TREK REVIEW - Lower Decks 5-3 - 5-4

 

5-3 - "The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel"

A fun episode which sees our leads growing up some more, although this does mean regressing them a bit to begin with. Both Mariner and Boimler act more like their season one/two selves, with Bradward freaking out over Ransom's alleged treatment of his recruits and Beckett absolutely refusing to engage emotionally. 

The "Jariner" storyline is silly, and feels like a reaction to fans complaining that the relationship was never resolved onscreen. A quick line to explain that they broke up a while ago would have done, but instead we get a prolonged farce by both Mariner and Jennifer refusing to talk with each other. Similarly, the idea that Ransom is brutally risking his officers' lives by putting them in danger's way ignores the revelations that he's actually a pretty decent officer, and Boimler's over-the-top response is more like his earlier, more panicked self. 

So, it feels like an earlier season episode, but that's no bad thing. It's a lot of fun, and the idea of a ridiculously elaborate space resort and an Apolcaypse Now-inspired drop-out admiral provide a fun storyline, with the nanite monster adding an actual threat. Plus, if it was an older episode, it wouldn't have T'Lyn, who is an absolute delight here, from her increasingly sardonic humour to her surprising following of Krog, a rock-like beach music player.

Starships and stations: 

• The Cosmic Duchess is described as a cruise ship, but it's the size of a moon, with multiple biomes and an artificial sun, so it's practically a mobile Dyson habitat.
• The USS Endeavour is a tiny wee Intrepid-class from a miniature parallel universe, this episode's link the arc plot.

Alien life forms: 

• We finally get to see some Gallamites, previously only mentioned as the species of Jadzia Dax's old flame Captain Boday. I assumed that, aside from their transparent skulls, Gallamites were pretty much humanoids, but they looks absolutely terrifying.
• Krog is probably named after Korg from the Thor movies, given that he looks so much like him. We've seen the odd member of his species in the background before. It's possible he's meant to be a Brikar, like Rok-Tahk on Prodigy.
• The Kreetassans make their first appearance outside of Enterprise, although why they'd be hanging around a bar when they're so offended by people eating and drinking is anyone's guess.

5-4 - "A Farewell to Farms"

Klingon episodes can be pretty tiresome, but this one works because it, quite rightly, constantly takes the piss out of them. It's always good to catch up with Ma'ah, who's now slumming it on his brother's farm after being kicked out of the fleet thanks to his crew's mutiny. I prefer his brother, Malor, though, an easygoing sort of chap who's quite happy with farmwork and pimping out his shuttle. The Klingons can't all be warriors, after all; not only would that be unbelievable, but you need farmers and the like. Otherwise, where'd all the bloodwine come from?

It's also good to see the corrupt side of Klingon culture, which clearly didn't all go away when Martok took over. Bargh, using his position to punish Ma'ah because he killed his brother, rings true, even if it's very dishonorable (after all, isn't getting killed in battle what it's all about?). Anyway, the Beckett-Ma'ah friendship is a highlight, and this time Boimler is along for the ride, back to his new, super-enthusiastic self.

Meanwhile, the B-plot with Migleemo's people is pretty slight, but it's nice to see him get some background, and the idea of a culture focused on food and recipes makes as much, if not more, sense as one based on fighting and killing. 

Alien life forms: Migleemo's species are named as Klowahkians, from the planet Klowahka, following Areolus in the new Lower Decks tradition of naming avian race's planets after suggestive body parts. This one is more bird-appropriate, though.

Callbacks:

• Enaran food is said to be the best in the quadrant (not sure whether we're talking Alpha or Beta), but the Enara Prime is in the Delta Quadrant (VOY "Remember").
• On the farm, Ma'ah dresses like Picard in his vineyard in TNG "All Good Things."

Trek Stars: Sam Witwer does double-duty as the voices of both Malor and Klowahkian critic Legnog, while Mary Chieffo returns to her Klingon roots as the fun Kelarra (she was L'Rell in the first two seasons of Discovery).

