star trek picard season 3 kirk

29 Years Later, Star Trek Just Gave Captain Kirk's Death A Grisly Twist

The grave of James T. Kirk isn’t where you think it is.

Everyone knows that James T. Kirk was buried under a bunch of rocks on Veridian III in Star Trek Generations, but what Picard Season 3 presupposes is ... maybe he wasn’t. One of the most shocking Easter eggs in the Picard episode “The Bounty,” reveals that Starfleet probably has some future plans for the body of James T. Kirk, and that members of Section 31 are almost certainly grave robbers.

Spoilers ahead.

When Riker, Worf, and Raffi raid Daystrom Station to try and figure out what the Changelings stole from this super-secret facility, we get a lot of back-to-back Easter eggs, including a new version of the Genesis Device, a hungry “Attack Tribble,” and finally, the holographic version of Professor Moriarty. But the most surprising Easter egg of all here is the revelation that Section 31 has the remains of Captain James T. Kirk, locked away in a vault.

Worf, Riker, and Raffi on Daystrom Station

Although we see a screen that depicts Kirk’s skeleton, showrunner Terry Matalas has confirmed that this is more than just Kirk’s bones. “Kirk’s remains aren’t skeletal. Just his remains or … more,” Matalas tells Inverse .

Quick Star Trek history lesson from the 1994 movie Generations : Kirk gets zapped by the Nexus in 2293 on the Enterprise-B. Then after Picard finds him in the Nexus, Kirk emerges in 2371 and helps Picard beats-up Dr. Soren. Then Kirk gets killed when the walkway he’s on rolls over a cliff and crushes him. Picard is with him when he dies, and then buries Kirk under a bunch of rocks.

But now, it seems Section 31, the clandestine spy group within Starfleet, decided to dig up Kirk’s body and take it to their top-secret lab. But why? “The Bounty” reveals that Jean-Luc Picard’s human body (before he became a Synth in Season 1) was also stored at Daystrom Station, meaning Section 31 clearly has a thing for the organic remains of Enterprise captains.

While the theft of Picard’s body is poised to be a huge puzzle piece in the ongoing arc of Season 3, it seems unlikely that the Easter egg about Kirk’s body will be explored further. At least not right now. In canon, the hypothetical motivations Section 31 might have had for stealing Kirk’s remains are numerous.

Kirk and an android duplicate of Kirk in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”

Kirk was duplicated more than once in The Original Series , sent traveling through time a lot, and even was split into two distinct bodies in “The Enemy Within.” So, when you think about it, donating Kirk’s body to (mad) science makes a lot of sense. Even if Section 31 were up to no good, it still stands to reason they’d want to study the weirdness of Kirk, even a full century after he was engulfed by the Nexus, and three decades after Jean-Luc buried him.

Could a future Star Trek spinoff bring back a zombified Kirk into the 25th century? Will an evil clone of Kirk exist in some future Star Trek spinoff show, and if so, who will play him? Paul Wesley ? Chris Pine? A digitally de-aged William Shatner ?

Picard Season 3 likely won’t answer any of these questions, but as of now, in the 25th century “present day” of Star Trek canon, Kirk’s body is in a special lab, and it was certainly brought there for a reason.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 streams on Paramount+.

This article was originally published on March 24, 2023

• Science Fiction

Star Trek: Picard S3 Episode 6 Has Fans Buzzing Over The Genesis Device

The following article contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Picard" Season 3, Episode 6 — "The Bounty."

With more TV shows than ever before, it's easier than ever for "Star Trek" properties to connect to one another. "Star Trek: Picard" Season 3 has done a pretty good job of connecting to the rest of the "Star Trek" mythos, particularly when it comes to "The Next Generation." The season has already brought back the likes of Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Worf (Michael Dorn). And based on the most recent episode, it may also be laying the groundwork to tie into "Star Trek Generations."

Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) teamed up in "Generations," but Kirk suffered a mortal wound and ended up dying. While Picard buried Kirk on Veridian III, there was never any follow-up to what happened to his body after that. That all seemed to change with "Picard" Season 3, Episode 6, titled "The Bounty," when it was revealed that Kirk's remains were being held within a secret vault on the Daystrom Station. To make matters even more intriguing, a version of the Genesis Device, which was developed to terraform planets but has also been used to resurrect people, is nearby. It's made plenty of fans' heads metaphorically explode with the possibilities "The Bounty" just introduced.

Fans wonder if William Shatner could return to Star Trek

Numerous possibilities open up with the deceased body of a former "Star Trek" captain and the genesis device, and fans have gone crazy with ideas. In a Reddit discussion thread for "The Bounty,"  one user couldn't believe what just transpired: "Genesis II device? WTF IS THAT KIRKS BODY AT DAYSTROM???? It was making sickbay sounds like he's still alive!!!" As it stands, the Kirk reveal serves as kind of a sad epilogue to the character's journey because it would've meant his body was dug up, but it's possible they plan on giving Shatner a proper sendoff.

Of course, it could just be an Easter egg, as u/Sulissthea points out, "was there another genesis device? how and why is Kirk alive, is it an easter egg or do they plan on doing something with that." But it definitely feels like they're setting something up, with u/polymetisodusseus writing, "His body is apparently sitting right next to a genesis device, and if I know one thing about genesis devices it's that they revive dead captains of the Enterprise and rapidly age them to the age of the actor who plays that character."

Captain Kirk's death is a hotly contested topic in the "Star Trek" fandom, with many thinking it wasn't a proper end to the former captain of the Enterprise with a rather anticlimactic death. It's possible "Picard" could be seeking to right a wrong, as it were, giving Kirk one last chance for glory before burying him again but perhaps in a more fitting manner. There are four more episodes to "Picard" Season 3, and plenty more can happen between now and then.

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Star Trek: Picard Series Finale Recap: The Next Generation Crew Gets a Fitting Send-Off… But What’s Next?

Dave nemetz, west coast bureau chief.

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Star Trek: Picard signed off after three seasons by giving Jean-Luc and his Next Generation pals the final mission they’ve always deserved… but maybe this story’s not over just yet.

While Seven and Raffi manage to retake the Titan by transporting the Borg-infected crew off the bridge and locking them in the transporter room, Jean-Luc prepares to beam down to the Borg cube to stop the transmitter and find Jack: “Let me bring him home,” he implores Beverly. Riker and Worf volunteer to go with him, and on the Borg cube, it’s oddly quiet and littered with a bunch of Borg corpses, which explains why they need the reinforcements. Jean-Luc sends Riker and Worf to locate the transmitter while he searches for his son, finding Jack wired into the cube and fully Borgified, spouting Borg-approved rhetoric. Jean-Luc says he’s here to bring Jack home, but the Borg Queen interrupts to say Jack is already home… and so is Jean-Luc: “At last, Locutus has returned.”

They send the transmitter coordinates to the Enterprise , and the ship would have to fly into the very center of the Borg cube to reach it, but Data is confident: “My gut tells me I can do this.” (Hey, Data has a gut now!) He pilots them right into the heart of the cube with breathtaking agility as the Borg-infected ships take out Earth’s defense system and start targeting the planet’s most populous cities for destruction. (Plus, the Titan is a sitting duck after the Borgified crew escape and knock out their cloaking device.) Data reaches the cube’s core and finds the transmitter, but to stop it, they’d have to destroy the cube… and everyone on it. A tearful Beverly nods her approval, and Geordi warns Riker and Worf that they’ll only have a minute or so to get off the cube after the Enterprise fires. Meanwhile, Jean-Luc realizes that the only way to reach Jack is to become a Borg himself.

