Today, LeVar Burton,
Mica Burton, and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut swing by
for a La Forge family visit.
We take a look at how the Fleet Museum was curated,
and we do some deep research
into the history of the Daystrom Station.
So whistle a happy tune, and join me in The Ready Room
for all this and more.
Marvelous.
Hey, nerds! I'm Wil Wheaton.
And this is The Ready Room,
your official behind-the-scenes hub
for all things Star Trek Universe.
This week's episode of Star Trek: Picard, "The Bounty,"
sees the return of a lot of familiar faces.
And if that sounds unfamiliar to you,
I am gonna call
for a red alert!
I can't wait to talk about all the deep cuts
and callbacks we see in this week's episode.
But like most Easter eggs, they're way better unspoiled.
So, if you haven't seen "The Bounty" yet,
make like you just stole a cloaking device
and disappear, stream it,
and then return to The Ready Room without delay.
This week, we've engineered
a conversation with the La Forge family.
LeVar Burton, his real life daughter,
and my 2021 Star Trek Day co-host, Mica Burton,
and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut,
who played Geordi, Alandra,
and Sidney La Forge, respectively,
sit down with me to discuss their journey together
this season on Star Trek: Picard.
As the La Forges well know,
Starfleet has always been at the forefront
of scientific research and analysis,
but sometimes,
new discoveries can be so potentially dangerous
that they need to be kept in a secure location.
Later, we'll explore one such facility, Daystrom Station,
which debuted in this week's episode.
But before all of that,
we learn in this week's episode
that the former Chief Engineer of the Enterprise,
Commodore Geordi La Forge,
currently oversees the Fleet Museum,
which houses some of the most legendary starships
in Starfleet history.
I mean the Voyager, the Enterprise-A,
the Defiant, the HMS Bounty.
Yeah, right, the whole whale thing.
It is epic.
Here's a look at Geordi's return to Star Trek
and how that magnificent museum came to be.
Control Room! Engage.
Geordi.
I'm a must admit,
in the nanosecond my body de- and then reconstructed,
I debated the virtues of a curt professional handshake
or an uncomfortable, but long overdue hug.
When Picard was announced,
it was very clear that Picard was not Next Gen
and would not go there.
And then that changed, so I guess it's true.
Once you let go of something,
if you surrender it,
it can, and oftentimes does, come back to you.
And this is certainly one of those times.
I thought the ship had sailed, and then the phone rang.
We may have lost one friend in battle,
but we have gained another.
Data.
I love working with LeVar.
He's so excellent on these shows,
and it was, you know, beyond a pleasure to be with him.
A reunion for Star Trek: The Next Generation
was going to be nostalgic,
but we didn't wanna do things for nostalgia's sake.
But at the same time,
there are things in the world you would want to see.
I've been here before.
This is the- - Fleet Museum.
Every legendary starship.
This is their final resting place.
The Fleet Museum is a really awesome
character update for Geordi, I feel like,
because now he has a new title.
He's been promoted, he's in charge of things.
He's really the head honcho.
Geordi!
We set it up early in the first episode.
It's one of the first things Picard says.
I want to give it to Geordi.
He will love it!
With all the characters going into Season 3,
it was like finding great organic ways
to catch up with these beloved characters.
And Geordi being this lover of history,
it just felt like he was the obvious choice
to be kind of the gatekeeper there
that's overseeing these things and caring for them.
To be the keeper of the flame for these machines,
for these amazing starships.
I like that as part of his canon.
Better circumstances, I would gladly geek out with you
over the marvel of maintenance and engineering
that this ship is.
Thank you.
We tried to pepper in Easter eggs,
and then, occasionally, the cinematographer would be like,
"Okay, does there have to be 400 things on his desk?"
And we're like, "Yes, there does."
LeVar's first day on set,
we did this scene where he's at the desk,
and there's a scene in First Contact
where he's talking with Zefram Cochrane, and he's like,
"You're standing here and you have your hand all like that."
And Doug Drexler had sculpted the statue,
and we had that on his desk,
and LeVar walks in, and just the fact that we had that,
and we had all these little details from his quarters,
he was like, "Oh my God, you got the thing!"