TREK REVIEW - Lower Decks 4-9 & 4-10

4-9 - "The Inner Fight" 

Getting back to these reviews to finish off the season after being sidelined by various sf anniversaries, and we have what might be the most satisfying finale for Lower Decks in terms of character work. The penultimate episode gives Mariner the focus she's needed all season, dumping her on a brutal planet and forcing her to confront the reasons behind her self-sabotage. It's indicative of the way the writing on this show has grwon, in that the character's motivation was initially presented as being nothing more complex than trying to avoid hard work while sticking it to her mum. Building on the gradual revelations about her background, Mariner's motivations make perfect sense, while incorporating some surprisingly deep Trek lore.

Lower Decks has been particularly heavily indebted to The Next Generation from the beginning, taking its name and basic concept from a seventh season episode. It feels right that Mariner's trauma calls back to this, with the unexpected, but perfectly plausible, revelation that she was friends with Sito Jaxa at the Academy. Sito's death during the episode "Lower Decks," was one of TNG's most powerful character deaths, even though it was entirely off screen. Hearing that her friend's commitment to the mission and her own advancement led to her, presumably brutal, death at the hands of her people's conquerors has weighted heavily on Mariner's mind for years (it's not entirely clear what year this season is set in, but it's no less than ten years since the event, possibly as much as fourteen). 

Piled on top of this is the added trauma of the Dominion War, which we already knew Mariner fought in. It's satisfying to see the ongoing Trek universe finally explore the fallout from the war, here and in Picard's last season. It makes sense that Starfleet has been recruiting hard and pushing promotion in order to build up ranks again following the losses of the war, and just as plausible that someone like Mariner would do everything she could to avoid being put in the position where she'd be giving orders that could result in her friends' and colleagues' deaths. It also ties in nicely to the series' occasional looks at Starfleet's clear status as a military organisation, even while it's desperate to paint itself as something else entirely.

While that's the main point of the episode, around it we get to have a lot of fun. We follow up on what happened to the crews of the alien ships that were attacked and stolen, finding them living as a rag-bag bunch of survivors on a dangerous planet. It's also about time Ma'ah (aka Mach, Magh, depending on your subtitles) arrived into the main narrative, and it's great that he and Mariner bond. As the most truly honourable of Klingons, he was the right person to force her to face up to her demons.

Meanwhile, the Cerritos crew are on the trail of Nick Locarno, as a potential target of the alien ship which is now seemingly targeting ex-Starfleet officers. New Axton is, of course, just Tatooine under a different name, but it's fun to have a bit of Star Wars in our Star Trek now and again, and the sheer number of familiar Trek aliens milling around the place made it feel like home. Of course, the reveal that Locarno was behind the whole thing ties it all together, setting up the finale beautifully.

Observations:

• It's not clear how old Mariner is. If she was at the Academy alongside Sito and Locarno, she's got to be at least thirty (again, it depends on exactly when this is set). In any case, she's presumably a fair bit older than her fellow Lower Deckers.
• The best reference on New Axton is the alien Freeman mistakes for a puppet, who is of course based on the puppet version of Balok from TOS: "The Corbmite Maneouvre." Perhaps he's a member of the species the puppet was based on? Maybe he's even from the First Federation. (Or see the novel The Face of the Unknown.)
• Other than Locarno, the ex-Starfleet officers on the watchlist include Seven of Nine, Beverly Crusher and Thomas Riker. We already knew the first two dropped out of Starfleet some time after Nemesis, but this is the first we've heard of Riker's duplicate since he was imprisoned by the Cardassians in DS9: "The Defiant." For all we knew before, he died in the war.

4-10 - "Old Friends, New Planets"

The whole season is brought together in the finale, tying up the storyline of the mysterious starship - the Nova One - and its crew of merry mutineers. It's far beyond time that Nick Locarno's story was followed up on; after all, he was meant to be on Voyager, but the showrunners bottled it and created Tom Paris, who's basically the same character but watered down.

