Shanejayell
Yuri Fan without a Pause
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To be honest I STILL kind of go 'WHY the Borg' tho. I really, really wish they had either come up with a new threat, or followed up on it being a faction of the Dominion or something....
Every season of this show has had Borg its wild
- Location
- Australia
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- She/Her
So, 'amusing' realization. Including Section 31 in the rebel changelings backstory added absolutely nothing to the story and in fact took away from it a little.
The state the Borg were in this episode was, regardless of a time traveling Janeway being the vector, their own damn fault. They had been the boogeyman of the galaxy long before they encountered the Federation, destroying and assimilating countless civilizations. Janeway was striking a valid tactical blow against them. The last queen essentially consuming the rest of her last cube to strike against the Federation because of blind hate, when she could have easily gone to hide and recover, or even sue for peace, as Juratis collective from an alternate timeline did, was essentially a selfish grudge against someone that hurt her because they were defending themselves from her aggression.
The rebel Changelings could have been presented the same way. People who only focus on what was done to them, while ignoring their own crimes. And I think that was intended to be the point. Except that S31, yet again, was so cartoonishly stupid evil, that it undercuts that. The Founders, long ago, were hurt by Solids, and they've been taking it out on the rest of the galaxy ever since. But Vadic? She was a direct victim of a personal attack on her.
The rebel Changelings could have been presented the same way. People who only focus on what was done to them, while ignoring their own crimes. And I think that was intended to be the point. Except that S31, yet again, was so cartoonishly stupid evil, that it undercuts that. The Founders, long ago, were hurt by Solids, and they've been taking it out on the rest of the galaxy ever since. But Vadic? She was a direct victim of a personal attack on her.
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- Location
- Oblivion
Because the show is about Picard, and the Borg Collective was Picard's White Whale.
The Last One
Here because reasons
I just finished it, stupid Australian delays on stuff. Look, I am very solidly into the "Loving S3 Picard" camp but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the best Star Trek. There's plenty of better examples out there, people have covered some of the high points already and I don't want to get into another Disco S4 argument. What I will say, though, is that Picard S3 is very close to perfect as a closing for TNG. Yes, it borrowed a lot from "All Good Things" and Generations because those are also good closings for TNG. I'm also not so sure that it's as inaccessible to new viewers as people think. I know my wife, who's not watched a lot of Star Trek, has been eagerly watching the series with me but that may also just be her picking up on the emotions it produces in me.
And, let's be blunt, this is a season designed to produce emotions in people who grew up with TNG. S1 tried to tell a more independent story but suffered a bit because Picard himself wasn't really needed. Also the end-of-time synthetic life being malevolent was completely the wrong choice. Season 2 sort of course corrected on that and concluded the Picard and Q story but without many legacy characters. Season 3 has gone all in with the TNG nostalgia and story and I'm all here for it because I grew up with TNG.
I dunno, it's kind of like old bands doing reunion tours. Sure, they're gonna be playing the same old stuff and if you didn't like them then, you probably won't change your mind. For the people who loved the old band, it's a fantastic experience and there's nothing wrong with an old band going on tour to play the same songs to the same people who'll love it just as much as they did 5,10 years ago.
The "Put Troi in a Uniform" lesson all over again.
TBH, I was expecting a USS Picard but I guess it's a little creepy while he's still alive. There also better be a Titan-B in the shipyards. There were some social media posts about the Enterprise-F being a troubled design due for retirement.
No, no. It is very important that Star Trek makes sure to point out the Section 31 and people who think like that just make the situation worse. The series should be about hope and the ability of people to evolve and become better and Section 31 being right flies right in the face of that.
Edit: I guess the follow-up to all that is that Picard doesn't need to be more than it is. There is plenty of Star Trek out there right now. Do you want good old fashioned episodic Science Fiction stories? Strange New Worlds. Do you want a long story arc with a bit more exploration and depth of human emotion? Discovery is right this way. Oh, you want something lighter? Here, try some Prodigy or Lower Decks.
And, let's be blunt, this is a season designed to produce emotions in people who grew up with TNG. S1 tried to tell a more independent story but suffered a bit because Picard himself wasn't really needed. Also the end-of-time synthetic life being malevolent was completely the wrong choice. Season 2 sort of course corrected on that and concluded the Picard and Q story but without many legacy characters. Season 3 has gone all in with the TNG nostalgia and story and I'm all here for it because I grew up with TNG.
