I make sure not to pay attention to the opening credits. I learned that lesson earlier in the season.
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Star Trek: Picard - Season 1 |OT| Re-ENGAGE!
- Thread starter Spectromixer
- Start date
Sadly that's the rules of the SAG. They have to list him or they break rules.
I didn't mind the ending. It was silly in places, stupid in places, brilliant in places, but the whole season was pretty goofy going from great to awful to great again to awful like a drunken sine wave. Watching each episode is like that game on Price is Right with the climber going up the mountain, every few scenes, it falls off the side of the cliff. And then it starts up again.
The recap at the start of the final episode made me understand the plot far better than watching the previous 9 episodes and Picard constantly stopping to reiterate the plot.
The only stand out, really awful moment was the sliding scene. that just needed Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head on the soundtrack.
yeah, lots of WTF moments but on balance I didn't mind it.
I will watch Season 2
The recap at the start of the final episode made me understand the plot far better than watching the previous 9 episodes and Picard constantly stopping to reiterate the plot.
The only stand out, really awful moment was the sliding scene. that just needed Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head on the soundtrack.
yeah, lots of WTF moments but on balance I didn't mind it.
I will watch Season 2
Yeah, I guess I should have skipped. lol
Also massive cringe when Jurati says "Make it so" >_>
Anywho, def would say I enjoyed it. Lots of room for improvement, 7.25/10 I still say.
Also massive cringe when Jurati says "Make it so" >_>
Anywho, def would say I enjoyed it. Lots of room for improvement, 7.25/10 I still say.
I really liked the emotional beats in the final, especially the way they ended things for Data - the music was perfect. Yes there were some issues but I enjoyed this whole season and really like the cast - I hope they all return. The flowers coming up to protect the planet looked great but I was disappointed to see so many duplicate ships about. Likely a budget issue but I'd have preferred a smaller number with more variety? Even just have them in the background with less detail on them.
I wonder if all of you who dislike this show think that people like myself who liked it can't see any of these plot holes or scripting issues? I certainly can, but it doesn't hurt my enjoyment of the show. I guess some people watch tv for different purposes, for me it's to relax and take myself elsewhere. Picard did a good job of taking me back into the world of Star Trek. Expecting these new shows to be perfect straight off is nuts. Someone compared this to Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones earlier, considered to be two of the best most recent series, and that's mindblowing to me. I'm rewatching TNG for the first time since I was a kid and it has masses of problems in both dialogue, plot holes, and handwaving things with technobabble which doesn't change the validity of the criticisms of Picard but makes me wonder how people would view it if they were produced today.
Next season I'm hoping the new showrunner will help improve some of the areas letting the show down, like the whole thing with Agnes. A single scene about how the mindmeld implanted a command to kill Maddox would have been all they needed to essentially exonerate her but instead they've got her just smiling away with the crew at the end when she should be in the brig. Small improvements here and there would kick it up a notch.
I wonder if all of you who dislike this show think that people like myself who liked it can't see any of these plot holes or scripting issues? I certainly can, but it doesn't hurt my enjoyment of the show. I guess some people watch tv for different purposes, for me it's to relax and take myself elsewhere. Picard did a good job of taking me back into the world of Star Trek. Expecting these new shows to be perfect straight off is nuts. Someone compared this to Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones earlier, considered to be two of the best most recent series, and that's mindblowing to me. I'm rewatching TNG for the first time since I was a kid and it has masses of problems in both dialogue, plot holes, and handwaving things with technobabble which doesn't change the validity of the criticisms of Picard but makes me wonder how people would view it if they were produced today.
Next season I'm hoping the new showrunner will help improve some of the areas letting the show down, like the whole thing with Agnes. A single scene about how the mindmeld implanted a command to kill Maddox would have been all they needed to essentially exonerate her but instead they've got her just smiling away with the crew at the end when she should be in the brig. Small improvements here and there would kick it up a notch.
While a bit of variety may have been pleasing, that was probably one of the few things to make sense in this series. Lesson One from the Dominion War. Design a war ship. Make lots of them. Just in case. Doubly so if your shipbuilding yards get decimated down the line and you need to do things faster and more efficiently.
