Spoilers PIC: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack Review Thread

[Christopher]

Personally, about the only current television I pay any attention to any more is Jeopardy. Everything else strikes me as one "monument to Kitman's Law" after another.

People have been saying the same about "current" television for as long as I've been alive. It only looks like a recent trend because we forget most of the lame stuff from past decades and only remember the good stuff. But I think there's probably a higher ratio of good stuff today than there was 30 or 40 years ago, certainly for SF/fantasy fans.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Dunno about that. I like TNG and TOS (and even DS9 and VOY) better than I like any current science fiction TV, including DSC. And if I want to watch a show about firefighters (or a show about doctors and patients, for that matter), I like my DVDs of Emergency better than I like what I've seen of Station 19 or Grey's Anatomy. And most of today's sitcoms jumped the shark before their pilots sold, as far as I'm concerned. (And I don't even like the concepts of shows like The Sopranos or Breaking Bad.)

 

[TJ Sinclair]

Dunno about that. I like TNG and TOS (and even DS9 and VOY) better than I like any current science fiction TV, including DSC. And if I want to watch a show about firefighters (or a show about doctors and patients, for that matter), I like my DVDs of Emergency better than I like what I've seen of Station 19 or Grey's Anatomy. And most of today's sitcoms jumped the shark before their pilots sold, as far as I'm concerned. (And I don't even like the concepts of shows like The Sopranos or Breaking Bad.)

All of this means it's not to your taste. That's perfectly fine, you have every right not to like it.

That doesn't make any of it objectively bad.

 

[iarann]

Trek fans seem to have a bizarrely hard time understanding how serialized TV works. I heard the same complaints about Discovery -- it's too dark, too hopeless. But both seasons ended their "dark" story arcs with upbeat endings where the heroes' adherence to their positive convictions let to a happy ending, so ultimately they ended up quite optimistic.You can't judge the darkness of a story by how it begins, only by how it ends. Heck, "The Immunity Syndrome" and "The Changeling" both began with the annihilation of entire planetary populations of billions of people -- it doesn't get much darker than that. But they both ended with the crew joking and laughing. You have to wait for the ride to end before you can talk about where it arrives.

I think a combination of these complaints about it being dark, and all the complaints about cursing, just keep reminding me of the post you made where you talked about Star Trek starting out as a liberal hippie in the 60s that grew up into a conservative yuppie in the 80s.

I see a lot of anger that Picard isn't TNG, which somehow makes it not Star Trek and that the story is too dark, even though so many of the complaints we can probably find TNG parallels for, or when it's being compared to the litverse there are examples there like you pointed out.

That's not to say there aren't things to criticize in Picard, the show got off to a slow start as far as pacing for example, but I wonder how many would take TNG if it was first airing right now.

 

[Christopher]

Anyway, it turned out that Picard

Spoiler: finale

did follow the same pattern I talked about in the above quote -- the supposedly "dark and hopeless" story culminated in an optimistic ending with the crisis resolved by Federation values being reaffirmed and people choosing to do the right thing. If anything, it was too upbeat, too easy a resolution given what had been set up before.

 

[JD]

Actually, for the most part, I do, when I'm writing online, for just this reason. An "I think that" or a "for me, this was" can go a long way to better communicating tone, but it's part of my natural speech pattern anyway. It's staved off a lot of people getting mad because it's clearly personal, rather than potentially sounding like I was telling them they were wrong for feeling different than I

I'm the same way, I always try to start a conversation about quality with an I think or I like it or whatever. I've seen to many arguments break out because someone thought someone else was trying to for everyone and they didn't agree.

That doesn't make it a good thing. Personally, about the only current television I pay any attention to any more is Jeopardy. Everything else strikes me as one "monument to Kitman's Law" after another.

I like arcs, it allows you to go a lot deeper into the stories, characters, themes, ect than you ever can with a one off case/planet/monster of the week. I couldn't imagine trying to pull off something like Black Lightning's most recent season or Westworld's first season in one or two episodes.
A good long form story arc can really feel like a novel for TV.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Very much enjoyed this one. Bleak as fuck. Raffi's sacrifices and gradual breakdown, Picard being worn down although never once questioning the importance and need for the mission. The tragic story of Nokim Vritet.

It answered a lot of questions I had, like the A500's sentience. But it begged one more: Why did the Romulan leadership insist so much on the smaller blast radius (even when it didn't matter anymore and Romulus had collapsed to anarchy) and make no attempts to evacuate the general populations of their worlds? I expected a big reveal but nothing came. Selfish, stubborn and callous to the detriment of billions and their entire Empire?

It also occurs to me I've waited a decade for the supernova story and... still no actual supernova, just the despair and tragedy leading up to it and a little tiny bit after it. I was hoping for Picard and the others' reaction to the actual kaboom as it occured in 2387.

