Picard

[Khaldun]

3rd (and apparently last) season has begun.

You can really feel Akiva Goldsman's complete inability to tell a story that isn't a remix of someone else's successful story, right down to specific story beats. I honestly thought for a minute that Picard and Riker were going just go ahead and take over Captain Asshole's ship and start off the Wrath of Khanning that is plainly about to get rolling. Plus there's probably going to be some "who is working for the conspiracy and who isn't" going down. If Crusher's kid turns out to be Picard's son, there's another Khan reprise.

But anyway, ok, I'm happy we will be seeing all these characters again. I just hope it's a halfway decent story.

[Samwise]

From what I've heard, prior seasons have followed a progression of "this seems like it could be interesting or could be really stupid, let's see where it goes" followed by "oh no it got really stupid".  So I wouldn't hold out high hopes for this one.

[eldaec]

Honestly that has been true of all new trek to a greater or lesser extent. (Except for lower decks which is just awesome throughout)

All of it is dumb fun.

[Khaldun]

Occasionally just dumb.

[Riggswolfe]

Honestly that has been true of all new trek to a greater or lesser extent. (Except for lower decks which is just awesome throughout)

All of it is dumb fun.

I'd argue Strange New Worlds has bucked this trend as well. Whether or not it holds up in later seasons is still an open question sadly.

[Khaldun]

I loved SNW except for the extremely hack-handed ripoff of Aliens.

[Khaldun]

Worf fucking saved this whole thing almost single-handedly. Every single line delivery is perfect and they wrote some great fucking shit for Dorn to deliver.

"I am Worf. Son of Mogh. House of Martok, son of Sergey, House of Rozhenko, Bane of the Duras family, Slayer of Gowron.

I have made some chamomile tea. Do you take sugar?"

[Samwise]

Worf fucking saved this whole thing almost single-handedly. Every single line delivery is perfect and they wrote some great fucking shit for Dorn to deliver.

"I am Worf. Son of Mogh. House of Martok, son of Sergey, House of Rozhenko, Bane of the Duras family, Slayer of Gowron.

I have made some chamomile tea. Do you take sugar?"

well fuck.  If my wife finds out about this we're gonna be stuck with a Paramount+ subscription.

[Velorath]

Maybe see if this trial is still active.

[Riggswolfe]

I loved SNW except for the extremely hack-handed ripoff of Aliens.

I actually enjoyed the Aliens ripoff. It was obvious that that was exactly what it was but it was well executed and fun so I gave it a pass.

Worf fucking saved this whole thing almost single-handedly. Every single line delivery is perfect and they wrote some great fucking shit for Dorn to deliver.

"I am Worf. Son of Mogh. House of Martok, son of Sergey, House of Rozhenko, Bane of the Duras family, Slayer of Gowron.

I have made some chamomile tea. Do you take sugar?"

I saw an interview with Michael Dorn and when they asked him to return he suggested that Worf had become essentially a samurai who was on a bit of a spiritual journey and they ran with it. This is possibly my favorite portrayal of Worf if I'm honest.

The rest of it. Woo boy. Why is the ship so dark? Why is the red on their uniforms so dark it almost looks black? When will we get some straight answers about why Beverly's son is being hunted? Why is Jonathan Frakes the only one that seems to be having fun? Who hired Amanda Plummer? They deserve a raise because she steals every scene and has eaten every bit of scenery that gets within arms reach.

[Khaldun]

On one hand, I fucking loved Patrick Stewart's portrayal of Picard as fucking disgusted by Beverly's patently stupid and morally insane explanations for why she has kept out of touch and kept Picard's son hidden from him. You could see it on Picard's face: I had sex with you? You were a valued member of my crew? And what I especially liked was that it wasn't just "I have a SON", wasn't just self-centered--he was nauseated by her incoherence.

On the other hand, I'm kind of hoping that Beverly sounded as insane and incoherent as that because she's hiding something much worse, much deeper and is trying to throw Picard off the scent. Like, maybe Jack is not in fact Picard's son and she's using his assumption to get him to protect Jack. Or maybe she's done forbidden genetic manipulation on him (whether he's Picard's son or not). It would be more depressing if she was just that stupid and awful. Jack getting a vision while dying from the gas might be a sign that he's the key to something bigger and that's what she's hiding.

[Samwise]

I haven't watched it, but Crusher having a Picard bastard and naming him Jack after her husband who died under Picard's command is just all kinds of fucked up.  Is that something that's addressed or is it a case of the writers knowing that she loved someone named Jack but not knowing the rest of that backstory?

[Riggswolfe]

I haven't watched it, but Crusher having a Picard bastard and naming him Jack after her husband who died under Picard's command is just all kinds of fucked up.  Is that something that's addressed or is it a case of the writers knowing that she loved someone named Jack but not knowing the rest of that backstory?

I don't remember it coming up. It may have come up in the scene Khaldun mentioned which is one of the few times Patrick Stewart didn't look checked out IMO. His acting in that scene is pretty on point and he calls out her stupidity to her face which I did like.