And he came up and gave me a big hug,
and I'm like, that was my introduction to LeVar Burton
was him hugging me on the set.
- Just awesome. - It's amazing, right?
- Appreciate that. - Oh, so cool, so cool.
You know, I was on that set for all of a half hour,
so I don't feel like I got an opportunity
to really explore and to find
all of the things that production design put in there.
They went above and beyond
in terms of filling it with things that would make sense,
that would have meaning to Geordi.
It felt like a great way to honor Star Trek
and the history of Star Trek, specifically Geordi.
We shift down then kick hard into warp nine.
Yeah, come back fighting!
Woo-wee!
Can we do it, Geordi?
Ask me after it's done, sir.
It's very interesting to see original TNG Geordi,
who's kind of young and figuring things out
and going on these adventures with his friends and his crew,
to having adult daughters
and really having to weigh what's more important,
his old family or his new family.
You've just knowingly put my daughter in grave danger.
Geordi, I did nothing of the kind.
Working with my dad is actually really fun.
This is our first job together.
We kind of waited until both of our careers,
well, specifically mine, was more separated from his
before we started to do work together.
And so now, we actually get to really
enjoy being on set together.
He did cry the first time he saw me in a Starfleet uniform.
Acting with my daughter, acting with Mica, is,
you know, I always expected that it would happen.
I'm really thrilled that it has happened
with this franchise, with this family.
To have her work with, in essence, her aunts and uncles,
I mean, these are people that have known her
since before she was born.
And to see her come into her own in this company
is particularly fulfilling.
My heart is full.
When I first met Mica,
I didn't know that was his actual daughter.
She was just introduced as like, to me as Mica.
So I was like, "Hi, Mica, nice to meet you."
It wasn't until, I think,
Jonathan Frakes actually told me,
"No, no, no, that's his real daughter."
That's his daughter, I'm playing their daughter,
and they welcomed me into their family.
I went to their house for Thanksgiving.
I don't know, I actually feel like an honorary Burton
if you will.
I really am grateful to to Terry Matalas and the writers
for making this storyline a priority.
I mean, it does fit, doesn't it?
The next generation,
from The Next Generation and as a family,
we were just thrilled.
I have with me the three members of the La Forge family,
LeVar Burton, Mica Burton, and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut.
Thank you for being here.
Wil Wheaton!
This is so cool!
We're in The Ready Room.
We are in The Ready Room.
And congrats on your awesome set,
by the way. - Nice digs.
- Right? - Very nice digs.
I was very excited.
They built the set and I was like,
"Oh, we're gonna be here for a while."
I didn't see that until right now.
Oh, all the great toys we have?
[LeVar] The lunchbox. [Mica] The lunchbox!
[Wil] Yeah, yeah. [LeVar] The lunchbox.
That is legit.
That is a vintage lunchbox.
- Wow. - Oh, was it yours?
No, mine's at home. [LeVar] But it is now.
I'm not putting mine on a set where someone
could walk away with it. - Oh, my bad. I'm sorry.
- Are you kidding? - Well done. Well done.
Well, thank you.
Thank you for being here.
Ashlei and Mica, welcome to the Star Trek family.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
LeVar, welcome home.
Yeah, thank you, W.W.
How does it feel?
It feels...
You know, I never thought this day would come.
I never thought this
would ever happen. - Of course.
I thought that ship had sailed.
So to have it happen at all is a miracle.
Yeah.
To have it happen this good,
It's like I can't even believe it.
Terry and the writers have delivered on his promise
to really give us a send off
that we could and would be proud of.
And the arc that they've written in terms of this family
is incredibly satisfying to me.
I've just seen the beginning of it.
[LeVar] Mmm-hmm.
And the seeds that were planted this week
are incredibly compelling to me.
I am very interested in this family.
I wanna talk about that a lot today.
Before we get there,
Mica.
Yes.
You were literally born into Star Trek.
Correct. Correct.
Like, you grew up, we both grew up on a starship
in slightly different ways.
Yes.
You've been around this your whole life.
What does it mean to you to be an actor in this world,
and not just an actor in this world,
but your father's daughter?
It's...
