It took JJ Abrams’ cabal of mediocrity to get Patrick Stewart to play one Jean-Luc Picard again. They surprisingly pulled it off too by utilizing the power of streaming as per Discovery: more violence and swearing than allowed on the broadcast networks. What was really refreshing to see was that not everything within the Federation is sunny and rosy, especially when it’s made clear why Picard is a retired Starfleet admiral.
The whole premise goes like so. The year is 2399 and about a decade earlier, the Romulan homeworld was destroyed by its sun going nova. This was the crux of the horrible, alternate timeline universe for the three shitty movies starring Chris Pine. Admiral Picard led the effort to evacuate as many Romulans as possible and get them resettled on new worlds. Obviously there was resistance because these aliens have been enemies of the Federation long before the founding and they were unreliable allies in the Dominion War. In the end it didn’t matter, a huge malfunction involving Artificial Intelligence happened on Mars scrapping the effort and banning all further attempts at researching or creating artificial beings like Data.
Now Picard is returning to action due to a recurring nightmare involving Mars and Commander Data. Somehow the Romulans are also involved. What follows? You have to watch and if you’re into Star Trek like me, you already did unless paying for CBS Online is a barrier.
Picard exceeded my expectations. I was already a fan of Patrick Stewart. The man is funny, engaging and will be missed a million times more than William Shatner. One factor in making the show better than Discovery‘s first, rough season (I will get to it) was the involvement of a real author helping with the plot, Michael Chabon. I haven’t read any of his work but I know he’s respected. It’s about time the Star Trek showrunners recruited people who know how to tell an effective story instead of falling back on what Hollywood knows best: cop procedurals/murder mysteries, soap operas and bland sitcoms. What I loved were all the cameos. Not just beloved characters (Seven of Nine, Riker, Troi, Hugh, etc.), it were the details which make Star Trek…Star Trek: seeing Vulcans, Trils, Borg, Andorians, so on. Plus they show how the non-Terran races have diversity in their appearance too: a Black Tril, an Asian Vulcan, etc. I hadn’t nerded out this much since Rogue One‘s Battle of Scarif when Red and Gold Leader made appearances! There’s finally an explanation regarding why some Vulcans/Romulans have those annoying foreheads Next Generation implemented. I’m incredibly thrilled the Romulans have finally stopped forcing everybody into having the Pete Rose/Moe Howard haircut too.
Can’t wait for the next season in 2021.
