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July 20, 2019 3:07 PM   Subscribe

Star Trek: Picard The full trailer for the new Star Trek: Picard series has been released. [alternate US-accessible link]

More information about the series from Comic-Con here.
posted by crossoverman (157 comments total) 31 users marked this as a favorite
 
Am I the only person who is most excited to see Jeri Ryan?
posted by chaiminda at 3:08 PM on July 20, 2019 [36 favorites]


No Gates McFadden?
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:13 PM on July 20, 2019 [9 favorites]


It's not what I was expecting but I am not sure why I wasn't expecting this, of course it'll be Picard doing Picard stuff in the future late 2010s.
posted by bleep at 3:17 PM on July 20, 2019 [5 favorites]


I think the Seven-of-Nine appearance is one of the smartest things this show could do. That's a character interaction I want to see.
posted by crossoverman at 3:21 PM on July 20, 2019 [34 favorites]


I squealed and flapped my hands.
posted by suelac at 3:22 PM on July 20, 2019 [14 favorites]


Anyone else getting "Video unavailable"? I can watch other videos on that channel.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:24 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


Anyone else getting "Video unavailable"? I can watch other videos on that channel.

I did since I'm in Canada. Likely due to content rights,. I was able to watch it on Space networks YouTube channel.
posted by Harpocrates at 3:28 PM on July 20, 2019


I'm so very excited. The only thing that would make this better would be Michelle Forbes.
posted by dazedandconfused at 3:29 PM on July 20, 2019 [8 favorites]


I’m getting the unavailable message too, and I’m in the US.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 3:29 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


I never saw the later TNG movies, so I'm trying to work out if that living-MacGuffin woman is supposed to be Laal.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:32 PM on July 20, 2019 [7 favorites]


Sorry, I linked to a video I could see. Mods should feel free to add a link in my post for a North American version. Or someone could link in a comment.
posted by crossoverman at 3:33 PM on July 20, 2019


Ok so I found something at this link, but there was nobody in that trailer but Picard. Is there a different version out now?
posted by DiscourseMarker at 3:33 PM on July 20, 2019




Wow, couple of big squeal moments here. Seven, and then that other appearance. Yeah, that one. Crossing my fingers for Forbes or Gates to crop up in later episodes. But damn, Star Trek is finally moving forward and that might be the one thing that makes me finally buy CBS Access.
posted by Ber at 3:35 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


The link for the copy from CBS All Access worked for me.
posted by mystyk at 3:35 PM on July 20, 2019


sweet. more stuff for cbs to run into the ground
posted by Bwentman at 3:35 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


(this appears to be because it's a CBS show in the US and an Amazon show in the rest of the world; the direct-link trailer in the OP is the Amazon trailer, if you go to the io9 article there's an embed for the CBS trailer.)
posted by parm at 3:36 PM on July 20, 2019


Star Trek:River Tam?
posted by kokaku at 3:38 PM on July 20, 2019 [24 favorites]


That's a lot of mystical woo woo for Star Trek--leave that stuff for Star Wars.
posted by Bee'sWing at 3:38 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


The small but very important Federation Borg Recovery Support Group will no doubt be responsible for great things. With Michael Chabon as the show-runner I look forward to a coherent story arc.
posted by Ignorantsavage at 3:39 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


This show will herald a massive resurgence in media pirating.
posted by Brocktoon at 3:39 PM on July 20, 2019 [27 favorites]


calling it: she's the once and future borg queen through time travel fuckery, perhaps originally laal or lol
posted by entropicamericana at 3:41 PM on July 20, 2019 [5 favorites]


Here's a link that works in Canada, united federation of media distribution...

The sign at 1m3s says "This facility has gone 5843 days without an assimilation", and the prominent Borg cube means that the Borg are the threat for this series, or the start of it at least.

1m7s the iconic rock formation

1m10s OMG Alison Pill is in this!

1m36s "This is the destroyer" ok so the Borg are the menace!

Jeri Ryan!

Brent spinner has zero wrinkles under all that makeup.. fitting.
posted by ecco at 3:43 PM on July 20, 2019 [7 favorites]


The one link says we will see Riker and Troi. And Chabon is the showrunner? Yeah, I'm more than on board.
posted by Ber at 3:46 PM on July 20, 2019 [3 favorites]


Ok, now that I have seen the right video (thanks!) and read the article, I am pretty excited! I’m less excited about giving CBS any money, but I guess we’ll see how things shake out in 2020.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 3:48 PM on July 20, 2019


surely spiner was de-aged using cgi?
posted by entropicamericana at 3:49 PM on July 20, 2019


The trailer did what it was supposed to, I was pretty ambivalent about the concept when it was announced but now I'm going to see it for sure.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:50 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]




Oh man, Seven of Nine is in this?

posted by crossoverman

Eponysterical!
posted by duffell at 3:54 PM on July 20, 2019 [12 favorites]


i am cautiously optimistic
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:56 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


I am… I am here for this (assuming it is also available in Japan on Amazon Prime, as I’ve heard they’ll be distributing it outside the US — and that name suddenly sounds a LOT like a Star Trek planet to me)
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:58 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


I am also very cautiously optimistic. And experienced real pleasure and surprise and joy by the end of the trailer! So maybe regular optimistic even.
Between this and the Winter Solider & Falcon series, I'm...not thrilled to be recreating the joy of buying cable packages, just online.

