Just hours into season one of Star Trek: Picard, the eponymous and beloved Starfleet officer is told, “This is no longer your house, Jean-Luc.” While it’s true that Picard, played indelibly and with renewed soulfulness by Patrick Stewart, doesn’t have quite the same standing in the year 2399 that he did in 2385, the character and actor still look very much at home in the newest Star Trek series. In many ways, Picard is the leader we remember, a man whose compassion and intelligence preceded him, who believed that the progression of humanity could, with concerted effort, keep up with that of technology. But 20 years after the events of Nemesis, there’s been a considerable change in circumstance: he’s now a man with no crew or starship, just a long memory and a mission (and a vineyard and a great dog, but we digress).
The same sense of purpose that sends the erstwhile Enterprise captain journeying through the stars once more also extends to the wider series, and keeps Picard from being a mere exercise in nostalgia or repackaging of intellectual property. The series, Alex Kurtzman’s latest foray into this particular sci-fi universe, shares its lead character’s penchant for delving into history, but keeps its eyes trained forward, seeking out new ways to tell classic Trek stories—among them, exploring what it means to be human.
Finding a balance between old and new, between the past and the future, is as much a thematic concern as it is an offscreen imperative for Kurtzman, Stewart, and their fellow executive producers Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, and Heather Kadin. No one on screen or behind the scenes believes this story can just pick up where The Next Generation (or even the big-screen adventures) left off, narratively or otherwise. The passage of time, both on the show and in real life, is seen and felt everywhere, from Picard’s strained relationship with Starfleet to the Federation’s current state of intergalactic affairs to the more somber tone of the series.
But even with such an esteemed history and noble intentions, Star Trek: Picard struggles at times to fly true in its first three episodes. Attempts to marry the sensibilities of big-screen (specifically, Kelvin timeline) Trek with those of its TV counterpart create discord; there is a slickness to the pilot, particularly in the big action set pieces, that doesn’t quite jibe with the more pensive nature of the small-screen franchises. But veteran TV director Hanelle M. Culpepper, who helmed the first three episodes, eventually settles into a more familiar speed, one that allows each new discovery to land before moving on to the next.
Picard is also so packed with plot and backstories, it’ll have you wishing you had the memory banks of Data (Brent Spiner), the dearly departed android whose cinematic death still haunts Picard. In just the first three hours, the series sprints through decades of history, including the tragic events of the Romulan supernova that killed billions and made refugees of millions more. The details of Picard’s rift with Starfleet are gradually revealed, and we also learn more about his retirement, his vineyard employees, and his old (but new to us) comrades, like Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), who is one of a surprising number of people on this show who won’t readily forgive the old Francophone. Kurtzman et. al. insist that you can walk into Picard a Trek novice, which is probably true, though we should note that being versed in the history only enriches jokes about Picard’s indifference to science fiction and makes transparent the wary reactions to the mere mention of the Tal Shiar.
In addition to all that world-building, Picard season one has conspiracies within conspiracies—though we suppose that’s to be expected in any storyline with this many Romulans involved, including Narek (Harry Treadaway). There are flashbacks and previously unheard-of destinations, as well as new characters with just as much to lose as the iconic captain, but whose motives aren’t nearly as obvious to us. Alison Pill co-stars as Dr. Agnes Jurati, the Earth’s leading expert on synthetic life forms—the same synthetic life forms (or “synths”) that were outlawed following an attack on a Mars space station that was first glimpsed in Short Treks. As Cristobal Rios, Big Little Lies’ Santiago Cabrera gets to play buttoned-up and swashbuckling, occasionally even in the same scene. But most intriguingly, Picard introduces Dahj (Isa Briones), a brilliant young woman who, despite meeting Jean-Luc in the premiere, has deep connections to his past.
At times, it’s difficult to keep the people and machinations straight, not to mention maintain interest in them. But all of these moving parts make up the engine that drives Picard the man and Picard the series, from the real-life events that inform the isolationism and refugee crisis depicted on the show to the search for compassionate and right-minded leaders. Regret is a powerful motivator, and Jean-Luc’s list of regrets is nearly as long as his list of accomplishments, but Picard is more opening salvo than it is a requiem for a starship captain. War, or some other cataclysmic event, is brewing, and no one gets to sit it out; not even the man who once thwarted the Borg. Soon, Picard’s return makes all the more sense—the reunion of the actor and the role, of the character and the battlefront is truly, as Dahj says at one point, “like lightning seeking the ground.” It’s immediately, undeniably comforting to see Stewart playing Picard once again, even as dulcet-toned actor brings new layers of vulnerability and insecurity to the role.
But though Picard acts as a beacon for his companions and viewers at home, the series doesn’t paint him as a savior. Picard carves out a distinct place for him—which is, at times, on the bridge of a starship—while also expanding the roles of his new comrades. It’s hard to pick a favorite among the new castmates, who bring wide-eyed energy (Pill), charisma (Cabrera), pathos (Hurd), and star quality (Briones) to familiar environs. But they’re ready to chart a new course within the universe of Star Trek, just as that universe welcomes back its most inspiring hero. Together, these stories make for one of the most rousing installments in the franchise, and potentially one of the most powerful.
Reviews by Zack Handlen will run weekly beginning Thursday, January 23.
260 Comments
Damn, I have to wait until January 24th to watch it here in Italy!!! Damn yuo, Amazon!!Cheers
Well, sounds like regular Q funny business wouldn’t fit in this version of the show but I’m hoping at some point they have a serious sit down and conversation. I liked their overarching discussions about the serious themes of the show.
Have to admit, for a second there I got Alison Pill mixed up with Allison Mack in my head and was wondering why no one had kicked up more of a fuss about a sexually abusive cultist being on this show.
Don’t worry. Allison Pill is just what the doctor ordered.
Well played, my friend, well played.
What? this didn’t inspire a silly pun thread? I’m disappointed.
Don’t be a pill, Laurence.
I guess we just couldn’t… find a… needle…?…‘Cause you put thread through a needle……I’ll let myself out.
sounds like you should be concerned about addiction
I find that hard to swallow.
Allison Mack will appear as The Recruiter, a mysterious envoy of the species called the Nx’Ivm, who looks for vulnerable people to become part of the Communion (which is a metaphor for sex cults).
If only Roddenberry were alive, he’d say “Why do we need a metaphor! Let’s see more of these sex cults!”
I think you nailed it. I’ve seen the first three and there are a number of issues here. The pacing is quite glacial at times, it really feels like the series is just beginning at the end of the third episode and they could have easily arrived at that point far sooner.There are also a lot of plot threads and it definitely gets confusing at times, but simultaneously not much actual story. At times, I had to remind myself why Picard was doing what he was doing and what the stakes were.And the tragic events in Picard’s past really don’t have much actual bearing on what’s happening in the present, even thematically, which seems like a missed opportunity. There’s a lot of backstory, but it all just doesn’t feel that relevant.In the broad strokes, the show can feel a little fan-fic-y. Like they just decided to grab random popular elements from TNG (Data! Romulans! The Borg!) and just put ‘em into a blender.I sound harsh and the show is entertaining and there is potential here. But the season’s first third is also slow and a bit muddled.
To be fair, the Romulus being blown up was a plot point in Star Trek (2009) that started the Kelvin timeline.
Seems like it would be almost impossible for something like this not to feel fan-fic-y.
Is the whole series dropping at once?
No. Some people got to see 3 episodes because they went to the premier or have seen screeners.
My feeling about the slow pace is for newbies to the series. Or for people, like my husband, who are casual Trek fans and haven’t watched TNG since it first came out.
No, just one at a time.
