Well put on all levels. My one issue with 2049 is that I don’t like or care about Jared Leto’s character at all, but the rest of it was aces. Just what I wanted. Sir Ridley literally could not have done any better himself.

Have the writers of this show ever developed emotions in concert with other humans? I’m increasingly skeptical.

There are so many assumptions, clipped emotional development, and rushed-through plotting and characterization that it makes me wonder whether everyone in the federation has turned into hyper-reactionaries…

Cheesiness and dorkiness is a given when discussing Trek. I think you’re right about what’s missing from Picard. Trek was always the old fashioned idea of science-fi where it took an idea and ran with it to its logical extent. They just don’t make TV shows like that anymore (except The Orville).

I’m gonna disagree and say that it was a fundamentally better Star Wars movie than the other two films. Was it a masterpiece of cinema? No, but it had more of the basic virtues of I expect of a Star Wars movie than Force Awakens or The Last Jedi did — heart, camaraderie, genuine love between characters, and a clear…

Slow down, speed up, it won’t matter. People are out of ideas with Star Wars because it was never really the sweeping epic the name would suggest. It was about the Skywalkers, with a couple of colorful characters mixed in, giving the appearance of a huge, sprawling tale across the cosmos. And now your options are “Do…