Few who were involved in the making or viewing of 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis would say it was a fantastic send-off for beloved Next Generation characters. Over the course of seven seasons, TNG has become one of Trek’s most elaborate and consistent films (although still able to create terrible, stupid, and just plain weirdepisodes). But Nemesis is a flat action movie defined by subtle characterization, a cheesy one-note villain and distracting plot twists, and it did so poorly ($67 million on a $60 million budget, at a time when “maybe it will.”a lot of “money in China”was a thing), which precluded any possibility of another sequel. The cast and these characters, by all accounts, deserve a better ending.
Star Trek: Picard was the TNG sequel you’d get if you wanted a TNG sequel on a monkey’s paw. In the first two seasons, non-Picard characters were used only sporadically, with new characters being either annoying or bland or both. The show’s creative staff uses “twisted twists”as a substitute for clear and interesting storytelling. This show is exclusively for Trek diehards, and at the time of this writing, it is by far the worst of the five Trek shows in active development.
The show’s third and final season was presented as a true TNG reunion, and it’s nice to see the obvious affection these artists have for each other to say the least. But Picard is still Picard, and many of the characters and plot points in the season so far (we’ve seen the first six episodes of the planned 10, though this part will only refer to specific events from the season premiere and trailers) eerily resemble those that did Nemesis is so unsatisfactory.
Film version of TNG
My favorite Star Trek movie text is Darrich Franich’s “Entertainment Weekly”series, which revisits every movie leading up to the release of Star Trek Beyond in 2016 (the gap between the release of “Beyond”and today is officially more than the gap between Nemesis and JJ Abrams’ 2009 reboot of The Trek). movie). Franić is not particularly kind to TNG films for reasons I generally agree with. They crystallized in his article on the 1998 Star Trek Uprising, which is in part a dialogue with a then-unpublished book called Fade In, written by Trek writer and producer Michael Piller (who died in 2005):
But Fade In exists if you’re looking for it. And I think this is the first substantive book on screenwriting in the new century, a snapshot of Hollywood at the dawn of the franchise era: a portrait of the artist amidst corporate necessity, narrative continuity, supposed fandom demands, the hazy way actors in iconic roles might know everything but nothing. about their characters, the desire to change, at the same time the desire not to change too much. Piller writes that he wanted this ninth Star Trek film to bring back the spirit of The Next Generation, to show that the Enterprise crew was family at heart. Piller writes:
Over the seven years of the television show, Picard has proven himself to be a man of great principles and moral integrity. He solved problems with his intelligence and communication skills and never fired a weapon unless he was being shot at. This side of him was not explored in the other two feature films.
I like this idea? seems to agree? Both Generations and First Contact were based on the idea that Picard needed to transform into the man of action needed to take on Malcolm McDowell on the rocky ledge of a rocket, needed to carry large laser rifles, before dangling over acid fog in John McClain’s Die Hard T-shirt. Surely there was a way to make a movie with Picard the Thinker, Picard the Whistleblower, Picard the Wise? But someone disagrees with me, disagrees with Piller. In fact one of Picard’s leading experts: Patrick Stewart, who allegedly writes a long and thoughtful (and often quite funny) note to Piller stating that these TNG films should be different from TNG, that emotion and action should be more, that it’s too sentimental leads to the heroes around the campfiresings “Gryaba, row, row your boat “.
I disagree with Patrick Stewart on what made the franchise a successful blockbuster in the late 90s. But the main problem with Picard as a vehicle for a TNG reunion (which is mostly, but not entirely, separate from its problems as a show) is that these beefed up, flattened versions of the characters from the movies are the ones that made it back to TV. There is a scene in the middle of the first episode of the new season that illustrates this.
Picard and Riker, back out of semi-retirement, board a Federation starship. The captain they’re trying to work with (Liam Shaw, played by Todd Stashwick) doesn’t inspire awe in them and isn’t particularly inclined to give them whatever they want. He also seems, like too many Star Trek characters, to have experienced his own reality, primarily by watching Star Trek.
Riker: Not a jazz fan?
Show: Mm. No I do not. I like structure. I like the meter. I like to keep track of the pace and time, so you, like the two of you, will probably find this inspection boring.
Picard: Would it be boring to monitor the status of our starships?
Shaw: Well, we won’t blow anything up. Taking or participating in fire. Crash landing, expected or unexpected. You know, it’s business as usual for you boys.
This portrayal of Picard and Riker as rule-breaking, property-destroying, and disregarding cowboys is a grossly inaccurate assessment of their characters in The Next Generation. TNG was notoriously the slowest, most talkative and most diplomatic of the Trek shows, always more interested in monologues than firing torpedoes. The show leaned on this to distance itself slightly from the original series’ Wild West feel, just as subsequent Trek shows like Deep Space Nine and Voyager leaned more towards fast action to distinguish themselves from TNG. Picard was a consummate follower of the rules, always ready to deliver a monologue of duty to anyone he thought needed to hear him.
But this is an accurate description of Picard’s film version. There are other signs besides the copious references to the events of the films; This season features a mysterious villain with a mustache and a giant warship, both restored caterpillars of Nemesis and Star Trek (2009). The song that plays over the end credits is the main theme of the movie First Contact.
So, yes, the latest season of Picard finally gives us what the show should have been from the beginning: a full-fledged Next Generation reunion featuring the entire original cast (plus a few fun surprises). But, for better or worse, this is the movie version of a TNG reunion. And underneath that, it’s still Picard season, with all the slips, bumps, and frustrations that come with it.