Isn't the captain's log from Best of Both Worlds, not Unification?

The characterization that stuck out to me in this episode was Riker's. When the bartender called the Galaxy class 'the fat one,' he reacted exactly as I have seen former Navy officers do when someone talks with even a hint of shade towards an obsolete ship they once served aboard.

We've seen how Starfleet captains obsessed with running a tight ship tend to wind up: Partial distress calls and recovered log entries. Shaw's got one chance to redeem himself.

"Is there something wrong with that ensign?" Was one of my favorite lines

Retired or not , an admiral is an admiral, and the rank requires respect. , even an enemy officer , especially a flag officer, gets respect. ( the rule book ) . We have seen retired admirals before. At least twice. ( jamason, satie)

This absolutely should have been episode 1 of season 1.

I think this felt more like TNG than the last two seasons. Modernized for today's TV audience but definitely teamwork and thinking at its heart like the TNG. A+!

Bit late to this but the LCARS ending sequence shows a Constellation class the USS Constance I think which was lost at Wolf 359. I suspect Shaw is a survivor of that and along with the Synth attacks before I wouldn't be surprised if this is another case of antagonism and trauma not picked up by Starfleet counsellors as we saw with Sisko in Emissary. Perhaps Shaw didn't exhibit extreme issues until facing Seven and Picard. And so this anti ex Borg anger didn't get picked up upon. Suggesting the Titan A was built upon the original Titan makes the TMP Connie refit seem minor by comparison. Had to see any of the Luna within the hull at least. I thought I heard linkage back to another Titan, the Shangri La class. Perhaps a refit of that in the same vein as the Disco Shipyard givign us the Gagarin etc might be a more realistic suggestion, althouh yes Shaw does refer to Rikers jazz music having still been in the computer.

Also you can't deny that the outro theme was a banger!

I quite like that we’re likely to see a slow build-up of the legacy cast. It’s a much better way to re-engage each of Picard’s old crew individually, as opposed to throwing them together in a single reunion, with none of them getting significant development or update to their characters.

Honestly, I don't mind the whole "new class but also refit" explanation because Starfleet doesn't have to build ships the way we do, and there are instances IRL of ships being refit into entirely new classes (though none that I can remember off the top of my head, mostly wartime designs iirc). Starfleet has been shown to mothball old ships and bring them up to combat specifications with new technology instead of just building entirely new ships, which is an element of practicality more than anything. While they are post-scarcity, they don't have unlimited resources and using the older designs as a starting point is probably a bit of a Prestige flex on the part of the Corp of Engineers-- after all, there's probably an admiral running around demanding their ship be an excelsior but also with the most advanced technologies.

Imagine the poor team of engineers trying to make a miracle with the extreme Refit of the USS Titan.

Picard retired? He wasn't Chancellor of the Academy for long then (which would presumably have led him to be considered in active service).

Random note, I'm guessing Star Fleet is different, but technically time in rank equates to seniority and thus a who has power over who even when of the same rank. In short, in an actual navy technically Riker would have the authority to order shaw unless Shaw achieved that rank earlier.

OMG!!!!! You're right! Rafi's handler is Worf!!! I just got it! The warrior reference!

7:03 based how little we see Shaw in the trailers, I lend to believe is indeed a *baaad* person or at least being controlled who will meet his end early next episode. Also, if the bluegill theory is correct, then I wonder if Picard's writers are having some fun with Shaw's resentment toward the Borg is partly because it is widely known the reason those parasites were never follow up in TNG as there was shift in direction behind the scenes...which ultimately resulted in the creation of the Borg.

Who where doesn't know who really created this season? From start to ending! HUGE SMILE!!!!

I think the "The Fat Ones" should have been a broader collection of quirky shaped ships" Throw in a Nebula Class, The Niagra Class, something like a Freedom Class, Olympic Class (if it exists) Challenger Class, even the Enterprise C in there or even a First Federation vessel. The Enterprise D isn't the only ship that is curvy like that in a not sexy way. But the Enterprise D is like K.I.T.T. it goes in and out of fashion.

The problem with this show is that we're not watching Captain Jean Luc Picard. We're watching Lt. Jean Luc Picard from the Tapestry episode. You know, the blue uniform, directionless one whose career never went anywhere. That's what this Picard has felt like through all these seasons of this show. This season is starting off better than any other new Trek stuff, but it's in spite of Picard and not because of him. Riker seemed more the shining star in this first episode.

