I've seen other queer trekkies talk about how they think Picard does some things interesting/well while fumbling the ball in other places, but you're the first person I've seen who actively hates it. What's the most frustrating aspect of it for you?
Okay, so for me, this is coming from a place of TNG being my favorite show growing up. What I love about TNG:
The creativity of the sci-fi, particularly within the aliens they think up
The 22+ episode a season format gives a lot of time for each episode to explore its themes in full, and it tackles such a wide range of themes - some sillier than others, but most always them having an interesting moral question
The pacing and the plots are easy to follow and make sense essentially every single time.
They're also really good at making conflicts that you can easily follow and see the resolution (i.e., avoiding deus ex machina or 'scifi mumbo jumbo' situations). Not always, but usually
Not always, but I love how much of it is based in diplomacy and not battles.
it's actively optimistic view of the future, with Starfleet being an organization always trying to do the right thing, with the attitude of every species and being is granted dignity and respect. so each moral question that's brought up in an episode, you know your characters are gonna try to approach it from a place you can respect and root for them with
The crew loves each other and enjoys each other's company. It's so underrated with shows, but how much each person wants others to be happy, and how essentially every single solitary episode has a theme of them supporting each other on purpose, even when it's difficult - partly because, as noted before, they know that everyone is trying to do the right thing
Characters brought in and out are done with purpose and make sense for the character (mostly).
Picard. I know people poke fun of his speeches and preachyness, but I just love it. I love his wisdom in it
To me, Picard fumbles the bag in every one of those areas, and so I seriously dislike it as a reboot of my favorite show.
The aliens are all aliens we've seen before, and unfortunately, they don't even follow their own rules with previous established aliens. They just make up stuff when convenient, even when it goes against stuff in older episodes. It's not creative.
They don't tackle themes. It's just plot points happening. I thought they might get into the rights of AI, but they drop it early. I literally cannot think of one single question or theme more moral that they're trying to ask us, which is just. That's the point of Star Trek!!! God!! It's just things happening to people.
Episodes are too long for me at an hour, and I have a very hard time following what's happening a lot of the time. There's been so many episodes that I'm just watching like. ??? That one where they all dressed up and went to a ball on Earth and whats-her-name just sung a full song? Maybe it's my attention span, but I really can't follow it. What's Rafi doing with Worf?!
The resolutions are almost always 'scifi mumbo jumbo' and a lot of times self-contradictory sci-fi mumbo jumbo that I feel like raises more questions for me than answers.
It's all battles, no diplomacy. The amount of times a character shoots first and asks questions later, man.
Starfleet is the villain. Over and over. I know it's changelings in charge, but I hate Starfleet being the villain. The whole point is we GET BETTER as a society. Star Trek is supposed to be a show that makes us feel better about where we're headed, not tells us everything is the same! Jesus!!!! Like, that line where they made fun of Picard's baldness genuinely got me mad lol. It's Star Trek lore that he was cast because "people wouldn't care about that in the future." And here they are, making fun of him being bald! It's a minor example but a good little microcosm of a larger issue within the show, of it's being a "space version" of current times. That's not what Star Trek is supposed to be.
Everyone spends so much time fighting with each other. Riker being mean to Picard, Geordi being mean to Picard, Data wanting to die, Crusher and Picard fighting and being mean to each other, the entirety of the Captain of that spaceship in season 3, 7 and Rafi breaking up - just I mean, constantly. Does anyone like each other still? Support each other? Not confine Picard to the brig? Want to help each other that extends beyond saving their own life? Even earlier seasons, Guinan was mean to him at first.
Characters are brought in and out so people can go "OH I RECOGNIZE THEM" and then with little other purpose. You can't tell me there was a reason for that Wesley scene. And I am so sorry, but just decide Data's fate, stop bringing him back because people like him when you've already tried to establish his end. Other Star Treks are guilty of this too, don't get me wrong, but I'm so over it lol
The show exists around Picard but he does nothing within it. The whole show is things happening around him. I would 100% take an hour of him sitting at a table and arguing for Data's life than an hour of him standing on a spaceship while things explode and 5 other characters have plotlines that intersect his life. I can't think of any real reason that this show is about Picard. Like what makes it actually about Jean-Luc? What difference does him being the character make to a single plot (maybe barring Q, but that also didn't strike the right chord with me, for reasons that could be a different post)?
To tl:dr this: to me, Picard functions by way of nostalgia and modernizing the plot (big government organization is evil and audiences want 75% of their shows to be action based). It fails at nostalgia by not bringing back previous elements in a way that pays respect to the characters they used to be, and doesn't understand that people liked Star Trek because it wasn't modernized. On the way, it fails to deliver any creativity, creates confusing plots, and has no particular message that it wants to deliver. I will not remember a single episode for its stand-alone qualities in a month's time.
I just really dislike it, man.
I also don't like it's humor. It does a lot of that "Well. That just happened." type observational humor that it does not need. But that's a side point.
Graphics are good, though. And I liked the space jellyfish.
