TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-10 "The Last Generation"

And so, it's the last episode of Star Trek: Picard, or is it the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation? Or the first episode of Star Trek: Legacy, or whatever the inevitable spin-off is going to be called. This episode, like the whole season, balances two goals: to tell a good, thrilling story, and to indulge the old school fans in some wholesome nostalgia. It succeeds far better at one of these than the other.

On last time - SPOILERS below, although, to be fair, you can probably guess most of what happens.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-9 - "Vox"

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard proves to be tremendous fun, chock to the gills with fan-pleasing moments. It's also an utter mess, story-wise, guilty of many of the same sins that previous season finales have committed. SPOILERS throughout after the break.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-8 - "Surrender"

 SPOILERS within.

Episodes seven and eight of this run very much formed a two-part story, within the longer ongoing storyline of the season as a whole. Still, while this episode settled and shut down several storylines both from last week's, and from the main arc, it also left plenty open. The story's moved on a long way, and while we're still waiting to the answers to some big questions, it's clear everything is et up for a big, two-part finale.

There was some strong writing, direction, acting and visual design this episode, which meant that, as with last week, we got through a lot of exposition without it ever bogging down the story. "Surrender" is a tense episode, largely thanks to the long but nail-biting hostage situation that begins the episode. Plummer chews up the scenery as Vadic, the Changeling having a ball as the new de facto captain of the Titan. I'm still not entirely convinced by her as a Changeling, whatever her backstory - for one thing, why would a Changeling smoke? Like the elaborate monologuing, the cigar-puffing is just easy shorthand for villain in the 21st century. Fortunately, Plummer has class and always makes it entertaining. It's in her quieter, more sinister moments that she really shines. 

Jack's brief posession of Lt. Mura is both unsettling in itself, and serves to highlight the extent of his powers. It's satisfying that his plan doesn't work, as he was on the verge of seeming invulnerable. Instead, Vadic threatens both Mura and Ensign Esmar - and neither is the most exciting character on the bridge crew, so it looked like we'd definitely be seeing one of them zapped. And then Vadic goes and zaps Lt. T'Veen, the coolest member of the bridge crew! Just to make it sting.

There's no coming back from that, so Vadic's days were numbered. It's a pity to see her go, without actually giving us any actual answers about Jack's nature or the identity of Serious Beef, both of which will have to wait till next week. But what a final scene for her. Does flushing a Changeling into space actually freeze it and kill it? We've seen Changeling's fly through space before (Laas in DS9), but then, Vadic is the new, semi-animal kind, so probably more vulnerable. In any case, there's nothing stopping Plummer coming back, either as Vadic once all her pieces have been collected up, or another Changeling, what with them being shapeshifters and all. 

Coming back from the dead not entirely right is all the rage in this series, and now we have New Data, with added Lore. The virtual showdown between Data and Lore's aspects was quite predictable, and it was very clear where it was going, but there were some nice callbacks, and Spiner's dual performance made it work. Now he gets to play a version of Data who has more of the humanity he was always searching for. It's not easy to play multiple versions of android characters and make them distinct yet clearly alike, but he nails it, with the new Data being clearly Data, while also like, yet also distinct from, Lore. It turns out, what you need to be really human is a little bit of bastard in you.

After being deferred last week, Will and Deanna are reunited and allowed to sort our their manage, under the therapeutic conditions of hostage captivity. Marina Sirtis is great, sharing wonderful chemistry with both Frakes and Dorn as always. I'm one of the few who actually liked Deanna and Worf's relationship at the end of TNG, fudged though it was, and Zen Worf's laid back flirting with Deanna was a joy to watch. I'm also happy to believe that Worf was doing it purely to wind Riker up, which I feel has become his primary mission in later life.

Sadly, our lovely counseller is just as useful as ever, which is to say, not very. She senses in Jack "a great darkness," and that something is wrong with him. Yes, darling, we know. At least she's been honing her telepathic abilities over the years since she was on the Enterprise, so she can perform an off-brand mind meld with Jack to find out just what's behind his mental doorway. Not that I'd allow her in my head, after she mind-raped her husband in an attempt to push him out of his very understandable depression following his son's death. Worst therapist ever.

In time for the grand finale, we finally have the entire TNG bridge crew around the conference table, ready to hash things out. Except Ro, who's dead. And Tasha, who's dead twice. And Wesley, who isn't dead, but his mum is seemingly convinced he is.

Random Thoughts:

Worf wears captain's pips, and Matalas has confirmed this is accurate. The Picard tie-in novel The Last Best Hope had Worf become captain of the Enterprise-E (off screen, as it were), so perhaps this will hold through to the show itself. This means Worf has the same rank as Riker (albeit not seniority), outranks Data (who retains his Lt. Commander status) and is under Geordi, who as a Commodore, is subordinate to only Picard.

The new Changelings seem remarkably vulnerable to bladed weapons, although as least Worf remembers to vapourise them afterwards to be certain.

Lt. Mura's first name is Matthew, so presumably he's at least part human.

Best line: 

"Fucking solids."

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-7 - "Dominion"

 SPOILERS from the outset.

"Dominion" is a mix of the excellent and the irritating, that comes together to make an overall strong episode, albeit one that stops at a frustrating point. 

On the plus side, this episode features some of the best cast performances so far this season. Brent Spiner is as good as ever, flitting between Data and Lore, while Levar Burton gives easily his best ever performance as Geordi. It's a good indication of how he's matured as an actor over the years, with his scene as the grief-stricken and desperate Geordi as he speaks to the android by far the best work he's done in the role. Both Stewart and McFadden are also on top form this episode, particularly in their quiet yet intense scenes together, discussing the lengths to which they are prepared to go in their mission.

Ed Speeler and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut continue to show excellent chemistry, although their scene in the turbolift is a bit weird. Not only does Sydney have a very specific flirting routine, and Jack doing something slightly different puts her off, when he does touch her hand at the right moment this freaks her out. Sure, we know he's reading her mind, but surely from her perspective he's just doing something perfectly normal that she wanted him to do anyway? Christ, I'm glad I'm not dating this woman. Fortunately, their later scenes during the Changeling assault show that they make an excellent team, and this sequence actually makes Jack's sudden, newfound telepathy work as a plot point.

This is really Vadic's episode, though. Amanda Plummer, allowed to do more than chew the scenery, is absolutely phenomenal, with Vadic coming into her own as a powerful and almost justified villain. The flashbacks to her torture at the hands of a Federation scientist make for a potent and disturbing origin story, and one that is all too believable. I suspect many Trek purists will balk at this darker side to the supposedly utopian Federation, just as they balked at the dirty secrets and warfare of Deep Space Nine. I prefer this take, though, for reminding us that there is always the temptation to break the moral code when you think the ends justify the means. I love how Picard keeps trying to point out that the Federation gave the Changelings the cure to the disease that almost wiped them out, while Vadic points out that not only did they create the disease in the first place, once it came to light, even the public face of the UFP voted not to give it to them. It was only Odo and his comrades on DS9 who saved the Changelings, and then the Federation continued to experiment on their enemies.

Of course, Vadic conveniently forgets that the Dominion was also happy to commit genocide against the Cardassians, and that it had used biological warfare numerous times in the Gamma Quadrant. Her mission is not truly justified - not least because many innocents will surely die if she completes it - but it is entirely undersandable. Once she takes the Titan, it's hard not to feel a surge of triumph on her behalf.

Unfortunately, to get us to this point, the plot has to take some ridiculous and contrived turns. The forcefield battle and trap on the Titan is brilliant, but it's hard to see how Vadic could fall for it, especially as she was surely unaware that Lore was hiding in there to help her escape. Why, indeed, did Picard and Geordi leave the new android plugged in at all, knowing that Lore was in there and threatening to assert dominance? Sadly, all too often, to get a plot to function supposedly intelligent characters have to do very stupid things.

The episode gives us both questions and answers, predictable moments and surprises, and it's satisfying that this season isn't simply a folow-up to The Next Generation, but to the entire TNG-era. Tim Russ making an appearance as Tuvok (or not, as it turned out to be) was a nice touch and a genuine surprise, and I understand from his tweets post-broadcast that he'll be back again, so hopefully real Tuvok will appear before the series is done. The mysterious, swirling face is heavily implied to not be a Changeling itself, and the list of possible villains is getting slimmer. (You just know it has to be someone we've met before. My money is on Sela, as she has unfinished and it would give Denise Crosby a chance to return to the fold, but frankly it's a wild guess.) Somehow less interesting is the truth about Jack's nature, and Picard's in relation to him, as it all feels a little too contrived. Still, it looks like we'll be getting answers to these questions shortly, and not before time.

