I really like Picard. Certain parts of it made me long for the better days of Star Trek because I too "don't want the game to end." The last time I watched a new "real" Trek that was under the Paramount umbrella was Nemesis way back in 2002. I remember getting out of College that day probably 18 years old just out of High School knee-deep in my studies. I had watched all of TNG, and Voyager had ended a year prior. I was sad that journey was over! At the time I did not care about Enterprise, which was still having new episodes on TV, but it felt like an inferior show. I was driving home realizing I was going to go to the theater and see what was arguably my favorite Star Trek crew one last time, I was genuinely excited! The movie was so dark and gloomy compared to prior TNG and in the end they killed off Data; it was so disheartening. I honestly felt like I had lost a friend whom I would never see again. I remember as the theme song started and the credits rolled, that I was teary eyed, and movies have never before done that to me! Yes, I know Data was backed up in B4!
Ultimately, I went on to love Deep Space Nine and watch it. It was like an entire new adventure, and then I found Sliders, which was similar enough. These shows brought me to maybe 2008. During that time Star Trek was dead to me for years, and it was my true TV love. I remember binge watching Earth Final Conflict, which was good but only got worse after the first two seasons, and I remember the 2009 Star Trek movie exciting me tremendously only to travel an entire State away to see it in IMAX 3D and be disappointed in the story. JJ Abrams Star Trek was NOT Star Trek. At some point, I got Netflix maybe 2011 and watched Enterprise because that's all I hadn't watched, and it turned out okay until they beat the Xendi to death episode after episode. The first episodes were simply amazing when they actually went to explore new words, had issues like a planet that caused hallucinations, background on the transporters, and ethical issues like not curing a genetic disorder preventing the reproduction of a planet's superior beings when the inferior humanoids were immune. The thing is when it ended, it did NOT feel like a loss.
A couple more Star Trek movies were released that were just barely okay but not Star Trek at all in spirit!
Then in 2017, I saw that Star Trek Discovery and the Orville were coming on. I was excited for Star Trek Discovery and less so for the Orville, which I figured would be a spoof that would try to hard like Galaxy Quest. Boy was I wrong! Star Trek Discovery I aborted just wanting them to kill Michael Bernam. The Orville I vastly enjoyed tremendously in fact! IT WAS and to this day has the spirit of Star Trek alive and well.
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Picard awoke some emotions in me. It really made me miss classic TNG era trek and so much of it had me longing for the story being different though realizing people and stories move on. I was saddened that Data was not back. Somehow, I thought they had a body from B4 and a Backup... At any rate, let me leave this at "I don't want the game to end."
