Television Star Trek: Picard - Season 3 (16 February 2023) - Official Trailer

[Chairslinger]

I went back and started watching through on the first episode and man this season is so densely packed with clues. Things hit a certain way after the first couple episodes, then differently halfway through the season, and different still now that we are almost done.

 

I have mostly tried to stay away from fan theories online because much of the fun has been running through the clues myself but just a couple days ago I did hear on a podcast the idea of Armus got thrown out there. Up until that point I was leaning heavily towards Pah-Wraiths, but I think Armus has overtaken them as the leading suspect. The Pah-Wraiths would open up more cameo possibilities, but I think Armus would have more emotional impact and connection to the TNG crew. It opens up a lot of possibilities. The voice and the verbiage sound very Armus-y. And while I wouldn't say it was a game breaking mistake if it turned out to be the Pah-Wraiths I always thought the face looked a bit "juicey" to be the mixture of Pah-Wraiths and Changling(because they are more ethereal), but man that seems almost exactly what it would look like if you mixed the golden goo and black tar.

 

Two out of the three individuals physically effected during that episode(other than Tasha) were Troi stuck in the shuttle and Riker was actually sucked in. They could reveal that Thad's illness was a result of what Armus did to them all those years ago. Depending on how far they wanted to take it they could even have Thad on the show. That's who is on the other side of the door when Deanna opens it up. Would certainly explain her uncontrollable reaction. A piece of his consciousness still trapped inside Armus. Troi and Riker could get some great closure there by being the ones to finally kill his miserable ass. Imagine Riker and Troi having him in their sights and him saying something like, "I killed your son, I took him piece by piece. And whenever I want I am going to do the same thing to your daughter.". If there was ever a reasonable motivation for someone to get a kill in Star Trek, that would be it.

 

Also, something occurred to me about Jack. Everybody is wondering what the deal with Jack is, but I think there is a small point here that is important. I don't think there is something going on with Jack.....I think there are some things. For the sake of argument if we assume the big bad guy yet to be revealed is Armus or the Pah-Wraiths, I think they are interested in Jack. But they are not responsible for what is weird about Jack or the source of what he can do.

 

This would dovetail with what I just said about Thad. I think it has been assumed that whatever is going on with Jack has been causing his condition all his life. But it would be a great interconnected twist if that isn't true. What happened to Thad was connected to what Riker and Troi physically went through. But the connection to Jack is simply one of interest and perhaps revenges for Armus. Jack is unique in an entirely different way and the big bad merely glommed onto him to it's advantage.

 

I think the deal with Jack will be connected to something in Picard and/or Crusher's past that makes them so unique. Perhaps several things interacting. Very few people have been through the things Picard has been through, and what happens when you subject a body to Borg nano probes, living an entire life in 18 minutes, killing one's own time travel clone, and the list goes on and on and on. The episode where Picard and Crusher were connected telepathically is a really interesting one. That seems very similar to what Jack is doing with his powers. Maybe Picards dormant nanoprobes got confused about what their function was when mixed with that bit of tech and was inherited in their child.

 

But yeah, this season has been so good about past references that I expect Jack's situation to be something, or a combination of somethings, that makes Picard unique. Since they essentially have retcon'd the Irumodic Syndrome that killed Picard hopefully they appreciate that it needs to be a good, satisfying answer. I think they will because I think that is something else they have done much better this season. Appreciating that the "Pop! Suprirsed reveal plot twist" is nice to have, but it should not override the story. Like at this point it would be very "surprising" to find out that Jack is not actually Picard's son. It would be "surprising" to find out Beverly has been manipulating them in some way. But it would really damage the emotional resonance we have built up over the whole season. A surprise plot twist is not worth that. But if you can have a surprised that builds on and respects that stuff(like the Changling reveal earlier in the season)......that's when it's really worth it.

 

Also, if it were Armus, it would have the potential to grab a little sympathy for our dearly departed Vadic. Would be a very easy connection between the two. Vadic and her fellow Changlings escaped Daystrom. Stole a shuttle, running on fumes they are forced to land on a planet. Armus's planet. And what we have seen in Picard has been almost a contracted hostage situation. Armus merged with Vadic and tells her, "So you want revenge on the Federation, me too. We can either work together and you get what you want.....or I can just torture you for a few millennium:". Would explain why Vadic was willing to die going back into the nebula rather than defy whoever the hell it is. The list of baddies that could make a changling prefer death to whatever they could do to them seems not to be a very long one.

 

 

Anyway, like I said going back through it this show seems so densely packed with clues. I might come back through and post some as I watch. A few I noticed already....

 

- The beginning of the first episode starts with the old timey song seemingly being played on Beverly's ship the first lyrics are "I don't want to set the world on fire". If it turns out to be one of them, surely a reference to the Pah-Wraiths or Armus, right? Both of whom want some variation of watching the Galaxy burn.