Random Thoughts:

Setting much of the episode in the debris field of the Chin'toka system is a nice touch, showing more of the fallout of the Dominion War.

Interesting that the Vulcans still have warships, though. We know from Lower Decks that they retain their own fleet, but a warship doesn't seem like their style post-Enterprise era.

Seemingly forgotten is that Lal is also within the new android, along with Data, Lore and the dormant personalities of Altan Soong and B-4. Unless, of course, this is being deliberately overlooked for a surprise development later.

Dr. Crusher is still talking like Wesley is dead, and not actually having a great time travelling time and space.

The mysterious face who likes to give orders is now named Serious Beef, thanks to a comment I made on the Star Trek Shitposting FB group being picked up. Whoever they turn out to be, I shall always think of them as Serious Beef.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-6 - "The Bounty"

HERE BE SPOILERS

“The Bounty” is a cracking, action-packed episode, and with a name that is certainly appropriate, if you consider an abundance of references and Easter eggs to be a bounty. In a season that is overflowing with nostalgia, it is the episode most overstuffed with kisses to the past, to the point where it seems almost like an episode of Lower Decks. Yet it’s also a strong episode with a focus on both action and character. There are a couple of decisions in the storytelling which are bit questionable, but as we are discovering more each episode, it’s clear we haven’t learned the full truth about any of it.

We’re finally away from both M’Talas Prime and the living nebula, and onto some new locations: the Fleet Musuem at Athan Prime, and Daystrom Station in orbit of an unnamed planet. I don’t mind the overly dark sets this season – it’s unrealistic, but it does make it cool and moody, so fair enough – but inside Daystrom is just ridiculous. Has Data’s disembodied mind decided that pitch blackness is best for security? There could have been even more Easter eggs in there than we realise, and no one would ever be able to see them.

Anyway, it’s old friends and enemies all round. Of course, unlike Ro’s return last week, most of the returning characters were spoiled by the season trailer, but it appears that was just as much for misdirection as anything. After Lore’s involvement was revealed early on, I assumed, along with many, that he would be the, or at least a, major villain this season. While he could certainly come to play a bigger part, it seems he’s just a sidenote right now, sharing a body with Data, Soong and B-4 (and allegedly Lal, who hasn’t spoken up yet. They should have had Brent Spiner snog Riker to show she was in there.) It’s not a massive surprise that Spiner’s playing Data again (or at least, a version of him), but there’s only so many times they can kill the character off and bring him back without it seeming meaningless. Still, I guess a robotic character is one who you don’t have to find too many excuses for resurrecting. The script still isn’t very clear on the difference between androids, golems and synths, but it seems to have something to do with them being played by old men. Twenty years ago, Spiner said he was done playing Data and didn’t want to keep playing an increasingly aged android, but you’re allowed to change your mind, aren’t you?

Daniel Davis’s brief appearance as Moriarty was a treat, but sadly rather spoiled by his appearance in the trailer. Had he appeared out of the blue, it would have been fantastic. Still, as a red herring it worked well, since we were all expecting that the archvillain would actually be taking part in the plot properly. It seems this is just a recreation of Moriarty as part of the security system, rather than the AI himself – hopefully, he’s still out there in his little virtual world. Given that mobile holo-emitters are now seemingly easy to come by, there’s no reason he couldn’t come back as a proper villain. In the end, he was just included as extra colour, along with a lovely call back to the very first appearance of Riker and Data in “Encounter at Farpoint” back in 1987 (or 2364, if you prefer).

Levar Burton excels as an older, wearier, more cautious version of Geordi. Now a Commodore (so he outranks Riker!) and worried about his daughters, he’s understandably not ready to go in, all guns blazing, or to turn his back on the chain of command and break orders. Of course, if the Changelings do take over Starfleet, his daughters are screwed anyway, along with everyone else. Setting aside just how Picard and co. can be sure he isn’t a Changeling as well, I rather liked how they assumed he'd be ready to throw his lot in with them again at a moment’s notice, only to be rebuked. Characters have to move on, after all, and becoming more cautious in later life, as with both La Forge and Riker, is probably more realistic than Picard and Crusher’s increased recklessness. Plus, we saw Captain La Forge about ten years earlier (in-universe time) chasing after rogue Starfleet officers in VOY: “Timeless,” so it’s in character.

The interplay between Riker and Worf was great, with it never being clear how much Worf is really being a reborn, Zen Klingon, and how much of it is just a new way to wind up Riker. I would have liked some more time with Seven and Raffi, if only to give them some closure and find out just what went wrong between them, but there is still time for that. It’s not all about the old guard, though. The next next generation is being set up here, with Mica Burton (Levar’s real life daughter) now introduced as Geordi’s other daughter Alandra, bringing a new dynamic to the developing new crew. Speelers and Chestnut have great chemistry together as Jack and Sydney. Their side mission to nick the cloaking device from the Bounty was a lot of fun. Altogether, it has a flavour of the earlier Trek movies, where David Marcus and Saavik seemed to be set up to carry on the franchise, before they got pushed aside so the old boys could carry on.

However, perhaps the single most touching moment in the episode is during the browsing through the starships at the Fleet Museum. What could have been pure fanservice is raised to something rather beautiful when Seven shares a moment with Jack, reflecting on how the starship Voyager became her home. Jack also shares some nice moments with his father as he reflects on the burden of his inherited Irumodic Syndrome. I don’t buy for a second that this is all there is to his hallucinations, though. For one thing, what sort of neurodegenerative disorder grants someone the ability to beat the crap out of four Changelings without breaking a sweat?

Presumably, it all has something to do with whatever else is hidden within Picard’s original body, now in the possession of the Changelings (again, great misdirection – I assumed that it was Lore and/or Moriarty that they had stolen from Daystrom). It feels very much as though we’re moving into the final stage of the mystery now.

Random thoughts:

I absolutely loved Shaw’s geeking out at meeting legendary engineer Geordi La Forge. We absolutely need more from Shaw in a future series (although, a younger version of him, mid-career, could appear on Lower Decks as well).

For a moment it appeared that Riker hadn’t heard of Section 31. They should have kept it like that – it would have been hilarious if he was the only person in Starfleet who still wasn’t in on the “secret.”

Not only did Daystrom hold Picard’s old body, they also apparently have Captain Kirk’s in there – do they collect them or something? They must be annoyed that Sisko ascended instead of leaving a body behind.

The “attack tribble” was utterly pointless and completely ridiculous. I love it.

You have to wonder if the Bounty’s cloaking device is still any good after nearly 120 years – surely Starfleet can detect ships using such an old cloak by now. I’m assuming the Defiant no longer has its cloaking device (if the second one ever even had one).

As well as the HMS Bounty and the USS Voyager NCC-74656, the Fleet Museum includes the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A from Star Treks IV to VI, and a previously unseen classic Constitution-class, the USS New Jersey NCC-1975 (apparently referencing Terry Matalas’s home state and year of birth). It looks like the original Enterprise, not the Discovery/Strange New Worlds redesign.

There’s also, among several others, a Klingon battlecruiser (perhaps Kronos One from Star Trek VI); a Romulan Bird-of-Prey; an Excelsior-class ship (perhaps the Excelsior NCC-2000 itself) and an NX-class ship (probably not the Enterprise, as it’s a refit version).

The existence of an intact Enterprise-A and Kirk’s corpse proves the Shatnerverse novels can’t take place in this universe.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-5 "Imposters"

SPOILERS from the outset.

Another very strong episode, a taut thriller which delivers some surprises, albeit more in terms of unexpected returning characters than plot twists. The big deal in this episode is, of course, the return of Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren, thirty years since her last appearance on TNG: “Pre-emptive Strike.” I had genuinely avoided any spoilers regarding this, and among all the many returning faces given away in the trailers before, seeing Ro again was a true surprise. Playing on the Changeling conspiracy with it, so we kept questioning whether it was really her to begin with, added an extra layer to an already tense reunion.

Forbes and Stewart are electric together, the once protégé confronting the teacher she betrayed. As beautifully done as it is, though, I’m not entirely happy with it. After all, as I said, it was thirty years ago, and it doesn’t seem like Picard to have been nursing this grudge so venomously for so long. He claims to have been planning what he’d say to Ro all that time, yet not once has he mentioned it on screen since the aforementioned episode. Yes, this was right at the end of The Next Generation, and it's not surprising that it wasn’t followed up in the films or previous series of Picard among all the many other elements. Still, while it’s good to finally have some closure on Ro’s story, Picard’s simmering anger with her seems to come out of nowhere. While last week it was Shaw who channelled Sisko, this time it’s Picard, whose attitude to Ro is almost identical to Sisko’s hatred of the other major Maquis turncoat, Eddington.

