The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard continues this week with the fourth episode. We have details along with new images, plus a clip.
“No Win Scenario”
Episode 4 of Picard’s third season is called “No Win Scenario.” The episode was written by Terry Matalas & Sean Tretta, and directed by Jonathan Frakes. It debuts on Paramount+ on Thursday, March 9.
Synopsis:
With time running out, Picard, Riker and crew must confront the sins of their past and heal fresh wounds, while the Titan, dead in the water, drifts helplessly toward certain destruction within a mysterious space anomaly.
NEW Images from episode 4:
Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker and Patrick Steward as Picard in “No Win Scenario”
Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker in “No Win Scenario”
Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher and Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher in “No Win Scenario”
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine in “No Win Scenario”
Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher in “No Win Scenario”
Patrick Stewart as Picard and Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher in “No Win Scenario”
Patrick Stewart as Picard and Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher in “No Win Scenario”
Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker and Patrick Stewart as Picard in “No Win Scenario”
Patrick Stewart as Picard, Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher and Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher in”No Win Scenario”
Patrick Stewart as Picard and Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher in “No Win Scenario”
Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher in “No Win Scenario”
Previously released images from episode 4:
Joseph Lee as Lt. Matthew Arliss Mura in “No Win Scenario”
Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut as Sidney La Forge in “No Win Scenario”
Jin Maley as Kova Rin Esmar in “No Win Scenario”
Stephanie Czajkowski as Lt. T’Veen in “No Win Scenario”
Clip:
A clip was shown at the end of the Ready Room (at 31:37):
The third and final season of Picard premiered on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., and Latin America, and on February 17 Paramount+ in Europe and elsewhere, with new episodes of the 10-episode-long season available to stream weekly. It also debuted on Friday, Feb. 17 internationally on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
Four episodes stuck in the anomaly. That’s pretty much half the season. Hopefully the action in the next six episodes will be brisker and they’ll go somewhere else instead of spending the entire season stuck in the ship.
People who have seen the entire season have describes episodes 1-4 as act 1, episodes 5-8 as act 2 and 9-10 as the conclusion.
Worked for Andor…
Well… yeah, that’s how story structure works. But it doesn’t negate Michael’s point.
There’s a LOT that negates his point, including that.
Yup.
Considering the season is a single story, that makes sense.
Exactly… people complained on previous seasons that the story was rushed or jumped and didn’t make sense… now it’s too slow… Jeeeez!!!
To be fair, the previous seasons weren’t too fast, they were hurky-jerky. Fits and starts. Sometimes too slow, sometimes rushed, it was just all over the place. But I get what you’re saying.
That’s good. Thanks. Ideally, they will get off the ship at some point. Limiting all the action to a ship was the most boring part of Wrath of Khan.
I recall that in the past two seasons people complained that not enough happened on a ship or in space….
It doesn’t surprise me, heh. I don’t mind them being on a ship, though. What I find boring is that they’ve been inside the nebula for four episodes. Be on the ship, but go SOMEWHERE.
Based just on the first six, I’d agree with that part about 1-4 100%. Could have split the season at that point and I’d have felt they went out on a super high note (but I seriously dug 5 and loved 6 too.)
I don’t see this as a problem, and i’m really not sure why others do. A story doesn’t need to move the characters physically through multiple locations to be engrossing and compelling. The story is in the characters and their dilemma, not their physical movement.
The fact that they’re stuck for a long period adds to the story, rather than detracting.
Well, it’s fair to expect physical movement when Trek is in the title. ;-)
I get you’re being sarcastic, but I wouldn’t put it past some fans to actually believe this. “It’s Star TREK, not Star Stand Still!”
It couldn’t hurt to move things along. The travelogue quality of Trek, particularly TNG, is one of the things that originally attracted me to the franchise. But the clip suggests a different, deeper part of the nebula, so that’ll do.
I mean, lots of things “couldn’t hurt.” The travelogue quality of TNG was part of that show’s concept. It’s not part of this season’s concept, but that doesn’t make it invalid, not Star Trek, or bad, unless you have a very specific, narrow idea of what Star Trek should be.
I watched a video this morning from a popular Trek youtuber who used the term “professional grievance merchants” and I think it’s my new favorite phrase.
I didn’t know having a slight criticism about the pacing made me a professional grievance merchant, but whatever makes you happy, kiddo. For every grievance merchant we need a pop culture social worker like yourself fighting the good fight, protecting the downtrodden products of media conglomerates.
Who said it did? Certainly not me. Was referring to other comments, not yours.
You? Yeah, you could never do anything like that.
Well I am a 12 year old social worker after all, it’s good honest work.
I don’t mind them stuck in a nebula – I’d watch a whole series stuck in one if it was compelling.
I just think what’s in these first four episodes could be told in three episodes. Example: Andor – various acts, but nearly every second advanced the story.
I wish the pacing was a bit better. So far, this is not a story that needs eight or nine hours to tell.
I finally watched Season 2 of Russian Doll this weekend (I’m caught up on Poker Face, another great show) — and there’s so much storytelling packed into seven 30-minute-or-less episodes.
I just wish Picard would take advantage of all this time – even if these are indeed acts – instead of just stretching things out.
Russian Doll was great.
The pacing is a direct result of the producers seeing every season of Picard as a novel, so naturally the storytelling is kind of leisurely. The trick is to make something happen in every episode. It doesn’t have to be much, just… something. The problem with seasons one and two in that regard was that too many episodes were just filler where nothing happened (e.g. Seven and Raffi’s pointless LA runaround).
