No the article in the Guardian is right with it's assessment

Mmmm. just for starters, what reason is there to believe that Data ever had an opportunity to copy his memory to B-4?

Also, DATA DIDN'T HAVE CELLS!!! Or neurons, for that matter.

What bothers me a little is how the people defending Picard refuse to see all of the plot holes and bad writing. I get the fact that there are a lot of people who just want Trek in any form. I really did give Picard a chance and was having a good time up until about Episode 7 or 8. But when they finally arrived at Synth World I was struck by just how little it seemed the show-runner delivered on the early promise of the series. The synths were generic Star Trek folks, dressed almost identically to the immortals from Insurrection. Not a one of them stood out. All of the regulars, too, and with the exception of Picard, can be summed up thusly:

• Soji: Idealistic Ingenue who pulls a last-minute character 180 halfway through the ninth episode. Remember, her decision to call the Uber-Synths would also wipe out Picard and his entire crew. These are the very people whom we were SUPPOSED to see as having grown together as a "family" for her during this limited series. But nah, five minutes on Synth World and she boots up her copy of Destroy All Humans!.
• Narek: Duplicitous Romulan who goes through an unexpected change-of-heart because reasons.
• Seven-of-Nine: Bitter, drunken, and unrecognizable from where we left her at the end of VOY. I guess Janeway and Chakotay told her to fuck off and join the Rangers
• Jurati: Quirky scientist-murderer who cries at the drop of a hat. Fulfills the required "Quirky" character mandate. I miss Phlox all of a sudden.
• Rios: Han Solo-lite and who inexplicably finds Jurati bang-able. (He's alone a lot, I guess.)
• Soong, Jr: Seriously, this character was so all over the map I couldn't tell WHAT his personality was from moment to moment.
• Raffi: Badass super-hacker who vapes, swears, and calls Picard "JL." Every show needs a badass super-hacker to fill up about ten minutes of each episode staring at a screen. That's all they ever need to hack any system anywhere.
• Evil-Synth (whatever her name): monomaniacal, homicidal xenophobe**
• Evil Romulan Bitch (name not important:) a monomaniacal, homicidal xenophobe**
• Oh: a monomaniacal, homicidal xenophobe double-agent**
• Hugh and Icheb: Sacrificial victims whose purpose was to give Seven a reason to hate and kill Evil Romulan Bitch. AKA Cannon Fodder.
• Legolas: Legolas
• Bonus Character: Federation Admiral: First Federation character to say "Fuck." Edgy! (IDK, maybe they did this on DISC, but I'll never watch it.)

**Why is it that all of the cackling baddies are women in this, anyway? Is Chabon subtly reacting to the Me-Too movement in the most male way possible? Narek is, by comparison, sympathetic. (I suppose that's because he gets all weepy when he needs to.)

I don't, and I'll repeat this, I DON'T hate the show, but it was an glaringly poorly-written and poorly-concluded story. Chabon fell back on every last Sci-Fi trope and either didn't deliver on any of his mystery box items or when he delivered the best response was, "What the fuck?" (To re-use a phrase often used in this "dark," "gritty" Nu-Trek Abramsverse world.) The characters were paper-thin archetypes and you could see the plot points--especially Picard's "death-just-kidding" back at episode two--light years away. Hey, at least they didn't do what I worried they'd do, replacing Stewart with a younger actor when the whole obvious Golem macGuffin was finally revealed.

/shrug

P.S. I'll absolutely cop to the fact that my favorite episode is still the one with the Rikers. I'm a terrible sucker for reunions with characters and actors I adore. And when you watch Sirtis, Frakes, and Stewart together you can see the genuine affection between them.

@Nexus71 said:

No the article in the Guardian is right with it's assessment

The Guardian is a curious paper. It tends towards the left wing, but during the last election rarely gave positive coverage to Labour.

