Recommended Viewing for Star Trek: Picard, inspired by startrek.com and trekranks.com (SPOILERS)
This post contains potential spoilers for Star Trek: Picard. If you haven't watched it yet and you're avoiding clues about the new show, then move along.. move along! You've been warned. ;)
Here's a list of episodes and movies in chronological order that I believe adds context to Star Trek: Picard. It is in a style inspired by Trek Ranks. I've summarized each item using five words and a hashtag.
The original inspiration was "Your Ultimate Star Trek: Picard Watch Guide" at startrek.com which is a great list in itself. Regardless, it felt incomplete. I began to think of a few items of my own as I prepared my watch list.
So, I decided to take a different approach to get ready for Star Trek: Picard and I started with a subset of the original list.
The guide appeared to focus on reestablishing the main players. Instead of getting a refresher of the characters, I wanted to get a sense of events leading up to what we see in the new show. I had some episodes in mind as I began to learn more about it and watched the trailers. Now that I've watched the first episode of this new window into the Trek universe, I decided to revise my list and post it online.
Enjoy!!
ENT: Minefield
First chronological Romulan appearance ever!
#ExplosiveAudioOnlyIntro
TOS: Balance of Terror
Peer inside a Romulan bridge.
#RomulanThemeSong
TOS: The Enterprise Incident
Starfleet steals Romulan cloaking device.
#AnotherSideOfStarfleet
TNG: Datalore
Data is not the first.
#LoreAttacks
TNG: The Measure of a Man
Picard helps define Data's rights.
#EqualRights4Synths
TNG: Q, Who
Picard, meet Borg. Thanks, Q!
#SnapSnapAndAway
TNG: The Defector
Picard's complex Romulan relationships begin.
#RomulanFakeNews
TNG: The Offspring
Yes, Data has a daughter.
#BelovedLal
TNG: Best Of Both Worlds
Picard's terrifying stranger to himself.
#LocutusOfBorg
TNG: Family
Borg aftermath at Chateau Picard.
#SiblingMudFight
TNG: Brothers
Sons of Soong, come home!
#BrothersForgive
TNG: The Drumhead
Captain Picard exemplifies Starfleet's values.
#DownWithSatie
TNG: Unification
Romulans, Vulcans, and wishful thinking.
#SpockOnRomulus
TNG: I, Borg
Picard wrestles with Borg individuality.
#MyNameIsHugh
TNG: The Inner Light
Picard lives a stranger's life.
#SiezeTheDay
TNG: Face Of The Enemy
Troi abducted. Romulan technology exposed!
#SpecialCargo
TNG: Descent
Borg separate and Hugh evolves.
#SonsOfSoong
TNG: Inheritance
Proud mom. Embarrassing Data stories.
#MoreSibs4Data
TNG: The Pegasus
Badmiral creates illegal cloaking device.
#CaptainPicardDay
VGR: Scorpion
Janeway negotiates with the Borg.
#WelcomeSeven
VGR: The Raven
The assimilation of Annika Hansen.
#NoThreeHourTour
TNG: All Good Things
Picard finally joins the game.
#NeverTooLate
Star Trek: Insurrection
Tonight, on Starfleet gone bad..
#NoUniformNoOrders
Star Trek: Nemesis
Talk about fighting with yourself!
#WelcomeB4
Star Trek (2009)
The entire Trek universe changes.
#Tears4PrimeRomulus
#Tears4KelvinVulcan
Short Treks: Children of Mars
Picard reacts to Mars attack.
#RogueSynthAttack
Honorable Mention:
TNG: The Neutral Zone
Out of hiding: they're back!
#AwkwardVintageHumans
I'm reluctantly including this in my list. This episode occurs between Datalore and The Measure Of A Man. It awkwardly reintroduces us to the Romulans. Personally, I didn't like the execution of this one. If you want fairly complete coverage of Human / Romulan engagements then see it. Otherwise, skip it and you won't really miss much.
I'll end this post with my original watch list:
