Star Trek: Picard
- Thread starter glenimp617
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Gave up during EP8 far to boring to continue watching.
When is the next series of The Orville out ?
When is the next series of The Orville out ?
Soldato
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Also.... poor Borg!!!
Not sure spacing the Borg drones would kill them anyway. In first contact they could survive outside on the hull if the enterprise with no problem.
Man of Honour
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I want to see that Borg cube come to the rescue.
The borg scene I thought was a cheap kop out after Seven reluctantly plugged herself in. I and I suppose everyone was expecting some badassery to happen and...meh. I too want that Cube to come in and do some serious damage at some point.
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I'm really enjoying this, despite its flaws. 
Yup, a hundred years under the ice and they're up and about with no issues, the ejecting them into space scene was a cheap and quick way to get rid of them which just leaves questions based on that episode and first contact.
I wonder if she does the queen thing again later and becomes a new collective and uses the cube to save everyone from the androids so the show is showing the borg as saviours from a even worse threat. Also possibly killing 7 in a heroic act. Hmm, hope not tho.
Same, did not watch the last episode either. Will watch all 3 back to back
I'm really enjoying this, despite its flaws.
Same, was starting to think I was the only one.
Soldato
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Ep9 done and unfortunately some cardinal story-telling sins were committed. 
No surprise there. It has been like this the whole season. Hence why I have not been in a rush to watch and letting them build up and watch it in one go.Ep9 done and unfortunately some cardinal story-telling sins were committed.
Hmm a son eh, im sure when data met the mother in tng she said they didnt have children and so androids were their kids. I dont buy it tbh and he is acting like soong from enterprise by his "children" comments so sides with the bad guys again... Just like in enterprise with the GE ppl. Maybe soong from tng had a kid with another women but thats a hard push as i think he only was with that one women.
Anybody get the vibe they are forcing a lore as the data looking soji chick and data as the human looking soji chick? Over again based on tng.
I dont really like the way episode 9 played out. And is spoiling it for me now.
Also the cube got brought down? Too damn easy imo, where was the borg tractor beam or its adaptability. True it was bare bones but 7 was in control and she could make it work great i reckon on her own or well with the help of the surviving xb, compared to when say the 5 kid drones in voyager used a cube on their own but managed to use its systems just not that well cos they lacked the experience.
The flower power? Lol bit crap of a idea imo. Plus how did they deploy them, the settlement looked tiny with no launch facility i think i could see.
Oh and that mind meld, wth, since when do androids have mental powers like a vulkan? Please. Also its hard to hear brents character explaining how she knows how to do it. You cant learn it like a skill you need the biology of a race with empathic powers kinda thing to do it. I can understand the nerve pinch being doable as its a er nerve you pinch to do it and is a skill that you can learn but a mind meld? The android has no "mind" as in a biological mind to meld with. Saying all this tho we do expect the melder to be biological but the recipient of a meld doesnt as Spocks melded with vger, a rock thing, the floating nomad robot thing etc. Which tbh those are also rather hard to swollow but its spock so we forgive him lol. Maybe the writers saw those episodes and said hmm what if it could be a reverse where a machine mind can do em in humanoid form ala a android. I still tho class a mind meld needs a biological person to initiate it as a rule but the recipient can be anything even tho i dont really like it if they do it on non biological beings ala vger as a example.
I wonder about the artificial body there making. They might put picard in after he dies in s2 or something even tho soong seems to want to use it on himself. Oh and soong didnt come up with transfer conscious tech it was his rival Graves (datas grandpa) in the episode linked below who found a way to transfer his "graves" consciousnesses into data thus using graves work that he worked on not soongs. (yes i know i keep spelling things wrong sometimes sry)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Schizoid_Man_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
Expected better.
Anybody get the vibe they are forcing a lore as the data looking soji chick and data as the human looking soji chick? Over again based on tng.
I dont really like the way episode 9 played out. And is spoiling it for me now.
Also the cube got brought down? Too damn easy imo, where was the borg tractor beam or its adaptability. True it was bare bones but 7 was in control and she could make it work great i reckon on her own or well with the help of the surviving xb, compared to when say the 5 kid drones in voyager used a cube on their own but managed to use its systems just not that well cos they lacked the experience.
The flower power? Lol bit crap of a idea imo. Plus how did they deploy them, the settlement looked tiny with no launch facility i think i could see.
Oh and that mind meld, wth, since when do androids have mental powers like a vulkan? Please. Also its hard to hear brents character explaining how she knows how to do it. You cant learn it like a skill you need the biology of a race with empathic powers kinda thing to do it. I can understand the nerve pinch being doable as its a er nerve you pinch to do it and is a skill that you can learn but a mind meld? The android has no "mind" as in a biological mind to meld with. Saying all this tho we do expect the melder to be biological but the recipient of a meld doesnt as Spocks melded with vger, a rock thing, the floating nomad robot thing etc. Which tbh those are also rather hard to swollow but its spock so we forgive him lol. Maybe the writers saw those episodes and said hmm what if it could be a reverse where a machine mind can do em in humanoid form ala a android. I still tho class a mind meld needs a biological person to initiate it as a rule but the recipient can be anything even tho i dont really like it if they do it on non biological beings ala vger as a example.
I wonder about the artificial body there making. They might put picard in after he dies in s2 or something even tho soong seems to want to use it on himself. Oh and soong didnt come up with transfer conscious tech it was his rival Graves (datas grandpa) in the episode linked below who found a way to transfer his "graves" consciousnesses into data thus using graves work that he worked on not soongs. (yes i know i keep spelling things wrong sometimes sry)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Schizoid_Man_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
Expected better.
Updated my thoughts more in spoiler tags.
Last edited:
It's that time again.
Episode 9 - "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1"
Episode 9 - "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1"
1) Before we start - only the tenth episode in all of Trek to get an episode title in Latin. TNG had one ("Sub Rosa"), DS9 two ("Dramatis Personae", "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"), Voyager had three ("Ex Post Facto", "Non Sequitur", "Alter Ego"). Enterprise had a couple ("Terra Nova" and "Vox Sola"). And STD had the one ("Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum").
2) On with the show then, and a recap for the apparent morons in the audience who have no kind of memory.
3) Hey, no flashback to open the episode. Instead, Jurati somewhat disconcerted (read: terrified) by the space turbulence of the transwarp conduit. I'm not sure that lass is cut out for space...how's she going to do when they get into a space battle with the Romulans, and consoles start exploding due to the circuit breaker being outlawed in the future?
4) On the bridge - Soji and Rios seem to be rather enjoying it, and Picard is fascinated by it.
5) *Hums Doctor Who theme to himself*
6) And the La Sirena emerges at a planet that does look to be Class M. With some clear thunderstorm activity going on in the atmosphere, neat touch by the VFX team.
7) Picard with the pertinent question - did they beat the Romulans there?
8) Raffi's sensors think that they did.
9) Jurati pops back up to the bridge wondering about the change in course and whether or not she's still going to be under arrest. I'm gonna go with...yes. Yes, you are. You killed a man, you dozy bint!
10) 25 light years in fifteen minutes. That's booking it. Gonna go back and calculate a warp factor for that later.
11) Soji's world has a name - Coppelius.
12) Everyone seems happy. Counting down to everything going sideways...
13) Called it! Red alert alarm
14) Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Narek!
15) La Sirena fitted with InstaSeatbelts™.
16) A valuable reminder for Picard and crew regarding underestimating one's enemies. Romulans didn't get this far in the galaxy without being able to extrapolate a likely course.
17) Some fancy flying from Narek matched by an equally fancy move from Rios.
18) The ex-Starfleet people concerned for Narek's health after apparently damaging his ship. Soji...not so much.
19) Surprise! He used his cloak to project an image of a damaged ship. Another reminder for Picard and crew.
20) Narek getting ready for the kill. But here comes the Borg cube.
