A lot of their shows recently they seem to start feeding them around 2 hours or so early (but seems to be completely random user to user at what point you can access them early if at all) but don't necessarily show up as listed until midnight - sometimes you will see the new episode promoted on the banner, etc. and can click and play it despite not showing in the listing itself and/or sometimes if you start watching the previous episode you can skip to the new one, etc. and/or just know how to access it.
Star Trek: Picard
- Thread starter glenimp617
- Start date
A lot of their shows recently they seem to start feeding them around 2 hours or so early (but seems to be completely random user to user at what point you can access them early if at all) but don't necessarily show up as listed until midnight - sometimes you will see the new episode promoted on the banner, etc. and can click and play it despite not showing in the listing itself and/or sometimes if you start watching the previous episode you can skip to the new one, etc. and/or just know how to access it.
Pretty sure that will be explored in SE1 lol
Soldato
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Decent episode. Thought throwing in the f-bombs was a bit edgelord (although the cheeky ****** one was a little amusing), and a couple of the scenes had either clunky dialogue or seemed just thrown in shoddily in order to have characters tell the audience information but otherwise it's giving me something to look forward to on Thursdays.
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I noticed that with a couple of scenes where characters were speaking aloud information they wouldn't need to convey to the other character which kind of breaks the immersion but I guess it needs to be done for the sake of new audiences, etc. it is a bit of a difficult one for me as having watched a lot of TV shows for nearly 30 years or so I understand a lot of the concepts, etc. without it being spelled out so when it is it kind of ruins the show for me but for younger audiences, etc. it is needed.
He's mostly got the gravitas in his delivery, but he's lost a lot of his on screen presence. He genuinely seems somewhat frail. It's only the fact that Picard is as aged as Stewart is that it's working.
Soldato
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Not overly impressed with this so far. Will give it one more episode to show some promise I think.
Right then, episode commentary and review 
1) "Previously on..." for those of us in the audience with a memory span measured in seconds...
2) Ah, a flashback. Presumably this is when the synthetic life forms go loopy.
3) "Good morning plastic people"...way to keep your AIs on side bud.
4) I see human/artificial life relations regressed even more since the whole 'EMH Mark Ones relegated to menial tasks' deal in Voyager. Makes what is about to happen rather inevitable I guess.
5) Oops, the eyes just went wonky. Now it's on.
6) And they're all gonna die.
7) Welp, looks like he can self-terminate. Or whoever started the insurrection wanted no witnesses (if the synths were indeed being controlled by an outside force rather than just taking it upon themselves to blow **** up).
8) 'Meh' theme is still 'meh', until the end when it cribs from Goldsmith's motion picture/TNG theme. Perfectly pleasant but thoroughly unmemorable. Though it's been two seasons and I couldn't hum you the STD theme either.
9) Visuals are fun though. Still prefer a starship belting across space, mind.
10) Back to civilisation, i.e. rural France.
11) Picard and his Romulan buds still investigating.
12) Tal Shiar name-dropped. Only ever mentioned the once on TNG I believe.
13) These two know exactly who it is, don't they? Not the Tal Shiar, but some other group.
14) Called it!
15) Exposition.
16) Exposition combined with skipping back and forth between elements of their investigation.
17) Amusing interplay between these three
18) So this shadowy Romulan group (and by extension, other Romulans who want to live past Tuesday) hate synthetic life. And they don't play nice.
19) Name-dropping the Gorn now
20) Laris is more Irish than O'Brien was!
21) So we know that the Jhad Vash/Zhat Vash (JRS note: gone back up to amend this as I've seen both spellings on t'internet) hate synths, but we don't know why. Add it to the list of things that Jean-Luc will come to know.
22) Good thing she brought Picard along, the one man in the galaxy with the ability to rock up somewhere and immediately find what he's looking for.
23) I suppose this must happen a bunch when every computer in the Federation has some kind of network link.
24) "Can you tell me where she is?" "No...but I can tell you where she isn't." That's them caught up to the audience then, they know that she's not on Earth.
25) Jump to the Borg cube, and Narek and Soji are doing exposition after sleeping together.
26) Back to France. And it looks like Picard is about to get bad news.
27) Hooray for continuity!
28) "Inappropriate displays of anger on interplanetary news-holos?"...very appropriate display of anger I would have said!
29) Well, at least Picard knows now. Unless medical science takes another leap, he's going to subside into Irumodic syndrome or similar.
30) "Hey doc, can you commit malpractice and potentially risk other peoples lives by okaying me for duty?"