We saw a lot of science vessels get blown to pieces in DS9 fleet battles.
After seeing what happened to Hugh and Itcheb, I'd say that Geordi dodged a bullet.
I am rewatching TNG due to the virus. The main difference I perceive, beyond the fact that Star Trek Picard's world doesn't feel like the Star Trek world to me, is that all of TNG's best episodes and even several of the bad ones have an interesting sci-fi premise or a mystery that keeps you engaged throughout the episode. It's not a matter of serialized vs standalone, I love TNG but I much prefer serialized storytelling in the style of Deep Space 9 and Babylon 5. I was simply not engaged at all by Picard's overarching plot and its development which made watching some episodes a real chore.
Yeah, but I was happy cos there is no way it isn't the Titan turning up, right?
One really dumb thing about
Riker turning up on the redressed Discovery was they never removed the forward facing consoles but had no crew at those and only two behind him during the scenes. It could have been so much better.
I have no problem with that. I understand there are lots of people who prefer standalone episodes. I'd like to see them do a bit of both, I think there's a balance that can be found with keeping things modern and still telling smaller stories. I also think there's the massive volume of episodes that allow them to do things that you can't within 10 episodes and there's no way around that. There's probably constraints by CBS too, seeing as All Access is basically only Star Trek - there must be pressure for this to appeal to a broader audience from the people at the top that hold the purse strings to try and get as many subs as possible. Network shows wouldn't have had the same pressure to carry an entire platform (well at least TNG didn't).
I felt the same way about the first season of TNG - it felt like hard work getting through it, but with the benefit of hindsight of people who have watched all the seasons I was willing to give it a pass to get to the better stuff. There's no guarantee Picard will improve, but as a first attempt at something different I think they've done reasonably well given the bigger picture. The problems it has are not insurmountable in my opinion.
Here's something cool. The Blue Skies song at the end? It was sung by Soji's actress, Isa Briones.
io9.gizmodo.com
The Picard Finale's Most Emotional Moment Hid a Heartbreaking Secret
The first season finale of Star Trek: Picard delivered an at-times-incoherent blast of nostalgia, but one of its best moments was its most emotionally powerful—and it turns out it was secretly even more touching than you could’ve expected.
io9.gizmodo.com
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Just finished the last episode.
1. Did anyone think the 1986 Transformers film when the Picard death scene was happening? Also really wish they didn't announce a second season before this one was finished because it kind of hurts any suspense.
2. Still very eh on the Synthetic plot line, the Synths as whole don't feel like characters and just kind of stop being ones besides Soji halfway through, like we don't know what happened when the true nature of the betrayal was revealed to them (or what happens to Sutra afterwards.... Which it's weird Sutra would kill her and not just Narek himself) or reactions to Picard's speeches etc, they just kind of become very unimportant despite their whole race's extinction being a driving factor.
3. Speaking of, what happened to Narek? He kind of vanished half way through along with the rest of the Synths.
4. Still feels the fleets were way to big given the sheer amount of losses both have faced and scales of battles before.
5. Still feels odd Jurati getting off scotty free.
6. I did fun with the finale don't get me wrong, but at the same time it did feel very cliche and I am disappointed they went with a well used trope for the main driving force for the finale. 7. The bit with Data and Picard well done.
8. Yay for Bi/Gay Seven (:
1. Did anyone think the 1986 Transformers film when the Picard death scene was happening? Also really wish they didn't announce a second season before this one was finished because it kind of hurts any suspense.
2. Still very eh on the Synthetic plot line, the Synths as whole don't feel like characters and just kind of stop being ones besides Soji halfway through, like we don't know what happened when the true nature of the betrayal was revealed to them (or what happens to Sutra afterwards.... Which it's weird Sutra would kill her and not just Narek himself) or reactions to Picard's speeches etc, they just kind of become very unimportant despite their whole race's extinction being a driving factor.
