Soldato
To me it all felt a bit rushed. Too predictable.
Star Trek: Picard
- Thread starter glenimp617
- Start date
Soldato
Right. Gonna do a watch commentary for this one 
Usual deal - stream of consciousness, but tidied after the fact.
Usual deal - stream of consciousness, but tidied after the fact.1) Ominous title is ominous.
2) Insert standard JRS gripe about the pointlessness of recaps here.
3) Enterprise battering along at warp.
4) Federation president is a descendent of Chekov
5) Situation looking grim.
6) "There are always possibilities". A Spock line, and one that Anton's father Pavel would have been very familiar with as Spock's protégé in TOS. Hooray for continuity!
7) In another "hooray for continuity!" moment, how reminiscent this is of the Federation president warning everyone away from Earth when the Cetacean probe came calling in ST IV. Clearly a long-standing protocol.
8) "Apparently we are the cavalry." I love that line so bloody much
9) Quick pause. Can I just say, watching this crew work together on the bridge of the starship Enterprise, that this is all we as fans ever wanted? I know Sir Pat was very dubious about re-treading of old ground, and the showrunners early on were only too happy to do something very different. But this is what we wanted. Yeah, the stakes and jeopardy are higher than your average TNG episode. Yeah, the crew are older and more worn (La Forge excepted, 'cause black don't crack). But it's a crew. Not a collection of personality faults strung loosely together by a common uniform.
10) A Borg signal from the vicinity of Jupiter. Looks like the VFX team are about to get a workout.
11) Called it. God that ship is pretty...
12) Borg hiding out in Jupiter, not just in orbit of it. Hell of a place to park!
13) The signal. And at the heart of it, Jack. His terminal case of the stupids responsible for the crisis.
14) Picard knows what needs to be done. I don't want to hear any wanging on from fandumb about Sir Pat lacking gravitas in this episode.
15) "What began over 35 years ago ends tonight!"...chills. And a very "The line must be drawn here!" moment.
16) If I may indulge in a spot of poetry:
'Boldly they rode and well
Into the jaws of Death
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the seven on the Enterprise.'
17) Courage fanfare makes me happy.
18) Meanwhile at Earth, Spacedock taking one hell of a beating.
19) Borgified crew on the Titan.
20) Seven runnin' and gunnin'.
21) The bridge seems like a really lousy place to have a firefight, considering it's so bloody dark that you can't see anything. *breathe*
22) Oh, neat trick. Beamed the Borgified crew off the bridge.
23) Grinning at this exchange between the cook and Seven. He's really the only one they've got left with pilot training, huh?
24) Back at Jupiter. Data giving the rundown on how much of the cube is operational.
25) Troi doing her empath bit. And Data, of all people, talking about the misery the Borg have inflicted. His journey towards humanity is pretty much complete.
26) Jack is there, but "totally consumed by the Collective".
27) Worf making a good point, and immediately shouted down. So this is definitely like TNG all over again
28) The Borg inviting the Enterprise in. The arrogance of the Queen always was their downfall.
29) A plan. Not a great plan, but a plan nonetheless.
30) Crusher getting to do doctor-y things.
31) A rather lovely moment between Picard and Crusher.
32) Riker and Worf stepping up. Data desperate to go along as well, but needed on the ship.
33) Pausing, because I'm honestly tearing up. Picard laying out a plan, addressing "Number One" and "Mr Worf". Like I said at 9), this is a starship crew.
34) "Mr La Forge, you have the bridge." For an example of just how good Geordi is in the centre seat, watch TNG's "The Arsenal of Freedom".
35) Significant look between Riker and Troi. Already lost too much, those two.
36) "It's been an honour serving with you all." Oh God, the feels.
37) Blue-tinge transporter effect, because Enterprise-D.
38) Riker puzzled at the lack of action on the cube.
39) Cute dialogue between him and Worf.
40) "You don't leave the doors open if you want to keep the wolves out." A Picard line that slaps.
41) Another quick pause after that. So, season one was intermittently pretty good. Season two less so, but still had moments. Where was this level of writing for those two seasons though? And, really, where has it been for almost all of STD? I'll have to hit up Memory Alpha when the episode is over to see if there's any connections in the writing staff from this to other nuTrek seasons, because I'd swear that a whole different team was responsible for this (***edit*** coming back to this, checked on Memory Alpha. Terry Matalas, the showrunner for this season, both wrote and directed this episode).
42) Decomposing Borg
Perhaps their journey in Trek from 'technovores' to 'space zombies' has taken another step.
43) The Boys From The Enterprise figuring it out.
