I pretty much agree here, while I do love Star Trek Picard, and I feel its message of not giving into fear and prejudice is well executed, and like you said It makes sense in-universe the Federation and the Star Trek universe as a whole going the way it does in Star Trek Picard.Captain Crimson wrote: ↑Tue Sep 29, 2020 6:45 am Know what would be interesting? Shift less from the all too easy, and dare I say, lazy dystopian trends that we've been going through lately. I feel we're stuck in a rut, and the mass-market nostalgia craze and perfect archiving now ensures, IMO at least, we have no cultural identity of our own. We are too ingrained into the past, and too many marks to hit that keep us from striving to new heights that stay in the realm of pop culture whispers for decades if not longer. Modern business practices are just the easy tools that keeps new art from flourishing and enduring past the release date.
What would be interesting is shift less from the... grim hole the future has become, and try and shift to something more positive in the classic ST ideal. We've seen some of the fallout from the Dominion war, the explosion of Romulus's sun (and STP even improved on the plot hole there, so thanks, STP!), and TBH, I can buy after one of the bloodiest wars in galactic history, how there's deep social unrest. I do get it! (I think the execution is poor, but the potential is real.) Now what's needed, if the brand is to have any hope at a successful revival akin to the old, is to show the better angels of human nature shining through, pulling together, resisting the darkness. And I want more timeless political messages, not those rooted in the problems of the present. While those can be done, I think they need subtlety that frankly, I don't trust modern corporate makers to be able to replicate. Focus on more general human themes that will let both sides of the aisle approach it on their terms.
It would be fascinating to see where the UFP could end up in this dark period, and I personally think what is the best idea is threats of secession, member worlds wanting to break away, kinda like Tasha Yar's home planet, or what we saw on Mars, even plans they had for DS9, and this means going around giving Picard Speeches to planets, why unity is so important, and while there could be conflicts here, it'd also give a chance to break the mold and show instances where a larger-scale problem is avoided, and always with the meta-story being the prevention of civil war, that almost was in DS9. It'd be too easy to actually show the civil war, which is where I think they are headed, sadly. And, hey! If STD is going into the future then maybe show the results there. How it reshaped the UFP into something nobler than it was.
Now, what is needed from STP is this. From a management standpoint, limit Sir Patrick Stewart's creative role on the show. He can get into the nuts and bolts of what makes Picard tick, but he also has severe drawbacks that I think get in the way of what fans loved about the series. In-verse, they need to bring back the TNG crew. Those that survived, anyway. Show where they are now. It's so silly that they didn't do that in STP. "We need to put a together crew to face this situation together!" Oh, so, you never thought to ask the others? Bring them back, and use them. Rewatch the show. Get into their psyche. An STD/STP crossover can be great, especially if like on B5, they mapped the story out beforehand. But that's beyond the current crop of writers, I think. Okay. At least use the time travel wisely. And heresy it might be, connect to ENT. Bring back Daniels... is the actor dead? If he is, then this might not be possible... and connect that to the Relativity. You could do so much here, and maybe even give more depth to the failed temporal cold war. This would be how I'd do it.
And... TBH, I don't think they will? But this would be interesting nevertheless. Oh well.
But I don't want the entire series to be doom and gloom, I'm fine with delving into political ideas and heavy topics, as long as there is light at the end with a positive message, which I feel Season 1 did have but took awhile to get there.
I think now with the main cast all set up there's room now to explore more of this new era in Season 2, show more of the impact the supernova left on the Romulans, show how other factions are doing like the Klingons or Cardassians, and even see how the rest of The Next Generation crew are doing, I was fine with them not all coming back right away, but it would be nice to revisit them.