Do you know why I was so excited for Star Trek: Picard Season three? Because Robert Meyer Burnett on YouTube called it the best season of Star Trek since Star Trek: The Next Generation.

If you know nothing about this franchise, The Next Generation is a show from the early 1990s. Why do I care about Burnett’s opinion? Because he’s the biggest Star Trek fan I know. The man has watched every Star Trek movie and TV show Hollywood has ever produced. Like many old-school Trekkies, Burnett hates New Trek with a passion.

To clarify, the term ‘New Trek’ covers every Star Trek project, from J.J. Abrams’s 2009 Star Trek film onward. Burnett thinks Abrams ripped the soul out of the universe Gene Roddenberry created in the 1960s. And unfortunately, Hollywood has chosen to adopt the Abrams formula.

I discovered Star Trek three years ago. So, I don’t necessarily worship Old Trek. That said, Burnett’s opinions have always fascinated me. He wants so badly to believe that Star Trek has a few more stories worth telling. But every New Trek show we get crushes his dreams. He hates it all, even Star Trek: Picard Season one, which I loved.

So you can imagine my surprise when he started singing the praises of the third season after getting an early glimpse of the episodes. My interest in New Trek has waned significantly over the months.

Discovery lost me after the crew jumped thousands of years into the future. The show worked so hard to recreate the optimism older trekkies associate with the franchise that it killed the tension. Every conflict in Discovery ends with a redemption arc.

Everyone reconciles, and the villains almost always see the error of their ways. It’s tiresome. Brave New World had a solid start, but I fell off along the way. I suppose the episodic nature of the show does not work for me. I prefer serialized storytelling.

After season one, Picard was my favourite of all the New Trek projects. But then, season two obliterated my interest in the entire franchise. I was ready to abandon Star Trek as a whole when Burnett made his shocking pronouncement. The man could not stand New Trek, and yet, here he was, showering Picard’s third season with praise.

It elevated my anticipation for this show. But now that season three is here, I don’t know if it matches the hype. Don’t get me wrong; after one episode, I like it more than all of Season two. Burnett called it the perfect sequel to The Next Generation, and I agree.

I won’t spoil the episode if you have not watched it. All I’ll say is, I enjoyed seeing familiar faces from The Next Generation. Also, I read a Forbes article which said season three would unite characters from Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager.

Voyager is garbage, so I could not care less about its inclusion. But the mention of Deep Space Nine made me squeal with excitement. I love that show. It is the only reason why I started watching Babylon 5 this year (apparently, Deep Space Nine ripped off Babylon 5).

Picard’s third and final season had a slower start than I would have liked, but again, season two was dull and preachy. The first episode of season three feels like the injection of energy the franchise desperately needed.

Also, the notion of continuing and ultimately closing the book on The Next Generation intrigues me. Hopefully, it sticks the landing.

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