cast of TNG is back… and we’re here for it

Review: Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 1 “The Next Generation”

You probably remember where you were when you heard The Next Generation cast was heading back to television for the final season of Star Trek: Picard . Having this cast together again is a landmark moment in Star Trek history, and now the time has finally arrived. The first episode of Picard season three, “The Next Generation,” kicks off a journey that is sure to be one to remember. So, how does this episode fair in setting audience expectations for this highly anticipated season?

The story begins with a character who was arguably utilized the least among the TNG cast back in the day: Beverly Crusher ( Gates McFadden ). The good doctor finds herself and her mysterious crewmate under attack, and it seems like something she has been dealing with a lot lately. Crusher puts up a decent fight against her alien attackers, but it’s clear she has bitten off more than she can chew. Before escaping the aliens, Crusher sends a distress call to her old friend, Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ), stressing the urgency of the situation, and that he should trust no one, not even Starfleet.

“A point comes in a man’s life when he looks to the past to define himself, not just his future.” “Well, I hope that’s not going to be me. I’m not a man who needs a legacy. I want a new adventure.” – Laris and Picard as the pair are packing up Picard’s mementos.

The retired admiral is busy storing items from his chateau as he and Laris ( Orla Brady ) get ready to travel off Earth together. The romantic pair seem perfectly happy with their life together and what future awaits them, but that all takes a backseat as Picard receives a message on an unexpected device: his old communicator from his time on Enterprise-D . (How lucky is it that the admiral was packing up his items and therefore had his old uniform out and about!) Picard plays the message from Beverly and is super-concerned about her safety, and after talking over the situation with Laris (including the fact that he and Crusher tried to be lovers but couldn’t make it work), he decides to seek help from another old friend: William Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ).

It’s clear the writers and producers for this season weren’t afraid to start this adventure with an on-the-nose metaphor for this outing of Picard and his crew. Harkening back to the good ole days on the Enterprise-D is undoubtedly one of the goals of this season, and how better to start that adventure than receiving a message on the old communicator itself?

The two friends meet in a bar to discuss the situation with Beverly, and in the process, we get the first of a few tongue-in-cheek jokes about how old the two men are and how their adventuring days are mostly behind them. Importantly, we learn Crusher cut herself off from her old Enterprise crewmates for the past 20 years, but no one knows why. But, rescuing their friend is paramount, so the two men devise a plot to travel to Crusher’s last known position in the Ryton System just outside Federation space, which the two men determined by using an old code word Beverly sent along with her message to Picard.

To get there, Riker hooks them up with the successor to his former Luna- class USS Titan , the Titan-A , under the command of Liam Shaw ( Todd Stashwick ) with Seven of Nine ( Jeri Ryan ) serving as First Officer. There is also a familiar name at the helm, Ensign Sidney LaForge ( Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut ), daughter of Geordi LaForge. Seeing the Titan – A isn’t a surprise, as the ship was all over recent trailers, but we can confidently say seeing glory shots of this Neo-Constitution class won’t get old anytime soon.

Riker and Picard come aboard the ship with the excuse of simply inspecting it before the Federation’s annual Frontier Day holiday, a time when Starfleet pumps out its chest and celebrates its fleet; both Riker and Picard are expected to give speeches at this event. But when they ask Shaw to divert to the Ryton System, the off-putting captain shuts them down and makes no effort to hide his disregard for the legendary duo and Admiral Picard specifically. The captain even calls out the admiral’s brief but destructive time as a Borg. Shaw is even disrespectful to Seven, who he requires to be referred to by her human name, Annika Hanson. Clearly, he must have an axe to grind against the Borg.

“How can I inspire when all I do is take shit from someone like Shaw? How am I supposed to ignore my gut, ignore my instincts, just to follow orders?” “If you find that answer, will you let me know? Because I never did.” – Seven and Picard.

With the two men shut down, and after Picard and Riker bring her into the fold, Seven takes matters into her own hands. Disobeying a direct order from Shaw, Seven plots the Titan-A straight to the Ryton System and allows Riker and Picard to travel to Crusher’s ship in a shuttle. Docking their shuttle with Crusher’s ship, the two men find signs of battle, and their friend locked in a medical pod thanks to her injury in the previous battle. Also onboard is a young man ( Ed Speleers ), who initially holds up the older men at gunpoint before revealing himself to be… wait for it… Crusher’s son. Further questions will have to wait, though, as a menacing alien ship shows up and poses threateningly just outside the three men’s viewpoint.  

Besides the plotline of Picard and Riker coming to Crusher’s rescue, Raffaela Musiker ( Michelle Hurd ) is back and on a mission of her own: trying to track who stole a bunch of weapons – including a quantum tunneling device – from Starfleet’s ultra-secure Daystrom space station. We find the Starfleet Intelligence operative on District Six on M’Talas Prime where she is posing as a druggie – no small ask for someone with a history of substance abuse – to help gain information about the thief. From these scenes, we glean that Raffi and Seven broke up in the time since Picard season two, but we aren’t told why.

From her dealer, she gets a tip about something happening with something or someone known as “the Red Lady,” so Raffi begins to search for what that means in relation to the stolen weapons. We also learn Raffi is being handled by someone in Starfleet Intelligence, but who this person is will have to wait. Raffi eventually discovers “the Red Lady” must refer to a statue just outside the soon-to-be dedicated Starfleet recruitment building in nearby District Seven, but she gets there just in time to witness the horrible destruction of the building via the quantum tunneling tech stolen from Daystrom Station.

As an introduction to the season, “The Next Generation” kicks off the piecemeal return of the TNG cast without wasting any time. We are pleased to see Beverly Crusher as an integral part of this plot, as her character was often underutilized in The Next Generation . Her character here offers quite a few questions, like what was she and her supposed son doing out in the middle of nowhere, where it seems like plenty of bad guys are out to get them. Importantly, is this Jack Crusher really Beverly’s son, and who is his father?

While we previously saw Jonathan Frakes as Riker in the memorable Picard episode “ Nepenthe ,” seeing him back in uniform is a joy and in such a prominent role is awesome. Yes, Picard and Riker crack wise about how old they are, and it’s hard to ignore the 30 years that have passed since their first adventures together, but who hasn’t dreamt of seeing this dream team back together again? Intriguingly, this episode also hints at some trouble in paradise, as Riker briefly mentions how he can join his former captain on this journey because his wife and daughter could stand some time away from him, although why exactly is not explained here.

One thing is for sure: this season isn’t interested in immediately bringing back the entire TNG cast for an adventure. Rather, it seems this season’s plot will gradually re-introduce these characters to the audience and bring them together in its own good time. On that front, this season is sure to offer an appealing proverbial carrot on a stick for Star Trek fans until we finally do reach an episode that features the entire cast. If “The Next Generation” is anything to go by, it’ll be a terrific journey, indeed.

Stray Thoughts:

• This episode was written by Picard showrunner Terry Matalas. M’Talas Prime is undoubtedly named after him. This is not the first planet named in honor of the showrunner, as the planet Matalas Prime from Enterprise is also a tribute to him. Matalas was a production associate for all four seasons of Enterprise .
• The recording of Picard’s log we hear in the first minutes of this episode is from TNG ’s “The Best of Both Worlds.” Although why that’s playing on Crusher’s ship at this moment in time is unknown.
• On Crusher’s ship (which is identified as the S.S. Eleos XII on an LCARS display) is an old container belonging to her deceased husband, Jack R. Crusher, as played by Doug Wert in TNG ’s “Family.”
• Eleos was a god who represented mercy and compassion in Greek mythology.
• The aliens who attack Crusher have worse aim than stormtroopers!
• The painting of the Enterprise-D Laris and Picard admire is the same painting seen hanging in Picard’s ready room on TNG .
• Among the mementos from Picard’s past that are displayed on his desk is the Ressikan flute he learned to play in “The Inner Light.”
• To decrypt Beverly’s message, Picard uses the same command code authorization he used in Star Trek: First Contact (Picard-4-7-Alpha-Tango).
• Riker and Picard mention an off-screen adventure they had “back in the old days” on Rigel 7, which is the same planet featured in the Original Series episode “The Cage.”
• In TNG ’s “All Good Things,” the alternate-future Picard asks Geordi about his daughter, Sidney.
• This episode reveals the Titan-A ’s maximum warp is 9.99. Why Picard would remind Seven to tell engineering to prepare for such a high speed is a fairly awkward way to help enforce the notion Picard is out of his element.
• Why wouldn’t Captain Shaw be on the bridge for the Titan – A ’s departure, even if he was “catching up on logs,” as Seven claims?
• Deep Space 4 and Deep Space 11 are referenced during the dinner scene with Seven, Shaw, Riker, and Picard. Deep Space 4 was previously mentioned in TNG ’s “The Chase” and Voyager ’s “The Gift.”
• Raffi asks the computer to display “all big events coming up in the next few months,” and the computer only displays three events?! She didn’t mention any filters, such as the number of attendees or location, so wouldn’t there be many more than three events to display?
• One of the events displayed is the Gratitude Festival, the annual Bajoran holiday mentioned in various Deep Space Nine episodes. Another event displayed is Empire Union Day, a Klingon holiday mentioned in the audiotape Power Klingon , a 1993 audio production that helps the listener speak Klingon. What a deep cut!
• The Red Lady in question turns out to be a statue of Rachel Garrett, the captain of the ill-fated Enterprise-C , as seen in TNG ’s classic episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and played by Tricia O’Neil .
• Also seen on the display when Raffi pulls up imagery of Frontier Day is a Sagan -class Starfleet ship, as introduced in season two of Picard , and a Yorktown -class Starfleet vessel, as introduced in the game Star Trek Online . Based on trailers for this season, that Yorktown­ -class ship may very well be the Enterprise-F .