I love the idea of someone expelled from Starfleet who then goes off the deep end, seeing themselves as the hard done by party. His fleet of ships, crewed by an autonomous collective of disenfranchised extraterrestrials is a great idea, even if their actual plan - to hole themselves up behind a forcefield for god knows how long - doesn't really make sense. But then, should it make sense? The fact that none of them have really thought this through is surely part of the point, and doesn't reduce the damage they can do in the mean time.

There are some lovely voice cameos in this epiosde. Of course, we knew Robert Duncan McNeill would be in it after last episode - with the characters naturally commenting on the likeness shared between his two characters - but it was a fun surprise to hear not only Wil Wheaton, but also Shannon Fill, returning to acting after some time to play Sito once again. The flashback to the Academy helped tie everything up, as well as showing us a version of Mariner who was more enthusiastic and greener aorund the gills than the one we know now.

The resolution to the problem took on all sorts of twists and turns, from the Mark Twain Manoeuvre to the trip to Orion. While I doubt we'll be missing Tendi for long, I hope there's at least some time in season five for the main characters to deal with her absence, and perhaps to see how she does sharing power with D'Erika on the homeworld. Bringing in T'Lyn as the fifth member of the team over the course of the season makes particular sense now, as she's poised to take Tendi's place as the science enthusiast, so it'll be interesting to see how things go when Tendi eventually comes back.

The inclusion of the Genesis Device was a bit of a surprise, although it was kind of telegraphed by the very Wrath of Khan-esque music and effects throughout the episode (the one departure from the TNG-fest this has been). If there are any complaints, it's that Maah and the other alien captains were left out of the loop, when it really felt like it should be part of the solution. Still, these are only half-hour episodes, and there's only so much they can do in the time. It's not like they're not ludicrously packed as it is.

So, altogether, a brilliant end to the season, once more shaking things up for the next round.

Observations:

• It's a bit mad that all Mariner needs to commandeer a ship is her mother's codes. Couldn't they have dropped a line in about her voice pattern or DNA being similar enough to fool the security system?
• The USS Passaro is named for Fabio Passaro, a CGI artist on the franchise, who passed away last year.

New Ferengi Rules of Acquisition: 

•     91: Your boss is only worth what he pays you.
•     289: Shoot first, count profits later. 

There were only 285 rules in the TNG-DS9-VOY era of the 2370s, so there's clearly been some expansion in the last few years.

TREK REVIEW - Lower Decks 4-6 - 4-8

4-6 - "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place"

A highlight of the season so far, the sixth episode takes us back to Ferenginar, a planet we used to visit quite regularly on Deep Space 9 but haven't seen since. Surprisingly, for a series so involved in Trek lore, Lower Decks hasn't spent a great deal of time moving the Trek universe forward, generally leaving this kind of thing to the live action shows. We've previously had a DS9 follow-up episode with 3-6, "Hear All, Trust Nothing" (perhaps episode six could become an annual DS9 tribute) but all that really told us about the post-Nemesis era is that some limited negotiations have started with Dominion members.

"Parth Ferengi's Heart Place" (love that title) on the other hand takes a big step forward by showing us the Ferengi Alliance's application to join the United Federation of Planets, a huge deal and one that would have been unthinkable when the Ferengi were first introduced. Under the rule of Grand Nagus Rom, though, things are different. (Plus, Discovery suggests that the Ferengi join sometime before the 32nd century, albeit nothing more concrete than that.)

Like "Hear All," we have a favourite Bajoran and Ferengi return, with Chase Masterson and Max Grodenchik once again voicing Leeta and Rom, now the first couple of the Alliance. (Like Armin Shimerman in that earlier episode, Grodenchik sounds quite different, likely partly due to age but mostly due to not having to perform lines with a mouth full of jagged false teeth.) I loved Rom's characterisation in this episode: he's the moderate Ferengi, of course, but he's still a Ferengi, and his commitment to not merely get a good deal for Ferenginar, but ensure that his culture is respected by the Federation is perfect.