I was a LITTLE disappointed at the whole Borg angle (I’ve only seen the first ep). That was basically the old Berman-era ploy to try to juice the ratings on a show. Just bring in a Borg storyline. People love the Borg!BUT… and I as I’ve said I’ve only seen the first ep… if they’re looking for bits of Data out there—and how to build flesh and blood synthetic life forms— wouldn’t the Borg have some important info? They did, after all, manage to successfully graft living skin onto him in First Contact. And if that’s the case… I’m a little surprised by not disappointed how much prior Trek knowledge might be required viewing for this series.
Data (Brent Spiner), the dearly departed android whose cinematic death still haunts Picard For being such a human sci-fi universe, it’s ironic Star Trek has always struggled with how it approaches death.
Hopefully Picard can make us feel Data’s death meant something, ‘cause Nemesis certainly didn’t.
All I remember from Nemesis was Picard violating the Prime Directive for no real reason with his dune buggy. I get Patrick Stewart wanted to have more action scenes but they could have at least worked it into the narrative better.Also apparently Nemesis was so bad it made Tom Hardy relapse and have to go to rehab.
And yet it’s the second-best TNG movie!
No that’s Generations. Yeah Kirk is unceremoniously killed off but at worst it was dull.
Yeah, I was perfectly fine with Kirk getting sucked out of the breached deck of the Enterprise B in the beginning. He died saving the ship and her crew and the refugees. Granted, this didn’t have much connection to the rest of the movie, outside of Guinan and Soran being one among the refugees transported onboard the Enterprise B but it was still a far better send-off than what we got later.
I did love the idea of the Nexis and Picard exploring his mortality. Some really beautiful moments, like where he has a family for a moment, and muses on how now will never come again. Having his family burn to death was a bit on the morbid side, but it did add to the stakes of both this and the new show with him as the last of his family. It’s one of several films where I wish there wasn’t a villain. Or that the villain’s plan didn’t involve a doomsday device. Getting out of the Nexis and one guy not wanting to leave/trying to stop them was enough of a plot that could’ve worked really well. Even including Kirk would’ve been fine if they didn’t drop a bridge on him to save some unknown planet we never see. Otherwise, the Duras sisters came out of nowhere. And Data’s emotion chip was possibly the worst thing Trek has ever done besides Insurrection and Into Darkness.
Plus Malcolm and Patrick acting off each other is always a treat to watch.
Generations is entertaining, but my God, the awful writing that lets an old light cruiser take out the Federation flagship absolutely infuriates me.And the fix would have been so simple—-give the Duras sisters a heavy cruiser or something to give the (basically unshielded) Enterprise an honorable death.Because even sustaining two unshielded torpedo hits, a Galaxy class should still have enough forward firepower to wipe a tiny (if fully shielded), outdated BoP out of existance.Oh crap, my nerd is showing.
For anyone interested in what I think of Nemesis. And indeed every other Star Trek moviehttp://tolerabilityindex.freeforums.net/post/370232/thread
Say what you want about Kirk’s death in Generations, it was still better than his death in Into Darkness. At least he got a great exit line.
Its a distant third. First Contact is the best, Generations is second(its way more a TNG movie then a TOS series). Insurrection is the worst by far
Insurrection is worse than Final Frontier IMO. I hate it that much
What?! You don’t like Data being used a flotation device?
Like at what point did Star Trek become Inspector Gadget?
But it did make for a pretty entertaining Plinkett Review.
Star Trek hiserection. heh heh hehThe Nostalgia Critic review was good too, but only because Linkara “invaded” it and went on some epic rants about the Baku:“I’m sorry, but I’m not behind this. At least not the way these pompous jerks are flaunting it. First of all: you have machines! We saw your irrigation lines, you idiots! And those clothes look pretty damn well-tailored for a group of people that don’t have the ability to manufacture them properly. Second: this movie builds this place up like it’s paradise, Eden, or perfection; however, their philosophy is the exact OPPOSITE of what “Star Trek” stands for! “Star Trek,” in the end, is about how advanced technology has done us so much good, how it allows us to do so many great things, and that the future will be a bright one because, partially, we want for nothing. THIS movie, however, tells us we need to get “back to nature” and be smug, hippie jackasses who reject technology and machines in favor of being so inbred that we don’t believe in any other colors for our clothes except brown!”andNostalgia Critic: My God… you’re defending “Battlefield: Earth?”Linkara: No, I’m pointing out the fact that you can never get details right! So we’re gonna do this together so it gets done CORRECTLY!
Definitely!
Nah, Final Frontier is still worse. Just remember: Uhura dancing. Spock has a never before mentioned brother. Kirk, Spock, and Bones singing around a campfire. Kirk being saved by Spock wearing the anti-gravity boots from ST:TMP. Spocks’ brother on a search for God.I like to think that the original script for Nemesis was at least somewhat decent. FF was clearly dead in the water from the start. At least Undiscovered Country let the original cast go out with a decent film.
Yeahhhh that is true…….Still though, it felt in the spirit of Star Trek and what those characters would do. Insurrection suddenly says that technology is in fact bad, and that the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many. It flies in the face of other episodes of TNG where the same situation was occuring, but without acknowledging them or showing any lingering guilt Picard might have. To me that’s a betrayal of the entire ethos of Star Trek
Totally agree! As much as I hate Nemesis, Insurrection is the greater crime!
Insurrection did have this legendary (if flawed) Picard speech:
I have a fondness for Insurrection. I can never argue that it’s GOOD but it’s fun, if for nothing else the cast chemistry and Donna Murphy.
Insurrection is the worst by the default that I always forget it exists. It is the prime example of what happens when a scrapped TV episode is lengthened out just to make a feature film. Nemesis is bad, but I feel it at least had moments of decency. The end result was bad, and that dune buggy scene will always stick out in my mind as one of the worst things Trek has ever filmed or done, but Nemesis is at least still somewhat watchable. Like, once every ten years or so.
There’s a great quote from Ron Moore and Brannon Braga on the Generations commentary, where they mention that while writing the movie, they were also tasked with writing “All Good Things.” And even they admit the TNG finale is much, much better than the Generations movie.I love everything about “All Good Things,” but I still wish they’d done some badass “Kirk Vs. Picard” scenario, maybe administered by Q or something, for the movie. I guess bringing Q back twice wouldn’t make sense. Either way, I shouldn’t complain, Generations is boring but it’s still pretty fun.
It kind of was. I in fact might like it better than First Contact in a Star Trek context. FC was a great action film but ruined the Borg and time travel at the same time. And I actually liked Tom Hardy as Shinzon, I just wish they didn’t go the “blow up earth” route with him. He has absolutely no reason to give a shit about Earth or the Federation
“He has absolutely no reason to give a shit about Earth or the Federation.” Seriously. That made no damn sense and came so late in the movie. “Oh, BTW, we’re gonna destroy the Federation. You know, just cuz.”Ugh.
And I actually liked Tom Hardy as Shinzon…I’d seen it suggested that Shizon should have been played by Stewart, and that idea blows my mind.Hardy is fine, but having evil-dragqueen Stewart Montalbaning all over the place would have completely changed the movie. And it’s just so obvious that I don’t know why they didn’t do it that way in the first place.
I think if it were made just 4 or 5 years later they would’ve done an X-Men 3 and de-aged Stewart, if the clone had to be a younger version.
I’m not even sure why he had to be younger.For the romulans plot to work there would need to be some age-acceleration for the clone either way.So they age the clone-Picard to 40 or 50, and then plunk him in the spicemines for another decade or two. Having him as a bitter and beaten-up old man would make the character more interesting than just giving Hardy a bit of a scar.
