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When the Borg were first introduced in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Q Who", they were ineffable, mysterious, and terrifying. They were a race of cyborgs that were bound by a single machine consciousness, existing only to grow and expand. They did this by stealing resources from others. When the Borg encountered a starship, they would scan it, find technology they didn't have, carve it up, and absorb its pieces into their own cube-shaped craft. To shore up their numbers, they would kidnap humanoid species as "assimilate" them. That is: implant their bodies with tubes and computers and force them to serve as mindless robot drones. 

The Borg returned throughout "Next Generation," and each time were described as having a collective consciousness. It wouldn't be until "Star Trek: First Contact" in 1996 that the Borg would be likened to a beehive.

Every "Star Trek" fan has a favorite Captain, to varying degrees of actual rank. It might be James T. Kirk, it might be Benjamin Sisko. For a lot of us, it's hard to overcome the legacy of Jean-Luc Picard, formerly of the Enterprise-d. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" star Sir Patrick Stewart introduced himself with chilly efficiency at first, a man seemingly so rigid that having an empath around made sense. But Picard, like the rest of his crew, was flawed and human. Behind the noble French-English veneer was a man with a lifetime of troubled relationships, and a soul scarred deep by the Borg.

Picard brought with him quirks that became fandom legend, like the Picard Maneuver, which seems him snappily tugging at his tunic whenever he gets out of his chair, or the barked words "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot," at irregular intervals. He also brought us one of...

It’s downright terrifying to think that Star Trek: Voyager is celebrating its 30th anniversary, which we believe makes it the perfect moment to look back at the show’s scariest episode. Though some fans might cite “Threshold,” in which Tom Paris and Captain Janeway evolved -- or, rather, devolved -- into creatures that resembled a cross between slugs, salamanders, and lizards, that was scary mostly because it was such a freaky image in an atrocious episode. If we’re talking about good, old-fashioned scary, then “The Thaw” earns that honor.

The episode debuted on April 29, 1996, during Voyager’s second season, and was directed by Marvin Rush, who served as a director of photography on The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Upn’s publicity department provided the media with an extensive advisory/synopsis that read, in part, “Voyager activates an automated message from members of the Kohl settlement who,...

Gene Roddenberry created the Star Trek franchise with the original series taking flight in 1966. Given its popularity, several iterations have continued to follow keeping Roddenberry’s vision and passion for sci-fi alive. As a result, almost every entry in the franchise has featured one classic Roddenberry element that the creator popularized in the franchise’s early days.

Gene Roddenberry created the Star Trek franchise (Credit: Paramount TV).

In the Star Trek shows, a common visual of the ship’s crew playing a game of poker can be seen. During an interview, Roddenberry reflected on making poker one of the go-to board games for the Starfleet crews while traversing space there was a deeper significance behind its addition. Here is why Gene Roddenberry added poker to almost every Star Trek series.

Star Trek creator revealed why almost every series in the franchise features poker

Created by Gene Roddenberry, the Star Trek...

Filmmaker George Lucas directed 1977’s Star Wars, which changed the face of this sci-fi genre with its critical and commercial success. The film launched the epic space opera franchise that has lasted well over five decades and continues to thrive even today. However, Lucas’ creation wasn’t the first sci-fi franchise to captive fans across the world.

George Lucas created the Star Wars franchise (Credit: HBO).

Almost a decade before Lucas took the world by storm, Gene Roddenberry dared to go where no man had gone before with the ambitious sci-fi television series Star Trek. Over the years, fans of both franchises have debated which is better. However, Lucas has himself admitted that Star Wars wouldn’t exist without Gene Roddenberry’s work on Star Trek, and here is what he had to say.

George Lucas credits Star Trek for the success of Star Wars

George Lucas is arguably one...

One of the core tenets of "Star Trek" is an undercurrent of pacifism. The ships we see in any given "Star Trek" series are usually research vessels devoted to missions of exploration and study. Just as often, they do repair work on distant worlds, help planets in severe environmental trouble, or taxi diplomats to important peace talks. And while the U.S.S. Enterprise is equipped with weapons like phasers and photon torpedoes, they are only very rarely assigned a mission of combat. More often, the crew of the Enterprise will threaten a potential battlefield foe while still doing everything they can to avoid war.

The core tenets of pacifism, however, are typically ignored in many of the "Star Trek" feature films. Because of their medium, the "Star Trek" movies typically demand larger-scale stories and easily consumed conflicts that can be satisfactorily wrapped in about 100 to 120 minutes. This demand often...

