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Whatever Happened To Jennifer Hetrick, ‘Vash’ From Star Trek: The Next Generation?

By Nick Lee | September 6, 2023

In the vast cosmos of the Star Trek universe, many characters have come and gone, leaving indelible marks on the hearts of Trekkies worldwide.

Among these iconic figures stands Vash, portrayed by the talented Jennifer Hetrick. With her fiery spirit and adventurous nature, Vash quickly became a fan favorite, especially for her intriguing relationship with Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

But as the years have passed, one question lingers in the minds of many: Whatever happened to Jennifer Hetrick after her Star Trek days?

Join us as we embark on a journey through time and space, unraveling the mysteries surrounding the life and career of this beloved actress.

Acting Career

Squeeze play.

Hetrick’s first film role marked the beginning of her acting career with 1979’s Squeeze Play!, a comedy directed by Lloyd Kaufman. The story revolves around a group of women who, after becoming frustrated with their boyfriends who prioritize sports over romance, decide to create a softball team of their own and challenge them to a game.

The film received universally negative reviews.

In 1989, Hetrick landed a main cast role on NBC’s crime drama Unsub, a portmanteau of “unknown” and “subject.” She played Ann Madison, member of an elite FBI forensic team, for all 8 episodes of the show’s run. It was unfortunately canceled after only one season.

Following her stint on Unsub, Hetrick continued on to feature as a recurring character on NBC’s legal drama L.A. Law between 1989 and 1991. Her character, Corinne Hammond Becker, appeared in 14 episodes during a storyline that involved a divorce proceeding, and she disappeared after the plot concluded.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

In 1990, Hetrick would play Vash, a human archeologist known for shady business dealings and selling of priceless artifacts for profit, on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Picard is initially unaware of her duplicitous nature during Vash’s premiere episode, “Captain’s Holiday”, and so the two enjoy a romance while Vash simultaneously uses Picard to push her own hidden agenda.

Although the two part ways, they meet again in 1991 episode “Qpid” when the seemingly omnipotent alien entity Q places them in a Robinhood fantasy together. Q then tasks a Robinhood-donned Picard to rescue Vash’s Maid Marien before she faces certain doom. 

When Picard succeeds in his rescue, the two rekindle their romance once more before Vash chooses to join Q in his travels through the universe. This is the last we see of Vash on The Next Generation.

Fans generally did not care for Vash’s character and felt Picard, a self-identified morally upright man, should have comported himself with more dignity than to fall for the wiles of a charmer and thief. However, Hetrick was kindling a real-life romance with Picard actor Patrick Stewart, and the two were engaged at the time “Qpid” was filmed.

Just as with Picard and Vash, Hetrick and Stewart parted ways before long. The engagement did not conclude in a marriage.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

In 1993, Hetrick made an appearance in season one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, reprising her role as Vash. The episode brings Vash aboard the titular space station to reveal that her partnership with Q has dissolved. However, Q appears before long in an attempt to woo her back.

What ensues is a competition for Vash’s attention between Q, Dr. Bashir, and Quark. Whereas Q and Bashir wish for the pleasure of her company, Quark recognizes her undeniable charm and proficiency for selling priceless goods.

At the end of the episode, Quark convinces Vash to continue with her business using Quark as a partner and financial backer for her operation. Vash agrees to the terms, but is never seen on-screen again.

Bodies of Evidence

Between 1992 and 1993, Hetrick portrayed Bonnie Caroll, wife of main character Lieutenant Ben Carroll, on the CBS police drama series Bodies of Evidence alongside Lee Horsely, George Clooney, and Kate McNeil.

Hetrick appeared on 4 of the series’ 16 total episodes. It was canceled after two seasons.

The X-Files

In 1996, Hetrick appeared on an episode of The X-Files as Sharon Skinner, wife of assistant FBI director Walter Skinner, in an episode entitled “Avatar”. During the episode, she serves Walter with divorce papers leading to him having a one night stand with a stranger. When the stranger winds up dead in the morning, Scully and Mulder investigate the unusual circumstances.

Hetrick appears in various scenes in the episode. While her character survives the episode, including a car crash that lands her in a coma, she is never seen on the show again.

In 1995, Hetrick played Caroline Fontaine on an episode of Sliders called “Last Days”. Hetrick would appear on the show once more in 2000, but as a separate character entirely. Her second appearance was as Claire LeBeau in an episode entitled “The Seer”.

Other TV Appearances

Hetrick went on to appear on numerous TV shows including Alias, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Cold Case, Prison Break, 24, and Raising the Bar.

What is Jennifer Hetrick doing now?

Jennifer Hetrick remains an actress, although her last appearance was in 2018 on an episode of CBS medical drama Code Black. Hetrick has returned to filming TV commercials as well, including a 2018 ad for Prolia alongside Blythe Danner.

In recent years, Hetrick has taken a step back from mainstream Hollywood, focusing on smaller projects and personal pursuits. She’s been involved in community theater and has also explored other artistic avenues, including writing.

Relationships and Family Life

While Jennifer Hetrick’s romance with actor Patrick Stewart fizzled before tying the knot, Hetrick went on and married someone else. However, she has not shared details of her husband, including his name or occupation.

The two have one child– a daughter named Lilly.

Related Posts:

About Nick Lee

Nick is a Senior Staff Writer for Ned Hardy. Some of his favorite subjects include sci-fi, history, and obscure facts about 90's television. When he's not writing, he's probably wondering how Frank Dux got 52 consecutive knockouts in a single tournament. More from Nick

Jennifer Hetrick

IMDbPro Starmeter See rank

• Contact info

• 1990–1991 • 2 eps

• 1993 • 1 ep

• Mrs. Berlinger
• 2018 • 1 ep

• Corrinne Hammond
• Corrinne Hammond Becker
• 1989–1991 • 14 eps

• Elf Holly (voice)

• Whitney's Mom

• Susanne Dupois

• Prion Variant #5

• Sarah (uncredited)

• Elaine Baker

• Lana Wilkes '08

• Dr. Donna Dunlap

• Elizabeth Maerd

• Mary Wilkinson

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• Senator Diane Lewis

• Cynthia Massey

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Personal details

• Jenni Hetrick
• 5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
• Westerville, Ohio, USA
• Children Lilly
• Other works TV commercial: 10-10-220 Long Distance Service
• 3 Interviews
• 1 Pictorial

Did you know

• Trivia Has an action figure made in her likeness. It is modeled after her recurring character of Vash on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) .