I’ve often felt they should emulate 19th century novelists like Dickens. His works were serialized in magazines, so he had to keep things moving and end every chapter with a hook to get you to by next month’s issue.
That’s what I think this season is doing better than S1-S2. Every episode is moving things forward. Episode 1 sets up the story, introduces the characters. Episode 2 sets the stakes and makes a revelation about Jack. Episode 3 ups the stakes further and reveals the Changelings.
There’s forward momentum each week, even if they’re still in the nebula. We are being doled out new information consistently, while still leaving plenty to keep the mystery alive and asking new questions.
If this had been Season 1 or 2 it would have been new questions compounding each week with no answers and then a massive exposition dump before a rushed finale that quickly wrapped up dangling plot threads. So far this is much better paced.
Not all of us like Dickens. My literature profs referred to his work as Victorian melodramas designed to sell newspapers.
Jane Austen was held up as the model for perfect plot construction by comparison.
We can agree though that the medium does drive how stories are constructed, but so do audience preferences.
Not everyone likes cliff-hanger radio play serial formats brought to screen. Trek has long hewn to its own more theatrical formats.
Matalas and his team of writers delivered one of the most well constructed and plotted 4 seasons of serial television in 12 Monkeys, I am very happy to see how this plays out. I bet it’s going to be so very much more rewatchable than the binge mysteries you and other are citing.
Russian Doll season 2 is a bit of a frantic mess though, not every character gets his or her proper due.
I am just grateful we are getting time with these characters rather than having it all be in service of moving the plot along. It’s been over 2 decades since we’ve seen most of these characters together, I am all for slowing things down a little and staying on the ship. Season 2 was Earthbound and full of padding and variable character work. Discovery season 4 was full of padding with variable character work. Here at least there’s two interesting stories running in parallel and lived-in characters getting explored well.
I agree with you on Russian Doll. Another episode may have helped.
But I think there’s a happy medium in there somewhere where there’s meaningful time with the characters without it feeling like a deleted scene from a ’90s DVD (where you get exactly why they took it out).
For example, Seven and Sidney La Forge?
That one’s a little clumsy, sure. There are other examples, particularly with secondary characters. Picard has often had some trouble utilizing Seven well, which is hard to stomach considering she came from a show whose entire writing staff was falling over itself to write for her. I’m just happy to be able to recognize the character again.
But that scene is in the same episode as what I thought were wonderful one on ones for Jean-Luc & Beverly, Raffi & Worf, and Riker & Jack. So it’s getting better.
And yet it is very compelling storytelling.
Y’all forget about worf and raffi? Were they stuck on a ship the whole time too?
Frickin starships with their doodads and widgets.
Actually, they entered the nebula in the last seconds of Episode 2.
Based on this comment you must’ve really disliked “The Empire Strikes Back”
From the Pictures here, it seems Riker and Picard made up and are best Buddies again (i Hope)
And Picard is back in the center seat.
They are going to have to work hard to convince me he deserves it.
I really see Picard as having acted like a self-absorbed arrogant *%!# in his pressure on Riker last episode.
Yeah I hope so as well.
So the fact Picard and Jack are in that bar seems like they made it to Earth (or are they just on a Holodeck?) But there are some smiles from Riker, Picard, and Jack so at least they are out of danger. My guess: they meet some alien anomaly in the center of the nebula, Picard uses his diplomatic skills to talk to it, then they get out of danger somehow.
My assumption is that the Ten Forward bar has been replicated on the Holodeck (the outro shown from episode 1 hinted at a Ten Forward holodeck program)
Good point about the clues in the credits.
That’s what I’m thinking too but, like, they just decide to go into the holodeck for some drinks in the middle of a crisis? It seems at the very least that the threat is over by the end of the episode.
Holodeck, and if you look at the end credits it indicates that safety protocols are offline.
That’s so they can get blackout drunk together as father and son.
Yeah I’m guessing it’s the holodeck as well.
It seems as though that these production stills at Guinean’s bar should have been delayed for release.
That clip illustrates the one problem I have with season three (which I otherwise love): as with Discovery, all of the bridge characters are devoid of personalities. On Discovery, the only one to sort of have some development is Detmer, and even hers is minimal at best. On this show, we’re a third of the way into the season and we know that one of them is Geordi’s daughter and one of them is a Vulcan. That’s about it. On both shows, the bridge crews are largely just window dressing who just look at each other in concern, constantly.
While I don’t disagree with the gripe entirely, I do think it’s worth noting that for Discovery and Picard, the bridge crew are minor characters, not part of the cast. Would it be nice to learn more? Sure.
But the cast is essentially Picard, Riker, Shaw, Seven, Crusher, Jack, Raffi, and now Worf. The rest of the bridge crew are role players that are more functional pieces rather than characters, like the random conn officers you’d see on TNG.
So far, I don’t have a problem with that. The show isn’t about them.
Exactly. The main cast is more than filled, and the rest of these folks are here because you can’t have all those empty spots on the bridge. Though between last week and the previews, we’re at least going to get more time with Ensign Laforge.
After all, how much did we ever really learn about Sulu in TOS?
