Spoilers Is Star Trek Picard In An Alternate Universe?
- Thread starter James Wyatt
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I wish that all the new shows were set in an alternate reality, it was such a great move to do this in ST09. In fact JMS wrote an outline for a reboot of Star Trek prior to ST09 and his reasoning was the same as Abrams' - you don't want to mess with established continuity and this allows you to free yourself of it.
For me personally, Picard started OK, but quickly descended into nonsense. I was sad to loose the TNG hopeful future to one of darkness. I compartmentalise the TNG movies and the new shows into a 'something else' part of my brain. Same with Star Wars really - Jedi ended perfectly, like All Good Things, with our characters having grown as people and everything is happy and bright. I was sad to learn that Luke, Leia and Han split up and endured much trauma in the same way that I was about the characters in Picard. The biggest surprise to me was Marina Sirtis and how great her acting was in Picard - what a shame she was so under-used in the series.
For me personally, Picard started OK, but quickly descended into nonsense. I was sad to loose the TNG hopeful future to one of darkness. I compartmentalise the TNG movies and the new shows into a 'something else' part of my brain. Same with Star Wars really - Jedi ended perfectly, like All Good Things, with our characters having grown as people and everything is happy and bright. I was sad to learn that Luke, Leia and Han split up and endured much trauma in the same way that I was about the characters in Picard. The biggest surprise to me was Marina Sirtis and how great her acting was in Picard - what a shame she was so under-used in the series.
The Prime Universe is the franchise's security blanket that it will never part with. Even the Abrams films, the closest we've ever gotten to an actual reboot, still cling to this security blanket by saying they branched off from the Prime Universe and by having Leonard Nimoy make cameos to back that claim up.
Yeah, getting Nimoy was a stroke of genius. He's great in ST09, and to think of the wasted potential that movie had. It was a breakout hit - most* people loved it and it seemed that Trek could be a mainstream franchise once again. Alas, they failed to capitalise, and now Trek is reduced to a niche - watched by a small audience.
Every so often, I re-watch the movie and its amazing how well the VFX hold up and just what a great cast was assembled. Sure, there are quibbles, but unlike Tribbles I don't find there are too many.
alternate theory: in Star Trek the entire concept of alternate universe is becoming redundant. While there are significant separations such as Kelvin timeline and mirror, for the most part minor and not-so minor changes are shown to be happening all the time. As @Jinn mentioned, the Enterprise-C incident was a major incident. However it has never been treated as such, just because plots roll on, and the story is different next week. Once you realize time travel is possible and that your own reality may be subtly or greatly modified, you have to give up on the idea of living and functioning in a static timeline. All your great works and drives and ambitions can be changed and you would never know or never exist.
Oh man, that's a relief! Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely against full reboots (I do like The Orville), but a major part of Star Trek's appeal to me is that it's a living active universe with an ongoing continuity that continues to grow. The Kelvin timeline movies were clever to tie their story to the Prime timeline as they got to have a new take on the classic characters while also feeling legit. You can't just dismiss them like Bond fans can dismiss Never Say Never Again, because they do connect to the overall tapestry.
But what about the Borg from First Contact in Season 2?!
Each and every show, sometimes even individual seasons and episodes from within a show, take place in their own individual alternate universe.
Agreed. Other alternate futures are clearly presented as such. Endgame presented a future that had already happened from Janeway's perspective. It wasn't an alternate future. The history rewritten as a result of Janeway's actions is the alternate and that's the timeline Picard exists in now.
Not even playing Devil's Advocate. It just seems obvious to me...
You ae going too far.
There is no evidence to support such a sweeping statement.
There are examples of seeming plot contradictions between scenes in episodes, when possibly a script rewrite missed something it should have changed. One possible in universe explanation is that the two scenes happen in slightly different alternate universe. But other explanations are also possible and have sometimes been suggested.
Similarly, there are scenes with continuity problems between camera cuts. One possible in universe explanation is that the two cuts happen in dslightly different alternate universes. But other explanations are also possible and have sometimes been suggested.
Because there are other possible explanations in many cases, it is much too dogmatic to claim that every scene and every camera cut is in a separate alternate universe. In many cases they might be in alternate universes, but therr is no strong evidence to justify claiming that every scene and every camera cut must be in an alternate universe of its own.
Agreed. Other alternate futures are clearly presented as such. Endgame presented a future that had already happened from Janeway's perspective. It wasn't an alternate future. The history rewritten as a result of Janeway's actions is the alternate and that's the timeline Picard exists in now.
Not even playing Devil's Advocate. It just seems obvious to me...
You are wrong to say any part of Star Trek is not in an alternate universe. Each and every universe and timeline is equally an alternate universe from the viewpoint of every other universe.
All universes are alternate universes.
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I can’t decide if the entirety of this post is a well meant joke or if you really are incredibly serious about your rationale.
I hope for the former. I fear the latter.
Not a big surprise to me, but I agree they didn't use her talents to full effect in TNG, which is a damn shame.
Super agree. She’s so good in Picard, and had all sorts of moments where we see her skill shine through while they all but wasted her talents on TNG. I love Deanna’s character, but they never used her to her full potential.
Her material in Nepenthe was by far the best and most powerful material that the character, and thus Marina, had ever been given.
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Yeah, Napenthe is probably the one time I believed Deanna really was a psychologist. It's unfortunate, the majority of the time on TNG all she did was say "I sense the completely obvious."
That would explain why season 1 had a dismal ending. Good call.
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