Considering that they’re already onto the Voyager-“B” and it’s only 2401, it makes me wonder what happened to the “A”.

(1) They should've never used the Constitution Class. They should've used one of the many excellent designs found in the game. (2) I think Picard may retain the ceremonial rank of "Admiral" without the operational authority of the rank.

Also Rick, I tip my hat to your guess at Worf being Raffi's SFI handler. Well done!

There's a diagram in the end credits of a Constellation class ship that was destroyed at Wolf 359 I figure it was a ship that Shaw served on which would explain his dislike of the Borg.

Great video. Great intro too. Yeah it's weird remembering when Picard was in command of the most advanced starship in Starfleet with the Enterprise-D.... now it's "the fat one" XD

im still waiting for Worf to openly hate and despise Jean Droid Picard for just being a machine copy of his friend

Thanks for your review well done very informative

Excellent review dude!

Thank you for the explanations. I watched star trek years ago and forgot the details. Didnt know whats going on with already established characters. I didnt have the patience to watch anything. Maybe I am on youtube too much. Time to get things in order.

my one word would be... dark, as in I could hardly see anything! This is a promising start to the new season however. Cautiously optimistic.

Shaw would have been a child, if not in diapers, when Wolf 359 happened. If he had been present, it would have been as a child of an officer (or officers) on a ship. Missed the Orion language print, good catch. I honestly don't think I'd recognize Orion print if I saw it. I've seen it before, but not enough to have total recall of it like you. Good nerd work!

"Dignified and calm veil" is a wierd way to describe somebody who can go from caring doctor to bad-ass bridge commander at the flip of a switch.

Around season 3 is classically when Star Trek series find their pace, so everything seems to be going as usual.

I know a few huge fans of Star Trek upto 2005, when they think it turned to flaming dumpster garbage fire, & all of them have said, "Watch Picard Season 3!" Because they were able to see the WHOLE OF SEASON 3, with the Networks blessing.

The Ed Speleers character is too old to be 21 years. Maybe he was born during Crushers leave from the Enterprise? Either way, it doesn't really add up for him to be related to Picard...

That's thinking with portals!

Oh thanks Ric - loved your review and thoughtfulness. Any chance you might breakdown the end credits? As it's totally based on Titan LCARS and hints about the show? One shot shows a ship part with the Starfleet -translate occuring from Klingon (?) to English. The whole end titles are beautiful

A bit late to starting Picard, but I also noticed that the models in Ten Forward are Eaglemoss Models, probably just retrieved before the company went under, cause based on my own collection, I recognize those stands anywhere! Don't know if it's a tribute after the company went under, but it made me squee with delight!

The episode was named "The Next Generation" not because of the cast but because of the person that was going to be introduced in the episode. The next generation of Picards.

I'm still hoping that the Rachelle Garret statue is like a hint to the surprise inclusion of Empress Sela in this story

Shaw doesn't make sense. Picard was no rogue during TNG. He was not Kirk. If anyone should recieve that attitude it would be sisko or Janeway. Shaw's attitude towards 7 would seem to make him a poor choice for captain if he has to deal with other species with an open attitude.

'Warmth' is the best way of putting it

I see Liam Shaw, and I see a 25th Century version of Capt. Styles.

Ric, how to you feel about the believability of the LCARS screens glitching and such? I feel its not a very 'realistic' as they are minimally an optical technology, not something likely to be interfered with by EM etc.

Not to mention the titan a is neo constitution class, which is a refit/rework of the constitution design

I was shocked at how much better this episode was than the entire Season 2...

What about the music. It was soo nostalgic.. Loved it.

Ahh "Warmth" - at first thought it was Worf or Warp

I love to see it on my TV and how to get it.

The captain's log playing back was from The Best of Both Worlds, not Unification.

Already a leg up on any of the NG films

Good, accurate and recognizable Star Trek?? This is crazy. Am I dreaming? I know these characters too. Holy moly. It feels good. I'm not used to this anymore.

Shaw seems to have studied at the Edward Jellico School of Captaining.

1st of 10 final episodes, started filming 4years ago, I think. series finale 20April.

It's totally Worf. I was hoping for Bashir or Garek. I also was guessing Jack. Did you see the end of Wil on The Ready Room?

