The latest TV spot for Star Trek: Picard has offered some brief flashes of new footage for the much-anticipated return of Starfleet’s greatest captain, and has also given us a tacit suggestion of the appearance of Data.
The Irving Berlin song “Blue Skies” was a deliberate choice for the trailer, as it harks back to the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. It’s beautifully sung by Data during the wedding between Riker and Troi at the film’s beginning before the crew discovers the remnants of B-4, an earlier model of android. At the pic’s climax (spoilers for a movie released in 2002), Data sacrifices himself to destroy the Reman warship intending to spread thalaron radiation to destroy all life throughout the Federation, and in the final scene, B-4 begins absent-mindedly singing the song, suggesting that Data downloaded aspects of his memories and personality into his “brother” before his destruction. The trailer’s use of it’s intended to conjure memories of the moments and suggest Data’s importance to Picard.
Of course, it’s already been emphasized how much Data’s death has weighed upon Picard in the intervening years, so finding a way to bring him back would be an emotionally resonant choice, for both Picard himself and the viewers.
It’s pretty much become cliché for a trailer to be backed by a down-tempo melancholic cover of a famous song, taking the place of the Hans Zimmer BRAAAHHHHMMMMM!!! from Inception as the most overused musical trope, but in this case it works well to invoke a mix of sorrow and hope. Exactly who sung the version the trailer uses is not specified, but some fans are suggesting it might be Isa Briones, who plays the mysterious Dahj around whom the plot of Star Trek: Picard revolves and whose eyes are seen enigmatically opening at the preview’s end, which could also imply a connection between her and Data that the show will explore.