John de Lancie has had an illustrious career on television, with roles in prominent shows like Star Trek: Tng, Breaking Bad, and Stargate. The actor played Q, the immortal yet mischievous being who is a huge obstacle for Sir Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

De Lancie returned to the role after decades in Star Trek: Picard. However, Q had a few updates in his characterization and some of his traditional whimsy had taken a backseat. This was reportedly done on purpose as the actor laid out a condition that he would not return if he was made to wear tights again.

John de Lancie had only one condition to return as Q in Star Trek: Picard John de Lancie and Sir Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Tng | Credits: Paramount

John de Lancie’s Q is one of the primary antagonists for the Starfleet crew in Star Trek: Tng.

In the second season of "Star Trek: Picard," the good admiral (Patrick Stewart) is approached by his old rival, the trickster space deity Q (John de Lanice), about a new challenge. Q snaps his fingers and flings Picard into an alternate universe where Earth had become a galaxy-wide tyrannical power, devoted to the extermination of its perceived enemies. Earth had already driven the Romulans and the Klingons to extinction, and is now gearing up to execute the last-known Borg (Annie Werching). It's pretty grim. Picard, occupying the space of his tyrannical interdimensional counterpart, has to gather his friends (Q conveniently teleports several of them to the evil universe as well), and then travel back in time to the year 2024 to figure out how the evil universe came to be.

At the end of the season, it's revealed that Q only played his little time-travel game with Picard as a sort of wistful farewell.

As each new year begins, folks celebrate, sometimes with great relief, the passage of time and the cultural highs that held us aloft. Looking back means not quite being ready to look forward, which helps explain the phenomenon of bad movies that plague theaters every January, a notorious dumping ground...

Star Trek: The Next Generation makes for the perfect binge-watch, but not all of the seasons are created equal. With its series premiere in 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced the world to an entirely new Enterprise crew led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Well before binge-worthy television became the norm, Tng was one of the most-watched television shows of its time. Over the course of Tng's seven seasons, the crew members of the USS Enterprise-d became just as beloved as Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew had been.

The landscape of modern television is significantly different than it was in the 1980s and 1990s, with much more emphasis on serialized storytelling. Star Trek: The Next Generation told mostly episodic stories, restoring the status quo by the end of almost every episode. Despite this, the show lends itself to binge-watching thanks to one major element — the characters.

Writer and showrunner Terry Matalas sneakily included a backdoor pilot into the final season of "Star Trek: Picard." At the end of the series, after a grand threat from the Borg has been quelled, the action fast-forwards a year for a teary epilogue. It seems that the previously roguish Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) had been rushed through Starfleet Academy and was now ready for his first starship assignment. His father (Patrick Stewart) and mother (Gates McFadden) accompanied him to his first ship, the U.S.S. Titan-a, the ship on which the bulk of "Picard" season 3 took place. But, in a fit of nostalgia, the Titan-a had been rechristened the Enterprise-g.

The Enterprise-g was commanded by Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), who had recently been recommended for captaincy by her deceased commanding officer. Seven's first officer was her ex-girlfriend Raffi (Michelle Hurd), and her crew included numerous "Picard" supporting players,...

One alternate reality version of Star Trek: Lower Decks' Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) is a brilliant callback to a version of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, "Fissure Quest", sees Lieutenant Brad Boimler's (Jack Quaid) transporter clone, Captain William Boimler, leading a crew of doppelgängers from all over the Star Trek timeline. When the crew of Boimler's starship Anaximander rescue Ensign Beckett Mariner, clad in an operations gold Starfleet uniform, William finds that this Mariner's temperament is milder than he was expecting.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6, episode 15, "Tapestry", Q (John de Lancie) offers a dying Captain Picard the chance to go back to 2327 for a do-over of Picard's early Starfleet career. After avoiding the fight with a Nausicaan that necessitated Picard's artificial heart in the first place, Q returns Picard to the present-day...

After thirty years of deep dive interviews, trivia, behind-the-scenes information, and more details about Star Trek than we could evver hope to find ourselves, Star Trek Magazine, rebranded as Star Trek Explorer, publishes its final issue this month. And though there won't be any more magazines after this, Explorer is going out on a high note, with an interview with the first Captain James T. Kirk, William Shatner. It's an informative interview with Shatner discussing his friendship with Leonard Nimoy, how he got the part of Captain Kirk, and even how he got the part of his Emmy-winning role, Denny Crane, on Boston Legal.

