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Star Trek: Picard (2020 TV Series)


Wojo

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Overall I think enjoyed the second season more than the first, but then I didn't really enjoy the first that much overall. Alas I don't think the emotion of the payoff quite worked for me as much as for others (and when it comes to Star Trek, I can be plenty sentimental!). However, some initial post finale thoughts (some spoilers):

  • Pacing was quite uneven, the episode with Seven and Raffi doing car chases was unnecessary. It reminded me of an old episode of Doctor Who from a rather overlong Jon Pertwee serial which is basically 25 minutes of a boat chase - a filler of an episode if ever there was one.
  • The flashback stuff to Picard's upbringing wasn't all that interesting and was unnecessarily depressing. I didn't care for the arty style of them either, it felt much more like something you'd get in Doctor Who (not a slight on DW, more a tone thing) than the more straight laced style of Star Trek.
  • They could have done a lot more interesting things with Q facing mortality and whether it was happening to all Q or just Q (if you see what I mean). Does it happen to all Q eventually? What caused it? I appreciate some mystery can be desirable but this was just unnecessary vagueness.
  • The Borg Queen reveal in the final episode was pretty obvious once the Queen and Jurati started to assimilate each other. However, it makes no sense for her to have delayed the reveal or explain what she wanted before trying to take control of the fleet.
  • The anomaly appearing out of nowhere in the finale probably ranks as one of the worst random anomalies in the whole history of the show. It could at least have been flagged as a galaxy threatening event in the first episode so the stakes were clear from the start. Even more annoying as the first season basically ended with some random creatures coming out of an anomaly being defeated by a fleet of ships.
  • Has the new Borg paradigm replaced the ones we saw in TNG/Voyager etc? Shrug.
  • Was there some reason Elnor "died" for most of the season? Covid? Schedule conflict? Bringing him back at the end was clearly a massive cop out, but it really didn't make sense for him to be largely absent from much of the rest of the season.
  • Jerry got screwed! Both Alexander Courage and Jay Chattaway get a music credit, but Jerry didn't (as far as I could tell) get a credit for the TMP/TNG theme, Borg theme or something approximating the First Contact theme (not sure how intentional that was). Indeed, as the most represented composer in the show outside of Russo's (fair to middling) underscore, it seems odd that he's gipped in the credits.
  • I still don't really hear anything by Jay Chattaway in the Picard theme - any pointers?!
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I do agree the pacing was off. I feel like episodes 3-8 could have been condensed down into two episodes and we'd have had a solid 6-episode series.

 

I get what they were trying to do with Picard's flashbacks, but they drew those out far too long.

 

My main issue is it's not entirely clear why Q orchestrated this scenario with the Confederation timeline, but knowing the way time has worked in Star Trek previously, it seems like it was something that had to happen for the 'correct' future to occur in the first place (think of the TNG double-bill 'Time's Arrow'). Was this meant to be a 'two birds with one stone' kind of deal, with Q both enticing Picard into creating the 'correct' timeline, and helping him heal from his previous trauma re. his mother?

 

Re. the Borg: it's my understanding that effectively there are/were two Collectives: the 'original' Collective (the one that spawns both Locutus and Seven) and the 'new' Collective created by merged Borg Queen/Jurati.

 

I also agree that the spatial anomaly should have at least been hinted at earlier. Given what's been said, it almost sounds like it will feed into S3 somehow also.

 

The big question I have now is this: is Q actually dead now?

 

 

EDIT:

Seven and Raffi coming back for season 3, Jurati, Elnor, Soji and Wesley not

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spoilers below
 

 

Spoiler

They must have plans of some kind for characters like Elnor and Juratiborg, right?  Seems very wasteful to take two seasons to get you to care about them and then push them aside for the TNG celebration of Season 3.
 

Why bring Elnor back if they’re not going to use him?  I assumed they killed him rather than have him wear a headband to cover his ears in 2024.   He has the potential to be a real fan favorite if they wanted. 


interesting that Dr Soong has the Khan Project 1996 file, and yet 2024 doesn’t seem post WW3.  I wonder if they will try to retcon the continuity with Khan, the Eugenics Wars, WW3, all the way up to Cochrane’s first contact. 
 

