Star Trek: Picard SDCC Trailer, My Thoughts

Back in May, I gave my thoughts on the teaser for the upcoming CBS All-Access series Star Trek: Picard. I remember being very excited for it, but I was saddened that it would be on CBS All-Access. I wished it would be on Netflix. After all, it has all the rest of the Star Trek series. I've been watching a lot of Next Generation and Deep Space Nine recently. I love those shows.

Well, a couple months ago, the San Diego Comic-Con had revealed a new trailer for the series. There's also one from the New York Comic-Con, but since the San Diego one came out first, I want to look at the SDCC one before the NYCC one. Let's jump back into the stars with Jean-Luc Picard!

Wow. Is that Jean-Luc's home? Fancy. But then again, he is a legend.

Data sacrificed his life in the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. But he did download his mind into another android named B-4. So, who is that Soong-Type Android in pieces there? Is that B-4? If it is...how did he end up like that?

Cool gardening robot.

I think in a way, Picard misses the stars. Makes me remember the advice James Kirk gave him in Star Trek: Generations: Don't give up your command.

Hmmm, I wonder why this woman would come to Picard for help. Maybe it's something he knows about? The man has had a long Starfleet career, after all. I have heard theories that she may be a relative. Maybe she was a former drone Picard knew during his time as Locutus in the Borg Collective? That's my theory.

I hope he's mellowed out on the "Captain Picard Day" thing.

What is that, some kind of prison facility?

Hey, it's Jonathan Del Arco! That means Hugh is back!

And Michelle Hurd! I know her from Law and Order: SVU.

And a Vulcan swordsman. That actually sounds awesome.

Picard's coming back to space, and he's got a new crew!

Holy cow, Seven of Nine! I love that this show is digging up old characters. And having Seven and Hugh here makes sense, considering they and Picard were all connected to the Borg.

Yeah, this definitely has something to do with the Borg.

...HOLY COW, IT'S DATA.

Well, I am excited for this. I still wish it would come to Netflix. It's really cool to see some old Trek characters come back, some well-known, a couple more obscure. I like that the trailer is keeping some things hidden. Allows for some surprises and speculation. Here's hoping it becomes available on other platforms in the future...or at the very least, on DVD.

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Star Trek: Picard Teaser, My Thoughts

25 years ago, Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered the final episode of its seven-season run: "All Good Things". It seemed that we saw the final adventure of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise-D. However, it would not be the end. The gang would get further adventures in novels, comics, and in four feature films.

The last time we saw Jean-Luc Picard in official Star Trek canon was in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis. But now...he's back. That's right, Patrick Stewart is reprising the role of Jean-Luc Picard in a new Star Trek series: Star Trek: Picard. He's also executive producing it. Let's take a look at the teaser!

Hmm...that doesn't sound like the events of Nemesis to me. I'm guessing he commanded a fleet during a later incident...wait...it was the destruction of Romulus, wasn't it? The event that helped create the alternate timeline of the reboot Trek movies? That...makes sense, actually.

I wonder if the voice had ever considered the possibility that maybe Picard just felt it was his time to retire and run the family vineyard. His brother and nephew are dead. Somebody has to take care of it...you know, in the Pocket Books novels, Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher eventually got married and had a son. Maybe that could be brought over here?

Those gardening robots are cool.

I can imagine the wine being rather popular. After all, it's been made by a man who saved the universe what, how many times now? Who wouldn't want wine made by a hero?

Was that Picard's flute?

I grew up watching Star Trek. I was a kid when Next Generation ended, but there were always reruns. And it's on Netflix. Growing up, The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine were my Star Trek shows. I never really got into Voyager, sadly. Nor really Enterprise. But I'm fascinated by this series. The idea of looking at the life of a retired Picard, it's really neat. Him taking over the family vineyard, being the last of the Picards...there's story in that. I just wish it wasn't on CBS All Access. I don't see the point of getting a streaming service to watch one show. I hope it comes to Netflix. I'll watch it on that.

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Happy 50th Birthday, Star Trek!

One of my favorite franchises is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year! Happy Birthday, Star Trek!

I've been a big-time Trekkie since I was a little boy. I was way too young for the original series, as it came out twenty years before I was born. When I was growing up, Star Trek: The Next Generation was coming to an end, and Deep Space Nine and Voyager were going on. I watched the original films many times, and owned a few Star Trek novels. I really want to own the complete Genesis Wave saga. I own one of the novels, got to read another thanks to the library. I also watched the new Kelvin-verse films with my dad. We enjoyed them, and every time we go watch a movie and we end up enjoying them, he'll always say, "Not as good as Star Trek."

I got into it thanks to my dad, who was a Trekkie himself. My earliest memory of Star Trek was watching The Next Generation with him. The series ended when I was a boy, but I would get to watch it for many years thanks to syndication. It seemed to be that I never failed to find it on TV. I also did enjoy DS9 quite a bit. And thanks to Netflix, I can enjoy them again and again.

I have to admit, I was surprised when I found it that this Anniversary was coming. Has it been fifty years already? Wow. That's amazing. It really is incredible that this franchise has been going on for so long. So many incarnations. So many stories.

What do I love about the franchise? Well, mainly I always loved the sheer adventure of it. The Starship Enterprise traveling around the universe, encountering strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations, boldly going where no one has gone before. I loved seeing what the various crews would get up to, who they'd meet, the species they'd encounter and fight with, make peace with. Star Trek...was fun. That's what it was to me. A fun show.

As I have grown older, I became more aware of the message the late Gene Roddenberry was trying to send with Star Trek: That humanity could achieve great things, that if we overcame our differences, we could reach the stars, and create a better world. I really liked the generally positive vibe about Trek. That humanity was better than we think. That's what I love about Trek. It's cliché, but it's true. Star Trek represents a positive vision of the future, that humanity can overcome its problems and become great. And it manages to do it by telling fun stories in the process.

Happy Birthday, Star Trek. Your first 50 years were great, hope you get to enjoy another 50! Live Long and Prosper!

Star Trek Beyond Trailer: My Thoughts.

I am a Star Trek fan. Been one my whole life. Growing up, I would watch TNG and DS9 with my dad, and I also grew up watching the original movies. When the franchise was going to be given a new film, with new actors playing the crew of the original Enterprise, I was excited, and the eleventh film lived up to my expectations. My dad loved it so much, that ever since we would go into theaters and watch a movie, if he liked it, he still would say it was not as good as Star Trek.

Into Darkness would then hit, and I admit, I enjoyed it. Thought it was an odd choice to have Benedict Cumberbatch play Khan, but I still thought it was a good film.

And now, a third film is coming: Star Trek Beyond. And the trailer is here.

I really don't get why people complained about the use of Beastie Boys's "Sabotage" in the trailer. Do people not remember the scene in the eleventh Trek film where a young Kirk was driving around wildly in the old car? That was the exact song that was playing! It was a callback! I thought it was really cool! And the Starfleet jackets we see Spock and Chekov wear in the beginning? They look snazzy.

And the bit with Spock and McCoy and the transporter was hilarious. I laughed at that.

I have to admit, seeing the Enterprise crew being marooned on a strange new planet is an interesting idea. The closest I am aware of something like that happening was Chakotay and Janeway being stuck on a planet on an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. And that was because they were being quarantined.

The new villain looks neat. He reminds me of a Gorn, almost. But I don't think the villain is a Gorn, though. Similar, but not really a Gorn. Maybe a species related to the Gorn. Now I want to watch that fight between Kirk and the Gorn from the old series.

This looks like it'll be at the very least a fun action flick. Not much else to say about this. I liked the last two new Trek films, so hopefully, it'll be a hat trick.