I popped the season three Blu-ray on last night and watched a bit of an episode just to see how it looks. It's amazing how much better the show looks and sounds on Blu-ray than it does on streaming. They obviously compress the hell out of the show to squeeze it through the internet. This is just one more reason in support of physical media over streaming only. With Disney relenting and now starting to release streaming series on Blu-ray, and with Apple beginning to follow suit with the release of the first season of For All Mankind on Blu-ray, hopefully the streaming exclusivity thing will end.

Yes, Virginia, there is a replacement disc for folks who bought the Picard Season 3 set and want to get the version with the cooler video effect on the Enterprise flyby.

https://trekmovie.com/2023/09/29/follow ... d-blu-ray/

Kudos to Paramount for doing the right thing and making this available. It was sad that it even had to be in question, but the world is what it is.

And before anyone asks, I don't know whether this works in Canada, but I can say that on the Country dropdown of the form, Canada is an option.

I can't say I like these ideas:

https://trekmovie.com/2023/10/05/patric ... uc-picard/

While Patrick Stewart has reasons as an actor to want to explore Picard in positions of being clueless and fearful, I don't want to see that. Isn't it enough that every time someone busts his chops about his role as Locutus, he is wounded and has no response, even most recently (with Shaw) after having had decades to come up with a response? Isn't enough that in Nemesis after Shinzon further impales himself in an attempt to reach Picard, that Picard is so gobsmacked by this that he would have stood there in a stunned state until apparently the Scimitar exploded, had not Data saved him? Must we see Picard now as a very old man, frightened and not knowing what to do? This to me is like Peter Jackson never missing an opportunity to make Gandalf look like a foolish old man. It may be interesting to play, but don't make our heroes look weak and useless.

And as far as giving the TNG characters a "proper farewell," IMHO that's exactly what the finale of Season 3 of Picard did. They were, most importantly, ALIVE, together, and having fun. How does it get better than that? I don't want any more trips back to the well, as saying a "proper farewell" all too often means killing characters off.

Agree with everything you said... as much as I love these characters, the ending of Picard season 3 was what I've been waiting for for a long long time.

Oh for heaven's sake...

I love Sir Patrick, but he needs to let this go. Not only was that Picard S3 final episode the perfect ending for the character and the old TNG crew, what more could they possibly come up with that he hasn't faced before that's going to leave the character feeling 'vulnerable' or 'fearful'?!? He's faced death, and far worse fates than death on several occasions, and has even died already and come back in an android body (dumb, but there it is) so what's next? Fear of the old folk's home, or needing help going to the bathroom? What story is left that would be credible at this point?

Not only that, this really just plays into what is becoming a very tiresome trend in Hollywood of late, which is to take a strong and heroic figure from popular culture and completely deconstruct and neuter them to the point of utter uselessness. Prime examples of this are Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, and Indiana Jones in the Dial of Destiny. What is this obsession with turning our heroes into broken, disillusioned, human wrecks and shadows of their former selves? I get that age has an effect, and at some point the legend outgrows the individual, but must we have everyone we grew up loving just get completely trashed and humiliated in a last hurrah at the box office for the sake of satisfying an actor or writer's whim? Maybe sometimes a hero just needs to die a hero. The whole deconstructing of the hero myth has gone beyond tiresome. We get the point, we really do, but maybe, just maybe, that's not how we want to see every last one of our legends go down... quivering, frail, full of doubt, fear, and uncertainty. How is that exciting for anyone?

Lastly, judging by the amount of comments I've read online about this - as in, overwhelmingly negative - this is not what fans want. We all love Picard, but he needs to go out on the high note he's been given.

Figured I'd put this here since it has to do Picard, but mainly Patrick Stewart himself. I just finished Patrick's memoir, Making It So. I hadn't gotten around to buying it and noticed it was on Spotify as an audiobook and Spotify apparently comes with 15 hours a month in free audiobook listening and I took the plunge so to speak.

I am glad I opted for the audio as Patrick reads the book himself, which makes it feel like he's telling me his life's story personally. He talks about his childhood, growing up in poverty, having an abusive father, drama school, Star Trek, X-Men, stage acting, his marriages, his infidelities, etc.

I love Patrick Stewart and loved hearing his memoirs in his own voice, I highly recommend!

