I was content with Picard's series finale

[Therin of Andor]

At least the first season tried to do something different. It actually started out very promising even if it fell apart in the end.

Nah, as a viewer who remembers TNG when it was evolving from elements of "Star Trek: Phase II" and "The Questor Tapes", I was thoroughly entertained by all three seasons of "Picard". Would I have done things differently? Perhaps. Probably. But I was very happy every week when a new episode would drop. Maybe they don't hold up to binge-watching -- I haven't tried -- but watching them with a not-fan, who also enjoyed guessing what would happen next, was great fun.

I understand that not everyone liked Season Two but again, week-by-week, it really kept us guessing. And there were plenty of unexpected events to analyse. The series is also intrinsically entwined with Sydney's two Covid Lockdowns.

Of course, for me, Season Two also began the game of, "Was that blue blur on the wall what I think it is?"

It was our household's little secret, since I had signed a NDA not to say anything!


Picard Finale compile by Ian McLean, on Flickr

And things were finally resolved in Season Three. I started receiving emails from contacts all over the world -- including a reTweet from Jonathan Frakes -- and I was told I had become someone's drinking game.


Therin and Grol with Jack Crusher Jr by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[Lord Garth]

I liked all three seasons of Picard. 1 and 3 more than 2, but I liked all three for different reasons. Thanks to Picard Season 3, I can now watch the TNG Movies, then follow it up with Picard Season 3 and have a satisfying ending. I can watch the TNG Movies & Picard Season 3 and have it feel like a complete run, the same as the TOS Movies. Nemesis felt like a funeral. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and it stayed that way until Picard rolled around. Then the sting was taken out of Nemesis because it wasn't the end of the story anymore. So, I got what I wanted out of Picard.

 

[Firebird]

One of the biggest problems with the Picard Season 3 crowd is that many of them can’t praise it without trashing the rest of modern Trek. Then they turn around and complain about how they’re treated, as if their own condescending attitude isn’t exactly why people push back.

That right there is the biggest turnoff for me about Season 3. If ones' love for a thing is inextricably predicated on having to tear down other stuff, I submit they don't really love that thing; they're just using it as a way to legitimize their hatred. A not insignificant portion of Season 3's vocal fans are insufferable in this manner.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Nemesis felt like a funeral. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and it stayed that way until Picard rolled around. Then the sting was taken out of Nemesis because it wasn't the end of the story anymore. So, I got what I wanted out of Picard.

Agreed! Data was my favourite TNG character! Every other TNG movie, I was at huge gala premieres in the city centre. For "Nemesis", there was no local excitement and I went to my nearby suburban cinema with a friend from work. The conclusion was so underwhelming. Such an ignominious end for Data. That sacrificial death scene really needed to be backed up by the earlier, cut, toasting scene with Picard, that can only be found in the DVD's Bonus Features.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I will definitely agree that Picard season 3 was a better send off for the crew than Nemesis was.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Picard season 1 really improves Nemesis imo. It gives it more weight, relations with the Romulans and mourning Data. It was the start of this chain of loss.

Nemesis was the first Star Trek film I got to see in the cinema at the ripe old age of 11.

 

[Lord Garth]

Nemesis was the first Star Trek film I got to see in the cinema at the ripe old age of 11.

Ouch. Well, if it's any consolation, TFF was mine. And my age wasn't too different.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Ouch. Well, if it's any consolation, TFF was mine. And my age wasn't too different.

Oh you poor thing. You had a much shorter wait before you saw your captain of the Enterpise again though.

 

[Turtletrekker]

My first Star Trek movie was TMP at age 12.

I discovered Star Trek very soon after I discovered Star Wars in '77.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Ouch. Well, if it's any consolation, TFF was mine. And my age wasn't too different.

Although my fan club friends and I enjoyed the heck out of researching ST V -- for months! -- in order to do what had become traditional in our club newsletter since ST III: a "special sealed section" (adding hours to our collating weekends) where all the wacky rumours and factoids were collected together, so we couldn't be accused of spoilerizing any club members.

So the gala preview night consisted of us all snickering or groaning whenever a far-out rumour would come true!

Funniest pre-release interview snippet was Nichelle Nichols being interviewed by "Entertainment This Week", suggesting the presence of a unicorn.


Nimbosian unicorn by Ian McLean, on Flickr

And a few weeks later, on opening night, this poster on the stairwell. We had never seen it in person before, but we all knew the answer:


... To stop people leaving early? by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[Campe]

Nah, as a viewer who remembers TNG when it was evolving from elements of "Star Trek: Phase II" and "The Questor Tapes", I was thoroughly entertained by all three seasons of "Picard". Would I have done things differently? Perhaps. Probably. But I was very happy every week when a new episode would drop. Maybe they don't hold up to binge-watching -- I haven't tried -- but watching them with a not-fan, who also enjoyed guessing what would happen next, was great fun.

