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...

Superman Puns Too!

Art and dialogue by Daniel Brereton.

After battling an ancient and dangerous god to a standstill, the Justice League discusses future options in the denouement of 2000's JLA: Seven Caskets one-shot. Note that Brereton, a successful comics professional, takes great care to provide Superman with the perfect opening for a story-ending pun. Indeed, perhaps the entire 50-page story was nothing more than the lead-in for Superman's play on words! (I've highlighted the joke for you just in case it's too subtle.)

I find it interesting that Superman's expression mirrors my own when I deliver a pun. Batman's pained countenance is also familiar, as is Wonder Woman's indulgent grin and Aquaman's wry "he's at it again" look.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is to justify my love of bad puns, in much the same way that LARPers use Captain Picard's love of the holodeck to justify their hobby.

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

From the Archives

I've been scanning old slides and negatives this weekend, and came across this bizarre gem from 1995. I don't remember much about it, except that I posed before this miniature supreme court of accusatory superheroes and asked Jeff Shyluk, "Does this look silly enough?"

"Yep, sure does," he answered, snapping the photo.