Star Trek to return to the small screen.

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Short Trek - Children of Mars - This one drops a few hints about the upcoming Picard series.

 

[Timbo]

Short Trek - Children of Mars - This one drops a few hints about the upcoming Picard series.

Yep - I think we’re seeing the incident that caused Picard leave Starfleet.

And all of the previews have hinted that this series will be about what happened in the aftermath of the fall of Romulus. Maybe that’s all a red herring and the ‘rogue synths’ that are alluded to here will be what it’s actually about.

 

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Yep - I think we’re seeing the incident that caused Picard leave Starfleet.

And all of the previews have hinted that this series will be about what happened in the aftermath of the fall of Romulus. Maybe that’s all a red herring and the ‘rogue synths’ that are alluded to here will be what it’s actually about.

Yeah, not sure about that...

Spoiler

There's an IDW comic called Picard - Countdown. I've only read the first issue, but it's about the Federation's effort to evacuate the population of Romulus a year before a star goes supernova and wipes it out. In the comic Geordi is at the Mars Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards overseeing the construction of a new fleet of starships that are supposed to aid in this evacuation. The first page is set a year after the rest of the events in the comic and shows some Romulans that appear to have migrated to Picard's winery and are discussing not being welcomed by the general population.

So it does appear to be about the fall of Romulus, and I would say that there is a faction within the Federation that is anti-immigration when it comes to the resettlement of the Romulans. They blew up the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards (and Geordi in the process) and that's why Picard gets all upset and leaves Starfleet.

 

[jargan83]

Star Trek: Picard has been renewed for Season 2 ahead of its launch next week

https://www.cnet.com/news/engage-star-trek-picard-renewed-for-season-2/

 

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Hmmmmmm....

Spoiler

From the first episode of Picard and an article I just read, it's looking like the Borg is the main storyline of this series. I was really hoping that this show would go in a new direction, but since Alex Kurtzman is a complete f**king hack I guess it's no surprise he's revisiting what has already been done to f**king death in Voyager. Romulans I am cool with and there's obviously a story there with the sabotaged evacuation of Romulus, but I would have much preferred that to be done without adding the Borg into the mix.

https://www.cnet.com/news/star-trek...-like-you-have-never-seen-alex-kurtzman-says/

See? Borg, Borg, Borg... f**k I hate Kurtzman... You can see how his mind works by reading that article... "Duhhhh.. what was the most memorable storyline from TNG? Borg? Ok, let's rehash that!"

I'mma give this show as much of a chance as I can, but I already had one major cringe moment watching this, when whatsherface McScience lady said "oh, it would be at least 1000 years before we had flesh and blood androids..." Discovery tie-in anyone? *grooooooaaaaaannnnn*

 

[Timbo]

I’m willing to give it time. I hope they don’t re-hash the Borg, it’s been absolutely done to death over the history of the franchise. I don’t mind it being on the periphery but I hope that it’s just that.

I quite enjoyed the episode. This is a new beat for Trek, I’m on board, and just how good is it seeing Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard again?

 

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I’m willing to give it time. I hope they don’t re-hash the Borg, it’s been absolutely done to death over the history of the franchise. I don’t mind it being on the periphery but I hope that it’s just that.

From what I've read in mainstream news articles that have given away the upcoming appearances of certain TNG/VOY era characters, let's just say (without absolutely spoiling anything) there's a very "Descent" feeling to it all.

I quite enjoyed the episode. This is a new beat for Trek, I’m on board, and just how good is it seeing Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard again?

Sure, it's good seeing all of these people reprise their old roles. It was great seeing Brent Spiner and the 1701D again (or was it the E?).

I'm intrigued to see how the mysteries set up in the first episode will unfold, but at the same time I have this feeling of dread that we're in for more time travel nonsense involving the Discovery crew.

 

[zombie jesus]

how good is it seeing Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard again?

That's enough for me, love it.

 

[Timbo]

From what I've read in mainstream news articles that have given away the upcoming appearances of certain TNG/VOY era characters, let's just say (without absolutely spoiling anything) there's a very "Descent" feeling to it all.


Sure, it's good seeing all of these people reprise their old roles. It was great seeing Brent Spiner and the 1701D again (or was it the E?).

I'm intrigued to see how the mysteries set up in the first episode will unfold, but at the same time I have this feeling of dread that we're in for more time travel nonsense involving the Discovery crew.

