#yeah so saw the last season of picard

[eternallog]

an old friend who dreamt of crows...

[quasi-normalcy]

You know...

I grew up with TNG; it’s always been my Star Trek; I spent much of my childhood obsessed with it. And there I was, watching what promised to be the Last! Appearance! by the TNG Crew! Ever!,

and I felt nothing at all.

Nothing had any weight. The Borg Collective got blowed up real good, but they’d already got blowed up real good 20 years ago, and last season set up another, vastly more interesting version of the Borg anyways if only anyone had bothered to mention them or anything else from the first two seasons, so it means nothing. Nothing had any weight. No one even died. No one even got meaningfully assimilated. Apparently you can just peel Borg implants right off your face without, you know, bleeding to death or ripping out a chunk of your brain. Someone should probably tell Seven of Nine about that.

And now I’ve had a few hours to reflect upon it and what occurs to me is: I think I hate it. Yes, that sounds right. I hate it.

I mean, Nemesis gets a lot of sh*t, much of it deserved, but like…I actually cried during Nemesis. Nemesis also had a fascinating nature-versus-nurture theme, which admittedly, was a come-down from “All Good Things’…” promise of human transcendence, but at least it was something! This just felt like empty nostalgia calories, wrapped it a blanket with bathetic MCU quips. No thought-provoking science fiction. No exploration of the human condition. Just…bloodless violence for an hour.

And then I thought back to how this series started, my beautiful, flawed, Star Trek: Picard; and here I must admit that I’m one of those sad, lonely freaks who actually really liked the first two seasons. I liked the weighty themes of living in the cognizance of death, and the serious engagement with transhumanism. Above all, I liked the characters. Elnor, Soji, Rios, and especially Agnes. And then I thought: what an absolute Insult this season is! You dump all of the characters and you can’t even be arsed to namedrop them. I mean, shit, there’s a reference to Chekov in the first five minutes, but you can’t be arsed to reference any of the characters whose series you hijacked? You have Raffi sparring with Worf and she can’t even mention that her adopted son is a Romulan swordsmaster? You have the Borg invading, and “no one’s seen them in over ten years!” and you can’t be arsed to clarify why that Borg Queen that we all saw Jurati turn into last season doesn’t count? Literally the only allusion, anywhere, to any of the characters from the first two seasons other than Raffi is Shaw telling everyone to “Forget that weird shit on the Stargazer.” That weird shit. Yeah. One of the only characters in all fiction that I’ve ever meaningfully identified with. Thanks, Terry!

But, at the same time…what a gross insult to TNG! TNG, with its humanist utopia and moral conundra and scientific grounding. TNG, which, at its best, showed us what humanity could be; which challenged us to see the world in new ways. Reduced to this. This hollow, plastic pile of rubbish.

But, hey; the reviews are positive! The series is in the top ten for streaming! And a billion YouTube comments have already informed me that, finally, REAL Star Trek is back! Forget “all that weird bullshit,” this is what we, the fandom, wanted all along!

Anyways, can’t wait to see the next exciting installment of Star Trek: Funko Pop

[aenslem]

Of the new star trek shows which do you recommend I start watching first? I started Picard when it first came out but only the first couple of episodes and i've seen most of the first season of Discovery... and you seem to love SNW, spoiler free opinions?

I love all of the trek shows, so, expect to waste your time reading this and getting absolutely nothing but me yelling about how much I love women, a lot of words and wrong use of commas.

if you want specially one of the newest shows, I suggest starting with discovery and then watch snw. But dsc is kinda fast, the story just starts right away and it's not one story per episode show, like snw, so if you want to start from something to get to know the world, love this universe, then snw is the best choice, but if you have seen some old shows, dsc is fine to start and you will meet snw cast there too and then you will already have an idea who they are, also Pike's story is more understandable if you have seen dsc.

Picard is good, mostly, well, I am not picky lmao, but I would not suggest starting with it if you never saw the next generation. Because, i don't think picard will be easy to understand and love if you never saw tng, and I guess it will be less enjoyable if you do not know the story from the beginning. I would even say last season is specifically for those who love tng and it's all about nostalgia, I enjoyed it, but I am not that sure I would enjoy it as much, if I have not seen tng.

I love Jean Luc, I love all of the tng cast, but I really wish they would use new characters along the way with the old ones, like, use them more and better. Raffi is amazing, I am so happy they at least showed her, because I love her, she is badass, beautiful, gorgeous woman

and I really wish they would actually make a seven/raffi show, because I would die for it. Seven in picard is so much more for me than what she was in voyager, I never felt that much love for her back then, even though I loved her, I just could not connect to her somehow, but when she appears in picard, I am sold out lmao yeah, maybe it's my love for middle aged women speaks right now, but can you blame me lol, have you seen Jeri?? exactly! But I love her as a character right now so much more, and I want her to have the best life ever. and the ship and crew and family and love and i want her to smile more, she deserves it all

Picard is somehow fading away after watching it, like, I can remember what it was about, I remember scenes, but it does not stay with you after, if you ever remember cast of picard you remember tng time, then what was in picard. Well, at least for me that's how it is. I would prefer if they actually used those characters they brought in first season more, then losing them along the way and showing mostly old cast. Like, I love nostalgia stuff but not when it's all about nostalgia, new characters have to be there, new stories have to be told, and there is always a place to tell a story of an old character as well, you just don't have to create entire show just for it, or at least give life to something new also, there were great new characters, but some of them were lost by the end of the show and i don't even know what happened to them, if they ever mentioned it, i guess it was so brief that you hardly notice it. Also, it's not one story per episode show like tos, or tng, so you will have to watch entire season to get the full story.

New characters - I love Disco so much more because of that, it has so many great characters which we never knew before, while it also brings old characters who I love, and they are awesome. and new characters are main heroes

Michael Burnham!

I LOVE HER I LOVE HER SO MUCH she is one of the reasons you will love dsc, like you see all those captains getting all tired by the end of the shows needing 6 months' vacation twice a year? we all love it, so she was not even captain but already needed that much and more lol

She is great, you will hear people yelling she is not, well, you have to punch those people and move on, they are not worth of your time, because Michael Burnham is amazing. She did everything to save the universe, she went through hell and back few times to do it, and yet, she is still a good, caring person, wanting to save everyone, sacrificing herself for everyone, believing in the best of the people she meets, you will admire her. I also love her in 3.01, I am trying to not spoiler here, but that episode is the funniest shit you will see and I want Michael to have a day off, she deserves it.

it also sums up the show pretty well, cos you have crisis on crisis and more crisis going on every second of this show

dsc has so many more great characters, like Saru! I love him, he is awesome, also Stamets, Hugh, Adira, Jett Reno, PHILIPPA!!!!!

there is MICHELLE YEOH MICHELLE YEOH MICHELLE YEOH in this show

just women

the story... well, it's kinda hard to start explaining it without spoilers, so I won't even try, better watch it, but do not expect to go and have fun holodeck episodes and all, we are all serious here and facing the death of everything like all the time, but you will enjoy it if you love this universe.

SNW - well, if you have not seen tos or discovery, it's still a good start tbh. I would say it's the best start to know this universe out of these 3 shows

I am huge tos fan, so when these characters appear in disco i was like OMG NUMBER ONE THIS IS NUMBER ONE AND SHE IS PLAYED BY REBECCA ROMIJN ??? ARE YA KIDDING ME I AM GOING TO *SCREAMING YELLING RUNNING AROUND THE HOUSE* you get the point.

did not believe im getting it for real??? until i saw the first episode of the show lol. but since the moment it was announced I was waiting for snw so much, and I was not disappointed when I got the first season. It had everything I loved about tos and more, it's really good and it's not as other new trek shows, it is that old simple one story per episode show. it has it's 'not the best moments' and 'could be better moments' but overall, i enjoyed it the most from the new shows.

