TV Talk - Star Trek: Picard

Well, it’s come to this. I never knew that a revival of this would ever come. So, I’ll start the beginning. Digimon --- wait. I’ll save my talk for the franchise that is better than Pokemon (you know it’s true!!) later.

I’ve been sitting on this one for quite a while now. Heck, it took me a while to see all 10 episodes. So, I might as well start at the beginning. Star Trek as a franchise has seen a bit of a resurgence thanks to CBS All Access. While it may not be perfect, Star Trek: Discovery has been a success in my eyes. Heck, we’re getting more of Anson Mount’s Captain Pike, so you know things are looking up a bit. Of course, there’s that Section 31 show that may or may not come. Then, there’s tonight’s pick about that old French/British bald guy, Jean-Luc Picard.

Star Trek: Picard was one of the ideas that Alex Kurtzman had for CBS All Access. All  they needed was Patrick Stewart, who at the time was pretty much done with Trek, to come back. It took some a lot of work and the right story, but Stewart eventually said “I’m back.” Michael Chabon, a novelist, also came on as writer and producer. The show stayed in production for a couple of years until it was released on January 23^rd, 2020. It’s the first official show or movie that takes place after Star Trek: Nemesis. Yeah, the 2009 Star Trek movie had the destruction of the Romulan homeworld, but this was the first time we’d be seeing more of the Prime Timeline.

There were times when the callbacks were pretty effective and chilling.

Star Trek: Picard takes place 20 years after Data’s death in Nemesis. We find Jean-Luc on Earth tending to his family’s vineyard. It turns out that he quit Starfleet for some major reasons. 14 years ago, the supernova from 2009’s Star Trek still happened, so Admiral Picard ended up leading rescue operations for the Romulan people. Unfortunately, that had to stop when androids (“Synths”) went haywire and decimated the Utopia Planetia shipyards on Mars. Picard tried to fight for the Romulan refugees, but Starfleet ended the rescue operations and left the Romulans to fend on their own.

In the present day, Picard is still suffering from a lot of the things that have happened to him. He’s also in his 90’s, so he’s no spry chicken. Things change when a young woman named Dahj shows up on his doorstep on the run from some captors. Her looks remind Picard of someone from long ago, and he finds out that she may be connected to Data and Bruce Maddox. It also turns out that the group after her (a hidden group of Romulans called the Vash Zhat) are also after her sister, Soji. So, Picard decides to find a crew and goes on one more adventure into that final frontier.

PROS

If I could call this anything, Picard is the “Search for Spock” of the franchise. Yes, that’s a good thing because I like that movie. STP has quite a few good things here. The most important one is that Patrick Stewart is in fine form as the former captain of the Enterprise. I didn’t know how this would all pan out when I heard that Stewart was returning, but I’m glad to see that he was brilliant as Picard. While this older Picard is much more vulnerable and a little flawed, he is still the man we know and love. We see him essentially get his mojo back for another adventure in space.

Luckily, he’s not alone in the character department. The crew that’s assembled here is pretty good for the most part. All of them have something that makes them work. They all get a small story told over the 10 episodes. I thought that Rios (Santiago Cabrera) was a cool captain, and his different hologram programs were pretty funny. Agnes Jurati (Allison Pill) took a minute to get used to, but it was cool to see someone who never actually went into space before. She also had an interesting tie-in with the overall plot.

Raffi (Michelle Hurd) had her moments of “eh”, but I liked her conspiracy nut side and her friendship with Picard or “JL”. No, I have no problem with her calling him that. Of course, there was the return of  Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine. She’s not around much, but she was pretty awesome here. It was cool to see what she would be up to after being in the Alpha quadrant after 20 years. She’s not the only “old friend” we run into on the show either. The episode “Nepenthe” made me feel so many good things.  I’m a little hit-or-miss with the rest of the crew.  I’ll get to Soji later since… her plot was one of the problems here.

Well... cue all those good feels you've got. Just let them out!