There’s lots of subtle - non story - elements that echo Star Trek 2 - the opening text design (‘In the 25th Century…’) and Beverly’s jacket is very similar to the one Kirk is wearing when they go to Regular 1 and find David who attacks them. So… my guess is Riker is Jack crusher’s father? ;-)

Of Course her Handler is Worf, the "Warrior" is such a dead giveaway.

This season is basically a farewell to the entire Star Trek: TNG -era, though Paramount are likely to try capitalize on the franchiese as much as possible,

The Galaxy class was a gaudy luxury liner. It was the Titanic, and a Klingon Bird-of-Prey was its iceberg. I too don't like the "fat one" lol Honestly I thought it was amusing that Shaw didn't cater to Picard or Riker. Their request made no sense in the scope of his duties, and he was not obligated to honor it.

I will say this much. Had THIS been the start to Picard? Had THIS been our reintroduction to things? I would have fallen in love with the show. None of this 'THis isn't FOR you if you are-'. None of this chest pounding .None of this sneering at the past whiel trying to court some mythic 'general audiance.' THIS is what we wanted. Not just in story but in the care shown to what has come before, showing that history and how that history influinces what comes next.

🤔 The one thing that strikes me is the darkness on the starships. Why is this? 🤨 Couldn't someone turn up the lights? 😆

Hitting warp 9.99 as standard is pretty ridiculous, largely because warp 10 being the super transcendence stage was already ridiculous. It's always bugged me that "warp" isn't to faster-than-light speed what "mach" is to faster-than-sound speed. I tend to think this comes from TOS, when you could tell from the dialogue that folks in the 60s had a very basic and loose grasp of astrophysics, so anyone not directly involved in such sciences could think lightspeed would be sufficient to travel to other star systems pretty easily, especially five times that. Now, we know better. They'd need to be hitting "warp 100" (or 100x lightspeed) or so just to make good time to most anywhere, but to avoid contradicting TOS's verbiage, they condensed warp into weird and inconsistent ways. As for Shaw, my only gripe is that he's a bigot against the Borg. This isn't unprecedented, as it obviously goes back to the way Trek was handled following Roddenberry's death. DS9, while great, was not without loads of contradictions to Starfleet that Gene would've never accepted. The Maquis and "Paradise Lost" were two major parts of DS9 that I don't think were very true to Trek and what the Federation was supposed to be in Gene's mind. Everything else about Shaw is fine to me. His being dismissive of Picard and Riker can make sense, although they leaned into it too hard. What's more, I didn't quite like the casual use of "pay grade," but the Picard show has been exceedingly dismissive of lore where it suits the writers. We know the Federation isn't supposed to use currency except bartering with other factions, like the Ferengi Alliance, and the 25th century seems to be far too late for a term like "pay grade" to still exist. I'm sure if I wanted, I could dig through some casual terminology from 400 years ago and try them on modern people, and they'd be totally confused, because much of those bits of slang would come from extinct professions and daily habits. I'm not sure why we needed a reference to Riker's "bebop" left on the ship's computer, beyond providing stagnant tension and conflict, seeing as music shouldn't be housed directly onto a ship's computer; that would likely still be something contained within a personal storage device plugged into a terminal/console, like his quarters. It would be a likely breach of Starfleet conduct to upload personal effects like that into the ship itself. Imagine if everyone aboard the ship was just free to upload any software they wanted into the ship under the idea that they could call upon it whenever they liked; while music files would probably be nothing to the ship's memory, what if someone had holodeck/suite programs? Individual holograms? Or any other 24th/25th century tech that could mess with the computer's storage.

I don't understand the galaxy class not being popular, I mean, previous older enterprise ( long before the galaxy were remembered or popular) . The galaxy is still in service and saved earth and was prominent in the dominion war . . It's a generational starship. With a hundred year lifespan.

I hope Assbutt Shaw isn't a villain. Being a prick but still completely in the right about the whole mission derailment is refreshing. Imagine two old farts coming to inspect your ship (which can seen as a tradition... but also somewhat condescending) and then have them suggest you take your ship in the opposite direction of where you're supposed to go for... what? For hijacking his ship, that's what, which his own First Officer then *does*. I was legitimately surprised that Seven didn't end up in the brig for that immediately. Maybe a sign he's not *as* bad? Remember Janeway's comment that the likes of Kirk and Spock would've been kicked out of Starfleet in the present? That's probably how Shaw sees Picard and Riker. And given that they ARE there to scam him he's not wrong on that.

