Awesome / Star Trek: Picard

Awesome moments in Star Trek: Picard.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Season 1

1x 01 — Remembrance

• Dahj activating when the Zhat Vash assassins attempt to kill her in her apartment. Suffice to say, they never stood a chance. Even better, she takes them all out whilst wearing a bag over her head.
• The series quickly clears up any doubts about how well the new writing team gets the character of Jean-Luc Picard, as he does an interview with what turns out to be a sleazy tabloid reporter trying to embarrass him with the ignominious end of his Starfleet career, only for Picard to turn the tables with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech both on a personal level and for all of Starfleet, with Patrick Stewart's legendary gravitas dripping with righteous fury.
  Reporter: Why did you leave Starfleet?
  Picard: Because it was no longer Starfleet! We withdrew. The galaxy was mourning, burying its dead. And Starfleet slunk from its duties! The decision to call off the rescue and abandon those people we had sworn to save was not just dishonorable, it was downright criminal! And I was not prepared to stand by and be a spectator. And you, my dear, you have no idea what Dunkirk is, right? You're a stranger to history. You're a stranger to war. You just wave your hand and -pfft!- it all goes away. Well, it's not so easy for those who died, and it was not so easy for those who were left behind. We're done here.
  • A bit earlier, his devotion to what should be Starfleet's ideals is summed up perfectly in just one word.
    Picard: The Federation understood there were millions of lives at stake.
    Reporter: Romulan lives.
    Picard: No. Lives.
• During a rooftop fight, one mook gets tossed over a balcony, only to be beamed out mid-air and then beamed back into the fight a few seconds later.

1x 02 — Maps and Legends

• Despite Admiral Clancy's tirade against Picard showing up and asking to lead a secret mission, days after his own highly public tirade that tore Starfleet a new one, and with the still stinging circumstances that surrounded his departure clearly still in mind, she still gets in touch with Starfleet Intelligence, passing along his concerns about Romulans and synths — despite refusing him to his face, behind closed doors, she at least is still doing the work of looking into his claims.
  • For that matter, while it stings, the fact that Admiral Clancy gave Picard her very own "The Reason You Suck" Speech honestly is something of an awesome moment in itself — sure, she is yelling at Jean-Luc Picard of all people, a living legend of Starfleet, but she is also defending a position that the Federation took in a no-win scenario, by either letting the Federation fracture in an attempt to rescue an old enemy while simply not having the resources to do so (particularly after the fleet that had been assembled at Utopia Planitia was destroyed in an attack that, over a decade later, is still greatly a mystery) or sacrifice the Federation's ideals in the name of holding it in one piece, hopefully make amends one day. And in response, Picard walked away. Sure, he made the moral choice to defend the lives of innocents, but he still abandoned the Federation and Starfleet by withdrawing to his vineyard and (by his own words in the prior episode) "waiting to die," rather than acting to try and bring the Federation and Starfleet back to what it should be. Then he comes in and asks to be reinstated for a secret mission as if nothing had happened, days after his own "The Reason You Suck" Speech put across Federation airwaves? Though painful, as much as Picard felt abandoned by Starfleet, Clancy's words make it clear that many of those in Starfleet feel he abandoned them as well.
  Clancy: The sheer fucking hubris.

1x 03 — The End Is the Beginning

• Picard, Laris, and Zhaban take on a squad of Zhat Vash operatives who have come to silence Picard. In one corner, a 94-year-old retired admiral and two ex-Tal Shiar agents who haven't been in the game for almost two decades. In the other corner, a squad of highly trained, ruthless assassins. Our heroes proceed to wipe the floor with the Zhat Vash, using holdout phasers they have stashed all over the living room and some excellent teamwork.
• At the end of the episode, Picard does what we've waited eighteen years to see and hear again: orders a course set, points his finger, and says "engage."
• Raffi's home, like many Star Trek scenes over the years, was filmed at Vasquez Rocks in Agua Dulce, CA. But for the first time, the scene actually takes place at Vasquez Rocks in Agua Dulce, CA!

