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Finally sat through the final episode of Picard season two. I wish I'd left well enough alone with the first season, and forever dubbed it mediocre; now I'm left with "train wreck".

I assume this whole thing was on a tight budget but I think they should've spent a little more on the writing talent - it was ****ing awful, and they knew it from the start. Hence all the fan service and pointless cameos. I fervently wish I could erase it from memory.

 

Now you see, if you did as I do and give-up on something quickly if it seems a bit crap, you wouldn't have a bad memory you need to erase.

To misquote an old saying: "If it looks like crap, swims like crap, and quacks like crap, then it probably is crap."

 

Never seen one before, but Ma and I watched "Beyond Paradise" the other night. The first ep was bloody hilarious.

 

Take a chance, man. Roll the dice... let the cards fall where they may. Endeavour to climb the highest cliche...

Besides, secure in the knowledge that I cannot unsee that ****ing catastrophe, I do derive some small comfort from being able to slag it off with a modicum of authority.

 

Its a new series, but a sequel/tangent from Death in Paradise... which is some of the easiest wathcing TV out there!

 

Your attitude to television is clearly very different to mine. As I see it, if something is poor, watch something else or switch off, no point persisting with a programme that is not up to much.

 

Picard Season 1 (re-watch) - 6.5/10

It... did not massively improve on a second viewing. It was... OK... I guess... It was competent enough, I'd certainly rate it on par with some earlier Star Trek series. Can you honestly say that Season 1 of The Next Generation was up there amongst the greatest Star Trek series ever? No, it took until season 2 or 3 to start getting really good, and I think I can honestly say that TNG is one of my favourite TV series ever made.

I am most definitely going to take issue with the swearing though. I get the defence from the showrunners - you're mistaken if you think that people in the 24th century wouldn't swear, they could just never have it on screen in the past because of the time of day that it aired - but that only gets them so far. We already had Data swearing in the film Generations, so it's not a wildly outlandish concept to have these characters swear. But at times in Picard it just felt absolutely gratuitous, like "Hey, here's a Star Trek show, but it's EDGY, because people drop f-bombs in casual conversation when they're not even in danger or under stress! Aren't we cool and edgy? So cool! So edgy!".

Spoiler: spoilers for the end of season 1

The ending was a bit **** though, they signposted Picard's deus-ex-machina resurrection so heavily that it completely undermined his apparent "death". For christ's sake, his name is in the title, they're not gonna really kill him off if they want more than one series. And they always want more than one season because that's how this **** works now: you can't just make one thing and make it well, you have to be laying the groundwork for a new franchise, or multiple series, or a new rebooted continuity, or whatever the **** new idea some overpaid incense-huffing focus group comes up with. Except maybe Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, 'cos **** me that was ****ing good and they only ever planned to make 1 series AFAIK.

Seriously, watch Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, it's brill.

I have absolutely zero expectations for Season 2; in fact judging from the last page or so here, I am expecting absolute dreck. But I'm a Star Trek fan, so I still want to watch it.

 

It's March and I haven't looked at The Mandalorian S3 Ep1 yet...anyone taken a look yet?

On that note, I really ought to get Andor finished off. I am enjoying it more than Obi-Wan Kenobi, but neither are at the same level as the Mandalorian or the Book of Boba Fett IMHO.
I know that BOBF was a bit marmite for some, but as a huge fan of Tatooine it ticked lots of boxes for me

 

I enjoyed the second series more than the first, but be aware this third series is poor.

 

Waiting until it's all done I think.

Enjoyed Andor, I thought it kept the feel of Rogue One - loved that.

I also liked the BOBF, the Mandalorian popping up towards the end gave a nice follow on to S2 I thought.

Obi Wan? It was alright, primarily for story gap filling more than anything else for me.

Early reviews of M3 are positive from what I've seen.

 

Rogue One is probably my favourite of the films after the OG Episode IV, it has a particular feel to it that works.

Hopefully I will be able to finish Andor over the weekend and on to M3

 

Yeah, Rogue One and Andor are definitely the best of the Disney era Star Wars.

 

We're currently watching Wednesday, it started fairly strong but has quickly become a bit of a trite copy of Stranger Things.

 

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 - Solid 5/7

I actually quite enjoyed this series, much more so than I did the first. It was quite plodding in places, and there were plenty of "Oh come on, really?!" moments, but overall it was way above expectations. Absolutely not bothered in the slightest by the gratuitous and obvious fan service; I mean... I did say I'm a Star Trek fan, so... y'know... What I do not enjoy however is a brief action scene followed by "40 minutes earlier...", "48 hours earlier..." - please, stop doing that, that crap has been done to death.

Spoiler: spoilers for season 2

Admittedly at first I was kinda "Oh great, alternate timelines again, go back and fix history, yadda yadda, yawn" and "Oh ffs, Q? Again? Seriously?!", but it actually played out OK. I never expected to be sympathising with Q, I thought it was actually quite a touching moment at the end. Thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the punk on the bus was the same guy from The Voyage Home, and absolutely did not expect to see Wesley Crusher make an appearance. Thoroughly depressing side note: Wil Wheaton is now older than Patrick Steward was when The Next Generation first came out.

 

Definitely my favourite of all SW films.

I also hate it for the fact none of the others matched up to it at all. Not that I didn't enjoy them, they just weren't that.

 

Being Human

 

Extraordinary on Disney+ - wasn't expecting much but am pleasantly surprised at how funny it turned out. If you haven't heard of it, don't look it up - just give it a go.

 

After Life season 3

 

1000miles of Sebring 2023.

Oof Ferrari are at it again.