Star Trek: Picard - Season 3 Review

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally crossing Star Trek: Picard off my list of things I need to get done. It's over, I've reviewed every episode and now I'm covering season 3 overall.

That makes this the third series I've covered in its entirety, after Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Discovery, though in this case it wasn't that much of a challenge considering it only has 30 episodes in total. That's less than half of Discovery's episode count, and that wasn't particularly long for a Star Trek series either.

Anyway, I'm reviewing season 3 in particular, though there will be SPOILERS here for the rest of the series.

Star Trek: Picard 3-10: The Last Generation (Quick Review)

Episode:

30

|

Writer:

Terry Matalas

|

Director:

Terry Matalas

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Air Date:

20-Apr-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm reviewing The Last Generation, the dramatic conclusion of Star Trek: Picard's dramatic concluding season. This means I've completed another series! This, Star Trek: Discovery and Babylon 5 are the only three shows I've finished writing about in their entirety, so this is a rare event for me.

The episode was produced, written and directed by showrunner Terry Matalas, so it's more one person's vision than any other Trek episode since, I dunno, the first episode of Strange New Worlds (and that has a couple of other names besides Akiva Goldsman's on the 'story by' credit). The next closest episode after that I can think of is from way back in the 60s, as the Original Series' Elaan of Troyius was written and directed by John Meredyth Lucas. So that's pretty rare too.

There are going to be all kinds of SPOILERS below so I wouldn't go any further unless you've seen the episode yourself. Also Star Trek: Voyager. And Return of the Jedi.

Star Trek: Picard 3-09: Võx (Quick Review)

Episode:

29

|

Writer:

Sean Tretta & Kiley Rossetter

|

Director:

Terry Matalas

|

Air Date:

13-Apr-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Picard's penultimate episode, Võx, which has a weird title. At least, that's what the experts say. Personally I have no idea if it's right or not, I didn't even know that it was Latin, but the internet seems pretty sure that tilde shouldn't be over the o. It may have been meant to be Vōx, but plain simple Vox would've worked just fine. It means 'voice' by the way.

One thing you don't often see on Star Trek is the showrunner directing an episode themselves, but Terry Matalas was at the helm for this one. He'd directed a few episodes of Twelve Monkeys previously, including the finale, so I'm sure he knew what he was doing. It would've been hilarious if he didn't though, and Picard ended as a complete train wreck on a basic production level. I guess I'll find out!

I'm going to start discussing SPOILERS now, so avert your eyes if you'd rather not know anything about this episode or what led up to it.

Star Trek: Picard 3-08: Surrender (Quick Review)

Episode:

28

|

Writer:

Matt Okumura

|

Director:

Deborah Kampmeier

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Air Date:

06-Apr-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm reviewing the season 3 Picard episode titled Surrender.

It was written by Matt Okumura, who wrote Hide and Seek for Picard's second and absolutely nothing else. Well, nothing in Star Trek anyway; he's had experience writing for Leverage: Redemption and Blood & Treasure, which are two series I'm not sure I've ever heard of.

If you don't want to see SPOILERS for series like Discovery, Strange New Worlds and Picard, you should stop reading here.

Star Trek: Picard 3-07: Dominion (Quick Review)

Episode:

27

|

Writer:

Jane Maggs

|

Director:

Deborah Kampmeier

|

Air Date:

06-Apr-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Dominion, which is an interesting word in Star Trek. There are ominous implications there.

It's the season season in a row to feature a Jane Maggs story as episode 7, though that's not much of a coincidence as she wrote almost a third of season 2. Arguably the worst third, but I'm blaming the season arc for that more than anything. I haven't seen director Deborah Kampmeier's name on any Picard episodes, but she did direct The Galactic Barrier for Discovery, which is an episode I didn't like all that much either. Damn, not a lot of reasons for optimism so far, but I'll see how it goes.

This is where the SPOILERS start, so quit reading here if you don't want the episode ruined.

Star Trek: Picard 3-06: The Bounty (Quick Review)

Episode:

26

|

Writer:

Christopher Monfette

|

Director:

Dan Liu

|

Air Date:

30-Mar-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the 26th episode of Star Trek: Picard, which also happens to be the number of episodes Star Trek shows used to have each season. If Picard was like a 90s show this would've been the season 1 finale! But it's not, it's halfway through the final season. In fact there are only four episodes left, so if my maths are correct Picard is going to end up falling a little short of Next Gen's 176 episode run.

The episode is titled The Bounty and now I suddenly I want a chocolate bar with a coconut filling. It's not an unattainable goal, but I'll get this done first.

There are going to be SPOILERS, so if you don't want everything ruined you should stop reading.

Star Trek: Picard 3-05: Imposters (Quick Review)

Episode:

25

|

Writer:

Cindy Appel & Chris Derrick

|

Director:

Dan Liu

|

Air Date:

16-Mar-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally back to writing about Star Trek: Picard's third and final season! It's only 10 episodes so you'd think I'd be done with it by now, but I had to put it to one side for a couple of months to get some other things written. Discovery's last season was coming out, I had a The Last Jedi review in the works for May the 4th, then the first season of Ncuti Gatwa's run of Doctor Who started as well, so there were a lot of things demanding my time.

