Star Trek: Picard is Good Star Trek

[Bad Thoughts]

I've enjoyed watching Picard with my son these last few episodes. Indeed, I find myself enjoying it more than I suspected, given that my love for TNG has diminished over the last ten or so years. I have some critiques about the series, but I will save them for other threads. What I want to do is list what Picard does within the context of Star Trek as a whole.

• Picard uses a classic Star Trek character to explore time of life issues (like Cocoon and Up)
• Picard shows a man growing in his moral authority
• Picard depicts a familiar Federation that has gone astray and has been affected by some elements of corruption (like "Pegasus" and "Homefront/Paradise Lost")
• Picard shows how each of us must appreciate not just the consequences of actions and inactions, but also those that are taken or not taken by the whole society
• Picard insists that values must apply to everyone, and that the individual is worth protecting (like Saving Private Ryan)
• Picard addresses current events in the context of it own universe
• Picard is framed in terms of a previous Star Trek story, The Search for Spock
• Picard approaches personal problems for their underlying causes, like the relationship between Raffi's drug use and obsession over conspiracies
• Picard shows a man who knows he can always be better and is striving to do so

 

[BillJ]

I just don't think there's enough of it yet to declare it a 'good' or 'bad' show. I think what they have so far is promising. But I thought the same thing about Discovery season two and it ended up faceplanting the second half of the season.

Just have to wait and see.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I agree with just about everything you said. Easily the best Star Trek since Deep Space Nine. Miles above Voyager, Enterprise and the Kelvinverse but it's early days and that ranking could shift either up or down.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I just don't think there's enough of it yet to declare it a 'good' or 'bad' show. I think what they have so far is promising. But I thought the same thing about Discovery season two and it ended up faceplanting the second half of the season.

Yeah, the initial premise of the season seemed so intriguing, a study of science versus faith. Deep Space Nine touched on this a bit, but I was looking forward to an in-depth take on the subject.

Then they shifted gears and it turned into a killer AI that wants to destroy all life and Section 31 lurking in the shadows and they didn't manage to stick the landing on the story.

How-some-ever, this is ameliorated by the fact that they knocked the character work out of the park. They elevated Christopher Pike from a canonical curiosity to one of the best characters in the entire franchise. I loved the relationship between Michael and Spock and wish we could get more of it. I love that Number One eats cheeseburgers and that we finally get to learn her first name at the very least.

"If Memory Serves" might make my 10 favorite Star Trek episodes of all time list.

I loved all of the casting for the Enterprise crew. Anson Mount was amazing as Christopher Pike. Ethan Peck nailed Spock and Rebecca Romijn gave Number One/Una a depth that Majel Barrett was incapable of delivering. I love the updated Enterprise. It was updated for a modern production, and I wish there weren't so many red lights all over the place, but I still got a chill when we first saw that bridge and I could see the lines of the classic bridge in the design.

Also, Tilly rules.

 

[Cyrus]

Picard is great Star Trek.

 

[Gyakuto]

I enjoy it and I’m not too precious about it. I was a member of the Star Trek Action Group in the 70s, with Janet Quartan at the helm. They used to sell what they would now call fan fiction and they were shocking and probably not appropriate for an 11 year old! They really opened my eyes...in a good way, I suppose.

 

[SJGardner]

Based on the first five episodes, it has the potential to become the best first season we've seen in modern Trek, even though I admit that's not a high bar to clear. If it continues to be this good, I might end up liking it even more than I like Discovery, which is currently my second favorite series behind DS9. Or maybe not, because I might keep Discovery parked just behind DS9 as long as Tilly is alive.

Back then when we were brainstorming about what we'd want to see in Season 3 of Discovery, I've raised the idea that today's audiences need stories that relate to the crises of the current era that stem from recent generations getting complacent (see Francis Fukuyama's the End of History and the general euphoria over the end of the Cold War) that has caused all kinds of cracks to appear and various dysfunctions creeping through those cracks. Right now, when there's a whole generation around that grew up with the mindset that the achievements of the past are endangered from outside and from within and we are completely helpless against them because individual efforts are just a drop in the ocean, Picard seems to be giving us the kind of story that I've imagined, that's seemingly headed towards the positive message that utopia can be saved and preserved as long as there are people willing to fight for it, even if no one seems to listen to them at first. All of this wrapped in a long overdue, in-depth character deconstruction of Picard who has been treated as a larger-than-life superhero of diplomatic butt-kicking for far too long.

 

[Jedi_Master]

I am a prophet and I predict this thread will have less replies than the "pIcArD IsN't sTaR tReK!!@!@!@" thread.