 

- Picard's first scene starts with him wanting to give Geordi his picture of of the Enterprise-D for the Fleet Museum. If there is any truth to the buzz about what might be in Hanger 12(not sure if you guys have heard this theory, Mica makes a blink and you'll miss it reference to something that could help in Hanger 12 in the middle of ep 6 but it is quickly dropped) then this would definitely be foreshadowing that what actually happens is that his friend Geordie and the fleet museum give Picard the real Enterprise-D! They could even explain why no one knew this was a thing by explaining that as a celebration for the Frontier Day they salvaged the saucer section off Veridian Prime, refurbed it, and then gave it a shiny new Warp section. Hell, if the Defiant can get an entirely new body, then I think the D can get a new ass end

 

- In the bar when Riker and Picard are talking about giving their speeches at Frontier Day there is a big banner in the back that says "Frontier Day Celebrating the 250th Anniversary". To hype up my previously posted pet theory about showing Archer's speech at Frontier Day I would point out that I believe the 250th anniversary they are talking about is literally Archer's speech. The day they officially signed the Federation charter. In the same scene Riker makes a quip about who would want to see some old fart make a speech.....meanwhile quite a few fans were very pissed we say a bit too much of Riker in These Are the Voyages and not enough of Archer's speech! Would be a great mea culpa if I turn out to be right.

 

Oh, and also there are five ship silhouettes portrayed on the poster. There is one that I think is the Enterprise A and another that might be an Excelsior class ship, maybe the Enterprise B? The other 3 are very recognizable. Voyager, Enterprise D, and good ol NX-01  

 

- This one is a small one. So small I am not even sure if it's meant to be a clue. The guy who is doing the evil mcbadguy shifty eyes at the bar holding the Enterprise D model is presumably a shapeshifter that tips off Vadic that Picard is coming. That is all pretty easy to see now. The small clue may be that he has slicked back hair, a style we usually saw from changlings unless they were trying to imitate a specific person.

 

 

Oh well, back to the show. I may post a running tab as I go along. Not too much time left to get the pet theories in!

[Jason]

Seems unlikely now but a few weeks back I saw someone suggest a connection to the Schisms aliens, which would certainly fit with why Jack keeps seeing a door.

 

[Chairslinger]

A few  small things....

 

- When Titan is first launching from spacedock they mention that Metaphasic shielding is online. If I remember right that is the anti-Borg tech that future Janeway brought back with her in Endgame. Makes sense that it would be in use by the 2400's.

 

- Man, they showed us SO much in the end credits! Data/Lore's positronic brain readout that "kept score" in ep 8 is right there in the credits of ep 1. Even has the blue lights slowly being overtaken by red. Presumably a scan of Picard's brain along with highlighted portions that they cut out of it is right there, as well. The cloaking device used in the Bounty, there too. I believe there is a readout showing the Titan taking the big hit to the front side portion of the saucer section along with maybe a clue that the warp nacelles were going to be used to charge the ship(a visualization that almost looks like a charging cellphone). A file on the U.S.S. Constance, Lost in Action. I believe this was Shaw's ship, lost at Wolf 359. The Fleet Museum with Voyager and Enterprise A listed.

 

One repeating clue in there that I don't think has had it's significance shown is that there are both visual double helix's as well as alphabetical representations of DNA. The helix's have red and blue sections perhaps suggesting some good/bad or perhaps native/modified sections? I am thinking this has to do with whatever the unique and altered changes are to Picard and Jack and their "Irumodic Syndrome".

 

There is also a short visualization of a Starbase, or maybe the Fleet Museum? Along with ships represented by their registries flying around it. Not sure if this is meant to represent the scene earlier in ep 1 when they approach the starbase on their way to Titan.....or a scene later in the season that we haven't seen yet. Presumably we are going to see a LOT of starships in the next two episodes. Interestingly enough, there are four starships seen visually flying around the structure(not in display rings). One of these ships seems to be Voyager and another is almost certainly the Defiant. Which made me wonder if we might see a Commando style "load up" scene at the Fleet Museum. Remember how they mentioned that, despite Geordi's objections all ships in the fleet are interconnected......except hey, maybe those old relics in the Museum 

 

They find out Changlings just control too much of the fleet to trust anyone so Janeway and Picard decide to use the only ships not tied in. Picard gets the D, Janeway gets Voyager. Worf gets the Defiant. The other two shown in the clip are harder to identify. Doesn't look like either is the D, but they both look like the more standard Enterprise A design that is harder to discern from a number of models.

 

 

Anyway, one other thing I forgot to mention is that I really want to call out how much I loved the Data stuff in ep8. On first watch through you are so swept up in the suspense of them retaking the ship that I think it's easy to miss just how good the Data scenes are. And on rewatching, that is what people will remember most about this episode. I love how they set this all up. I love how they made it clear that this wasn't Data defeating Lore, it was them merging.

