Transcript
G’day humans. We have a new Star Trek Picard trailer to talk about So let’s dive right into it.
First of all, if you haven’t seen the trailer, go check it out first, because I’m gonna go in-depth and you don’t want the surprises to be spoiled.
The first big thing that stands out, after a nice shot of the Picard residence in France, is Picard’s old com badge. This is a nice touch. A callback to the last time we saw Picard, when he was wearing the TNG movie uniform with the grey shoulders. That was my favourite uniform, and this is my favourite com badge. So nice little bit of visual continuity. Those are the kinds of touches we didn’t get in Discovery because of the visual reboot.
In the next scene, Picard talks about Data’s sacrifice in nemesis, again, nice to see them directly acknowledging the past. And the big surprise, we see all the parts in a drawer. Is that Data’s body? Possibly not, since it was presumably vaporised in the explosion. B4’s body? Perhaps. I’m gonna go with B4 because the eyes are a little different. But I imagine they’re gonna do a similar thing to the Star Trek countdown comic, and assume that Data successfully transferred his mind into B4. This also shows that they’re not gonna marry themselves to that comic book, which makes sense because they always said it was non-canon.
I said in a previous video, I wasn’t sure that bringing Data back was the best idea, because you’d have a lot of things you’d need to explain to new audiences, but it looks like they’re gonna tie it all into the story, which is the right way to do it. In any case, it’s exciting to see him.
Picard’s voiceover says that he really tried to fit in here at the vineyard, but it never truly felt like home. That’s the Picard we remember. He loves that vineyard, and he loves his family legacy, but the stars will always beckon him like they did when he was a child.
And then a young woman appears on his doorstep. “Do you know who I am?” she asks. “Everything in me says I am safe with you.” This is one of the new characters in the show. This woman immediately presents a mystery. Who is she? Why has she been drawn to Picard? Now we’re starting to see some hints of the plot of the new show. This is interesting. I like stories that are built upon mysteries like this. I’m dying to know more.
So Picard goes to Starfleet headquarters. We see some nice shots of the buildings with plenty of people in uniform. And it seems that Picard himself is the one reaching out to Starfleet, because of the young woman. This is really interesting.
I was expecting we’d have a bitter Picard who had to be dragged kicking and screaming back from retirement to help with one last adventure. But that’s kind of becoming a bit of a cliche. Looks like they’re flipping it here. And I like that.
This is Jean-Luc Picard. When someone comes to him for help, he answers. He is concerned about her. Picard is a man of compassion. Despite all the hurts and ghosts that haunt him, we still see that.
Then we get to see some new ships. These are more modern looking effects, as would be expected. They not overly Star Trek looking ships. Probably not Starfleet, but who knows? The wide wings give me a bit of a Klingon vibe.
We see what is probably a Borg drone on a bio bed with lots of holographic user interfaces around. This stuff fits so much better here than it did in Discovery. I’m with it.
And then, as a voiceover says “sometimes I have forgotten who you are” we see another special easter egg. The “Captain Picard Day” banner which we saw in the TNG episode The Pegasus. Nice one.
And then we get what looks like an interior shot of a borg cube. There are regeneration alcoves in the background and a sign that says “This facility has gone 5,843 days without an assimilation. Oooh. That’s interesting. Are they trying to free drones?
That character who said he’s forgotten who he is, turns out to be a Romulan woman. “We do not,” she adds. This is the first expected tie into the destruction of Romulus. Nero was angry at Spock for failing to save his world from destruction. No doubt this surviving Romulan is angry at Picard for the same reason. I can’t wait to learn more about Picard’s involvement, and who it has affected him. The tie into 2009’s Star Trek film makes sense. Those events happened in the prime timeline. IT was a major event that would have shaken the alpha quadrant. Plus, that movie brought in a lot of new star trek fans.
And then we see Picard walking around what looks to me like the Vasquez Rocks, which of course, is a famous and often used filming location for Star Trek. It’s also where they shot the death of James Kirk. Another event that impacted Picard. Could he be visiting Kirk’s grave? Reflecting on Kirk’s advice to stay in the captain’s chair? Advice Picard ignored?
Then another of the new characters says “You can’t do it alone. You need help. You need protection. You need a crew.” And we get a quick introduction to the faces of the new cast. Picard’s new crew. What will bring these people together? I have no idea? But again, I can’t wait to find out.
