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VAULTED TREASURES: MOVIES YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT, YOU FORGOT,
... OR YOU FORGOT TO LOVE MORE THE FIRST TIME AROUND!
STAR TREK: PICARD
"ABSOLUTE CANDOR"
Directed by - Jonathan Frakes
Produced by -
Akiva Goldsman,
Michael Chabon,
Alex Kurtzman,
Jenny Lumet, Patrick Stewart, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth
Written by - Michael Chabon
Based Upon -
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - created by Gene Roddenberry
Akiva Goldsman,
Michael Chabon,
Alex Kurtzman,
Jenny Lumet, Patrick Stewart, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth
Written by - Michael Chabon
Based Upon -
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - created by Gene Roddenberry
Dir. of Photography -
Darran Tieran
Darran Tieran
Editor - Sarah C. Reeves
Music - Jeff Russo
(ST: THE MOTION PICTURE
Theme - Jerry Goldsmith)
(ST: THE MOTION PICTURE
Theme - Jerry Goldsmith)
Run Time: 44 mins.
Release (2/13/20)
Production Companies - Secret Hideout / Weed Road Pictures / Escapist Fare / Roddenberry Entertainment / CBS Television Studios
Dist. - CBS Television Dist. / CBS All Access
GullCottage rating (***** on a scale of 1-5)
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Only watched the most recent episode (# 4) of STAR TREK: PICARD, "Absolute Candor", tonight. Well, early A.M. actually. And, directed by "No. 1" himself - Jonathan Frakes, and written by Pulitzer Prize winning author (and PICARD co-show runner) Michael Chabon, I honestly don't think it's a stretch to call it the best entry thus far, ... which is saying something as all the episodes in this - one of the best of the TREK universe reboots - have been damned phenomenal. Back in the 1960s a number of French cinema journalists (some of whom later became legendary film makers themselves) coined the phrase "Testament Film" wherein one film in essence "summed up" what a particular filmmaker was (for lack of a better term) "all about".
Along those lines many agree that CITIZEN KANE is Orson Welles' Testament Film, that VERTIGO is Hitchcock's, and so forth. Nowadays, of course, film fans love to argue these things with debates flipping from E.T. to SCHINDLER'S LIST as Spielberg's, BLADE RUNNER vs. ALIEN with Ridley Scott (though I'd personally go with LEGEND - as the term denotes "most indicative", and not necessarily "best", popular or most acclaimed), and BRAZIL / THE FISHER KING in regards to Terry Gilliam, etc. Anyway, all of that to say (for me at least), if there's such a thing as a "Testament Episode" for a series, I'd chalk up "Absolute Candor" as STAR TREK: PICARD's thus far.
What I'm loving about this series (and specifically about this particular entry) is - of course - what it does, but also what it doesn't do. It would be far too easy to (and other TREK series have made the mistake of) retreading / revisiting / redoing favorite 'ol STAR TREK tropes. But as such, I mean, c'mon, how many times can you blow up the Enterprise (or other beloved vessel), defy Starfleet and go renegade because of one's conscience, get out of a jam by creating a nifty / radical / "foolish" military maneuver, et al and expect to get the same thrill or emotional tug from the audience? Hey, this may be a "left field" analogy, but bear with me and think of how some of the most intriguing musical scores in a given popular series of films have been those which don't lean upon beloved (and sometimes overused) themes.
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| Ep. #1 - "Remembrance" (debut 1/23/20) |
Those references (and at times fan saavy Easter Eggs) are more like a sprinkling of seasoning there to add to an impressively elegant meal combo of narrative, character and thematics - already tasty in it's own right. And this rather than used to cover up a lack of quality or originality - y'know, the narrative, character and thematic version of "leaving something in the oven too long, scorching the hell out of it, then desperately trying to cover things up before the guests arrive". Like I said, maybe a "left field" analogy, but you totally get where I'm coming from, yes? As for that aforementioned quality and originality (and trenchant emotional and contemporary socio-political resonance) exemplified in what the series does and doesn't do ...