 

I would just like to say that some might think that Data's lines when talking through the ship's intercom are out of character. But I think that(hopefully) they were intentionally so. What we are seeing in that instance, and the later scene with Geordi, is Lore mixed with Data. The rough edges of Lore smoothed over by Data's care for his friend's, but still lurking underneath for baddies. Just like in the later scene where Data uses a contraction and then when Geordi points out that he did so, Data says, "No I didn't". This is a mixture of Lore's endlessly mocking tone, but with the love of Data. Put simply, he is giving his friend a hard time, but it's all in good fun. 

 

I don't know if it is intentional, but to me this also contrasts nicely with the movies, Data's emotion chips, and why there is value to incorporating Lore rather than deleting him. In the movies, even after he attains the emotion chip Data struggles with humor. It's like he is a music student who has been taught music theory but never sat in front of a piano and actually played. With Lore integrated into him he not only is capable of emotion and humor, but he has a much more instinctual understanding of what is funny and what isn't.

 

It pays off a lot of the history of Data, Lore, and Soong as well as bringing Data as close to human as he likely can get. Which brings me to another point. I wonder if they will have a scene with Picard and Data to touch on this. For so long we had Picard as the guide for Data and his humanity. They have both looped around so that Data has become a human-like synth so close to human, while Picard has shed his humanity to become a synth that is perhaps not quite human. Both wound up in a very similar spot from two different directions.

[elbobo]

My thought against Armus is that Troi is familiar with him and she didn't mention anything about recognizing "the darkness" that was around Jack

[Chairslinger]

On 4/7/2023 at 10:55 AM, elbobo said:

if they don't reveal EVERYTHING about Jack in the first 5 minutes next week I am going to be pissed, this is dragging out way to long.

 

This episode was an improvement over the last couple of weeks, gave all the characters something to do, loved seeing the gang around the conference table again.

 

Stabbing Changelings is very very dumb even if they are mutated Changelings, we saw one get shot in the head last week and pop back up 2 seconds later.

 

3 hours ago, elbobo said:

My thought against Armus is that Troi is familiar with him and she didn't mention anything about recognizing "the darkness" that was around Jack

 

 

You know, I had meant to double back and mention this thing you said from a previous post and it connects to what you say here.

 

Some bits of info gleamed from the Ready Room might answer some of your questions, I think.

 

For one, the previews at the end of the Ready Room are usually more wide open. But this week's preview was very, very tight on following on from the end of ep8. It makes me think that we will get exactly what you want. It will be a reveal very early on in the episode.

 

Which brings me to your second point. At the end of ep 8 we see Troi and Jack standing in the corridor with the red door and then it cuts to a hand opening the door, end scene. But the preview doesn't just pick up right where that left off, it overlaps with the scene. We get to see Troi walk down the corridor as Jack watches her, seemingly too scared to move. She then opens the door. Her reaction to whatever she sees on the other side is to immediately break the link, say, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry", and run out of the room while Jack shouts at her, asking her what she saw. To me, this is a point in the favor of Armus and against the Pah-Wraiths(not saying it wouldn't make sense with a different theory, but these are the ones that dovetail with everything else we have seen). It very much has a "victim knew her assailant" type vibe. My guess is either she saw Armus, Tasha, or Thad on the other side of the door. Really, I am thinking Thad. She almost doesn't seem scared so much as she seems stunned and numb.

 

Having said all that, I am rewatching it now and Troi asks at the beginning of the scene about the vines, and if that represents Jack wanting to make a connection to people. And he says, "Yes, many" almost in a hungry way. That strikes me almost as Borg-ish in it's desire to form connections. So who knows. I feel like they have been really good this season about giving out clues that suggest much, but fit with various answers. Maybe it's like I said and there are multiple things going on with Jack. The vines are about his powers and the red door is his connection to Armus.

 

Her line at the conference table was that she felt an evil "ancient and weak". Maybe whatever connection Armus has to Jack is too weak to recognize him outright. To be fair, ancient and weak could apply to the Pah-Wraiths, as well. And the Borg could be ancient, I don't know that we have ever really gotten a feel for how old the collective(in the books we have, but that is not canon).

 

Whatever the answer is, I think we have gotten the answer to why, storyline wise, we needed to keep Marina away from the action until just now. I have heard some chatter online complaining that she hasn't been given enough to do. But this is her character. She is not going to lead a starship in a big space battler. She is a counselor. Her contribution is that she is going to help Jack and everyone else solve what is going on with him. And they couldn't have her on earlier because she is the one person out of all of them that seems to be able to figure out what is going on with Jack almost right away.

 

Also, one little other thing from the Ready Room. Wil said that what is coming up in the next two episodes is so secret that they can't even reveal the guest for next week's Ready Room because it would give too much away. My guess is we might finally get to see Janeway and we'll have Kate on the Ready Room, but we'll see. Outside chance it could be Denise Crosby if they involved her with the storyline if it is Armus. They have said the hologram memory in ep 8 was her small cameo for the season....but it wouldn't be the first time they have deceived us a bit for the season to preserve a surprise.