I'll confess to very mild interest in the topic but not strong enough to read the book...or listen to him narrate it, even. But I'm glad you enjoyed!

Now if I want to know something about Patrick Stewart, I'll just ask you.

Totally understand.
for anyone interested, who are Star Trek and Xmen fans and you want mostly that content then this book isnt for you, as his first passion and most of his early life was stage productions.

For those Trek fans, if you have access, I'd say the chapters that reference Star Trek are quite interesting, him meeting Roddenberry, learning to go from a stiff Shakespearean proper actor to being someone who allowed himself to goof off, and really embracing Jean Luc, and all that is worth a listen.

Spoiler, he does end with a 180. He first mentioned he flat out refused to do Picard, as he thought Picard's story was done, but they convinced him to do it under 3 conditions, which were met mostly until the 3rd season (one of his conditions was it could not be a TNG reunion).
Now he says he would like to do one more, one off Picard movie. In the memoir, he seems to want to see Picard find love and be married.

The epilogue he wanted for season 3 was not the poker game, but rather him at home in the chateau and from off-camera his unidentified wife calls out to him that dinner is ready.

I'm sure there are aspects to his book that would be interesting. It's just that my 400-book unread backlog is causing me to seriously limit the amount of books I acquire.

Back in the day, around the time I was going to a lot of Trek conventions, I read the autobiographies of most of the TOS cast. Some of them were pretty interesting.

BladeCollector wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 11:31 am Now he says he would like to do one more, one off Picard movie. In the memoir, he seems to want to see Picard find love and be married.

Seriously? Is his memory that bad, or is it mine that's failing? Other than the series not ending with that particular scene, did he not already achieve that exact scenario and accomplishment with Laris?

I mean, the 'married' detail might not be official, but it's just that - a detail, and a minor one at that. I honestly don't think he's thinking straight on this, or doesn't get that after all the things this series explored and wrapped up, there is really nothing left for the character to do or any threads left to develop. If anything, he risks damaging the wonderful note this final season ended his story on, something that Nemesis could not do, which paved the way for the series. Let it go.

Anyway, at this point this remains nothing more than a rumour fueled by Stewart's fanciful musings. Until I hear the greenlight from the studio, I continue to hope better sense prevails and we have seen the last of Jean-Luc Picard.

On a related note, with the recent rumblings of Paramount looking to merge/be sold off to another company, it could very well mean this remains forever in the realm of fantasy. While they still control the Trek IP, they're desperately trying to get a JJ-verse Trek 4 off the ground (for years now), something I couldn't care less about, and now they've announced another movie set earlier than that. For all those reasons, I think a Picard movie any time while Stewart is still alive is highly unlikely.

I think it could be nostalgia? He's getting up there in age. Also he could have a better "taste in his mouth" so to speak. He talks about the disappointment with ST Insurrection and Nemesis. He said Insurrection seemed like an extended TV episode with a TV series budget with a TV series plot. Nemesis he thought was good but obviously was a box office disappointment. He also had an interesting story about Tom Hardy, saying how he didnt interact with any of the cast off screen and when Tom left on his last filming day, Patrick said "well there's one actor we'll never see again." Then said, he's never been more happy to be wrong about someone.

But anyway, I think with the positive feelings from Picards third season, with much more positive reviews and ending, I'd imagine it would be hard not to continue, maybe? But I'd definitely rather leave it on that high note.

As far as the JJ-verse, after all this time, I'm more or less "eh" about it. Will I watch it, probably. Am I dying for it to be made? No. Star Trek has become Star Wars in the idea that we have an unlimited timeline to do movies and TV series, and we want to hover as close to Kirk/TNG as possible, just like Star Wars wants to hover around a particular family (Skywalker) and won't do anything else (save for Discovery, after the fact).

It makes me wonder if he's gotten a bit dotty. First he says he wants a movie where Picard is scared and confused, but now he wants him to be married? I guess it could all be one movie. But I think there is precisely want person who wants this movie, and that's Patrick Stewart.

Valkrist wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 1:25 pm

BladeCollector wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 11:31 am Now he says he would like to do one more, one off Picard movie. In the memoir, he seems to want to see Picard find love and be married.

On a related note, with the recent rumblings of Paramount looking to merge/be sold off to another company, it could very well mean this remains forever in the realm of fantasy. While they still control the Trek IP, they're desperately trying to get a JJ-verse Trek 4 off the ground (for years now), something I couldn't care less about, and now they've announced another movie set earlier than that. For all those reasons, I think a Picard movie any time while Stewart is still alive is highly unlikely.