Star Trek Explorer | Titan Comics

Along with Shatner, there's a compelling interview with John de Lancie about his time as Q, and that's followed up with a look at some of the other "Qs" on Star Trek, including an honorary Q—Trelane played by William Campbell...

The Star Trek franchise's impressive lifespan perhaps makes it surprising that the space opera has never engaged with one of the biggest TV tropes, but there's actually a very good reason why Gene Roddenberry's long-running sci-fi saga has never produced a Christmas special. Although the Christian festival has been mentioned in passing and referenced a few times in the movies and TV shows that combined to form the Star Trek timeline, it is never really addressed head-on or with any real commitment.

While this could easily be viewed as a missed opportunity, it wouldn't really make sense to write a Star Trek Christmas episode from a canonical perspective. Instead, the Star Trek TV shows generally tend to sidestep Christmas while supplying the audience with cryptic explanations as to why. Similarly, the Star Trek movies, as a rule, are pretty bereft of festive cheer. That being said, the feature-length productions...

Michelle Yeoh's Paramount+ movie, Star Trek: Section 31, would be the perfect way for Star Trek to introduce a younger Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). In Section 31, Yeoh reprises her role as Star Trek: Discovery's Emperor Philippa Georgiou. After the USS Discovery jumped to the 32nd century, Georgiou needed to return to a time when the Prime Universe and Mirror Universe were closer together. The Guardian of Forever (Paul Guilfoyle) sent Philippa Georgiou back to the early 24th century—also known as Star Trek's "Lost Era", between Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Few Star Trek projects have been set in the "Lost Era" before Star Trek: Section 31, but Star Trek: The Next Generation has occasionally referenced this elusive part of the Star Trek timeline. Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6, episode 14, "Tapestry", spends a significant amount of time in...

Star Trek may not have a dedicated Christmas episode, but some episodes still channel the holiday spirit. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry intentionally created a future where humanity had largely abandoned organized religion. Because of this, Christmas is rarely mentioned throughout the Star Trek timeline, and none of the franchise's main characters are shown openly celebrating the holiday. Still, if the Christmas season is about celebrating friends and family and the beauty of human connection, then Star Trek has plenty of episodes for that.

From Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his Starship Enterprise crew to the lower deckers of the USS Cerritos, Star Trek has always been a celebration of found families and the progress that can be achieved by working together. Every Star Trek series has episodes that highlight the camaraderie and celebration often associated with Christmas. Some of these Star Trek episodes take inspiration directly from...

The creation of Q, the trickster god first seen on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," was not born entirely of creative necessity. It seems that back in 1986, when "Next Generation" was still being developed, there was some debate whether the pilot episode — called "Encounter at Farpoint" — would be an hour long, 90 minutes, or a full two hours. If the show was 90 minutes, then teleplay writer D.C. Fontana would be paid a negotiated rate. If it was two hours, she would get a bonus.

Show creator Gene Roddenberry encouraged Fontana to keep the "Farpoint" script to 90 minutes, and she happily complied. But then, without working with Fontana, Roddenberry swept in and wrote 30 additional minutes of "bookend material" for the episode, expanding it to two hours. The "bookend material" was actually all the scenes involving Q. Roddenberry, because he was now the co-author of "Farpoint," got the aforementioned bonus, and Fontana did not.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) was not one to hold grudges, but one betrayal on Star Trek: The Next Generation hit Jean-Luc so hard that he remained upset for over 30 years. Although Jean-Luc Picard cared deeply about his crew members aboard the USS Enterprise-d, he kept himself emotionally distant from them. Picard devoted his life to Starfleet because he truly believed in Starfleet's mission, and he did his best to uphold their ideals. Picard had to learn the hard way that not every Starfleet officer shared his faith in the organization.

When Star Trek: The Next Generation began, Gene Roddenberry envisioned no major conflicts among the Starship Enterprise's crew. This rule was limiting from a storytelling perspective, but it became more lax as the show progressed. Early in Tng season 5, a new confrontational character joined Star Trek: The Next Generation's cast, shaking up the established dynamic of the crew.

The second season of "Star Trek: Picard" started promisingly, but ran out of steam pretty quickly. At the start of the season, the impish all-power trickster Q (John de Lancie) appears to an elderly Admiral Picard (Patrick Stewart) and announces that he'd like to play a game. Q then teleports Picard to an alternate timeline, very much like the Mirror Universe, where everyone is evil. Earth has become a galactic force for tyranny and spends all its resources hunting and killing all other living beings in the galaxy. Picard finds that his alternate self is a dangerous general who keeps a collection of skulls belonging to his fallen foes. 