21) Mildly witty dialogue regarding how functional the allegedly broken cube appears to be.
22) And now incoming bogeys from the planet.
23) Space flower!
24) There goes main power. And apparently the auxiliaries with it.
25) More mildly witty dialogue regarding the space flower.
26) Into the atmosphere we go, on a hella steep re-entry. This one's going to be fiery.
27) Oh dear, Jean-Luc's not well.
28) Speculation time while the opening theme drones on. Picard's neurological condition caused by the defect in his parietal lobe has accelerated. And either the androids are going to fix that defect and cure him, or work that Maddox was doing on the planet will hold the answer to doing so.
29) Now we have a flashback, of sorts. Picard talking with the doctor from the Stargazer days.
30) The reverse of the previous episode - Picard's turn to wake up with Jurati looking at time, this time.
31) Good thing the La Sirena was built with skylights, so they can get some light in there.
32) "The ship seems alright, but we have no power." You and I have different definitions of alright, Jurati.
33) She knows that Picard doesn't have long, on this latest episode of "Jurati is Burdened By Terrible Knowledge That She Doesn't Want."
34) Picard laying it out for the crew.
35) "Anyone who treats me like a dying man will run the risk of ******* me off. Is that clear?"
36) And straight back to Captain Mode™.
37) Soji 'pretty sure' that she was born at the settlement 5-6km from where the La Sirena came down. But her memories from back then are still a bit jumbled. Understandable.
38) In addition to the ticking clock of Picard's mortality, they've got the ticking clock of the Romulan arrival at Coppelius.
39) Picard bright and breezy, the air of a man freed from the question about what's going to happen to him. Raffi rather more upset by it all.
40) 'Homicidal fungi' could be a thing according to Raffi. Spot the former Starfleet officer who had to deal with Weird Stuff™ week in, week out
41) Handing Soji a gun in case she runs into her "***-hole Romulan ex".
42) Speaking of, did we see if Narek's ship got snared by an orchid? I know the Borg cube was.
43) And indeed the Borg cube appears to have not so much landed as impacted.
44) Trekking () over to the cube crash site. They're going to be pretty upset when they find out Narissa killed Hugh.
45) More thunderstorms in the sky.
46) Yep, that is definitely a broken cube.
47) A bunch of xBs still alive.
48) Elnor glad to see Picard, and immediately glomps him
49) Seven making a Dramatic Entrance™ again.
50) And relating to Picard her experience while connected to the cube.
51) That's a fun moment. Seven telling Picard that the xBs are using battery packs to get food replicators working again - Picard asking if they could get long range sensors working the same way in a manner that suggests he's faintly incredulous that he's the first one to think of doing so! Spot the starship captain
52) Scanners on...and they've got 218 Warbirds on the way. Some casual danger dialogue between Rios and Raffi.
53) Soji's found her photos.
54) Elnor's absolute candor in action once again.
55) A fatherly moment between him and Picard.
56) Neat shot, Picard walking into the bright light in the opening to the cube.
57) The settlement.
58) Rios getting in on the kickabout with the ball.
59) Whole lot of yellow eyes around here. Soong-type androids perhaps? Or maybe a halfway point in synthetic life between Soong-type and the more human looking Soji and Dahj.
60) Picard is known to them, as Data's captain.
61) Arcana touching Picard's face - "They're just...lines. But they imply so much more. Grief, endurance. Marvellous." What a beautiful way to describe old age. That old Star Trek spirit is still bubbling beneath the surface of the flashy CGI, modern way of storytelling and gratuitous cursing
62) I know that voice...
63) Yay, Brent!
64) Another one of the Soong family then - "Altan Inigo Soong, mad scientist" and son of Noonian Soong (who created B4, Lore and Data along with the replacement android body for his then-wife Juliana).
65) Exposition.
66) Hmm. What's going on there then?
67) More exposition from Soong.
68) Aha, so 66) was what appears to be a Soong-type android with Asha-type features.
69) Nice
70) Oh, that explains something. So this is Sutra, Jana (from the story last week) was her sister.