The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard stars Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard, LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge, Michael Dorn as Worf, Jonathan Frakes as William Riker, Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher, Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, Brent Spiner as Lore, Jeri Ryan as Seven, Michelle Hurd as Raffi, along with Amanda Plummer as Vadic, Todd Stashwick as Captain Liam Shaw and Ed Speleers .

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Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

February 16, 2023 at 1:43 pm

One other interesting ship on that screen that had Enterprise-F

February 17, 2023 at 10:28 am

Why would Shaw just stand there on the bridge, looking angry and helpless, while a mere shuttle flew away? Remember in “Deja Q” when they tried to grab onto the shuttle Q stole with the transporter, a tractor beam and by extending the ship’s shields around it?

Shaw does nothing!

Oh, and I’ve been getting weird vibes from Jonathan Frakes ever since the trailers so I’m calling it now. He’s Thomas, not Will.

After all, there’s got to be some reason for him staying away from his wife and daughter, presumably the people who know him best?

And someone was clearly spying on them in Guinan’s bar.

Richard Garabedian

February 17, 2023 at 11:18 am

The writing is again…terrible…The show has the same tropes as the last 2 seasons. Dark lit rooms, strong woman in distress, but holding her own. Terrible acting, poor dialogue, bad wriitng. Its just plain boring. I cant beleive i fell for the hype again.

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In ‘The Next Generation,’ Picard Works Hard to Justify Its Nostalgia

This review and discussion contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 1, “The Next Generation.”

The issue with the current nostalgia boom isn’t what it remembers. It’s what it forgets.

In its third season premiere, “The Next Generation,” Star Trek: Picard   is saturated with throwbacks and references to things that the audience already knows and recognizes. Before any character appears on screen, the audience hears the playback of (then) Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) log entry from “ The Best of Both Worlds .” Before Picard himself appears on screen, the camera lovingly takes in a version of the famous portrait from the Ready Room on the Enterprise -D.

When Picard accompanies Captain William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) to inspect the Titan , the sequence is framed as a loving homage to one of the most recognizable sequences from Star Trek: The Motion Picture . It is a nostalgic reference so obvious that Lower Decks affectionately spoofed it in its first season episode “ Crisis Point .” When Picard receives a coded message from Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), it’s with his comm badge from The Next Generation , not the version from any of the feature films.

“The Next Generation” is saturated with these references. Picard and Riker arrive on the Titan to find the daughter of their colleague Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut), is serving as navigator. It recalls Generations , where Kirk (William Shatner) and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) arrive on the Enterprise -B to find the daughter of their colleague Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), Demora (Jacqueline Kim), is serving as helmsman.

Even the iconography feels overly familiar. The design of the alien ship menacing the Helios at the end of the episode, and the way that sequence is shot, plays as a less expensive rendering of the confrontation between the Enterprise and the Narada in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek . There are plenty of Easter eggs, with “the Red Lady” revealed to be a statue of the captain of the Enterprise -C, Rachel Garrett (Tricia O’Neil), from “ Yesterday’s Enterprise .”

It all seems calculated to stoke the nostalgia receptors of the audience, to reassure them that they are watching Star Trek , because this is a show populated with items from Star Trek . It looks like Star Trek . It constantly references Star Trek . Closing with Jerry Goldsmith’s end titles theme from First Contact , and liberally peppering familiar Star Trek music into the soundtrack, it even sounds like Star Trek . It must be Star Trek . The show makes a hard sell.

In some ways, it is just as tacky as the branded memorabilia that Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) is peddling through her bar. “Guinan’s hawking souvenirs now?” Riker asks a bartender (Jeni Wang) in disbelief. It’s a candid moment from the show, one every bit as honest as opening the season to “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” by the Ink Spots, a song boasting about how the narrator has “lost all ambition for worldly acclaim” in favor of wanting to be loved.

The first two seasons of Picard had their problems, but it was to their credit that they were at least trying to be their own thing. There was perhaps a little bit too much nostalgia with the return of characters like Data (Brent Spiner) and Q (John de Lancie), not to mention the second season retreading both The Voyage Home and First Contact , but it had its own distinct voice and vibe. It wasn’t well written, but it was trying to say something unique.

Indeed, early publicity for Picard made a point of stressing that it was not going to be a hollow attempt to resurrect The Next Generation . Co-creator Alex Kurtzman noted Stewart was “ uninterested in repeating himself .” By his own admission, Stewart only agreed to the revival when he “ was eventually convinced that (he) would not be stepping back into Next Generation .” Picard was obviously a nostalgia play from the outset, but at least the show tried to be different.

Allowing for the myriad problems with the first two seasons of Picard , there is something disheartening in how eagerly the show shed its own distinct identity in a rush to recapture some faint echo of The Next Generation . By the start of its third season, Picard has jettisoned most of its original characters to make room for returning players: Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), Soji (Isa Briones), Elnor (Evan Evagora), Narek (Harry Treadaway), and Chris Rios (Santiago Cabrera).

With the exception of former Voyager regular Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), the only remaining member of the original Picard ensemble is Raffi (Michelle Hurd), and that seems like a choice driven by plot necessity rather than any affection for the character. Recurring guest character Laris (Orla Brady) does pop up in an early scene in “The Next Generation,” but the purpose of that scene is largely to write her out of the show to make room for returning Next Generation cast members.

“The Next Generation” is shameless in this embrace of nostalgia, to the point that one early scene transition occurs by fading from a painting of the Enterprise -D to a collectable souvenir model of the Enterprise -D, a ship that doesn’t exist anymore and was destroyed at the climax of Generations . “First love is always the sweetest, isn’t it?” Laris asks. Picard replies, “Well, she wasn’t the first. But she was certainly my favorite.” If nothing else, “The Next Generation” communicates that clearly.

There are two strange details in all of this nostalgia. The first is how hard “The Next Generation” works to justify this fetishization of the past. The episode is weirdly defensive about its invocation of the past, as if embarrassed at how shameless it is trying to conjure the ghosts of a television show from three decades ago. A surprising amount of “The Next Generation” is dedicated to arguing that this is really a brave and daring creative choice, if one stops to think about it.

“The Next Generation” tries to present its nostalgic fetish objects as underdogs in need of validation and celebration, as if anybody is likely to forget The Next Generation . At the bar, Riker notices that there is a surplus of one particular model. “Why do you have so many Enterprise -Ds?” he asks. The bartender replies, “Oh, the fat ones? No one wants those.” It’s a joke that tries to position The Next Generation , arguably the most successful Star Trek series, as something underappreciated.

It is, to put it bluntly, a very strange choice. The Next Generation was a pop culture phenomenon. It was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmy Awards . It cast a long shadow, and the Star Trek shows that followed were defined by their relationship to it. Deep Space Nine rebelled against it . Voyager got trapped emulating it . When it came time to end Enterprise , the final episode was a holodeck simulation that played during the Next Generation episode “ The Pegasus .”

“The Next Generation” works hard to justify the nostalgia that drives it, to the point that the early conversation between Picard and Laris feels like it could have been an argument between Stewart and the producers about the need to return to The Next Generation . Pointedly, Picard himself is introduced in “The Next Generation” attempting to declutter, to get rid of the memorabilia that decorates Château Picard, while it’s Laris — a new character — who tries to preserve these elements.

“Jean-Luc, you don’t need to prove to me how ready you are for this, how in the present you are,” Laris tells Picard. “The past matters, and that’s okay.” Picard responds, “Laris, these things from my past. They are so dear to me. They are mementos of dear friends — old and new — but they’re memories.” He makes a valid point. Laris grimly counters, “A point comes in a man’s life when he looks to the past to define himself. Not just his future.” Picard protests, “I want a new adventure.”

There’s something inherently grim in the fact that Laris wins an argument that essentially writes her out of the show and that Picard then ends up with an adventure that is anything but “new.” It’s ultimately just familiar Star Trek iconography stitched together. The degree to which “The Next Generation” attempts to justify these choices suggests it knows how cynical and hollow all of this is. This is the first irony of the nostalgia that drives Star Trek: Picard season 3.

The second irony is that all of this invocation of the past feels weirdly fuzzy and inaccurate. It’s not an actual memory, but a conjured illusion. It’s a simulacrum of The Next Generation , but one blurred at the edges. For example, a key plot point involves Picard and Riker decoding a transmission by reference to the Borg virus that “scrambled (their) navigation” during “The Best of Both Worlds.” Except there was no Borg virus in “The Best of Both Worlds.” Nothing like that was in the episode, despite Riker’s insistence.

It is not quite right . More than that, it is not quite right in a way that is deeply unsettling given how eagerly the show embraces nostalgia. Crusher fires a phaser rifle from the Next Generation movies, but it has ammunition like a shotgun. This is not how those weapons have worked. Then on incapacitating her opponent, she closes in for a kill shot to vaporize the body. This is Beverly Crusher, perhaps the moral conscience of The Next Generation . It feels wrong — a feeling that builds given how insistent it is that this must be The Next Generation .

