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Star Trek Picard: Grading CBS All-Access’ new show

By Chad Porto

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 15: Sir Patrick Stewart attends the "Star Trek Picard" UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on January 15, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 15: Sir Patrick Stewart attends the "Star Trek Picard" UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on January 15, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images) /
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HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 13: Patrick Stewart arrives at the premiere of CBS All Access’ “Star Trek: Picard” at ArcLight Cinerama Dome on January 13, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 13: Patrick Stewart arrives at the premiere of CBS All Access’ “Star Trek: Picard” at ArcLight Cinerama Dome on January 13, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) /

Overall

The show has some issues with tone and plot, but that is a minor issue that can possibly be corrected in time over the course of the series. This is merely a snapshot at the beginning and not an overall statement of the show at the end of the series’ run. The scripting might not be what it should be for some, but it might be for many. More and more fans in “nerd” circles want darker and more gritty content. This isn’t that shocking considering this trend happened twenty years ago, and it happened 20 years before that.

Things ebb and flow and come back around in time. It always has, it always will. So if the modern version of Trek isn’t for you, wait 10-15 years when a new creator is brought on to take the series over and put their own spin on it.

If this Trek is your speed, more power to you. Same for if it’s not. There is no one-opinion that needs to exist for this property or this specific show. There are some things that the show needs to shore up on, and truthfully, there isn’t a show in the series or in the world at large that is somehow perfect. There just isn’t. Not with as much oversight that a network and a studio has over the series. You’re always just hoping that the show breaks enough towards what you the fan may want, as opposed to what the execs assume will the fans will want.

That’s why saying this show is a “B-” is really fair. Trek has gone under heavy editing and recontextualizing what it is, visually speaking. The aesthetic is vastly different and the desire for more grandiose effects is obvious. Some fans won’t like this, others might.

Overall: 20/25 (80%)

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