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| Hannelle M. Cooper / dir. - Ep.#1: "Remembrance" (1/23/20), Ep.#2: "Maps And Legends (1/30/20) |
PICARD (and this most recent episode) are kinda / sorta big time liars ... in the very best way. In the trailers we get all of the "thrill button" stuff. And, yeah, that's fun. But the series itself is pleasantly / surprisingly much more literate. In fact it often narratively unfolds in a (more common to novels; less common with film and TV) non chronological / non-linear manner. For example in Episode #1 - "Remembrance" (directed by CRIMINAL MINDS and GRIMM's Hanelle Culpepper; and scripted by Akiva Goldsman & James Duff from a story by Goldsman, Chabon, Kirsten Beyer and Alex Kurtzman) we learn of a years ago plan by the Federation to relocate the Romulan population after a horrific supernova, and how that plan was aborted in the proverbial 11th hour - thus leaving many Romulans stranded (or abandoned and betrayed - take your pick of terminology!) in mid relocation by Starfleet after the outbreak of a war on Mars lead by a group of rouge "synthetics" (androids) threw the monkeywrench of fear into Federation Command.
Fast forward to now, and the opening moments of "Absolute Candor", where details are filled in with a flashback to 14 years prior when Picard shared the trust of much of the Romulan refugee population, and the particular admiration of a young orphaned Romulan boy to whom the retired Admiral served as something of a surrogate father figure. After the Federation abandonment, however (deliberately reminiscent of the plight of Cuba's "Boat People" in the mid 1990s, and the infamous fate of Jewish refugees aboard the ocean liner St. Louis in 1939 - which was the inspiration for the 1977 film VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED), not only has Picard quit / retired from Starfleet in protest of said abandonment. But he's now thought of as a traitor to justice by many Romulans - some of whom have since "merely" become racially embittered (the "Romulans Only" sign in front of the cafe / bar is a stinging historical jab), and others who have become terrorists.
Among those who felt most personally betrayed is the young boy - Picard's "surrogate son" if you will - now grown into an adult with formidable combat skills. At any rate this is how PICARD thus far puts character above the "thrill button" material, ... but which, yes, still always manages to give us at least one (and sometimes two) well realized "thrill button" sequences per episode.
Among those who felt most personally betrayed is the young boy - Picard's "surrogate son" if you will - now grown into an adult with formidable combat skills. At any rate this is how PICARD thus far puts character above the "thrill button" material, ... but which, yes, still always manages to give us at least one (and sometimes two) well realized "thrill button" sequences per episode.
As for characterizations I'm absolutely enamored at how the series takes certain (let's be nice and call them) cinema tropes and turns them slightly on their ear. Santiago Cabrera as Cristóbal Rios - Captain of the "ship for hire" ... which is, ehhh, ... "leased" by Picard for his personal mission - is a nifty twist on the "former military man become a pirate" cliche'. At first we expect but another "Han Solo"-type knockoff. But by episode #4 we come to realize Rios is a rather cultured and complex individual who (among other things) loves old fashioned "paper reading material" (aka - books) and opera; and is, not unlike Picard, dealing with his own bulging closet full of personal demons from his past.
Rios' emotionally divided nature (which back in the days of Disney's PINOCCHIO was visually exemplified by Jiminy Cricket on the puppet boy's shoulder as he attempted to be the better part of his conscience) is here rather wittily visually represented via his ship's various "EH" (Emergency Hologram) crew members - each neural based A.I. unit patterned (psychologically "cloned" - if you will) after Rios' own brain engrams, but at the same time with distinct personalities of their own which often verbally argues / debates with the war scarred former soldier.
In a more modern (and earthy) depiction of a TREK crew's "Number 1" officer, LAW & ORDER: SVU's Michelle Hurd portrays Raffi Musiker - once Picard's right hand during the ultimately abandoned Romulan evacuation. While Picard dealt with the tragedy by disappearing into his family vineyard back in France, Raffi over the years sank into a life of substance abuse which she is battling when Picard re-enters her life and asks her for help.