(But Picard! Picard is back! I'm so happy!)
posted by kalimac at 4:02 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


Oh I am so here for this!!!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 4:05 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


Whoever is managing these trailer releases just gave us a master class in building anticipation. First release a single shot of Picard in a vineyard, alone. Doesn't show anything, so people resort to sniping about the geocultural accuracy of the vine training methods. Then a second trailer with very little, but there's a dog! OMG what a good boy!

And then here's a new trailer, once again old man in the vineyard. Then holy shit Data in a storage drawer! Borg! More Borg! Mystical Vulcans with martial arts weapons!

I'm in. Although I sure hope they retcon out the whole horrible "Borg Queen" nonsense.
posted by Nelson at 4:16 PM on July 20, 2019 [7 favorites]


I was thinking Lal too but I guess they're going with the Borg angle. Maybe a hybrid?
posted by Query at 4:16 PM on July 20, 2019


I don’t, like a lot of people, have a ton of faith in the cbs thing (a broadcast network putting something like *this* on streaming only...), but it’s nice that they’ll be making it available (perhaps more available?) overseas.

That said... this is really nothing like I expected. I really sort of thought it was going to be a character study of Picard aging on his farm. There’s enough hunting at his mental state deteriorating, and I don’t know how much I’m ready for that. At the same time, honestly, there does seem like a story in there, a thing that actually gives the series a reason for being more than, hey, we got Oatrick Stewart to do this, come watch!

Then again, all it needs is a Hugh Jackman cameo, because it gave me some serious Old Man Picard vibes.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:17 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


Yeah, the Snarky Jeri Ryan reveal moment was the one thing in this that really made me go "whoa."

Not entirely sure how I feel about the weirdo motorcycle-armor-wearing-transporting-commando-action-fight-bit.

Was that Scraggly Jonathan Frakes behind Patrick Stewart on the Most Industrial Bridge Ever?
posted by Alterscape at 4:18 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


Very much looking forward to watching this with my dad. We watched a lot of TNG together, it was our favorite show. We went to all the TNG movies on release together. His parents both passed away the year Insurrection came out, 1998. He is about the same age as they were that year now.

I'll take it just for the moments they let Stewart do his thing... I'll take it for just that
posted by dagosto at 4:20 PM on July 20, 2019 [6 favorites]


Looking forward to the next show.
Star Trek: Sisko
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:24 PM on July 20, 2019 [37 favorites]


Still haven't ponied up for the CBS service because I'd be subscribing just for ST:D but this might push me over the edge.
posted by octothorpe at 4:26 PM on July 20, 2019


The young woman is a Borg princess.
posted by Brocktoon at 4:28 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


I was not expecting Seven of Nine and am ready for her return.
posted by hijinx at 4:28 PM on July 20, 2019 [3 favorites]


Yeah, this had me at Captain Picard Day.
posted by deludingmyself at 4:31 PM on July 20, 2019 [17 favorites]


(Please don’t let Seven and Chakotay still be together)

I would love to see Picard interact with Ro again; her betrayal at the end of TNG was so devastating, but I don’t think any Maquis survived DS9.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 4:31 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


OBVIOUSLY the young woman is Marissa Flores.
posted by duffell at 4:32 PM on July 20, 2019 [10 favorites]


At least one source says TWO ex-Borgs will be on Picard's crew.... Seven of Nine and "Hugh" from one of my favorite TNG episodes.... the interactions with Data should be a hoot. And the dog is named Number One.

Speaking of Number Ones, three of the six announced Short Treks will feature Captain Pike and Company. Sounds kinda "backdoor-pilot-ish" to me.

And what about that Below Decks cartoon? With a Rick and Morty writer as showrunner, it should fill the void when Archer returns from space - and his coma - for an unexpected 11th season! And the Un-Trek, The Orville is moving to Hulu... the TV of the future, or just spacing out?
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:47 PM on July 20, 2019 [3 favorites]


Well if that don't beat all. I honestly wasn't much interested in this, apart from having a wish-'em-well feeling about it. But that DID give me a couple of spine-tingles.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 4:47 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


They seem to have moved back a bit on the uniforms, which is just as well because I wasn't a big fan of the gray shoulders on black. The civilian clothes are not nearly bonkers enough, though.

From the looks of it, I think that's supposed to be the same Captain Picard Day banner from the show. It's clearly a new prop remade on a different material, but the colors and lettering are the same.
posted by ckape at 4:58 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


I was hoping for something like the Red Letter Media pitch for Star Trek: Galaxy
posted by TheJoven at 4:59 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


Oh, I do like the look of this. Particularly the unexpected stuff! Hope it's not as full-on plotty as the trailer makes out and we still get a couple of chill Jean-Luc's Space Archaeology of the week eps where he's just doing his thing but has to bust out his old Starfleet smarts when it all goes wrong.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:01 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


1m7s the iconic rock formation

I am ready for outer space to look like the Thirty Mile Zone again, and not like British Columbia.
posted by killdevil at 5:04 PM on July 20, 2019 [6 favorites]


1m7s the iconic rock formation

*in my best Kirk voice* GOOOOOOORRRRRRNN!
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:05 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


