Cows Are The Silent Jury In The Trial Of Mankind

I see what you did there

If you like Silicon Valley you should watch Veep

China Mieville's Bas-Lag books in the "New Weird" genre always bent my brain weird - Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council, his three Bas-Lag novels, are something else.

Star Trek Enterprise - Faith of the Heart

Mike Schur ended The Good Place by his own choice after four seasons, because he felt he'd told all the story he wanted to, and anything else would be filler.

Patrick Stewart famously signed onto Star Trek The Next Generation for seven seasons, after being told it would only go one; nobody wanted a spinoff of a beloved show from the 60s. He didn't plan on staying in LA that long.

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlUQ0nRQ8oU

He's ending sometime in the next month or two.

Social media shows him in Norway right now shooting something.

I think "best of the last 20 years" is probably hyping it up a bit too much. The show is doing some things well, it's definitely a step up over the past two seasons, and there are some terrific individual scenes - Beverly's confrontation with Jean-Luc in Episode 3 was the best writing she's gotten ever - but I don't think it's "best of the last 20 years". Coming from a lifelong fan of Trek both old and new, here's what I'd say about Picard S3:

• The legacy TNG characters are getting some really solid writing finally, and some excellent individual scenes. Riker's scene with Picard at the beginning of Ep 4 was terrific as well. Worf's introduction was very cool, but I want to see him get something more substantive as well, and find out how exactly he's a pacifist. (TBF there's something greatly appealing to me about going from a warrior to a pacifist, but we'll see what actually happens.)

• Captain Shaw is a compelling new character; he reminds me of Lorca. It's interesting to see someone who's not all high-minded stars in his eyes, but who is still just as much a Starfleet captain as Picard or Riker. Seven is also interesting; she has one good line about struggling with the restrictions of Starfleet when she's used to the freedom of the Fenris Rangers. If we end up with a Titan show with those two, I wouldn't be unhappy. (If Shaw dies, I'd be mad. The first episode made me curious about him, the second episode and after made me like him.) Vadic, played by Amanda Plummer (the daughter of General Chang actor Christopher Plummer from STVI) is clearly having a blast chewing the scenery.

• The pacing is working a lot better. Each episode that raises a problem has it solved in the next episode. It provides a good sense of progression, whereas I think the first two seasons kind felt like every episode threw a ball in the air and hoped to catch them all in the finale. The only really running mystery so far is what's really going on with Jack and his visions.

• Some may see this point as being a pro or a con, depending on your personal taste. The show is leaning a lot on nostalgia. It was most noticeable in the first episode - that flyby of the Titan with the TMP music swelling was practically pornographic - but each successive episode has utilized nostalgia pretty significantly, if not so openly. I will say, I know they've gotten a lot of the creators and artists from the 90s series to come back and contribute, guys like Mark Okuda and Doug Drexler, and while I'm a little iffy on the nostalgia, I do like that they clearly have a lot of respect for what came before.

• Raffi to me is still a little bit the weak link. I love Michelle Hurd, and I'm not saying Raffi should be totally clean and not addicted anymore, but I want to see her move a step or five away from teetering on the edge of rock bottom. Centering your life around white-knuckle sobriety and paranoia isn't healthy for anyone, even if they really are out to get you. Similarly with Jack - he's not terrible, but I want to see him make some kind of emotional connection with someone, be it Jean-Luc, Shaw, the crew, even his mother. He's so detached it's hard to care about him. I'm sure there's character reasons for that, but I still want to see him grow.

• The plotting is still pretty 90s Trek, and still kind of nostalgia based. Why does a nebula have a gravity well? Shouldn't all those gases sink into it? The space octopi were cute, but again - nostalgic and didn't make tons of sense.

But honestly, my criticisms of the show are far outweighed by my enjoyment, so I'm very much still onboard for whatever ride they have us on.

So many scenes I could pick from that series. But if I could only pick one, I'd say "Weep for Manetheren. Weep for what was lost."

Letterkenny

You might like this WGA roundtable interview with the Star Trek writers and producers from the 90s era and today. It's long, but it's a terrific look at the nuts and bolts of what it takes to produce Star Trek.

The official podcast hosted by Marc Evan Jackson (he played Shawn), was pretty close.

I don't know where it's available in the States, but also check out Toast of Hollywood when you're done with Toast of London, and also Year of the Rabbit.

Seconding Silicon Valley and Barry. Also check out Joe Pera Talks with You, it's a very light, easy comedy.

I best remember him as Gul Madred as well, and Jon Irenicus in Baldur's Gate 2, but another really special role he played to me was Aldous Gajic in the Season 1 episode "Grail" of Babylon 5.

It had something to do with how Nickelodeon does stuff, I'm not sure.

That's a tight race with Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds

If you haven't already, make sure to listen to the official The Good Place podcast, hosted by Marc Evan Jackson (he played Shawn/Kevin Cozner/Trevor Nelsson). He interviewed cast, crew, and writers about every episode of the show, and it was terrific. There was even a short side series for Brooklyn 99.

Max Richter is probably one of my favorite newer composers. His theme "Never Goodbye" for the film Hostiles sticks with me, and his recomposition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons is really interesting.

I love the Wandering Day song.