31) Doc knows he's serious though. He's got that 'Picard' look.
32) San Fran, and the musical score is going to let you know about it! The Courage fanfare segueing to a mellow Goldsmith theme.
33) Oh, and they were doing so well
Holo on the ceiling of a Constitution class starship, and it's the screwed-up one from STD rather than the proper one from TOS 
At least it's quickly replaced by an accurate rendition of a Galaxy class.
34) Picard taking a moment to appreciate it.
35) Trailer moment.
36) C-in-C looking about as pleased to see Picard as she would be about a nostril hair in her raktajino...guess that will happen when you make a career out of doing the right thing even when the brass don't want you to.
37) Excitement getting the better of you here Jean-Luc...read the room. This woman is going to have you chucked off the grounds of Starfleet Command! You've got no chance of getting help from her.
38) Pausing here for a minute or six. I gotta say, STP is almost heading in a DS9 direction. In DS9 you often had two factions, or two courses of action, some kind of choice to be made over which way you go...and it was almost never presented as one being the absolutely correct choice. The Romulans were always enemies of the Federation (clenched-teeth alliance of sorts in the Dominion War aside). Starfleet and the Federation would have been well within their rights to deny the Romulans any help. And, given what the Romulans had done over years, maybe even right to deny them. Picard believes that because they could help that they had an obligation to do so, because that's what you do when you're the good guys.
39) "Ignore me again at your cost!" Picard truly is something to behold when he's on a roll.
40) Yep, she done goofed. Now he's on one.
41) Another little scene that shows Soji's need to help everyone around her. And a Trill, with classic Trill makeup. Hooray for continuity!
42) More exposition.
43) "The Romulan Free State" is what remains of The Romulan Star Empire. That's gotta hurt.
44) Bureaucracy is the same the galaxy over.
45) Cute assimilation joke.
46) Romulan dude likes the sound of his own voice.
47) Foreshadowing for later perhaps?
48) Returning to the chateau.
49) "I never really cared for science fiction." Meta joke! So it's funny because Patrick Stewart stars in science fiction. It's also funny because of a conversation Patrick had long before TNG when talking to Lalla Ward (who played Romana alongside Tom Baker in Doctor Who).
50) Jurati just massively endeared herself to Picard there
51) This really is an exposition-heavy episode.
52) "She was a complete work of fiction." This mystery is getting layers added on quicker than Picard can peel them off.
53) Good bit of Buffy-speak, that. "Secret planny." I like
54) Bit of surgery on former Borg. This looks like it could be messy work.
55) Soji getting uppity regarding the Romulan attitude to the ex-Borg. And showing a bit more of her 'friend to all living creatures' nature.
56) Significant look from Narek there.
57) Picard has made a decision then. Fetches a box out...and it's a comm badge. Welcome back Captain Jean-Luc Picard
58) Calling someone else who apparently might not want to be talking to him.
59) C-in-C talking to another Starfleet officer, who is presumably Vulcan but could be a Romulan. So it's a conspiraceh then.
60) Laris taking Picard's plan well.
61) "The daughter of the man whose death I have been mourning for two decades comes to me for help and assistance. And then she is assassinated in front of my eyes by a Romulan death squad who will then go and try and find and destroy her twin sister." So there Laris. He can't worry about bugs on the grapes right now!
62) Zhadan might be one of my favourite characters in this.
63) "You need a crew. Riker, Worf, LaForge. Hmm?" "No. I thought about it and they would do it in a heartbeat, and that's precisely why I cannot ask them." Perhaps illogical, not availing yourself of the best people for the job. But I can understand his reasoning.
64) And once again, Zhadan showing why he's one of my favourite characters. "Okay...you need someone who hates you, and has nothing to lose."
65) Back to the conspiracy.
66) "Clancy has discouraged him, adequately I believe." Poor sap doesn't know Picard
67) Hey, the Vasquez Rocks. Kirk fought the Gorn here.
68) Future yellow cab!
69) Future trailer park home!
70) Michelle Hurd arrives. And her character Raffi clearly has previous with our captain.
71) But not so much previous that she'll turn down a drink and a mystery
72) More exposition, or at least a vague approximation of it. But we're getting hints about what the Romulans are looking for.
73) "Next time on Picard" and it's about to heat up a bit by the look of things.
2) Ah, a flashback. Presumably this is when the synthetic life forms go loopy.
3) "Good morning plastic people"...way to keep your AIs on side bud.
4) I see human/artificial life relations regressed even more since the whole 'EMH Mark Ones relegated to menial tasks' deal in Voyager. Makes what is about to happen rather inevitable I guess.