I don't wanna like, copy his answer,
but I genuinely never thought this day would come.
I think for multiple reasons,
you know, wanting to establish my own name
before getting into acting,
wanting to make sure that,
you know, being my father's daughter
and then being my father's daughter, wasn't,
you know, too close together.
I think I maybe put that out of my head
that we would ever actually be on screen together,
let alone playing, kind of, who we are.
So, to have it be so wonderful and magical
and work with literally my entire family, essentially,
is just, I can't describe it.
I sometimes still feel like it's not real,
even though I've watched the episode
and I've seen it with my own eyes, it doesn't
- I know that feeling. - It doesn't feel real!
- Yeah. - Yeah.
No pressure, Ashlei, this is what you came into.
So much pressure.
Tell me about your relationship to Star Trek
before assuming this role.
How, do you have fandom?
Does it,
tell me what that is.
I did, but my mom, more so.
[Wil] Oh, yeah? Okay.
But fun fact,
Geordi was my Instagram profile picture for years.
No!
Before I booked this.
I low key manifested this.
That's amazing.
Isn't that awesome?
I remember showing him your Instagram profile,
and I was like, "Oh, she's hinting it."
And then when I met you, you were like,
"No, it's been my icon
for years."
For years, yes.
I couldn't believe it.
I thought she just did this?
And didn't know, it had been her profile icon for some time.
Still is.
Yeah, still is.
You're aware that Geordi is a popular character
in the Star Trek franchise, right?
That's right.
And I hope to stay that way.
[Wil] Is this news to you? Are you just finding this out?
It never ceases to amaze me,
the depth at which people have embraced these characters
and him particular.
I mean, for me it was all about Nichelle Nichols, right?
And feeling seen,
feeling represented in the Star Trek Universe.
As a science fiction fan for the whole of my life,
the Star Trek Universe meant the world to me
because of that.
And to be able to be that for people of color
and for people who deal with physical challenges
in their lives,
it doesn't get any better than that.
Except for when they write a satisfying conclusion
to the 30-plus year arc of these characters.
And it's just, it's genius.
It's a love poem.
It really is.
That is a wonderful setup for my next question,
which is where
Geordi is now. - Yeah.
[Wil] First of all, Commodore.
Extremely cool.
Not bad, right?
Very, very nice.
It's an interesting choice
that Geordi is now the curator of the Fleet Museum.
[LeVar] Yeah.
He is a legendary engineer.
We find that out at the very beginning.
We find that out the first time we see you,
that he is this Starfleet legend,
and everyone loves him and admires him,
and he's chosen, what is to me, a quiet retirement.
Right.
Would you agree with that?
I do.
And I feel like he believes that he has earned that, right?
That was my next question.
[LeVar] Yeah.
Would you talk about that?
[Wil] 'Cause it's not in the dialogue,
but it's in the performance.
No, it is.
At this point in his life, family is everything to Geordi.
And he's been moving towards this place in his life
where he could enjoy a family for a long, long time.
There was a lot of speculation, you know,
about what direction Geordi's life would take.
Would it sort of follow along with the,
you know, the end, "All Good Things,"
and that sort of timeline that was established
at the end of the series.
But I love where the writers have taken him
and given him a home base where he could continue to,
you know, to do what it is he loves to do,
and at the same time, enjoy the love of a family.
I wanna talk about Geordi's family.
Yay!
I wanna talk about the two of you.
Ashlei, I really wanna start with with you.
Okay.
Sidney, I feel, really wants to be seen by her father,
and he doesn't see her the way she wants him to.
And she clearly takes so much from him,
so much inspiration from him.
I'm a fatherless child who was never seen,
and I get this effort of like, "I'm trying so hard,"
and like, "Why aren't you noticing these things?"
You know, "Why aren't you acknowledging
these things about me?"
There is a moment in the transporter room
where she just goes, "Sir."
And I was just like, "Ohhh."
Would you talk a bit about their relationship,
how she came to be, where she is now,
and how those choices informed you?
Sure, I think,
there was a line too when we had our moment
about Sidney feeling like she was rejected by him
because she wanted to become a pilot
and not following, technically, in the family footsteps.
And I think for her, she wants to create her own space.
