the third and final season of Picard is finally here and we are glad you'll be with us every week
as we explore each episode and go through the details you may have missed while watching the
show and please stay tuned to the end to get a special inside look at the episode directly
from the mouth of showrunner Terry matalis himself so you don't want to miss this episode
the episode begins as we pass by a nebula and the song I don't want to set the world on fire by the
ink spots with lyrics that include I don't want to set the world on fire I just want to start a
flame in your heart perhaps alluding to the fact that this episode will attempt to ignite a flame
in the hearts of long time Star Trek the Next Generation fans the first action scene is set up
with the Elios captained by Dr Beverly Crusher and what we hear is the voice of a young man the Elios
is being boarded by aliens in an unknown vessel at the opening of the scene an old Starfleet log
is playing with Jean-Luc Picard's voice saying he is hiding in a dust cloud and the Borg are
waiting for him to come out of hiding this log is from act 3 of The Best of Both Worlds from
tng's third season finale where the board began an invasion of federation space much sooner than was
expected this will make more sense in an upcoming scene we then see a medical away team plaque for
Core karoli 5 an Easter egg from the season 3 TNG episode titled Allegiance where Captain Picard and
three other people are abducted and imprisoned by an unknown force and replaced by duplicates the
shot pans over to a case with the name Lieutenant Commander Jack R Crusher on the side which of
course was Beverly's first husband and father of Wesley Crusher the Easter eggs continue with
what looks like a glass of Romulan ale which is still banned by the Federation and may indicate
this ship is currently outside of federation space an alarm goes off as the computer calls
for a security breach as we get our first look at the once redheaded Dr Crusher now an attractive
silver played by the lovely Gates McFadden as she says they found us she leaps into action and we
quickly learn this is a different Beverly Crusher as she arms herself with a phaser rifle and begins
kicking alien butt she manages to dispose of the unwanted guests in disintegrating fashion but not
before she is injured herself we see her send a Subspace message to Admiral Picard as she learns
more ships are coming hearing the classic Star Trek theme over the Star Trek Picard logo with a
gentle fluting of the Next Generation music was like being transported back in time and frankly
a refreshing sound after the alien intros of Picard seasons 1 and 2. the next scene begins
with a close-up of a painting of the Enterprise D at Picard's home as he and Loris are packing up in
preparation for him to go with her to chaltalk 4 so he can write his Memoirs in this scene we
learned that Geordi laforge is running Fleet Museum we also learn here that the Enterprise
D was Picard's favorite ship she was certainly my favorite something we might have all assumed but
it's nice to hear Picard says he wants to give the painting to Jordy although Jean-Luc loves it
when a helper goes to take it off the wall Lars tells him don't you dare out of Picard's earshot
we can see here how much what Picard loves means to Loris and how much she really cares about him
we see a model of the Enterprise D on Picard's desk as he fondles a magnifying glass he would
have used on an iconian archaeological dig he also picks up his resiken Flute from what most
Star Trek fans would agree is the best episode of TNG from the episode the Inner Light Lara insists
he will miss these things and Picard tells her I am not a man who needs a legacy in the next
scene as a storm sets over Chateau Picard an alert begins going off and Picard can't figure out where
it's coming from he finds it packed away with one of his old uniforms it's his captain Communicator
badge from the Enterprise and contains an encrypted long-range transmission Picard
believes the password to be Myriad which may be a nod to Star Trek Myriad universes a series of
prose and comic fiction published by pocketbooks the message is of course from Beverly and she
tells him hellberg and no Starfleet and trust no one he can see that she is injured after a
quick discussion with Loris she insists he must go and we can see that this is likely
the end of Picard and lars's relationship next we are in gainan's bar and there are tiny model
sized Starships everywhere we get our first shot of William Riker our beloved number one
from TNG there is a sign over his shoulder that advertises the 250th anniversary of Frontier day
since the current year is 2403 that means the first Frontier day took place in 2153 which is
also the same year that the wreckage of a board spheres discovered at the Arctic Circle on Earth
during Enterprise's second season episode regeneration but according to showrunner
Terry matalis Frontier day was coordinated with the construction of the nx01 kind of worked out
that was pretty close to the launch uh of the nx01 to Enterprise when Riker asks about the
small metal Enterprise DS the bartender says oh nobody wants those which gives Riker a nice
chuckle here Riker and Picard meet and their Rapport is familiar and comfortable we learned
that Riker is at least temporarily estranged from his family and you can tell it's hard for
him to say Picard explains Beverly's message and asks will for help deciphering it we learn that
the word hellbird referred to a computer virus on the Enterprise while Picard was lucutus the
virus added three to every navigational digit when Riker does the the same with Beverly's coordinates
