The latest CBS All Access spin-off fails to launch.
The cliches pile in Thursdays premiere episode, streaming on CBS All Access.
Premonition dreams wedge in a dead-character cameo.
Matt Kennedy/CBS
From then to now, Picard got promoted and fired.
He was once a Starfleet Admiral plotting a rescue mission to save 900 million Romulans from a supernova.
That calamity, witnessed distantly in 2009sfeature reboot, took place kitty-corner to another disaster.
Peaceful androids on Mars went kill-crazy, exploding a massive shipyard in a suicide scorch.
The carnage scotched the Romulan resettlement plan not that there was much political will to help an enemy empire.
Why did Picard part ways with Starfleet?
Because, he fumes, It was no longer Starfleet!
Heavy conceptual framework here: Environmental catastrophe, a homefront assault.
Now Starfleets finest is Starfleets critic.
Picard,suffice it to say, is nothing likeThe Next Generation.
In the pilot, Picard decides to set off on a new mission.
Two episodes later, hes still organizing a crew for that mission: The thrills of pre-production, dramatized!
Serialization used to be exciting, back whenStar Trek: Deep Space Ninewas crafting a multi-season war epic.
Briones role entwines famousTrekspecies, but her subplot deadends into Weird stuff sure is happening!
The series was co-created by Alex Kurtzman, the reigningStar Trekproducer of the past decade, unfortunately.
In a generous mood, youd say:Picardis about societal trauma.
The main characters are grief-stricken.
Hurds Raffi is a disgraced Starfleet-er gone freaky off future weed.
Picard himself is haunted by Data, the man whose death Ive been mourning for two decades.
Synthetic beings are outlawed.
Anti-Romulan sentiment runs high.
The show doesnt honor its own criticisms.
Picard decries Starfleet as an organization but praises Starfleet ethics.
He wants to get himself a starship, and will, of course, get around to saying engage.
Other characters accuse him of being a relic but they also worship him as a famous hero.
You dont blame them.
CantStar Trekjust go trekking to the stars?
That scattershot revival had the wit to cast Sir Patrick way against jot down.
Stewart was having scary fun with all that bad behavior.
For a certain swath of theTrek-loving fanbase, Picard basicallyisStarfleet.
Hes raging against his own machine.
WillPicardfind a clear direction forward?
I worry that talky flop is more suggestive of the material here than any of Chabons wondrous prose.
Honestly, though, I have no clue whatPicardlooks like going forward.
In the third episode, a bunch of people finally get together on the bridge of a starship.
The mood lightens immediately: Was that so hard?
So much ofTreksince 2009 strains to resemble the dumbest version of cool.
But for now, this is another disappointingStar Trek.
Should we give it a chance?
My advice: Disengage.Grade:C
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