Star Trek: Picard

Yeah, I think we need a full thread now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FySrgrKJguE

yeah, watched this trailer five minutes ago and I haven't stopped crying yet.

Has it gone? I get "video unavailable".

Nope, it's up -- try reloading. (Also maybe you have to look elsewhere if you're not in the US -- it's showing on Amazon Prime in the UK IIRC.)

Okay, that ending got to me more than all the nu-SW sequel reunions. Did not expect that.

How am I going to stay dark until the premiere? These three months are going to be painful!

Why is (redacted) in Kirk's Nexus house?

It's not like Kirk is using it.

Apparently the last scheduled Short Trek is going to be a Picard prequel!

The entire 7 seasons of TNG in two minutes!

Well that was fast: https://deadline.com/2019/12/star-trek-picard-renewed-season-two-patrick-stewart-cbs-all-access-1202809964/

Stuff like this is getting more common. (Amazon renewed their LOTR series and I still don't think they've even filmed anything yet.)

https://youtu.be/ksQg3NG861k

Two days!

Very much looking forward!

Stewart will always be Sejanus to me.

Wonderful role, one of the last ones I saw of his before TNG started.

The Children of Mars Short Trek was intriguing

If you sign up for CBS AA: https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/essy1b/cbs_all_access_50_off_for_2_months/

Hmm, he said, having seen the first episode. I like it, don't mind the tonal shift in general, but this was definitely a laying-the-grounds episode first and foremost.

Agreed, though I was more let down with the second half of the episode. It felt like it was trying to cram in as many callbacks to TNG as it could to establish its Trek bona fides, so it was mired in the past (even if it's meant to be the leitmotif).

I wonder about Data's poker hand, though.

how well do you have to remember TNG? I haven't seen the later seasons since they aired

I think that the callbacks are explained to make it easy on new/casual viewers, which may be why I thought it was slow.

yeah i didnt find it too heavy going, and i couldnt even tell you the last episode of TNG i watched

I was only a casual TNG viewer but could comfortably follow what was going on xps

If you really want a refresher, judging from what we saw in the premiere, you could watch these (avert yer eyes if you don't want the SPOILERS):

The Measure of a Man
The Offspring
Inheritance

Thanks y’all. Might be fun to watch a few old eps

how's he gonna do it this time drinking DECAF

earl grey with no milk is the beverage of a sociopath

it’s highly disturbing

always bothered me

that's how i always drink it

you = also a monster

it was our DUTY

earl grey with no milk is the beverage of a sociopath

Eek, I’m married to a sociopath. She takes lemon.

I always thought it was strange that Picard with his French history and English accent would require to specify that the tea was "hot", like if he didn't say so, the computer would respond "do you mean hot tea... or iced tea" in a thick American drawl

Should I watch this? All I heard was that the first episode greatly resembled a certain early S4 episode

how well do you have to remember TNG?

My understanding is that Picard takes place in the Kelvin timeline of the J.J. Abrams/Alex Kurtzman films and ST:Discovery. Real life licencing legal battles have severed the Kelvin timeline from the E/OG/TNG/DS9/V timeline. So none of the events of 1965-2003 Star Trek occurred in Picard, at least not in the same way.

Picard is perhaps an examination of how different histories change character. Or a vanity project about Patrick Stewart's real life political concerns produced to maintain Viacom's IP.

My understanding is that Picard takes place in the Kelvin timeline of the J.J. Abrams/Alex Kurtzman films and ST:Discovery.

Wait, aren't these two different timelines entirely?

Kelvin timeline starts with a movie where OG Spock comes in from the 'real' timeline, following the destruction of Romulus. I was under the impression said 'real' timeline is both the timeline of Discovery and Picard, while the Kelvin timeline is just the three nu-Trek movies and any directly associated spinoff media.

I always thought it was strange that Picard with his French history and English accent would require to specify that the tea was "hot"

it is a character note, so you remember his commanding aura

Picard is in the Prime timeline: https://www.gamesradar.com/star-trek-picard-timeline-explained-alex-kurtzman/

I always figured since the replicator fabricates a cup of tea that never needed steeping, it’d give you the most instantly drinkable temperature by default. By specifying “hot,” Picard wants the experience of fresh-steeped tea that must be carefully sipped.

Yeah I guess that makes sense. I just got in my head an idea for a Hitchhiker/TNG spin-off. “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.” “Share and enjoy!” Data reads Vogon poetry to Spot. Fenchurch teaches Worf to fly and they have an aerial affair. Zaphod becomes assimilated. Deep Thought revises its answer to “Kill Wesley”, with tragic results

I reserve the right to judge the timeline by counting lens flares.

mh, yr no-prize is in the mail

I reserve the right to judge the timeline by counting lens flares.

fair

This was pretty ok!

I like the vibe so far - kind of Raymond Chandler in space, with Picard as the dishevelled ‘tec, stumbling from encounter to encounter, endangering his friends and getting lightly beaten up in the process.

I like Pill. The twin and the weirdly accented handsome on the cube ship were... less good.

This was okay, I liked that it had the more relaxed tempo of the '80s/'90s series instead of the more modern/actiony vibe of Discovery. I still think it was silly that they had to bring back Brent Spiner for fanservice though, as even the digital manipulation and choice of angles couldn't hide the fact he'd become chubbier and his face had changed with age. I guess his two scenes being dreams made it a bit easier to digest, but still... IIRC it was Spiner himself who wanted Data to die in the TNG movies, as it was obvious he couldn't be playing an ageless android for decades. Well, this episode proves he was right, and his presence here was really superfluous, they could've done the same plot with using only footage from TNG or something.

Also, the references to "The Offpsring" here made me at first excited and then disappointed. Because after seeing that episode, I always wondered why Data wouldn't try to create another daughter after Lal... Obviously losing her was traumatic to him, but in real life people still have kids after losing one, and you'd think traumatic loss wouldn't affect Data to the same extent as with humans? So when they first implied Dahj was his daughter, I was like, cool, he did build another child after all! But then it was revealed Dahj/Soji were only made after Data's death, so the question of why he never wanted another offspring remains. I get it that they didn't want to tie this series too much into old episodes of TNG, but on the other hand, the Picard wouldn't even exist if people weren't nostalgic for that series. So I do hope the following episodes will have some deeper connections to the lore than just fanservicey appearances of TNG actors.

deeper connections to the lore

i see what u did

Haha, that was actually unintentional!

They did seem to refer to Data/Lore with Allison Pill's weird comment about how androids are always made in pairs... Which I don't recall ever being a thing in TNG, IIRC the Soongs built Data to improve on Lore, not because there was some weird rule that you have to build two?

pill seemed to be implying that there was a biological reason for having to grow/build two at once, the ones in question being indistinguishable from human beings down to some level or something

Maybe yeah, but it was still a weird comment, because she didn't explain what the reason for building them in pairs was, she just stated it like it was an obvious thing.

if i cared enough, maybe i'd go back and see if it made sense how pill started with 'short answer, impossible; long answer, still impossible' and ended up with 'hey, maybe there's two of them'. also seems bad that a dozen romulan assassins can beam onto the roof of starfleet hq undetected, and the mom's ~slip-up~ mentioning picard was really ham-handed. it's fine, still liked it

Also, the references to "The Offpsring" here made me at first excited and then disappointed. Because after seeing that episode, I always wondered why Data wouldn't try to create another daughter after Lal... Obviously losing her was traumatic to him, but in real life people still have kids after losing one, and you'd think traumatic loss wouldn't affect Data to the same extent as with humans?