Hope it's not as full-on plotty as the trailer makes out and we still get a couple of chill Jean-Luc's Space Archaeology of the week eps

Unfortunately I think it’s going to be grimdark existential threat serialized plotting all the way down.
posted by killdevil at 5:10 PM on July 20, 2019 [10 favorites]


I hope they don't forget the fact that it was established in season 7 episode 10 that Data's appearance was supposed to age over time. I guess if he's been sitting disassembled in a box for 20 years his program might not be running, but it would suck if they didn't even mention it.
Oddly enough, I'm less enthusiastic about the project after seeing this trailer, which surprised even me. I mean, it won't stop me from doing everything I can to watch it. Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard could elevate the absolute worst production into something worth watching. I just kind of hoped he wouldn't have to.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:24 PM on July 20, 2019 [6 favorites]


I think people seem to have forgotten the end of Nemesis, which is fine, since I had forgotten as well. Data died at the end of that film (ie. his body died and I assume is what is in the drawer) but his positronic brain was uploaded to another body called B4. It was hinted that eventually B4 would become Data, which always sat strangely with me - but sci fi existential crisis layers make his continuing story here very interesting.

And it sits nicely alongside the Borg story, especially with the return of 7 of 9 and Hugh.
posted by crossoverman at 5:28 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


bring back Julian Bashir for a Picard cameo so he can:
a) confirm that he's married to Garak,
b) exhibit some kind of cringeworthy midlife crisis, and,
c) instantly become Seven of Nine's new workplace nemesis.
@Hello_Tailor
posted by The Whelk at 5:31 PM on July 20, 2019 [38 favorites]


No Riker?
no Riker!
posted by clavdivs at 5:35 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


bring back Julian Bashir for a Picard cameo so he can:
a) confirm that he's married to Garak


Spinoff potential?
posted by chaiminda at 5:35 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


If anybody's going to introduce LGBT issues to Star Trek, it must be Capt. Sulu. oh myyyyy.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:38 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


Introduce? Catch up, friend!
posted by chaiminda at 5:40 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


Riker and Troi were both announced as appearing at the panel.
posted by crossoverman at 5:41 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


Assuming time has passed the same both in universe and out here beyond the fourth bulkhead, this should be taking place at approximately the same time as the future scenes in All Good Things…
posted by ckape at 5:46 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


I think people seem to have forgotten the end of Nemesis, which is fine, since I had forgotten as well. Data died at the end of that film (ie. his body died and I assume is what is in the drawer) but his positronic brain was uploaded to another body called B4. It was hinted that eventually B4 would become Data, which always sat strangely with me - but sci fi existential crisis layers make his continuing story here very interesting.

The fact that Data is in this at all suggests that his plot thread will probably conclude with his consciousness getting uploaded into another body of some sort. No reason they can't pull a "Dr. Who" with him.
posted by killdevil at 5:58 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


Do we know that's Data? Visually all of Dr. Soong's creations appear the same, except of course for the one that looks like his dead wife.
posted by ckape at 6:12 PM on July 20, 2019 [3 favorites]


Maybe they did that because androids don't age, yet Brent Spiner does? Now they can just smooth him out in post, so there's no need to recast the part after all?
posted by rikschell at 6:16 PM on July 20, 2019


Maybe they did that because androids don't age, yet Brent Spiner does?

Soong's androids do age.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:24 PM on July 20, 2019


Riker has to be in this, these days I think he's just hanging around doing reverse mortgage commercials or w/e, so there's no excuse.

That's a lot of mystical woo woo for Star Trek--leave that stuff for Star Wars.

Hah, the first thought I had was "Oh, so a Star Wars from Obi-Wan's perspective thing?"

Patrick Stewart can do no wrong with me, so I am looking forward to finding it somewhere besides CBS Now.
posted by rhizome at 6:34 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


Maybe they did that because androids don't age, yet Brent Spiner does? Now they can just smooth him out in post, so there's no need to recast the part after all?

You should see the Instagram face filters they have in the future.
posted by rhizome at 6:36 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


I was also about to say--is that Data, or Data-uploaded-to-B4? He could still age either way, as per canon. But Spiner definitely looked CGIed.

On board for this one.
posted by thomas j wise at 6:37 PM on July 20, 2019


The line "you'll need a crew" accompanied with a bunch shots of crewmates made this feel a lot like Mass Effect 2 to me. Picard takes the place of Shepard and has to go around recruiting a bunch of specialists, some new and some familiar, for an undercover crack team heist on a Borg cube. That's probably not accurate, but if it is... I'm very much on board for that.
posted by painquale at 6:37 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


That's a lot of mystical woo woo for Star Trek--leave that stuff for Star Wars.

This one time Kirk fought God.
posted by truex at 6:40 PM on July 20, 2019 [30 favorites]


Make it so.
posted by Devonian at 6:40 PM on July 20, 2019 [3 favorites]


As far as I can remember, the only time we hear about whether or not Data grows old or ages is from him*, and in contexts where it's ambiguous if he's talking about simple entropy or if he simply means he has the capacity to age as part of trying to learn about humanity. It's also canon that Data has no built-in end of life, which would make scaling his physical aging process complicated from a social level (from whom's perspective does he age, and does it reset, or does he eventually simulate the appearance of a 300 year old human?), and it is established in "All Good Things" that his having a streak of grey in his hair is a choice to make himself look more distinguished.
Beyond the simple production fact of it being a reason why Spiner did age over 7 years during TNG, the aging-process of Soong-type androids is never firmly established as occurring on a human perceptible timeline except by data's choice.

