Picard's Promise

SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard is off to a promising start with "Remembrance," as a retired Jean-Luc Picard is rudely awakened from a metaphorical slumber to remind humanity of its better angels.

There's a lot to love here. Patrick Stewart slips into his Jean-Luc Picard persona with authority and grace, and yes, his age is showing - and the showrunners aren't afraid to hide it - but the character's charisma, charm, and essential, inspirational decency remain. The supporting players, particularly Picard's live-in friends, a pair of Romulan refugees, are well-drawn and well-acted.

Star Trek fans tend to love touches of continuity, and the showrunners deliver a myriad of plot points and easter eggs to connect this show to those that have come before. They even manage to craft a potentially interesting storyline from the dreadful final Next Generation film, the lamented Star Trek: Nemesis.

It's clear that Star Trek: Picard is going to explore the issue that has, in some sense, defined Star Trek from the very beginning: our civilization's ongoing quest to move past the fear and hate that creates the Other, moving forward to recognize our common humanity, whatever our language, skin colour, and other ultimately trivial differences. In this latest iteration, the approach is two-pronged: the question of human rights will be addressed through the lens of a refugee crisis (much like the ones people are going through today) and the more metaphorical (so far) question of whether or not artificial beings (the latest Other, in the world of the Federation) are part of the human family.

There are some intriguing mysteries to explore. Why do (some) Romulans want to kill Data's daughter(s)? Why no mention of Lal, particularly when the writers are clearly being very careful with respect to continuity? Why did androids attack Mars 20 years ago? And why are humans and Romulans using a Borg cube as a "Romulan Reclamation Centre?"

Looks like the human adventure is just beginning...

5,773 Films

Early last year, I saw my 4,000th movie and posted the number of films I'd screened by the decade of their release. I've now seen 5,773 films; here's an update to those numbers.

As before, the chart shows I try to watch films from across the decades, but that decades before the 1930s are underrepresented and decades after the 1970s are overrepresented.

Here's the breakdown of films seen per decade, from most to least represented. The number in brackets indicates whether or not a decade moved up or down the ranks or stayed the same since last time.

1980s: 722 films (no change)
1990s: 613 films (no change)
2010s: 604 films (up one) 
2000s: 599 films (down one)
1950s: 532 films (up two)
1970s: 526 films (down one)
1940s: 511 films (up one)
1930s: 472 films (up one)
1960s: 466 films (down three)
1890s: 275 films (up one)
1900s: 165 films (up two) 
1910s and 1920s (tie): 131 films each (no change and up two)
1880s: 16 (up one)
Undated: 8 (down one)
1870s: 2 (no change) 

Total: 5,773 films

The number of undated films has been cut in half, meaning The Movie Database is doing a better job of including release dates for even the more obscure films. And I've finally seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off!

I'm also getting closer to my goal of seeing at least 500 films from each decade, adding the 2000s, 2010s, 1970s, 1950s, and1940s. Of course, The 1870s and 1880s are frozen at 2 and 16 films, respectively, since that's all the films that were made in those decades, and I've seen them. (At least according to the database, which is subject to change as new discoveries are made.) 

The Outcropping

To celebrate Star Trek: The Next Generation's 25th anniversary, here's a very short nonsensical story (or story fragment, really) I wrote about a decade ago. 

"The Outcropping"

Captain Picard stumbled into the crevice. With a roaring curse, he skidded down the slope, scraping his bald cranium on a sharp outcropping of ice.

"God damn it!" he muttered, tumbling into a snowdrift. "I've cut my head!" he gasped.

Data, thinking fast, licked the wound, sealing it with his android saliva. Picard grimaced, disgusted, but also relieved.

"Good work, Mr. Data."

The End