Data got into serious trouble with SF for creating Lal and only avoided punishment because of what ultimately happened to her. And he probably felt that unless he was able to create another android with better odds of survival, he wasn't going to try again.

Also, there's a quick line where Dr. Jurati surmises that the twins were created by Maddox. Don't know if that's meant to throw us off the trail, though.

Data got into serious trouble with SF for creating Lal

I like how this can mean Starfleet, San Francisco or science fiction, and they all more or less work.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/generationfleet/images/9/9b/BruceMaddox.jpg

I love the costumes in this so much

earl grey with no milk is the beverage of a sociopath

it’s highly disturbing

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, January 25, 2020 10:30 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

earl grey with no milk is delightful

in fact i don't like it with milk tbh

I really enjoyed this even though 'you can't make new androids without Data/but just a single neuron would do/oh they come in pairs' was all rather convenient - I know TNG was all about the handwavey pseudoscience but unlike Discovery it never fully jettisoned logic just to tell a cool story bro. I hope this doesn't end up going that route.

I was a bit thrown when the librarian said "the painting is called... Dodger!" - I had thought the girl was called Dahj but maybe it was Dahja, I mused. It later became clear. Rewatched, still sounds like that.

I spent about ten minutes assuming that this meant that Dahja was Picard's daughter

all the tea is upsetting me, tea is horrible and shd not be depicted on-screen

lol yeah! tea is just some foul aberration for when you've run out of coffee!

Kathryn Janeway otm

Now THAT was more like it.

I think just having a sassy, overqualified Romulan housekeeper question Picard about having all his marbles is all I need to be happy. Though more seriously, it's nice to see that things aren't going to be easy for JL and that other characters are allowed to have their own agendas and personalities.

I'm sure that Starfleet is thrilled about that living arrangement -- and I kind of wonder if some SF intelligence officer thinks that Picard's Romulan friends have turned him.

Also I really liked the Vulcan(?) Commodore.

I was a bit confused, was she supposed to be Vulcan or Romulan? Because her mannerisms and the fact that she's running the Federation's secret police (presumably built on the foundation of Section 31?) implied she's Romulan, but OTOH there's no indication the Romulan Free State (or whatever it's called) has joined the Federation.

One, i think she's more specifically intelligence, not Section 31, since she wears gold (ops/security).

Two, I think she's meant to be or pass as Vulcan, since the first thing we see of her is a box with the IDIC insignia, and her stilted speech sounded more Vulcan to me.

Pretty sure she's Vulcan

Sorry, mean Romulan

Arrgh, fucksake, thought you were on about Laris.

Oh is Romulan pretending to be Vulcan.

important critical observation: lol data's terrible painting

lol, proof that having an IQ of 6million maketh not Egon Schiele

you'd thought at least he would have been capable of doing a super-humanoid pastiche of a good painting!

folks, this show is good and i like it, even if narek looks like he should be playing guitar in romulan razorlight instead of doing dick-first spycraft in a decommissioned borg cube

it pleases me that it is now canon that there is a space dublin

all paintings in TV shows are terrible and doubly so when they're representational

good arm patches

My biggest problem w Narek that the dude has a full head of glossy black emo hair & then that NASTY brown facial hair that looks like pube trimmings

since i'm watching ds9 rn too it's really noticeable how the aliens have hairstyles in this. any deep space 9 alien species with hair all has the same gross boring hair, no personality.

xp I feel personally attacked

i thought we had a thread abt paintings in movies but if we do i can't find it -- i don't think it's as cut and dried, as ALL ARE BAD, tho representative ones are all bad (and always look as if they've been painted by the same person as well)

Do you mean paintings created for movies? Or would Solaris count?

TV show paintings are always bad. Movie paintings vary but if they are part of the plot they are always bad paintings.

The case could be made that I need to watch better movies though.

I have a soft spot for https://d33c33.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/elwoodandharvey.jpg

ok this topic deserves its own thread, if one does not exist

o shit take my money

https://www.goodfellaspainting.com

itt: paintings that are plot-points in movies and TV that are terrible paintings (or excellent ones if there are any)

Is that Harvey? Why is he wearing a belt without pants?!

pooka pig style

new ep is really good, lotta good threads in this story. Also partly for DS9 reasons i love how Picard’s pleading his case hither & yon mostly to ppl who tell him to rack off

(the new pilot dude w the hologram is HOTT)

the actress playing raffi is a fucking nightmare, truly atrocious acting even by star trek standards. on the level of the twi'lek lady from the jailbreak mandalorian episode.

that's michelle hurd

someone just informed me that there's swearing on this show and I lol'd

they solved poverty but not swearing

fuckin’ HUGH ffs

i love to see it

inequality still exists because HOW’S LIFE ON YOUR VINEYARD, PICARD?!

new ep is really good, lotta good threads in this story.

feels too heavy on exposition, for three episodes in

more bad painting, less voluminous backstory

oh lordy where's this accent meant to be from

the accent is, i concede, bad

but hugh tho

a thing we know abt the star trek universe is that they exterminated the belters and suppressed their much better way of speaking weirdly

also: enigmas assemble! was a bit of a trudge

kind of wish they'd get the team together already and get this show on the space road

displeased vaping still exists in 24th century.

i enjoyed the injoke of raffi living at the foot of vasquez rocks, where kirk famously fought the gorn (and evil bill and ted totally murdered good bill and ted)

also: HUGH ffs

not sure that raffi is a worse actress than the synth twins

feel like nothing really happened in this one; also disappointed that orla brady is being left behind

btw was there supposed to be a lil romulan incest thing going on?

in other disappointments news: my "pooka pig style" post didn't get the rave response it deserved

displeased vaping still exists in 24th century.

Beat me to it.

feel like nothing really happened in this one; also disappointed that orla brady is being left behind

Times two.

It's almost touching that they've carried over the odd-numbered curse to this series.

Food for thought: synthetic life (i.e. androids) are banned, but AI holograms are OK?

I was kind of annoyed that Rios's ship is as skeleton as it gets (I guess that'w what the EHs are for) but surely having two former Tal Shiar would be beneficial?

Rios's ship is as skeleton as it gets

except that it seems huge and empty

Dammit I meant crew. As in there are none. (Holograms don't count.)

but there are so many of them!

lol at the borg guy being like "You're kind of a know-it-all, aren't you?"

and is Rios romantically involved with his hologram?

hey it’s sex with someone he loves amirite

(credit w**dy all*n obv)

I’m anxious for Pikard’s recipe for a coffee cake

probably makes it with earl grey like the sociopath he is

go easy

Okay tonight was awesome. And next week's looks INSANE.

btw was there supposed to be a lil romulan incest thing going on?

Game of Romulan Thrones

if picard really liked children the satirical-historical romp through the absurdities of 17th century france that he brought them as a present would be the one written by data IMO

its called BUNS BUNS BUNS iirc

over/under on number of different rios holograms?

the shard of glass or whatever that tumbles through the opening credits - is it the same shape as the (as yet unexplained) metal shard that rios has embedded in his shoulder in his first scene or am i nuts

"captain we need to get you out of there!"
"no i have several very long scenes of excruciatingly tiresome face-to-face exposition! picard out!"