Not much. But that was the way American network TV was at the time. Shows typically revolved around the star and the guest star. Other regular characters were usually functional and that was about it. Interestingly, the third season of TOS, because of the reduced budget, had to rely on the regulars more than the previous two seasons had. Most of the episodes featuring the entire cast are from that season.
It’s only been 3 episodes. On the one hand, at least they have dialogue and Sidney is guaranteed some more development, whereas Voyager and Enterprise rarely would acknowledge anyone outside the main cast even had a vocal cord. On the other, giving them lines does invite us to expect more now that the door has been opened.
Discovery is more egregious to me because it’s been 4 seasons and the bridge crew get used as if the audience has a deep emotional connection to them. Like when Saru fondly lavishes praise on Commander Bryce in his final scene. No impact on me because he’s just a utility player who hasn’t been afforded depth, only perfunctory snippets of backstory at random times.
Not only that, but when Voyager did give another crewman a big role, it was someone who came up out of nowhere, whether it was Lon Suder, the crewmen in “Learning Curve” and the additional crewmen in “Good Shepherd.”
They talked about Ayala repeatedly and I don’t think he ever got a single line of dialogue. Not that i’m complaining mind you, i’m just saying this is pretty bog standard for Star Trek. Whether it was Ayala, Jae, Rager, or countless others.
Ayala said “Yep” in an episode.
More than I remembered!
Ayala is one of the rare crewmen who got to speak and didn’t end up dying that week or shortly thereafter.
They’re supporting characters in a series that includes a number of new characters, a couple of prominent supporting characters, the original TNG cast, 7 and Raffi. That’s a lot to juggle.
If Titan goes to series we’ll get to know the rest of the cast.
tbh it’s a problem with a lot of new Trek. Carol Freeman has a personality yes but do we know much else about her? Nope. All we know is that she’s Beckett Mariner’s mom and at one point she served with Will Riker. She’s one of my favorite captains but she needs more something, even if it’s just dialogue during arguments with her daughter. Yes I know that show doesn’t focus on the bridge crew but we sure see them enough to want to know more about them.
Then on Prodigy, Tysess barely even has a personality. It’s a similar situation to LD as far as the focus characters go and maybe season 2 will correct that but I’m just sitting here like man if they don’t, then they really just kinda wasted Daveed Diggs.
We know rather a bit more about the Lower Decks bridge officers than we do the Discovery, Titan or Prodigy ones. They have very well-defined personalities, hobbies, quirks, and relationships with various main characters, which is a decent step up. I don’t need to know their whole backstories, just enough development that they feel like people. Maybe it doesn’t quite live up to what they should get as supporting characters, but it’s better than most of the recurring guest casts have gotten.
I’m going to hazard a guess that destruction might not be quite as certain as the synopsis would have us believe, considering the number of episodes remaining.
I wonder if the “Times Squared” solution would work.
As an aside (although, maybe not?) I cannot imagine that episode in particular being made today. Fans would be furious.
I imagine fans would be furious about any random episode. There’s a lot to love about TNG, but its stories weren’t exactly brilliant. But I think audiences were generally more forgiving back then.
Most certainly, agreed. Much more forgiving.
Genuinely I think it has a lot to do with the quality of TV in general. There’s a lot of GREAT television out there, so when something isn’t pitch perfect it can feel like you wasted your time when you could have been watching something else.
I disagree with that sentiment: I think there’s plenty of room for good/not great television in one’s diet. But I see where the sentiment might come from.
Those first two seasons were a rough ride and a lot of us just rode it out just waiting for it to get better. Fans were no more forgiving then than they are now and it took several years before TNG has locked down the goodwill of Star Trek fans (which is what ultimately made DS9 possible).
I disagree. I think there are elements in Seasons 1 & 2 that are worth watching for that the first two seasons of TNG completely lack. Doesn’t mean the seasons are great by any stretch. But I think fans are far less forgiving these days and unwilling to acknowledge any positives if the whole isn’t great.
No doubt. But a mystery that just…ends? Without an explanation?
I think audiences were more forgiving, but they also were more tolerant of not having everything laid out for them. I suppose that’s two sides of the same coin.
Personally, I find that I am willing to invest the time in a serialized show when I hear that it ‘’sticks the landing.’
Imperfections or just moments of mediocrity along the way are more tolerable when you know the story works overall.
Certainly, those shows that wrap successfully are the shows I rewatch and invest in physical media for.
My first three seasons of BSG DVDs were given away. I just can’t get interested to watch it again given how much it spun out in later seasons. So, the space has gone to other shows that succeed all they way to the series finale.
The ‘sticks the landing’ rep is what makes 12 Monkeys, Travellers and Continuum rise above many other Sci-fi shows, and survive in streamers libraries.
As time goes on, I suspect that the streamers themselves are going to figure this out and value the EPs that can achieve a whole that’s more than the sum of its parts over some great elements that don’t hang together.
Didn’t Time Squared start out as Part 1 of a two-parter and Q Who? was to be Part 2 (and the events of Time Squared being Q’s handiwork?), but in the end they decided to just leave Q out of it, leaving Time Squared a head-scratcher of an episode.
Nothing about it worked the first time for me, can’t imagine anybody willingly going down such a weird path again.
Janeway maneuver
Almost half way through the season and still no Geordi, no Brent Spiner, and the only Troi so far was a 10 second hologram. It doesn’t look like they’re in the next episode either. I’m enjoying this season so far, but I’m starting to feel like the only TNG cast who are going to get anything substantial and good to work with are the four we’ve seen so far. That’s very disappointing.