[Khaldun]

Yeah, a fair amount of the time Stewart just looks really tired, to the point that you almost feel sorry for him. But man he really dials it in hard in that one scene with McFadden.

Picard does not reference the fact that the son is named "Jack" but I kind of assume it's one of the things on his mind. That's always been part of the weird relationship between Crusher and Picard--that vague sense that she's cheating on him despite the fact that her husband is long dead. It's why some folks decided a long time ago that Wesley is maybe Picard's illegitimate kid--the sense that Crusher and Picard cheated on Jack Crusher even when Jack was still alive. Even if they didn't, Crusher has made clear a couple of times that the two of them were hot for each other even back then, sort of.  So naming the kid "Jack" even if it's actually Picard's son is definitely fucking psycho.

[Khaldun]

Um, Dr. Crusher called that explosion in the nebula a "birth", but you know what I saw? Rhythmic pulsing of energy waves and then a really huge energy wave that distributed millions of small white glowing space-squids all over the place. Not only was that a cosmic ejaculation that the Titan rode to escape, Riker grabbed a kidney stone on the way and flung it at the Shrike.

In other news, why the writers feel the need to use the holodeck (except for cheap parallelism of then-and-now, as if we wouldn't figure that out) and even worse explain that the holodeck has a separate power source, I dunno. Unless the money they were getting for that really over the top product placement of Jameson was just crazy high.

[Riggswolfe]

Um, Dr. Crusher called that explosion in the nebula a "birth", but you know what I saw? Rhythmic pulsing of energy waves and then a really huge energy wave that distributed millions of small white glowing space-squids all over the place. Not only was that a cosmic ejaculation that the Titan rode to escape, Riker grabbed a kidney stone on the way and flung it at the Shrike.

In other news, why the writers feel the need to use the holodeck (except for cheap parallelism of then-and-now, as if we wouldn't figure that out) and even worse explain that the holodeck has a separate power source, I dunno. Unless the money they were getting for that really over the top product placement of Jameson was just crazy high.

Yeah, the holodeck having its own power source seemed really weird to me. It's not that important guys.

I did like that we finally got some character growth for Captain Shaw beyond "asshole" and his reaction to Picard makes more sense now. Dude basically has severe PTSD. But I also wonder how he wound up in command in the first place with his obvious issues.

[Khaldun]

I kind of wish we hadn't had a Wolf 359 callback and he just basically went off on Picard and Riker because they came aboard his ship in a way that showed zero respect to him or his crew and got them mixed up in some very dangerous shit without letting him have a say in it--that they acted like the main characters and like he was an NPC. That seems more dramatically valid and more interesting.

[eldaec]

The holodeck having its own power source seemed fine to me in itself, but opened up the thought, 'so if that is affordable why doesn't everything have an equivalent emergency backup?'.

But that is fairly normal star trek.

Show seems better than the last 2 seasons though. And far better than.the TNG movies.

[Riggswolfe]

I quite liked this latest episode. It felt like the plot finally got interesting and seeing the nostalgia guest star was cool as I liked her mini-arc in TNG.

[Khaldun]

Yeah, that part of the episode was good.

I'm just kind of annoyed that we're going to the shapechanger/infiltration well again, with all the standard tropes: are you a shapechanger? NO U! etc. But also Starfleet infiltrated again--and yeah, they tried to plug the plothole desperately in this episode, unconvincingly--oh yes Starfleet has anti-infiltration protocols now only wow these meaty changelings can beat them, how about that. This is two seasons AFTER Starfleet Intelligence was revealed to be controlled by a Romulan who manipulated the entire command hierarchy into doing all sorts of dubious shit AND managing to smuggle other Romulan agents and assassins onto Earth. At this point, blood tests and scanner tests plainly aren't enough.

[Riggswolfe]

I'm guessing that was the plot of Season 1? I skipped the first two seasons because I heard nothing good about them and this one drew me back purely on the promise of a TNG reunion of sorts. We're close, only need Geordi to show up at this point I guess!


I'm curious where they go from here. The problem with this plot is it'll be hard for them to build much of a coalition as they won't trust anyone. Also, I'm really enjoying how Worf has been the opposite of how he was in TNG. Poor dude got his butt kicked constantly in TNG it felt like and so far this season Worf has been awesome. I love this version of Worf as I mentioned earlier.

Give me a new series with Samurai Worf please. I'd even take a Kung Fu ripoff where he goes from planet to planet righting wrongs and defending those who can't defend themselves.

[Miguel]

Give me a new series with Samurai Worf please.

And Elnor as well.

Elnor: "Please, choose life."
Worf: "Today, it looks like he chooses death."

[Khaldun]

Samurai Worf and Elnor plus Seven going back to being a Ranger and shooting things when the other two fail at talking.

How about a series where they decide to clean up Section 31 once and for all? Maybe introduce a child of Bashir and Garak who has been exquisitely trained to destroy Section 31 but thus the other three can never trust him/her?

