• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

How do you compare PIC to TNG?

I'd put TNG, any season, over PIC. The reason being, as awkward as the first season or two of TNG was, and as much of a departure as it was from TOS, it felt very unique for it's time, and even now I find it to be this intriguing oddity. If we're going by early TNG, "Heart of Glory," "Datalore" "A Matter of Honor," "Time Squared," are just some episodes that still hold up for me.
With PIC, I didn't feel like it had it's own identity so my enjoyment was lessened. The only episodes that really got me was was "The Impossible Box," and "Nepenthe."
 
Last edited:
I don't like PIC Season 1 as much as TNG. PIC is far too uneven as a whole in theme, pacing, characterization, follow through, and in explaining itself. While TNG episodes feel slow paced they are very consistent across the entire series and somehow a lot of story and characterization gets expressed in little time.

In each episode of TNG Season 1 there is a nice balance of story, characterization, and world building. I believe PIC Season 1 story is dragged out far too long for the first 6 episodes and could have been condensed to about three. The character moments go on too long while saying very little, or get cut completely as with Narak and Narissa. That overshadows the perfect character moments such as Picard nailing Rios' personality, the hologram committee, or Narak finally getting some background in the end. The world building is insufficient given the importance of artificial life and golems, the looming Artifact, the nature of the ex-Neutral Zone, and state of Romulan politics and Romulans as people, and the shape of Federation government which lead to the Federation acting against its principle yet heel turning in a moment with a little good information.

I like PIC more than ENT Seasons 1 and 2, but that's a low bar. I don't know that I like PIC more than Season 3 of ENT. Maybe I like PIC more than season 1 of VOY, maybe not.
 
I like PIC more than ENT Seasons 1 and 2, but that's a low bar. I don't know that I like PIC more than Season 3 of ENT.
I'm slogging through ENT Season 3. Because I promised someone on here I'd give ENT another shot and I'm using Covid-19 as the opportunity. I have to say that I like Picard a lot more than third season ENT. It's not even close, IMO. Some episodes of ENT S3 are good, most of what I'm seeing is... ehhhh. I can tell that with the Xindi, they were trying to look more like Farscape but they weren't pulling it off. Some of the aliens look like they're from Dimension X on the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Others look like they should be in the Planet of the Apes TV series from the 1970s. I can't take them seriously. It's better than the second season but everything's better than the second season of ENT, so that's not saying much.

Maybe I like PIC more than season 1 of VOY, maybe not.
No comment. :p

Comparison is the thief of joy
I get what you're saying, but I'm not going to pretend I don't have preferences.
 
Just to answer OP's question......

I don't. They're two separate shows, made in two very distinct era's of how shows are made. They have two things in common; the lead and that they both have Star Trek in the title. I enjoy them both equally, as I enjoy all Star Trek shows equally in their own ways. Even though they don't all fit my personal preferences for what I enjoy the most.
 
Just to answer OP's question......

I don't. They're two separate shows, made in two very distinct era's of how shows are made. They have two things in common; the lead and that they both have Star Trek in the title. I enjoy them both equally, as I enjoy all Star Trek shows equally in their own ways. Even though they don't all fit my personal preferences for what I enjoy the most.

Pretty much this (but that Data, Riker, & Troi were in both as well). There are things I like about both shows and things I don't. But the crux of the matter is that a 2020 sequel to a show produced in the late '80's/early '90's is simply not going to look and feel the same.
 
^ I don’t think it’s just that. I get what some people are feeling, that it isn’t as comfortable and uplifting a series. That’s not just that TNG was more “family friendly” but that it showed a. Society in which things “worked.” The flagship was a wonderful place to be, and not in an ironic way. And from that platform we were able to explore many interesting things that PIC hasn’t or even can’t.

And it’s not just the perspective of the flagship. The Federation acting in a way that Picard describes as downright “criminal(!)” suggests a Federation not nearly as healthy as TNG’s. Now, I adore, what PIC has done, looking at the issues of today square in the face, like I adored TOS for placing a Soviet on the bridge of the Enterprise at the height of the Cold War, but I do also long for that far distant and healthier environment we were fortunate to visit in TNG.

Hopefully one day someone will remake that in a mature way.

Actually, I’m a little disappointed how quickly Clancy went from baddie to goodie. And that Oh turned out to be a Romulan, not a Vulcan. We’re here after all, let’s explore to their fullest.
 
^ I don’t think it’s just that. I get what some people are feeling, that it isn’t as comfortable and uplifting a series. That’s not just that TNG was more “family friendly” but that it showed a. Society in which things “worked.” The flagship was a wonderful place to be, and not in an ironic way. And from that platform we were able to explore many interesting things that PIC hasn’t or even can’t.

On the flip side, PIC can go places and explore themes that TNG never could.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top