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Recap / Star Trek: Picard S3E09 "Vox"

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Where we left off last week, Jack Crusher was contemplating the red door that has lived in his mind his entire life. Deanna Troi, psychologist and half-Betazoid empath, had joined him in his mind to open that door. In the end, Jack can't do it, and Deanna opens it instead. What she finds results in her fleeing the room entirely, leaving Jack to yell in frustration that she's leaving just for cheap drama. Only, she's not: she runs straight to Sickbay and tells Picard and Crusher that what she saw was a Borg cube. Apparently, Picard's body has been a host for Borg Organic Technology that was mistaken for Irumodic Syndrome and has been passed on to Jack. And, given Jack's proven ability to telepathically control others, she can only conclude that Jack is some sort of danger.

Picard confronts Jack and suggests he retire politely to a Vulcan research academy — Jack identifies it as a psychiatric institution where he can be de-brainwashed (he may be cynical, but under the circumstances he probably isn't wrong). When Jack finds armed redshirts waiting for him outside his room, he uses his Borg red-eyed telepathy to take control of them. He commandeers another shuttle and warps away to find the Borg. Aboard a cube, he confronts the Borg Queen (voice of Alice Krige ) and learns his true nature: where his father was a speaker — a locutor , if you will — he is a vox , the voice itself. Jack, unable to resist her, is assimilated.

Worf, La Forge and Data present what they've learned from a genetic scan: the genetic therapy the Borg conduct on all their assimilated was more extensive in Picard's case. It's the reason he could still hear the voices of the Borg after being de-assimilated: he was modified to be a receiver, and through him Jack became a transmitter. Even worse, Frontier Day is starting at literally any moment, and whatever is about to happen, it's about to happen now . Picard orders the Titan back to Sector 001. Indeed, the show cuts to Spacedock, where the Odyssey -class U.S.S. Enterprise , NCC-1701-F, emerges to lead the festivities with Admiral Elizabeth Shelby ( Elizabeth Dennehy ) in the captain's chair. Shelby shows off the latest bit of technology, "Fleet Formation," which allows Starfleet ships to operate as a Hive Mind . (Picard and Riker, watching the transmission from the bridge, marvel that Shelby, the anti-Borg expert , would sign off on such a thing.)

As the Titan arrives, Geordi and Data continue their research, discovering something even worse: Picard's Borgified DNA and parietal lobe has been incorporated into the ship's transporters, which are copy-pasting the data willy-nilly onto everything that passes through the pattern buffer. This is what the Changelings infiltrated the fleet for: to help the Borg pre-assimilate everyone who has ever beamed on or off a ship . The only edge Starfleet has, Beverly notes, is that it's restricted to the Competence Zone : it can only affect people who are still growing, which for human beings is about 25 — as that's when the frontal cortex finally concludes development . Still, while Starfleet may be Mildly Military , it is still military enough to be weighted heavily in favor of younger people. Up on the bridge, Sidney La Forge, Alandra La Forge, Lt. Mura, Ens. Esmar and the other bridge crew become assimilated; Shelby's transmission reveals the same thing is happening to every ship that is here — which is of course All of Them . The fleet is rapidly assimilated, with Admiral Shelby being gunned down by her own ensigns; the only ship where the crew regain control, U.S.S. Excelsior NCC-42037, is blown up by the rest of the fleet. Shaw leads the Titan senior staff down to a maintenance shuttle. As the assimilated Redshirts attack, the TNG crew evacuate and Shaw, Seven and Raffi Hold the Line . Shaw is killed in the firefight, passing the conn to "Commander Seven of Nine " with his last breath.

• Abandon Ship : With the Borg having taken over the Titan through the Fleet Formation system and their assimilated crewmates gunning for them, the remaining senior staff have no choice but to abandon ship. Only Seven and Raffi remain behind, and Shaw is killed trying to hold off the crew.
• Actually Pretty Funny : Geordi and the others can't help cracking up when Picard wryly admits that what he's missed most about the 1701-D was the carpet.
• Aesop Amnesia : If Starfleet thinks that fleetwide connectivity is a good idea, they clearly didn't learn from Control taking over Section 31 in 2257, the Living Construct debacle involving the U.S.S. Protostar two decades prior, or even what happened with the Stargazer and her accompanying ships with Jurati's Collective in the immediate preceding season of Picard (mere months prior in-universe). Given the Changeling infiltration, any dissent on the matter was likely pushed aside.
• Alien Non-Interference Clause : Cited by Geordi as to why Starfleet had to retrieve the Enterprise -D saucer section from Veridian III. As per the Prime Directive, they couldn't leave it behind to contaminate the nearby pre-warp civilization's development.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us : The Borg, through the Fleet Command system, hijack every single ship in Starfleet that's in active service.
• And Then John Was a Zombie : The Borg's all-encompassing signal causes the latent transporter-planted Borg DNA to trigger in both younger LaForges , Mura, Esmar and much of the rest of the Titan -A's crew and Starfleet as a whole, assimilating them and turning them against their shipmates. When queried for Alandra's location, the computer informs Geordi that her lifesigns are no longer compatible with human designation. Time will tell if this is reversible.
• The Antichrist : Jack Crusher is revealed to be this for the Borg, thanks to genetic alterations inherited from Picard that were added when he became Locutus of Borg, believing him to be the lynchpin to their perfection and the annihilation of the enemies that bar their path. The Borg Queen even remarks one of the possible names that she thought to call Jack before assimilating him was " Puer Dei " note  "Child of God" before settling on " Vox ", as Jack becomes the representation of the singular voice that the Collective all share.
• Arc Welding : TNG's Federation-Borg conflict and DS9 's Dominion War storylines are formally merged with the reveal that the rogue Founders have been working with the Borg Queen. There's also an implied welding with the events of VOY'S own Borg arc given the apparent status of the Collective and the Queen (though this won't be definitively confirmed until next episode).
• Arch-Enemy : In one fell swoop, the Borg Collective instantly reverses over twenty years of Villain Decay and reclaims its position as the most lethal, dangerous, and terrifying enemy in United Federation of Planets history.
• The Enterprise -D itself. While the 1701-D had already been rendered in high-definition CGI for the pilot episode , the design has been tweaked for the final two episodes — and more importantly, to account for its present state after being recovered and refurbished following the events of Star Trek: Generations . While the secondary hull's CGI model is unchanged (Geordi replaced it using the decommissioned stardrive section from the U.S.S. Syracuse ), the primary hull (the original saucer section) by contrast is visibly older, more worn, and still bears the signs of her fiery plunge into Veridian III's atmosphere and crash into the surface from thirty years earlier. Geordi also mentions that there are some cosmetic changes that haven't been properly retrofitted yet, giving a further In-Universe explanation for some differences (the lighting of the nacelles in particular is crisper).
• Data explaining the mechanics of transporter architecture to Beverly and Geordi. This is largely for the audience's benefit and to help set up the twist; Geordi, an engineer, would already know this, though Beverly wouldn't.
• Geordi explains to the others that the saucer of the Enterprise-D was recovered from Veridian III to prevent it from influencing the development of any species in that system. The former crew of the Enterprise-D would presumably know this bit of Starfleet protocol, and it seems unlikely that they wouldn’t have been informed of the saucer’s recovery.
• A common subject of heated debate among Star Trek nerds since Star Trek: First Contact was released is whether the Galaxy -class or Sovereign -class is the more powerful warship, and which ship would win if they faced off against each other in battle. Characteristically, Worf complains that the Enterprise -E had superior armament.
• Assimilation Plot : The Changeling conspiracy's long game is revealed ultimately to be this: to assist the Borg in assimilating Starfleet and the Federation by covertly implanting them with Borg DNA.
• Avengers Assemble : The Enterprise -D/E command crew completes their reassembly with the final "member" of their old team: the 1701-D herself.
• Awful Truth : Jack is, for lack of a better description, second-generation Borg. When Picard was assimilated into Locutus, subtle genetic alterations were made that turned him into an organic receiver, which is why he could hear the Collective despite lacking Borg implants. Jack, on the other hand, is a transmitter , able to control those with the receiver, which is why the Borg want him.
• Admiral Shelby returns as the commanding officer of the Enterprise -F. Sadly, the last view of her is her getting shot twice in the chest by her assimilated crew.
• The Excelsior-II -class Excelsior , last seen in Season Two, is destroyed after it is briefly reclaimed from the Borg. This means that her NCC-2000 forerunner actually outlived her successor, since she's resting safely in the Fleet Museum at Athan Prime.
• The Enterprise -D returns thirty years after its last appearance in Generations (discounting flashbacks and alternate versions ). Geordi has spent the last twenty years in-universe rebuilding it from the damaged saucer and parts scavenged from other decommissioned Galaxy -class vessels.
• The Enterprise -D computer — the voice of all the 24th-century-era technology — also "returns" for the first time (and not counting its Kelvin Timeline appearance ) since Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002 via archival audio of the late, great Majel Barrett .
• Back from the Dead : The Enterprise -D, which was severely damaged and reduced to only its saucer section as a result of the events of Star Trek: Generations , is back in full thanks to Geordi and serves as the last hope for the Federation surviving the Borg.
• Badass Crew : In the climax, Picard gives his old command crew a chance to back out (from what will almost certainly be a suicide mission). Riker and the others aren't hearing it; as Riker reminds Picard: Riker : We're the crew of the USS Enterprise .
• Bait-and-Switch Comment : Being back on the 1701-D's bridge, a visibly emotional Picard says that being here and surrounded by his old command crew — the people he loves and cares about more than anyone else in the galaxy — has now made him truly realize what he's missed most: the carpet. Everybody cracks up .
• Be Careful What You Wish For : Downplayed, but subtle black comedy example. Throughout TNG and its films, Geordi wanted to help Data in his quest to become more human, including mastering humor. When post-merger Data breaks out the cheeky gallows humor on the Titan shuttle? From the stunned look on his face, it's not hard to imagine that Geordi's thinking, "God, I liked him better before he died."
• Black Eyes of Evil : The assimilation process causes the eyes of its victims to briefly turn pitch black.
• Bolivian Army Ending : Starfleet has been totally assimilated and is converging on Spacedock, while the TNG crew is forced to flee on a shuttle to the Enterprise D . Raffi and Seven are also left behind on the now-seized Titan and hopelessly outnumbered by the new drones.
• Break Out the Museum Piece : Geordi breaks out the refurbished Enterprise -D from the Fleet Museum, as they need an older vessel that predates the new Fleet Formation system and thus can't be hijacked by the Borg. Worf can't help but complain about its sub-standard armament in comparison to newer vessels.
• The punchline gets even funnier with a little Fridge Brilliance. Naval tradition has long referred to ships with female pronouns and this tradition's carried over into Star Trek . So, the Enterprise -D, the Fat One, is thus for all intents the Fat Lady. And how does that saying go? "It ain't over till the Fat Lady sings." Well, ladies and gentlemen: the Fat Lady is back, and she's about to sing .
• Geordi is once again at the helm of the 1701-D, just as he was during Season One of TNG .
• The crew sets foot on the bridge for the first time from the aft port-side turbolift, the same way that Picard first set foot on the bridge in "Encounter at Farpoint" — and while it's not an exact replication, the slow pan from right-to-left of the restored bridge does evoke the very first shot we and Picard ever saw of the bridge. Finally, the staging and push-in on the final shot of the seated Picard, Riker, and Troi also replicates the same final shot of them from the pilot episode of TNG.
• Picard remembers being still able to hear the Collective after his assimilation was undone.
• Similarly, back in the "The Star Gazer" , Seven and Jurati discussed how the Collective might have adapted after being left crippled and hobbled during "Endgame". Seven agreed with Jurati that the Borg would change tactics to do whatever was necessary to achieve victory and in the absence of strength, they'd employ deception. This is exactly what the Queen has done — and despite correctly calling it a full season ago, Seven still missed all the clues and signs until it was too late.
• The Excelsior being moved out of formation to be destroyed by the assimilated fleet is reminiscent of the Romulan fleet culling its errant Bird-of-Prey in the Strange New Worlds episode "A Quality of Mercy".
• The staging and camera direction on the Enterprise -D as it clears Hangar 12 and enters space mirrors the Titan -A's departure from Earth Spacedock back in " The Next Generation ". The angle of the "D" just before it jumps to Warp likewise evokes Picard's old portrait from that same episode.
• Elements of Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens' 1996 novel The Return are formally canonized — specifically that as per the Prime Directive, Starfleet had to salvage the Enterprise -D saucer section from Veridian III to prevent cultural contamination of the system's pre-warp civilization.
• Elements of Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier series — specifically Shelby's first name Elizabeth and her continued upward career in Starfleet — are also formally canonized.
• Elements of David Mack's Star Trek: Destiny Trilogy are formally canonized with the Borg's Evil Plan — specifically the Borg surviving the events of "Endgame" , regrouping and completely revamping their tactics, and launching a final apocalyptic campaign against the Federation to deal with it and Starfleet once and for all. However, both continuities take different routes to get there. The literary Borg's revenge came shortly after Nemesis and they abandoned assimilation in favor of annihilation , intending to burn the entire Alpha Quadrant to cinders. By contrast, the canonical Queen here is still intent on assimilating the Alpha Quadrant and instead chose to play the Long Game across twenty years: slowly, quietly compromising the Federation with subterfuge and guile before assimilating all of Starfleet in one fell swoop. Once it succeeds, then "eliminate all unassimilated" is officially a go.

