Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 3x01 - "The Next Generation"

[Amasov]

I'm not going to give a full breakdown of my thoughts until I watch it a few more times because I don't believe in reviewing something after only seeing it one time. However, I do have some things I can say that jumped right out at me.

It was really lovely to see Picard and Riker conversing as friends. As I'm watching these scenes play out, I'm realizing that the line between character and actor is entirely blurred. It truly felt like I was just watching Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes playing themselves and I really loved that.

It did feel like the start of a new Next Gen film. It doesn't feel related to the past seasons of the show, which feels good, but also a little baffling at the same time. Given that this season is supposed to be the send off of the TNG crew, it makes me wonder if I should just consider seasons one and two of Picard to be the Logan of The Next Generation saga. But we'll see.

Seen a lot of complaints about Riker's plan to get themselves to Beverly. Honestly, I didn't care because it was so unimportant to me. Picard and Riker needed to reach Beverly and how they achieved this wasn't relevant at that moment.

Many of my nitpicks regarding the overabundance of nostalgia, the dimly-lit starships, the practically AI-assembled score, etc. These are all superfluous comments and don't have any bearing on how good or bad the story is. It's just that I don't think there has to be so much of it. This, however, is not a problem specific to Star Trek. It's happening everywhere else and Star Trek just happened to be in my line of fire.

If I end up really liking this season than all of those nitpicks won't make one bit of a difference in the end.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I knew that First Contact vibe the score was giving me at one point would come to fruition, punctuating the episode with a full-on rendition of that movie intro, just beautiful... probably in the top 5 of Trek scores in my book. The Red Lady thread of the episode was a little lacking, and hopefully it's not just a red herring, but although the Raffi story line felt forced, the production values and staging were magnificent. Stiff hands and bad knees, indeed--Riker still has the quips, and that elbow to the chops was vintage... Loved Crusher crushing it versus the baddies at the start of the episode, and the son reveal at the end was nicely done. The bad guy ship was a little derivative and the musical cues hokey and clumsy, but I look forward to Amanda Plummer chewing the scenery in upcoming episodes... just had to give this a ten for enjoyability...

If she does not spin in her chair chewing that senery while reciting say, Kipling, Joyce, Masefield or Poe, then i will be very unhappy. lol

 

[thribs]

Crichton’s biggest fears have come true. Someone is using wormhole weapons.

 

[Yale]

Anyone notice the villain ship's deflector dish area looks suspiciously like the one from the Enterprise D engineering hull?

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Anyone notice the villain ship's deflector dish area looks suspiciously like the one from the Enterprise D engineering hull?

I noticed that, too!

Another crazy Crusher's son theory: there was more than one Picard clone created by the Romulans and Crusher adopted him not long after Nemesis. Might explain why she would cut everyone off.

 

[KennyB]

I

I noticed that, too!

Another crazy Crusher's son theory: there was more than one Picard clone created by the Romulans and Crusher adopted him not long after Nemesis. Might explain why she would fit everyone off.

I like that better than the other options.

 

[RuleofAcuisition17]

Well that were alright.

Sets things up alright, nicely shot. Everyone acted very well.

Raffi storyline felt a little weak in comparison, and it was pretty damn well telegraphed who her handler is, and will be once she finally meets face to face. Probably a bit too obviously. Would've been better to have had that mystery run until they do meet in person.

Finally those nice little touches in the background that have been sorely lacking in the first two Picard seasons. Quick pan so I "get it" rather than silly lingering shots.

Nice to see Riker and Picard actually act like friends of 30+ years too. Much more casual attitude of a pair of retired old farts.

I like Captain Shaw, the delivery of his half contemplative "no" was amusing. His insistence on using Seven's "real" name is also a good choice, both on a simple protocall level (Everyone uses their last names, after all) and on his anti-borg attitude (Which after all that's happened, there should be more of).

Ship reveal at the end was very good too. Well shot, well done. Very Narada esque.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to next week.

 

[mr.peany]

I really enjoyed that. But I had to watch it twice to fully appreciate it. I can’t describe how it felt to finally see Crusher again. She’s been my favourite character in Trek since as long as I can remember. I do think that this episode was a little oddly paced and to echo what’s been said on here, the lighting on the bridge of the Titan annoyed me, but it’s a minor issue for me.

But yeah. I’m pretty keen to see how the rest of the season plays out. 7.5-8/10 for me.

 

[SoM]

3. The story seemed kind of klunky. Was this really Riker’s big plan? Get aboard a ship and sort of hope they can convince the Captain to change course….because…..? And how the hell did 7 just commandeer the Titan on her own authority?

She gave orders. She was in charge when Shaw went to bed, he even explicitly said as much as he left.

So apparently it’s being set up for the audience to not like him because of the way he treats the ‘heroes.’ This screams Jellico, a character created for the exact same reason. Except, just like Jellico, this is unwarranted because he’s actually a good officer. Personal bias on his part aside, his ship is being illegally appropriated by Riker and Picard, and another member of his crew whom he doesn’t seem to care for is helping them. He has every right to be angry. And who wants to bet that he’s gonna wind up dead because of all this? But it’s ok because he was mean to Seven, Riker and Picard. I find that just a bit annoying.

Here's the thing - he's absolutely in the right to tell Picard & Riker to smeg off on the course correction stuff.