The Borgified youth, including Geordi’s daughter Sidney, all come to their senses now that the Borg have been eliminated, and Jean-Luc proudly gives Jack a tour of the Enterprise bridge. Starfleet fixes all of its ships’ transporters to purge all Borg genetic code, thanks to Beverly’s efforts, and figures out a way to detect Changelings, too. Seven informs Tuvok that she intends to resign from Starfleet, but after seeing the glowing recommendation left for her by the late Shaw (aw!), he promotes her to captain instead. Worf helps Raffi reconnect with her son and granddaughter, and Data now has so many human emotions, he’s boring Troi to tears with them during their therapy sessions.

We flash-forward to a year later, as Jack nervously prepares for his first Starfleet posting. He’s been assigned to the Titan … which has been rechristened the Enterprise-G ! Seven is the captain, with Raffi as her first officer, Jack as “special counselor to the captain” and Sidney onboard as well. (“A bunch of ne’er-do-wells and rule-breakers, really,” Jack notes with a sly smile.) The Next Generation  gang gets drunk at a bar together, and Jean-Luc toasts with a quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar . (“We must take the current where it serves, or lose our ventures.”) They clink glasses, and then Jean-Luc pulls out cards for a game of poker! The old friends laugh as they play a few hands, with Jean-Luc taking home a big pot: “I’ve come to believe that the stars have always been in my favor.” And as the cards are dealt, the camera pulls overhead, just as it did in the Next Generation series finale.

Whoa… once you’re recovered from all of that, Trekkies, give the Picard series finale a grade in our poll and then beam down to the comments and tell us: Would you watch a Jack Crusher and Q series?

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53 comments.

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Bring on #StarTrekLegacy.

I wasn’t entirely a fan of more Borg when we had Borg last season, even if a bit different, but overall it was a near perfect send off while also setting things up nicely for a spinoff that they hopefully confirm soon. The Anton Chekov name was a nice touch.

Very Satisfying! I enjoyed the series!

This was so exceptional! I want Star Trek: Legacy!!!!

Well done. All we needed was a Sisko appearances

Oh, that woulda been great.

Shaw! I want Shaw to somehow be alive. Q! Can’t you help???

Loved season 3 overall but a couple of things bugged me. 1) Laris should´ve had a closure scene in the finale. 2) Why did Vadic communicate with the Borg Queen in such a nasty way (cutting her hand)?

So apparently we will indeed have a Picard season 4 but focused on Jack with nice cameos from Patrick Stewart and friends. It would be nice if Jack gets to meet his brother Wesley.

The point about Laris is a good one. All it needed one was just one more midcredit scene of them reuniting maybe. But I think they probably wanted to leave open possible reconciliation between Beverly and Jean Luc? To be honest I was hoping for it until I realized Laris is still out there.

They’ve backtracked a bit on the final season though and said they could come back to Picard at a later date. It just is planned and meant to be. I just am glad we got to see enough of Seven of nine and was happy with where she ended her arc. I was a bit scared considering after she got left behind but I should’ve had faith. The show runner has always seemed to be a huge a fan of her and done right by her.

Terry Matalas is the best thing that could´ve happened to Trek Universe. Let him helm more and more projects.

At the very end, Jack had a wedding photo of Picard and Beverly on his nightstand. Apparently they completely forgot about poor Laris.

Was that a wedding photo? They were both very young in that picture; and in reality it looks like it might have been the actors at an Emmys ceremony. back in the day.

It was obviously a picture of Gates McFadden and Patrick Stewart from some event in the 90s.

Correction, that image is from 1988. No idea why that images makes people believe, they got married.

I don’t think it means we will see a season 4 of Picard. I think there is a chance it transitions into another Star Trek series (either Legacy , which it was confirmed it isn’t in devopment, but doesn’t mean it won’t or another series) especially how Q was at the end of it.

I loved this ending and this season so much. It was amazing to see the big “D” get to do all the things I wanted it to do during the series. It wasn’t “perfect” but it was perfect.

Very nice to have that tip of the hat to Anton Yelchin – he did make a fine Chekov on J.J. Abrams’ movies!

We need to know Seven’s command line. Very mean to tease us like that… she and the crew on the Enterprise G better return! Really enjoyed this season and most of the OG crew got better storylines than in 7 years of TNG – especially Troi and Crusher! But Patrick Stewart really is looking a bit old for this action!

Yeah, most of them look great but Sir Patrick is really showing his 80+ years, bless him. Lol. My wife thinks Q is hot, now.

Really loved this season. This season and Strange New Worlds has proven they can get New Trek right when they try hard enough. Walter Koenig playing the voice of “Anton” Chekov in honor of Anton Yelchin made me tear up a bit. A true class act there.

Agreed! Nice touch.

I absolutely loved. It really managed to make me feel similar to what I felt when I watched the original series finale of TNG. Very satisfying and thank god they didn’t kill anybody of. I didn’t know I needed the episodes to end with my favorite Star Trek crew once again seated at a round table, playing poker.

Thank you Terry Matalas and the whole cast and crew, what a wonderful gift. See you soon.

Wish we could’ve seen Wesley one last time.

Agree 100%. I find it hard to believe Wesley never met his brother and has not visited his mom is 20 years.

Or at least done a drive by & saw them, but not lets them see him.

Agreed. I was holding out hope for a Wil Wheaton cameo. TNG was always my favorite and Picard is my hands down my favorite captain. That last episode was near perfection. Great to see all those characters together for a final ride.

96.74% gave the finale and A (87.46%) or a B (9.28%). Verrrryyyy impressive, Terry Matolis.

What a great end ( well hopefully not) Thankfully they had the time to give it the ending it deserved. Having been a trek fan for over 50 years, TNG has always been my fav..Hats of to cast and crew. Now lets see the Enterprise G, Boldly return to our screens with captain 7 and her crew

It was great until the final scene. I thought he died. He rui Ed it for me.

What a massive improvement over the first two seasons. Amazing what comes of getting somebody in charge who actual respects what came before. (Retconning Q’s death was a perfect way to end things.)

Wow. That was so perfect. I knew the OGs would be playing poker at the end. Looking forward to the (hopefully inevitable) spin-off with Seven and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise G!

Surprised when they were in 10 Forward Guinan wasn’t tending bar instead of having a mention.

Finally Deanna had something to do besides sit next to the captain’s chair and offer advise. Didn’t know she could navigate a star ship.

Is Seven officially Captain Seven or they call her that out of respect to her service to Star Fleet?

Since this is on streaming and shouldn’t have a time limit per episode like the previous episodes with 45 minutes they could have added a few minutes to fill in the gaps in the plot like Laris missing at the end and use the time to make the last episode a 2 parter if the series ever goes on commercial TV.

Keep Q out of any future Trek shows!!! He’s the single most disgusting reason why I didn’t take to Next Gen. Until the Borgs came, anyway. This ressurecting the dead trick is also soooo old that it really deserves to be put to rest in the Trek universe. Permanently!

This season was so good I almost forgive Akiva Goldsman for ruining Batman. ALMOST.

And this episode should be made available to all showrunners – this is how you end a series.

One of the most recognizable and popular video games of all time is Tetris.

I felt so disappointed with S1, S2 was a little bit better, and S3 ruined my childhood and TNG series. The only good and the best thing about S3 was the return of Q. Did anyone really think he would “die”? lol

This was absolutely THE BEST season out of the 3 seasons of Picard! It is what it always should have been!! I loved this season! Wish they would do more. I totally agree with the commenter above saying Terry Matalas should helm more Star Trek projects. He absolutely hit it out of the ballpark with this! Oh and 1 more thing about Terry Matalas. I LOVED all the easter eggs from his TV Series 12 Monkeys! That was an absolutely amazing show also! You guys should definitely check it out!

1 thing I was really hoping for was the Kate Mulgrew would return as Admiral Kathryn Janeway. They kept name dropping her during the season and I was certain she would be in the finale. I guess they couldn’t work it out. It was Awesome to see Tuvok tho!! Hopefully they will do a spinoff of Voyager with Jeri Ryan, Kate Mulgrew, Tim Russ(Tuvok) and the rest.