1x 04 — Absolute Candor

• Picard ripping off the "Romulans Only" sign, disgusted with the attitude of disdain that permeates across Vashti and its population, the anger towards the Federation — even if justified, it has now led to behavior that is not.
• When Picard spurs the wrath of a group of angry Romulans, Elnor comes to his aid, giving the Romulan mob two choices: Leave Picard alone, or die. ("Please, my friend. Choose to live.") After a very brief fight, a victorious Elnor expresses regret over his opponent's choice. The rest of the mob backs off.
• The David vs. Goliath showdown between La Sirena and a TOS-era Romulan Bird-of-Prey, with an assist from a mystery ship whose pilot turns out to be...Seven of Nine!
  • On a similar note, the fact that we get to see the iconic Romulan Bird-of-Prey once again after all this time is pretty awesome in and of itself. Especially for those old-school Trek fans who grew up watching the episode, "Balance of Terror". The Constitution-class and Klingon D7/K'tin'ga-class got their big-screen, modern-effects updates in Star Trek: The Motion Picture; the original Romulan Warbird never did. Until now.

1x 05 — Stardust City Rag

• Seven beaming back down to Bjayzl's bar with dual phaser rifles to get her revenge, then shooting her way out not because she had to, but because she wanted to.
• After nearly two decades of fans wondering what happened to Seven once she got to the Alpha Quadrant, it turns out she basically became Malcolm Reynolds, working with a ragtag group of vigilantes to help anyone the Federation can’t be bothered with. You could hear the fans clamoring for a spin-off within hours of the episode's release.

1x 06 — The Impossible Box

• Narek, having gotten the information he needed from Soji, leaves her to die locked in a room filling up with poisonous gas. Soji, now "activated" after realizing what she is, escapes by tearing a hole in the floor and crawling through the spaces between decks at superhuman speeds. Picard and Hugh find her first, and Elnor beams in to come to their aid just as a squad of Romulan soldiers corners them.
  • Remember the Romulan thug in "Absolute Candor" who told Elnor that a tan qalanq is no match for a disruptor? Well, these three guards were armed with disruptors, and Elnor slays them all in a few seconds with only his trusty sword. Talk about Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight! No wonder the Tal Shiar never succeeded in getting rid of the Qowat Milat, and the former is even scared of the latter.
• As Picard and Soji use the Sikarian Trajector to escape, Hugh and Elnor stay to delay the Romulan reinforcements so they can't track and follow them. As the Romulans begin shouting at them to drop their weapons and surrender, Elnor replies thus:
  Elnor: Please my friends, choose to live.

1x 07 — Nepenthe

• Will Riker and Deanna Troi both respectively giving Picard a (metaphoric) kick in the ass for how he's handling both Soji herself and the situation that has put her in danger, while at the same time unquestioningly offering them both a safe haven in the midst of having pissed off the Tal Shiar/Zhat Vash.
  • How safe is that haven? The Troi-Riker homestead has shields and anti-cloaking scans.
  • Troi's kick in the ass is particularly noteworthy - she kicks things off by being immediately able to tell that Soji is a synthethic android, proceeds to still psychoanalyze her, AND call out Jean-Luc Picard of all people for assuming that, from Soji's perspective, this total stranger is looking out for her best interests right on the heels of someone she'd come to trust trying to kill her. And she does all this after having been out of active duty for several years, so probably a little out of practice having to do all of this on the fly. Considering all the flak that Troi had always received for being Captain Obvious throughout the run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it's nice to see Troi getting to show just how skilled she is (and makes you wish that the TNG writers had understood psychology enough to give her this kind of material during that show's run).
• Picard initially wants to keep Will and Deanna in the dark in order to protect them from what's coming. It only takes Riker a few minutes to piece together exactly what's going on, particularly regarding Soji:
  Riker: I'd recognize that head tilt anywhere...
  • This doubles as a CMOA for Soji's actress, Isa Briones, according to "The Ready Room" show which releases on youtube after each episode that head tilt wasn't in the script or directed. She did that all on her own which shows how much effort and study she put into getting those mannerisms just right.
• Elnor continues to illustrate just why the Qowat Milat is a force to be reckoned with, as he holds his own against four soldiers and Narissa (for a total of five adversaries) who are firing their disruptors at him. He manages to stay out of their grasp because he can Dodge the Bullet; it's the first time we've seen a being in the Trek Verse display these extraordinary Super-Reflexes who is neither a Soong-type android nor an Augment. While employing Combat Parkour and Hit-and-Run Tactics, Elnor easily butchers the four guards in ten seconds with his tan qalanq, and he would've killed Narissa with her own knife if it weren't for her timely Teleportation Rescue. "The Kid" may be naïve in the ways of the galaxy, but put a sword in his hand and give him a just cause to fight for? Watch out.

