Villains in the Picard Series

[eschaton]

I think people are overestimating the "evil Federation" angle of the show.

I mean, what is the evidence?

1. Picard goes to a Starfleet Admiral for help with Dahj, and gets shot down.
2. Some of the signs on the Borg cube with Romulan guards have English writing on them.
3. The vaguely menacing shots of numerous androids at a Federation compound in jumpsuits

Going through each of these:

First, the female admiral rejecting Picard. From a story purpose, this needs to happen, because ti's not TNG 2.0 - which it would be if Starfleet reinstated Picard and gave him a normal ship/crew. Thematically it's much more likely that the rejection has to do with Picard's new backstory - the reasons he left Starfleet, and why he is no longer welcome there - than it has to do with Starfleet not taking whatever the threat to Dahj is seriously.

As to the second, it's very clear that whatever happened to the Romulans, large groups of them live within the Federation today. Having "bilingual" signage at a Romulan facility may mean something, or it may mean nothing at all. Even if it means the cube is a "mixed" human/Romulan facility, that does not mean it's Starfleet.

The third I think is simply because we know (based upon the original casting call) Agnes Jurati's character is an expert in positronic brains. Hence when he meets her/goes to recruit her she's working on some sort of project to make more androids like Data.

This isn't to say that this might not be an aspect of the show. But compared to the Romulan faction angle - which is much clearer - the Federation as an antagonist is pretty murky so far.

 

[Cake]

Picard left Starfleet for some reason and I don't think it was just old age. So he must be disappointed by it in some way. Riker and Troi left seemingly, too. Then the impression the trailers give of and those are likely only scenes from the first few episodes so there could be more. And of course DIS season 3 which confirms that the Federation will go down someday and they might like to tell in Picard how it started. Kurtzman, the overseeer of the franchise, also obviously doesn't mind a darker Star Trek.

I mean those are not proofs yet of course, but enough to speculate in that direction. I mean what kind of signs do you see for it so far that the Federation and Starfleet are still as idealistic and nice as they were during TNG times? No information we got for PIC so far indicates this.

 

[fireproof78]

during TNG times?

No reason for it to be so.

 

[The Overlord]

Picard left Starfleet for some reason and I don't think it was just old age. So he must be disappointed by it in some way. Riker and Troi left seemingly, too. Then the impression the trailers give of and those are likely only scenes from the first few episodes so there could be more. And of course DIS season 3 which confirms that the Federation will go down someday and they might like to tell in Picard how it started. Kurtzman, the overseeer of the franchise, also obviously doesn't mind a darker Star Trek.

I mean those are not proofs yet of course, but enough to speculate in that direction. I mean what kind of signs do you see for it so far that the Federation and Starfleet are still as idealistic and nice as they were during TNG times? No information we got for PIC so far indicates this.

I think it would be more interesting that Star Fleet simply made a decision Picard disagreed with, rather than Picard leaving due to an evil plot by Section 31 or badmirals or whatever.

The recent Count Down comics stated the Romulans enslaved worlds and planned to let the people on these enslaved planets be destroyed by the supernova, while the Federation helps the Romulans escape. Maybe the Federation put good relations with Romulans over saving those the Romulans enslaved. Maybe they applied the Prime Directive to the slave races and not the Romulans because they happened not to have a warp drive when they were conquered.

With something like Picard can think the Federation made the wrong call, without them being explicit villains.

I would rather the focus be on a faction of Romulan extremists, maybe they have a few spies in the Federation, but I would rather the main villain be a Romulan admiral, not a Federation one.

 

[Sidewinder]

The real villain might be father time. I wonder if they are going to play up Picard being old and near death and in essence put a ticking clock on the show were he knows he doesn't have much time to help this girl and fix this problem before he dies.


Jason

Wasn't Generations already about Picard getting old? Especially when he found out that he lost his brother and his nephew, making him the last of the Picards.

 

[Jayson1]

Wasn't Generations already about Picard getting old? Especially when he found out that he lost his brother and his nephew, making him the last of the Picards.

Sort of but more about legacy and not having a family to sort of carry on the Picard name and sort of dealing with the idea he will be the last Picard which means something to him because the history of his family has always been important to him. I think the new show is going to be about guilt and his failure to save Romulus and now is seeing corruption in the Federation and feeling to old to be able to make a difference. Basically sort of living with the idea that the world he is going to die in is worst off than the one he grew up in and even helped maintain and build. Then the young girl comes into his life who may be his daughter and she sort of gives him new hope and inspires him to try and make a difference again but also dealing with the fact he doesn't have much time to do it because of his age it means death is going to be coming sooner more than later.

Jason

 

[Cake]

https://variety.com/2020/tv/features/patrick-stewart-star-trek-picard-cbs-all-access-1203459573/

“The Next Generation” presented a humanist future in which issues like poverty, race and class have long been sorted out, and conflicts are more often resolved through negotiation and problem-solving than at the point of a phaser pistol.

