CBS All Access' "Star Trek: Picard" (Season 3)

[Batman1980]

I never really liked Obrien, I even skip the 2 Obrien centered episodes during my ds9 marathons.

[mysticwaterfall]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I rather enjoyed S1. S2 felt very safe with the time travel, and rather self-indulgent w/ref to Picard's childhood. But at the same time I'm glad the series wasn't like S3 from the get go, because could it have sustained three seasons of it? Dunno. And if it all comes together like we think it's gonna come together, with

[Show spoiler]all those classic ships pressed into action one last time

, it's going to have been worth the wait and will be a fitting send-off for this era of Star Trek....until they make a Titan series with Captain Shaw

They've unearthed a gem with Captain Shaw though, his irreverent kookiness has been one of the highlights of S3 for me and it shows it's not all about memberberries. Dorn keeps stealing the show with his quips though, his timing is just impeccable.

Speaking of memberberries:

[Show spoiler]I'm not sure the Kirk thing is anything other than tipping us off that Daystrom stores the bodies of Starfleet's finest, leading to the reveal at the end of Picard's remains getting tea-leafed by the rogue Changelings.

One thing that's really enhancing my enjoyment of S3 is the music. Sure, the usage of cues stolen from First Contact taps into that 'big screen' energy anyway but even the new music in the episodes just feels grander somehow. For all the technological things that TV is catching up with (and sometimes surpasses!) versus movies, music is not one of them. Not that movie music is great these days anyway but for episodic TV there's still a fundamental need to bash out more score in less time and it's still so much sonic wallpaper. But S3's score seems bigger, bolder, I keep thinking that I know this cue or that (separate from the actual nods to classic Trek cues, I mean) and I'm loving it.

S1 was okay for the most part with the main story, but it had so many side stories that weren't really relevant and new characters that didn't blend in well. Captain Shaw is new, but he actually works as an an example. Then we see that Picard is essentially a broken old man who hides in his vineyard and Riker is very bitter. Not what anyone wanted to see

Now I agree with your point S3 wouldnt/isn't necessarily sustainable for a start, but it is definitely more what people wanted.

I hope we do get everything come together like you say, the visual alone would be priceless.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Batman1980

Nana visitor and avery Brooks are the other ds9 actors I'm hoping to see.

Nana certainly is possible, she's still pretty positive about Trek. Avery as mentioned is a no go, he didn't even participate in the DS9 documentary.

Side note, we were on a Paramount studio tour on a high school trip and they were filming a DS9 episode. I saw Kira out so was going to try and meet her but when we got closer she was really mad about something and chewing out a Bajoran. So I didn't get to meet her. Did see how short she was though, which surprised me.

It's a shame cell phones weren't a big thing then as we also saw Klingons eating lunch on picnic tables. That would have been a great picture.

[Josep5349]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

I never really liked Obrien, I even skip the 2 Obrien centered episodes during my ds9 marathons.

Given your dislike for him you should enjoy his episodes given his character centric episodes tend to involve him suffering. My favourite O’Brien episodes are Visionary and Whispers though.

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by Josep5349

A Colm Meaney cameo would be nice, we tend to associate him more with DS9 of course, but he did have an ongoing role in TNG for 6 and something seasons.

He appeared 52 times on TNG, and 173 times on DS9, making him the second most-appearing character (besides Michael Dorn) in Star Trek history.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Josep5349

Given your dislike for him you should enjoy his episodes given his character centric episodes tend to involve him suffering. My favourite O’Brien episodes are Visionary and Whispers though.

I just remember being bored out of my skull during the false Obrien episode and the Obrien in prison episode. Plus they don't really advance the plot so they're easy to skip. Oh and I skip the old Jake episode as well.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

Oh and I skip the old Jake episode as well.

AKA the best episode in the entire Trek franchise?

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by LeftHandedGuitarist

AKA the best episode in the entire Trek franchise?

It's just so sad

[JamesKurtovich]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

It's just so sad

45 minutes of blubbering like a baby right here. Probably the only Trek episode that's made me cry.

The Visitor and The Inner Light are masterpieces.