A+++ to this entire season!!!

The return of Mulgrew as Admiral, this time; Ryan as Captain of the ex-Titan became Entreprise, Russ’s Tuvok as Janeway’s/Seven’s counselour would be great. But please, no more Chakotay or Harry Kim!

I was surprised by the snubb of the Doctor, though the whole 3 seasons. I mean, I’m pretty sure that Robert Picardo would have been happy to be called so what’s happened behind the scene? As for Mulgrew, it seems that she was stuck to Prodigy even if Picard and Prodigy are produced by Krutzman. But yes, I’d like seeing her return in a show.

I despise all the NuTrek for being mostly dumb(ed down) and hip. But Picard S3 was excellent. Yes, they overdid it with the nostalgia at times and yes, the finale did not quite live up to expecations (whatever does ?) but still. Even with its flaws, it was excellent !

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Picard Season 3's Daystrom Station Is Like Star Trek's Version Of The Raiders Of The Lost Ark Warehouse

This post contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Picard" season 3, episode 6.

As it crosses into the back half of its third and final season, "Star Trek: Picard" finally brings back Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton). It's good to see him again: let's acknowledge that. Episode 6, "The Bounty," also hints at the end that season 3 might finally give Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) something more to do than yelp about how her son "just vomited all over engineering" (as she did during her brief episode 3 appearance, while video-chatting in flashback with William Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes). Back then, all we had to worry about in "Picard" was one shaky subplot with Worf (Michael Dorn) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd).

In episode 6, the subplot merges with the main plot. Dorn acquits himself admirably, but he continues to be saddled with dialogue like, "Breakups on my homeworld seldom end without bloodshed," as Worf and Raffi beam aboard the USS Titan and take us on a subsequent trip to Daystrom Station for an Easter egg hunt, or something very much like it.

Speaking of sons and regurgitation, in the same way that Picard's boy, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), is "plagued with an overclogged brain," episode 6 is clogged with callbacks and references to earlier "Trek," like Jack's gentle reminder that Jean-Luc (Patrick Stewart) now has a synthetic body after his fake-out death in season 1 (which season 3 has mostly ignored in favor of a soft reboot with more legacy characters). The eggs are scattered all over the place in episode 6, and this won't be a simple laundry list. What it will be is an interrogation of "Picard" as the unlikely, space-faring hellspawn of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and its final warehouse scene.

The warehouse of old ideas

"Raiders of the Lost Ark," also produced by Paramount, famously ends with the Ark of the Covenant — the gold relic that holds the original Ten Commandments, inscribed by the finger of God himself — being wheeled into a warehouse full of crates, all of which are labeled "Top Secret Army Intel." The camera pulls back to reveal how this religious artifact is just one of many military prizes, as the warehouse stretches back endlessly. The implication is that army intelligence is sitting on a massive trove of X-Files.

It's worth noting: the crates are also marked "Do Not Open," and they would perhaps be better left that way, though "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" would head back to the same warehouse again some 27 years later for its opening set piece. Only 21 years have elapsed since "Star Trek: Nemesis," the last movie with the cast of "The Next Generation," but "Picard" season 3 made it clear from the get-go that it aims to be nothing less than "the best Next Generation movie we never got," as our review calls it.

In place of Indy's warehouse, episode 6 holds its Easter egg hunt in two separate locations. One is the "fleet museum," where Georgi La Forge presides over the "final resting place" of "every legendary starship," including the Defiant from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and the cloaking Klingon Bird of Prey from "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home." However, it's Daystrom Station that most neatly aligns with "Raiders of the Lost Ark," since it holds all sorts of "experimental weapons" and "alien contraband" from Starfleet intelligence. That includes the life-giving Genesis Device from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," a watershed sequel that "Picard" has been channeling for weeks now.

'Wonderful dumb fun'

"The Wrath of Khan" hit theaters in 1982, the year after "Raiders of the Lost Ark." For anyone who was bored by "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (which is to say, not watching it correctly ), "Khan" provided an antidote, with what film critic Pauline Kael called "wonderful dumb fun." That can be a two-edged sword when the fun part tips over too far into dumb, as the 2013 "Wrath of Khan" remix "Star Trek Into Darkness" did at times. That movie was co-written by "Picard" co-creator Alex Kurtzman, the current shepherd of "Star Trek" as we know it on Paramount+.

In many ways, "Picard" season 3 feels like the third generation, twice removed, of "Wrath of Khan," meaning it's a more direct descendant of "Star Trek Into Darkness." Elsewhere, the season has drawn from the gnarly "Next Generation" episode "Conspiracy," which contains a face-melting scene right out of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." However, as episode 6 continues window-shopping for Easter eggs in Daystrom Station, the next stop is the body of the original Enterprise captain, James T. Kirk. We don't actually see the face of the character originated by /Film contributor William Shatner  — just his name and X-ray — though it would be funny if they did stick him in there and have him pop his eyes open through the window real quick as Raffi passes by.

Next, Worf peeps an "attack Tribble," which takes us back to the classic episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles," from "Star Trek: The Original Series." From there, we move on to the biggest, most sentient egg of all: a gun-toting Professor Moriarty (Daniel Davis). We'll have more to say about him in a minute, but let's take a step back here and look at the bigger picture of what this episode is doing.

Trek has overtly homaged Raiders before

"Picard" season 3 isn't the first time "Star Trek" has echoed "Raiders of the Lost Ark." In a 2013 Fast Company article ("How to Write and Produce a Summer Blockbuster"), Alex Kurtzman acknowledged that the opening sequence" in "Star Trek Into Darkness" "is an homage to 'Raiders.'" Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) absconds with a precious temple artifact on the planet Nibiru, leading an alien tribe to chase him and Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban) through a red jungle. It's as if we're right back in Peru with Indiana Jones, dodging arrows (just as "Star Trek Into Darkness" would have to run for cover from fan criticism, being voted the worst "Trek" movie ).

This is indicative of a larger issue with "Picard" season 3: namely, that it still shows "Trek" in blockbuster mode. It's the kind of thing where you could almost rewrite Picard's "Next Generation" mission statement like this:

Paramount+: the final frontier. These are the expletives of the new "Star Trek" dialogue. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new writing. To seek out new lighting, or lack thereof. To boldly go where J.J. Abrams has gone before.

With all the main cast members of "The Next Generation" returning this season, "Picard" is also now part of a newer breed of blockbuster, the legacy sequel, which is great until it's not. Since legacy sequels are often penned by screenwriters who grew up with the original movies, they can sometimes feel like fan fiction. In "Picard" season 3, that entails dialogue like:

Beverly Crusher: Will, did you just throw an asteroid?

Riker: You're g**damn right I did.

And two minutes later:

Beverly Crusher (gazing in wonder at space jellyfish): To seek out new life...

Riker: I think we should boldly get the hell out of here.

Raiders of the lost adolescence

The dialogue above speaks for itself. You can feel the heavy writing hand in moments like that, leading the viewer along, constantly winking, waxing nostalgic, and reassuring them "Trek" is hip to the new space lingo, if not entirely cerebral anymore. It's an instinct that belongs, not so much in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," as in its bastard blockbuster children, all the tentpoles living in the vast warehouse Steven Spielberg and George Lucas built. They're the kind of movies and shows that keep going back and raiding the warehouse — and with it, your lost adolescence — for Easter eggs and recyclable plots. Usually, they're driven by marketing impulses, as opposed to flying on impulse, like a true starship.

So, about Moriarty. In its New York Comic Con trailer , "Picard" season 3 marketed his return from the annals of the "Next Generation" holodeck. It turns out he's the "astonishingly lethal A.I." security system guarding the vault aboard Daystrom. Worf first warns everyone about it/him during the heist-movie scene where they're all gathered around the table, going over their plan for breaking into the station (rather like a group of writers breaking the story for a TV episode).

