Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Time travel is a tried-and-true staple of Star Trek, with numerous characters venturing to the past or jumping to the far future and beyond. While most Star Trek characters return to their proper time, some, like the entire crew of Star Trek: Discovery, permanently remain in their new time period. This is the case with both Cristobal Rios and Dr. Gillian Taylor - but in opposite directions.

Introduced in Star Trek: Picard season 1, Cristobal Rios was a former Starfleet officer who owned and operated the cargo ship La Sirena. Rios was initially hired by iral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), but Chris soon made Picard's mission to save the galaxy from the Romulans his own. Rios' heroism brought him back to Starfleet, where he became the Captain of the USS Stargazer. However, Chris ed Picard on a new mission to travel to 2024 Los Angeles to prevent Q (John de Lancie) from altering the timeline to create a reality where the galaxy is ruled by the fascist Confederation of Earth.

How Picard’s Cristobal Rios Reversed Dr. Gillian Taylor’s Star Trek IV Time Travel

Rios and Gillian went in opposite time travel directions

At the end of Star Trek: Picard season 2, Captain Cristobal Rios decided to stay in 2024 instead of returning to the early 25th century with iral Picard and their friends. When beaming into 2024 Los Angeles, Rios was injured and was taken to a clinic run by Dr. Teresa Ramirez (Sol Rodriguez). Chris fell for the physician, and her feelings were mutual towards the handsome hero who claimed to be from the future. Since Teresa had a young son, Ricardo (Steve Gutierrez), who Chris bonded with, Rios found a family he never had in his own time.

Cristobal Rios choosing to stay in the past is unusual in Star Trek, and it's the opposite of what Dr. Gillian Taylor did in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Gillian was a whale biologist in San Francisco who met time travelers iral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy), who voyaged to 1986 to bring two humpback whales to save Earth in the 23rd century. When Gillian learned who these two unusual men were and that their mission was to save her whales, George and Gracie, Dr. Taylor chose to go back to the future with them.

What Happened to Picard’s Rios Compared To Star Trek IV’s Gillian?

Rios met a different fate than what's known about Gillian

Remaining in 2024 gave Cristobal Rios a happy life with Dr. Teresa Rodriguez and Ricardo. Together, Chris and Rios founded the Mariposas, which delivered much-needed medical supplies to the needy. However, Rios choosing to stay in 2024 was also a gamble because Chris was well-aware that Earth would soon be engulfed in the Eugenics Wars and World War III. Although Rios survived both global conflagrations, Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) revealed to iral Picard that Cristobal died in a bar fight over medical supplies in Morocco.

Both Cristobal Rios and Dr. Gillian Taylor made positive impacts on opposite ends of their time travel.

What happened to Dr. Gillian Taylor after she ed the 23rd century at the end of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home can only be inferred from certain details in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Prodigy. Since 24th century starships use whales for navigation in Cetacean Ops, Dr. Taylor's work with whales must have been adopted by Starfleet. Indeed, the humpback whale aboard the USS Voyager-A in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 is named Gillian after Dr. Taylor. So, both Cristobal Rios and Dr. Gillian Taylor made positive impacts on opposite ends of their time travel in Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.