From Skywalker to Picard, a host of famous names are coming out of retirement for gloomy final missions. Canīt we let them lie?The last time we saw Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewartīs venerable Starfleet captain, he was aboard a box-fresh Enterprise at the end of 2002īs Star Trek: Nemesis, ready to continue boldly going where no man has gone before. Goody-two-shoes android Data was dead. William Riker, Picardīs ever-reliable No 1, had flown the roost to command a ship of his own. It was a bittersweet send-off for Picard: never mind that Nemesis wasnīt a great film, really only notable for a young Tom Hardyīs up-to-11 mugging as an evil Picard clone, its denouement succeeded in tying a graceful bow around the arc of Stewartīs character. In the imaginations of fans he lived out his days in happiness, whizzing amiably around the galaxy, or pottering about his vineyard getting gently sozzled. Fifteen years after it arrived on TV, Star Trekīs Next Generation had reached a satisfying end.Or not, as it turns out. Picard is back in a new big-budget Trek series called, well, Picard, and it transpires Jean-Lucīs dotage wasnīt quite as relaxing as we hoped. `I was haunted by my past,` Stewart intones solemnly in a trailer, `but now I have a mission.` The Federation of Planets, whose values of honour and equality Picard has spent a lifetime upholding, has apparently taken an alarming turn for the Brexit, and our erstwhile captain is wrenched from well-earned retirement into a gritty, sweary, violent new Trek universe. It all looks to be a rather serious affair. And while itīs goose-pimplingly lovely seeing Sir Pat back in the Starfleet-issue spandex that made him Forbidden Planet royalty, itīs a joy tempered with betrayal, because it means Nemesisīs ending - the one the character and audience both deserved - has been effectively nullified. There are no conclusive happily-ever-afters for our beloved heroes of sci-fi and fantasy. Welcome to the era of the `bleakquel`. Continu ...
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