Deadnaming Seven (which is clearly what they're going for), he's absolutely in the wrong. And stuff like starting to eat before they arrive so he could deliver the reputation-precedes-you line, or shoving P&R in the worst quarters on the ship? That's petty and deeply unprofessional.

 

[urbandk]

I liked it, but probably less than any new live action modern Trek.

It feels as though they have abandoned S1 and S2.

Rios, Jurati, Elnor, just dumped on the curb.

Those were great characters.

The music notes were more like nostalgia hammers.

I didn't subscribe to p+ to watch star trek's greatest hits.

I'm looking forward to seeing new star trek, and I guess that means I'll be looking forward to discovery S5

 

[donners22]

That was an underwhelming start. I'm not sure what was more ridiculous - action Crusher or the cartoon villain Shaw. Thank goodness for Seven and Raffi providing a few bright spots. Hopefully it's a big step up from here.

 

[Spike730]

. His insistence on using Seven's "real" name is also a good choice, both on a simple protocall level (Everyone uses their last names, after all)

Jellico putting Troi in a uniform was a good choice. Forcing a name upon Seven which she is clearly not comfortable with is not.

 

[urbandk]

That was an underwhelming start. I'm not sure what was more ridiculous - action Crusher or the cartoon villain Shaw. Thank goodness for Seven and Raffi providing a few bright spots. Hopefully it's a big step up from here.

Yes, totally. Seven and Raffi (and Laris honorable mention Shaw) were the only actors actually acting and not doing vaudeville.

Raffi's story is cool. I want to see more of that.

Don't really care about Picard and Riker doing lemmon and mathau

 

[TheMadCloner]

I thought the best part of the episode was actually the beginning parts with Laris and Picard.

How Beverly tells Picard not to trust anyone and the first person he tells is Laris because he trusts her completely. How Laris doesn’t hesitate to give her honest opinion about Crusher’s predicament despite knowing the history between Crusher and Picard and knowing that it will mean Picard can’t go with her, because she respects his past and his character. It’s that implicit stuff that makes for great storytelling.

I didn’t mind the music. It was nostalgic and the cues were nicely done. As long as they don’t overdo it the rest of the way, it should be fine.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

That was pretty good.

Shaw is an intense fella, but he strikes me as someone who has started operating from a place of fear. I think Seven and now Picard are an in his face reminder of something very bad that happened to him long ago. His Behaviour towards them strikes me as a trauma response more than anything else and I'm really damn exicted to see how Shaw evolves over the season.

 

[Tallguy]

We know this is a continuation The Next Generation.

You can tell because the opening title card is from Kirk's second movie.

It was actually a micromachines Ent-D. You can tell due to the amount of hull detailing.

So it's like the four foot model?

The more I'm thinking about it the grumpier I'm going to get if one of the hinges of this season is a son that Picard had with Crusher. Picard HAD a son with Crusher (obviously not genetically) who he actually spent time with and affected his upbringing. His name is Wesley.

So was Jack Crusher's suitcase just a pointless Easter egg or did it mean something?

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

He's certainly pretty enough. From what I could find, he finished a part for a game that came out in 2022. Otherwise, I don't see much going on. That's fine, though, he's in his mid 20s, so he's just getting warmed up, I think.

Ya but it not exactly the plenty of work to prove how good an actor he is boast that was posted earlier.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Rios, Jurati, Elnor, just dumped on the curb.

Well there was nothing season 3 could do about those characters not being here. Pity because I loved both characters and actors.
Pity they couldn't find a place for Soji too. Having Brones play a different character last year was daft I thought.

 

[Seven of Five]

I really enjoyed that. The music at the end made me well up.

It was good seeing Crusher again! Is Picard somehow going to turn out to be her son? Though I doubt it considering everything they said about her disappearing for 20 years.

The chemistry and friendship between Picard and Riker was a jot to watch - every single second.

I'm looking forward to the TNG nostalgia train this season, it's just a shame that they have rid themselves of the good PIC characters in the process. I'll miss Jurati and Rios in particular.

 

[bookworm8571]

You can tell because the opening title card is from Kirk's second movie.


So it's like the four foot model?

The more I'm thinking about it the grumpier I'm going to get if one of the hinges of this season is a son that Picard had with Crusher. Picard HAD a son with Crusher (obviously not genetically) who he actually spent time with and affected his upbringing. His name is Wesley.

So was Jack Crusher's suitcase just a pointless Easter egg or did it mean something?

The son’s name is Jack Crusher so the suitcase probably belongs to him. Odds are pretty good that this is Picard’s son. The context clues in the premiere pretty much drop it like a bomb. Picard: “I’m not a man who needs a legacy.” Oh, really? On the other hand, he didn’t raise this offspring, who is probably very much Dr. Beverly Crusher’s legacy. I could understand her wanting another child and doing anything in her power to protect him after she effectively lost Wesley. At the beginning, we also have the love song apparently given to her by Picard like a mix tape, Dr. Crusher’s pearls from the Dixon Hill episode, Picard reminiscing that he and Crusher had tried to be lovers, discussion of the radio silence from Crusher for over 20 years, and the son holding a gun on Picard like David Marcus did on his long-lost dad, Jim Kirk. There is something a little off about Beverly naming Picard’s son after her dead husband but maybe there’s a story there.