SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

At last! I’ve seen all of Season 3 of ‘Star Trek: Picard’! 🙂 It’s interesting how ‘Picard’ developed as a series since it began in 2020. For the first two seasons, there weren’t so many ‘Next Generation’ elements for ‘Star Trek’ fans to enjoy. Quite frankly, I found the first two seasons underwhelming. 😐

Thankfully, and with this apparently being ‘the final season’ of ‘Picard’, it was decided to bring back as many ‘TNG’ elements as possible to close off the series. This meant bringing back many ‘TNG’ characters closely connected to Picard. This includes those who were former Enterprise-D members.

As well as Patrick Stewart returning to play Jean-Luc Picard, there’s also Jonathan Frakes as William Riker, LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge, Michael Dorn as Worf, Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher, Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi and Brent Spiner as Data. Yes! Even Data is back from the dead in this. 🙂

I’ve always wanted a ‘Star Trek III’-type of follow-up to what was ‘TNG’s version of ‘Wrath of Khan’ – that being ‘Star Trek: Nemesis’ – where Data got killed off. It took a while for that to happen, especially in a third season of a follow-up to ‘TNG’, but I’m very pleased that the waiting has paid off.

It’s amazing how Picard gets to reunite with his former Enterprise-D crewmembers in Season 3 of his show. Admittedly, it’s slow-going for everyone to be reunited with each other, especially in a 10-episode season, but it does end happily in the finale. I’m pleased with how things have wrapped up.

In Season 3, Picard and his former crewmates find themselves tackling a mysterious and dangerous enemy that’s hunting Picard’s son. Yes! It turns out Picard and Beverly have a son, whom they had between ‘Nemesis’ and the ‘Picard’ series. It’s a very intriguing and enjoyable revelation in the series.

Picard and Beverly’s son happens to be Jack Crusher, played by Ed Speleers. If the actor’s name is unfamiliar to you, Ed Speleers played Jimmy Kent in Series 3, 4 and 5 of ‘Downton Abbey’. It was a nice surprise to see him in this ‘Star Trek’ spin-off series and to be playing Picard and Beverly’s son. 🙂

I enjoyed the relationship-building between Picard and Jack as father-and-son and how they grew to respect and get to know each other. It was a shocking revelation when it turned out Jack happened to have a connection to the Borg, whom he got from his father, since Picard was once Locutus of Borg.

Yes, the Borg happen to be the villains in Season 3 of ‘Picard’. There’s also the return of the Changelings from the Dominion in the ‘Deep Space Nine’ series. I would have liked it if the Borg met up with the Jem’Hadar from the Dominion to make a Borg/Dominion confrontation worthwhile. 🙂

Sadly, that didn’t happen, but it was still enjoyable to see how the Changelings’ played their part in the grand scheme of ruining the United Federation’s Frontier Day. I also enjoyed the Borg making another attack on Earth’s Solar System as well as the Enterprise-D cruising through a Borg cube to its centre. 🙂

And yes! The Enterprise-D makes a return appearance in Season 3 of ‘Picard’. It was lovely to see the ‘TNG’ characters led by Picard returning to the Enterprise-D and taking the ship to battle the Borg. Also, the lightning on the Enterprise-D bridge is a lot brighter than the bridges of ships like the Titan.

I mean, seriously, Titan crewmembers, turn on the lights aboard your ship! It’s too dark for my liking when you’re working. 😀 The series also features the return of Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, who I enjoyed as a character in this, especially when she was learning the chain-of-command aboard the Titan.

There’s Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker, who happens to have Worf as her mentor in Season 3. 🙂 There’s also Todd Stashwick as Liam Shaw, Ashlei Sharpe-Chestnut as Sidney La Forge, Amanda Plummer as Vadic and Mica Burton (who is LeVar Burton’s real-life daughter 😀 ) as Alandra La Forge.

Orla Brady makes a brief appearance as Laris in the season’s first episode. There’s Michelle Forbes who returns as Ro Laren. I like how Ro Laren’s return in Season 3 of ‘Picard’ ties things up nicely regarding what occurred at the end of ‘Preemptive Strike’, as she betrayed Picard to join the Maquis.

There’s also Daniel Davis who returns briefly as Professor Moriarty from the ‘TNG’ series. Tim Russ returns as Tuvok, and there’s Alice Krige who returns to voice the Borg Queen. A shame Alice Krige didn’t really play the Borg Queen in Season 3 of ‘Picard’, as she was played by Jane Edwina Seymour.

Elizabeth Dennehy briefly returns as Elizabeth Shelby from ‘The Best of Both Worlds’, and there’s an archive voiceover of Majel Barrett as the Enterprise-D’s computer. Apparently, Walter Koenig did a voiceover as Chekov from ‘The Original Series’ in the final episode, but I must have missed that here.

Despite this being ‘the final season’ of ‘Picard’, there’s a hint of future things to come, as Jack Crusher receives a visit from John de Lancie as Q, who tells him his trial has just begun. I’m surprised that Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher didn’t return in the series, as he briefly appeared in Season 2.

Season 3 of ‘Star Trek: Picard’ has been worthwhile in checking out on Amazon Prime Video. I enjoyed watching the 10 episodes of the season, finding each instalment compelling. It’s also great that there are a lot more familiar ‘TNG’ elements in Season 3 compared to the lack of them in Seasons 1 and 2.

After checking out Season 3 of ‘Picard’, I’m looking forward to checking out Season 3 of ‘The Orville’ on Disney+ next. I know I’ve been behind lately in terms of ‘Star Trek’ reviews, including my reviews on the ‘Voyager’ series. Hopefully I’ll get back on track with my reviews on the ‘Voyager’ series soon.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