There is also the fact that none of this captures the actual storytelling of shows like The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine . Late in the episode, Raffi discovers a terrorist plot and arrives in time to witness the destruction of the Starfleet Recruitment Building. However, it doesn’t mean anything. It has no weight. Raffi’s plot hasn’t built properly to the moment, the location isn’t established, and the sequence isn’t treated as the culmination of anything. There’s no humanity to it. The consequences don’t feel tangible. It’s just something that happens.

That attack should be a game changer. It should establish stakes, like the bombing of the Starfleet Embassy on Vulcan at the start of “ The Forge ” in Enterprise , which killed Admiral Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong), or the bombing of the peace conference at the start of “ Homefront ” in Deep Space Nine , which hinges on something as simple as Avery Brooks’ delivery. But “The Next Generation” isn’t interested in this sort of storytelling, even if it’s what made those shows compelling, because it’s not a physical object from The Next Generation .

This is the problem with this sort of nostalgia-driven storytelling, which can often feel like a narrative cargo cult. It chases the recognizable artifacts and the iconography of beloved properties, without ever engaging with the storytelling mechanics that made them so compelling in the first place.

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Set Images From ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3 Hint At A New Ship And More

| September 29, 2021 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 79 comments so far

Earlier this month, production on the second season of Star Trek: Picard wrapped up , and executive producer Akiva Goldsman told TrekMovie that production on season three began the next day. Goldsman also told us that the Q storyline will wrap up with season two, and season three will bring something new.

During these last few weeks, executive producer Terry Matalas has been sharing images from the set. Assuming these images are from season three, we are getting some clues about the future of Star Trek: Picard . Taken as a whole, a few things are revealed.

A Starfleet ship

The main ship for the first season of Star Trek: Picard was La Sirena , the independent freighter operated by Cristóbal Rios. This ship is also featured in the previews for season two , along with some minor changes due to the alternate timeline. But a consistent theme from Matalas’ tweets during September reveals what is clearly a Starfleet vessel from the late 24th century.

Here you can see the helm console for the ship, with Matalas noting the LCARS interface , introduced on  Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Mmm, those old LCARS colors 😍 #StarTrekPicard #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/oajdjhURFG — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) September 17, 2021

Matalas has also revealed a couple of alert displays as well, including one that shows part of the ship’s MSD mostly covered by a warning that the warp drive is offline.

Another day, another Red Alert… #StarTrekPicard #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/4bUpUbz42D — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) September 13, 2021

Figures… #StarTrekPicard #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/xOTea4OfhB — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) September 23, 2021

There’s a hypospray dispenser from sickbay.

Need a refresh for the weekend. Which color hypospray for that? #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/ELPQ9H6AKI — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) September 24, 2021

Captain on the ship

Reflecting on yesterday being the 34th anniversary of  Star Trek: The Next Generation , today series star Sir Patrick Stewart shared a photo from the set, with how it “was a good feeling to both look back on and extraordinary to look around as there I was preparing to spend another day on a Starship.”

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Patrick Stewart (@sirpatstew)

Even an android’s got to eat, presumably. Matalas shared the menu display from Picard’s replicator.

Picard’s replicator… who’s hungry?🙋🏻‍♂️ #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/un5AhfgtOf — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) September 3, 2021

And the ship even has some nice dinnerware. Note the late 24th-century Starfleet emblem and odd futuristic cutlery.

Starfleet Ikea sells these by the dozen. #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/93DhM1FHpK — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) September 28, 2021

Aliens have to eat too; this looks like a Tellarite having lunch.

Here’s to the aliens who lunch. #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/0TjJuvtI3O — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) September 16, 2021

Matalas has also shown how the show is dipping into Trek lore. This includes a Starfleet Boatswain’s whistle , which looks exactly like the one seen used onboard the USS Enterprise-A in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . In this case, it looks like it is being held by someone in a 24th-century Starfleet uniform.

If you know, you know. #StarTrekPicard #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/98nqd1YZ28 — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) September 14, 2021

He also showed off an even deeper cut with a neon sign for Arcanis Lager , with a sign that looked just like the one at a bar on Earth visited by Dr. McCoy in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . Upon closer inspection, the sign is on a brick wall with some flyers like any bar, including one that says “Drink The Galaxy.”

Any #StarTrek fans recognize this fine lager? #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/bPRiz7R8q7 — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) September 16, 2021

Frakes is back, but maybe not Brady

In addition to the clues from Matalas, there are a couple of other bits from some cast and crew about season three. The first comes from actress Orla Brady (Laris), who shared a tweet earlier this month saying she had wrapped her work on season 2. The actress said “…it is time to take off my beloved pointy ears,” and as this tweet was sent after production had already started on season three, it could indicate she will not be returning for the season currently in production.

I have wrapped on #StarTrekPicard season 2 and it is time to take off my beloved pointy ears alas. Not sure I like my own ears anymore… #StarTrek @StarTrek #Laris #cheekyfeckers pic.twitter.com/DJjI43ExdF — Orla Brady (@orla_brady) September 12, 2021

One person who appears to be returning in season three is Jonathan Frakes—as a director. Frakes directed episodes in both season one and two, and earlier this month, cinematographer Crescenzo Notarile shared an image of himself with Frakes “connecting our creative minds together in an episode we are about to embark on.”

Me and Actor/Director, Jonathan Frakes, aka, ‘Riker’ (Star Trek), connecting our creative minds together in an episode we are about to embark on together in the dark galaxy… A spontaneous moment while prepping on set… 🖖🏼 pic.twitter.com/wZpIypuxAa — Crescenzo Notarile (@CrescenzoVision) September 18, 2021

Season two of  Star Trek: Picard will arrive on Paramount+ in February 2022. Season three will likely have to wait until 2023.

Find more  Star Trek: Picard  at TrekMovie .

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The new ship is probably the Enterprise G.

What? You think they’ll shy away from the big F?

Dvorak doesn’t give an F.

(Sorry, I had to!)

That would be a first for Star Trek Picard!

There’s no reason it can’t be the E. The D’s short tenure was unusual, and due to its destruction. A 25+ year service time wouldn’t be a stretch.

Personally, I think thematically it would make sense if this was the launching of the Enterprise F, a year after the E was retired. New ship, new crew, and Picard is there for the christening. If Season 3 really is the final season, this could be a way of passing the torch.

Maybe cast some known names for the captain and first officer, and spin it off as its own show in 2024.

Not a bad idea. But if the Excelsior class ships are anything to go by the Enterprise E could still be in service 70 or so years after its commissioning

Funny, your scenario is part of the reason I think that IF there’s an Enterprise, it has to be the Enterprise-E, not a new iteration. The Enterprise is a character, not a mere vessel. Picard had a connection the the E. If he’s just around for a christening or something like that, it’s not a ship he’s connected to. It’s like Kirk on the Enterprise-B. He knew it wasn’t his; it was distant and foreign and he knew it.

Would they have the rights to the E with it only featuring in the movies?

Everything is under one roof. Heck, the E was seen briefly as a model/archive photo in the first season. They can use whatever they want.

They’ve never NOT had the rights to the E. Stop watching Midnight’s Edge.

This stuff has been debunked eons ago. CBS OWNS the property, they can do whatever they want with it. The movies were only licensed by Paramount and since Paramount clearly could burrow anything it wanted from the shows to use in the movies then why on Earth could CBS not used anything it wanted from the movies?? It was always the strangest argument.

And Picard used elements from the TNG films already and of course the first Kelvin movie with the destruction of Romulus. So that’s neither here or there.

That doesn’t work for me, because I don’t want to see the end of the E and the end of Picard at the same time, I would rather the theme be not that “all things end,” but that “life goes on.”

that’s fair. I may also just be clamoring for the E-E once more. It’s my favorite ship and 3 appearances isn’t nearly enough :)

Not possible. As the Enterprise F has not been built yet

I think we saw that boatswain’s whistle in VOY “One Small Step”, too.

Looking at it more closely, that whistle is absurdly overengineered.

“But it looks COOL!” LOL

maybe it’s also a time travel device, like a space ocarina

It’s also a breathalyzer….

It has a manual override that can go offline.

It’s the PocketBuddy that his dad engineered in the first Gremlins movie.

Cool! Now for some set/prop images from “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”….

Yeah and keep in mind these are images for season 3 lol.

It will be nice to get a REAL look at SNW. I suspect we will get some cool surprises when they do show more though.

It’s only a guess that these images are from season 3 because they have been posted recently. However, they could have been taken during the production of season 2. That said, it’s true that SNW is keeping a closer lid on things. It being a new show, I guess they want to keep the surprise a little longer. Also, I don’t think CBS has revealed whether Picard or Strange New Worlds will be released first.

If they truly are heading right into season 3 then it would not be a stretch to basically call the two “seasons” the first half of season 2 and the 2nd half of season 2. And it would be the length of an actual normal TV season.

The two seasons will probably be telling different stories though.

Yeah, I think so too. I was getting quite concerned that Q would be in 20 episodes, complete overkill. Q is best in small doses. But it sounds he will only be in 6 of 10 episodes of season 2. I’m assuming we will never see him again after that. One final curtain call.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he continued to have the occasional cameo in Lower Decks.

The irony is he was only in eight episodes on TNG for seven seasons. I think six is more than enough for one season. ;)

TBH, I want to see MORE Q in future shows, just not de Lancie’s Q. We seen other Q’s of course but always in relation to de Lancie’s. I like to see them just expand the species more in general. Rosario Dawson said she would love to appear on Star Trek as a Q. My god, take her up on her offer before she gets completely swept up into Star Wars for the next five years.

