There were three trailers released on Star Trek Day and we have already analyzed the ones for Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Lower Decks, but the Star Trek: Picard trailer is the most complex, which is a clue that we are headed into a complicated second season. The following analysis is based on our own observations along with previous reporting and interviews, as well as some educated speculation. And it contains spoilers.
Season two is all about time
The two previous trailers (First Contact Day teaser and the Captain Picard Day trailer) hinted at what has now been confirmed, season 2 of Picard will deal with both time travel and an alternate timeline. Based on everything we know so far, it appears it will primarily take place in three different time frames. The first will be a continuation of the Prime Timeline after the events of season one. Assuming some time has passed, we are guessing this is now the year 2400 in the Prime Timeline; we saw a bit of this in the Picard Day trailer, notably the scene of Picard and Raffi at Starfleet Academy.
Raffi and Picard at (Prime Universe) Starfleet Academy in previous season two teaser
But our assumption is that there isn’t a lot of this Prime 2400 in season two, as the crew soon finds themselves in an alternate fascistic version of 2400. And in the Star Trek Day trailer, it’s implied Q is the one who sends Picard and his companions into this different reality. We expect a good amount of the season takes place in this alternate 2400. The third major time frame is contemporary Los Angeles somewhere in the early 2020s, before the start of World War III in 2026. This contemporary Los Angeles would still be part of the Prime timeline, shortly before the divergence point that creates the alternate fascistic timeline.
The new trailer appears to include moments primarily from the Alternate 2400 and Prime early 2020s. The following analysis flows mostly as presented in the trailer, but does move around a bit so we can group things into what we believe are the different time frames and moments.
Alternate 2400
As we saw in the previous trailer, the main characters of Star Trek: Picard find themselves in a different reality and appear aware of the change.
Rios notices the problem
A couple of shots of Cristóbal Rios exemplify the transition from Prime 2400 to Alternate 2400. First, we see him in a regular outfit at the back of La Serena saying, “Guys, we got big problems.”
Rios in a normal-looking outfit
Cut to Rios on the bridge of a transformed La Serena, part of an alternative Starfleet. Wearing an Alternate Starfleet uniform, he declares, “Something moved us.”
Suddenly everything gets totalitarian; Rios is surprised and confused at the change.
Picard faces himself
Picard is aware of the change, and is also in the Alternative Starfleet uniform, possibly with the rank of Captain (four bars). In his chateau, he sees a portrait of himself in an alternate version of an older Starfleet uniform.
Jean-Luc sees his portrait has changed…
In his portrait, he’s now clad in black leather.
Just Annika
Seven of Nine stares at a mirror and notices she has no Borg implants, implying this timeline diverged well before she was assimilated as a child. So she was never Seven, and has always been Annika Hansen. In the previous trailer we also saw this Annika Hansen has her own badge showing she is part of what is likely an Alternate Federation (but not part of the Alternate Starfleet).
Seven realizes she’s Annika in this timeline.
Elnor on the run
Elnor can be seen running through a marketplace, pursued by a couple of heavily armored security officers firing phaser rifles.
Elnor and two unidentified people run through the dark streets.
Soldiers in combat armor rush in to a marketplace.
They’re firing at the small group of people running, one of them is Elnor.
Elnor gets into a fight with a different pair of security officers, possibly in a Starfleet facility or ship.
Elnor wrestles with guards, taking a weapon from one and shooting the other with it.
Elnor in trouble
Elnor’s various troubles with security seem to catch up with him, as we see Raffi react to something wrong with him.
Raffi cries over a body.
We can see it’s Elnor from this top-down shot.
Q’s trial
Q arrives at Chateau Picard asking, “Do you recall what I said, Jean-Luc, when we last parted ways? The trial never ends.” This refers to their last scene together in the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which recalled the series premiere when Q first put humanity on trial.
The trial never ends…
A frustrated Picard (now outside at his chateau) says, “Q, I am way to old for your bulls—”
Picard is getting too old for Q’s bulls—
With a nasty look on his face, Q responds with his trademark snap.