Yet, it’s hard to be turned off by this, given how exceptional the performances are, and it’s way beyond time Forbes came back to the fold. It’s common enough knowledge that the creators of DS9 originally wanted Ro as a main character, and that Kira was created as a replacement when Forbes said no. As much as I love Nana Visitor, I feel we missed out on an even more powerful dynamic that Forbes would have brought to the series. At least she’s back…

… and then they kill her. I’m not against major character deaths, and Picard is certainly not afraid to bump off legacy characters, but we really needed more time with Ro. I understand that killing her was intended to show that no one is safe, but with this being the last last hurrah for the TNG crew, we already know that major characters can be killed.

After missing out last week, we’re back with Worf and Raffi, and they’re as good together as ever. I loved Kirk Avecedo as the villainous Vulcan Krinn. I understand that he’s another of Matalas’s Twelve Monkeys stalwarts, along with Aaron “Sneed” Stanford, but to me he’s always going to be Charlie from Fringe. The idea of a Vulcan who has become a crime lord because he’s deduced that crime is a logical and unavoidable element of society, so he might as well be the one organising it, is a great one. The fight between Raffi and Worf was fun, an obvious callback to the Kirk-Spock deathmatch in TOS: “Amok Time” (but what it was really missing was that classic TOS fight music). Still, I’m glad that the season’s threads are tying up and that we’re finally moving on from M’Talas Prime.

The Changeling threat gets more interesting, with the revelation that this a new breed of shapeshifter that actively mimics human blood and organs a logical progression of their infiltration techniques (so it seems their new look is deliberately “fleshy,” compared to their translucent old style). Equally intriguing is Jack’s ongoing trouble with alien visions, and his sudden superhero moment where he takes out a whole bunch of shapeshifters. He’s seemingly some kind of sleeper agent, but who or what placed him there? This feels like it might be one mystery too many, but hopefully it’ll all be tied up satisfactorily in the end. My concern is that we’re halfway through the season and the characters are only now finding answers and moving onto new locations. I fear that we’re going to have the same rushed ending issues as the previous two seasons.

Random Thoughts:

Names of interest on Worf’s feed include Morn of Luria (he never shuts up), his one-time associate Larell, Brunt (FCA) and Thadiun Okona (the one whose managed to appear on Lower Decks and Prodigy lately – you know, the guy who’s like what you’d get if you ordered Han Solo from Wish).

New ship alert: the USS Intrepid NCC-79520, apparently Duderstadt-class. I don’t enjoy the constant fan negativity when it comes to new ship designs, but that’s one ugly vessel. It looks like it’s bum’s the wrong way round.

Picard speaks Bajoran, it seems. He offers Ro some Bajoran springwine – she looks like more of a spirit drinker to me.

The mobile holographic emitter, cribbed by the Doctor from the 29^th century, is now on the market to intelligence operatives and criminal lowlifes.

Although there hardly seems to be room for yet more legacy characters in the season, it definitely sounds like they’re building to an appearance by Admiral Janeway.

Worst line of the week:

“Is it a new species?”

“No… it’s evolution.”

Christ, Crusher’s always been lumbered with nonsensical pseudoscientific dialogue, but doesn’t she understand that’s what evolution is?

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-4 "No-Win Scenario"

SPOILERS, technically, but the episode is now a week old and the next one is out. So much of this might be considered old news and bumf by now.

After an excellent third episode, Picard delivers a taut, solid part four which, while predictable in almost every respect, is so perfectly realised it's hard to find fault. "No-Win Scenario" is a tough, exciting but basically old-fashioned episode of Trek, with a good balance of the wonder of exploration and nail-biting fights against the odds, plus plenty of humour and a powerful emotional backbone.

With the action provided by fights with Changeling infiltrators, cosmic mothers of a thousand young, deadly asteroid fields and some clever sciencey escape plans, the really powerful stuff is the emotional head-to-heads between Picard and the various people he's pissed off. The scenes between Jean-Luc and Jack are some of the best material we've seen from Stewart in this series, with Speelers holding his own against the veteran actor. Spending time together in Ten-Forward (or rather, a holographic recreation of Guinan's terrestrial Ten Forward bar), they truly bond, but at the same time it's hammered home to Picard just how much he's missed out on, and how much he threw away by not having a family.

While it's a bit hard to line-up the flashbacks to Picard's storytelling to an enraptured audience of cadets (I'm fairly sure he should have been sulking in France during those years, but never let consistency get in the way of a good scene), they're a joy to watch, as the old admiral pretends he'd rather be on his own but is evidently having a whale of a time regaling the students with tales of his exploits. Yet, the most powerful moment comes later, when we see that Jack was there at the bar too, having asked the admiral about his family and being outright told that "Starfleet is the only family I ever needed."

Picard's realisation in the present, as the penny drops and he realises who he was talking to all those years ago, is another masterful moment of non-verbal acting from Stewart. It's interesting to wonder exactly why he said this, of course. Was he being disingenuous, saying what he thought the cadets would want to hear from their hero, especially when starting out on careers that will take them far from home and dominate their lives? Or was it a moment of honesty? After all, the younger Picard had often been sniffy at the idea of family on the Enterprise, and had been famously awkward with children. It's less than surprising that Beverly Crusher would be reluctant to tell him about her son with that in mind. Plus, Picard is presumably still dealing with the loss of his nephew (seen in Star Trek Generations) and the memory of an entire family lost to him (in the classic episode "The Inner Light"). Even though Generations showed that his true desire was to have a family, he's fought hard to keep that truth from others and admit it to himself, and is no doubt frightened by the idea as much as he desires it. I feel like you can see all of that in his face in that moment of recognition. But then, I've just had a baby, after years of fearful reluctance myself. This stuff is hitting me harder than it would have done a year ago.

JL and JC are interrupted at one point by Captain Shaw, in another powerful moment. Todd Stashwick is amazing as Shaw, finally bursting out with his anger and grief at Picard (yet still somehow in that measured way he always has) for the events of Wolf 359. Of course, we've seen this before: with Sisko in the opening episode of DS9, but it's not as though there won't be hundreds, maybe thousands of officers who still blame Picard for his actions as Locutus. It's irrational for Shaw to blame Picard or Seven for their actions as Borg - they were, after all, just as much victims of the Collective as those killed at Wolf 359 - but it's also entirely understandable. Shaw acts like a dick (Seven's word!) but in an entirely relatable way. I also enjoyed his noting that, for all the "weird shit" on the Stargazer, the real Borg are still out there (albeit apparently still reeling from the attack at the end of Voyager). Presumably this was put in to clear things up for the various people still somehow confused by the end of season two.

Meanwhile, on the other ship, Vadic is showing some more interesting character. It's becoming clear that behind closed doors, she's actually rather frightened and a little out-of-her-depth, putting on a show of bravado for her crew, and even more of one for her enemies. We're getting little snippets of a more complex character. The question of her relationship to the Changelings hangs in the air in this episode, although by the time I got round to writing this, Matalas has gone and confirmed on Twatter that she is indeed a Changeling. Which is all very intriguing, given her behaviour. The scene in which she hacks off her hand to form a sort-of communications device is fascinating, and one that I actually assumed proved she isn't a shapeshifter - why would she need to hack off her hand rather than simply detaching it willfully? Also intriguing is the scary face she communicates with. Some kind of new Link, or something else altogether speaking to her via her innate telepathy? (Remember, we saw Odo once form a telepathic link with Sisko, Dax and Garak unconsciously and under stress.)

The appearance of the Changelings is also creepy, looking more fleshy than the shimmering fluid we've seen before. This could just be a case of the designers making use of better visual effects techniques to create a scarier version of the enemy, but I wonder if it's actually something to do with the disease that ravaged the Changelings at the end of the war? That might explain an awful lot of what we're seeing.

It's good to see Riker and Picard resolve their own differences like adults, instead of dragging out animosity like many dramas would. Riker's scenes, where he talks to Picard and later Deanna, and finally admits that he's been dealing with a drawn-out depression following his son's death, also struck me powerfully.

As I noted above, a lot of this episode plays out very predictably, from the unmasking of the infiltrator, the reluctant resolution between Picard and Shaw, and the already signposted nature of the nebula as a life form (although the reveal that the waves were contractions was rather nice). None of this is a problem, and actually helps the episode run along without ever becoming hard to follow, even as a lot happens in a short time. The real triumph of the episode, though, is its emotional core. 

Favourite bits worth mentioning:

• Picard and Jack discussing premature baldness.
• Riker throwing an asteroid at the Shrike.
• Shaw referring to Changeling residue as "resi-goo." He has a way with words.
• Nods back to "Encounter at Farpoint," "Darmok" and "Booby Trap."
• Patrick Stewart saying "dipshit" will stick with me.

