Ok. So PICARD. Season 3. They have a new trailer..
The Good? It gets the old team /gang back together. It looks action packed, fun and devoid of woe that is me love letter to himself, by himself Patrick Stewart bollox.
The Bad: WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG, FFS? As in, 2020-23? This latest effort is an afterthought, based on fan rebellion against the first two woeful seasons.
Star Trek is not an action franchise with one liners and nods/winks. It is designed as thoughtful science fiction, with a family and societal ethos meditation on leadership and exploration.
Yes, things blow up and there is excitement. But as method, not aim. The new makers still do not ‘get’ that. They never did and perhaps, never will. It did not start with them, though. Rot set in, years ago.
Consider those Next Gen movies..
- GENERATIONS: Dark, dour, slow. Devoid of optimistic merit or organic creativity. But we wanted Kirk to meet Picard, right? Fix this, simply. Kirk as a hologram / Holo-Deck character? Picard taken back in time or Kirk, forward? SO MANY WAYS to make it happen, without spoiling the farewell of STAR TREK 6 or needlessly muddling premise of the first adventure for the next gen crew.
- FIRST CONTACT: Could, would and SHOULD have ended on a CLIFFHANGER? As in, not so much COPYING Wrath of Khan/Search for Spock as echoing its spirit. IE: What if, Data DID take that Faustian pact with the Borg and became half human..so setting up:
- INSURRECTION: It was mooted that Data would be the quasi baddie in this. He leads a rebellion of androids. Federation dislike that but DO accept its possibilities for life everlasting, via AI. Basically, the Search for DATA, in every sense? Heart of Darkness meets Search for Spock. Throw in Q? And it’s a party!
- NEMESIS: Sure. Do the clone tech thing as premise. But Jude Law, rather than Tom Hardy was supposed to be Picard, mark 2. Hardy is of course now one of our great actors and movie stars. Back then? He was an underpants model. So, go back, recast it and do not make it a baldly look-a-like so much as an actual act-a-like. That way, one peels away the layers OF Picard and the crew. What makes them who they are and why? Amidst a Romulan war / DS9 and Voyager crossover etc, maybe? And END IT ON A POSITIVE NOTE, ffs.
Put simply? Had those films ‘worked’, better? Then the entire canon of the brand would have evolved better. No Abrams reboot, maybe? No botched nasty Netflix shows. And no last minute backtrack rehash apology of an excuse for PICARD, series 3. Just sayin’.
ENGAGE! MAKE IT SO. BOLDLY GO. Etc.