It would have been easy (and lazy) to make the fish-out-of-water Dr. Agnes Jurati - portrayed by CONFESSION OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN and THE BOOK OF DANIEL's Allison Pill - the (these days now cliche'd) "hip female nerd" scientist, not unlike Pauley Parrette's Abby from NCIS, and Kirsten Vangsness' Penelope Garcia from CRIMINAL MINDS, and / or to play such a character for laughs. But Pill's Jurati - the foremost expert in "Advanced Synthetic Research" at the Daystrom Institute (and see the 1968 TREK episode "The Ultimate Computer" as a reference to where said institute's name originates - heh! heh!) - emerges as not only intelligent but (most importantly) very real and afraid, ... but more afraid to not listen to her conscience, even if doing so comes at the cost of her career and maybe even her life.
In some respects she becomes the series "touchstone" character in that she's the most normal (at least in the TREK world) and identifiable to the audience at large, and therefore kind of comes to represent us as we might be if we found ourselves tumbled through the looking glass into a similar sci fi scenario.
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| Jonathan Frakes / dir. - Ep.#4: "Absolute Candor" (2/13/20), Ep.#5 "Stardust City Rag" (2/20/20) |
Rios' emotionally divided nature (which back in the days of Disney's PINOCCHIO was visually exemplified by Jiminy Cricket on the puppet boy's shoulder as he attempted to be the better part of his conscience) is here rather wittily visually represented via his ship's various "EH" (Emergency Hologram) crew members - each neural based A.I. unit patterned (psychologically "cloned" - if you will) after Rios' own brain engrams, but at the same time with distinct personalities of their own which often verbally argues / debates with the war scarred former soldier.
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| Ep. #2 - "Maps And Legends" (1/30/20) |
It would have been easy (and lazy) to make the fish-out-of-water Dr. Agnes Jurati - portrayed by CONFESSION OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN and THE BOOK OF DANIEL's Allison Pill - the (these days now cliche'd) "hip female nerd" scientist, not unlike Pauley Parrette's Abby from NCIS, and Kirsten Vangsness' Penelope Garcia from CRIMINAL MINDS, and / or to play such a character for laughs. But Pill's Jurati - the foremost expert in "Advanced Synthetic Research" at the Daystrom Institute (and see the 1968 TREK episode "The Ultimate Computer" as a reference to where said institute's name originates - heh! heh!) - emerges as not only intelligent but (most importantly) very real and afraid, ... but more afraid to not listen to her conscience, even if doing so comes at the cost of her career and maybe even her life.
In a nutshell with PICARD we've got some of the most beautifully and realistically realized characters in any TREK incarnation ever! Not to mention perhaps one of the hands-down most multi-layered and fascinating looks at any of the canon's alien cultures - here depicting the Romulans as we've never seen them before. And, oh yeah, while - in keeping with the "less is more" philosophy - the manner in which Jerry Goldsmith's original STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE theme (which also became the theme to THE NEXT GENERATION) is sparingly used by series composer Jeff Russo is nothing short of brilliant and at times extremely subtly touching. I'd be shocked if this episode doesn't net him an Emmy nomination next year - especially considering that heartstoppingly beautiful "mini ballet" piece heard during a short romantic "ice skating" interlude.
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| Ep. #3 - "The End Is The Beginning" (2/6/20) |
One more thing too. And it may be my imagination, but did I hear a very faint reference in "Absolute Candor" to Michael Giacchino's "Romulan Theme" from J.J. Abrams' 2009 STAR TREK film? Like I said, it may be my imagination only hearing what it wants to hear. But it may not be! I'll give a more close listen during the rewatch. And, hey, that next episode, "Stardust City Rag" looks like sheer bad-assery-ness and fun! Just as how the original series every now and then took a nice break every few episodes to give the audience a relief from heavy drama, heady sci fi and social commentary, etc., and just took us on a rollicking old-school action adventure ride, so does "Star City Rag", featuring the return of Jeri Ryan as former Borg drone "Seven Of Nine", seem to fit that bill.
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| Ep. #5 - "Stardust City Rag" (2/20/20) |
It's no exaggeration to say that STAR TREK: PICARD is presently doling out some of the best television presently being produced. And if "Absolute Candor" is truly a testament of more to come, all I can say is "Hell yes, ...
... make it so!".
CEJ
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