One of the best parts of being in a very old fandom is all the lore that the current stories get to draw from. And when it comes to Star Trek’s Picard, there is so much that fans are bursting with nostalgia and excitement. From old Star Trek references to other sci-fi classics, down to even very specific quotes and metaphors, Picard has it all.
While someone could spend all day (or maybe longer) categorizing all the ones Trek fans have found, let’s just talk about the favorites. Watching Picard come out of retirement is so much more satisfying with call-back and references from his past, right? Here are The 10 Best Easter Eggs in Star Trek: Picard (So Far).
Dixon Hat
In the first episode, when Picard is prepping for his bad idea of an interview, he checks out his fancier look in the mirror. While it’s easy to get distracted by how dapper Patrick Stewart always looks, that’s not the only interesting thing in the shot. Actually, behind him on a hook is an old friend that TNG fans will be happy to see: Picard’s old Dixon hat.
Back in TNG, all of the crew loved relaxing with their favorite stories in the holodeck. Picard’s favorite was always detective mysteries with a PI named Dixon. Seeing the hat in his home really had to bring back old memories for fans.
Isaac Asimov
It’s no surprise that considering the conflict of the season revolves around Data’s legacy, that Isaac Asimov was referenced. When Dr. Jurati visits Picard’s home, she has a copy of Asimov’s The Complete Robot. This set of short stories has 31 out of 37 of his famed robot short stories. He really had a thing for them.
His stories about mechanical beings and sentience paved the way so that characters like Data could thrive. Even though it’s not a Star Trek specific Easter Egg, it was an awesome one nonetheless.
Visitor Badge
When Picard visited Starfleet Command, trying to get a ship to go after Data’s daughter, he didn’t have a great time. Arguably, he had a terrible time. But, while there, Picard got a visitor badge that is much cooler on a second glance. At first, it looks fairly simple. However, if you look, the cutout on it is actually in the shape of a sideways Starfleet symbol, underlining the word “visitor”. As far as design choices go, that one is super clever.
Starfleet probably makes a lot of other cool, clever design choices like that in other everyday items. It’d be fascinating to see their gift shop.
The Stargazer
For old Picard fans, they know that the Enterprise was hardly his first time serving as Captain. Before TNG, he actually served on the USS Stargazer, before the ship was tragically lost and abandoned because of a dangerous bridge explosion. He left his second in command, and best friend, Jack Crusher, there to die.
However, despite all the trauma, Picard still considered the Stargazer his true love when it came to starships. After all these years, of fans getting to know his TNG family, it was nice to see his old Stargazer doctor come back and help diagnose Picard’s current condition. That’s one amazing throwback to Picard even before Riker and the rest.
Bruce Maddox
Hands down, one of the best Star Trek episodes ever is “Measure of a Man”. In it, synthetic engineer Bruce Maddox tried to argue that as an android, Data was the property of Starfleet, not to be treated as a living being. And as an object, he had the rights to take Dat from Enterprise and use him in his studies to mass-produce synthetic organisms.
Bruce did not win the ensuing trial, but he did become friends with Data and kept on studying and building synthetics. Despite the warnings the trial gave, though, he did end up mass-producing slave labor as Picard feared. Mentioning Bruce, and having him be the possible creator of Soji and Dahj, is a fascinating development for the one-off episode that impressed a generation of fans.
Data’s Painting
While the TNG crew didn’t talk about it too much, there are a lot of establishing shots of Data in his room, painting. Through art, he was trying to discover the line between technical perfection and beautiful, imperfect humanity. That led to a lot of finished canvases over the years.
To have Picard’s memories of Data still filled with his paintings, and to have Picard keep a lot of them to remember his, is a sweet reference to their old relationship and the man Data wanted to be. Not to mention his daughter’s paintings ended up being more important than anyone would ever know.
Commadore
After TOS, Starfleet didn’t really have any characters with the title of Commadore. Most officers went straight from Captain to Admiral. The only time that a character called someone Commadore, it was Geordi La Forge. And Geordi only said it out of spite to a Romulan captain who had kidnapped him.
Because the Picard writers know all about dramatic irony, the franchise’s first Commadore in ages, Commadore Oh, is a Romulan Spy. Despite her high rank, she’s not working in the best interests of Starfleet in the slightest. That’s a clever Easter Egg piece of writing for you.
Captain Picard Day
It’s super canon that Picard isn’t all that great with kids. So, Captain Picard Day on the Enterprise was always a super amusing one. He didn’t really know what to do with the attention. He definitely didn’t know what to do with the kids following him around that day, but it ended up a great episode.
While this little story seemed like a one-off bout of cuteness, apparently bonding with those kids hit Picard deeper than any fan ever knew. In his personal archives, he saves the banner they all made for Captain Picard Day, signing all their names. What a wholesome, heartwarming Easter Egg!
Orchids
This one is kinda obscure, but it’s also amazing. In Voyager, there was an infamous episode where a transporter accident happened and Tuvok and Neelix became one person: Tuvix. How did the malfunction happen? Well, one of them was holding an orchid with symbiotic traits and it fused them together.
Now, if in Dahj’s backstory she says she had a botanist for a father and he named an orchid after her. Bonus, she had orchids in her room. If orchids fit any other person in Star Trek, it would be Dahj (or Soji). She basically is a human/synthetic hybrid. She may be an android, but she bleeds. There’s gotta be some serious mechanical and organic symbiosis there (maybe Borg tech involved?).
Earl Grey
Now, some people may think this isn’t an Easter Egg, but it totally is. Early Grey (hot) is Picard’s iconic drink. Sure, he seems to be having tea constantly, but the fact he’s drinking it gives every fan the warm fuzzies. And, even better that he shares it with every new person, like a proper welcoming leader.
Maybe he drinks too much of it, but who cares? Captain Picard has his Earl Grey tea, the fans get their Picard, and everyone is happy. It’s really just the ultimate Easter Egg to show fans that the captain they love is back. It’s absolutely beautiful.