I will say I did get emotional with Wil Wheaton and with Q’s farewell.  But I think much of it comes not from the story so much as from just love of the characters, Wheaton as a person, DeLancie as an actor, and their legacy history as Star Trek icons.   But whatever, I was happy.   It would take a hardened prune to not get choked up at “You matter to me”.

 

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  • 1 month later...

About halfway through S2, and I am enjoying this. But it does feel like the didn’t really come up with a story that needed the 10 episode treatment so it does drag a bit.

 

Spoiler

Also, Q’s way of operating seems different- he now is down right influential - hands on intervening - on the separate timeline to determine a specific outcome , something that he wasn’t in TNG… but maybe that’ll be explained later.


Edit:

Spoiler

Missed opportunity: cast Mulder as the crazy FBI man.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

No hint of Brent Spiner's character, so it seems they've decided to keep him under wraps. Surely he's not returning as Data, though, right? He's died twice already.

 

During the Star Trek panel, Patrick Stewart also confirmed that we would see the Enterprise again (he used the words 'Picard's original Enterprise' and the Enterprise-D's saucer was confirmed recovered in a graphic from season 2)

 

Apparently there's a new villain too, played by somebody we've all seen plenty of times except never in previous Trek.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Did they use a real orchestra for S1 and S2? They both kinda sound too synthy to me. I'm all for a full orchestra and some Goldsmith love. Apparently they'll also be referencing three other themes too (one is obviously Courage's theme, but I wonder if they'll also be using the Voyager theme as well at some point)

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4 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

You mean Jeff Russo finally ran out of time in his schedule to score every tv show not scored by Bear McCreary? Blimey! 

 

The current showrunner took over during S2 and subsequently became the sole showrunner for S3, so maybe he decided to bring in his own choice of composer, Stephen Barton, who he collaborated with on 12 Monkeys

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6 minutes ago, Jaaaackified said:

 

The current showrunner took over during S2 and subsequently became the sole showrunner for S3, so maybe he decided to bring in his own choice of composer, Stephen Barton, who he collaborated with on 12 Monkeys

That makes sense. Guess it’s a surprise that it didn’t move to one of the other current Star Trek in house composers. Plus it was an excuse to make a cheap joke 😜

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Season 2 of Picard was the worst season of Star Trek ever made, IMO (followed closely by Season 1).

 

That said, I'm hearing very good things about Season 3...apparently it's almost like a completely new show...and I'm looking forward to the show and the music!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oh wow!  This trailer certainly has changed my outlook on this series for sure.  The first two seasons were average at best but seeing Moriarty and the original cast has renewed my hope.

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1 hour ago, JoeinAR said:

Faux English actor Daniel Davis reprises his roll.

 

Is he the only American playing a Brit in The Prestige? (I don't remember if ScarJo was supposed to be English or not.)

 

I always assumed his American accent in Hunt for Red October was terrible because he was British. He's from Arkansas!

 

Honestly, that was the most exciting thing in the trailer.

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Twenty-plus years ago, I read an article that says the makers of ST Voyager wanted Moriarty to accompany the crew... or maybe the actor wanted steady work. Regardless, no one could find a good reason for him to exist on the series. 

 

I still don't see a reason now, other than for a bad guy wanting to enlist other bad guys into his/her organization. 

 

Moriarty is a computer virus on a an external hard drive. As long as you keep the computer off your network, you can't get infected. If you do get infected, it's because you are an idiot. 

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The 'external hard drive' is the Enterprise-D in this case, isn't it? Strengthens my theory that they visit its remains, and perhaps he's let loose by accident. I can't see him being a major adversary like Vadic or Lore though.

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Ooh, yeah, I forgot about that. Depending on how secure the crashsite on Veridian 3 was, it's the difference between Moriarty's cage and Lore's body from being preserved versus end up on the underground market. 

 

The artifacts belong in the secure storage area seen in Lower Decks with the evil computer and Peanut Hamper, but they've clearly been on the loose for years. 

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1 hour ago, Tallguy said:

 

Is he the only American playing a Brit in The Prestige? (I don't remember if ScarJo was supposed to be English or not.)

 

I always assumed his American accent in Hunt for Red October was terrible because he was British. He's from Arkansas!

 

Honestly, that was the most exciting thing in the trailer.