I dunno, it's kind of like old bands doing reunion tours. Sure, they're gonna be playing the same old stuff and if you didn't like them then, you probably won't change your mind. For the people who loved the old band, it's a fantastic experience and there's nothing wrong with an old band going on tour to play the same songs to the same people who'll love it just as much as they did 5,10 years ago.
She gets to wear actual clothes instead of a stupid catsuit, and the end result is she's actually sexier than Voyagers forced efforts.
The "Put Troi in a Uniform" lesson all over again.
TBH, I was expecting a USS Picard but I guess it's a little creepy while he's still alive. There also better be a Titan-B in the shipyards. There were some social media posts about the Enterprise-F being a troubled design due for retirement.
No, no. It is very important that Star Trek makes sure to point out the Section 31 and people who think like that just make the situation worse. The series should be about hope and the ability of people to evolve and become better and Section 31 being right flies right in the face of that.
Edit: I guess the follow-up to all that is that Picard doesn't need to be more than it is. There is plenty of Star Trek out there right now. Do you want good old fashioned episodic Science Fiction stories? Strange New Worlds. Do you want a long story arc with a bit more exploration and depth of human emotion? Discovery is right this way. Oh, you want something lighter? Here, try some Prodigy or Lower Decks.
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*sighs loudly*
Where to begin?
This finale is ... deeply flawed. And it makes me like S3 on a whole less, and S2 more.
Where to begin?
This finale is ... deeply flawed. And it makes me like S3 on a whole less, and S2 more.
Before S3 started, I said they way they perfunctorily jettisoned all the old cast in favor of a TNG reunion felt shitty, and that feeling came roaring back with a vengeance during the finale.
- The way the Borg Queen ranted at Picard about their fate like Picard was personally responsible was deeply jarring. I had to wrack my brains to realise she was actually talking about the unelaborated consequences of VOY's Endgame, the disconnect is so stark, and the absence of either Queen/Jurati's Cooperative or Janeway in this storyline such a patent missed opportunity.
- In general, the whole Borg thing feels like a too-late misfire, and it just doesn't land properly
- Can't believe they did Return of the Jedi with a Borg Cube. Like hey, I wonder if there was a smaller ship that could've done this job more easily. Like the Titan-A?
- The gunfights at episode opener were very poorly shot and edited. I had no idea what was going on until after they were over.
- I still enjoyed the character work, which is where this season does really well.
- Seriously, you undid one of the best parts of Season 2 by bringing Q back and handwaving about thinking linearly? Piss off.
- Where the fuck was Laris in this finale? Are she and Jean Luc together or not? Forgetting her is heinous.
- Earth's defences are dumb as hell, man. So the planetary shields are connected to Space Dock? What?
- All those ships firing and not a single quantum torpedo? Bit weird.
- And now for my big Star Trek nerd rant.
The Enterprise-G fucking. sucks in every way.
1. Let's get this out of the way now - the Constitution III is ugly as sin. Her weird partial saucer alone is a crime against starship design. Her 'retro' TOS-movie styling is thematically disonant with the TNG era this show is supposed to be nostalgic about.
2. Why would Starfleet ever do this? The Titan / Titan-A had a decades long career. They're just gonna take that, piss on it, and call it the Enterprise? The disrespect.
3. The Titan-A is not an Enterprise. The Enterprise is the Federation flagship. At the time of commissioning, with the exception of the NCC-1701-A alone, she has always been one of the largest, most prestigious, most capable commands in the fleet. As if Starfleet would ever confer the name on a diminutive light explorer that quivers in fear at the thought of fighting a heavily armed ship like the Shrike.
It sucks. It sucks so bad. Blah.
- The way the Borg Queen ranted at Picard about their fate like Picard was personally responsible was deeply jarring. I had to wrack my brains to realise she was actually talking about the unelaborated consequences of VOY's Endgame, the disconnect is so stark, and the absence of either Queen/Jurati's Cooperative or Janeway in this storyline such a patent missed opportunity.
