Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Boy, this show has been a major letdown. I spent my teen years watching Star Trek TNG. While it had its flaws in terms of production values and some stilted acting, overall it was a very good show. The episodic storytelling was generally quite good, the chemistry between the ensemble cast was genuine, and Gene Roddenberry's overarching optimistic view of the future of humanity made the show a pleasure to watch each week. And the glue that held it all together was Patrick Stewart's portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. The character was well-written, the storylines were often thoughtful and challenging, and the plots allowed the character to be explored in terms of humor and pathos, moral dilemmas versus moral clarity, diplomacy versus decisive action and violence, and so forth. And through it all, Patrick Stewart did a very good job of making the character complex, interesting and engaging. In terms of my fictional heroes, Captain Picard previously ranked right up there with Captain America, Gandalf, and Atticus Finch. All of this is mostly or entirely missing from Star Trek: Picard. Mostly entirely. The characters are either boring, or thinly realized, or overtly unlikeable, or some combination of the three. Each and every one of them, including Picard himself. I've watched the first five episodes, and I scarcely remember the names of the characters. There's Jaffi (sp?), a former-Starfleet-officer-now-drug-addicted-and-dysfunctional mess of a person. And Captain Rios, a bland space pirate exhibiting essentially no characterization despite appearing in multiple episodes. Then there's Soji, the Mary Sue android being romanced by an Emo-Millennial-Hipster Romulan with an English accent. There's also Elnor, a sort of Romulan Legolas . And also a blonde scientist who has nothing interesting to say or do, and who just whinges a lot, right up until she murders her old boyfriend. Meanwhile, Captain Picard comes across as a dispirited, aimless old fart. He apparently quit Starfleet, and just gave up on, well, everything. He retired to his villa and let moral imperatives pass him by, over and over, for years on end. This is a gross treatment of what was previously a noble and compelling character (not unlike the abysmal treatment of the character of Luke Skywalker in "The Last Jedi"). Moreover, Picard is regularly yelled at and insulted and demeaned by who are supposed to come across as "strong" women, but who instead come across as shrill, emotion-driven, verbally abusive harridans. And worse, Stewart's Picard just sits there and takes such abuses, like some sort of shiftless couch potato. Gone is the intellect, the courage, the moral judgment and clarity, and other attributes that made TNG's Picard so compelling and admirable. The current iteration of Picard is a sodden, boring mess. The chemistry between the characters and cast members is almost non-existent. The storyline is not serialized, not episodic. I don't object to this style of storytelling, provided it is done well (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine proved that it can be done). It is not done well here. The story itself, to the extent it exists, is bland. It's a slog to watch the episodes, which feel padded, and which meander more than advance the narrative. The storytelling seems to be coasting, relying way too much on nostalgia and Patrick Stewart's (now aimless) gravitas. It doesn't work. Perhaps the worst part, though, is the utter abandonment of Roddenberry's vision of the future. Starfleet is filled to the rafters with moral indifference, and even depravity. The Federation left hundreds of millions of Romulans to die? Really? This is nothing like Roddenberry's vision. Where TNG went to great lengths to demonstrate the future's emphasis on valuing life of all sorts, ST:Picard is nightmarish. One episode's opening bit is a blood-drenched and horrific torture scene straight out of a hard R horror film. Romulan Legolas casually murders a guy. Blonde Whinging Scientist murders her (helpless and bedridden) former boyfriend. Seven of Nine, having apparently abandoned the humanity she sought to recover during Star Trek: Voyager, goes on a revenge-motivated murder spree. How are these people any better than the villans in Star Trek: TNG? For pete's sake, at least the Borg had the excuse of being stripped of their free will. Oh, and there's plenty of smoking, drinking and cussing now, too (including F-bombs). The show is rated TV-MA, so I will not be introducing my kids to it. When I first heard about this show, I had high hopes for it. Then I started watching Star Trek: Discovery, and I saw how ugly and pessimistic - and surprisingly overtly misandrist - it is. And then I read an article about Patrick Steward describing ST:Picard as being a metaphor responding to the Trump Administration. Oi. Sir Patrick, folks like me want to watch escapist stuff like Star Trek because, well, it's escapist. We're not particularly interested in watching you and yours pontificate on your political dislike of the current American president. The series is a big disappointment.