 

[Midquest]

I love this show so far. It has something I find valuable in television. Early Game of Thrones had it, and shows like Watchmen had it. It's storytelling that is interested in the mechanical function of the world, that takes time to dwell on the minutiae rather than speed past them. Star Trek has rarely been that kind of show, either because episodic constraints meant that dwelling with the details wasn't a long-term possibility, or simply because there was so much story to tell over several connected episodes. I absolutely love that we are dwelling with, luxuriating in, and really developing the details here.

There are a lot of things I'd praise this show for, but Star Trek has never felt as much like a real place as it does here, and that's great.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Didn't you read the other thread? It's terrible Star Trek!

 

[Jedi_Master]

The music during the opening credits: sublime.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

I thought it was hilarious when people were lavishing praise on the show after 1 episode, going on and on about the incredible character depth, etc. - after only the 1st episode. I think now we're getting a more sober perspective on it, and in the process, some people are overreacting that it's not even Star Trek, but as with EVERY Trek, it's a mixed bag, overall good, with some great moments. And still being only 5 episodes in, there will be plenty more to love and get livid about!

 

[SJGardner]

Didn't you read the other thread? It's terrible Star Trek!

Oh my god, it's true! What do we do now? This whole thread has been built on LIES! LIES, I tell you!

 

[KirkusOveractus]

What I like is how this show, like all entertainment, is an art form, being subjective. Different people have different opinions on what it will be.

No need to crap on people who don't like it because you may feel it's the best Star Trek series ever.

Do I think it's horrible? No. But to me, it's not great, not the best Trek series either.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Right now, when there's a whole generation around that grew up with the mindset that the achievements of the past are endangered from outside and from within and we are completely helpless against them because individual efforts are just a drop in the ocean, Picard seems to be giving us the kind of story that I've imagined, that's seemingly headed towards the positive message that utopia can be saved and preserved as long as there are people willing to fight for it, even if no one seems to listen to them at first. All of this wrapped in a long overdue, in-depth character deconstruction of Picard who has been treated as a larger-than-life superhero of diplomatic butt-kicking for far too long.

We share a number of similar perspectives on both DS9 and Discovery. I have appreciated those parts of Star Trek that took serious how we get to the better future rather than taking for granted that we would get there. There were some elements of that in TNG. What's interesting about Picard is not that he is the paragon of the better future, he is its saviour or, perhaps, its architect. Sisko is my captain, but this type of story needed Picard.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

No need to crap on people who don't like it because you may feel it's the best Star Trek series ever.

Which is not what I have done with this thread. Anyone can love or hate it. All I have done is elucidate where the series does a good job of building off elements present in previous series within the franchise.

 

[ITDUDE]

I agree with just about everything you said. Easily the best Star Trek since Deep Space Nine. Miles above Voyager, Enterprise and the Kelvinverse but it's early days and that ranking could shift either up or down.

Best Trek in 20 years for sure. Already better than all of Discovery, ENT, vast majority of Voyager, 9/10th of DS9, 3/4 of TOS, and about 2/7th of TNG (guess which 2/7 )
It has yet to clear majority of TNG, and some of DS9 and Voyager have been better as well. But it definitely has the potential to best Trek ever!

 

[urbandk]

My current Trek power rankings are as follows:

1. DS9 - Best Trek series
2. DSC - Most compelling reimagining of Trek since TNG, and more consistent than TNG so far
3. PIC* - Writing, acting, and stories best ever this early in a Trek series
4. TNG - Sentimental favorite, inconsistent even in its best seasons, but revolutionized Trek and also has the best standalone Trek episodes of all time
5. TOS - The original, but also a classic sci-fi series in its own right. Towering cultural giant.
6. VOY - When TNG era Trek began to feel stereotyped. Some very good episodes and a good premise/story overall
7. ENT - The nadir of conventional TNG-era Trek, recovered with inconsistent but strong S3 and S4, pathetic finale
8. TAS - Not really fair to judge this along with the rest. Mostly an artifact of its time.

*Too early to make a definitive call about PIC, but this is just how I feel about it right now.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

*Too early to make a definitive call about PIC, but this is just how I feel about it right now.

I would provide my ranking for the series, but I feel that Picard is structural different from all the others, including Discovery, which comes from similar aesthetics. It inhabits a space that is part TV series and part movie.

 

[fireproof78]

need to crap on people who don't like it because you may feel it's the best Star Trek series ever

So, we have a thread for greatness and thread for detractors. Seems pretty balanced.