star trek next gen finale

Star Trek The Next Generation Ending Explained: How The Series Concluded For Patrick Stewart's Picard

Decades after Star Trek: The Next Generation's ending in 1994 the series remains one of the most beloved shows in the franchise. That's thanks in no small part to the tremendous cast led by Sir Patrick Stewart , and the finale that set the stage for other adventures that followed.

"All Good Things" was quite a finish for Star Trek: The Next Generation , and a bit to take in all at once. For those that may not remember, here are the events separated by timeline, and how they impacted the futures of other Star Trek shows and movies.

How Star Trek: The Next Generation Ended

After a tumultuous trial across time and space, Jean-Luc Picard pulled through and spared humanity a gruesome fate. That's what it seemed anyway, though it turned out the whole thing was a test by Q that proved to the Q Continuum that humanity was still capable of evolving. After he thoroughly impressed Q, Picard joined his crew for a game of poker for the first time.

It really sounds simple, but when incorporating a story that shifts between three different timelines, things get a bit garbled up. Here's the action of the two-part finale broken up by their respective timelines, the episodes they referenced, and how the Star Trek: The Next Generation finale has held up over time.

The Present Timeline

The present timeline kicked off the story as Troi and Worf had just come out from a romantic excursion in the Holodeck. The two were in the midst of a discussion about asking Ryker's permission to date when they are interrupted by Picard. He can't explain why, but he believes he's traveling through time. Picard was briefly able to explain the situation but is ultimately transported through time again.

When Picard returned to the present, he informed Troi he was just speaking to previous lieutenant Tasha Yar, who had died some time ago. Picard was taken to sickbay, where Dr. Crusher evaluated him to see what was going on. She found no sign of temporal displacement but did find a defect in his mind that could eventually lead to Irumodic Syndrome. As Picard digested the news, Admiral Nakamura informed Picard there was a fleet-wide Yellow Alert.

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There are 30 Romulan Warbirds near a spatial anomaly in the neutral zone, and orders are for Starfleet to travel to the anomaly as well. Picard shifted through time again, but upon return, can more accurately recall the memories of the present and future. Crusher confirmed Picard has expanded his memories vastly in minutes, and the crew now believed what Picard said was happening.

The situation is still somewhat confusing though, as the rest of the crew can't remember the events of the past Picard has described. Ryker did point out both the past and present have similar spatial anomalies, which is about the best information they gathered in the meeting. Picard informed Riker he should be ready to take command due to the disorientation he has suffered from the time shifts, shares a kiss with Crusher, and gets to bed.

After some more time traveling Picard is transported to a courtroom in which Q presides. After a brief conversation Q informed the captain that humanity is at risk and that Picard will bring about its destruction. Picard is sent back to the present, and the captain tells Ryker to call for a red alert and emergency senior staff meeting. As the staff discussed the new information, the Enterprise approached the neutral zone with Romulan ships present.

The next scene in the present came with Picard in conversation with Commander Tomalak, who granted the Enterprise passage in the neutral zone to explore the anomaly. It's a temporal anomaly, one that is later revealed to be one capable of erasing all of mankind's existence if he can't figure out a way to stop it. To make an already long story short, Picard arranges for all ships past and present to be destroyed in the anomaly, and after the final ship is destroyed, Picard is back in Q's courtroom.

The whole thing was a test, not by Q, but the Q Continuum. In showing his ability to adapt across multiple periods, Picard proved humanity could further evolve and therefore deserved to exist. Victorious, Picard joined his crew that night in a poker game for the first time, and that is a good chunk of the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

The Past Timeline

Picard was first transported to the past back after a brief glimpse of the future and found himself in conversation with a long-gone but familiar face, Tasha Yar. Yar explained to Picard the Enterprise is a different ship, but before the reality of the conversation can set in the Captain is transported back to the present.

When he returned to the past, Picard and Tasha Yar had arrived from their shuttlecraft onto the Enterprise. It's the day Picard assumed command of the Enterprise , but something is different. Picard noticed strange beings unseen by the rest of the crew. Rattled by the situation, Picard immediately called for a red alert, which gave his new crew a jolt. Now aware of the time-shifting, Picard opted not to confide in his past crew of the situation, as not to impact the present or future.

Unfortunately Picard faltered a bit in the execution. For example, he commanded Worf later to make a level two alert, despite Yar being the security chief. Eventually, Picard is called to the bridge, only to learn multiple freighters are moving to the neutral zone in Federation and Romulan space. Picard declined Starfleet's directive to go to the location, instead insisted they continue with their current mission. Ship difficulties made that impossible at the moment, but Picard put Miles O'Brien on the problem until the chief engineer arrived.

Picard returned to the past after some time hopping only to learn the ship is approaching the coordinates given. A scan revealed there was nothing there, but that was exactly what Picard expected. Finally privy to the situation, Picard called out Q and was transported to the first courtroom scene referenced in the present timeline.

When Picard returned to the past, he requested the Enterprise be sent to the Devron system. The move is met with much concern given it's in Romulan neutral territory, but everyone goes along. I'll admit it's kind of crazy the respect Picard has from day one on the Enterprise . The past arrived at the Devron location about the same time as every other timeline, and pick up the same anomaly.

Once the past is up to speed on the whole anti-time thing, Q took Picard back into the past. I'm talking 3.5 million years into the past, where he witnessed the beginning of human life. Picard was sent back to the past knowing if he can't figure out how to stop the anomaly, humanity is lost. After a bit of action, the past ship converged in the same spot as the present and future ships and was destroyed. No one actually died, but it's not like they knew that at the time!

The Future Timeline

Star Trek: The Next Generation picked up in the future with Patrick Stewart's Picard at a vineyard. He's hanging out with Geordi LaForge, the new director of the Daystrom Institute. LaForge confessed his visit was to check on Picard's battle with Irumodic Syndrome, Picard is interrupted by the mysterious figures (who were later revealed as attendants in Q's courtroom), and shifted out of time.

Picard is eventually able to convince Geordi to take him to the neutral zone, but there's a problem. The neutral zone of the past is now Klingon territory, and relations between the Federation and Klingons are not good. Admiral Riker (yes, Admiral) isn't able to help, but Dr. Crusher can give transport via her ship of command the Pasteur .

Eventually Picard returned, but his knowledge of the time shifts concerned Geordi. Geordi thinks it's Picard's sickness, but agreed to take Picard to Data to talk out the issue. Data (who is living in a lavish house) admitted he is skeptical but said there was nothing to disprove what Picard was saying about the time shifts.

What's crazier is that Picard and Crusher were formerly married, but it didn't work out. At this point, no one in Star Trek: The Next Generation 's past believed Picard's thoughts on an anomaly, but decided to honor him with the one final mission if he believes it's important.

Worf, who is now a Governor for Klingons, could not allow safe passage in the zone and advised against the mission for their safety. Picard swayed him to help, but by that point, Crusher is about at her wits' end. After a brief power struggle, Crusher admitted she could not trust Picard's judgment and suggested the entire mission could be a construct within his aged and diseased mind. Q appears after this to mock Picard, but inadvertently (or intentionally, you never know with Q) revealed Picard's solution lies in all timelines.

The Pasteur is attacked by Klingon vessels, and only barely bailed out by Riker and Worf's ships. The crew of the Pasteur is taken aboard the Enterprise and flown out of the area. Picard is outraged, but put down with a sedative by friends who believed he all but lost his mind.

Eventually, the crew realized that the anomaly hasn't occurred yet in the future, and arrive just in time for its beginning. Just like in the two previous scenarios, the Enterprise heads into the anomaly and is destroyed. No one is killed really, and frankly, they never actually existed.

How The Episode Has Held Up Over Time

Suffice to say, a good portion of what was shown in Star Trek: The Next Generation 's future has not come to be. Data "died" ( mostly ) in Star Trek: Nemesis , Riker left Starfleet to marry and have children with Troi, and Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard resigned at the admiral level. Of course, fans weren't entirely surprised by that, as Star Trek: The Next Generation 's characters did state that the future in which Picard saw was no longer guaranteed to happen.

Even so, Star Trek: Picard has honored elements of Star Trek: The Next Generation 's finale in its work. Picard did retire to a vineyard chateau and his Irumodic Syndrome did metastasize. Season 1 goes into that situation quite a bit actually, though anyone looking for answers on that should be warned of massive spoilers for the CBS All Access series. Most of the other TNG cast has yet to appear in Picard , so their fates are one big question mark. Hopefully, more easter eggs from the finale will be referenced in Season 2, but if not, at least canon already accounted for that!

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to stream on CBS All Access . Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more Star Trek news, and the latest happenings in television and movies.

Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

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The Last Generation (episode)

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In a desperate last stand, Jean-Luc Picard and generations of crews both old and new fight together to save the galaxy from the greatest threat they've ever faced as the saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation comes to a thrilling, epic conclusion. ( Series finale )

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Mid-Credits Scene
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.2 Production
• 4.3 Promotion
• 4.4 Cast and characters
• 4.5 Continuity
• 4.6 Reception
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Special guest stars
• 5.3 Guest starring
• 5.4 Co-starring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stunt doubles
• 5.7 Stand-ins
• 5.8.1 Spacecraft references
• 5.8.2 USS Enterprise -G dedication plaque references
• 5.8.3 LCARS references
• 5.8.4 Meta references
• 5.9 External links

Summary [ ]

Emergency transmission

An emergency transmission by Federation President Anton Chekov warns any who hear not to approach Earth , as the Borg have used a signal of unknown origin to assimilate the planet's youth and fully taken control of Starfleet . As the USS Enterprise -D makes her way there at maximum warp , the crew listens in grim silence as the President warns of Earth's imminent fall, and of their inability to stop the Borg signal and save their young people, but also reminds his listeners of what his father would say: " Hope is never lost. There are always possibilities. " Until then, however, he urges anyone listening to avoid Earth; in the background as the channel closes, his staff are urging him to enter an escape pod .

Worf reports that the fleet has taken attack formation against Earth. Geordi adds that the orbital defense platforms have been destroyed, but Spacedock 's defenses are repelling the assault. " For now, " Riker warns, adding that the planetary shields will not stand up against the fleet, before wondering where the "cavalry" is. Data reports that emergency transmissions from all Starfleet and civilian ships have gone silent. " Apparently, we are the cavalry, " he sums up. From his own experience, Picard knows the fleet is being controlled by the Borg Collective , a hive mind with a single voice – a voice that is nearby. Data scans and confirms via long-range sensors that there is a Borg vessel located at Jupiter . Picard orders a course to intercept .

Arriving in Jupiter orbit, the Enterprise detects a massive Borg cube in the center of the Great Red Spot. Beverly reports it is broadcasting the Collective and puts it on audio. Picard asks if she is able to find Jack amidst the cacophony of voices. She is eventually able to narrow it down, and Worf confirms that he is indeed the command signal. Riker guesses the Borg are amplifying the signal from the cube. Picard knows that the only way to save Starfleet, and Earth, is to sever that connection, no matter the cost: " What began over thirty-five years ago ends tonight. " He orders Geordi to take them in.

Act One [ ]

The Borg-controlled fleet continues to blast away at Spacedock's shields, including the USS Titan -A , with Esmar in the center chair. Sidney La Forge detects unauthorized movement on Deck 5, and the order is given: " Eliminate all unassimilated. " Meanwhile, the unassimilated are able to hold their own, with Seven of Nine in the lead, making their way down a corridor and into a turbolift to the bridge . From the opposite lift, Musiker leads another team just behind Seven's, and both exchange fire with the assimilated bridge crew. But those shot by the unassimilated are taken by a transporter beam; the crew has linked their phasers to the transporter system (perfecting the "portable beam-me-up" as Seven jokingly calls it) to lock their assimilated crewmates inside Transporter Room One. Seven orders her people to seal the bridge and take their stations. One ensign protests that he is just a cook who took lunar flight training, but never finished because of problems at home. Seven interrupts by saying he was a pilot, which makes him their pilot, and encourages him to take his station . Dr. Ohk brings up the maintenance channel over communications, where the unassimilated officers of the fleet report being overrun. Seven urges her crew to find a way to get them out of fleet formation mode , preferably before the Collective realizes they have retaken the ship.

At Jupiter, the Enterprise approaches the cube. Data's scans indicate it is only 36 percent operational, and what power it does have is being used to broadcast the hive mind. Picard turns to Troi , who admits she has never felt anything quite like this before, a "quiet suffering" as she puts it. Data admits he hates the Borg for all the suffering they have inflicted on so many. Troi is able to sense Jack, but he is totally consumed by the Collective. Worf asks the question on their minds: What if Jack is at the point of no return? But both Picard and Beverly reject that idea. Just then, Data detects that the cube has scanned them… and lowered shields and redirected its weapons. Picard calls it an "invitation," and says their objective is clear: Locate and destroy the beacon that is transmitting the Borg signal. Geordi warns the signal is so powerful, it is scrambling their sensors. The only way to find it will be to beam aboard the cube. Beverly asks if there are any life signs , and Data puts the readings on screen. She then has the computer narrow down the signals that mimic Human brain waves . She believes she can use those readings to pinpoint Jack's location, recognizing that Picard intends to go down himself. Picard asks her to lead him to Jack, complimenting how she had brought him that far, and asking her to let him be the one that brings their son home. Riker and Worf both volunteer to accompany Picard. Data eagerly does so as well, but Picard needs his expertise on the ship. Beverly agrees; while she wants nothing more than to tear the Borg limb from limb herself, they need every advantage they can get and that means staying on the Enterprise , to which Data reluctantly agrees. Riker shares a last, silent look with Troi, who looks pained at what she senses. Picard leaves Geordi in command, and before entering the turbolift tells his old shipmates it has been an honor serving with them.

They beam aboard the cube, where Riker worriedly notes the lack of movement or even sound; on a cube that size, there should be thousands of drones. Worf notices his "disappointment" at not being outnumbered, and Riker admits he had never been in any "too-quiet situations" that ended with a pleasant surprise. " You don't leave the doors open if you want to keep the wolves out, " Picard agrees. They find a Borg drone dead in its regeneration alcove , and Worf's tricorder scans indicate the necrotic tissue is being consumed. Riker wonders what they could be sustaining, and Picard grimly wonders whom . As they continue their sweep, every drone they find is dead; the cube is essentially a tomb, which explains the lack of bio-signs. Picard points out that in the absence of one army, they simply raised another. Beverly reports from the ship that she has found Jack's bio-signs in a chamber one level below him, which Picard recalls being near the unimatrix array and below the transporter platform. When Riker asks how he could know that, Beverly believes some part of Picard, even in his golem form, must still be tied to the hive – which is how Picard knows it is now time to part ways, as he can no longer be their captain, but now has to be a father. He tells them to find the beacon, and thanks Riker for his loyalty over the years, which means so much to him; as he is about to say something similar to Worf, he tells his old captain that there are two turns of phrase a Klingon never admits to knowing: defeat and farewell. As Riker and Worf leave, Picard asks Beverly to lead him to their son. She warns that she can lead him to the next level, but the interference will increase after that. As she is about to make an admission of her own, Picard assures her that she did "everything right" with Jack.