Yes, we have that legacy,
but she wants to create a name for her own self as well.
But having her dad also supporting that too.
I felt, and this could be me projecting,
so tell me if I'm wrong.
[Ashlei] Sure.
But I sort of felt when we meet her at the very beginning,
the weight of being Geordi La Forge's daughter.
Oh my God, yeah.
[Wil] Right? - Yeah!
[Wil] So, and I-- - Big shoes to fill.
Yeah, and I feel like she carries that.
Alandra carry the same thing?
I don't think it's so much the weight
because she is kind of the,
the role-filler.
She is the engineer.
She is working at the Museum with her dad.
I feel like it's almost a jealousy
that Sidney got out a little bit, but-
Oh, how interesting.
At least that's how I felt it would be in a sisterly,
and sisters are sisters, you know, they're never perfect.
They're never best friends.
I mean, they're always best friends,
but they're never gonna be eye-to-eye always.
And I think that it is hard
if there is a sister that is vying for her dad's attention
and going off and being amazing
and kind of a jealousy of being, you know,
on your own and doing something different
and maybe not feeling as independent.
Maybe there isn't a shadow
because there's nothing to be shadowed almost.
I get that there's a strong meaningful relationship
between these two women.
- Oh, God. - Oh, absolutely.
I get that there's that,
that it's frictional between Sidney and Geordi.
But I feel like the sisters
are like, "We have this bond no matter what."
No matter what.
I feel a connection between the two of you
just being in the same room with you.
Hey.
What? That's crazy!
[Wil] LeVar and I have had a couple of dad looks, right?
That's crazy!
What would give you that idea?
- You think that? - Oh my God!
So, I'm feeling like maybe
when you all were in scenes together,
these were late nights perhaps?
Like, we clicked from jump.
Like--
Oh, day one.
Yeah.
I honestly,
I am an only child.
I didn't grow up with a sibling,
so it was really awesome to feel like I came away with this.
Like, oh my God, now I'm getting emotional.
Like, I came away with this like, with a sister,
like, actually, like.
Yeah, yeah.
We also, she came over for Thanksgiving
while we were shooting,
and it really felt like my sister was at the table with us.
And I just,
I just love that you have come into our lives,
and I'm so happy that you're part of our family.
Don't make me cry.
I know, I'm crying!
Oh my God, no, Dad's crying.
No, I can't look over there!
[Ashlei] Stop!
But it's true.
I think that you'll see it on screen.
We are sisters.
Yeah, I think from the transporter room scene too,
like, when she comes up she's like, "I'll talk to him."
Like, she's really there for Sidney,
you know?
Yeah.
Even though they may not be in the same solar system always.
You know, she's off adventuring
and Alandra's at the Museum with her father,
but I feel like they keep in contact
and have each other's backs always.
How is it for you as a dad to see this happen?
I couldn't--
I couldn't dream this up, Wil.
If you had given me an 8x10 yellow legal pad
and a pen and said, "So go ahead, write it down.
What do you wanna see for Geordi?"
Yeah.
It wouldn't have been this.
It wouldn't have been this good.
My son is also a writer,
and we got to write a show together for a minute,
and I loved that creative process,
that collaborative process.
We rode to work everyday!
Yeah. We did!
And her call was earlier than mine
because, you know, you went in early,
and I went in earlier!
Yeah, I know!
Do you know how much your dad loves you
that he went in before call?
I know!
He woke up early, so we could drive to work together.
Because when is this gonna happen again?
There's no guarantee, and so I wanted to get all of it,
you know, I wanted to get everything I could out of it.
For Father's Day, she gave me a picture,
a frame with both characters, Alandra and Geordi, in it.
And you know how Geordi has that stance
and Alandra has adopted a version of that,
which I did not get until I watched the episode,
so I actually saw her.
'Cause normally, she was behind me a lot when we shot,
and I never saw her!
So I'm watching her performance,
and I'm looking at that choice going
damn, that's good!
[Wil] That's a great choice.
What a great choice!
There is so much in this family relationship
that isn't in the dialogue.
Yeah, yeah.
And I saw it just so, so clearly
in the way all of you carry each other
and talk to each other.