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Star Trek: Picard Finale Ending Explained

Do you need to take a deep breath and sip a cup of Earl Grey to sort all of this out? Here’s the breakdown of the Star Trek: Picard season finale.

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Warning: This Star Trek: Picard article contains MAJOR spoilers through the Season 1 finale.

When the La Sirena warps into the great unknown at the end of “Et in Arcadia Ego Part 2” , you could make a strong case that Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard needs a new title. Though the first season of Picard certainly told the tale of how Jean-Luc got caffeine back in his Earl Grey mojo, it also, for the first time, took a very detailed look at the story of how a crew in the Final Frontier comes together. But what does the ending of the Picard Season 1 finale mean?

Put on your La Sirena seatbelt, and put down the snakeweed pipe, let’s assimilate the biggest moments from the season 1 finale of Star Trek: Picard , before we deactivate this simulation in favor of another one. Engage!

Like Will Riker cooking a pizza, let’s start with dough, and work our way up to the delicious (and alien) toppings…

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The Zhat Vash and the Romulans were defeated, but not destroyed ?

In classic Star Trek fashion, the enemy isn’t defeated by a giant explosion. After proving that the Synth planet is under the protection of the Federation, Riker, Picard and Soji are able to convince the Romulans to pack up and go home. But why? Wasn’t Commodore/General Oh so fanatical that she would do anything to destroy the “nest” of Synths on the planet below?

Well, it turns out, interstellar laws are a bigger deal than we thought. Picard sent a message in the previous episode, which gave Riker proof that the planet is retroactively under Federation control. This means, legally, the Romulans can’t destroy it without going through the Federation first. Although Oh initially thinks about ignoring this, and briefly orders her ships to fight, she changes her mind, and eventually, after Soji destroys the beacon, takes her fleet and goes home.

On some level, this echoes what Narissa said in “Nepenthe” — she wasn’t able to kill Hugh unless the treaty had been violated. The Zhat Vash might disregard borders and laws in the pursuit of their anti-robot crusade, but it seems the Romulan government as a whole isn’t going to be too reckless. None of this is weird. Unlike the Klingons, the Romulans don’t want an open war, they want power. And as countless TNG episodes proved (like “The Enemy”), they also know when it’s a good time to call it a day.

What happened to Narek?

Notably, the episode ends with two of the three big Romulan baddies still alive. In fact, we have to assume that Narek must have been beamed back up by the Romulans before they warped out. Otherwise, he’s still down there chilling in what Raffi so perfectly calls “Synth-ville.” That said, Narek is shifty, and also called himself a “Zhat Vash wash-out,” meaning, the other Romulans might not be people he actually wants to be around right now. Will we see him again? For Soji’s sake, let’s hope not.

What about the Ex-Bs?

At the end of the episode, we see Seven of Nine seemingly joining the crew of the La Sirena . But what about all her Borg friends on the planet below? It’s not entirely clear, but it seems like a decent amount of time passes between the moment Picard gets his new android body and the very end of the episode. In other words, it’s not like Picard got the new android body, deactivated Data’s program, and then rounded up the crew and got back on the La Sirena in like the same day. There’s an implied passage of time here, which also helps to explain Seven and Raffi’s budding romance. Presumably, everyone (including Rios and Jurati) have had time to get a little cozier.

So. We’ve got a gap here. Maybe a month. Maybe a few weeks. It seems reasonable that in that time, someone from the Federation-backed Borg reclamation project showed-up to help out the Ex-Bs. Who knows? Maybe they’ll end up sharing that planet with the Synths! It’s big enough! 

You could argue that Seven is a bad Borg mama for leaving the Ex-Bs behind, but from a legal standpoint, she’s not part of the Borg Reclamation project, nor does she really want to be. If the Ex-Bs were in good (legal) hands it seems feasible and reasonable that Seven would take off.

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Why did Data die? Why was Data alive?

In many ways, after Picard dies, and finds himself in the  “massively complex quantum simulation” with Data, the episode becomes, in part, a direct sequel to Star Trek: Nemesis . At the end of that movie, after Data was destroyed in the explosion that took out Tom Hardy’s evil space ship, we learned Data downloaded his memories into B-4, his slightly less smart android brother.

In the first episode of Picard — “Remembrance” — Jurati tells us that B-4 eventually stopped working. But, in that same episode, she also explains that Data’s “mind” could have been reformed from a single neuron. So, this is exactly what happened: Bruce Maddox took a neuron out of B-4’s robot brain, and used it to create the “massively complex quantum simulation.” 

Basically, Data’s brain has been living in a kind of android version of The Matrix , which is obviously, slightly depressing.

What about those Uber-Synths?

The huge coalition of all-powerful Synths never actually makes it out of their weird vortex, but we did get a glimpse at mechanical, snake-like creates ready to destroy everything. In theory, the idea of super-advanced A.I. has been lurking around in Star Trek for a long time. Nomad merged with some kind of advanced A.I. in “The Changeling,” whie V’Ger was a massively intelligent A.I. cloud that co-opted an old Earth probe. And of course, Discovery introduced Control, a hugely intelligent A.I., which, at one point, was fated to destroy the future. Control can, of course, travel through time and has an antipathy toward the Federation in specific. 

Could the Uber-Synths return in Picard Season 2 ? In Discovery Season 3 ? It doesn’t seem likely, but then again, like Zhat Vash, they weren’t actually destroyed, just sent back to their space lair. Soji and Sutra were able to build a beacon, meaning somebody else could, right?

