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Patrick Stewart has returned to the Star Trek fold as Jean-Luc Picard for the first time on-screen since 2002 film Nemesis .
The new series, which will air in the UK on Amazon Prime Video, centres on the Enterprise captain who will be rubbing shoulders with some familiar faces in forthcoming episodes.
Reviews of the spin-off show are in and, nostalgia aside, it seems critics are impressed by what they’ve seen.
Below is a compilation of the verdicts so far.
The Telegraph
“Stewart acts his socks off in Picard . It’s a freight train performance from one of our great Shakespearean actors. He re-imagines the once steely captain of the Enterprise as a melancholic and haunted figure drifting unhappily into his twilight years. There are moments you’re not quite sure if it’s Star Trek you’re watching or a high concept take on King Lear . B ut, in this age of Marvel movies and bare-bum fantasy romps, is that enough to restore Star Trek to its previous pre-eminence? The answer, judging from the first episode of Star Trek: Picard , is 'probably'. Though perhaps not as emphatically and irresistibly as fans will wish.”
20 best Amazon Prime original TV showsShow all 20 1 /2020 best Amazon Prime original TV shows 20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Bosch Despite being largely unknown outside of its devoted fanbase, Bosch is in many respects Amazon’s flagship drama – one of its longest-running and most interesting series, built around a rare and much deserved starring role for character actor Titus Welliver. Inspired by Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch novels, it is a grizzled and grimy contemporary noir, with Bosch a gruff LA detective caught up in child murder, sex rings and police brutality.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows The Boys Grim, nihilistic and incredibly funny, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s adults-only superhero thriller was adapted from a cult comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, and has proven to be one of Amazon’s biggest successes. Set within a world dominated by superhero corporations and two rival factions of super-powered beings, it has tackled sex, violence, masculinity and feelings of emotional disillusionment so far.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows The Expanse Worth catching up with before it arrives on Amazon for its fourth season this December, The Expanse, formerly broadcast on SyFy, has found a significant following due to its intergalactic space intrigue and real-world relevance. Set within a fragile intergalactic union between Earth, Mars and the asteroid belt, it features an ensemble cast of compelling character actors that has included Thomas Jane, Steven Strait, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Elizabeth Mitchell.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Forever A surreal, polarising dark comedy from Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph, Forever divided audiences throughout its first and only season. But it is unapologetically daring and oddball television regardless of where you stand on it. Armisen and Rudolph are a dull couple who have lived in a form of marital stasis for more than a decade, before both dying tragically. What follows is a series about second chances, renewed feelings of purpose, and the upside of the afterlife.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Homecoming Homecoming is a compelling mystery thriller filled with Hitchcockian visual flourishes and a central performance from Julia Roberts that practically defines star power. From the wild brain of Mr Robot creator Sam Esmail, it stars Roberts as an employee of a mysterious government facility, and is awash with conspiracies, repressed memories and paranoia. A second season, which sees Roberts succeeded in the leading role by none other than funk visionary Janelle Monáe, is due in 2020.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Good Girls Revolt Despite being cancelled before it was able to truly flourish, Good Girls Revolt is still a treat. A less refined Mad Men entirely fronted by women, it was inspired by the female rebellion within the corridors of Newsweek Magazine in 1970, with a trio of young researchers deciding the revolution occurring in the streets should be replicated in the workplace, too. of young researchers deciding the revolution occurring in the streets should be replicated in the workplace, too.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Good Omens Everything was thrown into the pot for this Neil Gaiman adaptation, and with good reason. A gleefully messy battle of wits between good and evil, Good Omens cast Michael Sheen and David Tennant respectively as their eccentric physical embodiments – long-time friends despite their duelling purposes, who must prevent the coming apocalypse. Surrounding them is a cast of cult favourites, from Frances McDormand as God to Jon Hamm as the Archangel Gabriel. duelling purposes, who must prevent the coming apocalypse. Surrounding them was a cast of cult favourites, from Frances McDormand as God to Jon Hamm as the Archangel Gabriel.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows I Love Dick This adaptation of Chris Kraus’s seminal and polarising 1997 novel was never going to be widely embraced, particularly when it was long argued to be unfilmable anyway. But the resulting series, a short-lived intellectual adventure featuring startling, brilliant work from Kathryn Hahn and Kevin Bacon, is still worth seeking out. Hahn is Chris, an artist and filmmaker shackled to her academic husband and underwhelmed by life; Bacon is Dick, an artist and philosopher who unravels Chris’s sexual repression and artistic boundaries. work from Kathryn Hahn and Kevin Bacon, is still worth seeking out. Hahn is Chris, an artist and filmmaker shackled to her academic husband and underwhelmed by life – Bacon is Dick, an artist and philosopher who unravels Chris’s sexual repression and artistic boundaries.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows The Man in the High Castle This alternate-history thriller takes a while to find its feet, despite brilliant source material in Philip K Dick’s terrifying 1962 novel of the same name. Don’t let that put you off, though. The Man in the High Castle is still propulsive entertainment, driven by narrative conundrums, scenery-stealing villains and a sprawling cast of characters.