My old boss went to school with him 

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  • 2 months later...

Sounds like a blend of Horner and Goldsmith. I love it!

 

The article mentions this as being the ship Riker took control of but it's actually Titan-A. Apparently it's a 'Constitution III-class' (which would make the Motion Picture refit a Constitution II?) Wonder if we'll find out what happened to Enterprise-E? (Unless that's being covered in Prodigy, since that's part of the fleet that intercepted the Protostar)

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  • 1 month later...
3 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Yeah I’ve heard Robert Burnett’s comments as well. He hated the first two seasons but is raving about this one. So I’m cautiously optimistic.

 

I cannot stop laughing at how instantly you knew who I was talking about.

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Mirror link for those of us who are not in the US and can't see it

 

 

I like Lore as a character so I'm interested to see how he fits into all of this, how he actually winds up working with the other characters, and if he feels bitter about not just being beaten last time, but losing Data - I think he did, on some level, care about his brother, even if he was not above manipulating him to get what he wanted.

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On 08/10/2022 at 2:12 PM, Giftheck said:

 

Definitely means we'll be seeing Ol' Ent-D, since that's the only place Moriarty could come from.

 

LORE IS BACK!

Wow, that looked great!  Like a new TNG theatrical movie.  I couldn't make it through S1 episode 1 but might have to start watching.  

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https://screenrant.com/star-trek-picard-music-honor-tos-tng-movies/
 

Sounds promising! Just hope this season is better then the last as I got close as I’ve ever been to giving up on a Star Trek show… although having just started season 4 of Discovery. Eek.

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1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-picard-music-honor-tos-tng-movies/
 

Sounds promising! Just hope this season is better then the last as I got close as I’ve ever been to giving up on a Star Trek show… although having just started season 4 of Discovery. Eek.

I'm hoping for a full rendition of Goldsmith's theme ALA the movies.

 

I've never seen Discovery. I'm told Strange New Worlds is pretty good though.

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1 hour ago, Giftheck said:

I'm hoping for a full rendition of Goldsmith's theme ALA the movies.

 

I've never seen Discovery. I'm told Strange New Worlds is pretty good though.

That would be great. I mean as we all know they should just have got the music crew from the orville in as they do the best Jerry/James Horner homages but hopefully these guys can pull it off!

 

SNW is mostly great. Discovery is very variable but the latest season does not seem to be an improvement alas. 

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It truly was awful.  As though they wanted to “subvert fan expectations” just because. 
 

Edit: You are referring to Picard and not Discovery, right?

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On 05/02/2023 at 8:16 AM, Tom Guernsey said:

That would be great. I mean as we all know they should just have got the music crew from the orville in as they do the best Jerry/James Horner homages but hopefully these guys can pull it off!

 

SNW is mostly great. Discovery is very variable but the latest season does not seem to be an improvement alas. 

 

I thought S4 of Discovery was its strongest yet, felt like a proper Star Trek story with far fewer clunky or eye-rolling scenes than seasons 1-3. I hope you stick with and enjoy it, I can't remember how long it took to get going but if you're not on board by mid-season then you probably won't like it.

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8 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

 

 

I thought S4 of Discovery was its strongest yet, felt like a proper Star Trek story with far fewer clunky or eye-rolling scenes than seasons 1-3. I hope you stick with and enjoy it, I can't remember how long it took to get going but if you're not on board by mid-season then you probably won't like it.

Maybe it was just the first couple of episodes that weren't that great, the third one was better even if it didn't really make a lot of sense, at least it felt like a Star Trek type story. I just think the setup of yet another devastating, galaxy threatening device (Burn Mark II) that destroys planets etc. seems quite tiresome. Doctor Who can have similar issues where the stakes are upped too much and it becomes tiresome. It doesn't help that the DMA is basically a black hole version of the Flux...

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5 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:

The Marvel flicks too. 

'Oh right, so they're trying to prevent the destruction of everything ... again'. 

Yeah, exactly... you end up with massive disaster fatigue. Just hope Picard S3 doesn't do the same (just to get back on topic after I wandered off with Discovery comments!). I had forgotten the S2 of Picard is based around another massive threatening anomaly which the nice Borg magic away somehow... something, something...

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