My personal preference is quality over quantity…plus I’m willing to wait to see how this plays out.
I have a feeling the nearest starbase will be the Fleet Museum that Geordi runs.
Possibly, but the description for five doesn’t sounds like it’s Geordi at all that finds them.
Where did you see that description?
I won’t post it here since it’s pretty spoilery but someone posted it at the TrekBBS boards and it’s floating around on twitter.
In the trailers, you see Geordi on the bridge screen of the Titan and Shaw is back in the captain’s chair. So that’s could be the first time we see him whenever that happens. There’s another scene of him and Picard arguing in one of the trailers where he says “you roped Worf and Riker into this too”. Probably really out of context but, it seems like Geordi doesn’t get involved in person till after after Worf gets involved so that might be imminent too.
I guess the real question mark is how Troi gets dragged into all this.
They did warn you that this wasn’t going to be a TNG reunion…
If course and not expecting one or for them to all be together constantly. I was just hoping for things to be evenly spread out.
Even though I’m enjoying it and am interested in where and how it goes, I can’t say I’m a fan of how they marketed it one way and we’re getting something entirely. Of course they warned it wasn’t a TNG reunion, but they also didn’t mention that that meant we’d go half a season without seeing Geordi or Lore and possibly no Troi again till the last four episodes outside of one more small scene if rumors are correct.
Also, I’ve just never found Crusher to be that compelling as a lead, despite her being a capable actress and thinking they should have just put them her and Picard together years ago. So much of the season focusing around her and a shoehorned in son isn’t my favorite thing in the world. I don’t want to speak on something I haven’t seen and I’m hoping it’ll change, but I also can’t say I love that Troi is getting the Crusher treatment from the movies. I feel like they could have found something compelling for both of them to do.
Well maybe this is a personal thing then. Because through three episodes we’ve gotten significant amounts of Picard, Riker, Worf, and Crusher, which is more than half the cast.
It sounds like it’s just that your favorites (Burton, Spiner, Sirtis) don’t play as big a role in the first few episodes, so I can understand how that might be frustrating.
I would have preferred it if they were all together by episode 3 myself, but i’m not going to complain. It’s excellent so far. However, if i’d been writing, I might have started the series with an unrelated cold open on Geordi, Troi, or whatever character Spiner is playing, knowing we might not see them till later… kind of like how Star Trek VI opens with Sulu, but doesn’t get back to him until the end.
Riker, Worf, and Picard are actually so despite how that comment sounded, I’m actually thrilled with all that and what we’ve gotten. Like I said, I could take or leave Crusher but happy for her fans and McFadden that she’s finally gotten something to do, even if it’s not personally for me.
I just almost prefer them all together as a group to them individually so almost being to the half way mark and there’s no sign of three of them or them coming to together is just a little disappointing. Just a personal thing though for sure. Happy to just see how this goes and plays out, despite my disappointments so far.
Well, Patrick Stewart has vetoed the kind of reunion of that kind from the start, and so would have the others.
Dorn, Burton, Sirtis and McFadden want their characters introduced from where they’ve developed to. They don’t just want them to show up in a Galaxy Quest reunion, or even a TOS movie where none of them have advanced to their own commands.
Frankly, I like the slow introduction, one person at a time. It does mean less time with them all together, but it makes for a stronger story.
Even if Troi’s role ends up being less robust than she might deserve, at least we’ve gotten a decent number of appearances by her over the years. She’s second only to Riker when it comes to post-TNG guest spots, and she may never have been better than she was in Nepenthe.
Sirtis says she was two months in production out of six months overall. So it seems she will be more prominent in the back third of the season.
As long as it’s a meaningful handful of episodes for Troi, I can see her welcoming that.
Other sites had them up since week 1.
I don’t know, we might get someone in this one and no images of them were released. Hard to judge until the episode actually airs. However I absolutely understand this feeling. I’ve been waiting patiently for Geordi myself.
Riker doesn’t seem to be on the bridge in that one photo. He could be talking to Geordi or Troi there since he seems to be talking to someone and seems happy about it. I have doubts about either of them appearing in anything other than that capacity till later on.
I’m not so patiently waiting for Geordi as well lol.
I was also thinking about Lore. Worf and Raffi could go meet up with him in this episode and we just don’t have images of it.
The story is unfolding, slowly bringing the gang back together. As I understand it, the second half is where the real magic happens and it’s been a lot of fun so far.
I love that they’re apparently not dragging out the conflicts between everybody. These are professionals with decades of experience and friendship (for some of them). They should be able to apologize and move on.
I am curious as to why Riker apparently cedes command to Picard. Does Picard have the authority to re-instate his own commission, or is it just a “who’s going to dare file a complaint with Starfleet about this” kind of situation?
You cannot have Changelings and not have DS9. I really hope that’s where the story is going.
At least Odo got an indirect yet obvious shoutout
You have to wonder if he’d have gotten a cameo, were Rene still alive.
Maybe, at least an auditory one if Rene didn’t want to get back in makeup
Not that it matters now, but you could have had him without makeup, and just say he got better at shapeshifting.
If this were Star Wars, he’d have returned as a CGI-recreated character.
I suspect that he would have been a part of this.
Me too. I’ve just been puzzling over which DS9 characters could show up, asides from Worf.
Kira seems the most likely. Beyond her, it might depend on what role they could play on the mission.