44) Oh heck. Picard's gonna do something fatherly.
45) Emotional dialogue is emotional.
46) More emotional dialogue.
47) Comm interference has increased. Picard is alone now.
48) Jack. Assimilated, with a cranial implant that's quite reminiscent of the Locutus one.
49) And here's Queenie. What's left of her at any rate.
50) Well now. How are you getting everyone out of this one Jean-Luc?
51) The Borgified Starfleet armada still pounding away at Spacedock.
52) Seven and crew have spotted the Enterprise on sensors at Jupiter, along with the Borg.
53) Seven also quick on the uptake re: the Enterprise and the lack of fleet integration.
54) Exposition from Raffi. Seems like rather a weaksauce weakness for the hijacked fleet integration signal that the Borg are using to need line-of-sight, but what the hell.
55) Seven trying the prefix code, because it's always worth a shot.
56) And now doing her version of a Picard Speech™
57) Titan going under cloak. And can I just say how much I love that the cloaking effect is basically identical to that of the Bounty from ST III and IV? Hooray for continuity!
58) Back with Picard, and he's angry.
59) Phasering is futile.
60) Expository back-and-forth.
61) You tried this one before Picard, back in April of 2063.
62) Meanwhile, Riker and Worf. That tricorder sound effect is very familiar
63) Spot of Treknobabble.
64) Ruh roh Raggy, Borg drone waking up!
65) Picard still raging at the Queen.
66) "Your future's end." More "First Contact" referencing. Hooray for continuity!
67) Back at the fleet, and the Titan going on the attack.
68) Riker and Worf about to flip the switch.
69) Sex position joke.
70) Borg drones coming online though.
71) Picard and Queenie still expositing.
72) The Borg have evolved.
73) Borgified Titan crew escaping the transporter room.
74) Riker and Worf going Bash Brothers against the drones.
75) Enterprise taking fire from the cube.
76) Well, no plan ever survives the battlefield I guess. Especially when the plan is 'go confront the Borg'.
77) Oh, that's amusing Riker realising just how heavy that blade that Worf swings around so casually actually is.
78) And that it has another weapon in the hilt.
79) Titan still firing.
80) Almost took a torpedo as it was re-cloaking. Tidy bit of flying by the cook, that.
81) Running out of time.
82) Riker taking out the drones.
83) Enterprise still getting rocked. Crusher at the weapons console, and if this sounds like a bad idea then remember a few things. First, Crusher is irretrievably ****** off about Jack. Second, Crusher has form destroying Borg ships. Third, when Crusher points a weapon she does not miss. Ever. Any time she pulled the trigger in TNG she hit what she was aiming at.
84) Enterprise strutting her stuff. It was always a shame that the story often didn't let her be a properly badass starship in TNG. Here though, she's throwing hands
85) Rest of the crew looking at Crusher in stunned silence after she wipes out a fair portion of the Borg weaponry Makes you wonder if she shouldn't have swapped roles with Worf back in the day. After all, he was a perfectly good midwife to Keiko O'Brien
86) Amusing dialogue between Riker and Worf.
87) Welp, you know where the beacon is. Now what?
88) I like that from Geordi. Noting that "no computer, not even my daughter" could do the navigating and flying required to get there. A proud dad
89) Significant look from Data...
90) Data imploring them to trust his gut. Data has a gut. Shades of that moment in IV when Spock announced that he'd be using his 'best guess' to get them back to their time.
91) Oh, it's on.
92) Okay, so it's Star Wars and the attack on the second Death Star in "...Jedi" all over again. But I'll allow it, because it's so God damned cool
93) "Why am I sensing enjoyment?" And then Data's face. Oh God, it's all so perfectly written and played. And then the score goes full Goldsmith, and I just want to weep with joy.
94) Spacedock and planetary shields are finally gone. And the Spacedock has taken catastrophic damage.
95) Time's up. Fleet targeting the planet.
96) Cloak is out. Titan is visible again.
97) Borgified Titan crew destroyed the cloaking device. No respect for relics it seems.
98) Picard going to try to reach Jack.
99) And sever his link to the Collective and the Queen, who wangs on about how it'll kill him.
100) Things turning to worms on the Titan.
101) Data still doing his fancy flying act.
102) Now that's got the Queen worried.
103) They've made it to the centre. But destroying the beacon will blow everything up.
104) Now would really be a good time to find another option. But what?
105) Riker and Worf going to go after Picard.
106) "There was a moment today where I was worried we might actually survive." Classic Worf
107) Picard going to plug himself into the Collective to go after Jack. And the Queen goes from 'worried' to 'very afraid indeed'.