Picard is a Synth now. What next?

Obviously, the biggest change to the mythos of Star Trek is that after this episode, Jean-Luc Picard is now a synthetic lifeform. Granted, he’s a pretty specific variety, complete with a homeostasis program that will allow him to “age” and, eventually, “die” a “natural” death. Back in the day, Picard only had an artificial heart, now he is literally more machine than man, but unlike a creepy cyborg plotline, this is good news.

In some senses, nothing has actually changed. Picard’s android resurrection is merely a complicated Star Trek version of a glow-up. He doesn’t have his pesky brain abnormality threatening to kill him at any moment, but other than that, he’s pretty much the same person he always was. The question is — who is he going to tell? The end of the episode seems to indicate that Jean-Luc is proud of the fact he’s  a Synth, like Soji, but who knows? Could this get tricky if he tries to work with Starfleet again?

La Sirena crew—assemble!

It’s not clear what the mission of the new crew will be, but after ten long episodes, everyone is actually all in the same spot. More than any other Star Trek before, this means that whatever happens to this crew next is wide open . They aren’t part of Starfleet, they don’t have specific rules they have to follow. They can literally do anything and boldly go, where no motley crew has gone before.

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

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Star Trek: Picard recap: A new mission begins

Having learned about the existence of a synthetic created from his late friend Data, Jean-Luc Picard looks to get himself reinstated by Starfleet for one last mission to the stars in this week’s Star Trek: Picard — a task complicated by both his own troubled history with the organization, as well as more nefarious forces at play.

“Maps and Legends” opens with a flashback to 14 years before Picard ’s main action. It’s First Contact Day on Mars circa 2385, and at the Utopia Planitia Shipyards, a group of human workers joke around with F-8 (Alex Diehl), one of the many bald-headed synthetics that help man the station. “Dude creeps me out,” says a female staffer about F-8, and though she shortly assures a colleague that “you can’t offend them — they’re not people,” that doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous. Without warning, F-8’s eyes go wonky — as if another entity has taken control of him — and he begins messing with the computer system, causing satellites overhead to turn toward Mars and allowing invading ships to enter the atmosphere and fire on the shipyards. F-8 kills everyone who tries to stop him, and once his mission is complete, he blows his own robotic brains out.

Having now depicted the Mars calamity that led to the intergalactic ban on synthetics (referenced in the premiere ), the series returns to Château Picard, where Picard, Laris, and Zhaban watch video of Dahj’s demise — footage from which Dahj and the Romulan “death squad” have, mysteriously, been erased. Laris deduces this cover-up could only be the work of the Zhat Vash, a cabal of deep-state “boogeyman” that reside within the Romulans’ Tal Shiar secret police. According to Laris, the Zhat Vash’s sole purpose is to keep “a secret so profound and terrible, just learning it would break a person’s mind.”

To investigate further, Picard and Laris beam to Dahj’s apartment and use tech to watch a holographic recreation of the night she was attacked and her boyfriend was killed. Unfortunately, that footage has also been scrubbed. Laris asks Picard if he ever noticed that there’s a complete absence of artificial life in Romulan culture, thereby prodding him into realizing that the Zhat Vash have “a hate and fear and pure loathing for every form of synthetic life” – and that their secret must be related to this anti-synthetic sentiment. Further computer analysis leads to the revelation that Soji called Dahj multiple times from somewhere other than Earth.

In space, Narek and Soji are enjoying post-sex pillow-talk. Narek is surprised that Soji finds the Borg Cube “beautiful.” She corrects him by saying it’s an “Artifact” because “a Borg Cube is mighty and omnipotent [and] the Artifact is lost, severed from the collective, broken, vulnerable.” Narek teases her about being a subversive and then confesses that, like most Romulans, he’s “a very private person.” It’s clear from their talk that the Romulans are looking to extract intel from the Artifact and its dead Borg inhabitants, and that Narek isn’t necessarily who he claims to be.

Back at his French vineyard, Picard is visited by Dr. Moritz Benayoun (David Paymer), who references their earlier adventures together aboard Picard’s first ship, the Stargazer. Benayoun reports that “for a relic, you’re in excellent shape.” It’s not all good news on the medical front, however; Picard does have some parietal lobe abnormality, and while further tests are required, the prognosis is that they’ll eventually kill him. Given this bombshell, and hearing that Picard seeks clearance for an upcoming mission, Benayoun asks him, “You really want to go back out into the cold? Knowing?” Picard resolutely responds, “More than ever. Knowing.”

Picard beams to Starfleet, where he meets with Admiral Kirsten Clancy (Ann Magnuson) and tells her everything that’s taken place involving Dahj, Data, Maddox and the Romulans. He asks for temporary reinstatement, a small-scale ship and a light crew for one last mission — a request that doesn’t go over well. In the face of Picard’s “hubris,” Clancy rips the former Starfleet hero for his TV-interview criticism of the Federation’s handling of synthetics and the Romulans. When Picard defends himself by saying that the Federation doesn’t get to decide which species live or die, Clancy counters by asserting that’s precisely its role — and that it had to sacrifice the Romulan refugees in order to keep the Federation intact.

Picard warns Clancy about ignoring him, to which she sneers that he should do what he does best: “Go home.”

Back on the Artifact, Soji chats with new recruit Dr. Naashala (Chelsea Harris) at the Borg Artifact Research Institute. Nashaala asks Narek if the Borg collective might decide to reconnect to this Cube. He assures her that’s not going to happen, because as far as the Borg are concerned, this abandoned vessel is akin to a graveyard, populated only by those who feed on the dead, ghosts, and individuals — like Soji — who are hoping for resurrection. Narek accompanies Soji to work, where she oversees the dissection of a Borg male. Soji objects to the Romulan surgeon referring to these patients as “The Nameless,” and after the creature’s ocular processing core is removed, she gazes at the corpse, stating (in Romulan), “You are free now, my friend.”

