Star Trek: Picard

[janea4old]

Apparently she told few that she was ill and continued working all the way through.  The news came as a surprise to most.

^ (Dave Blass is the Production Designer for Star Trek Picard)
 

 

[AdelaideCate007]

No spoilers, but I got to watch the first two episodes for a press thing today. I liked what I saw a lot. FWIW, I really liked the first season and I thought the second season had some good ideas and was fine for the most part considering all the backstage drama and Covid. This from what I saw is better than those two. I feel like a lot of people will be happy since I assume this is what they always wanted from this show in the first place. 

My only quibble so far is that I think it might veer a little too far into nostalgia and I guess fan fic mode (when you see the episodes, you'll know what moments I'm talking about lol). That's a small worry though and since that seems to be what people wanted for the most part, I think it'll be well received.

I guess the US premiere was earlier today and most of the press either had screenings today or got screeners (of the first six episodes I think) and I'm already seeing big spoilers on twitter so avoid all that if you don't want to get spoiled on something big that happens in the first two episodes.

Edited February 10, 2023 by AdelaideCate007

[janea4old]

Thanks for the heads up that it's good! Yay!  And for the "no spoilers!".  I'm really excited about Season 3!  I'm so glad you posted!

_______________

The US premiere on Paramount Plus is Thursday Feb. 16 in the very early morning.  (Or late night Wed. Feb. 15 in western USA).  And that's only the first episode.  Episode 2 drops Thurs Feb. 23.

I just checked the trek forum
https://www.trekbbs.com
and I see that several cities around the world just held or will hold soon special press screenings of the first two episodes as you got to see.
Los Angeles at the Chinese Theater on Feb. 9.
New York at the 92nd Street Y on Feb. 13.

Usually the first two episodes of a season are shown to very few, and when they do that, they show them both during the same week as the first episode being released to the public.  This seems unusual to me that the first two episodes would be released this early.  I guess they really want the hype!

Thanks especially for the warning that the press will be blabbing early.  I'll avoid mainstream press reviews and twitter discussions about Picard for now.  I'll stick to trekbbs for the next two weeks because they are strict about which are spoiler threads and which are not, and you can choose which to read.  Once I've seen the first two episodes online, then I might read mainstream press and twitter.  I really appreciate the warning!

I know who is in it, and I've watched the trailers, so I have some clues, but I really like that I have no idea what happens.  It will be fun!


P.S. I'm not going to tell anyone what to post or not post about Picard spoilers. I don't think there's any rules about spoilers on these threads, so post what you want. I can choose to read or not read.

Edited February 10, 2023 by janea4old

[Vee]

S3 is getting pretty good reviews both from hardcore fans and straight journalists. I'm pleased.

[AdelaideCate007]

@Vee I don't know how much she gets later on, but you'll be happy with how much Crusher there is at the beginning.

Also, this isn't really a spoiler, but you see Riker, Crusher, Picard, Seven, and Worf pretty early. Sounds like Geordi and Troi don't show up until the back half of the season. 

A few general spoilers but nothing big, just about where the characters are-

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[dragonflies]

 

[janea4old]

The first episode of season three drops on Paramount Plus in about 2 hours. I'm so excited! I'm going to take a nap and then get up in the middle of the night and watch!

[Vee]

Watching it now. So far so good. I have not bothered with S2 yet, lol. I'll get to it amidst this season.

I had wondered if they would make Orla Brady's character Picard's lover - I liked her a lot in Season 1. I remember her from Matt Smith's finale on DW. They are cute together. That said, she's not Beverly and Beverly and Jean-Luc are clearly the thrust here. I've only waited 30+ years for them to be properly dealt with.

Michelle Hurd is one of the few remaining castmembers from the original Picard ensemble and is still excellent. I suspect she may get a spinoff with Jeri Ryan, though I found their sudden romance very rushed at the end of S1. They're both so good though that you don't care. Jeri is as good as she was 25 years ago.

Some premiere spoilers in addition to heavily likely rumors and some major rumor/spec that also sounds very likely to me:

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Edited February 16, 2023 by Vee

[AdelaideCate007]

Now that everyone has seen the first episode, I'll mention the two minor issues I have with it.

Troi/Riker- him saying her and the daughter would appreciate the time away from him just seems like a way to cover Marina Sirtis not being available to film the first few episodes of the season. I'm sure it'll be fine in the end and lead to some nice scenes. I just feel like they could have come up with something better than relationship drama we know will be resolved in a few episodes once she's on the ship. I'll put the reason for why they're having issues in spoilers.