108) Some more "First Contact" flashbacks.
109) Picard is in the Matrix.
110) With Jack.
111) Who is consumed with the Collective.
112) Picard Speech™.
113) Jack is stuck
114) La Forge giving the order to fire
115) *boom*
116) Worf happy that he's seemingly getting the glorious death that any Klingon would want.
117) Picard still right with his son in the Matrix.
118) Jack distraught.
119) He's just figuring out the meaning of family. As did Picard.
120) And rips himself and Picard out of the Collective.
121) Troi about to find Riker using the Power of Love. Or her Betazoid abilities. It's one of the two anyway.
122) Uh oh. Any time Troi gets into that seat it ends with the ship crashing into a planet, or another ship.
123) "It's done. The time of the Borg is over!" Jack done with Queenie's crap.
124) Attempted Breaking Speech by Queenie completely fails to land. Jack's not alone. He's Jean-Luc Picard's son.
125) My God, that's a big ship.
126) Big Damn Heroes. Oh, sorry, wrong franchise. Still though.
127) The fleet going to respond to last instruction given, so still weapons locked on Earth.
128) Queenie dead. Borg cube going boom. As the Enterprise sails clear, shields glowing. They don't build 'em like they used to!
129) If the end of Picard S1 was about righting the wrongs of Data's stupid death in "Nemesis", then this end of S3 has been about righting the wrongs of the death of the Enterprise-D in "Generations".
130) Borgified crew reverting to normal.
131) There's gonna be some PTSD after all that. At least it'll be more realistic than all of the psychological issues in STD's character sheet.
132) Seven gets to be all motherly. Cute.
133) Reunions on the bridge of the Enterprise. More cuteness. Mother and son. Husband and wife. Best friends. Father and daughters, at least over comm link.
134) And Worf's gone to sleep
Man's had a tiring day!
135) "Welcome to the Enterprise." Sobbing.
136) A Riker Captain's Log.
137) Aw, I was really hoping that they'd get Colm Meaney in as O'Brien to do the transporter trickery and purge the Borg modifications.
138) Tuvok The real one this time.
139) There to presumably 'punish' her hijacking of the Titan by giving her command of a ship, since that's what Starfleet does when you save Earth.
140) Seven resigning.
141) Shaw reviewing her from beyond the grave. In glowing terms.
142) "Resignation denied, Captain." Lovely moment, and called it at 139).
143) Raffi reconnecting with family. Interrupted by Zen master Worf.
144) Who leaked Raffi's immense service record to the news, hence her reconnection.
145) Troi counselling Data
146) Or, at least, being in a room looking at holiday destinations on her PADD while he chatters away
147) A year on, and there's the Enterprise-D at the Museum dock.
148) A very 'meta' conversation between Picard, Riker and La Forge.
149) Gaaahhhhhh. The feels. The Goldsmith score.
150) They got Spacedock rebuilt PDQ.
151) The Picard family on their way. Jack pacing nervously.
152) A short Picard Speech.
153) Not the Titan. But now the Enterprise-G.
154) "Names mean almost everything."
155) Cuteness on the bridge.
156) And we'll never get to hear what Seven uses as her 'go' command.
157) The TNG crew drinking in the bar.
158) Data still doesn't get to finish that dirty limerick from "The Naked Now" (hooray for continuity!). David Gerrold, who wrote that episode, appropriated it from another of his works "The War Against the Chtorr". Goes like this:
Definitely not one for repeating uncensored in polite company!
159) Picard in full flow, quoting Shakespeare.
160) Card game! Now it's a TNG party.
161) The perfect end for them. Seven friends, a table, drinks, and that tune. Roll credits.
162) But wait! Modern TV, so there's a mid-credits scene. Jack decorating his quarters. And there's a visitor. Q!
163) Jack's trial is just beginning.
164) And so the adventure continues.
2) Insert standard JRS gripe about the pointlessness of recaps here.
3) Enterprise battering along at warp.
4) Federation president is a descendent of Chekov
5) Situation looking grim.
6) "There are always possibilities". A Spock line, and one that Anton's father Pavel would have been very familiar with as Spock's protégé in TOS. Hooray for continuity!
7) In another "hooray for continuity!" moment, how reminiscent this is of the Federation president warning everyone away from Earth when the Cetacean probe came calling in ST IV. Clearly a long-standing protocol.