3. Speaking of, what happened to Narek? He kind of vanished half way through along with the rest of the Synths.
4. Still feels the fleets were way to big given the sheer amount of losses both have faced and scales of battles before.
5. Still feels odd Jurati getting off scotty free.
6. I did fun with the finale don't get me wrong, but at the same time it did feel very cliche and I am disappointed they went with a well used trope for the main driving force for the finale. 7. The bit with Data and Picard well done.
8. Yay for Bi/Gay Seven (:
What put me off the most about this season was actually Patrick Stewart himself. I'm assuming it's due to his age, but his original northern accent kept popping up. It completely took me out of it.
Well that final episode was trash. It gave me GoT vibes with all the fast travel and good lord that super fixing tool that does everything. Then Ryker showing up at the end with a fleet. Nevermind Seven of Nine just ditching all her borg people to join Picard's crew. Then after all the emotional weight of Picard passing they just make him alive again in the dumbest possible way.
It was actually one of the worst episodes of Star Trek I have ever seen. Just lazy, convenient and anti-climactic. I really liked this show but man the last two episodes just dumpstered it for me. I like the crew but holy crap what a nosedive.
I should add that Spiner still looked great as Data and if they didn't end him I would have said give this man a show he's still got it.
It was actually one of the worst episodes of Star Trek I have ever seen. Just lazy, convenient and anti-climactic. I really liked this show but man the last two episodes just dumpstered it for me. I like the crew but holy crap what a nosedive.
I should add that Spiner still looked great as Data and if they didn't end him I would have said give this man a show he's still got it.
Chabon has started answering questions again on his Instagram stories if anyone is interested. Few bits about Narek and XB cut scenes etc.
Honestly I kinda wish we had gotten a show called Riker instead of Picard. Frakes is effortlessly charming.
Was there any explanation why they're sticking together at the end? They're a crew now but for what? It is just so none of them have to be alone with Jurati while they escort her to the nearest maximum security prison for murderers?
Pretty sure that it's down to them bonding as a group. It's no different than say, Kassidy Yates and her crew. It's just Picard is now
Living in an android body and travelling with another android and will probably end up dealing with something related to the coming threat from the synth aliens. I suspect that's why Seven is sticking around. There's also been some kind of time jump between the resurrection and then leaving the solar system as we've seen with Seven and Raffi because there is no way that's just a random hookup
Man that last scene with Data. They really know how to push the right buttons.
That was a very good first season and I really like the crew they assembled here. They also kept their promise of providing optimism and a positive outlook. For my taste they tied it up a bit too neatly by the end but I was satisifed overall.
Nitpicks:
- Secret Soong feels kind of unnecessary. Would've loved if he was a reformed Lore who adopted a new identity.
- I was happy they didn't end it with a big space battle but the stand off with two fleets of entirely identical ships felt a bit weird, visually, especially since Riker hypes up his ship and it looks exactly the same as every other ship. The moment still worked for me though.
- The golem tease was too obvious but this ties into something else, it would have been fine if we had been able to binge the series as you don't have to wait an entire week. This actually affects the whole show, the writing and pacing works much better if you binge the show and view it as one long movie. Discovery works much better in the weekly format because the episodes are more stand alone-ish affairs.
- As I mentioned earlier, it's tied up too neatly. The Federations just drops the synth ban off screen, the Romulans just leave and the crew is free to do some space adventuring. It feels like there could be another season of aftermath but the writers seem to want a clean slate for season 2.
That was a very good first season and I really like the crew they assembled here. They also kept their promise of providing optimism and a positive outlook. For my taste they tied it up a bit too neatly by the end but I was satisifed overall.
Nitpicks:
- Secret Soong feels kind of unnecessary. Would've loved if he was a reformed Lore who adopted a new identity.
- I was happy they didn't end it with a big space battle but the stand off with two fleets of entirely identical ships felt a bit weird, visually, especially since Riker hypes up his ship and it looks exactly the same as every other ship. The moment still worked for me though.
- The golem tease was too obvious but this ties into something else, it would have been fine if we had been able to binge the series as you don't have to wait an entire week. This actually affects the whole show, the writing and pacing works much better if you binge the show and view it as one long movie. Discovery works much better in the weekly format because the episodes are more stand alone-ish affairs.