In his chateau study, Picard finds Dr. Jurati flipping through an Isaac Asimov book; he remarks that she has “a taste for the classics,” but confesses — wink, wink — that he never liked science fiction (“I just didn’t get it”). Over Picard’s favorite, Earl Grey tea, Jurati informs Picard that all of Dahj’s personal and school records are fabrications, and were probably created within the past three years.

Clancy reports her meeting with Picard to Starfleet Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita), a Vulcan who says that if Romulans were running secret operations on Earth, it would amount to an act of war. Oh calls for Lieutenant Rizzo (Peyton List), and shows her video of the aforementioned Dahj ambush. It turns out that Oh was the mastermind behind the attack, not the Romulans, and she’s furious that Rizzo’s team killed Dahj instead of capturing her for interrogation, as had been the original plan. “We have one more opportunity — do not squander it,” Oh tells Rizzo, thereby revealing that she knows about Dahj’s twin Soji. Oh promises to take care of Picard herself, while Rizzo assures the Commodore that she already has her best man on the job.

Having donned his combadge late at night to call old comrade Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), asking for help and a ship, Picard is now yelled at by Laris for his stupid plan, which she implies is really motivated by his ego. Zhaban suggests Picard enlist his old crew for the mission, but Picard — in the aftermath of Data’s death — doesn’t want to once more be responsible for those loyal to him. He subsequently taxis out to a rocky desert home, where Raffi greets him with a pointed gun. Nonetheless, upon hearing he’s there because secret Romulan assassins are operating on Earth — and seeing the vintage wine he’s brought — she reluctantly invites him inside.

That meeting is followed by one between Narek and a hologram of Rizzo, who’s Narek’s sister, and the person behind his secretive surveillance of Soji on the Artifact. Gazing at Narek’s unkempt bed, Rizzo says that she can see her brother is “on top of it.” Rizzo asks if the Artifact has given up the location of its “fellow abominations” — meaning their orders involve finding the Borg. Rizzo warns Narek that if his undercover approach doesn’t get them their coveted intel by the time she arrives on the Artifact, they’ll try her method instead — or face a disaster that will consume them both.

Captain’s Log:

• The real-world location of Raffi’s home is California’s Vasquez Rocks, a site used as numerous Star Trek locales throughout the franchise’s history
• There’s no sign of Picard’s trusty pit bull Number One in this episode, which makes one think he may have a smaller role to play than initially imagined
• Watching Picard go rogue, it’s hard not to be reminded of his legendary predecessor, Captain James T. Kirk
• It’ll be interesting to see if we learn more about Picard’s seemingly fatal condition — especially since Picard has already been renewed for a second season, and thus in no hurry to kill off its protagonist.

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• Patrick Stewart on how Star Trek: Picard strives to avoid fan service
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Published Mar 12, 2020

Recap: Star Trek: Picard — Broken Pieces

More secrets are revealed in this action-packed episode

StarTrek.com

At the beginning of Star Trek: Picard ’s eighth episode, we finally learn the truth behind the Zhat Vash — the truth that, if you learn it, could destroy your mind. The opening scene of the episode takes us to a sort of initiation ritual for the super secret Romulan organization. Commodore Oh fills the candidates on on the backstory: An advanced ancient civilization preserved its memory in a system with eight stars on a planet called Aia.

Over the course of the episode, we learn that this unnamed race left a warning that there was a line of demarcation for advanced artificial life. Once a people crossed it, someone or something would show up to end them — which is what happened to this race. The Zhat Vash took this warning so seriously that it became their central mission: to eliminate any artificial beings, and the will to create them, before they reached that point.

The initiation itself is fascinating, in that both Narissa and Ramdha (apparently Narissa’s aunt) are present. Of all the initiates, only Narissa is left standing — proving her worthiness to join the organization. Ramdha is still alive (unlike many of the others) but her mind is clearly affected. The implication here is that Ramdha was the reason that the Borg cube separated from the Collective after her assimilation.

On the Borg cube, Elnor is hiding out, waiting for rescue, and it arrives just in time, in the style you’d expect from Seven of Nine. Her casual, “Where’s Hugh?” is painful on multiple levels, as it reminds us of the fate of our one of our favorite ex-Borg, but also makes it clear that there’s backstory there we will likely never get to see (except perhaps in a book or comic). The hug Elnor gives Seven is absolutely perfect.

Seven begins regenerating the Borg cube and creates an entirely new collective among the local Borg — with herself as queen. There are so many interesting discussions to be had here, from the ethics of using drones this way, knowing that they can be reclaimed as individuals, to Seven’s statement that she might not want to release them once she’s finished (what has she learned since the end of Voyager ?) But Seven recognizes she has no choice in the matter if she wants to take back the cube — and she does in a very cool scene (that does not in any way require her to remove any clothing, thankfully). Narissa responds by murdering the drones in stasis. The ex-Borg overwhelm her, but she once again escapes. In the end, Seven takes the cube back and is able to disconnect from this new Collective she’s created.

From the second he sees Soji, Ríos begins acting very strangely. It quickly becomes clear that Dahj and Soji weren’t the first of Data’s daughters, and that he’s come across one of their previous incarnations — Giana, in this case. Raffi spends the bulk of the episode piecing together Ríos’s relationship with her, as well as the truth behind the synth attack on Mars: The Conclave of Eight isn’t a secret organization, it’s the name of the system where the Zhat Vash holds their initiation rites and where the warning is located.

The crew of La Sirena have learned of Agnes’s treachery, and as a result they begin to distrust Soji. They are jumping to conclusions, to be sure, and playing into the fear and mistrust of artificial life that pervades Starfleet. But their point is a sound one: Picard doesn’t know Soji’s capabilities, and if she were to turn against them the results would be catastrophic.