On Ferenginar itself, Tendi and Rutherford up the will-they-won't-they stakes when they have to play a happy couple, and while I was disappointed they didn't finally get together, at least they were forced to face their attraction to each other, even if they're both doing their best to ignore or deny it. Surely we'll see them in a clinch by the end of the season? This is silly but beautifully realised comedy work, and while it's a sitcom cliche to have two characters have to fake being romantically involved, the added layer of jeopardy makes it work. Of course faking a relationship to get a special discount package would be a crime on Ferenginar.

There's a lot going on in this episode. Boimler's addiction to Ferengi TV is the smallest part of the story, but works pretty well, while Mariner is finally facing up to her self-destructive tendencies. It's good to see her character slowly moving forward. Nice to see her buddy Quimp again, who previously appeared in "Envoys," only the second episode of the series. Fun though these storylines are, they're C-plots, and it's the Rom/Leeta/Freeman and Tendi/Rutherford plots that make the episode work.

Fun bits and callbacks:

• We last visited Ferenginar on DS9 5.20, "Ferengi Love Songs," 27 years ago in real life and about ten years earlier in-universe. 
• The Ferengi viewscreen logo is suspiciously siilar to the Paramount logo.
• We have a new Rule of Acquisition: No. 8 - "Small print leads to large risk."
• The episode's title is a reference to the brilliant Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, and might be the best title this series has ever given us.
• Quark's Federation Experience Bar & Grill is basically the Star Trek Experience in the late 90s to 00s. 
• If the Ferengi really did have to ensure Kronos' accession to the Federation, they'd be waiting around 150 years based on the glimpse of events we saw on Enterprise (albeit from a future that now won't come about).
• Gay space dog!
• Quote of the week: "We also need someone to act as a couple. And since the Cerritos is statistically the horniest and least romantically committed crew in Starfleet, we have no married officers aboard."

4-7 - "A Few Badgeys More"

After a delve into the post-DS9 universe and its sundry Ferengi references, Lower Decks embraces its own growing mythology with an episode that brings together and pretty much shuts down some long-running plotlines. Having Badgey resurface in deep space, at exactly the same time as Peanut Hamper and Agimus leave their confinement at the Daystrom Institute is a bit of a coincidence, but at least the show is big enough to lampshade that. The episode as a whole is a good poke at the proliferatio of evil AIs as villains throughout modern Trek; not that the franchise has ever been free of them, but frankly, you can hardly move for killer computers lately. The fact that Starfleet has a special prison just for mad computers, and that it's chock to burst with them, is hilarious.

As silly as this episode is, it's actually a strong story about moving past animosity and finding another path. Badgey's evolution to the next phase of existence might be a bit on the nose, but the fact that it comes about partly due to Rutherford accepting his responsibility as the hologram's creator is overdue. It's good to see Peanut Hamper get to be more than a raving villain, since there was really not a lot left to do with that storyline, and while Agimus took a little longer, he got there in the end. We were overdue some Agimus time, which, criminally, remains the only role for Jeffrey Combs in modern Trek.

Having the Drookmani salvage Badgey is a nice touch, adding to the feel of this episode embracing Lower Decks itself rather than Trek as a whole, but it was nice to see the Bynars back too. Finally we get some answers about the msyterious ship that has taken out Romulans, Klingons, Ferengi and Cardassians before attacking the Bynars, and while the episode naturally blew my Peanut Hamper as Big Bad theory out the water, it does pose an intriguing question. Who stands to gain by making it look like they're destroying ships when they're actually stealing them?

Fun bits and callbacks:

• Badgey's short-lived takeover of the Federation includes Deep Space 9 and T'Lyn's old ship, the VCF Sh'Val.
• Will we ever get a proper explanation for the mysterious cosmic koala?
• Peanut Hamper goes home to the orbital station above Tyrus 7-A, where the exocomps were created in TNG "The Quality of Life."
• Going back even further, this is the first proper appearance of the Bynars since the first season TNG episode "11001001" over 35 years ago.
• Orion beaches don't have sand, they have pebbles, just like proper beaches.