[JamesKurtovich]

Finally catching the latest. Very good. Probably the best episode of Picard that I've seen. The tempo slowed down. Characters had real conversations. Nostalgia/fan service that feels natural. Love how Geordi and Worf have developed as people over the years.

Chills when Seven hit that Voyager button.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

I never really liked Obrien, I even skip the 2 Obrien centered episodes during my ds9 marathons.

Really? I thought that out of all the "Starfleet guys grinding an axe from the last war" types he was the best. After Kirk in The Undiscovered Country, of course. I could understand skipping the Keiko O'Brien episodes though. It's no wonder that Miles O'Brien survived Cardassian torture, there's nothing they could do to hurt him more than his harridan wife already had.

On Picard, I thought Episode 2 was going to tank it big-league but it has gotten significantly better. It's still not Star Trek though, none of the dialogue is correct and there is no professionalism in Starfleet.

The

[Show spoiler]changeling

stuff is also rather dumb as there is no way that Worf could have captured one as shown. I have to wonder, was that scene was originally written with the idea of the mind control bugs from TNG, but was then changed partway through?

[badfingerboogie]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

The

[Show spoiler]changeling

stuff is also rather dumb as there is no way that Worf could have captured one as shown. I have to wonder, was that scene was originally written with the idea of the mind control bugs from TNG, but was then changed partway through?

Those TNG bugs (from the episode Conspiracy) were discussed at an early point in development, but they decided to go with

[Show spoiler]Changelings instead as it meant there could be copies of characters to create drama from. The Conspiracy bugs take over their host (And for memory kill them? Or have I forgotten how those worked?) so it means the other characters (and the audience) would always know the fate of the character at hand once they realised the bug was in control.

[Josep5349]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

Really? I thought that out of all the "Starfleet guys grinding an axe from the last war" types he was the best. After Kirk in The Undiscovered Country, of course. I could understand skipping the Keiko O'Brien episodes though. It's no wonder that Miles O'Brien survived Cardassian torture, there's nothing they could do to hurt him more than his harridan wife already had.

On Picard, I thought Episode 2 was going to tank it big-league but it has gotten significantly better. It's still not Star Trek though, none of the dialogue is correct and there is no professionalism in Starfleet.

The

[Show spoiler]changeling

stuff is also rather dumb as there is no way that Worf could have captured one as shown. I have to wonder, was that scene was originally written with the idea of the mind control bugs from TNG, but was then changed partway through?

You have a very poor memory, or it’s remarkably selective.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by Josep5349

You have a very poor memory, or it’s remarkably selective.

About what in particular are you referring? If you're defending Keiko's frostiness towards Miles and her loveless marriage to him, then you saw DS9 through rose colored glasses. Or repressed her character, I could understand that. I'm sure it's no secret that the DS9 writers sought to subvert the traditionally amorous ways of the previous male leads.

The

[Show spoiler]changeling

idea made no sense to me as we saw what they could do in a physical fight in DS9, and how can handcuffs be used to restrain one?

[Josep5349]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

About what in particular are you referring? If you're defending Keiko's frostiness towards Miles and her loveless marriage to him, then you saw DS9 through rose colored glasses. Or repressed her character, I could understand that. I'm sure it's no secret that the DS9 writers sought to subvert the traditionally amorous ways of the previous male leads.

The

[Show spoiler]changeling

idea made no sense to me as we saw what they could do in a physical fight in DS9, and how can handcuffs be used to restrain one?

The handcuffs Worf puts the changeling in must have had similar technology as in The Die Is Cast where Garak interrogated Odo. Worf was already aware of Changeling infiltrations so he came prepared with tech that would be able to restrain one, temporarily at least.

I never cared one way or another about O’brien’s marriage/Keiko. It was what it was.

.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by Josep5349

The handcuffs Worf puts the changeling in must have had similar technology as in The Die Is Cast where Garak interrogated Odo. Worf was already aware of Changeling infiltrations so he came prepared with tech that would be able to restrain one, temporarily at least.

I never cared one way or another about O’brien’s marriage/Keiko. It was what it was.

.

The

[Show spoiler]changeling turns to liquid

in the scene though.

I believe Worf was unaware of the nature of the guy he'd captured because he let Rafi spend several minutes talk about the guy having drug withdrawal, as well as playing along with Rafi's comment about removing fingernails as torture.

