A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about the upcoming series Star Trek: Picard and expressed my concern in regards to what the final product would be. On the same note, now I am afraid to continue the series since I hope they will not botch the hard work they did on the first episode.
In my personal opinion, Remembrance, the first episode of the series, being set twenty ears after the events of TNG, represents a wonderful blend of nostalgic elements, important morals and mature themes. Except for the nostalgia, everything else fells just like an episode of Star Trek TNG.
The premises of the series is that Captain Jean Luc Picard, now Admiral, retired from Starfleet after a series of horrible events. He had discovered that the Romulan Sun was about to go supernova, engulfing within its blast radius over 900 million lives. In a humanitarian response, Picard was amongst the first to offer aid. Starfleet would supervise the operation to save the Romulans, once enemies, that were now asking for help. We discover that things go sideways when the synthetics (or androids) that were under Starfleet command go rogue and that after this Starfleet decides to retreat from the endeavor. The storyline that Star Trek: Picard will probably feature will be about an artificial intelligence made out of flesh and blood, quite possibly Data’s “daughter”.
As I said, many are the elements that have a strong nostalgic connotation within the first episode: Picard’s dog named Number One, the appearance of Data in the Admiral’s dreams, Chateau Picard (the mansion he had in France) and many other pieces of memorabilia. The attention for detail is stunning and this element is also conveyed through dialogues. Just as in previous episodes of TNG, Shakespeare is quoted in two occasions: There is no legacy as rich as honesty (from All’s well that ends well) and There’s the rub! (from Hamlet).
This oneiric setting is juxtaposed nevertheless by the reality in which Picard lives. He himself know this fully well and says: The dreams are lovely, it’s the waking up that I am beginning to resent. Time passes and the last twenty years have also changed Picard; we can gather as much from three words: Tea, earl grey, decaf. This time leap is however not a barrier for the series itself that always portrayed mature and meaningful themes. Almost as distant echoes of what society is going through today, the first episodes depicts some interesting dynamics. In an interview, we can see how mass-media is superficial and the reporter purposely provokes Picard to talk about his disagreement with Starfleet. The Admiral’s take on what happened is that Starfleet behaved in a most dishonorable manner and lost its humanitarian approach. The actor perfectly portrays the sadness, pain and anger the protagonist feels in regards to how Romulans have been treated. All this makes the viewer see the importance of going beyond stereotypes, a theme that has always maintained its importance throughout the entire series.
In regards to what I have said about the Star Trek: Picard thus far and given the fact that I was pleasantly surprised to see something that was worthwhile, I will end this brief article by repeating what Picard says to Data in one of the dreams: I don’t want this game to end.
Thank you for reading and have a pleasant week.