 

 

 

Anyway, a few more things on my rewatch......

 

 

- In ep3. when Riker and Picard are at the bar in the past talking about kids Riker talks about how when he held Thad he knew how important he was. As a parent you realize you would "Burn the world for them". Is this just a literary flourish that the writers really like this season or some kind of clue?

 

- In ep 3 In the scene where Beverly and Picard are talking about why she didn't tell him about Jack at the tail end of the conversation Picard makes a remark about Jack's accent. And Beverly explains that he went to school in London for a bit and maintained the accent. This is what I am talking about the clues being so well done and hidden for the season. At the time this seemed like a simple deflection of fan snark saying, "Well Jack didn't inherit his accent, did he?!". It comes across as the show cutting that argument off at the pass. But after explaining the real reason he has an accent she jokes, "Maybe it's in his DNA". We take it at the time as Picard being such an iconic figure that surely his child would be born with an accent, stern look on it's face, wearing a Starfleet uniform. But maybe there is more to it than that. We already know that there is some significance to what Jack inherited from Picard in his DNA with the Irumodic Syndrome. If I am right about the clue embedded in the end credits then the significance about what really is in Jack's DNA from Picard is still yet to show it's full extent.

 

 

Edit: By the way, it was also revealed on the Ready Room that next week's episode is titled Vox. Presumably meaning voice and meaning the voice, or voices, in Jack's head. I am very optimistic about the finale but there is one thing that I am bracing myself for. Both season 1 and 2 had good finales imho, but felt a bit disjointed I think because creatively they were written as feature lengths like All Good Things, but for, I would guess, business reasons they were aired as two episodes. And looks like the same is going to happen for season 3.

 

With the episode name being Vox it makes me think a big portion of the reveal and final battle with the big bad will take place in episode 9 and that, like season 2, a big portion of the last episode will feel a bit lopsided because it will be dedicated less to action and more to wrap up. I mean, to be fair, they have the same problem as Return of the King....they have given themselves a lot to wrap up and pay off.

 

Cutting the episode in two will exacerbate this(Imagine if RotK was split like Harry Potter 7 and then on top of that you had that 45 minute ending on the end of the 2 hour second half of RotK).. In the long run I don't think this will be a big deal because you can just watch them as a feature length upon rewatches. But on first viewing I am preparing myself for this feeling a little weird. 

[BloodyHell]

20 hours ago, elbobo said:

My thought against Armus is that Troi is familiar with him and she didn't mention anything about recognizing "the darkness" that was around Jack

While I don’t think it’s Armus, and I think Chairslinger is really stretching to connect some of this, I don’t know that Troi had any actual contact with him. Its an awful episode, so I haven’t watched in ages. Maybe I should. It’s definitely not Pah Wraiths. Like, Pah Wraiths without the prophets, bajor, and the wormhole would be bad storytelling, and so far they’ve nailed it. 
 

Im definitely excited for the final episodes. Man, the final scene of this one was incredible. 
 

I also like the dynamic between Shaw and Seven a lot. There’s a lot there.

[Chairslinger]

New 30 second preview for Vox. 

 

Goes to show how little we have seen from eps 9 and 10 in all the other previews. I think I saw a commercial with a small 1 or 2 second clip of the fireworks going off for Frontier Day, but other than that I think this is 100% new footage.

 

 

 

 

Not much in there about Jack, but I will say I think a lot of what I said about the starships is looking ever more likely.

 

Remember in my above post when I said the credits scene has a structure with Voyager and Defiant flying around it? I was trying to determine whether or not it was the starbase from ep1 or the Fleet Museum from ep 6, but it didn't quite look like either? That's because it's the starbase from this preview! Seems like it's what I guessed, they try to approach in Titan and it's almost immediately being taken over by the ship network(Fleet Formation Mode, the companel says). And Will saying they have to get off the Titan.

 

The rest of the trailer makes it look like they are hopping from starship to starship in the fleet we see, or maybe the starbase, trying to escape(or maybe those are all still on Titan? Hard to tell). So I wonder if we won't see the classic ships in ep 9. Maybe we will end ep 9 with them finding Janeway and Tuvok as prisoners on the starbase(along with others?) and rescuing them. And they will escape to fleet museum and they will come back in ep 10. 

 

Interesting tidbit. I tried like hell to pause and pick up on some of the starship names at the beginning of the preview. Best I could find was Venture, Akira, and Sutherland(Data's old command?). Couldn't make out any of the others. One looks like Corekiller....not sure if even New Trek is Metal enough to name one of their ships that yet

 

In ep 5 if you pause at a certain time Ro's intel has a tree of Starfleet Command officers and suspected Changling infiltrations. A little less than half were in red, couldn't make out any names as far as I could tell. In the beginning of this preview you can see that every starship around the starbase is in red. Symbolizing, one would guess, that the problem is much worse than even Ro knew and every single ship is compromised.

