Serious space travel (sci-fi and real) is for the young and, perhaps, the middle aged. If you disagree, check out the often uncomfortable-to-watch STAR TREK: PICARD (ST:P). Here a number of actors reprise their roles from nearly three decades ago. Some look like they have held up well; others not so much. The star of ST:P, Patrick Steward, seems to be somewhere in between. His Picard character acts, looks, and sounds like the octogenarian actor Steward is. But he appears to move about well. Nonetheless, it seems incredulous to see him ostensibly commanding space ships and heading landing parties in Hans Solo style.
Season One.
Steward's bland, unchanging expression and presence in many scenes seems like it might as well have been digitally pasted in. Rather than remaining front and center, the Picard character can end up on the sidelines as an observer which clearly illustrates that the show intends to proceed with or without superfluous (bookend?) appearances by Steward. The most watchable scenes are usually those without the Picard character.
Picard survives all this by becoming an android. But Steward's new existence could still benefit from some (more?) digital make-up plus some (more?) re-recording to eliminate the distraction of his mumbling, weak, hoarse, and cracking voice.
Directing/editing is hit or miss. Pacing is generally lethargic and things often limp along between fight-scene set places. Scripts are far from original and some are ridiculously padded to extend individual show lengths and the number of shows. Special effects, especially exterior scenes, can look obviously fake and cheesy such as repetitive scenes of the Golden Gate Bridge that looks like a toy model. (Some sets may be knockoffs from THE EXPANSE.) The score is rather generic except for the impressive opening and closing credits. That said, the score can be the most dynamic (and, hence, interesting) part of otherwise sleepy scenes.
Season Two.
This is not the usual Star Trek space opera franchise. Rather, it is a time-travel opera with multiple blossoming romances and a conventional happy ending (that includes the Borg!).
The initial show starts off as a whimper: a rambling (and endless) Picard character expository and an obsession on growing grapes (not even in space!). The script soon descends into chaos and lunacy, and never seems to recover for the duration of the series. Jeff Russo's powerful score comes to the rescue none too soon and (fortunately) stays there as the season unfolds. Russo's music is really the star of the show! Movie-theater grade special effects provide life support (it's hard to find a scene without CGI). Unfortunately, the quality of effects shots deteriorates as the season progresses and become cheesy in the closing episodes (a victim of wrap-up rush and/or dwindling financial resources?).
Time travel sagas are always a struggle for writers to get straight! The script is mostly focused on Picard's memories (which may be far from perfect at his age) where what is "remembered" has yet to occur. The trick of using a space ship to travel back in time has been used before, but returning to the future sans a ship seems to suffer from writers lacking imagination! Moreover, time-line impacts on the future due to changes in past events are given lip service at best.
Script writers appear obsessed with the amateur psychoanalysis of the Picard character; life in a vineyard riddled with hidden tunnels, dungeons, monsters (but, sadly, no dragons); and a suicidal mother trying to comfort a psychologically lost very young Picard (the latter appears in the same scene or is glimpsed in the background ad nauseam!).
Acting is all over the map from the enjoyable (especially the character played by actress Sol Rodriguez) to the tolerable but hammy (from principal supporting players) to the painful (the title character). There is also a fair amount of what looks like ad libbing.
This season could benefit from leading off with a summary of the previous season. After all, its been over two years since the last one (which was far from memorable).
How many producer types does it take to screw in a light bulb or, in this case, screw up a show? It looks like this production was "producer sourced." Sure the script writers can be held accountable for the mess, but the multi layers of "checkbook or in-kind" producers should probably share much of the blame. Way too many cooks (and wannabe cooks)?
ST:P seems to be a show designed to shore up nostalgia in its aging and dwindling core base of fans while trying (disparately?) to grow that base. The outcome for either does not look particularly promising given this entry. Recommend fast forwarding through the Picard character scenes or, better still, turning off the video and just enjoying the music. Viewed on disc. WILLIAM FLANIGAN.
Season One.
Steward's bland, unchanging expression and presence in many scenes seems like it might as well have been digitally pasted in. Rather than remaining front and center, the Picard character can end up on the sidelines as an observer which clearly illustrates that the show intends to proceed with or without superfluous (bookend?) appearances by Steward. The most watchable scenes are usually those without the Picard character.
Picard survives all this by becoming an android. But Steward's new existence could still benefit from some (more?) digital make-up plus some (more?) re-recording to eliminate the distraction of his mumbling, weak, hoarse, and cracking voice.
Directing/editing is hit or miss. Pacing is generally lethargic and things often limp along between fight-scene set places. Scripts are far from original and some are ridiculously padded to extend individual show lengths and the number of shows. Special effects, especially exterior scenes, can look obviously fake and cheesy such as repetitive scenes of the Golden Gate Bridge that looks like a toy model. (Some sets may be knockoffs from THE EXPANSE.) The score is rather generic except for the impressive opening and closing credits. That said, the score can be the most dynamic (and, hence, interesting) part of otherwise sleepy scenes.
Season Two.
This is not the usual Star Trek space opera franchise. Rather, it is a time-travel opera with multiple blossoming romances and a conventional happy ending (that includes the Borg!).
The initial show starts off as a whimper: a rambling (and endless) Picard character expository and an obsession on growing grapes (not even in space!). The script soon descends into chaos and lunacy, and never seems to recover for the duration of the series. Jeff Russo's powerful score comes to the rescue none too soon and (fortunately) stays there as the season unfolds. Russo's music is really the star of the show! Movie-theater grade special effects provide life support (it's hard to find a scene without CGI). Unfortunately, the quality of effects shots deteriorates as the season progresses and become cheesy in the closing episodes (a victim of wrap-up rush and/or dwindling financial resources?).
Time travel sagas are always a struggle for writers to get straight! The script is mostly focused on Picard's memories (which may be far from perfect at his age) where what is "remembered" has yet to occur. The trick of using a space ship to travel back in time has been used before, but returning to the future sans a ship seems to suffer from writers lacking imagination! Moreover, time-line impacts on the future due to changes in past events are given lip service at best.
Script writers appear obsessed with the amateur psychoanalysis of the Picard character; life in a vineyard riddled with hidden tunnels, dungeons, monsters (but, sadly, no dragons); and a suicidal mother trying to comfort a psychologically lost very young Picard (the latter appears in the same scene or is glimpsed in the background ad nauseam!).
Acting is all over the map from the enjoyable (especially the character played by actress Sol Rodriguez) to the tolerable but hammy (from principal supporting players) to the painful (the title character). There is also a fair amount of what looks like ad libbing.
This season could benefit from leading off with a summary of the previous season. After all, its been over two years since the last one (which was far from memorable).
How many producer types does it take to screw in a light bulb or, in this case, screw up a show? It looks like this production was "producer sourced." Sure the script writers can be held accountable for the mess, but the multi layers of "checkbook or in-kind" producers should probably share much of the blame. Way too many cooks (and wannabe cooks)?
ST:P seems to be a show designed to shore up nostalgia in its aging and dwindling core base of fans while trying (disparately?) to grow that base. The outcome for either does not look particularly promising given this entry. Recommend fast forwarding through the Picard character scenes or, better still, turning off the video and just enjoying the music. Viewed on disc. WILLIAM FLANIGAN.