- In general, the whole Borg thing feels like a too-late misfire, and it just doesn't land properly
- Can't believe they did Return of the Jedi with a Borg Cube. Like hey, I wonder if there was a smaller ship that could've done this job more easily. Like the Titan-A?
- The gunfights at episode opener were very poorly shot and edited. I had no idea what was going on until after they were over.
- I still enjoyed the character work, which is where this season does really well.
- Seriously, you undid one of the best parts of Season 2 by bringing Q back and handwaving about thinking linearly? Piss off.
- Where the fuck was Laris in this finale? Are she and Jean Luc together or not? Forgetting her is heinous.
- Earth's defences are dumb as hell, man. So the planetary shields are connected to Space Dock? What?
- All those ships firing and not a single quantum torpedo? Bit weird.
- And now for my big Star Trek nerd rant.
The Enterprise-G fucking. sucks in every way.
1. Let's get this out of the way now - the Constitution III is ugly as sin. Her weird partial saucer alone is a crime against starship design. Her 'retro' TOS-movie styling is thematically disonant with the TNG era this show is supposed to be nostalgic about.
2. Why would Starfleet ever do this? The Titan / Titan-A had a decades long career. They're just gonna take that, piss on it, and call it the Enterprise? The disrespect.
3. The Titan-A is not an Enterprise. The Enterprise is the Federation flagship. At the time of commissioning, with the exception of the NCC-1701-A alone, she has always been one of the largest, most prestigious, most capable commands in the fleet. As if Starfleet would ever confer the name on a diminutive light explorer that quivers in fear at the thought of fighting a heavily armed ship like the Shrike.
It sucks. It sucks so bad. Blah.
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I wrote up an exceptionally long and overly detailed to the point of pure snark review of the show but ultimately decided to scrap it.
I'll sum my thoughts.
Yes, the show relied heavily on nostalgia and "fanservice", however it did so not at the expense of the show, but to enhance it. The underlying story is still solid, but a good deal of the emotional weight does come from 35 years of backstory and familiarity we have with these characters. Much like Avengers: Endgame or Logan, it doesn't land unless you've been on the journey with the characters for that time.
Where some will say "ugh, fanservice" with disdain, I counter by saying that this as an absolute labor of love and a gift to the Star Trek fans. This season of this show was an absolute celebration of all things Star Trek. This show could really be "The End", this is the culmination of all Star Trek, boiled down to many of it's core elements and presented fantastically.
This season of this show wasn't "fanservice", it was special. It was a chance to go on one more adventure with these heroes who have been a part of so many peoples lives for so long. It's absolutely disingenuous to say the nostalgia/"fanservice" doesn't play a role here, it absolutely does, it's critical to the show, and it's also what makes it so damn emotional. This season of this show provoked me to tears on several occasions, something that doesn't happen often.
The characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation are like my TV family, with me almost since as long as I can remember. They've been there through good times and bad. They've thought me lessons about right and wrong. There's a piece of these characters ingrained into me, and I don't think i'm the only one.
Some might be viewing this as "just as a TV show" and that's ok. At the end of the day, it is. But... it's more than that to me, and I consider it an absolute blessing to have got to spend some time with them once again. This was an experience for me and why I think it's the best thing that Star Trek has ever done.
It's ok to disagree with me on that. It has a deeper meaning to me that you might not share. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations, right?
I'll sum my thoughts.
Yes, the show relied heavily on nostalgia and "fanservice", however it did so not at the expense of the show, but to enhance it. The underlying story is still solid, but a good deal of the emotional weight does come from 35 years of backstory and familiarity we have with these characters. Much like Avengers: Endgame or Logan, it doesn't land unless you've been on the journey with the characters for that time.
Where some will say "ugh, fanservice" with disdain, I counter by saying that this as an absolute labor of love and a gift to the Star Trek fans. This season of this show was an absolute celebration of all things Star Trek. This show could really be "The End", this is the culmination of all Star Trek, boiled down to many of it's core elements and presented fantastically.
This season of this show wasn't "fanservice", it was special. It was a chance to go on one more adventure with these heroes who have been a part of so many peoples lives for so long. It's absolutely disingenuous to say the nostalgia/"fanservice" doesn't play a role here, it absolutely does, it's critical to the show, and it's also what makes it so damn emotional. This season of this show provoked me to tears on several occasions, something that doesn't happen often.
The characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation are like my TV family, with me almost since as long as I can remember. They've been there through good times and bad. They've thought me lessons about right and wrong. There's a piece of these characters ingrained into me, and I don't think i'm the only one.
Some might be viewing this as "just as a TV show" and that's ok. At the end of the day, it is. But... it's more than that to me, and I consider it an absolute blessing to have got to spend some time with them once again. This was an experience for me and why I think it's the best thing that Star Trek has ever done.
It's ok to disagree with me on that. It has a deeper meaning to me that you might not share. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations, right?
Shanejayell
Yuri Fan without a Pause
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- He
Random bitch: And what happened to Picard's Romulan Girlfriend? She was in first episode this season, then TOTALLY FORGOTTEN.
One assumes she got called up off screen but....
One assumes she got called up off screen but....
Arthur Frayn
Fake God by Occupation, Magician by Inclination
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- Land of Do As You Please
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Hot take but while I'm glad Seven's got a lady friend…IMO swapping her and Raffi makes a lot more sense? Like now Worf has to team up with a Romulan, which chafes his new Zen vibe, and Picard and Crusher getting (back) together has to deal with the wrinkle of his (ex?) girlfriend getting swept up in everything alongside them.
Mal-3
Fun Tyrant
She went to the bar and vanished, much like every other original character from the first two seasons who isn't Raffi.
Arthur Frayn
Fake God by Occupation, Magician by Inclination
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- Land of Do As You Please
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- They/Him
Same goes for Kestra Troi-Riker.
Like, here's a great example of how going for fan service (by replicating the ending from All Good Things) actually underserves the characters instead of developing them. Riker (and by extension Troi's) big character arc this season has been processing and coming to grips with the premature death of his son, Thad. It forms the emotional spine of the early episodes (which I think a lot of us would agree are the season's strongest), and him processing his grief helps him and Troi grow closer as a couple. It's nice, meaty, and dramatic stuff and you can tell Frakes and Sirtis are enjoying themselves playing it.
And then after all that drama, culminating with Riker calmly accepting death and psychically telling Troi he'll be waiting with for her with Thad (after earlier admitting he doesn't think there's anything after death), we end with Riker and Troi *checks notes* uh getting drunk and playing cards with their friends. I mean I'm being comedically hyperbolic, but after it is some wild whiplash IMO to do all that legwork about the Riker home being haunted by the death of Thad and then not even give us a glimpse of a new, happier Riker household.
*EDIT* This is just me bullshitting (and fan fiction is kind've empty criticism), but if the episode had been the same, but ended with the TNG gang and their kids (plus some convenient cameos, I dunno you back up the dump truck to Susan Gibney again) having a dinner party at Casa Riker (or something along those lines) I think I'd have been easier on it. You get to see the TNG crew in their old familiar rhythm but acknowledge the passage of time/them being parents or something.
Going back to the poker table is that kind of JJ Abrams move where instead of a moment of genuine emotion it's an evocation of a previous moment of genuine emotion.
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They may well have run out of budget.
Matalas has done a few interviews detailing how the final episode didn't go quite the way he wanted, being reigned in by budget. By the time we got to the very ending... there may just not have been anything left in the tank, so we just got the crew hanging out together.
Kestra I can live with not being there. She's fine, she was in no danger. Maybe a bit of an omission for Riker not saying something like "Me and that will be waiting for you and Kestra...", but in the heat of the moment, might be hyper focused on what's right there. Kestra still has a very long life ahead of her.
The lack of Laris was glaring. Laris really needed to be addressed at the very least.
The Narrator
Disembodied Voice
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- Somewhere Offscreen
That whole thing from the previous season of trying to set up a romance between the two was always weird to me to begin with. He's like twice her age and her employer.
But yeah, Laris, Soji and Elnor all disappeared from the narrative this season.