Insurrection was essentially a two-hour long mediocre season 7 episode and even it was better than Nemesis.
I’d argue First Contact and then Insurrection. Insurrection wasn’t great, but at least it felt like an episode of Trek.
Other than the remarkably awful decision to let Riker control the Federation flagship with a Commodore 64 joystick, I had no real great problems with Insurrection.Even Nemesis, with its mountains of flaws, is worth watching because of Hardy and Stewart playing off each other.Plus, who wasn’t cheering when the “inferior” Ent-E gashed that massive gunboat of a Reman dreadnought?
And yet it’s the second-best TNG movie!
Nemesis?
I know that Stewart is a pretty great guy, but learning that Nemesis’ prime-directive-busting dunebuggy scene exists mostly just because Stewart likes dunebuggies lessened him in my eyes.
It’s almost as if Sir Patrick Stewart was saying, “it’s been great playing Picard but I’m ready to move on” without actually telling anyone.
Sure, but as another poster pointed out, you could have at least written the scene so it made sense and wasn’t a grotesque violation of the Prime Directive.
Was it confirmed that it was Patrick’s idea for the dunebuggies? I thought that was the *Trek-clueless director* being told to put more ‘action’ into the movie in any way possible.
It could just be apocryphal, but it is pretty widely reported. Here’s one example:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/StarTrekNemesis
Yeah, I should have never watched the extra features on the DVD for Nemesis. “I love driving” is perhaps the one behind the scenes revelation from a great actor that I would be better to have never heard.
All I remember from Nemesis was Picard violating the Prime Directive for no real reason with his dune buggy. I get Patrick Stewart wanted to have more action scenes but they could have at least worked it into the narrative better.
Also apparently Nemesis was so bad it made Tom Hardy relapse and have to go to rehab.Literally the best thing that came from that movie was SFDebris’ headcanon that everything that happened in that film was engineered by Janeway, who is actually an evil genius in the vein of Lex Luthor. In his telling, Janeway gave the Remans the tech for the Scimitar, as well as a dumbed-down Lore, so that the Remans would attack Earth, headcap the Federation’s leadership, and give her the opportunity to rise to power and thereby lead a just war of conquest against the Romulan Star Empire.It is, still, the single-best fan theory for the plot of Nemesis that I have ever heard.
I love this idea. But I do also like Janeway as a morally grey captain who was just trying to get home and defeat whoever the bigger threat was. She would make a great foil to Picard if they ever put them together.
Nemesis could also work as a team-up movie where the Romulans reluctantly need the Enterprise’s help in stopping the Reman monster of their own creation. The Federation is conflicted on whether or not to intervene or just let them get their comeuppance (echoing the TOS era finale). It sort of happens where the Romulans assist and imply peace with the Federation, but it could’ve been expanded upon.
ooh, I bet Mulgrew could really sink her teeth into that if it ever made it to film.
I’ve only seen the first episode, and it lands much better here than it did in Nemesis. Almost entirely due to Sir Patrick’s acting rather than the writing, though.
“Almost entirely due to Sir Patrick’s acting rather than the writing, though.”That’s true for about 70% of TNG.
A very simple but major problem with it in Nemesis is WHY would there only be one of those site-to-site transporter tag things? Especially considering the last movie involved hundreds of them! (the transporter darts the bad guys were shooting at the fleeing townspeople)
First episode really puts a button on the Nemesis Data not-death. B4 being a failure in a drawer helped that a lot
I was VERY glad they did that instead of having Data 2.0 walking around somewhere.
I was 10/11 when Nemesis came out, and I’d never watched a Star Trek anything before. Ended up watching it at the movie theater with my family at a 10 p.m. showing where I was drifting in and out of sleep. It took me several years to realize that I didn’t dream up that entire film. It’s so weird.
They already copped out when they had his “twin” appear in the film. I guess he wasn’t fully functional, but they’re clearly building up to bringing him back.
Nemesis couldn’t even keep me awake. I had grown up on Next Generation and enjoyed the franchise even through the mediocre-at-best Insurrection, but I fell asleep during the last 30-40 minutes of Nemesis and had absolutely no desire to finish it when I woke up. I didn’t think about the fact that this series would be dealing with events from Nemesis, because my brain stubbornly refuses to hold on to any details of that movie including its very existence until someone reminds me about it.
I hope they bring back more of the analytical and investigative elements of older Trek in future episodes.
Remember how in old Trek shows, they would use logic and science to study problems? They would scan for DNA fragments or ionization left by weapons fire or transporters to figure out what happened. They would trace radiation to find hidden energy sources or cloaked ships. They would research people’s backgrounds and relationships to see if they might be involved in some scheme. They would study a race’s culture and history to find the best way of negotiating with them.So far, it kind of just seems like characters are just walking into exactly what they need. Everywhere Picard goes, he gets the precise answer he needs for the next plot point. There’s no false leads or other potential answers.
Previous Trek shows almost never had red herrings or false leads, unless they were specifically doing a “mystery”-themed episode, which this show isn’t.Wasting time with blind alleys or wrong answers would do this show no good and serve no narrative or dramatic purpose. The pacing is already way too loose as it is.
Have you seen Star Trek? This is how most episodes go:They encounter a problem. They analyze the problem. Each member of the crew gives their own opinions and suggestions for a solution. They discuss it and the captain makes a command decision. That decision turns out to be wrong. They analyze the problem, discuss it, and try to find a solution again. They repeat until they find the right solution and the problem is resolved.And did you watch this show? This isn’t a mystery? So the identity of Dahj wasn’t a mystery? The synth attack on Mars isn’t a mystery? The Romulans kill squad isn’t a mystery? Unknown synths being built isn’t a mystery?
Sounds like you’re describing Voyager and/or only the worst of all possible Star Trek episodes. That’s hardly what this show should be aiming for.Not everything is or should be a mystery, JJ. Dahj’s identity is established early. We should be grateful they’re not dragging that shit out. There are, as you point out, plenty of unknowns, but let’s not pile them on needlessly and waste time on false explanations. That’s just crap storytelling.
Not everything is or should be a mystery, JJ. Dahj’s identity is established early.
Her identity isn’t the mystery. Her origins are.
Her origins are also explained by episode’s end. No mystery here.
Sounds like you’re describing Voyager and/or only the worst of all
possible Star Trek episodes. That’s hardly what this show should be
aiming for.
They encounter a problem – a Federation colony was mysteriously wiped out and Starfleet believe it’s the Borg.
They analyze the problem – Riker and Shelby work together to figure out how they can fight the Borg.
Each member of the crew gives their own opinions and suggestions for a
solution – Shelby wants to take more risks in their tactics against the Borg, Riker wants to be more cautious.
They discuss it and the captain makes a command decision – Shelby goes over Riker’s head and Picard takes her side.That
decision turns out to be wrong – their plan fails horribly, Picard gets assimilated.
They analyze the problem, discuss it,
and try to find a solution again – they use the deflector dish to fire a massive energy charge in hopes of destroying the Borg. They fail again.
They repeat until they find the right
solution and the problem is resolved – Guinan gives guidance to Riker and tells him to think on his own and do something Picard wouldn’t expect. They go on a risky mission to capture Picard. Finally, they figure out how to use Picard’s connection to the Borg to disable the Cube.Yup, sounds like the worst episode of Star Trek ever.
Yeah, but it makes this feel fake. Modern movies seem to have this issue where everything has to be perfectly answered.Maybe it’s a millennial thing- we don’t know everything yet but feel like we do/should.