Not only that but it’s likely they’ll air 6-8 months apart, at least.

Perhaps. But if they are being shot back to back there is really no reason we couldn’t see them perhaps 2 months apart. No more than 3. Any longer would mean there are real production issues.

Don’t get your hopes up. Its VERY unlikely we will see season 3 of Picard 2 months after the second season. SNW season 1, LDS season 3 and Prodigy season 2 will all come before season 3 of Picard. They have a tight schedule of shows to follow. Season 3 will probably air in early 2023.

Doesn’t matter. Still will feel like one full season.

Man I remembered how excited I was to see images of LCARS again in season one lol!

It felt like after many many years Star Trek was finally truly back.

From comments on Twitter it looks like Doug Drexler and Mike Okuda are involved in season 3 too!

YAAAY! It’s good to see more of the old guard work on these shows! Okuda is a legend on his own at this point.

Completely agree. I know that the new production crew members also feel the same way about the Okudas and others from Berman Trek. When I went to a production panel for Discovery back in 2018 Fan Expo in Toronto, it was obvious Discovery Graphics Art Director Tim Peel had nothing but abiding reverence for Mike and Denise Okuda and the work they did on TNG, Voyager and Enterprise plus the TNG movies.

It sounds like at least Mike will be back working on the new shows – that is great to hear.

One of the things people complained a lot on Reddit when Discovery came out is that there wasn’t enough influence of designs from the old shows into that show and why some had a harder time getting into it. And before people start typing, it’s not an issue of being different and people just wanted the ‘old stuff’ again, it was the point the show almost felt like it was almost in another universe entirely that was the main issue. It was suppose to be in the same universe of all the other shows but you saw practically no influences from any of them, obviously TOS being the biggest missed opportunity.

But I will say now, that has changed a lot, obviously starting with Picard and they purposely made sure that show felt influenced by TNG as it SHOULD. It still did it’s own thing in some ways but you can feel the TNG era in a lot of the show. And now you have some of the people who directly influenced working on it is a huge positive and looks like we may get more of that in the next few seasons. The Okudas really did shape a lot of that world.

Then of course we got Lower Decks which is a direct love letter to that era in every way in its look and style. You would basically think it’s the same people who created TNG created that show as well it gets the look SO right! Not shocked to learn he was working on that show too as a consultant. Another reason that show got more receptive fanfare. Even if you hate the show itself everyone seems to love it actually looks like Star Trek again and not BSG. ;)

You know I used to do the eyeroll when I heard SOME of what I considered to be ridiculous complaints about Discovery, but the bottom line is – that is the way SOME fans feel. Whether I think their complaints are legit or not, is quite honestly irrelevant.

Kudos to Kurtzman and others at CBSAA and Paramount who listened to some of the fan complaints. It is obvious things are much much better now, especially with 5 shows in production and not just Discovery.

I use to have some of the same complaints as well (as I’m sure you know) BUT none of it ever stopped me from watching the show or believe the utter nonsense that Discovery wasn’t part of the prime universe and all of that. I COMPLETELY understood why people were put off by it, but same time I understood they just wanted to update the look and make it feel modern and fresh. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that (and I was totally on board with it too), but I think they are realizing now you CAN do both. You can certainly modernize the show but still have influences from the other shows as well to at least feel more familiar.

Again, based on what we seen of SNW, that’s ALL most people wanted. And of course we saw a lot of that in Discovery season 2 which felt more influenced to TOS even if you thought the show was still a loser. But the Enterprise actually looked like the Enterprise. Another big reason people now wanted a Pike show. They proved you CAN do TOS in a modern fashion if you actually tried it. ;)

And yes they DO listen fortunately. That’s why Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy and SNW isn’t getting the same complaints that Discovery originally got. Sure complaints for other things lol, but they all generally look and feel like they fit in both the Star Trek universe and their respective timelines at least. I honestly feel if Discovery just did that in the first season, there would’ve been a lot less scorn and they probably could’ve kept it in the 23rd century. But hey, I’m not complaining about the latter. ;)

Btw BSG2003 or BSG1978 haha!! Too funny!!

Can’t wait to see Picard S2 and SNW S1. Too bad SNW has to follow Disco S4. Oh I was at the grocery store in West end Toronto the other day down in Mimico and a couple were standing next to me, one wearing a production stunt crew shirt for SNW and the other looked surprisingly like Ethan Peck, but we were all wearing masks, so I have no idea if it was him or not. I just said to them “good luck on the new show” and they said thanks, can’t wait.

LOL definitely BSG2003. But that was a big complaint about first season from some; it felt too much like that show. Actually I rewatched BSG last year and the design actually looks a lot less advanced and sleeker than DIS looked, I guess mainly the style of the show people were talking about.

It’s great you got to bump into some of the people who works on the show. That was the one great thing about living in L.A. and where for most of my life Star Trek existed although I only had that opportunity twice though. My biggest was meeting Kate Mulgrew and Tim Russ when they were shooting in Santa Monica for Future’s End. Just happened to be in the city that day when they were filming. She was so sweet and amazing of course! And Russ was super funny. It was surreal to be on a Star Trek ‘set’ although it was location shooting in the most boring way since it was shot in present day.

The other time was running into Scott Bakula at a music store in Hollywood; maybe a mile away from Paramount studios. This was the first year Enterprise was shooting and the show haven’t premiered yet. I only said a few words to him and said I can’t wait to see it. You can tell how excited he was to be on Star Trek and said being a Starfleet captain was the best job he ever had. Also really cool guy!

That is so awesome about meeting Mulgrew and Russ and I hear Bakula was really proud of the work they all did on Enterprise. That is so great you got a chance to run into these guys down in SoCal. Here’s hoping that the pandemic goes away soon and there are alot more Trek sightings around your city and mine in the coming months and years.

As for BSG2003, even though it was too dark, I still liked the show but it could have lightened up a bit. As for the Glen A Larson BSG, too funny. And Galactica 1980 with Kent McCord from Adam 12 was so brutal haha. I must sadly admit, I did like the last episode they did with Boomer and Starbuck haha!!

Oh yeah great memories! I been to a few L.A. Trek conventions too where I first saw Mulgrew along with Shatner and Stewart at the same one. Voyager was in it’s second season then. So I’ve met all of the Captains before minus Avery Brooks. But its always great to meet just by chance and feels more personal. Maybe I can meet some in Picard which is crazy because several of the outdoor locations they been shooting at has been about maybe 30 minutes away from where I live like where Starfleet Headquarters was in season one.

You should have a lot more luck with more Trek shows now being shot in Toronto!

I’ve never seen the original BSG, but watched the new one 3 times now. But yeah it’s dark! I always describe it as if DS9 and VOY made a very dysfunctional baby. It’s a really great show and it proved how versatile Moore is as a writer. But it’s still not Star Trek. ;)

I STILL wish he could write for any of the new Trek shows, but it would now be a huge step down for him because he currently has many shows he created or developing on his own and a showrunner for most of them I think.

When you get a chance, just for historical tv sci-fi sake, check out the pilot of BSG1978. It was ABC’s answer to Star Wars haha. Although the acting was pretty campy, the story was pretty simple and the FX and production values look arcahaic 40 plus years later, they spent a lot of money on it and for the late 1970s, the visual effects were pretty good. John Dykstra (Star Wars) headed up the BSG visual effects department. IMO the best thing going for it was the opening theme song – which the remake used on occasion.

What is funny – IMO the TOS’ FX, even though it was made 10 years earlier, stood up pretty well compared to the high budget of BSG.

OK, you have a deal!

I went and checked and looked for it on my 2-3 dozen or so streaming services and I actually found the original show on one of them. It’s a free site here (with commercials) in the states called Tubi! Not sure Canada has it but the entire show is there. I’ll definitely watch the pilot in the next few days and let you know my thoughts! If I like it enough I may keep watching.

Meanwhile, enjoy this mash-up video as a thank you sir!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk5UKoWff-o

Have to admit, the music is pretty cool at least!

Haha that is great, thanks for giving me a good laugh on my lunch break. Don’t spend too much time on BSG1978 – it lasted only one season for a reason!! But it was something for teenagers to watch between Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back.

You will probably find it fun to see how the original incarnations of Adama, Apollo and Starbuck differed from Moore’s 21st century remake.

OK, I’ll just focus on the pilot. Let you know my thoughts after I watch it!

And that’s pretty amazing when you consider that Drexler has been part of the franchise since he wrote an issue of the Gold Key comics line in the 1970s!

They could make SO much money semi-mass producing those items. 30 years of TNG and they still can’t figure out they’d make a killing selling LED interactive LCARS panels to people.

I’ve always thought LCARS looked great on a small TV screen, but were a ridiculous waste of screen real estate in any real-world application.

I reckon the ship is the Stargazer in some form of flashback / time travel plot line. The mix of TNG and ST:VI motifs would fit in to that time period.

Perhaps they did find a spot for James McAvoy after all.

Exactly what I’ve been thinking!

Stargazer had the computer graphics used at the end of ST4 on the Enterprise-A, and in 5, 6 and Enterprise-B in Generations.