71) Sutra engaging Jurati re: Maddox's death.
72) Oh, don't do it writers...
73) Phew. Thought that they really were about to go down the Manchurian Candidate route with Jurati. That would have sucked.
74) That's kinda clever though - the whole 'what if the Admonition was meant for synths not organic life' possibly explaining why Romulans go nuts after experiencing it.
75) Sutra able to mind meld. Yeah. Right. Sure. Deus ex Soong-type machina.
76) Rios leaping up all concerned. Can take the man out of Starfleet, but...
77) "You're terrified." In fairness Sutra, she's been terrified ever since the meeting with Oh. And that was weeks ago. Terror now appears to be Jurati's default state!
78) *Hums Careless Whisper to himself*
79) Into the meld we go.
80) I am getting real Asimov vibes from all this.
81) "Fascinating." A very Data-like reaction
82) Jurati and Soong talking.
83) Soong beating her over the head with Maddox's death. But not without some level of kindness.
84) They've caught up to where Noonian Soong was in 2338 then, with the whole 'transfer a mind to an android body'. And once more the story telegraphing where it's headed with ruddy great signs surrounded by flashing lights...
85) Soji and Sutra weighing up the options. Sutra advocating battle, Soji wanting to find a way that doesn't involve a lot of people dying.
86) The androids found Narek. Now we'll see how serious Soji is about no-one getting hurt
87) Kitty! Oh, please tell me it's called Spot...
88) Spot II And they made him, so a synth cat no less.
89) Rios going to try and get the La Sirena going. Jurati going to stay and complete Maddox and Soong's work to earn her redemption.
90) *Hums Careless Whisper to himself again*
91) Lampshade firmly being hung on the Trek trope of 'device with lights all over it to be waved over whatever you want to fix'.
92) Picard and Raffi going for 'awkwardly cute' or 'cutely awkward', I can't quite decide which.
93) Going to be a breakneck final ten minutes here if STP is following the usual pattern.
94) Picard trying to get in touch with Starfleet. Odds on his message getting to the intended recipient?
95) Narek in a cell whining about being thirsty.
96) Fortunately Soji there as a voice of experience.
97) So this android is Arcana's sister Saga.
98) Got to give Narek points for trying.
99) Again with the telegraphing.
100) Trek As Social Commentary, part ∞.
101) Ruh roh...Sutra turning off the forcefield to Narek's cell. Either that's bad news for Narek...or really bad news for our heroes. And since there's another episode to go this season...
102) Soji still thrashing this all out with Picard.
103) Trek As Social Commentary, part ∞+1
104) And that's Saga dead This series has a hell of a body count so far.
105) Narek on the run. But he's headed in the direction of the cube. A), there's people there who aren't going to be overly happy to see him and B), the La Sirena is between where he is and the cube...and there's people there who aren't going to be overly happy to see him.
106) Soji asking herself why she didn't kill him. A rather more pragmatic character certainly might have. But then, Soji isn't a killer.
107) Sutra using the death of Saga to justify the synths going on the warpath.
108) Shades of how the Founders saw solid life in DS9.
109) Picard Speech™ time.
110) A speech which would have rather more impact if anyone present actually believed he could do what he's saying...
111) Jurati going with flattery to stay out of house arrest.
112) The bridge of the Romulan command ship, Oh running things.
113) "Next time..." Picard tries to convince Soji to Be Better™. Narek meets up with the La Sirena crew. Elnor throws punches. The VFX team work a whole bunch more overtime.
2) On with the show then, and a recap for the apparent morons in the audience who have no kind of memory.
3) Hey, no flashback to open the episode. Instead, Jurati somewhat disconcerted (read: terrified) by the space turbulence of the transwarp conduit. I'm not sure that lass is cut out for space...how's she going to do when they get into a space battle with the Romulans, and consoles start exploding due to the circuit breaker being outlawed in the future?
4) On the bridge - Soji and Rios seem to be rather enjoying it, and Picard is fascinated by it.
