The Rock gets placed into Star Trek: The Next Generation as Picard
By Chad Porto
Ever wondered if Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson looked like Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek? Thanks go Deep Homage you now know the answer.
Holy yikes. We’ve been going through Deep Homage’s back catalog of Star Trek deepfakes, and they’ve been really good. To be fair, the one we’re about to talk about is really good too. It’s also really…well…yikes. In the latest Star Trek-deepfake, Deep Homage put the face of famed pro wrestler turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson onto the body of Patrick Stewart, who plays Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Almost as if to parallel some of Johnson’s more salacious promos during his time in the WWE, Deep Homage decided to interject Johnson onto Picard during the latter’s trip to the pleasure planet Risa. In the scene, one of the attendees is attempting to see if Picard is in need or want of anything more amorous during his stay there.
Picard, being super British (despite being French) dismisses the attractive, young woman as he only wishes to read. Because books are more fun, apparently?
If you’ve ever seen the episode, Captain’s Holiday, the 19th episode of season three, then you know the scene in question. Essentially Commander Will Riker pulls a prank on Picard, which sets things in motion. Seeing the scene play out, with Johnson’s face on Stewart’s body is oddly unnerving, mostly because you forget that it’s not Stewart for a moment.
The oddness of how much their faces actually look-alike, or could pass off for one another, is uncanny.
It’s also a nice touch to use Johnson’s face. Some may remember that the professional wrestler, actually guest-starred on an episode of Star Trek before. Only it was Voyager and not the Next Generation. In the 15th episode of season six, named Tsunkatse, Johnson guest-starred as an alien pit fighter simply dubbed The Champion. Johnsons’ character famously battled Seven of Nine in a mock MMA bout.
This was during Johnson’s height as a popular pro wrestler, so it’s no surprise that it was also Voyager’s most-watched episode of the season.