Michael Dorn’s Worf is a warrior for pacifism now. Jonathan Frakes’ Riker and Marina Sirtis’s Troi draw strength from their relationship rather than the “will they? won’t they?” waffling they engaged in for seven years on “Next Gen.” Brent Spiner’s Data is finally a “real boy,” a flesh and blood human (more or less) his consciousness was downloaded into - he experienced death, now he needs to face aging. Gates McFadden’s Beverly Crusher is now capable of being a helluva tactical officer for the Enterprise. How is Mando any different at the end of Season 3 than he is at the end of Season 1? On the other hand, the “Next Gen” characters brought back for “Picard” have evolved strikingly. “Picard” Season 3 Showed Real Evolution of Its Characters Basically the approach of this entire final season. Rechristening it the new USS Enterprise NCC-1701-G was another example of taking something old… and evolving it. Likewise, “Picard” Season 3 spent an entire season building the USS Titan as a ship to revere. Moore’s “Battlestar Galactica” series survived because it wasn’t part of an internet-like network as well, but still a potent metaphor for how you can look to the past to find solutions for the present. This was a bit of a ripoff of how the title ship on Ronald D. The fact that it was older and unplugged from Starfleet’s new “Fleet Formation” ship-linking system meant that it wasn’t assimilated by the Borg. On the other hand, “Picard” Season 3 goes on to show that LeVar Burton’s Geordi LaForge actually recovered the saucer section of the Enterprise-D from its crash in that previous film and spent 20 years restoring the ship to its old glory. The Darksaber is basically given that same treatment on “The Mandalorian.” That mentor was legendary actor Norman Lloyd, no less! And this thing that had been invested with meaning suddenly had none. The 1994 film “Star Trek Generations” had a similar moment when Picard holds a treasured artifact given to him by a beloved mentor (as established on the episode “The Chase” of “The Next Generation”) then casually discards it among the wreckage of the Enterprise-D. “Star Trek” is not immune to these mistakes either. As did that moment earlier in the season when Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin just gave it to Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan, even though it’s supposed to be won in combat. Far more disturbing that that moment in “The Last Jedi” when Luke tossed his father’s lightsaber over his shoulder that elicited so many fanboy tears, this act of destruction definitively said that what you’re supposed to care about on “The Mandalorian” is ephemeral and changeable. Crumpled in Moff Gideon’s fist like just another toy. “Picard” Season 3 Invested Old Symbols with New MeaningĪ particular moment in the “Mandalorian” finale felt symbolic of the whole thing: The Darksaber, a weapon fraught with meaning for the Mandalorian people as it’s to be wielded by their leader, and has accumulated significance over the course of “The Clone Wars” and “Rebels” animated series before making the jump to live action, was suddenly destroyed. “The Mandalorian” is repetition, “Picard” represented an evolution. While “Picard” pulled a bit of a cheat, with a series finale, titled “The Last Generation,” that’s obviously setting up future stories, it was also deeply invested with emotion, found ways of giving meaning to old symbols, and thoughtfully reflected on what the past means rather than just wanting to repeat it. “The Mandalorian” Season 3 ended on as stale a note as could be imagined, any hints of evolution or character development flattened into oblivion - this ending also could have been the Season 1 finale, or the series finale altogether, it doesn’t really matter. This past week, the divergence was particularly striking. Bill Hader Says He Stopped Signing Merchandise Over ‘F*cked Up’ Behavior from ‘Autograph People’
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