Picard (contains spoilers)

bbill335

justice for hugh!

Headphones

Less Star Trek, more a home video of meeting the in laws!  Did anything actually happen?

Fretwired

Headphones said:

Less Star Trek, more a home video of meeting the in laws!  Did anything actually happen?

Yes.

digitalscream

Headphones said:

Less Star Trek, more a home video of meeting the in laws!  Did anything actually happen?

I thought it was more Trek than other episodes - it was about the relationships and the people more than the events surrounding them. That's what Trek always did best for me.

Fretwired

digitalscream said:

Headphones said:

Less Star Trek, more a home video of meeting the in laws!  Did anything actually happen?

I thought it was more Trek than other episodes - it was about the relationships and the people more than the events surrounding them. That's what Trek always did best for me.

^^

This ... I agree ..

Cirrus

digitalscream said:

Headphones said:

Less Star Trek, more a home video of meeting the in laws!  Did anything actually happen?

I thought it was more Trek than other episodes - it was about the relationships and the people more than the events surrounding them. That's what Trek always did best for me.

Yep, I thought so too.

Not to belittle the technical ingenuity of it all but getting actors to run around looking excited/scared/ fighty then digitally placing them in fantastic environments with explosions and phaser bursts going off everywhere... that's creatively not very hard. Without good storytelling, and an emotional investment in the characters, I actually find the flashy stuff a turnoff. 

So I liked the latest episode a lot more than the last one, because it was centred on character development and, frankly, the concept of meeting up with an old friend is something most people can relate to.

It's kind of funny that age has made Riker about 3 times the size of Picard - not fat, just a much bigger build, I don't remember that from the Next Generation.

Fretwired

Cirrus said:

It's kind of funny that age has made Riker about 3 times the size of Picard - not fat, just a much bigger build, I don't remember that from the Next Generation.

You shrink when you get older. My dad was 6' 1" but now in his mid-90's he's about 5' 10" .. I guess the same has happened to Picard (Stewart is about 80 years old). Riker does look like he's had a few too many pizzas though .. :-)

Jalapeno

A good 'un !!! Loved it.

darthed1981

I think that last episode really got across to me why I'm really loving this new show.

The characters we knew and loved are put across as having LIVED in the world for 18 years since we last saw them on the Enterprise-E.  Riker and Troi have had joy and tragedy in the meantime.  They are all older, wiser, more world-weary.

Similar to Seven, we all like to think she would have lived a happy life with Icheb when they returned to the Alpha quadrant, but in fact, life continued.  Icheb did go to Starfleet academy, he made the rank of Lieutenant, then he was horribly tortured half to death so his adopted mother had to put him down.  Sadly, even in the Trek universe a lot of lives end in violence and pain.  Look at Scottty's nephew, watch Wrath of Khan closely.  He helps an injured man to get clear of the warp drive, only to be left to fall by the same guy.

This IS the trek universe we are used to.  TOS had a whole ship's crew killed by a mad computer, TNG had the USS Yamato blow up (complete with families and children) because of an Iconian automated defense system.  DS9 had Betazed occupied by the Dominion (god knows how horrific that was, though the novel "Battle of Betazed" suggests very).

The implied terror of Annika Hansen, snatched off the Raven, being assimilated as a child, is unbelievably horrific.

So "Picard" has done an amazing job of making Trek relevant to the modern world and modern TV without losing what makes Trek, well, Trek.

The characters are still people you care about, it is hard for any TNG fan to see Hugh of all people killed casually and callously, after a career-peak performance for the actor as that Romulan bitch shot his dear "Ex-Bs" he has been trying so hard to help.  Will we feel a little bit of satisfaction when Elnor brings the cube to life and the Romulans find themselves assimilated by the walls themselves (it will be something like that)?

Probably the same satisfaction we felt when Data shot that guy in "The Most Toys", and when Seven shot the woman who killed Icheb.

Picard is so Star Trek, great show.

bbill335

one of the lines in the latest ep really summed up the issues with this series so far.

Soji does a little head tilt, a tic inherited from Data. it's a nice little touch on its own, but whoever had that good idea had to also do the back-pat victory lap of having Riker say "OH I NOTICED THAT THING YOU DID IT WAS VERY MUCH LIKE DATA". a teeny bit of subtlety or nuance goes a long way.

VimFuego

I'm liking it still, very dark, lots of character interplay and enough kerplosions to keep me happy. What's not to like.

Though I really hope they do more with 7, I really liked what they were hinting at what she'd been upto. 

Fretwired

The trailer for Friday's episode looks exciting .. Seven is back, the Borg cube is activated and looks like its regenerating and something is coming through a worm hole ...

chrishill901

I think the last episode was brilliant. The only issue I did have with the show was how different the character of Picard was in the beginning to the Picard we knew, but gradually as the show has gone on he has grown in confidence and is becoming more like the old Picard and now I'm starting to realise it's deliberate brilliance; he has been out of the game for so long on his Vineyard it has changed him but he is slowly remembering 'Captain Picard' and not Picard the winemaker. His character is progressing brilliantly and and I love the pace of the show.

Fretwired

chrishill901 said:

I think the last episode was brilliant. The only issue I did have with the show was how different the character of Picard was in the beginning to the Picard we knew, but gradually as the show has gone on he has grown in confidence and is becoming more like the old Picard and now I'm starting to realise it's deliberate brilliance; he has been out of the game for so long on his Vineyard it has changed him but he is slowly remembering 'Captain Picard' and not Picard the winemaker. His character is progressing brilliantly and and I love the pace of the show.

Good post. Not considered that .. the sort of thing a Shakespearean actor like Patrick Stewart would do (he's an executive producer on the show).

TeleMaster

I'm enjoying it a lot. Mostly because I love Star Trek. There are a lot of flaws to this show but I'm happy to ignore them because I get to see Jean Luc Picard do his thing.

Axe_meister

What actually spoils it a little for me are the holographic ship controls, too much iron man rather than star trek

thumpingrug

Axe_meister said:

What actually spoils it a little for me are the holographic ship controls, too much iron man rather than star trek

We have only really seen the one ship, it could be specific to that one.  Id like to see a full on federation vessel.

tekbow

Hmm.. that last episode feels like it took a touch of inspiration from Mass Effect.

Jalapeno

Belter this week.

tekbow

I'm still watching it.

Its getting suspiciously more mass effect as the episode progresses.