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows The Marvellous Mrs Maisel Currently the jewel in Amazon’s crown, The Marvellous Mrs Maisel has proven to be a bigger hit with awards ceremonies than it has with actual audiences. But it was also never going to be a serious zeitgeist breakout, either, with creator Amy Sherman-Palladino retaining the lightning-fast dialogue of her series Gilmore Girls, and the show driven by the niche specifics of Fifties stand-up comedy. It is very good, though, and in the starring role of an aspiring comedian slowly climbing the ranks, Rachel Brosnahan is a revelation.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Modern Love Modern Love is a gentle, funny throwback to classic Nineties romantic comedies about wealthy New Yorkers plagued with problems of the heart. Inspired by the much-adored New York Times column, it is glossy, tender and endlessly charming, as well as stacked with a A-listers including Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, Dev Patel and Andy Garcia.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Mozart in the Jungle The epitome of a smart, unassuming comedy, Mozart in the Jungle quietly chugged away in the background before being cancelled after four seasons. It has an intriguingly unique premise (the soapy romantic entanglements of musicians in the New York Symphony) and a dreamy cast that includes Gael Garcia Bernal, Malcolm McDowell, Lola Kirke and Bernadette Peters. It's talky and low-key and very New York – think Woody Allen without any real-world baggage – and stays charming for the entirety of its run.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows One Mississippi An autobiographical vehicle for comedian Tig Notaro, One Mississippi is today something of a relic, embodying Amazon’s early interest in downbeat, female-driven comedies designed for niche audiences. It’s quietly brilliant, with Notaro a radio host returning to her hometown and dealing with her mother’s death and her own health traumas and feelings of grief.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Red Oaks Red Oaks is wonderful as both a silly pastiche of John Hughes movies, and as a heartwarming tale of young adulthood and discovering your passions. Starring Submarine’s Craig Roberts as a New Jersey college student working for a country club during the summer, it feels like a deliberate throwback to the coming-of-age tales crafted by Richard Linklater and Cameron Crowe.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows The Romanoffs Matthew Weiner’s expensive follow-up to Mad Men was a polarising affair, an anthology series that swung haphazardly between enormous highs and middling lows. But it was always captivating, with a consistent sense of urgency and confidence and a cast direct from the gods. Isabelle Huppert, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Diane Lane, Aaron Eckhart and Kathryn Hahn were among the names tasked with being tart, neurotic and moneyed.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Sneaky Pete A twisty family drama underpinned by cons and betrayals, Sneaky Pete is in many ways a throwback to the glossy US dramas of the late Nineties and early Noughties – with small, self-contained stories serenaded by larger story arcs. At its centre is Giovanni Ribisi’s fresh-from-jail con man, whose impersonation of his cellmate and subsequent immersion into the man’s estranged family gives the show its pulse. Margo Martindale, that most ubiquitous of great supporting actors, is his “grandmother”, and unsurprisingly steals the show on a regular basis.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows The Tick Cruelly cancelled in 2001, and then cruelly cancelled again just as it was hitting its stride on Amazon, Ben Edlund’s The Tick is a delicious, hyper-real satire adapted from his own cult comic book. The latest version stars British comic Peter Serafinowicz as a superhero sporting an enormous blue muscle-suit and determined to fight crime. Broadcast in easily digestible half-hour chunks, this is a smart, inventive comedy very much worth your time.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Doing exactly what it promised on the tin, Amazon’s Jack Ryan adaptation delivers action, spectacle and all-American patriotism, with John Krasinski upending all pre-existing expectations in his role as the heroic CIA analyst of the title.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Too Old to Die Young Despite coming and going with surprisingly little fanfare considering the cult filmmaker responsible for it, Too Old to Die Young was one of the coolest shows of last summer, with Drive’s Nicolas Winding Refn presenting another murky slice of surreal, neon-soaked LA noir. Part crime drama and part horror movie, the limited series sees Miles Teller play a grieving cop embroiled in an underworld odyssey. Jena Malone, John Hawkes and William Baldwin are among the freaks and monsters he encountered along the way.
Amazon Studios
20 best Amazon Prime original TV shows Transparent Transparent has been mired in disappointing controversy since the misconduct allegations levelled at star Jeffrey Tambor, and his subsequent firing from the series. But it still remains one of the most important TV shows of the past decade – a moving, heartfelt depiction of trans identity that grew stronger and more politically astute as it went on.
Amazon Studios
Variety
“The series seems, at first, so tentative. But it moves within three hours to a place that promises as much excitement and movement as there already has been insight into its beaten-down protagonist, a show that suggests it’ll be worth sticking around for.”
The New York Times
“Picard , the second streaming Star Trek series (after Star Trek: Discovery ), is a peak-TV experience, and it immediately feels – on the surface, at least – as if it could be the franchise’s best small-screen offering.”
Radio Times
“Far from just being a nostalgia-ridden vehicle for Patrick Stewart (though it certainly is that as well), Picard is brilliant – it’s fun, imaginative and full of the ethical quandaries that made The Next Generation such a great watch, along with a newly involving, emotional and thematically rich story that acts both as a sequel to the world of The Next Generation and a comment on our own society. Already, I’m desperate to see more.”
Rolling Stone
“Stewart returning to the role would be reason enough to watch, but this is an actual show, rather than a greatest hits collection. By the time this older Picard actually says ‘Engage’ in a scene, it is not in any way pandering, but something Star Trek: Picard and its great star have entirely earned. And it’s a joy to behold.”
Star Trek: Picard wil be released in weekly instalments on Amazon Prime Video from 24 January.
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