[Josep5349]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

The

[Show spoiler]changeling turns to liquid

in the scene though.

I believe Worf was unaware of the nature of the guy he'd captured because he let Rafi spend several minutes talk about the guy having drug withdrawal, as well as playing along with Rafi's comment about removing fingernails as torture.

The tech was similar to that seen before, but it wouldn’t have been as powerful given what was used in the DS9 episode would have had a stronger power source (the ship they were on). Of course Worf didn’t know Titus Rikka was a Changeling, but he did know they were involved and knew anyone could be one, so his equipment had added tech that could be useful against them, even if only temporarily useful. The Changeling was clearly in distress, initially thought to be withdrawals, but then recognised to be because he was a Changeling and hadn’t reverted to its original state in some time, so if it could have returned to its liquid state during the interrogation sooner it would have done so.

.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by Josep5349

The tech was similar to that seen before, but it wouldn’t have been as powerful given what was used in the DS9 episode would have had a stronger power source (the ship they were on). Of course Worf didn’t know Titus Rikka was a Changeling, but he did know they were involved and knew anyone could be one, so his equipment had added tech that could be useful against them, even if only temporarily useful. The Changeling was clearly in distress, initially thought to be withdrawals, but then recognised to be because he was a Changeling and hadn’t reverted to its original state in some time, so if it could have returned to its liquid state during the interrogation sooner it would have done so.

.

When Worf and Rafi are chasing him through the Star Wars/Blade Runner-esque neon slums, he is running through crowds of people. If he's a changeling, why didn't he morph into another person and blend into the crowd, or shapeshift into an object?

Worf captures him by picking him up and slamming him through a table. This was a pretty fun scene, though if a changeling didn't want to be picked up then it should've been impossible for Worf to have done so. I recall Odo was able to easily beat up "solids" in fist fights.

Changelings are cool, and it was fun seeing Rafi's "bad cop" role get subverted like that. I just have too many questions about their introduction in this show, and it hits me right in the feels that Odo can't appear in this.

BTW, what's up with Worf's new look? In prior Trek he was always looking burly but now his costume makes him look narrower, tall & lithe like a Clint Eastwood character.

[drb999]

Michael Dorn has lost quite a bit of weight. He had cancer a little over a decade ago so he’s probably trying to live a more healthy lifestyle.

[Josep5349]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

When Worf and Rafi are chasing him through the Star Wars/Blade Runner-esque neon slums, he is running through crowds of people. If he's a changeling, why didn't he morph into another person and blend into the crowd, or shapeshift into an object?

Worf captures him by picking him up and slamming him through a table. This was a pretty fun scene, though if a changeling didn't want to be picked up then it should've been impossible for Worf to have done so. I recall Odo was able to easily beat up "solids" in fist fights.

Changelings are cool, and it was fun seeing Rafi's "bad cop" role get subverted like that. I just have too many questions about their introduction in this show, and it hits me right in the feels that Odo can't appear in this. .

That’s quite a simple one. It was in a very public place. The Changelings don’t want to advertise that they’re back. By staying in character there was no risk of being seen changing by many witnesses. Once Worf got a hold of him it would have made sense to allow himself to be taken somewhere quieter and then change and escape, although the handcuffs delayed that slightly.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by Josep5349

That’s quite a simple one. It was in a very public place. The Changelings don’t want to advertise that they’re back. By staying in character there was no risk of being seen changing by many witnesses. Once Worf got a hold of him it would have made sense to allow himself to be taken somewhere quieter and then change and escape, although the handcuffs delayed that slightly.

I thought changelings could transform right quick? But maybe it wouldn't have mattered as Worf was able to track him in the crowd with impressive accuracy.

But still I find myself asking "why not morph into a bird and fly away" or "why not punch out Worf?"

In TNG, there was a scene where a Klingon wants to test Data's mettle (and metal), so he headbutts him and ends up worse for it. From what I recall of Odo having dust-ups with rowdy folk on DS9, Worf vs a changeling would go down similarly.

When Jack punched another changeling in the face, the face rippled like liquid. Offhand I can't recall this happening in DS9. Are these nu changelings not as skilled as the OGs?