The post-Nemesis era was pretty interesting on all fronts. Starfleet seems to be more cold now. Since this is a post-Dominion War/Romulan Supernova/Android attack era, I can kinda see why. The Romulans definitely get a lot of focus here. Not only do we see what life is like for most of them now, we also find out about a sect of Romulans who are dead-set against synthetic life. The Vash Zhat were an interesting villain for the season, and our main Vash Zhat baddies, Narek and Narissa, weren’t half-bad. Also, it was cool to see both TOS-era Romulans and TNG-era Romulans (bigger forehead) on screen together. We also get to interact with the Borg once more but in a different way.

I wish we got to see these suits more during the show. The present day uniforms were fine, but these were sweet.

The visual effects for the show were pretty top notch. I liked the look of the La Sirena, Rios’ ship. While things have been updated a bit, it still feels set in the TNG era. The various uniforms for Starfleet were good especially the pre-Synth attack ones. Finally, the music was pretty good. You got to hear some familiar tunes with the music. As for the main theme, it’s okay. the music was done by Jeff Russos, the same composer from Star Trek: Discovery, and I guess he wanted something more mellow. It works, I guess, but I like Discovery’s theme better.

CONS

Those last two episodes were... somewhat whelming. You'll see what I mean.

If there’s one enemy that Picard couldn’t beat this season, it would be the freakin’ pacing. It was sometimes all over the place. The first half starts out a bit slow in some areas while the last quarter goes into rush mode. It’s not like they didn’t have a lot of ideas around because there was a lot going on here. Some things like Starfleet’s new status, the Vash Zhat’s main goal (think the Reapers from Mass Effect 2), and the Synths’ status in the quadrant get brushed over. It definitely felt like that in the latter half of the season. The pacing was also an issue on Discovery, so it’s definitely something the creators should probably fix.

If anything, it felt like they had too many ideas for a 10 episode season. Maybe two or three more episodes would have helped out the series. That may be why it took a while to get through the series. While there were good ideas there, there wasn’t a lot hooking me in. Then again, it could’ve been the fact that 2020’s been a weird year. I also felt that there were a few contrivances with some stuff.

Soji: Why do you look like Spock from Season 2 of DSC?
Narek: Why are you kind of dull?
Soji: What?
Narek: Huh?

The character that  I felt suffered the most was Soji. While she was a main focal point of the series, I felt that she was a little dull at times. They took too long to get her to the place where her sister, Dahj, was. At least the actress, Isa Bronies, did a good job with what she had. Her relationship with Narek was also kinda dull. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of Elnor, aka “Cool Romulan Warrior.” Now, I did like the idea of the  Qowat Milat, a sect of Romulan monks. As for Elnor, I wish there was a little more to him than what we got. I did like his relationship with Picard and the fact that he could kick some butt, though. As for Raffi, I just thought it was weird to make the black lady an addict and neglectful mother. Other than that, I liked her.

I wish there was a little more to Elnor. He wasn't bad, but kinda lacking.

As for other things, I wasn’t the biggest fan of some deaths here. There was one death of a character that felt pretty lackluster. The tone for the series was a little all over the place. While I have no problem with Trek going into dark territories, it gets a little over the top at times. There’s also one thing that happens toward the end with Picard that could be pretty major. I honestly don’t know how to feel about it yet. I gotta see how his new status is handled in later seasons. Also, what was up with Data’s makeup? It looked weird at times. I know we only saw him in “dreamworld,” but it was kinda distracting to see him like that. Other than these things and some small nitpicks, this was fine.

They tried their best to make him look good, but there were times when it didn't work.

……………………………………….

In the end, Star Trek: Picard had a fine first season. There were plenty of positives, but there were also some noticeable problems. It seems like every first Trek season (TOS excluded) seems to have issues. I know that the next seasons tends to be much better, and I believe that’ll be the case for Picard. There’s so much of this new era to look at, so I’ll be there whenever Season 2 comes along. I recommend at least watching the show, but I know that some out there aren’t fans of the “new” style of Trek. One thing I like about the franchise is that if one show doesn’t do it for you, you got plenty more to pick from. Well, that should end it here. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.