• After an Early-Bird Cameo earlier in the season, the Odyssey -class and the Enterprise -F originally from Star Trek Online are formally canonized.
• Geordi being the curator of the Fleet Museum comes in handy when the crew need a non-networked starship.
• Picard's ability to sense the Borg collective despite being free of all Borg cybernetics is given an explanation that the Borg intended for Locutus to be a lynchpin of Borg evolution, so his assimilation went beyond nanoprobes and rewrote his DNA in a way that Starfleet medicine could not detect back then. Traits of this was mistaken as Irumodic Syndrome, which killed his physical body, but this was unknowingly passed down to Jack. Jack became the lynchpin to resurrect the Borg in a new fashion.
• Geordi mentioned several episodes prior that modern Starfleet ships all talk to each other in an Everything Is Online fashion. This is revealed on Frontier Day as part of a new centralized Fleet Formation program that can coordinate combat scenarios far more efficiently than before. This proves to be a BAD idea, as the Borg are easily able to take advantage of this system to wrest control of the entire fleet with ease.
• Ro Laren's fear that the transporters had been tampered with was absolutely correct, Jack's vision of vines engulfing people who transport is also explained.
• Archer and the Enterprise NX-01 are cited in Shelby's Frontier Day speech.
• If you look closely, you can see the Enterprise -D saucer section still has dirt stains on its underside and topside from the Veridian III crash-landing during Generations .
• Cool Chair : Upon seeing the restored 1701-D bridge, Data is delighted to be reunited with his old Ops chair.
• Downplayed, but this ironically is what saves the TNG characters when Titan falls to the Borg. Between Ro Laren transferring most of the crew onto Intrepid and the losses Vadic inflicted when the Changelings stormed her, Titan is now operating with a skeleton crew. So, while all junior officers still succumb to the Borg genetic malware and seize control of the ship, they also don't have the numbers to instantly overwhelm the vessel and the senior officers compared to their fellow drones aboard the other Starfleet vessels. So, Picard and company are able to fight their way to the shuttlebay and escape without being overwhelmed by superior numbers and firepower (albeit barely and not without losing Shaw and being forced to leave Seven and Raffi behind).
• The Enterprise -D is designed for a crew of a thousand. She currently has a crew of seven . Geordi mentions that automated drones are helping with loading the torpedoes. It's justified as there's no time to get a crew. Besides, the Galaxy -class ships have been established in-universe as being heavily automated, with the Enterprise herself having been controlled solely by Data on multiple occasions (albeit never in a combat capacity). Equipped with a (still) powerful main computer core located in the saucer section and a secondary core in the stardrive section, she can be operated with as few as three people (or even one person) from the bridge in the event of an emergency.
• Darkest Hour : For the Federation as a whole, as their most nefarious foe that is the Borg manages to pull off a masterstroke on their long con that cripples the entirety of Starfleet via mass assimilation that none of them knew they were being exposed to until it was far, far too late to do anything about it, leaving Picard and his crew without much allies left as their last few are either assimilated, killed, or forced to be left behind. Thankfully, though, there is one last hope to make a comeback with some help from the old girl that started it all ...
• David Versus Goliath : Essentially the setup of the finale, as almost the entire Starfleet is assimilated by the Borg in a single fell swoop, except Picard and his crew, commandeering the Enterprise -D — a ship thirty years out of service — as they prepare to face the entire Collective on their own one last time.
• Shelby also was ambitious and eagerly climbing the command track even during the original Borg crisis. Had she not attained the rank of admiral, she would almost certainly have not have been commanding the Enterprise -F during Frontier Day when all hell broke loose — though given the assembly of the entire fleet, there's still a substantial chance she'd have died when the assimilation began.
• Shaw survived the Borg's first incursion at Wolf 359, being the last crewman ordered onto a lifeboat, but winds up dying at the hands of his own crew when they're assimilated by the Borg, while ensuring that others can board a shuttle and escape.
• Despair Event Horizon : What happens to Jack after learning his true nature and confronting the Borg Queen, as he's unable to reconcile the conflict within himself and kill the Borg Queen before she can fulfill her plan, thus giving in to the Borg Queen's wishes and allowing himself to be assimilated.
• Didn't See That Coming : Picard and company are floored by the back-to-back revelations that Jack is part-Borg and that the Changelings have been working with none other than the Borg Collective.
• Back in "The Next Generation", Picard wanted to bequeath his old Ready Room portrait of the Enterprise -D to Geordi. Picard felt that as the Fleet Museum curator, Geordi would love the portrait — and had no idea that Geordi has actually had the 1701-D parked in the Museum's garage for the last twenty years.
• Back in the "The Star Gazer" , Seven and Jurati discussed how the Collective might've adapted after being left crippled and hobbled during "Endgame". Seven's prediction — that the Borg would change tactics to do whatever was necessary to achieve victory and in the absence of strength, they'd employ deception — was right on the money. Seven called it a full season ago, yet even she gets blindsided by the revelation and missed all the clues and signs until it was too late.
• Back in "The Bounty", Geordi didn't want to get involved with Picard and his "scheme"; he was hellbent on protecting his family. However, his daugthers would have been endangered and ultimately assimilated regardless because, thanks to the Transporter sabotage, they'd been infected with the Borg's genetic malware. By being forced to go with Team Picard and reunite with his old friends, Geordi ironically has ensured he's in a prime position to help fix the problem and save Alandra and Sidney — something he wouldn't have been able to do had he remained at Athan Prime.
• When the Titan receives a transmission through channel 99-Delta, an engineering line separate from the main comm channels, Shaw realizes that the Titan 's repair shuttle won't be networked with the rest of the ship and can be used to escape.
• Shaw's "Eureka!" Moment subsequently triggers one for Geordi, who realizes the Enterprise -D is similarly un-networked and thus the perfect ship to use in taking on the Borg.
• Everything Is Online : "Fleet Formation" links all of Starfleet together — and allows the Borg to assimilate the fleet at once.
• Evil Evolves : Like the rogue Changelings, the Borg have also changed and adapted to their circumstances in the interim since VOY's "Endgame". The Borg are now altering their drones’ biology rather than just surgically grafting implants as before. The Queen has also been playing the Long Game , covertly compromising an entire civilization over time rather than the old Borg "You will be assimilated" routine that was part and parcel of their tactics during TNG, First Contact and VOY.
• Evil Is Not Well-Lit : Played with. The modern Starfleet ships have had the darker lighting all season, and this did not change after they became assimilated. When the crew escapes the Titan -A and boards the Enterprise -D, the latter ship has the brighter soft lighting that was typical of many mid-to-late 24th century Starfleet ships.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap! : Data and Geordi have discovered that the Changelings have converted Picard's Borg-altered DNA into transporter code. Beverly, having previously wondered how Jack could control random ensigns, orders the computer to scan for the code in the Titan . It identifies the code as part of transporter system architecture, a set of instructions that identifies common biology between species ... and now considers Picard's DNA as part of that. To their horror, they realize this is what the Changelings have been doing: all of Starfleet has been compromised by Borg biology, and it's simply waiting to be activated.
• Failed a Spot Check : Retroactive example with the Changeling that was posing as Titan transporter operator Eli Foster back in the first half of the season. Everybody was so focused on the infiltration itself that nobody considered why the Changeling chose to replace that specific officer, or why they were aboard the Titan well before there would be any need to sabotage the ship. Justified, though, as the Titan was fighting for its survival against Vadic, then had to go on the run, so they were focused on solving the immediate mystery of the Daystrom Station heist. Even if they had thought to check his work, without the context provided by the recovered files from the Shrike , they probably wouldn't have understood the purpose of the alterations to the transporter architecture.
• Fate Worse than Death : Changeling Tuvok's gloating promise to Seven back in "Dominion" — that by the time their cabal was done with the Federation, death would "come as a relief" — wasn't hyperbole or an exaggeration. Death is most definitely preferable to you, your entire crew and your friends, and even your own loved ones being simultaneously assimilated en masse.
• Field Promotion : Humorously inverted. Since the 1701-D's computer recognizes him as captain rather than his post- Nemesis Rank Up , Picard dryly and humbly accepts his "field demotion".
• Similarly, when Deanna opens the Red Door, you can hear some of the familiar Borg ambience and sound effects about before it cuts to Deanna and her POV.
• Final Boss : With the deaths of Vadic and the Shrike crew last episode, the Borg emerge as the true final villain, taking over Starfleet. This also culminates in the Borg being the final antagonist of the Next Generation era of Star Trek as a whole.
• Fish out of Temporal Water : Another subtle example with Data at the Fleet Museum. When Geordi remarks they can't use the Enterprise -E, everybody except Data gives knowing works to a chagrined Worf. Mere hours have passed since the Fusion Dance last episode and with all focus on Frontier Day, Data has had no time to catch up on the major events of the last 20 years. In this instance, Data's out of the loop on what exactly happened to the Enterprise -E and what role Worf played in this incident.
• Flaunting Your Fleets : Starfleet's flotilla orbiting Earth and Spacedock as part of the Frontier Day celebrations. It's the Federation equivalent of Fleet Week and a way to show off their new Fleet Formation system, which allows the ships to operate as a single unit. It also puts Starfleet's military might in one location to be affected by the Borg activation signal, no doubt intentionally arranged by the Changelings for precisely that reason.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus : When the Excelsior is destroyed, a display shows a section of the hijacked fleet. Among the four vessels directly firing upon the Excelsior is the Hikaru Sulu , the man who was captain of the original.
• From Bad to Worse : At the beginning of the episode, Team Picard now has Data back and their full team re-assembled for the first time since the Shinzon crisis. But they're also now down to hours before Frontier Day. They still don't know what the Changeling endgame is (and it'll take time to sift through and analyze the files Raffi extracted from the Shrike 's systems before it blew up). And then Deanna takes a look inside Jack's head...and realizes they've got bigger problems than a nebulous Changeling endgame or Jack's new abilities: The Borg are back and they're behind both mysteries...
• Gallows Humor : Data merging with Lore's personality and memories has given him a very dark, cynical edge to his humor, so dark in fact it leaves Geordi in Stunned Silence after the fact. Data: "There?" What makes you think "there" hasn't already been destroyed? Geordi: Data, could you try to be a little more positive? Data: ( Beat ) I hope we die quickly!
• Given Name Reveal : Shelby's first name is revealed to be Elizabeth; in "The Best of Both Worlds" she was only referred to as Lieutenant Commander Shelby.
• Gracefully Demoted : Joked about when the reawakened Enterprise -D computer recognizes itself as being under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Instead of trying to set the record straight, Admiral Picard accepts the "field demotion".
• Gratuitous Latin : Aside from "Vox", other names that the Borg Queen considered for Jack are "Regenerati" ("Rebirth") and "Puer Dei" ("Child of God"). Jack isn't keen on any of these. Borg Queen: I have thought of so many names for you. Regenerati. Puer Dei. Jack: A fondness for Latin, I see. But I am neither your rebirth, nor a child of God. Borg Queen: That is why you are Võx. Not Locutus, the one who speaks. You are the voice itself.
• Thirty years after crash-landing on Veridian III, the Enterprise -D flies again.
• Downplayed, but Picard in a sense. Being back on the 1701-D bridge for the first time in decades — let alone with the people he loves and cares about more than anyone else in the galaxy — seems to reignite some of his old TNG-era spark. The strength of his presence and tone as he sits down in the center chair and gives the word is more Captain Picard than Admiral. Even the beloved "Picard Maneuver" returns when he sits and straightens his jacket.
• Hell Is That Noise : The Borg signal that activates the sleeper drones through their altered DNA. Alandra even all but cites the trope by name in-universe before she too is taken over.
• Hijacked by Ganon : The Borg Collective managed to do this to both the renegade Changelings and the Federation, proving to be both the biggest fish and true final adversary of The Next Generation era of the franchise, with the Borg Queen herself at the head.
• When the Borg Activation Signal goes out, the audience is expecting Picard, Riker, Seven, and Shaw to become Drones (since, having used the Transporter, they too have the Borg genetic malware). Instead, they're unaffected (apart from Seven's implants reacting severely to the signal). For a moment, it seems the Borg's plan didn't work ... until we cut back to the Science Lab, where Data and Beverley are realizing that the Borg genetic malware will only affect anyone infected who's under the age of 25. The audience instantly knows what's coming next .
• The Excelsior 's unassimilated crew retakes its bridge, seemingly giving Picard's team a safe place to escape to ... and then the Borg fleet seizes control of the Excelsior remotely and destroys it.
• Indy Ploy : So, Team Picard grabs the Enterprise -D — the one active Starflet ship left not linked into the Fleet Formation protocols and thus can't be hacked — from the Fleet Museum. Okay, makes sense; so far, so good. Then, it's back to Earth to save the Federation from the Borg. Okay ...*how*? What, is the "D" going to fight the entire Assimilated Starfleet with the power of awesome weaponized nostalgia? It's justified, though, as every moment Team Picard wastes, countless people are dying back in Sector 001. It's easier to just grab the "D" from the Museum, smash their foot down on the [figurative] gas pedal, and then come up with some kind of a Hail Mary play on the way back.
• Picard lampshades the irony that Admiral Shelby, who pioneered anti-Borg technology, would be promoting Fleet Formation, an inherently Borg-like technology (that is actually based on Borg tech).
• The Excelsior-II , the successor to the original Excelsior , was destroyed by the Hikaru Sulu .
• Geordi was unwittingly responsible for Enterprise -D's loss during Generations , as it was his compromised VISOR that allowed the Duras sisters to bypass its shields and inflict fatal damage. So, it's ironic and fitting that having been the catalyst for the 1701-D's destruction, it's Geordi who has labored to refurbish and restore her.
• Kansas City Shuffle : The Borg Queen using the renegade Changelings as her saboteurs served this purpose. Vadic kept all attention focused upon her all season long, with Picard, the Enterprise -D/E veterans, and their allies (and by extension the audience) all thinking they were dealing with rogue Founders out to avenge the Dominion's defeat decades earlier. By the time everybody realizes the Changelings were never the real threat and it was the Borg all along, it's too late to stop the Queen.
• First is Admiral Shelby, seen on the viewscreen gunned down by her own officers. Shelby: They're turning on us. What the hell is going on? We are under attack from within. Repeat, we are under attack. Something is happening to my crew. Ensign, what are you — (gets phasered)
• The second is Captain Benbasset of the Excelsior , heard on comms trying to retake his ship. Benbasset: Can anybody read me? This is Captain Benbassat of the Excelsior , broadcasting on frequency 99 Delta. To all who can hear, we have managed to retake control of our bridge... Hold on. Helm, what's happening? They're controlling us remotely. Taking us out of formation. No, no! We're being directed in front of the fleet. Now we've been targeted. Tell my family — (gets destroyed)
• Killed Off for Real : Shelby and Shaw, the latter via Heroic Sacrifice .
• Kryptonite Factor : Downplayed; Seven is immune to the DNA rewriting like the rest of the adult crew, but has enough Borg tech in her to still receive the signal. When the Collective sends out its signal, Seven is visibly pained by its intensity, even if it doesn't actually co-opt her. She shakes it off to fight back with the rest of the heroes.
• The Last Dance : Non-combat variation with the Enterprise -F during Frontier Day. With the current Federation flagship set to be decommissioned following the holiday celebrations, the Enterprise 's role as the "Master of Ceremonies" and representation of the Enterprise lineage on the 250th anniversary of the NX-01 is intended to an honorable final sendoff for the latest Starship Enterprise .
• Laser-Guided Karma : While it's not explicitly pointed out, this is basically the rogue Founders' revenge in a symbolic nutshell. The Federation tried to infect and wipe out the Great Link with a morphogenic virus during the Dominion War? Vadic's faction is returning the favor, collaborating with the Borg to infect Starfleet with their own brand of viral plague (in this case, the Borg genetic malware). For added karmic symbolism, the subsequently assimilated Starfleet junior officers are now linked as one thanks to the Borg Hive Mind. In effect, they've punished Starfleet's next generation by turning them into a twisted reflection of the Great Link.
• Last of Its Kind : Geordi cites the Enterprise -D as the last operational ship in the fleet not plugged into the Fleet Network and thus compromised by the Borg.
• The TNG theme, which quietly sounds off when the 1701-D is first unveiled, starts building with the reveal of the restored bridge, and then finally surges into a triumphant fanfare as the USS Enterprise 1701-D clears Hangar 12 and flies among the stars (and with her command crew) for the first time in thirty years — and to save the Federation again one last time.
• Dennis McCarthy 's Generations theme briefly plays when Picard and company first arrive on the refurbished Enterprise -D, musically symbolizing where we last left the bridge and the ship thirty years ago.
• MacGyvering : Geordi had to reconstruct the Enterprise -D using the stardrive section of the Syracuse and salvaged Galaxy -class ship parts. Although Geordi warns there's some subpar parts, the ship looks sturdy.
• Mental Fusion : Troi uses her empathic abilities to do a Betazoid equivalent of a mind-meld in order to help Jack discover what's behind the Red Door. She does not take what she sees well , and with good reason.
• Messianic Archetype : The episode subtly reveals this with Jean-Luc and Jack. Picard, who was once Locutus or "he who speaks", was almost god-like among the Borg and has still been addressed reverently by ex-drones, like those aboard The Artifact back in the first season. Meanwhile, Jack, his son, is consequently an amalgam of human and Borg biological influences and named Vox by the Borg Queen, which translates to "voice" but also makes him analogous to "the Word made flesh", or in other words, Jesus. Lampshaded in that the Queen had also considered calling him "Puer Dei", or "Child of God". That said, for the rest of the galaxy, he would more fulfill the role of The Antichrist by helping usher in a new era for the Borg, regardless of whether they wanted to or not .
• Mildly Military : At the end of the episode, retired Captain Riker orders Commodore LaForge to make sure the shields are at full power. This is probably because, ranks aside, Admiral Picard has essentially reappointed Riker as his XO. Besides, Geordi is still first and foremost an engineer.
• More Dakka : Worf grumbles that he would have preferred the Enterprise -E, which has better tactical systems and superior weapons, though after Troi gives him grief, he does admit his nostalgia for the 1701-D.
• Similarly, Ro, Picard, and the others belived the Changelings were targeting Frontier Day because, as Starfleet's 250th anniversary, it was the perfect time and place to make a statement (for good or ill). While there arguably is some truth there, the real reason turns out to be because the 250th Frontier Day is the perfect mechanism for gathering as much of Starfleet in one location as possible and assimilating them all en masse .
• Never My Fault : Played for humor, where Worf insists that whatever happened to the Enterprise -E was not his fault.
• New Era Speech : When Starfleet gets assimilated. "A message to those who resist: Your armada has been added to our own. Your weak and willful will soon be eliminated. Your strongest have already been assimilated. We are Borg. Starfleet now is Borg."
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero : Implied. It's not explicitly stated, but given the physical state of the Borg Queen and her now-venomous hatred of the UFP — to say nothing of the lengths she went to go after the Alpha Quadrant this time around — the subtext here is that this is payback for Janeway and Voyager , for all intents, firebombing the Collective on their way out of the Delta Quadrant two decades earlier. The next episode will explicitly confirm it.
• No Biochemical Barriers : The transporter can copy and paste human-ish genetic material onto every single species without any issues of compatibility or rejection, all with a section of code small enough to fit on a single screen.
• Nothing Is Scarier : We only see the Borg Queen from behind, and don't see any of her biological components, presumably hiding the damage from the alternate Admiral Janeway's neurolytic pathogen .
• Not Quite Dead : Despite alternate Admiral Janeway directly infecting the Borg Queen with a neurolytic pathogen and the entire Unimatrix complex exploding , the Borg Queen seems to have made it out alive, though what little we see of her suggests she's hardly in the best of shape.
• Number Two : As the Enterprise -D prepares to set out, and after Riker gives his old captain heartwarming words of encouragement, Picard affectionately calls him by his "Number One" nickname again.
• Oh, Crap! : Deanna opening the Red Door ... and seeing a Borg cube on the other side.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten : Whatever it was that Worf did to the Enterprise -E, Geordi and his old shipmates are still giving him grief over it. Worf: That was not my fault.
• Only Fatal to Adults : Inverted. The Borg infection spread through the transporter only affects those who haven't fully matured, which in humans is at about the age of twenty-five years. This means that while most of the younger crew are assimilated, the generally older command staff and upper echelons of leadership are not. That said, the older and/or senior officers are outnumbered by their younger subordinates by a significant margin, and get taken down by sheer weight of numbers of their assimilated crew.
• Deanna disengages from the mental link with Jack after seeing what's behind the Red Door. You would expect her to fall back on her counseling experience; instead, Deanna is disoriented and panicking. She all but runs out of Jack's quarters in terror rather than reveal to him what she saw on the other side of the Red Door, and immediately seeks out Picard and Beverly to inform them that it was the Borg.
• Picard doesn't immediately answer Jack's demands that he reveal what Deanna saw behind the Red Door. He's instead nervous and tries to dissemble and stall, attempting to provide a context to the truth he intends to reveal.
• Organic Technology : The Borg made subtle changes to Picard's DNA that allow him to receive the Collective's signal without needing a physical implant. When passed onto Jack, it made him a living transmitter that can influence anyone with that receiver DNA.
• Override Command : The Fleet Formation system is able to hijack Starfleet vessels and remotely pilot them without the input of their crews. Accordingly, the Titan -A is taken over almost immediately after warping in. Not long afterwards, when the unassimilated crew of the Excelsior (the current successor, not the original which is in the Fleet Museum) manage to regain control of the bridge, the Borg remotely take it out of formation and all the nearby ships blast it into dust .
• Papa Wolf : When Geordi realizes that his daughters are being assimilated, he tries to rush out to them. Data has to physically restrain him, pointing out that Geordi couldn't save them even if he could get to them.
• Poor Communication Kills : The Titan does not try to send any advance warnings to Starfleet or Shelby until they arrive (too late) at Earth. However, it's justified. With Starfleet compromised by the rogue Founders, any advance signal could be intercepted and blocked; as Picard himself states, Titan only gets one chance to warn everyone. More, they know the Borg and Changelings are involved, but they still don't know the exact plan (and indeed they don't figure it out until just as they drop out of warp). Any advance warning lacks credible evidence (and indeed could force the Borg/Changelings to pull the trigger prematurely).
• Properly Paranoid : Back in " The Bounty ", Geordi was highly opposed to gathering the fleet in one place for Frontier Day, and he also expressed misgivings about networking said fleet together so they'd be in constant communication. His concerns are now justified, with the entire fleet (sans the outdated Enterprise -D) under Borg control.
• Putting the Band Back Together : The TNG reunion is complete, as Geordi "recruits" the final "member" of their old team: the 1701-D herself.
• Rank Up : Shelby has gone from a commander, when we last saw her thirty years ago after "The Best of Both Worlds", as well as a captain as depicted in Lower Decks , to a fleet admiral in the "present day" of the series.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending : The Federation may be facing its Darkest Hour , with all of Starfleet hijacked and assimilated by the Borg and about to attack Earth...but Picard and his officers are back aboard the Enterprise -D and are charging to the rescue.
• Red Herring : Almost literally, as the red aesthetic and vines around Jack Crusher all season when his powers flared up implied a connection similar to the Pah-Wraiths or other extremely abstract entities throughout the Star Trek franchise, instead of the highly technological (and sickly green) aesthetic common to the Borg. It's revealed offhand that the imagery is taken from fond childhood memories of a place called the Crimson Arboretum, due to the interconnected root system being similar to the Collective Hive Mind .
• Red Shirt : On a ship scale; Captain Benbassat and his officers on the U.S.S. Excelsior (NCC-42037) note  the original Excelsior NCC-2000 is still in the Fleet Museum, as seen earlier in the season manage to retake their bridge and send out a signal, but the compromised fleet interconnection system just takes them out of formation and makes them an easy target for the rest of the assembled ships.
• Redshirt Army : Numerous junior crew members get simultaneously and remotely assimilated by the Borg, and violently turn on anyone who isn't assimilated, killing countless older and/or senior officers.
• The entity behind the Red Door is the original Borg Queen, trying to tempt Jack into joining the Collective.
• Jack's powers are a result of Borg Organic Technology passed down through Picard, who was modified by the Collective when he was assimilated into Locutus. Picard's mutation makes him a living receiver, able to hear the Collective even absent any Borg technology in his body. Jack's mutation makes him a living transmitter , able to connect to and control those with that receiver protein, hence his powers. The Changelings stole Picard's corpse so that they could integrate his genetic mutation into the base transporter code, rewriting the DNA of anyone who uses transporters. When Jack delivers himself to the Borg Queen in the midst of a Despair Event Horizon over the news, she uses him to assimilate all of Starfleet.
• The restored Enterprise -D is the secret project that Geordi has been working on in Hangar 12 of the Fleet Museum.
• Revenge : The Borg Queen joined forces with the renegade Founders out of a mutual desire for revenge against the Federation and all the trouble it and Starfleet have caused the Collective and Dominion respectively. Borg Queen : What I see in you [Jack], what Vadic saw, an end. The vindication of both our species. To take everything back from those who live like shattered glass.
• Revenge Before Reason : While it's not explicitly acknowledged, this is basically the rogue Changelings working with the Borg in a nutshell. Helping the Borg bring down the Federation in revenge for the Dominion War and Project Proteus ironically is not good for the rest of the Dominion or the Great Link. Assimilating the Federation — the only major power which, despite heavy losses, has at least held the Borg at bay — only aids the Collective's expansion and augments their power, technology, and supply of drones. This is, of course, very important and bad, because sooner or later, the Collective is coming for the Gamma Quadrant. By helping the Borg, Vadic and her faction have been endangering the Great Link this entire time — but of course, they hate Starfleet and the Federation so much that they're willing to pay any price if it means burning their foes to the ground.
• Deanna deduces that the vines represent connections — and that this is what Jack and whatever is behind the Red Door are seeking. She's more right than she knows...
• In-universe example with the Enterprise -F leading the Frontier Day ceremonies as the current Federation flagship and symbolizing the Enterprise lineage and legacy that the NX-01 set in motion 250 years earlier.
• When the Enterprise -D leaves Hangar 12, you can see the NX-01 moored at its museum exhibit just above it. Today, Frontier Day, is the celebration of everything it, Jonathan Archer, and his crew achieved on their voyages in the decade leading up to the UFP's founding — a celebration and legacy has now been despoiled and horrifically perverted by the Borg. So, it's as if the NX-01, ancient and unable to fight or sail any longer, is there seeing off its distant descendant, cheering it on, and reminding it (and the audience) what's at stake. The NX-01 was Starfleet's inaugural Enterprise — the first generation — and the "D" will be the last generation and the end of the line if Picard and company can't stop the Borg.
• Scars Are Forever : The refurbished Enterprise -D saucer section. While Geordi has done superb work in restoring it over twenty years, the saucer still sports some wear and tear from the crash-landing on Veridian III, from scuffed hull plating to dirt stains on its underside and topside.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here : Deanna gets a look at whatever's on the other side of the Red Door, and upon disengaging from the link, she immediately all but runs out of Jack's cabin in barely-controlled panic.
• Series Continuity Error : The Enterprise -D bridge had been upgraded with additional status screens and consoles on both the port and starboard walls sometime between the time of " All Good Things... " and Star Trek: Generations , but they're absent in Geordi's refit of the bridge. This can be easily explained as Geordi removing them when he did the repairs, given how badly trashed the place was.
• Possibly unintentional, but Picard and crew need to find a older ship, one that does not have newer standard-issue software and thus is not linked to other ships that have been compromised by alien technology, similar to how the battlestar Galactica and its resolutely non-networked technology survived the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies to fight back in the reimagined BSG series . It's likely intentional, given TNG-era writer Ronald D. Moore's role in the reimagining and 2023 being the reboot's 20th anniversery.
• Jack Crusher travels to the nightmarish heart of darkness, encountering a Dark Lord on Life Support — one also launching their final Take Over the World plan. Said Evil Overlord covets his abilities and is, for all intents, Jack's Grandparent — a revelation that has shaken the next generation to his core. Now, where have we seen this before in modern Sci-Fi franchises ?
• Significant Name Shift : Shaw finally calls Seven by her preferred name as he places her in command as his last act.
• Signature Style : Subverted with the Borg — which is part of why nobody sees them coming this time around. While assimilation, let alone assimilation of the Federation, is still very much on the agenda, the Borg have abandoned their traditional overt and brutal "resistance is futile" tactics and adapted. They're now actually content to play the Long Game and engage in subterfuge and guile to compromise their opponent. And because Picard, Seven, and the whole of Starfleet are so used to dealing with the old Borg, they get completely blitzed when the "new and improved" Collective finally makes its move.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis : Downplayed since Riker and Shelby don't actually interact before her death. But going off of Riker's snark during Shelby's Frontier Day speech, some of that old friction and rivalry between them from "The Best of Both Worlds" is still there even 35 years later.
• Sour Supporter : While Worf appreciates the nostalgia of the Enterprise -D, he complains that it's tactically inferior to the Enterprise -E.
• Suddenly Shouting : Jack understandably starts shouting at Deanna when she flees his quarters without divulging what she saw in their mental link when she opened the Red Door.
• Suicide Mission : When they board the "D", Picard admits he' reluctant to have his old command crew face the Borg again. Picard doesn't outright say it, but the subtext is clear: this is almost certainly going to be a suicide run and he's giving them a chance to get out while they still can. Riker and the others don't care.
• There are also additional national security concerns to have justified salvaging the "D". Even though it had been in service for the better part of the decade as of Generations , the Galaxy -class was still the pride of the service and a testbed for Starfleet's then-most cutting-edge technologies. The loss of the Federation flagship (let alone the unexpected ressurection and final death of James T. Kirk) would obviously dominate galactic headlines and put Veridian III on the map — which means any scavengers or hostile intelligence agencies (i.e. the Tal Shiar or the Obsidian Order) would realize they had an unprecedented opportunity to acquire advanced Starfleet tech and any valuable data contained within its databanks. Given these parties wouldn't care about the Prime Directive, their presence in the system could contaminate or even endanger the pre-warp civilization on Veridian IV. Removing the Enterprise was thus important and justified for Federation national security and Prime Directive reasons.
• Picking the D as their ship was also the best possible choice at the Museum. Like on "The Bounty", none of the other ships were operational, and even if they were, most of them barring maybe Defiant and Voyager were far smaller, less advanced ships that stood no chance against The Borg, let alone the entire Federation fleet. Not only that, but this is the only ship they're familiar with how to operate; the NX-01 , the Enterprise -A, the Excelsior and the New Jersey are a century older, Worf is the only one familiar with how to run the Defiant and far too pressed for time to teach his crew how she runs, and the only Voyager crew member they know is stuck on the Titan -A trying to buy them time. And they can't use the Enterprise -E, which does have the better weapons and maneuvering capabilities, because of Worf. The D is their best and only choice.
• The evolution of the Borg's stratagem . As shown numerous times throughout the franchise, the Borg, while a frighteningly powerful adversary and capable of being considered the true Archenemy of the Federation, have been also repeatedly beaten back despite their overwhelming power in a fight, with Starfleet eventually becoming enough of a threat over them to severely cripple their Collective in the years since due to their closemindedness as a faction prior to this point. Their persistence and need to achieve perfection however would eventually see overcoming the Federation as a challenge enough to finally adapt their own philosophy to counter their opponent, which they achieve with frightening efficiency by playing the long game and gradually undermining Starfleet through subterfuge and guile instead of a brutal, direct assault as they had before. In short, by assuming that the Borg are above change and were thus wholly predictable, the Federation signs its own doom.
• The Borg have shown time and time again that they are so strong and adaptive a menace, and there are so many drones (in the trillions , as once stated by a Voyager crewmember), that they metaphorically get up every time they are knocked down. Even Alternate-Janeway's neurolytic pathogen wasn't enough to take down the entire Borg Collective.
• Swiss-Cheese Security : Jack just gets to practically waltz down to the Titan -A's shuttlebay, take a vessel, and escape the ship without much of any effort to stop him. While he can Mind Control crew members into escorting him and the ship is in the midst of a Critical Staffing Shortage , there's all manner of automated security systems that should have locked him out and prevented him from opening the shuttlebay doors, and anyone on the bridge could have at least tried to throw a Tractor Beam on his shuttle before he went to warp.
• Tainted Veins : The assimilated officers all have darkened veins on their faces from the Borg DNA (and possibly nanoprobes, however they were manufactured) taking them over.
• Theme Music Power-Up : The Epic Launch Sequence of the resurrected Enterprise -D is accompanied by the most bombastic and triumphant rendition of the TNG theme ever heard.
• How Admiral Shelby bites it amidst the confusion of the Borg takeover, being peppered with multiple phaser shots before the transmission between the Enterprise -F and the Titan -A cuts off.
• The Excelsior , whose bridge was retaken by her command crew, gets blasted to bits by the assembled fleet.
• Played with. The Enterprise -D has had its stardrive section replaced with that of the Syracuse , meaning a substantial portion of the ship has come from another ship. In the Galaxy -class ships, the saucer and stardrive sections could be separated — in fact, that's the last thing that happened to the E-D before the saucer crashlanded in Generations . Most, or all, of the new stardrive section came from the Syracuse .
• This Cannot Be! : Picard and Beverley's mutual reaction to Deanna telling them what she saw when she opened the Red Door: Jack is part-Borg. This is a completely justified reaction, as Picard and Beverley both point out that what Deanna's saying makes absolutely no sense. Jack's never encountered the Collective, he has no implants or nano probes in his bloodstream. Beverley eventually accepts it as she and Deanna discuss it, but Picard initially remains fiercely resistant.
• This Is Gonna Suck : Picard's reaction upon entering Jack's quarters and having to face Jack demanding answers about what Deanna saw.
• Title Drop : The Borg Queen calls Jack Crusher "Vox", which means "voice". While Jean-Luc Picard may have been the spokesperson of the Borg as Locutus, Jack is now the voice of the Collective.
• Trojan Horse : The method in which the Borg manage to defeat the Federation and mass-assimilate it is essentially an elaborate form of this by utilizing various means the Federation has taken for granted over the centuries against them with a few lines of code, some genetics appropriated from the Borg ( unknowingly courtesy of Picard), and a network infrastructure that was gradually built from theirs. It is so insanely devious that by the time the crew of the Titan -A realize what is happening, they can only helplessly watch the pieces fall into place as the Borg effortlessly win (for now) without having to do much of anything themselves.
• On a wider scale, there's also the survival (or not) of any of the other TNG , DS9 and/or Voyager characters at the hands of any assimilated officers with whom they might be serving. That said, if the original DS9 is still in service as depicted in Lower Decks , it almost certainly has different computer and hardware architecture from Starfleet and would be safe from anything like the Fleet Formation system or the transporter modifications, which explicitly targeted Federation technology. Other civilizations like the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Free State, the Cardassians, the Ferengi and others are probably immune — for now.
• There's also the question of whether Jurati's Collective has been affected.
• The Unreveal : Geordi explains that while he refurbished the saucer of the Enterprise -D, the stardrive section came from the Syracuse . Okay, so then what happened to the saucer of the Syracuse ?
• Villain Decay : Averted with a vengeance as compared to the Borg's increasing blunders between Star Trek: Voyager and the earlier seasons of this series, the Borg have put their most deadly, devious plan to assimilate the Federation into motion and, unfortunately for Picard and his crew, they are unable to stop them from succeeding (for the moment) and can now only hope to undo their victory.
• Villain Team-Up : The renegade Changelings are confirmed to be working with the Borg Collective, with both parties sharing a mutual goal of bringing down the Federation. However, as it's been implied earlier in the season, this isn't an alliance of equals and the Borg are the dominant partner.
• Voice of the Legion : " WE ARE THE BORG. "
• We Have Reserves : As to be expected of the Borg, the assimilated crews attack heedless of their own safety, as they outnumber the unassimilated by a wide margin. Notably, when Picard, Riker, Seven, and Shaw are being fired upon in the turbolift, one officer is shot through the shoulder by his fellow Borg, only to stumble to his feet and continue attacking.
• Wham Episode : The Borg are revealed to be the true power behind Vadic's Changeling conspiracy and Jack's abilities. In one fell swoop, the Collective manages to assimilate the entirety of Starfleet simultaneously — and the Federation's last hope is now Picard, his command crew, and a resurrected and refurbished Enterprise -D.
• Wham Line : Shaw: The fleet ... Picard: It's ... been assimilated.
• Deanna opens the Red Door, and what lies behind it is a Borg cube .
• A double whammy in the space of a few seconds: first, when Shaw orders Lieutenant Mura to initiate Red Alert, Mura does not move or respond. Second, as Shaw's confusion deepens at Mura's motionless refusal to obey orders, and dread mounts, the camera slowly pans to reveal Mura's assimilation in progress — and without any implants, unlike past drones.
• This is also only the first part of the shot; it had been established in Season Two that the Fleet Museum had the salvaged Enterprise saucer section, so that's what the audience is expecting to see. But then the camera keeps pulling back and panning down ... revealing that it's not just the primary hull. Geordi acquired a decommissioned Galaxy -class stardrive section (stated to be from the U.S.S. Syracuse ), revealing that the Enterprise -D has been made whole for the first time since Generations .
• When Things Spin, Science Happens : The Borg assimilation beacon looks something akin to a Human Gyroscope Ride from a science museum, with multiple rings spinning and rotating at its center.
• Whole-Plot Reference : To Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . Like Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise -A at Khitomer, Picard and the Titan -A crew are racing to stop a conspiracy aimed at crippling the Federation — and the countdown to zero hour has finally ended. They're also still officially considered renegades and don't have all the details they need to win the day, such as how Jack factors into the endgame. Like Kirk, Picard is now facing his greatest enemy (the Borg, rather than the Klingons) one more time.
• You Are in Command Now : With his dying breath, Shaw tells Seven that she's now in command of the Titan -A. Ironically, she and the other senior officers are trying to Abandon Ship at that moment. She and Raffi choose to stay behind and continue fighting.
• You Are Too Late : Beverly, Data, and Geordi figure out what the Changelings were doing and how Jack ties into it, giving them the information they need to, at the very least, keep the Titan -A safe from the Borg. Sadly, in their haste to warn Starfleet, the Titan -A is already vulnerable, and the signal goes out before they can warn anyone.
• You Have to Believe Me! : Picard's desperate pleas to Shelby as the Titan -A arrives at Spacedock and they try to warn her about the Changeling/Borg plan. To her credit, as soon as Picard mentions the Borg, it does seem like Shelby is listening and taking him seriously — and with good reason, given what they all went through together over thirty years earlier during the first Borg incursion in 2366-2367. Unfortunately, this is the exact moment the Borg make their move and things go from bad to far worse .
• You Shall Not Pass! : Shaw fights his assimilated crew to give Picard and his officers time to escape, and is mortally wounded in the battle.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me : The Borg Queen boasts that if Jack could shoot her, he would have. He lowers his phaser and allows himself to be assimilated.
• Zombie Apocalypse : The Borg's long game is to essentially initiate one by simultaneously assimilating all of Starfleet and turning all infected personnel into instant drones. It works.
• Star Trek: Picard S3E08 "Surrender"
• Recap/Star Trek: Picard
• Star Trek: Picard S3E10 "The Last Generation"

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Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Rediscovers Its Voice In “Võx”

| April 13, 2023 | By: Anthony Pascale 536 comments so far

“Võx”

Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 9 – Debuted Thursday, April 13, 2023 Written by Sean Tretta & Kiley Rossetter Directed by Terry Matalas

An excellent start to the season (and series) finale, “Võx” is jam-packed with revelations and an emotional roller coaster of character moments.

I’m not opening it, you open it.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

“Your son is dangerous.”

Things kick off inside Jack’s red door vision, now guided by a reassuring Deanna, who helps him realize the creepy vines are from a childhood memory about an arboretum visit and a fascination with flowers being connected, symbolizing his own primal need for connection. Deanna promises Jack he isn’t alone, but after finally opening that door, she shuts the whole thing down and makes a hasty exit. The shocked counselor runs to his parents, revealing what she saw… it’s the Borg. Dun dun duuun! After a bit of back and forth, the trio quickly puts the pieces together–when he was Locutus, the Borg changed something on an organic level to make him into a receiver, which later manifested as (misdiagnosed) Irumodic Syndrome. He passed this to Jack, where it has transformed into his new powers as a transmitter, which is why why the Borg want him. Picard takes the revelation hard, seeing that everything that has happened is his fault. As he heads off to inform Jack, Troi points out that there are protocols, specifically that Jack is clearly compromised by Starfleet’s greatest enemy who want to use him as a weapon. Jeez Deanna, as if Jean-Luc wasn’t feeling guilty enough.

Picard finds Jack clawing at walls and sits him down to tell the tale of when he was assimilated and how the Borg left something behind. This new twist on the birds and bees has Jack now understanding why he has always had a subconscious, Borg-like drive for perfection and shocked to learn of the “cybernetic authoritarianism” origins. The compassionate father and son bonding flips when Picard suggests Jack go to a Vulcan institution that deals with this sort of thing, but Jack isn’t having it, especially after the two security guys outside the door make it clear the admiral wasn’t just suggesting. After a sick burn about how Picard never learned the “protocols of a father,” Jack does his red eyes control thing on the security guys, creating a little collective to assist his escape. A desperate Beverly is unable to stop her son, who vows he’ll find the Borg Queen to tell her to buzz off… what could possibly go wrong with that plan? After stealing a shuttle, Jack senses his way to a transwarp conduit that leads straight to a Borg cube. Left behind, his parents are helpless to stop this joyride, but Beverly is determined to find answers and leaves Picard to commiserate with his old pal Data, who asks if now is the right time to “say something comforting.” Meet the new ‘droid, same as the old ‘droid.

Which one of us has to tell him his grandmother was a replicator?

“Happy Frontier Day, everyone.”

In Sickbay, Geordi and Data have been going over the Changeling database and have learned Altan Soong was studying how the Borg did some extra monkeying with Picard’s DNA, which is why the Changelings stole the body: to weaponize the code. The details of how Jack fits into the plan are still unclear, but everyone assumes it has something to do with the plot for Frontier Day, which is kicking off now with all of Starfleet gathering above Earth. A reluctant Shaw steers the ship back home, where they watch Admiral Shelby (on board the Enterprise-F!) give a nice speech about the launch of the first Enterprise starship 250 years ago, leading to the creation of the new Starfleet. The Titan gang gets salty (especially Riker, holding an old grudge ) when they hear about the new “fleet formation” advancement, mocking the “Borg-like” connected ship “unity.” And speaking of the Borg, Jack has made his way into the cube to have a chat about Latin with the obscured Queen, who welcomes him “home” and dubs him “Vox.” (Title alert!) Dr. Jack wants to show her “mercy” at end of his phaser, but resistance is… well, you know the rest.

A triumphant Queen does some monologuing about vindication and revenge as the kid gets plugged in for the big show. How’s that plan working out, Jack? Back in sickbay, the Data/Geordi/Beverly braintrust has even more exposition: Changeling infiltrators coded Picard’s Borgified DNA into transporters across Starfleet. “They’ve been assimilating the entire fleet this whole time.” OMG! The Titan arrives at Earth, but they’re too late. Picard’s warning about the conspiracy is cut off by a Borg signal which starts assimilating the young crews across the fleet (something about the frontal cortex stopping development after age 25)… this includes Mura, the La Forge girls, and the rest of the Titan’s junior officers… who announce they are Borg! Seeing Shelby gunned down by some ensigns and the entire fleet quickly assimilated, the older folks decide it’s time to get off the Titan, which has gone total Logan’s Run .

I love having you back, but what’s with the goofy grin, dude?

“We’re the crew of the USS Enterprise.”