As Picard proceeds alone into the cube, he finds Jack, now Võx , giving orders to the new Collective. He declares to the worlds of the Federation that their biological and technological distinctiveness will contribute to the greater whole, their cultures will evolve to serve the future, and peace and prosperity will spread throughout the galaxy. Assimilated into the Collective, they will exist in a universe without fear or loss, unbroken, perfect. Picard tries to reach out to him, saying he is there to take him home, when laughter echoes in the chamber. He looks up to see the mutilated Borg Queen , held up in the wall behind Jack. She tells Picard that Jack is home, as is Picard: " At last, Locutus has returned… to his true family, to his Collective… to me ."

Act Two [ ]

Aboard the Titan , as the battle rages around them, the unassimilated crew has detected the Enterprise near the Borg cube on Jupiter. Musiker wonders how they could be using it, given its age and condition, but Seven realizes Picard's plan, using an older ship that is not controlled like the rest of the fleet, and wonders how they can do the same. Musiker sees the signal as being propagated by line of sight, which means if they can't see the Titan , they can't control it... and Seven knows they have a way to be unseen . She orders tactical to upload every prefix code they have for the entire fleet and scramble their shields; they can't fire while cloaked, so they will have to be fast. The cook/pilot protests at the idea of one ship against the entire fleet. Seven tells her crew she is not asking them to give their lives for nothing, but to fight for what's below, on Earth: their families and children. The Borg took their crew and killed Captain Shaw ; now, they are all that is left of Starfleet. Musiker reports the cloaking device is online, and Seven gives the order.

Picard demands to know what the Queen has done to Jack; the Queen smugly replies that she could do nothing, as she has only her words, and the "soft assurances" of a mother's love. " You are not his mother! " Picard shouts in rage, as he fires his phaser repeatedly at the Queen, who is protected by a shield. The Queen goes on to say that there had been no Collective until recently, just herself, an "unimaginable loneliness" that she and Jack shared. Picard accuses her of worming her way into his head, but she retorts that Jack found her , at the very edge of space, where she had been abandoned to die of starvation and age. As the cries of her "children" died out, she heard another voice, louder and clearer: Jack's voice. Picard demands she release Jack and take him instead, but the Queen refuses. The future of the Borg does not lie in assimilation, she believes, but evolution.

Riker and Worf make their way through the cube to find the beacon, and Worf is able to locate a central access terminal. Riker expresses the hope that the Borg have been too busy dying to upgrade their codecs. As Worf communicates with the Enterprise , one of the "dead" drones awakens; as Riker finds the broadcast emitter, another follows suit. Meanwhile, on Earth, the Titan weaves its way through the assimilated fleet, decloaking, firing, and recloaking to avoid being retaken by the fleet automation, attempting to buy Picard and his crew time to stop the Borg.

Picard condemns the Queen as insane, consuming what little "Collective" she had left. The Queen replies that she did so only for this moment, so that Picard could stand as witness. He asks what it is he is to witness. " Your future's end , " she replies. She had made the deal with Vadic and her rogue Changelings to be her weapons, because they too understood the pain of losing a generation to Starfleet. Together, they weaponized Picard's biology, rewriting the Borg machine code into genetic code. They no longer have to consume materials to continue, but could now reproduce through biology, propagating a new Collective with a single purpose: not just to assimilate, but to annihilate.

Aboard the Titan , the assimilated crew manages to force their way out of the transporter room, while the drones activate aboard the cube and attack Riker and Worf. The cube begins opening fire on the Enterprise , and Geordi orders evasive maneuvers . Worf passes Riker his kur'leth , the latter being surprised at its weight; Worf directs him to the hilt, where he has concealed a phaser. The Titan continues its hit-and-run attacks, narrowly missing being hit by a photon torpedo . Musiker warns the fleet is using predictive algorithms to find them, and the pilot warns that it is working; the fleet redeploys assets to pursue them. On the Enterprise , Geordi warns Beverly that he didn't have time to work on the weapons, so she will have to fire them manually. The doctor proves more than up to the task, however, inflicting considerable damage. When all eyes turn to look at her in wonder, she smiles and shrugs, saying that a lot has happened in the past twenty years . Meanwhile, Riker wonders why Worf never used the hidden phaser that whole time, and Worf replies only that "swords are fun." Riker tells the Enterprise they should have the schematics for the beacon now. Troi examines the schematics and is able to detect the location – that's the good news. The bad news, Data adds, is that it is at the heart of the cube itself. Geordi believes it impossible to reach, even for a pilot like his daughter Sidney. Data, however, has other ideas, and takes the ship in. When the others protest, he pleads with them to trust him; while he agrees it is statistically almost impossible, his "gut" tells him he can do it. Geordi finally agrees to go with Data's "gut," and Data takes them in, weaving through the structure of the Borg cube. Troi wonders why she can suddenly sense enjoyment; as if in answer, Data has an almost ecstatic look on his face as he navigates through the cube.

Spacedock finally falls to the relentless assault, and Earth's planetary shields collapse. The fleet redeploys to target all of Earth's major population centers. As Seven orders another strafe run, the ship violently shudders; Sidney and Alandra have destroyed the Titan 's cloak, which will allow the Collective to retake control of the ship. Picard tries to reach out to Jack, who directs the fleet to fire on Sector 001 . In desperation, Picard begins ripping out the cables connecting his son to the cube. The Queen warns that it will kill him; severing the link would sentence his mind to "insurmountable, unsurvivable shock," and that only Jack himself could choose to leave now. The Titan is neutralized, and the fleet targets Earth's major cities.

Data brings the Enterprise into the center of the cube, where they see the beacon for themselves. As Beverly prepares to fire, however, Geordi stops her short, and asks if Data sees the same thing he does. Data confirms the beacon is integrated directly into the cube's systems; destroying the beacon will set off a chain reaction that destroys the entire cube, and everyone onboard. Beverly protests that there has to be another way, but Troi lays down the situation bluntly: If they destroy the cube now, they will kill everyone onboard, but if they wait, the Collective will wipe out everyone else. Geordi looks up at Beverly, who is struggling with the idea, but finally, she quietly nods. He then calls Riker, who has heard every word. They have a transporter lock on Riker and Worf, but not Picard, and prepare to beam them out. Riker, however, has no intention of leaving Picard behind. Troi warns that he will have a minute at most to get out the moment they fire, but Riker believes he owes Picard a lifetime; a minute is the least he could spare. He promises to see her soon. Worf quips that there had been a moment he was worried they might actually survive, as he joins Riker. Data reports he has lost their signal; Riker and Worf have crossed into the dead zone.

Picard continues to rip out cables; the Queen now sounds worried as she asks what he is doing. Picard replies that he vowed never to return to the Collective and had been running half his life from it. But now he has something to go back for. As Riker and Worf catch up to him, Picard takes a cable and jabs it into his neck , connecting himself to the Collective. Inside, he finds Jack, who says he can hear so many voices, welcoming him – all joyful, no loneliness or fear, perfect. Picard tells him the euphoria isn't real, that perfection is not evolution, but death. He knows Jack has always felt different, hungering for connection while trying to keep people away, to keep them from seeing who he really was. Picard had been the same, having joined Starfleet to find a family he didn't have, and he had found it, and let them in. But there was always a barrier; he too thought there was something wrong with him, and he waited, waiting in his vineyard to die alone. But now, he realized that Jack is the part of him he never knew was missing. Jack insists that it was all written before his birth, that this is what he was meant to be, and this is where he belonged.

Aboard the Enterprise , Geordi knows they are out of time, and hopes their friends have some left. He turns to Beverly, who nods, and targets the beacon. He gives the order to fire, and the Enterprise destroys the beacon with a barrage of torpedoes and phaser fire. Riker turns to Worf and asks if it is "good enough," and Worf agrees that it is a fine day to die with honor. As the Enterprise makes her escape, Data is attempting to lock onto the others, but the shockwave of the beacon's destruction is interfering with the transporter signal. Picard decides that if Jack will not leave, he will stay to the end, telling his son that he has changed his life, and embraces him. As he relives all of the memories with his parents, Jack finally awakens, and begins frantically tearing out the cables himself, including that connecting Picard to him. Riker speaks aloud, hoping Troi will hear him, assuring his imzadi that he loves her and will see her soon, together with their son . Troi, sensing him, realizes she knows precisely where they are, and rushes to take a seat at the helm.

The Queen rages that Jack had been born there, and so will die there. Jack retorts that the time of the Borg is over. The Queen reminds him that even if he survived, he would be changed, broken, alone. Looking to his father, Jack replies that he won't be alone. The Enterprise flies in overhead and once reorienting its direction is able to beam them to safety. The Collective orders its last directive to be carried out now that the "command signal" – Jack – has been interrupted. The Queen wails at her defeat as she is taken by the fiery explosions and the Borg cube is torn apart, the Enterprise escaping just in time with flames licking at her shields. Aboard the Titan , the assimilated crew reaches the bridge, but as the Queen's cube is destroyed, the nanoprobes fade. The crew looks around at one another in confusion. Sidney, realizing she was just pointing a phaser at Seven, begins to apologize, and breaks down crying as Seven hugs her, assuring her it is over.

Aboard the Enterprise , Picard emerges from the turbolift together with Riker, Worf, and Jack, who has had some of his Borg implants removed from him. On screen, Geordi is relieved to see his daughters are safe and sound with Seven and Musiker. Worf sinks into the chair to the left of the captain's seat and is briefly heard snoring to Geordi and Data's amusement, exhausted from his ordeal. As Jack is reunited with his mother, Picard welcomes him aboard the Enterprise .

Act Three [ ]

" Captain's log , Stardate … shall we say one. The first of a new day for friends both old and young. Starfleet had implemented a fleet-wide transporter solution to purge our young officers of the Borg infection. A world-saving effort developed by our new head of Starfleet Medical Branch – Admiral Crusher, who also managed to spearhead technology that privately scans for other irregularities. In constant need for information, Our changeling adversaries kept yet did not kill many of their targets. From the lowest of ranks to the very highest. "

The Enterprise and the Titan arrive in Earth orbit amidst the wreckage of the battle. Beverly is promoted to admiral and named the head of Starfleet Medical , where she develops a transporter technique to purge the Borg code introduced by the Changelings, as well as more easily detect Changeling infiltrators. The targets replaced by Changelings are recovered alive, including Captain Tuvok , who meets with his old friend Seven in the Titan 's conference room. Tuvok explains that in light of the recent events, the Enterprise veterans are receiving full pardons for hijacking the Titan with Seven's help. However, Seven's aid to them, and her disobedience of her captain, must be taken into account. Seven thinks her instincts don't fall in line with Starfleet protocol, and so she is electing to resign from Starfleet. However, Tuvok shows her the officer review sent to Starfleet Command by Captain Shaw prior to the Titan setting course for the Ryton system , in which he refers to her both by his preference ("First Officer Hansen"), then more accurately by hers, "Seven of Nine." In his message, Shaw admits to being a "relic of an older time" that followed "the book," which he concedes is "boring," whereas Seven is reckless and unrelenting, and "doesn't give a damn" about protocol or procedure. However, he also believes she is brave and loyal, thinks that the "book" that she would write would be "great," and that maybe the rules she breaks were broken to begin with anyway. He ends the review by recommending that Seven be promoted to captain upon their return to port. Seven is stunned to tears by the revelation, before Tuvok gently denies Captain Seven's resignation.

Musiker is listening to a message from her ex-husband Jae Hwang , who is impressed with what he has heard about her part in what happened; their son Gabriel is "still in awe," and both are eager to see her again, and she is in tears upon seeing the camera turned to the face of her granddaughter. She is encouraged to say hi to 'grandma', but at her silence, Jae apologizes from off camera, explaining that the little girl can be quite shy. At that moment, Worf enters, saying he has been told that tears are a body's weapon against pain. Having never wept himself (as Klingons have no tear ducts), he hopes hers are happy ones. Musiker explains that her son has heard about what happened and reached out to her, inviting her to meet her granddaughter for the first time. Every newscast her family had seen had shown Musiker's face, as well as all of her classified valor commendations. Worf, with a knowing look in his eye, thinks whoever leaked the information is an "honorable maverick," and Musiker, realizing what Worf has done, adds that they are a dear friend as well. Worf hopes that she will find happiness with her family, and Musiker hopes that he will continue to be a warrior for peace.

Data is in a counselling session with Troi, knowing how he could be overwhelmed by emotion, given how traumatic his experiences were: life, death, self-realization. Data admits the transition has been difficult, and finding balance is challenging. Troi remarks that they have gone over their time by an hour (again), while her PADD shows a list of places to possibly take a beach vacation, looking particularly at Kaphar Prime . Meanwhile, Data goes on about the trials of finding his Humanity; he sometimes feels joyful, other times melancholy, some anxiety and ease, some anger. Being Human , he concedes, is just as difficult as the desire to be so, as well as "infinitely more complex" than he imagined. He realizes he is rambling on, and apologizes, asking if they would meet the same time tomorrow. " Can't wait, " Troi replies, not-quite-sincerely. As they approach the door, Riker arrives, asking how Data is feeling. Addressing Riker as " commander " (the last rank he recalls Riker having), he replies that he is "okay." After Data leaves, Riker jokingly asks if he is still "batshit insane," to which Troi smacks him in the arm while laughing.

One year later , Picard, Riker, and Geordi stand on the bridge of the Enterprise -D, now completely restored and given a place of honor at the Fleet Museum . Picard muses that if there was ever evidence that the past mattered, it was right there. Geordi wonders how many times she has managed to "save the world," and Riker thinks it is more than the years will allow "three old men" to remember. Geordi thinks on what they might have been like without the Enterprise , and Riker believes they would certainly have been different – but not better. After a moment of reflection, Geordi has the computer initiate the shutdown sequence. Riker admits to missing the old computer voice. Picard tells Geordi to "take care of her," and Geordi agrees; after all, she has always taken good care of them .

At the rebuilt spacedock, Picard and Beverly pilot a shuttle inside, while Jack, now commissioned as an ensign, paces behind them. Jack insists he is not nervous, but Beverly points out he is pacing nervously. Picard recalls doing the same before his first assignment, saying he walked "a light year in a circle" before beaming aboard. Beverly notes the unusual step of the accelerated officer's track, and Jack thinks it might have been nepotism; after all, the family name means something. Picard, however, assures him that names mean nothing, and it was all Jack's doing, before expressing his pride in him. He also mentions that Jack never mentioned where he was being posted. This is why Jack is so nervous, not for himself. As the shuttle enters the bay, Picard sees the Titan … only Jack says it is "not quite" the Titan anymore. Beverly apologizes for the subterfuge, knowing how much Picard disdains fanfare. As they approach, Picard is stunned almost to tears to see that the Titan has been rechristened in honor of Picard and his crew: USS Enterprise , NCC-1701-G. " Names mean almost everything, " Jack tells him. " Welcome to the Enterprise , admiral. "

Jack steps onto the bridge and calls for the helm to set a course for the M'talas system , and for tactical to fire all weapons. As he sits himself in the captain's chair, Seven orders him out. He protests that it is "so cozy," but Musiker – now first officer – reinforces it. Seven tells Sidney, now a lieutenant jg , to ignore everything Jack just said, and Sidney replies that she usually does. Seven emphasizes that it is just a shakedown cruise. Musiker remarks on how Starfleet saw fit to give "a thief, a pirate, and a spy" their own ship. Jack agrees that they sound like a bunch of "ne'er-do-wells and rule-breakers." " What could possibly go wrong? " Seven asks rhetorically. Mura reports all engines online, and deflector shields are prepped for warp. Jack asks where he is needed – communications , since he can speak thirteen alien languages, tactical , since he knows the "ins-and-outs" of the universe's most "nefarious characters," or perhaps the science station , not his strong suit but he has been able to "science [his] way" out of situations. Seven stations him in the left-hand seat, as "special counselor" to the captain. Esmar reports they are cleared for warp. Musiker asks what the order will be: "engage," "make it so," "take her out," so on, as a captain's first official act of command has a "long history". Jack thinks of it as writing the opening line to one's legacy, and wonders what it will be. As Seven gives the order, the new Enterprise goes to warp.

" We're grateful to have ridden the tide with you. "

At 10 Forward Avenue , the old crew of the Enterprise has gathered; Riker calls it the "end of the road," and that they had closed the place down… again. Geordi notes that Guinan has been giving them the "side-eye" for the past half hour, to which Troi attributes to a certain someone draining the bar of all the bloodwine – and surprisingly, she is addressing Beverly. Beverly thinks they should have music, much to Worf's dismay; he is looking to leave, as he has a lecture on Mugato meditation to give the next morning. Riker and Troi are also thinking it's time to call it a night, planning a "whirlwind vacation," but can't quite decide a destination – the luminescent beaches of Kaphar Prime, or Orlando , something Geordi calls a "tough choice." He calls for one final toast, to which Data prepares to give a rather humorous one before being talked down. Riker looks to Picard, who quotes from Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar : " There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures. " As they clink their glasses, Picard adds one final note: A playing card, bringing the crew together for a few hands of poker .

Mid-Credits Scene [ ]

Settling in his quarters on the Enterprise , Jack sets his bag down on his bunk. " Well, look at you, a chip off the old block, " a voice says behind him. Jack turns, phaser in hand, finding himself face-to-face with Q . Picard had told Jack all about him, but Jack had thought that Q was dead . Q quips that he had hoped "the next generation" would not think so linearly . He tells the "young mortal" that he had much ahead of him. Picard had told Jack that Humanity's trial was over, and Q replies that it was – for Picard. For Jack, however, the trial has just begun…

Log entries [ ]

Memorable quotes [ ].

" This is President Anton Chekov of the United Federation of Planets broadcasting on all emergency channels. Do not approach Earth. A signal of unknown origin has turned our young against us. They have been assimilated by the Borg. Our fleet has been compromised and as we speak, our planetary defenses are falling. Sol Station is defending Earth as best it can. But we're almost out of time. We have not been able to find a way to stop this Borg signal and unassimilate our young. But I know if my father were here, he'd remind us all that hope is never lost. There are always possibilities. Until then, I implore you: save yourselves. Farewell. "

" What began over 35 years ago ends tonight. Mr. La Forge, take us in. "

" So much pain. So much misery inflicted on so many. I hate them . "

" You're not going alone. " " And I will make it a threesome. " " Do you even hear yourself? "

" It's been an honor serving with you all. "

" Will, thank you. I – It means so much to me. " " You know that I know . Always. " " Mr. Worf... " " There are two turns of phrase that a Klingon never admits to knowing. Defeat and farewell. We should be going. "

" At last, Locutus has returned. To his true family. To his collective. To me. "

" You had this in there the whole time? A phaser and you didn't use it?! " " Swords are fun. "

" Why do I suddenly sense the feeling of enjoyment? "

" Then, if you won't leave, I'll stay with you. Till the end. You have changed my life. Forever. "

" You were born here and you will die here! " " It's done. The time of the Borg is over! " " As are you! Even if somehow you survived, you will be different, changed, broken, alone! " " No, no I am not alone. "

" If ever there was better evidence that the past mattered, it's right here. " " How many times has she managed to save the world? " " No doubt more than the years will allow three old men to remember. "

" Take care of her, Geordi. " " Yes, sir. After all, she's always taken good care of us."

" I have been told tears are the body's weapon against pain. Having never wept, I hope yours to be happy. "

" Be happy with your family, Raffaela, warrior of the House of Musiker. " " And you, Worf, House of Martok, continue to be a warrior for peace. "

" All right. One final toast, hmm? Data? This one's yours. " " Oh, ahem. There was a young lady from Venus... " " Data! " " I always wanted to finish that . "

" I still can't believe Starfleet saw fit to give a thief, a pirate and a spy their own ship. " " Bunch of ne'er-do-wells and rule breakers really. " " What could possibly go wrong? "

" Hope you're feeling lucky, Jean-Luc. " " You know, Will, I've come to believe that the stars have always been in my favor. "

" Well, look at you. A chip off the old block. " " Q, is that right? " " Simple name, for a complicated being. " " My father told me all about you. I thought you were dead. " " Oh, and here I was hoping the next generation wouldn't think so linearly. Young mortal, you have much ahead of you. " " You told my father that Humanity's trial was over. " " It is. For him. But I'm here today because of you. You see, yours, Jack, has just begun. "

Background information [ ]

• 15 April 2023 : Title publicly revealed by Wil Wheaton in TRR : " Võx ".
• The title refers to the last generation of Borg , featured in a desperate attempt to revive the Collective in this episode. While the new collective created by Agnes Jurati is still around, the original Borg appear to be mostly defeated. [1]

Production [ ]

• This is only the second episode in the Star Trek franchise to credit the same person as sole writer and director, in this case series showrunner Terry Matalas . The first was the Star Trek: The Original Series third season episode " Elaan of Troyius ", written and directed by John Meredyth Lucas , in 1968.
• This episode marks the first official Star Trek series finale since ENT : " These Are the Voyages... " in 2005. It is also the first conclusion of a series, since the return of Star Trek to television with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. However, the end of Discovery had also been announced before the premiere of this episode and the fate of Star Trek: Short Treks has been uncertain since the release of its last episode, " Children of Mars ".
• Terry Matalas has revealed that the initial draft for the finale included several additional character appearances, including a scene between Data and Soji , the reveal that Ro Laren had survived her shuttle's explosion in " Imposters " and was found alive alongside Tuvok , as well as Seven's promotion featuring Admiral Kathryn Janeway and Captain Harry Kim . All these appearances had to be cut due to budget limitations. [2]
• The final scene, featuring the TNG characters playing poker, was largely improvised and filmed uninterruptedly for 45 minutes. A longer cut of the scene appeared as an "easter egg" on the home video releases of this episode. [3]
• Terry Matalas approached John de Lancie with his idea for the mid-credit scene during the filming of de Lancie's final scenes for season 2 . The scene was filmed under heavy time constraints in just 20 minutes. [4]
• Similar to the Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 finale, " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ", setting up Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , this finale sets up a potential spin-off series featuring the USS Enterprise -G and her bridge crew, including Captain Seven , Commander Raffi , Lieutenant Sidney La Forge and Ensign Jack Crusher . Terry Matalas has revealed that his tentative title for this potential new series is Star Trek: Legacy . [5]

• Diligent viewers had already noticed in April 2023 that a "less interesting" visual effects (VFX) edit was used for the European streamings of the episode. This shot appeared to mimic classic VFX shots of the USS Enterprise -D going into warp from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series. It concerned a ten-second sequence, occurring at the beginning of the episode at timecode 2:06. [6] However, it was only after it was discovered that it was the European edit that was used on the North American DVD and Blu-ray home video format releases instead of the more vibrant US edit as streamed by Paramount+ (US), that reviewers and fans alike started to take notice and began demanding an explanation from the franchise. Former Picard VFX Production Manager Shawn Ewashko was quick to point out that his VFX department had nothing to do whatsoever with selection of the alternate shot for inclusion on the home video format releases. [7] [8] Two weeks after the home video format release, Paramount Home Entertainment confirmed that the included shot concerned an early alternate VFX take, but that the later enhanced edit (originally produced for the theatrical screening) would henceforth be used for all pursuant home video format disc pressings. [9] [10] Despite the franchise's assurances though, the early VFX edit was still the one included on the respective French home video format releases.

Promotion [ ]

• One day before its debut on Paramount+ , the series' finale received a by 090 Media organized limited, midday theatrical IMAX screening in ten major US cities on 19 April 2023 along with the preceding episode, " Võx ", which, aside from mandatory registration on 12 April, was otherwise free for visitors. The screening was followed by a Q&A session with the primary cast and executive producers Terry Matalas and Alex Kurtzman broadcast live from the Los Angeles venue. [11] [12] The Q&A session was later included on the home video format releases as well.
• Paramount+ had prior to the IMAX screenings already taken out a four-day add on 16 April 2023 for the two-part series finale on the massive 3D Times Square, New York City billboard, which featured an enormous USS Enterprise -D sliding into view, [13] [14] an add which filled showrunner Matalas with pride. [15] This was incidentally the second time the franchise made use of the giant New York 3D billboard to promote a Kurtzman-era Star Trek production, after having taken out a similar, albeit less spectacular, add for the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in April of the preceding year. [16]

Cast and characters [ ]

• Patrick Stewart ( Jean-Luc Picard ) is the only actor to appear in every episode of the series.
• Tim Russ reprises his role of Tuvok , after having portrayed the Changeling version in " Dominion ". Tuvok made a non-speaking appearance in LD : " Grounded " and was last portrayed by Russ in VOY : " Endgame ". Previously, Russ reprised the role of Tuvok in a short film for Star Trek The Exhibition in 2007 . and again for the Star Trek Online mission "A Step Between Stars" as part of the game's 4-Year Anniversary Event in 2014 .
• Walter Koenig makes a voice-over appearance as Federation president Anton Chekov . Koenig most famously portrayed Pavel Chekov on Star Trek: The Original Series , last portraying the character in Star Trek Generations . He is the first Original Series main cast actor to make an appearance on Star Trek since George Takei appeared as Hikaru Sulu in LD : " Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus ", and the first to appear in a live-action production since Leonard Nimoy last portrayed Spock in Star Trek Into Darkness .
• Koenig's participation came about through a happy coincidence as he is the real world next-door neighbor of Liam Shaw performer Todd Stashwick . He was invited over to preview the series finale with Stashwick and Matalas, [17] and it was a deeply impressed Koenig who suggested the inclusion of the president, a suggestion Matalas was only too happy to honor – even though it could only be in a mere voice-over part as principal photography had already wrapped by then. [18] [19] " I mean, we would not be making this [Picard] if it was not for Walter, " Matalas stated, referring to the legacy left by Star Trek: The Original Series . ( PIC Season 3 Blu-ray / DVD : "The Last Generation", audio commentary )
• John de Lancie makes an uncredited appearance as Q , having last portrayed the character in the season 2 finale " Farewell ".
• With this episode, Riker and Troi have appeared in three series finales, with the others being " All Good Things... " and " These Are the Voyages... ", Worf has appeared in a different set of three (this, " All Good Things... ", and " What You Leave Behind "), Seven and Tuvok have appeared in two (the other being " Endgame "), and Picard, Beverly, Geordi, and Q have appeared in another two (this one and " All Good Things... ").

Continuity [ ]

• Archive footage from Star Trek: First Contact is used for the Locutus flashbacks that Picard sees when he interfaces with Jack in the Borg Cube.
• The toast that Data begins to deliver is the same limerick he quoted while the Enterprise crew was affected by polywater intoxication in TNG : " The Naked Now ".
• Like the series finale of The Next Generation , " All Good Things... ", this episode also ends with the command crew of the Enterprise -D playing poker .
• When Q appears to Jack Crusher in 2402, he states that Jack should not think so linearly with regards to Q's death. Since the Q have the ability to travel through time, it is possible that when Q visited Jack, he was younger than he was during the events of the second season of Star Trek: Picard .
• The events of the episode echo the events of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . As in that movie, a crew of veteran officers (led by an admiral) approached Earth in an old ship to save it from imminent danger, with the President of the Federation issued a warning to not approach Earth. In the end, the crew of veteran officers is pardoned or otherwise excused from having broken a series of regulations (including the hijacking of a ship named Enterprise ) because they managed to save everyone on Earth in the process. Then, to commemorate those actions, a new USS Enterprise is christened. The two significant differences are that Admiral Picard isn't demoted for disobeying orders (as Kirk was) and the crew being recognized do not then take command of the newly christened ship (though Seven of Nine, who participated in some of the regulation breaking, does). The name reveal moment is echoed, however, as Admirals Picard and Crusher accompany Jack to the ship.
• The discussion over Seven's command confirmation is similar to Saru 's quandary when he assumed command of the USS Discovery .
• Q dismissively commenting about Jack thinking too linearly is similar to the Borg Queen's appraisal of "You think in such three-dimensional terms." In Star Trek: First Contact when Jean-Luc Picard was baffled how the Queen could have been aboard the Borg cube which was destroyed in TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ".
• With the appearance of the restored USS Enterprise -D , the USS Enterprise -F , and the new USS Enterprise -G during the battle, and the USS Enterprise -A and Enterprise at the Fleet Museum, this episode boasts the greatest number of Starfleet ships named Enterprise with distinct hull numbers appearing in the same episode.