8) "Apparently we are the cavalry." I love that line so bloody much
9) Quick pause. Can I just say, watching this crew work together on the bridge of the starship Enterprise, that this is all we as fans ever wanted? I know Sir Pat was very dubious about re-treading of old ground, and the showrunners early on were only too happy to do something very different. But this is what we wanted. Yeah, the stakes and jeopardy are higher than your average TNG episode. Yeah, the crew are older and more worn (La Forge excepted, 'cause black don't crack
). But it's a crew. Not a collection of personality faults strung loosely together by a common uniform.10) A Borg signal from the vicinity of Jupiter. Looks like the VFX team are about to get a workout.
11) Called it. God that ship is pretty...
12) Borg hiding out in Jupiter, not just in orbit of it. Hell of a place to park!
13) The signal. And at the heart of it, Jack. His terminal case of the stupids responsible for the crisis.
14) Picard knows what needs to be done. I don't want to hear any wanging on from fandumb about Sir Pat lacking gravitas in this episode.
15) "What began over 35 years ago ends tonight!"...chills. And a very "The line must be drawn here!" moment.
16) If I may indulge in a spot of poetry:
'Boldly they rode and well
Into the jaws of Death
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the seven on the Enterprise.'
17) Courage fanfare makes me happy.
18) Meanwhile at Earth, Spacedock taking one hell of a beating.
19) Borgified crew on the Titan.
20) Seven runnin' and gunnin'.
21) The bridge seems like a really lousy place to have a firefight, considering it's so bloody dark that you can't see anything. *breathe*
22) Oh, neat trick. Beamed the Borgified crew off the bridge.
23) Grinning at this exchange between the cook and Seven. He's really the only one they've got left with pilot training, huh?
24) Back at Jupiter. Data giving the rundown on how much of the cube is operational.
25) Troi doing her empath bit. And Data, of all people, talking about the misery the Borg have inflicted. His journey towards humanity is pretty much complete.
26) Jack is there, but "totally consumed by the Collective".
27) Worf making a good point, and immediately shouted down. So this is definitely like TNG all over again
28) The Borg inviting the Enterprise in. The arrogance of the Queen always was their downfall.
29) A plan. Not a great plan, but a plan nonetheless.
30) Crusher getting to do doctor-y things.
31) A rather lovely moment between Picard and Crusher.
32) Riker and Worf stepping up. Data desperate to go along as well, but needed on the ship.
33) Pausing, because I'm honestly tearing up. Picard laying out a plan, addressing "Number One" and "Mr Worf". Like I said at 9), this is a starship crew.
34) "Mr La Forge, you have the bridge." For an example of just how good Geordi is in the centre seat, watch TNG's "The Arsenal of Freedom".
35) Significant look between Riker and Troi. Already lost too much, those two.
36) "It's been an honour serving with you all." Oh God, the feels.
37) Blue-tinge transporter effect, because Enterprise-D.
38) Riker puzzled at the lack of action on the cube.
39) Cute dialogue between him and Worf.
40) "You don't leave the doors open if you want to keep the wolves out." A Picard line that slaps.
41) Another quick pause after that. So, season one was intermittently pretty good. Season two less so, but still had moments. Where was this level of writing for those two seasons though? And, really, where has it been for almost all of STD? I'll have to hit up Memory Alpha when the episode is over to see if there's any connections in the writing staff from this to other nuTrek seasons, because I'd swear that a whole different team was responsible for this (***edit*** coming back to this, checked on Memory Alpha. Terry Matalas, the showrunner for this season, both wrote and directed this episode).
42) Decomposing Borg
Perhaps their journey in Trek from 'technovores' to 'space zombies' has taken another step.43) The Boys From The Enterprise figuring it out.
44) Oh heck. Picard's gonna do something fatherly.
45) Emotional dialogue is emotional.
46) More emotional dialogue.
47) Comm interference has increased. Picard is alone now.
48) Jack. Assimilated, with a cranial implant that's quite reminiscent of the Locutus one.
49) And here's Queenie. What's left of her at any rate.
50) Well now. How are you getting everyone out of this one Jean-Luc?
51) The Borgified Starfleet armada still pounding away at Spacedock.
52) Seven and crew have spotted the Enterprise on sensors at Jupiter, along with the Borg.
53) Seven also quick on the uptake re: the Enterprise and the lack of fleet integration.
54) Exposition from Raffi. Seems like rather a weaksauce weakness for the hijacked fleet integration signal that the Borg are using to need line-of-sight, but what the hell.
55) Seven trying the prefix code, because it's always worth a shot.
56) And now doing her version of a Picard Speech™
57) Titan going under cloak. And can I just say how much I love that the cloaking effect is basically identical to that of the Bounty from ST III and IV? Hooray for continuity!