5) Oops, the eyes just went wonky. Now it's on.
6) And they're all gonna die.
7) Welp, looks like he can self-terminate. Or whoever started the insurrection wanted no witnesses (if the synths were indeed being controlled by an outside force rather than just taking it upon themselves to blow **** up).
8) 'Meh' theme is still 'meh', until the end when it cribs from Goldsmith's motion picture/TNG theme. Perfectly pleasant but thoroughly unmemorable. Though it's been two seasons and I couldn't hum you the STD theme either.
9) Visuals are fun though. Still prefer a starship belting across space, mind.
10) Back to civilisation, i.e. rural France.
11) Picard and his Romulan buds still investigating.
12) Tal Shiar name-dropped. Only ever mentioned the once on TNG I believe.
13) These two know exactly who it is, don't they? Not the Tal Shiar, but some other group.
14) Called it!
15) Exposition.
16) Exposition combined with skipping back and forth between elements of their investigation.
17) Amusing interplay between these three
18) So this shadowy Romulan group (and by extension, other Romulans who want to live past Tuesday) hate synthetic life. And they don't play nice.
19) Name-dropping the Gorn now
20) Laris is more Irish than O'Brien was!
21) So we know that the Jhad Vash/Zhat Vash (JRS note: gone back up to amend this as I've seen both spellings on t'internet) hate synths, but we don't know why. Add it to the list of things that Jean-Luc will come to know.
22) Good thing she brought Picard along, the one man in the galaxy with the ability to rock up somewhere and immediately find what he's looking for.
23) I suppose this must happen a bunch when every computer in the Federation has some kind of network link.
24) "Can you tell me where she is?" "No...but I can tell you where she isn't." That's them caught up to the audience then, they know that she's not on Earth.
25) Jump to the Borg cube, and Narek and Soji are doing exposition after sleeping together.
26) Back to France. And it looks like Picard is about to get bad news.
27) Hooray for continuity!
28) "Inappropriate displays of anger on interplanetary news-holos?"...very appropriate display of anger I would have said!
29) Well, at least Picard knows now. Unless medical science takes another leap, he's going to subside into Irumodic syndrome or similar.
30) "Hey doc, can you commit malpractice and potentially risk other peoples lives by okaying me for duty?"
31) Doc knows he's serious though. He's got that 'Picard' look.
32) San Fran, and the musical score is going to let you know about it! The Courage fanfare segueing to a mellow Goldsmith theme.
33) Oh, and they were doing so well
Holo on the ceiling of a Constitution class starship, and it's the screwed-up one from STD rather than the proper one from TOS At least it's quickly replaced by an accurate rendition of a Galaxy class.34) Picard taking a moment to appreciate it.
35) Trailer moment.
36) C-in-C looking about as pleased to see Picard as she would be about a nostril hair in her raktajino...guess that will happen when you make a career out of doing the right thing even when the brass don't want you to.
37) Excitement getting the better of you here Jean-Luc...read the room. This woman is going to have you chucked off the grounds of Starfleet Command! You've got no chance of getting help from her.
38) Pausing here for a minute or six. I gotta say, STP is almost heading in a DS9 direction. In DS9 you often had two factions, or two courses of action, some kind of choice to be made over which way you go...and it was almost never presented as one being the absolutely correct choice. The Romulans were always enemies of the Federation (clenched-teeth alliance of sorts in the Dominion War aside). Starfleet and the Federation would have been well within their rights to deny the Romulans any help. And, given what the Romulans had done over years, maybe even right to deny them. Picard believes that because they could help that they had an obligation to do so, because that's what you do when you're the good guys.
39) "Ignore me again at your cost!" Picard truly is something to behold when he's on a roll.
40) Yep, she done goofed. Now he's on one.
41) Another little scene that shows Soji's need to help everyone around her. And a Trill, with classic Trill makeup. Hooray for continuity!
42) More exposition.
43) "The Romulan Free State" is what remains of The Romulan Star Empire. That's gotta hurt.
44) Bureaucracy is the same the galaxy over.
45) Cute assimilation joke.
46) Romulan dude likes the sound of his own voice.
47) Foreshadowing for later perhaps?
48) Returning to the chateau.
49) "I never really cared for science fiction." Meta joke! So it's funny because Patrick Stewart stars in science fiction. It's also funny because of a conversation Patrick had long before TNG when talking to Lalla Ward (who played Romana alongside Tom Baker in Doctor Who).