It was the D - and the first time a Galaxy-class starship has been fully remastered for HD broadcast.

Yeah, I know that Jonathan del Arco and Jeri Ryan are back but I’m willing to give
it time. If this series has a bit of a focus on Picard confronting past demons, it’ll be hard to see him do that without talking to Hugh.

To be fair, I am somewhat curious about what the status of the Borg is in the 2390s. When we last visited this universe for the Voyager finale, the Borg were essentially nerfed by future-Janeway bringing back those berserker torpedoes that could take out a cube with a single shot. What does this mean for the Federation? Have they led an offensive against the Borg, reducing their threat? Is this why the Romulans are salvaging a random cube?

There are possibilities it just needs to be done right.

 

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On a more positive note, the fight choreography was f**king top notch. Best fights scenes in any Star Trek ever.

 

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So those two Romulan dudes (Zhaban and Laris) on Picard's vineyard are the same two people in the Picard Countdown comics. They are former Tal Shiar spies that are dispatched to some Romulan colony and then defect after "falling in love" with each other. There's this convoluted plot where Picard visits the colony to prepare the Romulans for evacuation and then finds out there's a native population of about 5 million. After Picard decides that they'll need to be evacuated too the Romulans then take Picard captive. Then it turns out they were just trying to lure Picard there just so they could take over his ship (some new class of ship that looks like a cross between Voyager and the Discovery Enterprise)... But then he gets busted out of jail by the two Tal Shiar defectors, only for one of them to later double cross him for all of about two minutes before changing his mind and defect again. Picard then decides to protect them by putting them on his vineyard.

The entire time Picard's "woke" PoC second officer makes snippy comments about slavery and the Romulans being colonisers... And his second officer is Raffi, the chick he meets up with at the end of the second episode. If the character on the TV show is anything like the comics it's going to be painful as f**k.

The only real takeaway from the entire series was that the Romulans believe the entire Federation evacuation is in reality a plot to undermine them somehow.

 

[Timbo]

I’m enjoying it. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

And I’m loving all the Yanks on Reddit losing their shit over a couple of f-bombs because ‘you can’t curse in Star Trek’!

 

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I think it's a bit too early to tell with this show because we don't really have any idea of exactly what the f**k is going on. Who f**ked with the synths? What are they doing on the Borg cube? Where did these new flesh and blood androids come from? What's this secret plot that seemingly involves Vulcans and Romulans?

I'mma wait for these answers, but they need to be good answers. Discovery season 2 really shit the bed badly by making it obvious really early on that Michael was the red angel, and it was never really a satisfying resolution to that mystery because a lot of it still doesn't make much sense. And Discovery already had a history of unsatisfying resolutions.

The f-bombs are out of place for a Star Trek show, and yanks are a bit more sensitive to crude language. Kurtzman Trek is definitely not the same "family friendly" show that Star Trek used to be. Personally I don't really give a shit about swearing, but it does feel forced and I roll my eyes each time it happens. Well, except for Romulan lady saying "cheeky f**kers." I thought that was amusing.

Stuff I am not so fond of... Did we really need a new secret police within the Romulan secret police? Maybe it's necessary to have some kind of Vulcan/Romulan alliance, but I'm all Section 31'ed out and am over these secret organisations. The CSI scene in Dahj's apartment had some of the worst Treknobabble I've seen in any series. Usually it's just a invert the whatevers and pray to the plasma injectors, but Romulan lady just went and on and on and on.

I'm wondering if Lore plays any role in all of this. He was just disassembled at the end of Descent Part 2, yeah? Maddox could have found his parts. Maybe I'll have to go back and watch that.

Something I definitely don't want to see in this series.... Q. However, his final words in All Good Things pretty much make it inevitable, especially with Picard's life threatening brain glitch.

The synths were cool.

 

[Timbo]

In this weeks instalment of 'what issue did Reddit find with Picard this week', we go to the sunglasses being worn by the head of Starfleet Security. And the conspiracy theories as to why she was wearing them are wild.

I just took it to be she was basically a cop interrogating a witness. Cops wearing sunnies so that people can't make eye contact and are put off is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

 

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In this weeks instalment of 'what issue did Reddit find with Picard this week', we go to the sunglasses being worn by the head of Starfleet Security. And the conspiracy theories as to why she was wearing them are wild.