It just seems — logical, if you will, for the Titan to go to DS9 and then through the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant.
I don’t think Kira will stray too far from Bajor and the station. I could be wrong though. Right now my best guess is actually Ezri Dax. I know who I want to see the most which I’ve honestly said too many times lately, but for people that are more likely to show, my guess is her.
Okay I would be so happy if they did that. Logically if they did, we could see Kira there. My favorites episodes of Prodigy were the ones in the Gamma Quadrant so just being there and at the station again in live action would make me extremely happy.
I think if they did that, while I would feel like I said, it honestly depends on their reasons for going that would ultimately influence my true feelings on it. If they’re going just to go, sure, I guess. If they’re going for peaceful reasons, I’m so 100% there for it. If they’re going for reasons that aren’t peaceful or just to go, especially to fight the rest of the Dominion, Trek can keep that 💩.
I was going to mention Ezri, but is she still stationed at DS9? I think she moved along with Bashir, no? Pretty much all Starfleet personnel left, leaving only Kira left, mainly because she wasn’t part of Starfleet but in the Bajoran military.
Truly, Picard might be limited to just Kira and Quark, like Lower Decks was.
She could still show up in places that aren’t the station itself. She could even be the captain of the F. Extremely unlikely but hopefully you get my point. Same with all of the rest of them. Also idk there could be reasons for her and the rest to go back to visit. Take some time off and go visit Kira because she misses her. Also if I was any of the DS9 main cast and Kira called me to be like hey Odo wants you back on the station to help with something, I’d drop everything and go right then.
Those just seem fanservice, though. It would be great if characters from DS9 and VOY served on the F. Paris could be its captain with Harry as his second officer. Or even vice versa. That would be cool.
But I think they do need to avoid coincidence and convenience, and truly make it character driven. Plus, their just showing up for the sake of it would not really advance much of the narrative. They’d just be there.
I disagree about going back to visiting a place being fan service. Bashir was there the whole time. Him taking some time off to go back and visit isn’t fan service, it seems realistic. Also Odo was a very essential part of the DS9 cast. It’s not fan service to think that he would want his friends and the people that he trusts to help him.
What makes it fan service is their “just being in the area”. Too coincidental.
Given the presence of the Changelings, who originate in the Gamma Quadrant, it wouldn’t be a stretch for them to need to visit the wormhole at some point.
Indeed.
Captain Ezri Dax of the Enterprise instead of the slipstream USS Aventine (as she was in the novelverse and STO)?
I’d be all-in for that?
Sure you can.
Actually Matalas ruled out we would see the station on the season months ago. He said it would’ve just cost too much.
Shame. They could redress any of the existing sets used for the Titan to pass it off as a set from DS9, though. Like they’re using the bottom section of La Sirena for the Shrike.
As much as I’d love a visit to DS9, I want it to be done right. Too bad Star Trek: The Experience was shut down.
In Picard, a quick shot would be as good as it could get. I doubt we’d get another chance.
Not dead yet, I see….
Seems like everyone’s a whiskey person now. That’s not bad.
Maybe this is what I get for swearing, but I could have swore that John de Lancie commented somewhere on doing work for seasons two and three?
Based on the pics …
Beverly in the blue lab coat and wearing a com badge .. Is it possible in the heat of battle Riker reinstates her Starfleet commission?
Jean-Luc and Jack in the bar … I’m guessing this is the end of the episode. After all we can’t spend ten episodes in a nebula running from Vadic, so I’m guessing the Titan is either rescued or escapes. The bar scene pics would indicate perhaps Jack agrees to meet his father for a drink.Given the urgency of the last few episodes, it would be nice to see the fourth episode conclude on a light moment, so that we could see the fifth episode pick up with Geordi and/or Deanna.
I hate replying to my own comments … but … what if the during the bar convo Jean-Luc and Jack actually talked about Jack Crusher Sr?
I think that’s a holographic re-creation of Guinan’s bar, which is why it’s empty. I think that Picard realizes that he has to make at least some kind of connection with Jack to clear his head before he can actually be useful again. Since Riker kicked him off the bridge, he has some free time for that.
That would be interesting.
Does the Titan just happen to have a replica of Guinean’s bar in its database? Or does Riker or Picard carry the file with them?
Holodeck programs would be stored in the universal cloud. As long as any program is on a server it could be pulled up anywhere, by anyone.
If they are cut off from communication with Starfleet, surely they’re also cut off from the cloud entertainment server?
Cache memory. It’s unnerving that Reg’s Randy Romp may be floating around in the space cloud out there.
In the middle of the Titan being in a bad situation? If that’s what he chooses to do then my already low opinion of the character will just get lower. Surely he has more skills that are useful in other places besides the bridge.
Come now, Geordi was fondling holodeck Leah’s engines in the middle of a bad situation. It’s not without precedent….
Geordi shouldn’t have been doing that either unless you’re just making stuff up and that wasn’t what he was actually doing. Even then either way. But in this situation, yes, my opinion of the character gets even lower if he can help in other ways and instead he’s getting drunk on the holodeck. He’d just be digging himself a deeper hole here in my mind.
The episode is “Booby Trap” (I s**t you not), and yes, I’m extrapolating a bit from some incredibly cringe worthy dialogue in that episode.