Q snaps.
Blending in
Picard reveals “Q went back in time and turned our world into a totalitarian nightmare.” We can see him and Seven participating in an Alternate Federation rally.
A large ominous gathering in this new fascist world.
Seven and Picard stand on stage at the gathering.
Picard addresses the crowd.
The crowd erupts in cheers and fists raised.
Forming a plan
Picard, Seven, Elnor, and Raffi gather outside a Starfleet building. Seven asks, “Do you understand what this means? Time has been broken.”
Seven talks to the group.
Elnor and Raffi exchange glances.
Picard takes charge, declaring, “I will get us home, together.”
Elnor is escorted away by Raffi.
Time heist
Picard along with Seven, Raffi, and Elnor head to what we think is a lab at the Alternate Timeline version of the Daystrom Institute.
The four beam into a lab.
Like in the Prime Timeline, Dr. Jurati works at Daystrom. Picard explains the goal to her and the team, saying, “The only way to heal our future is to go back and repair the past.”
Picard briefs Dr. Jurati and the team.
He now reveals why they are there: “There are ways of traveling through time.” And apparently one of those ways is at the Daystrom Institute.
Seven looks anxiously and staggers back at what she sees.
The Borg Queen is rolled out.
Jurati asks, “Great, now what?”
Dr. Jurati is ready for what’s next.
Plugging in the Queen
It appears that in this Alternate Timeline, the Federation has captured the Borg Queen and has been studying her at the Daystrom Institute. Our team removes her from the Institute to plug her into La Sirena, somehow using her to allow the ship to travel back in time.
Raffi stands in the way of the Borg Queen, who has been suspended from the rear compartment of La Sirena.
A cable with an energy ribbon flowing from it is plugged into the Queen.
While the Queen is being used by Picard for time travel, she may have a trick up her sleeve, as we see her reach out to Jurati and what looks like little bots crawling on Jurati’s head.
The Borg Queen entices Agnes.
The voyage home
La Sirena has a bumpy ride, presumably due to the stresses caused by time travel.
Rios, Seven, and Picard pilot La Sirena through.
Picard says he knows how to get everyone home.
A montage of the characters’ faces is shown as they travel in time.
Flashback
There are some moments in the trailer that are hard to pin down in terms of where they fit in the timeline, but they involve Picard and Jurati visiting what appears to be a ruined old house, likely part of the Chateau Picard estate. However, these moments in the trailer do deliver some important exposition and possible character motivation. Picard tells Jurati, “We have three days before the future is changed irrevocably.”
Picard and Jurati sneak around at night, likely into the Picard Chateau.
Jean-Luc and Agnes talk in the moonlight.
The trailer actually starts with Picard entering a ruined atrium, and Laris in voiceover asking, “I first saw you as a man who chose the stars. But after all this time, I have come to wonder, have you been seeking, or running?” We see Picard pick up a piece of broken glass…
Picard walks into an atrium where he finds a piece of broken stained glass.
The stained glass has a rose on it.
This triggers other moments in the trailer, showing a young boy and woman in the same atrium, presumably young Jean-Luc and his mother. The boy is shown in reverse, another indication of the time travel involved in season two.
A young boy in old-fashioned clothing wandering through the same atrium.
A mother explains expansion (possibly The Big Bang) to her son
There is another shot in the trailer that is hard to place on the timelines but possibly shows the same young boy with two others in a dark forest.
People search the woods in the dark. One seems to have pointed ears.
Another shot that is hard to place shows a Hong Kong skyline that appears to be contemporary early 2020s, although there are also some flying cars or drones that could indicate this is in the future, possibly a near future. This might be the event the team goes back in time to prevent.
The Center building explodes in Hong Kong.
Prime 2020s
Much of the second half of the trailer takes place in the other major timeframe, in the early 2020s of the Prime Timeline, before the timelines diverge. As noted earlier, Picard says they have three days in this era to stop the change.
