from Chris Snelgrove
| Published
Despite the very shaky first two seasons, many Star Trek fans are welcoming Season 3 of the Picard like what they’ve been waiting decades for. The season largely abandoned the show’s new characters to focus on returning characters The next generationand we have constant fan service in the form of delightfully unexpected cameos (Shelby, Roe, Tuvok, oh my!) and some unexpected villains (the shape-shifting Founders). The shape-shifters were just henchmen for the real Big Bad, and that brings us to one missed opportunity of the season: the final villains should have been the aliens from TNG episode “Conspiracy”, not the Borg.
Of course, I was one of the many fans who groaned at the inevitable revelation that the Borg Queen was behind all the killing and mayhem of the season. The Borg loomed large in the first season of Picard and were the main antagonists of season 2 while also appearing Prodigy and Lower decks. These guys are actually the biggest crutch for Star Trek storytelling when they need a nostalgic villain, and it was disappointing that even Picard’s greatest season couldn’t escape their influence. It turns out that resistance is futile when it comes to writers who resist the urge to do the same old thing instead of trying something new.
It was supposed to be the villains of Star Trek: Picard Season 3
to be honest, extraterrestrial mistakes from The next generation episode “Conspiracy” would have made much better final bad guys for Picard and his Enterprise crew to face during their final team-up. In case you need a refresher, these aliens managed to take over almost everyone’s minds and the only sign that someone was infected was a strange “bug bug” (like The greatest generation podcast might say) sticking out of their necks.
Picard and Riker saved the day by killing the alien leader in the most explosive way possible, but this Season 1 episode ended with Data ominously speculating that the leader had activated a homing beacon that would attract more of these dastardly creatures. Since then, fans have been waiting for these aliens to reappear Star Trek. They never did, probably because they were originally intended as a way to represent the Borg, but that connection was cut short by the time everyone’s favorite bionic baddies arrived in season 2 of Q Who?
Why The Conspiracy Aliens Are Better Than The Borg
Besides the fact that the Borg are seriously outplayed, why do I think the aliens from The Conspiracy should have taken their place? For one thing, these mysterious aliens have their own ability to assimilate Starfleet personnel. This means that a large part of Picard Season 3’s plot may remain the same, with the Founders’ mysterious employers just being another leading mistake rather than the Borg Queen.
for something else PicardSeason 3 was pure fan service: the show dealt with the romance between Picard and Dr. Crusher, answered burning questions about whether Ro was still in Starfleet, brought back the Founders as major players, and so on. In the midst of all this great fan service, wouldn’t it be great if the show returned to the aliens from The Conspiracy and tied a nice bow on Star Trek’s most infamous tease? As for this fan, I’d rather see that than watch the Borg Queen die again (but for real this time, y’all!).
A better reason for the reunion
Finally, the return of the aliens from The Conspiracy would provide a more logical reason for Picard and Riker to get the whole gang back together. As good as Picard’s third season was, we still have to accept that a bunch of aging heroes are the only ones who can defeat Trek’s most common threat in time for the early bird special. The return of aliens that only Picard’s crew has ever defeated would make their return more logical, especially since the presence of the bugs doubles the risk that the friendly faces aren’t what they seem.
In the end, of course, this is only a minor remark. PicardThe third season of was generally magnificent, leaving fans clamoring for a Star Trek: Legacy a show that seems destined to never happen. However, his reliance on the Borg as the Big Bad reveals just how much the writers were running out of ideas. The aliens from The Conspiracy would be a perfect substitute, but that being said Of paramount importance killed our hopes for Legacy and currently working on an unnecessary Trek prequel movie, it looks like fans will have to wait a few more decades to see the return of the franchise’s scariest aliens.
