On PICARD's reuse of plot points from the animated shows - Star Trek: Website
In season 3 of PICARD, there are two major plot points that strongly echo plots
from the two current animated series. The struggle between Data and Lore for
control of Data’s body is very similar to Rutherford’s struggle with his former
self in Lower Decks s3e5, and the takeover of Starfleet by the Borg’s virus is
very similar to the takeover of Starfleet by the vengeful time-travelers’ virus
in Prodigy. There is nothing wrong with reusing plots – Star Trek has done it
from time immemorial. Sometimes the results are good, sometimes they are
redundant. They have to be judged on a case-by-case basis. In these cases, I
believe that PICARD cheapens the original plots. First, on Lower Decks, we had
gradually been introduced to hints that there was something amiss about
Rutherford’s implants. Our curiosity naturally built over time, and the
revelation that his memories had been overwritten to cover up his past self’s
malfeasance was at once surprising and organic. The resolution of the plot,
where Rutherford doesn’t want to let his past self disappear, shows us the best
of the character we have come to love. Then the information we learn there
serves the larger developing plot, culminating in the revelation of the
automated fleet. The plot is well-paced and meaningful both to the individual
character and the show’s overall arc.
None of this is true of the struggle between Data and Lore in PICARD. The
continued existence of Data is sprung at us at random, arbitrarily contradicting
the fact that he has been killed not once, but twice. The fact that he has been
combined with Lore is equally arbitrary, serving little more than a desire to
call back to a familiar character. The resolution of the conflict is clever, as
Data uses Lore’s negative tendencies against him, but in the larger story arc it
only serves to solve a problem that the combination of Data and Lore caused in
the first place. Overall, the plot serves to put Brent Spiner back on screen in
two familiar roles, seemingly for its own sake.
Turning now to Prodigy’s fleet takeover plot. Again, this idea was introduced
very early on and gradually evolved into the key plot conflict in the show. When
it was finally triggered, it spawned two attempted solutions, both of which
embodied Star Trek ideals. In the first, non-Starfleet ships helped to disable
the infected vessels, giving the lie to the Diviner’s vision of Starfleet as a
malign influence. In the second, hologram Janeway sacrifices herself to save the
fleet, providing a satisfying end to her character’s development as a fully
sentient being while solving the problem of how to handle the awkward
co-existence of real Janeway with her holodeck double. As with Lower Decks,
everything seems to fit together well. By contrast, the takeover of young
Starfleet members by the Borg virus – based on DNA supposedly slipped into
Picard decades ago and leveraging Jack’s telepathic mind control abilities –
comes way out of left field only in the second to last episode. When it comes to
the resolution, they seem to sidestep the possibility of using Seven’s Borg
identity as part of a meaningful solution. Instead, the entire thing seems
gerrymandered to make the use of an older generation of ship, namely the
Enterprise-D, necessary to save the day. Where the tweens of Prodigy take their
situation deadly seriously, Picard makes jokes about the carpet even as
Starfleet self-destructs and Earth is on the brink of oblivion. The message,
such as it is, seems to be that the TNG crew effectively is the “last
generation” of the series finale’s title – the last generation that is able to
achieve anything meaningful. All of Starfleet is threatened with extinction and
an entire generation is traumatized by their participation in mass murder, all
so we can get a glamor shot on the old bridge.
The fact that the undisputed best season of PICARD is so easily upstaged by
animated cartoons in the execution of basically identical plot points seems to
me to be a major lesson. I don’t begrudge anyone their moment of nostalgia, but
to me this comparison shows that the franchise needs to get past the legacy
characters in order to tell a coherent and satisfying story at this point. And
given that Prodigy has been abruptly cancelled and removed, it doesn’t seem like
it’s a lesson anyone in charge is likely to learn anytime soon. But what do you
think?