I may be mistaken but this could be yet another step back to more classic Star Trek. If I were them I’d use S2 to retcon S1 as an alternate timeline, one that had already been changed by whatever created that fascist reality in the trailers. Not entirely yet but noticably…

Picard constantly seemed to feel that something was wrong with Starfleet in S1. Maybe it’s because some changed had already been in place but yet not all of them. When the darkness becomes fully tangible, he eventually realizes that time has been broken and Q comes in…

I hope that by the end of S2, we will see a version of 2400 that doesn’t have Starfleet officers living in trailers, androids treated like cattle and elderly Admirals cuzzing… The entire timelines event could easily restore our vision of the future…

I really like your idea Garth, let’s hope it comes true.

I regret that it’s more likely going to double down and prove that an alternate future would have been worse.

Even though Picard season one REALLY disappointed me, I said it many times I wasn’t really bothered that the universe was changed or ‘darker’. For me, it just felt realistic GIVEN how much had changed in the universe since TNG had went off the air and DS9 gave it a more darker (but yet still optimistic) feel. Sure it was more cynical but given what had happened it from the Dominion War to Romulus, understandable.

Now THAT said, I just did a rewatch all of Picard for the first time since it went off the air a few days ago. And after watching SO MUCH Trek in the last few months including all the 24th century shows again I will admit I missed the more positive vibe from the earlier shows. Again NONE of them presented the universe as some amazing place to live, but certainly a more uplifting one if you lived in the Federation at least. Picard didn’t imply that Federation didn’t exist anymore, but the characters we followed were more broken themselves which presented a more cynical view overall. Judging by what we have seen so far in season 2, I don’t think it’s going to be any different unfortunately and maybe even worse given the premise. But yes HOPEFULLY when they over come the dystopia future, things will feel a little more like Star Trek again.

I’m always the guy who says I want to see something different , and I truly do! I love TNG, love it to my bones. My grand rewatch reaffirmed that in so many ways but I never had an issue of showing a less positive view of the Federation which is why TNG is my second favorite show and DS9 is my first. ;) I like seeing different versions of the Federation and the universe in general, which is why I wanted a show to go forward again and why I was so excited to see Discovery in a very different Federation in the 32nd century.

But yes, the show could be a little more aspirational and optimistic again. I know that was a big issue many fans had against Picard (and just being a REALLY awful and half baked story line as the biggest issue overall) so hopefully we will get more of that by season 3 at least if season 2 is going down a darker path as implied.

Judging by what I see online that’s what a lot of fans want again and one of the biggest disappointments with the show.

Yeah, well… the muddled, half-baked plot I would have stomached a lot better if it had been served in a different manner. The final episode was a lot brighter, more Trek-like… with a TOS-ish planet and TOS-ish “less-is-more”-type androids. But everything up to the “mass effect suicide” on that admonition planet was so dire…

But I’m afraid you’re right. The superdark timeline may be the result of trying to change the not-so-dark timeline… That may be the lesson. But I hope you’re wrong…

The F-bombs were great.

I’ll never not be bemused by how people were so offended by a woman swearing on a television show – but they were totally fine when a male character did the same…

It’s got NOTHING to do with the Admiral being a woman. It’s got everything to do with her RANK, POSITION and AGE that makes me feel so sad about that. Admiral, someone to be ADMIRED, in the most noble organisation ever founded, talking down to this universes’ most respectable character like that…

I didn’t mind Tilly’s f-bomb at all. She’s a woman too, but it was dropped out of joy and excitement, by a much younger, more unexperienced person.

I was thinking the same. The chair in this picture ( https://twitter.com/TerryMatalas/status/1438899121293717516/photo/1 ) almost looks like it’s from TOS. The graphics are obviously more modern.

The replicator LCARS shows some influence from the NX-01 LCARS. Cool.

Thank you for sharing these. For the two of us netizens who don’t use Twitter we thank you.

These images are great!

Seeing LCARS made me want to let out a nerdy squeal.

I think from the pictures it looks like Starfleet and the Federation probably gave Jean-Luc Picard back his commission, which is what he wanted in the first season anyways. And now that he’s in that Golem body he doesn’t have that disease that was preventing Starfleet from letting him go into space. So, after saving the Earth and all of time from destruction once again, Starfleet probably feels that Jean-Luc Picard still has a lot left to offer and they owe him one. They’re gonna do for Picard now what was done with Captain Kirk after he saved the Earth too back in Star Trek IV and that was to give him back a starship.

But because Strange New Worlds is coming out before Picard season 3 does and ViacomCBS does not like to cause brand confusion and seeing as the Enterprise will be the major focus of SNW, I don’t think this ship will be the Enterprise. I believe all that Starfleet stuff is from the USS Verity which was introduced in the Picard: Countdown comic BUT never introduced on screen. And according to ViacomCBS, the Picard comic is canon and we have yet to see her on screen so it makes sense to finally introduce her on screen in what is probably the final season of Picard. If Picard has his commission back, then he’s probably an Admiral again.

And we’ve never seen Admiral Picard on the Verity before on Picard. We’ve only seen and read about that in the comic and the novel. So my first guess is these pictures are from the Verity. Plus, Sir Patrick Stewart originally asked for Picard to be on a different ship other than the Enterprise when he was first pitched this show.

So that’s why I really think this stuff is from the Verity. My second guess is the ship that Riker showed up in to save Picard from the Romulans in the first season finale of Picard. Riker did say that there was a whole brand new fleet of that kind of ship that Starfleet just had built so it is possible, if Picard got his commission, that maybe he’s stationed on one of those ships? Or maybe these pictures are from the Titan?

They introduced her in Lower Decks in animated form perhaps that was setting the stage for her eventual live-action debut. I can’t wait to see what ship it is! I really think it’s the Verity🤞! Live long and prosper 🖖.

The prop people have no clue about grams. Huge portions!

Okudagrams!

Shouldn’t the light through Vulcanoid ears be green?

I was getting excited then reminded myself how abhorrent the writing was in Season 1 and how bad Season 2 looks already.

I really hope that ship looks less like a bad fan art riff on a ship from a Destiny 2 cutscene than the first one.

Could it be the Enterprise -F – with Captain LaForge, Captain Worf, or if as some speculate it is the very end of Picard, it could end with Captain Wesley Crusher – which would be awesome, since Wesley was created by Gene to represent himself (Wesley being Roddenberry’s middle name)

If they were doing fanservice i could see the Enterprise E and them going back to the First Contact movie with the time travel. But i doubt that will happen.

Yea, bring the new Enterprise and place the TNG – Crew in there!!! And let Q slip his fingers to bring back Data or B-4 with Datas mind..

Since they are upgrading all ships we know (like the enterprise in discovery) and the Enterprise E in this show would look very different to what we know, it would look like a later Enterprise anyway.. so let them put an F on it.

Old refit of a refit of an Oberth-class scout.

Star Trek: Picard's Latest Season 3 Trailer Features A Familiar Ship, But It's Not The Enterprise

We also get more footage of the TNG crew!

Star Trek: Picard ’s final season is sure to be an exciting one, as the cast of The Next Generation reunites for what might be their final on-screen adventure together. So far, we’ve seen updated looks for characters like Worf, Beverly Crusher, and Geordi La Forge, and learned some details about what’s to come in Season 3. Now, thanks to the new trailer released in celebration of Star Trek Day, we have our first look at a familiar ship the crew will use for their journey, though it won't be the Enterprise as one might expect. 

The trailer moment in question shows Patrick Stewart ’s Jean-Luc Picard and Jonathan Frakes ’ Riker pulling up to a magnificent Starship which Riker greets with some enthusiasm. Some might believe that's because it’s a vessel he knows quite well: The USS Titan . 

For those unaware, the Titan was the Federation Luna-class starship that Riker became the captain of following his time on the Enterprise . Riker transferred to the craft alongside his wife and TNG crew member, Counselor Deanna Troi. The ship itself was mentioned in Star Trek Nemesis , and was featured in Lower Decks when Boimler briefly transferred to a position under Riker’s command. 

With all of that being said, this is not the same Titan mentioned in those works. Picard co-showrunner Terry Matalas clarified during Star Trek Day's red carpet that this is the USS Titan-A . The ship may look similar, but is actually another one entirely and designated as a Neo-Constitution or New-Constitution class ship (via TrekCore.com ). Take a look at this ship below, which the crew will be peddling around in for at least part of Season 3: 

What’s perhaps more interesting about this reveal is that Picard and Riker are welcomed aboard by a Commander who's already on the ship, Seven of Nine. Star Trek: Picard previously revealed in Season 2 that Seven joined the Fenris Rangers because Starfleet did not allow her membership when she returned with Voyager originally. It seems like her heroics and works in Season 2 have earned her a Commander rank aboard the Titan . 

For those wondering about the Enterprise , rest assured that we already have confirmation that The Next Generation crew will set foot on it at some point. Granted, co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Terry Matalas haven’t said much more about how it’ll be involved beyond that, so there are still plenty of secrets about Season 3 yet to be revealed. 

Speaking of reveals, it sounds like Picard’s journey starts with a distress message from Beverly Crusher. Bev is armed in the episode, so it looks like whatever situation she’s gotten into is one that has her and potentially many others in danger. Hopefully, Picard and her friends can get to her in time, and together they can all save the day at least one more time. 