Picard gathers his closest compatriots, also all transported into the Fascist Timeline, and aims to travel back in time to the point where the fascist regime began. Something happened, he finds, in the year 2024, and he needs to investigate the streets...

A new Star Trek show is in the works. It's called Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and it takes place about 900 years after the events of Star Trek's The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Prodigy, Lower Decks, and Picard. It's a spinoff show of sorts to Star Trek: Discovery, with both shows taking place in the same time period.

With such a huge time jump, you'd think the only returning characters would be from the recent seasons of Discovery after the ship jumped into the future permanently. That's not true, however. Despite the advancement in the timeline, the show will in fact bring back one character from the previous era of Star Trek.

After featuring in a starring role in Voyager and later Prodigy, Robert Picardo is set to return to Star Trek once again. He returned to the franchise after nearly 25 years with Prodigy, reprising his role from Voyager.

The last we saw of Q, [John de Lancie] the eternal being who was Jean-Luc Picard's constant pain in the side, he was warning Jack Crusher [Ed Speleers] that trouble was just around the corner, so to speak. Originally, Q "died" in season two of Star Trek: Picard, but the third season brought him back to let us know that he wasn't really gone, and a new descendant of Picard's would have him to contend with. That was a perfect set-up for Star Trek: Legacy, but that hasn't happened yet.

We already know that Q can go anywhere he wants. He even popped up on Star Trek: Voyager which was stranded in the Delta Quadrant, and we already know he has no issues manipulating time as in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Tapestry" where he shows Picard [Patrick Stewart] how different his life could have been.

All this goes...

This article discusses mental health struggles, abuse, and suicide.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 dove into the backstory of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), revealing the tragic story of his mother, Yvette Picard (Madeline Wise). In its second season, Star Trek: Picard sent Jean-Luc and his friends into the past to correct changes to the timeline caused by Q (John de Lancie). While trapped in the 21st century, Picard revisited his childhood home and confronted the demons of his past. He remembered his father, Maurice Picard (James Callis), as being abusive towards him and his mother. The truth, however, was a bit more complicated.

Yvette Picard struggled with her mental health, experiencing mood swings and other symptoms she refused to treat. Maurice tried to help her however he could, which sometimes involved locking her in her room for her own safety. On one of these occasions, a young Jean-Luc unlocked his mother's door,...

John de Lancie's Q popped up in every season of Star Trek: The Next Generation to annoy Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), but he never appeared in any of the Tng films. Introduced in the feature-length premiere of Tng, Q became one of the show's most beloved recurring characters. Although Q initially took on an antagonistic role, he eventually became more of a nuisance for Captain Picard and his USS Enterprise-d crew. John de Lancie and Patrick Stewart played magnificently off of one another, making all of their scenes incredibly fun to watch.

After Star Trek: The Next Generation came to a close with its seventh season, Captain Picard and his crew jumped to the big screen. The four Tng films not only passed the metaphorical baton from Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) to Captain Picard, but they also incorporated several elements that had been introduced on the show.

On Star Trek: The Next Generation, Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan introduced a new alien species called the El-Aurians. Guinan joined Tng at the start of the show's second season after Whoopi Goldberg reached out to producers requesting a role on the series. Guinan was an enigma upon her introduction, and Tng took its time revealing more about her, only dropping teases and hints about her past. Guinan had known Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) for some time, and she was one of the few people he trusted for honest advice.

After appearing in 29 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and two of the Tng films, Guinan returned in Star Trek: Picard season 2. In two different timelines, Guinan (portrayed in the past by Ito Aghayere) helped Admiral Picard and his motley crew restore Star Trek's proper Prime timeline after it was changed by Q (John de Lancie). Guinan remains...

The Borg Queen was arguably the most formidable Star Trek villain Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) ever faced. Although the Borg Queen did not make her debut until Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg established themselves as dangerous enemies of the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Borg were organized as a hive-minded collective of beings assimilated from various species across the galaxy. The Borg Queen was the undisputed ruler of the Collective, with her main goal to assimilate as many civilizations and technologies as possible.