Reception [ ]

• Actor Ed Speleers strongly praised the work of costume designers Michael Crow, Deborah Ambrasino, and others involved with constructing his Borg costume:

Michael Crow is, A, the calmest man in the world and, B, is such an exceptional talent. His team is incredible, and Deborah Ambrosino, who made the costume. She's done a lot of Marvel suits, and I think they wanted a Marvel quality to this Võx suit. It was heavy, but it also wasn't. I felt like I could move in it. I felt pretty cool, to be honest. It felt like the Terminator or something. It really lent to the character well, and that's the meat of it. That is also why I love Michael Crow and his team so much. Everything they made me costume-wise really was in keeping with who the character is and allowed me to move and feel that in a way just added to the process. [20]

• Speleers went on to express his excitement in working on the post-credits scene with John de Lance:

We only had 20 minutes to shoot the scene. We literally got [John de Lancie] in, got him in that amazing outfit . . . He's phenomenal on his worst day, and we just banged it out. And so, I still get chills. I love that scene so much. It's one of my favorite scenes in the finale . . . He's royalty in Star Trek canon. He is absolute royalty and a very lovely, astute man. Obviously, we just had that one scene; it was a great scene to be had because he's quite catlike in a scene. I don't know if that's him as a character or that's him as him . . . He kind of put me on edge when I was doing the scenes with him because we'd be talking very nicely about family, and everything would be cool and it'd be like we felt like a connection. Then, suddenly, he'd just turn it on its head and just poke, which I love. I love it when an actor wants to go for it, and he's the same . . . It seems very important, but we didn't have much within it. It's only three, four lines each, something like that, but we both pushed each other to try and do it as many different ways as possible. That's great when you got an actor that you get the chance to do that. Just keeps it fresh and it also keeps you on your toes. [21]

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard / Locutus of Borg (archive footage)
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Michelle Hurd as Raffaela Musiker
• Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher / Võx

Special guest stars [ ]

• Brent Spiner as Daystrom Android M-5-10 / Data
• LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Worf
• Jonathan Frakes as William T. Riker
• Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi
• Alice Krige as the voice of the Borg Queen
• Walter Koenig as Anton Chekov (voice)
• Tim Russ as Tuvok

Guest starring [ ]

• Todd Stashwick as Liam Shaw (holographic recording)
• Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut as Sidney La Forge

Co-starring [ ]

• Mica Burton as Alandra La Forge
• Randy J. Goodwin as Jae (voice)
• Joseph Lee as Lt. Mura
• Jin Maley as Ensign Esmar
• Tiffany Shepis as Dr. Ohk
• Majel Barrett as Enterprise Computer (archive audio)
• David Chan as Mechanic
• Amy Earhart as Titan Computer
• James MacKinnon as Starfleet Officer
• Jane Edwina Seymour as Borg Queen Body Double

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Duke Conrad as Borg drone
• Mousa Hussein Kraish as Titan -A cook
• John de Lancie as Q
• Voice of the Borg
• Changeling Starfleet infiltrator
• Raffi's granddaughter

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Quinn Early as stunt double for Michael Dorn

Stand-ins [ ]

• Margot Muraszkiewicz as stand-in for Jeri Ryan
• Sedríque as stand-in for Michael Dorn
• Thadeus Welch as stand-in for Patrick Stewart

References [ ]

10 Forward Avenue ; admiral ; alien ; anxiety ; assimilation ; Bajoran ; Berlin ; bar ; beaming ; " belay that order "; Betazoid ; bloodwine ; body ; book ; Borg ; Borg Collective ; bridge ; brother ; Cairo ; captain ; cat ; cat-feeding ensign ; Changeling ; Château Picard ; Chekov, Pavel ; children ; circle ; cloak ; cloaking device ; combadge ; commandeer ; commander ; computer ; cook ; counselor ; counselor's office ; daughter ; death ; deli ; direct order ; doctor ; Earth ; ease ; emotions ; enjoyment ; euphoria ; " end of the road "; face ; families ; father ; fear ; first officer ; flashback (psychological episode); fleet ; flood ; friend ; granddaughter ; grandma ; Guinan ; gut ; Haliian ; hernia ; hijacking ; hilt ; holo-projector ; honor ; hope ; hour ; House of Martok ; House of Musiker ; hug ; Human (aka Humanity ); Hwang, Gabriel ; hybrid ; imzadi ; information ; Jupiter ; kiss ; Klingon ; kur'leth ; lady ; languages ; LCARS ; lecture ; legacy ; lieutenant junior grade ; life ; light-year ; limerick ; ma'am ; maximum warp ; " mayday "; meditation ; mother ; mugato ; music ; name ; necrotic tissue ; nepotism ; New York ; news-wave ; " number one "; officer review ; Orion ; pacing ; PADD ; Paris ; past ; peace ; phaser ( type 2 phaser ; type 3 phaser ); Philadelphia ; photon torpedo ; Pier 23 ; pirate ; planet ; planetary shield ; playing card ; poker ; population center ; President of the United Federation of Planets ; probability ; promotion ; prune juice ; Q ; quadrant 6 ; resignation ; Risan six cards ; road ; Rome ; Romulan ; San Francisco ; Sao Paulo ; sea ; ship ; " shit" (" batshit "); shockwave ; shutdown sequence (aka shutdown procedure ); snoring ; son (aka " boy "); Soong-type android ; spy ; star system ; stardate ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Command ; Starfleet ensign's cat ; Starfleet uniform ; sword ; tears ; thief ; tide ; Titan -A cook's brother ; Titan -A cook's mother ; toast ; tomorrow ; transport sensors ; transporter room ; transporter signal ; transwarp conduit ; trial ; Trill (species); Troi-Riker, Thaddeus ; trust ; turbolift ; United Federation of Planets ; universe ; Venus ; vineyard ; voice ; Vulcan (species); walking ; warp ; warrior ; year

Spacecraft references [ ]

Akira , USS ; Akira -class ( unnamed ); Alita -class ; Almagest , USS ; Amalthea , USS ; Appalachia , USS ; Archer , USS ; Argo , USS ; Ariel , USS ; Ark Royal , USS ; Arsinoe , USS ; Ashland , USS ; Borg cube ; Borg Queen's cube ; Cabot , USS ; Callisto , USS ; Charon , USS ; Chawla , USS ; Christopher , USS ; Clark , USS ; Cobb , USS ; Cochrane , USS ; Cole , USS ; Constellation -class ; Constitution -class ; Constitution II -class ; Constitution III -class ; Defiant , USS ; Defiant -class ; Drexler , USS ; Duderstadt -class ; Eaves , USS ; Echelon -class ( unnamed ); Edison -class ; Enkidu , USS ; Enterprise , USS ; Enterprise -A, USS ; Enterprise -D, USS ; Enterprise -E, USS ; Enterprise -F, USS ; Enterprise -G, USS ; Erebus , USS ; Europa , USS ; Excelsior (NCC-2000), USS ; Excelsior (NCC-42037), USS ; Excelsior -class ; Excelsior II -class ( unnamed ); Explorer , USS ; Firesword , USS ; Fleet Museum ; Forrest , USS ; Gagarin , USS ; Gagarin -class ( unnamed ); Galatea , USS ; Galaxy -class ; Ganymede , USS ; Gilgamesh , USS ; Glasgow , USS ; Gotana-Retz , USS ; Gregory Jein , USS ; Harlan , USS ; Helios , USS ; Hermes ; Hikaru Sulu , USS ; Himalia , USS ; Hrothgar , USS ; Huygens , USS ; Iapetus , USS ; Ibn al-Haytham , USS ; Igraine , USS ; Inaieu , USS ; Inquiry -class ( unnamed ); Intrepid , USS ; Intrepid -class ; Io , USS ; Janaran , USS ; Jaresh-Inyo , USS ; Jein -class ; John Kelly , USS ; Kumari , USS ; Lexington , USS ; Luna , USS ; Luna -class ( unnamed ); Magellan , USS ; Maha Naree , USS ; Mandel , USS ; USS Minor ; Miranda -class ; Nebula -class ; New Jersey , USS ; Ni'Var , USS ; Norgay , USS ; NX-class (refit); Oberon , USS ; Odyssey -class ( unnamed ); Okuda , USS ; Pachacuti , USS ; Passaro , USS ; Pathfinder -class ( unnamed ); Pioneer , USS ; Pioneer -class ; Proteus , USS ; Pulaski , USS ; Rabin , USS ; Reliant , USS ; Reliant -class ( unnamed ); Resnik , USS ; Rhea , USS ; Romulan Bird-of-Prey (aka T'Liss -class ; unnamed ); Ross , USS ; Ross -class ( unnamed ); Rustazh , USS ; Sagan -class ( unnamed ); Saratoga , USS ; Sentinel , USS ; Shackleton , USS ; Shrike ; Sol-398391 ; Sol Station ; Sol Station -type ; Solkar , USS : Sovereign -class ; Spacedock One ; Spacedock -type ; Spector , USS ; Stargazer (NCC-2893), USS ; Stargazer (NCC-82893), USS ; Sutherland , USS ; Sutherland -class ; Steamrunner -class ; Syracuse , USS ; Thunderchild , USS ; Tiro , USS ; Titan -A, USS ; Tourangeau , USS ; Trumbull , USS ; Type 14 shuttlecraft ( unnamed ); Uhura , USS ; Valkyrie , USS ; Vanguard , USS ; Vasa , USS ; Venture , USS ; Voyager , USS ; Warspite , USS ; Yi Sun-Sin , USS ; Zantra , USS ; Zheng He , USS

USS Enterprise -G dedication plaque references [ ]

Aarniokoski, Doug ; Addink, James ; Admiralty Board ; Appel, Cindy ; Aronson, Shauna ; Bai, Jiarui ; Baiers, Aaron ; Bartolone, Jason ; Belker, Harald ; Berg, Kevin ; Berg, Virginia ; Blass, Dave ; Boucher, Adam ; Calip, Ian ; Chief of Staff ; Chung, James ; Constitution III -class; Courter, Kyle ; Cross, Kevin ; Crow, Michael ; Ding, Yihong ; Drexler, Doug ; Eaves, John ; Eliscu, Will ; Falsetti, Nicole ; Garcia, Rachael ; Goldsman, Akiva ; Gregory, Grace ; Han, Gene ; Hargreaves, Sean ; Hillebrand, Jörg ; Hornstein, Ellen ; Jarvis, Andrew ; Jefferies, Walter M. ; Joffin, Jon ; Johnson, Rob ; Kadin, Heather ; Keeper, Anna ; Kloczkowski, Liz ; Knezevic, Igor ; Krause, Bill ; Kurtzman, Alex ; Lacey, Fabian ; Levine, Len ; Lombardi, Jeffrey ; MacKinnon, James ; Maggs, Jane ; Mandel, Geoffrey ; Mantia, Maria ; Marks, Todd ; Martin, Jim ; Massin, Dylan ; Matalas, Terry ; Meyers, Michael ; Michelson, Harold ; Monfette, Chris ; Morris, Maxine ; Nickels, Justin ; Notarile, Crescenzo ; Okuda, Michael ; Okumura, Matt ; Page, Neville ; Probert, Andrew ; Research and Development ; Roddenberry, Eugene ; Roddenberry, Gene ; Roth, Trevor ; Russ, Alex ; Sagona, Matt ; Sallvin, Tomas ; Schneider, Scott ; Stapf, David ; Starfleet Command; Starfleet Operations ; Steck, Jeff ; Sternbach, Rick ; Stølen, Kit ; Tatosky, Brian ; Thorpe, Maxwell ; Tignini, Frank ; Tretta, Sean ; Van Dyke, Vincent ; Varga, Von ; Visencio, Mike ; Weder, Andy ; Zimmerman, Herman ; Zimmerman, Jason ; Zuelzke, Mark

LCARS references [ ]

all inclusive ; Andoria ; Bajor ; beach ; blast radius ; Borg cube ; California ; cubic kilometer ; chemical signature ; codec ; department update ; dilithium articulation frame ; Earth ; electropathic pattern ; emergency frequency ; emergency protocol ; emergency transmission ; fishing ; fleet formation mode ; Florida ; General Order 12 ; Hawaii ; Kaphar Prime ; Kauai ; kilometer ; library access ; long-range scan ; mai tai ; Malibu ; maintenance channel ; mission ops ; Myriad ; Omicron Seti III ; Orlando ; power ; protocol ; reference signal ; regenerative hull ; regulation ; route ; scan ; size ; search term ; ship-wide scan ; signal ; signal comparison ; signal source ; Starfleet Order 104 ; structure ; subspace relay ; subsystem ; target detection ; transporter system ; Trill (planet); tritanium ; vacation ; village ; volume ; Vulcan (planet); Zadar IV

Meta references [ ]

flashback (story device); intertitle

External links [ ]

• " The Last Generation " at the Internet Movie Database
• " Discovering Last Generation " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

• Entertainment

Star Trek: The Next Generation finale has me pumped for new Picard series

Commentary: The landmark episode All Good Things, which turns 25 Thursday, is an enduring story of loyalty, perseverance and bravery channeled through Picard's journey.

All Good Things jumps around between three time periods.

In May of 1994, I was about to graduate high school. I wore Doc Martens , listened to Bob Dylan , read Jack Kerouac and worshipped Star Trek . I was preparing for the life-shaking transition to college as the crew of the USS Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation was getting ready to warp from the small screen to the movie theater. We were both heading for the next big thing.

On May 23, 1994, when the two-part TNG series finale All Good Things aired, I watched it live. The critics loved it. I loved it. But I haven't seen it since. My '90s fashion choices may not have stood the test of time, but will All Good Things? I'm going to find out. (Disclosure: CBS is the parent company of both Star Trek and CNET.) 

This future Picard rocks a beard.

I'm especially interested in revisiting the finale in light of the upcoming Star Trek: Picard , a new series that picks up with Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard , decades after the captain's last on-screen appearance in the 2002 movie Star Trek: Nemesis . ( Watch the trailer for Star Trek: Picard here.) Will All Good Things get me excited for Picard's return? 

Ninety minutes later: OK, I'm back. Deep breath. Here's how it went.

Picard first pops up in All Good Things wearing a gray bathrobe, babbling about bouncing back and forth through time. Star Trek and time travel go together like Tribbles and quadrotriticale. 

The intro credits and music arrive and I feel chills and realize how long it's been since I've watched any Next Gen at all. Too damn long. Every episode is available on Netflix at the touch of a button -- a far cry from when they came on expensive VHS tapes with two episodes per tape.

All Good Things bounces between three timelines: the past takes us back to the pilot episode Encounter At Farpoint, broadcast in 1987; the present, at the end of the show's seventh season; and the future. Powerful alien trickster Q ( John de Lancie ), one of Trek's most engaging guest stars, returns to bookend the show, but the main villain is a technobabble-inducing temporal anomaly that could wipe out the entire history of humanity.

In Picard's future vision, he sports a beard and works in a field of grapes, his Starfleet career as a captain and later an ambassador left far behind. Geordi La Forge ( LeVar Burton ) visits the vineyard, telling Picard it's been 25 years since he last stood in the Enterprise and called him "captain." Cleverly the writers avoided obvious happy endings in this future segment. Riker is an admiral and Beverly Crusher married Picard, but their marriage is now over, Deanna Troi is dead, and Picard is suffering from an incurable disease that causes mental confusion.

Q returns to judge humanity in All Good Things.

It isn't the most memorable Star Trek plot, but it does an admirable job pulling the series together and giving the television portion of TNG an honorable ending. As the Game of Thrones finale proved, it's hard to tie up a TV show in a way that satisfies fans who've invested so much in the characters and the journey. 

All Good Things is such a satisfying way to end a TV show. The time travel device is a nifty bit of writing, both harking back to the beginning and looking ahead to the future. The spot-on recreation of the first episode gives us a hit of nostalgia and reminds us how far we've come together, while the future storyline reassures us these characters are real and three-dimensional and will live on even when the show ends.

