Spoiler Alert! Isa Briones sings on finale of 'Star Trek: Picard

SPOILER ALERT! 
Do not continue if you have not seen the Season One finale of Star Trek: Picard.

The pop song standard "Blue Skies" had special significance in the Star Trek fictional universe and it gained even more importance in the first season of the show Star Trek: Picard.

As one of the most beloved characters in Star Trek, the android Data was dying, the song played in the background in the emotional scene featured in the final episode of Season 1 of CBS' Star Trek: Picard.

CBS released a video showing the recording of “Blue Skies,” which was sung by Picard star Isa Briones (Soji), and is a tribute to Brent Spiner’s “Blue Skies” from Star Trek: Nemesis. 

In the video, composer Jeff Russo talked about how it was always planned to bring the song back for the season, and it was executive producer Alex Kurtzman’s suggestion to have Briones sing the new version.

"This is obviously a bit of a throwback to Star Trek: Nemesis, when Data sang 'Blue Skies,' so it's really cool that Data's daughter kind of gets to sing it as well," Briones says in the behind-the-scenes video.

"My parents are musical theater actors, so I kind of grew up around it and when I was 19, I had moved to New York and my first audition in New York was Hamilton and I got to do Hamilton on tour and so that was kind of my first bigger musical theater experience and right after I left Hamilton jumped right into this," said the Filipino American actress.

The fact that Data's daughter, who inherited many of Data's attributes, sings the special song may open the door for bringing the significant song back in a future episode.

'Star Trek: Picard' debuts today; it's takes place in the future but its really about today

COURTESY ISA BRIONES

Star Trek: Picard stars Patrick Stewart and Isa Briones at ComicCon.

Star Trek: Picard, the newest spinoff of the Star Trek franchise, takes place in the 24th century but it is really about today's world.

Filipina American actress Isa Briones wasn't even born when Star Trek: The Next Generation ended its 7-season run in 1994. Debuting today (Thursday, Jan. 23) the Star Trek: Picard TV series stars Briones as the mysterioius Dahj along side Patrick Stewart, who reprises his role as Jean Luc Picard, who captained the USS Enterprise in The Next Generation.

In the almost two decades between TNG and Picard, the world has changed, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, says Stewart, emphasizing that his new show will not be in the same tenor as his original show.

"Our world has undergone such a transformation. There is no reason why that shouldn’t have happened to the world of ‘Star Trek,’ too," says Steward. "The Federation is no longer the Federation that it was—reliable, trustworthy, dedicated to the prime directive. Starfleet is no longer that, too. 

“Then of course, there was the whole massive refugee problem. The world that we’re in in ‘Star Trek: Picard’ is a different world from ‘Next Generation.’ And that ought to say enough.”

"One of the big things for me that's been exciting is seeing the Asian American community coming out, because I'm Filipino and Swedish and Irish," the actress told The Hollywood Reporter at the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Guild Awards this month.

"Getting to see how me being in Star Trek has connected with them and how they've really appreciated seeing someone who looks like them on screen... that will always be my favorite about the show, especially because it's such a progressive show."

Like the other iterations of creator Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, Picard has a diverse cast reflecting the real world and adding to the richness of the characters. Like George Takei who played Helmsman Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek, and John Chu who played the young Sulu in the Star Trek prequels, Briones is keenly aware of representing Asian Americans.

"We're telling stories about the future and we're saying, 'Hey, in the future, we're still going to be here. What you see now in the world is still going to be here in 2339.' We're all here and we all deserve to be represented. I feel so honored that we get to portray that and... keep pushing that narrative forward."

When asked why "Star Trek" has such staying power after multiple franchises and more than 50 years on the air, Stewart's answer was simple: "Hope. It resonates positive feelings about the future that things can be better."

Briones agreed. "(That's) a sentiment we need more than ever."

"You speak truth," Stewart said to Briones. "We have to be positive about the difficult situations that we find ourselves in."

Star Trek: Picard is now streaming airs on CBS All Access. The network is offering a one week free trial so you can watch the first episode.

Filipina American debuts in 'Star Trek; Picard' in pivotal role

Jean Luc Picard meets the mysterioius Dahj, played by Isa Briones.

The big reveal that Marvel picked Simu Liu to play Shang-Chi, wasn't the only news coming out of ComicCon last week that AAPI fans should be excited about.

Last Spring, when it was announced that Isa Briones would be cast in CBS-All Access' Star Trek: Picard, we didn't know what kind of role she would play. It could have been one of the crew members who always linger in the background or a Red-Shirt but after seeing the trailer for the new show, it turns out that the Filipina American's role is a pretty significant one.

We still don't know what her relationship is with Jean Luc Picard, a role from Star Trek: Next Generation reprised by Sir Patrick Stewart, but it appears she's the McGuffin, the instigator, the one who gets the story going, the reason Picard is going to give up his retirement at Chateau Picard. Her character, Dahj, apparently needs to be protected and she found Picard, someone she's had history with and who she could trust.

So, who is Dahj? A lot of interesting theories have arisen among Trekkers about the identity of Dahj: from being the daughter of Data (the android who gave up his existence to save Picard) to being a reincarnation of the Borg Queen.

In the first trailer debuted at ComicCon, she shows up at Picard's idyllic vineyard 20 years after he retired from Star Fleet.

“Everything inside of me says that I’m safe with you,” she tells him.

Before he can answer her, the camera cuts away leaving fans with questions.

Later on in the trailer, she shows she has some serious (superhuman?) fighting skills as she effortlessly takes out a group of attackers while Picard watches on.

Picard quickly grasps the significance of helping this young woman and is well aware of the dangers she faces if she is captured by the wrong people.

Picard calls on Starfleet for its help but he’s ignored. “If she is who I think she is, she’s in serious danger,” he warns someone.

The mysterious Dahj is a major player. I wonder if she speaks Tagalog?

The director of the upcoming The Eternals, Chloe Zhao, has assembled a powerful and diverse cast to star in the Marvel flick about a race with superhuman powers. The brightest star to join the Marvel universe is Angelina Jolie. The film, set to debut in Nov. of 2020, will also star a buffed up Kumail Nanjiani as one of the 3,500-years -old Eternals.

Unfortunately, Warner Bros, the studio that drew raves in past ComicCons was missing this year! So we didn't get to see anything the new Wonderwoman 1984, Aquaman 2 or The Birds of Prey, the latter of which will introduce Cassandra Cain, AKA Batgirl, played by Filipina American Ella Jay Basco.

Agents of SHIELD included Chloe Bennett, middle and Ming-Na Wen, right,

It was an emotional farewell to Agents of SHIELD which is currently filming the finale for its final season. Chloe Bennett and Ming-Na Wen, who play bad-ass agents, proved you can have more than one Asian American in a cast, a rarity when the show debuted seven years ago. 

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