Do you literally think digital design requires no effort or ability? That’s astonishing!
Been reading a few reviews about Picard here and there and a common refrain seems to be that it lacks a certain... something that makes it not feel really like Star Trek. It's a similar criticism to ST: Disco as well. I wonder if it has more to do with the format change than anything else.
In older Trek, you got 24 (ish) episodes per season. So, you might get a season long plot (say in DS9) introduced in the first two episodes of the season, then it would kind of fade to the background until mid-season, then there'd be two or three plotsy episodes and then it would fade back again until the end of the season and you'd get like 4 plot based episodes concluding the story arc.
Well, really, that's what we're getting with these shorter seasons - all the plot based stuff and none of the other stuff. But, the other stuff is really where Star Trek developed so much of the character and world. That's where the Holodeck episodes lived and the more character driven stories where Worf or Data ponders their particular existence for an hour.
The new format is more along the lines of a really long movie. They remind me of the old 80's TV Mini-series that we used to get. Things like Shogun or various other, basically, 10 hour movies. You just don't have the time to develop characters like you could in the older series. You can't spend an entire hour on Odo trying to turn himself into bird or whatever.
I really wonder if that's what turns people off from the newer Trek.
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Totally different question.
Did you notice the line in the last episode where the Romulan guy (sorry, can't remember names) talks about the legends/history and mentions that the story comes from before Vulcans settled their planet? Interesting.
Been reading a few reviews about Picard here and there and a common refrain seems to be that it lacks a certain... something that makes it not feel really like Star Trek. It's a similar criticism to ST: Disco as well. I wonder if it has more to do with the format change than anything else.
In older Trek, you got 24 (ish) episodes per season. So, you might get a season long plot (say in DS9) introduced in the first two episodes of the season, then it would kind of fade to the background until mid-season, then there'd be two or three plotsy episodes and then it would fade back again until the end of the season and you'd get like 4 plot based episodes concluding the story arc.
Well, really, that's what we're getting with these shorter seasons - all the plot based stuff and none of the other stuff. But, the other stuff is really where Star Trek developed so much of the character and world. That's where the Holodeck episodes lived and the more character driven stories where Worf or Data ponders their particular existence for an hour.
The new format is more along the lines of a really long movie. They remind me of the old 80's TV Mini-series that we used to get. Things like Shogun or various other, basically, 10 hour movies. You just don't have the time to develop characters like you could in the older series. You can't spend an entire hour on Odo trying to turn himself into bird or whatever.
I really wonder if that's what turns people off from the newer Trek.
--------------
Totally different question.
Did you notice the line in the last episode where the Romulan guy (sorry, can't remember names) talks about the legends/history and mentions that the story comes from before Vulcans settled their planet? Interesting.
Picard did end with the perfect setup for a second season composed of Firefly/Leverage antics in the liminal spaces where the Federation had withdrawn its influence. You throw in a rivalry with some of the Fenris Rangers as Jean-Luc muscles in on their schtick.
I've always thought the Star Trek setting would lend itself well to a smaller ship and crew with a more covert-ops theme. This isn't exactly how I pictured them getting there, but if they go that way I'm certainly up for it.