The episode isn't about bravado or giant action set pieces. Ultimately, it's about spending time with Picard and his beloved crew, and it reminds me why I loved The Next Generation in the first place. It didn't just give us the next chapter of Star Trek, it gave us some damn fine science fiction populated by people we cared about.

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The crew members save humanity, but only by first sacrificing themselves. It's a decision they accept across all three timelines. Q gives humanity a pass this time around, leaving the present-day Enterprisers to gather together for a card game at the end. It helps that TNG wasn't saying goodbye, it was just morphing toward its next phase.

All Good Things ends with a parting view of the crew.

Though TNG stands strong in the Star Trek universe, not all its episodes have aged well. The season 1 episode Code of Honor comes off as both racist and sexist with its portrayal of an African-inspired alien race as a primitive community that keeps women in subservient roles. And there was that terrible time  Dr. Crusher  fell for an alien space ghost that also shared weird sexy times with her grandmother. Try not to dwell on that one. 

But I didn't realize how much I missed Jean-Luc and his expansive heart until I rewatched All Good Things. I can't wait to welcome him back, an old friend long missing.

Star Trek: Picard isn't beholden to the future timeline seen in All Good Things, but it offers an intriguing vision for what could be. We've been promised a very different kind of Star Trek when Picard arrives on CBS All Access later this year. Presciently, Q offered us a roadmap for this in All Good Things: "We wanted to see if you had the ability to expand your mind and your horizons," he tells Picard. "That is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence."

Make it so.

What about you? Now that you've had 25 years to contemplate the television adventures of Picard and his crew, share your Star Trek: The Next Generation and All Good Things memories in the comments.

From TOS to Picard: 40 most powerful Star Trek spacecraft, ranked

Originally published May 22. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation Scrapped An Entire Borg Storyline From The Finale

The series finale of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was called "All Good Things..." and it aired as a two-hour special event on May 23, 1994. The story followed Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) as he found himself uncontrollably skipping between three time periods. In one time period, it was merely his present, and he investigated his temporal mystery as he would on any other episode of the series. In the second, he was hurled back in time seven years to when the Enterprise-D was just beginning its first mission. In the third timeline, Picard was in his own future, now an old man suffering from a rare brain disease. 

The "time skips" were seemingly orchestrated by the trickster god Q (John De Lancie) whose impishness caused Picard to accidentally create — in all three timelines simultaneously — a spatial cloud that got larger and larger the further backward in time it traveled. Yes, that's a causality paradox. Q argues that that's the point. "All Good Things..." was an excellent episode overall. Not only did the future timeline give Trekkies a nerdy new way to analyze the series, but it was also an intelligent and heady science fiction story. It was a great way to wrap up a great TV series. 

But it was originally intended to be even more complicated. The episode's writers, Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, revealed in a 2014 retrospective with Yahoo! News , that they wanted a fourth timeline in the episode as well. In one version of their script, Picard was also going to be thrown back in time only four years to face the events of the popular cliffhanger episode "The Best of Both Worlds," the one where Picard was assimilated by the Borg. 

One timeline too many

Moore recalls the writing of "All Good Things..." to be a very busy time. Not only was "Next Generation" wrapping up, but the cast and crew were busy preparing for "Star Trek: Generations," the first "NextGen"-inspired feature film which was scheduled for theatrical release only six months after the last episode was to air. Regardless, he and Braga got very ambitious with their four-prong story, hoping to find an interesting and organic way to resurrect the Borg, the series' most infamous villains. It was showrunner Michael Piller who ultimately felt that a Borg timeline was one toke over the line. Moore said: 

"The first story outline, I think, had four timelines that we were going to go back to. The fourth one, which eventually got dropped from the final teleplay, was revisiting the events of 'The Best of Both Worlds,' when Picard was taken and turned into [a Borg named] Locutus. So originally, the finale was going to bounce between those four events. And Michael, I think, rightly said, 'It's one too many, and we want this to kind of be the beginning, middle, and end of his life.' And that kind of simplified everything, and it became much cleaner and easier to go through it from that angle."

It also may have been a blessing, as using the Borg in the final episode of "Next Generation" may have drawn focus from Picard and taken an extra step in the already-growing overexposure of the cyber monsters. The Borg already featured in two season-ending cliffhangers, and would later be featured in the 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact." Best to stay far away for the close-out moments of a "Star Trek" series. 

Can you imagine bringing back the Borg to end another Trek series? Absurd!

Overexposing the Borg

It's been mentioned in the pages of /Film before that Trek's writers came to over-rely on the Borg . Indeed, they came to be featured in all three seasons of "Star Trek: Picard," representing a smaller and smaller threat each time. Regardless, Braga was still fond of the legacy the villains had on the series and hoped to incorporate them into the final episode kind of as an homage. Ultimately, Braga couldn't think of a good Borg story. Piller was right to nix the idea. Braga said: 

"We talked a lot about the Borg, and wanted to find a way to get the Borg back into the show, but we could never find anything that would top 'Best of Both Worlds,' other than those standalone Borg stories: Data and the Borg; 'I, Borg.' It felt a little superfluous to put it into 'All Good Things...." Three timelines felt like the right amount of timelines. We would, of course, end up using the Borg for one of the movies later, and they were much better on the big screen."

The "Data and the Borg" comment is a reference to "Descent" (June 21 and September 20, 1993) the two-part episode that bridges the show's sixth and seventh seasons. "I, Borg" (May 10, 1992) was a story of a single Borg drone that was separated from its machine collective and began to develop a sense of individuality. The movie Braga referred to was, of course, "Star Trek: First Contact." Leaving the Borg out of "All Good Things..." was ultimately wise. 

• The Inventory

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Finale, 20 Years Later

Did you realize that Ron Moore and Brannon Braga were writing the final TNG episode, "All Good Things...", at the same time they were drafting the first TNG movie, Generations ? That's just one revelation in some fascinating interviews about "All Good Things," 20 years later.

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It sounds as though the process of creating both TV finale and movie was a chaotic one, with the writers in the midst of figuring out Generations when they were pulled in to write one last episode. (And obviously, one turned out way better than the other.) In in-depth interviews with Yahoo! , they talk about coming up with a Christmas Carol-type storyline involving time travel and the stages of Picard's life. And how they decided not to wrap up dangling storylines like the Troi-Riker-Worf triangle.

And interestingly, for a long time they wanted to visit four time periods, the fourth being Borg-as-Locutus from "The Best of Both Worlds."

And also, they wanted a sequence where Future Picard and his former crew steal the Enterprise-D, which is now a museum. Says Moore:

There was a sequence that was cut at some point in the process that I wish we had. The idea was that the Enterprise-D was actually a museum ship and [Picard and company] had to go steal it, which was somewhat of an homage to [the 1984 film] Star Trek III , where they stole the old Enterprise. But it was also an opportunity to go on a guided tour, where they were gonna infiltrate and become part of the guided tour, taking them around to all their old stations. They'd be standing on the bridge while some docent was saying, 'Over here would stand Commander La Farg,' mangling his name. It was gonna be a really fun little thing that sort of had them looking back at their own life and history through the eyes of the future.

The whole thing is well worth reading. [ Yahoo! TV ]

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Final Mission

• Episode aired Nov 17, 1990

Before leaving for Starfleet Academy, Wesley Crusher accompanies Captain Picard on a dangerous mission. Before leaving for Starfleet Academy, Wesley Crusher accompanies Captain Picard on a dangerous mission. Before leaving for Starfleet Academy, Wesley Crusher accompanies Captain Picard on a dangerous mission.

• Corey Allen
• Gene Roddenberry
• Kacey Arnold-Ince
• Jeri Taylor
• Patrick Stewart
• Jonathan Frakes
• LeVar Burton
• 29 User reviews
• 9 Critic reviews

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard

• Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker

• Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

• Lieutenant Worf

• Doctor Beverly Crusher

• Counselor Deanna Troi

• Lieutenant Commander Data

• Ensign Wesley Crusher

• Ensign Tess Allenby

• Ensign Gates
• (uncredited)
• Crewman Nelson

• Enterprise Computer
• Crewman Martinez

• Science Division Officer

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia This episode was created expressly with the purpose of providing an appropriate way for Wil Wheaton to leave the show. Wheaton had asked to leave The Next Generation so he could pursue offers to appear in feature films.
• Goofs When Wesley stops in the desert to start a tricorder scan for energy readings, automobile tracks are clearly visible in the sand where Wesley and Dirgo stand as the camera sweeps behind Picard.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Oh, I envy you, Wesley Crusher... You're just at the beginning of the adventure.

• Connections Featured in Young Sheldon: A Live Chicken, a Fried Chicken and Holy Matrimony (2020)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews 29

• Jan 13, 2017
• November 17, 1990 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• El Mirage Dry Lake, California, USA (Desert Planet)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 46 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ Showrunner on Possible Spinoff, How [SPOILER] Returned for the Finale and Getting That Final Shot

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

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SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in “The Last Generation,” the series finale of “ Star Trek: Picard ,” currently streaming on Paramount+.

The last time the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” cast performed together on screen — in 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis” — it ended with a sour one-two punch: the sudden death of Data (Brent Spiner) and the financial failure of the film, which caused Paramount to stop making movies with the cast. Effectively, after a brilliantly successful seven-season run on TV, “The Next Generation” had been canceled from movie theaters.

Popular on Variety

In doing so, Matalas sought to rectify some of the perceived sins of the “TNG” movies: He resurrected Data and endowed him with a consciousness that allowed the android to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming fully human. And he brought back the Enterprise-D, the starship that had been destroyed in the climax of the first “TNG” film, 1994’s “Star Trek: Generations.” 

“In the most fanboy sense, I wanted to place the action figure set neatly and safely back on the shelf,” Matalas says. “If it’s the last we see of them, we see them in a wonderful grand moment together around the poker table. Not mourning the loss of Data. The Enterprise-D not crashed, but in a museum. Knowing that there is a bright future for ‘Star Trek’ and for their families. For me, that felt important as a fan, to feel like that’s where we left ‘The Next Generation.’”

If that wasn’t enough, in the aftermath of the battle with the Borg, the U.S.S. Titan is rechristened the U.S.S. Enterprise-G, and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) — the “Star Trek: Voyager” character who has been on “Picard” from Season 1 — is promoted to be its captain. Jack, a new member of Starfleet, is stationed on the ship, along with Geordi’s daughter Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut). Even Q (John de Lancie) — the omnipotent being who has been a “Trek” mainstay since the “Next Generation” series premiere “Encounter at Farpoint” — shows up in a post-credits sequence in which he tells Jack that his trials “have just begun.”

That certainly seems like the set up for a “Picard” spinoff series, but in his interview with Variety , Matalas says that wasn’t quite his intention. He also shares the scenes he wanted to shoot for the finale but couldn’t, and his unconventional approach to filming that poker scene.

How much of the finale did you have in your head when you were building out the season?

A very surprising amount, actually. I knew that the initial pitch to Patrick, that he would have to assimilate himself again, to face the big trauma of his life, to save his son. I knew that they would be in the Enterprise-D for the last two hours, reunited. I knew Seven of Nine would become captain of the Enterprise. That was a delightful thing to say to Jeri, who was my old friend from way back. I was like, “By the end the season, you’ll be captain of the Enterprise.” She was like, “Excuse me, what?! ” So there was quite a bit. Some of the how and why was why you need the brilliance of a talented writing room team to help you get there and figure that all out.

There was a moment in the finale where it seemed like Riker and Worf and Picard or some combination might actually die. Was that really on the table?

No, but I really wanted you to think that it might be for the drama. I don’t have it in me to kill my childhood heroes like that. I think some creators probably would. It felt like those characters would certainly feel like this is probably our last run. So I really wanted the surprise ending to be a happy ending.

Were there any other alternative endings that you considered?

There were things that we just simply didn’t have the time and money to shoot. In the very first iterations of script, we had discovered that Ro Laren had in fact survived, and had been beamed off of her shuttle and was still being used by the Changelings for information. It was already too ambitious of a schedule, so we weren’t able to be able to pull that off. We had a scene with [the Data-based android from Season 1] Soji and Data that we were also not able to shoot. We have wanted some more “Voyager” folks to come be part of Seven of Nine’s promotion to captain. It comes down to how many pennies you have left in the piggy bank after building a Borg cube and an Enterprise.

We had discussed it. We did toy with a different name, that it might be the Picard. But ultimately, it didn’t feel as genuine and as right for the legacy of “Star Trek” and Seven of Nine as the Enterprise. And certainly when you see the Titan with that name on its hull, you’re just like, yeah, it deserves that name. It just looks so right.

Did you always know you were bringing back Q after he supposedly died in Season 2 of “Picard”?

Yes. All the way from Season 2. John’s a dear friend of mine. On his last day [on Season 2], I said, “Look, I want to bring you back literally in the post-credit sequence for this final season. I will have no time and I will have no money, but I guarantee it will be one of the coolest Q scenes and it will be touching back to ‘Encounter at Farpoint.’” And he was like, “I’m in.” 

We only had 20 minutes to shoot that scene. Right after we shot the scene in which Picard tells Jack that he’s Borg, we ushered John in in that awesome new costume and we just banged out real quick.

You’ve mentioned on social media that you’d like to continue this story with a “Star Trek: Legacy” spinoff. Have you heard from Paramount or Alex Kurtzman about the possibility of doing that?

Alex and I talk all the time. If it’s something that’s going to be done, we want to make sure we don’t rush into it. We want to make sure we do it right. That’s where we’re at with it, I say coyly. At the moment, there’s nothing developed on it. But we talk all the time.

Part of why I’m asking is that I’ve rarely seen a finale set up a spinoff series more completely than you do with this one, with the scenes on the Enterprise-G. Am I right in thinking you wanted that to seed a future show?

Well, not specifically seeding for a spinoff, as lovely as that is to think about. I definitely wanted the feeling that it could go on, that it was a passing of the torch of the last generation to the next. That I really wanted. I think that’s the spirit of “Star Trek,” that they’re going to continue exploring strange new worlds. That’s a feeling of hope. So you want to get just a little taste of what that might be — for it to be a satisfying ending, it needed to be a satisfying beginning. Having said that, of course, I want to see Jack and Seven and Sidney and Raffi and everybody go on forever. But yeah, that was the creative impulse behind it.

Do you know what’s next for you?

I do not. Do you? 

I saw your tweet that you would love to work on the “Galaxy Quest” spinoff TV show .

Oh my god, “Galaxy Quest” is like my most favorite thing ever. I just literally was showing it to my kid the other day. It remains one of the most perfect movies of all time. And I just lived it! I actually just lived it in every way. So yeah, I said put me in coach. I know what that is.

