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Patrick Stewart back as Picard in new series

Started by Greg M., 05 August, 2018, 11:04:38 AM

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TordelBack

Quote from: wedgeski on 12 February, 2020, 03:46:13 PM
When they got into their groove though, they packed it in there, and often with room for ensemble character development (e.g. the brilliant 'Below Decks').

It was a huge missed opportunity that they never built on 'Below Decks'. Voyager dropped a similar ball with 'Learning Curve'.

Gary James

Quote from: TordelBack on 12 February, 2020, 09:22:39 AM
S'right. But that was episode-based telly (and even then it often seemed slow), and not the endlessly dragged-out nested plots that the Modern Streaming Audience Wants.
Discovery seems to be handling continuing narrative without dragging its heels - though the glaring omission in Michael's back-story does taint the entire show for me.

It isn't that Picard is bugging me just because it feels lethargic, but that there's no sense of urgency. It is great that they can take their time, but... Someone turns up and says there is a room full of corpses which they've just come from, and Picard doesn't even feel the need to report this to the authorities. Hell, he looks like he's ready for a cup of cocoa and his slippers. WHAT THE HELL, CAPTAIN? This is the brain degeneration, right? Tell me its him going doolally, and I'll forgive everything else.

What I wouldn't give to see Picard in a gingham dress holding a penguin puppet...

TordelBack

Quote from: Gary James on 12 February, 2020, 09:51:29 PM
Discovery seems to be handling continuing narrative without dragging its heels...

Last I looked, 'everyone' hated Discovery and its season-long plots. Not me, mind.

Professor Bear

I'm not saying Seven Of Nine is a terrible character, but she actually made Voyager worse.
However, I did like how the Picard writers wrote an almost perfect satire of how she was utilised in Voyager, with the regular cast having some difficulty - ranging from being outgunned by warships to having a blocked toilet - and then someone says how awesome Seven Of Nine is, and how she'd be great for this situation.*  We should get a betting pool going on how long it takes a character to say the word "nanoprobes" in the next episode.



* Usually Harry Kim.  If you pause the show when he delivers these lines, you can actually see the actor's soul dying a piece at a time as he realises who would normally be having screen time as the away team tech guy.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: TordelBack on 12 February, 2020, 09:22:39 AMnot the endlessly dragged-out nested plots that the Modern Streaming Audience Wants
Almost all of the streaming stuff I've watched has had a sense of urgency and not pissing about. What I've watched of Picard feels a lot more like broadcast telly, stretching out 10 minutes of plot to fill an hour.

Gary James

Quote from: Professor Bear on 14 February, 2020, 01:06:16 PM
I'm not saying Seven Of Nine is a terrible character, but she actually made Voyager worse.
Nope - not telling its story was what made Voyager difficult to watch. It had one job, and it flubbed that position in the grand scheme of things time and again.

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 14 February, 2020, 02:39:11 PM
What I've watched of Picard feels a lot more like broadcast telly, stretching out 10 minutes of plot to fill an hour.
Broadcast television can do urgent just as good as any streaming service - Killing Eve, for example, never feels as if it is waiting for an appropriate point to kick into high gear. The fact that Michael Chabon is in charge of the writing is really weird - he doesn't take this much time to get to the point in print, and maybe (just maybe) it is the producers who have mandated that things move at a crawl.



And to save my neck from looking like a bad Haunting of Hill House cosplayer, it is probably safer to put my full reviews someplace where the Trek faithful aren't likely to find them...

IndigoPrime

Well, we just watched episode 3. It takes 16 minutes to deal with two conversations. About three quarters of the way through, an event happens that should arguably have closed out episode one. It is so insanely slothful, and with some cringeworthy dialogue. Mrs IP wants to stick with it because she likes Star Trek, but that's twice now where we're both saying we hope it gets better. Right now, it's like listening to an album of slow self-important surges written by someone who thinks slow means clever. Slow can just mean slow.

TordelBack

#187
I'm guessing this is one of those taste things, but as of Ep 3 I really have no complaints. I've always hated Action Hero Picard of the movie era, and loved Befuddled Ederly Picard of various TNG episodes, and maybe I'm still just coasting on the fact that Picard & Co's story didn't end with the pile of dogshit that was Nemesis, but the pacing is fine by me.

Dandontdare

#188
Couldn't agree more, I'm savouring the slow pacing.

In ep4 they could have used a bit of that youngifiying CGI magic as I got a little confused with the flashbacks. How long ago were those conversations?

Tiplodocus

"Surprise" ending completely spoiled by the opening credits but I continue to enjoy this. Romulan warrior nuns, indeed.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Tiplodocus

Ps: i like Nemesis. There are a couple of wildly stupid action set pieces that do not belong, Die Picard is all wrong but, I liked it.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Magnetica

Inspired by Picard I have been rewatching relevant episodes of TNG: Measure of a Man, I Borg, Descent, All Good Things.

What that has served to do is remind me that TNG is literally my favourite TV show of all time, bar none.

Yes it is episodic but that means you can just pick any episode and watch and not feel lost. It not having an arc structure (and remember no TV did back then, apart from soaps) doesn't mean they didn't have on going stories, it just that the structure was to address it in one episode, forget about it for ages, then come back to it in a future episode (often a two parter). Then come back back to it in another episode later.

I also loved the sound of stuff like the transporter, the phasers, the ship moving through space. Discovery and Picard have changed all that....which I don't like.....also don't like the fact they have changed phasers from having a constant beam to being pulse weapons....all cosmetic I know.

broodblik

I am enjoying it so far, the pace is just  a little bit slow. At least the last minutes of ep 4 produced some interesting turn of events.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Gary James

Quote from: Magnetica on 15 February, 2020, 01:39:17 PM
It not having an arc structure (and remember no TV did back then, apart from soaps) doesn't mean they didn't have on going stories...
That isn't exactly the case - while there were plenty of shows which had vary, very loose continuity, there were enough pre-millennium shows with arc structures embedded in their fabric to make for a compelling list. Something such as NYPD Blue (which started as late as 1993, admittedly) might be the most notable, but the trend for continuing narratives in drama series stretches back to the fifties as far as US television is concerned.

You can laugh at this all you want, but... The first (B&W) season of Lost in Space is probably the best overarching story to be broadcast outside of the UK at the time of its release.

Definitely Not Mister Pops

Quote from: Magnetica on 15 February, 2020, 01:39:17 PM
Yes it is episodic but that means you can just pick any episode and watch and not feel lost.

This here is a big part of why The Next Generation is my favourite Star Trek*, it's like comfort food.

Picard on the other hand is like a perfectly prepared pan-fried sea-bass with a potato fondant and white-wine vinagarette from a fancy restaurant. A lot of care and attention has gone in to it, you have to wait a bit, and it the end result is something rich, complex and satisfying.

I think I would prefer Fish'n'chips from the place down the road though.

*Deep Space Nine is arguably the best Star Trek, but you can't dip in and out the same way without wondering things like: Is Odo human in this one? Is Barail dead yet? Does everyone know that Bashir is genetically enhanced at this stage? Have the Romulans joined the war yet? Whose side is Dukat on this episode?(trick question, he's on his own side. Always)

I would love Garak to show up at the vinyard. He and the Tal Shiar twins could play a fun game of pretending to have no clue who the other is.
You may quote me on that.