I wish I could be more excited about this than I am, especially considering how thrilled I was about the prospect six months ago. But Picard has left such a sour taste in my mouth that I find myself tentative at best. Add to that my daily existential ennui, I just can't exhibit anything more than a resounding "Whatever."
Yes. The chemistry between the Mount, Peck, and Romijn is nothing short of magical. But the casts were both strengths for the other two shows. It's the writing that's always been the problem. And I feel like that magical chemistry is going to be completely squandered.
I think I might be a bit more excited had they brought in some outside help. But spreading a writing staff across spin-offs almost never works out well. And there's nothing about this current crop of misfits that instills any amount of confidence - given their most recent product of taking the offerings of a Pulitzer-winning writer and turned it into uninspired, ordinary dressing.
Kurtzman was never really a writer. He's a producer who has the means to dip his toe into the creative pool every now and then. He was the lesser half of a highly uneven writing team who really only got his solo chance after the other guy went bought an entire tinfoil wardrobe. And it was a disaster. Kurtzman is a slightly more talented Rick Berman. (Albeit with a substantially more-likable personality.)
Goldsman's career as a writer has been a middling disappointment to be sure. He showed glimpses of greatness early on, but it's never really amounted to much. I think the problem is, he got too distracted with other career paths. I suppose this could be a chance for him, provided he dedicates everything to running the writers' room - no directing, producing, or anything of that sort. There really isn't much of the others to go on, but from what little there is, I don't see much to be excited about.
There's also the way this whole thing has come about. It seems like it's come about more as a reactionary attempt to placate the core fanbase than an actual genuine desire to create art. This always runs the risk of the end result feeling haphazardly slapped together - which in turn inevitably leads to more hackneyedness. But the fact they're tossing out the platitudes like peanuts has me worried. It's doubling-down on the same smoke-blowing that's been going on since Fuller left. It's time to stop telling and show us something.
Because here's the thing: I never really bought into the whole "Star Trek is this, not that." thing. It can be anything. That's not to say I don't still yearn for some good old TOS/TNG style stories and will be more than happy to have some. The problem is, they've been staying these same tired things for so long now that it's starting to feel a bit boy/wolfy. Had the mission statement always been "Disco is Disco and Picard is Picard. Now let's Star Trek." I might be more inclined to believe them.