- As I mentioned earlier, it's tied up too neatly. The Federations just drops the synth ban off screen, the Romulans just leave and the crew is free to do some space adventuring. It feels like there could be another season of aftermath but the writers seem to want a clean slate for season 2.
They really doubled down on the silly sounding names in this season. Zhat Vash. Seb-Cheneb? lmao
What a load of shit.
Season nosedived as it went on. Hopefully someone can salvage this in season 2 into something worthwhile.
Nothing made sense, writing was incredibly bad again, visual clusterfuck fights and as soon as you start questioning anything, it all falls apart. and it just rushes stuff out as fast as it can, so you don't think about plot points.
I liked Spiners acting, but that's not saving anything at this point. One of the worst first seasons I've stuck with and had hope that for some reason they at least stick an okay landing.
Rivals RoS for me when it comes to messing with a legacy but at least this doesn't re contextualize the old series.
I'll just watch a best of Next Generation to wash the taste out of my mouth.
Season nosedived as it went on. Hopefully someone can salvage this in season 2 into something worthwhile.
Nothing made sense, writing was incredibly bad again, visual clusterfuck fights and as soon as you start questioning anything, it all falls apart. and it just rushes stuff out as fast as it can, so you don't think about plot points.
I liked Spiners acting, but that's not saving anything at this point. One of the worst first seasons I've stuck with and had hope that for some reason they at least stick an okay landing.
Rivals RoS for me when it comes to messing with a legacy but at least this doesn't re contextualize the old series.
I'll just watch a best of Next Generation to wash the taste out of my mouth.
What's especially weird about this is that Picard is still in his restored position as Admiral (unless it got taken away off-screen). So he's a high-ranking Starfleet officer, but somehow flying around with a civilian crew (with various levels of Starfleet training, including several who have none) in a civilian ship.
They dropped the Federation plans off screen right at the end of insurrection. In fact this felt exactly like insurrection.
Magic thingy that does / fixes anything with zero attempt at explanation
Weird tentacle AI arms that travel across the galaxy to save other AI's
Can upload brain into an artificial body
......It's getting more Dr Who and less Trek all the time. Like Voyager was famous for resets, but wow the above are big things. As Mike and Rich say, 'trek' with pod-people.
Weird tentacle AI arms that travel across the galaxy to save other AI's
Can upload brain into an artificial body
......It's getting more Dr Who and less Trek all the time. Like Voyager was famous for resets, but wow the above are big things. As Mike and Rich say, 'trek' with pod-people.
I expected someone to call Golem-Picard the Kwisatz Haderach by the end. Those naming conventions are a classic Trek/Sci Fi Trope though.
I'm guessing you haven't watched a lot of Trek if you think those are new concepts for the franchise.
AI arms are in Disco - can't remember that anywhere else
Magic thingy - can't remember such a blatant use a of a thing that seemingly does whatever you want.
Brain into body, suppose Ira graves into data - but as presented on screen its kinda - oh ya upload it no bother.
Regarding the lifting of the synth ban, Picard and co gave that one Admiral a pretty comprehensive report on the Zhat Vash being behind the attack on Mars and I think even Commodore Oh being a plant back in episode 8, a lot of which would've been corroborated by a fleet of Federation starships seeing 'Commodore' Oh on the bridge of a Romulan warbird.
I wonder if the whole season would've felt more even if they had just excised episode 5, then had Maddox on the synth planet instead of a secret Soong. Then you wouldn't have the Jurati murder weirdness or goofiness Data's 'brother' that had never been mentioned.
I wonder if the whole season would've felt more even if they had just excised episode 5, then had Maddox on the synth planet instead of a secret Soong. Then you wouldn't have the Jurati murder weirdness or goofiness Data's 'brother' that had never been mentioned.
It is kind of funny that no one cared about the advanced synths anymore after that portal closed. Wasn't that beacon still like a giant sos signal? If they can't get through the portal they still might come in a different way, it'll just take them longer. (Like in Mass effect, lol) I guess that's something they could do for season 2 but I also wouldn't be surprised if they're never talked about again.