(*The primary times I can remember Data saying he does age is when he's comforting Picard or someone else about their own aging, and also we do know that Data can lie, so it's also possible that Data is totally lying to make humans feel better when he says that.)
posted by neonrev at 6:41 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


painquale, I really want to watch Starship Mine (a.k.a. Die Hard Where No One Has Gone Before) now
posted by duffell at 6:42 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


Riker has to be in this, these days I think he's just hanging around doing reverse mortgage commercials or w/e, so there's no excuse.

He and Deanna are having wacky sitcom hijinks on the Titan.
posted by ckape at 6:44 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


Assuming time has passed the same both in universe and out here beyond the fourth bulkhead, this should be taking place at approximately the same time as the future scenes in All Good Things…

There's a sign in the trailer which reads, "This facility has gone 5843 days without an assimilation" -- just over 16 earth years. Star Trek: Nemesis released 12/13/2002. So time is passing about the same for us as it is in the trek-verse (allowing some slop for production schedules)
posted by nathan_teske at 6:47 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


If anybody's going to introduce LGBT issues to Star Trek, it must be Capt. Sulu. oh myyyyy.

Yeah, but Takei fussed about how it was “unfortunate” that Sulu was with a man in the reboots...because he wasn’t gay in the original series and therefore shouldn’t be with a man in a parallel universe in which plenty of people made different choices in life and obviously there’s no possibility that TOS Sulu was bi and just met the right dude in the Kelvin timeline instead of the right lady in the TOS timeline, because apparently you can only be straight OR gay, even in the future.

So give me Bashir and Garak any day.
posted by sonascope at 6:58 PM on July 20, 2019 [10 favorites]


I dig they kept the film continuity with Data sacrificing himself in Nemesis. I hope they also acknowledge that the Romulan homeworld was destroyed in a supernova that kicked off the reboot timeline.
posted by cmfletcher at 6:59 PM on July 20, 2019


The line "you'll need a crew" accompanied with a bunch shots of crewmates made this feel a lot like Mass Effect 2 to me

I had more of a Star Trek: Firefly vibe. I get the sense they're gonna spend some time one step ahead of The Man.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:37 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


I dig they kept the film continuity with Data sacrificing himself in Nemesis. I hope they also acknowledge that the Romulan homeworld was destroyed in a supernova that kicked off the reboot timeline.

The material basically says this was the event, with a subsequent failed rescue mission, that caused Picard to quit Starfleet
posted by The Whelk at 7:41 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


Riker has to be in this, these days I think he's just hanging around doing reverse mortgage commercials or w/e, so there's no excuse.

Jonathan Frakes is a pretty hard working TV director. He's directed three episodes of Discovery and will direct two episodes of Picard.
posted by crossoverman at 7:42 PM on July 20, 2019 [12 favorites]


Really hoping this TNG season 8 tweet comes into play:
Worf is framed for the murder of a depraved Klingon poet. Data & Geordi panic after trapping a hornet under a cup.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:46 PM on July 20, 2019 [24 favorites]


Television is gig work, and you gotta keep it flowing.
posted by hippybear at 7:46 PM on July 20, 2019


Frakes has directed a lot of episodes of Leverage and Jeri Ryan had a reoccurring role of the show as well so, it’s all people who know each other.
posted by The Whelk at 7:53 PM on July 20, 2019


I'm about all Star Trekked out.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:09 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


I’m kind of excited for this but I’m tired of rehashing things over and over again. Where’s the new TNG set 500 years beyond the end of the last series? It’s all prequels, reboots and the same characters at this point. Give us something that makes TNG feel like TOS suddenly did when it came out. Have the federation collapse under its own weight, get rebuilt again, discover intergalactic travel, etc etc.
posted by mikesch at 8:16 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


The Maquis were financed and supplied by the Klingons, and the Klingons occupied Cardassian territory after the Dominion war, so there is room in the story to include them.
posted by Brocktoon at 8:17 PM on July 20, 2019


As far as I can remember, the only time we hear about whether or not Data grows old or ages is from him*, and in contexts where it's ambiguous if he's talking about simple entropy or if he simply means he has the capacity to age as part of trying to learn about humanity.

It's Geordi who says it, while he's "looking under the hood" of the Joanna android. The line is, "It's part of her aging programme. Not only does she age in appearance like Data, her vital signs change, too."
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:25 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


I'm not saying they can't decide to change it; heck, Data could decide he doesn't feel like changing and rewrite his own program. It would just be a shame if they decided to pretend it was never a thing. it would look like they never bothered to study their own source material, which I always find disappointing.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:28 PM on July 20, 2019


Data has also been disassembled for however much time has passed (mentioned up-thread, can't find it quickly), so his aging would not be happening, in theory?
posted by hippybear at 8:32 PM on July 20, 2019


Am I the only person who is most excited to see Jeri Ryan?