What makes it feel “fake”? That Picard figures out Dahj’s secret before the episode is over? That’s kind of what the show is about. Needlessly dragging out a mystery for no reason is dumb and it’s poor writing.Dahj and her sister are what the show is actually ABOUT. You don’t hide the damn premise of your show.There’s nothing wrong with someone showing up and NOT being a mysterious characters whose “secret” backstory has to eat up real estate for installment after installment. (cough, cough, Star Wars sequel trilogy.)
No- tying up every mystery, problem, or solution with a nice bow feels fake.Life doesn’t always have answers to everything. When I watch a show or movie and every object, person or problem is wrapped up perfectly and matters it feels… fake. Part of why the early GoT seasons were so good was so much was implied or unexplained.
This is not that at all. It’s not “wrapping everything up in a bow”, it’s just telling you who a friggin character is.We meet Allison Pill and learn she’s a cyberneticist. There’s no “Mystery” about her identity or her history and nor should there be. Same with Dahj/Sister. They’re just introducing a character with a zany backstory, so they step it out slightly to make it digestible.I honestly have no idea what point you’re making.
I don’t think you understood me. Either that or kinja/I replied to the wrong comment.I’m thinking of the mandalorian. Good show- but very predictable and rote. Every character we meet I instantly know is going to be a “Bad Guy” or a “Neutral Guy” and integral to that episode. It starts to feel like a set piece. Similarly for over-explaining or wrapping up mysteries. If EVERYthing in a show is explained, it removes some of allure.
Don’t know if I understood you or not and it’s too difficult to try to find the original comments at this point!Based on what you said, though, I can’t imagine how you think “Picard” has overly-explained or has an absence of mystery. There are MANY unknowns.The identity of Dahj/Soji was never meant to be one of them. So it’s not screwing up that it’s “answering” something that was never meant to be a question.Back in the old days, pilots just came right out and told you who their characters were and what they were about. We weren’t waiting to “find out the truth” as the series progressed.Soji/Dahj is an android character. That’s who she is. No mystery about it and there was never meant to be, except for ten second before the audience and characters knew who she was.
Seriously, what show did you watch? Every problem is “tied up with a bow”? The world in this show is a mess. The whole galaxy is hurting from multiple mass tragedies, prejudice, hostility and paranoia run rampant, innocent people are hunted down and killed simply for existing, or worse, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There’s problems on top of problems and it doesn’t look like any of them are getting solved anytime soon. There’s reasons why people are baffled by your comments.
Not the “world”. The show.Each episode wraps up too neatly.Calm down.
How does the first episode wrap up neatly? The person Picard is supposed to protect is dead, and the other one is millions of light-years away and has no idea of the danger she’s in.
Remember how in old Trek shows, they would use logic and science to study problems?No.I mean, I remember when they would use “logic” and “science” to study problems. Especially “science”, just throw enough multi-syllabic science-y terms at the script and bam, instant Star Trek science!Don’t get me wrong, I love Star Trek, and I hope Picard is great, but lets not pretend like the science in these Science-Fiction series weren’t frequently a load of bullcrap.Sorry, I meant Ikthorian Bull Crap…
To be fair, that was more during Voyager’s tenure when technobabble became the solution to every problem.
“Quick Doctor, Reverse the polarity of the ion intake. 7 of 9, turn the reflector array to 270 and double the anti-matter re integrator. If we time this just right, we just may shave 10 years off our voyage home” – Janeway, every third episode
It was more prevalent in Voyager, sure, but it got its start in TNG. Brett Spiner in particular had to carry a lot of that load…
Yes. Voyager was the worst for mumbo jumbo solutions to problems.
TOS and TNG had a fair amount of technobabble.
Like putting air in a balloon!
And something bad happens!
I also remember how the climax of an episode often involved characters looking at dots on a screen telling us what was happening.
Old Star Trek was frequently great, sometimes enjoyably terrible, but always hemmed in by the limitations of budget and technology. People complaining about Star Trek these days being too flashy seem to forget how often the old shows had to resort to procedure and exposition for something that nowadays can just be filmed.Anyway it’s a creative dead end to want Star Trek to constantly go back to some ideal in the past.
It’s wild that this site decries Star Trek nostalgia as a creative dead end, but then jerks off stuff like the Mandalorian for just showing you the same cool stuff you’ve already seen and doing nothing new.
Yeah, I don’t get the praise for Mandalorian, which is a completely half-assed show. If Picard feels a little like fan fiction, then Mandalorian is like watching someone play with their action figures.
Yes, but that forced them to do more character work and more thoughtful stories. Discovery particularly felt like it was one action sequence to the next in quick succession with short pauses for crying/screaming, and no real philosophy, politics, or character drama.
I think it was a blessing they didn’t have to rely on special effects and huge budgets. They had to make a show with substance. Something I can already tell is missing from this show. Already too many ninja flips and running….
Yes, the science was mostly gobbledy-gook, but the *idea* that the characters could use analysis, “scientific” methods, and their abilities to adapt technology to solve problems was what set Star Trek apart.
What do you mean? Star Trek frequently referenced the great scientists, like Newton, Einstein, and Ch’loc’a of Tarsus Prime.
I probably learned the “rule of three” from Star Trek before I did from comedy.
Oh, the science in science FICTION is made up? You don’t say.You do know that this show has that too, right? This episode dealt with organic synthetics and recovering an entire mind from a single neuron.The thing with good science fiction and good fiction in general is that there are rules and logic in their made up stuff.
The thing with good science fiction and good fiction in general is that there are rules and logic in their made up stuff
Yeah, technobabble is good harmless fun so long as it’s 1) consistent, 2) establishes clear rules and limits, and 3) the solution works within those limits. Voyager was generally terrible with technobabble precisely because they usually violated at least one of those principles in the course of the episode. The Next Generation was usually good harmless fun because they obeyed those principles over the course of the episode. I’m not going to ding “All Good Things”, however certain I may be that there are no such things as anti-time particles.Just to use a small example of how it can be done well, in Season One or Two of Voyager, the crew stumbles on a Kazon lab where they were experimenting with Federation replicator technology, and it blew up in their faces. Janeway and crew needed to access the lab, which was irradiated. So they used a sequence of rotating force fields, projected from a central column, to move the irradiated air out of the way so that they could then pump in new air and get in and out before the irradiated metal caused them any serious harm. It was small, but it showed some genuine creative problem solving on the part of the crew. It was good character work, and if technobabble had been used like that consistently on Voyager, it probably would have a much better reputation among fans. As it was, 90% of technobabble on Voyager was essentiallyCrewman: “Oh no, X has gone wrong!”Janeway: “Science at it!”Crewman: *pushes buttons* “Oh no, it didn’t work!”Janeway: “Science at it harder, or at least turn the batteries around!”Crewman: *pushes more buttons* “We did it!”Janeway: “We?!”
The best technobabble generally works through the power of analogy. You can come up with “science” that’s as outlandish as you like, as long as you can give the audience a mechanic for it that they can visualise. (The rotating forcefields you mention are a great example of this.) I got very frustrated with the Moffat era of ‘Doctor Who’ because it seemed to devolve too often into “I’m going to point my sonic screwdriver at the thing and it’ll solution the problem”, which more or less ends up making the Doctor the wizard who did it.The best sci-fi show I’ve seen for technobabble that feels real is ‘Stargate: SG-1′. They’d come up with really consistent rules for their science and technology, and when the plot needed them to contradict those rules they’d acknowledge the inconsistency before coming up with a reason for it that made sense. I think it all came from the writers respecting that the audience cares about these details and wants them to feel satisfying.
