Anyone remember season one of TNG had a few conspiracy episodes in it that were connected (with the little bug creatures that had infiltrated Star Fleet)? Then it was all dropped by season two (which introduced The Borg). Wonder if this is going to come back to that?

Wait for it..... "WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE A CONSPIRACY THRILLER?!"

Apparently Terry Matalas considered it but went with the Changelings instead:

> I do like the conspiracy bugs, I did consider for a hot minute, the conspiracy bugs. The issue with the conspiracy bugs is they kill their host. So that would mean anyone that you saw with a bug in them was dead, and you wouldn't be able to do the paranoia thriller that you wanted to do if it was somebody you loved, that meant they were dead. So there [were] about three storylines I couldn't do without killing legacy characters.

Been loving this season minus the « we’re old » moments between Picard and rikee

I enjoyed the first couple seasons of Picard well enough, but this season has been on another level. The pacing is good, nearly every problem that's raised in one episode gets solved the next, and some of the legacy characters are getting better writing in some scenes than they ever got in TNG. The confrontation between Beverly and Picard a couple episodes ago was top notch; I felt like they both had very valid points of view, and revisiting the relationship of Picard and this cameo character was something I didn't know I wanted, as I watched them come to a new understanding of each other. If this is the kind of writing Matalas and his team are doing, I'll watch the show for as long as they'll make it.

Also the TNG bugs kind of reminded me of the mind control bugs from Wrath of Khan. And the special effects looked like Red Dwarf.

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Agreed, I thought the first two seasons were dumb, watchable TV starring a bunch of familiar faces. Meanwhile S3 feels like a better continuation and use of legacy characters than anything from the first two.

It was more like a poorly written complete rehash/ripoff of the first season TNG episode "Conspiracy". These guys don't have an original thought in their brains.

Don't forget that they also ripped off the plot of Wrath of Khan, another episode of TNG where Picard had a secret badboy son, and that DS9 episode where changelings already infiltrated Starfleet.

This is Sci-Fi. Show me something new.

That might be why it's better than the first two sessions

It was good to see her again, even if it was goodbye...

Ik season 2 was criticized a lot but matalas will always get benefit of doubt from me after 12 monkeys

Its interesting that they're leaning so heavily on DS9 for this season when little bits of plot and dialogue suggests that the writers haven't actually watched DS9. Like in this week's episode where Riker says the Maquis aren't the enemy anymore. Which is technically true, but an odd way to phrase it since the Maquis were exterminated by the Jem'Hadar. They're not the enemy anymore because they're all dead. And Riker's statement that Changelings can only do surface details but not the deeper changes, which is just straight up not true. Maybe it's just that Riker is a complete idiot?

Matalas left season 2 like 3 or 4 episodes in to work on season 3. Akia Goldsman handled the rest of season 2.

I mean, Voyager came back with a ship full of Maquis and presumably a lot of them are still around.

And Changelings couldn’t replicate things like blood. Sisko’s dad figured that one out.

The season is pretty good. Not perfect (too dark, still don’t like all the cursing, so much time on M’Talas Prime) but holy shit does it feel like they’re actually doing something with these characters and the plot is pretty compelling.

Also need to commend them for giving Crusher more to do than she ever got in 6 seasons of the show and 4 movies.

and wouldn't you know it, that was about when the quality took a nosedive straight to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

I'm glad that Akiva Goldsman seems like he's gonna be busy with the I Am Legend sequel for a while.

you might appreciate them more when you get old

I was hoping for Jem Hadar and Vorta

Instead they give me Ro Laren?!

A ship half full of Maquis. Some of us were not Maquis.

-On behalf of Tuvok

I get the sense this season is an apology to fans for not involving TNG in the Dominion War.

> so much time on M’Talas Prime

Especially with Raffi, who just might be the worst spy in the entire galaxy.

Seriously, though, it really has been a significant improvement on season 1 (and miles better than the total dumpster fire that was season 2, but that's hardly a high bar). There have still been some odd bits (like that whole conflict between Picard and Riker on the bridge of the Titan; Picard's insistence on fighting a more powerful and better-armed opponent instead of escaping, even long before it became clear that escape would be all but impossible, was so weirdly out of character than I genuinely thought he must have been replaced by the Changeling for a while there), but for the most part it's been an interesting and coherent storyline and some good character moments.

But Sisko's dad also pointed out an obvious workaround, and given the times that the Founders faked blood screenings (Way of the Warrior, for example), it's not like they'd suddenly forget that.

Think we’re talking about different things. My point was that it’s been canon that they couldn’t do anything more than surface deep, hence why Sisko’s dad made a comment that he’d just suck up someone’s blood if he were a changeling.

Did Terry Matalas name the place after himself? Lol. I will say I think he’s doing a much better job and actually understands TNG

He did, but it was first mentioned on an episode of Enterprise.