they find out she is in the writing system just outside of federation space we also learned that
Beverly cut the rest of the crew off shortly after the events of Nemesis and Riker doesn't know why
Riker says he has a plan and as they depart we also see that someone has been listening in on
their conversation the next scene takes us to the planet matalis Prime if the name looks familiar
to you then you would be right it was named after the showrunner Terry matalis although not
for this show he was originally honored with the planet naming way back when he worked on
Enterprise it's the planet Dr Fox was once nearly overwhelmed by 50 patients in a refugee camp here
in Picard season 3 it serves as the backdrop for the drug and crime underworld we get our first
look at Rafi Massacre who appears to have fallen off the wagon and is using drugs again although
her struggle with addiction is very real for the character she is not actually using but instead
undercover for Starfleet intelligence we find out that her and seven of nine are no longer together
as she tries to get information from her Orion drug dealer after paying for information from
him he only tells her something is going down with the red lady we then return to Picard and Riker
who are pretending to conduct an inspection on the USS Titan to catch a ride to the writing system we
get a gorgeous look at a new space Dock and then once inside we see the brand new neo-constitution
class Titan with a signature rounded saucer section reminiscent of the TOs movie era for
this original series fan it's a gorgeous sight hello beautiful we meet seven of nine who is now
the first officer of the Titan and she greets them with the name Annika Hansen and says Captain Shaw
prefers it although it's obvious she does not we get our classic first view of the bridge of the
Titan with sweeping classic Star Trek music as we learn Sydney laforge jordy's daughter is at the
helm is there something wrong with that handsome we get a moment where we learn something is off
between Sydney and her famous engineer father seven then takes the Titan out of space Dock
and we are off on our adventure there is a moment when Picard now retired isn't up to all the new
standards of Starfleet ships and when seven gently corrects him Riker ribs him and it's
a wonderful moment excellent recovery Shut It Will Riker and Picard then go to meet Captain
Shaw for dinner but the captain seems less than impressed with their presence Gentlemen please
come join he chides them about how boring the inspection will be for them since nothing will
be blowing up or Crash Landing it's obvious Shaw has a bone to pick with our legendary
Starfleet officers Shaw denies Picard and Riker's request to change course to the writing system no
when seven tries to speak up for Picard we learn that Shaw also has some sort of problem with his
first officer Shaw leaves them and tells them he hopes they enjoy their quarters which we will
eventually learn are a pair of bunk beds it's at this moment we realize this story is going to be
different and it's great we get back to Rafi who is trying to figure out what the red lady means
she talks to her Handler through a female computer voice that continuously denies her a face-to-face
meeting Rafi knows that a dangerous weapon has been stolen from Starfleet and now she is worried
about it being used against the Federation but her Handler has little sympathy for her telling her
she is a warrior and to find the red lady back on the Titan seven confronts Picard and Riker wanting
to know what they are really doing on board Picard tells her what's going on and we learn
seven is struggling with her Starfleet commission we learned Picard and Janeway encouraged her to
take the position she's struggling to take orders from someone like Shaw and we can see she is
wrestling with her identity which has always been an important plot point for her character going
all the way back to Voyager we we also learned that seven has ordered the Titan to the writing
system against the orders of her Captain seven also helps them steal a shuttle just as Shaw
becomes aware they aren't where they're supposed to be when Shaw gets to the bridge he tells seven
her career is over as Riker and Picard get away on a shuttlecraft back to Rafi she finally figures
out the red lady is a target it's the Rachel Garrett statue who of course we remember as
the captain of the Enterprise sea in the popular TNG episode yesterday's Enterprise Rafi arrives at
a district 7 Starfleet recruitment office just before the facility is utterly destroyed by a
massive weapon that somehow disintegrates it then drops it from a portal in the sky to fall back to
the planet below Rafi is in utter shock then in the next scene Riker and Picard move into
a nebula where they find Beverly's ship and her life signed show her in critical condition it is
here that we see the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid that metallist pitched to Jonathan Frakes way
back when he first had the idea to bring the TNG crew back for the final season of Picard prepare
wearing their phasers Riker tells Picard your hands are stiff my knees are killing me so long
as we don't have to move or shoot we should be fine but it's obvious the pair with their years
of experience are not only ready but capable of still dealing with anything this is a refreshing
difference from Picard seasons one or two where Picard could barely function or do anything
and while Patrick Stewart is still aged it does feel like he is more the Captain Picard that we
remember from TNG on board the medical vessel they see the ship has taken a lot of damage as Picard
