Should I watch the rest of Picard?
This might sound like an obvious question since I already paid for the subscription service. I’m a sucker for these things, even though I rarely have time to watch television—not near as much as I’d like to.
When an entire series dedicated to Jean-Luc arrived on Thursday, January 20, I was excited. Star Trek the Next Generation was never easy for me to watch. At the time it aired, I was on my way to Hollywood, CA to become a musician. The Guitar Institute of Technology was calling my name, and I was going to be a rock star.
Alas, that is another story not suitable of the delicate sensitivity of the internet connoisseurs. (It was the late eighties, and I had the hair and cowboy boots to prove it.)
I remember trying to watch the series using a crappy little television and mangled TV antennas. When I ditched Southern California for college in Kansas (music again, but string bass this time) there was little and less time for keeping up.
From time to time I found myself emerged in the series, but it was never as consistent as I would have liked. This became a pattern for all of my sci-fi series watching behavior. Deep Space 9, Babylon 5, Farscape, and the remakes of Battlestar Galactica. By the time I was working nights and raising kids, I was missing out.
Because I loved all of those shows.
Now, I’m older and would like to think I have more control of my series viewing activities. Technology is on my side, I can watch about anything on my phone.
There are no excuses. Well, not many. I still over schedule myself, especially in the area of writing—because that is my greatest passion, and it is very time consuming.
So along come Picard.
A day after the launch, most of my writer friends are trashing it. They won’t stop posting about how disappointing it is.
But they’re a tough crowd so I roll the dice and pay for the service, confident I will enjoy myself for hours to come with Picard and other series like Discovery, which I still haven’t watched.
I’m such a loser.
This blog post isn’t a review, so let’s just say I enjoyed the first episode. It was everything I expected and the production quality was a thousand times better than anything from the 1980s.
But should I go on? Each time I make plans to watch the next installment, I witness a vicious condemnation of the show as utter crap. Maybe I’m not as critical as other writers. When I go to a movie, I’ve learned to decide in advance to enjoy myself. And if I feel the need to analyze plot points or character arcs, I try to keep it to myself for the sake of my wife’s sanity.
What will be the fate of Captain Picard in my household?
Come back next time to find out. Until then, stay safe, love one another, and have all the adventures you can.
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I was pretty dissapointed in it too 🙁 but it was Star Trek and there is not much Sci Fi on regular TV so I stuck with it and by the end it had improved.
That’s what I hear from a lot of people. I’m going to watch a few more episodes and see how it strikes me.