Ranking and grading every completed Star Trek show of the Nu Trek era

Where do the Star Trek shows of the modern era fall?

L-R Zahra Bentham as CMDR Jemison, David Ajala as Book and Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner in Star Trek: Discovery, episode 9, season 5, streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+
L-R Zahra Bentham as CMDR Jemison, David Ajala as Book and Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner in Star Trek: Discovery, episode 9, season 5, streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+
3 of 4

Star Trek: Picard (D)

Let's not confuse a happy ending with a good one. For two seasons, Picard was a dark, miserable, and at times simply unnecessary show. The ending of season one has Jean-Luc Picard die, only to come back as a synthetic lifeform, with an accelerated human lifespan. Meaning, he'd die when he's technically supposed to from old age. So why give him a fake body? Symbolism, I think?

It's really stupid and really bad. The third season "saved" the show some, but once you get past the reunion of The Next Generation crew, there are loads of plot holes and pointless decisions that you have to get past. Like, why did LeVar Burton rebuild The Enterprise-D for no reason? How was the Borg Queen still alive when Agnes Jurati was the Borg Queen? How come the Borg were able to inject nanomachines into everyone but only did it to a quarter of the human population, thus ensuring a total defeat once again?

Why did Beverly Crusher name Jean-Luc Picard's son after her dead husband when she was trying to keep him safe from potential threats? It's a really poorly written show, that over relied on nostalgia and "surprises" instead of a strong story that made everyone look good. Because that's exactly what didn't happen.

Everyone looked somehow worse than they did at any point in time in their history, including but most especially Picard. He looked weak weak, which is fair he's being played by an 80-something Patrick Stewart, but he's also just being dog-walked by everyone. He has the respect of no one for three straight seasons. You'd think that Picard was some heinous villain with the way he was forced to go through the series. Like he was Dan Scott of One Tree Hill fame.

Once you get past the nostalgia of the returns, all you're left with is a poorly written show that never should've been made in the first place.