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Star Trek: Picard fans will notice many familiar faces in this latest trailer, though quite a few are missing. We learned at the end of Season 2 that many of the main cast were written off to pave the way for the returning TNG actors, so don’t expect to see actors Isa Briones, Alison Pill, or even Orla Brady in the upcoming batch of episodes. Hell, we won’t even see Wil Wheaton reprise his awesome role as a Traveler , but even so, this latest trailer gives hope that there is a great story to be told all the same. If you’re a TNG fan, now would be the time to get that Paramount+ subscription !

Star Trek: Picard will premiere on Paramount+ on Thursday, February 16th. Get ready now by binging both TNG and Picard on the platform, and head to the Star Trek Day website to check out all the other big news.

Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

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• You are not prepared for the final season of Star Trek: Picard

The last season of Picard is truly wild, and while it’s filled with action, it never seems to lose that sense of wonder that makes Star Trek Star Trek.

By Alex Cranz , managing editor and co-host of The Vergecast. She oversaw consumer tech coverage at Gizmodo for five years. Her work has also appeared in the WSJ and Wired.

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After two middling but slowly improving seasons of Star Trek: Picard , the show has returned for one last hurrah — and god damn, was it worth the rest. If you have ever considered yourself a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation (or even, to a lesser extent, Deep Space Nine or Voyager ), then get ready for the love letter coming your way on February 16th.

While this season puts its characters in terrible spots, and there are rumors a few will die by season’s end, this wild ride has a real genuine affection for all the players. It's the absolute most fun I’ve had watching Paramount Plus’ myriad of Star Trek shows. And part of my love of this final season comes from how excited the show is to take some of Star Trek ’s most flawless heroes and find the humanity in them. These characters are messy dumbasses, and it makes the adventure all the better.

Back in Deep Space Nine , Worf, new to the station and struggling with the many conflicting personalities of the crew, speaks fondly of the crew of the Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. “We were like warriors from the ancient sagas,” he says wistfully, “there was nothing we could not do.” Which was true. The crew of TNG fought gods, survived wars, discovered new species, traveled through time, got turned into monsters and back to people again, and occasionally got busy with alien ghosts inhabiting antique candles (you had to be there).

But the problem with TNG was the characters seemed to be without significant flaws. Sure, Picard liked Shakespeare a bit too much, Riker had his love of the trombone, and Troi’s fatal flaw was her love of chocolate. But when put up against other crews, like the Deep Space Nine one (it had a terrorist on the team!) and Voyager (it had multiple terrorists on the team!), the TNG crew felt more sanitized. For many fans, this was the boring crew.

Yet, if you squinted, you could see where the show glossed over what might be some significant character issues. Picard’s love of adventure got him killed multiple times, while Crusher was so sure of herself she’d regularly ignore commands and once even was convinced the universe was the broken one. Riker cracked jokes and put his career first to avoid intimacy, and Geordi LaForge was so obsessed with engineering he fell in love with a hologram. These characters have always had flaws, but they rarely, if ever, drove the action.

Until Star Trek: Picard .

Twenty years after Nemesis , this crew’s last big adventure together, they’ve all returned, and they finally feel like messy humans instead of warriors from the ancient sagas. Picard and Riker race to save Crusher, Worf deals with a new threat to the Federation, and Troi, Geordi and whoever Brent Spiner is playing this time around get caught up in the action too. They all still feel like the characters of TNG — only pried out of the 1990s syndicated space adventure mold and put into the 2020s prestige streaming show mold.

Watching the first six episodes of this season, I kept thinking this was what it must have felt like to be a fan of the original series and finally get great movies like Wrath of Kahn and The Voyage Home . These are still the same characters, played by the same actors, but we’re seeing them in a way the original show never could have allowed. And I don’t just mean that it’s more violent, although Worf does dismember some people. Sometimes the characters make bad decisions in Picard . They mess up. They fight.

But when you worry Picard is starting to feel like a too-edgy sequel, there will be little moments of wonder you can only get in Star Trek . New discoveries. Clever puzzles that get solved. Old villains reappear and feel more menacing thanks to the bigger budget and better special effects of Picard .

Like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, this feels like a proper Star Trek show in a way a lot of live-action Star Trek has failed to. But because these are characters we’ve known since 1987, there’s real emotional weight to these adventures. And some shockingly good acting. Jeri Ryan is back as Seven of Nine, and she continues to steal every scene she’s in by virtue of just being that good, but she’s not carrying the whole show on her back like she sometimes did the last two seasons. Patrick Stewart seems to sometimes doze his way through Picard , but there’s a scene with him and Gates McFadden’s Crusher that will have you sitting up straight — eyes glued to the screen. Michael Dorn and Michelle Hurd both have their own scene-stealing moments as Worf and Raffi, respectively, and in one scene, Brent Spiner reminds us of why he and his characters Data and Lore had such fervent followings in the ’90s. There’s something a little electric as all these characters come together.

There are still four episodes of Star Trek: Picard I haven’t seen, and the show could drop the ball spectacularly. The wildness of this show (you should really make an effort to avoid all spoilers) could veer into absolutely absurd territory. But in these first six episodes, you have a very goofy, very thrilling, and very fun sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Star Trek: Picard airs weekly on Paramount Plus beginning February 16 .

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Star Trek: Picard boss breaks down season 3’s new “hero ship”

By michael east | sep 23, 2022.

The ships of Star Trek have always been central to the franchise. They are more than a simple workplace; they’re a living, breathing environment that fans come to love as much as the crew. The argument will always rage between fans as to which ship is best, and now they’ll be a new contender when Star Trek: Picard returns for its third and final season.

While many may be disappointed not to see the return of the USS Enterprise , showrunner Terry Matalas has revealed that the ship seen in the recent season 3 trailer — the USS Titan-A , designed by Bill Krause — is just as unique.

“So, in the trailer, you see our hero ship of season three. It’s actually a class that’s called, in Starfleet slang, the Neo-Constitution class or Constitution III,” Matalas told Trek Movie . “Let’s say there are a few fan-designed ships that are canonized this season in the fleet.”

The “hero ship” in  Star Trek: Picard  has a history

The original USS Titan was commanded by Captain Riker in events unseen around the time of Star Trek: Nemesis . However, Riker’s time aboard the ship has been covered in spinoff media, most prominently a range of novels from Pocket Books between 2005 and 2017. The vessel has also been featured in Star Trek: Lower Decks , the animated comedy series now in its fourth season.

Matalas explained that the designs for the new Titan were heavily influenced by the older version of the ship. “So, the idea was that after the Luna class’s legacy run with Riker, that ship was damaged and retired. Some of the systems were refit and put into this new Titan, the Titan-A,” he explained.

"You’ll see in the season that in the observation room, we honor the previous Titans that have come before. You’ll see a gold model of the Luna class USS Titan as seen in Lower Decks, which was designed by Sean Tourangeau. And we even see a previous incarnation from the TOS movie era. We’ll see that there was a Titan that was a bit of a Constitution class as well, the original Shangri-La class [designed by Bill Krause]."

The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard looks set to be a treat for fans, with the majority of the original Next Generation cast returning for the final voyages of Captain Picard. Those returning alongside Patrick Stewart include William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), and Worf (Michael Dorn), as well as Picard regular Brent Spiner.

Star Trek: Picard will return for its third season sometime in 2023. Seasons 1 and 2 are available now on Paramount+.

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Screen Rant

11 picard season 3 updates to star trek voyager.

Star Trek: Picard was also the story of Seven of Nine, so it's no surprise that the final season provided updates on the story of Star Trek: Voyager.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 3. As Star Trek: Picard also continued the story of the USS Voyager's former Borg drone, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), it's only natural that Picard season 3 updated the story of Star Trek: Voyager . Picard season 3 finally resolved Seven's difficulties with Starfleet, and also picked up some other plot threads left dangling by the Voyager finale. There were substantial updates on the whereabouts of the USS Voyager and its crew across the ten episodes that made up Star Trek: Picard season 3.

However, showrunner Terry Matalas was keen to include even more references to Star Trek: Voyager , and bring back other characters from the show. While budgetary constraints meant that Matalas was unable to achieve every single one of his dream Voyager cameos, he shouldn't be downhearted. Star Trek: Picard season 3 served as a fitting tribute to the legacy of Voyager and Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). Here's every way that Star Trek: Picard season 3 updated the story of Voyager , including those elements Matalas was unable to include.

RELATED: Picard Finale's Cut Star Trek Characters Revealed By Showrunner

11 Seven Of Nine Is Captain Of The Enterprise

Seven of Nine faced many barriers to her entry into Starfleet after the USS Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant. The refusal to allow Seven into the organization was almost enough for Admiral Kathryn Janeway to resign her commission. Finally, Star Trek: Picard season 3 saw Seven of Nine assume the role of Commander of the USS Titan-A, serving under Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick). Despite his gruff exterior, Shaw saw the considerable promise in Seven, and recommended her for the captain's chair. Seven was duly promoted after her heroic role in averting the Borg-Changeling plot to destroy Starfleet, finally assuming command of the USS Enterprise-G a year later.

10 Tuvok Has Been Promoted - And Was Impersonated By A Changeling

Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 7, "Dominion" revealed that Star Trek: Voyager 's Tuvok (Tim Russ) had been promoted from Lt. Cmdr to Captain in the years after Voyager's return. Worryingly, it also revealed that Tuvok had been captured as part of the Changeling plot to infiltrate Starfleet. Thankfully, the Picard finale revealed that Tuvok survived his ordeal, and arrived aboard the USS Titan-A to personally deliver Captain Shaw's recommendation of Seven for promotion. It was a touching moment for both Voyager characters, who had formed a strong bond during their travels in the Delta Quadrant.