1x 08 — Broken Pieces

• Elnor is cornered and hit with a flashbang grenade, and yet it still requires three Romulan security officers just to restrain his hands when he's disoriented and outnumbered. (Not to mention he has been stuck on the Artifact for days, and he has been fighting and moving around the Cube almost non-stop during that time; the poor guy must be exhausted.) They'd have gotten him eventually had Seven not shown up, but it just goes to show you what he's capable of.
• For the first time in the history of Star Trek, you'll be delighted as well as horrified to hear Seven of Nine coldly say, "We are Borg" as she becomes a Borg Queen and prepares to deal with Narissa and her followers.
  • Seven made the choice to become a Borg Queen to stop the Romulans' wholesale slaughter. Annika made the choice to give up the throne, and did so not out of technobabble preparation, but pure will. In an amusing way, both the Delta Quadrant's Borg Queen and Janeway would have been proud of her.

1x 09 — Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1

• For possibly the first time in history, the arrival of a Borg cube is a sight of celebration instead of horror, as Seven of Nine drives the Artifact to the rescue of La Sirena from Narek's ship in orbit of Coppelius.

1x 10 — Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

• Jean-Luc Picard, after thirty-three years, flies a starship again. Despite having no practical knowledge and very little secondhand knowledge of the holographic controls, and despite the fact that he's dying of an acute brain degeneration, Picard is able to fly La Sirena opposite an entire Romulan fleet, and also able to retain enough control to withstand the volley they launch at the Sirena copies.
• Narissa vs. Seven. Narissa tries a venomous Breaking Speech, but Seven brushes it off and kicks her down a shaft to a Karmic Death. Even better, she did it for Hugh.
• Agnes Jurati, who is not a command member of Starfleet, figures out a last-ditch effort for La Sirena against the Romulan Fleet: the Picard Maneuver. She uses the imagination tool Saga gave to Raffi to create an entire fleet of decoy Sirenas, delaying Oh and her Romulans and giving enough time for The Cavalry to arrive.
• The Cavalry arrives, led by Will Riker! The triumphant reprisal of the TNG theme only makes that scene even better.
  • To say nothing of Riker's entire Bring It spiel:
    Riker: Acting Captain Will Riker, in command of the USS Zheng He.
    Oh: And ...?
    Riker: And it is my duty to inform you that the United Federation of Planets has designated planet Ghulion IV in the Vayt sector as under the protection of Starfleet, according to the terms of the Treaty of Algeron.
    Oh: Too late. Our claim to this world takes precedence. Move aside.
    Riker: Afraid not.
    Picard: (recorded message) I have a priority request to open diplomatic negotiations and protection for the inhabitants of Ghulion IV.
    Riker: General, or Commodore, or whatever you're calling yourself, right now, I'm on the bridge of the toughest, fastest, most powerful ship Starfleet has ever put into service, and I've got a fleet of them at my back. We've got our phasers locked on your warp cores. And nothing would make me happier than you giving me an excuse to kick your treacherous Tal Shiar ass. But instead, I'm going to ask you one time — to stand down.
    • This is the woman directly responsible for orchestrating the events on Mars that led to the ban on synthetics, without which, his son would still be alive. The fact he held to his belief in Starfleet's code in the face of that makes it even more badass.
  • Riker, despite being inactive reserve, shows that he still knows how to command a starship into battle.
    Riker: Weapons hot, deflectors to full!
• Data's death, as bittersweet as it is, provides a gorgeous visual of Data's remains dissolving into a field of stars.

Season 2

2x 01 — The Star Gazer

• You think the copy-paste armada was impressive, they one-upped themselves here with an armada worthy of praise! As the Stargazer stares down the strange anomaly, they’re joined by the new Excelsior, a few Sovereigns, a Luna, and making their canon appearance from Star Trek Online, a Ross, some Reliants, some Sutherlands and a Gagarin!
• "Do you recall what I said to you when last we parted ways? The Trial. Never. Ends." John de Lancie has returned gloriously as Q and with barely a minute of screen time at the end of the episode, he is back at his magnificent best. Grandiose, powerful, with a subtle aura of menace as if no time at all has passed since All Good Things.

2x 02 — Penance

• Picard's group managing to blend in with their roles in the Confederation universe long enough to figure out a way to escape back in time and fix history. They then carry out a plan to escape to Rios' ship in orbit with the captive Borg Queen.
• Elnor easily taking down several Confederation soldiers.