The gang struggles to find a safe deck to exit the turbolift as firefights rage across the ship, now commanded by BorgEsmar. A last-gasp message from the USS Excelsior over a maintenance channel gives Captain Grease Monkey an idea, so Shaw directs everyone old enough to remember round combadges to meet up at a repair shuttle, which importantly isn’t part of the new ship network. The Borg announce Starfleet has been added to the collective, and the “weak and willful” are soon to be eliminated as the synchronized fleet takes aim at Spacedock… and Earth. Everyone rallies on the maintenance deck and even as he struggles to deal with his daughters’ assimilation, Geordi is convinced to fight another day—and he has an idea of where to go. He and Data have some gallows humor prepping the shuttle as some Borgies show up to say “Okay, Boomers” with phasers. Shaw holds them off as one by one, the TNG vets get into the shuttle, but he takes a serious hit. Picard doesn’t want to leave him behind, but Seven tells him to go, leaving her and Raffi to tend to the dying man. We can see how far the two Titan officers have come as Shaw uses his last words to address her as “Seven of Nine,” telling the tearful commander she is captain now. Shaw dead? All I have to say to that is… No .

Once they arrive at the Fleet Museum, Geordi says they are going to need “something older” that isn’t connected to Starfleet’s new network and reveals what’s behind hanger door number 12. It’s the goddamn USS Enterprise-D! La Forge has been working on it as a pet project since Deanna crashed the saucer into Veridian III 30 years ago. Everyone—even Data—has all the feels of seeing their old ship and soon enough they are on the perfectly restored bridge, with Picard particularly nostalgic over the carpet. Somehow not blinded by bright lights after all their time on the Titan—and despite Worf griping about wanting the fancier weapons of the Enterprise-E—everyone is happy to be home and they soon settle into their old positions. Content with the familiar computer voice redubbing him“Captain Picard,” Jean-Luc assures his friends that together they can save their families, Starfleet, and the Federation because that is what they do. His simple “make it so” fills us all with the belief that they will.

Whatever you do, don’t let Deanna drive.

Whole lotta episodin’ goin’ on

Things really come together nicely in this first part of the season and series finale, while “Võx” delivers plenty to work as a standalone episode. If anything, there is too much going on, making a repeat viewing help to catch all the details. The (mostly) good pacing slowed down at just the right times for some key character moments, allowing for some strong performances and emotional beats. The season’s recurring theme of family was on full display with the Picard/Crusher and La Forge families being torn apart, with the hope that they will be brought together again by the reunited Enterprise-D family.

Of course, the big reveal in this episode was Jack’s Borg origin story, and Ed Speleers was outstanding as Jack came to grips with this shocking truth and the perceived betrayal of his parents, with heartbreaking moments from both Sir Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden. Marina Sirtis continues to show the wait for her to arrive on the scene was worth it. She was the key to all of this heavy lifting, while also bringing some of the lighter moments, especially in the final act. When it comes to shocks and heavy moments, the death of Shaw was brutal, but beautifully earned with Todd Stashwick and Jeri Ryan bringing their arc to a close. It’s a testament to the actor and the writers that the passive-aggressive foil introduced in episode 1 went out like a boss in episode 9, and will be so missed. While mostly relegated to exposition, LeVar Burton and Brent Spiner also had a few moments to shine with some tough love and even some fun banter as their friendship evolves along with them.

And I thought inheriting your baldness was the worst thing.

After all the buildup, we finally arrived at Frontier Day, which included that fun cameo from Elizabeth Dennehy, playing a more seasoned Fleet Admiral Elizabeth Shelby. Her speech (and Frontier Day itself) was also a nice nod to Star Trek: Enterprise , although going along with this new fleet connectivity thing doesn’t reflect well on the character as it didn’t make a lot of sense and was clearly vulnerable to exploitation, presumably by design of the conspirators. Leaving all the big reveals until episode 9 required a lot of exposition scenes that impacted the pacing and were all a bit much to take in. Following two episodes that had a bit of filler, the story might have been better served had some of the reveals about Jack and the Borg/Changeling plot been put into the previous episodes to give a bit more detail and allow it all to sink in. The rush in this episode brought back the one major gripe for the season when the show jumps through some hoops to get to where it wants to go without explaining or showing things, like why it was so easy for Jack to escape the ship, seemingly without any attempt from the bridge crew to stop the shuttle. And later in the episode, it could have been clearer and more impactful (via a brief cutaway at the right moment) how the Queen was using Jack to send out her signal, which was sort of the point of the whole big conspiracy. The Queen briefly mentions Vadic, but time could have been spent showing how and why the Borg and the Changelings are working together, plus showing that “The Face” communicating with Vadic was the Queen (presumably) all along.

Of course, rushing through moments in the first two acts allowed time for the pitch-perfect reveal of Geordi’s pet project at the Fleet Museum. Nicely teased earlier in the season, the restored USS Enterprise-D was what he had hidden away in Hanger 12, although it was curious how Picard and the rest of the gang didn’t know the Prime Directive required Starfleet to retrieve the saucer from where it crashed in Star Trek Generations . It may be dismissed by some as mere fan service, but there was a legitimate plot reason to bring back the old ship and the reveal inside and out was beautifully done, with fantastic visual effects and amazing production design that made the ship look as good as it ever has, even down to that carpet — although that gag may have been delivered better by Frakes, who has been the more reliable jokester this season. It was nice that these moments on the bridge of the old ship were given some time for both the characters and the audience to take it all in, and we could all feel it, making us just as overwhelmed with emotion as Data. Even after all the death and destruction we just witnessed, this ship with this crew shined through, representing all the hope and optimism at the core of Star Trek. Can’t wait to see what it does in the finale.

Yes, that jazz bar program is still in the holodeck, why do you ask?

It’s all connected

While it may take a rewind to fully understand, this episode finally put all the pieces together with the big reveal that the rogue Changelings have been working with the Borg the entire time. Bringing back the Borg may be a bit of a repeat, but being the ultimate big bad fits with Jean-Luc Picard’s arc as a character. Doing a bit of retcon on Picard’s original assimilation works, explaining how the Borg gave Locutus more genetic manipulation, and this, combined with him having a son that evolved that genetic manipulation, worked out as a huge bonus for the Borg, giving them a whole new way to assimilate. This could be the key to a big comeback, decades after the Borg were set back by future Admiral Janeway . There was a mention in this episode about how the Borg hadn’t been seen in over a decade. The Jurati Borg featured in season 2 were actually separate from the main collective (they were a splinter group formed by Agnes Jurati in an alternate past), something noted earlier in the season by Captain Shaw when he said: “Forget all that weird shit on the Stargazer, the real Borg are still out there.”

The hints of the Borg hand behind the wheel have been there all season, but were still vague enough to keep plenty of other theories viable . Looking back at episode 1, there was foreshadowing for Changelings, The Borg, and the Enterprise-D, proving how season 3 stands above previous seasons of Picard in making things fit together from beginning to end. The Picard genetic manipulation plot even answers the curiosity of how Jean-Luc could still hear the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact , years after all of his cybernetic implants had been removed.

Tying everything to age offered up a clever way to turn the older crew (and their old ship) into the last great hope for the Federation. Leaving Raffi and Seven back on the Titan to allow for just the TNG crew to have their moment on the Enterprise-D was a bit obvious, so perhaps they should have been given a specific task, although they will surely play a part in the finale. There is also more to be revealed about the ultimate Borg goal, unless it is as simple as using their new transporter assimilation trick on the entire young population of the Federation and killing everyone else. This penultimate episode did hint that maybe Jack’s reckless move to deliver himself to the Queen can work out, if his ideals of fairness, mercy, and compassion can be used to fight back and perhaps transform the Borg from within. How fitting would it be for the Next Generation’s final hurrah to have the son of Jean-Luc Picard bring a peaceful end to his father’s greatest enemy?

Don’t mind the mess, this cube is a fixer-upper.

Final thoughts

All indications are that season 3 is sticking the landing. Part one of the season (and series) finale is full of memorable and profound moments, so the skipped steps it takes are worth it. These nine weeks have been some of the most fun for Star Trek fans, making the anticipation for the final almost unbearable.

Your son has daddy issues, mommy issues, and queenie issues.

• The late Majel Barrett was credited for providing the computer voice of the USS Enterprise-D, as she did for all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation .
• Captain Benbassat of the USS Excelsior was voiced by prolific voice actor Nolan North , who has voiced a number of characters in Lower Decks and appeared in Star Trek Into Darkness .
• Season 1 and 2 main character Elnor was last known to be assigned to the USS Excelsior, so it’s possible he was killed when the ship was destroyed by the Borg.
• Star Trek: First Contact’s Alice Krige returns to voice the Borg Queen, but actress Jane Edwina Seymour played the Queen, credited as “Borg Queen body double.”
• The Borg Queen gave Jack (and the episode) the name “Vox,” meaning voice in Latin . She also referred to him in Latin as Regenerati (rebirth/regenerated) and Puer Dei (child of god).
• Speaking of Latin, the episode title “Vox” is written somewhat unusually with a tilde (~); typically the Latin word is written without an accent over the O, and the accepted accent for the word is to have a bar (a macron) as in Vōx.
• The Star Trek novel The Return included a Borg character named Vox who served as Speaker to the Romulan Empire.
• Picard recalls his time as Locutus, hearing his voice from the TNG episode “Best of Both Worlds, Part 1.”
• Jack’s vision included the song “ I Can’t Stop Crying ” by Will Grove-White, which was one of the songs from a mix Jean-Luc Picard gave Beverly, heard in the season 3 premiere .
• Raritan IV is named for Raritan, New Jersey , the birthplace of showrunner Terry Matalas.
• The rebuilt USS Enterprise-D used the drive section from the USS Syracuse, a ship referenced in the TNG season 7 episode “Eye of the Beholder.”
• Starfleet’s new “Fleet Formation Mode” was designated “Emergency Protocol NX12.11.”
• Picard wanted to send Jack to a Vulcan academy named Keslovar, which Jack described as an institution where they could “mind-meld and lobotomize” the Borg out of him.
• The Enterprise-F is based on a design from the game Star Trek Online .
• The fate of the Enterprise-E (last seen in Star Trek Nemesis ) remains a mystery beyond Worf (who was the ship’s final captain) insisting it wasn’t his fault.
• The fleet of ships around Earth included the USS Okuda and the USS Drexler, named for designers Mike and Denise Okuda and Doug Drexler.
• Other ships included the USS John Kelly , named for the 21 st century astronaut found in the Voyager episode “One Small Step,” the USS Forrest, named for 22nd century Starfleet Admiral Maxwell Forrest from Star Trek: Enterprise (who was named in honor or TOS star DeForest Kelly), and the USS Pulaski, named for the season 2 TNG character Dr. Katherine Pulaski .

Enterprise-Déjà vu.

More to come

We will discuss the episode in detail on Friday’s episode of All Access Star Trek . every Friday, the TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek podcast covers the latest news in the Star Trek Universe. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify ,  Pocket Casts ,  Stitcher and is part of the TrekMovie Podcast Network.

Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the Americas, Europe, the Caribbean and South Korea. It also streams internationally on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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A century later and Dr. McCoy’s concerns about the transporter are vindicated!

LOLOL! That’s exactly what I thought, too!

Bones was so right! Pulaski too!

Hee! Perfect!

So much for that Shaw and Seven spinoff.

I kind of expected he’d bite it, but not for another episode. Ah well, let’s see if Seven remembers the nanoprobes this time.

Shaw’s death was disappointing. I had hopes for his future involvement in Star Trek. He was an interesting character.

Oh, don’t be silly. Shaw’s clearly not dead.

Really hope so.

Seven still has Borg nanoprobes in her system. They were once used to bring Neelix back to life after 19 hours. I don’t think Shaw is gone either.

It would actually be pretty interesting to see how he comes to terms with nanoprobes saving his life, considering how much he hates Borg.

It was not at all clear that Shaw is alive.

Do Seven’s own assimilation tubes work at this point?

Could she save him with her own Borg nanoprobes that had been heavily altered by The Doctor while on Voyager?

That would be full circle for Shaw – pulled from the brink of death by a local assimilation.

(I really don’t want him to die.)

Agree that having a captain with PTSD related to Borg trauma grappling with being saved again, but this time through Borg nano probes, would have lots of long term character work to chew through.

Perhaps we’ll see Seven give Shaw back his ship yet.

I am in denial. I am hoping either he gets assimilated to reanimate him and later save him or gets put in stasis/frozen.

He’s not dead.

Maybe Seven uses her nanoprobes to bring him back. It worked with Neelix…

Maybe he’ll get into some of those Life Stasis Pods like Dr. Crusher at the Start teleports to keep him “frozen” until someone can tend to his Serious Wounds. Maybe EMH (Doctor of Voyager) has some Easter Egg screentime. Because “All Hands on Deck in the Mecial Station even all EMH!. This is not an exercise!”

LOL, remember a year ago it was the Rios and Seven spinoff. ;D

Then, Seven and Raffi.

I guess we riot.

Seven was not given the chance to show she’d earned the chair, quite the opposite.

Shaw’s final concession of her name felt too by the numbers, although appropriate for Shaw after he witnessed she wasn’t reassimilated.

I hope Elnor wasn’t still on the Excelsior!

That’d require the writers remembering that he exists. XD It’s fine. If they want to use him later, there are lots of reasons for him not to have been on board.

They didn’t seem to remember the change in the Borg, though.

That’s because you weren’t paying attention. The borg weren’t changed. There are TWO collectives now. Shaw even mentioned this earlier in the season, very specifically in very clear bit of foreshadowing. That you missed it is proof that we should just ignore your negative nancy opinions

Can you be a bit nicer on here, please?

Clearly not. He’s one the most obnoxious and negative people on this board. This is why we need ignore buttons.

Amen to that.

Please create an ignore button! I would like to read and post on these boards more often but certain “alpha” trolls make this place an unwelcome environment.

I have zero to do with this site other than posting on it but yes many of us have been asking for one for years now. And I would HAPPILY use it for people like this.

The only proof here is that you insist on being an arrogant obnoxious brat.

Sure would be nice if Jurati could swing by and help out.

Not sure why she’s allowing this now, though.

Her collective is an entirely separate entity from the “main” Borg Collective as shown in the season 2 finale and as implied by Shaw earlier this season.

Yeah, I saw the Matt Wright post earlier. I don’t recall him saying that and I didn’t recall that it was a splinter group. Which speaks to how memorable past seasons of Picard have been, quite frankly.

I think it’s funny how you blame it on the show, when you really just weren’t paying attention or didn’t understand basic story points. Hilarious.

Yes hilarious. We’re all laughing at you and your schoolyard bullying and gaslighting antics.

Maybe they will show up next week? I know Terry Matalas said they wouldn’t, but maybe it’s a misdirect?

I defended Matalas for saying that the Borg wouldn’t show up, but I have to wonder where that came from. I never personally saw him saying, and was going off the word of others who said he did. Because he’d otherwise been very honest with his twitter comments, so I’m quite annoyed that (if true) he outright lied.

AP, I think I read where what he actually said was that the second season Borg wouldn’t show up, but then was coy about the others. So maybe it wasn’t really a lie, just an evasion or misdirect?

I think he was being coy, like you said, but if I had read it at the time, i’d definitely have taken it as a clue that the true Borg would appear.

Disappointing, because the Borg are SO overused. Tired of them.

Aye, if some Titan Offspring gets Greenlight. I hope the Writer room comes with some other threat as the Borgs

Perhaps these Mechanics Lifeforms of the Rift at the end of Season 1

(Sorry, time run out for edit)

Hope it is formated like Strange New Worlds.

Breen, Breen, Breen.

They can be anything under those environmental suits.

Or many kinds of aliens if they take a lead from the novelverse.

They almost HAVE to definitively defeat them next week at this point, you know?

Jurati, the Klingons, literally any non-Starfleet allies who see this as a threat to their own systems….anyone?

Well, SNW has the Gorn’s back.. But Well.. Voyager where not always playing Angels in the Gama Quadrant and that could be an good entry point from here

I have no problem with a show bringing back a classic threat. But the Borg have been “brought back” so many times it’s like they never left.

Give us a chance to miss them.

yes, Picard here overused them. Season 1 they where victums some sort of PoW, Season 2. Well Temporary allies and Season 3 they are enemys again? I still belive or dream, that Jurati’s Borg can hijack the Borg collective Signal and return them back. “overriding” the call of the Borgs from subspace, because Jurati’s Borg signal is stronger. But well, this is a dream right now

I’m hoping he was.

He was probably on Earth at the Academy

I forgot all about that! Dang, I hope he wasn’t, I liked that character.

I thought he was awesome as well.

I like Elnor too, but don’t remotely miss him.

I’d be happy to have Elnor as the newbie ensign on the Titan.

Speaking of Excelsior, the captain who spoke over the comm was voiced by Nolan North most known for playing Nathan Drake in the Uncharted games

Terry has confirmed on Twitter that he wasn’t.

And I hope he was.

One of our wishes will come true, at least. **beer-clink**

The episode while good had imo glaring potholes and bad pacing. The big bad is finally revealed and to everyone’s shock… it’s exactly what was predicted even before the season started lol.

I’m tired of the Borg as we had some of them in S1/2 and I’m disappointed that Matalas went the easy route instead of having a more interesting villain imo.

With only 1 episode left and unless the next episode is at least an hour and a half or 2 hours. i don’t see them convincingly being able to sell a story about stopping the borgifed starfleet even with the Enterprise D and also stop the changelings and rescue everyone who was replacement by them.

This is why Adama sorry i meant Geordi didn’t want the Galactica sorry again i meant the Titan and the rest of the fleet to to be interconnected i was also hoping to hear a reference to the living construct from Prodigy but nope. (I do wonder if the rumors that Terry Matalas isn’t much of a fan of the other newer Trek shows (Prodigy,SNW,DSC etc.. is actually true.)

I hope Shaw is dead(Sorry I don’t like the character)but i don’t think we will be lucky i guess 7 and Raffi will save him with Borg Nano’s or something.

It was pretty obvious that the ship in Bay 12 was the Enterprise D. After all these years she is still a beautiful ship and it was great to hear Majel’s voice again. The set did look different but that is due to having to make it shorter to fit in the production studios and i wished the lighting was better. The extra light bulbs must be arriving on Tuesday.

I don’t think it was a great idea to hold off the Jack reveal until these final episodes. If the writers had done this sooner there would have been space for reflection and for more proper character development with this part of the story.

One thing that got a main priority over everything else this season was all the nostalgia. It has so far felt like nine hours of unboxing one of those time capsules to see what was put inside it.

I know that all this nostalgia has resonated emotionally with some fans and more power to them.

But i feel disappointed that despite growing up watching TNG that i find that much of it doesn’t work for me and it imo feels shoved into the season by Matalas to cover for/prop up a weak story-line.

How was it obvious it was the Ent-D? I was totally surprised! I guess I missed the clues.

It was revealed by Levar Burton himself in an interview we would be back on the Enterprise, so everyone knew it was coming. And once Geordi mentioned Cargo Bay 12 …and went no farther with it, everyone rightfully jumped on it lol.

I didn’t know that the D was coming, thank god! It is sometimes worth NOT reading or watching everything on line if you want to get the full experience. I was completely overwhelmed, blown away and loved it!

Additionally, when they were in production of S3 while S2 was airing, it was mentioned that we’d see the 1701-D bridge “among other things”. Between that info and the boatswain whistle photo going around, I’d assumed this season was going to be full of time travel shenanigans again. :)

This was my feeling as well. The episode is oddly paced, the story awkwardly told, with unsatisfying moments (not talking a certain potential death)… but because of the ending it’s being hailed as a masterpiece by some.

You know, I spent the better part of two hours last night writing a lengthy screed on just how dismal I thought this show was, how antithetical it felt to the values of the Trek I grew up with and loved, not to mention being creatively bankrupt besides. And now that it’s time to post it, I just can’t. Life is short, and fraught enough these days as it is. Let those who loved it love it in peace, say I. On a certain level, I even envy them.

Thank you, that a very considerate thing to (not) do. Have you had a chance to watch PRODIGY? Once I got past the first 2-3 episodes I found it to be the kind of TREK I’ve always loved filled with great stories and cool characters and you might, too…

Same! And why it’s my favorite out of the new stuff so far.

Yeah, that’s largely why I’m so down on people being so overly critical and angry and hyperbolically negative at DSC, or the first two seasons of PIC.

It’s TV show. I can’t care enough to be angry, bitter, or anything more than mildly annoyed.

Get a life.

So you missed the point of my post, then. In any case, stealing from The Shat is not a good look. 😎

Uh… he did, and that’s kind of what he’s saying

Actually I would’ve loved to have read that post Michael lol. But I really respect why you decided not to write it. But you know I value people to be as honest here as possible and say whatever is on their mind. I am loving this season and while I agree this episode definitely had problems, I really loved it too. But that’s probably the fanboy in me mostly talking. ;)

But the one thing I will say is, I am actually surprised how dark this season has been (and I don’t mean the lighting). It’s an incredibly dour season at the heart of it, something many fans have been really put off off by modern Trek, especially Discovery AND the first season of Picard. It’s funny I remember how people complained even in that season it felt too ‘dystopian’ but I don’t really see a huge difference with this season either. But I always disagreed about that argument with the first season too.

I guess because the TNG characters are so loved and actually very true to who they are this season, it has outweigh that issue for many maybe. And many seem to feel the story is also just better written. Yes, I know people still have some complaints over the plotting, this episode included, but considering the really crappy and downright cringy stuff we got in the first two seasons, its a vast improvement. Frankly I was completely bored by the middle of season 2 where I was just waiting for it to end. But this season, it goes sooo fast and I just want more does show how much more people are invested at least.

But I’m just sorry you didn’t like this season very much and I can’t see the finale changing your mind at this point.

Hey Tiger2,

If you’re really curious 😊 you can read my thoughts at tor.com on the Keith Candido thread. Warning, though: it’s pretty strongly-worded stuff, especially if you’re liking the show. I decided that I didn’t need to be harshing anyone’s mellow here, as so many seem to be enjoying it. But opinions are far more mixed over there, and what the hell, I had to vent somewhere.

And you’re probably right that my attitudes about this season are pretty locked-in at this point. But rest assured that I’ll be tuned-in next week, same bat channel, just to see how it all pans out.

I went over there just now, and except for the part where you cited dialog as being a strong suite in early parts of the season, am right there with you. Except that overall, I’m somehow enjoying it. Not sure why, fanservice has not worked on me in decades (or maybe it is that I’m only susceptible to certain kinds?) As I indicated upthread, can’t imagine sitting through all this again, but at least I sat through it once and took some joy from it (which is more than I can say for the most of the previous two seasons, or any of the DSC I saw that didn’t have Mount in it.)

I think we’re all on the same page here.

I’m not really convinced that Sirtis’ availability was the constraint as it happened either.

While she had to fly out literally right after the final night of her one woman show in London’s west end, she was still on set for 2 of the 6 months of shooting.

I feel like the reference to what happened to the Enterprise E was about the living construct

What was so special about Picard that the Borg assimilated him differently? Why him?

That’s really my biggest question.

Also, I think it would have been even more cool if ALL the ships at the museum were somehow returned to action. Imagine the E-A, the E-D, the Bounty, the Defiant, and Voyager all fighting side by side. It would have been a chance to get more incredible cameos, including following up on Project Phoenix.

Best of Both Worlds did say his DNA was being rewritten.

But what would make him more special than other drones? FC kind of changed a lot of what the Borg did. The Borg would take a spokesman, which in BOBW was Picard, but by FC, it was a bee sting that infected you.

I don’t think Picard was special until he was assimilated. Whatever process they used on Picard was clearly different, because he was given a name where no other Borg was. Locutus was meant to be a bridge or at least an intermediary between the Borg and the Federation. They did something different to him when he was assimilated.

This was I believe how the Borg were conceived. FC changed it all to make assimilation different. In BOBW, there were even baby Borg.

Q Who had baby Borg, not BOBW. And they retconned that in VOY by saying babies were assimilated and then placed in maturation chambers to age…

I was hoping that would be the case too, but I guess the budget for that many bridge sets would’ve been prohibitive. But maybe they’ll have to use them as fill in ships for the ones that get destroyed and there’ll be a shot like that at the end of the last episode!

I would not expect high Quality Fights with these Old Ships. it’s clearly that some Central Computer is flying them. They do not have that many Crew to fly them in this short time. So, i expect more Glass cannon Flying where some Damage could trow them out of Balance

Perhaps it’s Data and Gerodi together remote control all of them. But even they have Limits

Yeah I think a lot of people thought that and that Seven’s scene was really foreshadowing a big showdown later. Sure I would’ve loved it but it probably would’ve felt very fanboyish to the extreme lol.

And someone mentioned on YouTube that the other ships aren’t even flyable. They compared them to the planes at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum how none of those planes have fuel or working engines. Of course its fiction so they could all be fully flyable if it was needed in the story but it would make sense why they aren’t capable either.

I don’t think Terry intended for the Project Phoenix thing to be taken seriously. He loves whatever novel it came from and so it was a cute lil easter egg.

He meant to create an option it seems.

It also served as a reminder of the need to ensure everything is removed from a planet to avoid violating the Prime Directive.

You don’t drop a bomb like that as a joke. He said that he didn’t like Generations either, and this gave the character hope for another writer to pick up. They got Kirk off Veridian III. It was far more than a “cute lil easter egg.”

Oh, and one more thing–they created exactly ONE character that was not a legacy character that was amazing, and they just killed him off. That sucked.

Par for the course. How’s Captain Rios on the Stargazer?

Yeah Shaw’s death is something people are taking hard. Same time many were convinced the guy was a goner after the first episode lol. I loved Shaw from the beginning too but I was always prepared with the idea he wouldn’t make it out alive by the end of the season. But yes, it still sucks.

Count me surprised, simply from the POV of knowing that the producer put his friend in that role. To catch up to others here, Season 2 could have had Seven and Rios in exactly the same narrative arc – where Rios is pissed at Seven for not doing something about stopping Jurati from becoming a Borg.

Well he was there for 9 episodes, so he had a great role. And yeah maybe if it wasn’t the final season, he would’ve stuck around longer. Of course I know everyone is assuming we will get a spin off of some kind but I think they always had it in mind Seven would probably be the Captain if one happens.

And Rios is a good point, a character we all assumed would’ve stuck around regardless. If things worked out as people assumed, Seven should’ve been his first officer on the Stargazer this season. And yeah he should’ve been way more upset over what happened with Jurati but this is why season 2 was such a stinker. Nothing made sense.

After losing Hemmer last season in SNW, I am so done with new complex and interesting characters being created and fridged (killed off) just to advance some legacy character’s development.

It’s well established that this is a writer’s crutch. It’s not making things seem more real.

Having all the fridged characters be male doesn’t make it less objectionable or more defensible. All the more so when Hemmer was representing the differently abled, and Shaw has represented and resonated with veterans with PTSD.

No more please.

Just bring back Shaw. Let Seven assimilate him with her altered nanoprobes.

It was the first time for me at least, they created a decent new character.

To each his/her own. I never grew to like Shaw, just disliked him a little less. He really never came off as a particularly good Captain. Regardless, Seven will use nanoprobes to save him, I’m sure.

If he’s really dead.

I will say that I like Jack, Mystery Box or no. Speelers is obviously not 24 years old, but he’s very watchable as an actor. If he survives, I would happily tune into a show he’s in the ensemble of.

Completely agree. Lorac, (original) Georgiou, Rios, Sahil (waiting guy on Discovery)… I’m convinced Pike has only survived this long solely because his old age is TOS canon. The franchise just cannot survive if they keep killing off every character who has enough personality to lead a show.

Shaw was pretty inconsistent which I know was part of his character. The issue with him that I found irredeemable was when he essentially told Seven that it was hopeless and let his crew be murdered in the episode Surrender. Seven wanted to sacrifice herself for her crew, and Shaw talked her out of it. Seemed pretty cowardice in my opinion, especially for a Starfleet Captain.

Haven’t watched it yet, but f**k, this seems like a lot of fan service pandering. Hope I’m wrong, but since E6 I’ve been a bit disappointed.

So you are here to whine about it before you even watch it. Got it.

My reading comprehension skills are pretty good. Apparently, yours aren’t, as I was holding out hope to be wrong. I’ve seen it now, and my disappointment continues.

No, you were whining. Now you are trolling.

Anyone not slobbering affectionately all over this fan service is trolling. Gotcha.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who started balling when they revealed the Enterprise D? I couldn’t believe they did the thing! I never EVER thought they would spend the money to recreate the Enterprise D, what an astonishing gift! I can’t begin to describe the emotional gut punch this was for me, I saw my childhood flash in-front of my eyes in a way I never expected. I can’t begin to describe my gratitude for this! TNG has been honored and elevated in the best way possible.

Beyond that I love the story, very clever retcon that makes sense and elevates the Borg danger. I do wish this might have been revealed earlier so we didn’t have to rush through this and spend so little time with the Borg threat. I’m also confused by the “behind the head” view of the Borg Queen. I find that very unsatisfying because I was waiting for the face of Alice Krige to really put an exclamation point on this whole tie-in with First Contact. That whole thing nearly ruined the episode for me, but it recovered big time once we got to the Enterprise D.

Here’s the real question. Will they want to get more use out of the set, since they clearly spent a lot of money to build it?

