Star Trek: Picard References TOS' First Federation

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 1, Episode 5

Star Trek: Picard episode 5 contained a fun shoutout to Tranya, a famous drink from Star Trek: The Original Series. The CBS All-Access series has kicked into high gear and, in episode 5, "Stardust City Rag", Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) finally located Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales), who has been in hiding on Freecloud since 2385. But Maddox fell in with some nasty people in the high-security planet, where their nightclubs serve the orange drink introduced in the classic TOS episode, "The Corbomite Maneuver".

In "The Corbomite Maneuver", the Starship Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) encountered the Fesarius, an unusual vessel from the First Federation. The Enterprise found itself in a standoff against the Fesarius, which was captained by a frightening figure named Balok. The Fesarius threatened to destroy the Enterprise until Kirk bluffed that his ship contained a substance called corbomite, which would annihilate Balok's vessel as well. Later, the Fesarius was damaged as the Enterprise tried to escape; Kirk decided to beam aboard to offer assistance, only to discover Balok was really a tiny humanoid (played by a young Clint Howard). Balok revealed he was merely testing the Enterprise and now that he was convinced of the humans' virtuous nature, the bald alien offered Kirk, Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForrest Kelley), and Lt. Dave Bailey (Anthony Call) a refreshing drink called Tranya. Bailey then stayed aboard the Fesarius so humans and the First Federation could become friends and learn more about each other.

In Star Trek: Picard, Bruce Maddox sought the help of a criminal cabal led by Bjayzl (Necar Zadegan) after his lab, where he secretly built Dahj and Soji Asha (Isa Briones), the synthetic twin daughters of the late Commander Data (Brent Spiner), was destroyed by the Romulan Tal Shiar. (Maddox blamed the Romulan secret police, unaware that it was more likely their older incarnation, the Zhat Vash, which hates artificial lifeforms, killed Dahj, and is hunting Soji). Bjayzl feigned friendship and offered Maddox some Tranya, but it was laced with poison so she could take him prisoner in order to broker a deal with the Tal Shiar herself. Later, Picard and his new crew, including Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), rescued Maddox, but he was murdered by his colleague and former flame, Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), who is secretly a spy for the Romulans.

The appearance of Tranya was a subtle and clever callback to the classic Star Trek episode, which was the tenth hour-long aired on NBC in 1966, although it was the first episode produced after the Star Trek pilots. (The reason for the delay was because the special effects took too long to complete.) In fact, a few aspects of "The Corbomite Maneuver" betray how early it was produced in Star Trek's original run: Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nicols) is wearing a gold uniform instead of her proper red one, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) occasionally shouts, and "the First Federation" was so named because the producers hadn't yet settled on the 'United Federation of Planets" as the governing body that Starfleet answers to.

Tranya also appeared in Quark's bar in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3. So, Lt. Bailey did indeed return to Starfleet after his period of cultural exchange with Balok was over and he presumably took samples of the sweet, orange drink back with him. By the 24th century, Tranya seems to be widely available in drinking establishments across the galaxy. In fact, Maddox was served Tranya in Quark's Bar on Freecloud so the Ferengi restauranteur keeps the First Federation beverage as part of his standard inventory. And Tranya is not a banned substance, unlike Romulan Ale, which is illegal in the Federation (except for brief periods) and probably remains blacklisted in Star Trek: Picard's era.

Star Trek: Picardstreams Thursdays on CBS All-Access and Fridays internationally on Amazon Prime Video.

Source: screenrant.com