 

Ro's little black book also had a small note that seems to say the Enterprise F was slated for early decommission. Wonder what that was about. Also, you can see the F for just a split second in the preview at :21.

 

 

 

I am so psyched for these last two episodes. Don't know what I am going to do without Picard, and they aren't helping matters making us wait until June for SNW!

[Jason]

fucking NERDS ITT

 

 

Spoiler

 

39 minutes ago, Chairslinger said:

I am so psyched for these last two episodes. Don't know what I am going to do without Picard, and they aren't helping matters making us wait until June for SNW!

 

It's so sad that we had to get 20 episodes of dreck to finally get a good season of this show, only for it to be the final season.

[Chairslinger]

Noticed another interesting thing on my rewatch.

 

So fake Tuvok mentions that Janeway is busy preparing for Frontier Day with the entire fleet assembling in the Sol system.

 

I am not sure, but I don't think we had confirmation before this that this whole thing is happening at, or near Earth.

 

In the preview I just posted, I briefly wondered if that blue ball the starbase was orbiting was Earth, but kind of brushed it off without studying the topography too closely because.....well....we have never seen one of those big boy space stations orbiting Earth before, have we? They have the Utopia Planitia shipyards at Mars, but the most we have seen around earth is some space frames for starship repair as far as I remember.

 

When the heck did they build that thing? Did we get a good enough look at Earth in Picard s1 to see if it was there or not? And if not, when was the last time we did? Endgame or Nemesis, probably......

 

Edit: Later in ep. 8 when the Shrike catches up with Titan, and Vadic is rushing to board the ship, and her second in command warns her that it might be a trap she has some really interesting dialogue looking back at what we know now.....

 

"He's(Jack) right there. RIGHT THERE! I can almost......touch him. Don't you hear that? DON'T YOU!? Tick tock, tick tock goes the ancient clock. We are out of time."

 

On first viewing that last line seemed like the most important aspect of why Vadic was taking the bait, even if she knew it might be bait. They were running out of time until Frontier Day. But that first part seems very relevant now. The part where she says she can almost "touch him". Whatever it is, that suggests to me that the "hand" part of Vadic and the evil that Troi says is around Jack, but not in Jack are so close they can almost touch each other.  Tick tock goes the "ancient clock" seemed almost like nonsensical theatrics initially, but now we have Troi describing this being as "ancient and weak".

 

 

[Jason]

lol, pah wraiths is trending on twitter

[dualhunter]

3 hours ago, Chairslinger said:

In the preview I just posted, I briefly wondered if that blue ball the starbase was orbiting was Earth, but kind of brushed it off without studying the topography too closely because.....well....we have never seen one of those big boy space stations orbiting Earth before, have we? They have the Utopia Planitia shipyards at Mars, but the most we have seen around earth is some space frames for starship repair as far as I remember.

 

When the heck did they build that thing? Did we get a good enough look at Earth in Picard s1 to see if it was there or not? And if not, when was the last time we did? Endgame or Nemesis, probably......

 

Your memory sucks 

 

Spacedock One | Memory Alpha | Fandom

MEMORY-ALPHA.FANDOM.COM

---

Spacedock One was a Federation Spacedock-type space station operated by Starfleet from the late 23rd to the early 25th centuries. The prototypical example of a "spacedock", it was located in orbit of Earth for most of its service. Spacedock One was under construction in 2257. (DIS: "Will You...

 

[Chairslinger]

1 hour ago, dualhunter said:

 

Your memory sucks 

 

Spacedock One | Memory Alpha | Fandom

MEMORY-ALPHA.FANDOM.COM

---

Spacedock One was a Federation Spacedock-type space station operated by Starfleet from the late 23rd to the early 25th centuries. The prototypical example of a "spacedock", it was located in orbit of Earth for most of its service. Spacedock One was under construction in...

 

 

 

Yeah, TOS is definitely the blind spot in my Trek trivia. Even when I try to watch the show the details go in one ear and out the other.

[Chairslinger]

@Jason @elbobo @BloodyHell @dualhunter

 

Be super careful guys,. I am seeing stuff online that is really suggestive that there are spoilers out there now.

 

I don't know if it's because reviewers are starting to get screening copies or what. I am seriously considering going full offline mode for the next 36 hours or so because I really, I really want any and all big reveals to happen when I watch the episode.

[BloodyHell]

12 hours ago, Chairslinger said:

@Jason @elbobo @BloodyHell @dualhunter

 

Be super careful guys,. I am seeing stuff online that is really suggestive that there are spoilers out there now.

 

I don't know if it's because reviewers are starting to get screening copies or what. I am seriously considering going full offline mode for the next 36 hours or so because I really, I really want any and all big reveals to happen when I watch the episode.

Reviewers got the whole season before the show started. So did a bunch of trek influencers.

[Chairslinger]

3 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

Reviewers got the whole season before the show started. So did a bunch of trek influencers.