2x 03 — Assimilation

• Picard's group overpowering the Magistrate and his soldiers to retake control of the ship.
• Jurati allows herself to be partially assimilated in order to get inside the Borg Queen's head and find some of the information needed to fix the timeline. Better, she does this in such a way that the Queen doesn't realize it until after the fact when Jurati rubs it in her face.
  • The Queen gets her own a moment later when she compliments Jurati in the most terrifying way possible:
  Queen: What you've done is more difficult, and far more dangerous, than you realize.
  Jurati: And what's that?
  Queen: You've impressed me.
  Jurati: [smirks, then looks terrified]

2x 07 — Monsters

• At the end of the episode, it's revealed that Picard and his crew's antics are not actually going unnoticed by the authorities. Cue a smart FBI agent—who has video of Picard beaming onto the street near her bar and knows something is going on—showing up at the bar and placing him and Guinan under arrest.

2x 08 — Mercy

• Jurati does what Picard wasn't able to: she is able to fight back against the Borg Queen's influence. She manages to save Seven and Raffi from being killed.
• The Borg Queen plays Adam Soong's ego like a fiddle and sells him a legacy that consists of monuments with his name and likeness on it and being the Godfather of an entire planet. She effectively cons him since his family's true legacy was to create a new species and descendants that save the galaxy more than once.

2x 09 — Hide and Seek

• Jurati turns out to be quite the chessmaster. She stalls the Borg Queen from taking over the ship, then manages to take control back long enough to convince her of another option and she accepts it.
• The whole concept of a Redemption Quest for the Borg is easily the most interesting thing that has been done with them in decades.

2x 10 — Farewell

• Tallin reminds Picard that her choices are hers and he does not have the right to stop her making them, even if they lead to her death. Likewise, the guilt is not his and she doesn't want him to carry it.
• Tallinn sacrificing herself to save Renee, impersonating her so that Soong poisons her instead, thereby restoring the timeline.
• Rios hijacking one of Soong's drones and using it to shoot down the others before they can destroy the Europa capsule.
• Kore gets one by deleting her "father's" research and letting him know that she's the one who did it. And if that wasn't awesome enough, she gets offered a place to help history by the most unexpected of characters: Wesley Crusher, who reveals that he's part of the same organization as Gary Seven and Tallinn that helps protect the fabric of history.
• And as for Wesley, he's no longer the Teen Genius Creator's Pet whom TNG fans (and Wil Wheaton himself) loved to hate. He's now Older and Wiser, fully aware of the responsibilities that he's chosen to bear.
• Q uses the last of his powers to bring Elnor back to life and also send Picard and his friends back home.
• Agnes Jurati, now the Borg Queen, showing up in 2401. After Picard realizes who it is, her first act is to protect the Federation from a destructive event using the fleet and her ship as a giant shield.

Season 3

Trailers

• The trailer for Season 3 revealed at the New York ComiCon revealed another ship, another Canon Immigrant: The Odyssey-class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F from Star Trek Online!
• The second trailer has scores of familiar faces only for the final one to be probably the last character anyone ever expected to make a return to the franchise: Professor James Moriarty.
  Moriarty: Greetings ... old friends.

3x 01 — The Next Generation

• Doctor Crusher is traveling aboard a small starship with one other person when they are boarded by armed intruders. Beverly locks her companion in his quarters to keep him out of danger and proceeds to bunker down in a corridor to dish out some preventative medicine on their attackers.
• Captain Shaw proves to be clever enough to recognize when Picard and Riker are trying to manipulate him into helping them with whatever personal mission they are on, and firmly puts his foot down when they can't come up with an official reason for him to violate his existing orders. And then Seven and the crew help them anyways as soon as the (implied to be rather unpopular) Captain goes to sleep.
• Raffi presents herself as a disgraced Starfleet Intelligence officer, hooked on drugs and trying to find the big break that will restore her to Starfleet's good graces. Throwing in all of her money to sweeten the deal, she convinces an Orion dealer to share some key intel with her before he chases her off, before revealing to the audience that she has not in fact fallen off of the wagon (or the Starfleet rosters), though she is still actively fighting her addiction.
• The attack on the Starfleet Recruiting Center is nothing if not impressive, with a portal opening up underneath, causing the entire facility to collapse into the hole before another portal opens up over the surrounding city, dumping the entire complex onto the people and buildings below. They even jammed communications so nobody could get a warning out in time if they did discover the imminent attack.

