June 16 has been declared byStar Trekfans as the annual Captain Picard Day, and trekkies across the world celebrated the Patrick Stewart character’s legacy on Twitter. Jonathan Frakes, who co-starred with Stewart as Commander William Riker onStar Trek: The Next Generation, also got in on the festivities with a special video posted to the officialStar Trekaccount on Twitter. “Hello Trekkers, Trekkies, Picardians,” Frakes says in the video. “I’d like to wish you all a happy Captain Picard Day.” Since its posting, the video has been met with many fans of the character speaking about their appreciation for the pop culture icon.
The origin of Captain Picard Day actually comes directly from an episode ofThe Next Generationcalled “The Pegasus.” In the episode, it is established that the crew of the USS Enterprise has created a celebration called Captain Picard Day, which obviously celebrates the Starfleet hero who will return inStar Trek: Picard. It’s primarily meant to entertain the schoolchildren on board the ship, with some of them creating dolls and drawings of Picard. The Stardate 47457.1 is mentioned in the episode as being the day the event takes place, which Trekkies have determined to be June 16th using our calendars from the present.
Of course,Patrick Stewartfirst played Jean-Luc Picard in the premiere episode ofThe Next Generationin 1987. The show was highly successful, enjoying a run on television which lasted until 1994. Each member of the ensemble cast brought something unique to the table, but Stewart’s Picard in particular has always been seen as one of the most legendary characters from the franchise of them all. All of the characters would then reprise the roles for a series of movies based on the show beginning that year withStar Trek: Generations, which also featuredWilliam Shatner reprising the role of James T. Kirk. WhenStar Trek: Nemesisended the line of movies in 2002, it began to seem we would never see Stewart playing Picard ever again.
As we know now, Picard is once again returning to the small screen for an all-new TV series. Set to premiere onCBS All Accesslater this year, the series will serve as a sequel toThe Next Generationand its subsequent movies. It will also be reuniting Stewart with Frakes once more as well, as Frakes will be directing multiple episodes of the 10-episode season. As of now, it hasn’t been made clear if Frakes will also appear on the show as Riker, but it’s reasonable to believe we’ll be seeing some other familiar faces popping up when the series starts to air.
However you chose to celebrate the occasion, we hope you enjoyed this year’s Captain Picard Day. If you missed it, be sure to mark it on your calendar for 2020. While the work of Sir Patrick Stewart can obviously be enjoyed any day of the year, honoring his role as Picard in particularly on an annual basis certainly seems just fine to me. you’re able to take a look at some of the tweets honoring Stewart as Picard below.
