Let’s get this out of the way–what you are reading does not come from someone who hates new Star Trek. I have watched all of the new Trek series except Prodigy, though I mean to correct that soon and am a fan of them all. My reviews for both the season 2 premiere of Picard and more recently the season 3 premiere of Lower Decks were both largely positive.
I own a shirt stylized from the cover art of a fictional Klingon Acid Punk band mentioned on Lower Decks and one of my only two Trek Funko Pops I know I need to work on that is of Discovery‘s Saru Doug Jones . I dig new Trek but I also can not claim any of it is perfect. Unfortunately like with so many other things online discourse about the franchise has grown so polarized that its become impossible to talk up newer Treks victories without being called a Paramount shill or bring up valid criticisms without being branded a pure hater. So in case it is not clear by now I love Star Trek Picard but it has its flaws.In the meantime, it seems more and more likely Star Trek Janeway whether or not that’s the title is on its way. For months now Kate Mulgrew has been teasing a potential return to the live action arm of the franchise. And one of the things Star Trek is all about is the hope that we can learn from past mistakes. So let’s take a look at Picard and see how Janeway could track its missteps and become a stronger series because of it.
Ironically one of the ways newer Star Trek has differentiated itself from its initial revival era TNG Voyager DS9 Enterprise is that particularly with Discovery and Picard it became more similar to Star Trek The Original Series in one crucial way the shows began focusing on individual characters rather than ensembles. Just as Discovery is Michael Burnhams Sonequa Martin-Green show and Picard is obviously, Picards Patrick Stewart show the OG series was mainly a showcase for William Shatner. Sure Leonard Nimoy got his time in and every now and then DeForest Kelley got a bit more screen time to complain but for the most part it was Shatners show. There were no Sulu George Takei episodes or Uhura Nichelle Nichols episodes. Meanwhile all of the TNG era shows were ensemble affairs with actors like Brent Spiner Michael Dorn Terry Farrell Linda Park Connor Trinneer Nana Visitor Colm Meaney, Tim Russ Jeri Ryan Robert Picardo and many more getting their own episodes in spite of not being the leads.
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