If anything, “Broken Pieces” makes it incredibly clear how singular Data was, and how destructive he potentially could have been (see also, his brother Lore). If you’re curious about Data’s lineage, especially his creator Noonien Soong, check out The Next Generation episodes “Datalore,” “Brothers,” and “Inheritance.”

Dr. Jurati finally awakens and she admits to murdering Bruce Maddox while also filling in some of the blanks of the Zhat Vash’s mission. Now that she can be honest about what she’s done, and the things she’s seen, it seems as though Agnes is on a slow road to redemption, especially with her promise to Soji. Let’s hope she can make up for what she’s done, and that this can be the best of found families.

In the end, Raffi manages to get through to Ríos: His old captain, the man he admired, turned out to be a murderer. Starfleet (or more specifically, Commodore Oh) ordered him to kill two synths, a brother and a sister (who looked exactly like Soji), or risk the Ibn Majid being destroyed. He complied and then —because he couldn’t live with what he’d done— killed himself, leaving a traumatised Ríos to cover it up.

Raffi also gathers the crew’s disparate pieces of information and is finally able to convince everyone —including Jean-Luc— that Oh (who is apparently half-Romulan, half-Vulcan, explaining how she could be a member of the Zhat Vash but also initiate a mind meld) and the Romulans were behind the synth attack on Mars. The bottom line was that protecting the galaxy from artificial life, and its consequences, was more important than saving their own people from a supernova.

When Jean-Luc mentioned that he wanted a subspace link to Starfleet, my stomach dropped — after all, his last meeting with them didn’t exactly go smoothly. But it turns out that Clancy is on Jean-Luc’s side, and he gets the fleet he wanted. It’s time to go save the androids! However, Soji has her own plans (she’s now been fully activated, including her memories), which don’t involve waiting for Starfleet’s task force. Instead, she’s ready to go home. And that’s just where La Sirena is taking her — with Narek hot on their tail.

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Swapna Krishna (she/her) writes about tech, science, and sci-fi. She’s a contributing editor at SYFY FANGRRLS and has been published at Engadget, Gizmodo, Mental Floss, the Los Angeles Times, and more. You can find her on Twitter @skrishna.

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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Star Trek: Picard - What To Know About The Tal Shiar And Zhat Vash

The Romulans are very, very good at spying throughout Star Trek history.

By Phil Hornshaw on February 12, 2020 at 8:58AM PST

Though Star Trek: Picard picks up years after The Next Generation, much of the new series concerns relations with the Romulans, a race that has appeared in various series as one of the Federation's longstanding enemies. The animosity between the two peoples is at the forefront of Picard 's second and third episodes, " Maps and Legends " and " The End is the Beginning ," and we learn a little more about who's hunting Dahj, Soji, and Jean-Luc Picard: the Tal Shiar.

What's The Deal With The Tal Shiar?

First, a bit of Star Trek history: the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire have been enemies for a long time, and throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation, the two were engaged in what was essentially a Cold War. That eventually changed 14 years before the start of Picard , when a supernova destroyed Romulus. The Romulan Empire asked the Federation for help in evacuating its people from the planet, the Federation refused, and it seems what remains of the Romulan people are fairly scattered.

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Now Playing: Star Trek: Picard Episode 3 "The End Is the Beginning" Breakdown & Easter Eggs

But as we learn in Star Trek: Picard, just because there's no Romulan Star Empire anymore (it's apparently the Romulan Free State now), that doesn't mean the old Romulan militaristic ways are gone. Apparently, some old Romulan institutions are still operational--like the Tal Shiar. For years, as we saw on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Tal Shiar were a formidable and feared organization. It's roughly the equivalent of the Romulan KGB, a powerful, ruthless, clandestine intelligence agency charged with maintaining the security of the empire. The Tal Shiar would place spies in other governments throughout the galaxy, including the Federation, while also surveilling its own people and making perceived enemies and dissidents disappear.

The Tal Shiar only answered to the highest levels of the Romulan government, and therefore could pretty much do whatever they wanted. Like real Cold War adversaries, they constantly operated in the shadows, and paranoia about the Tal Shiar helped the Romulan government control its citizens. On Star Trek: Picard, Jean-Luc's friends who live and work with him on his vineyard, Laris and Zhaban, are both former Tal Shiar operatives, as we learn in Episode 2.

But What About The Zhat Vash?

Star Trek: Picard introduces another organization to the Romulan intelligence apparatus, called the Zhat Vash. We don't know much about them, except that they operate within the Tal Shiar--a secret organization inside a secret organization. Working within the Tal Shiar gives the Zhat Vash the cover it needs to pursue its own agenda, without anyone knowing for sure that the organization actually exists. Laris and Zhaban have heard rumors of the Zhat Vash, but they don't know much in the way of concrete details about it, so even to members of the Tal Shiar, the Zhat Vash is a mystery.

Laris does give some information about the Zhat Vash, though. First, they're guarding a secret so important and profound that they will kill anyone to keep it. Second, they hate artificial intelligence and consider it to be an abomination.

So we don't know much about what the Zhat Vash are up to, but in Episode 2, we learn they have operatives in both Starfleet and the Romulan government operating on the decommissioned Borg Cube known as the Artifact. They're the folks who attacked Dahj on Earth. On the Artifact, Zhat Vash operative Narek is attempting to get close to Soji, apparently in hopes of getting information out of her. It seems the Zhat Vash think there are more androids like Dahj and Soji and are hoping to learn their location--likely to kill them all.

We still have a whole lot of questions about the Zhat Vash that haven't been answered yet--specifically, what their big secret is, and why they hate androids so much they'd risk exposing themselves, or dragging the new Romulan Free State into a war with the Federation. One thing is for sure, though: the Zhat Vash's influence goes deep, and while the Romulan people might have been weakened and scattered by the events 14 years ago, their agencies, like the Tal Shiar and the Zhat Vash, are still just as fearsome as ever.

Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot's parent company.

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The Long-Lost Original Star Trek Enterprise Model Is Heading Home

After going missing from gene roddenberry's collection half a century ago, the very first model of the starship enterprise is back in his family's hands..