Questions and quandaries:

• If the Changeling took the transporter chief's place, why did he hide the body in a cupboard? Wouldn't he be in a perfect position to beam it into space without being caught?
• Picard's tales include an encounter with the Hirogen, also involving Worf. Now that's a story I would like to see.
• Is pot legal in the Federation? I like that they're still calling it pot in nearly 400 years (Picard and Jack no doubt call it weed).
• What's going on with Jack's red weed hallucinations? (Is it the Martians from The War of the Worlds? They are public domain now.)
  

TREK REVIEW; PIC 3-3 - "Seventeen Seconds"

 SPOILERS, naturally.

And suddenly, the season went from being good to bloody great.

Last week I quibbled about wanting to know what's going on, having seen the previous two seasons spend too long getting to the core of the plot and having serious pacing issues because of it. I needn't have worried. Although the events remain stuck in the same places as in the end of episode one - a mysterious, unusual nebula and the seedy streets of M'Talas Prime - they're pushing forward, and while the claustrophobic tension increases, we suddenly learn a lot more about what's going on behind the scenes in the galaxy.

On the Titan, Captain Shaw is incapacitated by Vadic's attack, with the absolute pummeling the ship takes this episode proving him completely right about the folly of getting involved here at the edge of space. Todd Stashwick's performance, combined with some solid writing, have made Shaw move from the nasty character who opposes our heroes to the one we all finding ourselves siding with. He's the only one, somehow, to realise that Vadic must be tracking the Titan somehow, as if the idea they're trailing something is so difficult for all these Starfleet geniuses to come up with. (I don't know, maybe they're all just overconfident.)

Sadly, this pushes Shaw out of the episode, but there's more than enough going on elsewhere. I love that he puts Riker in command, not Picard, in spite of the elder man being the ranking officer. It's clear that, while he doesn't much like the former Titan captain, he can't stand the legendary Jean-Luc Picard, and you can understand why. Last week I mentioned how Jack was very much Picard in his youth, reckless and irresponsible but well-meaning, while Shaw is rather like early-TNG, all duty and by-the-book, not friendly with his crew but garnering their respect. 

Contemporary Picard has come through the other side, being familiar, morally-bound and courageous, but he's come right back through to reckless again. Riker, who has a more recent and keenly felt loss, is more cautious and introspective than we once knew him. Their command roles are switched, just as their personas have changed with time. It's great to see them at each other's throats after so many years being on good terms. We barely got a cross word between them on TNG (thanks to Roddenberry's drama-killing "no human conflict" rule), and you can't help but feel that there's nearly forty years' pent-up resentment between these men, finally coming out.

On the other hand, we have the confrontation between Picard and Crusher, and here it's hard not to feel sympathetic to old JL. It's entirely understandable that Beverly would fear for son's safety as the child of the legendary Picard, especially given how his approach became more gung-ho in the movies and beyond. Plus, let's not forget the one time that he thought he did have a son, because the Ferengi Daimon Bok wanted revenge so badly that he faked a DNA test. If someone did find out that Jack was Picard Jr, he probably would be in danger from certain elements. On the other hand, Beverly has been living an even more dangerous life on the edge of the law with her son, breaking all manner of treaties and seeing him become a wanted man, all by the age of twenty (yes, Ed Speelers is about 34, but that's how the years add up, no two ways about it). Something doesn't quite ring true.

Elsewhere, Raffi and Worf become a wonderful new double-act, with Dorn in particular shining as the older, wryer Klingon. "Beheadings are on Wednesdays" - and they say this guy doesn't have a sense of humour. Dorn has, famously, appeared in more instalments of the Trek franchise than any other actor, all as Worf (except The Undiscovered Country, where he played Worf's grandfather... Worf). He's great, but his long-championed Worf series never sounded particularly appealing, until now. I'd watch these two snipe at each other on undercover missions for hours.

Both storylines finally come together with the revelations that, a) Vadic has the portal gun (obvs), and b) the Changelings are behind the plot. Now, that was a bit of a shock - not because they weren't a possibility (the changing faces line hinted at it), but because there were so many other possibilities, and DS9 so rarely gets any follow-up. We had that one episode of Lower Decks, and the odd little alien cameo or mention, and that was it for the legacy of the best series in Trek canon? (No, I will not take discussion on this.) An updated Changeling effect makes for a visually appealing, and not immediately obvious, reveal, and that it's a breakaway group, acting against the Founders, is intriguing. Of course the Changelings should hate the Federation after how they won the war.

Intriguing, though, is the clear implication that it isn't just the Changelings behind this. Is Vadic a Changeling? No reason why not, as such, but it somehow doesn't feel likely. As an aside, I loved the battle this week, with Amanda Plummer giving a much more subdued, more appealing performance, and the visual spectacle of the portal gun making for something new in space battles at last. (Riker has clearly never played Portal, and it shows.) It's very Wrath of Khan/Mutara Nebula, of course, but a newer, twistier version. Just as Khan couldn't quite grasp that he was in 3D space, not on the sea, Riker and Picard can't quite grasp that they're fighting something that can come from any angle, any time.

We learn, as well, that the portal gun isn't the prize at all, merely a handy bonus that can be used as a distraction. It's pretty clear that the actual aim of the heist was Lore and/or Moriarty, as we've already seen them in the trailers (perhaps keeping them a secret would have worked better?) Daystrom is, after all, known far more for AI than weapons development. I'm beginning to wonder if we're actually seeing a loose alliance of various beings with an axe to grind with the Federation (hey, maybe we will see the Conspiracy bugs after all).

Interestingly, we've seen that Lore and Moriarty will be visibly older, in spite of the de-ageing software used in the prologue for this episode. With Picard now 96 in-universe, it seems that being a synthetic life form doesn't protect one from the ravages of time. There's a definite theme of ageism in this episode, with Dr. Trill dismissing Crusher, then having to eat her words as Beverly effortlessly diagnoses Shaw. On the other hand, Picard and Riker seem to be genuinely out of their depth against this new threat. 

 All of this covered, and not once did we feel bogged down in exposition or that the pacing was lagging. Excellent work.

Random thoughts:

It's genuinely tricky watching this my partner Suzanne, who has an uncanny ability to guess left-field plot twists way ahead of the reveal. So if it turns out that Riker is actually Thomas Riker, and that's why he's so unconfident in command, she got there first.

Worf has taken to drinking chamomile tea. I hope he still drinks prune juice - it keeps you regular.

Thaddeus Troi-Riker, Will and Deanna's late son, was apparently born around 2381, the same year that Jack was conceived.

Thomas Dekker, who played the Changeling on M'Talas, also played young Thomas Picard on Star Trek Generations. He's about the same age as Ed Speelers. Makes me wonder if he auditioned for Jack Crusher.

Beverly agrees with my theory that Jack's accent is genetic... although it's really because he was schooled in London. We've given up any pretense that Picard is meant to sound French, then.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-2 - "Disengage"

Yes, SPOILERS.

Not that they'd really spoil anything, to be honest. There were revelations aplenty in this episode, but it's not as if any of them were actually surprising.

Which isn't to say this was bad. This was another solidly entertaining hour of Trek that was heavy on both the character and action. It's just that there was very little that we couldn't have guessed beforehand, or hadn't been outright told to us in the huge promo campaign.

Fortunately, every plays their parts with absolute investment and charisma. Ed Speelers being a case in point. The young Jack Crusher (if that is your real name, sir) is a winning presence, purely on the strength of Speeler's looks and charm. There's any number of ne'er-do-wells with hearts of gold in Trek, and in adventure telly in general, and their success as characters comes down purely to how likeable they are. Speelers makes Jack a character whose adventures I'd want to watch. And yes, there is something a bit Picard-like in him, a bit like the tearaway Jean-Luc once was, and who occasionally breaks out during those more macho adventures. 

So, as beautifully performed the moment between Picard and Beverly Crusher was (a lovely moment of non-verbal acting), it was followed by an announcement that was still played as if it was meant to surprise us. Yes, we know he's your son, JL, we've been battered over the head with it for the last hour.

Equally unsurprising is the reveal of Raffi's handler. While it could have been just about anyone, Worf was by far the most obvious candidate. Still, while it wasn't a surprise, his swashbuckling entrance, lopping baddies apart with his new Klingon sword was awesome. And he actually got to use it as a sword, a benefit of the more lenient standards of streaming television compared to primetime broadcast and syndication (how many bat'leth fights have we seen where they just hit and prod each other with these deadly weapons?) Lots of Romulans on hand helps, of course - green blood doesn't up the rating as much as red.

