Contrary to what most people are telling you, I think Picard was ok. Not great, would have been better as a movie perhaps, but it really is not bad. 6/10 I'd say. Yes, it has problems, some really bad, but it also has some really good stuff, which, in the end, for me counted more. I get why some people dislike it, but I feel like the hate it's getting is a bit unfair, and mostly a result of coming after Discovery, which was so bad people just can't shake the hatred for new Trek it gave them.

Now that is just completely untrue. I understand you dislike the show, and some of your points are entirely valid, but this is like you're just reading from some pre-made list of complaints about modern sequels that doesn't actually apply at all.

I still stand by my opinion that Lower Decks is better than Picard or Discovery because writers at least try to follow the canon. Also, some Lower Decks episodes aren't as dumb as the others.
Maybe. I tried to force myself to watch the show but could muster the will to sit only through two episodes. Still, even those two episodes were full of BS like Federation shutting down android research and Romulan Secret Secret Police motivation being "hate and loathing" not some rational.

No, that's 100% true.
MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.

Some of that is part of the (very bad) plot, but there are some things there which are just to make Picard look incompetent. Like when he sits in the captain's chair and then gets up and says he doesn't know how to operate the ship. Of course later he has miraculously learned to fly it by watching the other guy do it.

He tries to keep his composure during the TV interview, he fails.
He tries to convince Starfleet of his cause, he fails.
He tries to convince that drug addict of his cause, he fails.
He tries to protect the girl in the first episode, he fails.
He tries to talk that female lead out of doing things, he fails.
He tries to talk reason to Seven of Nine, he fails.
He tries to have Romulans drop their racist attitude, he fails.
I could go on and on about this,

They have made Picard a complete idiot who can't do anything right.
Even if the plot demands that something goes wrong, they didn't need to have everything go wrong for him. Now he is just a clueless idiot, who by some random chance manages to get just enough done right to move the plot further.

Why does the plot even need Picard?
Other than having a better known actor who can sell the series, there's nothing that demands just his presence.

Of course, Picard being there enables him to have that reunion with Riker, which is an embarrassingly boring segment, as we get to see about 45 minutes how Riker bakes pizza in the forest. They attempt some character development there, but it fails, as the only character that needs to be developed at that point is that female lead, who only gets to say a few random words there.

They could have just used some other plot device for Picard to miraculously escape the danger he was in (as his original plan of getting out obviously fails).


Yeah.
Too bad Secret of Vulcan Fury is never going to see the light of day.
It would be great if whatever got done would leak some day, so we could at least get some feel of how that was supposed to be.

The important difference between dumb shit Federation did in Picard and dumb shit Federation does all the time in Discovery is that in Picard it's meant to be wrong. The whole show is about dealing with a state you believed in failing you, and trying to fix that. Is it done perfectly? Hell no. But it's still lightyears ahead of everyone and everything just being dumb because the writers are idiots and don't realise it in STD and Lower Decks.

But sure, there's some plain bad decisions and problems with Picard. It's absolutely not a great show, it's very flawed. All I'm saying is that it's ok-ish. Today people tend to label everything as the "best/worst thing ever", everything and every reaction has to be extreme. But sometimes something is just somewhere in the middle, and to me that's exactly what Picard is.
You seem to be missing a few facts. Like that he alone holds off the Romulan fleet at the end. He convinces Starfleet to send help and makes it possible for the Fedaration to extend protection to the planet. His determination is the only thing that even makes it possible for his new crew to get there. He gains Soji's trust and convinces her not to unleash the Reavers on the galaxy.

You're acting like you want him to win at everything, from the very start. That's just not how a story works.

I'm sorry but I fail to see the difference. In both cases, the Federation does dumb shit that it doesn't have any reason to do. Same thing with Burnam and Picard themselves, who also do dumb shit that they don't have any reason to do. The only difference is that Burnam's dumb ideas somehow work and Picard's don't - and I don't really know which is worse.

The one thing i will say here is that every series of star trek has dumb moments.

It's a bit like the Doctor who series and remembering the old episodes with rose tinted glasses and saying the new ones are bad because the writers are obviously fumbling about like numpties... then going back and watching an episode where the doctor has an unrepentant hostile aggressive bug race to deal with and being a pacifist there's no way in hell to mesh the two.
Like the idea of trying to rehabilitate an overtly sadistic serial killer with underlying physical brain damage as the cause.
It just won't work as a premise.

I don't want to go back into the longs and shorts of next gen, deep space nine, vovager, the original series, etc. to point out all the shoddy writing that modern adaptations have to work around to keep sort of canon because it would take me quite a lot of time and effort to document effectively; but they are most certainly rougher than what we've got as far as plot & writing.

Well, I literally just explained it, so I can't help you further.

But that's just it - new adaptations don't keep any sort of canon.

Also, "Basics" was one of the few good Voyager episodes.

No, you literally didn't. You just said that Picard is about fixing the state that failed you - which is nonsense as Federation failed Picard in a way it would never do.

I am not missing any facts.

It's not his intelligent or courage that creates the diversion, it's that stupid magical device that creates those illusions.
Also, he doesn't convince those Romulans to back off, Riker does. And why those Romulans choose to back off is another stupid plothole on its own. If they think the fate of all life is at stake, they would fight all the way to the death, as they believe that is going to come anyway. But that's another discussion.

Nobody said about winning everything, you can lose but still be credible about it.


Compare Picard with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
In both cases the former captain has lost some skills because of aging and lack of recent captaining.
In ST2, Kirk does many mistakes, and pays a heavy price for it, but at no point is Kirk an incompetent idiot.


Anyway, let's talk about non-Trek things about Picard.

BIG SPOILER QUESTIONS FOLLOW.

I'M TELLING YOU, THERE WILL BE BIG SPOILERS!!!

OK, the question is: how does it make any sense that there are only two androids that can open that stupid magical portal? Can't they create that knowledge as part of any android?
And if they have somehow (how exactly?!?) kept Data alive in some "matrix", can't they keep a backup copy of those two special androids in that same matrix as well?
And if those two are so special, then why have those two wonder around the galaxy unprotected anyway?
The entire plot just doesn't make ANY sense, no matter how you look at it.

The fact that Picard is an idiot is an annoyance for old Trek fans, but even people who have no prior knowledge of the universe, can't see this plot as being credible in any shape or form.
And if there's some link between Data's consciousness, his "daughters", and that stupid portal, then wouldn't that information be also in that stupid lab where B-4 is disassembled in a box?

What a mess. Garbage.

AND DON'T COMPLAIN THAT YOU WERE SPOILT WHOEVER YOU ARE, I WARNED YOU!!!

Ok.

Ok.

...Macra?

Speaking of, remembering when they went from sentient crabmen to literal giant crabs? Boy, that wasn't a good episode.

This is exactly it in a nutshell.

Same thing for lower decks and everything else they've put out recently. To be aboard a starship you were suppose to be elites, best of the best, highly trained, professional; And nothing like you see in the recent shows. Instead males seem incompetent useless and the butt of jokes and women no matter what they do can do no wrong and are in charge.

Well, not elites, but you were at the very minimum expected to have completed a rigorous program via Starfleet Academy, selected a field of specialty, been psychologically probed from San Fran to Tokyo, and only then hope to qualify for their assignments.

Of course, for the greater part of Trek, we were watching flag officers; those who had earned their way though tough assignments or upgraded from "mundane" science vessels. Watching Ensign Albert of the Clutter Class USS Garbage Scow isn't exactly going to thrill focus groups. :p