It was our first look at the vision of Star Trek ’s future: the original ship model of the USS Enterprise that zoomed across screens in the show’s opening credits. But after being loaned out during the making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , it had gone missing... until now.

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After, bizarrely, it randomly turned up on eBay last fall—the first time it had been seen publicly since it had gone missing —the original model of the Enterprise made for the Star Trek pilot “The Cage” and shooting its opening titles sequences is now back in the hands of the Roddenberry estate. After the eBay seller quickly learned just what they had their hands on, the model was handed over to Heritage Auctions for authentication, and when it was confirmed to be the long-lost Trek icon , held in storage until it could be handed over to Rod Roddenberry this past weekend. “After five decades, I’m thrilled that someone happened upon this historic model of the USS Enterprise . I remember how it used to adorn my dad’s desk,” Roddenberry said in a statement provided over email. “I am tremendously grateful to Heritage Auctions for facilitating the return of this iconic piece of Star Trek history to my family.”

The original model served as the prototype for what would become the primary original 11-foot shooting model of the Enterprise , which has had a similarly long and winding history on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum —it was damaged, then tweaked in an a restoration that was ultimately undone to restore it to its original glory just in time for Trek ’s 50th anniversary back in 2014. Like its successor, the newly recovered model will find a life outside of a private collection: Roddenberry Entertainment intends to put it on public display.

“I can’t wait to figure out how we are going to share it with my extended family, Star Trek fans around the world,” Roddenberry’s statement concluded. “We look forward to making that announcement.”

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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Lost for a generation, original ‘Star Trek’ Enterprise model finally completes its voyage home

DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model's disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model's return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he's thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

Advertisement

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves," Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

Heritage's executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they'd discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn't go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it," Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show's original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series' episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless," Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is," he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn't something he'd thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don't think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he'd thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from 'Star Trek' boldly goes home after twisting voyage

DALLAS — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model’s disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model’s return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he’s thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves,” Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

Heritage’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they’d discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it,” Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show’s original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series’ episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless,” Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn’t something he’d thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don’t think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he’d thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

Star Trek: What Happened To Barash?

Star Trek introduced the world to many of the most iconic alien characters and species in sci-fi history. Though the Klingons and Borg continue to dominate many fans' imaginations, countless other costumed beings enjoyed less representation. Most good episodes of the series build their story from a single sci-fi premise. The classic season four entry, "Future Imperfect," depicts Riker experiencing a possible life through the VR wizardry of an alien orphan named Barash. Where did Barash go when the simulation ended?

Countless Star Trek characters appeared for one-off episodes before disappearing into space forever. Most of them aren't around long enough to command audience intrigue. However, endless novels, comics, and audio dramas depict the fate of figures that would never be seen again on TV. Barash vanished after his first appearance, but hardcore fans could find his story in other mediums.

RELATED: Star Trek: William Riker's Best Quotes

Who is Barash in Star Trek ?

Barash is one of the last survivors of an unnamed alien species. An unknown race of invaders attacked his home planet, wiping out all but Barash and his mother. Barash's mom hid him on an uninhabited planet called Alpha Onias III. Obscured from observers by the planet's overwhelming volcanic atmosphere, Barash lived alone in a cave for some years. His mom did what she could to make his dull, miserable home more palatable. She arranged a complex rig of neural immersion hologram projectors, allowing Barash to pretend he was elsewhere. The programs simulated other sentient life, keeping Barash sane in solitude. However, fake friends and digital environments lack the appeal of genuine companionship. Barash longed for someone to keep him company. His home met his physical needs but left him starved for social interaction for years. After untold ages, visitors reached Alpha Onias III. Barash met the crew of the Enterprise-D and its Commander William Riker .

What Happened to Barash?

Barash first appears in "Future Imperfect," the 82nd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation . He isn't featured on the show again. He's ostensibly the outing's villain, but his sympathetic backstory places him in a different role. Barash captures Riker while the Commander leads an away team on Alpha Onias III. Worf and Geordi La Forge escaped to the Enterprise , but Barash kept Riker in his VR rig. Riker lives out a fantasy scenario in which he's the captain of the Enterprise . The simulation is set sixteen years after Riker's trip to Alpha Onias III. Beverly Crusher explains that an infection caused amnesia, leaving him without memories. He discovers he's married and has a child named Jean-Luc Riker. The disguised Barash plans to live within the hologram as Riker's fake son. The machines fail to deceive Riker, gradually finding it impossible to keep up with his questions. Barash tries to shift to a second illusion to keep Riker around, but it falls apart. Riker discovers Barash's physical form and listens to his sad story. He agrees to ferry Barash to the Federation to find a new home. That's the end of Barash's canonical story, but he reappears in later works.

Barash returns for a TNG novel called Losing the Peace . The story depicts his time aboard the Enterprise before reaching his new home. Barash lands at the Federation Displaced Persons Agency, which protects and relocates refugees who've lost their native planets. He lived with the DPA for a month, watched over by its leader. Scientists and admirals worked to determine Barash's origins, but none of them found an answer. The closest they got was placing his home planet somewhere near the Romulan Empire, possibly laying the blame on the warlike species. Barash found a new home on Earth in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam. He became a mentor to lost kids, giving them a taste of the guidance and companionship he so desperately craved. As an adult, Barash joined the DPA, relocating refugees from the Federation-Klingon War of 2372. Barash relocated to Paris and became the director of the city's chapter of the DPA. He met Dr. Beverly Crusher again when he recruited her and others to save a refugee camp. Barash was last seen in 2386, helping former Dominion citizens seek asylum in the Federation.