"This is not the same self-aware Moriarty we encountered on the Enterprise," Riker observes in the middle of a shoot-out with the "19th-century holo-villain." Moriarty calls him and Worf "pathetic old warriors," one of many instances where "Picard" season 3 uses its own words against itself. Whistling "Pop Goes the Weasel" makes Moriarty evaporate, and that's that. His return, which has been teased for months, winds up feeling like a cheat, just a glorified cameo. After his non-disclosure agreement lifted, Daniel Davis confirmed (via TrekMovie.com ) that he only did a single day of shooting for this one "Picard" episode.

Loose lips sink starships

In "The Bounty," the dialogue in the heist-planning scene, which includes Riker saying things like, "Excellent use of the word 'burgle,'" is just a chain of exposition that hops from one character to another. They complete each other's sentences in such a way that it becomes obvious we're listening to a thinly plotted info dump, broken up across multiple mouthpieces.

One thing you can say about Indiana Jones is that he knows how to keep his professional life separate from his personal life. Just look at the way his professor-self dresses, versus the way his adventurer-self dresses.

In "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the Enterprise-D was as formal as any space office. True, while Jean-Luc Picard is bald, he and the other officers would sometimes let their hair down and play poker. Something you wouldn't often hear them doing, though, is using language that might be deemed "not suitable for work." This is one area where "Picard" could stand to remember what happened when Indiana Jones got a little too loose-lipped around his father at a motorcycle crossing.

Dr. McCoy is well-known for grumbling, "Dammit, Jim," and in the youthful 2009 "Star Trek" reboot , Chris Pine famously called "bulls***" on the sight of an older Spock (which is still a perfectly delivered one-liner). There is a precedent, then, for some occasional NFSW language in "Star Trek," similar to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and its one "Holy s***" (spoken at the sight of an uninvited Nazi submarine). But if you missed "Star Trek: Discovery" and its whole exploration of the f-bomb frontier , it might be similarly unbelievable to hear "Trek" toss around words like "dips***," or hear Picard do what he does best and engage — in use of the f-word? — in the holodeck bar this season.

Pop goes the legacy sequel

Later in the episode, after he's whistled away Moriarty to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel," Riker gets captured, interrogated, and tortured. Defiant, he then gets in on the cussing action, too, asking one of his captors, "How much of that goo s*** did they pour into you?" He sounds less like himself here and more like Captain Shaw (Todd Stashwick), who treated us to some equally gooey dialogue earlier this season, calling Changelings "goo people" and "clay-dough" (and their residue, "resi-goo.")

It's funny wordplay, but this sort of glib phraseology also serves as a dim reminder of "Star Trek Into Darkness," giving the beleaguered viewer a whiff of that movie's less-than-artful "super blood" line, whereby McCoy was able to simplify Kirk's magical resurrection and wave off any misgivings about it with a quip. "Picard" also magically resurrected its title character in its season 1 finale, and his human remains come back into play at the end of season 3, episode 6. The level of writing on this show is such that it wouldn't be surprising if they had two characters say in dialogue:

"Wait, how did they bring Jean-Luc back to life?" 

"You know, that f***ing super blood."

"Star Trek" once flirted with Quentin Tarantino , who's nothing if not a pastiche artist, but at what point did it become the type of science fiction where we're no longer to able to relay the dialogue in polite company without asterisks? (Our content management system literally won't allow me to type it without asterisks.) Shaw, the captain we love to hate , has a good line in episode 4 where he confesses, "At some point, a**hole became a substitute for charm." However, the cussing there comes right after an emotionally charged moment where it feels earned.

The Hollow-deck

The moment in question for Shaw follows a compelling confrontation where we realize that the reason he's been such a jerk to Picard and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is that he had a traumatic encounter with the Borg under Locutus, which left him prejudiced. That kind of callback, rooted in good character drama, is aces. Yet this same Shaw turns blushing fanboy when he meets Geordi La Forge, and too much of "Picard" falls back on another, emptier kind of callback. As long as we're in the Tarantino room, you might describe it as one that appeals to the heart of every Trekkie with the lowest common denominator of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" finger-pointing .

Jack Crusher does physically finger-point at the fleet museum as he identifies starships like "Kirk's Enterprise," with its "perfectly clean, retro lines." Alas, Seven has to educate him about the history of her own starship Voyager. "We all long for connection," Jack muses to her, and at this point, we can't be sure he's not talking about intertextual "Trek" connections.

Both inside and outside Daystrom Station, this whole episode of "Picard" is dealing from the bottom of the deck: not the beloved "Lower Decks," mind you, but rather, something more like the Hollow-deck, a simulation of what "Star Trek" was once upon a time when it actually meant something. As Riker goes to meet Data/Lore/B-4 (Brent Spiner), "Picard" even throws in old archive footage from when the younger Riker met Data in the holodeck in "Encounter at Farpoint," the series premiere of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." It's a play right from the legacy-sequel handbook. Speaking for the viewer, Raffi says, "I thought Data died. Twice!" Ah, but this is comic book "Star Trek," where no one ever really stays dead.

Same writers' room as season 2

As much as the final season of "Picard" might try to differentiate itself from the much-derided first two seasons — setting itself apart as a "Next Generation" thing — it's still born of the same writers' room, led by Terry Matalas (now sole showrunner after serving as co-showrunner with Akiva Goldsman in season 2). Patrick Stewart revealed in a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter  that the pandemic forced the production team to shoot "both seasons two and three back-to-back," wrapping the second season at 7 p.m. and then immediately beginning work on the third season at 7 a.m. the following day. It's not like they had a long break in-between to internalize the creative failures of season 2 and learn the right lessons from them.

Season 3 could still redeem itself, but right now, when the sugar rush of the reunion wears off outside Daystrom Station, it leaves a questionable aftertaste, one that smacks of empty calories. That's the same effect derivative blockbusters like "Star Trek Into Darkness" have.

When you've been trained to swallow pabulum long enough, it can be hard to tell what's really good on TV or in the movies anymore. As Geordi La Forge greets Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) on Paramount+ this week, he says he "debated the virtues of a curt professional handshake or an uncomfortable but long overdue hug." The hug that "Picard" season 3 provides surely is uncomfortable at times, and maybe it wouldn't hurt "Star Trek" and its characters to show a bit more professionalism again.

The franchise needn't be puritanical, but hearing Jack Crusher talk about getting laid does set off  Salt-n-Pepa bells. Suddenly, "Trek" has become less stuffy, with the streaming frontier allowing it to abandon the buttoned-up formalism or classicism of itself on network TV.

'You built amazing things. I just wanted to fly them'

In "Picard" season 3, episode 6, Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) tells Geordi, "I grew up listening to your adventures, all the times you and Picard stood up for what was right." Geordi insists that it was a different time, and Sidney, speaking in stilted dialogue without contractions, exclaims, "No! It is you and I that are different."

"You built amazing things," she confesses. "I just wanted to fly them."

Again, we hear the "Picard" season 3 writers own themselves in dialogue. They just want to fly the amazing things "Star Trek: The Next Generation" built. An even deeper self-own comes when they cut back to Riker, Raffi, and Worf on Daystrom Station.

Riker: "So Starfleet installed an insane A.I. to defend its deepest secret?"

Raffi: "They used him because he's a one-of-a-kind work of art, certainly more brilliant than anything else they can come up with."

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" was a one-of-a-kind work art. As "Picard" continues flying into darkness, countervailing Gene Roddenberry's utopian ideals, it's just using that series the way "The Offer" (also available to stream on Paramount+) and its many Easter eggs used "The Godfather."  That movie was about capitalism , the real not-so-creative force behind the current glut of legacy sequels. Sure, it brings a tear to the eye when we see fan-favorite characters reunited, but there also comes a point when you need more of that and less explaining of things in dialogue in the most asinine way.

