Picard Season 3 reviewed

 

It is difficult to understate just how popular Star Trek- The Next Generaiton was in 1987. Most of us had only seen the original series in re-runs but now we had a series of our own and over seven seasons this crew became very familiar to us. The third season of Picard is very much what people probably expected from the first two and  continuing the series’ evolution towards a more standard presentation. They’ve even done away with the lengthy, arty title sequence replaced by a no-nonsense metallic logo in space and a familiar musical motif. In a culture obsessed either with youth or staying young it feels groundbreaking though for a show incorporating plenty of action adventure to be led by much older characters still willing to engage at the centre of the action.

 

Spoilers following the break…

 

Catching up with Picard Seasons 1 + 2

 

In all the Star Trek series since The Next Generation finished nearly thirty years ago there’s never been a character quite like Jean Luc Picard. His thoughtful demeanour, emphasis on talk rather than phaser blasting and fondness for Earl Grey tea (hot!) made Next Gen the Trek series for me. Bringing him back all this time later was a risky decision but in terms of audience interest seems to have paid off. It took me a while to watch it (typical) partly because I wasn’t sure. Television’s default treatment of former icons is to show them broken at the end other career before making some miraculous yet barely credible return to action. Instead what this series, limited from the start to three seasons, has done is to engineer a Next Gen reunion with enough panache and love to make it seem a believable addendum to the series. Best of all it’s still the same Picard we remember, older for sure but with the same values and beliefs he always had. He does take decaf Earl Grey now though! Well he’s ninety three according to one episode!