 

[Christopher]

Why did the Romulan leadership insist so much on the smaller blast radius (even when it didn't matter anymore and Romulus had collapsed to anarchy) and make no attempts to evacuate the general populations of their worlds? I expected a big reveal but nothing came. Selfish, stubborn and callous to the detriment of billions and their entire Empire?

Just look at the US government's response to the current pandemic. The novel was prophetic.

 

[Leto_II]

It also occurs to me I've waited a decade for the supernova story and... still no actual supernova, just the despair and tragedy leading up to it and a little tiny bit after it. I was hoping for Picard and the others' reaction to the actual kaboom as it occured in 2387.

Undoubtedly one area that was "off-limits" for McCormack, since the TV show itself is likely to cover this in some capacity down the road, here. Which is probably for the best -- if she had addressed it in the novel, it would suck to see it potentially contradicted onscreen if the showrunners later decide to go in a different direction from her interpretation.

(Plus I'm guessing this is probably why she was barely able to fit little more than a very brief Ambassador Spock-cameo into the storyline, too.)

 

[Bollie74]

Except that all of JMS's attempts to do B5 sequels kinda sucked.

The one with the plague had an interesting premise and I liked the Technomage and the thief. Hey, not to fan girl out, but I love your books

 

[Bryan Levy]

A good long form story arc can really feel like a novel for TV.

Hot take, maybe, but I’m ready for TV shows to just be TV shows again, and lean away from pure serialization. Sometimes I worry that shows are becoming ten hour movies instead of ten singular episodes. And by singular, I don’t mean stand alone, status quo bearing things. I mean entertainments with a beginning, middle, and end. I think a lot of creators took all the wrong lessons from things like Buffy, The X-Files, and The Wire.

And don’t get me started on my feelings on the world’s longest (and because of such, midway through, the boringest) Justice League story that just finished.

 

[Bollie74]

Hot take, maybe, but I’m ready for TV shows to just be TV shows again, and lean away from pure serialization. Sometimes I worry that shows are becoming ten hour movies instead of ten singular episodes. And by singular, I don’t mean stand alone, status quo bearing things. I mean entertainments with a beginning, middle, and end. I think a lot of creators took all the wrong lessons from things like Buffy, The X-Files, and The Wire.

And don’t get me started on my feelings on the world’s longest (and because of such, midway through, the boringest) Justice League story that just finished.

The serialization, at least in Trek so far, seems to be at the cost of character moments. Buffy and The X-files never skimped on that.

 

[Bollie74]

Our latest Literary Treks is out, all about The Last Best Hope. Literary Treks 298: Utopia is a Series of Choices, in which Bruce and I interview Una McCormack about the novel. It was a lot of fun talking to her, she's always great! I hope you all enjoy it!

Fan gurling out like with Christopher, I love your pod cast!

 

[Bryan Levy]

The serialization, at least in Trek so far, seems to be at the cost of character moments. Buffy and The X-files never skimped on that.

Like I said, wrong lessons.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Just look at the US government's response to the current pandemic. The novel was prophetic.

I get that, but a supernova is gonna kill everyone, not just some abstract percentage everyone's convinced won't be them. I'd love to explore the thought process of the Romulan leadership, broken as it may be.

The serialization, at least in Trek so far, seems to be at the cost of character moments. Buffy and The X-files never skimped on that.

Sometimes I read these forums and wonder what show people are watching because it can't be the same ones as me.

 

[Paul Weaver]

What character growth was there in Harry Kim in 150 episodes? Or tuvok? Or Beverly?

 

[Christopher]

I get that, but a supernova is gonna kill everyone, not just some abstract percentage everyone's convinced won't be them. I'd love to explore the thought process of the Romulan leadership, broken as it may be.

According to the book, the leaders, the wealthy, and the powerful had already evacuated long before. It was just the general population that had been left behind.

I think probably it wasn't a conscious decision to leave everyone to die -- it's just that their evacuation plans were inadequate due to incompetence and corruption, and the leaders' centuries-long habit was to keep secrets, mislead the public, and engage in coverups. So since they were so busy covering up their mistakes, they couldn't fix their mistakes, since you have to acknowledge a problem before you can solve it.

 

[Kilana2]

Looks like the handling of corona in Belarus: the president denies the existence of the virus, people from other countries who follow the social distancing rules suffer from a collective psychosis.....

 

[NCC-73515]

I liked it. The best part was his speech when they embarked on their historic mission.

 

[DEWLine]

Looks like the handling of corona in Belarus: the president denies the existence of the virus, people from other countries who follow the social distancing rules suffer from a collective psychosis.....

For a moment, I thought you'd mixed up Belarus with some other Russian-adjacent nation that I'd read similar horror stories about. Then I started a web search cross-referencing Belarus and COVID-19. Great Bird, preserve us!

(Note: I was thinking of Turkmenistan, where all mention of the word "coronavirus" has been banned.)