Star Trek: Picard - Season One - CBS All Access - starring Patrick Stewart (1 Viewer)

[The Obsolete Man]

Ugh, I need to learn to not open things when people who should know better email me fake stories like the one Sam mentioned early.

I’d really like it if Trek fandom didn’t turn as toxic and insanely reality-denying as Star Wars fandom.

You're always going to have the loud, minor YouTube clickbaiters now, no matter what you're discussing.

Though honestly, no one's worse than Doctor Who "fans" since the alien who can change every cell in their body somehow broke the roolz and became an icky gurl, bringing out the He Man Woman Haters Club who have probably never even seen an episode to defend the honor of... well, something.

Trekkies are still downright civil in comparison.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The Doctor Who thing is tough for me because I really like the new casting but think the new writing has been dismal. And it’s really difficult to have that conversation without being lumped into the “He Man Woman Haters Club” when I’m all about keeping the woman and getting her better scripts!

 

[David Weicker]

Another really good episode.

Unfortunately, it had one of my big pet peeves.

If you have a surprise guest character, don’t put the actor’s name in the opening credits

24 used to do this a lot, and it hurt the episode

The show builds up to a big reveal, but it’s spoiled because, well, we can read. Put the name at the end.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Seriously. At least we already knew that person was returning. But I think from now on, I’m looking down from after Stewart’s name until I guess production designer or something.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

I skipped the credits, so I got the intended surprise at the end!

I usually skip credits. I'll do season openers to see the changes if there are any, but otherwise, for Trek, they're 2 minutes wasted.

And oh, boy, on my DS9 rewatch do I scream "DAMMIT!" every time Paramount put the post-credit chapter break about three minutes in instead of at the end of the credits.

Another really good episode.

Unfortunately, it had one of my big pet peeves.

If you have a surprise guest character, don’t put the actor’s name in the opening credits

24 used to do this a lot, and it hurt the episode

The show builds up to a big reveal, but it’s spoiled because, well, we can read. Put the name at the end.

Old Trek (well, DS9 specifically) was good about this. The one instance I remember was the one where Kira was in a rock, and they held Salome Jens' name until the end credits to not ruin the surprise at the end of the episode.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I love the way the show is filling in the details of Picard's life since we last saw him.

And, in the process, portraying how the galaxy has changed in the intervening years.

The opening scene set just prior to the uprising on Mars felt like classic TNG, only with better production values. The present day scenes in the same location felt wilder and more untamed, like the kind of place Kirk-era Trek would have ended up.

Jonathan Frakes, as always, is able to direct within the established framework/style of the show while giving his actors support to do great work. Over years of seeing things he’s directed, I’ve really come to admire how well he’s able to jump into someone else’s sandbox without missing a beat. I remember when the project that became Star Trek Beyond was in need of a director and Frakes jokingly offered to do it and no one took the idea seriously - watch his episode here, watch his Discovery episodes - he could have done it. It’s a major credit to him that he can take his craft from 90s era episodic directing to today’s high concept, high budget serialized stories not only without missing a beat, but evolving with the times.

He directed First Contact, the best of the TNG-era movies and the most cinematic of the pre-J.J. Abrams Star Trek films. So his aptitude should never have been in doubt.

I feel the same. It is funny to say that Picard has matured so much from TNG years (he was no spring chicken then either), but he has, and the way the character is written makes it apparent. He is so much more kind, and emapathetic than we have ever seen him, and I love that about this series.

His relationship with the young Elnor was an indication of that, a far cry from the Picard who neither liked nor understood children.

I loved the moment in the town square, where he publicly owned up to the consequences of his choices. One cool thing would be if, on the course of this journey, the legend of Jean-Luc Picard starts getting new life in system after system.

Another really good episode.

Unfortunately, it had one of my big pet peeves.

If you have a surprise guest character, don’t put the actor’s name in the opening credits

24 used to do this a lot, and it hurt the episode

The show builds up to a big reveal, but it’s spoiled because, well, we can read. Put the name at the end.

Especially because Seven of Nine had such a great entrance.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’ve been watching TNG first season episodes, so Picard’s early episodes as a man who is not a family man, and then warming up to Wesley in the early episodes was nice to revisit. Then I watched Coming of Age tonight where Picard admits to Wesley his experience with his Starfleet entrance exam. He’s pretty good to Wesley. So it was quite interesting to see tonight’s Picard and his relationship with Elnor. He’s mellowed with age as they say and was great with the young Elnor.

Agreed that each episode is doing more and more to show what happened to Picard 14 years ago and since. It’s been eating him up as well as what happened to Data. Also interesting that finally a Star Trek episode that shows an alien race with variety. Up till now, Romulans on TNG all had the same hair style!

I happen to catch the credits too and saw her name. I was hoping to see more but not till next week. I missed that Frakes directed this one.

