Rejoice for Jean-Luc Picard is back on our screens! And… he’s not doing so great. Now that we’ve gotten our very first trailer for Star Trek: Picard, coming to CBS All Access in late 2019, let’s dig through the dialogue and clues left behind.
Here are four questions we had after watching the trailer.
What’s the timeline here?
Related press materials for Star Trek: Picard mention that it is set 18 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. In addition, we now know of two other events in the Trek timeline that take place between Nemesis and Picard: the destruction of the planet Romulus by supernova and disappearance of Ambassador Spock, which 2009’s Star Trek sets in the year 2387, and now Picard’s “Rescue Armada”, which the trailer places as 15 years before Star Trek: Picard.
- 2379: Star Trek: Nemesis
- 2382: Rescue Armada
- 2387: Destruction of Romulus (Star Trek)
- 2395: “All Good Things” future scenes (not relevant but fun to note since we see the vineyard!)
- 2397: Star Trek: Picard
What was “the greatest rescue armada in history” and what happened to it?
This is the big question, isn’t it? Our assumption is that Picard would have definitely led a rescue armada to evacuate Romulus (and any other affected planets), because that’s the kind of guy he is, but the years don’t match up. So either Spock got the year wrong in 2009’s Star Trek, or this is an entirely different situation.
Or…
It’s also possible that the two events are still related. Supernovae don’t really adhere to whatever schedule you make for them. They’re like active volcanoes. You see the ground swelling and feel more earthquakes than before, but the actual moment of eruption can’t be pinpointed to a precise minute, hour, or day. It’s just…inevitable.
In that regard, it’s possible that Picard and Spock realized what was going to happen to Romulus and tried to rally support for evacuation ASAP, not knowing that they still had 5 or so years left. It’s also possible that neither Starfleet or the Romulan Empire was onboard for Admiral Picard’s plan. Perhaps Starfleet didn’t see the danger, or perhaps they did, but couldn’t make a convincing argument to the Romulan Empire.
It’s a tall order, after all. If you’re a famously paranoid Romulan, then from your perspective suddenly this foreign power wants to evacuate your ENTIRE planet–your home soil!–over something that you’re not entirely convinced is a threat. Even if Starfleet supported Picard’s evacuation plan, that support would probably evaporate over the 5 years between the formation of the armada and the actual destruction of Romulus. As a result, over those five years Picard would have seemed like he was crying wolf. He’d lose respect within Starfleet as a result, and be seen as someone who was formerly great, but who was perhaps now unfit for command.
This kind of circumstance could line up with the dialogue we hear in the trailer:
“15 years ago, today, you led us out of the darkness. You commanded the greatest rescue armada in history. Then, the unimaginable.”
“What did that cost you? Your faith? Your faith in us? Your faith in yourself?”
“Tell us. Why did you leave Starfleet, Admiral?”
Who is speaking to Picard in the trailer?
Is Picard speaking to someone in Starfleet? A press-only first look showed a quick scene where Picard shows up to an appointment at a Starfleet installation, so it’s possible he’s arriving for the sitdown dialogue we hear in the trailer. And the speaker sounds very calm and Vulcan-esque. (They really sound like Sonequa Martin-Green, but it’s probably not her.)
It also seems just as likely that Picard is facing questions from one or many Romulan survivors. (“You led us out of the darkness.”) Or any other galactic power, really. Even a Picard disassociated with Starfleet would be an incredible asset for a non-Federation power.
Is Picard’s wine The Good Shit?
Depends on what you’re looking for but yes the bottles of Chateau Picard would be some exclusive pinot noir, although it falls just short of what would be considered the zenith for pinot noirs. Looks like Picard’s vineyard is located in eastern France, where pinot noir originated, and the bottles we see in the trailer are stamped with ’86, which would make them aged 11 years or so by the time of the show. The bottles could age another 10 years, but popping open an ’86 Chateau Picard burgundy after 11 years is still going to taste very good.
Bonus Question: Wait, wasn’t Chateau Picard previously established as a Bordeaux?
It burned to death in the fire, you heartless monster.
