Which is nonsense, because a) we meet Nero and his crew about one subjective minute after their homeworld blew - that's one busy tattoo artist! b) his wife had the tattoo in the photo already - did he tattoo the photo? It just seems that gritty miners love to tattoo their faces, while wily politicians or high-brow swordfighters do not. Perhaps the tattoos are there to compensate for deficiencies in the forehead ridge department? Timo Saloniemi
There's literally people on this planet now, in the 21st century, with tattoos on their body and on their faces. Nothing purposeful to it, other than the person being a fan of having that on their body. I don't think we'll ever need to thoroughly explain the difference of the romulan's in Star Trek. Such things are nice touches, but I wouldn't say it needs to be of any concern to the writers or production team.
Maybe Picard took up learning French later in life, since its an archaic language and it is possible he and his family went to school in England.
He talks to his deceased mother in one of the TNG episodes and she seems to speak fluent French. So he apparently was exposed to it daily while a child.
She speaks English with him tho. Not French. (He does call her "Maman" tho.) But I do agree that he was exposed to French as a kid because of the French song he sings to himself in "Chain Of Command". He mentions that the Picard family used to sing it after dinner.
Picard sang French songs in the Next Generation and, in Family, both he and his brother sang a French song.
I believe in the context of the scene, she was speaking French to him and that is what he heard. Her accent was unmistakably French. What we heard, was done so that the viewers would understand their conversation. (and subtitles have never really been a favorite thing for US shows to use, the Execs in charge, still believe that their audience has a 12 year old's IQ)
Do we get lens flare: I've seen Trek fans justifiably complaining about lens flare since 2009, because they shirk from watching any TV with lens flare, as they run the risk of seizures. I thought, the complaint was nuts, but when I heard how military veterans with PTSD can be triggered by red-laser pointers (Rocket-propelled grenades come with a red flash, only seen by those targeted for literally less than a second.) , I consider lens flare as a danger, too. Is the coloring like TNG's milestone episode "Yesterday's Entereprise"?
They had subtitles for the Klingon that's being spoken in "A Matter Of Honor" tho... I doubt they meant for the scene to be interpreted as "he hears it in French". But then, headcanons may differ, of course. And we ARE on the same page, he did speak/hear a lot of French as a kid. I cannot, for the LIFE of me, imagine that JEAN-LUC PICARD, the proudest Frenchman ever (who would clearly like to throttle his second officer when he calls French "an obscure language"), did not grow up with the French language. What I will say, tho... if you're bilingual and you constantly hear only ONE language out of the two, you DO start to forget words and phrases from the other one. My German is atrocious these days because I surround myself with so much English. So, it happens. What I do love about the whole scene, by the way, and what no one seems to think about is that Jean-Luc tells Number One that they PRACTICED French. Which means he's been sitting there, teaching his dog to follow his orders in French. If that isn't the cutest thing I don't know what is. It's REALLY good to see that he is still a (massively cute) dork.
Apparently Picard has picked up some French in retirement. He's no longer the most British Frenchman in TV history.
A lot of this takes place outdoors. Can't say I noticed excessive use of lens flare, but then I've never had a problem with it, so it's possible I just didn't notice. The show is very bright, at least in the first episode. Visually, it looks nothing like Yesterday's Enterprise.
Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) and two of his companions just posted a new Youtube, including their review and impression of the first three episodes of 'Picard.' Spoiler
Given the review embargo, I'm really surprised that Cirroc Lofton has put his name to this, just now.
I've noticed the same, and noticed it with many German engineers, to the point that German technicians are talking behind the engineers back: “He can't even speak German, anymore.” Nevertheless, it's a testament of laziness, if you're abroad and lose your tongue. You can't say, there is a barrier to German YouTube, German radio, German libraries or German state television. The same would be true for interstellar travellers or people on the ISS. Picard has no excuse for talking French in a bad way.
...Unless that's how French is spoken in the 24th century. Language does erode. Case in point, English, which was spoken in dozens of highly distinct ways in the 18th century, only to be basically completely replaced by a way that didn't even exist a century prior! Timo Saloniemi
I guess what it comes down to eventually is that this sort of thing is simply what happens when you hire a British actor who does not actually speak French to play a French character. Sir Patrick's French can't be perfect. It took me years to train myself to get rid of the German accent in my English. HE didn't have years, he had maybe a few weeks at best, and I'm sure he did the best he could with what he was given. And there might be one slight in-universe excuse: Age. Jean-Luc's voice and general way of talking is now a lot less powerful and booming and demanding in English as well, it's also a little slower - his French is spoken in the same style. I'm fairly certain this was done deliberately by Sir Patrick to show that Jean-Luc has aged. (He has as well, his voice is not as powerful as it used to be either, and he probably felt it would make sense for Jean-Luc to experience the same thing.)
Language is a skill, some impressionists can do 'em all, some can't. So is life. I found the best in command of foreign languages who also perform on stage are comedians, like Anke Engelke and Harpe Kerkeling. Zzz'e Djerman akzennt?
Thankfully, I was never THAT bad! And yes. Some people are excellent at this, others aren't. Sir Patrick is doing his best, and, at least to ME, normally "Chief Nitpicker When It Comes To Jean-Luc Picard", it's alright. I give Sir Patrick quite a bit of leeway because I know he loves Jean-Luc (almost) as much as I do.