While "Star Trek Beyond" may have gone Mutt Williams and incorporated a motorcycle, this franchise is not Indiana Jones. At the end of the day, the deepest secret Daystrom Station may hold is that "Picard" and its warehouse of references are bereft of originality.

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Star Trek: Picard

Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life. Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life. Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.

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• Trivia The Chateau Picard vineyard first appeared in Family (1990) . It was run by Jean-Luc Picard's brother Robert and his wife Marie, and their son René. Jean-Luc would learn in Star Trek: Generations (1994) that Robert and René had both burned to death in a fire, leaving Jean-Luc as the last in the Picard line.
• Goofs Commodore Oh often wears sunglasses. Star Trek lore establishes that Vulcans have an inner eyelid to protect against harsh sunlight on their desert planet. Oh's shades are a fashion statement, not a protective measure.
• The first season features a Borg cube and the planet Romulus.
• The second season features a Borg ship, a wormhole and hourglass, and the Borg Queen's silhouette.
• The third season does not have an opening titles sequence.
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Picard Season 3 Episode 6 Easter Eggs Just Changed the Game for Star Trek

In the latest Picard, Star Trek easter eggs are more than references. Here, the shout-outs are the story.

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This Star Trek: Picard article contains spoilers.

In new episodes of various Star Trek shows, there are easter egg moments and then, there are easter egg tsunamis. Picard season 3 episode 6, “The Bounty,” is the latter. This doesn’t mean that “The Bounty” has more easter eggs per se than other Trek episodes, but the references here do pack a bigger punch, for one specific reason — almost all the callbacks matter to the story.

Unlike some cameos and easter eggs in other franchises, all the canonical references in “The Bounty” transcend the concept of “fan service” and exist as tactile things in the Trek universe. These feel organic. If you’ve never seen an episode of Star Trek before, you might be a bit confused by this episode, and yet , this episode, and season 3 of Picard as a whole, is a wonderful 101 course on the totality of the ‘90s-era of Trek shows. “The Bounty” isn’t just a place for a lot of Trek easter eggs, the references are a kind of composite of all of Trek, while still pushing a brand new story forward.

So, what were the biggest Easter egg moments in “The Bounty?” Because it’s close to impossible to get every single reference here, let’s go deep on the ones that mattered most, and how these easter eggs turned deep cuts into brilliant storytelling.

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“The Bounty”

The name of the episode telegraphs out the biggest easter egg, which is revealed later in the story: the Klingon Bird-of-Prey known as the HMS Bounty , originally featured in the films The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home . Of course, when Kirk and the crew stole this Bird-of-Prey in T he Search For Spock , it wasn’t yet called the Bounty . Bones gave it that name in The Voyage Home as the result of a “fine sense of historical irony.” In real life, in 1789, people did organize a shipboard mutiny against William Bligh on a ship called the Bounty . Those people weren’t rebelling against shapeshifters, but like The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home , the status quo of Picard season 3 puts our heroes in the roles of loveable mutineers very early on. And by episode 6, the Titan is a borderline pirate ship. 

So, when the Bounty actually appears in the Fleet Museum, the episode becomes somewhat of a spiritual sequel to The Voyage Home . Jack and Sidney stealing the cloaking device from the Bounty and installing it on the Titan also make the episode a worthy follow-up to The Original Series episode “The Enterprise Incident,” in which Kirk and Scotty jacked in a Romulan cloaking device to the classic 1701 Enterprise . And this connection to Captain Kirk and the voyages of that generation really make the other easter eggs click.

Jack’s Captain Kirk Fandom

When the Titan hits up the Fleet Museum at Athan Prime — a name that references a time-traveling character from 12 Monkeys , who is the son of characters on that show — Jack Crusher gushes to Seven about his love of Kirk and the Constitution-class Enterprise-A . It’s tempting to say that Jack is just an audience surrogate here for older Trekkers, but it’s way more layered than that. Jack’s love of Kirk and the classic Enterprise as a child is telling because he also rejected Jean-Luc Picard and the contemporary version of Starfleet. For Jack, a childhood love of starships and heroes like Kirk didn’t match up with the flawed person of Jean-Luc Picard.

But the audience knows that Picard and Kirk have met, and we’ve seen that interaction in a way that Jack couldn’t understand or feel. In the 1990s, some children fought with their parents over which captain was better — Kirk or Picard. Here, with Jack’s love of Kirk, we kind of flip the script against Picard, which proves that intergenerational arguments aren’t always connected to a recency bias. Nostalgia is tricky and it doesn’t always move in the same direction. This easter egg gets deeper when we consider that the episode also shows us Kirk’s literal dead body!

Kirk’s Body on Daystrom Station 

When Riker and Worf enter the hall of easter eggs on Daystrom station — including another version of the Genesis Device and a genetically modified “Attack Tribble” —  we also get a shot of Kirk’s remains stored here. Now, this means that Section 31 literally dug up Kirk’s dead body on Veridian III after Picard buried him there at the end of Star Trek Generation s . This is creepy, but it’s also symbolically relevant to the story of The Next Generation crew. Kirk’s body and what was left of the Enterprise-D were both left on Verdian III, which, in 1994, signified the end of two eras — the original cast was no longer in control of Star Trek in the mainstream, but also , the heyday of The Next Generation was over because the Enterprise-D was over.

Kirk’s dead body on Daystrom Station is also a nice nod to the overall theme of mortality and legacy in Picard season 3. Jean-Luc begins this season by telling Laris, in episode 1 , that “I’m not a man who needs a legacy.” And yet, here’s his son carrying on a devil-may-care attitude that we know is reminiscent of a young version of Jean-Luc Picard we only heard about in flashbacks like TNG’ s “Tapestry.” When Worf and Riker are confronted with the hologram of Moriarty, they are taunted as “such pathetic old warriors,” which again, feels similar to how we felt about Kirk and the gang in The Undiscovered Country .

The Enterprise-A, Voyager, the Defiant, and… USS New Jersey?!

The last time we saw the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A was in The Undiscovered Country after the ship had just taken a pounding from a Bird-of-Prey that could fire while cloaked. Now, fans are probably aware that Christopher Plummer played Chang in that movie and his daughter Amanda Plummer plays Vadic in Picard season 3. But the easter egg of the Enterprise-A at the Fleet Museum cuts deeper than that. Unlike so many Enterprises , this is one that survived. The bulk of its hull is still intact enough to be on display at the Fleet Museum, giving the universe an idealized notion of that specific era of the 23rd century.

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The Enterprise-A only exists because of the Bounty . If Kirk and the crew didn’t destroy the previous Enterprise , and stolen the Bounty , the Enterprise-A wouldn’t have happened. When Altan Soong is monologuing about the concept of evolution, we see the Titan parked in front of the Enterprise-A , showing us what nostalgia and the realities of time actually mean. The Titan being a Neo-Constitution-class ship isn’t just about cool retro starship lines. It represents how history shapes the present.

This thematic feeling is also true of the other big starship easter eggs at the Fleet Museum, such as the Constitution-class USS New Jersey introduced in the episode with its designation NCC-1975, which is a reference to where and when Picard showrunner Terry Matalas was born. The other ships that Jack and Seven talk about are all connected to the larger mosaic of the story of Trek . Seven says she was reborn on Voyager, and Jack pointing out the Defiant is relevant to the story we’re currently experiencing. Worf served on the Defiant , and that was the ship that was pivotal in beating back the Changelings the first time around on Deep Space Nine , even if, like the Enterprise-A , it is technically a replacement for the original, which was destroyed.

