Picard (Pilot Thoughts)

I never thought I'd actually say this because I don't think anybody in the world has said this, but I am now slightly interested in getting CBS All Access purely to continue watching this show.

It's been a while since I've done something like this but I figure it will probably be a while till I see this series in its entirety, I wanted to write down some of my initial thoughts on Picard, the new Star Trek show on CBS All Access, the premium streaming service that nobody has.

This show had a couple of things going against it from the start because the truth is, outside of some general pop culture references, I really don't know a whole lot about Jean-Luc Picard or Star Trek The Next Generation. I only watched a little bit of the first season and my knowledge purely comes from pop culture jokes and stuff Star Trek fans have told me.

But despite my lack of knowledge, I do really enjoy Patrick Stewart as an actor and I've seen enough of him as Picard to get a somewhat basic idea of the character.

And this is the first thing that was really impressive about the premiere episode of Picard, it really doesn't matter if don't know jack about The Next Generation.

To be fair, you do have to know that Picard was in Star Fleet and that Data was an android that was on that show as well, but outside of that, pretty early on there is a bit of an exposition dump that catches you up with where Picard is in his life and where the story begins.

From there we see a world were Picard has been retired from Star Fleet for a while. Instead of portraying him as a washed up hasbeen like I think the formula would have been, the retired Picard is kind of how I think of lot of fans would have imagined him.

He's living quietly at a bougie vineyard with the most adorable pit bull I have ever seen and I want it. He dreams of his past life and he clearly misses the adventure, but instead of the stereotypical hero in his twilight who might have a substance abuse problem and his life is miserable because he's not doing his hero stuff, Picard is pretty well adjusted to retirement. He doesn't even seem bored with it. He's just going about his business with some old man retrospect of the glory days and I actually really liked that.

But it wouldn't be a show without some conflict and Picard is ready to hear his call to action when a young girl shows up at his vineyard clearly in danger. Dahj (played by Isa Broines) comes to Picard looking to find out who she really is when danger comes knocking at her door and the show quickly becomes Picard starting an investigation into who she is and her significance in this new world post the events of Next Generation and the movies that go along with it.

Like I said, the show does a pretty decent exposition dump at the start of the show that brings you up to date on where the world of Star Trek is and what are the hot button issues of the day, especially when it comes to the prohibition of androids in the aftermath of events that might have been in the movies or not, but it doesn't matter. The show keeps things relatively simple so new comers aren't really lost.

Furthermore, the budget of this show is clearly higher than Next Generation was so its able to throw in some action that would usually be reserved for material like the J.J. Abrams Star Trek films. But at the same time, the show, even in the first episode, starts to hit on some social commentary that I think could be really interesting moving forward with the show.

I won't give too much away because the first episode is currently available on Youtube for free. I don't know how long that'll last, but I do recommend if you're interested at all to check out the show and get a taste for yourself. At the very least you get to see probably the best pit bull on screen that, bonus points, was a rescue before it was brought onto the show so hurray!

The biggest problem with the pilot isn't really the show itself, its more the fact that this show is on a platform that I honestly can't name a single person with access to. I have no doubt that the show has the potential to be really awesome. But all the energy gets sucked out of it when nothing on the streaming service really looks like something I'd be interested in (save Twilight Zone).

Look, I can't speak to the rest of the series. Hopefully some day in the future I'll be able to watch the entire season and do a complete review of the entire season, but it doesn't kind of underline a problem we have moving forward as more and more streaming services begin cropping up. CBS All Access is a great platform if you are a huge Star Trek fan because their original shows are Star Trek Discovery and Picard. It's also great if you have a fondness for shows on CBS but the problem is, the majority of the time, people don't just concentrate their viewing on shows from one network.

Another example problematic example in the future is going to be NBC's streaming service Peacock (horrible name). It's a great business model to have The Office streaming on it because they've seen how much that's been a boon for Netflix over the past few years. But beyond that licensing, what is there to look forward that is new on Peacock? A Battlestar Galactic reboot? A hacky reboot of Saved by the Bell, all of which are in the speculative or development phases.

I get it, there are far too many shows for everyone to watch. That is a sad pill to swallow, especially for a show like Picard. As much as I say the show is accommodating for viewers who don't know the Next Generation history, it's still not going to connect with all audiences if you're not into Star Trek.

So how do you connect audiences to a show when the distribution platform is also in need of a real outreach plan? I wish I knew.

Free sneak peeks on Youtube is not a bad start. (Got me talking about it didn't it?). Part of it is relying on star power like Patrick Stewart, another part is relying on Nostalgia, you can point to Disney Plus that is doing that and then some to bring in your subscription. But I would hope that we live in a world where quality shows like Picard are the ones that get rewarded. Unfortunately I don't see that being the case.

Netflix is unsurprisingly the reality check. Having infrastructure, a history of having the fall back licensed properties that people just binge watch in the back ground, and developing enough content for it to feel not only enjoyable but "prestige" gives me a feeling that despite losing some important licensed content, Netflix is going to be fine, at least for the time being. And I say that knowing that there is a lot of shit on Netflix that was just funded because they were looking for something to stick and while they have some that did like Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black, and House of Cards back in the day, there is a lot of stuff that has come and gone just for the sake of saying there is original content on Netflix.

This has delved long enough into an 11PM tangent so I will wrap this up. The pilot of Picard suggests that this show is far too good for the platform its on. I would love to say that it is worth paying 7 dollars a month to wait week by week for the new episode, but the truth is that I'll probably wait for the entire season to come out, get a free trial, and binge watch the entire thing before I have to pay a dime, as much as that bums me out that that is the case. I don't have the devotion to Star Trek to put that money down for this show, regardless of how good the pilot episode is. But overall, I think it was a really great show that not only could do a lot of justice for a beloved character (something not often well done these days), but also bring in new fans to Star Trek, despite how much of a fans show it is.

But those are my thoughts on the pilot episode of Picard. Have you seen it? Do you own CBS All Access? No shame, I just honestly don't know anybody who has it so I'd just find that interesting. Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as your requests for TV shows and films that I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!