Time for some Short Treks set during TNG, or even a full movie or Mini-Series! Let’s see the adventures of the night shift!

If I had to guess about Krige, she might not have wanted to get back into all that makeup for such a small cameo, but agreed to do the voiceover.

I hear they bulldozed all the Titan sets after production ended, so my guess is that they didn’t save the D either, but I sure hope they did! And indeed I assume they couldn’t come to an agreement to reprise the roll fully. I know it has to be really hard to get everything you want in a story like this.

I’ve read that too, but maybe it’s not true and it’s just a misdirect. I’m hoping they’ve being saving a STAR TREK: LEGACY announcement with 7 of 9 as the captain for next Wednesday during the IMAX events!

I’d be surprised if they actually did that. They could be repurposed, redressed, etc. They could also donate the ENT-D set to a museum or attraction.

There is a Star Trek set tour in Ticonderoga NY with an ambition to rebuild the TNG sets… And they work with the Okudas…

I really want to take their set tour one day, I think it would be mind blowing!

They’re the same sets that were used to film the fan series Star Trek: New voyages. I worked on them back in 2009 on an episode that never was released — my luck! — and they were indeed (esp the bridge) very impressive.

So production didn’t even have to build it? Maybe that explains why they have the side ramps but not the side consoles, a la GENERATIONS.

No, I was referring to the TOS reconstructions that Cawley has been building (and rebuilding) since the early Aughts. I didn’t even know that he was planning on doing the same with the TNG sets, which actually comes as something of a surprise, as he’s always been a self-described “TOS purist.”

(Just fyi my tenure on those sets was when I served in 2009 as a PA on the David Gerrold written-and-directed “Origins,” a Young Kirk story which has yet to see the light of day (and, I assume, never will). It was, sad to say, a very unpleasant experience in many ways, as now seems inevitable in retrospect given the starting point of a production headed-up by people with Hollywood-sized egos sans the talent or organizational skills and backed by those like myself who had little to bring to the table but their enthusiasm. Working with Gerrold turned out to be particularly problematic — he came off as a harsh and often petty autocrat, blissfully unaware that, unlike himself, none of us grunts were actually being paid to do what was, shorn of its Trek allure, a lot of hard, mostly boring work; in his defense he was under a lot of pressure and did work hard under very chaotic conditions. I had been very impressed with New Voyages’ “World Enough and Time,” and it would have been a disillusioning experience to see how the sausage actually got made even if “Origins” had turned out well. But there was one compensation for me. Early in the shoot, I happened to be on the bridge set when the lighting director asked me to sit in the Captain’s chair — something it had been made clear was absolutely forbidden to us mere mortals — to conduct tests, as James Cawley and I are roughly the same size. (I’m more muscular; he’s much better-looking.) Needless to say, that was quite something of a moment in the life of a middle-aged nerd. I still have the picture of me sitting in that chair, blissed-out and goofy as all hell.)

Somehow it is making me think of Wesley in the chair during FARPOINT, a moment that felt like it was meant for all of us dinosaurs. If I could write poetry (except for a limerick about getting a speeding ticket while hotrodding in my grandfather’s 62 Ford Galaxie, have come up empty my whole life when it comes to poetry, though I’m awesome at mishearing song lyrics), it would probably be about the center seat.

In GEN, the nexus was about all the roads not taken, but for me, GEN was about the alt history that would have arose if Kirk had sat in the seat and Harriman had gone belowdecks to save the day. Don’t know if there is a bloc of fanfic along those lines, but it seems one of the last new paths to chart.

Another quick anecdote about the center seat:

Along with Young Kirk, Gerrold’s script for “Origins” featured appearances by Christopher Pike, Young Carol Marcus (she was hot), Young Gary Mitchell, Kirk’s dad George, and Young Finnegan, who was played by a guy who bore such a close resemblance to Bruce Mars from “Shore Leave” that it was almost spooky. Pike was portrayed by an actual TV actor named Colin Somethingorother in a manner much closer to Jeff Hunter’s Angry Dad Captaiin than Anson Mount’s Best Bud Captain. (Seriously, can you imagine Hunter’s character dressing in an apron and preparing breakfast for his senior staff? Pshaw, says I). Colin did a pretty good job, I though, except for when Gerrold as director pushed his performance, as for example when he dresses-down Young Kirk, into hysteria (another story, perhaps for another time).

Anyhow, in the course of the story Young Kirk and Pike definitely have their issues, but Kirk comes through in the end and all is forgiven. In the tag, as Kirk Sr. looks on proudly, Pike gives the young officer a chance to try out the Captains chair, and as he settled in, Colin leaned over and said, sotto voce but loud enough for all who were present to film the scene to hear: “I farted in the chair.”

Speaking with him later, Colin sadly turned out to be something of a 2009 proto-MAGA, yet I nevertheless bless him in my mind for that moment of almost blooper reel-worthy moment of levity, which at that point in that hot, frustrating and exhausting shoot was definitely needed.

Yeah, I don’t want to see them go there. I don’t even live THAT far from them, and… no thanks. It’s just not worth the time to go visit. I’d like to see this set get the love and attention it deserves by getting an installation in a real museum.

I was thinking the Smithsonian, but maybe a Hollywood museum, heck, i’d settle for a Ripley’s believe it or not display with a few wax figures of characters.

Not Ticonderoga though. They have their own version of the bridge already.

I live 2 hours away and had my photo taken with Shatner on the bridge set last November, so I would happily give Ti my money one more time to see the 1701-D.

Opinions may vary.

There was also the re-creation of the 1701-D bridge set at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas!

I got to see that while The Experience was still in operation. Very impressive, as I always liked Howard Zimmerman’s TNG designs much more than the exterior of the ship.

Madame Tussaud’s, with wax figures of the characters?

Sadly NY is to far away oversea and i can not afford even an Flight ticket… i wish i could make some Tour in real.. no VR tour. i get fast Motions sickness

they are currently in the process of building the TNG sets in a warehouse next-door and its slated to open this fall.

I would love it if they did that, I went to a traveling science exhibit in the early nineties that had a mock-up of that bridge that you could interact with and it was very cool. Seeing the real thing would be even better…

They’re not going to make more shows in California. Picard was done there as a concession to / condition of Stewart’s. The tax credits aren’t ongoing, and Ontario’s are likely more generous.

Repurposing the sets would have been smart, but if they’ve held onto the interior fittings, sets can be rebuilt with those.

They had to do that for the long term set for the Enterprise for SNW since the version built for Discovery season two was at Pinewood but SNW uses CBS Stages clear past the other side of Toronto, in Mississauga in adjacent Peel county.

could be, but i think they will use the Slot that Discovery would give up. So, time will tell and no need to rush it out. Let the Writer room have enough Flesh and Bones before starting production

“Annika still has work to do.” – Borg Queen stated through 7 of 9 during Season 2

They saved key interior fittings from season three and packed them for shipping and storage according to the production designers.

Sounds like they’ve been sent up to CBS Stages in Mississauga.

Some miniseries or something like that would be delightful! Doesn’t even have to be on the Enterprise. I remember that when I was a kid, I was obsessed with the Yamato, the Enterprise’s “sister ship.” There’s, of course, the Syracuse. The Venture. The Challenger.

Now I’m thinking of a short anthology series where every episode is a different bottle episode with a different crew on a Galaxy class ship. Could be neat.

Like I said, i’d even settle for some short treks…

I agree completely, I really enjoyed the SHORT TREKS they made and wish they’d do some more, especially if the space between shows will be longer…

I’ve said this more than once: Short Treks may have been done out of a kind of desperation — a cheap way to provide content in between seasons — but it really is an example of the benefits of streaming that I’m not sure anyone else has yet to take full advantage of.

Remember web-only content? Those were usually limited to 2-minutes due to slow internet speeds but today, there’s no reason shows can’t film 5, 10, even 15 minute mini episodes and release them during their hiatus.

I wish Trek would embrace them again for what they offer creatively, rather than just a cheap way to keep people subscribing. To quote Zoidberg… why not both?

Just my personal taste, but I thought “Children of Mars” was way cooler and more stylish than just about anything seen on the Picard series that followed it, in any season. More of that, please.

initially I wasn’t really on board with Short Treks, but probably more from a content-averse side, rather than a concept-averse side. Not liking DSC, I kind of bounced off of the first set of Short Treks, and never really bothered to go further.

That said, I think you’re right that they provide a really nice kind of pressure release valve when waiting for “big” stuff. Tell quirky or interesting little stories that don’t need a “full” episode. Different eras. Different ships. Different techniques! Different styles! Lots of options. And who knows, maybe a set of them proves to be so popular that a full series goes to order from a concept within.

If they want to use this Enterprise D Bridge setup for the future, then only with an Refit of the Galaxy Class. It’s now to old.. No even the 3rd Warp Nacelle when Admiral Riker used it, would not do it. Perhaps someone should look at the STO Ship’s design and look what “fresh” look would fit for this Spinoff

I can co-sign that the tears came when they showed her and also when they were all on the bridge and MAJEL’S VOICE was heard. It reminded me of that trailer shot of Han and Chewy for THE FORCE AWAKENS except these characters are being treated with respect and I have faith that the final episode will be AWESOME!!

I think you mean “bawling.” When I was a kid, the other word was considered quite rude, just fyi.

After all the times the Enterprise was destroyed…we got one back. That felt SOOOO good! Thankyou to the writers, actors, set people…..everyone who made it happen. This was like a gift!

I’m right there with you! Tears of joy, overwhelmed, blown away. So glad I did not know the ‘D’ was coming!

Forget all the plot holes and convenient Borg exposition.

The death of Shaw hit me hard, and then moments later I literally cried and cheered when the Enterprise D came on screen. That feelings alone made me feel like I was a teen in the 90s and made this episode all worth it!

Same here!! :)

You were not alone. They threw a lot of money and love at that CGI model and bridge set.

A big amen to that!

Maybe now all those 1701-D models that Guinan has been sitting on will finally get the respect they deserve…

Such a great piece of foreshadowing!

It really was!

Yep, the D returns and becomes the hero to the galaxy once again!

I’m sure Kestra is fine and there was definitely no need for her parents to worry about her, especially since Matalas made such a big stink for the past week that she’s at the Academy and in Starfleet now and that she’s for sure safe. Given that they just saw all people in Starfleet under 25 that were around a transporter are now assimilated, there was definitely no need for worry on her parents’ part! Definitely also no need for Geordi to be more panicked and upset that he just left his two kids on a ship assimilated and controlled by the Borg that could be blown up at any time. Also I guess RIP Elnor yet again?

I actually thought this was one of the weaker episodes, along with 7, if we take out the last 15 minutes and the TNG cast stuff. They drug out the Jack stuff way too long. I don’t see how this all gets wrapped up in a compelling way in a 45 minute episode. They spent way too much time in that nebula, but in retrospect, that was when the show was the strongest. Star Trek: The Jack Chronicles just isn’t it for me, despite enjoying a lot of this season. Nice to hear Alice Krige again though as the Borg Queen and the Shelby stuff was fun and the kind of fan service I actually enjoy.

The ship stuff at the end was great though and the computer voice made me tear up. Sure it would have basically been nothing but nostalgia, but I really wish this show had been more in that zone this season in the end than sleeper cell agent Jack.

Also, wild that Deanna just went missing for like a 30 minute stretch there. She wasn’t anywhere in the group scenes till they got on the shuttle. They’ve been hyping up out how important she is in the last three, and unless there’s some big stuff in the finale, it’s been a letdown outside of the stuff with her and Riker last episode.

I don’t see how this all gets wrapped up in a compelling way in a 45 minute episode

It’s going to be tough. But in some ways, ’twas ever thus. Modern ST has made kind of a habit of rushing endings.

it’s still a little unclear about who’s using who in terms of the villains. Why exactly are the Changlings working with the Borg, or vice-versa? Motivations other than:

“At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi Starfleet. At last, we will have revenge” aren’t exactly clear

From the evidence of the season I doubt the writers have thought beyond that, much less care. But, we’ll see.

perhaps Season 2 Borg Queen has their hand on this. She came from some other Timeline and could had contact with the Changelings on their side. Something like the Terran Imperator, just in Borg

Yeah there is a HUGE piece of backstory we’re missing lol. Like how did the Changelings even meet the Borg??? And who came to who? Maybe that will get resolved next week but not holding my breath either.

So many questions. Why a partner? Doesn’t make sense these group of Changelings weren’t assimilated. The Borg even assimilated Zero on Prodigy.

The funny thing is I actually made a joke about that on another thread. I can’t remember which one but I remember saying if the ‘face’ turned out to be the Borg Queen, Vadic and her group will be assimilated 5 minutes after they assimilate Starfleet. The Borg doesn’t believe in a true partnership. Ask Janeway about that. ;)

But now thinking about it, this probably would’ve been another Scorpion scenario and they would’ve tried to assimilate the Changelings once they accomplished their mission.

Totally forgot about Scorpion. Now I want to see that episode again before Part 10.

I can’t see how the Changeling could ever be assimilated. They have no bones, blood, brain, central nervous system ect

WHEN LOCUTUS MET SALOME?

I guess because both of them are weak and vulnerable. These Changelings are a separate faction with no Jem’Hadar or Vorta / Dominion to help them and the Borg are still weak from Voyager finale. They share the same outlook on individuality as a menace to a civilization (Hive mind and the Great link ). The Federation made them not galactic super powers anymore. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

My take on that too and I think it is not a stretch. I don’t need more explanation, it wouldn’t benefit the show to have detailed scenes dedicated to explanation.

The Borg were weakened to the point of being vulnerable and ineffectual from Future Janeway’s neurolytic pathogen, and these Changelings were a splinter group, cut off from the Great Link, so they had no real support from the wider Dominion forces. However, both groups had a strong desire to strike at the Federation. For Vadic, simple revenge for her mistreatment; for the Borg, they needed to build a new Collective that would be free of the pathogen’s effects. They’re both using each other, and both think they have the upper hand in that partnership.

It seemed clear to me what all of their motivations were. Vadic: Revenge. Borg: Prevent their own extinction. Both were too weak on their own to accomplish what they desired most.

That makes sense.

I do wonder how much it would have cost to build that Enterprise D Set? And just for two episodes when the original set stood for around eight years.

Also I’d note the fact that the set reflects the TV show version, the Season 7 version by the looks I think and not the version we saw in Generations. I suppose it could make sense (in-universe) in the fact that the bridge was smashed up on Veridian 3 and when it was brought back up and restored in the museum, it made sense to just restore the bridge to its original ‘default’ look.

I personally would have preferred to see the Generations version. That of course would be even more expensive though I guess and building this set even in its TV form is not too cheap for just two episodes of a TV show.

sure seems like an awful waste to build that thing and never use it after this…..

Enterprise recreated the TOS Enterprise for their two parter. Then demolished it. It’s not unheard of.

Did the gentleman in New York buy parts of that set for the big complex and tour he built up there? I seem to recall reading that somewhere back in the day…

James helped work on the bridge and was doing his own. I’m curious if he will get this set as part of his tour.

I would prefer this set be donated to someplace bigger, like the Smithsonian or something.

The Smithsonian has NO interest in set recreations, period. . Ticonderoga is the perfect place. It’s a great destination exhibit.

James is working on his own TNG set recreations, and IIRC they’re getting close to being done.

This new set build is already in the Trek archives, according to an article from Variety.

I wouldn’t know. I do recall the only way Enterprise justified the creation of the sets was to make the episode a two parter. That’s about it from my end.

Yep I remember realing that as well. It was a reason why In the Mirror, Darkly was a two parter so they could justify building the entire Constitution class ship.

But I think about Trials and Tribble-ations and they did literally the same thing for one episode. But it really makes you appreciate what they manage to do for the classic shows given they had even smaller budgets and so many more episodes to shoot per season.

I remember either reading (or it being in a special features for DS9 or something similar) that the didn’t recreate the full sets for Trials and Tribble-ations, they did small sections and then composited the shots over original TOS shots so that they didn’t have the rebuild the entire set on the parts that contained the DS9 cast or something similar to that. I’ll have to dig around and see where I can find that information again.

Trials and Tribbleations was notoriously expensive – not only the production costs (Ron Moore commented how expensive it was to composite people into the scenes so seamlessly), but also the residuals needed to be paid out to the cast.

All the bottle episodes we’ve gotten so far (only one episode with location filming, too) definitely look to be paying for what we get in these last two episodes.

This episode did have some elaborate (though, to my mind, not very memorable) VFX sequences, but it still felt very contained and not at all epic, much like the rest of the season. Maybe next week there’ll be a real blowout, but quality issues aside, for my money Season 1 of “Picard” felt far grander in scope than this one.

I wouldn’t dispute your comparison to season 1, but at that time, they didn’t have so many legacy actors’ agents to contend with. If I was the producer and had to make a choice between bringing back the old stars and getting in more location filming or new sets, it’s a no-brained what to pick. You need the writing for them to zing, of course, to compensate. It’s debatable if the show did that or the last few weeks before really picking up the narrative again now, but I still applaud the approach to the season overall.

They built their set from scratch.

It wasn’t demolished. It was auctioned off by Christies.

Perhaps some Fan Fiction Sets creations are mixed with the TV Sets….

I was wondering… with the TNG set getting ready to open in Ticonderoga in the fall if maybe the cast flew into NY to shoot that scene to save on budget? My first thought when I saw the set was could it be the fan set? But there has been little news regarding the progress of that set so I doubt that there was time for that set to get finished in time for shooting S3 since it was shot back to back with S2.

My father was a retail manager in the 70’s when I was a kid and as a result we moved around a lot.  One thing we shared was watching STAR TREK, both the original and animated series.  We never missed an episode and spent hours playing with MEGO figures and building AMT model kits.  Every time we moved to a new place he would buy a TV Guide, find the local channel that was airing them and say, “See? Our friends came with us!”.  It made those moves bearable and those characters really became my friends.  I completely related to Fry’s speech in FUTURAMA when he described what made those people and that world important to him.  My favorite characters were Uhura, McCoy and Spock and I wanted to reflect their nobility, humor and intelligence in my own personality.  I was six when my dad took me to see STAR WARS and STAR TREK took a back seat for a few years.  But as the movies came out and my dad and I went, it was like meeting up with old friends.  I was sixteen when THE NEXT GENERATION premiered and its vision of the future was the one I most wanted to be a part of full of diversity, humor, family and love.  It and the various series that followed gave me a place to escape to, hope for and dream of.  Because of STAR TREK and the way I was raised I grew up rooting for Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Wonder Woman, Jamie Summers, Charlie’s Angels, Apollo Creed, Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, Bruce Lee, Geordi LaForge, Laurie Strode, Benjamin Sisko and Kathryn Janeway right alongside their white male counterparts.  To me a hero was a hero, no matter what they looked like and the same was true of my real world view.  When my dad passed away I was only twenty-two and those characters in that universe became my family for an hour each week.  When DISCOVERY premiered I was incredibly excited because I had enjoyed the newer films and it looked like that on the surface.  Michael Burnham seemed to embody the characteristics of Uhura, McCoy and Spock that I admired and I really liked the actress who played her.  But it became apparent that there wasn’t much of a place for someone who looked like me in that show, a trend I began seeing in other series and films and the media in general.  Characters I grew up with like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, James Bond, etc. being dressed down and killed off because the world would be better a better place without them.  I stuck with DISCOVERY even though almost everyone I saw who looked like me was represented as a villain or a buffoon; someone to be hated, feared or mocked.  I finally gave up after the ending of the season three episode, ironically titled “People of Earth”, that deliberately went out of its way in it’s ending scene under the tree to show I was not a welcome part of the future.  That I was not wanted and didn’t matter…but I didn’t give up on STAR TREK.  I watched and loved LOWER DECKS, PRODIGY, PICARD and STRANGE NEW WORLDS and gradually started to see myself represented again in a positive light.  Not as a villain or a buffoon but as a noble, funny, smart, heroic and aspirational figure who was still welcomed and wanted.  I know that at the end of the day everything made by Hollywood is done for money, but this season of PICARD (which I have an alarm wake me in the middle of the night so I can watch it as soon as possible) has given me that hope and escape that I’ve so missed and needed.  The episode VOX, with its brilliant assimilation twist, said that a fifty-two year old non-racist, non-misogynist who has always strived to live a good, peaceful life uplifting others and humbling no one still had a place in the world.  That I still MATTERED.  Thank you to Terry Matalas for creating something that makes me feel like that six, sixteen and twenty-six year old kid I used to be and still am at heart.  For giving me more time with these old friends before it was too late and treating them with respect.  And thank you to whoever at Paramount made the decision to let me be represented in STAR TREK again.  These days more than ever it means a lot and I wish other franchises would do the same…

not to diminish at all what you are saying, but – imagine how 99.9% of Arab or Muslim people have felt about being seen or only able to play terrorists for the past 40 years?

Maybe your joy at being ‘seen’ in media after hiatus of – what – 10 years at the most, is how other people felt after a half-century of not being represented at all and so there can be some newfound empathy with that experience to the same people that found similar joy in the Rose character in Star Wars, or the film Crazy Rich Asians, or the Black Panther films, or a black Little Mermaid, etc… representation does indeed matter.

For Star Trek it would be only one season of Discovery going by his reasons. There was the Kelvin movies and then Pike in season 2 of Discovery.

I grew up in Atlanta and spent my summers in the Washington DC area surrounded by diversity and I knew from experiences with friends, classmates and coworkers that type of representation was wrong.  I’ve always been empathetic and sympathetic to it and it’s one of the reasons I was drawn to STAR TREK because, while not perfect, it was closer to the view I had of the world and the people in my life.  I didn’t need a deliberate agenda by Hollywood to make me see and known that type of representation was wrong, I felt that way already and tried not to support those projects.  The bad actions of a few in any group don’t make it right to punish everyone who look like that as well.  I’m hoping the more balanced world view that projects developed in the last couple years have been depicting continue and remain the norm.  I’ve always preferred and supported them because we’re all better for it, even if what I believe is a small group of vocal trolls can’t see it…

It’s not like nobody is casting white males in major roles. Even over the past decade, the overwhelming majority of main characters are still white and male.

Also, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and James Bond weren’t “killed off” because they’re straight white males, and I say that as a white male.

I’m sorry this guy feels diminished because there’s no white dude (not in makeup) on Discovery, but come on – the entitlement and obliviousness here is astounding.

Either that, or the guy is trolling.

There is a white dude on Discovery, he’s just not heteronormative, which seems also to be what Rob finds essential to be front and centre.

When I hear stuff like this, I always think of my mum-in-law. She’s a long-term sci-fi fan who was buying books, subscribing to the magazines and watching anything sci-fi in the 50s and 60s. She still is.

She never was represented the way Rob feels he needs to be until Kira and Janeway.

She still paid for the books, subscriptions, cable and movie tickets that Rob did. All those years she was subsidizing his feeling represented, seen – while she wasn’t.

But he’s not willing to pay it forward?

Fans can accept made-up aliens of all shapes, sizes, religions, and sexes. They can even grow to love such characters more than the actual people who surround them, and mourn them (see: Hemmer) when creatives decide to kill them off. But when it comes to humans and relatively insignificant differences in skin color or sex, it’s all about head counts. Nerd-dom is weird.

 there’s no white dude (not in makeup) on Discovery

Lorca, Pike, Stamets, Vance, or Kovich?

Discovery had Pike for you in season 2.

It did and I thoroughly enjoyed it and even the first season, largely because of Michelle Yeoh who’ve I’ve been a fan of for years. I’m still wishing they’d make a film or miniseries about her Captain before the DISCOVERY pilot. But once they went to the future the series doubled-down on what has almost become a trope and I decided to take the hint from the message that was being repeatedly given on screen and stopped watching it. From what I’ve been told it’s continued on into the rest of the series, so I don’t think I made the wrong decision by moving on. Thankfully the other recent TREK projects didn’t take that route and I’ve supported all of them and will continue to do so…

the message that was being repeatedly given on screen 

Which was…what?

The only “message” there, dude, is the one in your head. Now, if you want to go the Cliff Clavin route and insist against all the evidence that a nondescript potato looks EXACTLY like Richard Nixon, that is of course entirely your right. Just as it’s the right of others to call you on it.

That seems to be some genuine white fragility right there. The whole point of Star Trek is that we are “represented” by our shared humanity, and should be able to relate to a person regardless of their appearance or skin colour? Why get tetchy if there aren’t enough white males for your taste? Did you feel the same about DS9, which really just had O’Brien and odo if you count non-humans? Anyway, IDIC.

Thank you. The whole idea that only people who “look like me” can be role models is ridiculous (as is judging who “looks like me” solely on the basis of skin pigmentation).

My LGBT butt sitting here like oh it must feel so nice to be represented in Trek again…

This is the stupidest comment I’ve ever seen here, and that’s saying a lot.

You’ve missed the entire point of Star Trek – and of representation.

There are still straight white males EVERYWHERE.

Why are you unable to see yourself represented in women and people with different coloured skin? How much like you does a protagonist need to be for basic human empathy and identity to kick in for you? Do they just have to be white or do they need the same coloured hair and eyes?

You’ve watched a show for decades without ever understanding what it was about. It wasn’t subtle, but you still missed it.

“Characters I grew up with like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, James Bond, etc. being dressed down and killed off because the world would be better a better place without them.”

No disrespect intended, but that’s just entirely wrong. It’s only fairly recently in historical terms that there has been significant representation of POC onscreen at all; yet when you say “people like me” you sound like Whoopi Goldberg talking about how she felt when she saw Nichelle Nichols sitting on that bridge for the first time. Having seen my fellow Whites dominate media (including TOS and TNG) for most of my life, it never occurred to me to do a head count of them on “Discovery,” where Jason Isaacs dominated the first year (and Anson Mount much of the second) in any case. Seriously, where do people get these weird ideas?

Honestly, I was hoping for better. While the Enterprise-D was an amazing reveal and was like a dumptruck drop of nostalgia, the fact it was the Borg AGAIN really bothered me. We just had the Borg in the first two seasons. TNG was right to use them sparingly, but it is just too much right now. I’ll try to get over the Borg over-use, but it is too much. I’m hoping the Big Bad Face is actually something else and NOT the Borg Queen.

That said, I liked this episode a lot. I would like to see Seven of Nine use her Borg implants somehow to combat the assimilated kids, perhaps to un-assimilate them?

It was an OK episode, but it seems like the producers have been trying to substitute nostalgia for story this whole season, but for some, that’s enough and I can’t fault that. Interestingly, the commentariat over at TrekBBS has a much more jaundiced view of the series than the folks on this site.

As someone who loves the Borg and loved seeing them back, I can’t really disagree with you either. As you said, we have gotten some version of them for two seasons straight on this show already. But this is the true ‘authentic’ Borg we haven’t really seen for 22 years now since Janeway poisoned them. Even when they showed up on Prodigy, it was the Borg, but IIRC they had been cut off from the collective.

But this is the true Borg in what we saw in Q Who, BOBW, First Contact, Dark Frontier and Endgame. Who showed up to create chaos and for a lot of people, me included, it’s exciting to see again.

Considering the show is titled Picard, it was always going to be the Borg. If you had gone into this season assuming that the Borg were going to be the big bad, then you would have seen that the clues were there. Shaw pretty much said it outright: Forget about the stuff with the Stargazer and the Jurati Borg, the real Borg are still out there.

It should have been Bay 87, and the fan service would have been fully on the nose, but oh well.

Picard has been one long slog from S1, and I won’t say it’s been worth it to get to those last 10 min of S9, but it was nice to see.

It also makes me wish for a deep-faked anthology visit back to that era.

It was the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind Thirty-Five years after the Earth-Borg War The reconstituted USS Enterprise D was a dream given form by Commodore LaForge Its goal to defeat the Borg threat thereby creating a place where humans and aliens could work together peacefully Humans and one android wrapped in 2,500,000 tons of Warp-Drive capable metal All alone in the night It can be a dangerous place but it’s our last best hope for peace This is the story of the last human battle with the Borg.  The year is 2503 The name of the ship, the ENTERPRISE D!

lol awesome – too bad we can’t have Commander Tomalak as a sometimes friend, sometimes enemy

LOL – I’d love to see someone make a Babylon 5 style intro sequence for TNG 2.0

I’m confused! What happened to the new Borg Collective that requested admission into the Federation at the end of Season 2? The line from Dr. Crusher, to the effect It’s been over a decade since anyone has seen or heard from the Borg. That is a major oversight, or there is one more big reveal to come! Hopefully, it will get wrapped up in the final episode.

That line was quite the head scratcher. Is this season of Picard separated from the last one by 10 years?

The Jurati Borg from S2 are basically a splinter Borg co-op group that have nothing to do the real Borg Collective that are in the Delta Quadrant who have been licking their wounds since VOY: Endgame.

