If you weren't overly excited about the idea of a new 'Star Trek' series following Jean-Luc Picard in the years after 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', this might actually change your mind.
For one, it doesn't appear to be taking a lot of cues from 'The Next Generation' other than a couple of familiar faces like Data and Seven of Nine from 'Voyager'. There's also the fact that it appears to be a linear story as opposed to a 'planet of the week' / 'monster of the week' format. The visual effects look pretty swish, and to top it all off, it looks Patrick Stewart really is giving this an honest attempt.
The story seems to focus on a young woman - played by Isa Briones - who knows Picard and has some kind of connection to the Borg, the cybernetic zombies that Picard tangled with repeatedly throughout 'The Next Generation' and in the spin-off movie, 'First Contact'. Now that he's a retired Admiral, he clearly doesn't feel like retired life suits him and he decides to get back into the swing of things by recruiting a new crew to help.
Annoyingly, however, no release date was announced for 'Picard' other than a general 2020 date. The series will stream on Amazon Prime here in Ireland and the UK, so it's not as if you won't be able to see it. The question now is whether it'll actually be any good.
Our thoughts? It really does look like they're trying to make something different, and not just a re-tread of 'The Next Generation'. The writing staff that they've assembled, including Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon as showrunner, is impressive. On top of that, Jonathan Frakes is back to direct two episodes, so it's all definitely positive.
Here's the trailer.