Yes. To make this a little different than “All Good Things,” I wanted the audience to feel like they were really with this cast, to have a little wish fulfillment. So I actually ran the camera for 45 minutes and let them just play. Let them be themselves. I really wanted the audience to be immersed in what it’s like to hang out with Patrick, Jonathan, Marina, Gates, LeVar, Michael, Brent. So all those smiles and all those jokes are real. And so we hang on it much longer than you normally would, so that the smiles and the jokes are genuine. They were all playing a form of poker as best as they could, you know, because they like to monkey around. Maybe when the Blu-ray comes out, we’ll have a longer chunk of it so you could see more.

Do you remember who won the game?

They played so many rounds. But I think they always made sure Patrick won.

I’m laughing because I asked Patrick that question , and he said, “I think I won.”

Yeah, I think they rigged it a little bit so he would win.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Star Trek: Picard's Final Scene Comes Full Circle With The Next Generation

Contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Picard" Season 3, Episode 10, "The Last Generation"

The finale of "Star Trek: Picard" was the culmination of what began 36 years ago on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," reuniting the core cast of the beloved space exploration drama for one last adventure through the stars. After averting Earth's destruction and defeating the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) for good, Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his old friends are finally able to relax, and they do so in the most fitting way possible.

As the credits roll on the final episode of "Star Trek: Picard," Admiral Picard plays a game of poker alongside William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), Data (Brent Spiner), Worf (Michael Dorn), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), and Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). The camera lingers on their game from above, as if to freeze them in the moment of their favorite pastime for posterity.

It's a fitting end for these characters, not only because poker was (with the exception of Picard) their favorite way to kill time in the dark reaches of space on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but because the final episode of that series, too, ended with a game of cards between the senior officers of the USS Enterprise.

All good things end with a poker game

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" ran for seven seasons from 1987 to 1994, giving fans some of the most beloved entries in the "Star Trek" franchise, and the final days of "The Next Generation" were exhausting and bittersweet. Its final episode, "All Good Things," found Captain Picard adrift in time and faced with one last trial from the immortal trickster Q (John de Lancie). After facing Q and solving the time loop, Picard returns to the Enterprise, where he and his crewmates play a game of poker.

Though the crew indulged in games of five-stud throughout "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Picard never joined them until that final scene, where the captain expressed regret for not doing so sooner. The finale of "Star Trek: Picard" therefore brings these iconic characters full circle to the show that first brought them together, and it seems Jean-Luc Picard has retained his love for the game, and, of course, for spending quality time with the people (and Klingons and Betazoids) closest to him.

For a series that started with Picard isolated in his family vineyard, it's heartwarming, and even poetic, that it ends with a game of five-stud poker alongside his old friends. All good things must come to an end, but the final shots of "Star Trek: Picard" prove that, sometimes, endings are just as sweet.

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Star Trek: Picard's Terry Matalas on the Series' Happy Ending and Continuing With the TNG Crew

And the dream viewing party he had for the series finale

Patrick Stewart, Star Trek: Picard

[Warning! The following contains spoilers for "The Last Generation," the tenth episode of  Star Trek: Picard  Season 3 and series finale that premiered on April 20. Read at your own risk!]

It's one thing for a Hollywood writer-producer-director to live out a long-held dream of getting their creative hands on a franchise and a group of characters they've adored since their formative years. It's entirely another to receive near-universal acclaim for what they were able accomplish when playing with their beloved icons. 

But that's just what Terry Matalas , previously heralded for his work as the showrunner of the acclaimed TV adaptation of 12 Monkeys , has achieved with the culmination of the third season of  Star Trek: Picard , which at long last reunited the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation  to critical raves, audience adoration, awards buzz, and actors reinvigorated by roles they've played on and off for over 35 years. Matalas' embrace of Star Trek -style storytelling and its rich mythology — without overtly relying on too-easy Easter eggs or shameless nostalgia plays — has been a shot of adrenaline in the arm of the franchise, celebrating and extending the lifespan of the elements that kept it vital throughout the 1990s.

Still waiting for the personal and emotional impact of the season's reception to fully wash over him, Matalas joined TV Guide for a look at his experience, including the decision to forego killing off any of the TNG stalwarts in favor of a more meaningful impact, finding a subtle role for one of the cast members from the original Trek series that started it all, and the unexpected way the notion paid off to his dream vision.

I'm so interested in how and why you landed on ending the show where everybody has a heroic moment and there isn't some profound loss or noble sacrifice — other than Shaw, who I loved. There's not really a dark side to the finale, and I'm really curious why that was part of what you wanted to achieve.

Terry Matalas: Well, I don't know if I have it in me to kill my childhood heroes, and I don't know how great that ever really feels and how successful that ever really is. When I think back in the pantheon of heroes that die, there's only, I think, a few of them that successfully work. I think probably maybe Tony Stark is the only one that has successfully been told that way because it almost feels like it's been told that way from the beginning without it being such a gut punch that you're like, gosh, I really don't... I just didn't have it in me. I think maybe if Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) had not already died in Season 1, you could talk about it.

However, the story was about a father finally connecting with his son. It feels like if he connects with his son and then immediately dies after, it doesn't really feel that amazing. And again, the most satisfying ending for me is them around that poker table. And don't you want that to be the last memory of them, almost as if it was designed to be that way again, 30 years ago. So I just didn't have it in me. I'm sure someone else probably could have done it beautifully. It just wasn't me.

Tell me a little bit about shaping your ideas for the characters and the arcs you wanted them to go on with the actors, who certainly can claim some ownership on their characters. I know that, to a person, they've all sung your praises, so tell me about that collaboration, making sure everybody got their due throughout the series.

Matalas: Well, we certainly didn't want to do anything they didn't want to do. I mean, they're certainly the arbiters of their characters in every way. They've lived with their characters longer and thought more about their characters than I ever will and have discussed their characters at length with fans at conventions in ways that I don't even know about. So we had a whole lot of ideas and an arc that we wanted to tell, and we sat down and had meetings right away, and we were very lucky that everything lined up and it was very collaborative and everything was additive that this cast wanted to do.

Specifically for Brent Spiner , who is probably the most difficult character to bring back just because Data had already died twice. I knew Data had to play a part. It didn't feel like [a replacement] could be a satisfying addition to this cast or another form of a robot that wasn't quite Data. And although we did discuss it, and ultimately we came to this being the end of the Data journey, of [ Star Trek creator Gene] Roddenberry's vision of Data, which was I think what was promised, but how do we get there? But that was working in step with Brent in every way, and so it's deeply satisfying to do it with them. And you don't always agree, which is kind of fun too, to get into these discussions with them and not agree and then come out on the other side of it and then look at what you accomplished together.

Star Trek: Picard 's Todd Stashwick Discusses Liam Shaw's Bold Decision and His Star Trek Legacy

Patrick Stewart has been very open about his thinking that maybe one move was a wrong move, and then being completely blown away when he saw the finished product and saying, "I was wrong." That must be a fun bit of creative frisson, to say like, "No, no, no – trust me."

Matalas:  It is. It's nice to be seen. It's also very hard when all you have is that piece of paper with barely dried ink on it, and you're like, "I'm telling you, when the music is in there and the visual effects are done, the moment won't feel the way that you feel it might feel. It's going to feel like this." It's often hard to articulate cutting patterns and subtleties that actors don't necessarily see.

Tell me about being a fan and getting to get so close with this cast, which you grew up watching on TV and revering, and to get to know them as people. Tell me what that experience is like for you.

Matalas:  It's a great question. My high school buddy flew in from New Jersey and we watched [the TNG finale episode] "All Good Things…" together when we were in high school. And on the way out here we were talking about how real it is that now one of my best friends is John Frakes , who I text with and we're going to be working with, I'll work with forever on other projects and whatnot. And he is Will Riker, but he's also now Johnny. And I think one of the really amazing things about this business is at some point you can get to work with your heroes. And I'm just blessed in that way to have been given this opportunity by Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman to be able to come in and do this final season. So beyond lucky.

You've seen the reaction that the fans have had to these moments that you created for them, and I'm curious about your reaction. Were there things made you particularly emotional or giddy? What was your visceral response to certain sequences you'd been dreaming about?

Matalas:  Oh yeah, there is a particular moment in the finale where Troi is able to find the location of our heroes based on feeling her husband almost reaching out to her with love, essentially, and thinking of their lost son. And there's an image of the Enterprise overhead of Jack and Picard that I drew in the writer's room on a dry erase board about halfway through the season as a dream shot I wanted to do as a director. And I said, there's no way they're going to let me do the shot, but I'm going to try. And when it finally came out with the music and the score change and the thing, and then even singing and watching it in the IMAX later as people cheered, that makes me emotional that we pulled it off.

In a show that I would say you filled with what I would call more grace notes than Easter eggs—

Matalas:  I appreciate that. Thank you very much for that.

Yeah, my personal favorite was the appearance of Walter Koenig , in voice form [as Pavel Chekov's son Anton, the president of the Federation]. That was such an inspired little touch and also kind of a callback to [ TNG' s first episode) "Encounter at Farpoint," where we got one of the originals blessing the new franchise. Tell me about the creative inspiration to do that, and then the actual pulling it all together and getting Walter to do that voiceover.

Matalas:  Well, I really wanted to honor and have one of the original series actors in this, at least before we said goodbye. I really wanted to have him on camera, but again, time, money — we're making a television show. How we got him is a fascinating story: He's Todd Stashwick's neighbor, and Todd sees him all the time on walks and they hang out and he was like, "You're not going to believe this: I'm captain of a starship." And he was like, "The showrunner would love to have you on a show." And he's like, "I'm there!" And the rest is history. And it was pretty fun: the night of finale, we all sat on a couch together, Todd, me and Pavel Chekov and watched the finale with popcorn. I mean, it does not get better than that.

Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, and Michael Dorn, Star Trek: Picard

A year ago there was presumption that this was going to be a true last hurrah for the TNG actors. But this season was so much fun and it looked like everybody was having such a good time that there feels like there's so much gas left in the tank for this particular crew.

Matalas:  That's up to the television gods, Paramount and Alex Kurtzman, but I would agree with you. I think that these actors have never been better. And Jeri Ryan — I mean, has she ever looked better in a captain's chair? I mean, that's a show I'd watch for the rest of my life, so I'm with you. I hope one day that we get that opportunity.

Star Trek's all about the future: tell me some in-a-perfect-world ideas that you have for yourself in the role of Star Trek's overall future. Your Star Trek: Legacy concept is out there. Tell me how involved, how hands-on you hope to be as this almost-60-year-old tapestry continues to add new elements.

Matalas:  Well, again, at this point, it's just another fan dream. It's just this fan's dream to do it. It's the story of Captain Seven and her new crew, and it's the story of the next Next Generation. But intermixed with it is our old legacy crew. And it's Riker, it's Crusher, it's Worf, it's Geordi, it's Troi, even Picard could pop in. It's who else is out there in the 25th century? Is it Kira? Who else in the Voyager cast? What's going on with the Klingon Empire right now, and in their state in the Federation? It's exploring all the things we left off in the Berman-verse. That's my dream of it. But again, it's just a pipe dream at the moment, and it's kind of up to the fans. We'll see.

Is there a character in the Star Trek canon that you haven't gotten your hands on yet that you still are eager to work on? And I'll point out that, having encountered him recently, William Shatner is still in fine form.

Matalas:  Look, James T. Kirk is... I grew up with Kirk, I grew up with Bones, I grew up with Spock. I don't know that there'll ever be a chance for me to tell the story about those three, but those are certainly in my heart. But I'm perfectly happy with the gang that I got to play with here!

Tell me about how and why and when you fell in love with Star Trek?

Matalas:  I fell in love with Star Trek when I was a young boy on Sunday afternoons watching it with my father, the original series, and then going to see those original series movies when they were coming out, Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock . And those movies were really interesting, because while the series was very much about exploring strange new worlds, those movies became very much about family, and saving family. So that became a core of storytelling from me. If you've seen my previous shows, 12 Monkeys , that's always about that. So I think obviously that's burned in my DNA at some point. I think that's become a part of me.

Because that's become part of your DNA, you've gotten to give back to the franchise, give back to your fellow fans, give back to the actors who inspired you. Tell me about receiving it back: the gratitude, because this has been a true reaction to the show, has been a true celebration of your work and of the great legacy of these performers and the franchise itself. Tell me how all of that's been hitting you.

Matalas:  Well, I don't know that I let it. I certainly find the pockets of fandom that don't let me [laughs], so I won't... Certainly, there's no ego exploding from this. That's definitely true. Star Trek fandom is a wide enough spectrum that you can certainly find its detractors. However, I've definitely heard an overwhelming amount of positivity that burst my heart with joy. [ Doctor Who writer-producer] Russell T. Davies said a thing on Instagram about how much he loved it, and my God, that just fills my heart with joy. When you have someone like Russell T. Davies, whose work I've enjoyed forever, celebrating yours, it's indescribable. That's really neat. But I'm at a bit of a loss for words because I'm still processing it all. It is still so raw and fresh. But yeah, we'll see. Ask me again in a month.

The Star Trek: Picard series finale is now streaming on Paramount+. 

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Star Trek: Picard Series Finale Recap: The Next Generation Crew Gets a Fitting Send-Off… But What’s Next?

Dave nemetz, west coast bureau chief.

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Star Trek: Picard signed off after three seasons by giving Jean-Luc and his Next Generation pals the final mission they’ve always deserved… but maybe this story’s not over just yet.

While Seven and Raffi manage to retake the Titan by transporting the Borg-infected crew off the bridge and locking them in the transporter room, Jean-Luc prepares to beam down to the Borg cube to stop the transmitter and find Jack: “Let me bring him home,” he implores Beverly. Riker and Worf volunteer to go with him, and on the Borg cube, it’s oddly quiet and littered with a bunch of Borg corpses, which explains why they need the reinforcements. Jean-Luc sends Riker and Worf to locate the transmitter while he searches for his son, finding Jack wired into the cube and fully Borgified, spouting Borg-approved rhetoric. Jean-Luc says he’s here to bring Jack home, but the Borg Queen interrupts to say Jack is already home… and so is Jean-Luc: “At last, Locutus has returned.”

They send the transmitter coordinates to the Enterprise , and the ship would have to fly into the very center of the Borg cube to reach it, but Data is confident: “My gut tells me I can do this.” (Hey, Data has a gut now!) He pilots them right into the heart of the cube with breathtaking agility as the Borg-infected ships take out Earth’s defense system and start targeting the planet’s most populous cities for destruction. (Plus, the Titan is a sitting duck after the Borgified crew escape and knock out their cloaking device.) Data reaches the cube’s core and finds the transmitter, but to stop it, they’d have to destroy the cube… and everyone on it. A tearful Beverly nods her approval, and Geordi warns Riker and Worf that they’ll only have a minute or so to get off the cube after the Enterprise fires. Meanwhile, Jean-Luc realizes that the only way to reach Jack is to become a Borg himself.