Arthur Frayn
Fake God by Occupation, Magician by Inclination
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- Land of Do As You Please
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- They/Him
It's not about whether she was in danger, it's about showing Riker's growth as a character. The stakes are already so abstract at that point that who gives a shit if one more person is either dead or neoBorg mind whammied, it's more that the show gives Riker an arc about becoming a better father and a better husband, and then presents the natural endpoint of that arc as him implicitly emotionally regressing back to his "glory days" in TNG.
Sabertooth
Currently on a road trip with Magnus the Red
- Location
- Portugal
This show has a tendency of making great plot lines like the romulan collapse, the sythn rebellion and the conspiracy, the changelings who refuse to accept the war is over and the shove them aside for cheap nostalgia.
Like, well managed, the synthetic revolt would last all 3 seasons between the reveal, plot and resolution.
Like, well managed, the synthetic revolt would last all 3 seasons between the reveal, plot and resolution.
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- The Old Dominion
I have to admit when I they were building up a to a big final threat to end out the series, I really was expecting something relating to the episode conspiracy as those aliens had sent off a signal and it was never followed up on in the next generation instead of the borg being the threat yet again.
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Apparently those neck bug aliens were originally going to connect to the borg. Back when the borg were first envisioned, they were going to be an insectoid like hoard. We see hints of this with things like wiping out colonies, as if eaten by a hoard of locusts.
But then things changed. The borg became zombie cyborgs and the plotline was dropped.
The Borg made sense in being a bit more personal. Sure, the Conspiracy aliens would be neat but there's no real particular connection to Picard.
When it comes down to it, the entire resolution was a potential personal sacrifice from Picard. It wouldn't have had much weight if it were those aliens we saw one time in one episode.
I really don't think Riker not mentioning Kestra undoes the character arc. He was talking to Troi... he was saying goodbye to her. Kestra wasn't there to say goodbye to, sure, I guess it's nice if I he was talking to Deanna and Kestra but... he wasn't.
Kestra is alive. Kestra is fine. He thought he was going to die so he told the love of his life he would be waiting for her, along with their son, who had died.
Really making a mountain out of a molehill here, I really don't see the issue.
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Laris is Romulan.
If anything, she was likely twenty to thirty years older then Picard.
My main problem with the finale was them taking the plot lines of the borg compromising federation transporter tech and hacking starfleet down to the personnel, then engages in rapid cliffhanger de escalation and sweeping it all under the rug. Can i sue the showrunners for whiplash
Why Picard’s Story Had to End This Way - IGN
Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas on why Jean-Luc's story had to end the way it did, plus the many cameos and storylines that he also wanted to include in Season 3.
ROFLMAO:
Yeah right dude, I'm sure you intended for Shelby to not be dead after showing her on the receiving end of two seperate phaser pistols hitting her square in the chest. Whatever, as long as the backlash to yet another Back for the Dead worked.
It did probably another episode.
I can see a problem with just how the storytelling works. We have this mystery and we don't want to reveal it too quickly. There's a balancing act of waiting long enough to reveal it but also giving enough time for a proper resolution.
In this case, yeah it felt alittle rushed, but
The transporter-infection wasn't REALLY what we needed resolved. Once the cube/transmitter was taken out and Jack/Vox stopped sending out orders... the assimilated people were just kinda... there. They were no longer a threat, it was just "How do we unassimilate them now". At this point in the game, reclaiming a Borg isn't really that big of a deal. The XB's from S1 were kind of hackjobs because the Romulans on the artifact didn't care to put the resources into doing it right.
They had all the data on what happened at this point. They had everything Vadic was trying to get. Reverse engineering it at that point should have been... and was... a fairly trivial matter.
I'll give you the "oh and we can detect changelings too, just to tie that up." That was a tad quick and kind of tacked on like, "we didn't forget about that".
They had all the data on what happened at this point. They had everything Vadic was trying to get. Reverse engineering it at that point should have been... and was... a fairly trivial matter.
I'll give you the "oh and we can detect changelings too, just to tie that up." That was a tad quick and kind of tacked on like, "we didn't forget about that".
The Narrator
Disembodied Voice
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- Somewhere Offscreen
Crusher did suggest a few episodes ago that she'd figured something out for that.
Shanejayell
Yuri Fan without a Pause
- Pronouns
- He
That and the ship she was on, Enterprise-F, was destroyed. I'd assume she bought it...
It was? The E-F survived AFAIK