Star Trek: Picard

TNG was the apex of the Star Trek universe. People loved it. It showed us sometimes flawed characters who always strived to be better than they were. These characters were developed on screen. They did more than just fight and argue and push the main plot of the story.

TNG rewarded viewers with a sense of hope and something great to look and build forward to. It wasn't a reflection of what we as people ARE, but what we could so easily be.

So what do we get if we take TNG and remove the wonder of discovery, the passion to explore, any sense of warmth, ALL OPTIMISM, futuristic technological innovation, actors who connect with their characters, imagination, the rigid moral structure, discipline, professionalism, alien races, special effects, and just make the entire thing a bit more common and profane? We get a glimpse of what the future would be like if the most spoiled, selfish, weak people populated the world and the only advancements humanity made were technological.

Class warfare. Limited resources. A disdain for age / accomplishment. And just a few little ties thrown in to try to lure fans of Voyager and TNG in hoping some percentage of them will stay for a bland, frozen, microwaved version of what was once a favorite dish.

It's great to see Patrick Stewart acting in this, but it'd be even better if he'd reprise the role of Jean-Luc Picard in more than just name.

Dear Gene Roddenberry,

We respectfully disagree with your Utopian vision of tomorrow. The future is actually just a bunch of fearful, self-centered, bickering millennials (some of which have pointy ears and others of which are robots) driven by a raging torrent of emotions to do whatever feels good. In space.

Signed, CBS