3x 02 — Disengage

• Vadic's ship has captured Crusher's and is drawing it in. Before it can get any further, the Titan-A decides to follow in its predecessor's footsteps and pull a Big Damn Heroes moment, warping in and cutting off the tractor beam with its own saucer section.
• When Vadic tells Shaw and the others she wants Jack Crusher's head and gives them some time to think about it, she proves she means business by casually grabbing Crusher's ship with the tractor beam and chucking it at the Titan effortlessly!
  Picard: (incredulously) What did she just do?!
  Sydney: She... threw a ship at us... sir.
• The Son of Mogh returns! And he does it as only Worf can, by killing Sneed and his mooks to save Raffi. (And for added awesomeness, he's accompanied by a brassy rendition of Jerry Goldsmith's Klingon Theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.)
• The Titan-A's chief medical officer, Dr. Ohk, and her staff manage to pull one off (albeit offscreen) that should really get an "A" added to her title^note Because CMO(A), geddit? when they get Beverly back from critical life-threatening condition that necessitated her going into a medical stasis pod to escape death, all the way back to being able to walk onto the Titan's bridge, all in less than the span of one hour while Vadic sits threatening the ship and crew.

3x 03 — Seventeen Seconds

• An injured Shaw transfers command to Riker who works with Picard to get away from the alien ship.
  Riker: Well done, Jean-Luc.
  Picard: Will...I think you can call me "Number One."

3x 04 — No Win Scenario

• Shaw's recollection of the Battle of Wolf 359 includes the 50 surviving crew of the USS Constance gathering on the life deck to Abandon Ship, only to discover there was only one serviceable lifeboat left, enough for only 10 of them to escape. Despite their situation, the crew didn't fight for seats on the escape craft, but instead simply waited there for someone above them to give orders, none of them willing to screw over their friends for a seat. Eventually, a lieutenant came and started pointing at crewmen, ordering them onto the lifeboat until it was full. Shaw was the tenth and final person to board, and the lieutenant remained behind with the others. The story is a mix of Awesome and Tearjerker for the way the ship's officers decided to Face Death with Dignity rather than turn on each other.
• Shaw and Seven work together to smoke out the Changeling infiltrating the crew. Realizing they don't have time to interrogate every crewmember to see who doesn't know their own personal details, they decide to steal the bucket that Changelings need to use to rest in their liquid state and force it to come to them.
  • After the Changeling escapes its first confrontation with Seven, it tries again by impersonating Sidney La Forge. But it doesn't know that in private, La Forge doesn't address Seven as "Commander Hansen," but rather "Commander Seven."
• When the Titan comes face to face with the Shrike in the middle of their escape, Riker quickly improvises by grabbing a nearby asteroid with the tractor beam and slinging it at them, much like what Vadic did to them with the Eleos XII earlier. The result? Vadic's ship is crippled.

3x 05 — Imposters

• Worf vs Raffi - oh boy. Both fighters going all-out in a much better choreographed fight than what we got used to when it came to Klingons and fighting in the TNG days.
  • And when it seems Raffi came out on top, old-timey viewers may have seen what happens next coming: an especially tough Klingon with multiple backup organs and decades of fighting experience immediately dropping dead after being stabbed with basically a pocket knife? Not likely (remember he stabbed Gowron on both sides with blades twice the size at least). Sure enough, after being dragged off and therefore perfectly set up to ambush the rest, he pulls a Mook Horror Show, leaving only Krinn to interrogate. "Klingons never disappoint" indeed.
  • And just to put the cherry on top, both he and Raffi are so casual about him getting stabbed that they use the fact that he's slowly bleeding to death as an interrogation tool. And it works.
• The return of Ro Laren of all people, now a Commander and working for Starfleet Intelligence (and, as we learn later on in the episode, alongside Worf). Particularly notable for the out of universe shock this was - sure, the audience was expecting cameos in the final season, but the return of Michelle Forbes to Star Trek was kept quiet enough to be a genuine surprise. Especially considering the number of times she'd been asked to come back, but declined to commit to a regular role. It makes her return all the more powerful.
• Jack taking out four Changelings with incredibly rapid precision. Whatever's going on with him, it's terrifying. . . yet undeniably awesome.

3x 06 — Bounty

• We finally get to see the Fleet Museum for the first time, and she's as much a goldmine of old ships for Trek fans as a railroad museum is for Railfans. For the first time in years, the Enterprise-A, the Enterprise NX-01 (and refit no less), the Excelsior, the Voyager, the unrefit Constitution class vessel (named New Jersey) that Picard mentioned on "Relics" all those years ago—it's all there, just like it had been teased over the years. And if that wasn't wild enough? They recovered the H.M.S. Bounty—the same Klingon ship Kirk and company stole—and the Defiant survived her near brush with death on Prodigy to make it into the Museum! The museum itself is housed in the old Spacedock from the third and fourth movies. Every single Trek ship from throughout the generations is all here, on screen at once. And Geordi La Forge has the honor of tending to the history of the franchise.
  • Also, for those who haven't been happy with the redesign that the original Constitution class Enterprise has had for its appearances in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the New Jersey is proudly in the same design as the Enterprise was during her days on TOS, giving the classic design a clear image in HD.
• Sidney Calling the Old Man Out for refusing to help his friends in their time of need. Sure, he's worried about her, but she used the very lessons he taught her to convince him to turn around and help Picard, and he does just that.
  Geordi: They're not your family!
  Sidney: Yes they are! You taught me that!