It also has its fun holodeck style episode, with them dressed as other characters. I love that shit honestly

it also shows that star trek universe has it's flaws and it is not all perfect, but they are trying

and snw shows more about the characters who were in tos, but we never get to know them for real, like the main cast. like M'benga, Chapel. but it also brings so many new great characters, like Erica, La'an, even those we do not know well yet, who appear for a short time, such as Pelia <3

Stories are also good. So yeah, go for it.

oh, and male characters are also great

[tea-earl-grey]

the set up for season 2 is SO STRONG and theres a lot of potential and then the season just kind of. fizzles out.#i think the character problems are most evident with Seven imo but it follows with everyone else#that everyone is given like. one or two character traits in the last few episodes#i feel like if the season went for more of a direct time travel plot without the soong side plot and childhood flashbacks we could yknow#actually write the characters well#there are good moments it just. irks me.

See. This is why having two showrunners with different plans for the season and anthology style series DOESN’T work.

Terry Matalas worked on the first 4 episodes of Picard season 2, before he was told to split off and start working on season 3 and then Akiva Goldsman, who has different sensibilities than Terry took over, and quite frankly, I’m not really a fan of Akiva’s storytelling style.

Time travel is Terry’s thing — its how he built 12 Monkeys, going back to move forward is one of the important themes from his previous show.

Also, 10 episodes is not enough for the kind of plot they wanted to do, with the number of characters.

Plus, I’m disappointed after episode 3, Seven barely interacted with the Borg Queen.

The Borg Queen who is particularly possessive of Seven, in any reality. Just… doesn’t do anything with Seven until the penultimate episode.

Imagine if they at least had 13-14 episodes what they have time to do and explore with the characters!

continuing from this post

oh that's interesting! i didn't know Matalas worked as showrunner on the first few episodes of s2 but in retrospect it makes a lot of sense. i do still enjoy season two but yikes it really feels like it was four stories Frankensteined into one season and it makes sense that there wasn't a single showrunner. and yeah i've said it before too but i also just really hope that future Trek shows fade out the anthology season model because it just does not work to create a consistent audience when the characters and tone keep changing (and judging by snw they're thankfully taking the more episodic path). serialization can work well you just have to be confident about where you're going because usually the endings just get convoluted (Discovery also has a big problem with this imo). i also now have a suspicion that since the two seasons were being written at the same time that the reason why Agnes, Soji, Rios, and Agnes/Borgurati weren't in s3 (which is my main criticism of the season) is that none of the writers knew exactly where those characters would end s2. which. hm. i get that the pandemic work was rough but sometimes forward planning is important.

i would have loved a s2 of Picard that:

cemented where the characters were a little bit more in the beginning and deal with the fallout of s1 and implications for the world at large especially following up with Soji a bit since that was her only (and possibly last) episode.

spent another episode in the Confederation universe! evil universes are so much fun and i think can unravel a lot of characters' fears and insecurities by having them see the worst versions of themselves and we really only saw pieces of that with Seven & Picard, not Raffi, Rios, Agnes, & Elnor

have Elnor stay alive for the 2024 episodes! i get that Raffi's guilt around Elnor dying was her big s2 character arc but exploring the way she manipulated him into Starfleet and kept being overprotective of him could have been equally well explored if he was alive. he also could have added a bit of needed lightness to the season and we would have another classic 'Vulcan/Romulan has to disguise themself in present day by wearing a silly hat' moment

cut the whole Soong plot. sorry. i was just not a fan and it took so much time away from the actual main characters.

also without the Soong plot, the Renee plot would have been simplified a bit and left room for slower character scenes instead of just action-action-action

i did like Rios's story (and the way the season grappled with modern politics) but him staying in the past... eh sorry i just don't really see it and i think 'staying behind and leaving my friends for true love!' is a pretty tired trope even if Teresa is very cool.

the Agnes/Borg Queen story is VERY tasty and the concept of there being an ethical(ish) Borg Collective out there is really good but as you said... it really felt like Seven should have been a more active participant in that. her and Agnes could have made great foils of Agnes slowly being drawn in to the Queen's influence while Seven for the first time in her life is free of her. maybe just spending more time building up the Borg Queen as a threat (and without Soong, the main threat) of the season would have been better.

i mean also the complaint that started this conversation with the idea of Seven's arc being really good but then just not being executed all that well specifically wrt how her implants were written out and then written back in and her just never using her science skills.

i do like the vibes of having Picard confront his childhood trauma and explore the reasons why he has difficulty connecting with people but i'm just not convinced by the execution and i still don't exactly understand why Tallinn had to be there (and why she had to look like Laris? thinking about it i'm imagining that she might have been the Confederation universe's version of Laris who joined the Time Lords Travelers but it still doesn't really make sense and it's not really discussed in the text)

we might very well get something exploring this but i would like to know why the Q are dying. it didn't bother me as much as it bothered others but it would have been nice to get something more.

oh no i didn't realize how long this got. sorry you did not ask for my fix-it of s2 but once i got thinking... alas Picard has a great combination of good ideas, great characters, and less than great execution that makes my brain tick.

[phatburd]

ask game: N, T, W

Some of my opinions are probably going to wildly offend people but let’s go!

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice)

Only three things? Hmm. K. So, for The Old Guard:

First thing - I want more morally grey stories, or Dubious Morality as AO3 tags it, or stories where the characters have to make choices with no good, 100% happy outcomes for anybody. Where helping someone will guarantee that some other innocent will get hurt and suffer. I want to see Nile, et al, make hard choices.

Second thing (of which I am guilty so far) is I’d like to see more solo-Andy in the immediate years after she became immortal and the millennia she spent alone before she met any of the others. There’s a lot of stories to mine there, and one of the reasons why I haven’t touched it yet is because there’s so much to mine there. It’s intimidating. I want to do it anyway. I’m currently focused on the Napoleonic Era for Booker, but I’m not above poking at the Bronze Age Collapse at another time.

Thirdly, I want more fics that explore the future of the immortal team. The past is a great resource, and that's fun to tease out and see how the immortals can fit into historical events. But the future has a lot of potential too. How do the immortals deal with a world where facial recognition technology is everywhere? How does one disappear where every movement is tracked in some way or other?

(I work with some huge information databases in my real world job – the details of which I can’t talk about – and let’s just say I know what I’m talking about.)

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

Booker is not inherently selfish. Full stop.

Let me explain. In the early 2000s I was going through a really bad mental health patch. I kinda fell apart professionally and personally in the aftermath of Bush vs. Gore and pretty much hated everyone and everything.

I don’t know how many people here are old enough to remember the discussions around “enhanced interrogations.” In my really bad psychological state, I read a book that discussed the use of torture through the ages and its ineffectiveness as a tool to gather intelligence. This is because everyone has a breaking point, where they will do anything, say anything, agree to anything, just to escape the pain.

This is the point where I realized the same thing applied to depression and suicidal ideation. At some point, the pain of living becomes so goddamn intense, a person develops tunnel vision and will do anything to stop their own pain. Depression is torture without any visible mechanism. In that case, is it selfish to end your own pain?

This is where shitheads will say, “But what about all other people in your life? You’re selfish because you’ll hurt them!” No, they don’t fucking get it. That’s counterproductive because a person that far down in the hole will think, “Well, maybe they’ll be better off without me then.” The pain is so intense, you're not thinking of others because you can’t. You just want it to end by any means necessary.

What does this have to do with Booker? Yeah, this is the mental state I imagine Booker to have been in for longer than most people have been alive. He wants it to end and he will do whatever it takes, including agreeing to things he probably wouldn’t have if he wasn’t in that mental state.

Is wanting to end your own pain weak or selfish? I’d say no. Anyone who says yes hasn't been there, and I hope they never reach that breaking point to understand what it feels like.

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

I screeched about this when this last season of Star Trek Picard aired. Actually, I screeched about multiple tropes in Star Trek Picard that I fucking loathed. I’m going to revisit the one that pissed me off most, and that was what happened to Captain Liam Shaw.

Technically, what happened to Shaw wasn’t a deathbed conversion, since he apparently made up his mind before he was even officially introduced that he actually liked Seven. But S3E09 gave all the appearances of a deathbed conversion and I flipped the fuck out.

I do not like it when a character has a change of heart right before they die. Dying doesn’t teach a character anything. They can’t be a better person and grow because they’re dead. They can’t have their past conceptions challenged by new experiences because they’re dead.

A deathbed conversion is nice for drama, but it’s also the easy way out, another form of deus ex machina if you will, and I hate it wherever I see it.

