For the third year in a row, the team from CBS has brought along to San Diego Comic Con a big collection of Star Trek props and costumes to showcase in the nearby Michael J. Wolf Fine Art gallery — and this time, it’s all about one man: Jean-Luc Picard.
The free-to-attend exhibit, titled Jean-Luc Picard: The First Duty, reflects over the long Starfleet career of the two-time Enterprise captain, with a mix of props and costumes from the character’s time in Star Trek: The Next Generation (and subsequent feature films), but also showcases items built for the new Star Trek: Picard series, many of which are intended to be part of Picard’s own personal history during the 24th Century.
From the moment you enter the gallery, you’re surrounded by familiar sights from Picard’s previous television adventures, starting with a number of Starfleet uniform costume seen throughout the TNG era.
There are also a number of Picard-centric props on display, from a collection of Data’s paintings retained by the now-former-Admiral after the android’s death in Star Trek: Nemesis, to his prized Kurlan Naiskos from “The Chase,” to the remains of the eviscerated Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact.
Also included are a set of Dixon Hill hardcover novels (new props not seen in The Next Generation) bearing titles known to those who are familiar with the fictional detective series, each ‘written’ by TNG writer Tracy Tormé, the creator of the holographic character for early Next Generation episode “The Big Goodbye.”
Several large-scale models from Picard’s service in Starfleet were also present, including all three of his starships — the Stargazer, the Enterprise-D, and Enterprise-E — as well as the Cousteau “captain’s yacht” used at the Ba’ku homeworld in Star Trek: Insurrection.
Around the gallery are a series of framed images from Picard’s life, including artistic renditions of a young Jean-Luc Picard from his time aboard the Stargazer and earlier (no sign of Tom Hardy’s Starfleet Academy photos seen in Nemesis, phew!), plus stills of his family back in France, and his crewmates from the Enterprise-D.
Also on display is the Picard family album — seen in both Star Trek: Generations and Nemesis, featuring photos and certificates from the man’s younger days.
Turning to the new builds from Star Trek: Picard, the Starfleet diplomatic and command services of Jean-Luc Picard are on display in a series of awards from groups — and alien species — from around the Alpha Quadrant, painting the picture of the honorable and dedicated public servant we know from the time of The Next Generation.
Some of these awards are dated with years set before TNG, going all the way back to Picard’s days at Starfleet Academy, and others were given to Picard for actions we’ve seen on screen: a Vulcan award for stopping the Romulan invasion seen in “Unification”; a Federation award for stopping the Klingon Civil War seen in “Redemption”; a Bajoran award for service at the end of the Cardassian Occupation.
Others, however, seem to be from events we’ve not seen before: a Vulcan award for peace negotiations in 2386 — seven years after Star Trek: Nemesis, and a trophy from the people of Andoria after Picard’s retirement from Starfleet.
From the Picard family vineyard, a case of Chateau Picard (vintage 2386, the year Picard returned home) is on display — along with branded drinkware — and the one new costume featured in the gallery, a civilian outfit worn by Patrick Stewart circa 2399, bearing a lapel pin in the design of the Picard family crest (available to gallery visitors throughout Comic Con weekend).
Finally, a pair of Klingon weapons were mounted on display, the first being a d’k tahg knife said to be gifted to Picard after his participation in defending Worf’s honor in “Sins of the Father” (though this seems to be a new build compared to the TNG-era production).
The more notable item, however, is a surprisingly-familiar bat’leth sword, stated to be a gift to Picard from Worf in 2381 — two years after the events of Nemesis — which is nearly identical in design to those seen during the Rick Berman-era of Star Trek production.
While there are two minor additions to the blade’s curvature, a pair of extra indentations at each end, compared the wildly-different bat’leth redesign used in Star Trek: Discovery is our first sign that Klingon elements seen in Star Trek: Picard may be much closer in style to the designs maintained by the franchise up through the end of Enterprise in 2005.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Star Trek: Picard-era Starfleet uniform seen in leaked set photos from earlier this summer, nor the long-awaited reveal of the 2399-ish Starfleet combadge design, so it seems that CBS is still keeping as much of the series under wraps as it can before their planned reveals at Saturday’s big Enter the Star Trek Universe panel.
Keep checking back to TrekCore throughout San Diego Comic Con for all the latest Star Trek news — and be sure to follow us on Twitter for live coverage from the show floor, including the Saturday afternoon Hall H panel as it happens!