Star Trek: Picard (2023) – Vox, and The Last Generation

Showrunner Terry Matalas slips into the director’s chair to give us a powerful penultimate episode, Vox. Written by Sean Tretta and Kiley Rossetter, this episode was first broadcast on 13 April, 2023. Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the rest learn that the symptoms of Irumodic Syndrome were simply a side effect of what was really wrong…

Star Trek: Picard (2023) – Dominion, and Surrender

Things are getting intense as we race towards the series finale. Dominion ups the stakes again. Written by Jane Maggs, it debuted on 30 March, 2023. Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Crusher (Gates McFadden) learn some shocking truths about these new Changelings (augmented and developed by Starfleet under Project Proteus), especially Vadic (Amanda Plummer) as they…

Star Trek: Picard (2023) – Seventeen Seconds, and No Win Scenario

The stress of the situation doesn’t let up for a second in the third episode of Picard’s final season, Seventeen Seconds. Written by Jane Maggs and Cindy Appel, it was directed by Jonathan Frakes and was first broadcast on 2 March, 2023. As Vadic (Amanda Plummer) and the Shrike continue to stalk the Titan (injuring…

Star Trek: Picard (2023) – The Next Generation, and Disengage

Terry Matalas takes over as showrunner for season three of Picard and his season opener is a gorgeous blend of easter eggs, characters, stories, familiar music cues, and a bold new adventure. The first episode of the final season, The Next Generation, first aired on 16 February, 2023. Picard (Patrick Stewart) receives a coded message…

Star Trek: Picard (2022) – Hide and Seek, and Farewell

The penultimate episode of season two has some solid action beats, and some nice emotional arcs, and reminds us that these characters are flawed and human, and that is why we relate to them. There’s also a nice line that explains the appearance of Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) mother in The Next Generation episode Where No…

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Survivors (1989) – Jean Lorrah

The fourth novel in The Next Generation series from Pocket Books is set between the events Arsenal of Freedom and Skin of Evil and gives Tasha Yar more story time than she received in her only season on the show. It also fills out some of her backstory, and while nothing contradicts the established canon,…

Star Trek: Picard (2022) – Assimilation, and Watcher

It makes a kind of sense for Lea Thompson to direct an episode about time travel, and that’s who sits in the director’s chair this time out as I continue to explore Picard Season 2. Assimilation was written by Kiley Rossetter and Christopher Monfette and it was first broadcast on 17 March, 2022. La Sirena…

Star Trek: Mind Meld (1997) – John Vornholt

Set shortly after the events of The Undiscovered Country, John Vornholt’s novel shoves Spock into the limelight on an adventure that pairs him with a young Vulcan girl named Teska, and is a precursor to his work in reunifying Vulcans and Romulans. Through a weird series of familial relations, Teska refers to Spock as her…