Start Trek Picard on Amazon Prime, is a move away from the earlier cheery Pollyanna takes of the future put forward by the Star Trek universe.

The world in Star Trek Picard is definitely more dystopian than the ones we have seen before. It is a Federation that is deeply insular and xenophobic. It has turned its back on science and human rights. It allowed millions of Romulans to die in a supernova explosion because it was inconvenient to rescue them. And, this is the Federation that Picard has turned his back on to grow grapes in a vineyard in France with his two Romulan caretakers.

The story revolves around Picard’s guilt and grief around Data’s death, and his waiting for his own death on his vineyard. But, fate – or the story writers – have other plans. A mysterious young woman turns up, and upends Picard’s retirement. Dajh, is a synthetic lifeform, whose memories make her believe she is human. After, the federation’s banning of ‘synths’, some one like her is not supposed to exist, except that she does. An ambush leads her to seek out Picard, and by the end of the first episode she is blown up by a bunch of Romulan secret agents working undercover on Earth. And, oh yes, she has a twin sister that Picard has to find before the Romulans kill her too.

The rest of the story is the quest to find the twin Soji – who is working on a disused Borg cube, deep in Romulan territory.

Patrick Stewart as Picard reprises the role that he has played many times before. There is a certain comfort feeling that sets in while seeing him reprise the role that made him world famous.

The problem is with the story line – there are plot loopholes you can fly the USS Enterprise through. People pop up at the most convenient times. Help arrives at the precise location where a hand to hand combat on a Borg cube is taking place. And, of course, Picard’s speeches can change foreign policy and strategy without a debate.

But, in a lockdown this it is a fun view. you see a whole bunch of new characters – i liked some of them – Aggy, Rios and Raffy are fabulous characters. I am not quite sure what Elnor is doing on the show – maybe there will be a clearly written track for him in the second season. And, Narek was an interesting character which the writers didn’t quite know what to do with. But, the surprise was 7 of 9 – one of my favourite characters in the Star Trek universe. She walked into the show and stole every scene she was in. Unfortunately she wasn’t in too many scenes.

I personally liked Star Trek best when it was episodic in nature. When i didn’t have to follow convoluted storylines, remember continuity, and wonder about past episdoes.

the show is gripping You really don’t want to tear your hair out while watching it. It is entertaining. The cast is brilliant. and 10 episodes is just the right number of episodes that prevent you from losing interest. But, the show could have been so much more.