The only people currrently begging for money are Disney and CBS 😆😆😆 and you don't have to give him money.But what you are basically saying here Invidia is because someone who doesn't have a University degree doesn't know poor storywriting and or his Star Trek and just because Chabon and Kurtzman have a university degree means they know what they are doing? Because that Invidia is discrimination. And it is not only this guy who has this criticism it also are Youtubers like Script doctor (who is a professional writer and screen writer and works and has worked for the entertainment industry) or Robert Meyer Burnet who has a working experience with producing and directing in the entertainment industry and has worked for Star trek in the past and has worked with the all the actors and actresses of TNG,VOY and ENT).So the people criticising the show are not only non professionals it are also professionals who work and have worked in the industry.But hey since they probably don't have a university degree they probably don't know what they are talking about either.Just because someone has a university degree doesn't mean it absolves him from writing terrible scripts.

You are the one here who doesn't understand what Star Trek is Invidia you cab copy paste all the so called connections and deeper meanings of things in the show(without actually seeing them) that paid shills provided but this show no matter how one looks at it is a poor and blatent copy of other shows ,movies and games and just because someone slaps a Star Trek logo on it or because some producer writer or actor says it is Star Trek doesn't make it StarTrek and the fact that CBS /Netflix are bleeding money (and this can be verified)on Star Trek is proof that these people don't know what they are doing.

When Viacom CBS produced their blood red annual numbers for the shareholders meeting in february there was no talk of a lock down the virus thing wasn't even a thing yet and when their stock price fell by a third the day after the whole current crisis wasn't even happening yet .Basically CBS gambled on getting in more profit with CBS All Access with it's flagship the new Star Trek shows and considering the limited content of CBS All Access it was always going to be an uphill battle against the giants like Netflix HBO or Amazon and considering what original content these three have to offer CBS were always going to be at a disadvantage certainly being so late in the game of the streaming wars,heck even Disney + with it's very popular content is struggling (they have Marvel,Star Wars and the whole Fox and Disney libraries) even though it managed to get 28 milion subscribers in less than three months while CBS All Access barely has 9 million subscribers in almost two yeears.And certainly if Netflix is stepping out of the Star Trek deal CBS alone is not going to be able to pay for the massive budgets of STD and STP and if Picard isn't bringing in the numbers for Amazon they are likely to step down as well considering with what is at stake with Picard and the posibility of Netflix and Amazon stepping out makes for the fact that CBS is currently begging for our money why else would you think CBS offers to watch season 1 of Picard for free ? because that is no coincidence.

@Nexus71 said:

When Viacom CBS produced their blood red annual numbers for the shareholders meeting in february there was no talk of a lock down the virus thing wasn't even a thing yet and when their stock price fell by a third the day after the whole current crisis wasn't even happening yet .Basically CBS gambled on getting in more profit with CBS All Access with it's flagship the new Star Trek shows and considering the limited content of CBS All Access it was always going to be an uphill battle against the giants like Netflix HBO or Amazon and considering what original content these three have to offer CBS were always going to be at a disadvantage certainly being so late in the game of the streaming wars,heck even Disney + with it's very popular content is struggling (they have Marvel,Star Wars and the whole Fox and Disney libraries) even though it managed to get 28 milion subscribers in less than three months while CBS All Access barely has 9 million subscribers in almost two yeears.And certainly if Netflix is stepping out of the Star Trek deal CBS alone is not going to be able to pay for the massive budgets of STD and STP and if Picard isn't bringing in the numbers for Amazon they are likely to step down as well considering with what is at stake with Picard and the posibility of Netflix and Amazon stepping out makes for the fact that CBS is currently begging for our money why else would you think CBS offers to watch season 1 of Picard for free ? because that is no coincidence.

I canceled All Access the day after Picard’s last episode. For the life of mE, I can't imagine why anyone would pay year round for that channel. The programming is ridiculously shallow and even their "big" plans for the future pale in comparison to Disney+, Amazon, Hulu+, or Netflix.