"Future Imperfect" is an excellent episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation , but its story feels incomplete. Barash didn't need to return, but his sad tale deserved a better ending. Losing the Peace gave him the conclusion he deserved. It's fitting to see a lonely refugee finally receive an opportunity to turn his life around. Naturally, he dedicated his following decades to guaranteeing every other person he could find a way out of the same scenario. Riker offered Barash a moment of kindness, resulting in countless other examples of the same selfless act. Barash doesn't get much screen time, but the novels turn him into a lovely story of good deeds traveling through the universe. Watching "Future Imperfect" feels that much more satisfying when the audience imagines Barash growing up to mirror Riker's compassion.

star trek the next generation

MORE: Star Trek: What Are The Origins Of The Riker Maneuver?

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 Recap

Episode 4 of Star Trek: Discovery sees Burnham and Rayner team up to save the Discovery and its crew from a time travel wormhole.

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What happened in star trek: discovery episode 4, how does star trek: discovery episode 4 end.

Episode 4 of Star Trek: Discovery aired on Paramount Plus this week,as it approaches the halfway mark in the fifth and final season. The sci-fi spin-off series consists of ten episodes, with one airing each week until the finale on May 30. The show began in 2017, and Season 5 has been praised for its serialized storytelling and exciting visual effects. Star Trek: Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Callum Keith Rennie, Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp.

The fourth episode of Star Trek: Discovery 's final season sees Burnham and Rayner put their differences aside when they realize they are in a wormhole and have traveled back in time. They must fight to save the Discovery and the crew on board, by facing off with bounty hunters, Moll and Lák.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 3 Recap

Star Trek: Discovery Episode 4 sees Moll and L’ak meeting with a dodgy dealer. They hand him a bag of the latinum and the dealer tries to raise the price of it, and it turns out Moll has poisoned the latinum, and takes the item from the dying dealer. L’ak is uncertain. But Moll assures him they’ll get ahead of the USS Discovery . She continues that once they have the Progenitor’s tech, they’ll be free. She tells him they have to hurry to catch Discovery on Trill. It is revealed that the device obtained from the dealer is the same one planted on Adira Tal in the final moments of the previous episode.

Elsewhere, the device activates in Adira’s quarters on the Discovery, and the device hops off the uniform and runs across the room and disappears into a girder.

In his lab, Stamets spots the bug and watches as it disappears into the wall. Captain Michael Burnham gets a report from Owo, revealing that she’s picking up some odd readings, and something has broadcast a signal from the ship. Burnham and Captain Rayner try to beam to the bridge, but they go nowhere.

The ship is moving but the lights flicker and a klaxon sounds. Rayner asks if they are under attack, as Burnham tries to contact the bridge but nothing seems to be working. Burnham and Rayner head to the bridge on foot and find the rest of the crew unconscious and wearing 23rd-century Starfleet uniforms. Rayner and Burnham realize they’re in a wormhole and have traveled back in time. Discovery follows Burnham as she goes through the wormhole into the future. Turns out, they haven’t just traveled back in time, but they’re actually jumping through time.

Burnham arrives in the future and explains the situation, and that she's undertaking an important mission for the future Discovery . Burnham demonstrates her personal knowledge of several crew members to prove her story , as Airiam, Tilly and the rest of the crew are confused at her appearance.

They remain skeptical of Burnham’s claims, but she says she will convince Airiam, and everyone will trust her judgment in the end. Burnham reveals she saw Airiam die, and she recounts the climax of “Project Daedalus.” Airiam convinces the rest of the crew of Burnham's legitimacy, and asks what help Burnham needs from them. Elsewhere, in the lab, Rayner and Stamets prepare to tackle the temporal shield, but a phaser wielding TB and Rhys interrupt their plans.

YB orders Stamets to shut down the warp core, but Rayner suggests Burnham come down, but there’s no time for that, and she urges Rayner to handle the situation. Rayner convinces Rhys they’re from the future with the knowledge he learned during interviews, but YB is still not convinced.

Rayner tells the story about Burnham arriving at the bridge and not feeling like she belongs. He tells YB she deserves to be there, and pleads with her to trust her instincts, which he knows are currently telling her to stand down, with YB seemingly convinced. Discovery ’s warp bubble is broken, and Rayner puts the device on the chronophage. Another time jump occurs, and they arrive back to the present day, which is fully intact.

Burnham orders Rayner to go to see Culber to tend to his hand injury, while Rayner states that it isn’t lost on him that what made them successful was their closeness with the crew. He admits he can be stubborn like Burnham used to be, but Burnham concludes they make a good team.

Star Trek: Discovery episode 4's ending sees the rest of the crew caught up on the chronophage. In the six hours since the time jumps began, the DOTs have found a warp signature that matches M’ak’s ship. Rayner compliments Rhys on his theory, which proved to be accurate. However, M’ak’s trail disappears, as Burnham orders the bridge crew to get to work on solving the mystery.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star trek 4: paramount needs to let this sequel die.

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Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage

The first model of the USS Enterprise is displayed at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, shake hands over the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at the Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, view the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

• Copy Link copied

DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model’s disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model’s return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he’s thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves,” Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

AP AUDIO: Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage.

AP correspondent Margie Szaroleta reports on the return of the original model of the USS Enterprise from the TV show “Star Trek.”

Heritage’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they’d discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it,” Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show’s original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series’ episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless,” Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn’t something he’d thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don’t think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he’d thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

• View history

The Zhat Vash was an ancient and secret Romulan cabal of Tal Shiar operatives . According to Laris , it was thousands upon thousands of years old, and it supposedly predated the Tal Shiar, which she said functioned merely as a mask for the Zhat Vash. Zhat vash was also a term sometimes used to refer to the dead , the "only reliable keepers of secrets". ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ")

Its sole purpose was claimed to be to keep a secret so profound and terrible that just learning it could break a person's mind. When she was a Tal Shiar recruit, Laris heard a drunk handler claim to her that the organization was motivated by hate, fear and pure unassuageable loathing for artificial intelligence , including androids , AIs, and other forms of synthetic life, which they attempted to seek out and destroy. ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ")

Allegedly, the Zhat Vash operated without regard for treaty or jurisdiction , not just on Romulan worlds, but also in the Klingon Empire , the Gorn Hegemony , and even the United Federation of Planets . ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ")