4-8 - "Caves"

Ah, this one was a little treat, wasn't it? I love the idea of basing an entire episode around the franchise's over-reliance on cave-based stories, even lampshading the fact that from the 80s through to the 00s Paramount used one very fake-looking cave set over and over and over. It's even funnier that what we have here is basically a clip-and-bottle episode, the sort of thing that a series wheels out when they've spent all the budget earlier in the season, only with entirely new material based on an animated series, just perversely unnecessary. 

Giving us a quickfire round of smaller stories is a good way of providing the Lower Decks style of busy episode without overegging it; each story is done and dusted nice and simply, then onto the next. While the individual stories are slight, they all come together to show us how the Lower Deckers have begun t develop and move on with their careers, while reinforcing that, just because they don't have as much time for each other now, they're still the best of Starfleet buds. Aw.

Just to make sure we don't get too smooshy, there's plenty of weird and gruesome stuff here (the poor ensign's leg falling off after healing misshapenly really was nasty), making it the most Rick and Morty-esque episode for a while, but without the unrelenting nihilism.

This episode gives us a nice breather before the the climactic events we're promised for the final two instalments, so it's nice to just kick back and listen to our guys tell stories to some sentient moss. 

Fun bits and callbacks:

• The Vendorians were created for the Animated Series episode "The Survivor," way back in 1973. It's a bit weird that Boimler didn't believe in them, considering he met one in his second episode (the aforementioned "Envoys").
• Planets visited: Boimler's story occurs on Kyron 4, Rutherford got impregnated on Balkus 9, and Mariner led Delta Shift on the planet Gish. The framing story takes place on Grottonus.
• Tendi's story takes place right after the very first episode of Lower Decks, "Second Contact."
• While Levy is an obvious (and deserving) pisstake of online conspiracy idiots, given the number of conspiracies actually happening in and around Starfleet you can't feel too angry with the guy.
• The idea that the Vendorians faked the subspace damage caused by high warp (revealed in the late TNG episode "Force of Nature"), but given how quickly this was forgotten about, it's a fair assumption that it was faked.

TREK REVIEW - Lower Decks 4-3 - 4-5

 4.3 - "The Cradle of Vexilon"

A fun episode that draws on classic sci-fi and Trek lore. We've never had a ringworld on Star Trek before, although we did find that Dyson sphere once. It's a fascinating setting that offers some real storytelling opportunities, and it's fair to say that a half hour funny episode isn't enough to give it the exploration it deserves. Full marks for really acknoledging the debt to Larry Niven by including the Kzinti crewman on the away team. The best joke is having Vexilon, the computer that runs the world, not be evil at all, but actually be rather lovely.

The entwined storylines of Boimler's desperate attempt to make his first mission in command go smoothly, and Captain Freeman's hopeless handling of fixing Vexilon, work pretty well, although the show does go down the route of killing off a major character and then reviving him for laughs, which is getting old already.

The B-plot of the other Lt. LGs' hazing isn't bad, but it devolves quickly into an excuse to pile references on top of references. The Betazoid gift box is a wonderfully weird thing to bring back (a pity it's not voiced by Armin Shimerman), and having Sam get trapped in the Chula game is great. Both together though, and then chucking in the Kataan probe for a quick gag, might be a bit much though.

4.4 - "Something Borrowed, Something Green"

It's amazing that, aside from a couple of very brief glimpses, we've never been to the Orion homeworld on screen before. Now that we finally get to visit the planet, we see that Orion culture is both exactly how we imagined it to be, and much deeper and more surprising.

