A negative review from The Digital Fix:
"While mentioning the surface-level positives, it’s only fair to mention the surface-level negatives, too. Star Trek: Picard’s action is laughable. There are some very early sequences of phaser rifle combat aboard a starship which just look awful. The blocking, lighting, and actual mechanics of the combat are amateurish. Especially when action sequences in Star Trek have been improving, to go ahead and provide something that is such a step back is a big shame."...
"But you don’t watch Star Trek for thrilling action. Much more detrimental to Star Trek: Picard season 3 is the fact that it’s entirely unoriginal. Everything in Picard season 3 is something that, if you’ve watched Star Trek, you will have seen before. Yes, the plot makes sense, but that’s no surprise given that it’s a wholesale amalgamation of various well-known Star Trek episodes and movies, even rehashing an entire plot point from the first season, just in a new form."...
"But, by far the most egregious flaw of Star Trek: Picard season 3 is the way in which it treats and reframes its characters. First, if you’re watching Star Trek: Picard season 3 for an all-out TNG reunion, you’re in for disappointment. The show entirely squanders the opportunity of having the TNG cast together again, and sidelines anyone who isn’t Admiral Picard or Captain Riker."
https://www.thedigitalfix.com/star-trek/picard-season-3-review
Potential connections to LOWER DECKS?
"The season also possesses an overall
Trek “movie-style” sensibility. As illuminated by the
Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes “Crisis Point” and “Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus,” the
Trek “movie-style” sensibility is distinct from the
Trek “TV-style” sensibility. But
Lower Decks pokes loving fun at those cinematic tropes, using them to comedic effect. By contrast,
Picard season 3 pays loving homage, incorporating them without irony. While I don’t want to spoil the surprise of these cinematic
Trek elements, suffice to say they will be immediately obvious to those with even a passing familiarity with the Franchise’s films."...
"The most common criticism of this season you are likely to see is that it relies on “member-berries” for its allure. In other words, reuniting the bridge crew of the
Enterprise-D and
Enterprise-E is merely a nostalgic cash-in. This isn’t a fair critique of the season, which both builds on the continuity established by recent
Trek shows (especially the excellent and justly influential
Lower Decks) and gives the majority of the returning characters compelling characters arcs."
https://www.comicsbeat.com/tv-review-tngs-crisis-point-arrives-in-picard-season-3/
Humor done right?
"
Star Trek on television has never been really comfortable with humor. With the exception of a few episodes here and there (and the animated series
Star Trek: Lower Decks, of course,) the humor often feels a little forced. The films, on the whole, have done a better job with it, especially
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and J.J. Abrams’ Kelvin timeline movies. In the six episodes of PIC season 3 I’ve seen so far, there’s a lot of humor and, far from feeling forced, the jokes tend to hit the mark. In my estimation, a big reason for this is that the humor comes from the characters themselves, not from a situation fabricated to elicit laughs. TNG, perhaps unfairly, would often create humor at Worf’s (
Michael Dorn) expense. Not so in PIC. So far, the humorous moments he’s involved in come from the fact that we know and love the character. We aren’t laughing at him, but rather, with a fondness born of familiarity. Also, as we know from the
New York Comic Con trailer. the Klingon is a pacifist now. Trust me when I say that doesn’t make him any less of a badass!"
https://www.dailystartreknews.com/r...ason-3-is-more-than-a-next-generation-reunion
