Dave Bastien

Full disclosure, I am a big fan of Classic and Next Gen Trek, and most of the movies. But I found each new Trek series more and more disappointing, and finally gave up on TV Trek. With JJ Abrams, I liked the movies, but felt they lost Star Treks' soul. Same with Discovery: pretty good, but like the Abram movies it felt rushed and lacked character development. So now Picard, can't say I had much enthusiasm going in, other than it would finally move the Trek timeline forward again (why does everything have to be a prequel?) First episode, amazing. So although there were some uneven patches in the series, when it soared it soared so high to overcome any faults. Who knew Riker and Troi, two of my least favorite characters from the TNG, could make me cry? Great story, acting, effects and visuals. Also, hats off to the writers for FINALLY making the Romulans interesting: always the bridesmaid to the Klingons, their backstory shines here. And the Borg remain as scary and gripping as ever.