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

Ups...

7. That Opening

You only get one shot at a first impression, and Picard could not possibly have done a better job. Space, still the final frontier, some gorgeous VFX shots of a vivid nebula, the Enterprise-D rendered in pristine condition, and the track Bing Cosby's Blue Skies rolling away in the background. Not a single fan will have watched this opening minute and not made a gentle "awh" noise.

From there we're dropped back into Ten Forward, usually, the Next Generation's home of calm, reassuring exposition, to find Picard and Data indulging in a card game and some tea. A huge reward for big TNG fans, who'll remember that the series' final episode went off the air to the sight of Data dealing cards to his Captain.

After a back-and-forth that honestly feels like neither the show nor the characters have ever been away (let alone since 1994 and 2003 respectively), we're jolted into a terrifying nightmare of an exploding Mars before Picard wakes up in his home back on Earth. Visually and narratively gripping, there haven't been many better series openings in the last few years.