The scene with Geordi and Picard
where Geordi's like, "I'm not doing this."
- Like, nope. - Like how dare you.
[Wil] Yeah!
You have brought danger to my door.
You've put my family in jeopardy.
The dad in me relates to
I am putting myself between my family and harm.
That's exactly right.
What is it?
Something pulls Geordi out of that, right?
Geordi has to make that very tough choice
that we kind of expect Starfleet officers
to have to make from time to time, right?
Right. Right.
It took one of his children to point out to him
that, "I'm just doing what you taught me how to do.
And I'm sorry if you can't see that,
but I'm not gonna let you stop me from being me,"
she says to him.
I loved that scene, and I felt exactly the same thing.
I'm doing what you taught me to do.
I agree, yeah.
I mean, it was her moment to really step up for herself.
She's standing up
for her crew.
Yes.
These are the stories that she heard growing up.
I mean, this is her.
Now, you're out here on the run jeopardizing your future,
your entire life!
I'm on the run with my crew!
They're not you're family!
Yes, they are.
And you taught me that.
And a lot of this whole, you know, season arc
is about family and what family means
and different configurations of family.
And how families are,
and how it's not, you know, always,
you know, hugs and smiles.
That there are, you know, there's conflict in there,
and there's tension.
And at the center of it all and at the end of every day,
it's about the love, right?
It's about we are part of one another.
And, you know, that's certainly true
for the fans who are a part of the Star Trek family.
It's certainly true for us as actors in the franchise.
It's us as individuals, who have relationships with another.
It's all about family.
This entire enterprise,
pardon the pun,
is about family.
When we were on Next Generation,
one of the big rules was
there's not a lot of conflict in this future,
and we've talked about it for 30 years, right?
Conflict is the essence of drama and so on and so on.
In our modern Star Trek,
we are seeing a lot of very human conflict,
and there's incredibly human conflict
between Sidney and Geordi.
And I wondered if you would talk a bit about that.
For me, just in general,
I don't even know if I'm answering your question,
but Sidney being helmsman.
'Cause I think, I did some research initially.
The first season you were-
- Geordi flew the ship. - He was.
[LeVar and Ashlei] Yeah.
Yo, there's three helmsmen in this room right now.
[LeVar] That's right!
That's absolutely right.
[Wil] That's pretty cool!
[LeVar] That's very rare.
[Wil] It's extremely rare.
And so I feel like,
just taking it back to her following in his footsteps.
I mean, she kinda did with that first part.
And he was, I think he's fine with her choice of career.
It's the choice to leave home.
Because he can no longer protect her.
Right. [LeVar] Right?
And we're in this situation now.
He's been to the arsenal of freedom.
He knows what's out there.
Exactly right, exactly right.
And that's a parental instinct.
[Wil] Of course it is. Right?
And the thing I like about the conflict
that we are able to experience as these characters
in this current incarnation is that it's real, right?
And it makes sense.
And the idea that Geordi,
in his pigheaded stubbornness,
fails to see the most obvious thing, right?
And that he-
Wow, that's weird, a super smart scientist,
who can't see the thing that's right in front of him?
I've never met that guy.
And you talked about it before we sat down here,
the idea that these characters who have always been heroes,
we now get to experience them as being human,
and that's huge.
Because it makes them even larger heroes
to get that experience of their flaws
and some of their frailties.
There's an awful lot of torch passing
that happens in this episode
from one generation to the next.
The La Forge daughters, Jack Crusher,
team up, the three of y'all, to like, go and save the Titan.
I love that when Jack's like,
"Hey, have you ever thought about this sneaky thing?"
I just, I thought that was cool.
I was just like,
Wesley, you were, like, you're smart, but come on.
You would,
he never would've done something--
He never would've stolen
a cloaking device.
No, no way, no.
That was awesome. That was such a good move.
- It is. - But can I just say,
I loved how Alandra was down to help.
Oh, yeah.
She was like, "I'm in."
So, staying or going?
- Staying. - Brilliant.
Oh, and just to be clear,
I caused quite a lot of this,
and your sister, on more than one occasion,
has thrown us out of the mess I made.
Rather wonderfully, I might add.