58) Back with Picard, and he's angry.
59) Phasering is futile.
60) Expository back-and-forth.
61) You tried this one before Picard, back in April of 2063.
62) Meanwhile, Riker and Worf. That tricorder sound effect is very familiar
63) Spot of Treknobabble.
64) Ruh roh Raggy, Borg drone waking up!
65) Picard still raging at the Queen.
66) "Your future's end." More "First Contact" referencing. Hooray for continuity!
67) Back at the fleet, and the Titan going on the attack.
68) Riker and Worf about to flip the switch.
69) Sex position joke.
70) Borg drones coming online though.
71) Picard and Queenie still expositing.
72) The Borg have evolved.
73) Borgified Titan crew escaping the transporter room.
74) Riker and Worf going Bash Brothers against the drones.
75) Enterprise taking fire from the cube.
76) Well, no plan ever survives the battlefield I guess. Especially when the plan is 'go confront the Borg'.
77) Oh, that's amusing
Riker realising just how heavy that blade that Worf swings around so casually actually is.78) And that it has another weapon in the hilt.
79) Titan still firing.
80) Almost took a torpedo as it was re-cloaking. Tidy bit of flying by the cook, that.
81) Running out of time.
82) Riker taking out the drones.
83) Enterprise still getting rocked. Crusher at the weapons console, and if this sounds like a bad idea then remember a few things. First, Crusher is irretrievably ****** off about Jack. Second, Crusher has form destroying Borg ships. Third, when Crusher points a weapon she does not miss. Ever. Any time she pulled the trigger in TNG she hit what she was aiming at.
84) Enterprise strutting her stuff. It was always a shame that the story often didn't let her be a properly badass starship in TNG. Here though, she's throwing hands
85) Rest of the crew looking at Crusher in stunned silence after she wipes out a fair portion of the Borg weaponry
Makes you wonder if she shouldn't have swapped roles with Worf back in the day. After all, he was a perfectly good midwife to Keiko O'Brien 86) Amusing dialogue between Riker and Worf.
87) Welp, you know where the beacon is. Now what?
88) I like that from Geordi. Noting that "no computer, not even my daughter" could do the navigating and flying required to get there. A proud dad
89) Significant look from Data...
90) Data imploring them to trust his gut. Data has a gut. Shades of that moment in IV when Spock announced that he'd be using his 'best guess' to get them back to their time.
91) Oh, it's on.
92) Okay, so it's Star Wars and the attack on the second Death Star in "...Jedi" all over again. But I'll allow it, because it's so God damned cool
93) "Why am I sensing enjoyment?" And then Data's face. Oh God, it's all so perfectly written and played. And then the score goes full Goldsmith, and I just want to weep with joy.
94) Spacedock and planetary shields are finally gone. And the Spacedock has taken catastrophic damage.
95) Time's up. Fleet targeting the planet.
96) Cloak is out. Titan is visible again.
97) Borgified Titan crew destroyed the cloaking device. No respect for relics it seems.
98) Picard going to try to reach Jack.
99) And sever his link to the Collective and the Queen, who wangs on about how it'll kill him.
100) Things turning to worms on the Titan.
101) Data still doing his fancy flying act.
102) Now that's got the Queen worried.
103) They've made it to the centre. But destroying the beacon will blow everything up.
104) Now would really be a good time to find another option. But what?
105) Riker and Worf going to go after Picard.
106) "There was a moment today where I was worried we might actually survive." Classic Worf
107) Picard going to plug himself into the Collective to go after Jack. And the Queen goes from 'worried' to 'very afraid indeed'.
108) Some more "First Contact" flashbacks.
109) Picard is in the Matrix.
110) With Jack.
111) Who is consumed with the Collective.
112) Picard Speech™.
113) Jack is stuck
114) La Forge giving the order to fire
115) *boom*
116) Worf happy that he's seemingly getting the glorious death that any Klingon would want.
117) Picard still right with his son in the Matrix.
118) Jack distraught.
119) He's just figuring out the meaning of family. As did Picard.
120) And rips himself and Picard out of the Collective.
121) Troi about to find Riker using the Power of Love. Or her Betazoid abilities. It's one of the two anyway.
122) Uh oh. Any time Troi gets into that seat it ends with the ship crashing into a planet, or another ship.
123) "It's done. The time of the Borg is over!" Jack done with Queenie's crap.
124) Attempted Breaking Speech by Queenie completely fails to land. Jack's not alone. He's Jean-Luc Picard's son.
125) My God, that's a big ship.
