Star Trek: Picard - Season One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Star Trek: Picard - Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 1, 2020

With Star Trek Discovery and Picard, CBS has recently returned to the Star Trek universe by revisiting two of its most popular timelines, that just prior to the cherished original series and in the near future following the franchise’s most popular program, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Picard, set two decades following the final TNG film Nemesis, sees a rogue Admiral Picard on a final adventure to save a species from annihilation before his own time runs out.

It’s been a decade since now-Admiral Picard (Patrick Stewart) retired from Starfleet. He’s agreed to his first interview on the anniversary of a supernova that crippled the Romulan Empire, an event which ultimately led to his split from the only life he’s ever known. Picard resigned captaincy of the Enterprise to lead a rescue mission, but Starfleet pulled out of the operation when rogue synthetics attacked the fleet and the Utopia Planitia outpost on Mars. After seeing his interview on television, he is approached by a young woman named Dahj (Isa Briones) who recently, and narrowly, escaped a kidnapping attempt. She killed the perpetrators, unexpectedly and with ability she did not know she possessed. She’s seen visions of Picard’s face in her mind, leading her to France to tell him her story and seek safety in his presence.

Picard realizes he’s seen the girl before in a painting created by Data (Brent Spiner), the Enterprise’s android officer now deceased for two decades yet still foremost in Picard’s memory. Data titled the painting “Daughter.” Picard quickly comes to believe that Dahj, too, is an android, but one who appears fully human inside and out. It’s been years since synthetics were banned following their seemingly random and unprovoked attacks on Federation installations and personnel, making Picard’s desire to help her trickier than it ought to be. His situation is further complicated by a rare brain disorder that has been diagnosed as terminal. When Dahj is killed by a Romulan hit squad on Earth, Picard sets off on an unsanctioned mission to find her twin sister, Soji (also Isa Briones), with the help of a rogue ex-Sarfleet officer named Rios (Santiago Cabrera) aboard his ship La Sirena. He is also joined by a once close friend and confidant named Raffi (Michelle Hurd) as well as the world’s foremost expert on synthetics, Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill). Their mission leads them to a Borg cube which has been seized by the Romulans as part of a secret operation that exists beyond the purview of even their dreaded secret police, the Tal Shiar.

Picard is as much a fan service show as it is a capable standalone entity. It's dense and detailed, returning several familiar characters beyond Picard while transforming a couple of memorable, yet nevertheless one-off, characters from The Next Generation into key cogs within this story's essential fabric. Best not to spoil the surprises, but longtime Star Trek fans will be most rewarded with the show while relative newcomers might find the more complex inner workings off-putting. Nevertheless, for longtime franchise fans the show is, largely, a treat, tying in several threads while focusing on an aged and grief stricken Admiral Picard whose time following Data's death has beenmakred by a personal downturn, first following his failed rescue attempt of doomed Romulans which resulted in his break from Starfleet and, now, news of his terminal brain condition. Much of the show centers on his pursuit of seeing one final opportunity to do good in the galaxy and for a group of people, holding steady to his own moral compass while largely ignoring Starfleet's demands that he halt his operation, a Starfleet that he no longer recognizes as that under which he served and that he will discover holds several dark secrets that will greatly impact his mission moving forward.

The show works well thanks to a tightly woven story that ties together several key components from the Star Trek universe, investing in the familiar and inventing its own history but doing so strictly within the parameters laid out in past iterations, and mostly The Next Generation. While there are several concepts that are more recognizably borrowed form other places in the Trek universe, Picard mostly focuses on its own, and oftentimes very personal, characters and narrative beats, building on TNG's core, and its periphery, with equal depth and detail. New and returning characters alike benefit from rich characterization, those returning experiencing believable emotional growth while new introductions fit into the current and past narratives with tangible and believable connections to the characters and events around them. The performances are excellent across the board and the visual effects are every bit as seamless as they need to be.

Star Trek: Picard - Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Picard's 1080p transfer holds serve, delivering quality colors and clarity but struggling a bit on the back end. First, details are largely excellent. Close-ups are a delight. The opening scene depicting Picard dreaming of a poker game with Data reveals the android's familiar skin texture with incredible clarity and depth, while Picard's gracefully aged face shows every line and pore with resplendent detail. Look at the Picard estate as seen in the first episode. The brick structure, the sandy and pebbly terrain, and the vegetation all present with superior clarity. These objects and elements are sharp and endlessly detailed. Less dynamic visual locations, like the fairly spartan La Sirena interiors, still deliver quality output even around mostly bland construction details. Starfleet uniforms are amongst the other visual highlights, with viewers able to see all of the fine fabric definition available. Color output is excellent. Whether bright exteriors home to green vegetation, Starfleet uniforms, green lights in the Borg cube, or orange holographic readouts and control panels on La Sirena, there's almost always an impressive color output even when the surroundings may be bland, such as inside the otherwise gray and black cube. Black levels are impressively deep and skin tones are fine.