I understand that not everyone liked Season Two but again, week-by-week, it really kept us guessing. And there were plenty of unexpected events to analyse. The series is also intrinsically entwined with Sydney's two Covid Lockdowns.

Of course, for me, Season Two also began the game of, "Was that blue blur on the wall what I think it is?"

It was our household's little secret, since I had signed a NDA not to say anything!


Picard Finale compile by Ian McLean, on Flickr

And things were finally resolved in Season Three. I started receiving emails from contacts all over the world -- including a reTweet from Jonathan Frakes -- and I was told I had become someone's drinking game.


Therin and Grol with Jack Crusher Jr by Ian McLean, on Flickr

I’m only talking about season one. I’m not all that interested in relitigating seasons two and three suffice to say that I believe both have their ups and downs even if the downs were more prevalent for me than the ups.

 

[Rahul]

The Picard series finale definitely was content...

 

[Jellico]

I’m pretty sure I read , before Picard aired, that there would be no entire crew reunion. Of course , I could see it coming even before season 3. It resembled the End of TNG. I, too, was content, by the time it happened. I couldn’t be upset about it. It was , like, more TNG when we know there will never be another TNG movie. Or, will there be?

 

[Therin of Andor]

I’m pretty sure I read , before Picard aired, that there would be no entire crew reunion.

Correct.

I think the Season 1 Riker-and-Troi episode, "Nepenthe", was so well received that it changed the thinking of the writers' room, and softened Patrick Stewart as to him approving the future storylines.

 

[TRON JA307020]

At least the first season tried to do something different. It actually started out very promising even if it fell apart in the end. Then we had to have a return to Starfleet. I much liked the idea of a privateer kind of a Star Trek series.

Doing something different seems to fail a lot or become disliked. Sometimes they need to stick with what has worked best. None of Kurtzman styled trek has come close to even the oldest trek which of course is TOS.

 

[Campe]

Doing something different seems to fail a lot or become disliked. Sometimes they need to stick with what has worked best. None of Kurtzman styled trek has come close to even the oldest trek which of course is TOS.

Personally, I would prefer for them to do something different than the same over and over and over again. This, to me, was the issue with the Berman era, particularly TNG->VOY->ENT. Very much repetitive. Doesn’t mean there wasn’t good stuff in there, but there were issues. I don’t, for one second, suggest that the Kurtzman era is perfect. But I give it credit for trying to do some new things.

 

[BillJ]

Personally, I would prefer for them to do something different than the same over and over and over again. This, to me, was the issue with the Berman era, particularly TNG->VOY->ENT. Very much repetitive. Doesn’t mean there wasn’t good stuff in there, but there were issues. I don’t, for one second, suggest that the Kurtzman era is perfect. But I give it credit for trying to do some new things.

I'd rather have a dazzling failure with all new characters and concepts vs. another round of poor nostalgia porn than does nothing to grow the franchise.

 

[DonIago]

I'd rather have a dazzling failure with all new characters and concepts vs. another round of poor nostalgia porn than does nothing to grow the franchise.

This is why I prefer S1 of PIC to S3.

S2, OTOH...well, I would call that a failure, but "dazzling" isn't the modifier I'd use.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Personally, I would prefer for them to do something different than the same over and over and over again. This, to me, was the issue with the Berman era, particularly TNG->VOY->ENT. Very much repetitive. Doesn’t mean there wasn’t good stuff in there, but there were issues. I don’t, for one second, suggest that the Kurtzman era is perfect. But I give it credit for trying to do some new things.

VOY was different. They were on their own. Some really good stories especially time travel. Enterprise was the beginning so that was different as we saw Archer and crew learn and stumble their way through the galaxy. Of course DS9 was very different.

I'd rather have a dazzling failure with all new characters and concepts vs. another round of poor nostalgia porn than does nothing to grow the franchise.

Unfortunately that's where SNW has gone as well as SFA with its sisko episode.


The thing is they should have maybe continued in the 25th century rather than going so far into the future. The 32nd century didn't seem much like the far out future. Everyone spoke in present day 21st century vernacular. Swearing came back in the late 24th and early 25th and never seemed to go back out of style. Humans seemed to have regressed to their 20th/21st century counterparts. Basically nothing for humans has really changed and Q was absolutely right and Picard was full of it. Lol

If they follow some of the rules that Roddenberry set down a new show might be successful.

 

[fireproof78]

Basically nothing for humans has really changed and Q was absolutely right and Picard was full of it

We knew that since First Contact.

To quote SF DEBRIS after Picard breaks the display of ENTERPRISE ships: "And somewhere, Q is laughing."