5) *Hums Doctor Who theme to himself*
6) And the La Sirena emerges at a planet that does look to be Class M. With some clear thunderstorm activity going on in the atmosphere, neat touch by the VFX team.
7) Picard with the pertinent question - did they beat the Romulans there?
8) Raffi's sensors think that they did.
9) Jurati pops back up to the bridge wondering about the change in course and whether or not she's still going to be under arrest. I'm gonna go with...yes. Yes, you are. You killed a man, you dozy bint!
10) 25 light years in fifteen minutes. That's booking it. Gonna go back and calculate a warp factor for that later.
11) Soji's world has a name - Coppelius.
12) Everyone seems happy. Counting down to everything going sideways...
13) Called it! Red alert alarm
14) Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Narek!
15) La Sirena fitted with InstaSeatbelts™.
16) A valuable reminder for Picard and crew regarding underestimating one's enemies. Romulans didn't get this far in the galaxy without being able to extrapolate a likely course.
17) Some fancy flying from Narek matched by an equally fancy move from Rios.
18) The ex-Starfleet people concerned for Narek's health after apparently damaging his ship. Soji...not so much.
19) Surprise! He used his cloak to project an image of a damaged ship. Another reminder for Picard and crew.
20) Narek getting ready for the kill. But here comes the Borg cube.
21) Mildly witty dialogue regarding how functional the allegedly broken cube appears to be.
22) And now incoming bogeys from the planet.
23) Space flower!
24) There goes main power. And apparently the auxiliaries with it.
25) More mildly witty dialogue regarding the space flower.
26) Into the atmosphere we go, on a hella steep re-entry. This one's going to be fiery.
27) Oh dear, Jean-Luc's not well.
28) Speculation time while the opening theme drones on. Picard's neurological condition caused by the defect in his parietal lobe has accelerated. And either the androids are going to fix that defect and cure him, or work that Maddox was doing on the planet will hold the answer to doing so.
29) Now we have a flashback, of sorts. Picard talking with the doctor from the Stargazer days.
30) The reverse of the previous episode - Picard's turn to wake up with Jurati looking at time, this time.
31) Good thing the La Sirena was built with skylights, so they can get some light in there.
32) "The ship seems alright, but we have no power." You and I have different definitions of alright, Jurati.
33) She knows that Picard doesn't have long, on this latest episode of "Jurati is Burdened By Terrible Knowledge That She Doesn't Want."
34) Picard laying it out for the crew.
35) "Anyone who treats me like a dying man will run the risk of ******* me off. Is that clear?"
36) And straight back to Captain Mode™.
37) Soji 'pretty sure' that she was born at the settlement 5-6km from where the La Sirena came down. But her memories from back then are still a bit jumbled. Understandable.
38) In addition to the ticking clock of Picard's mortality, they've got the ticking clock of the Romulan arrival at Coppelius.
39) Picard bright and breezy, the air of a man freed from the question about what's going to happen to him. Raffi rather more upset by it all.
40) 'Homicidal fungi' could be a thing according to Raffi. Spot the former Starfleet officer who had to deal with Weird Stuff™ week in, week out
41) Handing Soji a gun in case she runs into her "***-hole Romulan ex".
42) Speaking of, did we see if Narek's ship got snared by an orchid? I know the Borg cube was.
43) And indeed the Borg cube appears to have not so much landed as impacted.
44) Trekking (
) over to the cube crash site. They're going to be pretty upset when they find out Narissa killed Hugh.45) More thunderstorms in the sky.
46) Yep, that is definitely a broken cube.
47) A bunch of xBs still alive.
48) Elnor glad to see Picard, and immediately glomps him
49) Seven making a Dramatic Entrance™ again.
50) And relating to Picard her experience while connected to the cube.
51) That's a fun moment. Seven telling Picard that the xBs are using battery packs to get food replicators working again - Picard asking if they could get long range sensors working the same way in a manner that suggests he's faintly incredulous that he's the first one to think of doing so! Spot the starship captain
52) Scanners on...and they've got 218 Warbirds on the way. Some casual danger dialogue between Rios and Raffi.