[Riggswolfe]

Samurai Worf and Elnor plus Seven going back to being a Ranger and shooting things when the other two fail at talking.

How about a series where they decide to clean up Section 31 once and for all? Maybe introduce a child of Bashir and Garak who has been exquisitely trained to destroy Section 31 but thus the other three can never trust him/her?

I'd watch this...

[Khaldun]

Oh god I fucking hated the efforts to set up a new series with Jack Crusher being the big deal.

He's more unlikeable than Wesley at his most insufferable. Dr. Crusher is like the Echidna of Star Trek, mother to monsters.

This was fanservice as cancer--I mean, ok, you want to fanservice us to Patrick Stewart's death, ok! I will go there. But no, they want to fanservice us into the not-final frontier of making money. Star Trek: Legacy Masturbation!

What an incoherent series these three seasons have been. So at odds with each other. Some great original ideas that they almost immediately walked back, some terrible pandering.

[Riggswolfe]

Oh god I fucking hated the efforts to set up a new series with Jack Crusher being the big deal.

He's more unlikeable than Wesley at his most insufferable. Dr. Crusher is like the Echidna of Star Trek, mother to monsters.

This was fanservice as cancer--I mean, ok, you want to fanservice us to Patrick Stewart's death, ok! I will go there. But no, they want to fanservice us into the not-final frontier of making money. Star Trek: Legacy Masturbation!

What an incoherent series these three seasons have been. So at odds with each other. Some great original ideas that they almost immediately walked back, some terrible pandering.

I actually really liked the series finale. It hit most of the right notes for me and my only "complaint" was the nerd in me going "the Galaxy class is basically a giant whale, there's no way it could fly like that..." It had some really good character moments though I do kind of wish they'd had the guts to go ahead and let Picard die a heroes death or something.

Speaking of Picard, the finale was really the only time Patrick Stewart seemed to really be "present" other than the occasional scene here and there.

I don't mind the idea of 7, Raffi(?) and Jack Crusher being a potential spin-off on the new Enterprise. I'd have preferred Shaw but I do like how he got some final words in his own way. I don't actually dislike Jack Crusher either though I'm not sure what "special counselor to the Captain" means. Maybe 7 is just a cougar.

[Trippy]

Speaking of Picard, the finale was really the only time Patrick Stewart seemed to really be "present" other than the occasional scene here and there.

I've only seen bits and pieces of the first two seasons but he was definitely present in the scenes with Q.

[Tebonas]

Speaking of which, poor Q really traded down. From Captains to Commanders and now in his old age he has to settle for Ensigns.

I wasn't too cross with the finale until the credits, but linking Q to this turd of a character really makes me fear that Jack Crusher will have more of a place in the new series than he deserves.

[Khaldun]

It was SUCH a horrible attempt to force the character: OH YOU SPECIAL BOY.

I suppose I could maintain a head canon that this Q is like Hitler in Jo-Jo Rabbit, he's just in Jack Crusher's fantasies. Maybe Jack isn't even actually on board the Enterprise-G, this is just his own little fanwank Holodeck scenario in whatever mental hospital he's in while he recovers from being Borgified.

[Riggswolfe]

Speaking of Picard, the finale was really the only time Patrick Stewart seemed to really be "present" other than the occasional scene here and there.

I've only seen bits and pieces of the first two seasons but he was definitely present in the scenes with Q.

I skipped the first two seasons and have no interest in ever watching them if I'm honest. I've heard nothing good about them, especially season 2. Season 3 was fun but even its best episode (which for me was probably the finale) wasn't as good as the worst episode of Strange New Worlds season 1. It often felt too forced and despite only being 10 episodes it felt like they dragged things out. Amanda Plummer saved the season to be honest and if I'm totally honest, I think I liked the finale because it felt like a proper goodbye for the characters after the travesty that was Nemesis.

[naum]

Just got access to Paramount recently & binged season 1.

It's a mixed bag, some real clunkiness & ham fisted deus ex machina plot moments, but enjoyed it on the whole. After just finishing the latest season of Pedro Pascal & the Magic Child, I liked this better (though 1st season of Mandalorian is far better, admittedly).

Have watched most of TOS & TNG, but none of the stuff after appealed to me. And the movie reboot over the last decade left a sour taste in the mouth.

If your story is not about time travel, but it has time travel in it, then your story sucks.

[Velorath]

I skipped the first two seasons and have no interest in ever watching them if I'm honest. I've heard nothing good about them, especially season 2. Season 3 was fun but even its best episode (which for me was probably the finale) wasn't as good as the worst episode of Strange New Worlds season 1. It often felt too forced and despite only being 10 episodes it felt like they dragged things out. Amanda Plummer saved the season to be honest and if I'm totally honest, I think I liked the finale because it felt like a proper goodbye for the characters after the travesty that was Nemesis.

That’s more or less where I’m at with it having just finally gotten around to watching it. It’s pretty poorly paced and is a mish-mash of fan service cameos and callbacks, but it’s also a better send-off than Nemesis as you said.