9 Admiral Janeway Almost Destroyed The Borg

In the Star Trek: Voyager finale, Admiral Janeway aided her past self and the crew of the USS Voyager in returning to the Alpha Quadrant. The future Janeway used a neurolytic pathogen that spread throughout the Borg Collective when she allowed herself to be assimilated by the Borg Queen (Alice Krige). Janeway's devastating attack left the Borg in the weakened state that allowed Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D to deal the final blow against the ravaged Collective. However, Janeway's poisoning of the Borg Collective also forced the Queen to pursue the Borg evolution in Star Trek: Picard season 3 .

8 The USS Voyager Is On Display At Picard's Starfleet Museum

As the first Starfleet vessel to chart the Delta Quadrant, the USS Voyager had more than earned its place in the Athan Prime Fleet Museum. Visiting the museum to seek the help of Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), the crew of the USS Titan-A hid among some of Starfleet's most legendary starships. Taking Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) on a tour of the museum from the confines of the Titan's bridge, Seven delivered a rousing tribute to the ship she once called home, noting that she " was reborn there ". Seven also kept a silver model of the starship in her quarters, as a reminder of home.

RELATED: Every Star Trek Ship In Picard’s Starfleet Museum

7 Voyager's Hirogen Made It To The Alpha Quadrant

One of the new alien species that the USS Voyager encountered in the Delta Quadrant were the Hirogen, a nomadic species that purely lived for the hunt. In Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 4, "No Win Scenario", it was revealed that Jean-Luc Picard faced off against a Hirogen while he was in command of the USS Enterprise-E. Star Trek: Voyager established that the Hirogens' communications relay did spread out to the edges of Federation space, so their encounter with Starfleet was inevitable. Thanks to the quick thinking of Lt. Cmdr. Worf (Michael Dorn), Picard was able to turn the hunter into the hunted, with a classic deadfall trap.

6 Nobody In Star Trek: Picard Can Contact Admiral Janeway

As the extent of the Changeling infiltration of Starfleet became frighteningly apparent, Commander Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes), Picard and Seven all made unsuccessful attempts to reach Admiral Kathryn Janeway. Although this opened the frightening possibility that Admiral Janeway was a Changeling , Star Trek: Picard didn't confirm this one way or another. One possibility for the lack of contact with Janeway was that the Changeling infiltrators were simply blocking all communications with senior figures within Starfleet Command. This would allow them to carry out their plot to cede Borg DNA in every Starfleet officer who had used a transporter.

If Terry Matalas had been allowed to bring back Janeway as he had wished, there may have been a more definitive answer for her whereabouts. Matalas had hoped Kate Mulgrew would be able to reprise her role as Janeway for the scene where Seven is promoted to Captain. Unfortunately, budgetary and time constraints meant that many of Matalas' desired cameos were left in the initial script drafts.

5 Picard's Ten Forward Hologram Adapts A Voyager Holodeck Idea

Star Trek: Voyager season 1, episode 3, "Parallax" established that the holodeck wasn't compatible with other ship's systems. It was a real-world solution to a potential plot hole that would emerge should the stranded crew be seen to waste valuable energy on the holodeck. Star Trek: Picard built on this idea in season 3, when Jean-Luc Picard's holodeck recreation of Ten Forward is used as a sanctuary for the crew while the Titan sinks into a gravity well. While the situation is bleak, Jack Crusher observes the benefits of the holodeck by wryly stating: " Everyone crams in here pretending it’s some sort of tropical paradise while the ship implodes around them. ” Jack's observation is also a nod to the Paxau Resort, Neelix's tropical Talaxian holoprogram from Star Trek: Voyager

4 Star Trek: Picard Revisits Tuvok And Seven's Kal-Toh Games

As part of Seven's test of whether Tuvok is a Changeling, she asks him about the Vulcan game Kal-toh, which the two played together during Star Trek: Voyager . Tuvok's admission of losing to Seven is what initially convinces her that he may be who he says he is. Thankfully, the Tuvok Changeling fails Seven's second test. It's not the only reference to the Vulcan game, as a Kal-toh board is seen in the quarters of Ensign Foster (Chad Lindberg), who is also replaced by a Changeling in Star Trek: Picard season 3 . In retrospect, the inclusion of the Kal-toh game in Foster's quarters is a neat piece of foreshadowing for Tuvok's own Changeling impersonator.

3 Jack Crusher Is Poisoned By Voyager's Verterium Gas

While attempting to undo the sabotage committed by Ensign Foster, Jack Crusher was exposed to, and poisoned by the potentailly fatal verterium gas. During the 24th century, verterium gas was used by Intrepid-class starships, like the USS Voyager, to insulate their warp coils. In the 25th century, verterium gas serves a similar purpose aboard the Constitution III-class USS Titan-A, but also worked against the ship and its crew. - When Ensign Foster's Changeling vented verterium into the vacuum of space, he allowed Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer) to track the Titan through the Ryton nebula.

2 Starfleet Now Has A Voyager-B

In the very first episode of Star Trek: Picard season 3, Commander Rafaela Musiker (Michelle Hurd) consulted Starfleet Intelligence on upcoming events. In the top left-hand corner of her screen is an image of a starship which is tagged as the Voyager-B. The season 1 finale of Star Trek: Prodigy teased a Voyager return, so it's possible that Janeway and her young charges could find themselves aboard the Voyager-A in season 2. With that ship presumably decommissioned by the time of Star Trek: Picard season 3, Starfleet is preparing to launch the next starship to continue Janeway's legacy.

1 Harry Kim Could Have Got A Promotion In Star Trek: Picard Season 3

Terry Matalas revealed that he had hoped for Garrett Wang to reprise the role of Ensign Harry Kim for Star Trek: Picard season 3. In reference to the fact that Harry Kim never got promoted , Matalas had conceived of the character finally reaching the position of Captain. He wouldn't say anything further, suggesting that the Picard showrunner has plans for Captain Harry Kim to appear in his proposed Star Trek: Legacy series. If Matalas' Trek show gets the green light then Admiral Janeway, Captains Kim, Tuvok, and Seven will finally be able to continue the story of Star Trek: Voyager into the 25th century.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 is available to stream on Paramount+.

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Discovery Season 5 Episode 5 Easter Eggs Reveal the Fate of a Classic Star Trek Ship

From the Mirror Universe and the ISS Enterprise to a big reveal about the Breen, Discovery season 5 just referenced a a huge swath of the Star Trek timeline.

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This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers.

As both a prequel and sequel to various versions of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Discovery often includes unexpected easter eggs and references to the entire saga. The latest episode, “Mirrors,” is no exception, as it brings back a famous Star Trek ship, as well as answers questions about a mysterious alien species, which has been around since the 1990s.

From references to the goatee version of Spock, to some deep-cuts from Deep Space Nine , and even a tribble joke, Discovery ’s easter eggs in season 5, episode 5 aren’t messing around. Here are the best references and how these shout-outs solve a few mysteries, while suggesting a possible future development for the next Star Trek show.

“Classic Work on Kellerun”

Early in the episode, Rayner and Burnham talk about which stories are considered classics on the planet Kellerun. Rayner is a member of the Kellerun species, which were established in the DS9 episode “Armageddon Game.” We actually know very little about the Kellerun species, so Discovery is inventing new canon here, rather than referencing anything from previous Trek shows.

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Wormhole and the Burn

The wormhole that Book and Burnham have to enter is unstable, which describes most wormholes featured in Star Trek . But, in this case, it’s suggested that the matter/anti-matter reactions in this wormhole were caused by the Burn.

The Burn was that galaxy-changing event in the backstory of Discovery season 3, when, in 3069, every warp core in the galaxy detonated. Warp cores use matter/antimatter reactions to do their thing.

ISS Enterprise 

Inside the wormhole, Book and Burnham encounter the ISS Enterprise , and Book says right away “ISS, that’s Mirror Universe.” When he says this we hear the Mirror Universe music from Discovery season 1.

The existence of the ISS Enterprise in this episode is a massive easter egg, which contains various other smaller easter eggs. These include the following:

• The ISS Enterprise was last seen, in-canon, in the TOS episode “Mirror, Mirror.” So, chronologically, in both our world, and the Trek timeline, this is its second appearance. 
• The bridge and sickbay of the ISS Enterprise are just the sets from the Strange New Worlds version of the Enterprise . Discovery season 5 filmed in between SNW seasons.
• Several versions of the Terran Empire logo are seen throughout the ship. These match with the Terran Empire logo from Discovery season 1 and season 3, and differ from the logo from The Original Series . 
• Does the redesign make sense in terms of the timeline? Well, Akiva Goldsman has suggested that on some level, the visual canon of Strange New Worlds relative to The Original Series isn’t the true canon. In 2023, he said that the aesthetic choices of the more modern Strange New Worlds don’t change the story as seen on TOS , but it doesn’t mean modern Star Trek will ever reveal a rubber-suited Gorn. “You will never see the Gorn like that…This is the Gorn as we perceive them,” Goldsman said. So, analogously, Discovery didn’t need to make the TOS Mirror Enterprise like the retro 1960s version. Plus, who knows what the Terran Empire did in between “Mirror, Mirror” and the moment this crew escaped? 

