Movies - TV
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Showcases The Franchise's Second Shot At De-Aging Tech
By VALERIE ETTENHOFER
The "Star Trek" franchise is unafraid of letting its actors age, and the original cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" reappears on "Star Trek: Picard" looking a bit older and wiser. However, in very rare instances, it makes sense for "Picard" to digitally de-age its beloved cast for flashback purposes, which happened for the second time in the show’s history.
Season 3, Episode 3 features a younger version of Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna (Marina Sirtis), and Picard (Patrick Stewart), with Riker telling Picard a story about the birth of his son. By the end of the scene, Deanna interrupts via a visual transmission with the newborn in her arms, leading to a sweet moment that mostly avoids the uncanny valley issues of digital de-aging.
The new look of 20-years-younger Picard and Riker is believable enough — they don't look or sound unnerving — although Riker's hair has some hard lines to it that make it look a little less fabulous than the real thing, and viewers can hear the years a bit in Stewart's voice. Meanwhile, Sirtis, shown only from a distance on a hazy screen, looks classic Deanna.