Honestly, the best episodes were where the technobabble was beside the point. It could be used as a device to move the story forward, but when the writing was good, the story was always more about the people than the technology. All Good Things is a perfect example.
The Next Generation was usually good harmless fun because they obeyed those principles over the course of the episode.
Except for the “warp travel is damaging space-time” thing that only lasted for 2-3 episodes.
You mean Iconian bull crap…
Bantha pudu?Sorry wrong universe, I’ll show myself out.
Star Trek “science” is basically one step away from just putting the word “space” in front of everything as a modifier. Star Trek “logic” doesn’t usually do much better.
I remember how in Enterprise instead of getting engineering to open a locked door, they just phasered it. Think you are looking at the past with rose colored glasses.
I hope its mostly action with Picard in the back occasionally interjecting with, “This reminds me the time we were at a stand-off with a Cardassian warship near the neutral zone…” or some other event from the TNG era.His crew would be like, “Everything reminds you of something.”Picard- “Experience, ladd. You should learn to appreciate it.”
I think this show doesn’t lend itself to that type of episode, as it focuses on one overarching plot and character. Which is why we really need to go back to a new Star Trek show with the Enterprise-F set either concurrently or further in the future removed from past characters. I don’t know if we’ll get that anytime soon.
I mean, not really? The best seasons of DS9 in particular were, for me, the last three mostly-serialized Dominion War stories. Still some of my favorite TV ever.
This really is a great point. The first Trek series really helped create the nerd culture we enjoy today. Science, exploration, and the the inquisitive powers of the mind became cool stuff. Finding solutions almost always took precedence over blasting something to smithereens as a first course of action. Now it’s all just guns and butt-kicking.
We’re getting into a cultural zone where critics and audiences seem to have polar-opposite reactions to things — Joker; Star Wars VIII and IX, and other examples of movies or television where the two Rotten Tomatoes stats (critic and audience scores) are inversions of each other. Given all the “leaks” about how “disastrous” this show is, I admit I’ve been afraid that it’s going to be awful, and I further admit (given all of this) that I’ve actually been thinking that good reviews will confirm my suspicion that it’s bad.No disrespect to Danette Chavez (or anyone else at AVC) and, obviously, I hope I’m wrong and Picard surprises us all with its great quality. But we really have reached a point in the last few years where it seems like audiences and critics are looking for totally different things.
Most audiences are dumb.There have been no verified “leaks” about Picard’s quality. Just a bunch of screeching A-holes with youtube channels who have an agenda.
Yeah, these munches are strictly amateur hour. The latest story I’m seeing is that Chabon is leaving Picard over a creative rift, when a simple Google search would show that he and his wife are showrunning a CBS adaptation of Kavalier & Clay, his beloved, bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that he’s been trying to turn into a movie or TV series for the last twenty years. But these guys don’t know Chabon from Adam. They just have their butthurt grievance agendas, and anything that seems to support them.
I’d find it hilarious if these internet-yahoos were advocating for giving Chabon complete creative freedom, because I doubt they’ve read any of his work. I’d love to see the author of Moonglow be given free reins with Jean Luc though.
Or the author of ‘Wonder Boys.’ That dog would be (accidentally) shot in Episode Four, and Riker would bed a confused male cadet in Episode Eight.
I use the word “agenda,” but that assumes a degree of awareness and intelligence that isn’t there. These guys have their narratives that they keep repeating to themselves and each other, like Captain Marvel was a flop (it made $4 million less than the last Spider-Man movie), or Jodie Whittaker is getting fired from Doctor Who (she’s been confirmed for Season 13), and then reality proves them and their viewers otherwise. I once thought of them as conmen preying on gullible fans, but it’s clear now that they believe all of it. If they say Hayden Christensen is coming back to TRoS as Anakin Skywalker’s twin brother’s grandson enough times, it must be true.
This makes me happy I only use youtube for old concert recordings.
The only thing I find personally demoralizing is when I actually don’t like a piece of popular entertainment like, say, Captain Marvel or Force Awakens or Discovery and then I find out that my opinion is sadly shared by these absolute garbage people.
Agreed. I liked Captain Marvel, I didn’t love it. I legitimately thought Brie Larson was miscast, and I love her in pretty much every other movie I’ve seen her in. But the number of people who reeeeeeeeeally hated her because stupid women amirite??? makes me kinda hate myself for thinking she wasn’t the right fit.There’s some channel, I think it’s called nerdrotic (which, ew), that went on a tangent about how terrible Jodie Whittaker is as the doctor, and just started going off about how it’s a natural fact that Dr. Who shouldn’t be a woman, and he immediately was like “No, that doesn’t make me a sexist okay?” and I just had to shut the damn video off. Butt-hurt internet basement dwellers who are losing their precious franchises to the masses and hate that anyone in the world can access them now – be they fans, filmmakers, or gasp shriek, people of diversity playing the characters they love. It’s disgusting.
Nerdrotic is definitely one of those absolutely trash youtube channels rife with sexism and whatnot. Just hateful, vile, stupid crap.Yeah, I do feel icky when I find those terrible people “agreeing” with me. Like, I don’t really dig Force Awakens and think the writing of Rey’s character has issues…and then I find myself digging into defend it because so many other “criticisms” are rooted in straight up misogyny.Ugh.
Yeah, that’s what really cracks me up. The very people who are accusing Chabon of not having a clue what Star Trek is (Red Letter Media for example) probably haven’t ever read a Michael Chabon book. Or listened to the multiple interviews where he discusses in great depth his love for Star Trek and knowledge of the series.
Well, the joke is on them, because I have no idea who they are.
Anyway so far I suspect that any merited criticism of the show can be traced to the influence of Kurtzman and Akiva Goldman.
I know someone who works on this show. He did leave because of creative reasons. He made some weird story choices with a big one in the end. His biggest sin, though, is that at times, Picard doesn’t seem to focus enough on Picard which you get a hint of in this review. And, once again, Seven of Nine is the most interesting character on a Star Trek show. She should get her own series.
citation needed. He’s still working on it.
No he ain’t. He was apparently a bit of a nightmare to work with, and when they suggested bringing Q in, he didn’t know who Q was. And they’re doing some reshooting of the last few episodes.
Sorry, you’re gonna need a rock solid couple of sources for that. I’ve read many interviews with him in the recent days, he knows a lot about TNG. There’s no fucking way that Q story is true. For starters.
I don’t expect you to believe a random guy on the internet, but it’s true. Two words: Picard golem.
I appreciate you understanding my skepticism. I await additional confirmation.
Most critics are also dumb so it balances it out nicely.
Citation needed.
Sure coming up soon as the citation for the original claim appears.
That’s not how citation works.But it IS how children work.So go ahead and stomp your feet or hold your breath or whatever.
Expecting citations from one person but not another isn’t how citations work either and yet you still thought you had something. Now that’s childish.
Yes, I genuinely expected a citation. As genuinely as you have given critics due consideration.
Yes, I genuinely expected a citation from Laurence of course. Hmm.
Sorry my initial response to your witty “nuh uh, critics are dumb” rejoinder was too pithy.
Exactly as pithy as my asking for a citation for the initial fart-huffing “audiences are dumb” take.
Keep telling yourself that to feel better!
Better about what?
I heard the same rumors about the Watchmen show – that it was a disaster, no one was going to watch it, etc. I was wondering if they were pushing some kind of agenda
People are upset that Star Trek is gonna get “too political and preachy” which makes me wonder what show they’ve been watching all these years.
Midnight’s Edge is the absolute worst of the bunch. Literally every day he has a new half hour screed about why Picard will fail. Something something SJWs.
