Those who've followed me for a while will know of my weekly round ups of select tv shows (notably Game of Thrones), very rarely will I make such commitment to analyzing TV Shows with some depth, but I felt Star Trek : Picard would be worth it. So here's my thoughts on the first episode. Note, there will be a few SPOILERS, albeit not of anything beyond the first 10-15 minutes of the show. Yes, SPOILERS. Those who complain about spoilers will be exiled to the Neutral Zone - or worse!
Here goes:
I really like the idea of focusing on Picard's life after he leaves Star Fleet. More than any other Trek character, Picard exemplifies the "official" morality of the Federation at its (supposed) best. It will be interesting to explore how well his worldview stacks up when NOT backed by the most powerful armed force in the Alpha Quadrant.
This episode is the most negative portrayal of the Federation in the entire history of Star Trek. Picard leaves Star Fleet because the Federation decides to break its promise to rescue Romulan civilians from the imminent destruction of their planet. Some 900 million innocent people die. Deep Space 9 raised questions about the Federation's morality. This incident totally shatters its humanitarian pretensions. Yes, I know they had a reason for reneging. But the reason seems ridiculously inadequate given the number of lives at stake, and Picard is very obviously right to condemn it. It will be interesting how, if at all, the show tries to salvage the Federation's reputation.
Without going into detail, it's clear from this episode that the show is going to delve into the issue of the rights of androids and perhaps other AI. This is a question Star Trek has always dealt with far better than Star Wars.
Patrick Stewart is old, but still very good at what he does. He captures how Picard is still basically the same man as before, but also weighed down by age, disillusionment, and boredom.
Is Picard's naming his dog "Number One" a tribute to Will Riker or an implicit rebuke? I know Riker is going to appear in later episodes of this show (including some directed by the actor who plays him, Jonathan Frakes), so perhaps we shall see!
My big reservation about the pilot is the highly convoluted nature of the plot, which I fear could easily degenerate into a mess, unless properly handled. I'm also not not sure how well they're going to deal with the big issues noted above. So we'll have to wait and see. But the first episode at least shows considerable promise.