One thing I wondered, the ideal would of the future Earth, people have no money. They only work to better themselves. So how do they support themselves off world? I guess some people are mercenaries and pilots a ship for money. How does Seven support her efforts. This is just a rhetorical question that ran through my head. It seems commerce is still alive and well.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Yeah, there needs to be some way for people to pay Picard for the wine

I can see the package my wife bought arrived but I will be a mature Trekkie and not open the box ahead of my birthday. Wonder what kind of meal goes with a Chateau Picard red.

(Nelson, thanks for the Voyager episode suggestions several weeks ago, they’re coming in handy right now.)

 

[joshEH]

Another really good episode.

Unfortunately, it had one of my big pet peeves.

If you have a surprise guest character, don’t put the actor’s name in the opening credits

24 used to do this a lot, and it hurt the episode

The show builds up to a big reveal, but it’s spoiled because, well, we can read. Put the name at the end.

Unfortunately, due to Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) union-regulations, if a guest-star of certain stature is in the episode, their name is required to go "up" in the opening credits -- this affects residuals and other concerns, and the studio would be in trouble if they did otherwise.

 

[Greg.K]

I was surprised by the ending because I wasn't paying attention to the opening credits.

I had been somewhat confused about when she would show up, since in the show's trailer when she's introduced it seemed like it was at Picard's house on Earth. But now with the ship having holo-quarters that makes more sense.

 

[Jason_V]

Unfortunately, due to Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) union-regulations, if a guest-star of certain stature is in the episode, their name is required to go "up" in the opening credits -- this affects residuals and other concerns, and the studio would be in trouble if they did otherwise.

The only Trek exception to that I can think of is DS9: "Heart of Stone". Salome Jens was not credited in the opening credits (she was in the end credits) to preserve the surprise in that episode. But yeah, it is incredibly rare.

To the episode: I think this is my second favorite behind "Remembrance." The story advances and is intentional with what we're shown on Vashti. We're filling in some of the time between Nemesis and ST: P and Patrick Stewart (and the writing) are very successfully playing up a man with regret in his later years. He is trying to make right with the universe and I love that angle from the previously impervious Picard.

Picard is so used to "complete" wins that when he could achieve 100% with the Romulans, he opted for 0%. Because he couldn't save everyone, he saved no one. That's a crushing thing to hear and acknowledge, but it's right in the Picard wheelhouse. This series is infinitely more complex, and rightly so, than TNG could have ever been. Times change, audience taste changes and ST is showing that in spades.

 

[Bryan^H]

His relationship with the young Elnor was an indication of that, a far cry from the Picard who neither liked nor understood children.

I have not revisited seasons 6, and 7 of TNG in a long time (not my favorite seasons) but I don't seem to recall Jean-Luc acting any different after "The Inner Light". It seems as though the Picard we are seeing now should have been the Picard after the lifetime of being a family man in that critically acclaimed episode. It would have made more sense on the TNG then, but just more "business as usual".

 

[Philip Verdieck]

I have not revisited seasons 6, and 7 of TNG in a long time (not my favorite seasons) but I don't seem to recall Jean-Luc acting any different after "The Inner Light". It seems as though the Picard we are seeing now should have been the Picard after the lifetime of being a family man in that critically acclaimed episode. It would have made more sense on the TNG then, but just more "business as usual".

We also had a ton of him handling children in the collision with the cosmic string episode, where he was stuck in the turbolift with the kids.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Unfortunately, due to Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) union-regulations, if a guest-star of certain stature is in the episode, their name is required to go "up" in the opening credits -- this affects residuals and other concerns, and the studio would be in trouble if they did otherwise.

I thought they were able to get Michelle Yeoh’s credit to appear as the first one of the end titles during her surprise re-appearance on Discovery.

At least it didn’t blow a surprise I didn’t already know to expect.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

We also had a ton of him handling children in the collision with the cosmic string episode, where he was stuck in the turbolift with the kids.

That was before The Inner Light, but it did show a softening of his stance on children. But unfortunately, he didn't make young Elnor his Executive Officer in Charge of Radishes.

 

[Nelson Au]

Josh, glad the Voyager episode list is coming in handy.

interesting thought about the Picard wine. Was his brother making it to continue the art of making wine? And then was he supplying it to the world for free?

 

[SamT]

I don't remember. How Picard knows

Spoiler

Seven of Nine?

Where did they meet?

 

[Nelson Au]

I wondered the same thing Sam. It’s like how did Chekov know who Khan is? I think since Picard knows Admiral Janeway, he will know who that person is.

 

[Greg.K]

I’d guess the community of the formerly Borg assimilated is pretty small and know of each other.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I have seen the Pilot show for Picard and now have to decide if I break down and pay for CBS Online or not.