Welcome to Los Angeles
Establishing shots show the team arrives in contemporary Los Angeles, featuring some iconic locations with Jurati in voiceover saying, “Welcome to the Earth of the 21st century.”
Echo Park, with downtown L.A. in the distance.
The famous Santa Monica Pier.
The crew gets to work
The team has gone back in time to change things. In voiceover, we hear Rios ask, “You’re saying we can undo this nightmare?” Picard replies, “Let’s go to work.”
Picard rallies the team
The crew is dispatched across LA, as part of the plan.
Raffi and Seven approach a building.
In a moment that appears to be an homage to the original Star Trek episode “A Piece of the Action,” Raffi reacts to Seven’s struggle with “You can pilot a starship, but you can’t drive?”
Seven and Raffi steal a police SUV.
Seven and Raffi blast through the parking gate arm of an LAPD lot.
Agnes on La Sirena tells Seven and Raffi to work on their communication.
Raffi and Seven hoof it around downtown L.A. in typical 21st-century fashion. Seven’s feet are killing her.
Soji with short hair looks around a fancy yard with a pool.
Q is here too
Of course, Q is back in time too and keeping an eye on the team. He is blending in with the locals, here seen wearing a NASA Europa mission patch.
Q in 21st-century clothing snaps his fingers again.
Sanctuary District
As Raffi works her way around Los Angeles she comes across a “Sanctuary District,” which was established in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Past Tense” where Sisko, Dax, and Bashir travel back to the year 2024. According to Sisko, encampments like this were established in “every major city in the United States” by the “early 2020s.”
Raffi disarms a thug of his pistol in a Sanctuary District.
Trouble with the law
As the crew tries to fix time, they encounter some issues with the local law enforcement. In one shot we see Jean-Luc Picard under police investigation. He is interrogated by a detective or agent played by Jay Karnes, who played the 29th-century Starfleet officer Ducane on the time-traveling ship USS Relativity on Star Trek: Voyager. We suspect he is not playing Ducane on Picard, and was cast in a new role, possibly by new showrunner Terry Matalas who had worked with Karnes on his show 12 Monkeys.
Picard is interviewed by the police.
Rios has a more violent run-in with Homeland Security.
Rios is detained by Homeland Security… but not for long.
A formal event
Part of their time in the past includes attending some kind of formal event—possibly a concert, as we saw shots of Soji at the LA Music Center in the previous trailer.
Picard, dressed in his tuxedo, says to get things started.
In voiceover, we hear Picard say, “Even in the darkest of circumstances, there is a light.”
Laris uses a gadget aimed at the crowd at the formal event while Picard and Rios shield their eyes.
It’s all in the cards
The trailer’s title cards tell the story.
Coming in 2022
Picard season two arrives in February 2022. It will be on Paramount+ in the United States, in Canada it will air on CTV Sci-Fi and stream on Crave, and for the rest of the world, it will be on Amazon Prime Video.
More to come
There is still a bit more to come from Star Trek Day, including red carpet interviews. So keep reading TrekMovie for our full Star Trek Day coverage.
Keep up with the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
Q
time travel/alt realities
the borg
its the 90s TNG movie everyone looked to the big screen ..and dreamed of what might be..
They’ve put Yesterday’s Enterprise, Tapestry, Future’s End and First Contact in a blender and turned it on. Sure hope they got some great minds to pull this through.
I think Terry Matalas can pull it off. I’m pretty excited.
also a dash of AGT, Generations, Mirror Mirror, City on the Edge, TVH and a heavy peppering of that DC comic De Lancie wrote
Fun fact: If Future’s End would have been part of VOY Season 4, 7of9 would have been the second time in the past and could say “oh, I was here before…25 years ago”.
Also makes me wonder, what if this IS Ducane, but a version of Ducane that tried to follow Braxton into 1996 to find him, but got stuck too? That version would never have met Seven, but she’d have met him.
Looks epic. I am stoked about this more than any other ST series.
Surely the borg queen is not a source of time travel? If the borg could time travel at will they would literally be unstoppable.
