The Corner Penthouse

Star Trek: Picard: Season 1 is the latest installment in the long-running Star Trek franchise. Read on to find out more about it...


Star Trek: Picard is set at the end of the 24th Century, where, 14 years after his retirement from Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is living a quiet life on his vineyard, Chateau Picard. When he is sought out by a mysterious young woman, Dahj (Isa Briones), he soon realizes she may have personal connections to his own past. In order to help her, Picard must work with robotics expert Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), Dr. Soji Asha (Isa Briones), former Starfleet lieutenant commander Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), civilian captain Cristobal Rios (Santiago Cabrera), Romulan refugee Elnor (Evan Evangora), and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan).


The series picks up after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), in which Data (Brent Spiner) sacrificed himself to save the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E and future relations between the Federation and Romulus looked to be improving; and Star Trek (2009), in which Romulus was destroyed due to a supernova.


Star Trek: Picard is the first Star Trek series I've seen in 25 years or more. I'm not sure how it compares to other recent series in the franchise, though it feels vastly different from what I used to watch on TV. Although unrated, it's equivalent to a PG-13 rating due to several utterances of "fuck" and "shit". It really seemed weird to hear, as such language could never be used in Picard's previous TV adventures. Patrick Stewart returns as retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, along with a few "legacy characters". I feel like telling you who those other characters are would be spoiling the show for you, but the Blu-ray team did that for you by mentioning them on the back of the case AND including photos of them! So, expect to see Brent Spiner, Jeri Ryan, Jonathan Frakes (who also directed two episodes), and Marina Sirtis.


The entire season plays out like an eight-hour-long movie. Honestly, this story could have been sufficiently told in half of the time. This isn't your typical action-packed Star Trek episodic series. It's a drama with LOTS of talking and very little action until the final episode. Heck, Picard and his new crew don't even set off on their new journey until the very end of the THIRD episode! That said, if you stick with it, it's a great story that builds upon the previous stories involving Picard and his old crew.


The three-disc set includes all 10 episodes of the season that aired on the CBS All Access streaming service from January 23 through March 26, 2020.

Disc 1:
01. Remembrance (44:16)
02. Maps and Legends (43:29)
03. The End Is the Beginning (42:46)

Disc 2:
04. Absolute Candor (44:04)
05. Stardust City Rag (45:00)
06. The Impossible Box (54:02)
07. Nepenthe (58:22)

Disc 3:
08. Broken Pieces (55:25)
09. Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 (44:56)
10. Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 (56:35)

Star Trek: Picard: Season 1 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. On the audio side, there's a English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Subtitles are available in English SDH only.


Here's a list of all of the special features that can be found throughout the set. Each "Story Log" is a brief behind-the-scenes episodic featurette.

• Video Commentary for "Remembrance" - with executive producers Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, and Michael Chabon; supervising producer Kirsten Beyer; and director Hanelle M. Culpepper. Filmed via video conferencing technology during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, this is a "social distance" commentary with the participants appearing in small boxes on the side of the screen.
• Story Log for "Remembrance" (3:36)
• Deleted Scene for "Remembrance" (2:43)
• Story Log for "Maps and Legends" (8:28)
• Story Log for "The End Is the Beginning" (4:26)
• Star Trek: Short Treks: Children of Mars (8:21) - Twelve-year-old classmates Kima and Lil find themselves at odds with each other on a day that will change their lives forever.
• Audio Commentary for Star Trek: Short Treks: Children of Mars - with executive producer and co-writer Alex Kurtzman, and co-writers Jenny Lumet and Kirsten Beyer.
• Make It So (10:04) - The co-creators and Patrick Stewart discuss bringing the iconic character back to the screen, including what was compelling enough to warrant it and the obstacles they had to overcome to make it so.
• Story Log for "Absolute Candor" (4:51)
• Story Log for "Stardust City Rag" (7:19)
• Story Log for "The Impossible Box" (7:10)
• Story Log for "Nepenthe" (6:24)
• Story Log for "Broken Pieces" (5:06)
• Deleted Scenes for "Broken Pieces" (1:02)
• Story Log for "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1" (4:06)
• Deleted Scenes for "Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1" (1:08)
• Story Log for "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" (7:26)
• Deleted Scenes for "Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2" (0:37)
• Aliens Alive: The xBs (12:34) - A look inside the creative process behind the xBs, alongside lead creature designer Neville Page, Vincent Van Dyke, and his prosthetics studio team, as well as make-up and prosthetics department head James MacKinnon about the process from start to stage.
• Picard Props (13:20) - Property master Jeff Lombardi takes fans on a tour of the many props.
• Set Me Up (14:30) - Production designer Todd Cherniawsky serves as the tour guide for the main sets, including the La Sirena, Picard's study, and the Borg Cube. Cherniawsky, supervising art director Iain McFadyen, and set decorator Lisa Alkofer also discuss the various designs for the show.
• The Motley Crew (19:10) - Working outside of Starfleet, Picard gathers his crew from across the galaxy. This is a look at the actors and characters that will travel aboard the La Sirena.
• Gag Reel (7:56)

The regular release comes in a standard three-disc Blu-ray case. The first print run includes an embossed slipsleeve.


Star Trek: Picard: Season 1 is available on Blu-ray, Steelbook Blu-ray, and DVD. Picard's original series, Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Series, is available on Blu-ray and DVD. All of the Next Generation theatrical films are available on Blu-ray, Blu-ray Box Set, and DVD.



Images were taken from the IMDB gallery of the series. This item has been provided by CBS for review on this site.