ST: Picard
Nov. 29th, 2020 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kelly_chamblissMy thoughts on Star Trek: Picard.
I have finished watching Picard, and you will not be surprised to learn that I have Opinions. I had planned to write a coherent review essay, but that began to seem too much like work, so I will just offer my likes and dislikes in random order.
Spoilers abound, so skip if you want to avoid them. (And of course, if Star Trek interests you about as much as much as used tissues, feel free to Walk on By. [Cue Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick here: "Foolish pride / That's all that I have left / So let me hide / The tears and the sadness you gave me / When you said goodbye-eye-eye-eye. / Walk on by; don't stop."])
Things I Liked
*The CGI was killer
*SEVEN OF NINE, omg. Who can't love images of Seven of Nine, mercifully sans catsuit, her steely jaw set, striding along with phaser cannons blasting from both hands?
I confess, way back when Jeri Ryan joined the ST:VOY cast in the 1990s, and I got a gander at her outfit, I was mightily annoyed; it seemed such a cheap and transparent ploy to sex things up, literally. I was all prepared to hate the character. But in the first episode, it was clear: Jeri Ryan can ACT, whoa. Plus all that UST with Janeway. I was sold.
Seven was one of my favorites in the VOY days, and she is even better now.
*In fact, I really enjoyed all the cameos from Treks past. Data, of course, is always good value. Will Riker was one of my favorites back in the day, and he still is. Deanna Troi was not one of my favorites, but it was still fun to see her. (Either Betazoids are fertile for far, far longer than humans, or Star Fleet health care pays for good reproductive tech, because Deanna and Will have a 12-year-old [or so] daughter, meaning that Deanna gave birth when she was about 53.)
*I loved the complex references to past Trek events and characters -- Locutus, Bruce Maddox, Hugh (sob), Icheb! (double sob).
*The "darkness" is mostly just greater realism, which I was glad to see. No, humans can't just shrug off having been assimilated, however briefly, by the Borg. Yes, non-Borg beings (no matter what species) have serious prejudices against former Borg / enemies. Yes, Star Fleet is perfectly capable of being just as corrupt and stupidly short-sighted and fear-driven and politically-motivated as any other governmental entity. Yes, sometimes people other than nameless red shirts die. In short, we're spared a lot of Roddenberry-level mindless optimism (Who could possibly truly sustain that in these days of Trump and Johnson and Bolsonaro and Putin and Erdoğan, ad infinitum?)
*Michelle Hurd -- love the actor, love her character. I liked Rios, too.
Plenty of other things I enjoyed as well; these are just some highlights.
Things I Didn't Like
*Agnes, the most annoying character since Lwaxanna Troi and Vash.
*Agnes and Rios had zero, AND I MEAN ZERO, chemistry. I didn't believe their relationship for a minute.
*Can we say "plot holes," boys and girls and others? Like, plot holes big enough to fit a Borg cube through?
I understand that Trek plots are never going to make total sense, and there are always going to be unbelievable save-the-day gadgets and pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo. But there's no need to insult the audience's intelligence with obvious lazy writing. For instance -- what happened to abusive Romulan boyfriend? He just disappears after the climactic battle (yeah, sure, he'll probably show up again next season, but his arc should not just have been left dangling). And what about the synths on Soji's planet? She chooses to destroy their summoning-beacon and thus all their deepest hopes, and. . .what? We never hear of them again. Do they all just disappear? Go home and say, "well, better luck next time with that destroy-all-organics thing?"
*While we're on the subject of the silly and unbelievable, can we talk about that final battle? The whole ending was such a ridiculous deus-ex-machina that in real life, any self-respecting deus would have flat-out refused even to get in the machina.
How could Riker (not to mention the entire huge Fleet flotilla) possibly have shown up so soon? Speaking of flotillas, why would Star Fleet, which just a couple of weeks ago refused to give Picard the time of day and which was furiously defending its ban on AI, suddenly decide that not only are they going to come to Picard's aid with every fucking Federation ship in existence, but that they are also, effective immediately, going to totally reverse the anti-synth policy to which they've doggedly clung for years? And the Romulans would simply have stood down? When they honestly think that all sentient organic life is about to be destroyed?
*The whole plot is marred by internal contradictions. Picard goes to the mat to try to convince the Romulans and the Federation media that AIs have been maligned and unfairly treated, and that's the view taken by the narrative as a whole. The Romulans and the Zhat Vash are presented as bad guys for believing their flawed prophecy about AI wanting to destroy all organics. And then. . .it turns out that yes, the Zhat Vash is right: the AI beings DO plan to destroy all organics.