I can't remember, is there any indication in TNG that Picard had a brain anomaly before he was Locutus? I keep thinking that something is going to come of that

over/under on number of different rios holograms?

hologram can't pick up a laser gun and start blastin

or wait, can they? how do holodeck physics work in star trek world anyway?

they have hard light holograms like the Voyager doctor

I can't remember, is there any indication in TNG that Picard had a brain anomaly before he was Locutus? I keep thinking that something is going to come of that

also: enigmas assemble! was a bit of a trudge

― mark s, Saturday, 8 February 2020 21:09 (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

ffs

Mr Veg and I are loving the repeated occurences of Picard visiting old haunts or acquaintances & being all “Hey it’s me, your old friend!” and literally everyone to a person is like “FUCK YOU!” *throws rotten fruit*
Dude’s about as popular as Gallagher

Even-numbered episode theory still holding!

they have hard light holograms like the Voyager doctor

It's basically holodeck technology outside of a holodeck.

Best GOT pun I've seen so far is Romulannisters.

The dog fight at the end was confusing because I wasn't sure which was Rios's ship!

rmde @ JL castigating Elrond for killing that Romulan when JL was the one provoking a fight.

I want to like this so much, but I don't really know what's going on, and it's boring. Sliding around on a Borg cube in your socks? No. That's not a thing.

Picturing Picard doing the Risky Business bit.

the return of 7 of 9 should be good, but it wasn't dignified and quite bodged. i don't expect her to say that old maverick pilot *classic* "you owe me a ship, Picard" that is a Lieutenant Starbuck type line!

it is absolutely absurd that anyone would call him 'JL'

including you, leee!

The difference with me is that I used it ironically! Agreed that it is awful all the same.

Yeah, I hate that as a touch. It's so Poochie.

Yeah it’s too familiar & informal. I dislike it immensely

"Please, it's pronounced 'Juul.'"

I don’t know, I’m really enjoying the klutzy, rambling pace, it makes the show seem more like comfort food to me, which is what I want from a trek show

I can imagine being called JL initially irritated Picard and that was part of their dynamic when they got along.

The music is really weird and intrusive and makes this feel like a modern BBC show like Sherlock

Sliding around on a Borg cube in your socks? No. That's not a thing.

When that bit happened my bf got a disgusted look on his face and muted the loud, overweening Titanic-romance music that started playing. BLEUGH what was the point of that scene. We get it, he's playing her.

But I'm enjoying this otherwise. I liked Seven's entrance, especially her falling down dizzily after she said it.

that scene was important to establish that there are still socks in the 24th century and it will pay off later in the show, possibly to universe-saving effect

Socks: check.
Zippers: GTFO.

Narek is the worst

i thought that too but then there was that scene with his horny sister and now she is the worst

I want to give Narek a fucking shower, he looks blegh.

http://public.media.smithsonianmag.com/legacy_blog/Pair_of_socks_575.jpg

*sets fire to own brain*

I share this important report.

#Picard is a tv show this is my report about it

it has many themes, such as the following pic.twitter.com/VnOVL5TqGU

— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) February 18, 2020

Yeah, as much as the Han Solo McTerrible-Accents guy annoys me, he is super hot.

picard's undercover werner herzog impression is, like this show as a whole, bad

I thought he was sounding like a bad French stereotype, not a German one? Need to relisten

he was going for french and landed on herzog-in-jack-reacher imo

lol tranya

honh honh honh I have ze borg!

that was a really bizarre episode. parts of it were laughably bad - the lizard guy with the keen sense of smell seemed like he wandered in from The Orville

and no idea what they were thinking with Picard's accent unless it was some sort of Holy Grail/Pink Panther tribute

that lady had a pretty bad security system

anyway this episode was Good because it was narek-and-twinless and with luck we've fulfilled our raffi backstory requirement

do we see the painting again

the painting . . . lives

Prior art:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ewVNIvKBh0

the painting was pretty good if you stack it up against Data’s other artistic pursuits imo

that lady had a pretty bad security system

you mean vajayzle?

"once zey get ze borg inside zem zey are never going back"

:0

omg this is the slowest-paced nonsense i've ever watched and i've seen wavelength

So... this is baf?

Bad!

gotta feel bad for brian brophy, who has now costarred as dr bruce maddox in both one of the greatest hours of television ever broadcast and whatever this pantomime nonsense was

it is both bad not good and good not bad imo

baf not goof

baffe growing vpon the measure of a man

counterpoint: it’s nonsense and weird and a missed opportunity, but I’ve enjoyed every episode

im still watching it but it's SO SLOW

wow bizarro

hes a genius but dont tell him i said

i think it’s pretty good but what do i know

last ep was pure fetch quest, didn't advance the story (except for the last two minutes), dispensed with characters and locations we'd been led to expect more from, indulged in shallow world building, and was basically lacking in action, excitement, intrigue, moral dilemmas, blah blah. sorry but that's just how i feel. will keep watching.

tfw acclaim for yr genius finally arrives but it hinges on arcane knowledge of not just star trek but also one thread on one specific web forum’s one hidden board :/

i’m enjoying the show a fair bit despite its flaws and weird pacing but i think if you’re not already invested in picard as a character it’s probably not got a huge amount to offer

you mean vajayzle?

Aaraghh I was going to make this joke!

I thought this was a terribly written and executed episode, I think they wanted to go for a TOS-style goofiness with the stuff on Freecloud but at the same time bookend it with NOT YER GRANNY'S TREK cynicism and grossout dismemberment while also peppering with bad backstory and throwaway lines from useless appendages (sorry Elrond).

BTW they recast Maddox, who is now played by Jordan Peterson.

Oh the exposition in the beginning (Raffi and Rios talking about ex-Borgs) was shamefully clumsy. "Oh how ever did I forget that Picard used to be a Borg, oh ho ho!"

I'm not sure how I feel about the Mr. Mot and Quark "cameos."

"once zey get ze borg inside zem zey are never going back"

:0

― mark s, Saturday, 22 February 2020 18:33 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

feel we're not paying enough attention to this very remarkable line :( :( :(

BTW they recast Maddox, who is now played by Jordan Peterson.

"once zey get ze borg inside zem zey are never going back"

:0

I would love to hear Eric Cantona read this line.

Yeah I was enjoying this but that last episode was arse.
The guy Vajayzle (lol) butchered - that was the kid from last season Voyager, right? The other rescued borg kid?
- why didnt they use the same actor for him?
- ditto Bruce Maddox?
- why is this storyline so disjointed? I am struggling to follow it, there are competing motivations flying all over the place and somehow it makes it feel too rapid-paced and yet getting nowhere all at once.

BTW I have no problem with the violence/gore in the show and all the purists wailing "this is a UTOPIA not a DYSTOPIA" I shrug at, but... yeah this feels rushed and clumsy all over somehow.

Maybe Stewart spent too long on shows like Blunt Talk and thinks he's funnier now ;)

Oh and some things I noticed:
- the comment "whats her name, something like... 99, or 11?" - assming that was a bit of a clumsy lol ref to 99 from get smart, and 11 from stranger things?
- them having to kick and punch away all the holo spam in the ship. I feel like they ripped that wholesale off a scene in Futurama when they all go into the "Internet".

I feel like they ripped that wholesale off a scene in Futurama

lol

Oh chut up :P

"they don't change! they metastasize!"

all the young ppl running and jlp wobbling along behind :|

What did you think of the painting in this week's episode?

Honestly, Soji should've known that something was wrong with her, because what adult decorates their rooms with their own childhood drawings?

I have a feeling that many viewers wouldn't mind Elrond in-butting them, amirite?

wait i missed the painting! i was making supper and not paying full attention all the time

all the young ppl running and jlp wobbling along behind :|

― mark s

with his violin

i feel like recasting this character as jonathan frakes was a good idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F-aZVcG-jM

given how slooooooow the action still is, it was very lucky that the big encounter came in exactly the right 90 seconds to enable a way out

also lol this ep had several bodged echoes of firefly and serenity (which for my sins i know much better than TNG)

https://imgur.com/0ySDGO5

I am so bored by this show now. If they don't bring on new writers for season two and improve it massively, I won't bother with it.