The Borgified youth, including Geordi’s daughter Sidney, all come to their senses now that the Borg have been eliminated, and Jean-Luc proudly gives Jack a tour of the Enterprise bridge. Starfleet fixes all of its ships’ transporters to purge all Borg genetic code, thanks to Beverly’s efforts, and figures out a way to detect Changelings, too. Seven informs Tuvok that she intends to resign from Starfleet, but after seeing the glowing recommendation left for her by the late Shaw (aw!), he promotes her to captain instead. Worf helps Raffi reconnect with her son and granddaughter, and Data now has so many human emotions, he’s boring Troi to tears with them during their therapy sessions.

We flash-forward to a year later, as Jack nervously prepares for his first Starfleet posting. He’s been assigned to the Titan … which has been rechristened the Enterprise-G ! Seven is the captain, with Raffi as her first officer, Jack as “special counselor to the captain” and Sidney onboard as well. (“A bunch of ne’er-do-wells and rule-breakers, really,” Jack notes with a sly smile.) The Next Generation  gang gets drunk at a bar together, and Jean-Luc toasts with a quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar . (“We must take the current where it serves, or lose our ventures.”) They clink glasses, and then Jean-Luc pulls out cards for a game of poker! The old friends laugh as they play a few hands, with Jean-Luc taking home a big pot: “I’ve come to believe that the stars have always been in my favor.” And as the cards are dealt, the camera pulls overhead, just as it did in the Next Generation series finale.

Whoa… once you’re recovered from all of that, Trekkies, give the Picard series finale a grade in our poll and then beam down to the comments and tell us: Would you watch a Jack Crusher and Q series?

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53 comments.

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Bring on #StarTrekLegacy.

I wasn’t entirely a fan of more Borg when we had Borg last season, even if a bit different, but overall it was a near perfect send off while also setting things up nicely for a spinoff that they hopefully confirm soon. The Anton Chekov name was a nice touch.

Very Satisfying! I enjoyed the series!

This was so exceptional! I want Star Trek: Legacy!!!!

Well done. All we needed was a Sisko appearances

Oh, that woulda been great.

Shaw! I want Shaw to somehow be alive. Q! Can’t you help???

Loved season 3 overall but a couple of things bugged me. 1) Laris should´ve had a closure scene in the finale. 2) Why did Vadic communicate with the Borg Queen in such a nasty way (cutting her hand)?

So apparently we will indeed have a Picard season 4 but focused on Jack with nice cameos from Patrick Stewart and friends. It would be nice if Jack gets to meet his brother Wesley.

The point about Laris is a good one. All it needed one was just one more midcredit scene of them reuniting maybe. But I think they probably wanted to leave open possible reconciliation between Beverly and Jean Luc? To be honest I was hoping for it until I realized Laris is still out there.

They’ve backtracked a bit on the final season though and said they could come back to Picard at a later date. It just is planned and meant to be. I just am glad we got to see enough of Seven of nine and was happy with where she ended her arc. I was a bit scared considering after she got left behind but I should’ve had faith. The show runner has always seemed to be a huge a fan of her and done right by her.

Terry Matalas is the best thing that could´ve happened to Trek Universe. Let him helm more and more projects.

At the very end, Jack had a wedding photo of Picard and Beverly on his nightstand. Apparently they completely forgot about poor Laris.

Was that a wedding photo? They were both very young in that picture; and in reality it looks like it might have been the actors at an Emmys ceremony. back in the day.

It was obviously a picture of Gates McFadden and Patrick Stewart from some event in the 90s.

Correction, that image is from 1988. No idea why that images makes people believe, they got married.

I don’t think it means we will see a season 4 of Picard. I think there is a chance it transitions into another Star Trek series (either Legacy , which it was confirmed it isn’t in devopment, but doesn’t mean it won’t or another series) especially how Q was at the end of it.

I loved this ending and this season so much. It was amazing to see the big “D” get to do all the things I wanted it to do during the series. It wasn’t “perfect” but it was perfect.

Very nice to have that tip of the hat to Anton Yelchin – he did make a fine Chekov on J.J. Abrams’ movies!

We need to know Seven’s command line. Very mean to tease us like that… she and the crew on the Enterprise G better return! Really enjoyed this season and most of the OG crew got better storylines than in 7 years of TNG – especially Troi and Crusher! But Patrick Stewart really is looking a bit old for this action!

Yeah, most of them look great but Sir Patrick is really showing his 80+ years, bless him. Lol. My wife thinks Q is hot, now.

Really loved this season. This season and Strange New Worlds has proven they can get New Trek right when they try hard enough. Walter Koenig playing the voice of “Anton” Chekov in honor of Anton Yelchin made me tear up a bit. A true class act there.

Agreed! Nice touch.

I absolutely loved. It really managed to make me feel similar to what I felt when I watched the original series finale of TNG. Very satisfying and thank god they didn’t kill anybody of. I didn’t know I needed the episodes to end with my favorite Star Trek crew once again seated at a round table, playing poker.

Thank you Terry Matalas and the whole cast and crew, what a wonderful gift. See you soon.

Wish we could’ve seen Wesley one last time.

Agree 100%. I find it hard to believe Wesley never met his brother and has not visited his mom is 20 years.

Or at least done a drive by & saw them, but not lets them see him.

Agreed. I was holding out hope for a Wil Wheaton cameo. TNG was always my favorite and Picard is my hands down my favorite captain. That last episode was near perfection. Great to see all those characters together for a final ride.

96.74% gave the finale and A (87.46%) or a B (9.28%). Verrrryyyy impressive, Terry Matolis.

What a great end ( well hopefully not) Thankfully they had the time to give it the ending it deserved. Having been a trek fan for over 50 years, TNG has always been my fav..Hats of to cast and crew. Now lets see the Enterprise G, Boldly return to our screens with captain 7 and her crew

It was great until the final scene. I thought he died. He rui Ed it for me.

What a massive improvement over the first two seasons. Amazing what comes of getting somebody in charge who actual respects what came before. (Retconning Q’s death was a perfect way to end things.)

Wow. That was so perfect. I knew the OGs would be playing poker at the end. Looking forward to the (hopefully inevitable) spin-off with Seven and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise G!

Surprised when they were in 10 Forward Guinan wasn’t tending bar instead of having a mention.

Finally Deanna had something to do besides sit next to the captain’s chair and offer advise. Didn’t know she could navigate a star ship.

Is Seven officially Captain Seven or they call her that out of respect to her service to Star Fleet?

Since this is on streaming and shouldn’t have a time limit per episode like the previous episodes with 45 minutes they could have added a few minutes to fill in the gaps in the plot like Laris missing at the end and use the time to make the last episode a 2 parter if the series ever goes on commercial TV.

Keep Q out of any future Trek shows!!! He’s the single most disgusting reason why I didn’t take to Next Gen. Until the Borgs came, anyway. This ressurecting the dead trick is also soooo old that it really deserves to be put to rest in the Trek universe. Permanently!

This season was so good I almost forgive Akiva Goldsman for ruining Batman. ALMOST.

And this episode should be made available to all showrunners – this is how you end a series.

One of the most recognizable and popular video games of all time is Tetris.

I felt so disappointed with S1, S2 was a little bit better, and S3 ruined my childhood and TNG series. The only good and the best thing about S3 was the return of Q. Did anyone really think he would “die”? lol

This was absolutely THE BEST season out of the 3 seasons of Picard! It is what it always should have been!! I loved this season! Wish they would do more. I totally agree with the commenter above saying Terry Matalas should helm more Star Trek projects. He absolutely hit it out of the ballpark with this! Oh and 1 more thing about Terry Matalas. I LOVED all the easter eggs from his TV Series 12 Monkeys! That was an absolutely amazing show also! You guys should definitely check it out!

1 thing I was really hoping for was the Kate Mulgrew would return as Admiral Kathryn Janeway. They kept name dropping her during the season and I was certain she would be in the finale. I guess they couldn’t work it out. It was Awesome to see Tuvok tho!! Hopefully they will do a spinoff of Voyager with Jeri Ryan, Kate Mulgrew, Tim Russ(Tuvok) and the rest.

A+++ to this entire season!!!

The return of Mulgrew as Admiral, this time; Ryan as Captain of the ex-Titan became Entreprise, Russ’s Tuvok as Janeway’s/Seven’s counselour would be great. But please, no more Chakotay or Harry Kim!

I was surprised by the snubb of the Doctor, though the whole 3 seasons. I mean, I’m pretty sure that Robert Picardo would have been happy to be called so what’s happened behind the scene? As for Mulgrew, it seems that she was stuck to Prodigy even if Picard and Prodigy are produced by Krutzman. But yes, I’d like seeing her return in a show.

I despise all the NuTrek for being mostly dumb(ed down) and hip. But Picard S3 was excellent. Yes, they overdid it with the nostalgia at times and yes, the finale did not quite live up to expecations (whatever does ?) but still. Even with its flaws, it was excellent !

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The Last Scene of Star Trek: Picard Pays Off The Next Generation Finale

The final shot of the Star Trek: Picard series finale is a perfect and subtle payoff to what was set up by the last scene of The Next Generation show.

The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 10, "The Last Generation," now streaming on Paramount+.

For all the hopelessness the crew of the USS Enterprise -D faced in the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard , there were surprisingly few casualties. The surviving legacy characters from The Next Generation are last seen together in a heartwarming moment. Yet it's also a moment that connects back to the very end of their previous series finale.

Someone once said "the right ending is the one you choose." In The Next Generation series finale "All Good Things...", Jean-Luc Picard got a glimpse of his future thanks to Q. That "ending" had him left alone at Chateau Picard waiting to die. It was the "barrier" that Picard talked to his son Jack about while both were in the Borg hivemind. He didn't open himself up to people all the way. The future versions of the Enterprise -D crew revealed a painful truth to him. No, not that he had Irumodic Syndrome that was actually some remnant Borg tissue. They revealed that while he was Starfleet's finest captain, he wasn't the greatest friend. TNG 's reason for stopping a "temporal anomaly" was so that Picard could become a full-fledged human being...something Star Trek: Picard reveals he didn't quite do.

RELATED: Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 10, 'The Last Generation,' Recap & Spoilers

Both Star Trek Next Generation Series Ended with a Crew Poker Game

Throughout the run of The Next Generation , Riker's poker games were a regular fixture. When future top Starfleet Admiral Elizabeth Shelby first boarded the Enterprise , she joined the game. In fact, the only character guaranteed to not be present was Captain Picard himself. The final scene of the series, in which he joined the poker table, was a big moment for him and the crew. James T. Kirk inspired loyalty because he was so personable; Picard maintained his authority with distance, despite his deep affection for his colleagues.

This is why the off-and-on romance between Picard and Dr. Beverly Crusher never really took off. The character of Picard could never let himself be truly vulnerable. In fact, Star Trek: Picard introduced a future not unlike the one shown in ”All Good Things…." Picard was mostly alone, with only two Romulan friends and a synthetic android helper. Laris eventually became his love interest on this series -- yet after the Season 2 premiere, she wasn't seen again. As Picard said to Jack in the Borg space, his son was who he was missing.

The reason Q sent Picard's mind zipping through time in The Next Generation finale is the same reason he sent his "Capitan" back through time in Season 2 of Picard . He was trying to get Jean-Luc to forgive himself for a youthful trauma that wasn't his fault, while opening up to the other important people in his life. The people who served under Picard were his metaphorical children , and he was a too-distant father. But that changed.

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Why the Final Shot of Picard's Series Finale Is So Important

Much of this part of Picard's character was left to subtext, until he explicitly states it to Jack while talking him off the Borg Collective ledge. When Deanna Troi discovered his Borg connection , both Jack's mother and father tried to arrest him. These traumas compounded his lifelong sense of alienation and sent him angrily into the arms of the Borg Queen. Picard, never a hugger until recently, is able to convince Jack that he was never alone. At the very least, he won't be alone ever again.

This approach gets through to Jack, waking him up from the Borg control. While he goes to square off with Q on the USS Enterprise -G , Picard and the crew of his Enterprise hang out together in a bar. After giving a Shakespearean toast, Picard is the one to suggest they play a few hands of poker. This is proof that what he said to Jack was true. The barrier that prevented him from even joining his closest friends in a card game has fallen completely.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard was a good but stern man, who bore the responsibility of his role mostly alone. Retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard is a guy who keeps his friends out later than he should, sharing laughs over drinks and cards. The final shot of "All Good Things…" focused just on Jean-Luc's face. In Picard , the final shot is one of the entire family, having fun together reliving their favorite memories.

The complete series of Star Trek: Picard series is streaming on Paramount+ .

Screen Rant

Star trek: tng's "yesterday's enterprise" finally allowed denise crosby to play the tasha yar she auditioned for.

Denise Crosby reprising Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" was the character she originally signed on for.

• Lt. Tasha Yar was a compelling character with untapped potential on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• Denise Crosby's return in "Yesterday's Enterprise" allowed for a deeper exploration of Tasha Yar.
• "Yesterday's Enterprise" is considered one of TNG's best episodes, showcasing a more complex Tasha Yar.

The classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Yesterday's Enterprise," gave Lt. Tasha Yar actress Denise Crosby the chance to play the version of the character she had been presented with in her original audition. Denise Crosby's Lt. Tasha Yar was a member of TNG's original cast, but she was unhappy with her limited role and left the series. Tasha was abruptly killed off in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, episode 23, "Skin of Evil." In 2023, Denise Crosby joined The 7th Rule podcast to review Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1.

Tasha Yar was a fascinating character with a tragic backstory who never reached her full potential. Yar rarely took center stage in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, and the lone episode in which she did, TNG season 1, episode 4 , "Code of Honor", is widely regarded as one of the series worst outings. Nearly two seasons after Denise Crosby left the show, she returned to play an alternate universe version of Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 15, "Yesterday's Enterprise." Not only does this episode fill in some important elements of Star Trek canon, but it's also a phenomenal episode of television.

TNG: Tasha Yar's Death, Alternate Reality & Romulan Daughter Explained

Tasha yar got more depth in "yesterday's enterprise" than all of tng season 1, "yesterday's enterprise" is widely regarded as one of tng's finest hours..

Denise Crosby returned to The 7th Rule podcast co-hosted by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Cirroc Lofton and producer Ryan T. Husk to discuss Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Yesterday's Enterprise." When speaking about Yar's characterization in the episode, Crosby said the following:

You see a depth to her that is… you’re able to share in. You know, there’s not a lot of episodes in the show in the first season where Tasha’s contemplating those kind of deep ideas - the self-worth, the self-purpose. She’s reactionary, she’s doing her job, she’s taking care of business, but in this episode, it gives her time to be reflective and ask the deep questions of herself. And the writers allow those answers to come out and for us to touch upon that.