Are you kidding? Part of the great bogosity of VOY's ending (between this and ENT, it's pretty clear that Berman and Braga had literally no idea of how to properly end a series) was that Seven got foisted off onto Chakotay as a love interest, and neither her nor the rest of the crew (save for Janeway, who gets a cameo in Star Trek: Nemesis as an admiral) have their final fates resolved; the ship approaches Earth, roll credits. I'm digging both her new demeanor and the mystery of the Borg cube (glowing blue instead of green? Whatever that signifies?). Lots to chew over in the trailer, but I'm pretty intrigued already.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:55 PM on July 20, 2019 [3 favorites]


I think the Borg cube is glowing blue rather than green because those are just your standard Federation force fields patching up big holes in it.

I can't tell exactly what they're doing with the cube. Is it supposed to be a home for the now-rootless Romulans? Are the Romulans just stripping it down, and are they doing it in alliance with the Federation? Some shots make it look like a prison. Maybe quarantined? It's all very tantalizing.
posted by painquale at 9:05 PM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


I assume that a Borg or ex-Borg population is living on that damaged cube, under guard. Of course this would imply a lot of things happened that we haven't been shown so far.
posted by ckape at 9:22 PM on July 20, 2019


it's pretty clear that Berman and Braga had literally no idea of how to properly_______________________

You can plug pretty much anything in here as far as I am concerned.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:27 PM on July 20, 2019 [20 favorites]


But yes, I am excite. When Enterprise limped off the air in 2005, it had been almost three years since Nemesis, which was a belch of an end to a long running franchise. A few years ago, I hazarded a guess on the blue that Star Trek would return to TV in fall of 2016, and I was off by a year. Discovery had a shaky start but I look forward to it now and am awaiting its next season. The Short Treks are a great storytelling approach. The Kelvinverse seems kaput. And now this. It is kind of a good time to be a Star Trek fan again, a statement which has arguably not been true since the nineties.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:35 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


I dig they kept the film continuity with Data sacrificing himself in Nemesis. I hope they also acknowledge that the Romulan homeworld was destroyed in a supernova that kicked off the reboot timeline.

I too hope they address this.  And if like me you were annoyed beyond all rational means by the scientific impossibility of a supernova somehow sneaking up on a Romulan civilization possessing operational FTL sensors and ships, Star Trek Online has you covered*!  I was extremely pleased when I ran across the missions in-game that provided an explanation consistent with the way the Star Trek universe works.

We'll avoid discussing Spock watching his planet die with the naked eye in real time from the surface of another one presumably far outside Vulcan system, because I'll just start screaming into the void.  I'm willing to overlook a lot of scientific howlers in the service of a story, but…ugh, just ugh.  Those movies just pushed the willing suspension of disbelief beyond the breaking point.  Right now I'm just happy to have Picard back for a second round.  I hope Mr Stewart's input might reign in some of the more irritating story telling tics of the recent show runners.

*The TLDR of it is that you discover the Romulans were doing naughty stuff with banned substances at a secret research facility that ended up causing the supernova to propagate through subspace, allowing it to suddenly expand at rates beyond light speed.  In other words, they did it to themselves.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 9:47 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


It was wonderful timing that I got to dance my excitement off at a Carly Rae Jepsen concert tonight

I had no idea I had such strong feelings about Seven of Nine but HERE WE ARE

Goddamn this was nearly perfect. And Michael Chabon? FUCK
posted by Automocar at 9:50 PM on July 20, 2019


Who it really should have making a return is Vash.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:24 PM on July 20, 2019 [12 favorites]


Data has also been disassembled for however much time has passed (mentioned up-thread, can't find it quickly), so his aging would not be happening, in theory?

I thought I already mentioned that, but maybe not.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:07 PM on July 20, 2019


The nice thing about having a CGI-smoothed Data is that he was always supposed to look a little plasticky and artificial, so any uncanny valley effects make sense in-universe.

There's unfortunately no similar justification for why he now has a phlegmy old man voice.
posted by painquale at 11:20 PM on July 20, 2019 [6 favorites]


I feel like Lore ought to show up, after all of his Dr. Mengele experiments on Borg and that brief scene that appears to be a Borg being dissected.

It would seem unlikely he'd be the one playing cards with Picard but how could they resist going a full sixpack of Brent Spiner characters once they've done all the makeup and CGI. We'll meet Englebert Soong, the distant cousin who never quite had the knack for engineering and instead does hand puppet reenactments of Wolf 359.
posted by XMLicious at 11:26 PM on July 20, 2019 [14 favorites]


Its a good trailer. Definitely stirring some forgotten longing for the Camelot that was Star Trek: The Next Generation. I could almost be excited if I could forget that The Phantom Menace had a good trailer too.
posted by rodlymight at 11:57 PM on July 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


Still no captions, still didn't hear.
posted by Soliloquy at 12:09 AM on July 21, 2019 [2 favorites]


There's a sign in the trailer which reads, "This facility has gone 5843 days without an assimilation" -- just over 16 earth years. Star Trek: Nemesis released 12/13/2002.

There's no assimilation in Nemesis though. There is some in an Enterprise episode that aired in May 2003.
posted by biffa at 2:12 AM on July 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


And Michael Chabon? FUCK

He has a decided knack for genre writing that I hope carries over to television. I yearn for The Yiddish Policemen's Union movie that never was -- vividly-imagined alternate-history sci-fi noir, that.
posted by killdevil at 2:16 AM on July 21, 2019 [2 favorites]


And the dog is named Number One.

