Arrakis

That is the problem of not having the same writers and showrunners as on TNG, only they could really capture picards character, it's never good when other people create new stories with an old character. They should've gotten rick berman back.

Chris

I would have thought that Patrick Stewart would keep them on track. He's listed as a producer for the series.

crazy_diamond

Thought so to, but maybe hasn't got the ear of the writers room

Arrakis

Yes he's also one of the exec producers, but usually the most say has the showrunner which in this case is alex kurtzman who in my opinion never was that great with trek. None of his projects fully captures the star trek feeling.

Chris

I don't know. When Patrick announced that he was reprising Picard, he said he was motivated by the storyline.

Waldfrau

Picard's provocative behavior on Vashti makes more sense after I've finished "The last best hope". It's a great book! I just still don't get how he could just have been hanging around with a dog after his resignation and be depressed for 15 years. Maybe we get some more info of what he has been doing in-between?

Chris

I haven't read the books.

Yeah, while running a vineyard would have it's challenges, it's a big change from being captain of a starship.

Waldfrau

I just imaged him saying "Engage!" when they're about to harvest the fruit.

Arrakis

What happens in the book?

Waldfrau

They run into lots of trouble trying to rescue Romulans - especially with the Tal'Shiar. And there's something going on like with the climate crises. They have different models of the blast range of the supernova and some Romulans even believe the supernova is just a ruse.

There are also some Federation member planets threatening to go Brexit because they think to many ressources are spent on the Romulans.

Vashti is Picard's favourite planet because it's in Federation space on the border of the neutral zone and the population agrees to let the Romulan refugees settle there and Elnor plays with the human children there. The nuns are also a great help. But after the attack on Mars the Federation cuts the support for the refugees.

Chris

Thanks for the synopsis.

Arrakis

This all sounds like the showrunners took our real world problems and try to shove them down the viewers throats with all force just for the sake to be edgy, I can't stand that. I really not sure if I'll ever watch this show, it sounds like serious nonsense compared to discovery and it seems to wreck havoc on the lagacy of the 90s trek.

Chris

to me, Trek has always tried to comment on real world problems and has done so without getting too preachy.

Arrakis

I agree, but this new picard show sounds super preachy to me. That's why I'm still hesitant.

Rcik berman managed to bring some realism to trek coming from the super idealistic rodenberry trek, but without making it too dark and edgy. It was about important topics, but in a calm and not too much "action, pew pew" way (like the new kelvin timeline movies). It also kept the space opera themes I always liked about star trek, from the clips i saw from picard it's too much like the expanse rather than trek. I mean the expanse is a great show, but it is meant to be dark and gritty unlike trek.

Waldfrau

I don't feel it's preachy. The book neither. We see everything from the eyes of the characters and they all have their personal issues. There's a lot about Raffi, Picard, Jurati & Maddox and various Romulan characters in there. Clancy and La Forge regularly appear too. I thought the weird couple dynamic between Jurati & Maddox was well done.

I agree that it doesn't have to be that edgy. Especially after the 5th episode we could use some lighthearted stuff.