One of the Department of Temporal Investigations novels suggested that they don’t have the ability to time travel and their incursion in First Contact was provided to them by one of the factions in the Temporal Coldwar.
I’ve thought about that for years. One way around it, I always thought, was to say that the Borg don’t have tech to time travel at will, but discovered a “nexus point” where time travel was possible, to a specific place and time. Which would explain why the Borg traveled to 2063 using a sphere, and fought their way to Earth to do it– rather than say, just flying a cube through their own time travel portal just outside Federation space and arriving in the middle ages.
Curious how they will deal with that here, because it sure does seem to imply that it’s just an ability the queen has…
Garak’s Notebook, I floated the same notion a few years back, and was given the bullshit explanation that the Borg want to assimilate all the latest knowledge, technology and developments from a species. Going back to the middle ages and assimilating Earth would NOT accomplish that goal, unless you want to add how to make a good spear to the collective.
That is not supported by them choosing to go back in time to 2063, before the Federation, preventing them from assimilating all that Starfleet knowledge.
If anything, it supports the notion that they went to 2063, right above Earth, because they had no other alternative. If they could go ANYWHERE, it would make sense to go back to, say, Kirk’s time– still lots of knowledge, but less advanced Starfleet. Or even a week before “Q Who” when nobody knew they were coming. Or a week before the Hansen’s mission when Starfleet still thought they were a myth.
Also, it has been established on many occasions that the Borg don’t just assimilate technology and scientific knowledge, but biology, and other frms of knwledge.
Earth and humans have a lot to offer even in the middle ages, from their unique biology to their philosophy and outlook. The works and wisdom of Aristotle, Sun Tsu, Dionysius. Travel to the 1850s and you also get the wit and culture of Mark Twain, Tolstoy, Sitting Bull, Ben Franklin, and the founding fathers.
It’s pretty clear that the Borg Queen’s objective wasn’t our technology, but everything else that makes humanity unique. Their drive, determination, and philosophy. This was said by the Queen on Voyager multiple times.
LA Caption correction: Echo Park, not MacAruther Park :)
Hard to say, they both look quite similar and have similar views of downtown. It was identified as MacArthur Park by our native Angelino on staff, but re-looking at photos of the two parks I think you might be right.
I used to live a few blocks from there. Jogged it every morning around the lake. Note peddle boat dock at the shore. I don’t really know what to say other that it is 100% Echo Park. I do not think they look alike. MacAruther is not surrounded by small hills with houses on multiple side. I know those houses. It’s my old neighborhood.
Ah, so YOU’RE the one who left the cake out in the rain.
I don’t know if I can take it.
I see it was corrected. Not a big deal. I loved this deep dive into the trailer. Thanks!
Wow, I really didn’t think that was Jay Karnes. Good catch by the commenter on the other article. I do think it’s at least a 50/50 shot he’s playing Ducane, relationship with the showrunner or not.
This would be a deep cut if it were Ducane. I’m with the TrekMovie team and think he’s playing a new character. But given it is a time travel story and his last Trek role was a temporal agent, he could be the same character.
To be honest, i’ll be disappointed if he’s not Ducane. Relationship with Matales or not, you don’t bring him back and NOT leverage his connection to Trek playing a time travel agent in a time travel story. Would be a huge missed opportunity, especially when they failed at getting the same actor to play Maddox in season 1.
Great analysis, TrekMovie. Thank you. :P
A few notes:
– Elnor seems to be fighting DS9/movies style uniformed (grey shoulders) Starfleet officers,
– the whole officer Ducane thing – I’m not sure why you said you expect him not to play this character. Braxton who was monitoring time ended up in 1990’s and became crazy homeless guy. Now, we’re coming back to roughly the same period and we see an actor who was playing his subordinate. Of all of the hundreds and thousands of actors he just chose one that would be so closely aligned with what we’re seeing in the trailers?