I want to see Riker's face when he finds that out.
posted by Eleven at 7:32 AM on July 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


There's no assimilation in Nemesis though. There is some in an Enterprise episode that aired in May 2003.

But in-universe that assimilation predates all of TNG by 213+ years. I’m assuming whatever facility we see in Picard was created sometime after the Battle of Sector-001 or Voyager’s return.
posted by nathan_teske at 7:32 AM on July 21, 2019


I'm just hoping that someone can fashion some sort of rudimentary lathe
posted by Zonker at 11:56 AM on July 21, 2019 [3 favorites]


Spinoff potential?

Quick, someone write the theme song for the Garak and Bashir show!
posted by CynicalKnight at 12:48 PM on July 21, 2019 [3 favorites]


And the dog is named Number One.

I want to see Riker's face when he finds that out.


PICARD: "Will, be so good as to take Number One out for a number two, could you?

[LAUGH TRACK (CROWD, MEDIUM)]
posted by CynicalKnight at 12:56 PM on July 21, 2019 [2 favorites]


Spinoff potential?

Quick, someone write the theme song for the Garak and Bashir show!


Perfect Strangers: The Next Generation.
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:19 PM on July 21, 2019 [5 favorites]


And Michael Chabon? FUCK

He wrote "Calypso", the best of the Short Treks - though I loved all the Short Treks so far.

There are six more Short Treks being made - I think three of them are about Pike/Number One/Spock, two are animated and one will be a Picard prequel.
posted by crossoverman at 2:56 PM on July 21, 2019


this is bullshit, picard is obviously a cat person
posted by entropicamericana at 3:10 PM on July 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


Where the fuck is Wesley?
posted by chillmost at 4:43 PM on July 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


Trapped on the Big Bang Theory
posted by mbo at 4:48 PM on July 21, 2019


I'm just hoping that someone can fashion some sort of rudimentary lathe

Let’s get out of here before one of those things kills Guy!
posted by LooseFilter at 4:55 PM on July 21, 2019 [2 favorites]


Executive Producer: Alex Kurtzman.

As Dr Spock famously said, I've got a bad feeling about this.
posted by peeedro at 5:19 PM on July 21, 2019


As Dr Spock famously said, I've got a bad feeling about this.

Whatever Kurtzman's problems, EPs can vary from someone actively involved in story-breaking and writing, to someone they had to give the title to for purely political or financial reasons. So there's no guarantee Kurtzman has had anything to do with the content of the show.
posted by suelac at 5:41 PM on July 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


entropicamericana: "this is bullshit, picard is obviously a cat person"

DATA is a cat person (android?).
posted by Chrysostom at 6:31 PM on July 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


I prefer the term artificial person myself.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:09 PM on July 21, 2019 [6 favorites]


I don't know what all this Stockholm Syndrome is but Data's death, like everything else in Nemesis, was bullshit. If this series does nothing other than give Data a better conclusion it will be a success in my eyes.

Data deserved to carry on Soong's work and start an entire civilization of Androids. It doesn't matter to me that he spent the entire series and several movies obviously wishing for death, he needed a better legacy than a never before seen mentally impaired brother. I really hope the mysteriously badass woman that finds Picard is Lal.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:29 PM on July 21, 2019 [7 favorites]


Chabon + Stewart gives me a lot of hope that this will be more thoughtful Trek instead of that wretched Abramsverse stuff. It also sounds like they're probably not going to do what I was afraid of, which was to pull a Last Jedi on Picard and make him a pathetic, bitter old failure who's renounced everything he ever believed in.

I keep wondering where the original crew is. If Picard is going on a mission, you gotta figure most of those folks would be ready to follow him anywhere. I know they were slow to follow him in All Good Things, but in that case they literally thought he was addled from space Alzheimers and hopefully there's a similarly compelling reason here for why they're not all waiting for him at the space dock. As cool as this show may be, it'd be even cooler if Riker or Crusher or somebody old school was there too. I'm delighted to see Seven of Nine again but the show will have to make some new connection for them whereas with any of the old crew that connection is already there. I'd say it's a near certainty that Wil Wheaton will show up eventually, which would be so neat.

I'm thinking the Data Picard's talking to is part of a dream or something. Picard says he doesn't want the game to end, suggesting to me that he knows that when the game ends Data will be gone. It would be kind of cheesy for them to tease the fans with Data only for it to be a cameo in a dream, but I suspect that's what's happening. Brent Spiner has said many times he doesn't really want to play Data again, but I hope he'd have the sense to see that this would be a BIG DEAL and it sure beats dinner theater or whatever else he's up to these days. (That came out meaner than I meant it. I think Spiner's a terrific actor and he seems like a charming guy, but the dude needs to accept that Data is a once-in-a-lifetime gig and have fun with it.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 9:22 PM on July 21, 2019 [3 favorites]


Yeah I squealed when the rear shot of a light haired woman sassing at Picard turned out to be Seven, but at first I completely reacted as if it was Beverly Crusher (even though it wasn't her voice).
posted by polymodus at 9:33 PM on July 21, 2019




