The crew of the Enterprise-D reunite to face one final challenge…

This isn’t the season 3 of Picard that I had been anticipating. The first two seasons had set up a number of relationships and dynamics, introduced interesting new characters from across the Star Trek universe, and given us new insight into Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine. And while the third season picked up on elements of that – but by no means all the dangling threads – it became what we were told Picard would not be: a Next Gen reunion.

The extras on this box set go some way to explaining how this shift happened – Patrick Stewart enjoyed working with Jonathan Frakes, is what it seems to boil down to – but not what it meant for those who’d been part and parcel of the show up to then. There’s a course correction for Seven – and Ryan and Todd Stashwick’s Liam Shaw are the standout characters of this final year – and to an extent for Michelle Hurd’s Raffi (teaming her with Michael Dorn’s Worf works well), but there are so many beats that feel very familiar after six decades of Star Trek.

All of that said, this is a lot of fun, and there’s a lot of mileage to be gained from the nostalgic elements to the season, although I think some weaknesses become apparent. The constant cries for a “Star Trek: Legacy” series following Seven and co. on their next adventures may get heard – it worked for Strange New Worlds, after all – but in some ways I think holding this tale at this point for a bit would be no bad thing… not forever, but say five years or so, removing the temptation to just cameo more of the “old gang”.

The extras are well worth your time – be warned, the language is unfiltered, and earns the set its 15 rating, I suspect – with a focus on multiple different elements of production, as well as some fascinating commentaries.

Verdict: Getting the gang back together only goes so far, but there’s enough in the extras to warrant the extra spend. 7/10

Paul Simpson