And it's another one of those things
that shows without telling.
You can see it happen, like,
"Nah, this is cool.
Like, being on a space station is safe and everything,
but I could have one of Dad's adventures?
Let's go!"
I think it goes back to the sister bond.
It's like, sure, she's the engineer that, you know,
grew up around her father and is following in his footsteps.
But when it comes down to it,
if her sister is about to jump off a cliff,
she's holding her hand and jumping too.
She's like, all right. She has her back, yeah.
Fine, we're stealing something.
Let's go, you know.
Control Room says that we've run out of time.
No! What?
Yes, that's what they are telling me.
It's happening in my ears right now.
So we're at the end.
It's okay, we have a little bit of discretionary time.
Okay.
Okay, okay.
Is there anything that you wanna talk about,
without spoiling,
about this episode that we haven't talked about?
Is there anything coming up
you would like to maybe tease a little bit?
I would just love to hear what you have to say
about the rest of the,
or about your characters, about the rest of the season,
about working on this episode,
anything you'd like to share that fans would like to know.
Let's just say it's very action packed.
There we go.
That's exactly what I was gonna say, yep.
It's very action packed next couple of episodes.
It's very exciting.
It doesn't go where you think it's gonna go.
[Ashlei] That's true.
And I'm very excited to see everybody's reactions to it.
I love that. [Mica] Yeah.
That's wonderful.
Yeah.
I'm sufficiently--
There's so much I wanna say, but it's spoilery!
It's so spoilery!
I'm sufficiently excited for the future of this season.
Yeah, I wanna co-sign.
A lot of action.
I will say, behind the scenes, doing stunt work was fun.
That's all I'm gonna say.
Well, I will say this about the entire thing
and especially, you know, the relationships
that we are able to bring to the storyline.
It makes me think of what could happen next
for these characters and for this family in particular.
You can't let these sisters go.
You can't!
We're already too chummy.
You don't wanna waste that.
That's true.
You don't wanna spoil that.
Yeah, true.
Well, I'm very excited to see
what sorts of shenanigans, highjinx,
and perhaps, tomfoolery they get up to.
Oh, oh, there's some tomfoolery.
Outstanding. Thank you.
Just all of you, thank you.
W.W.
It's so great to have you here.
We love you, Wil! Love you, love you, love you.
The name Daystrom has become synonymous
with incredible scientific discovery
and technological advancement in Star Trek.
There's Richard Daystrom,
a computer scientist who was compared to Einstein,
the Daystrom Institute,
where the brightest minds in Android development work.
And now, in this week's episode of Star Trek: Picard,
Daystrom Station,
where Starfleet stores its most sensitive, scientific,
and technological projects.
And if you're like me pausing a lot,
framing through frame by frame
to see all the exciting things that are in the background,
you are going to love this look at the Daystrom Station
and the secrets it holds.
We're running out of time.
We have no leads.
Which is why we must return to the beginning.
To the scene of the crime, Daystrom Station,
home to Starfleet's most off-the-books tech.
This is the only way we can clear our names
and save Starfleet.
[Raffi] What exactly are they storing here?
So we had this idea
of what would Area 51 be for Starfleet?
Section 31, if they're around, what are they up to?
Section 31?
Critical division of Starfleet Intelligence.
Yeah, I know who they are.
I just didn't know this is where they were hiding
all the good stuff.
It felt like sort of the mirror way
to honor the Star Trek Universe,
where you had on one side,
the Fleet Museum was the more nostalgic warmer,
and here's like, kind of darker,
but more interesting aspects of Star Trek.
We initially had started out with the idea
that it would be these vaults, and you'd look in the vault,
and there'd be this crazy thing.
And we went back with Mike Okuda
throughout all of Star Trek history,
looking at all these different elements
of things that we can build.
They we're like, "Oh, let's build that."
And we're like, "Okay, now, it's gonna cost us
a billion dollars to build all these cool things
that we've just come up with."
And then Todd Marks, our playback guy goes,
"Well, what if we do like, a video?"
You know, you see the item,
but it's a hologram kind of thing on the window,
not the actual thing.
So as you're walking by, you can kind of see,
ooh, that's this or that's that.
