I can't honestly understand where some people are coming from giving this one star!?

I don't usually bother writing reviews, but felt compelled to on this occasion as I felt this episode warranted it.
A return to Trek, we had ships, uniforms, tech, space, phasers, Trill, Bajorans and more besides. Sure, the episode starts out a little slow, but it builds nicely and has so, so many little nods to the previous incarnations of trek.

So what if the Borg queen is different, do you not think the Borg would have advanced? Who's to say this isn't an elaborate trick by the person who pops up at the end?

Anyway, stuff the one star reviews, it's great, enjoy it!!

Ok here we are again with the same old tropes.
Biggest problem, everyone in the 25th century are still dumb as a rocks. Here we have a new type of starship with Borg technology integrate!. Within two minutes the entire fleet is disabled AND the Shiny New Starship is......assimilated. Once again the crew opens fire in a totally uncoordinated attack AND not a single main character is struck down. The Admiral and the Captain do...... nothing useful.
Indeed all the way through Picard (Patrick Stewart) looks bewildered and a bit lost and fails to convince me He is compos mentis.
If you were Borg and are so inimitable the first thing to do is disable both self destruct and all instrument panels and your neutralise your most obvious adversary 7 of 9.
Oh and throughout Star Trek history self destruct requires more than one command crew authorisation to be activated. Otherwise a single crew member could destroy the ship if under the influence of say..... a Borg.
Also each Starship has its own access codes to prevent command protocols being accessed (Wrath of Khan).
Apparently no other Starship Captain of the Fleet has any ability to prevent his or her or their ship being compromised.
No shield modulation and no diversion of extra power to compensate (both steps the computer should automatically instigate to protect the crew). By now the shields should be of multiple layers and automatically shifting frequencies able to operate as a subspace barrier (all those years of boldly going and none of the experience of previous missions and technologies have made a single change in ship design technology......)
It would have been far more exciting if some of the ships managed to resist and to threaten to destroy the Stargazer with Picard on board and to open fire on the Borg vessel. Emergency beam out of all crew could have been attempted by other fleet vessels whilst engaging the Borg.
Where were the "offensive and defensive strategies" that Captain Christobal was supposed to have requested so they didn't arrive without a "possible engagement plan".
Why are cigars still a thing in the far flung future when in current day smoking is almost banned?. in this situation the said cigar would present a choking hazard.
Indeed why is smoking even being portrayed in a family TV production and inebriation (Alison Pills character)?????
Who did the CGI for the Starfleet Academy scenes, the Intern?. Those builds look totally "plastic", amateurish and unconvincing!...
Set designers... why is there a flight of steps in front of the captains chair down to the helm..... can we expect lots of broken ankles as characters fall down them in battles...
So we now have the Borg rolled out as the "Enemy" yet AGAIN and Q pops up AGAIN with
Indeed the Borg ship is derivative of the Ships in Nemesis and Star Trek Reboot.....
Is it impossible for script and story writers to come up with something new and original????
What is all this mushy flash back rubbish and oh woah is me from Picard...
So disappointed with the closing lines spoken by Q you just know its going to be a rehash of the previous trial with different decor....
Sadly once again we are being served a luke warm plate of colourless mush as entertainment

I am watching this because I want it to be great - after all, the actors are just fantastic and loved! But why, along with Discovery (which I stopped watching after a few episodes), am I starting to find this slow burn depth hard work and depressing, lacking the energy and feel good factor I used to get in previous Star Treks. It is hard on the psyche and nowadays almost all agendas on new content focusses on woeful sad past experiences of characters, where life becomes just a curse, with breadcrumbs sprinkled in the guise of curiosity (like the Borg queen identity hidden) to keep you watching something that ultimately does not make you feel uplifted, but drained. 7 of 9 is now the token Gay (What hasn't got a gay character in the last few years?) YAWN !! I say now, because you know, she was pretty into Chakotay in Voyager and pursued other men, but hey lets follow the fashion.

I remember when Star Trek lead rather than followed... it was up there - ahead of us !

The arrival of Q turning into an older Q was a great way to introduce him, but I am concerned that if he is involved, everything will just be pushed to worst case scenarios and him just clicking his fingers back to it never happening - oh no It's already happened! Been there done that!! I pray we aren't watching something for ten hours and that happens at the end, making everything meaningless and feel cheated out of our time .... please no !

I call it the "Bobby Ewing Effect", for those who are old enough to remember.

Let's see how the next episode goes - I hope it improves. Maybe it is easier to watch with a bottle of Châteaux Picard next time? 😩

I don't drink but maybe this'll drive me to it? 🤣

27th April Update

Well some things haven't changed - I love the actors still ! Oh and Who would have thought Giaus Baltar would be Picard's estranged and vilified Father ! Wow - that put a smile on my face - (Probably because I just loved James Callis' performance in BSG! Oh and don't forget he did a great Musketeers Episode with Santiago Cabrera a few years back too!)

But back to the plot - well - it is way too drawn out. I am sorry, but we seem to see this so much recently - think of a film of around 2 hours and make it into 11 hours.... It is like a soufflé - beautiful, velvet-like appeal, but all the air in it just doesn't fix the hunger! Mind you the main difference to a soufflé is that this takes a lot of chewing and you're still not full ! OK so imagine a light fluffy, yet chewy toffee... that's more like it - it leaves you tired and unfulfilled! The subconscious Picard mind scenes are just so tedious and irritatingly slow and, well....pointless!

