Available Sept 5, 2023 (North America) with a staggered release in International markets.
When watching the entire run of Star Trek: Picard all one in go, the broader story arcs make more sense, and we have that huge finale which defines season three. From seeing him wanting to find answers on whether Data (Brent Spiner playing different roles in this series) made a daughter in season one to visiting an alternate dimension where Picard (Patrick Stewart) a General (i.e. God of War) in season two and to reunite with a son he never knew in the third, that’s just the general outline!
With the home video release of this series, those fans who chose not to subscribe to the streaming services can now enjoy it in full. Thankfully, other specialty stations could broadcast it after the first-run, so I wasn’t behind. While I used my PVR and viewed the run in small batches, to recall what happened in the week prior requires a notebook in order to keep tabs on key narrative beats–especially on tracing why Borg technology is vital. And some bits in my review about season one still holds.
After viewing this package in full, I can say the entire run is in my top five favourite iterations. Although the first two seasons can be skipped without missing a beat, my advice is not to do that. Fans won’t understand why the Borg arc is important unless they begin at the start. Also, I always wanted to follow Seven of Nine’s (Jeri Ryan) journey after Voyager returned to Earth, and to jump ahead would mean losing half of her story!
Not every Star Trek fan loves the series. I’d tell them to give this series another chance, since the entire episodic run is available to purchase and/or stream. Although the writing room could have thought up a better Guinan story, that’s more of a diversion than anything else.
Also, the extras make up for what the haters can’t know about the production. But for the geeks, I love the featurettes, “The Gang’s All Here,” and “Rebuilding the Enterprise-D.” They define what’s nostalgic about the 1999 series, along with why everything got updated. Overall, I have a new hope for what the future of television productions can offer, as long as the producers stick to what made season three special. Not only did the production team make lots of terrific callbacks which connect this series to The Next Generation but also has that tone which made the later seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space 9 great! To really detail it all means analysing all the elements used during the third season, and honestly that should be a separate article in itself.
What I’m looking at is the entire series as a whole. And as for what the next live-action series may be, we just have to wait for a formal announcement. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is its own continuity and I’m still not sure where to put it in my top ten list.
Star Trek: Picard List of Bonus Features
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- The Gang’s All Here – Featurette (Exclusive)
- The Making of the Last Generation – Featurette (Exclusive)
- Rebuilding the Enterprise-D
- Audio Commentary on select episodes (Exclusive)
- Deleted Scenes (Exclusive)
- Gag Reel (Exclusive)
- Villainous Vadic – Featurette
- The Final Season Q&A
