Sunday, April 26, 2020

What Does a Starfleet Captain Do in Retirement?



Jean-Luc Picard, the former captain of the Enterprise, retired to his family vineyard in France.  It is a beautiful setting and a quiet life for someone who previously explored the far corners of the universe.  Like many people who are retired, however, Picard looked back at his work and was troubled by the things he regretted and had left undone.  So when he is approached by a young woman seeking his help, he jumps back in to find redemption for a terrible set of events that he felt responsible for.

That’s the starting point for the new series, “Picard.”  It’s built around a prototypical retirement story, except maybe for the space travel and phasers.  The young people in Starfleet don’t want Picard back, and view him as a relic.  He can’t climb stairs or run any distance without getting winded, and he’s not up-to-date on the latest technology.  But with the help of some old and new friends, he throws himself into the midst of events that threaten the known universe.  A fun task for retirement.

Picard was always the most thoughtful and reflective of the Star Trek captains.  Captain Kirk would talk about the “Prime Directive,” which prohibits Starfleet missions from interfering with the development of alien civilizations, but which in the end Kirk often ignored.  Ethical dilemmas, however, were at the heart of many of the conflicts that Picard and his crew faced on the Next Generation series and play a prominent role in the new Picard episodes.  Luke Skywalker had a contrasting retirement, sulking on a remote island seeking enlightenment that he didn’t seem to have found.  Where the Star Wars franchise has relied on special effects and cartoonish battles to make up for a lack of new ideas, Picard has gone forth boldly, though a bit more slowly than in the past.  He’s not an action hero.  Rather, he is a wise person who has an unfaltering understanding of the importance of doing the right thing.  It helps that Patrick Stewart, who plays Picard, is such a fine actor.  

The series has been great fun to watch, a nice diversion in our current dilemmas.  I’m now enjoying the other new Star Trek show, Discovery.  It’s entertaining, though you have to get past the first two episodes.

And if you are really serious about Star Trek, and who isn’t, I just read that Tribbles are available on e-Bay.




No comments:

Post a Comment