Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x01 - "The Star Gazer"

I gave it a 7. I enjoyed the last 15 minutes completely. I think the Guinan and Laris scenes were kind of repetitive.

 

Yeah I don't think it was ever lit.

 

We never see what what Enterprise was on display at Starfleet Academy. There’s either someone standing in front of it, or it’s ina wide shot that’s too far away.

But I was wrong about the ship to the right being a Refit Connie, it appears to be a Miranda.

The USS Voyager is also on one of the displays. As is the USS Leondegrance I think.

 

Picard's sweater at the beginning looks like one of Wesley's sweaters in early TNG

 

I really enjoyed this episode. The pacing was solid, the updated Borg seems interesting, and Q threateningly good fun. I really liked the look of Starfleet and the updated ships in this show. The show playing with the theme of Picard keeping people at arms length seems like it could play out in interesting ways as well.
I almost forgot. I think my favorite moment is Jurati acknowledging that she basically went nuts and killed her ex boyfriend in season one. That moment at the bar was perfectly done.

 

Picard: You know what Laris, I changed my mind, let's do this, I've been crushing on you since I was a teenager and read about the Enterprise incident with the cloaking device involving you and Spock.

Laris:

 

Despite my disdain of the state of current Trek and my overall dislike of season 1, I decided to tune in tonight to give this show another chance. Because of Captain Picard. And I actually enjoyed most of it.

It felt more like Star Trek, so that's good. They also dialed in the aesthetic better, or at least had a better idea of what they wanted the Starfleet portion of the show to look like. I enjoyed the new uniforms and appreciated that they actually designed some ships this time around. The Stargazer actually looks like an updated Stargazer. Good. Unlike last season, they seem like they know what they're doing. Although I wasn't too keen on the bridge design, I'm not going to quibble too much. I enjoyed it.

The stuff about Picard's family past I'm going to wait on, because it would be unfair to judge it based on one episode. All I'll say is I'm a little uncomfortable with these new writers tackling this stuff. I wish that older writers were on board somehow, but I know that's a pipe dream. So I'll see what they do with it.

Picard and Laris? It can work I guess. It's a bit random, but I guess I could see it. If you spend 16 years around one another there's a bond that forms. And if she loses her husband, she could develop feelings for Jean Luc.

Yet again, I enjoyed Jeri Ryan. Whatever problems I had with the show last year, they were never with her. She still seems like 7 of 9. And I like Rios, cigar notwithstanding. He's a cool character.

But what in the world is up with this show and having Picard not wanting to make decisions? I'm sick of that. His "what do we do?!" last season and his "I don't know," this time when told that he was the ranking officer in charge of the fleet and the decision about the Borg was up to him. Seriously? They better not make a habit of this. Captain Picard is introspective, he does question himself, but not in command situations. He does it in private or with Guinan/Troi. I don't care if he's 96 years old... He wouldn't lose his command sense. Not even with the Borg. He would at least be decisive.

Anyway, they earned another episode from me. I'm intrigued about this season. So, I would give this a solid 7 out of 10.

 

That was an outstanding premiere.

 

The rock waltz music and energy in the grape harvest scene was great!
But the new theme music is a mess

 

I would be all for a Rios Star Trek: Stargazer spin off series.

 

Really good. Unlike S1, this definitely felt like a Star Trek show to me, seeing star fleet academy, classic star fleet ships investigating a spatial anomaly, Borg, Guinan and Q.

 

And there really isnt much backstory on Picards father, other than that quick scene with him from TNG Tapestry. And even there he came across like a big A-hole.

 

He was also very anti technology, the house didn’t even have a replicator (or fire suppression apparently) before Jean-Luc took over.

His mother wasn’t like that though, she wanted a replicator.

 

The subtitles call the Borg LEGION

 

I was right though, the species Soji and Jurati were visiting were Deltans

 

That wasn't Delta IV though, how do you know they were Deltans? The flirting would support it

 

Really enjoyed it, though kept exclaiming out loud at the Picard laris stuff. Why?! It’s so weird.. it’s just a weird thing to hang your plot of.. though it did lead me to somewhat astonishing discovery that the wonderful Orla Brady is 60! She’s looking fantastic for it.
Totally buy Picard having an abusive father, and totally buy that he wouldn’t have dealt with it, he wasn’t much for therapy.
Yeah, this felt like a massive course correction towards a 25th century I can actually get behind.

And wow, the excelsior has some legs on it doesn’t it? Looking forward to seeing the rest of the season.

 

I am not saying Discovery is bad but after just one episode of Picard, I am much more interested in what happens on S2 of Picard than I am what happens on the S4 of Discovery. It's a choice between new characters in an unfamiliar Starfleet dealing with some mysterious 10-C that we still don't know anything about or seeing familiar Starfleet, some of my favorite TNG characters (Picard, Seven, Guinan, Q) and what looks like a very interesting premise with the Borg and an alternate timeline. That's a no brainer. I want to watch Picard more.

 

"Goddamn Q!" Best use of cursing we'll ever hear in Trek! So much wonderful history in that line!
Q's not a total dick. He aged up!

Jurati's exoneration covered with a line! Someone listened to Terrance Dicks!

Um, where did Seven beam the pirates to? Did she space them? Wow.

Andorians came a long way across space to lounge about in historic bars.

Ilia's planet!!! Are all Deltans on the make or just that one? Was the first Borg Queen Deltan?

Wow. The Borg Queen looks like Armus! Technological skin of evil.

This was a great opener. The cinematography and portrayal of space perfectly balance wonder and terror. Life is fragile out there.