They said they'd only use characters from the previous series if they made sense in the story. This story seems to involve former Borg, and she's a former Borg. They go together.
It's also been 21 years (In universe) since Endgame, and in Season 7, Seven was already starting sound more 'human' in some instances. This seems like an evolution of that.
What happened in 2003? Voyager ended in 2001, was there another appearance I'm not aware of?
Edit: Oh shit, right Enterprise. Duh.
I think you and AC&2T both make valid points. It DOES make sense they would meet - yo, he's Picard! She just got to Earth! They're rarities. It makes sense they would and if things worked out they would become close friends, and clearly they must have.
Though it's a loose association that two people who went through the same horrors become besties just because of one shared experience, which is something of a superficial mindset (but the show is more likely aimed at general or casual fans who remember the names and will accept whatever regardless of reason, which is yet untold so I won't place too many bets.) But it's not impossible, either. From personal experience, in a moderately-sized support group, I made a couple friends and one stayed for a while so it does happen to people. It'd simply be superficial not to bother with the premiere just for assuming either case.
7 had improved a great deal in VOY and even beyond, but the teaser only hints at so much. Just that she's chummy and making an odd quip to Picard. The full episode will undoubtedly substantiate the scene, along with how such perfect progress to her recovery had been made... or to remind us another reason why they're called "
teasers". It's just too early to tell and at least we're still interested. Indeed, a rewatch of the teaser has the mystery voice about asking about his past could be about his time as Locutus. That won me back over for sure, though why would Picard keep Data dismantled in the way he threatened once or twice during TNG's run? I'll admit, I'm curious but I'm hopfully they do something good with it.
The reason some of us don't buy into it is not necessarily because of how much continuity was lamely steamrollered by the same makers in their other Trek show, DSC (IMHO, YMMV from others who sat through that) but because a person who was abused since being a little child and ending up so perfect after 4 years of chugging along with such difficulty, having been a borg for the better part of her existence and isolated from the normal humany wumany things? Oh, we who have been abused do recover to varying extents. We're simply and not unreasonably wondering how her seemingly perfect recovery will be fleshed out, if at all, noting the makers aren't going to cater just to hardcore Picard fans if the goal is to gain new audiences (and how they do that, to gain the new while not whizzing by the old.) If that makes sense. Either way, it's a teaser - the full episode, again, will sell more of the big picture.
I'm hopeful... but cautious. After all, isn't it a possibility that the only thing worse than having concerns and being relieved is better than simply not giving a damn and not following the show at all? But ratings do seem to be clung to for a reason. Usually to get more and not less, I'd reckon.
Lastly, going back to a previous post I made, it's old hat to show existing characters in premieres as a crossover to the new show (e.g. McCoy in TNG, Picard in DS9, etc, etc). I don't know if the same characters were in the teasers (not the actual episodes), but It is also
not new news that the current Trek franchise is more divisive than it was in the good ol' days of "Kirk vs Picard". So if they weren't before, using established characters in a teaser is another lure. Heck, I'm intrigued and am hopeful, since it's also known that good producers who work on many shows tend to make a good one and a bad one (e.g. Bryan Singer, did XMen and went over to Superman and to be frank should have stayed with Xmen because what he might have done with X3 would have been more compelling and the source material was robust enough. But he didn't really understand Superman in the same way, or rather he didn't make it in a way that revitalized the franchise (III and IV are crap but I'd rather rewatch those before 2006's entry), but I digress.)