I think I’m done with it.

what this tale needs more of: "the fabric is ripped you jean luc picard motherfuckers"

As a Tolkienian Trekkie this makes me very happy and it cannot be an accident. #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/spMERFQ6SP

— Sara for Warren 2020 👊🏻 (@SaraMichener) March 1, 2020

<3

Riker in his pizza ranch >>> Kirk in his Nexus ranch

Mr Veg and I got into the *dumbest* argument about Riker’s pizza oven that ended with him texting me a still from the episode to prove he was right. 🤓

I still am enjoying this show btw. I dont mind the slow pacing, there’s just something about that is really kinda nice

why is this how she finds out, old man, you need yr shiny head slappin

picard is solving galactic politics by visiting everyone's house one by one

things data wanted:
a) datadaughter feat.mucus
b) be worst painter

https://66.media.tumblr.com/a40eae20c92e62c96f2417fcf1019cff/tumblr_nn5jvxmnFp1sxq4hio1_1280.jpg

the telltale Data head tilt

he's in her dna apparently

Poor Marina Sirtis, after nearly 30 years she still can't get dialogue that isn't cringeworthy.

Picard's characterization is really weird! Maybe it's a function of being out of circulation for so long but in his TNG days he would never resort to mockery and sarcasm with someone who was suffering from severe self-doubt, not for cheap lolz. And of course his clapping after Raffi's performance was sooo corny, and not in a TNG way.

And yes I remember that Picard from season 1-2 was a dick but we all try to forget that.

Anyway: https://www.startrek.com/videos/watch-how-to-make-bunnicorn-pizza-from-star-trek-picard

Caught up with the last two episodes last night...I mean, I'm all about hanging out in rustic California locations because that's where most of the series have filmed on location anyway, but would chill over pizza anytime with that crew. There's definitely an odd choppiness in the editing, though; I almost wonder if they wouldn't've been better off just having the other stuff be at the start and end of the episode and otherwise just relaxed on Nepenthe. Actress who played the daughter (Kestra?) pretty solid, that's classic awkward/friendly stuff.

Building off of that Tolkien name tweet, BIG subplot all about subcreation, conlang etc. there with the dead son's interests.

in that case i desire dragons with a profound desire

So you're the guy.

Also just stumbled on a reminder as to why Kestra is named Kestra -- that's the name of Troi's sister who drowned as a young girl, as retold in a season seven TNG episode.

my takeaway from the most recent ep is that much as JLP can be annoying, riker is still much more annoying

Nothing has changed then

lol/yikes at the head tilt thing

I watched the first 4 episodes and I didn't like anything. I think I'm done.

even in a cabin in the middle of the woods, they managed to squeeze in a "shields up! red alert!" scene for riker.

Yeah, I've been mostly happy with Picard in that it hasn't reverted to pandering to people nostalgic for TNG (I'm a fan of it too, but couldn't care less about this kind of fanservice), but they finally caved in and did a full episode of it. If it wasn't for Troi and Riker's kid, who was pretty awesome, and her interactions with Soji, this episode would've been completely pointless. Let's just hope this was the last bit of fanservice they had in store and now they can focus on the actual main plot of the series, which still seems pretty interesting, as slow-moving as it is.

not too clear on how our heroes suddenly and magically realized the entire plot, but i guess some stuff happened

liked the octonary star system idea

"unknown dark power shows up when you do <X>" is kind of like first contact, but is a lot more like the later Expanse books

a bit cixin liu too

i'm only three episodes in and I find this kind of a warm and comfortable sweater of a show, but it's weird how much the interiors just look like CB2.

which I guess is maybe better than 'all the interiors look like a modern dentist office' of TNG

"what you are about to endure will drive some of you mad"

*viewers nod glumly*

a cool thing is that the hologram can do every possible accent!

a less cool thing is that the actor playing the hologra

i ken

the accents.

thats gotta be the worst attempt at a scottish accent I've heard in a long while, kind of fitting that it was from a Star Trek engineer

That Irish accent is brutal as well, in case anyone was in any doubt.

As we were watching it I said "why are we being subjected to this?"

Seven doing Borgy things was cool, but.

you can 3d print any food item with nutritious content in the universe but synthetic speech has taken a backwards step from 2020.

what if he *likes* comedy accents and did it on purpose

tal shiar: "what you are about to endure will drive some of you mad"
*projects fiery deaths of galaxies directly into yr cortical core*

hologram menu: "what you are about to endure will drive some of you mad"
pretty bearded man in kilt and leprechaun hat with dangling corks: "fair dinkum hoots begorrah bah gum y'all"

He is pretty, though.

I thought this was a return to form! The scene with Raffi and the holograms was charming, Picard gave a very TNG speech. Seven's appearance was still a waste of Jeri Ryan's talents, though. Also, the Scottish accent is definitely an homage to James Doohan.

hologram accents starting to irritate but god he is too pretty to stay mad at

concerned about the implications of Borginating on and off like that but really loved 7 of 9 in this ep

the kiwi romulan kid bugs me

disappointing that it's not like rhode island/aberdeen/pittsburgh accents, but at least the cigar tells us what's important

the kiwi romulan kid bugs me

He's a bit Ornaldo Bloomps, but I like him. I want to know why you don't like him, but I also don't want to know in case your reasons also make me not like him.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENTpoc9XYAAisJm.jpg https://comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/original/11/119238/3578762-rivertam2.jpg

river tam = combination dahj/soji and elnor

not too clear on how our heroes suddenly and magically realized the entire plot, but i guess some stuff happened

I was a bit confused about this too, but then I remembered that in the previous episode, when we saw the stuff Commodore Oh mind-melded into Dr. Jurati's brain, it included visions of the Zhat Vash members going crazy because of the Admonition. So apparently she transferred the whole story of the Zhat Vash into Jurati's brain, not just the ancient warning about synthetic life, and the heroes somehow got her to explain it despite the psychic block Oh placed in her mind. How they got past the block wasn't explained, though.

But yeah, agree that this was a good episode, a nicely paced "right before the storm" story that revealed the stakes and put all the pieces in motion for the two-parter finale.

The only thing I didn't like is the revelation that Captain Rios has a history with the androids and the Zhat Vash conspiracy too, even though he was supposedly just a random pilot Musiker happened to know. I get it that they wanted him to have a personal stake in the conflict too, but they could've come up with some other way of doing that, something that wasn't such ridiculous coincidence.

not too clear on how our heroes suddenly and magically realized the entire plot

i missed any mention in previous eps of the 'conclave of eight' or any romulans drawing weird patterns, but i don't always pay close attention.

also synthetics involve past a certain point and then "someone bad shows up"? eh?

it's like discovering warp engine technology and the Vulcans showing up to say hi

only instead of saying hi, the mystery people destroy your civilizations

tbh they could take a cue from the Star Trek mirror universe and just activate a bunch of artificial lifeforms while having some super weapons parked in orbit

I just thought it was a strange way of putting it. Someone shows up? What? Who? 'They evolve past a certain point and then consider humanity redundant' makes more sense.

also synthetics involve past a certain point and then "someone bad shows up"? eh?

I've read some fan theories that this all ties to the Control plot of Discovery's season 2, and the prophecy seen there of Control destroying organic life in the entire galaxy is what this "someone bad" wants to avoid... I can't imagine they'd want to tie this series so closely to Discovery though, especially since (AFAIK) the plot was being written before Discovery's second season even came out. Apparently Michael Chabon wasn't even allowed to make overt references to DS9's Dominion War, so that it wouldn't confuse viewers not familiar with that series, even though that war is (according to Chabon) the biggest reason why the Federation has become more paranoid and isolationist.

lol i've been ignoring all this backstory nonsense bcz i only very intermittently watched the various later iterations of SW anyway. if i have to look it up it didn't happen!!