Okay, I think that’s enough. I haven’t had any caffeine yet, what a way to crawl out of bed. I did this to myself though. Lol.

[moondyad]

10 characters/10 fandoms

thank you for tagging me! @dendrite66

finally got around to this. it was really hard for me to come up with these?? i never really stretched myself out into so many different fandoms. and most of the ips i like are non-humans/humanoid lol

1. Star Wars - Kylo Ren: i've related to him since I first laid eyes on him in tfa. the trans symbolism, the hating your dad bit, I was like dang he's me fr. he's as close as i've got to a comfort character.

2. Star Trek - Captain Jean-Luc Picard: (yeah i'm a trekkie lol) i totally had a crush on this guy growing up. he isn't even my type, but the overflowing confidence was new for me in a character.

3. Interstellar - Cooper: idk how but my brain managed to over-empathize with what this poor man had to go through. to this day, if i think about/watch the movie there will probably be tears.

4. The OA - Buck Vu: trans king!!!! loved seeing myself in a series. seeing him deal with legitimate trans tm issues but get to escape into a fantastical sci-fi feverdream was so good. also his actor is so cool and went on to play a character in Star Trek too haha

5. The Orville - Commander Bortis: seeing the story of a parent going through the process of non-acceptance to complete acceptance of their child was so powerful. the fact that opening his mind for his child's best interests ended up making him like the very group he used to hate was so satisfying. especially in the sick little "fuck u for having backwards thoughts, but now u found out u actually were repressing feelings for them all along" way.

6. Alien - Ellen Ripley: do i need to clarify why?

7. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Hal 9000: my introduction to ai characters and the possiblity of their humanity. (even the dark side of it)

8. Uglies - Tally Youngblood: kind of a watching your hero become the villain character. this series was my favorite ya book series growing up. i saw myself in her and continued to even after everything that happened. which honestly just goes to show how authentic of a character she was written to be.

9. Game of Thrones - Daenerys Targaryen: what a girlboss. i'm a huge dragon nut so of course if a character's symbol is dragons, i'm instantly drawn to them. i support her and her manslaying agenda. (until the last season)

10. The Walking Dead - Hershel Greene: i fell hook line and sinker for this guy's rough on the outside, soft on the inside characterization. he's such a random character for me to have ended up enjoying so much, but to this day he's my fave of the series.

i've seen everyone's takes on this post pop up all over my dash for the past few days, so i think i'm too late to tag new people. but if you see this and weren't tagged, do it!!

[thegreaterlink]

Reviewing Star Trek TNG - S4E8 "Future Imperfect"

My last review was posted like... nine months ago.

Time flies when you're lazy.

THE PREMISE

Commander Riker’s birthday celebrations are interrupted by reports of strange sensor readings from Alpha Onias 3. He beams down with Geordi and Worf to investigate but they’re quickly knocked out by toxic gases. Upon awakening in sickbay, Riker discovers that sixteen years have passed (though he can't remember any of it) and he is now the captain of the Enterprise.

MY REVIEW

Sixteen years in the future. Assuming that Riker is roughly the same age as Jonathan Frakes, that would put him in his mid-fifties. And if we compare this "middle-aged" Riker to Jonathan Frakes circa mid-2000s...

Not bad. Still, anything beats that weird adult Wesley from Hide and Q.

Then again, if we use Riker's birthday slab as an indicator, then he just turned...

...six.

I guess he was born on a leap year.

Anyway, here we are in the future, where Dr Crusher chalks up Riker's sudden amnesia to a side effect of a dormant infection which he picked up on that away mission all those years ago. An infection which Klingons just so happen to be immune to... and I guess Geordi is just built different.

Dr Crusher recommends associational therapy, with the idea being that surrounding Riker with familiar people and things will help to jog his memory, starting with a trip to the bridge. Because a man fresh out of a coma with a massive gap in his memory is clearly fit to resume command of a starship. Good call.

Riker arrives on the bridge and finds it looking… exactly the same, since new sets ain’t cheap, but there are at least changes among the crew. My boi Data is now First officer, Geordi now has ocular implants so LeVar Burton gets to act without a hunk of plastic on his face, and more species like Klingons and Ferengi are among the crew.

But what concerns Riker is the most is Admiral Picard and Troi arriving on a Romulan Warbird.

That last one is explained by ongoing peace treaty negotiations with the Romulans, which Riker has apparently been leading ever since he rescued the crew of a damaged Warbird which wound up in Federation space. Evidently random acts of kindness go a long way towards stopping wars in this universe. The Enterprise is currently escorting the Romulan ambassador to Outpost 23 to wrap things up and get the treaty signed.

Yep. Here we are in the future, and it's bright. Nothing to fear, no one to fight... I can't believe we've come so far.

Then Tomalak beams aboard.

Future Picard and Troi try to reassure Riker – yeah, he did threaten to take the Enterprise's hull as a trophy last season, but that was one time – but he's still concerned, both by the massive gap in his memory and that he might have to reveal sensitive Starfleet intel to someone he probably can't trust.

With the briefing over and Riker’s memories still thoroughly gone, Troi takes him back to his quarters, where a mysterious child is playing his trombone.

"Hi, Dad!"

Ah. He has his father's... hair?

This is Riker's son, Jean-Luc (Chris Demetral). I remember being surprised that Troi wasn't the mother... but their romance is barely more than subtext at this point, so it's not that shocking. Jean-Luc's mother was actually a woman only known as Min, who Troi explains died two years prior. Even though they have zero evidence of her existing – aside from the child she supposedly birthed, I mean – and Riker can't find any trace of her in the ship's records. They don't even have any photos of her. I guess they had to make room for their... modern art?

I think I saw the Threads logo in there.

Christ, the last time I posted a review Threads didn't even exist it's been so fucking long

The computer's been acting up for a while now, come to think of it. I'm sure Geordi will be done with that diagnostic soon.

Still, I can at least appreciate the script's efforts to make us care about this kid. Riker adjusts pretty well to being a father, though that probably has more to do with Jonathan Frakes' natural daddy– I mean dad energy.

"I guess there's only one thing we can do. We've got to build some new memories!"

But Riker is still bothered that he can't find any trace of his late wife, though Jean-Luc says he's just not being precise enough, and pulls up some old home movies. It's here that we discover that "Min" is actually Minuet (again played by Carolyn McCormick for a single shot – that's dedication for you), that hologram lady he tried to bone way back in his babyface era.

Suddenly everything starts falling into place. And speaking of hologram romantics (or holosexuals, as I like to call them), Geordi calls Riker back up to the bridge.

It's here that the attempts to keep Riker gaslit, gatekept and girlbossed completely fall apart, as he calls out all sorts of holes in the facade, like Geordi taking more than a day to run a simple diagnostic, nobody being able to properly recall past events and even Data using a contraction.

Ha! I knew Lore was going to come back eventually! AND THEY CALLED ME A MADMAN!

...No? It's not Lore? Aight. Maybe next season.

"Would anyone else like to speak up? Or shall we end this charade?"

With the wool thoroughly pulled back from Riker's eyes, Tomalak reveals that the whole thing has actually been a hologram simulation designed to trick him into revealing Federation intel like, say, the location of Outpost 23.

You win this time, Lore.

Turns out that after the away team was hit with the gas, the Romulans intercepted Riker while he was being beamed up. They used their neural scanners to create a perfect replica of the Enterprise and its crew. Add a bit of ageing makeup and some bullshit about amnesia and badda bing badda bang, you’ve got yourself a pretty convincing future AU.

As for Tomalak’s OC, Jean-Luc, he was actually some random kid named Ethan who they had taken prisoner after raiding a research outpost on the edge of the Neutral Zone.

They throw Riker in a cell with him for a lil bit — just long enough for Ethan to tell him about a secret hiding spot elsewhere on the ship — so when the Romulans come back with the intention of taking the intel by force, Riker seizes the opportunity. One distraction and a few punches in the face later, and they’re on the run.

Ethan leads Riker through a convenient crawl space to a convenient forgotten room where some convenient blueprints conveniently tell them the location of the ship’s communication centre where they could send a message to the Enterprise. But there's a catch.

Ethan: The transmitter's on a voice-activated security system only.

Riker: Do you know whose voice activates it?

Ethan: Only Ambassador Tomalak.

...The fuck you say?

Yeah, the plot be thickening. Turns out the original simulation was just crammed inside of another one. So the Romulan ship fades away... as do the Romulans... and Tomalak... until Riker is left standing back in the cave on Alpha Onias 3... with only the boy remaining.

Credit where it's due, decent plot twist.

The boy, whose real name is Barash, reveals that his mother left him in the cave — which essentially functions as Holodeck+ by manifesting anything he wants — to keep him safe. But with his mother long dead and the Enterprise being the planet's first visitors in ages, he baited the away team down to the surface and intercepted Riker mid-transport while Geordi and Worf were safely beamed back up.

But with the game up, Barash drops the facade, allowing the Enterprise to finally get a proper lock on him. Fortunately Riker realises that the kid meant nothing by it and even offers him asylum on the Enterprise, prompting Barash to finally reveal his true form.

Ah... I think you've got the wrong set, my dude. This is Star Trek. Doctor Who is on Stage 4B.

Riker: To me, you'll always be Jean-Luc.

And so Riker has himself and the kid beamed up. Da end.

We're going to see a lot of these "waking up in a different reality" plots going forward, and while I'm usually not really a fan — you're mostly just waiting for the character in question to realise something ain't right and expose whatever tomfuckery is causing it — this one ain't half bad, since it was a bit more subtle about it and had some third act twists to spice things up. So yeah.

7/10 - The first of many.

We are so fucking back.

Previous Episode | TNG Masterpost | Next Episode

[cicaklah]

star trek picard posting like its 2020 (bear in mind I am Not watching it I just have a lot of FEELINGS about something that ISNT EVEN A PLOT TWIST REALLY but cutting to save your eyes)

OH FOR FUCKS SAKE

bev deserves better. she deserved better than most of her plotlines lets be very real but her and picard dancing around each other was PART of why tng was Different and I genuinely love the episode where they get psychically linked and she realises that he's been in love with her for YEARS but is too Picard to do anything about it. Picard being bad with women is a plot thread I genuinely love, I find it very relatable, very unkirk about him. it is the subversion of the trope of spaceman with a lady on every planet!!! it is his hamartia! Apart from all his other flaws, which he has many!!!! because hes actually kind of a terrible person!!!!! but it is what makes him sad!!!!

THAT SAID....

if this ends up pressing any more of my stupid romance buttons I'm going to be forced to watch it???

OR AM I????

no. a line must be drawn!!!!! this far and no further!!!!!! I really loved s1 of picard in all its flawed glory for painting a picture of a federation and a starfleet that was starting to buckle under the strain of bad decision making and its ideals when it bit off more than it could chew. the glory days are gone. there is rot there. the federation went headlong from the dominion war into saving the romulans and it ruined them, it ruined everything, and we SAW this, we saw it in the new characters, in good officers and heroes outside of the system who should not have been there, old threads picked up and pulled on and unravelled, it stretched itself too thin. now, as with modern trek they still managed to do TOO MUCH, but on the whole...yeah. it worked enough. but much like disco s1 (which had very similar problems but ultimately wasn't bad) they ruined it with season 2.

anyway we know from the trailer that there is going to be holodeck shenanigans and Lore and other UTTER BULLSHIT and we probably will not have the nice nuanced 'how the fuck did we get here' minimum 3 episodes, explaining howe 50-something beverley crusher has a fling with picard and it goes so badly that when she gets pregnant she...never mentions it, literally runs away, no one either of them knows ever mentions it, she drops off the face of the galaxy to go do what I assume Seven was doing??? does seven know?? did she know??? doesn't the federation have some kind of MSF type of shit that she should be RUNNING?? THE WOMAN IS NEARLY 80 SHE SHOULD BE RUNNING THIS SHIT BY NOW.

(ALSO I KNOW I YELL ABOUT IT EVERY FUCKING TIME BUT THE LAST BEST HOPE WAS BETTER CANON THAN CANON SORRY I AM YELLING BUT LIKE A DECADE AGO BEVERLEY WAS IN A PLACE WHERE SHE WAS THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR JOINING THE VERITY BUT PICARD COULDNT GET OVER HIMSELF ENOUGH TO ASK HER AND I'M SORRY BUT THERE ARE OTHER JOBS IN THE GALAXY OTHER THAN NOBLE SPACE COASTGUARD OR SEXY SPACE PIRATE)

(IF SHE WAS A SEXY SPACE PIRATE SURELY RAFFI KNOWS ABOUT HER, OR RIOS, BUT OH WAIT HE DIED IN WW3 BECAUSE FOOD WAS BETTER BACK THEN)

(I AM STILL VERY ANGRY ABOUT SEASON 2)

anyway the only thing worse than all this isn't that somehow both troi and crusher are love interests whose plotlines revolve around the tragedgy that happened because they had babies with their strong space coastguard love interests, because that is bad, its not that once again the noble space coastguard man has been spermjacked by a woman like wot happened to worf and many other dudes across the series, the only thing worse that this is that its probably going to be a fakeout and they never actually did have sex.

(yes i realise that is a very stupid ending to this extremely stupid rant but sorry I will continue to be a complex idiot when it comes to star trek for as long as I live so help me god.)

[galactic-pirates]

Nobody probably noticed that I didn’t ramble about Picard last Friday. Honestly I didn’t have the spoons and also honestly I just really didn’t care.

I think that was a situation where being less than halfway through TNG meant I didn’t have a stake in things. There was clearly an emotional callback with the guest character that I just had no context for.

BUT

Actually I think that is a sort of useful perspective? As without that nostalgia trip (as I only know what I read on wiki afterwards) I can tell you the episode made very little impact. It was like a non-episode.

I’m not sure do I still have to do spoilers? I guess it’s been less than a week, so warning.

The Worf and Raffi interaction was the highlight. Just give me a show of Raffi being badass snarky undercover.

They didn’t really bring the main plot along very much. It was like 2 mins around the “person from Picard’s past” nostalgia which just passed me by.

The whole “seeing peoples veins” thing that Jack Crusher is doing makes me think it’s connected to the changelings being able to replicate people more accurately. Honestly I still think he touched something he shouldn’t and maybe they need him to make their replicants perfect or something. I’m not sure. Honestly I’m expecting to be disappointed with this whole MacGuffin thing. It’s likely to fall flat.

@purlturtle theorised that Jack and Beverley were changelings. I would like this to be true as I really hate the plot of “secret baby” because they were friends before anything so still don’t understand why she would cut herself off from everyone to hide it. The whole “danger” thing… I don’t know. She just doesn’t strike me as someone afraid of hard decisions. Even if she made a decision made of fear when pregnant (and merlin knows I loathe blaming hormones because pregnant women can be sensible!) but yeah anyway, even handwaving she made an emotional fear decision, nothing stops her from taking it back. Yeah it would be “oh here’s a baby, sorry didn’t tell you sooner” but hiding it for 20 years? She is not that much of a coward.

Anyway I digress because while I hate this ^^ and think the character of Beverley Crusher deserves a hell of a lot better, I just can’t see that the proud writers who tweeted (oh boy I have something to say about that shit) about this “epic romance” when it came to Beverley and Picard talking when she explained keeping the secret - that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t really Beverley. So it’s sad because it would be a cool theory but I just can’t see the writers going for that ‘moment’ and then be like ‘not really her’.

Anyway my last ramble is more of well kinda this I guess ^^ I am not on Twitter. Haven’t been in a decade or so. I had an account for a while when it first launched but deleted it. I saw some tweet feeds virtue of a Trek server I have now muted as I couldn’t take it anymore. I ranted about this in the nice Trek server a bit but people are shipping Seven and Shaw? Like I want to throw the man out of the airlock. He’s a piece of work. I haven’t experienced this level of dissonance of “hang on are we watching the same show?” since Once Upon a Time and the mess that was Hook and Emma as a ship.

I can’t believe that we’re getting to the half point of the season and Seven and Raffi haven’t been on screen together once. I want them very much to reunite and be together. I still want a spin-off. Give me Seven and Raffi and the Fenris Rangers, doing the friendly neighbourhood making a small part of the Galaxy better thing. Honestly though at this point I will settle for Seven just getting away from Shaw. It makes me blood boil that he has basically been emotionally abusive, taking advantage as the commanding officer, and there’s no justice.

Watching old Trek I have seen some gross stuff. I saw some last night on TNG with the holodeck producing Troi for Barclay to kiss. So so wrong. Where’s the consent? But anyway you can say it was 30 years ago and we can now see that’s wrong (it’s always been wrong but ok) but yet even new Trek seems to suffer from some very gross disturbing stuff and the poor female characters still don’t get any justice. I really would have hoped we were beyond this by now but apparently not.

Anyway hopefully next week will be better.

[ssaalexblake]

Soap opera: picard ep 3

You know that moment? That moment where picard and beverly are standing in silence for a few beats too long to be comfortable across the room from each other (nice intentional usage of wide screen format, btw) and they didn’t score it so it really Was an uncomfortable silence? Half way through that silence? That’s where they should have played the eastenders theme (it is the most prolific and well known british soap opera). 

any of y’all who can vid??? bc that’d be iconic

anyway, the episode mvp’s were Sidney LaForge, Seven, Worf and Raffi. I love you all. 

Worf recently swallowed a self help book and i am Living for it. 

the good cop bad cop they had going on here was Impeccable. It is unfortunate that is perfectly juxtaposed the hyped up melodrama of the other part of this episode and made it look even worse by proxy. There was drama with these two, raffi’s a mess, the situation is dire (if not as immediate), but it was still personable and not over the top. There were even laughs! 

Like i get that they’re all stressed but you know that episode of snw when they’re first attacked by the gorn in that nebula? How good that was? How tense it was? How they didn’t rely on interpersonal melodrama with people being obtuse to manufacture excess drama because they realised it wasn’t needed with an already dire situation?

yeah. 

anyway i saw some comments @ the holo scene with Troi before i saw the ep and i was worried but it wasn’t half as bad as implied. I mean, that’s such a typical dudebro scene and my eyes are rolling so Hard but there was no sign deanna was in danger at any point in the birth. The baby can be in danger without the parent being in danger. Like, slower heartrate in utero can make doctors panic while the parent is still 100% healthy. Seems to me like they didn’t like the baby’s vitals so called Will but it turned out he was fine. (my niece did this. panicked a fair number of people for an 100% healthy baby.) 

i’m not even going to go Into the whole justification stuff here other than to say that if she was gonna do that, just have the decency to own it properly instead of whatever that was. If he forgives her in the course of this season I call bullshit. Nobody has that done to them and gets over it quickly, not after so much was lost that will never be recovered. If i liked either of them a lot, and if i shipped them properly, i’d be distraught over this turn of events. And before i get some smart ass saying she didn’t have to tell him, well Clearly she didn’t bc she’s not exactly under arrest right now, but everybody else has a right to think what they want of her for what she Did do. And it was objectively shitty to him. I don’t even like the dude and it grinds my gears. 

'you’re insane’ with seven @ jack after that punch dfjffdjfdkdkd the Line delivery here. That seven and jack get on makes total sense! no notes. 

 will gets points for lasting so long before telling picard to sod off, BUt, is it captain of the titan disease to not own up to your own orders??? first shaw and now will??? sure Picard was being an irritant but damn dude he who ordered it dealt it and he didn’t wrest command from you. 

Unless u meant what happened in the Last episode and not this once, which, fair, but instead i call bad writing bc you instinctually look for what they Just did and picard was actually right in that if they can’t run they have to fight back at that point, which is the Only reason Will actually did fight back, so yeah... 

if the entire resuscitation sequence starting from the turbo lift did not last exactly seventeen seconds i will ask them why they even bothered tbh 

the changeling special effects have certainly improved

tho i sense i will rue the day i never got past the halfway mark of s1 of ds9 

beheading day is on wednesday

worf i love you. You’re a much better intelligence officer than a lawyer. Yeah i rewatched the movie this week in ode to the Plummer family. 

if we see seven with a hair out of place next week we know she’s been copied. I figure that this point she has mess resistant hair. 

will telling jack to call him captain lollllllllllllllllllllllllll 

the portal warfare??? super cool!!!! 

i was both amused by Shaw noping out of captaincy and also irritated by it. Like i get it dude, but still... I suppose i forgive him for being potentially fatally injured. The man is a class A jerk in a situation where he’s not actually in the wrong and that always grinds the gears. 

hearing seven call herself commander hansen in a rote way was weirdly upsetting. 

but really. The drama of interpersonal relationships Added onto the drama of the plot was too much. The tension between picard and beverly. the tension between picard and jack. the tension between riker and picard. The tension between beverly and the medical staff. the crew side eyeing jack. too much. Tone it down. they’re all already injured, being hunted, AND you have a changeling sabotaging you. Too much at once. 

now my ideal seven and raffi spin off involves worf being on the cast as well. Before it was the two of them and Elnor and his pet cat. Maybe Miral Paris. If we can have a baby LaForge we can have her. 

honestly i would have had way less notes for this ep if the snw one similar to it wasn’t so recent and so much better lol

anyway, i hope next week’s one won’t be as.. much... as this. 

[youngpettyqueen]

I was writing last night so I didnt liveblog my thoughts on it but! I am officially all caught up with Discovery, until s5 premieres later this week. gonna discuss my thoughts below, so spoiler warning!

overall, I really like Discovery! I love the characters, I love the dynamics between all of them, and I think the plots each season have been fun. sure, some of them are a bit convoluted, but hey its Star Trek so I expect that

I think jumping 930 years into the future helped with some of the issues I was having with the first 2 seasons, in that it was really hard to see this series as a prequel. ive talked a lot about how while the writing and everything made it clear this was a prequel, it just didnt look like a prequel. now, it doesnt have to, and the writing isnt held back by having to be a prequel, so we get to see and do some really cool shit. the new species introduced were awesome, ive loved seeing the federation come together, ive loved seeing different species we already knew and loved but so far in the future. I think the choice to go so far into the future was, overall, a good one

I think my biggest gripe overall with Discovery is that so many characters just. dont stay dead. I think this was fine with Hugh, I thought how they did it with him made as much sense (as much sense as anything in Star Trek makes) and it was pulled off really well, and I was satisfied from a writing standpoint and from an emotional standpoint. with Gray it was... fine. it was well-explained, but a bit of a cop-out. still, fine. Book's made me roll my eyes. im sorry, his was stupid. here's why I think so

I like Book. im not super attached to him, but I like him. I liked the conflict with him in s4. and I thought his death was actually done really well. it was sudden, and jarring, but you also realized pretty quickly that yeah. it was always going to end this way. Michael did everything she could, but she was never going to be able to save him. for a brief moment we think maybe he's saved, and then he's gone. it was harsh, but it was good (lemme give a shoutout to Sonequa Martin-Green's acting again cause her crying is VISCERAL) and then its immediately undone because Book is miraculously saved by 10-C. so, now, on top of having a cop-out resurrection, we also have an established pattern of Discovery being unwilling to kill characters and keep them dead

this isnt true with every case, of course. Discovery has absolutely no problem with killing villains and minor characters, and even killing characters we're familiar with but who dont play major roles. but now that we've done this resurrection thing multiple times, its going to affect how I view s5 and any situation they present where a major character might die. the emotional stakes just won't be there, because im gonna sit there and think about how we've been here before, and its never stuck. ill have a hard time taking any of those situations seriously, because ill be wondering how theyre gonna bring them back this time

that said, im still excited for s5 and cant wait to see what it has in store. of the newer Treks ive seen so far, Discovery is definitely one of the better ones. its absolutely better than Picard. I have a hard time comparing it to Lower Decks, since theyre such vastly different shows, but ive enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed Lower Decks. from what we saw of the SNW cast in Discovery, im now cautiously optimistic that ill at least enjoy the characters in SNW, even if I have to deal with. another prequel

I probably won't liveblog Discovery s5 when I watch it, just to avoid spoilers. so, see yall when I start SNW tonight!

[sodiumlamp]

Picard

I'm gonna try to knock out three episodes tonight, so let's do this. Come on, you tea-swilling, erotic cake baking bastard, let's go.

Uh... most of this episode was the major characters all milling around at a party. Adam Soong shows up and tries to get Picard thrown out by security? I think? But Jurati turns out the lights and sings "Shadows of the Night" to create a diversion. This gives Picard time to give a pep talk to his ancestor, who has to go on an historic spaceflight or humanity will descend into fascism. Wait, this is just "First Contact" again, isn't it?

You'd think the Borg Queen would point that out. "Hey, Locutus, remember the last time we were in the 21st century and I pulled this trick? Fun times!" Oh, shit, Q got Adam Soong to turn heel, just like how the Borg Queen seduced Data to turn against Picard in "First Contact!" It's all coming together... into a big dumb mess.

It's always spaceflights in this show. If I remember right, the original time travel episode of Star Trek saw them accidentally capture a pilot, and they were reluctant to send him back, except one of his descendants was fated to be on this historic spaceflight, so they had to return the pilot to his rightful place or they'd all be screwed. In "First Contact" it was Zefram Cochrane's first warp-drive flight, and now it's Renee Picard's Europa mission. Call me cyncical, but I have a hard time believing that the only thing keeping humanity on the straight and narrow is a long string of manned spaceflights, and if any of them go awry, we turn into fascists or Borg drones or zombies or whatever else.

Anyway, Adam Soong desperately needs to stop Renee Picard in order to get the cure he needs for his daughter, so when his first plan fails, he tries to run over Renee with his car, but Jean-Luc gets hit instead. You'd think this would kill our hero, but instead he's basically fine? They take him to that clinic doctor Rios met, and she's worried about his heart, but that's basically it?

Speaking of hearts, is Picard's heart still artificial? He got the new "synth" body in Season 1, but with no augmentations, but does that mean he got a new heart, or did they go out of their way to put the artificial one in? I ask because the doctor use the defibrilator on Picard, and then all this lightning shot out of him, and that sounds more like something the artificial heart would do. I mean, maybe the synth body has all sorts of weird properties, but the whole point was it was supposed to be virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.

Really, I never understood why Picard had an artificial heart in the first place, since a lot of Star Trek shows have established that they can just grow new body parts for people. Maybe Picard just didn't want to go under the knife again to get an upgrade.

Anyway, Soong. Yeah, so he goes home all distaught because he's failed, and his daughter snoops through his records because she doesn't know what he's talking about, and that's when she learns that Soong has had a whole bunch of other daughters who all look like her, and she's the last in the series. I wanted to say they're all clones, but you never know with this show. This might tie Adam Soong into the Eugenics Wars? Maybe that's why Q sought him out. If he really wanted to throw a wrench in Picard's plan, then why not use another historical figure to target the first one? Picard can't kill Soong to save Renee, because then he'd just be replacing one damaged future for another.

So Picard's in a coma, and no one knows what the hell that means, so the Watcher, who looks like Laris, but isn't, so I just call her Gary Eight, she's gonna use her sonic screwdriver and mind meld with Picard to figure out what phychological thing is preventing him from waking up.

I don't get any of this. The dude got hit by a car. He's ninety-four years old. They took him to the clinic, so all he got was some 21st century medicine, a zap with a defibrilator, and now he's basically fine, except for a coma that he ought to be able to wake up from, except he's processing some sort of trauma. And this would be fine in the usual Star Trek settings, where characters get injured by aliens or whatever and sustain fictional injuries that lead to unlikely situations like this.

But here, it's just and old man getting hit by a car. They should be worried about broken bones and internal bleeding. They didn't use any 25th century tech to heal him. I'm pretty sure they don't have any, which is why Elnor died a few episodes back. If Picard's synth body was extra durable, I could buy it, but it's not. They went out of their way to tell us that it's got no special augmentations. If Soji got hit by a car in 2024, all of this would make sense, but it's Picard, not Soji, so it's fucking stupid.

But now we're going to have not!Laris go inside Picard's head to see whatever's been bugging him about his mom this whole season. I'm not looking forward to this. Either Picard's dad beat her, or she had some sort of space madness, or some maniac broke in one night and ripped out her eyeball, but it's got to be something really upsetting and tone deaf for Star Trek.

The thing is, they sort of have to do this bit now, because... I think the mission is over? They had to make sure Renee went on the spaceflight, which meant keeping her from quitting before she went into pre-flight quarantine. But that's happened now, so she's basically locked in. The gang are still worried Q might continue to interfere, except they don't know he lost his powers, so Adam Soong was his last effort, and that failed.

So all they really need to do is get everyone back on their ship and go home, right? Jurati's running loose with the Borg Queen in her, but who gives a shit, really? They both want to get back to their own time, so they'll probably get Picard on his feet, go back to the ship, and find her waiting for them, ready to go.

Wait, how do they get back? The ship's in France, and they're in LA, and no one's at the ship to run the transporter. If it was working right, they could probably do some automatic recall thing, but it's been on the fritz this whole time, so that's probably going to be a thing.

So yeah, one episode for Picard's personal demons, one episode of Jurati making goofy faces at the Borg Queen, and then the season finale, where they go back home and Q reveals he's dying of 5-D cancer or something. He wanted one last game with Picard before saying goodbye... (sniff) ... for the last time.

[regionalpancake]

Picard Season 2, Episode 10: Trailer Breakdown

(And also very probably my breakdown also)

⚠️ Spoilers ahead ⚠️

In this post I’ve added trailer dialogue in bold/italic/inset - because the choice of lines, over certain characters, is making me Sweat. 

Rios: Do you think we’re on the path to the right future? Picard: I’m not certain.

Crash zoom on the rocket, because this season was about ensuring Renee Picard is on the rocket launch, remember? Or did you forget that because of the FBI plot, and the Borg plot, and the Soong Legacy™️ plot, and the (checks notes) victorian-mother-hysteria plot?

Seven: He’s going to use the drones to take out the rocket!

Ah good! Something we’ve not heard of at all this season is now key to episode 10. Excellent storytelling guys. Juice and orange slices all round.

Can someone please explain to me WHY Arik Soong, Altan Inigo Soong, Noonian Soong, Adam Soong has military drones in his basement, hidden behind a retractable secret wall? I am clinging to ‘mad eugenicist’ but this is quickly veering towards Bond villain.

Raffi: I can’t stop them-

(me @ the writers)

And wooosh! Off go the drones. This better be a set up for La Sirena shooting them down. If the last we ever saw of La Sirena was Queen!Jurati flying her off into the sunset then I will be mad.

Picard: There’s been so much loss.

Imagine a season where we cared about Renee Picard. Where we knew something about her. Where she wasn’t (like Picard’s mother) a traumatised woman with no other character traits, who is only there to further Picard’s plot line. (I’m not salty, at all)

Picard: So much death.

Optimist me: Oh, combining Picard’s “So much death” dialogue with this shot of Raffi and Rios hugging, is to reference the death of Elnor (I cannot BELIEVE that is the optimistic version)

Pessimist me: They BETTER NOT KILL RIOS OR RAFFI

Realist me: This is the Goodbye-I’m-Going-To-Stay-In-The-Past Hug, isn’t it?

Pretty sure this is a Stargazer explosion based on the curve of the console in this similar shot of a different extra getting blown up in episode one:

(Don’t stand near these things, not OSHA approved)

Not sure if that shot’s there to tie in with the “so much death” line, or that we’re going back to the Stargazer or-

Tallinn: Other people’s lives aren’t up to you

I mean - he’s (checks notes) apparently back in Starfleet so yeah, some people’s lives ARE up to him to a small extent, though I think this in supposed to be referring to the... 

Tallinn: their deaths aren’t your fault.

...victorian-mother hysteria plot (my belothed)

Soong: “ok, but THIS death will be my fault, let’s go plotline”

Q: Humans.

(deep breath)

LOOK. I know I’m meant to be ecstatic about this. I know I have spent the last TWO YEARS obsessing about this. I have written more than 100k words on AO3 about this. BUT Season 2 has made me suspicious and salty and I’m not counting my chickens until their Alpha Canon SO, this will remain an Almost-Kiss in my books until I see it in the episode AND I am still so mad that so much of their relationship has been designed to fly under the Straight Gaze, and stay in the realm of ✨gal pals✨ 

Us wlw shippers are so utterly used to working with nothing that crumbs do often feel like a feast, but I have watched this show with casual fans and The Straights™️ (who have obviously not listened to No Man’s Land, and who have no recollection of a 2 second shot of a hand hold two years ago) and those people have been reading this pairing as Very Close Friends. To me that is a clear failure of writing, or a deliberate choice, or both. If we can have Rios pretty unambiguously fall for someone he’s known for 48 hours, then we should be able to have that same certainty with Raffi and Seven. And up until this shot we haven’t, and I’m mad about it.

Q: Your pains-

I’m really hoping they do something interesting with Kore, but my hopes aren’t high.

Why we couldn’t just have had Soji I do not know. As the inimitable @curator-on-ao3​ pointed out, we’ve seen Isa Briones discover she was ‘made not born’ THREE SEPARATE TIMES as THREE SEPARATE CHARACTERS, but we’ve yet to have any time for her character to explore what that means to Dahj/Soji/Kore as a person.

The ‘your-past-is-a-lie gaslighting/ trauma-as-character-development’ is getting real old, real fast. Data got to explore his humanity through painting, writing poetry, playing the violin, and forming close and meaningful friendships with his found family on the Enterprise. All we have for Isa Briones characters is the ‘turns out you’re not human’ punchline over, and over, and over again.

Q: -fix you-

Me: I will not read too much into a shot of Cris over the line “Your pains fix you to moments in the past”, and will continue to assume that Rios will be in Season 3. Also me: I WILL assume they’re leaving Rios in the past. I will read into the fact that episode 10 is called ‘Farewell’, I will assume he won’t be in Season 3, and I will mourn everything that wasn’t done with this brilliant, brilliant character.

Q: -to moments-

Fuck these jars of Soong-juice, or whatever.

Q: -in the past.

Please add ‘Maya Orlando’ to the this-isn’t-Laris list.

Oh look, it’s me watching Season 2.

Q: I have one last surprise in store.

Please, PLEASE let it be a retcon of this whole mess. Or they kiss, I guess.

Oh no, I sure hope nothing happens to this plot point that I care Very Deeply about.

IMAGINE if we had got to watch a season of these three getting involved in HIJINKS on La Sirena (plots from a brighter timeline)

Huh. Well shit. At least the QCard lot might be somewhat happy about this season (because I’m not)

Honestly, at this point I just want it to be over. Which is sad. Because this show means so much to me. But If I had put every bad plot idea I could think of in a bingo roller, and picked them out one at a time, I MIGHT have ended up with a better season than this.

Sorry about the salt. (PLEASE pass the tequila)

[procrastinatorproject]

I am so sorry to do this, but... incoherent agry yelling about Star Trek: Picard under the cut.

(Spoilers up to and including season 2, episode 9!)

CW: Canon-suicide mention Last week, I rewatched the first eight episodes of season 2. Watching episode 1, my main thought was “Oh, wow, I really have been unfair with my annoyance. This season is pretty good! I should stop complaining about it so much!” By the time I got to episode 6, I was once again filled with rage.

The first time I saw episode 6, I typed an almost 4k rant about how season 2 feels like such an incrdibly deep betrayal of season 1, and it made me incredibly sad! And those 4000 words didn’t even include any comment on the holos, and the disaster that is the Yvette Picard storyline hadn’t happened yet.

Episodes 7 and 8 left me mostly numb and a little sad.

Episode 9 has left me furious. I HATE IT SO MUCH!!! I’m glad we got some good moments between Seven and Raffi. But HOLY SHIT, there is so much horribleness and it just keeps getting worse!!!

I had thought I’d re-write my post-episode-6 rant to make it a little less shouty and more coherent and then post it to tumblr, but then Life happened and the next two episodes left me feeling meh. So I figured I’d wait until the season was over, so I would do the writers justice, because maybe they weren’t going to go with “Picard let his mother out after Maurice locked her up for her own good, and she committed suicide”. Maybe they would find a sane way to handle that storyline that wouldn’t be a huge insult to tons of mentally ill people (especially mentally ill women and mentally ill parents) and reinforce some truly horrific stereotypes.

And maybe the heavy, heavy foreshadowing that Agnes was going to be the new Borg Queen would be resolved in some way that felt earned and like a good development to her character and her relationships with her friends. And her ex. You know. The man who looked at borgified Agnes flying away on La Sirena and made a quip about losing his ship OH MY GOD I HATE IT SO MUCH!!!!!

So yeah, I have officially reached the end of my patience. It’s possible the writers pull some Big Twist where we do get our motley crew back, including Elnor who is, you know, ALIVE AND NOT A FUCKING HOLOGRAM, including Agnes who ACTUALLY REMEMBERS SHE HAS A FUCKING CREW WHO LOVE HER, including Rios who doesn’t stay behind in the past. It’s possible, this will end not feeling like the utter and complete betrayal of everything that came in season 1. But I think I’m done hoping.

Even if the writers manage to write a good ending to this ever-increasing mess, I don’t think it can make up for nine episodes of disregard for backstories and development and fundamental characteristics of these characters I have cared so deeply about for two years. Not to mention: It won’t change the utterly horrendous treatment of Yvette Picard. Holy shit. They REALLY fucked up with that one...

I’ll probably try to put together a coherent critique that doesn’t devolve into incoherent screeching and actually focuses on the important parts. But I might have to decide I need to spend my very precious energy elsewhere...

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m honestly looking forward to next week, when the season will finally be over and we can start ignoring it and pretending it never happened - apart from the few small details that seem worth keeping. It’s how the writers have treated season 1 for eight episodes now, so I think it’s only fair to reutrn the favour.

[phatburd]

4 and 18?

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

Oh man, I went on a blocking spree during this last season of Star Trek: Picard.  Mainly blocking people for wildly shitty ignorant ass takes that did not jive with Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.

I had a coworker who claimed he’s never watched an episode of Next Gen, and still considers Next Gen to not be “real” Star Trek, and enjoys shitting on it whenever possible. Except this wasn’t in 1988, but in the 2020s.  And that’s really pathetic.  Dude, that is not something to be proud of and build your personality around. And I consider a lot of the current bashers of “NuTrek” to be just as pathetic, and that’s why I went on a blocking spree.

I’ve blocked people in the TOG fandom too, including a relatively popular fic author whom I will not name.  Let’s just say I saw the receipts for their exceptionally anti-semitic takes on their Twitter account.  Also, Noriko may be a weird, racist, weeb fantasy, but that doesn’t give license to be racist back about it.  So so blocked.

18.  it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on…

Andromache of Scythia before she met any of the others.  Okay, yeah, I’ve been guilty of some of it too, but fucking hell, 7000 years of history is fucking intimidating to work with.  Lots and lots of rich possibilities to work with, but so intimidating.  She’s older than Otzi the Iceman, but Doggerland was already underwater by the time she was born.  Horses were domesticated after she’d already been alive for a millenia.  The Green Sahara was vanishing.  She was contemporaneous with Eurasian cave lions, atlas bears, and aurochs.  I have one headcanon where her tribe were nomadic bison hunters on the steppes.

Someday, I’m gonna knuckle down and write this shit out.

[lenixsocial]

spoilers ahead!!

This is a long one so bear with me here:

My rebuttal to this article:

https://www.thegamer.com/star-trek-picard-is-garbage/

Has pushed me to actively post here on Tumblr for the first time in two years, I believe. So kudos. I'm back (baby)...

To begin with: is "Picard" the show the fandom expected? I heavily doubt it. I think a lot of fandom expected to see something familiar. Ol' Jean Luc out there commanding a fleet as an Admiral in his old age, still the guy who we followed throughout TNG and films. Tempered by his experiences, but still the same basic character.

The fandom almost immediately reeled when we saw a CGI de-aged Data in previews for Season 1. What was this all about? Why de-age him (that's because Spiner is old...so too is Stewart). And then came the naysayers. Gatekeeping you see is a pastime in fandom, but it's a special sauce in Trekdom.