Now, I would have no problem with a scenario in which Picard believes something, and he turns out to be wrong. But that's not how things are presented in Picard: the whole narrative supports the idea that AI are maligned. It would be like having a show with a premise that Jews or Muslims or Blacks (insert genuinely oppressed group here) are badly treated -- and then saying, "Oh, wait -- yes, actually, those people are just as bad and dangerous as the dominant group claimed they were."
*Did I say that we were spared a lot of Roddenberry's unjustified cockeyed optimism? Well, never fear: there was plenty of it left, mostly in the form of unintentionally hilarious, vehement speeches from Picard about the glories of the Federation ethos and diversity and hands-across-the-water (or in this case, across the galaxy), et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The only thing that kept these speeches from being laugh-out-loud absurd was Patrick Stewart's acting ability. That man can deliver even the silliest lines with unshakable conviction.
*What the hell with Riker and the pizza? Enough already with the pizza!
*I was thrilled to see so many powerful female characters. . .and sorry that so many of them were also evil or clueless or twisted or depraved with their power (examples: Admiral Clancy [and bad acting, too], Bjayzi, Rizzo, Icheb's torturer, to some extent Commodore Oh.)
I admit, I do love ass-kicking, tough women with phaser rifles, but it should also be possible for women to be strong and cool without having to be either action heroes or touchy-feely Betazoids.
ETA -- In reading over these "dislikes" a day later, I realize that I sound more harsh than I meant to. Well, not about Agnes -- she bugged the hell out of me. But the final battle, for all its ridiculous plot flaws and glorification of brinksmanship as a military/political strategy, was still tremendous fun to watch.
And in the long run, I suppose that optimistic ideals are not a bad thing. There is always a big gap between a nation's/organization's Constitution or stated ideals and its practice -- our job, and our leaders' job, is to try our best to bring those two into line. Picard at least fights the good fight for the right reasons.
Overall verdict: Despite the flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed Picard and will definitely watch the next season whenever it appears. (In fact, the flaws are part of its Trekkie charm.)
I liked that the series is both darker than classic Trek (which makes good sense these days) and yet still very much a part of the Trek universe I love.
I have finished watching Picard, and you will not be surprised to learn that I have Opinions. I had planned to write a coherent review essay, but that began to seem too much like work, so I will just offer my likes and dislikes in random order.
Spoilers abound, so skip if you want to avoid them. (And of course, if Star Trek interests you about as much as much as used tissues, feel free to Walk on By. [Cue Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick here: "Foolish pride / That's all that I have left / So let me hide / The tears and the sadness you gave me / When you said goodbye-eye-eye-eye. / Walk on by; don't stop."])
Things I Liked
*The CGI was killer
*SEVEN OF NINE, omg. Who can't love images of Seven of Nine, mercifully sans catsuit, her steely jaw set, striding along with phaser cannons blasting from both hands?
I confess, way back when Jeri Ryan joined the ST:VOY cast in the 1990s, and I got a gander at her outfit, I was mightily annoyed; it seemed such a cheap and transparent ploy to sex things up, literally. I was all prepared to hate the character. But in the first episode, it was clear: Jeri Ryan can ACT, whoa. Plus all that UST with Janeway. I was sold.
Seven was one of my favorites in the VOY days, and she is even better now.
*In fact, I really enjoyed all the cameos from Treks past. Data, of course, is always good value. Will Riker was one of my favorites back in the day, and he still is. Deanna Troi was not one of my favorites, but it was still fun to see her. (Either Betazoids are fertile for far, far longer than humans, or Star Fleet health care pays for good reproductive tech, because Deanna and Will have a 12-year-old [or so] daughter, meaning that Deanna gave birth when she was about 53.)
*I loved the complex references to past Trek events and characters -- Locutus, Bruce Maddox, Hugh (sob), Icheb! (double sob).
*The "darkness" is mostly just greater realism, which I was glad to see. No, humans can't just shrug off having been assimilated, however briefly, by the Borg. Yes, non-Borg beings (no matter what species) have serious prejudices against former Borg / enemies. Yes, Star Fleet is perfectly capable of being just as corrupt and stupidly short-sighted and fear-driven and politically-motivated as any other governmental entity. Yes, sometimes people other than nameless red shirts die. In short, we're spared a lot of Roddenberry-level mindless optimism (Who could possibly truly sustain that in these days of Trump and Johnson and Bolsonaro and Putin and Erdoğan, ad infinitum?)
