Oh Captain, my Captain!
Aug. 5th, 2018 07:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakNow here's new's to wake up to: Patrick Stewart will return as Jean-Luc Picard in a new Trek series.
Usually I'm on the side that thinks you should let finished stories be finished, and tend to be very sceptical about nostalgia trips. Also, the TNG finale, All Good Things... still is the best finale of any Trek show (so far, of course), and a fantastic example of how to conclude a story, full stop. But. Not only is Picard my Starfleet Captain, but the TNG movies, with the exception of First Contact, were mediocre (Generations, Prime Directive) to downright horrible (Nemesis), and for that reason alone, Nemesis not being the last time I get to watch my favourite Captain in action would please me. Especially since it won't be in a cinematic outing, which I've always said isn't the best medium for Star Trek, but a tv one, where you don't have to do the conventional "introduce villain, early set back, defeat villain" thing of cinematic rule and can do far more character stuff instead.
The other reason why I'm thrilled is the godawful reality we're living in, of course. It might be very good to be given a central character who isn't a frat boy (overgrown or otherwise); who has impulse control, who's a stoic, even, though that doesn't mean he can't be passionate about some issues. Who loves to geek out about archaelogy and actually tries to understand other cultures. Who is awkward around children but would die to defend them, and, more difficult for him, actually try to interact if that helps. Who has made mistakes, absolutely, yet learned from them. Who is, in short, an adult, and a good person. Maybe that's boring to some people; consider me more than ready to be bored in that sense.
The various announcements make it sound like it won't be a TNG continuation per se, meaning we have no idea who, other than Picard, will also be back, and much as I love the team, that actually would be refreshing, because the insistence from TOS onwards to treat a promotion as the worst thing ever to justify keeping the ensemble together is somewhat annoying. And the other characters can guest star at various points. Since I've always liked that Picard was the one ST Captain whose future (in the TNG finale flash forwards) wasn't being first an admiral and then a captain again but being an ambassador (which fits his personality and link with Sarek), I'm vaguely hoping for the new show to actually go there and let him be a diplomatic trouble shooter (in the metaphorical sense) posted at various crisis points in the galaxy, but I'm aware that the odds aren't good, and they'll probably give him a ship again based on ST precedent. Still, a woman can hope until told otherwise.
While I'm hoping: how about a scene with Picard and Guinan chatting in the pilot? This is a relationship I've always liked, and it could serve as brief exposition as to what Jean-Luc has been up to since we've seen him last.
Lastly: back when the first ST Reboot movie was released, I know a lot of people were upset about it wiping out the old continuity. I thought the movie itself made clear that we're operating with a multiverse model, i.e. the old and the new timelines co-exist, not one instead of the other, but some fans thought otherwise. So there's another reason for me to be glad we're returning to the TNG/DS9/Voy era of Trekdom on screen; it makes it clear these folk and their stories are still as canonical and there as ever.
Usually I'm on the side that thinks you should let finished stories be finished, and tend to be very sceptical about nostalgia trips. Also, the TNG finale, All Good Things... still is the best finale of any Trek show (so far, of course), and a fantastic example of how to conclude a story, full stop. But. Not only is Picard my Starfleet Captain, but the TNG movies, with the exception of First Contact, were mediocre (Generations, Prime Directive) to downright horrible (Nemesis), and for that reason alone, Nemesis not being the last time I get to watch my favourite Captain in action would please me. Especially since it won't be in a cinematic outing, which I've always said isn't the best medium for Star Trek, but a tv one, where you don't have to do the conventional "introduce villain, early set back, defeat villain" thing of cinematic rule and can do far more character stuff instead.
The other reason why I'm thrilled is the godawful reality we're living in, of course. It might be very good to be given a central character who isn't a frat boy (overgrown or otherwise); who has impulse control, who's a stoic, even, though that doesn't mean he can't be passionate about some issues. Who loves to geek out about archaelogy and actually tries to understand other cultures. Who is awkward around children but would die to defend them, and, more difficult for him, actually try to interact if that helps. Who has made mistakes, absolutely, yet learned from them. Who is, in short, an adult, and a good person. Maybe that's boring to some people; consider me more than ready to be bored in that sense.
The various announcements make it sound like it won't be a TNG continuation per se, meaning we have no idea who, other than Picard, will also be back, and much as I love the team, that actually would be refreshing, because the insistence from TOS onwards to treat a promotion as the worst thing ever to justify keeping the ensemble together is somewhat annoying. And the other characters can guest star at various points. Since I've always liked that Picard was the one ST Captain whose future (in the TNG finale flash forwards) wasn't being first an admiral and then a captain again but being an ambassador (which fits his personality and link with Sarek), I'm vaguely hoping for the new show to actually go there and let him be a diplomatic trouble shooter (in the metaphorical sense) posted at various crisis points in the galaxy, but I'm aware that the odds aren't good, and they'll probably give him a ship again based on ST precedent. Still, a woman can hope until told otherwise.
While I'm hoping: how about a scene with Picard and Guinan chatting in the pilot? This is a relationship I've always liked, and it could serve as brief exposition as to what Jean-Luc has been up to since we've seen him last.
Lastly: back when the first ST Reboot movie was released, I know a lot of people were upset about it wiping out the old continuity. I thought the movie itself made clear that we're operating with a multiverse model, i.e. the old and the new timelines co-exist, not one instead of the other, but some fans thought otherwise. So there's another reason for me to be glad we're returning to the TNG/DS9/Voy era of Trekdom on screen; it makes it clear these folk and their stories are still as canonical and there as ever.
