Star Trek Picard has released its first episode - Remembrance. And I'm here to dig deep and talk about it. After giving a brief spoiler-free review, I dig deep and discuss the episode in detail. Remembrance is an emotionally satisfying journey into the later life of Jean-Luc Picard. It maintains a beautiful balance between old and new. There is plenty of nostalgia for die-hard Star Trek fans, but everything is there for a reason. The story being told is new and will feel satisfying to newcomers to the franchise.

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars.

And I am a nerd

 

Can you believe it? We’re finally here.

The first episode of Star Trek Picard has released! It’s out in the wild and we’ve seen it.

 

I’ll admit I found it kinda hard to concentrate on work yesterday, knowing it was available and just waiting for me to watch it, but I muddled through.

 

So today, we’re talking about Remembrance, the first episode of Star Trek Picard.

 

The description on IMDB is

At the end of the 24th Century, and 14 years after his retirement from Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard is living a quiet life on his vineyard, Chateau Picard. When he is sought out by a mysterious young woman, Dahj, in need of his help, he soon realizes she may have personal connections to his own past.

 

This teleplay was written by Akiva Goldsmith and James Duff

Story by Akiva Goldsmith, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, Alex Kurtzman and James Duff

Directed by Hanelle M Culpepper

And first aired on the 23rd of January 2020.

 

Make it so

 

Before I go deep into this episode, I thought I’d share a few spoiler-free thoughts.

I loved this episodes. It was a delight to watch.

It was lovingly crafted with exquisite attention to detail.

The episode maintained a near perfect balance between the old and the new.

There was a lot of nostalgia in this episode, but the story wasn’t chained to it. It wasn’t indulgent. The episode told a fresh and new story with a much-loved character.

That’s not to say that the nostalgic elements weren’t integral to the plot. Everything was there for a reason. But I think a non-star trek fan could sit down and watch this, apart from perhaps a little disorientation from a dream sequence, and not just follow the story, but feel like they’ve had a satisfying experience.

 

The story builds slowly, giving itself time to really focus on character.

 

So if you’re on the fence about checking this show out, let me wholeheartedly recommend it to you.This is one of the good ones.  I signed up for a new streaming service so I could watch this. I don’t regret that decision.

 

From here on we’re going full spoilers, so if you haven’t seen this episode, stop listening, and go watch Star Trek Picard.

 

The episode opens with a dream sequence. 

But the very beginning is a couple of beautiful shots of nebulae with the song Blue Skies playing in the background. This provides a beautiful link to the very last time we saw Picard on screen at the end of Star Trek Nemesis, when he was in his ready room, and B4 started to sing the song. It’s also very emotionally evocative of Data, because he sang that song at Riker and Troi’s wedding. But to Picard, that song represents the hope that maybe a part of Data survived in B4. A hope that he desperately wants to be true.

 

And then we see the Enterprise D. In all her glory. And she looks beautiful.

 

This dream sequence is all a bit messed up, which is exactly how dreams are. 

Picard and Data are on the Enterprise D, but Data is in his Enterprise E uniform. Picard is old and wearing civilian clothing. And then suddenly, they’re not in a nebula, they’re in orbit of Mars. Picard was an admiral, in command of the Verity when Mars was attacked. I’m sure you’ve had dreams like this. I know I have. This is probably the most realistic dream sequence I’ve ever seen in a movie or TV show.

 

I kinda wish these scenes had not been spoiled in the trailer. I would have wet myself i