 

 

All the sources I follow said only the first 6 episodes. Pretty sure it has been episode to episode since then.

[BloodyHell]

1 hour ago, Chairslinger said:

 

 

All the sources I follow said only the first 6 episodes. Pretty sure it has been episode to episode since then.

I saw nerdrotic, Chris Gore, and a couple of others talking about having seen the whole season. That was somewhere around episode 3. 

[Chairslinger]

2 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

I saw nerdrotic, Chris Gore, and a couple of others talking about having seen the whole season. That was somewhere around episode 3. 

 

 

Not what I heard. Every review and preview I saw tended to have a similar sentiment. They would talk about how much better they thought this season was than 1 and 2, but then caveat it with saying "but take this with a grain of salt as we have only seen the first 6 episodes".

 

Here is a reddit post from right before ep1 came out where they mention the screeners were out for the first 6 episodes. And a list of 5 different outlets who were seemingly working off only the first 6 episodes for their reviews.

 

Here is a review that says they are working off the first 6 episodes.

 

Here is one from Screen Rant.

 

Quote

With Star Trek: Picard season 3 premiering on Thursday, February 16th, on Paramount+, members of the press received the first 6 of the season's 10 episodes in advance, giving audience members early impressions. Check out several spoiler-free samples of what reviewers say about the final season of Star Trek: Picard:

 

 

They then go on to quote from over half a dozen reviewers, all presumably going off the first 6 episodes.

 

Maybe some were granted special access? But most weren't. I went back and double checked to make sure I wasn't going crazy. As I said, this was a really common thing said in the early reviews.

[BloodyHell]

2 hours ago, Chairslinger said:

 

 

Not what I heard. Every review and preview I saw tended to have a similar sentiment. They would talk about how much better they thought this season was than 1 and 2, but then caveat it with saying "but take this with a grain of salt as we have only seen the first 6 episodes".

 

Here is a reddit post from right before ep1 came out where they mention the screeners were out for the first 6 episodes. And a list of 5 different outlets who were seemingly working off only the first 6 episodes for their reviews.

 

Here is a review that says they are working off the first 6 episodes.

 

Here is one from Screen Rant.

 

 

 

They then go on to quote from over half a dozen reviewers, all presumably going off the first 6 episodes.

 

Maybe some were granted special access? But most weren't. I went back and double checked to make sure I wasn't going crazy. As I said, this was a really common thing said in the early reviews.

Im just telling you what they talked about in their podcast. They were NDA’d, but said they saw the whole season. They spoke about how much they liked the whole season at length, and about a moment making them cry in the final episode.

[Captain Pickle]

19 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

Im just telling you what they talked about in their podcast. They were NDA’d, but said they saw the whole season. They spoke about how much they liked the whole season at length, and about a moment making them cry in the final episode.

Awwww yeah. You ready to cry like lil babies @SoberChef

 

[Chairslinger]

19 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

Im just telling you what they talked about in their podcast. They were NDA’d, but said they saw the whole season. They spoke about how much they liked the whole season at length, and about a moment making them cry in the final episode.

 

Yeah, like I said maybe there were some exceptions?

I was just warning about spoilers because whatever was true in the past, screenings for ep 9 are definitely out by now for a relatively wide audience and even if most outlets are good about containing outright spoilers the more people with access means a bigger chance of springing a leak. One example in particular I remember early on I saw headlines like "Season 3 isn't just a sendoff to TNG but also DS9". Maybe not an outright spoiler., but obviously coming from someone who had already seen the Changling reveal. Yesterday I saw one or two suggestive headlines like that for ep 9 and that's when I NOPED out and posted my warning.

That all said, we got one more preview video. If you are mad at them for holding back the info last episode than this one will really piss you off

 

 

 

 

A few days ago when they released some pictures from the episode they had Troi in a room with Crusher. Troi appears to be looking at someone else. Then in another picture it shows Picard in that same room. My guess at the time was that this was the scene right after the end of last week. Troi opens the door, sees what's inside and runs away. She goes and tells Picard and Crusher what she saw, and this preview is Picard going to Jack after he finds out.

 

Early on in the show they were really hinting at a full blown heel turn for Jack. With the scenes of him gunning people down and stuff. They had already been moving away from that in the past few episodes but I think this clinches it. Picard knows most, or all, of what is going on with Jack and he is not scared of him.....just for him. 

 

Either way, I think Elbobo will get his wish. The sequence I laid out above is three different scenes and I wouldn't be surprised if they are all together before the opening title card. Maybe with a short bridge scene catch up tucked in one of the cuts. We know the Frontier Day showdown is the big action for the episode, so I think they'll get most of the reveal out of the way first, Maybe Jack will learn more about himself as the episode goes on(like, "Oh, this is how my go go gadget mind control works), but I don't think we'll have to wait long for the basics.

[SoberChef]

WHOA! How am I the 1st talking about this episode!?