126) Big Damn Heroes. Oh, sorry, wrong franchise. Still though.
127) The fleet going to respond to last instruction given, so still weapons locked on Earth.
128) Queenie dead. Borg cube going boom. As the Enterprise sails clear, shields glowing. They don't build 'em like they used to!
129) If the end of Picard S1 was about righting the wrongs of Data's stupid death in "Nemesis", then this end of S3 has been about righting the wrongs of the death of the Enterprise-D in "Generations".
130) Borgified crew reverting to normal.
131) There's gonna be some PTSD after all that. At least it'll be more realistic than all of the psychological issues in STD's character sheet.
132) Seven gets to be all motherly. Cute.
133) Reunions on the bridge of the Enterprise. More cuteness. Mother and son. Husband and wife. Best friends. Father and daughters, at least over comm link.
134) And Worf's gone to sleep
Man's had a tiring day!135) "Welcome to the Enterprise." Sobbing.
136) A Riker Captain's Log.
137) Aw, I was really hoping that they'd get Colm Meaney in as O'Brien to do the transporter trickery and purge the Borg modifications.
138) Tuvok
The real one this time.139) There to presumably 'punish' her hijacking of the Titan by giving her command of a ship, since that's what Starfleet does when you save Earth.
140) Seven resigning.
141) Shaw reviewing her from beyond the grave. In glowing terms.
142) "Resignation denied, Captain." Lovely moment, and called it at 139).
143) Raffi reconnecting with family. Interrupted by Zen master Worf.
144) Who leaked Raffi's immense service record to the news, hence her reconnection.
145) Troi counselling Data
146) Or, at least, being in a room looking at holiday destinations on her PADD while he chatters away
147) A year on, and there's the Enterprise-D at the Museum dock.
148) A very 'meta' conversation between Picard, Riker and La Forge.
149) Gaaahhhhhh. The feels. The Goldsmith score.
150) They got Spacedock rebuilt PDQ.
151) The Picard family on their way. Jack pacing nervously.
152) A short Picard Speech.
153) Not the Titan. But now the Enterprise-G.
154) "Names mean almost everything."
155) Cuteness on the bridge.
156) And we'll never get to hear what Seven uses as her 'go' command.
157) The TNG crew drinking in the bar.
158) Data still doesn't get to finish that dirty limerick from "The Naked Now" (hooray for continuity!). David Gerrold, who wrote that episode, appropriated it from another of his works "The War Against the Chtorr". Goes like this:
Definitely not one for repeating uncensored in polite company!
159) Picard in full flow, quoting Shakespeare.
160) Card game! Now it's a TNG party.
161) The perfect end for them. Seven friends, a table, drinks, and that tune. Roll credits.
162) But wait! Modern TV, so there's a mid-credits scene. Jack decorating his quarters. And there's a visitor. Q!
163) Jack's trial is just beginning.
164) And so the adventure continues.
They did it.
Those crazy ******** actually did it. They stuck the landing. The story, the build-up, everything all came together perfectly.
I was worried a few episodes ago, when the plot seemed to stall out a bit, that they were going to end up rushing this one and losing some threads in the mix. Not a bit of it. Everything was resolved without ever once not feeling organic. I don't understand @Resident saying that it felt rushed - I thought they paced it beautifully. Predictable...well, let's face it. We knew they weren't going to kill anyone. That would have been a **** move. Instead, our crew got the happy ending that "Nemesis" denied us.
"Our crew". I noted at 9) in my commentary about how these characters, especially in contrast to the Disco cast, actually feel like a unit. It's a kind of magic that you only get through a cast with genuine chemistry and writers who know how to take that chemistry and run with it. And it's what was missing from Picard S1 and S2, it's one of the many things missing from STD, it's one of the things that SNW is trying very hard to replicate and get better at. As soon as the band got back together this season, everything began falling into place. And I'm not talking about just the people, but the ship too.
The Enterprise-D. And she gets to act like the battleship that the Galaxy class always could have been. We saw hints of it in those DS9 fleet battles, but nothing like this. Just a big, bad, phaser-spewing, torpedo-spitting behemoth ready to reduce an enemy vessel to its component atoms. The bridge set, recreated perfectly. The CG model, easily the best work in all of Picard, probably all of nuTrek as well. She always did deserve better than the crash landing on Veridian III in "Generations" (taken down by an obsolete Bird of Prey). She got that better here. She saves her crew, her captain, Earth, Starfleet, the whole Federation and earns her retirement.