• 3.1 Appearances
• 3.2 External link

History [ ]

The Zhat Vash were formed hundreds of years before the 24th century , when a group of Romulans investigating the mystery of the Eightfold Stars discovered the Admonition on the planet Aia . After experiencing the memories of the utter devastation wrought by the synthetic "Destroyer", called Seb-Cheneb , contained within the Admonition, they dedicated themselves to eliminating synthetics so as to prevent another such event. Subsequent generations of Zhat Vash would also submit themselves to Admonition, so as to strengthen themselves for their task. ( PIC : " Broken Pieces ")

The story of the "Zhat Vash" was sometimes told to frighten Tal Shiar recruits, with its alleged motives known to very few; Zhaban was largely skeptical of their existence and equated it to stories of "boogeymen". In 2399 , former operative Laris related the rumors about the Zhat Vash to retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard ; they came to believe that the Zhat Vash were likely behind the attacks on Dahj Asha on Earth . ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ")

General Oh later led a warbird squadron to destroy the planet Coppelius 's population of synths, but encountered orchids and a fleet of Starfleet starships led by the USS Zheng He . During that battle, Narissa was killed in combat with Seven of Nine on the Artifact . It was that event that the Federation came to believe that the Zhat Vash were likely behind the Attack on Mars and lifted the ban on the creation of artificial lifeforms. ( PIC : " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 ", " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 ")

Members [ ]

• Eight unnamed female Romulans

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " Broken Pieces "
• " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 "

External link [ ]

• Zhat Vash at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery finally reveals what happened after tng’s “the chase”.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 provides new details on what happened after Captain Picard saw the Progenitor in Star Trek: TNG's "The Chase."

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 3 - "Jinaal"

• Discovery season 5 continues the chase for Progenitors' technology, introduced in TNG's "The Chase".
• Janaal reveals how Federation handled Progenitor discovery, keeping technology hidden for peace.
• The Federation's past missteps led to hesitation in trusting Starfleet with powerful technology.

Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Chase" introduced some big ideas to the Star Trek universe that Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is finally following up on. Discovery season 5 involves a literal chase in Star Trek 's 32nd century, as Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery race to find the Progenitors' treasure before the villainous Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis). Although unnamed at the time, the Progenitors were first introduced in TNG season 6, episode 20, "The Chase," when Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) helped uncover a message left by one of the ancient humanoids.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 3 , "Jinaal," written by Kyle Jarrow and Lauren Wilkinson and directed by Andi Armaganian, Captain Burnham and her crew continue to gather the puzzle pieces that will presumably lead them to the Progenitors' technology. This journey takes the USS Discovery to the planet Trill, where Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) acts as a host for the consciousness of an 800-year-old Trill named Jinaal Bix. Jinaal reveals more information about what happened after Picard received the Progenitors' message in the 24th century. While "The Chase" explained why many Star Trek aliens are humanoid, the implications of Picard's discovery were never fully explored.

Star Trek: Discovery’s TNG Connection Explained - "The Chase" & Who Are The Progenitors?

Star trek: discovery finally updates what happened after tng’s “the chase”, the federation didn't ignore captain picard's discovery..

When Captain Picard unlocked the Progenetors' message in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Chase," the Cardassians, Klingons, and Romulans also had representatives present. In the message, the ancient humanoid (Salome Jens) revealed that Progenitor "scientists seeded the primordial oceans of many worlds," meaning all humanoid life originated from a single ancestor. The Progenitors hoped this information would bring peace among humanoid species, but the Cardassians and Klingons reacted negatively to the message. Nevertheless, the United Federation of Planets and many other species would undoubtedly be interested in these Progenitors and the technology that allowed them to create all humanoid life.

The Federation President during Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was Jaresh-Inyo (Herschel Sparber), and he may have been who oversaw finding the Progenitors' technology.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is finally addressing this mystery, and Janaal reveals more about how the Federation responded to the discovery of the Progenitors. The Federation President secretly assembled a team of six scientists from different Federation and non-Federation worlds, including Janaal and the Romulan Dr. Vellek (Michael Copeman) , to research the Progenitors and the message Picard found. This team eventually found a technology "beyond anything [they had] ever seen," but one of the scientists was horribly killed when he tried to activate it. The scientists then made a pact that they would do everything in their power to keep the Progenitors' technology hidden until some future date when the galaxy was at peace.

Janaal does not reveal the names of the other scientists, and he says that they removed their names from "every database [they] could access." This explains why these characters and their mission have never been mentioned in Star Trek before.

How “The Chase” Tied Into DS9’s Dominion War & Star Trek: Insurrection

Why didn't jinaal give the progenitor technology to the federation.

After Jinaal reveals how he and his fellow scientists hid the Progenitor technology, Captain Burnham asks why they didn't give it to the Federation. Jinaal responds that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Dominion War was raging at the time, so "everyone saw an enemy in everyone else." Despite the trust Michael places in the Federation and Starfleet, these organizations have not always been above reproach. During the Dominion War, there were fears that Changelings could infiltrate the Federation even at the highest levels, but it wasn't just Changelings that posed a threat. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4, episode 11, "Homefront," and episode 12, "Paradise Lost," for example, Admiral Leyton (Robert Foxworth) staged a coup against Federation President Jaresh-Inyo.

Starfleet could not be trusted with technology as powerful as the Progenitors'.

Leyton's plan to initiate a military takeover of Earth ultimately failed, but it proved that Starfleet could not be trusted with technology as powerful as the Progenitors'. In Star Trek: Insurrection , another Starfleet flag officer, Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe), attempted to forcibly move the peaceful Ba'ku people in order to access the healing properties of the area of space known as the Briar Patch. The Federation of the 32nd century in Star Trek: Discovery seems better prepared to safeguard the Progenitors' technology, but the high-stakes treasure hunt still has everyone on edge.

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

Star Trek: Discovery

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