Data, Moriarty, and Jean-Luc’s Old Body

The second Defiant replaced the first. The Enterprise-A replaced the previous Enterprise . But these vessels aren’t the only things that have been replaced in Trek canon. Jean-Luc Picard and Data have both been given new life in new bodies. On Daystrom Station, Riker, Raffi, and Worf discover a new version of Data — or at least a composite of his memories, B-4, Lore, Soong, and Lal in a fresh vessel. This references Nemesis , the TNG episode “The Offspring,” Picard season 1, and TNG episodes like “Datalore” and “Brothers.” But more than that, the idea that Data seems to never die feels connected to the presence of the Moriarty hologram he sends out to greet old friends. After Riker remembers whistling “Pop Goes the Weasel” with Data in “Encounter at Farpoint,” Data’s consciousness allows the landing party access to the crucial part of Daystrom Station.

Riker has clearly processed his grief about Data’s death. In Nemesis , he couldn’t remember what song Data was trying to whistle, but years later he finally does. This is touching, but it also gestures at a bigger theme. Data is exactly like Sherlock Holmes in one specific way: his deaths are numerous and almost always false. Conan Doyle created Professor Moriarty for the short story “The Final Problem” in order to kill off Holmes forever in the minds of his readers. It didn’t work and Holmes was resurrected for subsequent stories, much like Data (and Spock!).

In “The Bounty,” Riker waxes poetic about the easter eggs relating to Data on Daystrom Station, saying, “I shared that tune decades ago with another dear friend. One who dreamt of crows [“Birthright Part 1”], aspired to thwart Moriarty with the intellect of Holmes [“Elementary,” “Dear Data,”], and somebody who couldn’t whistle worth a damn [“Encounter at Farpoint”].” In this trip down memory lane, complete with actual retro footage of Riker and Data from the pilot episode of The Next Generation , the purpose of Data’s journey is made clear. Holmes couldn’t die because the public demanded he be brought back. And Data’s journey, clearly, wasn’t over until he became properly human.

In fact, this is what Geordi says he is toward the end of the episode “synthetic, but human,” meaning, in death, Data has gotten what he wanted, to be reborn as a human. Crusher says, “He’s like you Jean-Luc,” referencing Picard’s synthetic body, created at the end of Picard season 1.

The episode ends with Riker and Troi being reunited, but as captives, while Data reveals that Jean-Luc Picard’s original human body was what the Changelings stole from Daystrom Station. Jean-Luc Picard in season 3 is like the Enterprise-A or the second Defiant . He’s the original, but also the replacement. He’s the same man, but not. Picard season 3 is a Next Generation sequel, and yet, much has changed, and generations beyond TNG have become central to the future of Star Trek . In Generations , Picard told Riker: “What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived…After all, Number One, we’re only mortal.”

Riker responded: “Speak for yourself, sir. I plan to live forever.”

And now, Picard season 3 is making that funny little exchange into a deadly serious conversation. Data and Picard can’t live forever. Riker’s in trouble, too. The past isn’t just a fun joke or reference, it creates the future. Because, after all the deep cuts and shout-outs, Picard season 3 reminds us that what happens next is all that really matters.

Ryan Britt is a longtime contributor to Den of Geek! He is also the author of three non-fiction books: the Star Trek pop history book PHASERS…

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‘star trek: picard’ comic-con teaser shows ‘next generation’ crew back in character.

The team noted that 'Wrath of Khan' is a major influence on the third and final season.

By Aaron Couch

Aaron Couch

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The  Star Trek family energized Comic-Con with a Hall H panel steeped in nostalgia that also looked to the future.

The panel felt like a potential Comic-Con swan song for Patrick Stewart, who earned a warm welcome to discuss the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard . At the end of the panel, Stewart shared heartfelt gratitude to Comic-Con for supporting him over the years, saying he wanted to thank the Con now because he might not have the opportunity to in the future. In addition to playing Trek  icon Jean-Luc Picard, he has been a Comic-Con fixture with the X-Men films, in which he played Professor X.

Picard season three will find Jean-Luc get a little help from his friends. The main cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation , the beloved series that ran from 1987-94, will be returning. That includes Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner — who will not play Data but rather a new character, it was revealed. Wil Wheaton appeared as a new character in season two, and it is assumed he will return in season three.

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The team showed off a first-look teaser of the actors back in character, with Dorn’s Worf getting the biggest applause. Of the crew, only Stewart and McFadden were in attendance at Comic-Con.

Executive producer Alex Kurtzman said at the beginning of season three, the crew is at different places around the galaxy. “Slowly we see them come together. We wanted to take the time to get to see where they are now,” said Kurtzman. He added that  Wrath of Khan , the 1982 film considered to be the greatest Trek movie, is a major touchstone for this season, which will focus on the mental games between Picard and a singular villain. “She is amazing,” said Kurtzman of the villain, not revealing more details. Khan was teased in season two of Picard when it was revealed Adam Soong (Spiner) was the creator of the superhuman project, code-named “Khan.”

McFadden noted it’s been 20-25 years since the Next Gen cast has played these characters. “Crusher has been all around the universe,” said the actor of her character. “It’s amazing to have a chance to return to a character … and plunge in again. We are different. We’ve evolved as characters. It was really a gift.”

Added the actor: “There are a lot of unresolved issues between Picard and Crusher. Even with the ensemble, there are some of us who haven’t seen each other for years, and others who have been in contact all the time.”

Stewart noted that  Picard was a risk. “We embraced it boldly, and passionately, and with belief — and that is what made all the difference.”

He went on to say, “We carve out new territory in  Picard. … That is the most essential thing to remember. We are breaking boundaries all the time and reflecting life as it might possibly be.”

Back to the Future star Lea Thompson, who is in the  Trek  family as a Picard director , emceed the proceedings.

With no big-screen offering since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond , streaming has been the home to the storied franchise for years, with Paramount+ building a stable of shows akin to what Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm are doing over at Disney+. While Chris Pine’s Trek  crew is plotting a return to the big screen, could there be a Next Generation film in the future?

Stewart said he would be enthusiastic about it.

“Yes, is the answer to that, bluntly. That would be an interesting and exciting and worthwhile thing to achieve,” said Stewart, who previously starred in four Trek films.

Kurtzman, who previously worked on J.J. Abrams’ Trek movie, was more circumspect. “In some ways, season three is that. But, of course. If you guys love it — let’s see what happens.”

With Pine playing a younger Kirk on film, and Ethan Peck playing a young Spock on  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Stewart was asked who he might like to see play a younger Picard. After a long pause, he offered this: “I find it difficult to answer that question. It would mean stepping outside who I am … he is in here, inside me.” Quipped the actor, who lost his hair young, “I don’t think it has to necessarily be somebody who lost their hair at 19.”

Next up, the team behind the animated  Lower Deck brought out a new trailer, which revealed the series will go to Deep Space Nine, the space station at the center of the ’90s TV series of the same name.

“You might see some friendly faces in there,” said creator Mike McMahan of the episode. The new season debuts Aug. 25.

Season two ended with the cliffhanger of the arrest of Capt. Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), providing fertile ground for season three to tackle.

“We start season three full tilt looking for her. Trying to fix it, trying to make it right,” said Tawny Newsome, who voices Beckett Mariner. “It feels like a movie.”

Few  Trek shows have received as much acclaim out of the gate as Strange New Worlds , which wrapped season one earlier this month. And as the Strange New Worlds  team came out for its panel, Lower Decks stars Jack Quaid and Newsome crashed the stage in a comedy bit asking why they weren’t included.

That’s when Strange New Worlds star Anson Mount revealed there will be a crossover episode with  Lower Decks , with Quaid and Newsome’s characters appearing in live-action.

Strange New Worlds , which chronicles the early days of the Enterprise before James T. Kirk helmed the ship, became an instant fan favorite when it aired earlier this year.

“I did not expect this level of appreciation,” said Mount of the strong response to the show.

Both Mount and Ethan Peck (Spock) started out on  Discovery, and executive producer Rod Roddenberry noted the fan response prompted their own show to get greenlit. “You did it,” Roddenberry told the crowd.