If that is the case then it’s either something I completely forgot because the story was quite forgettable or something that wasn’t made all that clear. But thanks for clearing that up.

It was made clear multiple times, including once this season, as a reminder. Head scratching that so many people missed it.

Yeah, Jurati’s Borgs are an independent Bee Hive stock and the real ones are the Wasps

Wonder if Jurati will come to the rescue. Aren’t they supposed to hear each other!?

They just chose to ignore last season. Or, Queen Agnes rides to the rescue in E10. Sucks, either way.

It’s literally the same writers room, except Matalas was the sole showrunner.

They didn’t forget. They even had Shaw say that the real Borg are still out there.

Must people take everything so utterly literally? Crusher was clearly referring to the mainstream Borg, not the various offshoots.

My guess is most here are going to LOVE this episode. However I think this episode only works if one thought TNG was the best Trek series ever. I didn’t. So I was not thrilled at all with this. In fact, I found this episode to be the weakest of the 9.

The Borg. AGAIN. Really tired of the Borg. Didn’t last season of Picard change the Borg up completely anyway? This seems very odd. Once we got the Borg reveal I kinda tuned out. It was obvious at that point the landing was missed. Which is unfortunate. The season has been fairly decent up to this point. And it’s pretty stinking obvious how this is going to get settled, too. Disappointed this will end up being super anti-climatic.

And then there was the thing everyone saw coming episodes ago. The bay 12 reveal. It wasn’t meant for me as I found that ship to be the ugliest thing in Trek. I hold no special love for it so that whole sequence did nothing for me. In fact, I was thinking “get on with it!” as it dragged out. I was secretly hoping they would give it the SNW treatment. Change things up all over so it looked a little better. No such luck. All we got was the lighting level was still quite low. Generations level low. But leave it to the best character to say the best line about the whole thing. “I prefer the E.” However, I get this was all for the TNG fans just as the Enterprise flyby was all for the big time fans in TMP. So I just got a small taste of my own medicine. LOL.

Few other things… I guess Geordi converted that ship meant to have a crew of 1000 to mostly automation. Like Scotty did in SFS. But still seems a bit of a stretch for me.

One thing I got a kick out of is only the 24 & younger crowd were stupid enough to allow their brains to get Borgified. Nice analogy to today! LOL But it was a little odd that so many of these crews are THAT young. Again, that’s an awfully large stretch.

I largely agree with you. The ending was sublime, but everything else missed the mark by a wide margin. Not BAD but not great at all. The first 5 eps are still the high water mark. There better be one hell of a finale in store.

Also, don’t appreciate your analogy to “young people” today. You sound like a bitter old man. I’ve found Gen Z to be far smarter than past generations were at their age, much savvier, while having to navigate are far more complex and challenging world.

I believe strongly in the intelligence, talent, and power of today’s young people.

I noticed that sh#tting on young people as well.

You write good posts, when you’re not being a d*ck.

Gen Z is all I’m pinning my hopes on at this point, tbh. My generation, the Boomers, turned out to suck beyond all measure. Maybe they can clean up our mess; I hope so for their sake.

Unfortunately, the Borg are well-known enough to the general public that Paramount+ needs that there really was no other choice. At least that’s what they’d tell you.

But it was a little odd that so many of these crews are THAT young

Not really. When I was an Air Force officer, the great majority of the officers in my wing were between 22-26. Like, most of them.

I’ll have to check with my cousin who was in the Air Force. But I have friends and colleagues who were in the Navy & Marines. I could check in there to see. It’s just that in TNG Trek there were precious few enlisted men and tons of officers. But I was told on actual Naval vessels there are far more crewmen than officers. I can’t believe that Star Fleet Academy is the one and only one way to get into the Star Fleet. Even though TNG made it seem that way. Which is why I thought that demo would not be as large in this fictional universe as it might be in the real world.

Even though TNG made it seem that way

While not explicitly discussed, there was a very strong implication that Troi did not attend the Academy and that she instead studied at a university on Betazed. I also don’t recall any definitive statement that Bones McCoy or Crusher attended the Academy.

She wore a uniform in the first episode, but it almost seemed that they retconned her into a civilian for a while after that, before they put her in a regular Starfleet uniform at the end of the series.

Those are all medical people. What about actual crewmen? People who just enlisted. I’ve often wondered why they are so rare on TNG.

I was an ICBM operations officer, and missile crews are composed of two officers, (no enlisted or NCOs), with the bulk those crew members being lieutenants. That might skew things a little

Fair enough. Although I do have a co-worker who was in the Navy who did tell me the bulk of the crews on the ships weren’t officers.

It’s a stretch to say the kids allowed themselves to be Borgified. They weren’t the ones rewriting the transporter architecture bulls**t, it was the old timers who got swapped by the shape shifters laying the groundwork.

Nah, the vast majority of everyone in the military today is under 30, a high percentage under 25.

Yeah that’s such a weird comment lol. Especially after how intricate this plot was. The Borg never planned anything like this before and even used a proxy species to help them oo it. Usually they just show up and cause havoc lol.

It was hyperbole. Again, I thought that would be obvious. But then the developing brain age is a human thing. Seems reasonable to conclude that other member species develop at different rates. It may affect some better and others not at all. Why universally the under 24 year olds? Honestly this doesn’t feel very well thought out.

And if one has ever had kids, even college age ones… And mine is… The bulk of them aren’t bright. They are still in a learning and evolving stage at that point. Even our “illustrious” VP in a rare moment of clarity said they weren’t.

Even our “illustrious” VP in a rare moment of clarity said they weren’t.

I’ve no idea what you’re saying. (For the record, this is not a political comment. I would have advised Biden to pick Rep. Val Demings, Sen. Cortez-Masto, or Sen. Klobuchar as veep, not then-Sen. Harris.)

In 2015 she famously said “18-24 year olds are stupid.” One can easily find the clip on YouTube and a simple google search.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/232711/number-of-active-duty-us-defense-force-personnel-by-age/

OK. My thing mainly was that in the TNG era there seem to be a ton of officers and not very many crewmen. Officers tend to be older. Therefore, in the universe as presented one might think there would not be a ton of younger people on these starships even though on our real world there are indeed a lot of younger people serving.

I felt like it was the weakest too. What I felt was working with this season up until now, was seeing how these characters and their relationships had evolved since we last saw them. That and the addition of fresh faces working alongside the legacy crew. But those characters have been relegated to the background more and more the past few episodes. With Pike’s death (major disappointment), leaving Seven behind, and now all the old fogies returning to the Enterprise, it felt like a step backward in favor of superficial nostalgia.

This show already did such a good job of establishing that we don’t need that ship to feel reunited with these characters. The whole reveal sequence, then turning on the lights, and closeups as they finally touch the LED panels once again, felt tired and forced for fan service. These characters didn’t feel washed up this whole season, until they were relegated to a “remember how much you used to love this? well, it’s back” scene.

It’s impossible to believe that a saucer section that sustained *that* much damage could really be restored to flightworthy condition. (It’s as if the remains of TWA800 could suddenly start plying the transatlantic routes again.) My headcanon explanation is that much of the saucer was also taken from USS Syracuse and combined here and there with components of the 1701-D saucer. The fact that the layout was pre-GENERATIONS also suggests this was the case.

You should have paid more attention. You clearly missed the sequence where they explained that the front cortex stops developing at 25, and after that point is no longer vulnerable to the Borg modified DNA code. The younger members of Starfleet were therefore targets not because of their “stupidity” but because of their physiology, on which they have no control.

You are clearly an older individual, with a very passive-aggressive attitude towards the younger generation. I’m probably not much younger than you (if at all) but I do appreciate the qualities of young people of today. TikTok is not representative of the young generation.

No, I did pay attention to all of that. My own kid is of that age and I have high hopes for him but still is learning. He’s sharp but still lacks wisdom. He’s planning on starting a business and wish him all the success he can get. But the fact remains people are still learning and growing and making huge mistakes at that age. We all did. I, myself, thought I was sharp back then but I realized much later I wasn’t as sharp as I thought I was.

People are just way too sensitive these days.

I thought it was all that and a bag of chips and I cried several times!

But… I also feel the first part of the episode (Jack finding out and escaping) should’ve been put in the previous episode. Would have freed up some needed time for other scenes that now felt rushed and expositiony and given the previous 2 less of a filler vibe. I’m still not sure how the Borg and Changelings worked together (and why??) but I guess that explanation is coming next week.

I’m not entirely sure what the point was to have Alice Krige back and not show her. I initially thought they didn’t show her because there was another reveal coming (at that point I thought the Queen was going to be a clone of Beverly). So I was actually kinda disappointed to find out in the credits it was ‘only’ Alice.

I believe the thing you mentioned about the stardrive is not correct. Geordi rebuilt it. Only the engines and nacelles came from the Syracuse. I was more surprised the bridge didn’t look like it did in Generations. I guess Geordi didn’t like the refit.

For me it was a solid 9.

Krige may only have provided the voice. I don’t know.

That is correct. The rest was a body double.

That Enterprise D set is I think that one that someone salvaged from a traveling museum tour. It’s not perfect but was a lot cheaper to use that than rebuild the original from scratch. The giveaways are the off color upholstery and slightly off shape and size of the front con/ops seats and shape and curve of the wooden arch and slope of the ramps and height of the second level. It looks like it did get a nice upgrade to the LCARS. It could use a paint job though. There was something off about the color of the walls. However it was still very close and in HD the E-D bridge still looks great!

An in-universe explanation as to why the bridge did not look like the way it did in Generations exists in the TNG Technical manuals. The bridge Module is actually a lifeboat and is detachable and can fly on its own. This one might be the original one that was removed and was sitting in a starfleet surplus depot. OR it was the module from the USS Syracuse which may have been one of the first 6 and later 6 Galaxy class vessels built before or during the Dominion war. The bridge that crashed on Veridian III was pretty destroyed so maybe Geordi just popped this one in and called it a day. Switch out the dedication plate and say the slight differences in how it all looks is because it’s from a different Galaxy class vessel. It would be just like running down to the junk yard and taking a door off another identical car to your own that’s the same color. It’s the same but different life experiences it’s not quite the same.

That’s a great explanation! :D

Yeah, technicaly they could take off the Enterprise D Bridge and put it on some similar Nebula Class ship as Bridge.. some Spare parts and “Muscle car Ship” beef up. Stronger Weapons, better Shields and so on. If they want to

That was mentioned in the TNG Technical Manual that the bridge modules were interchangable.

The color of the famous carpet indeed seemed much more saturated than on TNG.

The E-D bridge was smashed beyond recognition at the end of GENERATIONS. This is a rebuild of it, done to the specifications of Geordi la Forge, who evidently preferred that version of it, just as the set was rebuilt in real life. No elaborate in-universe explanation is necessary.

Totally. This was a labor of love by a man who wanted to restore his ship for posterity as well as for himself (and surprise his friends one day – helluva secret to be able to keep!). As its curator, there was no reason why he’d need to retain the configuration it only had in its last few months of service. There was also no reason to give it a working warp drive and defensive systems, but… again, labor of love!

I’ve been watching Picard S3 quietly since it premiered and while it barely has an original bone in its body and comes across as a big budget fan-fic production to me, it has kept me very entertained and held my interest from week to week. The performances have been very good overall and I really like how certain characters like Worf and Data have evolved. That’s really more than I could ask for, especially given my distaste for 90% of Kurtzmann-Trek.

That said, there really haven’t been too many surprises. I’d pretty much guessed the Borg were behind everything the first time Jack saw the vines and then 7 of 9 was standing right in their midst in his vision; that connection was just too glaring to ignore, as was Shaw’s little PTSD speech in the holodeck where he comes right and says the REAL Borg are still out there.

The plotting also seems to be getting a little sloppy here at the end. The connection between the changelings and the Borg was glossed over at best and it might have been easier if the Borg had simply assimilated a few changelings to do their bidding. We still don’t know anything about Vadic’s hand puppet alien either and where it fits in. The show also show conveniently sidesteps (so far at least) Picard S2’s finale where we have a kinder gentler Borg complete with new Borg Queen who’s looking to make friends.

I’m also really disappointed at the apparent death of Shaw. The character quickly grew on me and I liked his different style of command; it was a welcome change of pace and breath of fresh air from other established captains we’ve gotten. Sadly, he really wasn’t given much to do and despite a heroic send-off I’d be just as happy if his wounds don’t end up being as fatal as they seem. It would also fit in with the more sentimental, borderline fan-fic writing we’ve gotten this season.

Still, overall this has been a fun ride and I’ll be curious to see how it ends, I just hope we don’t get a Starfleet is in ruins style cliffhanger.

One of the things I actually really appreciate about the season is the lack of surprises, ie: mind-blowing reveals. That is, outside of the Jack mystery, which was a disappointment.

More often, the questions the season posed were fairly simple and easy to guess, and never presented as if they’d be some kind of senses-shattering twist. Ie: we knew Jack would be his son and they telegraphed it a mile away even in dialogue.

Even the one lone surprise – the presence of the changelings – wasn’t presented as some kind of mystery.

Likewise, Jack being part-Borg is an easy guess, just like the rest, the problem is how they dragged it out and teased it as some kind of shocking twist. It feels like it was meant to be teased in Episode 8 and then revealed in Episode 9, but someone thought “hey, we need a longer tail on that to keep people interested.”

If this had been the first time we saw the Borg since Voyager or that one episode of Enterprise, this would have been a pretty good reveal. Dr. Crusher says it’s been 10 years since anyone last heard from them, but… it’s only been a year for the audience. So, this was as shocking as seeing Sherlock uncover another plot by Moriarty.

I’m not mad at the episode, though. It’s just average. Average modern nostalgic Trek, as challenging as one of those cozy old reunion TV movies from the 80s or 90s. But better than A Brady Bunch Christmas. High praise indeed.

Less than a year actually. Prodigy had them too.

Really? I haven’t watched Prodigy. But thanks.

They’re overused more than I thought.

Yeah since their introduction there’s only been two shows that they haven’t been seen on in some fashion. And that’s Discovery (which could still happen) and SNW.

You’re obviously not wrong in terms of appearances, but we haven’t seen the REAL Borg on Picard until now. The Borg in season 2 was just a very weird offshoot of them and Shaw even made that clear.

But yes, I get it obviously, we have been around the Borg for two straight seasons. It’s not going to bring the same GASP like the way it did when we saw that Borg cube show up in the first trailer of season one. That was the moment that told me the Star Trek of old was back. Now, everyone just kind of expect them to show up.

Well, that’s just it though, I’m not all that interested in seeing the real Borg again. Unless they’ve changed in some fascinating way, I guess. The way they assimilated Starfleet was novel. I’ll give them that.

Fair enough, but I love them so I’m personally happy to see them back. But that said, I would’ve been fine if it was just purely a Changeling story line too.

And yeah I do agree how they assimilated them was really innovative. But the Borg are pretty smart. ;)

It seems to me that the story might have flowed better if the whole thing was a long Changling plot. They could have come up with something else regarding Jack and him being a Maguffin. The Borg at this point, well after Voyager really, have become a huge tiresome bore.

The thing is, the Borg were (with apologies to Tomalak and Duras) really the defining antagonists in TNG, and to Picard specifically — much as the Klingons were for Kirk. The sendoff for Picard was bound to involve them, much as TUC did the Klingons.

True, though since they’re the obvious choice to use as a final antagonist, then that makes it even sillier to keep them behind a mysterious door for so long.

Recall how Star Trek: Picard , Season 1, Episode 6, “The Impossible Box” was so incredibly moving? It was to me. Picard truly faced his past.

But in the second season, we don’t really see Picard facing the Borg Queen, he just walks away and lets Jurati take over. And for all Stewart’s great acting abilities, and the fantastic, well-scripted scenes between Jurati and The Queen, we never see Picard and The Queen really get to the meat of a what Borg relationship is. And we don’t really get to see what Seven could have brought to the table. The confrontation is avoided – a very dramatic opportunity missed.

Which is why it’s shocking, as good as S3 is, that instead of a DS9-paced plot we are going to have a magical ending or a typical “TNG/Voyager” ending where somehow the fleet is saved and everyone is happy with their new Borg DNA – in the last ten minutes?

I can’t help but imagine the triangle that I hoped we would see: Beverly having many resources in the Federation and also reveling in how her exploits over the last years have given her a galaxy of friendships coming back to help solve this problem. And at the same time, Laris steps up to the plate. She brings Commodore Oh and other Romulans for help. And also to remind the Federation that Picard’s body should have been boxed up on Soong’s planet!

Finally, I fear some kind of a “Borgified Federation” is what the cast means when they have said in interviews that there are some loose ends at the end of the last episode. (“We’re all XB’s now!”)

I hope we get to see an original narrative chart for three seasons of Picard. The producers were too subtle, perhaps to fool the star himself. IMHO there is no way they could have had three seasons teasing and pushing Borg plot lines away from the center of the narrative without a plan.

Anyway, it’s a beautiful day outside!

Hey, look! It’s another cameo from a legacy character!

Aaaaand she’s dead.

LOL!! Yeah, I was waiting for her to morph into a changeling and instead she gets straight phasered! :O

Never understood why so many people liked her. She was a good character for BOBW, but the actor wasn’t anything special, and I never cared to see her again. Unlike Hugh, for example, her loss is of no concern to me.

I thought her acting in this episode was pretty poor, actually, brief as it was. That speech was actually terribly delivered.

You win the internet for today. Thanks for the chuckle.

How long until Majel Barnett’s computer voice will also be killed off?

I’m grateful O’Brien was smart enough to keep his head down for this one…

LOL yeah that was a punch in the gut. OMG, Shelby IS BA—damn!

Dang, I’m looking at this again and it STILL makes me laugh.

I’ve been waiting for Ent-D all series, yet when it arrived the tone of the scene didn’t fit in with the situation. If Starfleet has been assimilated, the situation is grave… so you’re not going to feel sentimental or calm like they all became in the last ten minutes.

Hearing Majel did make me emotional, though.

I’d have preferred Shaw have a better death scene. I think it’s final, I don’t think he’s coming back. It does open the door for a Legacy show with Seven as captain.

I’m also confused about the Borg. I thought they were dealt with in S2 and became allies. Just how many Borg queen’s are there?

It’s been said more than once, on screen and off, that Jurati’s collective is not the same as the collective we knew. There are two SEPARATE borg collectives. Shaw mentioned it on-screen earlier this season.

Above Matt Wright said the Jurarti Borg are just a Borg splinter group.

Understandable to not recall that. I completely forgot as well. I think it was because the season was so awful it’s tough to recall small things like that.

It’s not understandable for anyone who actually watched the season.

Some of us watch the show, but don’t remember every little detail…

It can be tricky to remember details that don’t make any darned sense.

Yeah, I didn’t like Shaw’s death scene as well. But oh whale!

If only there had been a class of ship designed specifically to fight the Borg. Hmmm. If only a ship of that class had been there at the fleet museum. Hmm! If only they had someone who had lived on that ship as part of their group. Hmm!

Good point!

Maybe in the last episode? That would be cool…

The Defiant does not have working engines or weapons, though. Geordi was working on the Ent-D as a personnel project, not part of the museum per se. So the Ent-D was ready to go, not the Defiant.

There’s no reason why he couldn’t have kept the Defiant running.

In the end credits, there is the titillating graphic that appears to show the Defiant flying around Spacedock…

Yeah but what I’m saying is that the Defiant would have been better suited for what they needed versus the Enterprise D. It’s a warship designed for a smaller crew that was intended to be used to fight the Borg plus it can take a beating and survive it. While the Galaxy Class who was not built for any of that and the Changelings alone could demolish it in no time.

it is a tough little ship

Plus the D would have had to have automated systems installed all over considering it was meant to have a crew of 1000. Also given their mission it also seems like they should have separated and used the bottom half. But using the “battle bridge” (God I always hated that) doesn’t give fans the ‘member berries they want. But remember, “When relived of her bulk the Enterprise becomes a formidable weapon.” At least according to Worf.

What I’m saying is that the end credits have included back-to-back Easter eggs that so far have all “come true,” so to speak. The Klingon cloaking device with labels translated into “Federation Standard.” Data/Lore’s positronic neural net with red and blue nodes. The holodeck simulation of Ten Forward with the safeties off. The DNA sequences. Shaw’s service record. The ships stored at Athan Prime. The musical score to “Pop Goes the Weasel”. The graphic (revealed this week) of Jack transmitting his Borgness to the under-25 crowd.

So the last item in the end credit that is yet to be explained clearly shows Spacedock being circled by a number of Starfleet ships… a number of them circled in red and identified by their registries, just as we saw several times in on-screen displays shown prominently in Episode 9. But three other ships are shown only as white silhouettes… no registry tags… and based on what we know now, these must be “offline” ships not linked with the Borg-ified fleet.

One of those ships is indistinct… but probably the 1701-D.

One is clearly the Defiant. No mistaking that outline.

The third is a Constitution Class… so I’ll put my money on 1701-A.

Okay but that’s still not what I meant. Okay cool it’s in the end credits. 🤷 It would have been better we actually got to see it in action in this episode.

7 days is too long to wait…?

How many times do I have to say what I meant. It would have been better. For what they needed to get a ship for. If they had taken the Defiant. Instead of the Enterprise D.

Yeah great the Defiant is in the end credits whoo effing hoo. Who knows when it will show up then. At the end of the episode when it can’t be if any help? In a mid credits scene? Why then when they could use it right now. Now it’s like it can’t be any use in this final battle because who is gonna operate it?

Hmm… good question. Who on the crew of the Enterprise-D knows how to pilot the Defiant. Let me think about that one…

How would Worf get back there though. Hmm.

You know, I actually thought that was where they should go. But somehow I knew we were going to get the D instead. Even though using the Defiant made a TON more sense.

Something I wrote got tagged as spam. If it shows up, I apologize.

Anyway, in short: S1 E6, where Picard visits the XBs is the high point for me. Picard fully was experiencing survivor’s syndrome, yet trying to move forward. . Season two was a wasted opportunity to further explore what it means to be Borg through scenes with Jurati, The Queen, Seven, and Picard – which we never got!

And… I wish Laris had been included in this season. Now is the time for Commodore Oh to show up and help. Help! And remind Picard she would have taken care of his corpse properly.

I miss Laris too, I’m hoping she comes back in the last episode.

The only way that you would see Lars again, is if Beverly Dies, in the next episode. I do not see that happening, do you?

I’ll just say that while Riker tested him in the first few episodes, Picard as a charcter showed few – if any – signs of leadership.

If I was him I would be contacting everyone possible and trying anything and everything to change this situation. So bringing back Laris would absolutely be more interesting while Beverly is still around.

Seeing the Big D is great. Since it’s a museum, it’s logical to assume the ships on display (Voyager, Defiant, etc.) don’t have working engines, just like planes on display at the Smithsonian. Since the D was kept inside and still a work-in-progress, that’s probably the only reason why a few of them couldn’t jump on the Defiant and join the D for the fight, for example. And a great episode! Can we talk about the music too? So good this season.

That’s how the Air and Space museum in D.C. is, so that’s a great explanation. The music has been INCREDIBLE!! I already preordered the soundtrack off iTunes and can’t wait for it to drop!

Yep I brought this up myself, those ships probably don’t work beyond the most basic. The D was clearly being built to be a ship again, even if not part of the fleet again.

A better example are the various museum ships around the world. They are preserved for appearance. To keep a ship functional, it needs to be maintained, something a museum wouldn’t have the staff or funds to do. That Geordi was hammering the E-D back together is just a gigantic suspension of disbelief. That’s a bridge too far for me, at least…

Drones could of done the bulk of the work. He did say they were filling up the photon torpedoes.

USS Constitution has been designated a museum ship for over a century, but she is still seaworthy and sailed in 1997 and 2012 (and did an extensive publicity voyage in 1934).

What’s a bridge too far is to suggest that Geordi did all this singlehandedly as a pet project. When I visited HMS Victory (which is in permanent drydock) in Portsmouth last year, there was renovation work being done on the starboard side of the ship, and an exhibit about all the contractors and subcontractors involved.

Not that they could launch her, but the Space Shuttle Discovery at the Dulles branch of the National Air and Space Museum does have real engines ( Atlantis and Endeavour have dummy engines, but Discovery was kept pristine for future generations.)

OH – and the Enterprise D LCARS using full screen digital graphics (instead of printed overlays) – how cool was that!

I’m sure it had to be an incredibly emotional experience for the cast, being back together on that set after all these years. Those looks of awe and nostalgia didn’t require acting, because they were real.

Agreed. I wonder if that shot it “for real” so they didn’t see it until the first take and their reactions were genuine? I still can’t believe they managed to film all this with nothing getting out. Half the fun has been all the surprises! :D

I was wondering the same thing! I’m sure we’re getting bts footage of that.

LeVar Burton let slip we’d be seeing the D back in August. I recall he made a comment about the ramp being a little off.

Also also. As cool as it would have been to see the bridge from the refit in the Generations era, since the bridge was trashed after crashing, it makes sense for an eventual museum ship to be restored to what it was most commonly known/remembered as, which would be the bridge from Season 2-7 of TNG. Awesome.

Absolutely true! ;)

Not only that but they have the built-in excuse of “restoration” to explain away any discrepencies.

Could of also took the bridge module off the Syracuse and just changed the plaque.

That’s undoubtedly what happened. The vast majority of that ship was USS Syracuse, and a 1701-D label slapped on for marketing purposes. Which isn’t very sound historiography, to be sure.

Maybe not, but the Ship of Theseus conundrum isn’t unique to Starfleet museums. And speaking of which, what is this one, formerly Earth Spacedock, doing in orbit around another planet? How did it get there? That’s what’s keeping me awake nights.

“Undoubtedly,” he says. lol.

Well that explains why Picard was obsessed with AI – he was being farmed by the Borg!! Also cool that the Borg assimilated most of the fleet, what a setup for a battle!!!! Hopefully the ENT A gets to shine, the ENT D is a warp core breach in progress (great for kamakazes?). I think though the Borg should really want robo Picard; he has it where they don’t need to assimilate anymore. Hell the Borg could be the Starships now with robo-Picard chips. Who needs organics?!?! I’m sad they killed Admiral Shelby (my favourite character from TOBW) , though I sense a nonsensical TNG time loop coming, it is the TNG way.

I have not seen Ep 10 and have no connections to anyone who has, but I am not going to spill what I still think is the obvious conclusion here just to be safe. I’ll just say it’s not a nonsensical time loop.

I am torn. The best answer would be to trade robo-Picard tech for leaving the Federation alone. The rational Borg should actually go for it, no need for organics then and they just head out all happy they *finally* got what they wanted all along (i.e. the Borg only assimilate because they think they have to, that organic life is key to innovation and imagination like an evil V’ger). That would be a proper “sci-fi” peace with the Borg ending. BUT.. BORING. So then the Borg should backstab them after the exchange and decide they don’t need organics so will destroy them instead. Have them turn on the Changlings too, which they work together with Starfleet to self destruct the ENT-D to save everything in a brief time period before the Borg reset.

That being said, let’s face it, they love nonsensical time loops or Q snapping his fingers where nothing really matters anyway which will leave us all wondering why not stop Wolf 359 and save all those crew members. But. at least then we get Admiral Shelby back?

Nope. I think the conclusion will be much simpler than that. I haven’t seen anyone mention it yet. Is it not as obvious as I think?

Picard’s son Matrix style decides just to order them to shut down? That would be too lame, no?

I think Jack will end up key to stopping it. He will sacrifice himself or Picard will communicate with him in some stirring sequence but yeah. He will be the one to make victory possible using his Borg link or whatever it is he has they want.

Instead of Data having Locutus say, “Sleep!”, Võx says, “Mercy!”?

Total guess on my part, but Jack takes out the Queen and becomes the Borg King? Then he and Jurati-borg get together and-BAM!-P+ has a new Star Trek sitcom ;-)

My prediction is that Jack will activate the portal device commandeered by the Changelings, have the fleet sail through it, and somehow en masse reverse the transporter malware that assimilated the under-25s.

Makes sense. Transporter technobabble used to assimilate can just be reversed to unassimilate. Similarly, the way that the fleet is all connected allowed the Borg to control them all in one fell swoop will allow our heroes to regain control of the ships in a similar manner…

Star Trek is very much a religion and it’s interesting to see the split in the faithful: those who can love it just for the the ritual, the symbols, the deity vs. those who need the emotional truth / meaningful story to back up all that.

When it becomes a religion Vs an action adventure show showing humanity moving forward despite imperfections and enemies, Star Trek sucks. Something I learned the hard way.

Definitely. It’s tough because this season in particular is being made with either a real religious interest or a nod to all of that *while* still telling an action adventure sci-fantasy story.

That is it is done as a TOS movie era arc action-adventure story vs. S1/S2 is why this season is rocking it. Even I am enjoying it and I thought TNG was a snoozefest.

A religion? God I hope not.