I just took it to be she was basically a cop interrogating a witness. Cops wearing sunnies so that people can't make eye contact and are put off is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

Eh... I don't care about her wearing sunglasses. I do have the feeling she coerced Jurati into joining Picard's mission though. Raffi is right, Picard should be more suspicious of her.

That said, it seems that Picard is being Luke Skywalker'ed in this new series. I don't believe for a second that the old Picard wouldn't have gone in to bat for Raffi when Starfleet fired her for seemingly no reason, nor would he just abandon her only to make contact again when he needed something from her. And I do think the old Picard would have taken his first officer more seriously when they said they had evidence of a Romulan plot to undermine the evacuation. He seems to be more loyal to the two Romulans that (in the comics) busted him out of jail once and even double crossed him for a moment during that.

The way Hugh's introduction was handled was pretty strange. If you haven't watched TNG you'd have no idea who this dude is. I assume they'll give the back story when he has some face time with Picard.

Other than that I'm still pretty meh with all of this. I really don't care about the Borg, and I really don't care much for this new "Zhat Vash" business.

 

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Also, I'm not sure if she was trying to play up Raffi being some kind of drug addict, but Michelle Hurd's acting in this episode was kinda bad.

 

[Timbo]

I think the Hugh introduction was done well, if you hadn’t watched TNG his character is still presented in an interesting way.

I’m also taking Picard walking away with a grain of salt, but a believable one. We have have never really seen is what toll the Enterprise-E took during the Dominion War. We did see however what happened during their mission with the So’na (in Star Trek: Insurrection) where Starfleet cooperated with a hostile power at the expense of an innocent race due to how desperate they had gotten.

So since the end of TNG, Picard has:

- Lost the Enterprise D and watched James Kirk die. (Generations)
- Helped narrowly repulse a Borg invasion of Earth and faced off with the Collective again. (First Contact)
- Seen Starfleet cooperate with the So’na in complete opposite of their morals due the desperation of the situation. (Insurrection)
- Spent three years as commander of a capital ship on the front lines of the Dominion War. (Off screen but must have happened)
- Discovered the Romulans cloned him, and narrowly prevented that clone from committing a genocide on Earth, with one of his closest friends in Data dying to protect him in the process. (Nemesis)
- Seen his close friend Ambassador Spock vanish (into the Kelvin Timeline) trying to prevent the Romulan Supernova, so he then took the lead in trying to champion an evacuation only to be rebuffed. (This episode).

I don’t see how he’s not a complete burnout at this point. I don’t think this is anywhere near Luke Skywalker going ‘hmmm, something a bit fishy about this Ben kid who is also my biological relative, better laser sword him to death’. This is a man who has constantly stood up for what he believes are the morals and ethics of the Federation and Starfleet, only to see it be dragged conflict and disaster and the senior staff compromising their values along the way because of how bad it’s getting.

We are constantly told in Star Trek that Starfleet is explicitly non-military. How can they not be anything other than a conventional military by the 2390s when this show takes place after everything that has happened in the two decades prior?

No wonder he looked around one day and said ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here anymore’ and became a recluse.

Also, I'm not sure if she was trying to play up Raffi being some kind of drug addict, but Michelle Hurd's acting in this episode was kinda bad.

No arguments there - I thought it was very poor acting. Being opposite Patrick Stewart didn’t help either.

Also, is it just me or are the new Starfleet uniforms kinda not-great? The costuming for the most part in this show has been bang on. These all look like ill-fitting knock offs.

 

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Also, is it just me or are the new Starfleet uniforms kinda not-great? The costuming for the most part in this show has been bang on. These all look like ill-fitting knock offs.

Check out the wonky rank insignia when the Commodore goes to visit Jurati. That's pretty amateurish.

 

[Timbo]

Rios is the character I’ve been wanting to see in Star Trek since I was a kid. The badass who got disgruntled with Starfleet but still has his moral compass and is doing what’s right, but on his own terms.

He’s Star Treks answer to Han Solo.

Also, I wonder if Seven has taken out a restraining order against The Doctor having made it back to the Alpha Quadrant and discovering that she does not actually have to wear catsuits every day.

 

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Star Trek: Fellowship of the Picard.

I mean, really? This dude looks almost exactly like Elrond from Middle Earth, and they call him Elnor? That's a bit too much.