Star Trek Picard: 7 Ups & 3 Downs From Episode 1 'Remembrance'

1. Patrick Stewart

It goes without saying that The Next Generation would have been nothing without Patrick Stewart, but nonetheless it still felt like a huge gamble to base an entire new Star Trek series on a solitary character. The shows, all of them, have excelled because of how wonderfully they play off the different relationships of several major players. Geordi's relationship with Data, Data's relationship with Picard, Picard's relationship with Worf, Worf's relationship with Troi, Troi's relationship with Riker, on and on it goes.

About 15 minutes into Remembrance, Picard sits down for an interview with a particularly pushy reporter. The scene serves to rush us through the events that led to Picard's resignation from Starfleet, but it also shows us that no other actor, no other character, could have made this show possible. Patrick Stewart, even at 79, has not lost a single flame of the fire that he brought to this role.

Wherever the show goes, and wherever the story takes us, he'll keep people tuning in week on week regardless. It's a viewing privilege to have him back in the role.