I would say that if this production was cut down to 60% leaving the parts that actually give you something back for watching it, then I would give it 4 star, but we forced to watch the other 40% zzzzz.

For now watching Picard is a desert if I have room, rather than the main course which takes priority !

UPDATE:

OK, so I have watched the last episode up to about 25 mins.... I can't keep watching. It is dreary, non inspiring babble, with the odd great action sequence, hijacked with boring frustrating young Picard flashbacks that go on and on!!! AGHHHH! Get back to the action !!! We get it - we don't need constant reminders of this.

I will not watch the last half hour, because quite frankly I can't take anymore solemness and woeful past experiences. This reflective sombreness is a drag and I don't want to waste anymore of my life on this. During action sequences, it is so annoying to to go back to Picard's hide and seek as a boy.... I mean it is so annoying!!!

So Picard season 3 will be a no go for me. No more torture, spending precious time watching episode after episode, hoping it will come good. It makes for very unfulfilling viewing, but you only realise after you have bumped up the streaming figures!

Watched this in the hope that it could not be worse than the first series. Was sadly disappointed, this first episode is definitely worse. Large amount sof stupid dialogue where Picard talks to anyone who will listen about sad they think he is about his life. Dialogue with Guilan could have been better written by a 6 year old. Re-introduces Q, one of the most ridiculous devices of TNG. Features a cigar, never smoked. Features Seven who prefers synthetics / holograms to flesh&blood crew, hopefully this preference does not extend to her girlfriend. Everything filmed so much in the dark and with a brown filter you'll need to turn the brightness up to see anything. Patrick Stewart is, obviously, old. He really shows it. Sadly, it seems that it is all too plainly affecting his ability to think or vocalise clearly and with emotion. I feel so sorry for him, surely he cannot be so lacking in his retirement funds that he needs to humiliate himself like this. Oh, and it has that silly blonde in it too - but good news, she does not puke in this episode... who knows what the treat will be in episode 2.

This was a great start to the second season. They clearly have more budget this year as the effects were fantastic. Nice to see some familiar faces from Season 1 and from TNG. The story is interesting and the its sets up the new season very well. All in all and promising start.

Controversial review title isn't it? I've heard this said a lot about Discovery and to a lesser extent Picard, and I have to say: "It's true, all of it."

I saw the trailer for Season 2 and it gave me a glimmer of hope that the producers had learned from the first season and made the decision to move away from the action-blockbuster style of show, but having now watched the first episode, I've got to say that that hope is gone.

And no, the issue isn't with the actors being older now (awkwardly lampshaded on 2 separate occasions in the same episode), or the new fancy special FX, or even, as another reviewer put it, that we've seen all these story points before; it's the pacing - the sheer unbridled speed at which things are hurled at the viewer, and not much of it very engaging.

In days gone by, Star Trek was episodic, i.e. you had one (maybe two in a double-bill) episodes to tell a story, and then things moved on. You could have an overarching story in the background across a season or two, but for the most part things were self-contained. The upside was that the format let us see far more of the galaxy, new races, new cultures, new ethical dilemmas.

Here we have a serial format, one long story told over entire season(s), so plenty more time to tell it properly, right? To explore far more facets of what's happening? Phew, if only. The show refuses to sit still for more than a short while before throwing more action at you, and whilst a lot of things ~happen~ throughout the episode, like in the previous season not a lot of it strikes me as having any substance, and even less of it as being memorable.

This seems to be a trend with modern Sci-Fi in general now, and other than ST:D, The Mandalorian comes to mind as a stand-out culprit. Things ~happen~ throughout each episode, but not a lot that actually matters - it's content for the sake of content, likely trying to chase the great success that Game of Thrones engendered, but without anything close to the required level of mastery (no, Season 8, not you).
Sure, we eventually wend our way towards a conclusion, but most of the rest felt like pure filler. Bundle some nice action scenes in between some vague character development, top it off with a cliff-hanger to bait people back into watching the next episode and there you have it - the perfectly manufactured TV dinner.

And that's the real difference between so-called "Old" and "New" Trek - it's no longer about space and exploration - it can't be, there's no room for it - it's about people, it's about spectacle, but most importantly it's about keeping viewers watching. Less a 'Space Opera' and more a 25th century tin of processed meat, or to reference something from the Seven of old: "nutritional supplement 14 Beta 7" - having the essential base components of a meal, but lacking anything resembling taste.
If all this sounds what you're looking for then by all means knock yourself out, and I guess I'll go back to rewatching the same old TV shows from before Game of Thrones ruined it for everyone else.

This time line's Picard is dead so this show is just a bad simulation of him. Updated for the last episode.
The crew are thief's, murders and psychopaths the story lend nowhere and the end was just bad. The most hated race that have killed billions are now friends and members of the federation. WHAT?

This one I've been looking forward to. Things are getting back to normal quality on Prime after some misses.. Picard does not disappoint. It's a slow, reflective start which adds the plot ( and the bad guys ) in small doses leading to an exciting climax ( of course with a musical teaser - which never fails with me ). Old friends and new ; very good acting and well paced. Do we really have to wait for the next episode?
One reviewer helpfully reminds us that Picard quit his mortal coil but does he not believe there is life beyond death ? This life is well worth your time.
Now its ended and leaves me in anticipation for the next series.