Tendi's long been hiding a secret about her life on Orion, and while this didn't go down the route some of us where expecting, it was still a beautiful story about being yourself and learning to accept each other. Yes, I suspected that Tendi was trans, which might still be true, but isn't apparently the reason she doesn't have the Orion women's powerful pheromones that can bewitch men. It turns out that it really is just some Orions, even as Mariner makes fun of the whole concept (and the idea of basing an episode of Enterprise around it). On he other hand, after decades of objectifying Orion women, we see on their home planet it's the men who walk around in skimpy costumes. 

Tendi's coming to terms with both her violent, Orion past and her true path in Starfleet, and learning to reconcile both parts of her life, is very nicely done, and ties into the gradual rehabilitation of the Orions as a people in the franchise, while still leaving plenty of leeway for them to play the bad guys as well.

The side plot of Rutherford and Boimler fighting and making up via the Mark Twain holoprogram is both ridiculous and adorable, as well as being a charming call-back to "Time's Arrow," one of TNG's stranger stories. Another surprising callback is having the rival captain, who's violently set on scanning a nebula first, be a Chalnoth, a species seen only once before (in TNG "Allegiance"). If this had been the A-story, though, they could have called it "Never the Twain Shall Meet." What a missed opportunity! Nonetheless, the more important work of developing Tendi and fleshing out Orion culture takes precedence, making this a fine episode.

Fun bits:

• The Orions ride rhinos on their planet!
• The ship Tendi and the gang steal is the same class as Seven of Nine's parents' ship, the Raven.
• According to Memory Alpha's count (which includes Short Trek and Very Short Treks) this is the franchise's 900th episode.

4.5 - "Empathalogical Fallacies"

The latest episode is probably the slimmest of the season so far, in spite their being three plots going on. Boimler's subplot feels a bit tacked so that he has something to do, and it feels like a missed opportunity to not have him meet the randy Betazoids, as you know he'll be incredibly uncomfortable. Still, some lovely moments between him and Shaxs. 

As for the main plot with the three Betazoid ambassadors/spies, it's a fun idea to have the most open people in the galaxy keeping secrets like this, and using their OTT behaviour as the perfect cover. It looks like it's going to play out as Lower Decks' version of DS9's "Fascination," with everyone catching rampant emotionalism from the 'zoids, but it's actually a fun bit of misdirection, a great example of the series' writers using the fans knowledge and expectations to lead them down the garden path. For one thing, everyone expects middle-aged Betazoid women to act like Lwaxana Troi, so here three of them turn up acting like Lwaxana turned up to eleven, but even this is (mostly) a front. 

As an aside, I love that one of the Betazoids is seemingly called Dolores. I think my favourite is Cathiw, the uber-horny one.

Where the episode really works is in its development of T'Lyn, who gets to finally come to terms with her, for a Vulcan, impetuous behaviour, her old crew's poor treatment of her, and her place on the Cerritos. Gabrielle Ruiz is really stealing the series from the other regulars this year.

Finally, we get further hints at the strange ship attacking vessels throughout the quadrant, albeit just to note that no one recognises the design. Personally, I reckon it's going to be Peanut Hamper on a killing spree.

Fun bits: 

• The Betazoids are being ferried from Angel One - the planet where women run everything - to Risa - the planet where everyone goes to get laid. Seems in character.
• Apparently, Caitians used to hunt and eat Betazoids!

Exciting Star Trek news! Short Treks and Lower Decks!

While Picard is the big news, there's plenty more Star Trek coming in the new year. Discovery is heading to season three, now over a thousand years in our future in the 32nd century. We don't know much, other than there's a new regular character called Book, played by David Ajala (Manchester Black on Supergirl), and that the Disco crew don't make it to safety on planet Terralysium. I;m looking forward to breaking away from the 23rd century and seeing a whole new era of the Trek universe.

However, for those who want to see more of the recognisable universe, Short Treks is back with six new episodes. The trailer above tells us something about the first three, which give us more time with the Discovery version of the original Enterprise crew. Looks like we'll get to see Spock's first day on the Enterprise - and yes, he's shouting his head off (altogether now - "THE WOMEN!") It's good that we get to see more of Rebecca Romijn's version of Number One as well, and any more time spent with Captain Pike is worth your time. Plus, a tribble episode, with Archer's H. Jon Benjamin of all people. Looks like I might get Archer Trek after all.

