Spoilers Star Trek: Picard General Discussion Thread

[The Wormhole]

Season 1 is pretty damn good, though it falls apart in the finale.
Season 2 I actually enjoyed somewhat, though it never becomes anything better than dumb fun despite a very strong start.
Season 3 is empty nostalgia which refuses to admit the 1990s are in the past.

The three seasons of PICARD were like the first three seasons of TNG... each season was better than the last...

I don't even think that's accurate concerning TNG's first three seasons, where, IMO Season 2 is actually worse than season 1. Granted, a lot of people tend to prefer season 2 on purely superficial grounds, because it looks more like the rest of TNG than the first season did. IE, Riker has the beard, Geordi and Worf are now wearing gold and are chief engineer and chief of security, Deanna's no longer wearing that hideous black outfit, Wesley's no longer wearing the rainbow stripes around his shoulders or the brown sweater, the bridge is changed to the more familiar look.

 

[James Cole]

Season 3 is empty nostalgia which refuses to admit the 1990s are in the past.

The past matters and, the 1990's was Peak Star Trek...

If anything, PS3 has early 2000s till 2015ish vibes. It very much feels like something made during the run of THE SHIELD, 24, LOST, BREAKING BAD, BSG... aligned with the evolution in the direction late DS9 and ENT were going, not a rupture with the Berman era that is, say, DISCOVERY, which is very much a product of the streaming boom bubble, not the earlier Peak TV period that largely occurred on premium cable and serialized network TV.

 

[James Cole]

Ok a double post since the upgrade wouldn't let me add a second quote for some reason

I don't even think that's accurate concerning TNG's first three seasons, where, IMO Season 2 is actually worse than season 1. Granted, a lot of people tend to prefer season 2 on purely superficial grounds, because it looks more like the rest of TNG than the first season did. IE, Riker has the beard, Geordi and Worf are now wearing gold and are chief engineer and chief of security, Deanna's no longer wearing that hideous black outfit, Wesley's no longer wearing the rainbow stripes around his shoulders or the brown sweater, the bridge is changed to the more familiar look.

Regarding TNG season 1 vs season 2...

Season 2 has "Q Who", "Measure of a Man", "Elementary, Dear Data", and "The Emissary" as 4-5 star episodes. Almost a half dozen more are solid 3+ stars, from "Contagion" to "A Matter Of Honor" to "Where Silence Has Lease" to "Peak Performance" to "Time Squared".

Season 1 only really has "The Big Goodbye" as top shelf. "Where No One Has Gone Before", "11001001", "Coming of Age", "Heart of Glory", and "The Arsenal of Freedom" are reasonably good. Everything else has some degree of cringe in play. But again, YMMV. Could make for an interesting Controversial Opinions post of a TNG subforum thread.

 

[The Wormhole]

All I know is during rewatches, I generally find season 2 more of a chore to get through than season 1. Which is odd, as season 2 has fewer episodes.

 

[James Cole]

All I know is during rewatches, I generally find season 2 more of a chore to get through than season 1. Which is odd, as season 2 has fewer episodes.

Looking at the episode order on Memory Alpha, the season 2 bad episodes do cluster together, and it takes a while for a great episode to succeed a great episode. In a way, that's a lot like TNG season 6. I'd argue that season as a whole is better than TNG season 4 even, but the problem with season 6 is it hits you with 2/3rds of the season's bad episodes back to back.

Whereas TNG season 1 at least has the early installment weirdness as a novelty factor and isn't as much of a roller coaster.

 

[evilchumlee]

By and large, PIC was excellent. Not perfect, but overall by far the best thing from the Kurtzman era by leaps and bounds.

Season 1 was overall excellent. There were a few narrative stumbles, and I think it tried a bit too hard to be "grimdark" at times, but overall it was good.

Season 2 was good... I would have preferred to have had more time in the 25th century/Confederation, but there were some real-world issues that stifled S2 a bit. Overall a good idea, and what we DID get was fairly well executed. I found myself drawn into it. Most of my actual issues with it are nitpicks.

Season 3 was absolutely spectacular and not only easily without even anything approaching a contest the best Star Trek produced in the Kurtzman Era, but right up there with some of the best Star Trek period. Season 3 was actually detrimental to the brand a in a way because we know what they are capable of, and what we could have... but they keep choosing not to produce.

 

[study2400]

Well, I'll have to see for myself what I think, but thank you for your opinions.
I listened to you all, but I will watch the whole series and then I will be able to formulate my own opinions about it. I remember I liked, really liked some stuff from later in the series......thank you, God bless.

 

[Campe]

Well, I'll have to see for myself what I think, but thank you for your opinions.
I listened to you all, but I will watch the whole series and then I will be able to formulate my own opinions about it. I remember I liked, really liked some stuff from later in the series......thank you, God bless.

Absolutely as you should! Good luck!

 

[TedShatner10]

I'd say the quality trajectory and vibes of the Picard seasons matched that of the Kelvin Star Trek films of the late 00s and early 10s to be honest - the first series successfully reinvigorates the setting and characters, gets misunderstood and nitpicked by hardcore fans for silly reasons, but has a OK ending that feels a bit rushed (like JJ Abrams '09 movie), the 2nd instalment has a strong start but flips into being formulaic and staid (not the worst but not the best like Into Darkness), while Season 3 is fanfiction on steroids but has enough flare & strong characterisation to stop collapsing on itself (like Star Trek Beyond).