– if Starfleet became fascist/militaristic organisation in this timeline, then there’s no way in hell they helped Romulans. Therefore Elnor running is likely some failed Romulan colony stuff.
– And about the Laris flashlight scene – it’s funny how Rios is not shielding his eyes like as if he were blinded by a direct light, but as if he was shielding from sun. Maybe he didn’t get a memo on this plan? :)
Agreed on Ducane. Whether he has a good relationship with the showrunner or not, it’s far too much a coincidence that he would pop up in a time travel episode and not reprise the role as a time travel character. It’s got to at least be a 50/50 chance he plays Ducane here.
The idea that he too was stranded in 1997 — and perhaps simply fared better than Braxton, perhaps able to blend in and build a life there over the past 25 years– is an intriguing notion.
Also awesome to see more DS9 references like the Sanctuary Districts, and nice touch that we are seeing TREK’S version of the 2020s, not necessarily ours. Would be interesting to see if, moving forward, Trek’s on-screen portrayal of the contemporary world starts to diverge from the real world. After all, as the article points out, WWIII isn’t too far off…
“if Starfleet became fascist/militaristic organisation in this timeline, then there’s no way in hell they helped Romulans.”
Stranger things happened. John Rabe saved 250.000 Chinese. So, why not?
Agreed on the uniforms in your first bullet. They do look like the TNG films/DS9 uniforms.
which could mean they will be at some point in the FC+ era?
I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole time travel aspect is to just keep costs down.
Hey, it’s why TOS went to a 1920’s planet and an Old West planet and an Ancient Rome planet and…
Not only is this a Trek trope, but a TV trope in general: setting a show or episode at an existing location in Los Angeles, or on a standing set, has been a budget saving tactic since the 50s, and that goes for sitcoms and contemporary dramas too, not just sci-fi.
But definitely shows like Star Trek and the Twilight Zone would look for existing props and sets and locations and write stories based around them. “Oh the old west set is free for a week next month? Ok, let’s do a western episode!”
And that continued into the 1990s for sure. “Budget saving” was the genesis for a LOT of what we saw in TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT. From re-used sets, costumes, and props, to locations and bottle shows.
If you go through the trouble of getting the actress back who played the Borg Queen, why would you completely change her look?
Huh? I think you are getting confused. Annie Wersching has never played the Borg Queen before.
I am getting the impression that this is a “new” queen, possibly the next one which was activated after Alt-Janeway killed Alice Krige in “Endgame”?
Huh … thought, I had read somewhere, that they got Alice Kriege beck for the role. My bad than 🤷🏻♂️
i think you must mean the opposite – If you go through the trouble of getting the same look of the Borg Queen, why would you completely change the actress?
Because the other actresses were not available? I mean that is why they cast Thompson instead of Krige in Voyager the first couple of times… and even why Krige returned in “Endgame.”
Krige has been busy in 2021 filming a tv show and a movie, and at 67, it’s possible Krige simply may have not been interested in all those prosthetics and makeup. Thompson meanwhile, was filming Malignant.
Given the heavy makeup, and that it’s probably not even the same borg queen, that the show has swapped actresses before, it’s really not an issue.
And again, keep in mind that the “original” borg queen was killed in the prime timeline by Alt-Admiral Janeway. The queen we know (if there was ever just the one) is dead.
I think Anne Wersching plays the successor to the VOY/FC queen.
And again, keep in mind that the “original” borg queen was killed in the prime timeline by Captain Picard. The queen we saw on Voyager was a different one. They’re all different ones. Played by the same and different actresses.
A Voyager writer (may have been Braga, idk) said that in the writers room they suggested that the Borg might have multiple queens, and multiple hives, all interconnected.
Four bars may be admiral, like in the future uniforms we saw in TNG.
That uniforms… could Section31 have interferered in that timeline? We still don’t know where (when) Space Hitler has landed. And the idea of the Sec31 series obviously has become too quiet.
Regarding the Section 31 series…
From the wise words of Bones: it’s dead Jim.
