…what we leave behind is not as important as how we’ve lived…

The other day we got the first teaser poster for the new series Star Trek: Picard. I remember way back in 1986 when the cast for a new Star Trek show was announced. It is with no small amount of hyperbole that I say a new Trek show was a Very. Big. Deal. at the time. What became a franchise only ever existed through the frame of the original series crew and it was a pretty seismic shift to accept that there would be not only a new TV series, but one set a century after the adventures we were accustomed to featuring a completely unknown starship Enterprise and a crew that was brand new.

I was working at a radio station after school at the time and we got copies of the Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety, bot of which I would read during my shift. I remember being excited finding out that the dude from Dune and Excalibur, both films I have a large amount of affection for, would be starring as the new captain. An actor known primarily for film roles heading up a little sci-fi show seemed to bode well for what we were in store for.

And now, to see Patrick Stewart return to the role over fifteen years after he seemed to punctuate the end of his run is pretty phenomenal. I mean, nowadays everything is being revived and/or rebooted, but it seemed as if the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Captain Picard was over on-screen, forever immortalized in continuing adventures in novels. To once again shine the spotlight on a beloved character nearly two decades on and played by the original actor is a real treat.

I think a lot of fans are anticipating and even expecting this to be a “where are they now” whirlwind update of the TNG crew and I suspect those folks will be greatly disappointed. By all accounts this is going to be a very different story with a markedly change man from the one we knew. This isn’t picking up with an Enterprise crew getting unstuck from amber. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone other than Jean-Luc got only a passing mention, at least in the first season. The focus is right there on the tin, Picard.

At any rate, I, for one, am really looking forward to this next step in the current Star Trek renaissance and am very happy that it is unfolding in serialized fashion over several parts instead of just a nostalgia-grab event film. Engage and make it so!

Joseph Dilworth Jr.

Joseph Dilworth Jr. has been writing since he could hold a pencil (back then it was one of those big, red pencils, the Faber-Castell GOLIATH. Remember those? Now that was a pencil!). As the instigator of this here website he takes full responsibility for any wacky hi-jinks that ensue. He appreciates you taking the time to read his articles.