Lalla Ward said:
50) Jurati just massively endeared herself to Picard there
51) This really is an exposition-heavy episode.
52) "She was a complete work of fiction." This mystery is getting layers added on quicker than Picard can peel them off.
53) Good bit of Buffy-speak, that. "Secret planny." I like
54) Bit of surgery on former Borg. This looks like it could be messy work.
55) Soji getting uppity regarding the Romulan attitude to the ex-Borg. And showing a bit more of her 'friend to all living creatures' nature.
56) Significant look from Narek there.
57) Picard has made a decision then. Fetches a box out...and it's a comm badge. Welcome back Captain Jean-Luc Picard
58) Calling someone else who apparently might not want to be talking to him.
59) C-in-C talking to another Starfleet officer, who is presumably Vulcan but could be a Romulan. So it's a conspiraceh then.
60) Laris taking Picard's plan well.
61) "The daughter of the man whose death I have been mourning for two decades comes to me for help and assistance. And then she is assassinated in front of my eyes by a Romulan death squad who will then go and try and find and destroy her twin sister." So there Laris. He can't worry about bugs on the grapes right now!
62) Zhadan might be one of my favourite characters in this.
63) "You need a crew. Riker, Worf, LaForge. Hmm?" "No. I thought about it and they would do it in a heartbeat, and that's precisely why I cannot ask them." Perhaps illogical, not availing yourself of the best people for the job. But I can understand his reasoning.
64) And once again, Zhadan showing why he's one of my favourite characters. "Okay...you need someone who hates you, and has nothing to lose."
65) Back to the conspiracy.
66) "Clancy has discouraged him, adequately I believe." Poor sap doesn't know Picard
67) Hey, the Vasquez Rocks. Kirk fought the Gorn here.
68) Future yellow cab!
69) Future trailer park home!
70) Michelle Hurd arrives. And her character Raffi clearly has previous with our captain.
71) But not so much previous that she'll turn down a drink and a mystery
72) More exposition, or at least a vague approximation of it. But we're getting hints about what the Romulans are looking for.
73) "Next time on Picard" and it's about to heat up a bit by the look of things.
So, yeah. Exposition abounds, and starts to actually bear fruit at the end of the episode. The Romulans are looking for the "nest" in the cube. And they think Soji will lead them to it. Commodore Oh of Stafleet (either the security or intelligence branch by the sounds of things) is involved in this somehow, perhaps being manipulated by Romulans or perhaps not. But at the very least she wanted Dahj captured alive/intact, and 'Rizzo' screwed the pooch on that one.
The world (galaxy?) of STP is growing. Now we have the Zhat Vash, or Jhad Vash, or however it's spelt. The even more secret version of the Romulan secret police. Possibly an answer to the question 'quis custodiet ipsos custodes' for those who thought that the Tal Shiar were an all-powerful force in Romulan society . We also get a sense of what happened to the Romulans after the destruction of their homeworld. No longer the Romulan Star Empire, they're now the Romulan Free State. Makes you wonder who's running the whole deal, if there's still a Senate. Things that will possibly be answered in time.
Writing and dialogue continue to be better than STD, though as @Rroff notes it does sometimes feel like the exposition is purely for the sake of the audience rather than a natural conversation between characters. But no matter. Any time the material gets a little clunky, the actors rise above it and make it work. I note in my commentary above that Jamie McShane's Zhadan is one of my favourite characters so far. Both him and Orla Brady's Laris get to have several fun scenes with Picard, and you get a sense of just how much time they've spent inside of kicking distance with each other.
Faults? As said, sometimes the exposition feels shoehorned in. The C-in-C's dismissal of Picard was about as subtle as a brick to the face and just about as pointless. She really ought to know Picard well enough to know that him going 'off the reservation' is infinitely less of a good idea than keeping tabs on him, so fine - give him a small ship and a crew, a crew with standing orders to call a halt if it turns out that he has lost the plot. That's assuming that she's a 'good' character of course. Alternatively, she's a part of the exact same conspiracy that Oh is involved in...which makes her forcing Picard to go off and make plans without Starfleet involvement (and therefore the involvement of people in on the conspiracy) even more stupid!
And yes, the holo image of the STD-style Constitution class. That was annoying. Fortunately the holo isn't shown for long, and gets replaced by a near-perfect rendition of the Galaxy class.
