Star Trek Picard season 3

[The Question]

Exactly. Star Trek was not created for the anti-intellectual "bro" clique. It was always for nerds. Shit, we all (I'm sure) know that the first pilot was rejected for being "too cerebral"! NuTrek actually requires a viewer to turn off his brain.

Sure, there was action, from the beginning, but the action and spectacle was just set dressing for intellectual and ethical plays. Guys like Abrams, Kurtzman, et al. either don't understand that or don't care. And that lack of understanding and care shows in what they produce.

 

[The Question]

The fact that now the Borg are just listening to the Queen monologuing has killed their effectiveness and creepiness as well.

I think the Queen, as a concept, could have been done a lot better a different way, perhaps in service to a "course correction" that maintained the Borg as a monolith; to wit:

First off, she wouldn't be at all humanized. Think the Jurati version before the face reveal. That look, that pre-reveal style of performance. No humanity to it whatsoever, it's just a vaguely humanoid, vaguely feminine, cybernetic it. No vamping, no gloating, no posturing, definitely no seduction. The Borg Queen we got in First Contact (and now in Picard Season 3) is like some kind of weird-ass "mommy domme" in lingerie she built out of the takings from a supply run to Office Depot.

It's... off putting, sure, but it's not scary.

 

[Mentalist]

It was encapsulated perfectly when we had the scene with Data and Lore talking to each other (and whilst Data being overused is another big criticism), and it almost felt like a Trek-worthy exchange, and then the immediate next scene was Raffi going ninja Rambo mode down the corridors.

It's been my main critique from the start. It feels like they either don't trust Star Trek to stand on its own merits or they fundamentally miss the point of why Star Trek even works. I mean, they are making a show called Picard. It's literally based on a character that defied convention for the leading man of your big expensive sci-fi show in the first place. The mystery box bullshit that burst into use on Lost being the crux of what they write these shows around now is mind-numbing as well. You can have big reveals and plot twists, but the way they do it is infuriating and never even pays off.

 

[The Question]

That's just shit writing. Setups and payoffs are essential to keeping pages turning, but they should be symmetrical in impact -- lots of little sparks of setup should = a big bang of a payoff.

This has been slathering on the setup like Rachel Ray overuses butter, and the payoff... *sound of a deflating balloon*.

 

[Mentalist]

I think the Queen, as a concept, could have been done a lot better a different way, perhaps in service to a "course correction" that maintained the Borg as a monolith; to wit:

First off, she wouldn't be at all humanized. Think the Jurati version before the face reveal. That look, that pre-reveal style of performance. No humanity to it whatsoever, it's just a vaguely humanoid, vaguely feminine, cybernetic it. No vamping, no gloating, no posturing, definitely no seduction. The Borg Queen we got in First Contact (and now in Picard Season 3) is like some kind of weird-ass "mommy domme" in lingerie she built out of the takings from a supply run to Office Depot.

It's... off putting, sure, but it's not scary.

I liked the Queen in First Contact. It did make sense with the whole ant/bee colony thing they were going with, and it was suitably creepy and a great performance from Alice Krige (no other Queen performance has come close), but it did signal the end of the Borg as that truly faceless, unstoppable death machine with no emotion or ability to reason with. The Borg is such a cool idea conceptually. The way they ignored the crew until they deemed them a threat was just creepy as fuck as a kid watching those first few appearances, and it truly felt like an unrelenting force that you couldn't stop without sacrificing half the Federation.

Too much of a good thing though. Voyager shit the bed hard with them (at least we got Seven, so it's not all bad), and Picard has just used them to the point where they're just a joke now.

 

[The Question]

Also, the more I think about the "genetic modification" thing revealed in 3.9, the more... 'Huh?' I am with it. Yes, it explains why Picard could hear the Collective in First Contact. But it also seems weird that the Borg would do something like that. Did they expect him to be retrieved? Were they planning to just... give him back, like a Trojan Horse, in the event that the Enterprise failed to retrieve him?

And going back to Season 2 -- what the shit? Are there multiple, distinct Borg Collectives now? Because Jurati is running one. And apparently the Alice Krige Borg Queen is running a completely separate one! What the minty fresh fuck?! lol

 

[The Question]

And then... and then... they turned the Borg Queen into a yandere zombie ex-girlfriend.

lol

 

[The Question]

*finishes watching series finale*

Pretty good.

*finishes watching post credits scene*

"... Huh."

 

[The Question]

Sorta-spoiler-ish thoughts ahead:

1. Seeing the Enterprise-D kick some serious ass was... very cathartic, even though I couldn't quite dismiss how low-key goofy it was to see what is in essence a gigantic starliner moving and shooting as if it's the Defiant.

2. I pretty much expected the entire sequence of events in which Picard pulls his kid out of the Collective. But I'm forgive the predictability of it on the strength of how well it was executed.

3. Data's "trust me" moment, and that the skepticism of the other bridge crew brought him to having that moment, was good viewing.