Put this parishioner down for “meaningful story.”

Arguably the greatest Star Trek episode ever.

Oh brother, here comes the hyperbole… Outside of the last few minutes, the episode is fine. Just fine. But you’re nostalgia is coloring your view.

Inarguably nowhere close.

It’s not even close to the best episode THIS SEASON.

I’m hopeful that next week’s “The Last Generation” can rise to the occasion, but for me, I think “No Win Scenario” is #1 (for the season, I mean — no Star Trek: Picard episode should crack a TNG top 30, and definitely not an all-Trek top 100).

Yep. 100%. It’s easily in the top 2-3 of the past decade, and better than any episode of Enterprise and Voyager (and would be in the top 10 of DS9 were it part of that series)

Not even close. A decent episode of this series, but not even in the top ten of all ST.

You’re entitled to your opinions, but this episode requires a helluva lot of suspension of disbelief to work.

Yes, I’ll definitely argue with that one.

Even though I totally saw the Changeling/Borg alliance and Jack thing coming, here was another episode I should not have watched right before bed because I was on the edge my seat (well matrass) the whole hour and was holding back cheers by the end. I’m going to need a sedative for the finale.

Also when I saw that great lady at the end I sobbed. It is what it is. I was a mess.

I’m so happy Patrick Stewart slipped in a Picard Maneuver right before he said “Engage!” — I’m going to guess that was a Matalas call.

Also, Dennehy jumped right back into the role. So great. RIP to a real one

Not to quote Jadzia Dax but “if ever we needed a new ally, it’s right now.”

Commodore Oh. No question best for the job.

I would like the Romulans. I also would like the Dominion. Why not both.

Is it not as obvious who their ally is? I think a blind man could see it.

🤷 is it Odo?

Umm… No.

I thought this was an enormous letdown. The whole season is turning into a bust for me.

Been downhill since E6.

I agree. I was hopeful that the revelation of what’s going on with Jack might elevate those middle episodes a bit in retrospect. Instead, it’s showing that this whole thing has been an empty box all along. Some great character scenes along the way and some great acting from some of the principals, but overall? Sound and fury signifying nothing. Please let this be Matalas’s final involvement with the franchise (barring some sort of magical turnaround in the finale).

I feel like an absolute selfish asshole for saying this but unless something big happens in the finale, after this they really kinda owe DS9 and ENT fans huge for using both shows for this mess and not really giving the fans anything really for it.

Agreed, AND the argument could be made that they owe TNG fans — or “Picard” fans (if such a thing exists) — another one for having all that present to begin with and distracting from what they could have been doing. Personally, I don’t mind them having mixed some content from the other shows into the stew, since all of it fits together anyways. But it seems clear now that there was a serious lack of focus in the planning of this season.

Yes if they had mixed all four [TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT] shows together in a way that worked, it wouldn’t have been a problem. As it is, with how it is now, it felt like they just used all four and TOS and it stinks bad.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.

The Enterprise-D was MADE for widescreen. Not “literally” since all of TNG was in 4×3, but look at her. The idea that the producers thought she wouldn’t hold up to being in a theatrical movie was ludicrous. Seeing all these new shots from different perspectives instead of the recycled ones we got in TNG is so refreshing.

And mad props to the VFX artists who worked on this rendition. It looks so much like the filming model down to the frost-lit buzzards, the glow from the nacelles and the hazy blue light from the main deflector. I could just lose myself in knowing that this was the Ent-D without defaulting to “That’s an obvious CGI model”.

The reason the producers (of STG) thought the set wouldn’t stand big screen scrutiny wasn’t because of the design: It was because in those days, there was no such thing as HD TV, and since time is money, sets (and props, and costumes, etc) were made with only the amount of detail absolutely necessary. That’s why all the reused TV sets were lit somewhat darkly.

Rand Corporation used the TOS bridge as a template for military command centers with the ability for a commander to look up information and talk with his crew. The ENT-D bridge is used I think by safety companies to show how bad design choices can lead to unnecessary back injuries from unnecessarily standing all bored while checking out the walls of unnecessary blinky hard drive lights. Still… vs. Discovery and the Titan-A at least when looking at Picard from the front it isn’t just a door behind him which is nice.

I was talking about the Ship, not the set.

I completely agree!

I am sourcing Majel’s computer voice… “Authorization acknowledged” = Starship Mine “USS Enterprise now under command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard” = Chain of Command, Part II

The Borg Queen in Voyager reviewed a similar plan with Seven of Nine to assimilate humanity slowly, and while they were unaware. This seems to be a variation of that original plan, simply using the Changelings to do it instead of the original delivery method! Dark Frontier is the episode, I think.

I had an Hunch, since they said somewhere in the Past they filmed Season 3 back to back with Season 2. So their best Enemy was also on the Set. And since She is from an alternative timeline, she could had subdued the Changelings and could put it now to good use. Even if she goes up into the Season 2 Doctor.

But lets see. Perhaps They reactivate other non-Starfleet Ships to help repel this. But i wonder how they stop them in their moves. Healing these corrupted “Borg Drones” is easy. They just need to reset the Teleport Filters and use some old “Data” to get the Borg influence out of their Bodies. I just hope they have these Old Backup’s. But to freeze their Actions to attack them and doing that on the fly while fighting. That is the Masterpiece i am curious about

So Jack is indeed now some sort of Borg King. His Telephatics skills are in reality “remote control” of the well hidden Borg Nanomachines in the bodies of others. But what will happen with his Ego when he come into touch with the Borg collective? Will he get blown away or can he still hold to himself. That Ladies and gentelmen could be one of the True Endgame solution in Episode 10, the other is how Picard can filter out the Borg “magic” out of Starfleet

It remember me of some St: Prodigy cliffhanger Episode with an Living Construct… Perhaps this Episodes triggered this Idea for the “Endgame” just little modified

or Janeway rush like Capt. Riker in End of Season 1 with some “The best of the best Starfleet Ships and Crew” to stand down the corrupted Ships with Force fields or Tractor beams…. Ship’s Override codes to shut all of them Down before more happen. Perhaps it#s Dr. Juratis Borgs little Cubes that do this Job. You know, Janeway and Borg’s are Buddies in the bad and good Way.

i can dream, right? I know that all is recorded and in stone. Just my imagination is running wild

SHAW!!! Gutted. Otherwise, wow what an ep. LOVED seeing the ENT-D back in action, and in HD. That bridge into section choked me up.

Also…they did Shelby dirty lol.

Not that the episode was badly done or unenjoyable, but… fandom has been rampant all season with people predicting that the big bad turns out to be the Borg, that something implanted in Locutus figures in it somehow, that the Enterprise D was hidden in hangar 12, and I was thinking all along that these were all too obvious, and that surely the writers had some clever surprise twist up their sleeves to raise a Vulcan eyebrow. But no… they did what people were generally expecting, so mild letdown. Also, as others have mentioned, the Borg seem a bit overused at this point having figured prominently in Seasons 1 & 2. For goodness sake, we’re seeing our third Borg Queen of the past two seasons! They couldn’t think of anything else? But it’s not over yet, so perhaps they have some surprises yet in store.

Fan service is fairly transparent. I suspect all that transporter architecture bulls**t probably laid the groundwork for some fix that’ll let our heroes sail off into the sunset, having saved the galaxy from the dreaded Borg yet again.

It’s just a transporter database update, a cycle through the transporters for all the young crew.

How they get control of the ships to do that is the trick…

But then they have networked ships and two characters with positronic brains.

Well, they would have asked Annie Wersching to appear if she hadn’t perhaps been too ill a few months later to film at the end of S3…

It’s been nearly 500 minutes of setup – nearly as long as TWOK, TSFS, TVH and TUC combined — and, arguably, not all that much has happened (plot- or character-wise).

It’s nice to see everyone together – and I got teary, as I was meant to be, seeing them on the bridge of the D. But there’s a heck of a lot to resolve in one more episode (even if it’s two hours).

Also, why isn’t the E available? Wasn’t it repaired after Nemesis? Is this some DS9 thing?

The E was destroyed and no it’s not some DS9 thing. As a DS9 fan I feel like this season has just given me the middle finger.

Was the E destroyed? The last we saw of the E was getting repaired in dry dock orbiting the Earth over the Mediterranean.

When was the E destroyed?

We don’t know when, but this episode has the second reference to the destruction of the Enterprise-E.

As far as the audience knows it hasn’t been. As has been said the last we saw it was being repaired.

I believe it was said in the lead up to this season so don’t take it up with me.

Personally I think it was in the mid 2380s.

It was mentioned in the previous season?

All I saw here was Worf saying “sorry” for something but it wasn’t clear what he was talking about. That’s another problem with this episode. They really rushed through some things.

Did you watch the episode? It’s pretty clear that Worf was responsible for the destruction of the ship. Seriously, you need to stop playing Candy Crush while the episode is on. Or better yet, just stop watching entirely. It’s clear you don’t even want to.

Yes. I heard that, jerk. But I wondered if I’d missed this previously mentioned somewhere.

I was not responding to you. ML31 however, legitimately doesn’t watch the episode and then complains about things he missed.

Or if you were referring to him as a jerk, IE: “I heard that jerk” and your comma was a typo, well then… totally understood.

If Worf was Captain of the E when the Living Construct took control and had the fleet turn on itself, that wouldn’t be his fault but devastating all the same.

It was pretty heavily implied.

But that’s an assumption. It’s pretty vague. I thought it was a hard point that I missed somewhere along the line. Seems I didn’t. At this point if they really wanted to use the ship it seems they still could.

Side note: Sending Hugh back to the Collective as a bomb all those years ago probably sounds pretty good right about now huh? Just saying lol

Well Picard definitely would not have gone if only because he was unknowingly and subconsciously in communication with the Borg. I think this is also why post Starfleet he becomes obsessed with AI, Data, etc. I’d argue they were farming the Federation for a tech to make organics assimilation obsolete.

LOL yeah sadly true. I agreed even way back then genocide was not the option, especially considering as Hugh himself showed, all of them are basically victims. But yeah, the Borg will never stop being the Borg, so what do you do?

Your question will truly test the writers. Because that is the question right? Even after Wolf 359, after the First Contact incident, after Janeway decimated them at the end of Voy. They keep coming back. At this point it’s either genocide or peace. And how does one make peace with the Borg?

That was actually the most interesting thing about season 2 in the beginning when we thought it was the ‘real’ Borg who wanted peace. Of course people were questioning if it was real only to reveal later it was not the true Borg. But it was an interesting idea, if they could make peace with them, what exactly would that look like?

Well now we know the real Borg is still not ready to play nice lol. They are still just as determined as ever to turn the Federation into a collective. Outside of First Contact, this is the most they’ve ever succeeded. I do wonder if they will they bring up the possibility next week of trying to wipe them out again via Janeway’s virus or something similar? I don’t expect them to use it but I do wonder will if it will even be discussed since at the very least it crippled them for a long time.

And then again, the Borg may be well prepared against something that deadly now. So I can’t wait to see how they resolve it.

Isn’t that exactly what the Face is doing with Jack?

First – great review, as always. And thanks for using a still at the top that doesn’t give away the show. I agree that the exposition gets rushed in the first half; I still don’t quite get why the Changelings aligned with the Borg, but maybe that’ll be cleared up next week. It was obvious that all the ships at Frontier Day would be taken over by network control — Episode 6 clearly set that up — but I didn’t expect a Clone Order 66 to Borgify everyone under the age of 25. That was shocking. And I had anticipated that Geordi’s Bay 12’s surprise would be the Enterprise-E; I never expected to see the big E-D onscreen again, outside of a flashback. Not gonna lie, I was emotionally compromised at that reveal. Loved that it echoed the scene in STIV when Kirk and crew see that their new ship is the Enterprise-A. When Picard’s turbolift opened onto the bridge, seeing that set, and hearing Majel’s computer voice… I was bawling. Let’s just say I’m glad I wasn’t in public. I thought the final episode would have all the ships in Geordi’s museum powering up and entering the fray against the new ships. (I thought they’d use the big LED wall set to simulate the various bridges, and have trustworthy legacy characters [O’Brien? Barclay? Kim?] at the conn.) But I’m happy to settle for the Galaxy class hero riding in to save the day. What a ride!

That was amazing.

Of course it was the Borg. While everything pointed to that anyway, it makes sense. The Borg were introduced in TNG. They were THE villains of that cast/story. (The Paw Wraiths were the DS9 villains. And they were never going to show up here for SO many reasons.) PIC season one brought the Borg in… sort of. Season two brought them in again… sort of. They both botched the landing though by either making them irrelevant side-stories or trying to change the nature of the Borg in a way that wasn’t personal to Picard at all. It makes sense that Terry Matalas wanted to end the TNG story by actually bringing the Borg storyline to an end in a way that was actually satisfying. (I don’t know what that is because I don’t know what happens next week, but I know that S1 and S2 did not accomplish that goal and this season is kicking some ass in the right direction.) Matalas said that he wanted this to be a proper sendoff for this crew. The Borg had to be involved. (Q would be the only other option and they ended his story last season and really wrapped up the Q/Picard thing SO WELL in “All Good Things…”) And it works because it’s such a personal journey for Picard. As much as Voyager tried to give Janeway (who absolutely has to cameo next week) a personal tie to the Borg, they were always inextricably tied to Picard in a way they could never be to anyone else.

And to everyone asking “Why Picard? Why humans?” The answer is obvious. Clearly nobody had ever pushed back against the Borg like humans had. They were intrigued with humans in a way that they weren’t with other species. Right or wrong, in the ST Universe, humans and humanity have something that no other species seems to have and it results in a fascination with humanity by more powerful species/beings. This has come up time and time again with Q, The Borg, the Traveller, etc…

We can nitpick (yeah… they probably should have given us the info about Jack in the opening of the third act of the season and let it play out a bit more) but damn… this is a good story and is entertaining as hell to watch. If this had been the first season of PIC, everyone would be crapping their pants with how good it is and would have no issues with the return of the Borg.

So, nitpick all you want (and you will because we’re all nerds here and it’s what we do) but while acknowledging the nitpicks, I’ll be enjoying the hell out of this ride all the way to the end.

“As much as Voyager tried to give Janeway (who absolutely has to cameo next week) a personal tie to the Borg, they were always inextricably tied to Picard in a way they could never be to anyone else.”

Seven of Nine, who was assimilated much longer than Picard ever was, would like a word.

Voyager: Perhaps The Voyager on the Museum is still Fly ready. Sure got not Upgrades since her return and Parking lot. But Fly ready. Perhaps Admiral Janeway can still remote Control the Ship to awake from it’s Sleep and fly to the designation Points. Because. she has one Extra Beef, what all these ones has not… Borg Armory. i bet it can hold out longer against their Weapons. But that only buy some time, and we would lose her in the end… So as i wished i could see Voyager back in action, losing her is to harmful for their fans

Seven: Seven of Nine was not important enough for special treatment for the Borg. That’s her luck. Also Seven has some “secret” in her History book. to be more precise her Picard Season 1 book. Even if she just play this Cube Bee Hive Queen to save them it was enough to make her one of them and immune to their call

What I’m saying is that Picard is not the only one that’s so tied to the Borg.

After all, does he go by his designation all the time and has never been allowed to go back to his old name or even pick a new one? Does anyone remember an episode where Jeffrey Combs made him fight Dwayne Johnson just because he used to be Borg and that would draw in more viewers? How are his status as a former Borg effected his relationships with the people around him? Did it prevent him from staying in Starfleet even when very important people were sticking up for him?

The answer to all of that is: No! It didn’t! Unlike Seven so to claim that Picard is more tied to his status as a former Borg is unfair to her!

I do not know. But perhaps they did not wanted to put so many weight on her Shoulders. Also the Series is called Picard not Seven of Nine. So perhaps it was the best conclusion to bet it all on Picard’s shoulders. Also he still have this trauma that he carry around him, even after these years.

So perhaps finally he get it right and also got the best change to call his buddy back to the Show and took some others under his Umbrella. Seven and Raffi. Also “Uncle Picard” introduce his new family members, the Children of La Forge, sadly Riker and Troy’s child seem like forgotten. But perhaps they did not wanted the same fate as Wesley

I am just guessing stuff

Ha ha! Obviously, Seven has her history with the Borg and, in many ways, became Janeway’s personal tie to them. I wasn’t denying that. I’m just saying that when you look at a series and the leader of that series, the Borg have been Picard’s personal nemesis for the audience from their first introduction. (Obviously, in universe, Seven was assimilated before Picard and stayed that way for a long long time.) Janeway handled the Borg well and had more encounters with them than Picard ever did. But for the audience, they were always tied to Picard first.

And the audience can learn to associate them with other characters. Sure maybe they were in TNG first. But they were the main villains of Voyager. They were the people that killed Jennifer Sisko. And that is how I think of them, as the main villains of Voyager and as the people who killed Jennifer Sisko.

At the end of the day the Borg obviously started on TNG and yes made it personal for Picard. But I liked that the Borg has become synonymous for pain and suffering for so many in Starfleet as Shaw’s great Wolf 359 speech displayed. After all, they also tie in to Sisko’s backstory as well and how he lost his wife. We never saw them on the show beyond the flashback (and still the biggest irony of them all since Rick Berman and Michael Piller originally played with the idea the Borg would be the main villains of that show), but it was a constant reminder of how much that single attack on Starfleet had repercussions for decades.

I think by the time we saw them on Voyager and met Seven, the Borg had become very iconic and it was the first time we got to truly learn about them. Some didn’t like it and I guess revealed too much about them, but not for me. And I still think what great about them is there is still tons about them we still don’t know. I know they been fleshed more in novels like Destiny but canon wise they are still both a mystery and a threat in so many ways.

That’s really the beauty of the Borg in terms of being a villain. Every time you think they are down for good, they adapt.

Seven didn’t kill half of Starfleet and nearly destroy Earth.

Does that invalidate my point in any way

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Star Trek: Picard Recap: The Needs of the Many

Star trek: picard.

When Vadic died at the end of “ Surrender ,” I breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, things were bad, but they were about to get better. How naive and innocent I was, how childlike and trusting! Shit really hits the fan in “Vox,” and I am very worried about the fate of my beloved crew.

We finally get the answer to the question we’ve been asking all season: What’s the deal with Jack Crusher? Apparently, he’s part Borg. To the point where the Borg Queen thinks of him as her son. Ew.

Dr. Crusher diagnosed Jean-Luc with Irumodic Syndrome at the end of  The Next Generation,  but organic technology within his body was what allowed him to operate as a communicator with the Borg. This answers a question I’ve had for years: Why, in  Star Trek: First Contact , could Picard still hear the Borg’s voices despite not having any Borg tech in his body? He then passed that ability on to Jack, who thought he was hearing the voice of his mother in his mind. Now we know it was the Borg Queen whispering to him. His love of order and ability to control people are all Borg.

Jean-Luc, a man who has no grasp of his or anyone else’s emotions, unsurprisingly does not handle this news well. It’s clear that Jack is scared and looking for answers, but instead of offering comfort, Jean-Luc can barely look at his son as he breaks the dire news. Instead of love, he offers a Vulcan institution and “the needs of the many.” It isn’t his finest moment. Jean-Luc could have handled this better, but he let his fear control him. He has passed much more than Locutus on to his son, but he can’t see past his guilt right now.

And it drives Jack straight into the arms (er … tendrils? Hoses?) of the person who has been pursuing him the entire time: the Borg Queen. It’s not the smartest decision, but it’s an understandable emotional one to go where you’re most likely to get answers. Jack doesn’t understand the power of the Borg Queen (Jean-Luc does all too well, which is why he reacted the way he did). He underestimates her, and he pays the price.

The Borg are back, and the Borg Queen has Jack (and named him Vox), and the Changelings have managed to work an assimilation protocol into Starfleet’s transporter systems so everyone under a certain age is now basically a Borg. Of course, I’m worried about Jack and Alandra and Sidney. They’re all in trouble. I care. Really. I really do care a lot!!!

That said, the problem with mixing legacy characters and new ones is that your heart is always with the people you’ve known for most of your life. I reveled in every joke, glance, and smile between these characters. And when they revealed the final cast member for this legacy reunion, something I hoped would happen after Alandra’s Hangar Bay 12 reference in the episode “ The Bounty ,” I fully lost my shit. I couldn’t care about anything or anyone else.

Yes, Starfleet is in trouble, and things look really bad, but the Enterprise-D is back and I got to watch my cast walk onto the bridge. It’s funny. This is a plot-heavy episode with a ton of big reveals — uncovering the Borg connection, the beginning of Frontier Day, all the young people becoming Borg, Shaw dying (oh no), Raffi staying behind to support Seven (oh yes) — yet it’s hard to focus on any of it because our ship is back and she’s perfect. (Did you hear that, Worf? SHE IS PERFECT.)

The big moments of this episode are rooted in nostalgia, especially the closing reveal. That’s not a bad thing (I absolutely loved it), but it makes it hard to talk about this episode rationally. It’s not about the plot or what happened; it’s how it made me  feel . That’s what I care about here. Despite the dire circumstances (don’t destroy Spacedock!! Starfleet is Borg now?) and having only one episode to wrap up a huge story, it feels good because we’re home. This is a family, and when they’re together, everything will be okay.

Captain’s Log

• The Enterprise-F ! It’s being decommissioned! Maybe we’ll see a new Enterprise at the end of this.

• Haven’t we learned by now  not to network the ships ? Come on, Starfleet! Admiral Shelby, shame!

• I was starting to get worried that we wouldn’t have  any  Raffi-and-Seven moments, but now they’re stuck on the Titan together and I have hope!

• But the sad thing is that Shaw is gone and the internet will be  very mad .

• The Borg Queen sounded a whole lot like Alice Krige, who played her in  Star Trek: First Contact . So creepy, so well done. (According to the credits, it is, in fact, Alice Krige!)

• Seven calling Data “the robot” made me laugh so hard I cried.

• Data  finally  has a grasp of humor, and I love it. His humor with the emotion chip felt so artificial, but this is natural and funny!!

• There’s something extra-moving about Geordi being back at the conn, which is where he started!!

• My heart is not ready for this show to end.

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Star Trek: Picard Pits the Next Generation Against the Last One

"võx" sets the stage for a bananas finale, as picard season 3 mixes its next generation nostalgia with a little of season 2's insanity..

Star Trek: Picard has felt very different in its final season to either the spartan, melancholy tone of its first, or the balls-to-the-wall wildness of its second. But as it prepares for one last hurrah with the TNG crew in its penultimate episode, it has borrowed a little bit of that energy of season two to prepare for what will be its ultimate battle: a tale of the old saving the new.

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“Võx, ” a title whose meaning we will get to soon enough , kicks up the scale of Picard ’s final season with not a moment to spare, realizing that after last week’s surprising clearing of the board when it came to Vadic, the thrust of much of the season so far, things actually need to start feeling like a season finale. And what would a season finale of such a nostalgic season of such a nostalgic show be without another familiar foe emerging from the shadows?

Because that is indeed what we get right into: Vadic’s rogue C hangeling faction wasn’t working alone, as we learn when Deanna Troi gets her best B etazed on and dives deep into the plagued mind of Jack Crusher. Exploring his trauamatic visions and a life yearning for connection in a sea of isolation, Deanna and Jack alike undergo a terrifying discovery. What the changelings want from the son of Jean-Luc Picard is that he is not just the son of Jean-Luc Picard, but also Locutus of Borg. And if Locutus is the one who speaks for the Borg... what of a voice descending from that speaker? And what of the Borg themselves?

Yes indeed, the mysteries of the red door in Jack’s mind, his eerie abilities to connect to others and act through them, these vines and tendrils worming through his mind are revealed as none other than the work of the Borg Collective—because Jean-Luc passed on so much more to his son, the re-written DNA of his father’s time with the Borg existing in him, the literal sins of the father now alive and well, and ready for a combined operation between the Borg and the Changelings to strike out at the Federation that sundered them both.

As a cube emerges and the voice of the Queen herself—the returning Alice Krige in a chilling voice cameo, although one marred with a twinge of sadness after the passing of season two ‘s Annie Wersching , who embodied the Borg Queen to stunning effect—goads Jack into seeking out the truth of his existence, Picard begins to show its bonkers hand a little. This is a whole lot to come out of relatively little in the final hours of the show, and it’s something that really doesn’t want you to sit and dwell on it for too long, given the equally bonkers stuff that happened with the Borg, and was almost immediately dropped, at the climax of season two . But even as Picard just begs you to enjoy the surprise and the nostalgia, there is yet some dramatic merit here that sells you on it beyond the shock and spectacle, and it’ s thanks to stunning turns from Ed Speelers, Patrick Stewart, and Gates McFadden.

All season long Jack has had to grapple with reuniting with his father, and seeing what parts of the man he has become are cut from the same cloth as the legendary Captain Picard. It’s cut through here in a bracing, almost venemous line—“H ow much of me is me? ”—and it’s not just Jack who hurts at all these revelations, as Picard himself has to deal with the grief that he, somehow, has given what he feels is the worst of himself to his own son, no matter how much he can control that. For Beverly herself, who sacrificed so much of her life and her connections to the people she loved to protect Jack from his legacy, all that has come for naught as the things she feared most for him haven’t just come to pass, but were inevitable, a grief that strikes her particularly. This is the kind of grounding to the rose-tinted dazzling light of nostalgia that Picard ’s third season has, by and large, handled deftly.

What’s handled... shall we say a little less deftly, is the reveal of what Picard has been building to with the Changeling’s (and now Borg’s) plans for season three . In sacrificing personal stakes for the grander ones a season, and series, finale requires, its here that “Võx” perhaps flies a little too much by the seat of its proverbial pants. As Frontier Day kicks off and Starfleet reveals its latest plans are for an interconnected Fleet Formation program—a command protocol that links every ship in Starfleet, letting it act as one—Geordi and Data discover just what allowed the Changelings to so quickly infiltrate Starfleet. Using Picard’s old body, they’ve infected the transporters of the fleet, the very biological data they use to beam a person from one place to the other, with a Borg virus that will in turn do for the Q ueen what Starfleet wants to do with its own ships: assimilate them all into a singular tool. Oops.

It’s a lot . Again, it asks that you not to think too long about these things, especially the fact that Picard ’s main plot now being “ Starfleet deals with an automated ship protocol that anyone could tell you will go wrong immediately, going wrong immediately”   is very similar to the relatively recent finales of Lower Decks and Prodigy . It asks you to enjoy a scene of LeVar Burton and Brent Spiner technobabbling again, just like old times, to make up for a lot of umming and ahhing about just how Star Trek can give us half of Starfleet suddenly being super-assimilated. But perhaps the strangest thing it asks you to realize is that Picard ’s final battle is not our heroes against the Borg, really... but the old generation we know and love battling the actual next generation. A bit more technobabble later explains that, somehow, the Borg-Changeling virus only affects younger beings from species, meaning that as the virus assimilates its way through the combined fleet at Frontier Day, we see everyone from Geordi’s kids to the Titan bridge crew succumb to the black-veined proto-assimilation. It’s up to the oldies to save Star Trek as we know it from those gosh darned youths!

I kid for dramatic effect, and it’s certainly a cynical reading of the scenario. But for a season that has been , at times for the best and at times for the worst, a nostalgic celebration of The Next Generation , there is indeed something darkly funny that Picard ’s very last episode will see a bunch of S tarfleet senior citizens battling the corrupted next generation of officers. Everything goes to hell in the climax—Oh look, it’s Shelby from “Best of Both Worlds, ” oh no, she’s dead! Starfleet’s now literally unified armada turns on itself! And, perhaps most tragically of all, Captain Shaw gives his life to get the TNG heroes to a shuttle to escape, passing command of the Titan to Seven (who he thankfully does refer to as Seven this time, instead of Hansen) with his dying breath! So much for Star Trek: Legacy .

It all does indeed feel, in some tragic way, that the stakes Picard has laid bare for its finale have come at the cost of the things that were indeed new to itself—its young stars turned against their will into mindless villains, its new characters burned out bright for the sake of the old. There’s enough nostalgia here to mask that sense initially, but it’s the thing that lingers most in the aftermath of this episode, and threatens to linger into next week’s grand finale. And that’s even as Picard throws down the ultimate gauntlet of fanservice to mask that lingering thought, when “Võx” reveals one last surprise for its peculiar battle of old and new: stranded and cut off from the fleet, the ship Picard and his friends will save Star Trek with is none other than the Enterprise -D .