HOW DARE they create another show! It's NOTHING like the last one. And yeah, pretty much EVERY Star Trek show since the early 70's animated series has got this treatment:

The Animated Series: "Cartoons are for Kids!"

TNG "This isn't Star Trek. Who are these guys? They're weak. Bring back Kirk and Spock and McCoy. That's Star Trek!"

DS9 "Oh so it's just a bunch of people on a station? That's not exploring. How are they gonna find strange new worlds? This isn't Star Trek. Gene is turning in his grave!"

VOY "A female captain. They have to come up with some gimmick I suppose. This is a copy of The Next Generation and a bad one too. If you wanted to make more TNG you just should've. Gilligan's Island in space no thanks. This isn't Star Trek".

ENT: "WHAT IS THIS THEME?!?! AUGHHHH! MY EARRRRRS! Why do we keep going BACK? I wanna go forward! Too much violence and sex. Why are they always rubbing lotion on each other? Gene would be appalled at this. It isn't Star Trek".

DIS "Too woke for me. Too many SJW. Does Burnham ever stop crying? The writing is awful. The casting is terrible. Tilly is annoying. They're ruining canon. Why are the ships so futuristic looking have you seen TOS? This isn't Star Trek"

LD "Too much fan service. The characters talk too fast. The jokes don't land. The animation is awful. Cartoons are for Kids. This isn't Star Trek".

PRO "It's a kids show. It's a reskinned Star Wars show. The scripts are terrible and predictable. I guess my kids will like it. Animation is for kids. This isn't Star Trek".

You notice I didn't mention Picard and that's because it's just more of the same. Plus, I'm going to directly rebut some of the claims I hear over and over again, and those same claims just also happen to be the headers in the article itself. So on with my opinion:

It's obsessed with violence and misery

It is? Obsessed seems a bit harsh. It is a show on a major streaming platform in the 21st century. Cerebral semantics and missions to study moss on planets may have been fine in 90's syndication but Picard like it or not is a flagship tentpole of Paramount+. As such it must titillate and astound. A good way to do that is roughhousing. I heard a lot of anger over how Icheb died in Season 1. Truth is, that scene was a shock. It got everyone talking. Good and bad. And in TV, there's no such thing as bad PR. It also wouldn't have landed as hard had it been shown off screen or dumbed down. You needed to FEEL Seven's pain in that moment. I think Q's walloping of Picard in S2 also likely had the same general impact. Needed for dramatic impact, but distasteful to diehards who aren't familiar with the concept of showing these things openly with little to no censorship. Other than those two moments, the violence seems fairly par for the course. It's actually kind of laughable when you consider shows like Game of Thrones and Euphoria exist and nobody ever complains about the violence there. They commend it for being raw and real and gritty. My advice? Expand your horizons. The game has changed. Roll with the punches. Literally.

There's no actual science fiction in it

What in the flying bullshit are you talking about? Ships blasting through the cosmos, a cyborg race bent on destruction and universal assimilation, touch screen computers, holographic command crew and doctors, other worlds, and oh...time fucking travel...can't forget about that one. Are they tropes at this point? Yeah likely are. Am I pissed off? Nope. Because whether or not they are, it's science fiction. I'm curious about the judgment of 'real' science fiction. That's about the same as REAL Star Trek. So this writer has gone a bridge further and called this entire series not Sci-Fi in addition to it not being Trek. Gotcha. Double gatekeeping. It's Sci-Fi. Simply because you don't like the TYPE of Sci-Fi it is does not mean that you can't call it Sci-Fi. Also, the show has subgenres too like action, drama, and thriller. Is it any of those? I mean...the terms are labels...generic words meant to gauge your interest only. Stop applying some exalted meaning to it.

Picard feels like a totally different character

I love this one. Of all of these bulletpoints this is a fave. So yeah, he is. Because almost 20 years have passed in the series. Are you the same person you were 20 years back? No, of course you aren't. You've grown. You've changed. Your life experiences have impacted who you are. This is called character development in the world of fiction. Picard's world expanded, his duties, his position in Starfleet it all changed. Even the way he's perceived by his superiors. They find him pompus and arrogant and too forceful. Hell, you would be too if your one big career plan to save a race kinda just went kablooey in your face. Also...he's now an android. So yeah...that may have some impact on things as well. He's a shell of his former self. Hung out to dry by Starfleet, and seen as a dry, curmudgeonly old man at the end of his career. He isn't the captain of the Enterprise anymore. He isn't an action hero. He has given up his speeches because talk seems cheap when nobody is listening. He knows it's still in him (his eloquence came shining through in his speech to his ancestor in a recent episode) but life has got in his way. In that aspect, he's more real than perhaps he ever was on TV. My advice is to adjust to him now, and realize that you can always go back to TNG to see him when he was younger and and how you remember him. Also...next season is probably going to be quite a moment for you seeing all the cast and how they've grown. You probably won't like that is my guess. You'll probably think they ruined those characters as well. Your head canon isn't canon. Neither is beta canon. Like it or don't the writers room is in control and they will do whatever they feel is needed. I guess be thankful Patrick Stewart is usually in on the story sessions?

There's no dialogue, just sarcastic quips

Admittedly there are a TON of sarcastic quips. But the show is dialog heavy in my opinion. Those cute quips are often used as a nod and wink at the audience. The way this bulletpoint reads you'd think the cast barely talk and walk around cracking one liners. Couldn't be further from the truth if it tried. Sometimes I feel the show is too verbose, takes too long to explain something, but there are an equal number of times in which it isn't explained enough and blips off the screen before I can assimilate it (no pun intended). Episode review sites like Trek Culture on YouTube are excellent companions to the show if for any reason than to shine light on something you might've missed.

The fan service is relentless

In the current season, I agree. It's become less of a "oh look at that thing it's from (insert episode here)" to "here's another tongue in cheek reference to Star Trek IV". Is it bad? Well, it's a bit much, but they gotta realize everytime they do something like put the punk on the bus back into the show it now is canon. He held his neck, remembering his interaction with Kirk and Spock in 1984. So this event occured and hence we must be in the prime timeline. Did they mean to intimate that? Did they want the fans to know? Or was it just something they threw in? Because if that's the case, diehards are gonna be mad.

Everyone is an alcoholic for some reason

This is one thing I have issues with. Openly drinking alcohol as a on duty Starfleet officer would be forbidden (that's why Sythehol was invented). Also people don't smoke on ships so...unless Rios was smoking a holographic cigar, that is also deemed a canon no-no. But yes alcohol does flow like uh...alcohol. I think this may owe more to society being more obsessed with drinking. Especially the current generation. Again, the writers are courting the younger viewers and trying to be relevant. Is it needed? Is it warranted? I think perhaps yes in a few characters realms. Rios certainly had reason to become an alcoholic after what happened to him and his career. Raffi also has had her share of struggles which led her to the bottle (and drugs), and Jurati is unstable so it kind of just tracks for her character. Oh and Picard owns a vineyard and winery so yeah he's gonna drink.

They made Q boring

Actually feel the opposite. By becoming desperate he struck Jean Luc for the first time. He wasn't listening and Q had enough insolence. That tracks with his character. But once we also learn that he's unable to use his powers and he seems to be losing himself one wonders why that is. Do the Q get senile? Is he mentally unstable? Is it something related to time and alternate timelines? This season has seen him use people to gain his goals, and there's a definite air of mystery surrounding him. One perhaps deeper than we've ever seen on TV.

Ultimately, the reviews of Picard are (like Discovery and Lower Decks) very good. Critics love the show and a fair amount of fandom does as well. There will always be gatekeeping, folks telling you what is and isn't Star Trek and what would and wouldn't have upset Gene. Truth is Gene was a sex crazed, disrespectful writer who often screwed over his creative team for personal glory. He owes a lot of what we call Star Trek today to Gene L Coon, DC Fontana, Harve Bennett, David Gerrold, Brannon Braga and a whole host of others. People often forget that he created the sandbox in which the universe was created, but took a backseat thereafter (as most creators of series do). That's not to belittle his accomplishments it's just the truth of the matter. His rules were not conducive to drama, and the shows honestly needed him to go to become the cornerstones of the series they have become.