Okay the bit in the TNG finale that really rubs me the wrong way (and it is just the one bit – given the constraints that finale did come out pretty damn alright) is the bit ten minutes from the end where the earliest of the three timelines hits its climax as Picard tries to persuade the pre-pilot crew to go into the big light thing to save the day. According to its writers the finale is all about the changes and developments and relationships between the characters, and the 'jumping through time' construct is a really great way to do that, but why have a third timeline in pre-pilot times?
There's an obvious place to go to highlight the development: these people don't know each other yet. They don't trust each other yet. They're all kinda stand-offish and abrasive and unsure. The crew isn't complete yet and the ship isn't broken in yet. All these things that let you say, "damn, it sure was episodic but you can't say that crew/ship didn't gel very successfully over seven years".
But then, ten minutes from the end, in the climax, Picard says "look, I know nothing, but I know you guys are great, so trust me" and it... works? And the plan works too? Why? How?
It makes me feel stupid for thinking things have changed. The crew trusts Picard enough in the future to start fights with angry Klingons, but it turns out they trusted him about as much before they knew him? The jumped up future Enterprise is damn fine, but the ship was just as capable on day 1? The only growth moment they highlight is Data, who delivers the same information three times, but with a slightly less robotic affect each time, which, uh
Ah, but this is Picard's story, so maybe the change is that he trusts the crew now. But was that ever in doubt? I don't remember any story where he's struggling to trust the people around him, so why the big long speech so close to the end? Who's it for?
Did we really do the nostalgia run just so we could see Denise Crosby, Colm Meaney, that bloody miniskirt, and that trial set again?
Reply from John Colagioia
It's been a long time since I saw All Good Things and a while before my re-watch gets there. But I can suggest two possible uses for this, though "nostalgia run" isn't something that I'd put past the writers, either.
First, the most useful mental model that I've ever heard for TNG is that it's basically an old family comedy, where the health of everything depends on how the patriarch cares for the family. Sometimes, that bubbles to the surface, like the end of Booby Trap, which is almost literally the space version of "despite the darkness and the storm, Dad drove the car to safety."
Less cynically, I don't know how much healthier he gets in the series, yet, but he definitely starts the series as emotionally repressed, autocratic, and constantly dismissive of everyone, so retroactively softening him for a minute could explain why these people follow this Space Archie Bunker like lost puppies.
Reply from me
He definitely softens up and becomes more pleasant as the show goes on, giving him about as solid an arc on TNG as was enjoyed by the bridge set lighting...
But, like the lighting, I think it was a less a case of deliberate growth than it was the show's finding its feet and figuring itself out. Still, the finale could've been taking advantage of that. Perhaps this crew wouldn't have trusted series 1 Picard as he demanded they drive into the brilliant corona of light, but, like, maybe they would've? They're not going to mutiny, are they? I doubt Troi had it in her. We can imagine this version of the story where it makes all the difference, but in the absence of some hook that makes it certain I feel like I'm being too kind.
Maybe if Picard had mentioned things he knew now that he didn't know then? Made specific reference to skills he knew his bridge crew had? "Ah but O'Brien, I've seen you beam like no one has ever beamed before. And Denise? You're going to make history as the first blonde Romulan." Ah, but he made a big song and dance about not revealing anything about the future in that time period in case he changed the future, and that was clearly a more important concern than the end of humanity (?).
Yeah; I'm going the cynic route on this one.