The omnipotent troublemaker known as Q (John de Lancie) first introduced the Federation to the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2, episode 16, "Q Who." When Q sent the USS Enterprise-d flying across the galaxy, Captain Picard's crew encountered a Borg cube for the first time. Star Trek: The Next Generation's characters quickly realized there was little...

A show led by Jeri Ryan's Captain Seven is still what much of the Star Trek fan base is waiting for in the wake of Star Trek: Picard season 3's ending, and even the actress herself has confirmed with her actions and her words that she wouldn't be interested in returning in a show that didn't align with Terry Matalas' post-Star Trek: Picard vision. Ryan reprised her role from the Star Trek: Voyager cast and played the former Borg, Seven of Nine, as part of the cast of all 3 seasons of Star Trek: Picard.

Although there was a sizable gap between Star Trek: Voyager's ending and when Star Trek: Picard began, seeing Seven's arc continue was rewarding. Seven ended the Patrick Stewart-led sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation as the captain of the USS Enterprise-g, and with Admiral Picard's son on board, it seemed as...

It seems like everyone has a podcast these days. We have Deep Space Nine's Cirroc Lofton's 7th Rule podcast, The Delta Flyers', hosted by Voyager stars Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeil. There's also the D-Con Chamber podcast, hosted by Enterprise stars Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer. There's a podcast for everyone and thanks to Gates McFadden, that remains true.

Each of the above podcasts serve a unique purpose. The 7th Rule talks a lot about Deep Space Nine, among other current Trek-topics. The Delta Flyers was an episode review podcast built around Voyager but shifted ears to Deep Space Nine after Voyager ended. The D-Con Chamber podcast focuses more on Star Trek stars, while being morer of a "late-night show" for Trek fans.

For McFadden, her InvestiGates podcast focuses less on Star Trek and more on the people who make Star Trek possible. Over the years, she's...

Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) struggled to reconcile his Klingon heritage with his Starfleet duties throughout his time on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and this conflict was set up in Tng's very first episode. Worf was not originally meant to be one of Tng's main characters and he spent much of the first season in the background. Before long, however, more and more stories started focusing on Worf and he eventually became one of the show's most popular characters.

For most of Star Trek: The Next Generation's seven-season run, Worf served as Chief of Security on the USS Enterprise-d under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). In its series premiere, however, Worf does not have much to do. When John de Lancie's Q first appears on the Enterprise-d bridge, Worf reacts aggressively, telling Captain Picard that they have no choice but to fight.

When Star Trek: Voyager was nearing the end, the producers introduced a romance between Robert Beltran's Chakotay and Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine. The fans didn't see that one coming as there'd not previously been any type of chemistry between the two characters, and the relationship just didn't make sense. Nevertheless, Voyager ended with the pair still a couple as far as we knew.

Before the beginning of the second season of Star Trek: Picard, Beltran was contacted about a part in the first two episodes of the season, which were "Penance" and "Assmiliation." [Via Slashfilm] In those two episodes, Admiral Picard and his crew are sent to an alternate timeline by Q [John de Lancie] where Earth is an evil empire ruled over by a fascist dictator and her husband. Ryan's character was the president of this evil Earth, and Beltran was offered the role of her husband,...

Although "Star Trek: Voyager" concluded in 2001, multiple characters from the series have returned throughout the franchise at large to remind Trekkies that they all still exist and are still going about their Starfleet careers. Both Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Tuvok (Tim Russ) appeared on "Star Trek: Picard," with the former playing a regular role on the series. The reference-heavy "Star Trek: Lower Decks" makes "Voyager" references all the time, and even had an episode set on board the U.S.S. Voyager. 

Most notably, Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) not only had a cameo in the 2002 film "Star Trek: Nemesis," but a holographic version of the character played a large role in the animated series "Star Trek: Prodigy." That same show also featured the real-life Janeway, the Doctor (Robert Picardo), as well as a subplot involving Chakotay (Robert Beltran), the captain of the experimental ship the U.S.S.

Star Trek generally leans toward the cerebral, focusing on attributes like intelligence and wit, but the franchise has also introduced its fair share of characters with incredible physical strength. Some aliens, like Klingons and Vulcans, are inherently stronger than humans, while other beings are created or genetically altered to be physically stronger. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) can both hold their own in a fight, but they sometimes find themselves physically outmatched.

Star Trek's most powerful god-like beings, such as John de Lancie's Q, rely on their magic-like abilities rather than physical strength. While Q and beings like him can theoretically be as strong as they want, they often use other tactics to intimidate and outsmart their enemies. Warrior races like the Klingons, on the other hand, rely on their brute strength and fighting skills to aid them in battle and prove themselves worthy.