The remaining three episodes include a Picard introduction, and two animated episodes. Whether these tie into a particular series in uncertain, although they may be related to the upcoming animated series Lower Decks. This is reported as a series of half-hour episodes set on the USS Cerritos, a California-class starship - a new one for the franchise. We'll follow four ensigns who try to keep the ship running. Rutherford in particular sounds fun - a cyborg who's basically described as a shit Geordi la Forge (so, just like Geordi la Forge then).

Left to right are Tendi, a medical officer (a new alien species perhaps?), Rutherford, Beckett (further art shows her wielding a bat'leth) and nervous Boimler. Then we have the bridge crew (including a Caitian as chief medic, it appears). 90s favourite Jerry O'Connell's on the cast - haven't seen him on anything for a while.

It'll be interesting to have an out-and-out comedy in the Trek universe, but we've seen various series manage comedy well in the past (particularly DS9), and I have high hopes for this one. As yet, no more information on the other animated Trek series, the Nickolodeon-based adventure show aimed at kids, and it sounds like that's still very early in the planning stages.

Exciting Star Trek news! Picard trailer!

Now, how ruddy exciting is that?

Straight from SDCC is a whole raft of info on the new slate of Star Trek series coming out in the near future. At the forefront of every old school fan's mind is just how will Star Trek: Picard play out? With the first full trailer now available, I'm more excited than I have been in years about a Trek production - probably since the 2009 movie was announced. There's an thoughtful tone to the trailer, but it still offers plenty of action among the introspection. And while I want to see new things from new Trek, Picard and the post-Nemesis universe are elements of the franchise that are worth exploring.

Naturally, I want to dissect this trailer and analyse everything in the hopes of predicting its course. It's confirmed in dialogue that it's set around 2397, "almost two decades" since Data's sacrifice in Star Trek Nemesis, set in 2379. This, then, puts it around ten years after the destruction of Romulus and Remus in 2387, as seen in Star Trek (2009). Last we saw Picard, he was making the first steps towards a lasting peace with the Romulan Empire. Given that he was also close to Spock and involved in his attempts at Vulcan-Romulan reunification, the destruction of Romulus is naturally something that will be weighing heavily on his mind.

Beyond this, things are more mysterious. There are a number of Romulans in the trailer, so Picard still has some kind of relationship with the people. Much more surprising is the inclusion of brent Spiner as Data. Spiner has previously been very reluctant to take up the role again, particularly as he is getting older and would struggle to play an ageless android these days. Of course, the Marvel films have pushed the way forward for convincing de-ageing algorithms, so it's possible to have him take on the role realistically again. At the beginning, Data is in pieces, which is actually rather rude health considering he appeared to be vaporised in Nemesis. (On the other hand, it could be his "brother," B-4, whose body is used.)

The other surprise cast member is Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, which is actually something i was half-expecting (well, it's what I'd have done). Seven was a fascinating character, and the chance to see how she's developed over twenty years in the Alpha Quadrant is irresistible. Moreover, Picard may have an interesting relationship with her, given their history with the Borg. We even see a Borg cube, although this could, of course, be a flashback. There also appears to be a Borg body - possibly Hugh, who has been rumoured to be in the show.

The main new character appears to be the mysterious young woman played by Isa Briones. There's no clue to who she really is, other than she's about twenty, good at fighting, and trusts Picard. Still, appearances are deceptive. My money is on Lal, Data's daughter. She died after only a couple of weeks of life, but technology and research must have moved on in the last thirty years of Trek history. If they can rebuild Data, couldn't they rebuild her? Yet a Romulan character seems to think she's a threat, and it flashes directly to the Borg cube. I wonder if perhaps this suggests tension between technological and biological life?

Most importantly, as the recent poster reveals, Picard has a dog. His name is Number One, because of course it is.