I think the possible Paramount sale, and the way all the streamers are cutting back even if Paramount doesn't get sold, have really put the skids on what fans have called "Star Trek: Legacy," the followup series with Seven and Raffi.

Olorin wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2024 1:37 pm
I think the possible Paramount sale, and the way all the streamers are cutting back even if Paramount doesn't get sold, have really put the skids on what fans have called "Star Trek: Legacy," the followup series with Seven and Raffi.

Exactly what I've heard. I'm actually surprised they're still going ahead with the Section 31 movie, which at this point seems like little more than a thinly-veiled attempt to cash-in on the popularity and bankability of Michelle Yeoh. What they don't seem to be aware of is how generally reviled Discovery is by most Trek fans, and how universally united they are in their disinterest in Emperor Georgiou, a one-note character that had already outstayed its welcome. I have a feeling this is going to crash and burn, though most will still probably watch out of morbid curiosity. Section 31 as a plot device, just like the Mirror Universe, are equal to this...

Thoughts on this but I won't have time to post until after 5:00 CST.

Olorin wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2024 1:28 pm It makes me wonder if he's gotten a bit dotty. First he says he wants a movie where Picard is scared and confused, but now he wants him to be married? I guess it could all be one movie. But I think there is precisely want person who wants this movie, and that's Patrick Stewart.

Its actually quite counter to something he mentioned as he ended his book, was that him being so dedicated to acting, meant he put his work first and family second and regrets not having a relationship with his children. He seems to be on decent terms with them, and his son even had a guest starring role in TNG, but he said his relationship with his children is a "work in progress," but he gets along great with his grandchildren. I for one am a fan of Patrick, and I've love to see him on stage one day, but man, you're 83 years old, you've given us your life, just spend your time relaxing and enjoying your family.

Valkrist wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2024 3:36 pm Exactly what I've heard. I'm actually surprised they're still going ahead with the Section 31 movie, which at this point seems like little more than a thinly-veiled attempt to cash-in on the popularity and bankability of Michelle Yeoh. What they don't seem to be aware of is how generally reviled Discovery is by most Trek fans, and how universally united they are in their disinterest in Emperor Georgiou, a one-note character that had already outstayed its welcome. I have a feeling this is going to crash and burn, though most will still probably watch out of morbid curiosity. Section 31 as a plot device, just like the Mirror Universe, are equal to this...

OK, unpacking this....

The Section 31 project was announced a long time ago, right after the second season of Discovery aired, I believe. While no doubt some fans wouldn't care if it never materialized, or would even be gleeful for its absence as evidence of the ineptitude of the current regime, I think the regime knows that when you promise something this high-profile, you carry through or lose all credibility. It has, apparently, been scaled back. I think it was originally to be a series, but now is a one-off movie. Or perhaps I'm misremembering. But in any case, I don't see it as a new scheme to cash in on Michelle Yeoh but rather paying off a promise, and if they can still afford Michelle Yeoh, I don't fault them for being able to have her. I'll watch it just to see her again. She is eminently watchable. Hell, I watched a rom-com, Crazy Rich Asians, just because she was in it.

And I don't think Mirror-Georgiou was a one-note character. True, she started off as a bit of a standard moustache-twirler, but after Burnham abducted her and brought her back to the prime universe, she started to change. For all her protests that Burham couldn't change her, I think she was changing, and evolving to be more caring and less diabolical. It'll be interesting to see if that arc continues, once she's in the past.

Has Section 31 been over-exposed? Has the Mirror Universe been over-exposed? The answers to both those questions of course lie in the eye of the beholder. I was disturbed when DS9 first introduced Section 31. Our evolved, socialist utopia Federation has its own CIA? Does there always have to be someone behind the curtain, bending or breaking the rules, for people in front of the curtain to be safe? A weighty question! Certainly the Federation has enemies, and when we know about black ops organizations that the Cardassians or Romulans have, it'd be difficult not to match them. Enterprise showed us that Section 31 started way back and had been around for a while by the 2150s. So my first hope about the new movie is that the writers do their homework and don't have Michelle Yeoh in some time period post-Enterprise and founding Section 31. As to the Mirror Universe, I think DS9 pretty well over-exposed it, just as Voyager overused the Borg. Enterprise to the rescue, redeeming both concepts! So it was no surprise that Discovery visited the Mirror Universe, and I think they showed it a bit more plausibly. The people are bad, but they are subtle enough to work their plots instead of just being all in someone's face about things.