Most of the “criticisms” I’ve seen—by people who have definitely not watched the show yet—have been of the “Keep this SJW politics crap out of Star Trek!” Meaning that they’ve either never seen a single episode of any Star Trek show ever, or or just trolling. Or most sci-fi, really. I watched the premiere last night, and am pretty optimistic. It took some turns I wasn’t expecting. I think the biggest problem/complaint one could have at this point is that is that certain plot points almost require re-watching Star Trek: Nemesis.
Online polls for audience scores for popular culture are not accurate. It only counts votes from those that decide to participate, is easy to manipulate via ballot-box-stuffing, are extremely vulnerable to brigading and are awful at nuance.Looking at Rotten Tomatoes’ or IMDB’s Audience Score is only slightly more accurate a way of judging media as shaking a magic 8 ball and asking it if the work is good.
The only truly reliable one is Cinemascore, which actually gets its results from people right as they’re leaving the theater.
And even Cinemascore is a bit inflated, because most people can summon some enthusiasm for a movie they just chose and paid to see. (A low Cinemascore is sometimes indicative of a bewildered audience, and can point you in some fun directions.) I’m still more interested in the extended opinions of people who make a practice of writing and thinking about film than I am the quick thoughts of the masses, especially if it’s about a much-loved/jealously guarded franchise.
Yeah there are some movies I’ve walked fairly entertained but because a lot happened on screen, lots of explosions, plot twists, or whatever I’m a bit overwhelmed and also because I’m not a critic I tend not to immediately start breaking down what I’ve seen, but then a day or two later I’m thinking “Hey!!!!” and all the things wrong with the movie start occurring to me.
That would be Independence Day for me. by ten days after the movie my opinion went from 4/5 start to 2.5 stars and subsequently dropped to two stars.
notoriously reliable opinion that is not subject to change. so they basically meausure knee jerk reactions.
I agree entirely. Not always the best time to engage but you will get accurate feelings.
What’s the polar opposite of a “B” grade? What’s the polar opposite of “medium”?
extra medium
rare?
The thing I keep hearing from Youtubers is that what Netflix, Amazon and (in their opinion, the audience) wanted was a series spun off from Star Trek TOS and TNG. What they got was a show set in the Kelvin timeline — tied in with the less popular JJ Abrams movie and new Star Trek Discovery series.
1) The show is not set in the Kelvin timeline2) It has fuck all to do with Discovery3) It only has a small connection to the 2009 film as backstory4) Like it or hate it, the Abrams movie was the most successful trek film by a huge margin
Guess I got some bad info then. I heard it was gonna tie into STD. Doesn’t bother me, I like Discovery. And the Abrams movies.
On what criteria are you basing “successful”?2009 Trek grossed $387m on a budget of $140m.The Voyage Home grossed $133m on a budget of $24m.Star Trek 4 was much more profitable. If you adjust for inflation it made $260m in 2009 dollars, on a $47m budget. That’s a 5:1 return, which is much more successful.And that’s not counting the dramatic increase in marketing costs over the 23 years between the two pictures.
Fair enough. TVH was a huge hit in its day and the biggest crossover of Trek into the mainstream moviegoing audience…until 2009.
This is the original timeline just like ST:Disco is in the original timeline.
Except that Picard is NOT in the Kelvin timeline. It’s in the Prime timeline. The supernova that destroyed Romulus and precipitated the events that sent Spock and Nero back in time was in the Prime timeline. It LED to the Kelvin timeline, and if screeching YouTube choads can’t be bothered to, I don’t know, watch the 2009 Star Trek to actually see that, then they can get fucked.
Rotten tomatoes audience scores mean nothing. You don’t have to watch anything to vote. Critics actually do have to watch things to review. The only thing you can count on with RT audience score is if the movie or tv show makes the incels upset, they will call in the troops to review bomb it so they can feel better about themselves.
This has been happening for a long time as far as critic/audience inverted ratings. Obviously, remakes or continuation of decades old IP will be problematic and likely subject to review bombing for even existing at all.
Considering most the “leaks” come from guys on Youtube who wear masks and voice modulators and just bitch about SJWS, Wokeness and the evils of gender politics, I would take them with a grain of salt.
wait…. Kosher salt…?
racist
No no no, that doesn’t make me a racist. It makes me a GLOBALIST(ooooooh scary) 🙂
General audiences are reactionary bunches who are even more emotionally compromised than the supposed critics they hate so much. If they perceive some type of slight to their personalities in the narrative or a pOliTiCaL agenda in the story they will nuke their reviews of the show/movie well before even seeing it.
That’s a good thing. Watch and decide for yourself. It’s what Picard would want.
Given all the “leaks” about how “disastrous” this show is
Citation needed.
It’s excellent. But by all means, please watch and judge for yourself.
Disagree with “Excellent”, but agree with the rest!
“Ineffable quality.” Without mentioning any spoilers, Picard has exactly that. Everything missing from so many other shows (both in recent memory and currently, especially in terms of reboots, prequels and sequels) is somehow omnipresent in this show, at least in terms of the first episode. Considering that the same director helms the first three episodes, that is incredibly exciting. The pacing, the je ne sais quoi, the characters, the story, the art design… Chabon and company have somehow managed to create a unique show set in the Star Trek universe, unique precisely because of this ineffable quality.“I do not believe you have acquired the expertise necessary to preserve the essence of those experiences.“ Both critics and fans alike have often felt and expressed this exact sentiment to the show runners, creators, and writers for the many entries in the Star Trek universe created and released after DS9 and prior to Picard.This quotation comes from the android Data in the TNG episode “The Measure of a Man.” A scientist wants to literally deconstruct and reconstruct Data. If Data undergoes this procedure, he would essentially lose his life experiences but retain his knowledge, losing the thing, the je ne sais quoi, that gives him his identity and consciousness, who he is, and thus losing the very meaning of his life/existence. “There is an ineffable quality to memory which I do not believe can survive your procedure,” Data states. This statement could well be applied to the most recent television shows and movies set in the Star Trek universe; sure, they had all of the pieces that could make a story set in the Starfleet universe. However, for the most part, the final products of those ventures did not survive the production process to create something that, for lack of a better word, resonates so incredibly strongly with the emotions and memories for those viewers who watched, who were spellbound by, ST:TNG. The essence, the very soul of what it means to be a Star Trek show has been amiss for a very long time.No longer.Somehow, the creators and actors have imbued Picard with that ineffable quality, and they did so in a manner that makes it look effortless in a television landscape with so many shows that are clearly overwrought (and the worse for it.) I greatly look forward to the rest of the season.
This is a great comment. It nails everything I’ve been feeling about the sequels, side-quels, and reboots of late and how many of them are lacking because the production team did not understand what made the original work or it’s such a departure that what they’re trying to do differently comes off as false and/or lacking. I’m looking forward to where Picard goes as a series.
Thanks, much appreciated. And at this point in the game, with only two episodes left in the season, there have been some ups and downs, but the most recent episode really tired all of these internal and external conflicts together. The episode was written by Chabon. He deftly tired all of the buildup, interpersonal relationships, character arts, and conflicts and mistakes leading to growth and a lot of character development. The precision of the rating balance with the action, threading all of these needles, was so precise that it was surgical. I’m excited for these last two episodes.
“A scientist wants to literally deconstruct and reconstruct Data.”That scientist is Bruce Maddox, a key (unseen) figure in these episodes.
What would happen to a group like the Tal Shiar when they no longer have an Empire to defend?
Same thing that happened to the KGB when the Soviet Union dissolved.(spoiler: Putin is former KGB.)