Michelle Hurd has an especially good episode as Raffi. You have to feel sorry for her, facing her ex-husband and having to choose between her own life and the safety of the galaxy, all the while being slated for her conspiracy-chasing ways. There was a conspiracy, Jay, she helped uncover it! And now she's back with Starfleet to help uncover another one. She's not nuts! Of course, we get the inevitable moment when she finally has to go all in for the part and shoot up again, although there's a fun side to it as she's such a rock-solid addict that Mr Sneed's knock-out party drug hardly affected her.

Sneed is a fun side villain, with a suitably broad performance by Aaron Stanford, and it's a shame he was dispatched so quickly. One odd thing, though - he had very small ears for a Ferengi male. (Suz's immediate thought when we met him - "Well, he hasn't got the lobes for business!") Is he perhaps a trans Ferengi? Or is there some weird fashion for ear reductions in the 25th century? Or is just luck of the draw?

When it comes to villains, Vadic certainly is one. Amanda Plummer gives a tremendously hammy performance, but that fits perfectly with the material she's given, which is firmly in the self aware, monologuing megalomaniac mold. She's not got the Shakespearean class of her father's General Chang, rather a more unhinged, joyfully evil vibe. So far, she's entertaining, but I hope there's a solid reason behind her actions, rather than just plain baddieness.

The Titan situation continues to be interesting. Captain Shaw is definitely growing on me, with this episode showing things more from his point-of-view. The thing is, he's absolutely right: risking 500 lives for the sake of two is the wrong call, no matter how legendary they are, especially after they went and got themselves into trouble. He seems especially risk averse considering the extent of the danger wasn't clear at this point, but that seems to be sloppy writing/editing rather than a deliberate move. It's a bit of a shame that he falls for Seven's hero speech, since he's a more interesting character if he's not a hero, but rather the sort of measured officer that Starfleet needs a lot of if it's going to function. Someone once said that the definition of a hero is "someone who gets other people killed." (Actually, it was Zoe from Serenity). And it's true, he does.

He's in a genuinely difficult situation with Jack and the order from what is clearly a dangerous terrorist to hand him over. The "we don't negotiate" rule by Starfleet is the sort of directive that is easy to respect until you're actually presented with such a situation. To be honest, the humourless, by-the-book Captain Shaw is not unlike the Captain Picard of the earlier TNG seasons, which, given how Jack is very like the young, undisciplined Picard, and the man himself is now working purely by moral principles, illustrates some interesting character progression.

There's a lot of exposition in "Disengage," but, considering how much ground it has to cover and how many introductions it has to make, it's a swift, easy watch. However, it's already feeling like we should be getting a few answers to what's driving events here.

Random thoughts:

• The Eleos XII is described as a Mariposa medical vessel, which suggests it is (or has been previously) working for an organisation that descended from Cristobal and Teresa's 21st century crisis organisation.
• The shuttle Picard and Riker stole is called Saavik, after the Vulcan officer who served on the Enterprise in Treks II and III. Presumably, this was a homage to Kirstie Alley, the original Saavik actor, who died recently.
• Among many, many other weapons, including "technology unknown" (so the portal gun), the Shrike has isolytic burst warheads, which are illegal under the Khitomer Accords.
• Sneed isn't a fan of Section 31 either. Remember when they were supposed to be a secret organisation?
• "I believe it is afternoon in the Sol system." Does Vadic not understand anything about how time zones work? It's not even afternoon all at the same time on Earth, let alone through the whole system. 
• I didn't mention much of the rest of the Titan crew last week, but they're a colourful bunch, including a bald-headed Vulcan (who might be part-Deltan according to BtS gossip), a Bajoran helmsman and an alien comms officer, apparently a Haliian. Ensign Sidney La Forge is the only one who gets any real attention though, and she's a lot of fun, the one bridge officer who's allowed to be a bit flippant in the presence of Shaw. It helps that Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut is gorgeous, in spite of her silly name.
• Picard and Riker both forget they have transport inhibitors set on the Eleos XII, which almost dooms them. It was a busy moment with a lot going on, but are they getting just a bit too absent-minded in their old age?
• Fun line: "She threw a ship at us!"
  

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-1 - "The Next Generation"

So, Star Trek: Picard is back for its third and final series (unless, you know, they end up doing another after all). I really want to review these as they come, so I will try to get an episode reviewed each week, but I remain ridiculously busy with real life, so there might be the odd delay. On that note, while I did review the first season of Strange New Worlds for Television Heaven, I wasn't able to write individual episode reviews. However, I plan to follow this up by reviving the old Captain's Blog, which should rather suit the more stand-alone episodes of SNW. 

Anyway... SPOILERS ahead.

So, Picard. "The Next Generation" was a solid and entertaining season opener that promises a lot, although it lacked the wham-bam excitement of last year's opener, "The Star Gazer." There seems to be a distinct disconnect between seasons of Picard, and there's some frustration here as we pick up, apparently not long after the end of season two, with no mention of the near-cataclysm at the end of the episode, the creation of a mysterious and gigantic transwarp conduit, or the unlikely alliance of the Federation and the new, improved Borg. Of course, this might all be dealt with later in the season, but I'm not holding my breath.

However, at least we do follow up on Picard's relationship with lovely Laris, who seem to have settled into a nice, respectfully teasing partnership. Give us a proper kiss though. TV needs more older couples really showing affection. The theme of the season seems set up to be relationships, be they romantic, familial, friendly or working. Riker and Picard rub along together beautifully, two old men who've left behind their rather formal working friendship for something closer. Picard is rueful when it comes to his near-romance with Beverley Crusher, although it clearly came to something, considering that this new Crusher Jr. is almost certainly his unknown son. (Did they have a quickie after Nemesis then think better of it? Maybe it was the naked Betazoid wedding that did it.)

Seven, now a commander in Starfleet, is torn between her loyalty to Picard (and, off screen, Janeway, who also championed her to join the fleet) and her commitment to Captain Shaw. We've rarely seen struggle to hold back her emotions like this, so Starfleet life is really getting to her. She doesn't seem to be with Raffi anymore, who is herself missing her family (presumably the hologram she looks at longingly is her granddaughter, as her estranged son and his wife were expecting back in season one). And we know there are a lot of characters still to come with long and storied histories together.

It's an odd about-face for the series, which was explicitly not going to be a TNG reunion when it was first announced. Picard hasn't really managed to find its own identity, thanks to two very different seasons so far, and reworking itself as the Enterprise crew's last adventure together will do little to change this. The series has gone whole-heartedly into nostalgia mode, at least in this episode, from the retro-design of the new Titan and it's Star Trek III styled exit from Spacedock, to the various musical cues taken from earlier series and films. But it's hard to complain, when this is all done with such clear love of the franchise and in such an enjoyable way. (I was particularly pleased to hear the First Contact theme play over the closing credits.)

There are plenty of new elements, though. The aforementioned Captain Shaw is an interesting character, one who we're clearly meant to take against immediately but who isn't actually in the wrong as such. Obstructive he might be, but he's right when he refuses to let two retired officers take his ship on a joy ride against his standing orders. His antagonism towards both Picard and Seven seems to stem from bad experiences with the Borg, and that can't be unusual in Starfleet. (Although, what does "former ex-Borg" mean? That makes no sense.) I suspect he's going to turn out to be a good guy, just one who's also a bit of a prick, especially when it comes to, what is essentially, deadnaming Seven.

Raffi's story also promises to be interesting. I'm glad that her apparent fall off the wagon is just a cover, but it's very clear that she's skirting very close to the edge, and it's refreshing to see character development played out like this on Trek, which historically hasn't liked to make its main characters so flawed and fragile. Her mission, to stop a terrorist attack with a seriously heavy weapon of mass destruction, is a failure, but so frustratingly close. The idea of a a quantum tunnelling weapon is interesting, although what we actually see is nothing of the sort, more a giant portal gun. Presumably it was developed as a transport device before someone realised it could be used to smash cities up.

Dr. Crusher's storyline is certainly intriguing, with her seemingly acting as a civilian medic, but one on the very edges of known space and in a very dangerous situation. It's touching that she relies on Picard as the one person she can trust, although her code is a bit maddening since he had absolutely no way of guessing it - unless it was all a way of getting the gang back together, but that's still very contrived. We have a group of assailants who seem to be wearing masks, and whose faces are allegedly different every time, which suggests they might be a group we'd recognise.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable opening episode, and one that leaves plenty of questions for the future.