And now, the 800-lb gorilla in the room, Discovery and fans' perception of it. It is definitely polarizing, there's no denying that. I did a quick, naive google to see if there is any gauge for how many fans like it vs not, but didn't turn up anything other than many people asking why some fans hate it. But the most telling thing I did read was from one commenter that said that Star Trek fans always hate the new thing, until there's something newer to hate. Fans hated the TOS movies until TNG came along to hate. Then fans hated DS9. Then Voyager. Etc. At the same time, younger fans, ones new to the franchise, have liked the new shows. It's the same as with the Star Wars prequels. The younger folks for whom the prequels were their first Star Wars movies liked them just fine.

But I have never hated Discovery, nor found it worthy of anyone else's hate. True, it's not the type of Star Trek that I was used to. But there is a perception (and whether that's a reality could be debated) that the way stories were told in the late 80s and 90s (let alone 60s) would not work in the 2020s. This kind of thinking, or kinds of thinking analogous to it, rule the roost today. People are not going to make a show or movie unless they think it has maxiimum appeal, maximum chance for success. For example, the Foundation series on Apple. Goyer said that every studio he shopped it to were insistent that it not have an anthology format and that it have continuing characters. Ergo, it was never going to be completely faithful to the books. As for Star Trek, I think there was a perception that the kind of staid storytelling and second-tier special effects that always characterized it previously were not going to be embraced by a modern mass audience. Who knows if that is right? I don't really have a problem with the way they tell stories. I just wish there'd be more focus on story and less on explosions and nail-biters and what-not.

Would I rather there had never been a Discovery? No, of course not. For starters, had there been no Discovery, we would not have gotten Strange New Worlds, and I would hope that even the most ardent Discovery-hater would acknowledge that Strange New Worlds is good, and as close to old-style Trek as we've gotten. We also likely would not have gotten the Picard series, and while I know some were cool at best to the first two seasons, again I think we'd agree that the third season was the charm. (Remember when new Trek shows always required a couple of seasons to get their feet under them?)

But what about on its own merits? I think season-long plot arcs are generally a good thing, as they let you tell a more involved story. And the show has occasionally introduced some really out-there science fiction ideas. The spore drive is almost too much to swallow (but it least it doesn't turn anyone into salamanders, which is what happened the last time anyone went anywhere in the universe instantaneously) but I thought Species 10-C was a breath of fresh air. There were not actors with bumps on their noses and they did not communicate in a way that the Universal Translator could manage. They were completely alien. That's the essence of science fiction, and despite being ostensibly science fiction, Star Trek all too often forgets that and just uses aliens as metaphors for the less appealing aspects of human nature. So major props for bringing the sci-fi. Lastly, it has given us some characters that I really like, such as Saru and Tilly. I even like Burnham, even though she does some bone-headed things, because Sonequa has so much charisma.

So for me, on the whole the positives have definitely outweighed the negatives with Discovery. And although the final season hasn't aired yet, I think that's a suitable summation for how I received the series. Others are free to differ, obviously! But I will still have that same sense of sadness and saying goodbye to friends when the credits roll for the last time.

Re: Section 31 movie - Yes, I recall it was supposed to be a series, then fell out of sight for a while. I don't share your faith in them doing this merely because they made a 'promise'. Call me cynical, but the movie and film industries are littered with the corpses of 'promises' made to fans, viewers, and audiences over the years of things that were supposed to be and never were. That this is now still being made speaks more to having Yeoh contractually obligated to do something Section 31-related, and CBS/Paramount/Scifi/whatever knowing that she's now in very high demand and expensive, so they'd best get going or lose the whole thing. A series would've meant tying her up for a quite a while and I'm willing to bet my life that she easily negotiated herself out of that commitment, and a made-for-streaming movie is the best compromise they could come to.

