Star Trek: Picard's Crew Was Still Gluing Enterprise-D Together After Filming Started
As "Star Trek: Picard" tries to tell a new story with the titular captain — portrayed by none other than Sir Patrick Stewart — it doesn't shy away from its roots by any means. It knows it's a successor to "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and it wears that fact like a badge of honor. This is perhaps no better exemplified than when much of the "Next Generation" crew reunites aboard their old space-faring vessel, the USS Enterprise-D — a set that was still being meticulously glued together by the show's crew as filming got underway.
"Picard" executive producer Terry Matalas shared with Variety that getting the bridge of the Enterprise constructed was no easy feat. "To the moment we started filming, we were still gluing pieces together," he revealed, but at the end of the day, in his mind and those of countless others, it had to happen. "You can't have a 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' reunion without one of its major characters, which is the Enterprise," Matalas continues. So, despite time constraints and financial hurdles, the Enterprise bridge returned to the small screen.
To truly appreciate all that went into replicating the Enterprise-D set, the official Paramount+ YouTube channel posted a special look at it hosted by a "Next Generation" favorite.
Loads of time, effort, and research went into the reconstruction of the Enterprise bridge
In honor of the rebuilt USS Enterprise-D set, the Paramount+ YouTube channel released a special edition of "The Ready Room" hosted by Wil Wheaton. Wheaton famously featured on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as Picard's potential son, Wesley Crusher, so if there's anyone worthy of checking out this remake of the original bridge set, it's him. Throughout the video, he's joined by Michael Okuda, who designed the set way back in the late 1980s and oversaw its modern replication. He offered up plenty of fascinating insights about what it took to resurrect the Enterprise for "Picard."
From the button layouts to the LEDs to the subtle imperfections, Okuda and his team went to extraordinary lengths to make the "Picard" Enterprise feel as close to its predecessor as possible. "It feels like you're coming home, and it's going home to a home that was torn down in '95...and you walked in here, and suddenly, it's there, and it's the way you remembered it," Okuda said. Further cementing that feeling of homecoming, he took Wheaton to his old Crusher seat, allowing him to see for himself just how authentic the new set is.
There's a lot of nostalgia in the USS Enterprise-D set for the "Next Generation" stars and fans alike. Its construction may have come down to the wire, but the crunch was more than worth it.