So that's season one done.
It was bad.
It wasn't as bad as it could have been but it was fairly bad.
It was Star Trek, but not good Star Trek. It was kind of meandering, 'how do we stitch this back up after doing so much weird shit' Star Trek.
The messages and story payoffs were kind of mixed and contradicted themselves. Outside of telling the (weird and bad) story that they wanted to tell there was no need to bring Data back in some form and then kill him off again. If you're only killing Picard off to demonstrate the level of sacrifice he's willing to make before resurrecting him with absolutely no down side ten minutes late then you are massively undermining whatever story you're trying to tell.
I think part of the problem when telling apocalyptic, end of the world stories when you've only just introduced a lot of the characters and setting is that there's very limited engagement with the stakes that are being set up.
I really wish that whoever decided that this needs to be a big epic space opera show gets to take a bit of a break and allows the next season to be a little more muted and a little more focused on telling thought provoking stories with interesting characters rather than what we got here.
It was bad.
It wasn't as bad as it could have been but it was fairly bad.
It was Star Trek, but not good Star Trek. It was kind of meandering, 'how do we stitch this back up after doing so much weird shit' Star Trek.
The messages and story payoffs were kind of mixed and contradicted themselves. Outside of telling the (weird and bad) story that they wanted to tell there was no need to bring Data back in some form and then kill him off again. If you're only killing Picard off to demonstrate the level of sacrifice he's willing to make before resurrecting him with absolutely no down side ten minutes late then you are massively undermining whatever story you're trying to tell.
I think part of the problem when telling apocalyptic, end of the world stories when you've only just introduced a lot of the characters and setting is that there's very limited engagement with the stakes that are being set up.
I really wish that whoever decided that this needs to be a big epic space opera show gets to take a bit of a break and allows the next season to be a little more muted and a little more focused on telling thought provoking stories with interesting characters rather than what we got here.
For such a simple story they sure told it in the most confusing and complicated way possible.
Characters would do random stuff and you would only understand their motivation the next episode. Every. single. time.
Also, they should have used Willie Nelson's version of Blue Skies;
Characters would do random stuff and you would only understand their motivation the next episode. Every. single. time.
Also, they should have used Willie Nelson's version of Blue Skies;
Imagine permanently killing Data and not even inviting Geordi to be there.
Yeah, I'm sure that'll be what they go with next season. I really don't think Patrick Stewart will stick around for five or six seasons or anything as long as that so, if we assume Picard will only have two or three seasons, you're going to want to pick a single idea and focus on it.
The advanced synthetic race (ugh I hate that so badly) were called and just because the beacon was prematurely shut off doesn't mean they won't just show up anyway. The portal opened between two massive fleets ready to kill each other, after all, so if anything that might encourage them to wipe out all organic life much sooner.
Honestly the only way I think they can salvage this dumb as heck plotline is if they use it to give Picard closure. As in, he calls upon Q for help.
As someone who a) didn't like the finale and b) sometimes is REALLY BAD at not seeing obvious plot events or ramifications, I'd say no, I don't think most people necessarily missed the plot holes or scripting issues. I think it's mostly a matter of how much it bothers someone, and I think that's going to be a fairly personal thing. I've definitely watched shows and movies before where you see the plotholes and script problems but it doesn't matter because you're hooked regardless (the David Fincher movie Panic Room is the best example I can think of for this, where I absolutely loved that movie and then walked out of the theatre and immediately started seeing all the plot inconsistencies). The plot problems don't necessarily have to be the issue in and of themselves, but the show has to have me in some other way first--I identify strongly with the characters, or there's a strong emotional throughline I'm attached to, or whatever. Picard didn't quite get there for me; Discovery had the same issue. Though to be honest I'm looking forward to Discovery S3 more than Picard S2 at this point, which is shocking to me.