But seriously….the clip showed Riker powering down most of the ship to buy a little time when they were being drawn to the white light. Jesus, take the helm!! I’d assume that the pic of Bad Dad and Jack downing some Jack happened after, when power had been restored. I do think you’d turn on the AC before powering up the holosuite. Priorities!!
Once again, fans inventing fake scenarios for a future episode in their head to get angry about. Even if your scenario is true, there’s also a dozen valid reasons for him not to contribute, you’ve just gone with the one that makes you angry.
Patience.
Or, maybe she just grabbed a handy lab coat, as sick bay still seems to be up to its armpits in sick and wounded? Also, you don’t have to be in Starfleet to practice medicine.
That’s very true, and Beverly did prove that in the last episode, much to Dr. Ohk’s irritation.
Why has no one snarked here yet about the Titan having a CMO named ‘Doc Ock’.
I mean how can that not be a Marvel reference?
So?
What’s the chance that she’s actually a Starfleet physician anyway?
How will ‘Doc Ock’ spelled ‘Dr Okh’ prove herself to be Beverly’s own personal physician to vanquish?
Do you think the CMO didn’t diagnose Shaw’s internal bleeding because she’s actually a Changeling and not a Trill?
Or do we thing there’s yet something else?
The actor specializes in horror…
Probably because Dr Strange is over on the Shrike opening up his time portals…
Mostly because I believe it was pronounced on-screen as “Dr. Oak.” It never occurred to me how it was spelled. Could definitely be a reference to Doc Ock.
According to the closed captioning, it’s spelled “Ohk”
Thanks, you’re right. ‘Ohk’ could be pronounced ‘Oak’ rather than ‘Ock’
I remain suspicious nonetheless.
All the more because a CMO is a significant character, yet this actor wasn’t introduced in interviews or at the premiere as one of Titan’s crew. It was just the bridge crew.
These writers are definitely the ones to make hidden references to other franchises.
I don’t know if any have worked on Marvel, but it’s worth digging.
Maybe the k is silent. Dr. Oh.
What’s the anomaly? Giant space amoeba? Another Planet Killer? A 1968 Chrysler Imperial?
V’Ger’s baby? Telepathic pitcher plant?
The Borg found a Tesla in deep space and assimilated it.
Giant cloud of linked changelings or whatever.
Elon Musk’s sports car :))
Star trek. Picard. The journey is Picard. Doesn’t need to be through space, time, or whatever. It’s through Picard.
Enjoy the ride. We sure are.
I’m guessing it’s the nexus, or something like it.
The s**ttiest deux ex machina device in all of Trek?
I was wondering if they are going to get a do over.
That would be incredibly disappointing….
Agreed.
Sure… and Shatner pops out of it…
That would be incredibly disappointing….
Okay, metrics tracker that I am, I have found the Parrot Analytics rankings and scores for digital original television series demand in the United States for the week ending February 24th.
Wow!
Picard was still rising, 3rd in the rankings after episode 2 with 45.0 times the average demand, and right behind the Mandalorian with 45.7 times.
1923 is rising again after a dip, but in its penultimate episode it only had 29.1X which put it 8th in the top ten.
Let’s consider the return-on-investment for Picard season three vs a $23 million per episode Sheridan western.
(By comparison, Discovery typically tops out at around 34X average demand and a middle ranking in the top ten or lower.)
Now, Paramount is going to watch to see whether those Picard numbers hold, without the viewership or subscription drop-off that we infer were an issue in previous seasons.
It’s very promising though, and exactly the kind of performance the franchise needs in the current environment.
23MM per episode for a western? Are they riding CGI horses?
I may be blissfully unaware, but what does an episode of Picard cost to make these days?
It was $10 million per episode pre pandemic for Picard, of which Patrick Stewart reportedly gets $750,000 per episode.
I don’t think we’ve seen an updated figure, but production time and costs are up for everyone due to COVID protocols.
One suspects talent like Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren are expensive. As is shooting a good part of the season for 1923 in Africa.
I loved 1923. But the budget must have been for Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren because the show often looked cheap, particularly the scenes outside of Montana. I noticed a lot of scenes that looked like they were using green screen rather badly. Didn’t bother me, but it doesn’t seem like the budget was going to that element.
I’d bet it was for the top billed cast (it also included Timothy Dalton) as well as the elaborate period sets.
Did some digging. From what I’m seeing, Ford and Mirren made $1M apiece per episode. Apparently, much of the budget was due to extended filming in Africa, and the use of real animals there.
Frankly, it was a waste of money, if you ask me. The Africa scenes weren’t particularly impressive. Could have filmed them in California and used some CGI to spruce them up. Same with the animals.
If Paramount wants to cut spending, stop throwing away money on stuff like that.
I find it hard to believe it’s $23M per episode but… I just checked and that’s what it says. Unbelievable.
Those are interesting and good numbers for PIC! I wonder if you have data to compare what was the most successful week of the other Trek shows? What was their average demand? It would be cool to see how PIC ranks up with other Trek productions when they were released. I’m assuming SNW holds the record? If so, is that still the case?
But I wonder how Parrot Analytics works. I assumed Last of Us is number one but its not even in the top 10, which I find very doubtful. Titans is on the top list, so they ARE tracking HBO originals…
In any case it’s great that it’s really close to Mandalorian and doing much better than the Sheridan show.
Last of us is in the overall top ten as it is linear cable, if premium. It’s came in at 55.1X average demand for the same week ending February 24th. The top of that linear list has SpongeBob in perpetuity.
