Star Trek Picard: Season 2 Preview

The next season of Star Trek Picard launches in the UK on Friday 4 March:  soon!

I've seen the trailers, and they look good (in my humble opinion).

Star Trek Picard Season 2 Teaser - don't worry if you don't get all the references, there are many and they're very cryptic.  There are things like...

the clock stuck at 10:04 (the time the lightning strikes in Back to the Future)
the painting of the Enterprise D  (Picard's command when he first met Q)
the model of the starship (Picard's first command, the USS Stargazer);
sand flowing up the hourglass (time travel)
...and many more.

Star Trek Picard Season 2 - Trailer 1  (it gives a release data of February, but that got put back)

Star Trek Picard Season 2 - Trailer 2

The crew of the La Sirena will need to find a way to go back in time to prevent a change in Earth's history from rippling through time and turning Earth into a totalitarian, dystopian state.  How has this happened?  Well, there's this omnipotent being called Q (nothing to do with James Bond) who has the ability to move through time, change his appearance, change anything and everything - he has almost godlike powers.

However, Q is a royal pain in the neck.  Despite all his power and intelligence, he's frequently thrown Starfleet (and Picard in particular) into disarray with a click of his finger.


If you want to do some preparatory viewing, then I would suggest the following episodes from Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG).  TNG is available on Netflix.  Q does appear in other episodes of TNG, but these will be enough to get you started.

1.  Encounter at Farpoint (series 1, episodes 1 and 2)
The first episodes of Star Trek TNG introduce Q right from the start.  He's shown as a dangerous clown, almost a psychopath determined to teach humanity and Starfleet a lesson, for their own good.  He puts humanity on trail (hence the line in the trailers: "the trial never ends")

2.  Q Who (series 2, episode 16)
Q reappears, asking to join Picard's crew on the Enterprise.  Picard declines, and Q hurls the Enterprise into the path of the Borg.  One of TNG's best episodes, and it shows how dangerous Q is.

3.  All Good Things (series 7, episodes 25 and 26)
The series finale sees Q putting humanity on trial (again), and this time if Picard doesn't prove himself worthy, then the whole human race will never have ever existed.  Contains time travel and some very nice battle sequences.

In order to travel back in time, Picard must borrow some technology from a race that he's very familiar with.  I'm sure that will all go without a hitch...

Weekly reviews will follow each episode, laden with spoilers, opinions and comments about parts of the show that refer to previous Star Trek series!