Everything that nuTrek does well, they did well here. VFX, stunning. Music scores, bang on point (though, more than a few borrowed from TNG's films here obviously). Set design, when lit properly, fantastic. Makeup department, excellent.
And yet...
Well. Grumbling about stuff after the brilliance of the episode that I just watched feels churlish. But I've got to say it. Vadic was a crap villain who wore out her welcome long before she was finally spaced. The Borg Queen...eennnhh. I was never a fan of the concept of the Queen in "First Contact" because she reduces the Borg from being billions of voices working as one into being just her, controlling a whole bunch of voiceless henchmen. But this is the problem with the Borg as a whole - when introduced they were purely interested in taking your technology to make theirs better. They didn't care about you, particularly. But an enemy that doesn't spout threats at you doesn't work for TV people, so they had to make them talk to the crew and threaten them. And then they made it so that they want the people as well as the technology, so now they're space zombies. And then they went from implacable foes who were only just defeated by our heroes being very clever into a team of no-hopers who couldn't even beat Janeway and her merry band.
Hey ho. They're probably done with now. But there are other threads for potential future productions - the adventures of Seven, Raffi, Jack et al. on the Enterprise-G, the Q trial of humanity continuing with Jack 'in the dock'. Definitely stuff I'd rather watch than anything about Section Thirty Bloody One
Anyway. Grumbling over, because as I said - that was a brilliant episode, both of TV in general and Star Trek specifically. And if this truly is the last adventure for Picard and his crew then they went out on a high
Those crazy ******** actually did it. They stuck the landing. The story, the build-up, everything all came together perfectly.
I was worried a few episodes ago, when the plot seemed to stall out a bit, that they were going to end up rushing this one and losing some threads in the mix. Not a bit of it. Everything was resolved without ever once not feeling organic. I don't understand @Resident saying that it felt rushed - I thought they paced it beautifully. Predictable...well, let's face it. We knew they weren't going to kill anyone. That would have been a **** move. Instead, our crew got the happy ending that "Nemesis" denied us.
"Our crew". I noted at 9) in my commentary about how these characters, especially in contrast to the Disco cast, actually feel like a unit. It's a kind of magic that you only get through a cast with genuine chemistry and writers who know how to take that chemistry and run with it. And it's what was missing from Picard S1 and S2, it's one of the many things missing from STD, it's one of the things that SNW is trying very hard to replicate and get better at. As soon as the band got back together this season, everything began falling into place. And I'm not talking about just the people, but the ship too.
The Enterprise-D. And she gets to act like the battleship that the Galaxy class always could have been. We saw hints of it in those DS9 fleet battles, but nothing like this. Just a big, bad, phaser-spewing, torpedo-spitting behemoth ready to reduce an enemy vessel to its component atoms. The bridge set, recreated perfectly. The CG model, easily the best work in all of Picard, probably all of nuTrek as well. She always did deserve better than the crash landing on Veridian III in "Generations" (taken down by an obsolete Bird of Prey). She got that better here. She saves her crew, her captain, Earth, Starfleet, the whole Federation and earns her retirement.
Everything that nuTrek does well, they did well here. VFX, stunning. Music scores, bang on point (though, more than a few borrowed from TNG's films here obviously). Set design, when lit properly, fantastic. Makeup department, excellent.
And yet...
Well. Grumbling about stuff after the brilliance of the episode that I just watched feels churlish. But I've got to say it. Vadic was a crap villain who wore out her welcome long before she was finally spaced. The Borg Queen...eennnhh. I was never a fan of the concept of the Queen in "First Contact" because she reduces the Borg from being billions of voices working as one into being just her, controlling a whole bunch of voiceless henchmen. But this is the problem with the Borg as a whole - when introduced they were purely interested in taking your technology to make theirs better. They didn't care about you, particularly. But an enemy that doesn't spout threats at you doesn't work for TV people, so they had to make them talk to the crew and threaten them. And then they made it so that they want the people as well as the technology, so now they're space zombies. And then they went from implacable foes who were only just defeated by our heroes being very clever into a team of no-hopers who couldn't even beat Janeway and her merry band.
Hey ho. They're probably done with now. But there are other threads for potential future productions - the adventures of Seven, Raffi, Jack et al. on the Enterprise-G, the Q trial of humanity continuing with Jack 'in the dock'. Definitely stuff I'd rather watch than anything about Section Thirty Bloody One
Anyway. Grumbling over, because as I said - that was a brilliant episode, both of TV in general and Star Trek specifically. And if this truly is the last adventure for Picard and his crew then they went out on a high
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Associate
- Joined
- 19 May 2010
- Posts
- 1,358
Work in episode 9: “We have weapons, though they are limited.”
