Star Trek: Picard makes its return for the third and final season and reunites the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation in doing so. Engage!

Paramount+ sent six episodes to watch ahead of the final season premiere. Going off of the trailer, I can say that there are sequences that are taking place during the final episodes. That’s not to say anything specific in terms of plot but my G-d, it’s so much fun to watch this cast back together again. People can say whatever they want about reboots playing on our nostalgia but I don’t care. I am absolutely enjoying the final hours of watching Star Trek: Picard. and regret not meeting the TNG cast when they were in Chicago for Star Trek: Mission Chicago last April but that’s another story. Anyway, I reserve my right to change my score after I watch episodes 7-10. Episodes 1-6 are a lot of fun!

The third season follows Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) on a new adventure. This time around, his fellow Enterprise crew members are coming along for the ride. How everyone enters the picture is what I’ll let you find out and see for yourselves. But in the meantime, I can tell you that nostalgia will be high. It does feel just a little bit weird that the main ship this season is the U.S.S. Titan–captained by Shaw (Todd Stashwick)–rather than the flagship U.S.S. Enterprise. It’s not the first time that the Enterprise isn’t the main ship (see Star Trek: Lower Decks) but it just feels like it would make more sense to have the reunion on their old Enterprise home. Outside of that, this series has absolutely everything you want in a new Star Trek adventure.

The first and second season were fine but the third season blows both of them out of the water. I mean, this is what many Star Trek fans wanted anyway, right? Instead of bringing back some characters here and there as in the previous seasons, we’ve got the main TNG cast along for the ride in addition to Voyager‘s Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Picard‘s Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd). All in all, it’s a solid cast and the crew finds a way to make sure everyone gets their respective screen time in service to the story. Instead of a film that’s two hour and change, we’re getting a longform series that allows us to spend some more time with the cast. Whatever works, right?

Prepare for an emotional ride because Jerry Goldsmith’s previous film scores are back for the final season. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise because it is impossible to do a Star Trek score without bringing back the previous cues.  Plus, it honors the legacies of these characters. I’m telling you–you’re not ready to say goodbye to this crew. I know that I’m not and I was really late to watching anything Star Trek! And yet, it really is the end of an era.

It was previously announced that Vadic (Amanda Plummer) would be the primary villain this season. Vadic captains the Shrike and has their eyes set on Jean-Luc Picard and company. It’s a sense of irony in that Christopher Plummer’s daughter plays the final antagonist in a TNG spinoff series. In case you forgot, the late Plummer was the final antagonist in the final film starring the TOS cast, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. You love to see it.

Picard‘s final season is a real family affair and I’m not just saying this because of the characters crewing the ship. It goes beyond that to real-life family members joining the series. Ensign Sidney La Forge (Sharpe Chestnut) is the helmsman of the U.S.S. Titan when Picard comes on board. Meanwhile, Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) works alongside his daughter, Ensign Alandra La Forge (Mica Burton). Normally, I wouldn’t get into this because of spoilers but the casting announcement was made during New York Comic Con in October 2022. As such, I feel that it is fair game to mention it without getting into further specifics.

The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard is the next best thing to getting a new movie starring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

CREATORS: Akiva Goldsman & Michael Chabon & Kirsten Beyer & Alex Kurtzman
SHOWRUNNER: Terry Matalas
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Alex Kurtzman, Terry Matalas, Akiva Goldsman, Heather Kadin, Patrick Stewart, Aaron Baiers, Dylan K. Massin, Doug Aarniokoski, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth
CAST: Patrick Stewart, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Ed Speleers
SPECIAL GUEST STARS: LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner
GUEST STARRING: Todd Stashwick, Amanda Plummer

Paramount+ will launch season 3 of Star Trek: Picard on February 16, 2023 with new episodes to follow weekly. Grade: 4/5

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