The opening episode of season 2 was strong, sure. I would emphatically not say that of the opening episode of season 1. Yech.

Only thing I dislike in Picard is the "Artsy Fartsy" design of the Starfleet Hand Phaser... It looks like one of the Hand Scanners that I use at work. I personally would have gone for the streamlined design of the Phaser from the Internet Star Trek Movie: Of God and Men.

Something tells me (Lt?) Boimler would prefer the newer Titan to his posting on the previous one. 😅

Concerning Shaw's... bluntness? How often have we seen some admiral or some retired 'important person' show up onto 'our' ship in trek and just COMPLETELY fuck everything up? Shaw is looking after his own. He sees Seven as having split loyalties that could be problematic here. Plus it is very apparent that Shaw's command style is not one that Seven works well under.

Geordi finally found a wife then? There’s hope for us all (provided we’re the head engineers of the luxury flagship of a semi-Utopian civilization).

6:40 - I think the mistake you’ve made here Rick, is believing that Riker’s last command was the Luna-class Titan - which is understandable, given it’s the last one we’d seen Riker commanding chronologically, before the Picard series. However, I believe a lot of the dialogue in this episode is in fact implying that the Titan-A was Riker’s last command before he retired - this then becomes an object of tension, between Riker and Shaw, as Riker obviously doesn’t regret giving up the chair, but is here to seek the authority which exclusively comes with it.

The H in adhered is not silent.

I'm just so bummed about the filter they decided to use. Trying to watch is like staring at my television through sunglasses, and it's a deal-breaker for me.

Did they mention how they fixed the warp "damage" to subspace?

What would star trek be with out nebula's....

I'm a bit concerned about what's happening with the F currently but i have a theory of sorts. Spoilers for E1? -so the F is slated for decommissioning after systems compromise on the monfette gambit (marketing from Instagram reel on official star trek). But the real question is why. In none of the trailers is the F being toed at all. And I'm assuming starfleet is able to fix systems compromise. Not like 8ts only the saucer that survived this time. I think the decommissioning is being done to refit the ship as a yorktown class (similar to the original enterprise). In STO a few newer ships are presented as initial terran designs repurchased for starfleet use. What if a terran vessel, the ISS Lexington was found adrift outside federation space with only 1 survivor by S31. That survivor would be Mirror Georgiou after being transported to the derelect ship. It would be taken to a secure facility and studied. Breeding out 4 new Odyssey Class Varaiants. Yorktown, Lexington, Endeavour, Sojourner. With the F being refitted by intelligence into a Yorktown Class. Launcing again in 2409ish with a new captain.

Less identity politics? No more "sheer fucking hubris"? No more maki Picard into a shadow of himself? I might actually watch this if this keeps up. Actual Star Trek content is something I've been waiting for since DS9 and Voyager.

I can believe its tied to Nemesis - its too frigging dark! I dont want JJ prise lights just something normal people would use would be great.

It is Captain Shaw's ship, it's his crew, a Captain is the King of his ship. But I've got some news for you, unlike the past garbage decade of Star Trek, Captain Shaw has a Character Arc!!!!!! Give him time.

So, I was rewatching some of the first of first episode of S3 of Picard and I have a huge issue with the USS Titan A. It may be nothing and just a use of wording. No nothing spoilers the plot of the show. It is a few throw away lines and you miss it. When they see the Titan A (the hero ship of this season it is a Neo Constitution class starship. The registration number is the same as the USS Titan or Rikers ship in the books and made official in ST: Lower Decks. Riker says that it is a refit and the new Captain says something to Riker that this his his ship now and for Riker to back off. I have an issue with this because a refit is like a upgrade of the current design. Like what car companies do where after the first 4 or 5 years of a platforms life the car will go through a major upgrade. For the remainder of the plant forms life untill it is discontinued. The way the ship looks, it looks nothing like the Luna Class ship (The class of ship that Riker has). This Titan A the Neo Constitution Class ship looks like an upgraded version of a ship used in the 23rd century. Like they rebuilt the ship on its old skeleton.

I'm calling it now, the current Titan captain dies and Riker becomes the acting captain of the Titan. Not because it will make sense narratively, but because everyone wants to see Riker in the captains chair.