Slowly rebuilt by Geordi in bits of the ship’s sibling Galaxy-class vessels and the literal remains of the D from its destruction in Generations , our analog heroes have an analog ship with which to battle the shiny future co-opted by the Borg Queen’s machinations. It’s a little silly, yes, but it’s oh-so- triumphant, from the classic bridge set to the fawning, indulgent shots of the exterior—and bitter sweet, as none other than the voice of the dearly departed Majel Barrett echoes out of the Enterprise ’s computer system to acknowledge the thing we have all yearned to hear: the U.S.S. Enterprise is once more under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

And so the die is cast for Picard ’s finale battle—one indeed that will see all that is old and lovingly nostalgic fight to save the future of what Star Trek can be. A little messy? Sure. A little crazy? Absolutely. But we’d be liars if we said we weren’t excited to see how this all plays out next week .

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

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REVIEW: Star Trek: Picard: “Vox”

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard has arrived! This is our second to last episode of the series, and the plot to the third and final season is finally unfolding. Thankfully, this episode is packed with big reveals and explosive moments. Seriously, you don’t want to miss this episode as it culminates the events of the third season rather well. However, we’ve also got to discuss the episode’s writing and storytelling. 

RED ALERT – SPOILER WARNING, this is our full in-depth review of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 9!

Jack & Locutus

Last week, we ended the episode on one of the biggest cliffhangers, Jack and Troi opening the Red Door. It turns out that behind the red door is the Borg, a Borg Cube in a nebula. Thankfully we finally got to the point where this mystery was revealed. Also, the vines symbolize connection, which makes sense with the Borg. But it connects with a location from Jack’s past. This is Raritan IV, a Deltan planet seen in the second season of Star Trek: Picard. 

We learn a little more about why Picard’s body was at Daystrom Station. It was Soong when transferring Picard’s mind from his dead body into his new flesh and blood synthetic body, who noticed the structural defect and wanted to investigate it more.

A nice scene is Jack talking to Picard. The emotion running through that room is so tangible. Picard deals with his trauma of assimilation and shares that with Jack. Jack is dealing with his identity issues. Not knowing whether who he was, is who he is and whether he has had free will or just been following instructions.

You then do have Jack trying to escape, taking control of the security guards, and asking Picard about not the protocols of Starfleet, not the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. But the protocols of the father. Where sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.

Counselor Troi

One thing I will say is that Troi does not give the best Counselor actions in this episode or previous episodes. She took away Riker’s trauma and grief of losing his son, not helping him deal with it. Which I can understand. But her actions in this episode are not good. She is talking to Jack and saying she is with him, he is not alone. But as soon as she opens the door she runs away and leaves him alone. She goes straight to his parents voiding any counselor patient confidentiality and enacts protocols to section Jack into a Vulcan facility. Yes, Starfleet has dealt with many gifted children before, Charlie X for example. So probably has protocols in place to deal with things like this, but it still doesn’t look good.

Remains of the Borg Uni-Complex?

So Jack goes to the Nebula, which Troi saw behind the door with the Borg Cube, but it doesn’t look like a simple Borg Cube when Jack gets there. It looks more like a fragment of the Borg Uni-complex. It also seems to it appeared through a transwarp conduit, so either it was hiding in transwarp and appeared here, or it traveled there. 

I will say the VFX shots inside the Borg Uni-complex and its transceiver, with the eras and the spinning Dyson ring-looking device was a really cool effect. It reminded me a lot of the donut-shaped Borg interview we see at the beginning of First Contact .

So when Vadic said, “He wasn’t meant for you” to Beverly in a previous episode, we knew it referred to the Borg Queen, but it is nice to have that confirmation. Everything has been leading up to this, with every little thing Vadic said, such as telling Seven it is good she is there to witness where they are going. The Titan was very clearly going to head for this nebula. 

New Borg Queen

Talking of the Borg Queen, she looks remarkably similar to the design of Annie Wersching’s Borg Queen from the Confederation timeline. However, she does look a little more messed up, the room is covered in wires, and her looking somewhat frayed as well. So perhaps this is the fallout of the Neurolytic Pathogen that spread throughout the collective at the end of Voyager.

The voice of this Borg Queen is Alice Krige from Star Trek: First Contact . Her body double is played by Jane Edwina Seymour . Unfortunately not reprised by Annie Wersching, who passed away earlier this year. 

So the Borg Queen gives Jack the name of Vox, not Locutus being the One who speaks, but Vox the voice itself. This is interesting because we have a Borg called Vox in Beta Canon. As Locutus was the speaker for the Borg for the Federation, Vox was the speaker for the Borg for the Romulan Empire. Anyway, Jack gets assimilated. So I guess the finale will be Picard trying to reach his son and convince him to turn on the Borg or something.

Season 2 Borg

I also have to remind anyone who may be confused why the actual Borg collective is here because some people think Season 2 completely changed the Borg timeline, which is not true. Jurati’s Borg Collective, born from a Confederation Timeline Borg Queen, stayed out of the way of time so that time could still progress as normal. That is why at the end of Season 2 of Picard , Picard was still himself, Seven was still herself, and the Timeline was not changed.

Not using The Borg from the second season does feel like an odd choice. Especially when we are using The Borg in this season. Surely the storylines could have been tied together. But then again, the creatives of Picard Season 3 clearly did not want to play in the toy box of the second season actors like Alison Pill , which is a shame as I think she could have done really well.

The Borg Plan is an interesting one. So they put some genetic code into Picard’s brain, and the side effects of that structural defect became Irumodic Syndrome. This is somewhat nice because it actually explains why Picard could still hear the collective in Star Trek: First Contact , despite having none of the technological Borg components in him.

The biological component in his parietal lobe was a receiver, so he could still hear the call of the Borg. Picard may have had the receiver, but that seed, somehow through Jack, became a transmitter. The receiver code was then stolen from Picard’s body by the Changelings and put into the transporter system to propagate it into the brains of everyone using a transporter in Starfleet.

A really big contrivance is that it doesn’t work on anyone over the age of 25. This also explains some limitations of Jack’s abilities. Why could he only control certain people, like Mura on the bridge?

This plan of the Borg to assimilate all the young people of Starfleet is clever and did require the Changelings to infiltrate Starfleet. And take the place of people like low-level transporter technicians aboard the Titan and other ships. The plan almost reminds me of the plan the Borg had to assimilate Earth in Voyager . Using a biological weapon, an assimilation virus, to slowly assimilate Earth after introducing it to the planet.

Enterprise-F & Admiral Shelby

Finally, the Odyssey-class USS Enterprise-F shows up! You do not know how long I have been waiting to see the NEXT Enterprise. Actually, if you’ve been here long enough on our channel, you will know how big of a fan of this ship we are. The scene of it leaving Earth Spacedock was fantastic. Who could have seen Admiral Shelby in command of the USS Enterprise F? That was a surprise to be sure. It’s also something that was not leaked about Star Trek: Picard Season 3.

I will say I really like the bridge of the Odyssey class from Star Trek Online, so I am a bit disappointed not to see that. Didn’t even need to be a full set. Just a green screen set would have been fine. But I do understand the need to use the Titan Bridge set just for convenience. It also reveals some of the budget constraints of the third and final season. Clearly, a lot of money was spent on the guest stars and the CGI of the USS Enterprise-D. Admiral Shelby can be seen speaking about the NX-01 and Jonathan Archer. This is the cornerstone of the Federation Starfleet we find ourselves in. If it were not for Archer and the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise, then none of this would be around right now. Sadly, it does seem like Shelby does not last long. Once the fleet is taken over by the Borg, Shelby seems to be killed in action on her bridge by the Borg Kids. Guess that is what we are calling them.

Starfleet Automation

It’s actually Riker who points out a rather odd problem here. Shelby endorsing something so Borg-like seems out of character. Naturally, the Changelings appear to have taken out other people who likely would have pointed out the problem with the Fleet Synchronization plans. I mean, has anyone seen ‘Battlestar Galactica’ ? The characters haven’t, but the writers clearly have. 

Automation has never worked with Starfleet, they have a long history of this. From the M-5 computer in Star Trek: The Original Series trying to destroy other Starfleet ships for its own protection. Control amassing all the Section 31 ships and using them to wipe out life as life is the biggest threat to the Federation in Star Trek: Discovery . Only 20 years prior we had the Texas-Class issue from Star Trek: Lower Decks . And ‘The Battle of Gamma Serpentis’ from Star Trek: Prodigy , so many examples!

How Fares the Titan?

Back on the Titan, things aren’t going any better for them as they did for Shelby. We have Mura, Sidney, and Esmar all being assimilated and taking control of the ship, forcing the senior staff members to try and evacuate the ship.

Funnily Raffi is nowhere to be seen in this entire episode until the end where she appears with the rest of the group on the maintenance deck where they are going to evacuate. 

Shaw, Raffi, and Seven stay on the Titan and make sure the old TNG crew manages to get off the ship. Shaw gets shot, and it is actually a really emotional moment, which I didn’t expect. Todd Stashwick has really been the best of a lot of these scenes, and he finally gets his moment of redemption here. He gives the Titan to Seven and finally says her proper name.

So for all those people asking for a Shaw show… guess that won’t happen anymore. Unless Seven does what she did to Neelix and assimilates him to bring him back to life!

The Humor of Data

Data has been growing on me a lot. I really disliked how they brought him back. I would have preferred Brent Spiner to play a new character, or as originally envisioned – a combination of all his other personalities.

How Brent has managed to give such emotion to this version of Data is so good. I particularly loved the scene where Geordi tells Data to be more positive and Data says “I hope we die more quickly!”.

Your Technological Distinctiveness Has Been Added To Our Own

The Borg now has control of an entire fleet of starships and is going to destroy Earth Space Dock and the Planetary Defences.

To this point, they should have shown the Space Dock being destroyed as well as the Excelsior earlier in the episode. Seeing it on an LCARs display and alluding to the destruction of Earth Space Dock doesn’t really hammer home how big a threat this is. So far we have only seen a couple of people die, and a light on a screen flash out.

Back to the Fleet Museum

The final part of this episode is the crew heading to the fleet museum, something we all suspected when they started to talk about fleet automation. Using the non-automated to fight the automated. Again as we all suspected, Hanger 12 has the USS Enterprise D. Last season we did see a note on a display saying the saucer of the Enterprise D was recovered from the planet it crashed on. Geordi has been repairing it for the last 20 years, which also gives us a little indication that Geordi has been at the fleet museum since 2381. This does conflict with some ancillary information of Geordi helping out at Utopia Planitia up to 2385, but he could be being vague and saying 20 years.

A nice little note is when Geordi says they cannot use the Enterprise E, “for reasons” and everyone looks at Worf who says “That was not my fault”. I fully believe Worf was captain of the Enterprise E for a short time, and probably rammed the ship into something and caused such major damage to it.

Enterprise D

We get a nice look at the bridge, and I am sure people will talk about how better-lit this bridge is to the bridge of the Titan and other Starfleet ships of this period. And in another weird piece of dialogue, Picard says that he has missed the carpet. I don’t know whether this is mocking fans who have been talking about carpeted floors on starships or agreeing with them.

As you might expect, a handful of people cannot operate a Galaxy class ship alone, but Geordi does mention the ship is being operated by drones. So it may not be automated, but it is indirectly automated. We saw these droids repairing the Titan in a previous episode.

Legacy of Family

There is a lot of talk about family, Sidney, Alandra, and Jack also being part of the family. However, I find it weird that Kestra isn’t mentioned, or Soji for that matter. This season seems to be about the legacy of our TNG crew, and having some of their children hardly mentioned just seems weird.

The planet Soji was on in Season 2 was even mentioned in this episode, Raritan IV, so not mentioning her seems weird. If we do get another show, I so hope Data and Soji can interact. Anyway, with the final member of the family acquired – the Enterprise D – they can finally get to work. Exiting the fleet museum with an “engage”, and that is the end of the episode. A 40-year-old relic against a fleet of automated state-of-the-art starships. I wonder how they are going to fix this one?

Episode 9 of season 3 of Star Trek: Picard entitled “Vox” was written by Sean Tretta & Kiley Rossetter, and directed by showrunner Terry Matalas. Overall this is a really good-quality episode, but it is not without its flaws. While some scenes, such as the return of the Enterprise-D and the proper introduction of Enterprise-F are fantastic, other plot elements somewhat fall flat. For example, Jack Crusher and the resolution of his storyline. Well, not an entire resolution, but rather the Borg reveals.

The struggle of the last eight episodes of Star Trek: Picard is invalidated, as the first 5 minutes of the penultimate episode reveal that it was just a choice for Jack to hand himself over. Yes, he tried to do this originally with Vadic. But now the mystery is revealed, he just walks straight into the Borg Queen’s hands, thinking he knows better. We could say this is due to him being isolated by his parents and friends. That is somewhat made clear via his line to Jean-Luc about being a good father. 

One downside of Picard ’s third season is the dragging out of the plot. It’s something this entire series has had a problem with. Thankfully, the penultimate episode gets straight to the point of what Jack’s visions are. These are related to the Borg. We somewhat guessed what direction the season was going here. This type of plotting is described as “Mystery Box” storytelling. 

Another problem is the tension. While the stakes are very high in this episode with the kids being assimilated, in our opinion the narrative tension falls off when we get to the Enterprise-D. They could have assimilated Earth in the time it takes them to get back from the Fleet Museum. In all honesty, getting the Enterprise-D should have been mid-episode. The final cliffhanger should have been something like the USS Excelsior being destroyed by the fleet. The Enterprise-D could have warped into Sol-System, with the cliffhanger watching Earth Space Dock being destroyed. It would effectively highlight the scale and depth of the infiltration. 

Speaking of the Enterprise-D. This is where fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation get fed well. You could not have made this scene better in my opinion. While we somewhat knew something like this was coming, thanks to the signposting in the series writing, the effect of seeing the Galaxy class back on our screens was fantastic and emotional. Seeing the crew walk around this bridge again really sold this reunion for me. While the cast may be the real stars, so are the ships in the Star Trek Universe.

Now we ask ourselves, how the hell are The Next Generation crew going to get themselves out of this mess? The Enterprise-D is like a 40-year-old starship at this point. It’s been updated and restored but there is no way it will take on the entire Starfleet Armada. Not even the crippled Borg themselves. The final episode this season, and for their whole series of Picard is titled, “The Last Generation” and will air next week. With the USS Enterprise-D back and kicking, again, who saw that one coming? It surely is going to be an explosive ending. I hope.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 airs on Paramount+ in the United States and on CTV Sci-Fi Channel and Crave in Canada. However, the series will be available on Amazon’s Prime Video service for most international locations in the following days. For coverage of all things Star Trek: Picard Season 3, follow Trek Central!

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Jack Crusher

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Ensign Jack Crusher is a 25th century Human Federation Starfleet officer assigned to the USS Enterprise -G . He is the son of Admirals Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard .

• 1.1 Criminal record
• 2 Starfleet career
• 3 Key dates
• 4.1 Appearances
• 4.2 Background information
• 4.3 External link

Early life [ ]

Crusher was conceived on Casperia Prime and attended school in London , England , on Earth . He acquired his English accent while there and according to his mother , never quite shook it. ( PIC : " Seventeen Seconds ")

When he was a boy, Crusher took Jack to the Crimson Arboretum on Raritan IV . ( PIC : " Võx ")

When he came of age, he was given a choice by his mother to meet and get to know his father, but to her knowledge he did not take her up on the offer. ( PIC : " Seventeen Seconds ") Indeed, however, in 2396 , Crusher visited 10 Forward Avenue where Picard was having lunch but didn't reveal himself. While there, he inquired if Picard ever regretted not having a family , and Picard boasted that Starfleet was all the family he ever needed. Unbeknownst to Picard, at the time, his answer was why Crusher chose to not pursue a relationship with his father. ( PIC : " No Win Scenario ")

In 2401 , he was tracked by Vadic , which led to his rescue by Jean-Luc Picard. Afterwards, he was trapped on the USS Titan -A during the evolved changelings' attack and subsequent commandeering of the ship. Jack was confined to quarters when it was learned that the changelings were interested in dormant Borg biological components in his DNA. Jack was able to escape, stealing a shuttle in order to seek out the Borg Queen . Once he arrived at her location, he was captured and assimilated under her supervision. ( PIC : " Vox ")

Criminal record [ ]

He was known as a criminal and con artist in both Federation and non-Federation space , and was associated with the aliases based on his given initials, including Jack Canby , John Carson , James Cole , Jarlis Carvel , Jeff Croosh , and Juddah Crusser . ( PIC : " The Next Generation ", " Disengage ", " Imposters ")

Crusher was a wanted criminal on numerous Federation and non-Federation worlds under a number of his aliases. As Jack Canby, he was wanted on Risa and Betazed . As John Carson, he was wanted on Trill , Cardassia Prime , and Rigel IV . Using the alias James Cole, Crusher was wanted for fraud on Minas V , possession of unregistered liquors on Bajor , and possession of unregistered arms on Archer IV . He also faced charges under the alias Jarlis Carvel. Captain Liam Shaw would later note the name "Jarlis Carvel" was his personal favorite, sarcastically remarking, " That one took a lot of imagination . " ( PIC : " Disengage ")

Images of Crusher's various mugshot were utilized during his recovery by the crew of the USS Intrepid . The same images also appeared in Commander Ro Laren 's undercover research implicated as being compromised by suspected Changeling infiltration into Starfleet, as it was included in the data files hidden on her Bajoran earring , she had managed to get to Admiral Picard shortly before her death . ( PIC : " Imposters ")

Crusher was later incorrectly diagnosed with Irumodic Syndrome after he told his mother about the nightmares and delusions he saw during the day. ( PIC : " The Bounty ")

Jack as Vox

Võx was the designation given to Crusher by the Borg Queen . Prior to this choice, she had considered such names as " Regenerati " and " Puer Dei ". ( PIC : " Võx ")

However, after Picard linked with his son, he was able to reach Jack inside of Võx and Jack rejected his Borg identity just before the Borg cube was destroyed by the USS Enterprise -D . ( PIC : " The Last Generation ")

Starfleet career [ ]

Crusher was later placed in an accelerated program and within a year was commissioned with the rank of ensign , serving as the special counselor to Captain Seven of Nine on the USS Enterprise -G .

While in his quarters on the ship, Crusher was approached by Q who revealed that while the trial of Humanity was over for Picard, it had only just begun for his son. ( PIC : " The Last Generation ")

Key dates [ ]

• 2396 : Attempts to visit Jean-Luc Picard but fails to reveal himself
• Turn into a Borg drone briefly
• Joins Starfleet
• 2402 : Assigned to the USS Enterprise -G as special counselor to the captain.

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " The Next Generation "
• " Disengage "
• " Seventeen Seconds "
• " No Win Scenario "
• " Imposters "
• " The Bounty "
• " Dominion "
• " Surrender "
• " The Last Generation "

Background information [ ]

Jack Crusher was portrayed by English actor Ed Speleers .

In " No Win Scenario ", Crusher agrees with Picard's supposition that he was 23-24 years old. Given that he was conceived after the events of Star Trek Nemesis (set in 2379), he can be no more than 22 years of age. Dialog also established that Picard and co. had been out of touch with his mother for "over 20 years," suggesting that he was no younger than 19/20 years of age.

External link [ ]

• Jack Crusher at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 9 Review – Vox

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard finally gives us the answers we've been waiting for -- and a whole lot of feelings too.

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This Star Trek: Picard review contains spoilers.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 9

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard season 3 is an hour it feels like we’ve been waiting weeks to see. (Which, technically, I suppose we have, given how generally mediocre the last two episodes have been.) “Vox,” thankfully, seems to understand that there are two episodes left in this entire series and acts accordingly. The end result is an hour that may not be perfect from a narrative perspective, but that definitely hits all the right notes when it comes to the heart and emotion that have made this season of Picard such an improvement over the two that have come before it. 

After largely spinning its wheels through “Dominion” and “Surrender” , two mediocre installments notable only for the return of Deanna Troi and the successful merging of Data’s multiple personalities, the series’ sudden dash through a half dozen major plot points at once is certainly a welcome change, if only because it feels like things are finally happening again. In the course of an hour, we learn the truth of Jack’s secret history, lose a fan-favorite character, witness the return (again!) of Star Trek ’s all-time greatest villains, see the mysterious threat of an attack Frontier Day finally come to fruition, and watch our favorites head off together to save the day on the very ship we all fell in love with them on in the first place.

 If this is fan service, serve me forever, is what I’m saying. But, once again, the episode’s many Star Trek easter eggs , callbacks, and deep-cut references aren’t simply there to delight fans, although they surely do. They’re also relevant and necessary pieces of who these characters are and who they’ve become in the two decades since the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

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The return of the Borg was probably always the most natural place for this season (and Picard itself) to end. After all, they are Picard’s greatest nemesis and most crippling fear. There’s very little connective tissue between the three seasons of Picard , but the lingering trauma of Borg assimilation—for both Jean-Luc and Seven of Nine—has been one of the series’ few constants. It makes complete sense that this is the enemy Picard would have to face one last time, with the life of his child on the line. And, despite the fact that a lot of viewers had probably already guessed some portion of Jack’s heritage, the revelation still lands with plenty of emotional heft. After all, this is literally Picard’s worst nightmare and everything he’s ever been afraid of, all put into the body of the child who only just realized he had. That’s…a lot.

Granted, the revelation that Jack inherited organic Borg matter from his father would probably have been better served with a bit more time to breathe. Why Picard felt the need to drag this out for three episodes is indeed a mystery and I weep for the version of this season that told us who he really was back in “Dominion,” thereby allowing the story to dig into Picard’s complicated reaction for more than what felt like maybe ten minutes before his son literally ran away from him and the Borg attacked. It’s not hard to feel like that would have been a better story, even if it revealed the “twist” of the season’s true Big Bad a little bit earlier. 

Picard Season 3 Episode 9 Easter Eggs Deliver the True Return of ’90s Star Trek

Picard Season 3 Just Changed Enterprise and Star Trek: TNG Movie History

“Vox” also leaves plenty of questions unanswered and features several plot twists you’ll be a lot happier if you don’t think about too hard. Why are the Changelings working with the Borg in the first place? What does Jack have to do with any of this if they’ve already passed on their altered DNA to all of Starfleet’s youth? What, exactly, was Jack’s grand plan besides running straight to the Borg and surrendering immediately? Isn’t Agnes Jurati technically the Borg Queen now? And shouldn’t the events of Picard season 2 have made a whole lot of this Borg subplot impossible to begin with? Shrug emoji! Who knows! 

I realize I am part of the problem here, because, in truth, I’ve already accepted that Picard is likely never going to answer most (any?) of those questions, and I loved the crap out of this episode anyway. Primarily because it’s fully back on its nostalgia bullshit, and giving fans everything they wanted from this show in the first place: Our legacy favorites working together again to save the day against seemingly impossible odds, on a note-perfect recreation of the very set we first saw them take to the stars in. Yes, the reveal that Geordi’s been rebuilding the original The Next Generation Enterprise-D in what is essentially the Fleet Museum’s garage for the past two decades is kind of ridiculous on its face, but it’s also incredible , and my heart absolutely grew three sizes while everyone got emotional over the vintage carpet and antique weapons systems. Is this extended walk down memory lane the best use of everyone’s time while the Earth is under attack by a Borg-controlled Starfleet armada? Probably not. Do I care? Not even a little bit. 

With just one episode to go, there’s a lot of narrative ground to cover and we should probably accept that some of the specific plot questions we care about may not get answered satisfactorily. But if Picard Season 3 has taught me anything thus far, it’s that this outing still understands the emotional heart of these characters—and that’s what I really need from the conclusion of this story. Engage.

4.5 out of 5

Lacy Baugher

Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ turns a corner and jumps on the rollercoaster

When your narrative brakes come off, it’s hard not to be swept along..

The following article discusses Star Trek: Picard, Season Three, Episode 9, “Võx”

I’ve always found accusations that I hate Star Trek weird, since I make my love of Trek clear enough every time I write one of these reviews. Every time I watch a nü-Trek episode that I’m fortunate enough to do as part of my day job, I hope that I can genuinely talk about it with a sense of love. And so I am delighted to say “Võx” is the best episode of Star Trek: Picard ever made. It is not by any means perfect, but it’s such a leap from what’s gone before I’ve almost got whiplash.

One of the reasons that “Võx” pops is that Picard’s quality ceiling has been relentlessly low over the last three seasons. The other is that the narrative’s brakes are off, allowing events to move at something faster than a snail’s pace. If I was in a less-generous mood, I’d say a lot of this stuff could have happened earlier in the run to improve the overall pacing. One of the biggest issues I’ve had is the very visible stretching of a thin, mystery-box story over a studio-mandated ten-episode running order.

By comparison, this feels like the first free meal after two 500-calorie-only days on the 5:2 fast diet. You devour a 12-inch pizza and, since you’ve starved yourself for the last 48 hours, you feel you deserve to go out for tacos afterward. In this episode, we learn that Jack is, as Reddit clocked weeks back, the product of a union ‘twixt Dr. Crusher and Picard’s Borgified sperm. We also get a whopping retcon to the plot hole in First Contact , where Picard could hear the Borg and knew the location of the cube’s weak spot despite not being connected to the collective.

Jack decides to go off and tackle the Borg Queen (voiced by Alice Krige!) herself, while Geordi, Data and Beverley start examining the conspiracy. The Queen has already picked a Borgified name for Jack — Võx — to commence his Locutus-like transformation as part of the collective, too. The Borg and Changelings are working together – I’d love to see how that meeting went – to undermine the Federation. They’ve set up every transporter in the fleet to re-write the genetic code of the under ‘25s who pass through it, seeding them with Bio-Borg DNA. When Frontier Day happens, the collective activates its new army of drones, who also turn the newly-connected fleet into an armada.

Fleeing a Titan similarly overrun with Bio-Borgs, the TNG crew get into a shuttle while Seven and Raffi guard Shaw, who takes a phaser to the chest. He even gets a nice valediction, finally using Seven’s chosen name to put a button on his much-discussed arc. Not long after, we get the first laugh-out-loud-on-purpose moment in the series when Geordi asks Data to be more optimistic. There’s a simple, glorious pleasure in letting the endlessly-talented Brent Spiner show off his natural comedic flair in the midst of all this darkness.

The gang race back to the Fleet Museum where, again Reddit called this a month or more back, the Enterprise D has been quietly rebuilt in secret by Geordi. There’s some moments of winking at the camera as the production team head off the obvious questions. How? They pulled the saucer section from Veridian to avoid breaking the Prime Directive and cobbled together other parts from other Galaxy Class ships. Why not the E? Blame Worf, now shut up and watch with a smile plastered on your face as they sit in their old chairs. Hell, they’ve even got Majel Barrett Roddenberry’s voice for the Enterprise D computer.

We need to be careful here, because I’ve slammed this series time and again for its empty, paraphilic use of nostalgia . There are plenty of reasons why this makes no logical sense if you take the time to interrogate things. Maybe it’s because the episode moves at such a clip that there’s no time to overthink things before something else happens. Maybe it’s just the thrill of seeing these actors on this bridge, on this carpet , that the bulk of my critical thinking has been bypassed.

If I have concerns, it’s still about what Picard is trying to say . Relegating the cyberpunk elements of the Borg to make their assimilation more biological could be seen as an anti-vaccination screed. It’s hard to watch yet another TNG side character brutally die – Ro in “ Imposters ” and Admiral Elizabeth Shelby, captain of the new Enterprise F, taking two in the chest mere moments later here. There’s an argument that leaving Seven and Raffi on the Titan also sidelines the series’ two queer characters. And this subtextual mistrust of youth which was discussed a few episodes back has now been rendered very much part of Picard’s text.

But I will withhold my judgments about that until next week, when we see how those points are handled. For now, I’m going to bask in the very brief glow of my monitor, and how glorious it was when the lights on the Enterprise D bridge raised to old-school TV levels and we could actually see what was going on. The lights went up and so did the mood, and after all this time, it comes as sweet relief. Now, onward to the finale.

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Episode Preview | Star Trek: Picard - Võx

Get a sneak peek at this week's penultimate episode!

In the Star Trek: Picard Season 3 episode " Võx ," a devastating revelation about Jack alters the course of Picard’s life forever – and uncovers a truth that threatens every soul in the Federation. The final battle begins as Picard and his crew race to save the galaxy from annihilation – but not without a gut-wrenching cost.

In addition to streaming on Paramount+ , Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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How ‘star trek picard’ showrunner terry matalas captured the series finale’s most important scenes.

The writer-director talks the high stakes of the finale, the emotions that flowed on set, and his dreams of continuing the story with a new series.

By Phil Pirrello

Phil Pirrello

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[This story contains spoilers for Picard season three’s final episode.]

Star Trek Picard ’s third season finale takes the Next Generation crew back to where it all began — though showrunner Terry Matalas was too busy capturing its key scenes to take in the wonder of being on the bridge of the Enterprise-D nearly 30 years after TNG went off the air.

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During the heartstring-tugging climax, the Enterprise literally swoops in above Picard and Jack to save the day, and it was during post-production on the making of this cinematic moment where all the creative intentions and goals Matalas had hoped to achieve for season three coalesced into one frame. 