 

Spoiler

Like HOLY FUCKING SHIT BALLS ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME THATS GENIUS I LOVE IT!

 

So yeah ummm IDK if spoilers are cool or not I need to process but my brain imploded elevenity times. Low key, if it wasn't for the fact they're selling tix to theater seats for the finale, I'd demand the finale come early because HOLY SHIT!!

[Chairslinger]

1 hour ago, SoberChef said:

WHOA! How am I the 1st talking about this episode!?

 

  Hide contents

Like HOLY FUCKING SHIT BALLS ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME THATS GENIUS I LOVE IT!

 

So yeah ummm IDK if spoilers are cool or not I need to process but my brain imploded elevenity times. Low key, if it wasn't for the fact they're selling tix to theater seats for the finale, I'd demand the finale come early because HOLY SHIT!!

 

 

I am a mess right now.

 

Spoiler

On top of everything else they used Majel Barrett's voice for the main computer 

 

[Jason]

On 4/11/2023 at 4:26 PM, Chairslinger said:

@Jason @elbobo @BloodyHell @dualhunter

 

Be super careful guys,. I am seeing stuff online that is really suggestive that there are spoilers out there now.

 

I don't know if it's because reviewers are starting to get screening copies or what. I am seriously considering going full offline mode for the next 36 hours or so because I really, I really want any and all big reveals to happen when I watch the episode.

 

I got a spoiler on the Enterprise-D reveal in a headline this morning. It didn't specifically mention the D or the reveal, it was a "Enterprises rated from Enterprise to Picard", but it was kind of obvious it was some kind of spoiler. Took the wind out of the sails of the reveal for me, had a moment of what was supposed to be suspenseful guessing what was behind the door feel empty, but I'm trying to tell myself an Enterprise-D appearance was super obviously going to happen anyhow given it's the fanservice season. It still got me right in the feels once they were all reacting at seeing their home though.

 

Decided to watch before work today since the odds of further spoilers if I waited until after work seemed extremely high.

 

5 minutes ago, Chairslinger said:

 

 

I am a mess right now.

 

  Hide contents

On top of everything else they used Majel Barrett's voice for the main computer 

 

 

What did they use? An old recording? Those syllabic voice recordings she made 15 years ago?

[Jason]

Also how the fuck did they off our boy Shaw so he can't be in a spinoff?

[Chairslinger]

The last ten minutes of this episode will take it's place among compilations of best all time TNG scenes.

 

I absolutely loved Data's reaction to seeing the D. That had to be a call back to this scene from First Contact, right?

 

 

 

A great way to show how far Data has come.

 

And if there is one take away from this season I think it is this......if you do something well, the fans will forgive you for it. Bringing back Data, the Borg, Changlings, the D.....that could have all been seen as cheap rehashing. But they have done it all so well that it lands. People predicted the Borg were behind Jack, I mentioned about the DNA stuff, but I don't think anyone put all the pieces together. That whole explanation was brilliant. I guess we know why the finale is called, "The Last Generation" now

I said earlier in this thread that I really wanted to know what happened to the Borg after Endgame. And in this episode they said no one had heard from the Borg in 10 years. Now we know. They were playing the long game. Now Shaw's line from ep 4 makes even more sense. "The real Borg are still out there".

 

Oh, and as if we needed more proof that Terry knows what he's doing, I am preeeetty sure the voice of the Queen was Alice Krige. Susanna and Anne both had their moments.....but no one plays a more menacing, "makes your skin crawl" version of the Queen than Alice does.

 

Edit: Oh, I forgot to mentioned one more thing. Over the season some people have said stuff like, "Man I love Picard, but I wish they weren't still using New Trek lighting.". I wonder if that was a concious choice by Terry so that it would really contrast and stir the emotions when we stepped on the bridge of the the D and it was as bright as ever. Like stepping out into the sun.

 

Also....Worf got the E blowed up....so that was a fun little 3 second reveal

[Jason]

Oh apparently the ship Shelby was on was the Enterprise-F, that's probably what the headline I saw was talking about. I completely didn't register that it was an Enterprise, I seriously thought it was Voyager.

[Chairslinger]

53 minutes ago, Jason said:

Oh apparently the ship Shelby was on was the Enterprise-F, that's probably what the headline I saw was talking about. I completely didn't register that it was an Enterprise, I seriously thought it was Voyager.

 

 

Yeah, I didn't follow my own advice this morning and opened YouTube to check on some NBA results and the very first video showed the F exiting space dock.

 

I noped out so hard. It wasn't really a spoiler because I identified the F in the trailer from last week, but seeing it in space dock tipped me off that it was probably going to play a bigger role than I assumed. 

 

The problem with the E and F is that they have streamlined the ship so much that it looks a bit too much like other classes now. The E looked cool, but the F streamlined it even more so now, like you said, it almost looks like Voyager or even a Nova class ship with that pointy saucer section.