There's a barrage of Star Trek news coming in today, both good and bad. On the good side, Paramount+ dropped the first trailer for the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated comedy series. The show has been going strong for a while now and it's good to see it will get to bow out on its own terms. Watch the trailer above!

Star Trek: Lowers Decks will kick off its final season on Thursday, October 24; the first two episodes will drop at once. On the bad side of the news, TrekMovie.com reports that the first 10 Star Trek movies have been removed from streaming on Paramount+, which is supposed to be "the home of Star Trek." And this after those 10 films became available to stream on Paramount+ back in June. That was a short homecoming.

The three more recent Star Trek movies overseen by J.J. Abrams are still available,...

Star Trek 4 and Star Trek: Picard's proposed spinoff, Star Trek: Legacy, will have the same premise if the long-desired Star Trek projects happen. Star Trek: Picard season 3's ending set up a continuation set on the USS Enterprise-g led by Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). From 2009-2016, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) commanded the Starship Enterprise in the alternate Kelvin timeline of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies. Both Star Trek 4 and Star Trek: Legacy are in drydock with no timeframe for if and when either will go into production.

Star Trek: Legacy would potentially be a show about the children of Star Trek: The Next Generation's iconic crew serving on the newest Enterprise under Captain Seven of Nine. It would fuse legacy characters from Star Trek: Voyager, Tng, and perhaps Star Trek: Deep Space Nine like Star Trek: Picard did, and this includes Q...

Star Trek: Voyager sent its titular ship 70,000 light years from home, but the show still found ways to incorporate characters and concepts from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Following the adventures of Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and the USS Voyager's journey through the Delta Quadrant, Star Trek: Voyager was the true successor to Tng. Although Star Trek: Deep Space Nine began airing 2 years before Voyager, DS9's space station setting and darker tone made it a different kind of Star Trek show. Voyager, on the other hand, followed a structure that was more similar to that of Tng.

Like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager followed a singular starship as it explored strange new worlds and new civilizations. The USS Voyager literally went where no Federation starship had gone before, as the ship found itself far from home in the unexplored Delta Quadrant. Captain Janeway and her...

For decades now, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart have had their names linked together, playing two sides of the same coin as Magneto and Professor X in the X-Men films. However, the pair have been close to each other for far longer, dating back to their times working in the Royal Shakespeare Company together in the 1970s.

Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in X-Men: Days of Future Past | Credit: 20th Century Fox

With how closely they have been linked, it is not surprising that they consulted each other when they were making big career decisions. In an interview, Stewart revealed that he was given a very big piece of advice by McKellen when he was considering joining the cast of Star Trek.

Ian McKellen’s Words of Wisdom to Patrick Stewart

During an interview with Southbank Centre, Patrick Stewart revealed that he sought Ian McKellen’s advice when he was...

Star Trek: Picard's Confederation of Earth reality allowed Star Trek: The Next Generation to avoid the Mirror Universe once more. The Mirror Universe is one of Star Trek's oldest and most enduring concepts. A dark parallel reality where Star Trek characters are the opposite of how they are in Star Trek's Prime timeline, the Mirror Universe was introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2's "Mirror, Mirror." The Mirror Universe has its own complex history that was further explored by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Discovery, and Star Trek: Prodigy.

Introduced at the start of Star Trek: Picard season 2, the alternate timeline where the Confederation of Earth rose instead of the United Federation of Planets was created by Q (John de Lancie). The Confederation's creation is tied to two individuals who lived in 21st-century Los Angeles: Dr. Renee Picard (Penelope Mitchell) and Dr.

Ask any fan of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and they'll likely agree on the five or six best episodes of the series. Few, for instance, will impugn the power of "The Best of Both Worlds", the famed episode wherein Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is kidnapped and assimilated by the Borg, a species of unthinking machine people. Indeed, that episode became so popular, that it forced the makers of "Star Trek" back into the arms of the Borg again and again; Borg stories were being told as recently as 2023. 

Also beloved is "Tapestry", an episode where Picard dies and finds that the afterlife is overseen by the playful trickster god Q (John de Lancie). Q offers to send Picard back in time to his youth, specifically to the day before he got in a bar brawl that damaged his heart. If Picard can avoid the brawl and keep his heart from being stabbed,...