Huge difference here in that Russia survived the fall of the Union. The majority of the Empire’s power was held on Romulus which is now gone.
Hopefully they dig into the decimation of an entire people better in this show than the new Star Trek movies delved into the decimation of the Vulcans. There, it’s like, “Gasp, Spock’s mom died?! …and also several billion other people who are now refugees, but WINONA RYDER?!”
And she wasn’t even Vulcan! The Federation is nothing more than a homo-sapiens only club
But they were also a massive empire of many star systems, so it’s hard to say….
Play Star Trek online and it will answer that exact question for you.
People like that always crave power and will reform into a new group. The KGB is now the FSB. Same old sh*t.
So this is set in the Kelvin timeline then? Because if so that sucks very hard. Still going to watch but what’s the point in setting it in a timeline that’s lasted for only 3 films and has basically been abandoned?
No. The Romulan supernova occurs in the Prime timeline, and is the instigating incident that sends Nero and Spock back in time creating the Kelvin timeline.
Ah thank you. I got it now, had mixed up when Nero was from.
No, it’s the Prime timeline. The destruction of Romulus happened in the Prime timeline. When Nero went back in time after that it created the alternate Kelvin timeline. This is the first time we’re seeing the repercussions of the supernova in the proper timeline.
Nice one, I’d mixed up when Nero was from. Thanks.
So it’s sort of based on the premise that the Abrams movies happen, but only in a peripheral way. I actually think that’s an interesting hedge.Notwithstanding my actually liking the Abramsverse movies, I think the basic move of making a new timeline (as an excuse for replacing the actors, the designs, and the tonality) was a great move…it bothers me far less than Discovery apparently just overwriting the Trek universe with something totally different.
It’s not really a hedge, or peripheral, the Abrams movies explicitly established an alternate timeline by Nero and Spock traveling back in time. They’re still “canon” in the same way the Mirror Universe is canon.
When I watch Discovery I just pretend it’s in the Kelvin timeline. I understand why they put it in the main timeline (people wouldn’t think it was a “real” Star Trek series) but everything about the show makes way more sense if you assume it’s in the alternate timeline.
The idea to do a soft reboot in a new timeline was indeed a brilliant way to use classic characters on fresh adventures. I just wish those adventures had been worth a damn.
I actually like the Abramsverse movies too, and that was a huge reason why. The fact that they said “yes, all the Star Trek that you know and have loved for 50 years did happen, and is still happening, but here is an alternate side story” instead of throwing everything in the garbage and doing a hard reboot was the absolute best way they ever could have approached it.Likewise that is a major factor as to why I have no interest in Discovery, and even if I do cave in and sign up for CBS’ larcenous cash grab streaming service to watch Picard (my plan is to wait for blu ray, if they give it a physical release like they did for Disco, or else wait for the whole season to be out and do the week free trial and binge the shit out of it) I still probably wouldn’t watch it.
Yea outside of Star Trek online, which isn’t cannon, but if you play that like I do, the supernova had even more far reaching repercussions in that as well. I think one mission I played explained the cause for it to be Sela (Tasha Yar’s daughter) having gone back in time with the charterer you control on another mission and pretty much making the Iconians mad. They caused the supernova as a sort of retaliation for what Sela did on that mission. Which then leads to another mission where you find out Tasha Yar survived for over 40 years on a Romulan prison planet which stopped receiving aid after Romulus was destroyed…its all crazy but not cannon.
For a website that hands out As like a community college instructor, a B is not encouraging.
Some of the reviewers (KAylA KumAri UpAdhyAyA when she gets Ahold of A series she really likes) are worse about that than others
like a community college instructor You misspelled Harvard
So this is good?! Please for the love of God tell me it’s good!
Very much looking forward to Zack’s reviews but this was a great introduction, Danette!
Too bad this series is behind a pay wall I’m never going to cross.
Some say death is the undiscovered country… some say peace is the undiscovered country… I say CBS All Access is the undiscovered country.
Get used to pay walls. That is the new trend and you will miss out on a lot of stuff in the coming future.
You can generally get CBS for a free month when you sign up.
Yep, I just refuse to pay for network streaming services where they already have a whole network where they are making billions from ads..because they want even more money! Would I watch “Picard” or “Discovery”? In a second. Will I pay for it on top of netflix and Amazon that I already have? Absolutely not
It’s 6 bucks a month. I spent more than that on lunch today. Stop fucking whining.
Don’t use the word fuck when talking to me, goober. That’s six dollars a months each for a dozen different pay walls, on top of your internet and cable bill. A lot of people are currently saddled with paying for Disney every months just because they wanted to catch 9 episodes of The Mandalorian.
Don’t FUCKING tell me what to do, asshat.Who are you to give me commands?
I enjoyed the first episodes a lot. Patrick Stewart is amazing. I think the mystery is at least interesting and I love seeing different parts of 24th century earth. People are complaining about the blender feel of the show but if this show is about Picard and we consider the shows and movie all canon then his relationship with Data, The Borg and with the Romulans is all important to his character. Even if the Romulan connection comes from a not great movie.
i have a question about the dog, is that suppose to be a K9 (as in from earth) dog? If so, are they still docking dog ears in the enlightened future?
wow great avclub and the other shill blogs are all in turd-polishing mode today. So the show is terrible. Not surprising, but still disappointing.
I thought the first episode was fantastic. So much so I watched it twice. That opening shot though almost had me in tears. Interesting plot and story though that threw me for a loop. We need more backstory into these synth workers at Utopia Plantia. I dont ever recall anything like that in cannon except for all the Mark I EMH that got thrown away, but those were holograms.
Important question: is this going to cause me more or fewer tears than *Logan*?
I’m no fan of Entertainment Weekly but it is refreshing to read a TV critic review a TV show like, well, a TV show:https://ew.com/tv-reviews/2020/01/23/star-trek-picard-review/
lmao how fast would a typical AV club writer get fired if they wrote about one of the GOOD SHOWS THAT ARE MY FRIENDS that way?
kill yourself
And just as many comments there critique the reviewer for not getting the show as critique the reviewer here for being too soft on it.
While their responses to the show are different, I don’t see what makes the EW review more worthy than this one as critique.
I think he’s a little harsh, but none of his points are wrong. I’d give the show so far (the first three episodes) a middling grade myself.
The ET review honestly is a lot more of what I’d expect from anything that Kurtzman is involved in. That guy is such a talentless hack.
This guy just sounds like he’s mad he didn’t get Next Generation Part 2.
Fun-fact: Patrick Stewart is Igraine’s father in the 1981 John Boorman movie Excalibur. Other cool people in that movie: a young (somewhat disgruntled) Liam Neeson and a younger, super-hot (and super evil) Helen Mirren:
This movie really was a beautiful disaster, and I have enjoyed it’s cult status.
Disaster? It’s a classic and it was a moderate box office success. I love the scene where Arthur gets knighted.
Insignifcant correction: Patrick Stewart plays Guenevere’s father.
You sure that’s right? Igraine was played by Katrine Boorman, the director’s daughter (which makes the sex scene… interesting to think about) and she gives birth to Arthur. There’s no indication that I recall that Patrick Stewart’s character is Arthur’s grandfather during that big battle scene. You may mean Guinevere! I don’t remember if that’s right (he plays King Leondegrace who is classically her father but I dont remember if Excalibur goes that route). Great movie!
You are absolutely correct: it’s Guenevere, not Ygraine. My apologies. And yes, the knowledge of Ygraine being played by John Boorman’s daughter makes for some weird scrunched up faces when you consider some of the more lascivious scenes involving her in the movie.