 

Not to say they look bad. All the ship designs of s3 have been really good. I liked how the "neck" of the ship on the F is actually two connections with an opening in the middle. I think that looks pretty cool.

 

So are we going to see a Crusher vs. Queen showdown next week?

 

Spoiler

This is such a juicy thought I figured it deserved a spoiler tag.

 

Beverly was wrestling with the ethics of a virus to take out the changelings in episode 7. Wonder if she will use a virus to take out the Borg to save her son.

 

[Chairslinger]

6 hours ago, Jason said:

Also how the fuck did they off our boy Shaw so he can't be in a spinoff?

 

 

 

You know, it sure read like a character death to me but it's worth pointing out that from what we have seen in Star Trek it seems plausible that Seven could save Shaw's life with some Borg assimilation sleight of hand. Assimilate him now and worry about saving him along with everyone else later.

 

I am on my rewatch of Voyager and I just got past the episode where she brought Neelix back after being dead for 18 hours.

 

I mean, just imagine the scene where Shaw finds out Seven did it, "You ASSIMILATED me, Hansen!?".

 

I don't think that is in the cards, though. I think the one slip up for season 3 that will be remembered most is that the show runners underestimated just how much fans would love the character. After all, the decision to kill him off was made long before the first episode ever aired.

[elbobo]

6 hours ago, Jason said:

Oh apparently the ship Shelby was on was the Enterprise-F, that's probably what the headline I saw was talking about. I completely didn't register that it was an Enterprise, I seriously thought it was Voyager.

 

They said something along the lines of "NCC -1701F leaving Spacedock" but it does a have a similar shape to a lot of new starfleet vessels. 

 

I figured the D would be making an appearance since they dropped a line about something being in hanger 12 earlier in the season, it is the cheapest and easiest of fan service but fuck it this is supposed to be the send off for this crew give it to me. It was cool seeing all the bridge consoles light up with modern effects/set building techniques.

 

I was hoping it wouldn't be the Borg because I feel that has been done to death at this point but the Pah-Wraiths just didn't fit into a TNG story and bringing in a totally new big bad in the last 2 hours would have been a bit much so I guess we were kind of stuck with them.

 

 

some nerdy thoughts now, Starfleet is going to be completely wrecked now personnel-wise, did everyone over the age of 25 just get killed, even after our heroes deborg everyone is there going to be anyone left over the rank of ensign? Like did we just lose the entire cast of DS9 and Voyager?

[dualhunter]

Maybe there'll be some time travel to reverse things. Jurati's Borg could return as well.

[elbobo]

Wonder if Majel Roddenberry's lines were cobbled together from old dialogue or if they finally got around to making the AI voice of her, she supposedly recorded piles of phonetic sounds that could be used before her death but with the crazy advances in voice AI over the last couple of years you can probably just feed in all the sound clips of her from the various series and get something really really close.  

[Jason]

3 hours ago, elbobo said:

Wonder if Majel Roddenberry's lines were cobbled together from old dialogue or if they finally got around to making the AI voice of her, she supposedly recorded piles of phonetic sounds that could be used before her death but with the crazy advances in voice AI over the last couple of years you can probably just feed in all the sound clips of her from the various series and get something really really close.  

 

Apparently the audio was ripped directly from an old TNG episode (so as-is, not cobbling multiple bits of audio together). I think I saw someone say it was from Jellico returning command of the Enterprise to Picard.

[elbobo]

It is worth noting that the one ship that the bridge crew retook control of and then was destroyed by the rest of the fleet was the Excelsior, as of last season that was the ship that Elnor was assigned to, dude can't catch a break.

[BloodyHell]

Holy fuck, the feels. 
 

this is the happiest any tv show has made me in years. 
 

Spoiler

I always knew it wasn’t Pah Wraiths, that whole idea seemed a bit on the ridiculous side. Picard has no connection to Bajor or the prophets, it would have been really bad writing.

 

I predicted the borg early in the season, I certainly wasn’t positive, but it made far more sense than anything to do with the bajoran religion. They are without a doubt Picards greatest nemesis, as well as a literal part of him. 
 

Red eyes always seemed the only thing that pointed anyone to Pah Wraiths, it never fit.

 

RIP Shaw. I loved him by the end. More character growth in 10 episodes than most of the discovery background cast in 4 seasons. 
 

Federation Day! Such an awesome spectacle!

 

and the Big D!!!!! I knew it was cummin’, but I wasn’t prepared for shot. My face and chest were soaked. (With tears).

 

And Majels voice in the ship! My heart ❤️ 

 

wife made fun of me crying over a ship leaving space dock, but not a character dying. 

 

[DPCyric]

On 4/13/2023 at 12:18 PM, Jason said:

Also how the fuck did they off our boy Shaw so he can't be in a spinoff?

 

I was so expecting this everyone is such a fan and asking for a spinoff and I'm like "he hasn't survived this season yet..."