Mount stars as Capt. Pike. The season finale featured a surprise, with Paul Wesley appearing as the new Kirk. As it happened, the Hall H panel corresponded with the actor’s birthday, and the cast surprised Wesley with a Kirk-themed cake. They also led the 6,500-strong crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to a slightly embarrassed actor, who said he made his co-stars promise not to do something in front of the fans.

For Wesley, joining Trek has been a surreal experience, one that involved getting the blessing from original Kirk actor William Shatner on Twitter.

“He didn’t have to do that. … I thought that was such a classy move,” said Wesley, who saw Shatner just two days ago. “His support means so much to me.”

As for season two, Wesley said, “I’m looking forward to viewers seeing a different side of Kirk. Certainly not an alternate-timeline Kirk. But a lieutenant on the Farragut. He’s a younger Kirk. He hasn’t developed into the Kirk we know.”

While the panel began with  Picard , one fan wanted to know if there had been talk of continuing Deep Space Nine  in a similar way. Kurtzman hedged, acknowledging conversations are always happening and that Capt. Sisko (Avery Brooks) is a “critical, critical figure.”

“Conversations definitely have been had,” he said — but they don’t want to do anything without a strong reason.

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John de Lancie doesn't think it was expected that season three of Star Trek: Picard would be so well-received

P roducing a television (or streaming) series is a gamble. There's no way to know if the show will be liked enough or watched enough to continue. The chance of cancellation always looms over practically every series (unless it's NCIS or Law and Order: SVU). Star Trek: Picard was always meant to be a three-season series so the producers knew the show was wrapping no matter how well received the final chapter would be. But, according to John de Lancie , in an interview he gave Trekmovie, [ via Comicbook ] he didn't think anyone expected season three to be as good as it was. So, obviously, the fan clamor for a spin-off must have come as a surprise as well.

The way de Lancie describes it, the powers-that-be had already decided on what the next series would be—Starfleet Academy. So there was no opening for Star Trek: Legacy.

"I don’t think that they expected that Season 3 was going to be as good and as well-received. They had already decided on another show. They were already moving in another direction. But it was certainly a really valiant and well-appreciated finale to The Next Generation.”John de Lancie

I find it hard to believe that the producers and the studio wouldn't have known how successful the final season of Picard would be since they were bringing back practically everyone from Star Trek: The Next Generation. That series has maintained its fanbase over the years, and seeing them all together again onscreen was a big draw. It was akin to announcing another movie with the cast. Had season three of Picard unfolded on the big screen, I have no doubt there would have been major numbers at the box office.

If no one was prepared for the success of the final season of Picard, then the door to a possibility of a spin-off shouldn't have even been opened. Though showrunner Terry Matalas has said the series finale wasn't intended to be a set-up for a spin-off, there's really no other way to interpret it the final scene. Q, who supposedly died in season two of Picard, appeared before Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), who just happens to be Admiral Picard's (Patrick Stewart) son with, essentially, a promise of troubles to come. That's quite a big carrot to dangle if there was never any intention of feeding the horse.

As of now, we don't have any news on Legacy, and with Star Trek moving forward with Starfleet Academy, it doesn't seem like it's on the studio's radar at present.

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as John de Lancie doesn't think it was expected that season three of Star Trek: Picard would be so well-received .

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Anthony and Laurie start with a  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds production update, then round up the latest on the William Shatner documentary, a new  Discovery coffee table book, and IDW’s “Star Trek: Celebrations” comic. Then they play some audio from Tony’s recent interview with Carlos Cisco, co-writer of this week’s  Star Trek: Discovery  episode, “Mirrors.” After that, they give “Mirrors” a full review; Tony liked it more than Laurie, but they both enjoyed the Moll and L’ak backstory. After a quick reminder about the PanCAN Purple Stride walk happening this weekend, the wrap up the pod with a Paramount business update courtesy of The Town and a recent interview with makeup legend Michael Westmore on The 7th Rule .

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Laurie: Michael Westmore on The 7th Rule talking about “Allegiance”

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I hear you on missing stuff. “The Ultimate Computer” made the rounds on one of the legacy channels last night. In the opening scenes, McCoy, Kirk and Spock make their way to engineering to see Dr. Daystrom. After some conversation, McCoy starts going off on the tech, Daystrom looks square at him and asks “who are you”? In all the times I’ve seen this episode over the decades, Daystrom throwing shade at McCoy had never registered on me…..

I can hear it in William Marshall’s voice as I read it! Hey, it’s always fun to discover something new in TOS episodes I’ve seen a thousand times. There’s a great scene in “Wink of an Eye” where Kirk is asking McCoy if he’s going crazy and Nurse Chapel is totally eavesdropping in the background… it’s so funny! I think I only noticed it for the first time a few years ago.

Great podcast per usual!

I agree with most of the thoughts about Discovery and per usual agree with Laurie this was the weakest of the season so far. There were just waaay too many missed opportunities, not very much happening and clear it was very much shot on a budget.

But it is cool to see the Breen back. That was a big plus.

But I really enjoyed the section where you guys talked about how Discovery was originally trying to avoid canon it’s first year compared to today and be more its own thing. I have been saying this forever now and believe Discovery was originally just a reboot but simply not called that. Everything about that first season just felt so off from Trek of old.

They were clearly trying to reboot the franchise for a different time and audience and move away from the old style and canon of the classic shows.

But I think they really underestimated how much fans wanted the old style and canon back and panicked once the complaints flowed in and why we got Spock and Pike the next season and Picard was announced after that.

I have also said this before as well but if Discovery was a bigger success than the other shows would be in its image, both look and style. Instead they been running from it with the other shows.

SNW is a direct spin off and yet it feels and acts like the Roddenberry/Berman era of shows being episodic again, A and B stories and doing alien/anomaly/crisis of the week. There is not a single episode (OK maybe the musical lol) that couldn’t fit into any of the old shows TOS-ENT.

It is ironic the new era tried to be something different from Berman Trek just to basically be that again with shows like LDS, Prodigy, Picard season 3 and SNW. It just proves A. nostalgia is always a strong tool and B. Old fans ultimately still control this franchise for better or for worse.

My personal take on SNW is that they’re not getting the canon balance right either. They rely too heavily on TOS instead of forging their own path more. It’s why I’ve been so happy with Discovery’s approach this season, particularly when they take something we don’t know a lot about but have heard of and then add to it. SNW has all the ingredients to tell brand-new stories with new aliens and characters, and I hope they start doing more of that and less leaning back into TOS.

Oh yeah fully agree. I think you know my feelings on SNW and while I certainly like the show it’s canon issues really frustrates me and I really think they are overdoing the TOS fan service.

But I was never surprised about the latter. I actually predicted Kirk would show up on the first season finale way before we were told Kirk would be on the show itself. I figured they were going to make it more a TOS ‘prequel’ than a Pike show and sadly proven right.

But I truly truly hope we don’t get a TOS show when SNW is over. They may do it but I really hope they do something different and more original if there is a spin off. I just have zero interest in reliving the show and so far not a fan of Wesley’s Kirk at all, so even less so.

As I’m sure you know, I’m with you on that one!

It is weird that Discovery was trying to evade Trek canon when the whole first season plot revolved around a war with the Klingons, followed by a journey to the Mirror Universe. The central character is Spock’s adopted sister, and because of that we encounter Sarek and Amanda. Also Harry Mudd is prominent in the season, and the season ends with the appearance of the Enterprise.

Hi Tony and Laurie. I felt compelled to thank you both for the podcast. You put a lot of work into each episode despite currently not getting much in the way of feedback or comments. I can’t help but notice that in general, comments across the Discovery articles seem quite low in terms of numbers compared to previous shows. In particular, Picard S3 where for example, some episode reviews garnered +600 comments, so many in fact, that I could only get round to reading a fraction of them. Perhaps Discovery is more niche than previous Trek series.

While I did enjoy last weeks episode, watching Discovery for me still feels a bit like watching The Cage. It’s labelled Start Trek and has Trek iconography scattered throughout and yet IMO it lacks the warmth and connection I felt towards other series.