I get the impression that before watching this I should probably see Nemesis, the only Star Trek movie I have never seen. Feels like a significant obstacle.
Nemesis was pretty terrible; I think it’s generally considered the worst of the TNG movies which is saying something as most of them are pretty bad. Just read the wikipedia page to get up to speed on the major plot points.
Is there another commenter out there named Luther who you frequently debate regarding the merits of various Star Trek media? Because that would be pretty great. The wikipedia idea is probably best. I recently watched First Contact, widely thought to be the best TNG movie, and was surprised by how much I wasn’t into it.
At least Nemesis had some decent action scenes. I think Insurrection is by far the worst. Nemesis didn’t have any gross face-skin stretching at least. (though it did have the weird and awful mind-rape scene).
You don’t need to know anything other than “Data died saving picard.” You’re welcome!
And about that idiot B-4. I always assumed if there were future TNG movies, they would’ve just dumped Data’s memories into him and have him as a sort of child-like figure for a while before he got back up to speed, kinda like when they brought Spock back.
I think you can honestly get all you need from Nemesis by reading its plot summary on Wikipedia, if the potential for a bad 90 minutes irks you that much, and be better off for it.
Though, let’s be real, watching a bad movie isn’t torture. Just do it while folding laundry or something. It’s just sort of dumb and hokey. Like the first Romulan episode on TNG with the Romulans literally ending the episode by saying “WE [dramatic pause] are BACK”. Just be prepared to roll your eyes and suffer through the amplification of some of TNG’s worst impulses (making Data adorable instead of a character, Troi mind rape, making Picard an action hero), but it’s no WORSE than that.
Fine, I like a good laundry folding movie. Diamonds Are Forever, anyone?
Super unpopular opinion: I love Nemesis, in spite of its flaws. And flawed it is, but still a fun extended episode of the shows with lotsa pretty spaceships, gorgeous space battles, and fun character interactions. The big bad, a Reman named Shinzon, is my fav antagonist in all of Trek (I’ve never liked Kahn), with an incredibly interesting backstory.
Cool man, you do you there. To me, Christopher Lloyd’s Kruge will always be the Star Trek villain gold standard.
This was the biggest shock to me about this- Nemesis is now… required viewing? I guess you do need to know about Data dying etc, but seems to me like kind of a flex by the showrunners.
I’ve tried to watch Nemesis a hundred times and have never made it past the opening credits before falling asleep. I’d rather watch the TNG Masks episode. Or, the OG Nazi planet.
…including the tragic events of the Romulan supernova that killed billions and made refugees of millions more.Maybe they could relocate them all to Ceti-Alpha V.
After dropping them off, they can tell them, “THIS IS CETI ALPHA 5!!!”
They should have ignored the entire canon of the TNG movies.
More than anything I look forward to man children complaining about how the show somehow ruined their childhood or something.
More than anything? More than the show being good or everyone just getting along?
As long as they bring back Jim Shimoda, I’m sold.
I don’t think viewers want any sort of cross between Star Trek and Blade Runner.
So I’m curious. Why do people think that writing team is a good fit for Star Trek? Transformers, eh. I assume this is going to be Picard: Discovery.
After watching the first episode, I have the weirdest takeaway: I’m curious about how the casting for actors playing aliens took place in previous iterations versus this one. The Romulan characters here, particularly the one introduced at the end, stick out to me as actors in make-up and prosthetics much more than previous shows, but I can’t say they are doing a worse job now. It’s just that the actor’s personal features stand out much more. It makes me wonder if, back in the day, they specifically looked for the most stereotypical actors with the least prominent facial features to play aliens, so that they could highlight the alien features more. Or maybe the previous alien characters were written to behave less human, and now they don’t care about that. Or maybe they found the old portrayals too reliant on stereotyping (didn’t every Romulan in the past have the exact same haircut?), I don’t know. But these are the most human Romulans I have ever seen. It feels like we’re seeing the actors talking between takes.
I wonder if it has something to do with the modern filming process- High Definition can make or break a makeup job.
It was less that the makeup was lacking and more that the actors had very distinctive features that I don’t think any amount of makeup could change. Also, as I recall, Romulans had rather specific body language and behaviour – rigid, reserved, calculating, suspicious, militant – that this show completely does away with so far. But I guess that could be attributed to most previous Romulans being in their military, and the new ones being civilians.
James Sloyan must have facial features made for portraying aliens because he played 4 different races in various episodes of TNG/DS9/VOY.
Yeah, I don’t know what the right word is – non-extreme? Like a blank canvas for the prosthetics department to make the alien features the most prominent without being overly fake or cheesy.Now that I’m three episodes in, without spoiling anything, Narek’s sister contrasting with him seems to further highlight how he stands out. She is far more of a blank canvas and thus believable as a Romulan; his features just distract from the effect. It reminds me of something I read once about how the leading men in action movies tend to be relatively nondescript: the idea is that viewers want to project themselves onto the character (much like other media such as books and video games), so any features that stand out and work to dispel that illusion are avoided. Seems like a similar thing here. While the human brain devotes a massive amount of itself to recognizing faces, its memory is not a camera: we select a handful of things we see as most relevant and use those to characterize what we see. For myself at least, if what my brain selects from an alien portrayal is mostly the alien features, that goes a long way to suspension of disbelief; selecting mostly human features really disrupts that.
There’s also something about good guys always charge the enemy from the left side of the screen to the right side, and enemies do the reverse. Or maybe it’s the other way around. I heard about this when Lucas was talking about designing the Gungans vs. droid army battle in The Phantom MenaceApparently it is something that when we see one group charge one direction on screen, we’re more likely to root for them then the group charging the other direction.
after the first clench (those starscenes at the beginning, space is black, i know cgi is cheap these days but it does not look like a kid ate a candystore and barfed) it actually looked and felt ok, it needs a bit more flesh, the characters other than picard are vage, but i will look at the next few
I took advantage of the CBS Access holiday sale to get a free month trial in December, so my son and I could binge through Discovery while he was out of school. When I went to cancel, the system offered me another free month which would take us through the first couple episodes of Picard, so I agreed.If the airing of Picard and Discovery were to significantly overlap — IOW: If the new season of Discovery were starting the first week of February — I would most likely pay the $6 a month until they were complete. Though both are enjoyable, neither of them alone are worth a subscription. Because that doesn’t appear to be the case, I guess my plan will be to wait until after Discovery, maybe even until my son’s summer vacation, then pay for one month to binge through both.CBS might want to take note. Fewer people will subscribe for just one show.
Maybe I’m an idiot but in the last episode of TNG didn’t Picard go into the future and meet Data? Wasn’t he teaching at Oxford or something?
Finally, something good to watch while at my secret mountain hideaway.
This grade is low, too low. I didn’t expect to enjoy this show as much as I did. I didn’t even really get that into Discovery. Picard is something else entirely – deeply entertaining, warm and reassuring without being overly nostalgic and fan-service-y, and just fun.
I picked up on something I think most missed. When the weapon was overloading, the android women’s body began to disintegrate. This was very similar to the effct of Thayleron radiation from Nemesis. This would indicate the weapons used weren’t just regular disruptors, but thayleron guns, which could indicate the Tal’shiar. Though it’s non-canon, in Tales of the Dominion War, there’s a story where Shinzon is tasked with destroying Tal’shiar research base that has been taken by the Cardassians. It has the Thayleron generator, and instead of destroying it, Shinzon and his Reman crack team capture the generator for themselves.
This could have something to do with what the Romulans are up to at the Borg site. The Tal’shiar is doing something that will combine Borg Technology with Thayleron weapons to bring power back to the Empire?