goes to check on Beverly we finally get to meet Ed speleers who has taken Riker hostage Picard talks
him down and Riker gives him an old-fashioned butt whooping as we learn that the young man is
Beverly's son that shocking moment is followed by the arrival of a giant scorpion looking ship
that will eventually learn is called the shrike the young man tells Picard and Riker they were
followed and that he and Beverly are being hunted the final shot is of this enormous dangerous
looking ship dwarfing the tiny medical vessel the scene closes with ominous music as the first
episode of Picard season 1 comes to an end this is what we promise will be the least interesting
episode of the series and we've already been hit with so many huge moments the first episode feels
much longer than the 51 minutes we were given but in a very good way the relationship between
Picard and Riker is only getting warmer as we are left to consider the Intriguing tangle of details
that this story has set up who is Sean why does he have a problem with our beloved characters can
seven make it in Starfleet and does she want to be ex-borg seven of nine human Annika Hansen or
some combination of the two what will Rafi do with what she has just seen and who exactly is
the father of Beverly's son every Easter egg is earned and every plot detail perfectly laid as we
eagerly await next week's continuation the one thing we can say about Picard season 3 is that
it feels like Berman era Star Trek has returned and if you weren't paying close attention to the
end credits which played beautifully over Jerry Goldsmith's first Contact theme song There are
some wonderful nuggets in there that might give you clues about show moving forward as well as
honor the Star Trek that has come before we promise you'll want to give those credits a
close look each week and stay tuned because in a moment we are going to share with you thoughts on
episode 1 directly from the mouth of showrunner Terry matalis but first what do you think did
the first episode of Star Trek Picard season 3 make you curious enough to come back for episode
2. did you get the feeling like us that there was something different about the tone the characters
and the story that hearken back to Burman era Star Trek tell us what you think and let's talk about
it in the comments below and if you enjoyed this video and want to hear more discussion
about the topic and others just like it please join us over at our other channel the podcast
Unleashed where we'll be conducting interviews with your favorite Star Trek personalities also
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from the amazing artist at mixteas.com get 20 off your purchase by using coupon code the popcast the
link is in the description below and now Star Trek Picard season 3 showrunner Terry matalis
if I knew I wanted to start with Beverly Crusher she felt the most underserved in uh certainly in
the feature films um in a long while and there was definitely an idea certainly by the end of
the episode you see where we were going that we that Patrick uh also thought was intriguing
um to what might have been going on with Beverly Crusher for the last 20
something years uh so I had this idea about Beverly Crusher having this Doctors Without
bordership and her popping in the frame with Intruders and that sort of kicked off uh the
idea of the Season uh and so we went from there um obviously it gets more involved
so I was working with um Jonathan a lot uh in in season two he was working uh he was directing
so he was coming out to my office a lot for uh prep while I was working on season three
because he was shooting season two and uh I said I'm
thinking about doing a lot of Riker a lot of Butch and Sundance for Picard
and he I don't think he took me seriously and I I said no it it's it's a lot he's like what I'm
not a very good actor I'm like yes you are and it's in uh I the thing I wanted to do is bring a
lot more freaks to regular I wanted a lot more of the Patrick and uh and Frank's dynamic in the show
because it's it's so wonderful to be around the two of them um and so that started uh that Journey
it had to be a Starship based season for me it it felt like it was time to get back up into space
um and it didn't feel right for them to just get back on the Enterprise so the
Titan seemed like a good choice with Riker's history that he would try and leverage any
power he had to get back onto a Starship to get out that far outside of federation space
who better for them to run into than first officer seven of nine so little
wish fulfillment to see her in Starfleet um and then quickly you see uh not uh everything is
uh uh as we might have expected it's not as wonderful for her as we might have hoped
well I just like the idea that she was starfully Intelligence and and I thought that was a really
interesting way to pick her up in Deep Cover uh and I and I like the switcheroo I like thinking
that she might be seeing her thinking she might have gone off the deep end or might have reverted
to some of her past transgressions and uh and discovering no she is in fact using her her
um experience in that world uh to her benefit to for Starfleet
I felt like a a great surprise to sort of reinvent the character a little bit
I love the idea that they were throwing around their Legacy weight and thought it was going to be
an easy con and here comes this guy who's like no don't care by the way Todd stashwick says you were
Spielberg you were the embodiment of Spielberg what do you think about that I went directly at
the camera and said don't get let this go to your head it's not don't worry it's not going
to my head uh is he okay was he on anything at the time was he drinking does he drink he's good
thank you