5:02 WHY IS THE STATUE RED? DID THEY RUN OUT OF FILAMENT FOR OTHER COLORS?

Wait, the Titan-A is supposed to be built off the original Luna Titan? 😳 wtf? How? Has to be something like 20%, at the maximum. That's not even most of the spaceframe. Great first episode, hit all the best points for us trekkies. But I'm concerned about the villain. Whether they'll be not just a caricature. So far she seems like a 6th graders interpretation of Khan, in the previews so I'm hoping for a good one. This episode has also looked the Most like a movie in level ls of animation. I'm still blown away at some scenes, especially comparing to older episodes.

My break down of the good things with Picard Season 3, the ships looks like Star Fleet, There is a Line Of Command, No One is Crying, All the Leaders/Bosses are not Female, No Guinan, Respect for the Ships, Respect for the Cast, or as you called it warmth. Also I heard cast members have character arcs, something not seen in over a decade. Soak it in & enjoy it, maybe the last "Real" Star Trek since 2005 we get w/in our lives, sadly I'm not joking.

Bridge on the Titan is too dark, what is it a Cardassian ship?

Why are they still driving cars and using trains in the federation?

I have stated my opinions on the Ody (ent F) in the last video so nothing to say there, but they stabbed the galaxy in the back. "no one wants the fat one." EVERYONE WANTS THE FAT ONE. I also feel liek this show is great, but only if you don't know of any of the other "lore" bits. Like STO's stories, some of the older books and such (vesta comes to mind) this series just seems.... ok for now.

how can a starship go in another direction? surely the main course is approved by the captain?

Who is Jack Crusher's father?

30th excellent video explaining the 1st episode..

Except even if shaw and Riker have the same rank the one with seniority has more authority so shaw massively disrespected the chain of command.

i hate shaw since the 1st second i saw him (not only insulting seven but insulting riker and picard)

A geo blocked link? So it's like China in the UK? I'm sure it's similar in the US but no where near as extreme. It's just getting worse and for Europe.

What's with the pump action phaser rifle?

The "Bad End" for Bev, and the fact no one bothered to check in on her, is pretty disgusting. It's bad faith to bad end characters the moment they're off screen, and the writers here said "Let's have Picard have a secret son, despite the fact it's not in character for Bev," and that's just sickening. But we shouldn't be surprised; Season 1 bad ended Riker and Troy by giving them a child off screen just to kill it. Why? Uh... to give a prudential, "benefits humanity" reason to create artificial intelligences (who, let's be clear, were apparently created as SLAVE LABOR under Picard's watchful eye). Hell, Season 3 also bad ends Riker's marriage... off camera. God damn it.

She stole a sample of his baby gravy, I reckon…

think its pretty obvious that Shaw was either AT wolf 359 OR knows someone who died, also worf is clearly her "handler"

Everyone is making assertions about Shaw, but it is possible that he just doesn't trust the Borg: Seven said that last season, that the Borg remain the biggest fear for Starfleet (i guess they've never watched Voyager and saw how one lone ship pretty much stymied the Collective). I know there's a lot of fan speculation about what's happening this season: Picard's love child; the Bluegills return; Sela's daughter; and Mephisto...wait no that's Wandavision speculation. I just want a nice story that makes sense.

I think it would be interesting if it turned out that Beverly was the one operating under some kind of delusion, and those aliens are actually there to help everyone out but there's a misunderstanding, and so on. Of course, they're not gonna go that route though. Such a shame.

Dr Beverly look dark and sad 😥

Like Garak, I hope for the best, but expect the worst. You have too many writers in this and 2nd season was a train wreck rehashing/redoing EVERYTHING nothing new was under the sun, sometime even to the letter.

4:09 - This seems too charitable here; I think you do a disservice to Beverly Crusher when you so easily overlook her vaporizing an unconscious attacker. In TNG, Crusher did grow and become a strong leader, leading to her Captaincy in All Good Things, but there's a difference between "Command" and "Let's kill this guy because locking him up or shoving him back on the ship is too much work." You can't just say "Oh, it's been X years; maybe her personality has changed"; the "writers" want her to be a cold, vicious mystery box to be solved... by some future writer unlikely enough to be saddled with writing the last episode or two. She's not a character, she's a plot device, and that's not how you write good characters. Also, Picard, if your friend calls you for help, don't fuddy duddy around with your new girlfriend before going out to a bar. God damn it.