No idea whether it ultimately happens or not, but it was discussed as recently as August 2021, mentioned as in active development, as part of the press release announcing the new deal with Kurtzman. In fact, it was the first time the proposed series was said to be in development, officially, as opposed to just a proposal or concept.
“In active development” usually means a concept is finalized or close to finalized, stories are being written, artwork is being created so they can eventually start manufacturing sets, props, costumes, etc. Could still be while before cameras start rolling, but this notion that “it’s dead” is bordering on Midnight’s Edge conspiracy theory.
I’m not a all convinced it will happen. I think it’s a very slim chance at best.
I could be wrong, but I don’t care because I’ve felt it was a bad idea to begin with.
You may not be convinced, and it may not end up happening, but to say “it’s dead” is just factually incorrect, as it is currently in active development, per the studio and those involved.
Great stuff. Very interesting. Trekmovie team, thank you for the excellent article and analysis.
Some thoughts:
+ That’s probably Ducane in disguise, on a time-travelling undercover mission for 29th century Starfleet. Should be interesting if/when Seven meets him again.
+ The black leather Starfleet uniforms in the alternate timeline could mean that Section 31 and their “protect the Federation by any means necessary” ideology are more dominant influences in this version of the Federation. It probably has resulted in a stronger, safer Federation (including the defeat of the Borg, possibly no Dominion War, etc — and think of how many times Earth itself was directly threatened), but there have clearly been more negative political and cultural consequences too.
+ As I recently suggested on another thread, Q may have done something that either results in Colonel Green winning World War 3 or — presenting a particular dilemma for Picard — Q prevents WW3 from happening at all. The second option obviously prevents a global nuclear holocaust and saves millions of lives, but it may also have caused the geopolitical/cultural situation on Earth to continue deteriorating throughout the 21st century and beyond, since WW3 is supposed to have stopped that stuff in its tracks and resulted in humanity “learning the right lessions” to build a utopian future. In the Prime timeline, an enlightened united Earth and, later, a benevolent Federation can’t exist unless WW3 happens first.
+ Possibly involving Q’s meddling, the explosion in the building in Hong Kong may have killed someone who would otherwise have played a very important role in WW3. (Colonel Green? Or his main geopolitical adversary?)
+ I also recently mentioned this during a conversation with Trekmovie commenter Tiger2: Along with the fact that Kovich is obviously Section 31, the reason for his anachronistic black suit/tie/glasses attire could be that he’s either originally from the 21st century or he’s spent a lot of time there on Section 31 black ops missions, possibly including laying the groundwork for WW3. So it’ll be interesting to see if there is some kind of reference/storyline involving that in PIC Season 2.
+ Along with TVH, Yesterday’s Enterprise and City on the Edge of Forever, I think there’s a bit of a Terminator vibe to all this too, especially The Sarah Connor Chronicles. (Sidebar: That show was actually really good — far better than any of the Terminator movies after T2).
+ Fans of the excellent sci-fi time-travel show Continuum starring ST09 alumna Rachel Nichols (in what turns out to be brilliant stunt-casting), The X-Files’ Cigarette Smoking Man and later a bunch of familiar faces from the BSG reboot may have noticed some common themes here too.
Unintended nuclear fallout pun. Sorry, that should say “learning the right lessons”, of course.
maybe one of the big twists of the series will be Picard & Co are coming back to the 2020s of ‘our’ timeline (i.e. the covid timeline) and their mission is to set right the ‘star trek’ timeline (of the Prime-verse) to do that they need to make sure WW3 happens and that this will now be the reason ‘star trek’ happens bc of Picard making sure stuff unfolds as it should (like in FC)just abit later.. but ‘our’ timeline will still exist (thus allowing for why ‘our’ timeline wont unfold exactly like star treks thus avoiding any future inconsistences in the franchise like Khan, WW3 etc )
I’ve previously suggested this too. Quite the moral dilemma for Picard — and it’s exactly the sort of thing Q would inflict on him. In a way it’s the opposite of Sarah Connor, if you think about it.