“I didn’t think we would pull it off,” Matalas tells The Hollywood Reporter. “But when the visual effects came in, and once Stephen Barton’s incredible score was added, seeing the Enterprise appear above the characters like that, that’s when I let myself consider the possibility that, ‘Hey, I think maybe we did it.’”

But getting to see the crew where they began, back on their Next Gen flagship – on a very expensive set for a brief amount of time – involved some logistic pressure. 

“The studio was all for it,” Matalas explains, “but it just came down to time and money. They were like: ‘You have to find a way to pay for it.’ But it was one of the first ideas I had; it was part of my initial pitch to Patrick. The appearance of the ship was part of the pitch to LeVar and to the rest of the cast, in that during the last two hours we would be on the Enterprise-D. So right from the moment that the season started, we were figuring out how to build that in time for the finale.”

Helping production designer Dave Blass and his crew ensure that the set would be completed on time were TNG veterans Michael and Denise Okuda. They and Blass’ team consulted the original TNG bridge’s blueprints to physically re-create the set. Once it was completed, there was very little time for anyone – including lifelong Trek fan Matalas – to bask in the glow of what would become a fan-favorite accomplishment. 

Also on Matalas’ mind was finding the best way to start the episode after episode nine, “Vox,” ended with the Enterprise warping off to once again save Earth. (Picard’s order in that scene – “Set a course for Earth, maximum warp” – is Matalas’ homage to the exact same line Stewart says in the 1996 feature Star Trek: First Contact ). “Last Generation” starts with the first few seconds of The Next Generation ’s famous opening title sequence: A brief flight through space, toward a bruise-colored streak of nebula, before a blinding star fills the frame with white. But the script originally had a different scene.

“What was scripted, actually, was to reprise the first shot of Picard from the TNG series premiere [‘Encounter at Farpoint’],” Matalas remembers. “It was going to be Picard walking up to the D’s observation lounge windows, stepping forward into the shot, and then we were going to transition from that to modern day Picard. But the cost of using that footage and up-resing it proved prohibitive. But I still wanted, by the time we were changing it all, to honor Next Gen . So we thought: ‘Well, what if we use that famous space shot from the titles, only we continue on with it and reveal the Enterprise?’ And it worked.”

“Initially, I wanted to have Walter on camera for that scene. We were going to see President Chekov on the viewscreen deliver that message,” Matalas says. Sadly, the production ran out of time for that. “But, later on, when we were in post, we agreed it would still be amazing and powerful to hear him.” 

Also powerful was seeing the Enterprise get its own “hero moment” on par with those of her crew: In order to rescue Picard and his son, Data pilots the Enterprise on a Death Star-esque trench run through the Borg cube’s vast, jagged interior. 

“That’s all CG. The ship looks like the model in some shots, especially like the smaller, more-detailed model [ TNG ] used after season three, but that’s a testament to our brilliant visual effects team led by Jason Zimmerman and Brian Tatosky.” 

The VFX team could not use ILM’s previous CG version of the Enterprise-D created for brief shots in 1994’s Star Trek: Generations feature film, so the production had to build a new one from scratch. While no models were used, the team did, however, get a chance to reference a physical piece of the Enterprise for their digital recreation: The saucer section model that famously crashes on the planet Veridian III in Generations. (Ironically, Geordi La Forge salvages that crashed saucer section for his friends’ “Last Generation” mission.)

“That was actually the most fun I had [shooting] on the bridge,” Matalas says. “Shooting Beverly at tactical, firing phasers, and seeing Geordi in the Captain’s chair, and Marina and Brent back at their usual stations – all of that was very exciting.”

It was another moment that proved stressful.

“Shooting the initial reunion, when they first walk on to the bridge, that I felt stressed. Because I knew if I had messed that up, it would have risked ruining it for fans,” says Matalas. “But that great emotional moment Marina has as Troi, when she can sense her husband is in danger, or Brent’s great performance asking the crew to trust his ‘gut’ for the first time – those were the moments that were most exciting for me.”

As exciting as the aforementioned action is, Matalas and his writing staff made sure the emotional drama was always fueling such scenes – never superseded by them. Especially a short but compelling beat aboard the soon-to-be-destroyed Borg cube, where Riker has a very “this is it” moment in the form of saying his goodbyes to his wife, Troi. It’s another powerful dramatic turn from Frakes this season, but according to Matalas, it was also a scene that the production raced the clock to get. 

Time and family – what we leave behind and how it shapes what lies ahead – are at the forefront of both “Last Generation” and season threeas a whole, with those thematic auspices culminating in one more final showdown between Picard and his nemesis, the Borg Queen. 

“It was always going to be the Borg Queen,” Matalas explains. “From the initial pitch, to the story break in the writers room, we had to have her because if the show is going to be about what you pass on, this idea of one’s legacy, then a key piece of Picard’s is the role she has had in it. And if we’re going to do a story about Picard as a father in that way, then it had to lead to the Borg Queen in another way, as in: ‘Hey, I’m a parent, a mother, too, aren’t I? I have a maternal stake in this as well.’ Only it’s one with an evil motivation to it. It’s also a generational story in that Jack is the key to the evolution of the Borg. Sort of an unintended consequence of what happened to Picard as Locutus.’”

As for what will happen to Picard, Jack, and the rest of the Enterprise crew in terms of more adventures featuring them on Paramount+ , that remains surprisingly ambiguous – especially given the critical and ratings success of Star Trek Picard season three. (Recently, Picard entered the Nielsen Top 10 Streaming Shows for the first time – a Trek first.)

“I am very, very grateful that the fans want to see more of this very special and talented cast – so do I. At the moment, Star Trek Legacy is just a pie-in-the-sky wish of mine. There is nothing like that in development, currently. But one day, I hope. It would be an amazing thing to do.”

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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.
• Connections Featured in Half in the Bag: Comic Con 2019, The Picard Trailer, Streaming Services, and Midsommar (2019)

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New photos from Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 “Face the Strange”

Star Trek: Discovery “Under the Twin Moons” Review: Clues among the moons

New photos from the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5

First Photo from Star Trek: Section 31 revealed, legacy character confirmed

New Star Trek: Discovery posters revealed ahead of final season premiere

Star Trek: Discovery “Mirrors” Review: Navigating Reflections

Star Trek: Discovery “Face the Strange” Review: Embarking on a Temporal Odyssey

Star Trek: Discovery “Jinaal” Review: One step forward, two steps back

Star Trek: Picard — Firewall Review: The Renaissance of Seven of Nine

From TNG to Enterprise, Star Trek VFX Maestro, Adam Howard, shares stories from his career

Strange New Worlds director Jordan Canning talks “Charades,” the versatility of the series & Star Trek fandom

‘Star Trek Online’ lead designer talks the game’s longevity, honoring the franchise, and seeing his work come to life in ‘Picard’

Gates McFadden talks Star Trek: Picard, reuniting with her TNG castmates, InvestiGates, and the Human Condition

Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating talk ‘Enterprise’, their relationship with Star Trek in 2023 and their first live ‘Shuttlepod Show’

57-Year Mission set to beam 160+ Star Trek guests down to Las Vegas

John Billingsley discusses what he’d want in a fifth season of Enterprise, playing Phlox and this weekend’s Trek Talks 2 event

Veteran Star Trek director David Livingston looks back on his legendary career ahead of Trek Talks 2 event

ReedPop’s Star Trek: Mission Seattle convention has been cancelled

56-Year Mission Preview: More than 130 Star Trek guests set to beam down to Las Vegas convention

New photos + video preview from Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 6 “Whistlespeak”

New photos + video preview from Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 5 “Mirrors”

2023: A banner year for Star Trek — here’s why [Op-Ed]

‘Making It So’ Review: Patrick Stewart’s journey from stage to starship

54-Disc Picard Legacy Collection, Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Complete Series Blu-ray box sets announced

Star Trek: Picard series finale “The Last Generation” Review: A perfect sendoff to an unforgettable crew

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives on Blu-ray, 4K UHD and DVD this December

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Hegemony” Review: An underwhelming end to the series’ sophomore season

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 finale “Hegemony” preview + new photos

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 209 “Subspace Rhapsody” Review: All systems stable… but why are we singing?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody” preview + new photos

Star Trek Day 2021 to Celebrate 55th Anniversary of the Franchise on September 8 with Live Panels and Reveals

Paramount+ Launches with 1-Month Free Trial, Streaming Every Star Trek Episode

Paramount+ to Officially Launch March 4, Taking Place of CBS All Access

STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS Season 2 Now Streaming For Free (in the U.S.)

[REVIEW] STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS “Children of Mars”: All Hands… Battle Stations

‘U.S.S. Cerritos Crew Handbook’ Review: A must-read Star Trek: Lower Decks fans

New photos from this week’s Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 finale

Star Trek: Lower Decks “The Inner Fight” Review: Lost stars and hidden battles

New photos from this week’s episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks

Star Trek: Prodigy begins streaming December 25th on Netflix

Star Trek: Prodigy lands at Netflix, season 2 coming in 2024

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 sneak peek reveals the surprise return of a Voyager castmember

Star Trek: Prodigy canceled, first season to be removed from Paramount+

Revisiting “Star Trek: Legacies – Captain to Captain” Retro Review

The Wrath of Khan – The Making of the Classic Film Review: A gem for your Star Trek reference collection

The events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture to continue in new IDW miniseries “Echoes”

Star Trek: The Original Series “Harm’s Way” Book Review

William Shatner’s New Book ‘Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder’ Review: More of a good thing

Star Trek: Infinite release date + details on Lower Decks­-themed pre-order bonuses

‘Star Trek: Infinite’ strategy game revealed, set to be released this fall

Hero Collector Revisits The Classics in New Starfleet Starships Essentials Collection

New Star Trek Docuseries ‘The Center Seat’ Announced, Coming This Fall

Star Trek Designing Starships: Deep Space Nine & Beyond Review: a Deep Dive Into Shuttlecraft of the Gamma Quadrant

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Illustrated Handbook Review: Terok Nor Deconstructed in Amazing Detail

Robert Beltran Is Officially Returning to Star Trek as Chakotay on ‘Prodigy’ + More Casting News

Robert Beltran Says He’s Returning to Star Trek in ‘Prodigy’

John Billingsley Talks Life Since Star Trek: Enterprise, Going to Space and Turning Down Lunch with Shatner and Nimoy

Star Trek: Enterprise Star John Billingsley Talks Charity Work, Upcoming TREK*Talks Event

Review: Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 5 “Mirrors”

Star Trek: Discovery picks up immediately where “ Face the Strange ” left off, as our protagonists track their quarry’s ship to a hidden, interdimensional pocket of space that holds a few surprises for them and the audience.

Thanks to some sciencing from Paul Stamets ( Anthony Rapp ) and Sylvia Tilly ( Mary Wiseman ), Captain Michael Burnham ( Sonequa Martin-Green ) has a way to find where Moll ( Eve Harlow ) and L’ak ( Elias Toufexis ) are. Apparently, there’s a wormhole hiding in plain sight near where Discovery lost track of the criminals’ warp signature.

This wormhole is too small for a Crossfield- class ship to fit through, so Burnham and Cleveland Booker ( David Ajala ) – the latter of whom is on a mission to rehabilitate Moll, if possible – take a shuttle and see what’s on the other side of the wormhole’s aperture. Find a surprise, they do indeed, as the I.S.S. Enterprise , the evil version of the heroic Starfleet ship, is nestled in the wormhole – albeit without its crew, which apparently evacuated the vessel at some point. It’s beaten to hell and serves as a refuge for Moll and L’ak, whose own ship was destroyed by the interdimensional pocket of space’s destructive environment.

Discovery writers sure can be sneaky! They’ve been foreshadowing the appearance of a Constitution­ -class for the last two episodes; remember when Gen Rhys ( Patrick Kwok-Choon ) and Commander Rayner ( Callum Keith Rennie ) both remarked the Connie was their favorite ship? As we’ll see, this isn’t the last bit of foreshadowing that comes true in this episode.

“How did it end up in interdimensional space?” “I don’t know. Must be one hell of a story.” – Book and Burnham upon seeing the I.S.S. Enterprise

Astute viewers will recognize an often-used cost-saving measure in the annals of Star Trek history: the reuse of sets from another concurrent show. (Seriously, rewatch TNG , DS9 , and Voyager and you’ll be surprised how often props and sets are reused between those shows.) As Burnham and Book explore various halls and rooms, including the bridge and sickbay, the familiar surroundings seen in Strange New Worlds are subtly transformed by Mirror Universe iconography. While nods to the iconic starship Enterprise are always appreciated, our initial reaction to this surprise location—admittedly tinged with pessimism—is that it’s of course it’s the Enterprise . A practical move, perhaps, to keep expenses in check. By Grabthar’s hammer… what a savings.

Finding the ship deserted sure is strange, and Burnham and Book ascertain Moll and L’ak are in sickbay, presumably with the next clue in the Progenitor puzzle. But first, the pair check out the transporter room, which holds some strange items, such as blankets, children’s toys, and a locket that holds a picture of two people, which Burnham inexplicably decides to take with her. Moreover, the dedication plaque of the I.S.S Enterprise tells the story of the ship and its crew: the Terran Universe emperor seemingly tried to make changes to the way things were done in that evil universe, and the Enterprise escaped and picked up refugees who were trying to flee the Terran Universe and enter the Prime Universe.

One of the leaders among those on the Enterprise was a Kelpien, who Burnham deduces must have been the Mirror Universe version of Saru, and that the crew must have fled the Enterprise once it got stuck in the interdimensional pocket of space. Is it just us, or does this sound like a potential episode of Strange New Worlds ?

Burnham, Book, Moll, and L’ak face off in sickbay, where Burnham makes a startling connection between L’ak and a particular dilemma he is facing. The criminal pair hope to use the Progenitor treasure to clear L’ak’s Breen blood bounty. Yes, L’ak is Breen, that enigmatic and masked species from Deep Space Nine . Neato!

The rest of the episode bounces between what’s happening on the Enterprise , and flashing back to how Moll and L’ak first met and became romantically involved. Moll, the courier, would do business on the Breen space station on which L’ak, a member of a royal Breen family, was posted. The two connected over L’ak’s recent demotion and efforts to fight the embarrassment that came with it.

Over some time, the two became nearly inseparable, and L’ak even took the bold step with Moll by showing her his face – a big deal in Breen culture, as keeping their masks on allows them to retain their true, semi-transparent form, and not the solidified appearance we’ve seen on L’ak. Their relationship is tested when L’ak’s superior (and uncle), Primarch Ruhn ( Tony Nappo ) decides to interrupt their courtship. L’ak doesn’t take kindly to being asked to kill Moll, so the Breen turns on his own people, earns a Breen blood bounty, and flees with Moll. The pair now share a goal: earn enough latinum to retire on an (unnamed) fabled planet somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant, free from the trials and hardships of the courier life.

Suffice it to say, “Mirrors” is most memorable because it casts a welcome light on the shadowed backstory of this season’s main villains. Moll and L’ak are now a relatable pair, star-crossed lovers who are hell-bent on earning themselves a happy ending. As much as we don’t want to see the Progenitors’ tech get into the wrong hands, who now doesn’t want to see everything work out for Moll and L’ak?

Anyway, the quartet still need to get off the Enterprise , but the shuttle on which Burnham and Book arrived is destroyed by the turbulent pocket of space. With mere minutes to spare before the Enterprise is destroyed by the wormhole’s tiny aperture, Book and Moll share some last-minute words about their shared relationship with the late Cleveland Booker, and how Book hopes Moll makes the right choices regarding her quest for the Progenitor tech. Burnham, meanwhile, engages in a melee with L’ak, and the Breen ends up injured and inadvertently relinquishes control to Burnham of the next map piece in the Progenitor puzzle. The courier and disgraced Breen end up escaping the ship in a convenient Terran warp pod, leaving the chase between our heroes and enemies for another day.

“If we hit it precisely with a sequential hexagonal pattern, it should stay open for approximately sixty seconds. But once it collapses, it’s gone for good.” “Why hexagonal?” “Doesn’t matter… it’ll work.” – Adira ( Blu del Barrio ), Rayner, and Stamets as the crew finds a way to get the wormhole aperture bigger. We think this line from Stamets is reflective of the evolving working relationship between the results-orientated Rayner and the crew, and how this relationship is getting better the longer Rayner is first officer.

Burnham devises a novel way to signal her first officer for help in getting the Enterprise through the aperture: a pulsing tractor beam emitting from the Enterprise , shot through the wormhole’s opening, in a numerical sequence featured in a famous play from Kellerun culture. Rayner is then able to lead his crew to devise a way to pull the Enterprise into normal space.

The sequence where Rayner is faced with command of a ship tasked with the near-impossible rescue of his captain is the best of the episode. It’s no secret Rayner was knocked down a few pegs after his demotion and reassignment to Discovery , but that lack of confidence and inner angst is demolished thanks to Rayner listening and working with his bridge crew to save the Enterprise . Plenty of lesser-known bridge officers get a say in how Discovery could help the Mirror ship, and lightning-fast decision-making shows Rayner back on his game.

The last element to note about this episode is some emotional trouble Doctor Hugh Culber ( Wilson Cruz ) is having. Tilly provides an outlet for this angst. Culber explains the experiences he’s had in the last few years – namely dying, coming back to life, and being a Trill host – really put into perspective the intellectual journey he is on in the face of the Progenitor’s quest. Tilly helps him realize he isn’t only experiencing an intellectual quest, but a spiritual one. This conversation is just another instance of Discovery setting up some wild expectations for what the crew might ultimately discover at the end of the season – something beyond the bounds of science, perhaps?

Even though their prey gets away again, Burnham and her crew have the next clue in the Progenitor puzzle, and it is hiding in the I.S.S. Enterprise ’s sickbay. Hidden in the map piece Burnham grabbed from L’ak is a vial, which Stamets will analyze soon. Burnham learns the crew who escaped from the I.S.S. Enterprise ended up in the Prime Universe and were able to start new lives. A Terran scientist aboard the Enterprise , Dr. Cho, ended up being a branch admiral, and we’re meant to assume she was one of the scientists on Dr. Vellek’s team hundreds of years ago as they studied the Progenitor tech. Dr. Cho then hid her piece of the Progenitor puzzle aboard her old ship as a symbolic gesture of her ability to find freedom in a new universe.

Discovery continues its final season with another thumbs-up episode that serves an important lore-building role in the franchise. Seeing the Breen again is a joy, especially since we were staring at one the whole time and never knew it. And how striking was that Breen space station where L’ak was based? Another important note for Star Trek historians is that now the Mirror Universe Enterprise is in the 32 nd century, and stationed near Earth thanks to Joann Owosekun and Keyla Detmer piloting the ship back to Federation space. Will we see that ship again this season?

As the Progenitor puzzle deepens, so do the emotional stakes for our crew, exemplified by Culber’s introspective journey, the subtle reignition of Book and Burnham’s relationship, and Rayner’s triumphant return to leadership. We’re now at the halfway point in this season, so there’s still plenty of time for surprises, emotional consequences, and expectation-setting for this eagerly awaited treasure.  

Stray Thoughts:

• Hopefully, you’re watching this episode with subtitles on, because goodness is it hard to hear what masked Breen says.
• The Mirror Universe version of the U.S.S. Enterprise was last seen in the Original Series episode “Mirror, Mirror,” albeit this wasn’t the Strange New Worlds version of the ship. Likewise, the Terran version of Spock, whom Booker asks if Burnham ever met, was in that same episode.
• How did Adira conclude they were the one who brought the time bug aboard Discovery ?
• Why didn’t Burnham and Book try talking down Moll and L’ak before diving into the room with the holo-projected doubles?

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream Thursdays on Paramount+ , this season stars Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker), Blu del Barrio (Adira) and Callum Keith Rennie (Rayner). Season five also features recurring guest stars Elias Toufexis (L’ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Prodigy , Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Lower Decks , and more.

You can follow us on X , Facebook , and Instagram .

Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

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Screen Rant

2-hour star trek is “on the table”, says jonathan frakes & what this means for picard’s legacy spinoff.

Star Trek: Section 31 will be the first Star Trek movie made for Paramount+, and Jonathan Frakes thinks it could usher in more streaming movies.

• Star Trek is considering a 2-hour movie format for future projects, potentially exploring canceled series like Star Trek: Legacy.
• Jonathan Frakes suggests positive energy around the Section 31 movie opens up possibilities for more 2-hour Star Trek projects.
• Fans hope for a Star Trek: Legacy spinoff, but a potential streaming movie may have limitations in fully exploring its potential.

Jonathan Frakes suggests that the 2-hour format for Star Trek on Paramount+ is now "on the table", but could this mean Star Trek: Picard ' s proposed spinoff, Star Trek: Legacy, might become a 2-hour streaming movie? Star Trek: Picard season 3 was a huge success both critically and with audiences for reuniting and wrapping up the stories of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast while setting up an exciting future for the USS Enterprise-G led by Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), However, despite passionate fan demand, there is no greenlight for Star Trek: Legacy from Paramount+.

Star Trek is in another transition period following its 2022 apex of five Star Trek shows streaming on Paramount+ . Star Trek: Picard ended with season 3 in 2023, and 2024 will mark the final seasons of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Star Trek: Prodigy moved to Netflix after a groundswell of fan support saved the beloved CGI animated series. The good news is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds received an early season 4 renewal, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is scheduled to start filming in late 2024. In the midst of all of this is an X-factor: Star Trek: Section 31 , the first Star Trek movie made for streaming on Paramount+ that recently finished filming.

Every Upcoming Star Trek Movie & TV Show

Jonathan frakes says section 31 put 2-hour star trek on the table, there's a lot of positive buzz around star trek: section 31.

Jonathan Frakes appeared on TrekMovie 's All Access Star Trek podcast to promote Trek Against Pancreatic Cancer's fundraiser and walk at PanCAN PurpleStride on April 27th, along with Armin Shimerman, Kitty Swink, and Juan Carlos Coto. When talk turned to Star Trek: Lower Decks ending with season 5 and whether it could be revived the way Star Trek: Prodigy got a new lease on life on Netflix, Frakes suggested that the potential success of Star Trek: Section 31 could lead to more Star Trek projects with a 2-hour format. Read Frakes quote below:

I do know that there’s a lot of positive energy around the Michelle Yeoh Section 31 movie. So that 2-hour format is now on the table for Star Trek going forward.

Star Trek is no stranger to a 2-hour format after 13 theatrical Star Trek movies since 1979, and many 2-hour episodes of the various Star Trek series. Star Trek: Section 31 , which is headlined by Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh, already has talk of a sequel. Hopefully, Section 31 will be the first of a series of Star Trek movies or event mini-series made for streaming on Paramount+. Potentially, this means canceled Star Trek on Paramount+ series and characters can be explored further in 2-hour streaming movies, which can be relatively less expensive to produce than a full-blown 10-episode-per-season Star Trek series.

You can listen to and download the excellent episode of TrekMovie 's All Access Star Trek Podcast here .

Will Picard’s Legacy Spinoff Become A Star Trek Streaming Movie?

Better a star trek: legacy movie than no spinoff at all.

Variety 's recent cover story about the future of the Star Trek franchise indicated that Star Trek: Legacy is being considered as a 2-hour streaming movie rather than a 10-episode series, and Jonathan Frakes agreed this was a possibility during TrekMovie 's All Access Star Trek podcast. Frakes confirmed that "of course" Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas has spoken with him about Star Trek: Legacy , although Jonathan doesn't think he would be asked to direct it if it happens. Frakes predicted Matalas would simply "hire himself," as Terry wrote and directed Star Trek: Picard season 3's acclaimed finale episodes "Vox" and "The Last Generation."

Jonathan Frakes would like to play Admiral Will Riker in Star Trek: Legacy and be the "Charlie" of Charlie's Angels who gives Captain Seven of Nine and the USS Enterprise-G their marching orders.

Fans hope Star Trek: Legacy will still happen, although a 2-hour movie instead of a multi-season TV series would be a disappointment for many . A Star Trek: Legacy s treaming movie would mean there wouldn't be time to fully explore the vast potential of 25th-century Star Trek . However, with multiple factors such as the possible sale of Paramount+ and the reduction of Star Trek content creating uncertainty towards the future, a Star Trek: Legacy streaming movie is better than Star Trek: Picard' s spinoff not happening at all,

Source: TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek podcast

Star Trek TV shows and movies are streaming on Paramount+

Star Trek: Prodigy is streaming on Netflix.

The first 10 Star Trek movies are streaming on Max.

Star Trek: Section 31

Star Trek's Writers Didn't Invent The Borg Queen – A Paramount Executive Did

When the Borg were first introduced on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (in the 1989 episode "Q Who"), they were terrifying. Clearly inspired by the works of H.R. Giger, the Borg sported tubes, servos, wires, and ineffable black machinery sprouting from their bodies. The Borg were made up of other species that had been kidnapped and assimilated into their collective, their minds wiped and replaced with a singular, terrifying machine consciousness. The Borg traversed space in outsized cube-shaped vessels, likewise crisscrossed with wires and ducts. They only had one goal: to grow. As Q (John de Lancie) described them, the Borg are the ultimate users. They look out at the universe and emotionlessly see nothing but raw materials to expand with.

The Borg returned periodically throughout "Next Generation," becoming one of the show's more impressive antagonists. The race of soulless machine people proved to be a great villain.

Naturally, when "Next Generation" moved into feature films, the Borg had to return. Jonathan Frakes' 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact" featured the Borg traveling back in time to a vulnerable moment of Earth's history, hoping to alter events in their favor. In the past, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise discovered a new Borg wrinkle: they didn't have a group consciousness but were ruled by a sweaty, malevolent, emotional Queen (Alice Krige). Giving the Borg a "boss monster" was a silly twist that has, unfortunately, become a key part of "Star Trek" lore.

In the oral history book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams," edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, "First Contact" co-writer Brannon Braga revealed that the Borg Queen was invented by a Paramount executive named Jonathan Dolgen ... who thought the Borg were boring.

To elucidate: "Star Trek: First Contact" is about a Borg attack on Earth that is cut short by the tactical savvy of Starfleet and the Enterprise-E. Just before their ship is destroyed, the Borg send a small spherical vessel through a mysterious time portal. The Enterprise pursues, getting caught briefly in a "time wake" and for a moment see that history has been altered. The Earth's population is now nine billion Borgs. The Enterprise goes back to the year 2063 to prevent their timeline alteration.

Audiences finally meet the Borg Queen a third of the way into the film. Unlike the other Borgs, the Queen is individualistic, sexual, and emotional and claims to speak for the Borg. Uncharacteristically, she states very specific goals. She was a fun, slinky, terrifying movie monster, but she made the Borg less threatening; the previously single-minded cyborgs now had a leader one could negotiate with.

Which is how Dolgen wanted it. The exec said that the Borg were dull, amounting to little more than robot zombies. They needed a voice. Screenwriter Brannon Braga hastened to come up with a "fix." Braga recalled: 

"We did a substantial rewrite. Also, it was Jonathan Dolgen at the time who ran Paramount, the biggest cheese there was, and he was also a ravenous 'Star Trek' fan. Rick and I used to go into his office for meetings all the time, and he would say, 'Oh, I really like this episode and that episode.' I think he was the one who said the Borg are boring. They're just zombies, you need a voice. We thought, 'S***, okay, it's like a hive. Like a bee colony. Let's make a queen,' and it was probably the best invention we could have possibly come up with." 

A hive? Sure.

Assimilate this

Turning the Borg into a hive made the villains a lot less interesting. Instead of being an unreasonable machine intelligence, there was now a hierarchy on board a Borg ship, with a "captain" calling the shots and the "drones" taking orders. And if the Queen was sexual and emotional, she was suddenly prone to trickery and manipulation herself. Indeed, in the climax of "First Contact," Data (Brent Spiner) hoodwinks the Borg Queen; she is emotionally distracted enough to let Data (Brent Spiner) re-aim the ship's torpedos.

But Braga was just following orders from Paramount, and a Borg Queen was his most elegant solution. At least the change was demanded by a Trekkie with his own vision of the franchise, and not an ignorant moneyman looking for toyetic images.

Early in the scriptwriting process, it seemed that Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) was to be the hero. Braga realized that Picard should be the one to face off against the Borg again, saying:

"I don't think anyone realized by shuffling Picard and Riker around it would change things so monumentally, but I'm glad it did. Because it was the next movie, and it had been two years since you had last seen Picard, you kind of wanted to do big things with him. You wanted to have him fall in love and take a woman with him at the end. Actually, it was a good instinct on Patrick's part, because you want to see these characters in new situations. But this is an action movie. A romance? What a stupid idea. In the rewrite, the Borg meets the captain and he's our action hero."

"First Contact," despite its action film trappings , was a big hit, and is often considered the best of the "NextGen" movies. A Hive it is.