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The new Crusher son- Again, I'm sure this will be fine and the actors seem extremely happy about it, but I still feel like it's veering a little to into fan fiction territory. Especially given who the obvious father is and how much she pushed Wesley on Picard and wanted him to be a father to Wesley. I know everyone could see this plot line coming a mile away though so whatever lol. I'm just interested in seeing what her explanation is for ghosting Picard and the others for over 20 years and taking off with her son is. 

Overall I really liked it. I think I liked the second one more, which has a little less nostalgia bait and fan service. Really excited to see the last eight episodes.

Also theories and some mild spoilers-

 

[Vee]

I was a Picard/Crusher shipper going way back and was never happy with how the later eps and movies threw him at other women without acknowledging that character thread enough, so I am very happy for anything that cements the relationship. I do think the idea that they only got together and conceived a child around the time of Nemesis is a bit farfetched, but whatever.

My guess on the surprise return:

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[AdelaideCate007]

Oh I'm not opposed to the idea or them doing it anyway they feel like they have to. I even think the scenes next week are really good. My only minor quibble is like I said that I'm not really wild about how farfetched they have to get to make it work and that they basically have to say "Beverly ghosted everyone for 20 something years" for it it fit. But again, only a minor quibble.

I'm hoping that Beverly and Troi don't fade away as the series progresses. Beverly starts off strong and it sounded like Troi gets some good stuff once she joins. The few reviews I've read don't mention anything about it but I hope by the end they aren't basically reduced to running behind Riker and Picard like they did in the movies. If this really is the final hurrah, then I hope they all get a chance to shine.

My surprise guest return theory is 

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Edited February 17, 2023 by AdelaideCate007

[Vee]

Yeah, I don't buy Beverly cutting them all off.

[Vee]

@AdelaideCate007 I have always, always, always wanted to see the return of the infamous parasites from "Conspiracy," a very disturbing early TNG episode - and a dangling plot thread dropped when the new showrunners post-S1 came up with the Borg as a new threat - and smart Trekkers have pointed out a few key things that make me think the bad guys in S3 could well be them after all:

• Jack (Speleers) says their pursuers 'have a different face every time'. The Conspiracy parasites attached themselves to hosts' necks and used them as hosts - humans, Vulcans, anyone.
• Beverly's encrypted message to Picard tells him to trust no one, including Starfleet. "Conspiracy" opened with Picard receiving an encrypted message from his old friend, Walker Keel, who also told him to trust no one including Starfleet.
• Beverly vaporizes one of her attackers down to a scorch mark in the floor. Riker makes special note of this at the end of the premiere and asks why Crusher would feel the need to burn someone to ash. This is exactly what Riker himself had to do alongside Picard when they fought the giant parasite at the end of "Conspiracy", in probably the most violent and shocking scene in Star Trek history and one I still can't believe they got on the air in the late '80s - the magic of early syndication:

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While the vibe I get from Amanda Plummer's character in the trailers is not that of a parasite host, it's still worth thinking about.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Vee

[Vee]

More evidence for the "Conspiracy" parasite theory above in a preview clip from the next ep:

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[AdelaideCate007]

@Vee yeah, I'm interested to hear more about the cutting them off thing and why as the series goes on because I really can't buy her cutting off all of them. Geordi, Worf, even Riker maybe, I can buy but I have a hard time believing she cut off Deanna and Picard. Again, a minor thing but I'm interested to see how it goes.

I've been thinking about the Conspiracy aliens too. If it's not those, then something in that vein. I feel like if it's them, then it's them and something else too. I won't post them here but the title of the fifth episode is already out there, along with a few IMDb spoilers that lend credence to all this. It will be interesting to see if it's a direct tie or something that seems more just inspired by that idea.

The new trailer adds a few more interesting things and has a lot of stuff we haven't seen. I can't really tell where Deanna and Riker are supposed to be since that doesn't look like the Titan. Saw a few theories that that's Amanda Plummer's ship and that she takes them at some point. Also looks like Lore, Geordi, and Geordi's other daughter are on the Titan soon enough too.

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Also, what are you thoughts on the rumours that one of them might not make it out of this series? 

Edited February 21, 2023 by AdelaideCate007