Like I said CBS All Access was not likely to draw in the number of subscribers as the big boys and were never able to pay for the huge budgets of STD and STP hence why they went into these joint ventures where Netflix and Amazon would pay for the brunt if not half of the production budgets of these shows and since Netflix already complained about Kurtzman Trek not bringing in the numbers and the Star Trek that people want to see Amazon already got Picard at a reduced rate add to that the ridiculous amount of spending Kurtzman has done with STD hindred Picard budget wise and is where CBS is currently bleeding money since now they have to pay for the brunt of the production costs themselves and getting more than a mere 9 million (this includes Showtime and Sports subscribers)subscribers is mandetory since those numbers aren't enough to pay for both shows so if Netflix and Amazon were to drop the ball on their investment in Star Trek not only CBS is in trouble but the whole merger with Viacom as well.

All the Starfleet captains were like good Shepards Kirk,Picard,Sisko,Janeway and Archer all had that quality so that character trade is not limited to Picard and Janeway.

Some may have emotional scars but they never let their actions be guided by them old Star trek was always overcoming the issues and turning weakness into a strength not wallow in it and let our lives be guided by them that is the big difference.

I think you all should be in therapy. Trek-aholics anonymous.
I will start you off.

My name is.....I watch too much Star Trek.

Maybe Trek now focusses too much on the mental condition of the main characters and treat it as a limitation or something that should dominate their lives or their actions.Something similar happened with the re BSG where ity kinda turned the show into a Space Soap.

That whole soapy everybody has issues was a thing I was not overly fond of it made the show drag at certain moments and it tends to draw the attention away from the fact they were being hunted by a race Hell bent on exterminating them.

@Invidia said:

@znexyish said:

I think you all should be in therapy. Trek-aholics anonymous.
I will start you off. My name is.....I watch too much Star Trek.

GOOD One Z !!!

Actually … there's another EXCELLENT FILM called LILITH (starring WARREN BEATTY in his FIRST FIRM appearance) … where he gets a job at a hospital where he *falls in love with a PATIENT who also creates her OWN LANGUAGE". And Peter FONDA is also a patient at the same place who is also in love with the same girl that WARREN falls for.

Anyhow, since this other girl who creates her own language was also insane, one also wonders if RIKER'S SON may also have been another one who might fit into the same kind of a Category???

And their daughter also doesn't strike one as being what one would call NORMAL either.

@Nexus71

Maybe Trek now focusses too much on the mental condition of the main characters and treat it as a limitation or something that should dominate their lives or their actions.Something similar happened with the re BSG where ity kinda turned the show into a Space Soap.

I agree about how BSG got way to SOAPY with LEE screwing STARBUCK while she's married to ANDERS and he's married to DEE.

And Anders was also much HOTTER and much more APPEALING than LEE ever was due to the way he WORSHIPED and ADORED her whereas LEE constantly put her down all the time.

But that's probably due to the way she also had an ABUSIVE MOTHER (and wasn't use to being WORSHIPPED)???

Whatever the case may be, you're right about how we FOCUS a lot on the MENTAL CONDITION of characters (which was also MADE EVIDENT when they found SPOCK hidden away inside of the cave by his MOTHER as a way to protect him from his FATHER who wanted to turn him over to SECTION 31 who wanted to DISSECT his BRAIN).

And Thank goodness THE MIRROR VERSION of GEORGIOU also WARNED MICHAEL about what they wanted to do to him.

Or else we'd never have gotten that KICK ASS scene where SPOCK told off MICHAEL when he KNOCKS over the CHESS BOARD.

And that was as good as it gets, because he also SUMMED UP the SITUATION better than any SHRINK would have done.

But what good did it do???

MICHAEL was right back to doing the same thing again in the other scene where NUMBER ONE had to KILL ARIAM because she could not (due to her SAVIOR COMPLEX ISSUES which relate back to the GUILT she felt over not helping her parents when they were ATTACKED).

I LIKE stories about NUT JOBS.

FIREFLY had RIVER, but now we've got an ENTIRE CREW full of RIVERS.

There is a phenomenon of twins developing their own language known only to them. It is called Cryptophasia. There are also examples of individuals or very small groups who have their own language called Idiophasia. There is a film called Nell from the 90s with Jodi Foster as a feral child with her own language.