#Picard has retroactively made me hate Star Trek next generation

[tuttle-did-it]

Tom Paris had to plan how to build The Delta Flyer (a large shuttle craft) for years. Paris, Tuvok, Seven of Nine, Harry Kim and B’Elana Torres spent days on the construction working flat out, around the clock.

How did Geordie build a whole damned starship in his spare time in a matter of days? The Enterprise D is the size of a city. They literally have shipyards where they build these giant starships- we’ve seen them in episodes with Utopia Planitia. Hundreds of people working for years to fit every bolt, every bulkhead, every panel, every turbo lift.

And Geordie was able to replicate it all perfectly, in his spare time, by himself, in just a few days? The Enterprise is at least several hundred times bigger than the Delta Flyer. Where were you hiding this humongous side project, Geordie? Why didn’t anyone notice this starship as big as a city in your pocket? Where did you get the materials? Where’d you get the warp core? Who helped you construct it all, or did you do it yourself? Because my man, if you built a fucking giant STARSHIP by yourself, in just a few days, in your SPARE time?? I mean you spent most of your days scolding your adult daughter about how she didn't measure up to you, so how did you possibly have time to build a dumbass ship?

If you managed to build a huge star ship in a matter of days by yourself, you should be the new Prime Minister of the Universe. You are the most powerful human being out there. That's like Q levels of magic.

Cos the entire Voyager crew was really tired working together flat out to build the Delta Flyer- a shuttle— and it still has to do test flights and corrections. The hull even breached on their first outing. They had to upgrade it several times.

How did you happen to know you needed to recreate your old starship to begin with? Again, Q levels of competency, there. Is Livingston the fish in Picard’s ready room replicated, too? Picard's archaeology books? His Shakespeare compendium?

How many test flights did you take out this giant star ship on in the couple of days you were working on this thing? You even had time to get the carpet right? And recreate the plaque? And do all of this without anyone noticing.

Even Data working at super-human speed couldn’t build the Battle Bridge or a shuttle the size of the Delta Flyer in a few days by himself- but you built a whole ass giant ship??

It took over 1000 people to run this giant ship on a normal day. And even with it fully automated, the idea that 7 people could run the entire ship into a battle?

CRUSHER: It's all perfectly logical to you, isn't it? The two of us roaming about the galaxy in the flagship of the Federation. No crew at all.

PICARD: We've never needed a crew before.

At least in ‘Remember Me,’ the idea of such a small number of people running a giant starship was preposterous- laughable. But apparently you can run a ship the size of a city with 7 people when the fuel is nostalgia.

Oh and after he’s rebuilt this perfect Federation ship, they’re not going to put it into service? They just rechristen the Titan instead? Or was it just so poorly put together that just the bridge was perfect and the rest was held together with duct tape? it really could only handle that one little battle? In which case, shouldn't you have spent more time making sure the ship was space-worthy instead of replicating and laying the fucking carpet??

The fact that Picard writers/show runners thought this was passable and not laughable is sad. audiences swallowed this bullshit is just pathetic, and shows how low the bar is for quality as long as nostalgia is the fuel.

Fuck. This. Show. Fuck this nostalgic impossible bullshit. Fuck this magic replica of a giant starship. Fuck Picard. Fuck that carpet.

[ploppythespaceship]

My Hopes for Picard Season 2

Have some rambly writing while I practice social distancing! Under the cut are my ideas of things I would like to see in the second season of Star Trek: Picard.

More of Laris and Zhaban.

These were two excellent characters that felt somewhat underused -- Zhaban in particular, as Laris got most of the important scenes and dialogue. Their backstory is only really given in the comics, and I’d love to see it explored properly in an actual episode. Either let them join the crew, or give an episode actually devoted to them. Perhaps some former Tal Shiar connections hunt them down, and the La Sirena crew must protect them? I don’t know, but there’s a lot of potential there.

Consequences for Picard’s android body.

Putting Picard’s consciousness into the android body was rather predictable, and seemed a deus ex machina ending for him to simply escape his terminal condition scot-free. He’s essentially the same as he was, and nothing has changed. I would love to see season 2 actually give us drawbacks for this decision. Maybe his android body has some quirks he wasn’t expect. Maybe he breaks down, or someone can hack his programming. Just allow for this major decision to be a defining point of his character going forward, not a snap fix where everything is magically the same.

More xBs.

The xBs were built up as such a good plot point, a group of people to support and rally behind, but then hardly got to do anything. I’d love to see more xBs in season 2, get to know more of them personally, experience their struggles re-integrating into society, and watch characters like Picard and Seven step in to directly help them adjust.

Justice for Hugh.

Hugh’s death was by far the most hated plot point of the season (at least with everyone I’ve spoken to). To bring back this character, make him into someone so warm and wise and instantly lovable, only to kill him off in such a shocking yet underwhelming way -- it’s deeply unfair and honestly harmed the story more than it helped. I’m not saying they should just snap their fingers and bring him back -- they did it with Culber in Discovery season 2, and imho it didn’t work at all -- but if there is a way to organically bring him back and weave him into the story once more, I welcome it. If that’s not possible, then let his presence and death hold greater weight so that he can be given greater meaning at least retroactively.