Star Trek: Picard featured a magnificent performance from Amanda Plummer as the Changeling Vadic, following in the footsteps of her father Christopher Plummer's legendary performance as General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Christopher Plummer was one of the most celebrated film actors of the 20th century, and he was arguably the most high profile actor to take on the role of a Star Trek villain when he played the treacherous Klingon Chang. His Shakespeare-loving conspirator remains one of the very best Star Trek villains of all time.

While not an A-list movie star like her father, Amanda Plummer has also enjoyed a varied, critically acclaimed career, notably starring in classic films like Pulp Fiction and The Fisher King. As Vadic, she's been idiosyncratic and aloof, smoking cigarettes and giggling as her ship, the Shrike, takes fire. Her performance in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 7 "Dominion...

No man in Star Trek history has achieved so much in such few appearances. John de Lancie is one of the few figures in all of Star Trek who can compel an audience to stay tuned to every word and movement he expresses. You'd think that with that staying power, he's been in hundreds of episodes. That's not the case though.

He hasn't even been in a whole season's worth of shows. In fact, in his entire history, across five shows, de Lancie's Q has only been in 22 episodes. Nine of which were in Star Trek: Picard, the show that holds the distinction of having the most apperances by the famed character. Whether that's a note you want to celebrate is entirely up to you.

We're not trying to be hard on Star Trek: Picard, but the show left more fans upset than they were satisfied. Each season falls apart in a brand new,...

Maika Monroe has earned genre icon status with her roles in thrillers and horror movies like Longlegs, God Is a Bullet, Watcher, Flashback, Villains, Tau, Bad Blood, Flying Monkeys, It Follows, and The Guest. When she ventures into dark territory, she often plays the heroine – but she’ll be shifting into villain mode for the remake of the 1992 psychological thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (watch it Here). The remake is coming our way from director Michelle Garza Cervera (Huesera: The Bone Woman) and screenwriter Micah Bloomberg, whose credits include Sanctuary and Homecoming.

Directed by Curtis Hanson from a screenplay written by Amanda Silver, the original The Hand That Rocks the Cradle has the following synopsis: When she was assaulted by her doctor, Claire Bartel reported him to the police, and rather than go to prison for his crime, he killed himself. The shock of the accusations and suicide...

This Star Trek: The Next Generation crew member appeared in the pilot episode before being promptly forgotten. While Tng's two-part premiere, "Encounter at Farpoint," established many aspects that continued throughout the series, some elements didn't quite stick. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the USS Enterprise-d would go on to become as beloved as the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series, but it took time for the show to find itself. Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) would only stick around for the first season of Tng and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) would leave the show and then return.

Star Trek: The Next Generation's core cast was more or less established from the beginning, but season 1 cycled through several Enterprise crew members who only made one or two appearances. For example, multiple chief engineers popped up throughout Tng season 1, before Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge...

Warning: contains spoilers for "What's a Q to You?" appearing in Star Trek #500!

Star Trek just explained Qs entire personality with one sentence. The omnipotent trickster figure of the franchise, Q has always displayed a flair for the theatrical, employing grand stunts and illusions as he trolls Captain Picard. Now, in the story Whats a Q to You? appearing in Star Trek #500, Q Jr, while undergoing a rite of passage in the Continuum, gives context to him and his fathers colorful personalities.

Whats a Q to You?, one of the stories appearing in Star Trek #500, is written by Morgan Hampton and drawn by Megan Levens. Q Jr has fallen sick with a cold, his first. As a result, Q Jrs perceptions of the universe are different, and he becomes aware of a race called the Observers. Q Jr cannot accept that there are species above him, and tries to attack them.

The Borg have become one of Star Trek's most well-known and terrifying villains, but the cybernetic drones could have been very different. Introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2, episode 16, "Q Who," the Borg became an immediate dire threat to the crew of the USS Enterprise-d. When Q (John de Lancie) flung the Starship Enterprise across the galaxy into Borg space, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) attempted to reason with the drones that attacked his ship. Not only did the Borg completely ignore Picard, but they also proved incredibly adaptable, thwarting every attack the Enterprise threw at them.

The Borg would go on to appear in over fifty episodes of Star Trek and serve as the primary antagonists in one of the franchise's most successful films, Star Trek: First Contact. Captain Picard faced the Borg on numerous occasions, as did Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew...

Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced a species that was so powerful that it's no surprise they were never seen again. Star Trek has always been known to reach well outside the sci-fi genre and has frequently mixed genres such as action, romance, fantasy, and more. The willingness to break out of classic sci-fi tropes while still maintaining a core theme is what makes Star Trek TV shows so memorable and timeless. However, with so much material and so many TV shows and movies to work with, Star Trek has introduced some content that never quite stuck.

There have been plenty of missteps throughout the entire Star Trek timeline, and the reasons for narratives not being revisited are varied. Many times, these mishaps involve the introduction of species with vast amounts of unexplained power, and these apparent space gods usually mysteriously appear humanoid and end up troubling the Star Trek canon.

The second season of "Star Trek: Picard" saw the return of Q (John de Lancie) a playful god of mischief that periodically appeared on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" to cause trouble for Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Q, being omnipotent and seemingly immortal, didn't think too highly of humans, a primitive corporeal species he saw as being unworthy of space travel. By the end of the series, though, Q found that some humans had the capacity to think in cosmic terms, and he judged us to be finally worthy, if only a little bit.

In "Picard," Q reappeared to announce that the trial never ended, and that he had a fun game to play. He sent Picard into a parallel universe wherein humanity had mastered space travel, but used it to commit galaxy-wide genocide against all other known sentient species. Picard...

Some modern Star Trek shows have gone back and explained things that first popped up on Star Trek: The Original Series, but this mystery should remain unexplained. Following the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the USS Enterprise, Tos is the show that started it all. Every Star Trek series since has built on the ideas and story elements introduced on Tos. Captain Kirk and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) have become ingrained in popular culture and remain two of the most famous science fiction characters of all time.

Modern shows like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have introduced new versions of characters like Kirk and Spock, filling in more of their stories. In the 1960s, television shows were not as concerned with continuity or establishing an official canon. Because of this, some elements from the original Star Trek show only appeared once and were never mentioned again.

Patrick Stewart is as legendary as an actor can get in their career. From starring as several iconic characters over the years to being knighted by the Queen herself, there is a reason why audiences love him as much as they do. However, like all in the film industry, Stewart also had a time when he was starting out and rather than being an inspirational figure, he had one of his own.

Colm Meaney and Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation | Credit: Paramount Pictures

Stewart once revealed that he looked up to David Warner for most of his professional life, with him being his biggest inspiration as an actor. With this in mind, one can only imagine what it must have been like for the actor to work with his hero.

Tortured by One’s Savior?

In a part of his memoir, Making It So: A Memoir, Patrick...

Sometimes, TV shows introduce characters who seem fundamental to the story, but it becomes clear that the writers aren't sure what to do with them after their initial storyline. The result is often that the TV show will repeat the same story many times, focusing on one character. Maybe said character will eventually be written out of the show when the actor or writers have had enough, but they may be needed for one particular future storyline.

Some TV show love interests that were suddenly dropped and great female TV characters that deserved better ended up in these circumstances because creativity had run out concerning their arcs. Great TV shows should effectively use all their characters, at least providing a reason for them to be shelved for a while if screen time is limited. However, it is hard to feel like some shows did not waste characters when they are...

After the conclusion of Star Trek: Picard season 3, Star Trek has the perfect opportunity to pit Traveler Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) against the omnipotent Q (John de Lancie). While they were both introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley and Q were very different characters who had few scenes together. As the son of Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), Wesley lived aboard the Enterprise-d and had a keen interest in starships and Starfleet. Although he initially chose to attend Starfleet Academy, Wesley later joined the mysterious group known as the Travelers.

Q popped up in eight episodes of Tng throughout the show's seven seasons, bookending the show with appearances in both the series premiere and finale. A member of the Q Continuum, Q had god-like powers and perceived time and space differently from most humanoids. He developed a particular fondness for Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and enjoyed antagonizing...

Star Trek: Picard's Captain Cristobal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) did the reverse of Dr. Gillian Taylor's (Catherine Hicks) time travel in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Time travel is a tried-and-true staple of Star Trek, with numerous characters venturing to the past or jumping to the far future and beyond. While most Star Trek characters return to their proper time, some, like the entire crew of Star Trek: Discovery, permanently remain in their new time period. This is the case with both Cristobal Rios and Dr. Gillian Taylor - but in opposite directions.

Introduced in Star Trek: Picard season 1, Cristobal Rios was a former Starfleet officer who owned and operated the cargo ship La Sirena. Rios was initially hired by Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), but Chris soon made Picard's mission to save the galaxy from the Romulans his own. Rios' heroism brought him back to Starfleet, where...