Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Retrospective Notes

Issues:

• writing: Wouldn’t Jack be held accountable for his actions? He literally went to the Borg Queen and got himself arrested and as a result many people died because of that. (New Star Trek tends to reward bad behaviour like Michael Burnham)
• Murder: not as many people are blatantly murdered on this show however I still don’t like how Worf is casually dispatching people
• Doctor Crusher: didn’t like her ‘Sarah Conner’ take this season. She literally was a completely different person as compared to her TNG portrayal. Dr Crusher was adamantly against murder and terrorism but now she seems to have no issues with killing. Couldn’t her and Jack have been living a quiet life on Earth when the changelings start coming after her? 
• Raffi wasn’t needed: her role should have been portrayed by Ro. 
• Inconsistencies with the Changelings powers. Several times they could have used their stretching abilities to catch people but they do not. And how many changelings are there? From what I understood these changelings were ones captured and experimented on during and following the Dominion war by Section 31 and NOT changelings from the Great Link. So how many were there? 
• Isn’t Section 31 supposed to have been a super secret organization? When Bashir exposed them to Sisko Sisko says Starfleet denies all knowledge, so how does Picard & Dr Crusher know of them? 
• Renamed the Titan-A the Enterprise-G: did they do that to save $ by not building a new model/set for the G? 
• Jack looks like he’s 40 and not 20. 
• What happened to Picard’s girlfriend? 
• Shaw was introduced as a dick, then he turned out alright except when his crew was being held hostage. I think a Starfleet captain would fight harder to save his people. Had he been killed off then I think it would’ve been better instead of being killed off randomly in a hallway fire fight. 
• Why not use the Enterprise D as a ship in the fleet while they rebuild? It could have been modified into the Dreadnought Galaxy Class (like we saw on the TNG finale with Admiral Riker commanding)

Things I liked:

• I actually liked how they brought Data back this time around 
• Bringing back the Enterprise D!! I was completely shocked. I thought we might see the E but never the D
• I actually liked Worfs development prior to this season. 
• Seeing Ro, Tuvok and Shelby back (RIP Shelby). Wanted to see Janeway or Robert Picardo show up. 
• Great acting from everyone especially Jonathan Frakes. 
• Also great to see all the main characters contribute considerably in the final episode: Dr Crusher’s bad assness pays off as she takes the weapons console. Troi uses her imazdi connection to find Riker and everyone and takes the helm AND does not crash the ship. 
• I liked to humour, especially when it involves Worf
• Liked the memberberries: President Anton Chekov voiced by Walter Koenig, seeing Voyager/the bird of prey from ST4/the Stargazer and original constitution class ship at the fleet museum. 

Chris’s Weekly Comic Book Picks

For July 5th 2023:

I’m looking forward to this series. Looks interesting and Scott Snyder is a great writer/creator 

And I’m continuing with the FF and Doctor Strange. But overall it’s a pretty light week for reading comics.

And finally I’m ending this post with a picture of my Granddaughter Paisley. I love this picture! See you next week 

This & That

This & That:

- I’m checked out on Marvels ‘Secret Invasion’. It’s just not good and a waste of time. It reminds me of season 1 & 2 of ST:Picard where the writers went out of their way to destroy the legacy of Captain Picard. Now Nick Fury is being dragged through the mud by the writers. I never finished Wakanda Forever and never watched Ant Man 3, Thor 4 SUCKED… Marvel is a tired franchise and in need of new leadership. Sorry Kevin Fiege but it’s time to go, you no longer have the Midas touch. Maybe the Russo Brothers could step in..,

• Sue Johanson (nurse and Canadian Sex Educator) June 28 at the age of 93 (Canada’s Doctor Ruth…who is still alive!)
• Nicholas Coster dead at 89 June 26. Best known for the soap opera Santa Barbara, playing Blair’s father on ‘The Facts of Life’ or the Admiral that wanted to take Lal in ST: TNG 

• Star Trek Prodigy cancelled and pulled from Paramount+
• Meghan Markle podcast has been cancelled by Spotify. Apparently she would not talk to people she felt were below her, her producer would do the interview and she’d record herself asking the questions. Mariah Carey calling her a diva on her own show: classic 
• ‘Gotham Knights’ cancelled. This was the cheapest show ever made by the CW that was bursting at the seams with current day identity politics. Wonder why it failed…
• Indy 4…not great but better than Crystal Skull (Grace Randolph: she compares it to ‘Lightyear’.) Phoebe Waller-Bridge is supposed to be very bad in this movie 

This & That

This & That

Chris’s Weekly Comic Book Picks

For the week of Wednesday June 28

I love these Saturday Morning cartoon comics that IDW is doing! 