I dunno I just hope that the series isn't as Gritty! And! Dark! Have You Noticed How Gritty We Are And Everybody Is A Wisecracking Smartass?!? as too much of the trailer looks like to me. That jam has its place, and can be done well, but it's just not how I like my Trek. Especially my Picard stories. I'm keeping an open mind, and you can't tell what a whole project is going to be like just from the few clips they choose to put in the trailer, and like I said, Stewart as Picard can elevate any material. Maybe I'm worrying over nothing, and maybe I should just avoid further speculation.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:37 PM on July 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


Riker and Troi are returning in Picard, confirmed by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis.
posted by D.Billy at 6:08 AM on July 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


And not only Gritty and Dark but everything is Fighting Big Battles All The Time. Sure, that happened sometimes on TNG, but some of the best loved episodes - Inner Light, for example - aren't like that at all.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:45 AM on July 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


I strongly suspect that Brett Spiner isn't playing Data, but Lore. That drawer filled with android parts sure looks a lot like the drawer Picard's uniform was placed in for Best of Both Worlds. Lore also fits in well, story-wise, with the ex-Borg support group that they've got going on here.

Also, I'm pretty sure Brett Spiner is cool with his role in Star Trek given that he recorded an album called "Old Yellow Eyes is Back." I think his concern was that Data shouldn't age, which was beyond what prostethics and makeup could do. Now that they've got the reverse-aging CGI, though...
posted by thecaddy at 7:18 AM on July 22, 2019 [3 favorites]


The Short Treks trailer is out as well, and even with the return of the Pike Enterprise, the part that has me most excited is the bit featuring H. Jon Benjamin, aka the voice of Archer and Bob Belcher, yelling about tribbles, apparently. It's like an Archer:1999 crossover!
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:29 AM on July 22, 2019 [3 favorites]


I assumed the talking "Data" was B-4 from Nemesis, no? He's had so many years to develop into the android Data was when he joined the Enterprise originally, hence why he comes across that way in the trailer. More so, that is Data in the drawer, perhaps kept with the hope that someday he could be "repaired." Who knows.

Count me interested, none the less!
posted by Atreides at 11:17 AM on July 22, 2019


Picard gathering a crew of reliable rebels and finding a ship to carry them on a mission to protect or help a young woman with immense unexplained strength and power with a tragic backstory makes me think this is a weird Firefly re-imagining.

I was really expecting a kind of Orville-level approach to this new series, dunno why I had that expectation. At least a lot of it looks nice even if it doesn't feel Trek. Discovery was also a blend of looks good but was up and down with how Trek or not things felt.

Whatever they do with Spiner's character, I really hope they find an excuse to just let him look older without doing whatever it is they did at the end there with his face.
posted by GoblinHoney at 12:04 PM on July 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


I still think “the federation is actually evil and only an epic Picard speech can save it” is the best 2019 Trek option.
posted by Glibpaxman at 12:15 PM on July 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


I'm already mentally compiling a pre-watch episode list based on what we've seen here. Given that de-assimilation and/or re-integration of ex-Borg into society seems to be a theme, there's several episodes on that alone. It so happens that I'm about halfway through season 6 of a Voyager mostly-rewatch, and just a few episodes away from the first appearance of Icheb et al., so that's very timely indeed.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:13 PM on July 22, 2019


Lore's last known status is deactivated and disassembled, so I'd guess that's him in the drawer. I don't think there was anything left of Data after Nemesis, except for the katra he transferred into B4.
posted by ckape at 5:54 PM on July 22, 2019 [3 favorites]


Turns out that there's just Data's absolutely everywhere when you start looking. Evil Datas, benign datas, stupid Datas, sexy Datas, just fucking Datas everywhere, left in gardens, under rocks, in cupboards and drawers, down the back of the sofa, just bloody everywhere, it's embarrassing, no-one knows what to do with them anymore, you just sort of pretend you haven't seen them and go on with the rest of your day.
posted by dng at 6:00 PM on July 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


Evil Datas, benign datas, stupid Datas, sexy Datas, just fucking Datas everywhere

Are you suggesting a Westworld crossover?
posted by Glibpaxman at 6:06 PM on July 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


Didn't they already do that?
posted by dng at 6:08 PM on July 22, 2019 [5 favorites]


The only android crossover I want to see is one where Data meets the planet full of Stellas from I, Mudd.

(There are so many advanced androids in TOS. You'd think every ship in TNG would come with a couple varieties...)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:04 PM on July 22, 2019


Q. Will we get Q? Why have none of us asked about that? Surely Picard is Q Jr.'s godfather.
posted by Ignorantsavage at 5:33 AM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


The Great Gazoo Q was absolutely the worst thing about TNG; I really hope that character's never even mentioned.
posted by octothorpe at 6:57 AM on July 23, 2019 [3 favorites]


And yet also Q was present from the very first episode of TNG. Truly awful.
posted by Nelson at 8:22 AM on July 23, 2019


What was good about Q is that he was a character who caused Picard to become exasperated, Q was always a test of his composure. And it didn't get stale and cringey the way that Picard's interactions with Lwaxana Troi or children did. But, yeah, the Q episodes were always meh to me, waiting for an all-powerful being to snap his fingers and fix stuff in the third act didn't make for dramatic storytelling.
posted by peeedro at 8:49 AM on July 23, 2019


I'd say it's a near certainty that Wil Wheaton will show up eventually

Just a reminder that by the time this airs next year, Wheaton will be older than Stewart was when TNG first aired.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:12 PM on July 23, 2019 [13 favorites]


You shut your mouth.
posted by rhizome at 4:03 PM on July 23, 2019 [2 favorites]


Hey, just keeping it real.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:50 PM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


octothorpe: "Q was absolutely the worst thing about TNG; I really hope that character's never even mentioned."