Consequences for Agnes.

Agnes’s murder of Bruce Maddox was rather brushed aside in the finale, and I don’t think that’s something to be forgotten so easily. I feel the characters should be much less reluctant to trust her, and she should be reluctant to trust herself. I hope to see her explored further in season 2, rather than simply brushing the whole thing aside.

Less Data.

Don’t get me wrong -- I love Data. He’s one of my all time favorite Star Trek characters. But he took over this season, and not always in a good way. The focus was often on him and his legacy, at the expense of other characters both past and present. He was shoehorned into the finale in the strangest way, and personally, his second death scene had absolutely no weight because of that. Brent Spiner says he’s done with the part, and I hope it sticks this time, because as much as I will miss him, Data’s time is done. Let him rest. (I also never want to hear Blue Skies ever again. We’ve done it to death now. Literally.)

More returning characters (and storylines).

While I don’t want past characters taking up all the screentime, I would like to see more coming back. Season 1 felt odd at times when Picard really should have called on old friends like Geordi, Worf, or Beverly for help, and instead he called on new characters the audience had never seen before. There’s a wealth of past characters to bring here -- the most obvious choices being the rest of TNG’s cast. But there’s also Voyager’s cast, which would work well with Seven of Nine. And we can’t forget Deep Space Nine’s cast! There’s much potential to bring back old characters in new ways, and while the thought does make me nervous, for the most part I respect the decisions made for returning characters and generally trust them with the rest.

More development for Narek.

Boy band Romulan here was tragically underdeveloped, only really becoming interesting in the finale when he began playing more of a wild card role. It’s clear there’s much more potential with his character than what they’ve seen, and I’d love to see him continue that unpredictable role with unsure allegiances. Perhaps even a redemption arc? I’m not sure exactly what I want from him, really. Just more than what we’ve been given so far.

More development for Soji.

I don’t think Soji is a bad character. I just think she was sadly underwritten. I can tell you all about what she is, but not who she is. What are her interests? Her motivations? What drives her as a person? I frankly have no idea. The writers have made the mistake of thinking that giving her a mystery is the same as giving her a personality. That needs to be fixed. While it’s easy to pin some of the blame on Isa Briones, I don’t think she’s really a bad actress. She just has so little to work with.

More Elnor.

No character in the series is as tragically sidelined as Elnor. After his introduction episode, he essentially tags along for the rest of the plot, watching as the other characters do everything. You could write him out of the series entirely with very little effort. And it makes me sad because he’s a great character! I want to see him take part in driving the plot next season, and focus further on him as a character.

More Seven of Nine.

Seven was absolutely fantastic in season 1. It was implied that she’s joining La Sirena’s crew, and I’d love her to be a main character next season. There’s clearly much more to her story to explore, including her guilt at now being a killer. And as I said above, I’d like to see Voyager characters return. Imagine seeing Seven opposite Janeway! Or Tuvok! Or the Doctor! It’d be so good.

More holograms, and hologram rights issues.

Rios’s holo-squad grew on me a lot as the series progressed, and I’d like to see even more holograms aside from them. This season focused so heavily on android rights, while largely ignoring the same issues in holograms despite the obvious parallels. Voyager started a trajectory of discussing whether holograms were sentient, primarily with the Doctor, and this series is poised to continue that same issue. You could even bring back those very characters, and let the Doctor, Zimmerman, and Barclay chime in on the issue. It’s a plot point ripe for the picking.

Less serialization.

Full serialization is not a bad thing. There are many shows that pull it off near flawlessly. But I don’t think it’s necessarily the right choice for Star Trek. Letting episodes stand on their own to focus on more individualized plots allows for a greater wealth of storytelling and puts the focus primarily on the characters. This season felt a bit unbalanced at times as it tried to tie all the characters and sideplots together into one, but a more episodic approach would largely negate these issues. There should absolutely be a flow between episodes, and perhaps even a build to a grander finale, but overall I think a slightly more segmented style of storytelling would ultimately be the better one.

More Federation nuance.

One of my biggest gripes with season 1 was its portrayal of the Federation. While I do like taking a harder look at the Federation’s mistakes, especially from such a beloved StarFleet officer like Picard, the show did take a pretty sharp turn from showing the Federation as a perfect utopia to showing them as selfish cowards who put fear before compassion. But it’s a complex organization with complex issues. Picard’s conversation with Clancy implied that there were valid political reasons to withdraw from Romulus, even if it wasn’t necessarily the humanitarian thing to do. I would love to see it explored further, without falling so heavily on one side or the other. The Federation is ultimately trying to be a force for good, but it’s certainly a flawed organization that can cause harm if it isn’t careful. Different characters may have very different views of it, and different levels of what nonsense they are willing to tolerate from it. It’s certainly a hard line to balance in storytelling, but it can be done -- Deep Space Nine did it damn near flawlessly. Be more like Deep Space Nine, Picard.

And that’s all I’ve got for now!

If you actually made it all the way down here, thanks for reading <3