Emperor Georgiou - Because I managed to make it through the slog that was Season 3, I watched the end of the character's arc on the show and I didn't buy it. She remained one-note for me the whole time, and her few attempts at being softer felt forced and insincere at best. Not just that, I found it hard to swallow that Burnham and the rest of the crew were so willing to forgive and forget, fully accepting her as a member of the crew, down to the teary-eyed party and farewell when she finally left the ship. Again, it felt not only forced, but completely unearned. Maybe the entire crew suddenly got amnesia, but viewers shouldn't forget how utterly abominable she was in the MU, and that she made Hitler, Stalin, and Pol-pot look like a rank amateurs I believe in redemption as much as the next guy, but some things are done on a level and scale that are simply not forgivable, and certainly not forgettable. Yet ask us to do exactly that is what they did. No thank you. For those reasons and what I feel is the utter lack of appeal of the cartoonish character itself, I can't fathom what the interest is in this series. I think like Burnham must've done in her own mind, there is such a desire to have her be the original Georgiou, that the fact this woman was responsible for atrocities against billions is all good for chuckles and aw-shucks moments at the end of each episode, TOS-style. No one ever stopped to think that this person only looks like the captain everyone adored for two episodes, but is not her in any way other than appearance?

Discovery - My list of reasons for disliking the show are longer than my arm, and I've gone on at length about them elsewhere. To summarize very quickly, I think this show has been the furthest departure from Trek that there's ever been, and yes, I know that complaint gets leveled at nearly every successive iteration of Star Trek, but if SNW, Picard, Lower Decks, and Prodigy can still earn tons of praise today, one has to wonder why Discovery is disliked to the point of cancelation and poor reviews? I could point you to where this sentiment is shared in a way that's constructive and not in a toxic way, but I'm not here to change your mind, only to let you know that I'm very much not alone in this. I feel the writing is very subpar, the characters (other than Burham and Saru) are cardboard cutouts with poor development and inconsistent personalities, no decision seems to get made on that ship without everyone sharing their feelings and having a group hug and a cry first, and the worst part of all is the obsessiveness to make Michael Burnham this infallible Space Messiah that knowns all and can do no wrong. I find her completely and irredeemably insufferable. The entire galaxy basically revolves around her, and there is nothing that she can't do, all by her lonesome. Of course I'm exaggerating, but it's very much a one-person show in a way that even TOS wasn't just about Kirk. The personal moment that made me walk away and not come back for Season 4 was when Burnham got a nice pat on the back and was told that the man that Spock was, and everything he accomplished, was all because of the wonderful sister he had... which is ironic since Burnham's very existence is one the biggest retcons in science-fiction history. Sorry, but I just couldn't take the cheek and hubris of the writers and the smugness of the character in taking credit for 50-years of a beloved character's history and personality. That was a bridge too far in terms of disrespect. See, now I've gone on and listed everything again... sorry.

Section 31 and the MU - Yeah, I think DS9 was about as far as that should've gone, and the finale with it all being a delusion by Sloane was the perfect ending. To now go back and dredge up (again) an organization that runs counter to all the principles of the Federation and Roddenberry's vision... meh, I just don't know. I get that starting with DS9, we got further and further away from that utopia, and recent elements of Picard certainly delivered some major exclamation points on that, but must that be what we continue to focus on? With so much crap going on in the world, do we need a show about Space Hitler doing dirty work behind the scenes? Again, I'm sure there's an audience for this, but when I watch Star Trek, I want.... well, Star Trek. Oh, and to your musings about Georgiou and where she ends up, I recently read an article that should scare you... because the Guardian of Forever didn't specify where and when it was sending her, only that she had to go back to when the universes where more in alignment so... yes, all the money right now is on her going back to a time period between Enterprise and Discovery, where she will be responsible for creating Section 31 because she's the only one that lacks enough of a moral compass to bring about such a thing. The fact that the actor that played Ash Tyler is not in the cast is very telling that at the very least, she's not going back to right after Discovery disappeared, as that would also raise the problem of her having knowledge of the ship's existence and ultimate fate.

Anyway, in closing, I want you to know that as always, this is only a friendly counter and an expression of views that are opposite to your own. I'm being sincere when I say I'm happy that you enjoy this show, and a part of me is jealous of you in that I've become so jaded that I more easily cast aside stuff today that I would've put up with long ago, when I was younger and had more patience and time for nonsense.

A very good article! I hope we get what we want (Legacy) and what the author wants (something forward looking) and not what Stewart wants, despite how much we cherish him.