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Favorite recurring character? (Select 4)

  • Jack / AIDSMobdy

    Votes: 257 24.0%

  • Josh / the Wizard

    Votes: 77 7.2%

  • Colin (Canadian #1)

    Votes: 460 42.9%

  • Jim (Canadian #2)

    Votes: 230 21.4%

  • Tim

    Votes: 386 36.0%

  • Len Kabasinski

    Votes: 208 19.4%

  • Freddie Williams

    Votes: 274 25.5%

  • Patton Oswalt

    Votes: 27 2.5%

  • Macaulay Culkin

    Votes: 541 50.4%

  • Max Landis

    Votes: 64 6.0%
  • Total voters
    1,073
Cosmos said:
Patreon update:

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Promised slathering
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stuffandthings said:
Also, I realized when I was watching this that Plinkett had nicer things to say about First Contact, Insurrection, Avatar, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and The Last Jedi than the absolute beat down he gave this stupid show.
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Hell, I can too:

First Contact gets credit for trying to pull a Wrath of Khan by doing a sequel to one of the episodes of the show, and for also being the first ST movie to focus solely on the Next Gen cast. There are moments of competence sprinkled in.

Insurrection feels long, is boring, and contradicts episodes of TNG...but at least the setting is genuinely pretty.

Avatar looks pretty. I can't deny that. (That seems to be a common "damning with faint praise" bit with me, but hey)

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...I actually didn't mind the alien route they took and there is the occasional solid moments to keep me from being miserable.

The Last Jedi at least flirts with being interesting and at times, is stunning to look at.


Picard possesses all the negatives from the examples above (shitty writing, poor execution of a beloved franchise, contradicting the past, etc.) but possesses a mess of other issues, like how the show looks like a post apocalyptic horror movie. Seriously, when and why did everyone decide that Star Trek should look post apocalyptic? Hell, that's an insult to post apocalyptic stories that look awesome, like the Mad Max films. This is just terrible.
 
RumblyTumbly said:
Hell, I can too:

First Contact gets credit for trying to pull a Wrath of Khan by doing a sequel to one of the episodes of the show, and for also being the first ST movie to focus solely on the Next Gen cast. There are moments of competence sprinkled in.

Insurrection feels long, is boring, and contradicts episodes of TNG...but at least the setting is genuinely pretty.

Avatar looks pretty. I can't deny that. (That seems to be a common "damning with faint praise" bit with me, but hey)

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...I actually didn't mind the alien route they took and there is the occasional solid moments to keep me from being miserable.

The Last Jedi at least flirts with being interesting and at times, is stunning to look at.


Picard possesses all the negatives from the examples above (shitty writing, poor execution of a beloved franchise, contradicting the past, etc.) but possesses a mess of other issues, like how the show looks like a post apocalyptic horror movie. Seriously, when and why did everyone decide that Star Trek should look post apocalyptic? Hell, that's an insult to post apocalyptic stories that look awesome, like the Mad Max films. This is just terrible.
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Hell, I'll do it too.

First Contact: Great special effects.
Insurrection: Picard isn't a depressed asshole.
Avatar: Interesting and complex alien ecosystem.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skill: Good Acting from Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford being scrubbed down by giant brushes.
The Last Jedi: Mark Hamill's acting.

The best thing about Picard is that we got another Plinkett review.
 
I finished the Picard review. I'd rank it just above the original TNG Plinkett reviews but beneath everything else. The #1 problem it has is that he doesn't go over the story beat by beat. If I had never watched the show or a summation on a YT channel or read about it I wouldn't know wtf he was talking about. I'm not SW or ST guy, and I can watch the Plinkett reviews of those franchises and know the story.
 
RumblyTumbly said:
And that closing montage was legitimately depressing. Good God, what happened?
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A lot of people will tell you that it's just the result of writers using a show purely as a vehicle to push some agenda but I think here it runs deeper than that. I genuinely think that we as a society have become too pessimistic and cynical for a show like Star Trek to exist. Something that optimistic and sincere isn't going to fly in the current zeitgeist.
 
Chiri said:
A lot of people will tell you that it's just the result of writers using a show purely as a vehicle to push some agenda but I think here it runs deeper than that. I genuinely think that we as a society have become too pessimistic and cynical for a show like Star Trek to exist. Something that optimistic and sincere isn't going to fly in the current zeitgeist.
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I am legitimately dumbfounded that we live in a world where Star Trek has become a politicized propaganda-like piece of media glorifying and solidifying an anarchistic and pessimistic viewpoint of the world...and that somehow, Seth MacFarlene's The Orville has become a better representation of what Star Trek was than Star Trek.

If you had said that to me about a decade ago, I would've thought that you were certifiably insane. ...I still don't believe it to be honest.
 
stuffandthings said:
First Contact: Great special effects.
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Has an interesting premise that involves the history of the main protagonist while having an acceptable side plot.

I'm not SW or ST guy, and I can watch the Plinkett reviews of those franchises and know the story.
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I am not sure Picard has a coherent story to go over.

A lot of people will tell you that it's just the result of writers using a show purely as a vehicle to push some agenda but I think here it runs deeper than that. I genuinely think that we as a society have become too pessimistic and cynical for a show like Star Trek to exist. Something that optimistic and sincere isn't going to fly in the current zeitgeis
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I don't buy this, I buy that the people in positions of writing are too pessimistic and cynical to write star trek, but they are people who only got into their positions because of Nepotism. They know they are bad at their jobs, they know they only got it because they have the right politics they know the system is broken because they got where they are at because of corruption.