3x 07 — Dominion

• Jack Crusher uses his newfound psychic abilities to save Sidney's life by guiding (possibly controlling) her to fight the Changeling Commander off with his own fighting moves

3x 08 — Surrender

• The entire liberation of the Titan-A once Data is back in control of his body. Taking back control of their systems, Data turns the entire ship against the Changelings as Raffi, Worf and the remaining Titan crew tear through the others to get back to the bridge. Once that's done, Picard orders the bridge's evacuation hatch open, blowing Vadic and the rest of her crew out into space while Jack and Seven are protected by a force field. Just to drive the point home, Vadic freezes solid and shatters into pieces once she hits the Shrike.
  • As commenters mentioned Data's actions and word choices are less him and more Lore, showing that Data and him truly did find a way to become one, with Data using Lore's rage and anger as a tool to protect his family.
    Greetings, U.S.S. Titan. This is your friendly, positronic, pissed off security system, back online. Unwanted guests, and monologuing protoplasms, I am initiating an immediate shift change.
  • For that matter, Data getting one up on Lore. In the Battle in the Center of the Mind it seems like Lore's wining, erasing Data from existence, and Data seems to be capitulating, handing over his memories (which he states define him) to Lore, for Lore to presumably delete. (This includes the holographic projector with the image of Tasha Yar, letting all the original Enterprise-D crew come back for the last season in some way.) But Lore wasn't deleting Data's memories, he was keeping them like trophies. And Data expected him to do that, and as Data said, "my memories define me." This leads to Lore becoming Data, as the two fuse to create a new personality with the best elements of both.
• Once Shaw reclaims the bridge, he allows Seven to order the next command — launching as many photon torpedoes into the Shrike as they can to obliterate it and put an end to this threat once and for all.
  Seven: Give it everything we've got. FIRE!
  (the Titan fires torpedoes and the Shrike goes boom)
• In addition to being heartwarming, the senior staff of the Big-E gathering together around a conference table to work out solutions to save the Federation is awesome all by itself.
  • In the Awesome page for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, it's noted that once Chekov takes the weapons console, Enterprise has all her old crew back together again, meaning they're practically invincible. Once more, we have all the old crew back together, preparing and strategizing as they did so often in the briefing room of the Enterprise-D. Whatever problem faces the Federation, if a solution can be found, these people around this table will find it.