I don't think you're gonna find much backstory for this series in later iterations of Star Wars...

In all seriousness though, you should watch Deep Space Nine. It's the best Trek series, it touches some of the same themes as this one, and nowadays it's all on Netflix.

yes im probably not going to do that

eh ultimately it's not that good but it's a way to pass the time. worf shows up, gets to do some good straight man bits

"what did you do during the great self-isolation nuncle s?"
"why i rewatched all of DS9!"
*isolation door slammed shut and barred FROM THE OUTSIDE*

>=(

boooo DS9 is gr8

i cosign j.'s review.

Nah, even though Worf is indeed cool in Deep Space Nine and gets a better arc than he ever did in TNG, he's not even among the top 5 best characters of DS9.

Sisko, Kira, Garak, Martok, Nog?

Pretty much yeah, except replace Sisko with Odo, and maybe also Martok with Dax.

But Kira, Garak, Nog, yeah, those three are such compelling characters and they're given such great arcs that I can't really think anything comparable in other ST series... Maybe Data in TNG.

The scene where Nog stands up to Sisko in his office made me cry more than anything Star Trek related ever has. It's awesome how the DS9 managed to save the Ferengi from TNG's joke species into something so much more.

Nog made some bad career choices in retrospect.

Join the Federation, see the worlds, they said

it is worth watching this episode with a good stereo system merely for the fact someone had fun doing the “borg cube exits conduit” noise

Makeup effects crew really went to town with the shimmery highlighter palette

This felt more like a TNG episode than any of the previous ones. Our team enters a planet where the inhabitants are living in a communal utopia in small location wearing space togas and doing gymnastics on the town square, but turns out one of the leaders is corrupting them, Picard tries to steer them away from the leader with a Picard speech, appealing to their decency, but the evil leader counters him... I mean, it must be an intentional TNG homage, right? No way would the showmakers have had them wear those togas if it wasn't.

disappointed spiner didn't take the opportunity to differentiate the soong family by introducing Billy Bob Soong

never trust any of those Soongs

the soongs remain the same

these newfangled androids are totally soft, btw -- data survived far worse than that

otm

Someone shows up? What? Who? 'They evolve past a certain point and then consider humanity redundant' makes more sense.

So it was 'someone shows up' after all. I like my idea better. I doubt TNG actually featured more of that kind of existential threat than plain vanilla big baddies, but it feels like it might have done.

jlp: "it feels like i'm looking at data!"
the viewer: "it feels more like i'm typing data into a spreadsheet"

i am happy to accept this is mean but the dialogue very much delivered the open goal

I doubt TNG actually featured more of that kind of existential threat than plain vanilla big baddies, but it feels like it might have done.

The longest plot arc in TNG, which began in the very first episode and ended in the very last, was that humanity has evolved so far that the Q continuum has come to judge it and see if it's fit to go on.

Yes but you'd hardly know it as it's mostly played for laughs.

This was the first odd-numbered episode that I liked! I rolled me eyes at yet another secret Soong but Sutra (or was it Soji?) saying fascinating was just a delight.

This felt more like a TNG episode than any of the previous ones.

A first season one at that. I was wondering what was going to happen if one of them stepped on a plant. (That said, still enjoying the general flow of the whole season.)

that gold-skinned version of our android kid seemed like a threat from the get-go

ehh

a billion times better than part one

It was okay, and I loved that they found a nonviolent solution to the conflict in the spirit of TNG... But it still felt like every plot beat you expected to happen did: of course Starfleet will ride in as the cavalry, of course Picard's illness is gonna kick in right at the moment of climax, and of course they're gonna download him inside the android body they conveniently introduced last episode. The one thing I didn't expect was Data still being "alive", but OTOH the scene with him felt like total fanservice, just repeating the same points they already made when he died in Nemesis.

The fight between Seven of Nine and the Zhat Vash was completely extraneous and pointless, like did they really have to go for action movie of "good guys' tough girl fights the bad guys' tough girl in the end"? They could've just had SoN shoot her and still get the same ending for her.

Also, why the heck did all the Starfleet ships leave as soon as the Romulans left? Shouldn't one or two of them stayed behind just to oversee the situation, and to make sure some less diplomatically inclined Romulans wouldn't still try a sneak attack on the androids?

Uggghhh, this was so bad. I lose points for following it through to the end.

Felt like I was that meme of Picard facepalming while watching most of this episode

yeah it was ok but like Tuomas said a bit too neat, wrapping everything in perfect bows, it got a little rmde

and like with Picard dying they leaned so hard on the “sadness” like THIS IS SAD ARENT YOU SAD OH ITS SO SAD and it left me kinda cold

Also, the football

Anyway next season will be “Oh yeah what happened to that Narek guy?” and it’ll be ten episodes of him wandering the cube going “Huh.”

feel like the advanced picard manoeuvre will not stop as many spacerays as he imagines and they have to land somewhere and the planet is right there

omg get on with it

*turns back into yoda as is proper*

I definitely won't be watching the next season of this. I just thought it was rubbish. There were so many cool Borg connections and possibilities that they just left on the table, which just made me wonder why they bothered bringing the Borg into it at all. All very frustrating and dull.

Lot of justs, there. Really a lot.

Agree with the Borg disappointment. Since the theme of the season was synthetic life, and the Borg themselves are semi-synthetic, I was expecting that to tie in with the main plot, but it never did. The whole thing with Hugh and the XB's and Seven of Nine was pretty much irrelevant in the end. They didn't event get to use the Borg cube for anything, so what was the point of bringing it to the android planet?

when i looked at them all sitting eagerly like picardians! assemble! right at the end my heart just sank and never stopped

from a none-too-elevated starting point

Resurrecting him at the end really cheapens the sacrifice he meant to make, doesn't it?

I don't know why but the writing on nu Trek has been so awful and scattered. Moral lessons undermined or unearned, plot holes galore.

Crashed borg ship looking tempting as beachfront luxury high rise condo; just needs some TLC

lol at 'let's get drunk with a stranger' and/or 'let's weep in the arms of a stranger'

tbf rios honestly had better chemistry with seven -- perhaps because his badass cigar was elsewhere -- than with our wee murderer, whose eyes are too damn close together. also raffi is the absolute worst and she's gonna drag seven down with her

This was quite bad.

They should just stop making trek stuff

I disagree, because I like Discovery. Even if it did go off the boil towards the end of the second season.

I just can't get over how they threw the Borg away like that. How was Jean-Luc's tumour nothing to do with his Borg implant, when it so easily could have been a shadow of that? How was the scary entity that crosses dimensions when it learns of a group of high-functioning synthetic beings not the Borg? That is absolutely a thing they would do. How is Jean-Luc Picard totally fine with having his consciousness put into a non-human body without his permission? Surely that would be one of his great nightmares? I would expect it to be in his will! "No pissing about with my consciousness after my body dies." And why wouldn't you make his synthetic body younger? I know there are production reasons for that, but it makes no sense in context.

Mind you, the special effects in this were very impressive. I especially liked the space orchids. I also liked the fact that neither terrible Romulan boyfriend nor Rios appear to have bothered getting super-swole for their tank-top scenes. I mean, I'm sure they hit the gym that week, but it wasn't an all-out gun show.