One thing I don't think gets brought up enough, though we do talk adjacent to it a whole lot: one of the things that I think really helps TNG is that even if you think it's only marginally better in quality on average than Picard season 1, TNG gets to have more "mistakes" because not every episode has to service a single set of storylines. "Code of Honor" and "Justice" are terrible episodes, but their shittiness is self-contained; it doesn't make "The Measure of a Man" any worse. Meanwhile, if a single episode of Picard sucks, it has an impact on the rest of the season and possibly the show. Also, because it's a prestige TV show with fewer episodes, each bad episode hurts so much more than it would in TNG, which had the luxury of long seasons. So when the season finale of Picard (in my opinion) fails spectacularly, it calls into question the entire plot because it's intended to tie up all of the storylines we've been following for the whole season. If (let's say) Time's Arrow Part 1 and 2 suck, well, that's fine, we're never going to see Samuel Clemens again anyways. It's the flipside of the "reset button" mentality: never worrying about long-term storylines means any single episode has far less chance to bring down the rest of the series.
Not even 1 single reaper showed up I feel robbed. You can't just summon a mecha tentacle hell portal and then instantly go "whoops guess we're not doing that". Ugh.
The Data death stuff did absolutely nothing for me but I can see how fans probably liked it a lot.
You could see the Picard golem thing coming from a mile away and I guess that's okay but I think it's extremely stupid that they immediately just... tossed everything interesting about it aside? Literally "oh yeah you're a synth now but no special powers and we made a death algorythm and you probably won't notice A THING" - well then what's the bloody point. I hope they do something with that in season 2 because otherwise it would have been a massive storytelling waste.
Overall the season felt pretty forgettable. I enjoyed seeing Riker and Troi and Seven and hearing about what happened to them in the past decades but that's about it. Everything else was a bit... meh.
The Data death stuff did absolutely nothing for me but I can see how fans probably liked it a lot.
You could see the Picard golem thing coming from a mile away and I guess that's okay but I think it's extremely stupid that they immediately just... tossed everything interesting about it aside? Literally "oh yeah you're a synth now but no special powers and we made a death algorythm and you probably won't notice A THING" - well then what's the bloody point. I hope they do something with that in season 2 because otherwise it would have been a massive storytelling waste.
Overall the season felt pretty forgettable. I enjoyed seeing Riker and Troi and Seven and hearing about what happened to them in the past decades but that's about it. Everything else was a bit... meh.
Just a side note after I ended my CBS subscription-
How dumb is it that when you pause the stream, the default button that is highlighted is the "Restart" button and not the "Resume"??
I would like to have a talk with their UX designer.
How dumb is it that when you pause the stream, the default button that is highlighted is the "Restart" button and not the "Resume"??
I would like to have a talk with their UX designer.
View from someone who's never watched an entire season/show of Star Trek outside the OST (which was the only one that clicked with me cheese and golden era short fiction SF all).
Overall, pretty mediocre I'm afraid to say. Strong performances, handsomely shot, but otherwise a right old mess showcasing many of the worst aspects of current TV (as opposed to the good ones):
There were obviously some very nice scenes and lovely moments, particularly when the show slowed up a bit. Even having only seen a small number of TNG episodes and a couple of the NG films Picard interacting with Troy & Riker was enjoyable and had the resonance of real history and depth of character behind it.
As with Discovery - which I also sampled but drifted away from then back to in season two - more than anything Picard suffered from being overstuffed with ideas, plots, tone and characters with no obvious conviction as to why it should even exist or what it's about. Shame as Steward is a fun and watchable actor and the idea of visiting a character like Picard much later in life seemed very promsing, but ultimately when there's clearly a list of 100 ingredients that had to be included (Data, Borg, Old Friends, New Friends, Extended Lore, Space Battles, Wierd Stuff, Familiar Stuff, Action, Patience, Villians, Twists, etc) the end result could only ever feel like an overstuffed cake with far too much added to the mix.
Season 2? With that motley crew and a regenerated doctor (sorry Picard) I can only hope they put the approach for S1 behind them, focus on a clearer, less convulted narrative with lot less plot lines.
Still, from what I did see of Discovery I would still invest time into more Star Trek if it featured Pike, Spock and Number 1 with the tone of the episodes featuring them most prominantly. Also I'd prefer they drop the over-arching plots and instead go back to quirky SF writers delivering cool little short stories that fit within a tight 50 min narrative. Build the character traits across this and weave character change into specific episodes. Thans in advance.