In "Yesterday's Enterprise," the USS Enterprise-D encounters a rift in spacetime from which the heavily damaged USS Enterprise-C emerges. Suddenly, everything on the Enterprise-D changes — the ship becomes a warship involved in a conflict with the Klingons and Tasha Yar is back as the ship's tactical officer. Only Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) , the enigmatic Ten Forward bartender, notices anything amiss. Guinan tells Captain Picard that the Enterprise-C must return to its own time period to restore the proper future. In the end, Tasha goes back in time with the Enterprise-C and the future rights itself.

Prior to the podcast episode, Crosby, Lofton, and Husk all watched "Yesterday's Enterprise," and Crosby remarked that this was the first time she had seen the episode since it first aired in 1990.

Denise Crosby's Original Audition Presented A More Complex Tasha Yar

Crosby read a scene during her audition that never made it into a tng episode..

Denise Crosby also spoke about her audition process for Star Trek: The Next Generation , during which she read a "beautiful" scene that never appeared in the show. Read her quote below:

You know, I’ve mentioned before that my audition piece was a very, very beautiful piece written for the Troi and Tasha characters that was never – It’s almost like they lured me in, you know? That was the carrot they dangled and said this is what this is going to be, and then the show wasn’t that. They never had a scene anywhere near that.

Crosby did the best with the material she was given in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, but that material didn't always live up to the character she had originally been promised. Crosby mentions a scene between Tasha Yar and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) , and it's true that TNG failed its female characters in some ways, especially when it came to friendships between them. Most of the stories that centered on TNG 's women focused on their relationships with men or featured weaker storylines. Thankfully, modern Star Trek shows like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have remedied this oversight, and Star Trek: Picard season 3 even allowed some of the women of Star Trek: The Next Generation to play more complex versions of their characters.

Source: The 7th Rule

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to stream on Paramount+.

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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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As a Star Trek Era Ends, Discovery’s Mary Wiseman Reveals Franchise’s Greatest Lesson

But don’t you dare ask her about Starfleet Academy.

Mary Wiseman doesn’t believe in endings. Back in Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 , fans worried that her character — the jubilant Sylvia Tilly — was leaving the series after Tilly left the eponymous starship. But she didn’t and even showed up to save the day in the Season 4 finale. And now, as Discovery Season 5 warps toward its finale, Wiseman is equally confident that this is not the end of her Star Trek journey. Yes, Disco is really concluding with its tenth episode on May 30 but also points out that her time in the Star Trek franchise has taught her to appreciate the long game. “Anytime an ending’s not an ending, that’s beautiful,” Wiseman tells Inverse.

As Discovery Season 5 passes its halfway point with Episode 6, “Whistlespeak,” Inverse caught up with Mary Wiseman to reflect on the journey so far, what’s ahead, and what she learned from The Next Generation — especially Number One himself, Jonathan Frakes.

Spoilers ahead for Discovery Season 5, through Episode 6.

In “Whistlespeak,” Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Tilly (Wiseman) have to infiltrate a pre-industrial society on the planet Halem’no in an attempt to repair a secret weather tower, but also, track down more clues to the elusive Progenitor tech , reintroduced in the season premiere. Burnham and Tilly’s mission has a very old-school vibe and will remind longtime fans of similar episodes from The Original Series and The Next Generation .

“It is very old-school Trek, isn’t it?” Wiseman says. “I loved getting to put on my alien disguise, and it was so beautiful to get to shoot outside in this beautiful park in this gorgeous forest. And getting to do it with Sonequa [Martin-Green]; seeing Tilly and Burnham as best friends.”

Mary Wiseman is back as Tilly in Discovery’s final season.

During their time undercover, Tilly mentions to Burnham that “we could really use you at Starfleet Academy.” Interestingly, because Tilly teaches at Starfleet Academy now, and the next Star Trek TV series is titled Starfleet Academy — and is set in the Discovery timeline — many fans are wondering, even assuming, that Starfleet Academy could really use Mary Wiseman as Tilly.

“The truth is, I have no information to offer you, and even if I did, I couldn't offer it,” Wiseman says on the topic of whether or not she will appear in Starfleet Academy. “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know who I am. I know nothing.”

Something Wiseman does know, however, is just how different she is from Tilly in real life. “Characters are like these people who become little sisters to you that you nurture and love more than you even love yourself,” Wiseman explains. “She sounds like me and looks like me, but I'm different. I'm pretty different than her. I'm kind of hardcore and direct and fierce.”

Clearly, through her journey of Discovery , Tilly has become more fierce than she was in the early days when she was only a cadet on the ship. But, in an earlier episode this season, “Face the Strange,” Burnham traveled back in time to this moment and encountered a version of Tilly from those first few Discovery stories. “That was super weird,” Wiseman says. “I was freaked out by it. Having to put myself back and be like, well, ‘what was she like back then? What was the deal? What's the difference?’ Because you're just sort of changing along with the character in real-time, and so going back to who that person used to be is an interesting exercise. But ultimately, I think it was a fun exercise because it was so challenging.”

Beyond Star Trek, Wiseman’s next challenge is a Netflix series called The Residence , billed as a “screwball whodunit,” set in the White House. Clearly, a performer as heartfelt and funny as Wiseman will always find interesting work. And Even if Wiseman isn’t in Starfleet Academy, she makes it clear that she knows Star Trek will be part of her life, forever.

Jonathan Frakes directs Sonequa Martin-Green and Mary Wiseman, in the Mirror Universe in Star Trek: Discovery Season 1.

Her evidence for this fact is very convincing. Since Discovery Season 1, Jonathan Frakes has directed several episodes of the series, and, in doing so, passed along his Next Generation wisdom to the Disco cast. And so, through working with Frakes, Wiseman posits that the greatest lesson of the Trek franchise is that it never really ends.

“People are still watching his show, you know?” Wiseman says wryly. “So, I think that my sense of comfort and peace so much comes from the fact that Frakes is so connected still to his cast-mates and to that experience and that there doesn't seem to be an end for him at all. This is the reason that I'm not as weepy as I could be about it. You guys are stuck with me one way or another.”

Star Trek: Discovery streams on Paramount+.

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It’s been a while since a Starfleet crew thoroughly discombobulated a native population, and that’s exactly what the Discovery crew does in this week’s episode.

After hundreds of tests on the vial Michael Burnham ( Sonequa Martin-Green ) retrieved from the I.S.S. Enterprise , the crew learns it contains something incredibly… well, boring: clean water. But thanks to some sleuthing, there’s a much greater significance to the water than meets the eye.

You see, Doctor Kovich ( David Cronenberg ), at home in his white infinity, shares with Burnham a list of all scientists who were involved in hiding the Progenitor tech. With the clues hidden by Jinaal Bix, Carmen Cho, and Dr. Vallek already found, that leaves Hitoroshi Kreel, a Denobulan, and Marina Derex, a Betazoid. Burnham deduces the water vial is the product of Kreel, as the scientist’s specialty was designing weather towers to generate rain. Zora ( Annabelle Wallis ) helps Burnham, Paul Stamets ( Anthony Rapp ), and Sylvia Tilly ( Mary Wiseman ) deduce the water in the vial is representative of one planet, Halem, so that’s where Discovery heads next.

First, let’s talk about Kovich, who the writers for this season are trying to seem even more mysterious than before. Kovich in this episode uses a 21 st -century legal pad to provide Burnham with the list of scientists, and claims he procured such an oddity by being “resourceful.” Just who is this guy? Hopefully, Kovich’s true nature will be revealed before the end of this show; we sincerely hope this character isn’t just quirky for the sake of being quirky, and that he plays a larger role in Discovery ’s overarching story.

Before transporting to the only weather tower still operating on Halem, the crew learns a bit about the native, pre-warp, pre-industrial population. The Prime Directive is in play here, as Kreel disguised the weather tower as a mountain to avoid exposing the natives to outsiders, and now Discovery’s crew needs to follow the same example. The tower functions as a place where Halem’nites go to commune with their gods, so accessing the mountain will be tricky.

“You can learn so much about a society by how the individuals speak to one another.” – Burnham, on the Halem’nites

The humanoids on Halem communicate both via traditional language, and “whistlespeak,” a form of communication that is inclusive, progressive, surprisingly articulate, and allows longer-range communications than traditional phonetic language. All signs point to the natives being a welcoming society.

After helping rescue and escort a group of Halem’nites from outside the weather tower’s safe perimeter into the habitable zone, Burnham and Tilly quickly incorporate themselves well enough into the motley local community as visitors from afar. The Starfleet pair soon enter themselves into a competition that judges who can gain access to the High Summit – a race to the water tower that serves as a test of devotion to the Halem’nites’ gods. Before the race, the pair also encounter a native, Ravah ( June Laporte ), daughter of the Summit’s priest, Ohvahz ( Alfredo Narciso ), and the young native befriends them despite also being a challenger in the race.

On the morning of the race, Burnham checks in with Discovery , where Ensign Adira Tal ( Blu del Barrio ) found other now-defunct weather towers across the planet. The other towers stopped working due to energy issues, and that’s what’s happening now with the High Summit, which means the Halem’nites Burnham and Tilly just started to get to know are in grave danger. The only way to stop the High Summit from failing is if the away team can find an auxiliary control panel somewhere near the High Summit and restart it. As if there wasn’t enough burden on Burnham’s shoulders.  

Considering the Halem’nites are constantly fighting thirst because of their planet’s general aridness, the competitors are subject to extreme thirst as they begin the race to the High Summit. As if running up a mountain wasn’t trying enough. Partway through the challenge, Burnham miraculously notices a point on the race trail where she thinks the auxiliary console is located, and drops out of the competition to pursue the lead. Sure enough, she finds and restarts the console, thanks to assistance from Ensign Tal, which strikes one mission objective off their list.

Tilly is heading toward her own disqualification from the race, if not for the support from Ravah. Soon enough, both Tilly and Ravah make it within striking distance of the finish line, and Tilly returns the favor by helping Ravah limp across in a show of good sportsmanship. Good for Tilly, but this just means both are now heading to the High Summit, which as we see shortly is not the enlightenment we were led to believe.

The winners of the race get to be close to gods who are supposed to bring rain to the natives. Burnham and Tilly know the weather station is actually responsible for bringing good weather, but the Halem’nites think something different: a human sacrifice in the heart of the High Summit is what does the trick. This twist is reminiscent of a similar sacrificial heart-dropping reveal in Strange New Worlds’ “ Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach ,” and suddenly the stakes are much higher for Burnham, who has to rescue Tilly and Ravah from a needless death – even if it violates the Prime Directive.

“Are there no gods? Are there… what is there?” “There is still what you believe. Nothing we have shown you means gods don’t exist.” – Ohvahz and Burnham

While they await their sacrifice, Tilly and Ravah bond over their struggle, and Ravah describes some peculiar numerical markings on the wall of the chamber, which both represent the five serenity prayers within Halem culture and the five weather towers across the planet. Tilly recognizes the fifth symbol as the same as being on the vial back on Discovery , but the revelation may not matter, as suffocation threatens to take Tilly and Ravah both.

Despite the enormous consequences of revealing the existence of people not from Halem, never mind the reveal of the High Summit not just being a tool of the gods, Burnham flips off the Prime Directive and reveals herself to Ohvahz so she can rescue the innocent people trapped inside the High Summit. She convinces Ohvahz that her extraterrestrial story is legit, and that the High Summit is actually a piece of technology – no small discovery for the native.

Should Burnham have blatantly violated the Prime Directive in this way? Of course not, but let’s be honest: the Prime Directive really is more of a guideline than a rule for the protagonists in Star Trek shows. We hope Burnham faces some discipline for this flagrant violation of Starfleet’s most sacred rule. In any case, Burnham breaking the Prime Directive ultimately means the Halem’nites need to start to embrace a major societal change. The ritual race to the High Summit won’t have as much meaning anymore now that they know the rain will come no matter what, but as Burnham suggests, perhaps there are plenty of Helem’nites who are ready for a change. As Ohvahz notes to his daughter, “Perhaps devotion means being able to hear when the gods tell us something new.” This is as great a lesson as any Star Trek episode can offer.

With the weather tower repaired and two peoples’ lives saved from a needless sacrificial death, the Discovery crew retrieves the next clue from one of the planet’s other water towers.  Near the end of the episode, Burnham and Tilly ponder the meaning of finding the clue in a water tower, and they reason that technology can be powerfully dangerous in the wrong hands, and they need to be careful when they find the Progenitor’s tech. And just on schedule, the crew learns of Moll and L’ak’s most recent whereabouts, but that’ll have to wait until next week.

Elsewhere in this episode, Doctor Hugh Culber ( Wilson Cruz ) is still struggling with explaining and processing the spiritual awakening he has had following his experiences in “ Jinaal .” His partner, Paul Stamets, doesn’t seem to quite get what Culber is going through, and not even “grief alleviation therapy” – where a holographic version of Culber’s wise grandmother can have conversations with the doctor – can help.

The person who does offer some welcome perspective and emotional support is Cleveland Booker ( David Ajala ). Book asserts that Culber’s spiritual awakening, and accompanying emotional turbulence, is just as important as anybody else’s journey – and that’s all we’ll get from Culber’s multi-episode arc for now. After a few episodes of marginal development, hopefully, something happens with this subplot soon, or else we’re going to start to lose interest. But while Culber’s arc may seem tangential at times, his search for meaning resonates with the overarching themes of identity and purpose woven throughout the series.

So, as the Discovery crew continues their quest for the Progenitors’ technology, they are reminded of the potential dangers that come with wielding such power. It is a sobering realization that underscores the responsibility they bear as guardians of advanced technology in a universe fraught with conflict and peril.

With each episode, this season invites viewers to contemplate the complexities of morality, identity, and the ever-evolving nature of progress. As the crew inches their way toward the ultimate treasure, “Whistlespeak” remains true to one overarching theme of this show: the true measure of humanity lies not in adherence to rules, but in our capacity for compassion and understanding in the face of uncertainty and adversity. That seems to be what this show is all about, yeah?

Stray Thoughts:

• Why didn’t it occur to Culber, a doctor, sooner that he should run a series of tests on his body, as his grandmother suggests, to determine if there’s something medically wrong with him.
• Tilly drops a couple hints about what is going on at Starfleet Academy nowadays, and it’s not a rosy picture. The Academy isn’t giving the cadets “what they need,” so perhaps these conflicts will be at play in the upcoming Starfleet Academy show?
• Why do video games in the 32nd century look no better than Space Invaders ?

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.

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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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Dailymotion

Why William Shatner Allegedly Blocked Kirstie Alley From Returning For 'Star Trek 3,' According...

Posted: May 3, 2024 | Last updated: May 3, 2024

Space may be the final frontier in the "Star Trek" world, but apparently, earthbound grudges can still travel quite keenly through the vastness of space. "Icons Unearthed" director Brian Volk-Weiss knows that firsthand, as an interview he conducted for another project involving Gene Roddenberry’s “Wagon Train to the stars” saw "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’s" Kirstie Alley tell a story about how William Shatner allegedly blocked her from returning for the next film in the series that gave us some of the best sci-fi movies.

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