The top ten I’ve been citing is for digital originals only, meaning streaming series. Picard getting in the high 40s for streaming is great. Stranger Things and the Mandalorian tend to stay at the top of that list.
Didn’t know that The Last of Us was not a streaming only show.
The charts make sense now, thanks for the clarification.
I discovered that in the second episode when I was waiting for it to hit around midnight like most streaming shows only to discover it wouldn’t come until 6 p.m. PST because that’s when its released on HBO.
And to further expand your ROI point. Assuming PIC costs a third of 1923, a spin off show can be much much cheaper when you remove all the legacy characters save for one or two.
If these numbers keep up, I just can’t see them not green lighting a spin off show that can cost 50-60 million per season, which is like 2 episodes of 1923.
And one more question… What are these numbers really telling you when it comes to P+ originals. Is 1923 underperforming or 1923 is doing great but PIC is really blowing up?
I don’t think a $60 million season is realistic but perhaps $80-100 may be in reach after grants and tax credits, especially if they produce in Ontario and add a main cast actor from Canada (which they lost when Jurati was written out).
I agree that limiting the legacy talent, especially Stewart to special guest status would be a major factor in containing costs.
I suspect 1923 is underperforming in terms of demand metrics for Paramount, but its older boomer audience may not be as engaged in social media. It’s surprising though for a high profile outing in what’s now a well established franchise. In the end it’s the subscription numbers that will be most important.
Agreed, at the end it’s the subs numbers that count. But, buzz on social media certainly drives subscriptions, so this data from PA is very promising. It would be interesting to see how the numbers hold up in the coming weeks.
Whatever the case, I think by First Contact Day or Comic Con the latest, we will have a more clear picture for the future of this era of the franchise. If we don’t hear announcements for at least 1 new show (without pulling the rug on another) by the end of this year, than we are definitely entering in new territories. Kurtzman’s contract is up in 2026 which looks like an eternity away, but knowing that a turnaround for a new show is in the 2-3 year range, it will be very telling if no new show is announced this year.
P.S. I had no idea PIC was in the $100 million range per season, I thought it was in the $80s, thus my comment that a spin off can be done for $50-60 million. But knowing that PIC can be even north of $100, I don’t see a new show costing below $80 million.
Picard was coming in closer to $80 M net of the California production grant pre pandemic.
Post pandemic is another situation.
That’s why fan claims that a movie could be made for $100 million are absurd.
Yeah, with inflation in the past years along with the careers of Pine, Saldana and Urban, I don’t see a Kelvin movie being made below what Beyond cost.
Maybe they can shave off a couple of dozen millions with a completely new cast, but my gut feeling is telling me that if they really want to ‘revive’ the movie franchise again, they’ll go really big.
I hope the TV side of things is working for them, given how much better content they have been releasing in the past 2 years.
I hope we learn something soon since they’re claiming the streaming wars are heating up. I’m hoping Trek doesn’t become a casualty of war.
April 5th, First Contact Day is the next big Trek event. Fingers crossed we hear some good news there.
That being said, I don’t see Trek being placed on the sidelines. It’s the only franchise on P+ besides the Sheridan shows and they repeatedly said P+s strategy is leaning heavily on the franchises they own.
The big question is if SNW, PRO and LDS is the only thing we’ll get for the foreseeable future or what Kurtzman and Co have been saying that a new show will come once another finishes, still holds true.
Even the suits at Paramount were saying that the end game is to have Trek all year round. If that is not the case than it looks like Trek is not performing as they hoped.
I don’t want to be the stick in the mud here, but I don’t think they’ve announced any of the new shows around First Contact day. In fact the biggest news I can recall we ever got on that day was announcing the TNG cast was returning for this season last year.
Now that said with DIS and PIC leaving, yes it would make sense to announce something to let fans know the future is still bright with future shows going forward. But I don’t see ANY announcements about another 25th century show until after the season is over.
But if they are going with the S31 or Academy show, then I can imagine one of those being announced.
And yeah, maybe we will just be down to four shows a year instead of five. I think that’s still pretty good. The irony is we only had five shows for one year anyway which was last year. We’re only getting four shows this year now.
But I think it would be perfect we would get the 25th century legacy show, SNW, LDS and PRO going forward for a few more years at least (assuming all those get renewed again). I think most fans would be happy with that line up.
Yeah if the show is getting both high viewings and excellent word of mouth I can’t see them not wanting to do a spin off show from it, especially since they probably would’ve made a season four if Stewart decided to do another season anyway.
But yes, hopefully fingers crossed. This seems like the show practically everyone wants, but I suspect we won’t hear anything about it until after the season is done.
Oh and on Rotten Tomatoes, your favorite rating site lol, the audience score is currently at 86%, the highest of any of the new shows so far. But the question is will it hold? It didn’t for seasons 1 and 2 but if the rest of the season stays as strong as the first three episodes, it should stay in the 80s or even go higher.
This is partly why I believe that Picard was the nail in the Discovery coffin. Picard is definitively a much bigger draw, (it was even last season with the bad reviews), and they’re going to give us a spin-off, and go to 4 shows a year.
Let’s hope that’s the plan and they needed to get rid of Discovery so we can get the legacy show. I think most fans would like that even if they were DIS fans. And then we’ll have the Picard spin off, SNW, LDS and PRO! Sounds good to me. ;)
I don’t think wrapping up Discovery has anything to do with the release of Picard’s S3. This decision has certainly be made months ago, probably late last year. They just decided to brake the news now and ‘bury’ it behind PIC’s great reception so far.