3 X 09 — Vox

• The senior crew of the USS Excelsior. While they are ultimately killed by the rest of the fleet along with their ship you have to give credit that they were able to fight back and regain control of the ship. They even managed to track down the location of the signal’s source and broadcast it to anyone who might be listening showing their determination to do their duty to protect the Federation even if it cost them their lives.
• They brought back the Enterprise-D!!!
  • This cannot be understated. In the Darkest Hour, when all the more recent and up-to-date ships are unavailable, Picard and his old crew need a ship. A reliable ship. A vessel that can give them what they need to save the day. And what they find for the task is a fan-favorite, an old legend, restored to her prime for one last run.
  • And even that can't be understated. Last fans saw her, the D was little more than a crashed saucer, left to rot on Veridian III if not outright scrapped. Eagle-eyed viewers got information in Season 2 that Starfleet took the saucer off the planet and put her in the Fleet Museum, so they were expecting her to show up. What wasn't expected was that Geordi had restored her from scratch, scavenging other parts from Galaxy class ships to make her whole again over the course of twenty years. And when the crew steps onto the bridge of their old ship, they perfectly rebuilt the old bridge set down to the last detail!.
  • And even this can't be understated. Many other franchises across pop culture had brought iconic characters back just recently—The Mandalorian had Luke Skywalker in Season 2, Spider-Man: No Way Home brought all three Spider-Men together, Pokémon Journeys: The Series gave Serena a chance to come back, etc.—but even their return was hoped for by most on some level. Tears were shed, minds were blown, and fans cheered in unison, as no one saw the D coming back; Trek did the impossible, and went out of its way to bring back the second most iconic holder of the Enterprise name Back from the Dead, have her old crew join her, save the galaxy one last time, and bring fans together to say: Thank You Terry!.
• Not to be outdone, Star Trek finally brings the Enterprise-F into live-action for the first time, and she pulls off one hell of a final shakedown run. Sure, it gets ruined by the Borg, but the F certainly lived up to her reputation as the heir to the most famous name in Starfleet.
  • Topped off by the woman in the center seat - ADMIRAL Elizabeth Shelby. More than thirty years after telling Riker that she was after his seat, she manages to get to the center chair of the Enterprise for the Enterprise-F's final official flight.
    • As negated as it might be by the Borg's takeover, Shelby also clearly is listening to Picard's warning when the Titan breaks in to the Starfleet signal. The Changeling infiltration has had the Titan crew and the Enterprise veterans marked as renegades and outlaws, but Shelby is clearly willing to believe it when Jean-Luc Picard gives a warning.
• A hell of a villainous moment of awesome for the Borg that trumps even their Near-Villain Victory in First Contact, as we see the full scope of their plan over the entire season play out. Having tried and failed twice to assimilate the Federation, the Borg have come up with a new plan. By enlisting the help of the rogue Changelings to infiltrate Starfleet, the Borg are able to have them insert the altered DNA code from Picard's corpse into transporters across the entirety of Starfleet, allowing them to infect as many people as possible with Borg nanoprobes, all of them just awaiting activation through manipulating Jack, whose connection to Picard allows him to be a living transmitter for the DNA signal. All of this in tandem with instigating the development of a network infrastructure that links the fleet together and allows it to be remotely controlled from one location, then using the one day that the entirety of Starfleet will be in one spot to ensure that the moment they are ready to act, the Federation will fall completely under their control with but a single command... and their enemies have been none the wiser to the Collective's most sinister plan yet to finally assimilate them for good.

