"Star Trek: Short Treks" Children of Mars (TV Episode 2020) Poster

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6/10
Prologue to Star Trek Picard
minnesh-7725610 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Unrelated to Star Trek Discovery. Ends with Picard on a TV screen commenting on attack on Mars - "Devastating" is all he is quoted as saying.

Episode is 6 and a half minutes plus 90 seconds of credits?
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8/10
A nearly dialogue-free episode that ranks higher than most of new Star Trek
TARDIS_Tech_Support8 September 2022
This was a lofty reach, and it mostly achieved what it was looking to do. You see a slice of these young girls' lives, their different experiences that are also very much alike, and the trail of pain and anger and the destruction it can bring to other people.

I wish more episodes of Picard were near this good. It's not possible to understate how disappointed with the show I have been to this point, and how it does not feel like Star Trek, but merely another science fiction universe with no connections to the TV Shows of the 1960s to the 2000s. And even this episode feels separated from that universe of shows that I love so much. But this at least made an effort at not talking down to its audience, not making things so lowest common denominator IQ.
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6/10
Cheap tears not worth your time
samidviveros8 September 2023
The story by itself is nothing special. Some sad song do not make for a good story. Not only does this short dismisses all the established lore about how humanity has evolved beyond petty emotions but the story does not add anything new. This felt like a proof of concept but it doesn't work, it relies on undeserved shock value with some filler teenage drama. For such a short running time, it wasted time on menial character traits that do not serve the story. Given the outcome, literally anything would have worked and something more interesting would have been better. This doesn't feel like Star Trek at all.
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9/10
Hope that Picard and Star Trek will finally have good writing
wag2639-115 January 2020
This was an emotionally powerful episode, especially considering how little was actually said in the short. It gives me hope that Picard will actually see some amazing writing.
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7/10
At least this one has real people.
northgate-studios17 January 2020
Whew, I thought that after the last 2 episodes, Dreamworks had hijacked CBS... crisis averted.
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9/10
Engaging and emotional
eventsman15015 January 2020
They had me at Peter Gabriel's version of Bowie's "Heroes." I loved the style of this vignette: minimal dialogue, telling the story mostly through visuals and emotional reactions between characters. Sure, the fight between the girls was a little ridiculous, but it got the point across. An interesting teaser at the end leaves the viewer wondering where the story is going next ...
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10/10
So very good!
rachmfm19 October 2020
This has been my favorite short so far! Having watched Picard, I knew what was coming, but it was still very emotional. I loved the use of heroes! I also liked seeing a kids perspective with parents in Star fleet. We don't see that very often.
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2/10
Did not like it
Sturmovyck10 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Pre TOS ships being build after the Nemesis era? Vulcans expressing high levels of emotions? Sure, this is an excellent episode (no, it's not).
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10/10
Simple, yet very moving.
NewDivide170118 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
One of the best Short Treks since Calypso. A strong and moving story between 2 rivals only for them to be brought together by a tragic event.

Simple scenes, minimal lines, all brought together that's simple, yet emotive. Minimal, yet powerful.

Peter Gabriel's rendition of David Bowie's Heroes sold the Short Trek as it preludes to Picard.
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2/10
First TV show progressing timeline since Voyager and it makes no sense.
jacob68759 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is supposed to be set after the events of Voyager/DS9/TNG so technology should be more advanced than what was shown on those shows.

1. Why are the kids and parents living apart for years at a time? The kids are presumably on Earth while the parents work in Mars orbit. A ride on a ship at one half impulse would take about 10-20 minutes to get between the planets.

2. All of the ships being built at the Mars Shipyard are from the pre TOS era. It does't make sense for a shipyard to be producing ships from a design more than 100 (some up to 200) years old.

3. The shuttle being used as a bus for the students is also more than 100 years old. I suppose they could still be using such an old ship but it doesn't really make much sense.

4. A massive force can attack and seemingly destroy Mars without any prior notification that they were coming. We also see no Federation starships attacking the invaders. Earth is at the heart of the Federation. To not have any advanced warning or any ships defending Mars is a bit silly.
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10/10
- Let's go back in the future !
marianthenightman11 January 2020
Finally,the prequels are over,for now,the story is good,although i expected to see some more known alien species.Another thing which seems to be a real cliche these days is to use a young female as a central character,i mean,did you ever count how many episodes from Short Treks or Discovery have a young female as a central character ..?!?...almost all of them ,i know the writers are many of them young females or woke (or should i say weak or suave..? )male writers ,but as a guy who wanted all his life to become a writer i am very disappointed by this lack of originality.The music is great,the alien races are ,using some obscene gestures ,i know because i use them when i'm thinking to a sexy girl,but this is Star Trek so this is not something too extraordinary,but i think this should be skipped in the future,because just like that scene from TNG movies with Picard wearing a wig to an first contact meeting or attending to a wedding completely naked,or hearing Hoshi imitating a chicken when she is speaking in an alien language,these things are always weird and they don't improve the quality of the series at all,excepting the (TNG ) Klingons and the Ferengi's rituals offcourse.
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2/10
Yawn...boring
garabedian12320 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I hope CBS can see how we all watched half of the shorts before turning them off. ..This one...In a world without technology...where kids get left behind on the wrong planet...because...of...reasons? I turned it off...In a world with so much technology, im supposed to believe that kids can get left behind on the planet bus because she trips? No trackers or even simple security cameras....1980s technology is more advanced than this....so i turned it off
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