Stewart had no desire to go there again.

“I think what we’re trying to say is important,” he says. “The world of ‘Next Generation’ doesn’t exist anymore. It’s different. Nothing is really safe. Nothing is really secure.”

“Picard” finds its hero living in near-isolation on a very un-cosmic French vineyard. He is retired and estranged from Starfleet, the interstellar navy to which he devoted most of his life. He’s haunted by a pair of catastrophes, one personal, the other societal — the death of his android colleague Lt. Cmdr. Data (as seen in “Nemesis”) and a refugee crisis spawned by the destruction of the planet Romulus (as seen in Abrams’ “Star Trek”). When those two seemingly disparate strands of his life cross, Picard returns to action, this time without the backing of a Starfleet whose moral center has shifted.

Roddenberry believed that in the future, human beings would advance to the point that they would, essentially, not have conflict with one another. Their biggest challenges would be external.

Stewart, also an exec producer on “Picard,” insists, “We are remaining very faithful to Gene Roddenberry’s notion of what the future might be like.” But rigid adherence to that notion is clearly not what he’s here for.

“In a way, the world of ‘Next Generation’ had been too perfect and too protected,” he says. “It was the Enterprise. It was a safe world of respect and communication and care and, sometimes, fun.” In “Picard,” the Federation — a union of planets bonded by shared democratic values — has taken an isolationist turn. The new show, Stewart says, “was me responding to the world of Brexit and Trump and feeling, ‘Why hasn’t the Federation changed? Why hasn’t Starfleet changed?’ Maybe they’re not as reliable and trustworthy as we all thought.”

Overall sounds to me like the Federation and Starfleet will be villains from Picard's perspective. There might be more, but I think it is still obvious that they set up the Federation and Starfleet as Picard's opponents, too. And as I am sure Picard will be portrayed as a hero that means his opponents will be "bad guys" and shown to be in the wrong.

 

[Tuskin38]

I think a Romulan faction will be the main villains. The Federation will be antagonistic, but not the the big bad, at least for season 1.

 

[Kor]

I think the primary villain will be Picard's own hubris.

Kor

 

[ITDUDE]

I think a Romulan faction will be the main villains. The Federation will be antagonistic, but not the the big bad, at least for season 1.

My best bet its all not that simple. Romulans/humans will be main evil. Romulans/humans will be main good guys. Romulans/humans will be neutral. Something like that.

 

[fireproof78]

https://variety.com/2020/tv/features/patrick-stewart-star-trek-picard-cbs-all-access-1203459573/




Overall sounds to me like the Federation and Starfleet will be villains from Picard's perspective. There might be more, but I think it is still obvious that they set up the Federation and Starfleet as Picard's opponents, too. And as I am sure Picard will be portrayed as a hero that means his opponents will be "bad guys" and shown to be in the wrong.

The Federation may simply be a barrier to Picard's goal, not necessarily full "bad guy." Any more than Styles was a "bad guy" to Kirk in ST3.

 

[NCC-73515]

Spoiler: Prequel enemy

Synths!

 

[Lynx]

I fear the same. I suspect they set up the fall of the Federation. Not in one big war or something like this, but more in the way the Roman Empire perished with infighting and decadence, losing of morals, etc. which will lead to members leaving over time and the rest being a shadow of the past. I really don't want this, but the trailers really give me this impression. It also fits in with interviews how they want to do something completely different than TNG and making the future far crappier would be it.

I really, really hope that they don't go for that scenario. It would destroy all things Star Trek stands for.

 

[fireproof78]

I really, really hope that they don't go for that scenario. It would destroy all things Star Trek stands for.

It depends on how the characters respond. Star Trek is not about the future but about future humanity. If the Federation collapses it will be the response of the characters that determines if Star Trek's optimism still stands.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Going by the reaction on this board, the enemy in Picard will be the CG artists!

 

[Lynx]

It depends on how the characters respond. Star Trek is not about the future but about future humanity. If the Federation collapses it will be the response of the characters that determines if Star Trek's optimism still stands.

I actually had an idea about a series set after Voyager when a dictator managed to seize power in the Federation and that there would be a rebellion against that government in which Picard and other main characters from the three series would participate,

I based that idea on the theory that democracy isnt't a given thing, how easy it is for corruption and such things can sneak into the best society and that freedom always had to be defended and not taken for granted.

But of course, in that series the good powers would win at the end, just like how the Dominion was defeated.

I'm not so sure about such a series now, considering the fact that doom-and-gloom seems to be highest fashion of today in the world of entertainment.

 

[fireproof78]

I'm not so sure about such a series now, considering the fact that doom-and-gloom seems to be highest fashion of today in the world of entertainment.

I think you're idea is perfect and you listed why:​

I based that idea on the theory that democracy isnt't a given thing, how easy it is for corruption and such things can sneak into the best society and that freedom always had to be defended and not taken for granted.

Exactly. And that's why it is needed now.