Meet Kima and Lil – students at a school on Earth while their respective parents work on or near Mars…

This Short Trek is very much a scene-setter for Star Trek: Picard, culminating in one of the key events that sets up that series. We see that incident, though, through the eyes of two young schoolgirls, whose relationship, to put it mildly, is fraught when we first encounter them – but who, through shared tragedy, are brought together.

For those who chart such things, this is the first proper continuation of the Prime timeline on TV since the end of Star Trek: Voyager (although it precedes the Romulan supernova seen in the 2009 film, also part of that timeline), and its typefaces and credits reflect that this is based on The Next Generation rather than the original series.

Ilamaria Ebrahim and Sadie Munroe do sterling work as the two students (although it does rather feel as if the education system hasn’t really advanced that much in the next 365 years), and kudos to whoever came up with the idea of the Heroes song being used as the soundtrack, particularly in this version.

It would be rather nice if Amazon Prime include this with their presentation of Star Trek: Picard – it’s not essential viewing prior to the start of the series, but does give more than a flavour of what’s in store.

Verdict: A short reminder of the human cost of the shattering events that feature in Star Trek series. 8/10

Paul Simpson