Random Thoughts:

• It occurs to me that we don't know how old Laris is. Given Romulan/Vulcan lifespans, she might well be older than Picard.
• The crummy planet M'Talas Prime is named for showrunner Terry Matalas, but actually goes back to Enterprise, when it was first mentioned as a cheeky tribute to the then-PA.
• New ships: the SS Eleos, Dr. Crusher's medical ship, named for the Greek goddess of mercy; and the USS Titan NCC-80102-A, a Constitution III-class, or Neo-Constitution.
• The Titan has been broken down to its very core and rebuilt from scratch as an entirely new class of ship, which stretches the meaning of "refit" to breaking point.
• Raffi is working for Starfleet Intelligence... here's hoping it's not actually Section 31 again.
• The alien aggressors have very mean-looking ships, that bring to mind any number of antagonistic races' fleets.
• With all the talk of "trust no one" and "don't involve Starfleet," I'm really hoping we've finally got a follow-up to the alien parasites from TNG "Conspiracy." But probably not.
• Captain Rachel Garrett's statue is the "Red Lady" linked to the attack, which makes me wonder if the timeline from TNG "Yesterday's Enterprise" is somehow involved. It would suggest a way to bring Denise Crosby back. It's probably just a reference, though, not a clue.
• I though Riker was an admiral in season one. Apparently he's still a captain.
• Frontier Day is supposedly the 250th anniversary of Starfleet, but since this is around 2401, that doesn't fit. Matalas has confirmed it's actually the anniversary of the Enterprise NX-01's launch, which was the beginning of Starfleet's deep space explorations.
• The dedication for Annie Wersching, who died so unexpectedly last month, was touching.

TREK REVIEWS: Television Heaven series reviews

I've four new reviews up on Television Heaven covering the breadth of Star Trek for your reading pleasure.The cute and underrated kids' spin-off Star Trek: The Animated Series, the flawed but watchable Star Trek: Voyager, the equally flawed Enterprise (but my do I have a soft spot for it), and bringing us right up to date, a review of Star Trek: Picard S1 as a whole, to sit alongside my episode reviews on the blog.

While we're at it, John Winterson Richard and Peter Henshuls have covered the ever popular Star Trek: The Next Generation, the connoisseur's choice, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and along with site runner Laurence Marcus, they've gone back to the beginning with a look at the original Star Trek.

CAPTAIN'S BLOG: TNG 2-10 - 2-11

2-10) The Dauphin
or
Oooh, Wesley in Love

The Mission: Transport a princess from her inhospitable safe world to her equally inhospitable homeworld.

Planets visited: Klavdia 3 and Daled 4: Two planets with almost identical atmospheres. They don't look very pleasant from orbit, and we don't see the surfaces. Daled 4 has at least one inhabited moon (where Anya is from), and the planet is the homeworld of the allasomorphs. The planet completes one revolution per orbit, so it is permanently locked with one side in day and the other in night. The two sides have been at war for their entire recorded history. Salia's parents come from different sides of Daled 4, and so she is destined to reunite the two factions.

This isn't a planet. It's a picture of a planet.

Alien life forms:

Allasomorphs: Shapeshifting beings whose natural form is a sort of glowing white ribbon of energy. Both Anya and Salia are allasomorphs, capable of shifting their molecular structure into that of other life forms. They've both taken human form for the voyage, Salia as a beautiful young woman, her protector Anya as a nasty old bag. Behind closed doors Anya turns into a serious fitty when she's trying to reassure Salia, then a sort of teddy bear thing that's probably supposed to be cute but is frankly terrifying. In sickbay, Anya decides she has to kill a contagious crewman and turns into a huge hairy beast, more than capable of overpowering Worf. She's a cocky bitch and thinks she's far more powerful than anyone on board (they could just beam her into space). When she threatens Wesley, Salia turns into an even bigger monster.

Shut Up, Wesley: It's a Wes episode. He falls head over heels in love with Salia the moment he sees her (I guess that's why they call him Crusher). In fairness, she's a beautiful girl who's into magnets, so she's a science nerd's wet dream. Wes gets so distracted he forgets to go to work, and spends his time asking various staff members for love advice. He then loiters outside her quarters until she comes out.

Amazingly, he manages to get somewhere with her. He woos her with chocolate, because while she's an alien, she's still a girl and girl's love chocolate, right? It helps that he's a total choco hipster snob. He takes her to see planets and asteroid belts on the holodeck, and continues to see her even after Anya and Picard both warn him off, but he treats her like shit when he realises that the pretty girl he's been snogging isn't her real form. He comes round in the end though.

The Picard Manoeuvre: 

Number One: Riker gives Wesley a crash course in romance, which consists of a series of nauseating lines that make him seem like a complete creep. He tries them out on Guinan, though, and she's totally into it. No wonder she got married twenty-three times.

Son of Mogh: His advice to Wesley is terrifying, but there's a hint that he's taking the piss. He begins by screaming at him, before suggesting that women throw stuff and claw at you, while men recite poetry and duck.

He's emasculated by Anya's ass-wipping of him, but develops huge respect for her and hopes to meet her again, to fight on the same side. (He should have looked her up during the Dominion War, she would've been handy then.) He says "the body is just a shell," and that you shouldn't be fooled by someone's appearance.

In Therapy: Troi can sense that the aliens are hiding something, and that their emotions don't match their outward appearances, but that's about as useful as she gets in this episode.

Stellar Cartography: By this time, only 19% of the galaxy has been charted. On the planet Thalos 7, they age cocoa beans for four hundred years.

Sexy Trek: Wil Wheaton got his first screen kiss here from Jaime Hubbard, who's ten years older than him. Good for him.

Space Bilge:  Riker says of Klavdia 3: "How could anyone exist in an environment so totally hostile to human life?" apparently forgetting that they're ferrying aliens. The crew also express surprise at how similar the atmospheres are between the two planets, which is surely the point. It wouldn't be much use sending Salia to a safehouse on a planet where she can't breathe.

Why does Picard continually open channels to Salia's quarters and then ask if he can turn the viewer on? Is he trying to catch her in the nip?

Everyone is stunned to meet a shapeshifter, who have apparently only been rumoured before, but even restricting to episodes broadcast before this Starfleet has documented shapeshifters including Vendorians, Excalbians and Antosians, and the Enterprise crew have met Q, for crying out loud.

The Verdict: Given that it's a Wesley episode, and Wesley romance at that, this episode isn't bad. In fact it's rather sweet. Still, anyone who thinks Wesley's life is wild and fascinating really has had a sheltered upbringing, and it can't be that hard to impress someone who's never tasted chocolate before.

CAPTAIN'S BLOG: TNG 2-9

2-9) The Measure of a Man
or
Everybody Needs Good Androids

The Mission: Prove Data's right to choose in a Starfleet court of law.

Planets visited: Not one.

Starships and Stations: Starbase 173 has been established near the Romulan Neutral Zone in response to the recent Romulan contact and the devastation along the front, soon to be discovered to be the work of the Borg (see TNG 1-25). There seem to be Anticans on the station. There's an office of the Daystrom Institute and the sector's JAG office on the station, the latter run by Philippa Louvois. She's the only legal staff member at the moment since they're still staffing the station.

Elementary, Dear Data: Starfleet has evaluated Data and concluded he is not a sentient being (which isn't really in line with hints in earlier episodes). Bruce Maddox of the Daystrom Institute has ordered him reassigned to Starbase 173 in order to be disassembled. He looks genuinely alarmed by this idea, and doesn't trust Maddox not to cock it up.

Since he can't simply refuse a reassignment (and an appeal would take too long to be useful, no doubt) Data decides to resign his commission, which Maddox intends to block on the basis that the android is the property of Starfleet. The senior crew hold a goodbye party for Data. He keeps quite a lot of old tat in his room, including a book that was a gift from Picard and a hologram of Tasha. He seems quite embarrassed when asked why he keeps this, and clearly still has feelings for her, even if he can't quite articulate them. He believes that he must protect Soong's dream by staying alive and intact (this will change as the years go by).

Maddox calls Data "it" and doesn't treat him with respect. Louvois calls him a toaster, but comes round eventually. Data is magnanimous enough to agree to work with Maddox in the future, which is pretty damned big of him.

He's never played poker before, and he's not very good at it yet. He's very easy to bluff. He holds the Legion and Medal of Honour and the Star Cross. His brain can hold 800 million bits of data (this isn't actually terribly impressive compared to the human brain, the capacity of which is unknown but estimated to be at least a thousand times more than this). He has an off switch in his arm, which is easily detachable.

The Picard Maneouvre: Picard shuts down Louvois's flirtation straight away and really hasn't much time for her. To begin with he tries to see both sides of the argument for Maddox's work, but soon realises how dangerous this is. He realises how Maddox is refusing to respect Data's rights as a person, and the risk of mass-produced androids becoming a slave caste. He speaks of a whole group of androids being a race - both of these things eventually come to pass in Star Trek: Picard. He successfully forces Maddox to confirm Data's sentience accrding to his own definition. He still values Guinan's counsel and takes it on himself to defend Data, eventually winning the argument and securing his right to choose.

The edited version of the episode available today states that Picard's first posting was on the starship Reliant.