Thank you, Scott! Appreciate the comment. It’s true I am greedy for comments and we don’t seem to get a lot of them, or reviews on Apple. It sometimes feels like we are just out there in the void! I am always interested to hear what people think of the podcast, what they’d like us to do more of or less of.

I would really like the Shuttlepod back on a regular basis. It was cathartic for me because I felt that it aligned with my view of Star Trek in general, whereas with All Access, I like you both and enjoy listening to you, but I’m frequently disagreeing with your opinions on these shows and the state of the franchise.

So would I! They have a lot of schedules to wrangle. We do try to have them on our podcast whenever they’re free.

The irony for me Laurie is that I actually do try to post in every podcast discussion and there is always so much I want to say. But a lot of the times I don’t post until a few days later since I don’t always have time to listen to it right away. But when I do it looks like everyone has already moved on so I just don’t always bother.

There was a podcast you guys made maybe a month ago that I had so much to say I literally wanted to make a five point post to counter all the discussions you guys said in it lol. But by the time I could sit down and write it it was nearly a week later and I thought what was the point when there were only a few posts and I figured no one would even see it by then so didn’t bother.

It is obviously true there are fewer posts for the podcast but I think mostly due to the fact everything you guys talk about are usually things that has already been discussed ad nauseam on the boards like the latest episode review. You guys are going over news that’s already been posted so people have had their say about it and usually not a lot more to add; unless there is a specific point made in the podcast itself that’s been highlighted for the first time.

But I truly love listening to it and listen to every one of them. I make a comment about 60% of the time but as said the discussions dry up so quickly here that after a few days it just doesn’t seem worth it unfortunately.

But you guys definitely have advid listeners who enjoy listening to your thoughts. I’m certainly one of them especially since I agree with nearly all your thoughts lol.

So glad to hear it. Obviously we talk about stories that are already up on the site, so the discussions are already happening. I get it! I just always hope that if people like things we do or don’t like things we do, they’ll let us know. (Like the way we review shows; is it bothersome that we just jump all over the place and don’t go from beginning to end?)

Hi Laurie. How about you and Tony team up with the Shuttle pod crew to do an end of season Discovery review and also a look back at the series; highs, lows and legacy. By the way I totally agree about your SNW comments. I really enjoy the show and think the cast is terrific but would like them to explore new ground far more than they currently do.

Most of them don’t watch Discovery! But we will definitely do that topic when the show is done, and hopefully Matt can join us for it.

A lot of people have been pointing out the lower discussions about Discovery this season. It really is noticable especially compared to the shows first three seasons which were much more active to say the least.

And yes compared to Picard season 3 is night and day. I went and looked up that seasons episode 5 discussion as a comparison and that got around 450 comments vs Discovery’s current episode 5 that only has around 110 comments currently. And what’s crazy is that is the highest number of posts so far all season.

So yeah it’s definitely a lack of discussions here and all across the bigger sites as well. It doesn’t mean people aren’t watching it obviously but it’s also clear there is much less passion for the show today, especially one that is ending very soon.

Good points. I’ll be interested to see the streaming viewing figures if they are made available.

What we have found is that there are some people who come rushing to all the Discovery posts to tell us how much they hate it, and we are being more vigilant about getting rid of those comments. If someone watches the show and hates it, fair! But there are a lot of comments from people who just want to shit on its existence (and clearly aren’t watching it), so those go, as well as anything racist or homophobic, which obviously happens a lot with this show too.

Yeah I understand but I don’t think that alone is the reason for less posts either because as I said it’s down everywhere else I post and lurk. That includes TrekCre, Reddit, Trek BBS etc. It’s a very obvious gap. Reddit is the more obvious because those posts usually go on the thousands when an episode is reviewed.

For example the latest episode Mirrors has around 400 posts which sounds decent but every episode review in season 4 usually had double that or more. Some got into the thousands.

Maybe it’s just been off the air too long. It has been two years.

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery’s burnham fight makes michael even more like kirk.

Captain Burnham fought herself in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, which is an experience Captain James T. Kirk is very familiar with in Star Trek: TOS.

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange."

• Captain Burnham's encounter with her past self in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4 mirrors Kirk's battle with his doppelganger.
• Burnham's growth on Discovery highlights similarities to Kirk's brash, action-oriented command style from Star Trek: The Original Series.
• In Discovery season 5, Burnham's quest for a powerful treasure brings her closer to the spirit of exploration shared by Kirk in Star Trek.

Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) already has a lot in common with Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), but fighting herself in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4 makes her even more like the Captain of the Enterprise. In its fifth and final season, Star Trek: Discovery follows Captain Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery as they set out in search of a powerful treasure that could reveal secrets about the creation of all humanoid life. With numerous references to Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Discovery season 5 feels more connected to Star Trek's long, rich history.

Captain Michael Burnham has come a long way in Star Trek: Discovery , and no scene illustrates this better than one in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4 , "Face the Strange." Written by Sean Cochran and directed by Lee Rose, "Face the Strange" finds Burnham and her First Officer, Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), jumping through the USS Discovery's past and possible future . As they work with Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) to stop the time jumping, Michael and Rayner end up on Discovery during the show's first season, and Michael has a run-in with her past self, Specialist Michael Burnham.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Burnham fighting herself in star trek: discovery makes michael more like kirk, burnham is not the first starfleet captain to fight herself..

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, Captain Burnam tries to alter events in the past as little as possible, but that becomes more difficult when she accidentally encounters her past self. By this point in the time jumps, Burnham, Rayner, and Stamets have figured out a possible solution, and if they can execute it before the next jump, any changes they make in the past will be erased. Although Captain Burnham tries to convince her younger self to trust her, the Michael Burnham of Star Trek: Discovery season 1 was a very different person. Specialist Burnham cannot see a world where she would ever become Captain of Discovery.

The Michael Burnham of Star Trek: Discovery season 1 Captain Burnham encountered was just weeks removed from her prison sentence as Starfleet's first mutineer.

The two Michael Burnhams are evenly matched in their subsequent fistfight until Captain Burnham takes down her younger self with a Vulcan nerve pinch . This fistfight feels reminiscent of a similar fight Captain Kirk had with his doppelganger. In Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 5, "The Enemy Within," a transporter accident splits Kirk into two individuals. One embodies all of the negative traits of Kirk, while the other has the more positive aspects. The two Kirks end up in a fistfight and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) disables the "evil" Kirk with a Vulcan nerve pinch.

Captain Kirk also brawls with a lookalike in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, when a Chameloid named Martia (Iman) mimics his appearance.

How Star Trek: Discovery’s Captain Burnham Echoes Captain Kirk

Michael burnham has more in common with james t. kirk than you might think..

William Shatner's James T. Kirk, of course, achieved fame as the Captain of the USS Enterprise on Star Trek: The Original Series , with his brash, action-oriented command style. Much like Kirk, Michael is also unafraid to take risks and doesn't hesitate to charge headfirst into dangerous situations if any of her friends are in danger. Both Captains are intelligent and compassionate, and they inspire loyalty in those who follow their commands. In stark contrast to Captains like Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Rayner when he commanded the USS Anteres, Burnham and Kirk have a more relaxed relationship with their crew.

While other members of the USS Discovery's crew have borrowed the spotlight throughout the show's four seasons so far, Discovery has always been Michael's story.

Unlike the Star Trek shows that came before it, Star Trek: Discovery has a clear main character in Michael Burnham. While other members of the USS Discovery's crew have borrowed the spotlight throughout the show, Discovery has always been Michael's story. "Face the Strange" not only adds another similarity between Burnham and Kirk, but also demonstrates how far Michael has come since the earliest days of Star Trek: Discovery . Captain Michael Burnham is one of Star Trek's greatest new characters, and she has a lot in common with Star Trek's first great Captain, James T. Kirk.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery