[Picard review starts at 33:50]
We start off with Tony recounting his trip to the Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention, giving recaps from the five big show panels. Tony and Laurie also go over all the other news from the con and beyond: the new Lower Decks teaser trailer, the Strange New Worlds reveal (and then removal) of Spock’s first name, a Prodigy game announcement, and an update from Michelle Yeoh on the Section 31 show.
They then turn to the review of the latest episode of Picard “Monsters” and discuss how they feel season two is going so far.
They wrap up with some fun bits: video of Tawny Newsome jamming with the band at Mission Chicago and an amazing recreation of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the style of the classic Star Trek animated series from the 1970s.
Links:
Next Official Star Trek: Mission Convention Set For Seattle In May 2023
Watch: Teaser Trailer For ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 3
‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Cast Delights Mission Chicago With Cosplay And Season 3 Clues
‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Nominated For Hugo Award
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Reveals Full Names Of M’Benga And Spock [UPDATED]
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Mission Chicago Panel Highlights [TrekMovie Twitter Thread]
‘Star Trek: Picard’ Panel Talks Raffi/Seven, New Borg Queen, And Why Everyone Loves Jonathan Frakes
‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Mission Chicago Panel Highlights [TrekMovie Twitter Thread]
‘Star Trek: Prodigy – Supernova’ Video Game Announced
‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Mission Chicago Panel Highlights [TrekMovie Twitter Thread]
Michelle Yeoh On How The Section 31 Show Would Be A Different Kind Of Star Trek
‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Trailer [YouTube]
Kate Mulgrew Leads Star-Studded “Stormfall” For ‘Star Trek: Online’
Mary Wiseman on BroadwayRadio podcast (briefly talks Discovery) [Apple Podcasts]
Yuban “he never has a second cup” commercial [YouTube]
Watch Patrick Stewart’s Wife Sunny Ozell Sing In This Week’s ‘Star Trek: Picard’
Patrick Stewart On How He Finally Allowed More Of Himself To Inform His Portrayal Of Picard [Deadline]
Jay Karnes on 12 Monkeys [Wiki]
Florence Henderson and Robert Reed as their own parents on The Brady Bunch
William Shatner (with mustache) as George Samuel Kirk
Guinan and Q [YouTube]
Trekbits:
Laurie:Watch: ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ In TAS Style + Interview With Creator
Tony: Watch Tawny Newsome Sing “Psycho Killer” With Five Year Mission Band At Mission Chicago
Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and should you be so inclined, please review us on Apple.
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Hi, guys!
Thanks again for another interesting (and calm!) conversation. Sometimes the discussions on the news threads strike me as people trying to outdo each other with clever faultfinding that entertainment enjoyment vanishes, turning me off completely.
I’ve been thinking about serialized vs. episodic formats. In some ways, it is hard to appreciate a serialized season until a viewer has seen the whole season’s beginning, middle, and end. That’s why some people say they enjoyed a season better when they’ve binge watched it. I wonder if it’s really true that each episode within a serialized season should have a beginning, middle, and an end. It might feel unsatisfying at the moment, but recalling that it’s part of a large whole (that is presumably thought out in an overarching fashion in advance) strikes me as being more lifelike. We all have many things going on in our lives simultaneously, with some things not moving ahead for a while others race ahead. That said, I do agree that the connecting threads or arcs should not always be mysteries. Again, in real life we do realize there are things happening that are mysterious, but this just feels like it happens a bit too often in some Trek series. Now that I am faultfinding, I’ll leave it at that. Thanks, again!
Thanks for the feedback! As to the serialized issue, it’s possible to have threads that run through multiple episodes (or an entire season) and ALSO have episodes that have beginnings, middles, and endings. It doesn’t mean everything has to be resolved, it just means that it feels like each episode starts and ends where it does for a reason and feels like you didn’t start or end in the middle, even if there’s a cliffhanger.
Exactly this! Doctor Who does (did?) this all the time. It was fun picking up the little red thread easter-eggy-thingies that were seeded throughout all the (mostly) standalone episodes. And then it finally came all together in the 2-part finale.
Speaking of Doctor Who: that whole ‘moment in a bottle’ was taken straight from Doctor Who. They literally had a The Moment in the 50th anniversary episode. It was contained in a box and personified by the character of Rose.
But I’m with you Laurie, I try to focus on the positive. Which actually means: don’t expect anything so you won’t get disappointed when things take questionable turns. Which in itself is – of course – a shame, because you want this whole show to be a 9 or a 10, like the first two episodes were.
Speaking of the frist two episodes: EVERYBODY loved those. And we loved those because it had the most popular ingredients for a good Star Trek and a good TNG series/era recipe: USS Stargazer (and other starships), Guinan, Q, Borg Queen, Starfleet. And after episode 2, one by one they took those all away. Now, basically all of those things that made the first 2 episodes so great have been missing for several episodes or more.
So the time travel thing is nice. Well it used to be. But even Star Trek IV went back to normal after their 2 hour field trip.
I think to some degree we are just all missing our sci-fi and our setting of the future.
I look at it as like reading a novel. Each chapter can have its own beginning, middle, and end, and it’s fine for the reader to be dissatisfied with an individual chapter. And another chapter. And another. Until you’re questioning why you’re reading it.
So no, I don’t think we’re obligated to wait until we’ve seen the entire season to judge whether we’re enjoying the experience or not. That’s on the creators to keep us, er, *engaged.*
Hi!
I remember watching S2 of Disco every week and I was left confused by the story. I couldn’t connect all the dots. I binged it again and appreciated it a lot more. In fact, it’s my favorite season of Disco now. So, I’m going to refrain from judging PIC too harshly, even though it’s a frustrating watch. I’ll rewatch it and see if I love it at a second go. Knowing the mystery ahead of time did help me make sense of the Red Angel storyline.
Once again, I agree with both of you on your analysis. I’m also thinking simulation theory now. With only 21st Century medicine, there is no way Picard was just fine after getting hit by a car. That man should be in ICU for months of physical therapy. Even with the crazy logic of this season, a bad call on the writers….unless none of it is real….
Let’s all send Alex a petition to get the creators of that super awesome TAS:TNG video clip some funding to release some more on P+.
Have a good Easter weekend!
That’s a clip?
I thought that was fan art!
It’s a clip and it’s fantastic! Definitely check it out! I hope they do more.
We have a link to the clip above… here you go: https://trekmovie.com/2022/04/14/watch-star-trek-the-next-generation-in-tas-style-interview-with-creator/
I can’t imagine the tangled rights issues involved with doing official (for profit) clips like that… plus it’s not Alex who has the rights to the older shows. I don’t see how that could ever happen, but I sure understand why you want it! And maybe Picard’s new body helped with his speedy recovery?
And maybe Picard’s new body helped with his speedy recovery?
I didn’t think about that. If they beamed a medical device from La Sirena to heal him, that would have made sense. When Picard got hurt in S1 premiere, then woke up, I figured 24th century medicine patched him up quickly.
Thanks again for the news round up and review.
Tony captured my thoughts on this season of Picard perfectly when he said “they were in too much of a rush to get to LA”. Overall I’ve enjoyed the season but the first 2 episodes were so outstanding that everything else has seemed a little flat. On the positive side, the opening episodes surely demonstrate that a 21st C Star Trek series set in the years after Nemesis could be terrific television.
Thanks also for the article and commentary on TNG in TAS style. I’ve read nothing but positive comments and the work is outstanding. I know you did an interview with Justin Lee earlier in the week but perhaps you could get him and/or member of the creative Team on the podcast for a more in depth follow-up.
I do feel that this season of Picard would have benefitted from a whole season release rather than a weekly schedule. It just feels made for binge viewing. The same can be said for Discovery’s fourth series as well.
There’s also the Mrs. Maisel model, two episodes a week. I get that it’s a challenge figuring these things out as streaming changes the way we watch TV. I am happier when shows like The Handmaid’s Tale do an episode a week because it’s too much to watch all together. Definitely varies from one show to the next… I loved watching all of After Life in a day or two. And of course, people watch shows in different ways, so writers & producers have to figure out how to make their shows work on multiple levels. But yeah, so far Picard feels more binge-y than episodic (after the first two episodes of season 2, which worked great on their own).