This was bad. I got very annoyed with it after a few episodes. Just as with Discovery the show tries to be too many things at once without doing any of them particularly well.

How was Jean-Luc's tumour nothing to do with his Borg implant, when it so easily could have been a shadow of that?

TBF, Picard's brain disease was already introduced in the potential future seen in the last episode of TNG, and no Borg connection was mentioned there... But you're right, they still could've easily retconned it so that there is such a connection.

i liked that the borg were sidelined in this, that the ideological differences between them and the extra-dimensional ancient synths that were stuck in the romulan brains literally disabled the cube like a virus.
what i didn't like was that the big bad guys ended up being third rate flying spaghetti monsters.

they could have also let picard spend some of next season goofing off in the black lodge having tea with other killed-off characters before resurrecting him.

Never seen this TNG ep and hate that I haven't:

The TNG episode where Data goes off pic.twitter.com/kG8hHW0hba

— klon peags (@tembeep) April 11, 2020

data's examples are mexico's war of independence, ireland, and one made-up rebellion. i think the writers put too much credence into duck you sucker.

i am almost done with a complete star trek watch/rewatch and i went back to picard just after i finished tng—i had stopped a couple episodes in because it seemed kinda unnngh

but it turned out alright after that! on a par with discovery.

i liked how the narrative ended up reviving the idyllic-colonists/natives storyline repeated ad nauseam in tos and tng but centered it on the synthetics. it was kind of lol though that after all that the romulans just gave up. it was like their core belief! tested with its worst possible scenario!

presumably the possibility of going on means that they have a lot of borg stuff in their pocket to use in a second season.

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2020 season is nominated in the 2020 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2020 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 29, 2021

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

And look who's back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk9F90wklRQ

sure is a lot of lens flare goin in that office

“I don’t really need a second season of this show”
*watches teaser*
“Eh, what the hell, I’ll watch this”

WHOO BORG QUEEN.

pretty into a new Q story tbh

Oh fuck your "cant watch this in your country" you tube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHMti7u9TBE

You know Q has aged surprisingly well!

Also, interesting that season 1's crew is back again -- and the return of his Romulan helpmates! -- especially because I didn't think that Jeri Ryan's commitment would extend beyond that handful of epsidoes.

Trying to keep my expectations in check, though, lest we get a repeat of what happened last year.

It’s a charismatic cast that works well together, I’m up for it.

Dug the Romulans and 7, not that excited to see the rest of them.

I still haven't seen last year's series finale - I guess we just forgot about it?

I watched the Discovery pilot then bounced. I think I mainly enjoy old mainly-episodic comfort food Trek, the new more serialized high-stakes-all-the-time variety doesn't work for me, never checked this one out cause it seemed to be a similar style

If you don't like Discovery, this is more of the same except worse. I don't mind Discovery though - but still haven't seen S3.

I didn't realize that Chabon (still on the writing staff) isn't show-running for season 2 -- instead, it's the 12 Monkeys guy.

He was also involved with Voyager and Enterprise I think

Was not expecting a dark gritty reboot of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home -- or a certain returning character -- but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUhBOmtFYr8

dang you got me all stoked for the mom from 7th heaven

Also season three is happening so hey.

Oops

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/star-trek-picard-positive-covid-production-omicron-1235070987/

Further

https://deadline.com/2022/01/star-trek-picard-pauses-production-dozens-test-positive-covid-patrick-stewart-not-among-them-1234905664/

This comment (originally posted in jest) aged surprisingly well.

Anyway, here's another trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyuddrlFajs

first episode was p great! just zips right along

Just finished rewatching S1 and glad i did as had forgotten SO much

Don't get my hopes up, Veg.

get em up! way up!!

I got this!

OMG this actually was good! But, where is mark's bad paintings on TV thread?

It was jarring to see though scenes of domestic abuse on a Trek show.

Also yaaas queen, her new ensemble is awesome. Looks almost McQueen, fittingly.

itt: paintings that are plot-points in movies and TV that are terrible paintings (or excellent ones if there are any)

Honest question, not snark, not well versed enough in Trek lore to know - why are li'l picard and his mom dressed like it's the 1930's?

lol that was something I wondered myself -- I thought maybe because they're vintners but the dialogue suggested that they're moving from Paris.

his brother dressed kind of oldtimeyish in the TNG ep…i didnt think much of it i figured it was just an oh yknow, Paris, winemaking ~handwave~

In Star Trek, if you live on a planet, and you're not a soldier or a politician, you get "peasant-y type local attire"

everyone is a historical cosplayer in the future of france

quiddities and agonies of ST groundlings

it's skintight or kaftan, there are no other fashions

Guinan’s hat bugged me slightly. looked a little crafty/rushed & not quite circular?

i'm going in lads

timecheck 4:48: #ffs

what if,, picy blinders?

this is the worst speech anyone has given in the history of human speech

everyone plz stop saying "final frontier"

well that was a grim slog, apologies to everyone loving it

mark's not ready for more frontiers

narrator's voice: it was the exact same number of frontiers

ok I pretty much guessed the big loop of this season from episode one

hope they throw in some twists and turns!

also, lol at hardman Picard

Definitely fun to see his grim side, as it were. (Finally got around to seeing the first episode yesterday and the new one just now.)

Kinda fun casting decision -- the Magistrate there in the new episode, who exactly the actor was was bugging me the entire time. Then I saw the end credits -- Jon Jon Briones! (Who is indeed Isa's dad, and who I last saw in the Assassination of Gianni Versace series.

Fun episode BUT this is really a mirror universe story, not a Back to the Future part II story. They are having it both ways with nature/nurture -- it is in the characters' genes that they become great people, but their morals are dictated by the reality they live in. This isn't a problem in Mirror Universe stories because they are in a bizarro universe, where some things are backwards and you shouldn't think about it too hard.

pleased to note that ART is featuring strongly in every ep so far :D

every ep is going to have a terrible painting and a worse picard speech riffing off the same stupid original

feel like these confederation dudes are kinda dumb

That's what I kinda like about them -- they're both laughable AND terrifying, which, how you say, has a certain contemporary resonance.

loved when the viewscreen said FLEET DEPLOYED

Frankly I'm glad that it isn't another Mirror Universe story (though it kind of is in all but name) as I feel that it's been played to death in the Trek universe. That said I'm kind of into this so far, as some of the dialogue (if not the speech writing) has been sharper as far as defining the characters and Agnes is bringing the lols.

I'm also imagining a new, final frontier where the role of the Queen is played by multiple actors, kind of like the Doctor but with more prosthetics.

this is goofy af, but i'd watch seven and rios and laris do anything

and picard and q, especially if they're doing eeeeevil

agnes is okay; raffi and (especially) elnor seem pointless to me

elnor is the worst

raffi sucks. i die inside every time she calls picard “JL”

there are lots of arguments to be had about what is and what isn't 'star trek' but i'm pretty sure having happy-go-lucky elnor slit peoples' throats is the latter

its his version of skateboarding down an elephant

Hahahah

I gotta say I was thinking the other day how if you had gone back 35 years to the filming of the TNG debut episode and told Patrick Stewart and John DeLancie they'll be continuing to interpret these characters in, well, 35 years, I would have enjoyed their reactions.

delancie would have been 'cool!' and stewart might have killed himself

lmao

raffi sucks. i die inside every time she calls picard “JL”

I keep checking in with this thread to see if I should start watching the second season, and it is exactly stuff like this that makes me glad I decided not to bother.

Patrick Freyne's review is good and funny (as usual).

New season is fun so far so I'd say you're missing out.