The bloke is right. Picard may have been in full action-hero mode in First Contact, but he’s in his seventies now. We can’t expect him to get in fistfights with bad guys at this point. He’s gonna need some young blood to help with that stuff.
We see some more futuristic technology. Again, not very star trekky, more modern sci-fi with lots of glowing holographics. And again, I’m totally up for that, given the setting.
Another new character calls us back to the mystery girl. “She has no idea who she is.” Apparently, this bloke does!
She’s the end of all, says a Vulcan (or Romulan?) She’s the destroyer. And then we see a damaged Borg cube. So, is mystery girl associated with the Borg? Maybe. Bringing back the Borg makes sense. Picard’s assimilation was probably the most impacting event of his life.
Which brings us to a huge surprise. Seven of Nine! Of course, she’d know him. I bet the first thing Janeway did when they got home was put Seven in touch with Picard. “This guy will understand you. He’s also a former Borg.”
I noticed immediately that Seven seems much more human than the last time we saw her, which makes total sense. Over the course of the 4 years, we saw her on Voyager, we saw her become more human in her speech, in her emotions. But has been around 20 years. I’d expect her to be pretty much fully human at this point. I wonder if she still goes by Seven, or if she’s using the name, Anika Hansen?
We see the bridge of a ship, with many of our new characters on board, which makes me think the crew is already together. Maybe Picard hires them, like mercenaries.
Then we see a Borg drone having implants removed. So I’m thinking Starfleet have captured this damaged cube and are slowly rehabilitating all the drones. I wonder if they’ll respond in the same way that Seven first did?
And that awesome moment when Picard says Engage. Nice one. All I need now is a Make it so, and maybe a Tea Earl Gray. Hot.
And that last little scene shows Picard playing cards (poker?) with Data. Proving that Brent Spiner himself is returning, and we’ll see more than just mechanical body parts in a drawer.
This trailer gives a very nice blend of the old and the new. The old stuff is exciting, and I screamed more than once while watching, but the new stuff is equally compelling. And that’s important. We want to be drawn to this show for more than just the nostalgic callbacks. The plot and the new characters need to be as exciting as the old, and I think that will be the case.
I’m just as excited to learn about this mystery girl as I am to see Data and Seven.
Now I hear that Jonathan Del Arco appeared in the trailer as Hugh, the drone from the episodes I Borg and Descent. I’ve watched the trailer many times and I haven’t spotted him. Was he the drone having his implants removed? Maybe. I honestly don’t know. But it’ll be interesting to see how he factors into the story.
All in all, this trailer makes me very very excited for the show. A mystery that takes Picard into space, giving us that essential Trek sense of wonder, some callbacks from old friends, that seem to be well done and important to the story.
We know that Picard has a dog in the show and that its name is Number one. Perfect.
Sir Patrick Stewart is a big dog lover, and he actually fosters dogs, but this makes a lot of sense to me in-universe. Picard could use a little animal companionship alone on that big vineyard. His family are dead, so who else is he gonna talk to.
We’ve also heard that both Jonathan Frake’s Riker and Marina Sirtis’s Troi are going to appear at some point. That’s a good chunk of the former TNG cast. My only disappointment here is that they’ve told us so much upfront. I would have preferred they’d held back Riker and Troi as a surprise. Maybe there are still more surprises we don’t know about. I don’t know.
Akiva Goldsman has said during a comic-con panel, that ‘they pointedly weren’t making TNG sequel. It’s “slower, more lyrical, more character-focused”’ And that sounds good to me.
We still don’t have a release date, but we’ve been told it won’t air until 2020, which is a shame because we were expecting it in December of this year.
Still, the show looks GOOD and I’m willing to wait for a good show.
If you can’t tell, I’m seriously pumped for Star Trek Picard. This trailer is fantastic and it fills me with hope. Bring it on. Make it so.
I’ll keep making Star Trek videos. There’s been some news about Lower Decks and Discovery season 3. But I also talk about other geeky stuff like sci-fi and fantasy books, and my own journey as a sci-fi author. So if you want to geek out with me, click that subscribe button and the notification bell. And let’s enjoy the ride together. It’s a fantastic time to be a nerd.
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