But that's all done with now, almost, and I'm ready to give Picard my partially undivided attention for its remaining six episodes.

Imposters was the final story to be credited to Cindy Appel and Chris Derrick, who'd been on the show since season 2. Derrick did one story, Appel did a few, and none of them have been highlights so far. Director Dan Liu was new to Picard, but he'd also done some Strange New Worlds so I'm sure he knew the difference between a phaser and a phase inducer.

Warning, SPOILERS beyond this point.

Star Trek: Picard 3-04: No Win Scenario (Quick Review)

Episode:

24

|

Writer:

Terry Matalas & Sean Tretta

|

Director:

Jonathan Frakes

|

Air Date:

09-Mar-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about more Star Trek: Picard. It's season 3, episode 4: No Win Scenario.

In Star Trek, a no win scenario is a situation where there's no possible way to achieve any kind of good outcome. It's a mythical thing, like Rumpelstiltskin or the Greek god Apollo, except less likely to be encountered by a veteran crew with an ongoing series. Sure the heroes lose sometimes, but if they ever think a situation looks hopeless they're just not looking at it from the right perspective yet.

The episode was written by Terry Matalas and Sean Tretta, so the showrunner scripted this one personally. You'll see often a showrunner's name on the most crucial and impressive episodes in a season, the opening chapters, the epic finales, the format-breaking stories, the ones that reveal something about the characters... though on Deep Space Nine you'd also see it on all those Ferengi stories. Ira Behr did love them Ferengi.

I hope you're okay with SPOILERS because this is where they start.

Star Trek: Picard 3-03: Seventeen Seconds (Quick Review)

Episode:

23

|

Writer:

Jane Maggs & Cindy Appel

|

Director:

Jonathan Frakes

|

Air Date:

02-Mar-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Seventeen Seconds, written by Jane Maggs & Cindy Appel.

Those two were the writers for the weak middle chapters of Star Trek: Picard's second season, but who knows how much of its weakness was due to their writing and how much was because of the story they'd been given to tell. I mean director Jonathan Frakes also worked on those episodes, and he's got a fairly solid track record! He's is the only Star Trek: The Next Generation director to still be directing Star Trek to this day, and the only live-action Trek spin-off he's missed out on directing for so far is Enterprise. I guess he was too busy directing Clockstoppers and Thunderbirds at the time.

There will be SPOILERS ahead.

Star Trek: Picard 3-02: Disengage (Quick Review)

Episode:

22

|

Writer:

Christopher Monfette & Sean Tretta

|

Director:

Doug Aarniokoski

|

Air Date:

23-Feb-2023

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching another episode of Picard, called Disengage. Hey, I see what they did there.

It was written by Christopher Monfette & Sean Tretta. I recognise Monfette from season 2, he worked on some of the better eps, but I don't think I've seen Tretta's name on anything before. Director Doug Aarniokoski has been there since the start, he's the one that did Nepenthe, The Star Gazer, Penance... lots of the good episodes. Aarniokoski was on Discovery as well, starting with the episode Lethe, so he's a proper Star Trek veteran. He hasn't done any of Strange New Worlds yet, but I suppose there's plenty of time for that now it's been renewed.

There will be SPOILERS below, so beware.

Star Trek: Picard 3-01: The Next Generation (Quick Review)

Episode:

21

|

Writer:

Terry Matalas

|

Director:

Doug Aarniokoski

|

Air Date:

16-Feb-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm starting Star Trek: Picard season 3 with the episode The Next Generation.

There's nothing weird about Star Trek shows switching showrunners, but it's funny how every season of Picard is clearly a new creator's story. The first season was helmed by novelist Michael Chabon, the second was by Akiva Goldsman, and the third was by Terry Matalas. Okay, that's an oversimplification, as Goldsman also worked on season 1 and Matalas worked on season 2, and the episodes themselves were by a bunch of different writers, but this was definitely Matalas' turn to steer the ship.

I'm one of the people who enjoyed season 2 but I have to concede that it was a bit of a mess. In fact, a lot of Trek fans consider it to be a complete train wreck, an embarrassing disaster, perhaps the worst season of Star Trek ever made. The trouble is, it's hard to tell how much of that was due to Terry Matalas' presence and how much was due to his absence. There was some overlap with the production of the second and third seasons, and Matalas switched his attention to season 3 after just a few episodes. So it could be that season 2 collapsed without him or it could be that his decisions set the season on a course for catastrophe.

Anyway, at the time I'm writing this intro I already know how season 3 went, but my episode reviews were written back when they were coming out so they're all full of authentic ignorance. It just took me a year to publish them because, I dunno, it seemed more important to write about The Trouble with Tribbles and Doctor Who's 60th anniversary, and Picard got pushed to the back burner.

There will be SPOILERS in this review for the whole episode, and things like Star Trek: Discovery, but it won't give away anything that happens later as I didn't actually know what happens later.