One of the things we talked about early on was like,
what else would be there?
And we said, "Well, how long would it take us
to build a Genesis Device?"
And we built a Genesis Device!
It was just cool to see.
One of our artists, Greg Aronowitz, built that out for us,
and it was just like, it's sitting there and you're like,
"That's so cool. I want that in my house.
I don't know what I would do with it,
but I just want it sitting in the corner."
One my favorite things that I brought back into Star Trek
and fans will either love me or hate me,
is the stuff I call "Space Crate."
And if you look at every episode
of Star Trek: The Next Generation,
they have this black plastic with a bunch of holes in it.
It's like the drywall of Star Trek.
It's used on the walls, it's used in the ceiling,
it's used on the floor, it's used in furniture.
It starts in "Encounter at Farpoint",
It's the windows in the courtroom.
I'm like, "Oh, okay, that's what we gotta use.
We're gonna use tons of that," and everyone's like,
"But in this scene, it's this, and this scene."
I go, "Yeah, isn't that cool?"
Everyone was so like, "Okay...."
And then as soon as we started using it, everyone's like,
"Oh no, no, I get it."
It actually looks good, no matter how you use it.
Again, it's that fine line between what's fan service
and what would really be in that world.
Daystrom Station was,
that was kind of a wild experience for all of us.
But it was really fun.
You know, we got to bring back classic characters.
Greetings.
Old friends.
The best thing about Daystrom
was all of a sudden, you know,
you're standing on set, and there is Moriarty.
He is the one worthy opponent
created by the author Conan Doyle.
Welcome, my dear Holmes.
But not Holmes.
He was such a great guy,
and he was just so excited to be back doing Star Trek.
I mean, there's such great history
with the Picard and TNG.
There's so many Easter eggs and opportunities,
so finding ways to like, run those through our show as well
has just been a total blast.
[Riker Whistles]
Marvelous.
[Riker Whistles]
Marvelous.
I shared that tune decades ago with another dear friend.
Daystrom Station's where we find this
lifeform in stasis.
I thought Data died, twice.
He did.
Everyone thought Data was dead.
And what they actually did put pieces of Lore
and pieces of B4 together, so we have, essentially, Data.
Well, the personalities remain at odds inside this vessel.
We went to the archive,
and we were able to get the Data head and body from Nemesis,
and we were using that and created this new display
for this new character that we were going to introduce.
- Caw-caw! - [Crew member] Caw-caw!
I'm spending my time during that shoot
with Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, and Brent Spiner.
I wouldn't even have to have said a word,
and I would've been a happy camper.
And those guys, by the way,
it's like hanging out with best buddies who are kids.
They are so fun, they play constantly.
Kept me smiling and laughing.
That is one of the joys of working on this show
is being able to have a relationship with Jonathan Frakes
and also with Michelle Hurd.
We got along like twins separated at birth.
They're really just a lovely group of people
who just share so much history
and really love to enjoy themselves on stage.
It was so fun. It was so fun.
Will Riker may have refused to reveal
Jack Crusher's location to Vadic.
Good call.
But I'm going to reveal to you
this exclusive clip from next week's episode.
Frontier Day is almost upon us.
We are running out of time.
Report.
The associates of Jean-Luc Picard were unexpectedly firm
in their loyalty in him.
I don't anticipate them breaking in the time we have left.
They must.
Do not fail me.
Your physiology is not as special or complex as you believe.
You are by nature, malleable,
made to bend.
Their kind is beholden to a singular flesh.
Dismember one from the other.
Do whatever is necessary.
The hour of Starfleet's fall nears.
We must have the boy,
or you and your kind
will find your own existence meaningless.
Vadic is so scary.
I cannot even imagine what the thing she's afraid of is.
I guess we'll find out together.
Y'all, it is always such a pleasure
to spend this time together in The Ready Room with you.
Next week, we'll be looking at Season 3,
Episode 7, titled "Dominion",
and I will be joined by a guest
who appears in next week's episode.
But check this out.
Telling you their name would be a massive spoiler.
That's how exciting and awesome this is.
Let the fan theories begin.
Until then, I'm Wil Wheaton.
Live long and prosper.