53) Soji's found her photos.
54) Elnor's absolute candor in action once again.
55) A fatherly moment between him and Picard.
56) Neat shot, Picard walking into the bright light in the opening to the cube.
57) The settlement.
58) Rios getting in on the kickabout with the ball.
59) Whole lot of yellow eyes around here. Soong-type androids perhaps? Or maybe a halfway point in synthetic life between Soong-type and the more human looking Soji and Dahj.
60) Picard is known to them, as Data's captain.
61) Arcana touching Picard's face - "They're just...lines. But they imply so much more. Grief, endurance. Marvellous." What a beautiful way to describe old age. That old Star Trek spirit is still bubbling beneath the surface of the flashy CGI, modern way of storytelling and gratuitous cursing
62) I know that voice...
63) Yay, Brent!
64) Another one of the Soong family then - "Altan Inigo Soong, mad scientist" and son of Noonian Soong (who created B4, Lore and Data along with the replacement android body for his then-wife Juliana).
65) Exposition.
66) Hmm. What's going on there then?
67) More exposition from Soong.
68) Aha, so 66) was what appears to be a Soong-type android with Asha-type features.
69) Nice
70) Oh, that explains something. So this is Sutra, Jana (from the story last week) was her sister.
71) Sutra engaging Jurati re: Maddox's death.
72) Oh, don't do it writers...
73) Phew. Thought that they really were about to go down the Manchurian Candidate route with Jurati. That would have sucked.
74) That's kinda clever though - the whole 'what if the Admonition was meant for synths not organic life' possibly explaining why Romulans go nuts after experiencing it.
75) Sutra able to mind meld. Yeah. Right. Sure. Deus ex Soong-type machina.
76) Rios leaping up all concerned. Can take the man out of Starfleet, but...
77) "You're terrified." In fairness Sutra, she's been terrified ever since the meeting with Oh. And that was weeks ago. Terror now appears to be Jurati's default state!
78) *Hums Careless Whisper to himself*
79) Into the meld we go.
80) I am getting real Asimov vibes from all this.
81) "Fascinating." A very Data-like reaction
82) Jurati and Soong talking.
83) Soong beating her over the head with Maddox's death. But not without some level of kindness.
84) They've caught up to where Noonian Soong was in 2338 then, with the whole 'transfer a mind to an android body'. And once more the story telegraphing where it's headed with ruddy great signs surrounded by flashing lights...
85) Soji and Sutra weighing up the options. Sutra advocating battle, Soji wanting to find a way that doesn't involve a lot of people dying.
86) The androids found Narek. Now we'll see how serious Soji is about no-one getting hurt
87) Kitty! Oh, please tell me it's called Spot...
88) Spot II
And they made him, so a synth cat no less.89) Rios going to try and get the La Sirena going. Jurati going to stay and complete Maddox and Soong's work to earn her redemption.
90) *Hums Careless Whisper to himself again*
91) Lampshade firmly being hung on the Trek trope of 'device with lights all over it to be waved over whatever you want to fix'.
92) Picard and Raffi going for 'awkwardly cute' or 'cutely awkward', I can't quite decide which.
93) Going to be a breakneck final ten minutes here if STP is following the usual pattern.
94) Picard trying to get in touch with Starfleet. Odds on his message getting to the intended recipient?
95) Narek in a cell whining about being thirsty.
96) Fortunately Soji there as a voice of experience.
97) So this android is Arcana's sister Saga.
98) Got to give Narek points for trying.
99) Again with the telegraphing.
100) Trek As Social Commentary, part ∞.
101) Ruh roh...Sutra turning off the forcefield to Narek's cell. Either that's bad news for Narek...or really bad news for our heroes. And since there's another episode to go this season...
102) Soji still thrashing this all out with Picard.
103) Trek As Social Commentary, part ∞+1
104) And that's Saga dead
This series has a hell of a body count so far.105) Narek on the run. But he's headed in the direction of the cube. A), there's people there who aren't going to be overly happy to see him and B), the La Sirena is between where he is and the cube...and there's people there who aren't going to be overly happy to see him.