Disgusting Siskobaiting in the last ep.

interesting connection, there
The crew on this show is headed back to Los Angeles, 2024. That year sounded familiar so I double-checked. The Gabriel Bell riots that DS9 time travelled to? San Francisco, 2024

Yeah that had been discussed a bit in the runup elsewhere -- actual continuity, who knew!

So you're saying we're gonna get hologram Dick Miller.

I did wonder if the date was relevant to an older ep or one of the movies!

So is this (or Q's doing of this) implying this world is the end result of the riots not having been "fixed" by Sisko?

Actually as an aside. I dont think I understood what Q was getting at when he was basically menacingly saying "you need to do penance. YOU KNOW WHY." is this notyet established or am I missing something cos I dont know what hes referring to, aside from the overall "trial" which ... ffs come on.

The big drop that keeps getting foreshadowed is that Picard has some sin or misfortune in his past that’s not been addressed. Guinan kind of prods him and implies it might be about personal relationships, Raffi rightfully gives him shit for the holes in his personal outlook, he has that weird flashback with his mom (?)… who knows! They’re leading to something

I do like the implication that the world going to shit in 2024 isn’t inevitable for… reasons.

My early prediction Picards mom is the borg queen there I said it.

I think that the reference to the Bell Riots is a red herring, since they're supposed to be headed to LA and not SF, or maybe it's a double reverse red herring in that they deliberately ID'ed LA instead to throw us off the scent, but as for "YOU KNOW WHY," I think it's meant to be a mystery to viewers (if not *ahem* JL himself).

xp that was one of my three guesses, but I think
Picard is going to come clean about his past/mom to the crew, and one of them (maybe the tall female one?!) is it, and that is why the line from the nightmare/flashback happens

agreed with Leee on the location thing

I think 2024 is just a hinge point

also the next US election year

insert deep, weary sigh here

Picard is going to come clean about his past/mom

"I'm not actually French."

shocking!

it’d be really funny if the reason for the weird clothes was his mom was a weird munchausens-by-proxy but for cosplaying 1800s france

kinda wonder if they're gonna ignore jean-luc having a brother?

anyway i have to agree with trishy b's link -- none of this requires there to be a hole in picard's life. he's gotten with lots of ladies and if he can't muster it up for orla brady then dm me her number. let's go do some sci-fi shit

lol

If they at least allude to the Bev/Picard ship (even to explain why it never happened either on TNG or between TNG and Picard), I as a longtime shipper would forgive the show many of its current and future trespasses.

mookie!

my man

I as a longtime shipper would forgive the show many of its current and future trespasses.

You mean they might finally admit that he's Wesley's real dad? And Wesley would come back from Travellerland, or wherever he ended up? That would be cool.

recently learned that you used to be a poster i really liked a lot but goddamnit if you summon wesley i will fp you straight to hell

(j/k)

It's inevitable. I can feel it.

as long as they don’t bring back that gross archaeologist chick from Risa i dont care who he bones as long as he bones ~someone~ ffs

i vote for orla or bev

Just watched the TNG episode where he goes to his brother's vineyard and 1800s france was very much a thing there too

evidently the bad picard (grrrr scowls) and the good picard (smiles ineffectually, unsure what's going on) are going to sidney-carton the french revolution in two different directions

You mean they might finally admit that he's Wesley's real dad? And Wesley would come back from Travellerland, or wherever he ended up? That would be cool.

Nooooooo! I never went in for THAT particular theory, and my interest in Bev/Picard was strictly within the timeline of TNG (I have a great fondness for "Attached").

I’m burning this motherfucker down if Wesley shows up

I dunno, I always liked that tease of the Traveller story that never really got follow up, I recall I thought it might come up at one point in Disco and never did.

as long as they don’t bring back that gross archaeologist chick from Risa i dont care

Oh my god, she was the WOOOORST. It was like they were going for a Raiders vibe and landed somewhere around Hooten and the Lady (a show I have never seen, obviously).

sir pat stew didn't think that archaeologist chick was gross o_O

To bring it back full circle, Vash (the "archaeologist chick") ended up palling around the universe with Q (in an ersatz Doctor/companion thing) on DS9.

https://i.imgur.com/B9wsFac.png

oh yeah thats right the archaeologist was his irl girlfriend at the time or wife or whatever

big deal, her character was lame

ooh I think my borg guess might be right

Intrigued about this now. I bailed on Picard season 1 before the two-part finale. Do I *have* to go back and watch that before season 2?

I watched the first 10 mins of season 2 and was, like, Ok! He's back on the farm, so I guess nothing big happened, also the theme tune is bad now.

I just don't want to see any of the new crew, ever, except Orla Brady. Unless they're ok now?

I don't think you really need to have seen the s1 finale for s2 so far -- might be worth reading a synopsis and then immediately facepalming.

Nu-crue:

• Raffi has only called "JL" once by my count (of the two eps that I've seen), so she's only mildly annoying.
• Elnor's actor is really limited and so he's being used as comic relief, which IMO makes him a little more bearable.
• Agnes actually carried the second episode for me

lol i think this is a good assessment

oh and i need clarification on this

are we definitely sure that Rios is NOT timothy olyphant?

how dare you

Elnor's actor is really limited and so he's being used as comic relief

Well...that changes.

man, ICE is just as terrible in 2024

choosing the borg queen over elnor is the correct choice sorry if this offends

I feel like I missed something there, speaking of which. Why is Raffi in such hysterics?

because she sucks

imagine choosing between a good friend you were on an epic adventure with last season and BQ and the first thing Picard does is makes a snap judgment

I mean, it’s right, but damn

I don't think this season is reinventing any warp drives but so far it's been 3/3.

• Sorry mark no paintings this episode.
• The millennial who's writing Jurati's dialogue deserves a Q-damned promotion.
• Really liked the the psychological horror vibes in the Jurati/Queen scene even though it makes absolutely no sci-fi sense.
• I wonder if they're going to pay off the white lady privilege stuff with Seven (although it's really nice to see Jeri Ryan show charisma on a Trek show) (same goes with Rios, both with his charisma and with almost getting away with bluffing ICE because he was a dude being authoritative).
• I'm a little on the fence with this iteration of the Queen -- Alice Krige was vampy, Susanna Thompson was ethereal and spooky, but I'm not sure I have a strong read on Annie Wersching's yet (although admittedly she's only had half an episode to be lucid).

• easily the best alison pill episode
• absurd to let her do that without seven's supervision
• easily the best santiago cabrera episode
• borg queen has resting smirk face, and it's good

i feel like the Rios part of the plot is going to be a leadweight on an otherwise good story

tbh 2024 being generally shit even outside of this watcher/divergence in time business is going to be part of the backdrop and having one character have stakes in that is probably a necessity

is this going to be about brexit again? q changed timeline so that double brexit happens?

sorry to say it, but I think all of the screenwriters are american and virtually none of us give a crap about brexit. I’d estimate if you asked what “brexit” is on the street, the vast majority people would have no idea what that is

I’m obviously sympathetic and not in that group, but

counterpoint: brexit on infinite earths

i’d watch that, no matter how boring it’d be

isn’t that what dr who is

Don’t think I ever expected to see @KofmanMichael turn up in @PrivateEyeNews, but here we are. The crossover event of the year: pic.twitter.com/cs7nBeMDCu

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) March 23, 2022

ha theres an artist who does up a bunch of celebrities in old military garb like that (this is actually probably their work), my gf has a bunch of them in little prints (and a terrifying tim minchin one as our shower curtain)

y..you have Tim Minchin's face on your shower curtain!?

yes and its terrifying.

click if you dare

your gf is v. special

i like to think so! unless you mean it in the mean way in which case let me know so you can CATCH THIS FP

haha <3

I clicked and I now am full of regret.