Enterprise in episode 10: “**** every single one of you in particular with all these phasers and torpedoes.”
Enterprise in episode 10: “**** every single one of you in particular with all these phasers and torpedoes.”
Soldato
To be fair, Worf was comparing with the Ent-E - which had something like eight photon torpedo tubes and the quantum torpedo turret by "Nemesis". Not to mention a wealth of phaser arrays covering any possible angle.
Soldato
Some more thoughts.
It's unfortunate that the Borg Queen fixated all her revenge around Picard, given how Janeway was directly responsible for a lot of her pain.
I love how the last ~20 minutes was essentially an epilogue, after the season's plot was concluded. It felt right to let everyone breathe, revel in the win and just be.
The Enterprise-G being a rename of another ship makes that potentially the second time in canon that a ship has been renamed to be the Enterprise - fanon popularly held, and Gene endorsed, the idea that the Enterprise-A was the USS Yorktown before being recommissioned and given to the newly-demoted Kirk at the end of ST IV.
Was a pity that they didn't have Guinan on-screen at the bar, even if they did mention that she was there.
I love how the last ~20 minutes was essentially an epilogue, after the season's plot was concluded. It felt right to let everyone breathe, revel in the win and just be.
The Enterprise-G being a rename of another ship makes that potentially the second time in canon that a ship has been renamed to be the Enterprise - fanon popularly held, and Gene endorsed, the idea that the Enterprise-A was the USS Yorktown before being recommissioned and given to the newly-demoted Kirk at the end of ST IV.
Was a pity that they didn't have Guinan on-screen at the bar, even if they did mention that she was there.
Soldato
Indeed. And at a certain point it's also just too many characters to cram into an episode (they sailed pretty close to that as-is).
Soldato
The only downside for me looking back now - I didn't like the new phaser design. I preferred the originals but I'm a relic.
Harry should always be an ensign
Thought the episode was a fitting send off the TNG cast. Felt quite emotional towards the end.
Would definitely watch a Seven, Raffi, Jack, Enterprise G series. I don't connect with the Discovery / JJ-Trek era at all. Agree they can't just continually rely on the TNG cast. A very limited series with Sisko and / or Janeway would be cool too.
How was the Borg Queen even still there? She died in First Contact? What was being referred to about the Borg being cut off / her cannibalising the collective?
I like a dark ending so it if was me I would have had the Ent-D destroy the beacon but that would have resulted in all of the old crew + Jack being killed. I feel that is the sort of noble ending they would have gone for to save the galaxy.
How was the Borg Queen even still there? She died in First Contact? What was being referred to about the Borg being cut off / her cannibalising the collective?
I like a dark ending so it if was me I would have had the Ent-D destroy the beacon but that would have resulted in all of the old crew + Jack being killed. I feel that is the sort of noble ending they would have gone for to save the galaxy.
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It didn't have zero damage? I thought it was destroyed and we're seeing the rebuilt one "one year later". Remember they said Earth's shield were down and the population centres unprotected.
Harry should always be an ensign
Thought the episode was a fitting send off the TNG cast. Felt quite emotional towards the end.
Would definitely watch a Seven, Raffi, Jack, Enterprise G series. I don't connect with the Discovery / JJ-Trek era at all. Agree they can't just continually rely on the TNG cast. A very limited series with Sisko and / or Janeway would be cool too.
A series follow on in that universe that has some cameos from voyager,DS9,TNG cast would be great
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Soldato
Voyager episodes referenced this, if her body is destroyed she reincarnates with her memories intact.
Soldato
Yeah, but they had so much trouble from overpopulation that the planet exploded...
Associate
As a final episode, I enjoyed it. Had enough of the old stuff / references, some humour, and for the most part, closure. I enjoyed it.
It would be like that episode of only fools where they go to France to represent Albert and everyone has a beard. Only in this case they'd have a beard regardless of gender and all faithfully mimic the riker manoeuvre when taking a seat.
Soldato
That was an enjoyable final episode. Jack is a lucky, lucky man on that starship that's all I can say! 
Soldato
[Ignore]
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Soldato
The last of the Next. Er, as opposed to the last, which was the next to last of the Next. Anyway, at least they left it open for the G.
Soldato
Loved it!
There only issue for me is that they didn't address the fact that there's probably almost no-one left in Star Fleet over the age of 25. No wonder 7 go a Captaincy.
And if the freshly un-assimilated remember their actions they'd be emotionally broken.
And if the freshly un-assimilated remember their actions they'd be emotionally broken.