“Children of Mars,” the last Short Trek from 2019’s production run, provides us our first tantalizing morsel of Star Trek: Picard in advance of its premiere later this month — and it sends a clear message: if you think you know what this show is, think again.
 
This nine-minute short, directed by Michael Pellington from a script by Kirsten Beyer, Jenny Lumet, and Alex Kurtzman, focuses on two school children, both with parents on Mars — but like school children down the generations, they are fixed upon their petty slights against one another rather than what they have in common.
 
The rocky relationship between loners alien Kima (Ilmaria Ebrahim) and human Lil (Sadie Munroe) comes to a head, though, as tragedy strikes. Word reaches their school — and the general population of Earth — that Mars has been attacked, leaving the fate of their parents unknown. We see a few recognizable shots from recent Star Trek: Picard trailers of triangular black ships attacking an orbital space station, which we now know is the Utopia Planitia Ship Yards, as a series of explosions ripple across the surface of Mars.
 

As the footage plays on the screen at the school, a ticker at the bottom reads ROGUE SYNTHS ATTACK MARS — 3,000 ESTIMATED DEAD, with a later shot offering up our first glimpse of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), photographed in the Starfleet admiral’s uniform unveiled last fall at Destination Star Trek.

And that’s it! A tantalizing morsel indeed. Ultimately, “Children of Mars” does not tell us all that much about Picard and what the show will be about; as far as I know, none of the characters featured in this short are expected to appear in the show. But it does tell us that there are a number of dynamics to this story that we haven’t even guessed about yet.

But perhaps we now have a little better idea about what drove Picard from Starfleet: perhaps it was not the destruction of Romulus, but widespread devastation caused on Mars by these “rogue synths.” Who are the synths — possibly the Soong-ish androids seen in the series previews? Why did they go rogue? “Children of Mars” doesn’t give us any of that information, but it asks some very interesting questions!

In that way, “Children of Mars” is probably best thought of as another extended trailer for Picard rather than a substantive and necessary part of the show. That’s probably a good thing, given that we aren’t sure when or whether this short will air in the rest of the world (as of this writing), and it seems likely that we’ll learn much more about the attack on Mars in the show proper once it premieres in two weeks.

One of the most recent trailers, for example, features Picard in a dream sequence, sitting in Ten Forward, while there are explosions on the surface of Mars through the windows behind him. This appears to be a core story thread for the show, and so “Children of Mars” is unlikely to be the final – or only – word on the subject.

Taken by itself, though, “Children of Mars” provides a few additional glimpses of everyday life in the 24th century, something we’ve only been treated to occasionally in previous Star Trek shows. We’ve not seen an Earth school, for example, that wasn’t Starfleet Academy.

A couple of nice touches included a brief glimpse of the San Francisco skyline through Lil’s bedroom window, a poster on Lil’s wall mentioning Bajorans, the yellow school bus shuttlecraft — you’d better be on time, or the bus will leave without you! — and the fact that this short takes place on April 5… First Contact Day.

The story of the relationship between Kim and Lil is an interesting framing device for the short as a whole, but ultimately feels a little empty given we know almost nothing at all about these characters. Are these just young teenage girls who have taken a dislike to each other, or is there something more going on? Ultimately, it’s not important to what “Children of Mars” is trying to do, which is to tease you for Picard, but when looking at the story in isolation would have been nice to learn more about.

In addition, the majority of the short is backed by a cover of David Bowie’s classic “Heroes,” which is a bit of a strange choice. There is certainly something to be drawn from the lyrics – two people brought together “just for one day” – but the idea of heroism that manifests in the song does not feel like it lines up here.

Both the main characters of “Children of Mars” are mere bystanders to the attack on Mars, and while they each may be impacted by their shared loss, it feels a bit dissonant to label them heroes. Perhaps that has more relevance for the show as a whole – you can’t argue that Picard himself isn’t a hero – but taken in isolation I’m not sure the song choice entirely worked for me. But it was very artfully done and well produced.

Lastly, the title card of the short, shown right before the credits, was rendered in the famous The Next Generation font. Many fans were disappointed that the title treatment for Star Trek: Picard uses the classic Star Trek typeface — rather than the 1987-era TNG font — for the title, but it seems that it has not been entirely abandoned.

I was very pleased to  see it here!

Overall, “Children of Mars” is enough to whet your appetite for the premiere of Picard in on January 23 (or January 24 for you international viewers). It asks many more new questions than it answers, but luckily we likely don’t have long to wait until we start to get some of those answers.

In that way, it’s probably the most expensive trailer ever produced. But it worked on me, at least, and I’m definitely pumped for what’s to come.