*Michelle Hurd -- love the actor, love her character. I liked Rios, too.
Plenty of other things I enjoyed as well; these are just some highlights.
Things I Didn't Like
*Agnes, the most annoying character since Lwaxanna Troi and Vash.
*Agnes and Rios had zero, AND I MEAN ZERO, chemistry. I didn't believe their relationship for a minute.
*Can we say "plot holes," boys and girls and others? Like, plot holes big enough to fit a Borg cube through?
I understand that Trek plots are never going to make total sense, and there are always going to be unbelievable save-the-day gadgets and pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo. But there's no need to insult the audience's intelligence with obvious lazy writing. For instance -- what happened to abusive Romulan boyfriend? He just disappears after the climactic battle (yeah, sure, he'll probably show up again next season, but his arc should not just have been left dangling). And what about the synths on Soji's planet? She chooses to destroy their summoning-beacon and thus all their deepest hopes, and. . .what? We never hear of them again. Do they all just disappear? Go home and say, "well, better luck next time with that destroy-all-organics thing?"
*While we're on the subject of the silly and unbelievable, can we talk about that final battle? The whole ending was such a ridiculous deus-ex-machina that in real life, any self-respecting deus would have flat-out refused even to get in the machina.
How could Riker (not to mention the entire huge Fleet flotilla) possibly have shown up so soon? Speaking of flotillas, why would Star Fleet, which just a couple of weeks ago refused to give Picard the time of day and which was furiously defending its ban on AI, suddenly decide that not only are they going to come to Picard's aid with every fucking Federation ship in existence, but that they are also, effective immediately, going to totally reverse the anti-synth policy to which they've doggedly clung for years? And the Romulans would simply have stood down? When they honestly think that all sentient organic life is about to be destroyed?
*The whole plot is marred by internal contradictions. Picard goes to the mat to try to convince the Romulans and the Federation media that AIs have been maligned and unfairly treated, and that's the view taken by the narrative as a whole. The Romulans and the Zhat Vash are presented as bad guys for believing their flawed prophecy about AI wanting to destroy all organics. And then. . .it turns out that yes, the Zhat Vash is right: the AI beings DO plan to destroy all organics.
Now, I would have no problem with a scenario in which Picard believes something, and he turns out to be wrong. But that's not how things are presented in Picard: the whole narrative supports the idea that AI are maligned. It would be like having a show with a premise that Jews or Muslims or Blacks (insert genuinely oppressed group here) are badly treated -- and then saying, "Oh, wait -- yes, actually, those people are just as bad and dangerous as the dominant group claimed they were."
*Did I say that we were spared a lot of Roddenberry's unjustified cockeyed optimism? Well, never fear: there was plenty of it left, mostly in the form of unintentionally hilarious, vehement speeches from Picard about the glories of the Federation ethos and diversity and hands-across-the-water (or in this case, across the galaxy), et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The only thing that kept these speeches from being laugh-out-loud absurd was Patrick Stewart's acting ability. That man can deliver even the silliest lines with unshakable conviction.
*What the hell with Riker and the pizza? Enough already with the pizza!
*I was thrilled to see so many powerful female characters. . .and sorry that so many of them were also evil or clueless or twisted or depraved with their power (examples: Admiral Clancy [and bad acting, too], Bjayzi, Rizzo, Icheb's torturer, to some extent Commodore Oh.)
I admit, I do love ass-kicking, tough women with phaser rifles, but it should also be possible for women to be strong and cool without having to be either action heroes or touchy-feely Betazoids.
ETA -- In reading over these "dislikes" a day later, I realize that I sound more harsh than I meant to. Well, not about Agnes -- she bugged the hell out of me. But the final battle, for all its ridiculous plot flaws and glorification of brinksmanship as a military/political strategy, was still tremendous fun to watch.
And in the long run, I suppose that optimistic ideals are not a bad thing. There is always a big gap between a nation's/organization's Constitution or stated ideals and its practice -- our job, and our leaders' job, is to try our best to bring those two into line. Picard at least fights the good fight for the right reasons.
Overall verdict: Despite the flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed Picard and will definitely watch the next season whenever it appears. (In fact, the flaws are part of its Trekkie charm.)
I liked that the series is both darker than classic Trek (which makes good sense these days) and yet still very much a part of the Trek universe I love.