4. The Borg Queen was... not well performed. Not losing sight of the fact that Alice Krige defined the role in First Contact, it really has been done better since then. By Allison Pill, as loathe as I am to admit that. Krige's voice work here was so hammy that if I'd had a couple eggs to fry up and a slice of bread to toast, I could've made a country breakfast out of that performance.

5. Obviously, there's going to be a spinoff. Just hope Matalas is the one showrunning it. Matalas Trek feels like it would be pretty similar to Berman & Braga Trek, which I'm guessing is what he grew up on. Born in '75, so he's my age, which means TNG would be what he cut his teeth on, most likely. I think I'd probably give a series set on the Enterprise-G a fair shake. If Season 3 of Picard serves as a backdoor pilot for that, it's got a relatively solid launching point.

6. Aaaaand there he is. Q. Though why they'd pair Picard's Q with Picard's kid, I don't know -- when they could have Keegan de Lancie as "Q, Jr." serving the same narrative purpose to even better effect.

 

[StarMan™]

Wow.

There aren't enough facepalms.

 

[The Question]

Wow.

There aren't enough facepalms.

It's sad that, "Well, it's better than Discovery..." is the best I can muster, but, I mean... it is. It does at least have that much in its defense.

 

[The Question]

Further thoughts:

1. It was nice to see the old, non-Star-Wars-y ship-at-warp effect. (i.e., star streaks going by, instead of a "hyperspace" style "blurry light tunnel".)

2. Ed Speleers in Locutus prosthetics. Nice callback, although it's a little goofy how quickly they got it off him, and the fact that the most serious physical trauma it caused was some redness where it had been. I guess the Borg Queen just stuck it on his face with a hot glue gun or something.

 

[The Question]

One thing I'll say for it... it's got me rewatching TNG. Even the stinkers and clunkers seem like gold, now, by comparison.

 

[Dr Dave]

Oh good end with Q [/sarcasm]

Ending with the poker scene would have been fun, but nooooo!

 

[whisky]

Maybe I am just an old man who has watched Star Trek for as long as I can remember, but I thought that was a brilliant ending to a mostly great last season.

I could find faults and I probably will later, but this made me feel genuine human emotions and I haven't experienced that in star trek since 2009.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

First two thirds of episode:

NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE

THEY'RE JUST MAKING SPEECHES AND SETTING UP FOR SHOWDOWNS THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE

EVERYBODY'S JUST TALKING AND NOTHING'S HAPPENING WHY ISNT THE FLEET JUST ANNIHILATING THEM

HOW DO THEY JUST GET TO BEAM AND WALK AROUND AND FIND STUFF IF EVERYTHINGS DOOMED

NONE OF THJS MASKRADF SDFDENSSE

Last third of episode:

NOW EVERYONE IS ALL EMOTIONAL AND FAREWELLY BECAUSE SOMEHOW THEY BEAT THE BORG IN ABOUT 30 SECONDS SOMEHOW STILL NOT SURE HOW BUT IT SURE SEEMED EASY CONSIDERING ALL THE SHIT WE JUST HAD TO SIT THRU FOR THE LAST 9 WEEKS WUT

EVERYONES GETTING MUSHY CHARACTER MOMENTS AND HAPPY ENDINGS AND AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL IT BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED

EVERYONES TALKING AGAIN BUT THEY'RE ALL HAPPY AND SNARKY AND HAVE PROMOTIONS

NONE OF THIS MADE SENSE BUT I'M SUPPOSED TO HAVE LOVED IT AND SAID GOODBYE TO EVERYONE

BUT HWHSDFT THE FUCK JUSTS;"jdOKLFJ HAPPENDCDSED

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I kept having to stop and rewind the episode because it wasn't holding my attention.

The last part of this epsiode could have been a filmed as a 10 minute short reel they showed at the Emmys during some Trek anniversary.

Little from the other episodes (or the other 2 seasons) were necessary.

What the fuck

The poker scene was a big lubed up jackoff

But I didn't cum

OK waiting for the post credit scene...

...

ok now I'm glad I sent this reply to one of Terry Matala's tweets a few days ago:

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

Seriously though, this could have been crafted so much better.

But it's the ending we were given.

Oh well.

Capitalism kills everything in the end.

 

[The Question]

Capitalism kills everything in the end.

 

[whisky]

Ok a few gripes, like Mando too safe, no regular cast died, almost everyone in startfleet safe, even the people taken by the changelings.

Speaking of, changelings are so powerful they are literally seen as god's in a quarter of the galaxy, but they can be simply arrested by two humans with phasers.

Laughing at data's mental issues, and his own councillor looking for holidays while in a session, that's a wrong message.

The enterprise is not the millennium falcon.

This Borg cube must have some kind of signaling system, oh really, could it be all those transmitter looking spikes we have never seen on a cube before?

That said I did like Picard and Jack looking up and seeing the enterprise like it was bad boys.

 

[Loktar]

Why not call Jack "Number One"? Wtf is a Special Counselor to the Captain?