I think it does. I think it was on the bubble, and they were waiting until the excitement of the Picard S3 premiere which would both solidify that a Picard spin-off was destined to be, and dull the bad news.
It was on the bubble and they were at the point that they had to negotiate contract extensions for the main cast for further seasons.
The S3 premiere would’ve told them nothing. S1 and S2 had similar levels of excitement and look how it turned up.
I really doubt a corporation like that would come to a big decision like this and announce it in less than 10 days. There are a lot of big moving parts behind the scenes that need to be taken cared off before you make an announcement like this.
It was not only 1 decision, they made 3.
End it, move it to 2024 and do extra filming for closure. There’s tone of logistics behind all 3 decisions that make me certain this was done deal at least 3 months ago. They just waited for the least painful time to announce it.
You’re absolutely right about your first statement. That’s why I am certain that it was the case. TV execs aren’t smart. They had the info they needed, but couldn’t pull the trigger until they had more.
Yeah that’s also true. And I saw a YouTube video today from Trek Central a few days ago discussing the cancellation who said they probably announced the news sooner because they themselves were hearing behind the scenes the show was already in doubt of coming back and maybe wanted to get ahead of it before the rumors started. But this time it would actually be true for a change. ;)
So yeah it probably had to do with a lot of factors. And once it was known the show would be pushed back a year from now for more shooting would’ve gave something away regardless.
Metrics trackers can also check the week ending March 3 and see Picard is in 4th place, lower now with 42.2X, behind Mando, Stranger, Lasso. Mando and Stranger are in the 60s.
Good to know, I guess that was posted later yesterday. 42.2X is still better than other new live action Trek have done with possibly the launch week of SNW.
Lest anyone think demand for Mando is similar to Picard, TG cited data from a week before Mando new season had started airing.
That is true. But if you go back 2 weeks before S3 launched, PIC was in the top 5 shows according to Parrot Analytics. Not in the 45+ range as Mando was before launch (PIC was in the 30s), but still the level of demand for PIC is in the Exceptional category which is the highest one they have.
I think the biggest lesson here is the profitability, with the comparison to 1923. Paramount is putting a lot of eggs into the Yellowstone spin-off basket, yet Picard is more in-demand and being produced for 1/3 of the cost.
Yup, that’s the message I’m taking from this.
Anyone assuming that Paramount+ will be choosing to green light more A-list Sheridan shows vs more Trek needs to reassess given these metrics.
I think they’ll do both, but I don’t think Sheridan will get quite the same budgets anymore, and the comparison is likely to push P+ into even more Trek content.
The demand numbers lead the viewership, so a run up prior to a premiere is important.
Ted Lasso is trending up in response to the promotional lead up to the 3rd season premiere.
I’ve found the latest Canadian Parrot Analytics report for the week ending February 26th.
(It seems the Canadian one is running its weeks through the weekend which is why I seem to be getting the US one late.)
Even more wow for Picard.
As a Digital (streaming) original, Picard ranked #2 with 25.48X average demand behind Mandalorian with 30.39, 1923 was doing better here with 3rd place 20.65.
It’s the all television series list that really impressive though.
Since in Canada Picard is both streamed and on premium cable through Bell Media, it’s really doing well. Overall, Picard was in 5th place, just behind SpongeBob. Last of Us topped the Canadian chart.
In the UK, Picard’s doing ok but not brilliantly at 13.0X. (1923 is climbing there.)
In Germany, it’s 13.3X, but Prodigy is just in it’s cooling down phase there.
Hey, they have lights! And people look happy! What show is this? :-)
I was thinking, if the first two episodes of the season were structured like TNG two-parter, it’s likely that Vadic / the Shrike would have successfully captured Jack, Picard, and Riker and escaped undetected by the Titan.
Shortly after but ultimately too late, Seven would convince Shaw to reverse course and rescue them on the Eleos only to find Beverly alone in the stasis tube, life support nearly depleted. Vadic / the Shrike would leave behind some sort of calling card, possibly by accident.
The next scene would be on the Shrike with suspense and tension about the impending fate of Jack, Picard, and Riker.
And then we would jump to the Titan where Beverly was now conscious, but just barely. And they would, somehow through some technobabble, find a way to track the Shrike, with Seven wanting to rescue her mentor, Picard, and Crusher caring about Picard but mostly in it to save her son before it is too late.
Raffi would still be doing her mission that we’re watching. Worf would still be Raffi’s secret handler and he’d still save her from the Ferengi at that bar, but before the weapon had been used on that Starfleet facility. But they’d find out from the Ferengi about the weapon and he’d give up Vadic / the Shrike in some way.
And then Seven would just happen to contact Raffi, knowing she is in Starfleet Intelligence, to tell her about Picard and this Beverly person and her son, and this mysterious Vadic / the Shrike.
Worf would overhear this and immediately ask for the Titan’s coordinates. And off Worf and Raffi would go, warping to the Titan. Maybe Worf would contact Geordi too, and Geordi would say that his kid is on that ship. Geordi would warp over to the Titan too.
Yeah, I could have gone for that. This is still decent though.
Nobody picked up on the reman jackal knife in Vadec’s hand? You’re too slow old man!