The story seems to be gathering pace now anyway. Let's see what next week brings
The world (galaxy?) of STP is growing. Now we have the Zhat Vash, or Jhad Vash, or however it's spelt. The even more secret version of the Romulan secret police. Possibly an answer to the question 'quis custodiet ipsos custodes' for those who thought that the Tal Shiar were an all-powerful force in Romulan society . We also get a sense of what happened to the Romulans after the destruction of their homeworld. No longer the Romulan Star Empire, they're now the Romulan Free State. Makes you wonder who's running the whole deal, if there's still a Senate. Things that will possibly be answered in time.
Writing and dialogue continue to be better than STD, though as @Rroff notes it does sometimes feel like the exposition is purely for the sake of the audience rather than a natural conversation between characters. But no matter. Any time the material gets a little clunky, the actors rise above it and make it work. I note in my commentary above that Jamie McShane's Zhadan is one of my favourite characters so far. Both him and Orla Brady's Laris get to have several fun scenes with Picard, and you get a sense of just how much time they've spent inside of kicking distance with each other.
Faults? As said, sometimes the exposition feels shoehorned in. The C-in-C's dismissal of Picard was about as subtle as a brick to the face and just about as pointless. She really ought to know Picard well enough to know that him going 'off the reservation' is infinitely less of a good idea than keeping tabs on him, so fine - give him a small ship and a crew, a crew with standing orders to call a halt if it turns out that he has lost the plot. That's assuming that she's a 'good' character of course. Alternatively, she's a part of the exact same conspiracy that Oh is involved in...which makes her forcing Picard to go off and make plans without Starfleet involvement (and therefore the involvement of people in on the conspiracy) even more stupid!
And yes, the holo image of the STD-style Constitution class. That was annoying. Fortunately the holo isn't shown for long, and gets replaced by a near-perfect rendition of the Galaxy class.
The story seems to be gathering pace now anyway. Let's see what next week brings
Lol nice JRS that is an impressive amount of effort
I actually cut quite a rant out of the review section regarding
the NotEnterprise-style Constitution class from STD being the model for the holo at Starfleet Command
I figure it can wait for another time
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I wonder if Picard is like he is as he’s been out of starfleet for so long.
Then later in the series he slowly goes back to the person we remember.
Then later in the series he slowly goes back to the person we remember.
Maybe he's you know, acting.
Appreciate the rub down (EDIT: meant run down 
) JRS as I find it hard to follow and distraction-free viewing is almost impossible for me. Your previous knowledge and understanding fills in the gaps for me. I also struggle when they start name dropping races as apart from the main 4/5 I can't visualise them at all or even visualise what they have said in words to look it up. Although seems they're not quite known to us visually yet so that's interesting.
) JRS as I find it hard to follow and distraction-free viewing is almost impossible for me. Your previous knowledge and understanding fills in the gaps for me. I also struggle when they start name dropping races as apart from the main 4/5 I can't visualise them at all or even visualise what they have said in words to look it up. Although seems they're not quite known to us visually yet so that's interesting.I get the impression this series, however many they make will be the swan song to Admiral/Captain Picard and I hope they don't ruin it. There's a lot of potential here especially when the Borg is involved
Appreciate the rub down (EDIT: meant run down
I get the impression this series, however many they make will be the swan song to Admiral/Captain Picard and I hope they don't ruin it. There's a lot of potential here especially when the Borg is involved
As long as it's the TNG Borg and not the Benny Hill versions from Voyager.
Appreciate the rub down (EDIT: meant run down
The races in Trek are dead easy.
Andorians - blue with antennae
Bolians - blue without antennae
Breen - the guys that wore refrigerated suits in DS9
TOS era Klingons - Genghis Khan types with no honour
TNG era Klingons - feudal era Japan types with forehead ridges, obsessed with honour
STD era Klingons - weird looking things with four nostrils and no honour
Borg - not Swedish
Humans - generally a-holes
Q - all a-holes
Vulcans - pointy ears, no emotions but a robust sense of humour
Romulans - pointy ears, robust emotions but no sense of humour
Cardassians - like the offspring of human-dinosaur sexy times
Jem'Hadar - also a bit dinosaurish
Gorn - actual dinosaurs
Ferengi - capitalists with large ears
Betazoids - humans with telepathy
Bajorans - religious humans with jewellery and nose ridges
Orions - sexy green humans
Trill - got a slug inside them, and spots that go all the way down
That should get everyone started
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Please do not watch if you are offended easily.
Man of Honour
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I enjoyed that. Perhaps not as much of the first and a bit exposition heavy, but some nice touches. Not a fan of another storyline with a rogue leader of Starfleet, but we’ll see where this goes. Sounds like the Borg are still around?
Soldato
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Mmm, Peyton List.
That is all.
That is all.