Upcoming Podcast Notes

The Pop Culture Pub Podcast 

Topic: Batman Villains! 

• Who is your favourite Bat villain? 
• Who is your favourite on screen Bat villain/actor?
• Favourite non-Batman villain or hero who has had a run in with Batman (example: Lex Luthor, Spawn, Predator, etc)
• Other interesting Bat villains: (example: the Batman who laughs, Two-Face, etc)

My Issues with Modern Star Trek

• It doesn’t take itself seriously, there is way too much joking around for a Starfleet vessel (Discovery & Enterprise)
• No or little respect for the chain of command. 
• Swearing and profanity: it was established in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home that humanity & Starfleet did not swear or use any form of profanity yet modern Trek shows show officers dropping F & S bombs on a regular basis. 
• No respect for life: season one & two of ‘Picard’ someone is getting murdered almost EVERY episode! 
• Continuity not respected and at times ignored for writers convenience (the Guardian of Forever is now an old white guy?)
• Graphic brutality and violence is ok? Examples: Echeb getting his eye removed in a “Saw” movie-like torture scene where the “Doctor” seemed to enjoy the pain he was enduring. 
• Established heroes doing things out of character: Seven brutally gunning down people. Doctor Crusher brutally gunning down people (apparently she’s now Sarah Conner from T2?). On TNG it was established that Crusher was against capital punishment & the taking of life yet in ST: Picard she’s having no issue murdering people (ep 1 of S3)… 
• Reusing established characters & premises: Ethan Peck is a nice guy but he’s no Leonard Nimoy or even Zachary Quinto. Why not show a different ship with a different crew? Discovery had Spock, Pike and Sarek too. Even a descendant of Khan is on the Enterprise…enough already! Come up with something original and stop robbing the Treks of the past! 

These are just a few things that I have noticed in modern Trek and is why I don’t watch Discovery & Strange New Worlds anymore. Season 1 & 2 of Picard are pretty bad too. 

Upcoming Podcast Notes

So I record podcasts and it occurs to me I should share my show notes to my blog. So these are my notes for the upcoming Geek Fallout Reloaded & The Pop Culture Pub Podcast:

Geek Fallout Reloaded:

In Memoriam:

• The Iron Sheik died June 7/23 in Fayetteville Georgia at the age of 80
• Treat Williams died at 71 from a motorcycle accident Monday June 12
• Comic book artist legend John Romita Sr has passed away June 13 in his sleep. He was 93. He co-created Wolverine, Mary Jane Watson, and the Punisher 

News:

• Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent will begin filming in Toronto with Canada’s Citytv to debut the series in spring 2024
• Pat Sajek retiring from Wheel of Fortune next season 
• Indiana Jones 5 is still not looking good as per critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes 
• My daughter Kayde has wrote a kids book and it’s available on Amazon. It’s called “Best Mommy For Me”, my daughters name is Kayde Pawluski 

Brain Candy:

• Purchased Vincent DiNafrio’s book : Mutha 
• Got my ticket to see The Flash movie Friday June 16
• Continuing my rewatch of the original Law & Order. 
• Going to see Spiderverse 2 tomorrow night

——————

PCP 

Gone But Not Forgotten…Cancelled BEFORE They Started 

Remember Justice League 2? Or the Cyborg movie? A Ben Affleck Batman solo film? Rangers of the New Republic? Rogue Squadron? We each bring 2 examples of properties we were told about but NEVER happened and discuss why and how it could have been. 

• Masters of the Universe 2 (Skeletor did say in a post credits shot that he’d be back)
• Past Imperfect (the follow up to Future Imperfect)

Chris’s Weekly Comic Book Picks

Week of June 21/23:

I liked Hickmans run on The Ultimates, so I’ll be checking this out.

Not sure if I’ll be liking this new iteration of The Hulk, but I’ll have to check it out and see. 

And Avengers, Saga and Worlds Finest are a given for me. 

See you next week! 

A Good DCU Movie? Yes!

Chris’s Weekly Comic Book Picks

Wednesday June 14/23

I’m checking out this first issue based on the fact it is written by Robert Kirkman. Kirkman is best known from ‘The Walking Dead’ but I know him best from ‘Invincible’, my favourite comic book series of all time. His new book:

And I’m continuing with the new runs on Green Lantern & Doctor Strange. A nice light week! 

Chris’s Weekly Comic Book Picks

These are the books I’ll be picking up Wednesday June 7th. 

Written by Star Trek’s Worf: Michael Dorn! 

Waid and Mora continue to make comic book magic and their Shazam series is no exception. The first issue was great 

I’m checking this out to see what the new creative team has planned for the Flash. I like the character but I’m particular on how he’s written. So I’ll see what they got planned moving forward 

And I’m still reading FF.