Number One: Louvois assigns Riker as the nextmost senior officer to act as counsel for the prosecution. he immediately refuses, but since this would forfeit the trial and make Data a loser by default, he agrees. He puts in serious work as prosecutor, doing his best to portray Data as an object, but is clearly torn by his loyalty.

Geordi Shore: Geordi doesn't get a lot of screen time but is clearly cut up by Data's resignation. He should have had a chance to defend him in court though.

Lady Bones: She's present at Data's goodbye party and has clearly changed her mind about him. Data has some respect for the doctor.

Hat-tastic: It's Guinan who gets Picard to consider the horrifying ultimate result of Maddox's mission.

Sexy Trek: Philippa Louvois is an old shag of the Captain's from years ago, who still has a thing for him, although he remains pissed off with her for when she prosecuted him with zeal for the loss of the Stargazer. She says he's "still a pompous ass and a damn sexy man."

Cliche count: This is the first appearance of the now traditional Enterprise-D poker game. The players in this episode are Data, Riker, Pulaski, La Forge and O'Brien.

Future History: This is the first mention of the Daystrom Institute, named for Richard Daystrom (see TOS 2-20). It'll be mentioned many times throughout TNG, DS9 and VOY, and finally appear in Picard.

Future Treknology: Maddox has built a positronic net but it's not up to scratch. He plans to continue Soong's work and use Data's brain as a model to create an improved net and thereby build more androids. He says there are negligible risks to Data but no one believes him.

Future Echoes: This episode will have huge repercussions in Star Trek: Picard, with events on Mars happening almost twenty years after this.

Best lines: "Starfleet was founded to seek out new life. Well there it sits - waiting!"

"I'm sick to death of hearing about rights!"

"Pinocchio is broken; its strings have been cut."

The verdict: An exceptional episode, one with real impact and relevance today. While we're nowhere near the point where we'll have to have these discussion about artificial intelligence, the treatment of one group of people as lesser, disposable or a commodity is never far behind. It's vital that this story is told again and again, through whatever metaphor.

Making Riker the prosecutor is contrived, although it leads to some effective scenes. Wouldn't it have made more sense to make Dr. Pulaski the prosecutor if they were set on having a regular character do it? In either case, there's an obvious conflict of interest.

Nonetheless, this episode is a brilliantly written piece of science fiction drama held up by an excellent performance by Patrick Stewart and fine support from Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes. One of the all time greats of TNG, it's hardly surprising that it became the basis of Picard. The extended modern edition is particularly worth watching for some nice extra scenes.

TREK REVIEW: PICARD 1-2 & 1-3

MAPS AND LEGENDS

THE END IS THE BEGINNING

Really, the first three episodes of Picard make up a broken pilot episode. Arguably, the three episodes could have been edited down to a single ninety-minute opener, and nothing significant would be lost. However, I like the slow burn of this series, and the extra time it spends exploring this future. The flashbacks to the backstory work really nicely, showing how the future Picard had feared if Maddox had his way in TNG was coming to pass. We get our first glimpse of Utopia Planitia, the much-mentioned Starfleet shipyard, where androids – or synths – are treated with contempt by the human crew. At least, before one of the synths, F8, switches to berserk mode and murders everyone, before dropping the planet's defenses and killing himself.

The event we briefly saw in Short Treks: “Children of Mars” and forms much of the background of this series is a clear 9/11 moment for the Star Trek universe. It's not the first – that was the Xindi attack in Enterprise. While that dealt with the immediate reactions of the public, government and military, Picard takes a longer view. 9/11 was over eighteen years ago, while in the Federation, fourteen years have passed between the synth attack on Mars and the main events of Picard. It's a significant event which has left deep societal scars on the Federation.

The nature of the synths isn't exactly clear at this point. They're clearly based on Data, with the same white-gold skin and golden irises, but they don't appear as sophisticated. How self-aware they are isn't exactly clear as yet, but Trek has shown time and again that intelligent machines can develop awareness when active and learning. It's not surprising that the Federation banned synthetic life afterwards, although it looks like a lot of people were looking for an excuse. An interesting revelation is that the Romulans already despised artificial life, refusing to ever research the possibilities. Whatever the truth of Soji's origins, it appears she won't be welcome in the Federation or Romulan space.

We learn a lot about the late 24^th century in these two episodes. Clearly the Romulan Empire exists in some fashion after the destruction of Romulus, although presumably it must have a reduced influence. However, the power running the Borg Artefact Research Institute is the Romulan Free State. Interestingly, Federation visitors are allowed, including humans, Andorians and Trill, so in spite of the bad blood between the two powers, officially they're not on such poor terms. As for the Federation, whatever we might like to think about it being a socialist paradise, there's clearly still privilege and a class divide. Picard has his inherited chateau, even after his fall from grace, and not everyone is so lucky.

All this ties into the two episodes' recruitment drive for the protagonists of the series. Starfleet is not a trustworthy or loyal organisation. Picard goes to them to ask for help, and is shot down. It's hard to argue with Fleet Admiral Clancy that he's displaying incredible hubris. It's later that we learn he went to Starfleet demanding they help with the Romulan evacuation before the supernova, and that he never believed they'd accept his threat of resignation. What's worse is that this apparently led them to dismiss his protege Raffi Musiker, who's now living on the outskirts of society. Rios's former ship, the ibn Majid, was supposedly wiped from the records after a terrible event that led to the death of its captain. Starfleet are not coming off very well in this series.

I love Picard's new crew. Michelle Hurd as Raffi is a perfect foil for Stewart's Picard, very much the McCoy to his Kirk. Some of her lines sound exactly like they could have been spoken by Bones. We only see glimpses of their earlier relationship in Starfleet, but they were clearly very close – she even calls him “J L,” and no one's ever gotten away with that before. It's good to have someone who knows Picard well but won't take any of his shit. Santiago Cabrera is very good as Rios, a character who's dripping with cliché but in a script that knows it and refuses to take him entirely seriously. A Starfleet drop-out who's now a pilot on his own ship, being so manly he refuses medical treatment for a cool-looking wound – it's clear the script is taking the piss out of such character and that it's a very obvious facade for the character.

I absolutely love La Sirena and its suite of holograms. Not only do we have a new generation of EMH, but we have an Emergency Navigational Hologram and such programmes are clearly customisable. Having all the holograms based on Rios, only played by Cabrera with a different accent and haircut is hilarious, as is the fact that they're clearly a lot more pleasant to be around than their captain. However, I really don't understand how or why holograms aren't banned the same way androids are. OK, it's entirely possible that Rios is operating a ship full of holograms illegally, but no one comments on this or looks surprised. They may not be sentient, but as we've seen in the past, holograms can become sentient by being left running too long or simply by programming error. Indeed, it makes me wonder why they're even bothering with androids if they already have holographic technology this sophisticated. I was really hoping that Picard would be following up on the holographic rights issue seen at the end of Voyager, but the writers don't seem to be interested in tackling this.

Lastly we have Dr. Jurati, played adorably by Alison Pill. She clearly has a great deal of respect for Picard, but I'm not convinced we can entirely trust her. Her interrogation by Commodore Oh, the dodgy Romulan plant, was left open-ended, and her apparent fear and eagerness to go with Picard seem overplayed to me. I'd be very surprised if it doesn't turn out that she's been working for Oh ever since she left the Daystrom Institute.

Moving via Oh to the Romulan plot... I still love Picard's ex-Tal Shiar staff, particularly Orla Brady's Liris. Picard must still have some sway if he can employ two not-very-secret ex-agents and have them live on Earth with him. It's a shame they're not joining him on his mission to Freecloud, but I guess someone has to stay behind and tend the vineyard and look after the dog (wherever he's got to). I'm much less enamoured with the Romulan baddies. Harry Treadaway is pretty cute and charming, and I can see why Soji would fall for Narek, but he's not exactly convincing as an operative of the dreaded Zhat Vash secret service. As for Rizzo, or whatever her name is really, she's just awful. The creepy incestuous vibe is incredibly tiresome, and her arch stalking about the place is pretty boring as well.

However, the Borg Artefact scenes are intriguing, as are the ongoing questions about Soji's background. She clearly believes she has a human mother and father, but has some kind of sleep command implanted that knocks her out whenever she talks to her (holographic?) mother. The Romulan survivors, all clearly mentally wounded from their experiences, are a powerful elements, although it isn't clear if their suffering is an after-effect of assimilation or the specific catastrophe that befell their starship, leading to this cube being rendered inoperative. As good as it is to see Jonathan Del Arco back as Hugh, he doesn't get to do very much here, except, rather intriguingly, pull rank on Narek. Lots of questions left to answer.