106) Soji asking herself why she didn't kill him. A rather more pragmatic character certainly might have. But then, Soji isn't a killer.
107) Sutra using the death of Saga to justify the synths going on the warpath.
108) Shades of how the Founders saw solid life in DS9.
109) Picard Speech™ time.
110) A speech which would have rather more impact if anyone present actually believed he could do what he's saying...
111) Jurati going with flattery to stay out of house arrest.
112) The bridge of the Romulan command ship, Oh running things.
113) "Next time..." Picard tries to convince Soji to Be Better™. Narek meets up with the La Sirena crew. Elnor throws punches. The VFX team work a whole bunch more overtime.
Well...I can't fault their ambition. But I can find the odd glaring fault with the execution.
First, the good. The main cast are nearly all great. It's nice to see Brent Spiner again. The guest cast were also excellent - and they appear to have gone to the trouble of casting twins this time, for example with Arcana and Saga (Jade and Nikita Ramsey), rather than doing camera trickery as they did with the Rios-esque holograms. Isa Briones gets to add another string to her bow, this time playing an earlier type of android as Sutra. And this android is ruthless. Motivated by fear of the fear that organic life has for synthetic life (fearception?), she engineers the death of one of her own as a rallying cry. And it succeeds. For how long it will succeed is going to depend on Jean-Luc Picard, Admiral, Starfleet retired. Patrick Stewart is certainly still able to deliver Picard Speeches™ with aplomb. And this was one of his good 'uns, imploring the androids to get out of dodge and let him advocate for them with the Federation. But fear has taken a hold now, whipped up by Sutra, and they ignore him to follow her plan - contacting the so-called higher synthetic beings that the Admonition refers to and banding with them to fight against organic life. Fear has been the big theme of all of this...fear of the unknown, fear of what's different. Resolving it is going to be the key to bringing back the Federation of 30 years previously, where the unknown and the different were to be marvelled at rather than necessarily feared. And key to this is going to be Soji. Picard said to Rios last week that fear is the Destroyer. At the time the unspoken end to that line was that fear was the Destroyer, *not Soji*. Next week we'll see if he was right or not.
And now, the less good.
1) The series is still using the cheap death of characters as motivation for other characters to advance their own agenda, in the process removing all the shock factor of anyone dying. Now it's pretty much just expected that someone is going to get shot/stabbed/unwillingly yanked off of life support as the price of moving the plot on another step.
2) In a similar vein...story points are being telegraphed miles in advance, STD-style, with all the subtle and delicate touch of a Klingon boarding party.
3) An android that learned how to mind meld? Give me a break...
4) Scripts and stories are still overly reliant on long blocks of exposition to get around the complexity addiction that the showrunners have.
5) They appear to have basically forgotten that Elnor exists, so have relegated him to helping Seven off-screen with defending the xBs. Which is a shame, as his brand of innocent questioning is way more fun to watch than another episode of Jurati Almost Cries™.
6) Harry Treadaway's Narek isn't even slightly believable as a Romulan operative - these people are supposed to be chessmasters, this guy just isn't even slightly smart. Any time that he 'wins', he blunders into it or gets a huge assist from someone else (Sutra on this occasion).
7) They reverted to a shorter running time this week, and it shows. Gonna go out on a limb here and say that Part 2 will show that this one could have been done as an eighty minute special rather than spread over into a two-parter.
8) A continuity snarl with Altan Soong, since TNG's "Inheritance" established that Noonian and Juliana Soong had no biological offspring.
I wanted to really like this one. As it is...meh. Not the best episode of this season by a long way, but it's still better than virtually all of STD. Hopefully the second part next week can wrap things up in a satisfying manner.