Overall, pretty mediocre I'm afraid to say. Strong performances, handsomely shot, but otherwise a right old mess showcasing many of the worst aspects of current TV (as opposed to the good ones):
- Far too much going on with far two many characters across far too many timeframes - you'd need a truly top tier writer to wrestle everything they tried to cover in Picard into a cohesive narrative that holds together as a single entity comprised of ten 45 to 50 min chunks and the actual writers clearly weren't up to the task
- Lack of cohesion thematically - there''s constant hints of what the show wants to be about but it never really land them well and often directly muddles their delivery - case in point the finale (mortalty is to be embraced, well unless you're the popular central character in which case why don't you stick around and leave appreciating mortality to others)
- Poor plotting & character arcs - this falls out of the first element but really so many characters were poorly serviced (despite best efforts of the cast who I thought we all well suited to their roles and really tried to elevate the plotting/writing) - Narrisa is a great example, set up as spy in Federation who does zero spying but moves straight to dull 1 dimensional baddie gleefuly enjoying shooting anything that gets in her way, then suddenly out of nowhere there's character development well after she's been in multiple episoeds and far too late to matter; turns out she's endured often lethal and mind shattering experience and truly believes she's doing what's right, with a depth of emotion as she comforts her aunt who's suffered even more than herself (think it was her aunt I'm not re-watching to check) then nope, we need her as 1 dimensional baddie again for a bit of final action, a lame "did she die?" fake out ending an a rote baddie's depth at the hands of an equally poorly handled character (Seven, who seemed interesting but also mostly a cypher apart from a couple of moments)
- Unecessary flash backs - really, in one short season why so many lazy flashbacks to reveal what#s already been heavily, heavily foreshadowed to the point it's essentially obvious? None of it felt like it made the narrative better - the opposite I'd argue - and most of it ate up time going over plot points already laboured and made obvious
- Don't even get me started on the cute scientist murderess character (her actor did far better job than the written character deserverd and almost sold the insantiy of tha character's arc through sheer determination)
There were obviously some very nice scenes and lovely moments, particularly when the show slowed up a bit. Even having only seen a small number of TNG episodes and a couple of the NG films Picard interacting with Troy & Riker was enjoyable and had the resonance of real history and depth of character behind it.
As with Discovery - which I also sampled but drifted away from then back to in season two - more than anything Picard suffered from being overstuffed with ideas, plots, tone and characters with no obvious conviction as to why it should even exist or what it's about. Shame as Steward is a fun and watchable actor and the idea of visiting a character like Picard much later in life seemed very promsing, but ultimately when there's clearly a list of 100 ingredients that had to be included (Data, Borg, Old Friends, New Friends, Extended Lore, Space Battles, Wierd Stuff, Familiar Stuff, Action, Patience, Villians, Twists, etc) the end result could only ever feel like an overstuffed cake with far too much added to the mix.
Season 2? With that motley crew and a regenerated doctor (sorry Picard) I can only hope they put the approach for S1 behind them, focus on a clearer, less convulted narrative with lot less plot lines.
Still, from what I did see of Discovery I would still invest time into more Star Trek if it featured Pike, Spock and Number 1 with the tone of the episodes featuring them most prominantly. Also I'd prefer they drop the over-arching plots and instead go back to quirky SF writers delivering cool little short stories that fit within a tight 50 min narrative. Build the character traits across this and weave character change into specific episodes. Thans in advance.
Unfortunately I think the execs are going to confuse hype for Picard and the resulting subs as evidence people liked what the saw.
While the season as a whole was pretty mid I will say that I enjoyed this more than the first season of a lot of ST shows (especially TNG's)
I can achieve immortality by not wearing out. You can achieve immortality simply by doing one great thing. - The Android Data
www.youtube.com
Overall, I enjoyed it. It was a nice ride :D
Johnnie Walker - Human (The Android) HD Version
Theo the android who wants to be human. Directed by Dante Ariola
www.youtube.com
Overall, I enjoyed it. It was a nice ride :D