Still, in spite of a couple of weaker elements, notably the parts that don't directly involve Picard, this series is shaping up to be something rather excellent, and the drip feed of information is tantalising. Now, finally, Picard returns to space. Engage!

Future History: Episode two confirms that dating for the series: the attack on Mars happened in 2385, with the main events happening fourteen years later in 2399. It's twenty years since Star Trek Nemesis.

Observations: The old fan joke about northern and southern Klingons to explain the smooth and crunchy versions gets incorporated into the canon, only to explain the Romulans this time. Apparently, Romulans from the northern provinces have ridges brows. It's also finally confirmed onscreen that Romulus was located in the Beta Quadrant.

This is the first time in Star Trek that we see the iconic Vasquez Rocks actually represent Vasquez Rocks. It's turned up half a dozen times in Trek right back to the first season of TOS, standing for planets such as Vulcan, Capella 4 and Xyrillia and numerous nameless desert planets.

Hugh says the Romulans recovered from the Artefact are the only ones assimilated by the Borg. He's wrong – we saw Romulan ex-drones in Voyager – but it's not like he'll remember everything that ever happened to the entire Collective. Anyway, maybe the others were assimilated after he escaped.

Thoughts: It certainly looks like F8 is taken over by a some outside force, which lessens the impact of the crew's mistreatment of him. It would be a bolder statement if the synths rebelled on their own. Lots to be revealed, yet, though. It does make me wonder if Control will be involved somehow; after all, there has been talk already of tying Picard and Discovery together with shared elements.

Laris calls the Zhat Vash “cheeky feckers,” which is probably the most Irish thing she could say. Lots of planets have an Ireland, I guess.

A bizarre number of fans are complaining that Commodore Oh wears sunglasses when she meets Jurati. As a Vulcan, she shouldn't need them, as she'd have an inner eyelid to protect against the sun. Aside from the fact that this is a ridiculous thing to get worked up about, I assumed this was a clue that she's actually Romulan.

On that matter, how has Rizzo posed as a human in Starfleet for so long? I can buy a Romulan posing as a Vulcan, but wouldn't the first routine medical show up a Romulan posing as a human?

On a vaguely related matter, as soon as Oh's name was revealed, I shouted “It's the Master!” More apropos, this is the first time we've seen a Starfleet officer using the rank of commodore in the 24^th century.

It's possibly nothing, but the use of antileptons in the destruction of images might be significant. After all, the most common antilepton is the positron, as in the positronic net.

Is La Sirena a Vulcan ship? It looks kind of similar to 24^th century Vulcan ships that were occasionally seen in TNG.

Really, the first three episodes of Picard make up a broken pilot episode. Arguably, the three episodes could have been edited down to a single ninety-minute opener, and nothing significant would be lost. However, I like the slow burn of this series, and the extra time it spends exploring this future. The flashbacks to the backstory work really nicely, showing how the future Picard had feared if Maddox had his way in TNG was coming to pass. We get our first glimpse of Utopia Planitia, the much-mentioned Starfleet shipyard, where androids – or synths – are treated with contempt by the human crew. At least, before one of the synths, F8, switches to berserk mode and murders everyone, before dropping the planet's defenses and killing himself.

The event we briefly saw in Short Treks: “Children of Mars” and forms much of the background of this series is a clear 9/11 moment for the Star Trek universe. It's not the first – that was the Xindi attack in Enterprise. While that dealt with the immediate reactions of the public, government and military, Picard takes a longer view. 9/11 was over eighteen years ago, while in the Federation, fourteen years have passed between the synth attack on Mars and the main events of Picard. It's a significant event which has left deep societal scars on the Federation.

The nature of the synths isn't exactly clear at this point. They're clearly based on Data, with the same white-gold skin and golden irises, but they don't appear as sophisticated. How self-aware they are isn't exactly clear as yet, but Trek has shown time and again that intelligent machines can develop awareness when active and learning. It's not surprising that the Federation banned synthetic life afterwards, although it looks like a lot of people were looking for an excuse. An interesting revelation is that the Romulans already despised artificial life, refusing to ever research the possibilities. Whatever the truth of Soji's origins, it appears she won't be welcome in the Federation or Romulan space.

We learn a lot about the late 24^th century in these two episodes. Clearly the Romulan Empire exists in some fashion after the destruction of Romulus, although presumably it must have a reduced influence. However, the power running the Borg Artefact Research Institute is the Romulan Free State. Interestingly, Federation visitors are allowed, including humans, Andorians and Trill, so in spite of the bad blood between the two powers, officially they're not on such poor terms. As for the Federation, whatever we might like to think about it being a socialist paradise, there's clearly still privilege and a class divide. Picard has his inherited chateau, even after his fall from grace, and not everyone is so lucky.

All this ties into the two episodes' recruitment drive for the protagonists of the series. Starfleet is not a trustworthy or loyal organisation. Picard goes to them to ask for help, and is shot down. It's hard to argue with Fleet Admiral Clancy that he's displaying incredible hubris. It's later that we learn he went to Starfleet demanding they help with the Romulan evacuation before the supernova, and that he never believed they'd accept his threat of resignation. What's worse is that this apparently led them to dismiss his protege Raffi Musiker, who's now living on the outskirts of society. Rios's former ship, the ibn Majid, was supposedly wiped from the records after a terrible event that led to the death of its captain. Starfleet are not coming off very well in this series.

I love Picard's new crew. Michelle Hurd as Raffi is a perfect foil for Stewart's Picard, very much the McCoy to his Kirk. Some of her lines sound exactly like they could have been spoken by Bones. We only see glimpses of their earlier relationship in Starfleet, but they were clearly very close – she even calls him “J L,” and no one's ever gotten away with that before. It's good to have someone who knows Picard well but won't take any of his shit. Santiago Cabrera is very good as Rios, a character who's dripping with cliché but in a script that knows it and refuses to take him entirely seriously. A Starfleet drop-out who's now a pilot on his own ship, being so manly he refuses medical treatment for a cool-looking wound – it's clear the script is taking the piss out of such character and that it's a very obvious facade for the character.

I absolutely love La Sirena and its suite of holograms. Not only do we have a new generation of EMH, but we have an Emergency Navigational Hologram and such programmes are clearly customisable. Having all the holograms based on Rios, only played by Cabrera with a different accent and haircut is hilarious, as is the fact that they're clearly a lot more pleasant to be around than their captain. However, I really don't understand how or why holograms aren't banned the same way androids are. OK, it's entirely possible that Rios is operating a ship full of holograms illegally, but no one comments on this or looks surprised. They may not be sentient, but as we've seen in the past, holograms can become sentient by being left running too long or simply by programming error. Indeed, it makes me wonder why they're even bothering with androids if they already have holographic technology this sophisticated. I was really hoping that Picard would be following up on the holographic rights issue seen at the end of Voyager, but the writers don't seem to be interested in tackling this.

Lastly we have Dr. Jurati, played adorably by Alison Pill. She clearly has a great deal of respect for Picard, but I'm not convinced we can entirely trust her. Her interrogation by Commodore Oh, the dodgy Romulan plant, was left open-ended, and her apparent fear and eagerness to go with Picard seem overplayed to me. I'd be very surprised if it doesn't turn out that she's been working for Oh ever since she left the Daystrom Institute.

Moving via Oh to the Romulan plot... I still love Picard's ex-Tal Shiar staff, particularly Orla Brady's Liris. Picard must still have some sway if he can employ two not-very-secret ex-agents and have them live on Earth with him. It's a shame they're not joining him on his mission to Freecloud, but I guess someone has to stay behind and tend the vineyard and look after the dog (wherever he's got to). I'm much less enamoured with the Romulan baddies. Harry Treadaway is pretty cute and charming, and I can see why Soji would fall for Narek, but he's not exactly convincing as an operative of the dreaded Zhat Vash secret service. As for Rizzo, or whatever her name is really, she's just awful. The creepy incestuous vibe is incredibly tiresome, and her arch stalking about the place is pretty boring as well.

However, the Borg Artefact scenes are intriguing, as are the ongoing questions about Soji's background. She clearly believes she has a human mother and father, but has some kind of sleep command implanted that knocks her out whenever she talks to her (holographic?) mother. The Romulan survivors, all clearly mentally wounded from their experiences, are a powerful elements, although it isn't clear if their suffering is an after-effect of assimilation or the specific catastrophe that befell their starship, leading to this cube being rendered inoperative. As good as it is to see Jonathan Del Arco back as Hugh, he doesn't get to do very much here, except, rather intriguingly, pull rank on Narek. Lots of questions left to answer.

Still, in spite of a couple of weaker elements, notably the parts that don't directly involve Picard, this series is shaping up to be something rather excellent, and the drip feed of information is tantalising. Now, finally, Picard returns to space. Engage!