[Star Trek: Picard discussion starts at 14:17]
Tony and Laurie give the latest updates on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Picard season 2 going into production and talk about the return of Billy Campbell to the Trek franchise as the unnecessarily outrageous Okona. They also play an excerpt from Tony’s new interview with Ron Moore about the challenges of making Star Trek movies.
After the news, they dive into the week’s main topic: Star Trek: Picard. They cover what worked and what didn’t about season 1 plus everything known so far about season 2, along with some of their hopes for the show’s future.
Links to topics discussed in the pod:
Billy Campbell Talks Reprising (And Redeeming) His “Okona” Character On ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’
Sonya Gomez spills hot chocolate on Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation
Make-up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards nomination for Star Trek: Picard
Interview: Ron Moore On How ‘For All Mankind’ Is Building The Road To Star Trek
Interview: Ron Moore On Why Star Trek Is An Uncomfortable Fit For The Big Screen
Production On ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Appears To Be Imminent
Production Has Begun On ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 2
Other mentions:
Dune buggy scene from Star Trek Nemesis
Book Review: ‘Star Trek: Picard – The Last Best Hope’ By Una McCormack
All Access Star Trek Explores The New Extended Literary Universe With Author James Swallow
Trekbits:
Tony: Engage! A brief history of ‘TNG’ memes
Laurie: Star Trek Beyond Pitch Meeting
Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and please post your suggestions for topics we should cover in the future as well as guests you’d like us to have on.
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My feelings are, as usual, sweater that captain Picard is wearing looks very extra-splendid, really first-rate.
will I ever be able to buy sweater similar I wonder?
I still think they should have robo-Picard come to the realization he was a clone of a sleeper agent of the Borg, that his whole existence is about the Borg trying to create a path for electromagnetic based life / reborn uni-mind being capable of imagination to make organic components unnecessary (blaming the failure of the original uni-mind on the limited nature of assimilated organics yet their only source of imagination and “new” ideas) and have to come to terms with that.
The Borg can be trying to hunt him down to capture him, so desperate are they for that technology.
Ironically they will have some ethical grey areas – if he surrenders to them, does that mean the Borg won’t assimilate other life forms now because they will be able to custom design living starships, holograms, etc.
To make it more interesting, have it where robo-Picard actually is conflicted himself, is he the next generation of life and are organics now obsolete in favor of infinite life/ultimate capabilities, or is he a bringer of ultimate stagnation and the unimind?
Fascinating approach. These kinds of ideas should be sent straight to the producers. I enjoyed the show very much. But now having Gollum Picard, not sure, did not give me the shocking experience that Jean Luc really deserved.
I can’t say I’m in love with the decision, but I don’t understand the “Robo Picard” critical takes. There is precedent in canon of a human having their history and consciousness transferred into a synthetic body (Tainer). In fact, I think the decision to do this to Picard makes him “uniquely special” like Data, who in that episode of TNG expressed companionship and knowledge that he wasn’t alone. It was a bold choice to make, but I think it’s a neat one
Seems most people are more confused, or at least I am, as to what the point was?
They killed Picard off but apparently he is back as a robot/android who happens to look exactly like the real Picard who just died.. and conveniently this android has an excellerated aging process to age almost exactly in line with Stewart/Picard age. Maybe there is a grand plan and the writers have a genius reason for why this was such a necessary plot development. Its not exactly a massive big deal, but as of right now, it seems a bit strange.
I agree with this 100%. Right now it seems oddly pointless so I am hoping there is a good reason. It was sort of funny when Soong said he figured Picard wouldn’t want to adjust to a new body after 94 years. I think anyone I know in their 90s would happily take a younger, fresher body. It’s not like he was OLD for 94 years! Anyway, producers have said this will be part of his story in some way, so we’ll see.
Honestly, if the writers had just made their stated reason for doing it – to somehow have Picard make the point that he considered synthetic life to be worth no less than organic life – an actual choice Picard made in the episode, I’d have zero problem with it. As it is, it still seems like they wanted the angst of giving Picard a death scene without the issue of actually killing off Picard, and it’s just really unsatisfying.
I think if they actually go with it fully it actually would work. Just think you can now have living forever, holograms, living starships, Starfleet could be a network of artifical intelligence (one intelligence??). This opens up some real ethical dilemmas – should all organics convert to EM life forms? Is this the next step in our evolution?
Or is all this leading to a Borg unimind??
To ignore the implications would be nonsensical.
Is replicant-Picard fully functional? Not from the Data perspective in terms of physical performance. Rather, does he have the means to produce equivalent, viable and transferable DNA material?
As a lifelong Trek fan and Torontonian, I support the use of as many “random Canadians” as possible. Yay random Canadians !!
Ha! As a lifelong Trek fan and former Torontonian with tons of family there, I also support the use of all the random Canadians!
I think Picard’s death is very necessary. Before the Romulans attack Picard states his
intention to teach by example. That example is: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Right up until this moment every encounter with Organics told Synths their “artificial” lives had no value. Picard, of all people, very publicly sacrificing his life in their defense upends this narrative for good. We get Robo Picard because (1) they have the technology and (2) it would be outrageous if the show only lasted one season!
Also I don’t get all this hate on Elnor. Like most of people we meet in season 1 Elnor represents a profound regret from Picard’s life. A wrong he gets a second chance to make right. Not only that, the Qowat Milat is interesting. Y’all are haters! 😁
Well here’s the deal with Elnor… he represented something but as a character himself, he wasn’t really memorable. He was there to be a piece of Picard’s past but they didn’t develop much of a character for him to BE. The backstory was more interesting than the person. And then for Picard… having the disease wasn’t a choice to sacrifice himself… that was going to happen anyway. In fact, it makes it easier for him to take a risk and sacrifice his life because he was on a ticking clock anyway. So IF it was really a device to get him into Robo Picard body, then they need to really pay that off in season 2. And I hope they do!
Well, I’ll concede his very glorious martyrdom was interrupted by the Starfleet showing up a day late to do the right thing but Soji and the rest had zero reason to expect that would be case. And Picard hastened his inevitable death advocating for Data’s offspring. That is peak Picard! However I fully expect season 2 to address how Picard and Data now share this bond of making the ultimate sacrifice right before other people extend their lives without their consent.
Elnor is a work in progress. His scenes with Hugh and Seven were meaningful. I see potential there.
Ha! True enough about Picard. I’m hoping season 2 will address Picard as a golem, the origin of Soji & Dahj (and what their mission was), and all those xBs running around. I didn’t mind Elnor’s scenes with Seven and I was moved by the scene with him and Raffi at the end, but they didn’t give him anything meaningful to do or develop his character. Jury’s still out for me. The other characters are developed so well, so it sticks out that he isn’t.
Oh next season I also hope that the bad guys are more interesting. They kept trying to squeeze in that Narek had some kind of complex about being the loser of the family, but it was all very… meh.
Agree that the first season was awkward with some really great moments. The biggest loose thread for me has to be what is the ultimate fate of Jurati? She committed murder and there was one line about facing consequences in a Starfleet trial yet this entire thing seemed to be dropped at the conclusion of the season.
I went into Picard not expecting it to be another Star Trek show. Based on what we had been told,I had hoped for something mature, thoughtful and intelligent. A show that played on the journey of a once great man feeling himself slip away and struggling to hang on. The Picard we got didn’t really land that at all. It glossed over it rather inconsistently. A friend and I discussed our issues with the show and tossed around ideas for what we would have liked to do with it. We may even sketch up a graphic novel sometime to fully realize it.
The basic breakdown would be that Picard is mentally slipping away. We don’t know if half the things going on are in his head or truly happening. He still dreams of Data, which he initially believes are just dreams but ultimately he begins to think is actually Data reaching out to him due to their Borg and that a part of him still exists somewhere. He does find his way back into space on this search but it’s spread out over 3 Seasons. Still involves the Romulans with a salvaged Borg ship, but they also have the remains of Data which were salvaged after Nemesis. What remains of data is splayed out and interconnected within the salvaged Borg cube.
Picard doesn’t die and he also has have a final face to face with Data from within data’s mini collective.
I’m forgetting a bunch of it since we discussed it months ago but we really wanted to play out the mental struggles and deterioration….rather than focus on space battles.
Overall, I found the plotting and dialogue in Picard to be rather below average.