Was Picard a generic action hero in the movies?

[The Overlord]

A common complaint of the TNG movies is that Picard is presented as a generic action hero in those movies, that his skills as a diplomat are down played in favor of more action scenes with him. Is that a fair criticism or not?

[BillJ]

It's a fair criticism and it isn't.

Series Picard simply isn't interesting in a two-hour action movie.

[Tora Ziyal]

Yes, it's fair. But I'm more interested in drama than action, which probably isn't true of most of the demographic they're aiming at.

[King Daniel]

I wouldn't say "generic". He was a little on the old side when he was BAMFing his way around a Reman warbird with a phaser rifle in each hand, moving down vampiric baddies

[Anji]

Yep. The movie Picard is WAY out of character from the TV Picard.

I would've prefered to see a battle of wits as opposed to muscle. It faired Kirk well in TWOK.

And making an action Picard was taking the easy way out. It would've been a lot more difficult and required a lot more creativity to write Nemesis with the real Picard in it. The writer's weren't up to the task.

[CaptainMatt]

What about Insurrection and how Picard was written and played in that? I hear criticism for Nemesis, but tell me friends, what about the way Picard was an action hero in the previous installment?

[The Overlord]

CaptainMatt wrote:

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What about Insurrection and how Picard was written and played in that? I hear criticism for Nemesis, but tell me friends, what about the way Picard was an action hero in the previous installment?

The part where Picard beamed over to the Collector, was fighting Ru'afo, saying cliched one liners, etc. All that seems like the stuff a generic action hero would do.

[LOKAI of CHERON]

He still feels like the old Picard to me - the familiar "vibe" is still very much in abudance if you will. But it's the old Picard thrust into extraordinary situations, requiring extraordinary actions from the character by necessity. I have no problem with this, I've observed friends and family behave "out of character" when the situation dictates many times. "Action Picard" can easily and believably be rationalised in this way - it merely mirrors real life - and yes - it's way more exciting for the movies!

[Bry_Sinclair]

The action sequences was what he had Riker for.

I admit Picard as a diplomat may not have been the most thrilling movie ever, but it would beat the loooooooong 'lets light the ship up from every imaginable angle' from TMP.

They should have kept him the diplomat and statesman that he was, commanding the ship through tactical combat in space, and leave Riker to handle the hands on fighting with the bad guy.

[CoveTom]

In First Contact, it was understandable. He had a personal connection to the Borg, a very personal grudge against them, and so it was appropriate he would get into the hear of the fight. But when we continued to see "action Picard" again and again, it felt out of character and wrong.

Picard was not above a good action sequences in the series, but these were presented as the exception, rather than the rule. He was portrayed as someone who liked to use his intellect before flexing his physical muscles. In the movies, it felt backward.

[22 Stars]

The TNG movie formula did not serve PS well. And the odd thing is he kept pushing for things that I feel were not in his best interest! More action/dune buggy/physical stuff, instead of insisting on crafting more intelligent scripts.

This is along the same lines as Shatner writing and directing ST V. He comes across better in II, III and IV than he does in his own piece!

TNG could have pulled off plots closer to Syriana and Mission Impossible, and less of Die Hard and Aliens.

[C.E. Evans]

IIRC, Picard started to become more involved on away missions towards the end of TNG's TV run.

[22 Stars]

C.E. Evans wrote:

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IIRC, Picard started to become more involved on away missions towards the end of TNG's TV run.

Yeah, but it was in the features that PS really influenced the direction. He chose poorly.

[Ronald Held]

I thought he exhibited more of those traits after he met Kirk.

[22 Stars]

Well, he ain't Kirk. And they shouldn't have tried to make him that.