And the added twist? Like Sisko in DS9’s “In the Pale Moonlight”, this would actually make Picard the villain of the story — most of all from our perspective as people actually in the 2020s, who would have to face WW3 and the ensuing nuclear conflagration.
Clever storytelling and challenging for viewers, assuming this is actually what’s planned and the showrunners manage to pull it off.
Anyone notice the little machines crawling all over Agnes when the Borg queen reaches her hand out to her face?
I had to put my brightness on full, and yes they are there. They appear to be slimy nano probe(?) thingys.
So… Jurati becomes the “new” Borg Queen in Season 3 and therein lies the themes of the first and second season all tied up in a bow – and thusly, killing Maddox was no little mistake?
Maybe they’ll do the weird giant time travel heads from star trek IV.
Ha ha! I’m betting time travel will be nearly instantaneous, (and therefore forgettable) like much of the current era of Trek.
I’m really hoping for Strange New Worlds to take us back to classic Trek.
Anyone else wondering why Picard and everyone else’s clothing seems to change with the timeline change, while their memories stay the same? In the past, when we’ve seen time travel or a change in the timeline, it’s happened one of two ways – first, our main characters (their memories, their clothing, etc) all remain the same, as if they travel in a bubble (Data says something about why they haven’t changed in First Contact, but I’m hard pressed to remember the exact line…) – examples of this are plenty – City on the Edge, First Contact, etc. OR we’ve seen the second way, where a change in the timeline changes our character’s memories and surroundings, like Yesterday’s Enterprise. In this case, however it looks like that Picard and crew remain mentally unchanged (they are aware of the change) but their clothing and their ship changes – so that’s definitely out of the ordinary, no?
Thinking further on my own statement, I guess since this isn’t traditional time travel, but rather “Q” messing with the timeline, things could be any way that Q wants them to be…
Yeah. My own head canon states that the way in which you time travel determines the outcomes.
To me it looks like the painting of Picard is straight out of Stewart’s portrayal of Gurney Halleck in 1984’s Dune. Anyone else think this?
I’m usually a big fan of time travel stories, but I am SO sick of Star Trek’s focus on mirror/alternate realities. IT HAS BEEN DONE TO DEATH! What, there aren’t any good stories to tell about real life drama in the 24th century??
…especially since the alternate “fascist” federation previewed here seems like the same idea as the Terran mirror universe, just with a different name. Been there…
I have the feeling there was a meeting that went something like this:
“So with the Kevlin verse and Into Darkness where to combat big bad George Bush we had this poor political analogy with Starfleet firing photon torpedoes from the neutral zone at Qu’nos and turned Kahn into a poor guy just wanting his family back.. kind of wrecked that…
So then with Picard our equally horrid political analogy we had Picard commanding building an evacuation fleet under his watch with robots programmed to act as slaves and equating AI with life regardless of ST:TMP, etc. That being said, we have a cool set up with the Borg getting exactly what they want in removing the need for organics.”
“IGNORE THE COOL SETUP. Double down on the bad political analogies! We need another mirror universe set up, stat!”
World War III is presumably a slow-burn that starts with smaller skirmishes which eventually escalate into global war, the way historians now consider the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935), the Spanish Civil War (1936) and Japan’s invasion of China (1937) as precursors to World War II (officially 1939-45). And the United States didn’t enter World War II until late 1941, after much fighting in 1940 and ’41 had taken place. It also is hard to see a “hot war” lasting 20-ish years, if everyone starts firing their nukes, its going to be over really, really fast (and Q did call it “the post-Atomic horror”.) This explains why the U.S. is still actively engaged in crewed deep space exploration even in the 2030s (“Charybdis” from TNG, “Ares IV” from VOY.) So this timeline isn’t necessarily pre-2026.
Also, that’s not the logo of the currently under-construction NASA Europa mission, which is Europa Clipper and planned for launch in 2024.
The red and black fascist overtones remind me of the first order in Star Wars. I’m also getting an X-men Day’s of Future Past feeling from this.