Unfortunately, there is some frequent and sometimes heavy banding in play; look at a scene five minutes into the first episode, and at the 6:18 mark very prominently, for an example. The opening title sequence is another place to find rather copious amounts, as is the 11:07 mark of episode two, 22:48 in episode three, the very beginning of episode six looking down a hallway, and so on throughout the season with examples popping up here and there. There are also some compression artifacts (21:08 prominently on the back of Picard's sweater and elsewhere in the scene, too). Fortunately these issues are not regular but fans will be disappointed with the intrusions as they arise.

Star Trek: Picard - Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a well-rounded listen. Action scenes send phaser blasts all over the stage, and the track is not timid about delivering well balanced low end and surround support. Fine surround integration is a staple with the track delivering precise placement of discrete elements and a symphony of full bodied sound effects in more prominent scenes, such as when ships hurtle through warp. The track delivers solid atmospherics, too, including beeping computer consoles on ship's bridges and natural exterior elements on planet surfaces. Music is clear, wide, and immersive. Dialogue is well defined and prioritized from a natural front-center position.

Star Trek: Picard - Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Picard's three-disc first season Blu-ray release includes extras on all three discs. No DVD or digital copies are included but this release does ship with an embossed slipcover.

Disc One:

• Story Log (1080p): Brief behind-the-scenes featurettes for each episode which offer technical details, anecdotes, discussions of cast and crew, and more. Included are segments accompanying "Remembrance" (3:36), "Maps and Legends" (8:28), and "The End Is the Beginning" (4:26).
• Video Commentary (1080p, 44:18): A "social distance" commentary with the participants appearing in small boxes along the right hand side of the screen. When someone speaks, they sometimes appear in a large box on the right with the show playing in a smaller window on the left. Occasionally the show remains more prominent with the speakers remaining in the smaller box on the right. For "Remembrance:" Alex Jurtzman, Akiva Goldmsan, Michael Chabon, Hanelle M. Culpepper, and Kirsten Beyer.
• Deleted Scene (1080p, 2:43): For "Remembrance."
• Star Trek Short Treks: Children of Mars (1080p, 8:21): A short following the lives of two children whose lives were impacted by the tragedy on Mars. With optional audio commentary with Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet, and Kirsten Beyer.
• Make It So (1080p, 10:04): Getting the show off the ground, creating a unique identity for the show and allowing it to stand on its own, Stewart's work, Picard's character arc, and more.

Disc Two:

• Story Log (1080p): For "Absolute Candor" (4:51), "Stardust City Rag" (7:19), "The Impossible Box" (7:10), and "Nepenthe" (6:24).

Disc Three:

• Story Log (1080p): For "Broken Pieces" (5:06), "Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1" (4:06), and "Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2" (7:26).
• Deleted Scenes (1080p): For "Broken Pieces" (1:02), "Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1" (1:08), and "Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2" (0:37).
• Aliens Alive: The xBs (1080p, 12:34): A closer look at making the "ex-Borg" which are seen frequently throughout the season.
• Picard Props (1080p, 13:20): Looking at some nifty weapons, wine bottles, stuffed animals, game boards and pieces, soccer balls, and more.
• Set Me Up (1080p, 14:30): Exploring several of the key sets throughout the series: ship interiors, the Borg cube, and one of the more unusual sets that is critical to the season's final minutes.
• The Motley Crew (1080p, 19:10): Looking at some of the new characters who appear in the series and the actors who portray them.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 7:56): Humorous moments from the shoot.

Star Trek: Picard - Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Picard has more than a few surprises at hand, including its finale and the fate of its title character. While a second season is scheduled, season one ends without a cliffhanger, allowing it to work perfectly well on its own but also well positioned to take on a new adventure. Paramount/CBS' Blu-ray delivers problematic but generally solid 1080p video, a good 5.1 lossless soundtrack, and a nice array of bonus content. Highly recommended. Packaging collectors will want to splurge on the SteelBook packaging variant.