SINCE WE LAST saw Jean-Luc Picard at the
helm of the Starship Enterprise — in 2002 our
time, around 2379 his — Star Trek has largely
concerned itself with new crews, operating
in unexplored pockets of his universe’s past
(even creating its own universe for the last three
movies). Picard himself, Patrick Stewart, saw
no value in returning to continue his own late-
24th century adventures. There was nothing
left to say, he believed. Leave it to fresher,
younger Starfl eet personnel. As frustrating as
this was for anyone who grew up with The Next
Generation on TV and agreed he was hands down
the best-ever Enterprise captain (don’t @ us),
it felt fair enough. The continuing, inexplicably
age-defying big-screen adventures of Kirk’s crew
had long-since become a joke (‘Star Trek XII: So
Very Tired’, riff ed The Simpsons in 1992). Where
could he ( boldly) go now anyway?
Showrunner Michael Chabon has the answer
and the clue is in the title. This is the fi rst Trek
series to put a character name after the colon,
rather than a starship’s. While Isa Briones’
mystery girl Dahj gets a lot of the screen time,and while Picard does gather a new crew around
him (going rogue, as is traditional for a Starfleet
emeritus), he is firmly the focus, and the limits
and benefits of his venerability are narratively
embraced by Chabon’s writers’ room rather than
ignored. In short, Picard is far more character-
driven than anything we’ve seen from Trek before.
Things haven’t gone well for Jean-Luc since
we last saw him. Data (a guest-starring Brent
Spiner) haunts him in vivid dreams. He considers
himself a failure after Starfl eet called off his
planned evacuation of Romulus, the Federation’s
oldest enemy, during a calamitous supernova. He
is no longer with Starfl eet, his recent history with
the organisation awash in bad blood.
But he is still the Picard we knew and loved.
Steely but benevolent. A man who has seen a
lot but who has never become jaded. Where
age seems to calcify most people’s beliefs and
opinions in the face of all evidence, Picard
remains admirably open-minded and empathetic.
When Dhaj stalks onto his vineyard insisting she
knows him and reveals there’s a shady hit squad
on her heels, his instinctive reaction is one of
kindness. While Picard rolls with Discovery’s
introduction of harsh violence and bad language
to the Trekiverse, it also shamelessly brings back
TNG’s ’90s vibe of caring and sharing.
However, in Chabon’s 2399, this seems as
outmoded as ’90s optimism feels today. Picard
may be character-focused, but it’s also unafraid
to indulge in a little political commentary.
“Nobody is listening, nobody is thinking, they’re
just reacting!” Jean-Luc complains in the third
episode. “I never thought Starfl eet would give
in to intolerance and fear.” He is the reasonable
person, rendered voiceless by an increasingly
unreasonable society. It’s good to have him back.
Like The Federation, we need him now, more
than ever. DAN JOLINVERDICT A big step forward, rather than
a step back, for Star Trek, which throws one
of its most beloved characters into a fresh,
deadly and very modern adventure.STAR TREK: PICARD
SHOWRUNNER Michael Chabon
CAST Patrick Stewart, Isa Briones, Alison Pill,
Harry Treadaway, Michelle HurdPLOT Twenty years after the events of Star Trek:
Nemesis, former Starship Enterprise captain
Jean-Luc Picard (Stewart) is living out his
twilight years on his vineyard in France. But
his viticultural retirement is interrupted by the
arrival of a strange young woman named Dahj
(Briones), desperate for his help.OUT NOW / AMAZON PRIME
★★★★ EPISODES VIEWED 3 OF 11The tour of the Large Hadron Collider
was raising so many questions.[TV]
OUT NOW
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE ★★★★ P37
BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE
FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION
OF ONE HARLEY QUINN) (ABOVE) ★★★ P36
COLOR OUT OF SPACE ★★★ P33
DARK WATERS ★★★ P34
DOWNHILL ★★★ P38
EMMA. ★★ P31
THE GRUDGE ★★★ P30
HUNTERS ★★★★ P35
PARASITE ★★★★★ P32
PICARD ★★★★ P39
THE RHYTHM SECTION ★★★ P31
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ★★ P3810 MARCH
LITTLE JOE ★★★ P3812 MARCH
IN FABRIC (BELOW) ★★★ P31
MILITARY WIVES ★★★ P301 APRIL
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE ★★★★★ P28CHECKLIST
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