Doctor Who (2023) - Christmas 2023: The Church on Ruby Road (Quick Review)

Episode:

875

|

Serial:

304

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Mark Tonderai

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about The Church on Ruby Road. Because I said I would, and it'd be weird not to after covering the other three 2023 specials. Plus this is a big deal. It's the first episode of the Fifteenth Doctor's era of Doctor Who!

It's going to be hard for Ncuti Gatwa to follow David Tennant, one of the most beloved Doctors in the series' history, but Matt Smith has already proved that it can be done. I'm not worried, as there has never been a bad Doctor in the series' entire history. Though sometimes good Doctors get stuck in a string of mediocre stories that prevent them from really shining. I'm sure there's no way that's going to happen to Ncuti though. Probably.

There will be SPOILERS below, but nothing for stories that come after this.

Doctor Who (2023): The Giggle

Episode:

874

|

Serial:

303

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Chanya Button

|

Air Date:

09-Dec-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the third and final Doctor Who 60th Anniversary special, The Giggle. That's seriously the title they went with. That's going to be stuck with us in episode lists forever now. Still, at least it's easier to spell than The Tsuranga Conundrum or The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos.

I just typed those from memory by the way, which I guess proves that my exposure to Doctor Who has gone way beyond safe limits. I can't remember what happened in Flux though, so there's still hope.

I'm expecting that this is where we see the Fourteenth Doctor regenerate into Ncuti Gatwa, which is a bit sad actually. It's rare that I honestly can say that a Doctor is going too soon, but this time he's really going too soon. Three episodes doesn't quite beat Paul McGann's record of one movie, but it's a lot shorter than Christopher Eccleston's thirteen episodes and even that wasn't enough.

There will be SPOILERS below for this story and earlier ones.

Doctor Who (2023): Wild Blue Yonder

Episode:

873

|

Serial:

302

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Tom Kingsley

|

Air Date:

02-Dec-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the second of Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary specials, Wild Blue Yonder! Hang on, isn't that a Futurama episode?

I've been doing a great job of avoiding learning anything about these specials but I didn't have to try too hard with this one. Seems that they've been extra secretive with it, which raises questions about what they've been hiding. I do know that it way written by showrunner Russell T Davies however, just like the rest of the specials. In fact, all of Doctor Who's specials in the modern era were written or co-written by the current showrunner at the time. What this means is, it's going to be a while before I see someone else's name at the start of one of these episodes.

There will be SPOILERS below for this episode and earlier ones.

Doctor Who (2023): The Star Beast - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm still writing about The Star Beast, the first of Doctor Who's three 60th Anniversary specials. You can read PART ONE by clicking that text.

I've noticed that a few fans seem disappointed that we've gotten David Tennant back for three episodes as they wanted to get straight to Ncuti Gatwa. I guess some people are kind of done with the idea of returning to older characters and legacy actors in general, after the onslaught of nostalgia we've had this past decade.

In the last 8 years we've had movies and series starring Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, Mulder and Scully, Jean-Luc Picard and Seven of Nine, Neo and Trinity, Rocky Balboa, John Rambo, Laurie Strode, Maverick, Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator, Michael Keaton's Batman, Indiana Jones, Rick Deckard, Captain John Sheridan and Dave Lister. Plus they just made a game with Peter Weller playing RoboCop again!

Personally though, I'm one of the people who keeps watching all this stuff. In fact, I've been thinking I should check out some Big Finish audio dramas, where the classic actors have been reprising their roles consistently for 24 years. It's all good as long as it doesn't get in the way of new characters and actors being introduced, and I don't think it has in this case. Filming for the Barbie movie overlapped with the specials so it doesn't seem like Ncuti Gatwa was ever an option and I'd rather have three bonus episodes with David Tennant than nothing at all. They can continue giving me bonus Tennant stories next year as well if they want, I won't complain.

There will be SPOILERS below, for this and earlier stories.

Doctor Who (2023): The Star Beast - Part 1

Episode:

872

|

Serial:

301

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Rachel Talalay

|

Air Date:

25-Nov-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the first of Russell T Davies' 60th Anniversary specials: The Star Beast. That's such a pulp sci-fi title that it shares its name with a Robert A. Heinlein novel from the '50s. RTD ain't going with something as ordinary as 'Rose' this time, we're straight into laser guns and space monsters... presumably. I haven't seen the trailers and I don't actually know what it's about.

There's another familiar RT involved with this: director Rachel Talalay. She missed the first RTD run and skipped the Jodie Whittaker era, but she was trusted with every big season finale of the Peter Capaldi era, including Heaven Sent/Hell Bent so she's definitely who you want setting the tone for the show's latest regeneration.

It seems like they're considering this the start of a new volume of Doctor Who, with the 2005 Revival ending with Power of the Doctor last year. I let this information settle into my brain for a bit and I've decided that I like it. Dividing the show up helps me keep it organised in my head and after 18 years it could use a bit of a relaunch. Though maybe they could've waited until after the big nostalgic return of David Tennant to make a fresh start!

I'm going to be going through the whole episode scene by scene, so beware of SPOILERS. There are 60 years of this show for me to ruin now, so I won't get greedy and spoil things that happen in later episodes.

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