This is madness. "You're so stolid! You weren't like that before the beard" is the funniest line of TNG dialogue.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:58 PM on July 23, 2019 [4 favorites]


I have to disagree. In the first season, Tasha and Worf and two anonymous other crew are on their way to a starbase (?) to compete in an offscreen team game of Parrises Squares. Riker sees them on their way to the transporter room in their sports gear and wishes them luck. A glowering Worf replies, “You may rest assured, Commander, we will be victorious, no matter what the cost.”

Hey, first season high points are hard to come by, okay?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:16 PM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


It is ALMOST worth putting up with all the other shitty Q episodes for Q Who. Guinan stabs him with a fork! He brings a mariachi band onto the bridge! Barry Corbin as another member of the Q Continuum! The aforementioned beard comment!

That and he's the mechanism by which they introduce the Borg. So two good things and a lot of... Q? Again? That Squire of Gothos with the serial number filed off?
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:11 PM on July 23, 2019


I like the idea of Q insofar as it is this whole "you think you've been studying your Universe but there's more than you realize and to us you are tiny and amusing" sort of thing which has the capacity to expand the Universe. Which it has done, actually. We have several Star Trek timelines running now. I think this will be the first new TNG one. Which is crossing with Voyager. So... yeah, things are interesting.
posted by hippybear at 10:49 PM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


I dunno how you can love TNG and not love Q. He's a vital part of the show, from the pilot to the finale. He gave great queeny snark, and then he could turn around and be legit scary when he wanted to. I mean, Tapestry?

I figure that's B4 in the drawer, since Data's body was destroyed in Nemesis and they had B4 all set up to become Data 2.0. (It's actually surprising to learn that while we were away Data never came back. They strongly implied he'd be back.) Lore's in storage too presumably and firing him up again would certainly be dramatic, but I just have a hunch it's B4. I'd love it if Data or Lore was all over the show but since it'd take a lot of expensive CGI to make a 1995 Brent Spiner I suspect he'll be limited to a scene or two.

I'm sort of surprised Nemesis seems to be playing such a significant part in setting up this series, since even the diehard Trekkies like me were pretty lukewarm on that movie. (Tom Hardy was OK, but I've long believed that movie would have been a hit if Patrick Stewart had played the evil Picard. Somebody should put that face swap CGI stuff to good use and give us the Stewart-as-Shinzon cut the universe needs!)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:53 PM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


One of the new Short Treks is a Picard prequel.

One of the Short Treks is called Q&A.

So I'm just going to assume that's the Q episode.
posted by crossoverman at 4:35 AM on July 24, 2019 [4 favorites]


I dunno how you can love TNG and not love Q. He's a vital part of the show, from the pilot to the finale. He gave great queeny snark, and then he could turn around and be legit scary when he wanted to. I mean, Tapestry?

Well, I don't love TNG. I had waited a couple of decades for a new Trek and was profoundly disappointed by what we got. I'd really loved the '80s movies and was sad that Rodenberry went in such a different direction for the new show. It was the only Trek available at the time so I watched it and I do like a lot of the actors but I always found the writing lazy with too much reliance on cheap plot devices like Q and the Holodeck.
posted by octothorpe at 5:04 AM on July 24, 2019


One of the Short Treks is called Q&A.

So I'm just going to assume that's the Q episode.
I mentioned this to my wife, who responded:

1. Who’s the “A”?

2. I bet it’s Annika Hanson (Seven of Nine)
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:25 AM on July 24, 2019 [3 favorites]


I'd love it if Data or Lore was all over the show but since it'd take a lot of expensive CGI to make a 1995 Brent Spiner I suspect he'll be limited to a scene or two.

You are almost certainly underestimating how much CBS is spending on this series. Like, no matter what you think they're spending on it, add a zero.
posted by thecaddy at 2:09 PM on July 24, 2019


Michael Chabon, the showrunner for Picard, has written the Q&A Short Trek ep, so that makes it more likely it's the Picard prequel ep. I also think Q probably fits better in a one-off Short Trek than as part of a series with an ongoing narrative.
posted by crossoverman at 4:59 PM on July 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


I'd love it if Data or Lore was all over the show but since it'd take a lot of expensive CGI to make a 1995 Brent Spiner I suspect he'll be limited to a scene or two.

I recall similar discussions when a CGIed Schwarzenegger showed up in the Terminator sequel/reboot a few years ago. Sometimes CGI is imperfect, but surely with artificial beings such androids, a frisson of artificiality is entirely called for, no? Where better to survey the Uncanny Valley from than with a robot played by seventyish actor who has been digitally made to look vaguely if not precisely like a young adult?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:37 PM on July 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


There's no need for the CGI, so they don't have to keep it up if it turns out to be difficult or expensive.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:46 PM on July 28, 2019


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