3 X 10 — The Last Generation

• Seven, Raffi, Dr Ohk, and a few older officers (or possibly enlisted crewmen) manage to retake the bridge of the Titan with the clever idea of supplying their phasers with transporter tags to beam the assimilated crew into the locked-off transporter bay. Oh and one of those crewmen happens to be the cook.
  • Seven congratulates Raffi on the modification, stating she may have just invented the portable transporter. Like, say, the ones built into combadges in the future Starfleet of Discovery?
• Although Earth's orbital weapons platforms have been destroyed, Spacedock's defences are still holding against the entire assimilated fleet. In one scene, it manages to disable five ships in under 17 seconds.
  • Fridge Brilliance adds to the awesomeness. Spacedock wouldn't have been unaffected by the Borg signal activation last episode and they're almost certainly trying to stop the same "instant drone" uprising that hit the entire Frontier Day fleet. Yet, Spacedock has managed to either stop the assimilated Starfleet personnel, or at least forced them into an impasse — and this is also all the while fighting back against the similarly assimilated Starfleet armada.
  • Judging from the debris field we see after the battle, Spacedock must have crippled or destroyed dozens of ships all by itself.
• Under heavy fire, Riker pops out of cover and instantly unleashes a barrage of phaser fire that one-shots two Borg drones back to back - one of them square in the face.
• President Anton Chekov proves to be just as brave as his father Pavel, as he takes time to send a warning out to those still outside the Sol System to keep away, but also encourage them as well, quoting his father. What makes this awesome is that Spacedock, where he is, is under sustained fire from the controlled flotilla, and his aides are clearly frantic about getting him to an escape pod, yet he's not backing down until he gets the word fully out.
• The Enterprise-D is finally able to show off its true battle potential thanks to modern CGI in a way the practical show model effects never could. Data flies her like he stole her, zipping around the innards of the Borg ship blasting bits of it looks like it could have come straight out of Star Wars.
  • In effect, if, like many, you were disappointed in the last fight the Enterprise-D had, back in Star Trek: Generations against the Duras sisters' out-of-date bird-of-prey, the old girl makes up for it here against the Borg cube IN SPADES.
  • Throughout TNG, the limited VFX restricted her movements in battle, making her come across as a Mighty Glacier. This time, however, the more advanced CGI lets her graduate to all-out Lightning Bruiser; additionally thanks to having Data at the helm during her tear through the Cube.
• Thirty years after she triggered a friggin' solar flare to destroy a Borg cube while in command of the Enterprise-D — yes, the very same ship she is currently on — Dr Beverly Crusher proves her Combat Medic status yet again... only this time she doesn't need a solar flare. She and the Enterprise's weapons systems can manage that all on their own.
  Geordi, Deanna, and Data: (look at Beverly in bewilderment as if to say, "Did you seriously just do that?")
  Beverly: ...A lot's happened in the last twenty years.
• The sheer Papa Wolf levels Picard goes to save his son, up to including facing the greatest trauma in his life — being assimilated and turned into Locutus — without even a hint of hesitation as he shoves the Borg tech into him to be able to reach out to his son is inspiring and, the sheer audacity it coupled with his conviction to stay by Jack's side no matter what is what ultimately convinces Jack to break free from euphoria of the Collective.
  Borg Queen: What are you doing!?
  Picard: I've vowed never to return to the Collective! I've been running... for half my life! But not now! Now I have something to go back for!
  Borg Queen: STOP!!
  • Brings to mind another quote from a different franchise, that nonetheless embodies this moment.
  Men of honor will do things for their children that they would never consider doing for themselves.
• As the Borg Cube begins exploding, Troi takes the Enterprise’s helm after sensing Riker saying his last farewell to her through their mental link and brings the ship to his, Picard, Jack and Worf’s location, beaming them aboard before escaping the cube’s destruction with none worse for wear. This is a sort of redemption for her, as she was the one sitting in the pilot's chair when the D crashed.
  • Enterprise floating down above Picard and co's heads counts as an extra bit of Visual Effects Of Awesome: rarely do we get to see in perspective just exactly how flippin huge the Galaxy-class actually is. For the record, according to Memory Alpha, bow to stern 641 meters, or 2103 feet, or just short of twice the length of a Ford-class aircraft carrier. Also gives you an idea about the size of the cube it's inside of and why you needed someone like Data to fly it like it was the Millennium Falcon earlier - anyone else would've gotten shot down or crashed into something because of the sheer inertia of the thing.
• Followed, of course, by the money shot of that entire sequence: as explosions erupt all across the cube, a tiny blue speck appears in the middle. It's Enterprise! Pulling a trail of fire because of the speed, shields at full power glowing against the inferno around her as she escapes the fireball then flies off into the camera, having saved the Federation one last time. Words just can't do it justice.
• After centuries of terrorizing the galaxy, threatening the existence of the Federation time and time again, and everything they’ve done to Picard, Seven, Sisko, Shaw, and countless other victims, it’s finally over. The malignant species of Borg that has plagued the Federation ever since the crew of the Enterprise-D discovered it 36 years ago are gone for good, leaving only the benign collective organized by Queen/Jurati.
  Jack: It's done. The time of the Borg is over.
• The Enterprise-D, now fully restored, is finally given the retirement she deserves—not as a rusting hulk on Veridian III with only her saucer section left, not as a junked wreck left floating in space, and not destroyed like her predecessor—The Fleet Museum, nestled between the Stargazer and the Enterprise-A. She's joined the Defiant, Voyager, and the NX-01 as one of the big name ships in the franchise to survive, and tales will be told of her legend well into the future.
• After struggling to try and fit in and be accepted since Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant and her crew disbanded, Seven of Nine has gained perhaps the greatest possible acknowledgement from Starfleet of her skills, abilities and accomplishments. Not only being promoted to Captain, but promoted to Captain of the most coveted command in the entire Federation Starfleet. She is now Captain Seven of Nine of the USS Enterprise.
  • Speaking of the G, Starfleet saw fit to change her name from Titan-A in honor of the Enterprise-D crew. Two seasons ago, Jean-Luc Picard was the man Starfleet saw up and leave because he wouldn't stand with them in their most desperate hour, believing they had betrayed their ideals. Now, there's no doubt that Picard is the true hero of Starfleet, and the G will be carrying that torch for both him, the D crew, and all those ships named Enterprise before and after her.
• The final scene of the series: Jack is unpacking his belongings aboard the USS Titan, now christened the USS Enterprise-G, when a familiar face appears in his cabin to prepare him for humanity’s next trial. Much like he did with Jack’s father thirty-seven years ago.
  Jack: You told my father that humanity's trial was over.
  Q: It is... for him. But I'm here today because of you. You see, yours, Jack, has just begun.
• Upon tracking down the Borg Cube, Picard immediately asserts that "What began over thirty-five years ago ends tonight." After half of his life running from the specter of Locutus, Jean-Luc is resolved to see to it the threat of the Borg will never return to haunt the Federation ever again. Once and for all, the line is drawn here.

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