This is why Orville despite having it's flaws feels so much more like Star Trek than current day Star Trek. Seth earned the ability to do The Orville. I hate Family Guy, I hate American Dad I think they are unfunny and boring, but Seth came up the right way. He worked on so many shows in a smaller context before he got his chance. Meanwhile Star Trek Picard's writing team had..2 people who never wrote for a TV series before, Kurtzman and This guy..look at this guy's Film history.

Hey do you want a Star Trek Series made by..somebody who brought us

BATMAN FOREVER
BATMAN AND ROBIN
LOST IN SPACE
THE DARK TOWER
The worst Transformers Movie

Whose only "Good" Movie was the fucking Pedophile movie that nobody even remembers anymore.
 
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I'm gonna be honest, I actually think this is my all time favorite thing Plinkett has done so far. I'll even say it objectively ranks amongst his best wort. He was funny, but the tone was still sort of morose. He succinctly highlighted why Picard is absolutely not Star Trek. Especially that ending, which juxtaposed a mixture of Trek's most inspiring speeches and scenes against the tryhard grimdark pigeonhole that they've shoved Trek into. Fuck, even JJ Abrams didn't fuck up Trek this bad as it at least still had a bright aesthetic and optimism for a more enlightened humanity and a better future.

And Plinkett also made a great point when he said Star Trek used to be a place you wanted to live. Used to. Hell the fuck no would I want to live in the world of Discovery or TNG. What the fuck is the point in escapism when the world you're escaping to is worse than your own when what you want to escape to something BETTER?! Star Trek used to be thoughtful, insightful, intellectually stimulating even, but still managed to be entertaining and fun. FUN.

Who the fuck is being provoked to think by this tripe? Who the fuck is having fun with this garbage? It's so far removed from either of those things it's disgusting it was even allowed to be made and called Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry would be goddamn disgusted because what even is this show teaching? That hatred of synthetic life (which could easily be argued is a metaphor for minorities, especially given the outright stated political agenda of many of the writers) is absolutely justified because they're prone to conjuring up even more advanced synths that will come and wipe out all organic life regardless of it's intent (destroying your way of life, citizen!) but dumbfucks like PeeJay demand we be tolerant at to our own detriment even if it's probably going to bite us in the ass later?

Kurtzman isn't a talented person. He never was. Sure, I loved Hercules and Xena, but lets not pretend they weren't just fun actiony schlock that eventually turned to utter trash. And most of his movies weren't great either, it was more of the same. His writing is not intelligent. At all. It's low IQ shit for low IQ people. That's what Star Trek is now.

Thanks CBS. I fucking hate it.
 
Wow, that was a HELL of an ending, one of RLM's finest moments yet.

Also, Lost was the start of the "pointless mystery" trend wasn't it? I can't believe a decade after that show's ending it's influence is still being felt.

Chiri said:
A lot of people will tell you that it's just the result of writers using a show purely as a vehicle to push some agenda but I think here it runs deeper than that. I genuinely think that we as a society have become too pessimistic and cynical for a show like Star Trek to exist. Something that optimistic and sincere isn't going to fly in the current zeitgeist.
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What the hell went wrong in society to where we're at this point now?

Things were fine as recently as the 2000s, which was the post 9/11 era and people were concerned, but people didn't let their concern give way into nihilism, so what went wrong in the 2010s?
 
Chiri said:
A lot of people will tell you that it's just the result of writers using a show purely as a vehicle to push some agenda but I think here it runs deeper than that. I genuinely think that we as a society have become too pessimistic and cynical for a show like Star Trek to exist. Something that optimistic and sincere isn't going to fly in the current zeitgeist.
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I think if this were true then there would be no push back against Picard and the rest of the trash and there wouldn't have been a Plinkett review at all. People would just be praising it mindlessly. But instead we've got thousands of viewers calling it shit.

The people making these shows are still clinging to Battlestar and Lost and GoT because they think you need whiny depressing pretentiousness to make good television. But the audience doesn't want it, that's pretty clear.

Dom Cruise said:
Wow, that was a HELL of an ending, one of RLM's finest moments yet.

Also, Lost was the start of the "pointless mystery" trend wasn't it? I can't believe a decade after that show's ending it's influence is still being felt.



What the hell went wrong in society to where we're at this point now?

Things were fine as recently as the 2000s, which was the post 9/11 era and people were concerned, but people didn't let their concern give way into nihilism, so what went wrong in the 2010s?
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It's not society because Picard is being rejected. People want optimism. It's just a bunch of pretentious artists from Hollywood and a big marketing push.
 
Chiri said:
A lot of people will tell you that it's just the result of writers using a show purely as a vehicle to push some agenda but I think here it runs deeper than that. I genuinely think that we as a society have become too pessimistic and cynical for a show like Star Trek to exist. Something that optimistic and sincere isn't going to fly in the current zeitgeist.
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The box office of Avengers Endgame would disagree with you. In fact most of the major box office successes of the last ten years have trended optimistic and sincere, if snarky. It's commercial garbage, but it's hopeful garbage.
 
I could honestly listen to Plinkett's ideas for Picarrd's retirement episodes all day

With a glass of wine
 
Honka Honka Burning Love said:
Be warned, Star Trek as a whole..has really really good episodes aaannnd really really bad episodes.
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I adore the Star Wars prequels as comedies so my definition of "bad" may vary. But as with such a huge series I think I'll hazard watching it with a friend who's already a big fan, since they've been trying to convert me for years.
 
I think this review plays better for people who have seen Picard. I haven't watched any nuTrek since the JJ Abrams abortions, so I'm out of the loop. Trek has been on a downhill slide since best of both worlds. There were gems afterwards, but nothing ever got better than that two-parter.

And that was a really long time ago. It's time to let go.
 
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