I suppose I could blather on about Picard
May. 19th, 2020 04:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyHad a whole rage filled rant about Widget's mother and I decided nope, not going to commit that to memory.
Instead, let's prattle on about finally finishing Picard, shall we? Mom and I started it a week or so ago (a little more, I think) and then she left me in the dust. ;_; So I circled back, armed with one spoiler that I kinda brought on myself (I asked a question and she answered with a little more info that I anticipated) and watched the rest.
Technical stuff first: the sound balance on the show is terrible. In order to hear a good hunk of the dialog, you have to crank the volume up to something ungodly. I know our TV's sound isn't great but I've never had to crank it up to damn near 100 to hear simple dialog. Annnnnnnd because it's a Trek show, there will be a long stretch of important dialog that immediately cuts to EXPLOSIONS and PEWPEWPEW and you will go deaf. At first I truly thought it was just our TV, but a friend (hi, Al) posted a question on FB about it and yeah. It's the show.
I dig the opening sequence though it goes on for forever. The music is pretty and thus I let it play, but for an opening that is that long, they sure didn't see fit to actually list the big names in each episode. Specifically... not listing Marina Sirtus for episode 7. Had they chosen to not list her OR Jonathan Frakes, I'd just assume that for whatever reason the powers that be wanted it to be a surprise. Stupid, considering Seven of Nine shows up for like, thirty seconds at the end of an episode and Jeri Ryan is in the credits for that episode. Which is extra vexing considering Troi was arguably more important in the ep than Riker. But whatcha gonna do, I guess.
In general, I liked the show. I should probably point out that while I grew up on various Trek shows, it was more Mom/Dad/Grandfather watching and in the case of TNG, the whole family watching though the adults chose the show. So I am a casual fan who knows a little but isn't terribly invested in pointing out continuity errors and also I avoided TNG movies. And Picard is basically an attempt to give Data a better send off than he got in Nemesis? Is that the one he dies in? I think so. His death haunts Picard, both the character and the show.
It's also what sets the arc for the first season. There's a revolt on Mars and the synths rise up and kill so, so many people, and fourteen years later (when the show takes place), Mars is still burning. Nothing good happens on Mars, people. Anyway, synths are banned and of course as anyone who has ever paid any attention to a scientist in a movie or TV show knows, someone went off and made them anyway. Using bits of Data. Somehow. I dunno, but we wind up with Data's daughters and there's a twin angle and really you're not here for a recap, are you? Because I spent a good chunk of the first three episodes muttering, "don't trust him" everytime Narek was on screen and yeah. Soji, one of the twins, doesn't listen because PLOT.
I will say that while I never really warmed that much to Narek, I did actually find myself not hating Narissa, his creepy but badass sister, when they finally showed what, exactly, her motivations were. Like she's still a villain and on the wrong side but she... wasn't completely awful? And this is after she kills Hugh and makes me want her dead, so I think that's a nifty trick of the writing and acting and I'm a sucker for media that pulls it off.
I get why people wouldn't like the show or expected something different. But anyone expecting TNG 2.0 was always going to be disappointed. Yes, ep 7, which trades heavily on Troi and Riker and their history with Picard, is possibly THE standout of the season but the series itself does manage to shine when his new ragtag crew bands together. I loved Stardust City Rag and Broken Pieces, and the end of the season with everyone on La Sirena? Yes. Please.
Besides, for me a lot of the joy in Nepenthe (ep 7) actually comes from Kestra, who is probably my favorite person to interact with Soji.
Lesse, lesse, what else? I liked Elnor as a kid and more once he paired up with Seven, and his breakdown with Raffi is when I cried, though I could've done without the actor's weird... mouth acting? Is that a thing? It's something you kind of need to see to understand, but I don't want to point it out to people because once you see it, you do not unsee it. So very, very sorry.
Oh. And finally, the decision to have Rios in multiple forms? That person deserves a raise.
Instead, let's prattle on about finally finishing Picard, shall we? Mom and I started it a week or so ago (a little more, I think) and then she left me in the dust. ;_; So I circled back, armed with one spoiler that I kinda brought on myself (I asked a question and she answered with a little more info that I anticipated) and watched the rest.
Technical stuff first: the sound balance on the show is terrible. In order to hear a good hunk of the dialog, you have to crank the volume up to something ungodly. I know our TV's sound isn't great but I've never had to crank it up to damn near 100 to hear simple dialog. Annnnnnnd because it's a Trek show, there will be a long stretch of important dialog that immediately cuts to EXPLOSIONS and PEWPEWPEW and you will go deaf. At first I truly thought it was just our TV, but a friend (hi, Al) posted a question on FB about it and yeah. It's the show.
I dig the opening sequence though it goes on for forever. The music is pretty and thus I let it play, but for an opening that is that long, they sure didn't see fit to actually list the big names in each episode. Specifically... not listing Marina Sirtus for episode 7. Had they chosen to not list her OR Jonathan Frakes, I'd just assume that for whatever reason the powers that be wanted it to be a surprise. Stupid, considering Seven of Nine shows up for like, thirty seconds at the end of an episode and Jeri Ryan is in the credits for that episode. Which is extra vexing considering Troi was arguably more important in the ep than Riker. But whatcha gonna do, I guess.
In general, I liked the show. I should probably point out that while I grew up on various Trek shows, it was more Mom/Dad/Grandfather watching and in the case of TNG, the whole family watching though the adults chose the show. So I am a casual fan who knows a little but isn't terribly invested in pointing out continuity errors and also I avoided TNG movies. And Picard is basically an attempt to give Data a better send off than he got in Nemesis? Is that the one he dies in? I think so. His death haunts Picard, both the character and the show.
It's also what sets the arc for the first season. There's a revolt on Mars and the synths rise up and kill so, so many people, and fourteen years later (when the show takes place), Mars is still burning. Nothing good happens on Mars, people. Anyway, synths are banned and of course as anyone who has ever paid any attention to a scientist in a movie or TV show knows, someone went off and made them anyway. Using bits of Data. Somehow. I dunno, but we wind up with Data's daughters and there's a twin angle and really you're not here for a recap, are you? Because I spent a good chunk of the first three episodes muttering, "don't trust him" everytime Narek was on screen and yeah. Soji, one of the twins, doesn't listen because PLOT.
I will say that while I never really warmed that much to Narek, I did actually find myself not hating Narissa, his creepy but badass sister, when they finally showed what, exactly, her motivations were. Like she's still a villain and on the wrong side but she... wasn't completely awful? And this is after she kills Hugh and makes me want her dead, so I think that's a nifty trick of the writing and acting and I'm a sucker for media that pulls it off.
I get why people wouldn't like the show or expected something different. But anyone expecting TNG 2.0 was always going to be disappointed. Yes, ep 7, which trades heavily on Troi and Riker and their history with Picard, is possibly THE standout of the season but the series itself does manage to shine when his new ragtag crew bands together. I loved Stardust City Rag and Broken Pieces, and the end of the season with everyone on La Sirena? Yes. Please.
Besides, for me a lot of the joy in Nepenthe (ep 7) actually comes from Kestra, who is probably my favorite person to interact with Soji.
Lesse, lesse, what else? I liked Elnor as a kid and more once he paired up with Seven, and his breakdown with Raffi is when I cried, though I could've done without the actor's weird... mouth acting? Is that a thing? It's something you kind of need to see to understand, but I don't want to point it out to people because once you see it, you do not unsee it. So very, very sorry.
Oh. And finally, the decision to have Rios in multiple forms? That person deserves a raise.