OK this show is getting quite interesting! I figured out who Picard would encounter, it was pretty obvious. Bit baffled by Q's bit at the end. Trying to figure out whats going to happen!

from knowing the music of LA, I assume the Watcher is Dr. Dre

oh wait, just thought of the obvious one. will watch and find out!

looking back thru data's paintings for a clue

That "California Dreaming" montage might be the worst thing I've seen on TV this year so far.

Yeah that clunked hard.

I enjoyed this ep but it occurs to me now what was bugging me:

He meets Guinan at the bar at 10 Forward st (heh) and she seems to never have met him before, but he met her in the 19th century in that NextGen episode?

Scene on the bus = roffle.

Actually - was it the same actor?

For some weird reason IMDB has no detail up yet for this ep so I cant confirm.

I don't think it was, I figured more of a spiritual cousin, as it were.

a couple websites are saying it was!

Yeah its him, comparison pics make it clear

I enjoyed this ep but it occurs to me now what was bugging me

Trayce: yeah, I wondered about how Guinan didn't recognize Picard even though they'd met earlier, but timey wimey/alternate timeline shenanigans could be a convenient out. Also she doesn't look the same now as she did a century before (though I guess the throwaway line about being able to change her appearance at will is meant to handwave that away).

Despite that potential inconsistency, I dug all the little easter eggs (10 Forward as mentioned, but also why Picard sounds like a Brit).

Also, Marty McFly's mom directed the episode!

Other things:

I liked Seven and Raffi's bickering!
Dixon Hill!

And this seems like confirmation that the mohawk guy is the same from STIV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74p0A7sN-_I

And a nice interview with the one of the guest stars which also delves into the apparent plot inconsistency (spoiler-tagging the link because it has potential spoilers in it): https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/star-trek-picard-young-guinan-ito-aghayere-whoopi-goldberg-1235213292/

I’ll accept that.

Choice quote from interview:

And, I mean, he has a “Sir” in front of his name. He was just ready for it. He was like, “Bring it! Bring it!” And such a sweet soul.

A friend of mine had told me he really likes this yeast thing, Marmite. Because I have family in the U.K., I know it, and I hate it. It’s awful.

i like the actress who plays guinan but i was kind of annoyed that she didnt really do anything to even vaguely ~seem~ like the character at all idk
like except for her being at that bar & picard saying her name out loud, there isnt anything much there

not that she shd imitate whoopi idk

hah -- i saw who the director was but assumed it was a different person

I like the idea of a timeline where
Guinan has been around earth during one of its worst periods, seen things move back and forth and then arrived at this 2024 bleak version, but without that tempering influence of having met Picard and crew back in the 1880s to know that things are going to rebound in a great way.

I recently rewatched the TNG episode where Ro Laren is initially sent to the Enterprise and Guinan sits her down and says, hey, I’m not here to be your friend, but here’s what I need to tell you. It’s a great moment because you can’t dictate what someone should do, but you can speak to them on their own terms.

I think there’s kind of a questionable writers room thing in ST with that, though, because as good as plays, the ST: First Contact movie also has a “black woman tells Picard to wake the fuck up” moment. I found it on youtube, but it cuts off before the great “..you broke your little toys..” line

Yeah if you accept that the timey wimey fuckery means theyre in a past/present where *everything* they were and did just Never Happened, things make more sense. Its a bit of a deus ex machina, but its also very Trek, so.

i thought guinan specifically told ro laren that she was her friend?

riker was such a dick in that ep; v. unprofessional

yeah he was in super-asshole mode in that episode

Was it episode 5 last season where things went south? This one was fine, but mostly setup for the next episode -- hopefully we'll get more heisty stuff that gets teased.

always happy to see orla but she seems to have let picard take over her entire mission with barely a shrug

not clear on how q had that disappointing finger snap yet still managed to provide soong with that compound/take over as renee's therapist

anyway despite the borg queen's attempts we have a plot, however absurd, that doesn't center on everyone's feelings. (yet, because this picard childhood thing is gonna be bad, right?

also santiago cabrera is a handsome man

I am assuming Q is being her therapist precisely because he's realised he cant just Q-ify her head? So hes manipulating her old school.

Doesnt explain how he wormed into the position, but eh.

Meantime, looking ahead a bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGl8ypcjWeI

how will they bring data back to life and will it involve chronotons

sounds more like one of those Soong mfers to me

Yeah I was rolling my eyes at yet another secret Soong.

I kind of wonder if the appearance of Soong and daughter wasn't so much a "Dahj cast in the image of hundreds of years later" thing but maybe a remixed reality where Q picked important people and recast them in this little fanfic of his.

Q is writing the show, confirmed!

Well Alison Pill is having the time of her life (you know the moment I'm talking about it if you've seen the new episode).

show needs more paintings: reanimate data

this episode was lame

absurd that seven -- the character with actual borg experience! -- has spent the whole season trying to calm down the entirely useless raffi

didn't even get a song ffs

thank god the picards had to go outside, at their crazy locked-down formal event, so someone could hit one of them with a car

oh no, someone is trapped in his own mind by entirely made-up trauma

they even wasted the whole thing with the hot doctor

So you’re in the third season writers’ room.

i thought it had a solid start! but now it needs nothing less than AP reducing the borg queen to reciting the numbers of pi

the borg queen stuff is def annoying to me

and look i should be first in line for pat benatar fan service but they kept the chorus exactly the same & just changed the arrangement for the verse which annoyed me

also thematically it’s kindof a halfass song choice. If you’re going to go there, GO THERE. just swing for the fences and do a bigband workup of “The Beast In Me” or fkn “Dr Hekyll and Mr Jive” or “Jugband Blues” like what are we really doing here

if you're gonna go for a 40yo pop song there's no excuse not to go for total eclipse of the heart

i was going more w split personality theme but ok

Why would someone in 2024 sing/entertain others with a Pat Benatar song from the 80s was my problem. I know the answer is "our fans are all over 50" but hey ho.

Didnt mind this ep but not a lot progressed.

also mookie otm i hate this
oh no, someone is trapped in his own mind by entirely made-up trauma

but in general i still do like this season

I cannot imagine these series (Disco & Picard) being appealing to newcomers to the franchise.

I just watched two early, generic DS9 eps in a row — one where Dax trains a floppy-haired 90s Trill with Chandler Bing’s voice, and one where Quark’s old Cardassian girlfriend turns up — and the characters have such soul and depth and wit. I miss that! That dissonance - that’s always been there - between the depth of feeling and the corniness of the presentation - seems even more pronounced, watching them now alongside the new shows.

a major problem i have with this show is that @sirpatstew's solution to playing picard-when-old is being @OLDsirpatstew and just playing picard and i don't think it works

"he has an unstable arhythmia, his heart's all over the place"
"what does that mean?"
"it means he's in the middle of a major cardiac event"

thanks doc

lmao

Nice twisty little nugget was Dr. Jemison being paged, who is almost surely Mae Jemison, real-life astronaut inspired to become one by TOS and later had a cameo on TNG.

Also, Seven has had experiences with Q(s).

Hahah yeah at the Jemison moment, I was all "Hey wait, is she in this?"

was that a tesla that soong used to run over picard?

presumably by 2024 everyone just shrugs when a tesla runs over a pedestrian due to the frequency

lol the entire franchise is now contorted to establish musk as someone who matters in its own past history

they shd go back in time and kill baby elon (he's a baby however old he is)

or we can sit in on jlp's therapy session 🙄