NOC Week in Review #17: 10/24-30/2026

I had a whole different opening planned for this week’s recap, and then yesterday happened. Sir Patrick Stewart died on October 28 at 86, after complications from Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.

The career part of the obituary basically writes itself at this point: sixteen years with the Royal Shakespeare Company before most of us were born, Jean-Luc Picard for the better part of four decades across The Next Generation, four feature films, and the return engagement in Star Trek: Picard, Professor Charles Xavier across seventeen years and two X-Men timelines, a knighthood in 2010, and — because the man refused to stop working — a voice role in The Sheep Detectives earlier this year before his final performance as Professor X in Avengers: Doomsday this December.

But the thing I keep coming back to is what Picard says to Commander Riker in the final scene of 1994’s Star Trek: Generations.

Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment because they’ll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived. After all, Number One, we’re only mortal.

What Sir Patrick Stewart leaves behind is a body of work that we will all cherish for the rest of our lives. He may have been “only mortal,” but the performances he gave the world — as Picard, as Xavier, and beyond — will live forever. To borrow a line from Dr. McCoy: “He’s really not dead, as long as we remember him.”

Stewart wasn’t the only Trek icon we lost this week, either. Walter Koenig, who played Chekov in the original series and the first six films, died Monday at 90. George Takei paid tribute to his bridge mate on Instagram.

It feels strange to even be writing a third loss in this stretch, but it would be wrong not to: we also lost Eric Bauza this week, the voice behind an entire generation of animated characters. Victoria already gave him the send-off he deserved here, paying tribute to the subject of her very first interview on the NOC, so I won’t try to repeat it. Go read that one too.

Alright. After a week like that, it’s hard to recalibrate, but on to the rest of it.

Valerie kicked us off with a review of Brock Bodell’s Hellcat, a horror mystery that sputters a bit at the finish line but gets a lot right before it gets there. Mike went behind the scenes with LAIKA’s artists on bringing Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis’ Wildwood to life, a conversation with basically the entire creative team behind the studio’s most ambitious film yet.

Sophia talked to the cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping about introducing a new generation to Panem, and later in the week sat down with Emily Hampshire to talk E.D.I.T.H.’s backstory in Marvel’s VisionQuest. In between, Swara and the Roundtable crew dug into episodes 7 through 9 of Avatar: Seven Havens, and he was also back with Nikita for a non-spoiler review of The Gilded Age Season 4 ahead of its November 1 premiere — then The Nerds of Newport hit the red carpet in New York to talk colorism and classism with the cast and EP Sonja Warfield at the premiere itself.

Michael broke down the final trailer for Dune: Part Three, which teases a conspiracy to overthrow Paul Atreides — with Chani possibly playing a part in his downfall. And I wrapped up this season of Dark Matter with a recap of the second season finale, which closes the whole thing out on the closing track of Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter album. Ten episodes about never having enough time with the people you love hit a little different this week.

And since I started this one heavy, I’m going to end it light: Mike also sat down with America Ferrera, Xochitl Gomez, and Bill Hader ahead of The Cat in the Hat’s November 6 release, and it turned into one of the most chaotic, funniest interviews we’ve ever run. After this week, go watch it. Everyone could use the laugh.

That’s it for this one. I’m off to have a cup of Earl Grey, hot, and raise it to the ones we lost this week.