 

[Daedalus]

I'd say the quality trajectory and vibes of the Picard seasons matched that of the Kelvin Star Trek films of the late 00s and early 10s to be honest - the first series successfully reinvigorates the setting and characters, gets misunderstood and nitpicked by hardcore fans for silly reasons, but has a OK ending that feels a bit rushed (like JJ Abrams '09 movie), the 2nd instalment has a strong start but flips into being formulaic and staid (not the worst but not the best like Into Darkness), while Season 3 is fanfiction on steroids but has enough flare & strong characterisation to stop collapsing on itself (like Star Trek Beyond).

That's an excellent comparison, I've never thought about that before.

 

[Nerys Myk]

What Andor is to Star Wars;
Picard is to Trek

Not even close.

 

[TedShatner10]

Season 3 and the strongest parts of Season 1 held my attention, but Picard didn't fully commit like Andor did and didn't leave a lot of its cool ideas in the oven for long enough (and Sir Patrick Stewart's ego must've gotten in the way from time to time).

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Went to Fan Expo in Toronto. My partner wanted to meet Josh Gad as she's a fan of his Disney work. He said hello to her, was really friendly, saw the comm badge that I was wearing and then geeked out with me over Star Trek for 6 minutes (a LONG time in a convention line). He felt "Terry knocked it out of the park!" with season 3 of Picard (I found it awesome he didn't even use the last name) and felt it vindicated the TNG movies which he hated, even saying First Contact, my personal favourite, was merely "okay" and no Wrath of Khan.

When talking Star Trek with people, season 3 can't not be mentioned, and is 100% of the time gushed on. The opposite of this bbs some days. I love chatting in person with people about Star Trek, there's always so much enthusiasm, it's nice.

 

[James Cole]

Do you want all three seasons on iTunes? The bundle is on sale for $14.99.

 

[fireproof78]

When talking Star Trek with people, season 3 can't not be mentioned, and is 100% of the time gushed on. The opposite of this bbs some days. I love chatting in person with people about Star Trek, there's always so much enthusiasm, it's nice.

I don't ever talk Trek in person. Be nice to have this experience. Even my brother who loves Voyager doesn't talk Trek.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I don’t talk Trek because I know anyone that watches. My brother watched TOS, TNG, Voyager and Enterprise He saw the first episode of Discovery. I don’t think he’s watched anything since. He doesn’t watch tv shows and he’s rather play video games online with other people.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

I must be the outlier then. In our work kitchen area, there's an Enterprise-D print hanging above the sink. The head of our office asks at the end of every interview "One last question, just for fun. Star Wars or Star Trek?". The comic shop I go to always ends with discussions of the latest episodes we watched amongst the regulars. And my parents got me into Trek, I got my siblings into it, and our family of 7 for the most part stays current on the shows. There's lots in my immediate circle that talk of it, taking away the random encounters that happen constantly when I go out.

 

[fireproof78]

I must be the outlier then. In our work kitchen area, there's an Enterprise-D print hanging above the sink. The head of our office asks at the end of every interview "One last question, just for fun. Star Wars or Star Trek?". The comic shop I go to always ends with discussions of the latest episodes we watched amongst the regulars. And my parents got me into Trek, I got my siblings into it, and our family of 7 for the most part stays current on the shows. There's lots in my immediate circle that talk of it, taking away the random encounters that happen constantly when I go out.

My dad got me in to Star Trek but it's not our conversation. My coworkers don't have that interest and family rarely talk Star Trek despite various sci-fi fans.

So, unique experience for sure.

 

[Lord Garth]

The people I know who watched Star Trek and are my age-ish were TNG Fans. The people I know who watched Star Trek who are my parents' age-ish were TOS Fans and some liked TNG. Except for the Kelvin Movies, anything from DS9 onward they haven't really watched. So, basically, like I've said before all of my friends who like Star Trek are only really fans of TNG. They know about TOS, but they only really got into the TOS Movies. Being a late-'70s baby, '80s child, and '90s teen, that's just how it's turned out for me around my peers. I was the oddball also liking TOS itself. If I wanted to talk about that, I'd talk to my parents' friends sometimes. But my own friends? No chance.

My brother got some of his friends into DS9 (he was and is a huge Niner), but I never did that with mine.

Some of my friends were interested in Picard. Of those who watched, most liked Season 1, all liked Season 3. We don't get together and hang out to talk about Star Trek but, when it comes up, no one had anything bad to say about PIC S3. We don't talk about it much, we mostly talk about other things going on in our lives.

 

[evilchumlee]

I must be the outlier then. In our work kitchen area, there's an Enterprise-D print hanging above the sink. The head of our office asks at the end of every interview "One last question, just for fun. Star Wars or Star Trek?". The comic shop I go to always ends with discussions of the latest episodes we watched amongst the regulars. And my parents got me into Trek, I got my siblings into it, and our family of 7 for the most part stays current on the shows. There's lots in my immediate circle that talk of it, taking away the random encounters that happen constantly when I go out.

Yeah... I don't have this experience. Trek seems to be an unpopular topic. It tends to be anywhere from groan inducing to just indifference.

Every once in a blue moon I encounter someone in the wild. My favorite interaction...

I used to have long hair and a bear and be somewhat on the built side. I was at a bar hanging out. A group came in and there was a girl who was alittle overwhelmed, could tell she wansn't really a bar person who happened to be standing next to me. She was kind of complaining to her group about what was going and I happened to overhear, "...and i'm standing next to a Klingon."

So I just turned my head to her, raised by drink, and offered a "Qa'plah".

Turns out she didn't actually know much about Star Trek, but knew enough to get the reference.