Picard’s Titan Captain Insults Are Really About The TNG Movies

Captain Liam Shaw gave Picard and Riker a cold reception in Star Trek: Picard season 3, but his mockery was of their movie adventures, not TNG.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 1 – “The Next Generation”Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) doled out choice insults to Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Captain William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in Star Trek: Picard season 3’s premiere, but Shaw’s put-downs were really taking aim at the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies rather than your TV voyages. Shaw, the Captain of the USS Titan-A, received Riker and Picard at an awkward dinner that soon turned hostile. It wasn’t long before Shaw stormed out of the room, leaving behind a confused and dejected Riker and Picard.

In Star Trek: Picard season 3’s premiere, “The Next Generation,” Admiral Picard and Captain Riker came aboard the Titan under the guise of a surprise “inspection” of the Constitution III Class starship. In actuality, Will and Jean-Luc planned to hijack the Titan so that they could warp to the Ryton system to rescue Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). However, Captain Shaw sensed something was off about the two former commanders of the USS Enterprise-D and E suddenly appearing unannounced on his ship. Shaw’s reception of Picard and Riker was icy even before he learned what their true intentions were.

Related: You May Hate Picard’s New Titan Captain But He’s Right

Captain Shaw’s Picard & Riker Insults Are Really About The TNG Movies

Barely concealing his contempt for Picard and Riker, Shaw boasted that the Titan is so “pristine” that they’d find their inspection to be “boring.” When Jean-Luc questioned Liam, he condescendingly replied, “Well, we won’t be blowing things up. Taking or engaging in fire. Crash-landing, expectedly or unexpectedly. You know, the usual for you boys.” Shaw continued his thinly-veiled insults, telling the Enterprise legends, “I love reading about all your wildly exciting and equally irresponsible adventures…” while flatly denying their request to change course for the Ryton system.

Shaw’s rude yet darkly humorous mockery of Picard and Riker’s Starship Enterprise exploits didn’t seem to refer to their TV voyages, but are more in line with the events of the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies. After all, it was in Star Trek Generations that the Enterprise-D “crashed… unexpectedly” and was lost. The Enterprise “blowing things up” or “engaging in fire” happened few and far between in TNG’s 7 seasons whereas it was a regular occurrence in the films. Indeed, Captain Picard was the symbol of Starfleet duty in TNG, but in Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection, Picard was a renegade who took matters into his own hands.

There Was A Big Difference Between TNG & Star Trek Movies

Star Trek: The Next Generation was renowned for its cerebral storytelling, wherein Captain Picard and the USS Enterprise-D crew tackled complex moral dilemmas each week. But that style of TNG ended with the series finale, “All Good Things…” Star Trek Generations was a bridge into a new cinematic version of TNG that put the onus on large-scale action. The Enterprise-D’s destruction was Generations‘ climactic spectacle, and the runaway success and popularity of Star Trek: First Contact completed TNG‘s transformation into an action movie franchise. Star Trek: Insurrection tried to fuse action with a TNG TV-like moral dilemma, but Star Trek: Nemesis was a failed attempt at slam-bang movie excitement.

Captain Shaw, who appears to be a stickler for the rules, seems well versed in the catastrophes that befell Picard, Riker, and the Enterprise in the TNG movies, and he used it against them. Shaw had to be taking Picard and Riker to task for their movie exploits because The Next Generation was a very different type of Star Trek. However, Shaw’s final dig about Picard and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) as “ex-Borg” evokes both First Contact and TNG‘s classic Borg episodes. Shaw certainly has a massive and yet unexplained chip on his shoulder in Star Trek: Picard, but it’s a safe bet the USS Titan’s Captain isn’t a fan of Picard and Riker’s TNG movies.

More: Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 1 Ending Explained

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.