Mirror Spock 

Burnham mentions that the science station on the Enterprise was “my brother’s station.” This, of course, refers to Spock, who, in this universe, did, briefly, work at this exact station. Burnham says, “I’m sure he was just as ruthless as the rest though,” which, as we know, is not true. Mirror Spock spared Prime Kirk in “Mirror, Mirror,” and then became the leader of the entire empire.

In fact, when Book reads the story of this version of the Enterprise , he says, “The Terran High Chancellor was killed for trying to make reforms.” In the Deep Space Nine episode “Crossover,” we learned that the leader of the Terran Empire was Spock. And that Spock trying to reform the Terran Empire led to Earth being taken over in the 24th Century by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. 

So, the episode references Spock, twice, without actually naming him, and the second time, neither Book nor Burnham even knows that Mirror Spock was a low-key hero.

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Saru and the Mirror Universe From Discovery Season 3

Book mentions that the crew of the ISS Enterprise escaped with the help of a “Kelpien slave turned rebel leader.” This seems to reference the events of “Terra Firma Part 2,” from Discovery season 3. In that episode, Georgiou went back into the Mirror Universe and created a kind of pocket timeline in which she died at a different time, and Saru was freed to become a rebel leader. At the time, it wasn’t clear if this changed the timeline of the Mirror Universe — or the timeline of Discovery season 1 — but the mention of a Mirror Saru who is a rebel suggests that some version of that timeline might have occurred after all.

The Breen Revealed!

First mentioned in The Next Generation , the Breen eventually appeared in person in the 1995 Deep Space Nine episode “Indiscretion.” But, from that point, until now, they’ve only appeared inside their suits, and under those helmets. There’s been a ton of speculation for decades about what the Breen look like under their helmets, and now, we’ve finally seen the answer. 

In “Mirrors” — during the flashbacks that explains Moll and L’ak’s relationship — we finally see that the Breen have not one face, but two . Apparently, one face exists under their helmet, while another, more stable face can emerge when they have their helmets off. This seems to suggest that the Breen hiding their faces has more to do with a cultural tradition than any environmental requirement. Moll has been running around without a helmet this entire season, and apparently, that’s what a Breen can look like, too.

Smuggling Tribbles

In one of the flashbacks, Moll jokes about making sure she “didn’t smuggle any tribbles on board.” This seems to suggest that yes, even in the 32nd Century , tribbles are still possibly hazardous, because they breed so quickly, and overrun spaceships and space stations. Famously, the tribbles first appeared in the TOS classic, “The Trouble With Tribbles.” Though, in Picard season 3, we did see a genetically engineered “attack tribble” with vicious teeth, stored away in a Section 31 black ops lab. It’s possible this “attack tribble” was created during the Dominion War, which means, it might have been designed to fight the Breen, who were Dominion allies back then.

As Book is navigating the ISS Enterprise out of the wormhole, he says, “Should we hit it?” Book has no idea that “hit it” was Pike’s catchphrase to send a ship into warp. Burnham smiles sheepishly and responds, “Feels weird. Let’s just fly.” She feels weird because she doesn’t want to steal Pike’s catchphrase, and so she uses her own catchphrase, “let’s fly,” instead.

The ISS Enterprise in the Prime Universe 

The episode ends with the ISS Enterprise being fully intact in the Prime Universe. We’re told that Detmer and Owo are flying the ship back to Federation HQ on their own. Scotty was able to fly the classic Enterprise with just himself and Sulu in The Search for Spock , so we have to assume that Detmer and Owo have done something similar. We don’t know if a new, 32nd Century Enterprise exists in this era of Star Trek , but as of now, Discovery just brought a classic version of the ship into the future. 

Because the upcoming Starfleet Academy series is set in the 32nd Century, it feels possible that Discovery just created a way for the students of future Starfleet to hang out on the bridge of the classic Enterprise — again!

Ryan Britt is a longtime contributor to Den of Geek! He is also the author of three non-fiction books: the Star Trek pop history book PHASERS…

Star Trek Has Finally Revealed the Evil Enterprise's Weird Fate

Watch out for any goatees.

Today, everyone knows what a multiverse is. But back in 1967, parallel universe stories weren’t nearly as common as they are now, even within the sci-fi genre. A classic Star Trek episode, Jerome Bixby’s “Mirror, Mirror,” helped popularize the alternate universe trope, complete with meaner versions of yourself who may rock an evil little goatee like Mirror Spock.

Star Trek’s Mirror Universe also gave us an alternate version of the USS Enterprise in the ISS Enterprise , a ship that served the Imperial Terran Empire, not the United Federation of Planets. Now, in the Discovery Season 5 episode “Mirrors,” the evil ISS Enterprise is back... as a force for good. Here’s what it all means. Spoilers ahead.

The ISS Enterprise returns

Captain Burnham watches the ISS Enterprise warp to Federation HQ.

While pursuing the thieves Moll and L’ak, Book and Burnham take a shuttlecraft into an unstable wormhole and discover the floating, pseudo-derelict ISS Enterprise . One of the clues to the Progenitor’s tech has been hidden on it, but for Burnham, it’s kind of like a bizzaro universe homecoming. Burnham spent a decent amount of time in the Mirror Universe in Discovery Season 1 , and in Season 2 she found herself on the Enterprise with her brother Spock just before jumping from the 23rd century to the 32nd century.

In “Mirrors,” Burnham notes that “crossing between universes has been impossible for centuries,” which means the ISS Enterprise must have crossed over into the Prime Universe well before the 32nd century. Burnham is referencing the events of Discovery Season 3, when we learned that Philippa Georgiou, a resident of the Mirror Universe, couldn’t go back to her home universe because those dimensions had drifted apart. But the ISS Enterprise , which was previously captained by an evil Kirk, crossed over into the Prime Universe well before that moment, and Discovery has now added details connecting The Original Series, Deep Space Nine , and Discovery Season 3.

How evil Spock became good

Spock talking with Kirk in “Mirror, Mirror.”

In the Deep Space Nine episode “Crossover” we learn that after Kirk talked to Mirror Spock and encouraged him to try making the Terran Empire a peaceful power, Mirror Spock did just that. But as Mirror Kira explained, Mirror Spock’s idealism didn’t work out the way he’d hoped:

“Spock rose to Commander in Chief of the Empire by preaching reforms, disarmament, peace. It was quite a remarkable turnabout for his people. Unfortunately for them, when Spock had completed all these reforms, his empire was no longer in any position to defend itself against us [the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance].”

Discovery appears to be referencing this exact event, even if Spock isn’t named outright. When Book learns the ISS Enterprise became a refugee ship for people who’d turned against the Empire, he says, “The Terran High Chancellor was killed for trying to make reforms.”

This likely references Spock, but adds the twist that he was perhaps betrayed by other people within the Terran Empire, even if Earth adopted his reforms. Now, by the end of “Mirrors,” the 23rd-century ISS Enterprise has been moved to the Prime Universe and the 32nd century. It’s an antique by modern standards, but it’s a contemporary of the USS Discovery, so it’s still serviceable. This means that by the end of Discovery Season 5 there will still be a version of the classic Enterprise floating around Federation headquarters, so when the Starfleet Academy series debuts, 32nd-century Starfleet cadets will have access to the classic version of the most famous Enterprise. It may technically be an evil twin, but its historic adventures aren’t over just yet.

Star Trek: Discovery and The Original Series stream on Paramount+.

• Science Fiction

John de Lancie doesn't think it was expected that season three of Star Trek: Picard would be so well-received

P roducing a television (or streaming) series is a gamble. There's no way to know if the show will be liked enough or watched enough to continue. The chance of cancellation always looms over practically every series (unless it's NCIS or Law and Order: SVU). Star Trek: Picard was always meant to be a three-season series so the producers knew the show was wrapping no matter how well received the final chapter would be. But, according to John de Lancie , in an interview he gave Trekmovie, [ via Comicbook ] he didn't think anyone expected season three to be as good as it was. So, obviously, the fan clamor for a spin-off must have come as a surprise as well.

The way de Lancie describes it, the powers-that-be had already decided on what the next series would be—Starfleet Academy. So there was no opening for Star Trek: Legacy.

"I don’t think that they expected that Season 3 was going to be as good and as well-received. They had already decided on another show. They were already moving in another direction. But it was certainly a really valiant and well-appreciated finale to The Next Generation.”John de Lancie

I find it hard to believe that the producers and the studio wouldn't have known how successful the final season of Picard would be since they were bringing back practically everyone from Star Trek: The Next Generation. That series has maintained its fanbase over the years, and seeing them all together again onscreen was a big draw. It was akin to announcing another movie with the cast. Had season three of Picard unfolded on the big screen, I have no doubt there would have been major numbers at the box office.

If no one was prepared for the success of the final season of Picard, then the door to a possibility of a spin-off shouldn't have even been opened. Though showrunner Terry Matalas has said the series finale wasn't intended to be a set-up for a spin-off, there's really no other way to interpret it the final scene. Q, who supposedly died in season two of Picard, appeared before Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), who just happens to be Admiral Picard's (Patrick Stewart) son with, essentially, a promise of troubles to come. That's quite a big carrot to dangle if there was never any intention of feeding the horse.

As of now, we don't have any news on Legacy, and with Star Trek moving forward with Starfleet Academy, it doesn't seem like it's on the studio's radar at present.

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as John de Lancie doesn't think it was expected that season three of Star Trek: Picard would be so well-received .