First, the good. The main cast are nearly all great. It's nice to see Brent Spiner again. The guest cast were also excellent - and they appear to have gone to the trouble of casting twins this time, for example with Arcana and Saga (Jade and Nikita Ramsey), rather than doing camera trickery as they did with the Rios-esque holograms. Isa Briones gets to add another string to her bow, this time playing an earlier type of android as Sutra. And this android is ruthless. Motivated by fear of the fear that organic life has for synthetic life (fearception?), she engineers the death of one of her own as a rallying cry. And it succeeds. For how long it will succeed is going to depend on Jean-Luc Picard, Admiral, Starfleet retired. Patrick Stewart is certainly still able to deliver Picard Speeches™ with aplomb. And this was one of his good 'uns, imploring the androids to get out of dodge and let him advocate for them with the Federation. But fear has taken a hold now, whipped up by Sutra, and they ignore him to follow her plan - contacting the so-called higher synthetic beings that the Admonition refers to and banding with them to fight against organic life. Fear has been the big theme of all of this...fear of the unknown, fear of what's different. Resolving it is going to be the key to bringing back the Federation of 30 years previously, where the unknown and the different were to be marvelled at rather than necessarily feared. And key to this is going to be Soji. Picard said to Rios last week that fear is the Destroyer. At the time the unspoken end to that line was that fear was the Destroyer, *not Soji*. Next week we'll see if he was right or not.
And now, the less good.
1) The series is still using the cheap death of characters as motivation for other characters to advance their own agenda, in the process removing all the shock factor of anyone dying. Now it's pretty much just expected that someone is going to get shot/stabbed/unwillingly yanked off of life support as the price of moving the plot on another step.
2) In a similar vein...story points are being telegraphed miles in advance, STD-style, with all the subtle and delicate touch of a Klingon boarding party.
3) An android that learned how to mind meld? Give me a break...
4) Scripts and stories are still overly reliant on long blocks of exposition to get around the complexity addiction that the showrunners have.
5) They appear to have basically forgotten that Elnor exists, so have relegated him to helping Seven off-screen with defending the xBs. Which is a shame, as his brand of innocent questioning is way more fun to watch than another episode of Jurati Almost Cries™.
6) Harry Treadaway's Narek isn't even slightly believable as a Romulan operative - these people are supposed to be chessmasters, this guy just isn't even slightly smart. Any time that he 'wins', he blunders into it or gets a huge assist from someone else (Sutra on this occasion).
7) They reverted to a shorter running time this week, and it shows. Gonna go out on a limb here and say that Part 2 will show that this one could have been done as an eighty minute special rather than spread over into a two-parter.
8) A continuity snarl with Altan Soong, since TNG's "Inheritance" established that Noonian and Juliana Soong had no biological offspring.
I wanted to really like this one. As it is...meh. Not the best episode of this season by a long way, but it's still better than virtually all of STD. Hopefully the second part next week can wrap things up in a satisfying manner.
Said I'd go back and look at this.
25 light years in 15 minutes. 15 minutes is 900 seconds. 25 light years is 236,518,261,814,520,000 metres. So that's 262,798,068,682,800 metres per second. C is 299,792,458 metres per second. So they travelled at 876,600 times C, the speed of light.
On the TNG scale (where warp 10 is infinite speed), I believe that works out at a warp factor of 9.9999939596707 (with the usual arithmetic caveats regarding precision and decimal places). So, pretty bloody quick. You could cross the Milky Way galaxy in a little over 41 days at that speed.
25 light years in 15 minutes. 15 minutes is 900 seconds. 25 light years is 236,518,261,814,520,000 metres. So that's 262,798,068,682,800 metres per second. C is 299,792,458 metres per second. So they travelled at 876,600 times C, the speed of light.
On the TNG scale (where warp 10 is infinite speed), I believe that works out at a warp factor of 9.9999939596707 (with the usual arithmetic caveats regarding precision and decimal places). So, pretty bloody quick. You could cross the Milky Way galaxy in a little over 41 days at that speed.
Last edited:
Caporegime
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 29,589
Episode 9 was absolute pants IMO
And I've not been as down on the show as some here.
And I've not been as down on the show as some here.