Star Trek: Picard -- speculation/discussion/spoilers

[Blake00]

I've seen the first ep now.

My thoughts (SPOILER ALERT):

Spoiler:

I loved the opening shot with the camera closing in on the Enterprise D (which had some interesting design modifications) and going through the window into to the room.. the kind of shot you always wanted to see as a kid watching TNG but knew they couldn't really do effectively (well not without spending some heavy money lol, which is kind of ironic considering the 60s failed trek pilot sort of has a camera through bridge window shot)..

I enjoyed the whole episode but I feel like I can't quite give judgement yet. I need to know more about what's going on and need to see how things pan out story wise.

Also the zero mention of Lal and Lore seems a bit strange in a world where the daystrom institute desperately wanted to replicate Data. I mean what happened to their parts after they were disassembled? B4 was in a drawer so where's the Lal and Lore drawers haha?

First thought was.. did the writers forget them?.. but that seems unlikely consider they brought Hugh back which means they clearly remember Descent 1 & 2 which Lore was in. The whole Daughter 2.0 storyline suggests the Lal episode is something they know too. Plus Frakes directed that one and he's involved in Picard.

[LtColCarter]

Interesting first episode. It caught my attention. Now, I need to see what the show runners do to keep my attention.

[Blake00]

Apparently CBS has posted the first episode of Picard on YouTube for a limited time. So, if you dont have All Access and want to check it out, you have til Feb 7 to watch it for free. Naturally it's region locked though urgh.

Episode 2 of Picard seen. Glad it explains some of the mysteries & fan complaints about the first episode.

Spoiler:

A few fans complained about the weird Starfleet HQ 'rooftop cleanup' job & leave Picard on his couch with no questions asked scene jump moment in ep 1 but now we see the Commodore reviewing the battle cleanup footage (questioning it's effectiveness) and discover this fascinating Starfleet conspiracy with secret Romulan sect plot. I remember people in the past getting so upset about the English writing in the Romulan Borg research post but there are a lots of humans there which explains that one.

We see that the Androids that destroyed Utopia planitia were 'hacked' presumably by this secret synthetic hating Romulan faction. And holy moly they actually acknowledged Picard's Irumodic syndrome that afflicted him around now in the alternate future seen in TNG finale All Good Things. I'm impressed with their attention to detail (regarding old Trek events), which makes me hope the writers haven't forgotten Lore & Lal after all.

The only real gaff I saw was Laris saying Romulans never had a cybernetic program which contradicts the awesome TNG S3 ep the defector where Admiral Jarok tells Data that he knows a number of Romulan cyberneticists that would love to get their hands on him. Although then again maybe its not a gaff as we saw Romulan experts pulling apart dead Borg. You cant really study Borgs without some good cyberneticists lol. Probably just more Romulan secrets lol.

[LtColCarter]

I enjoyed episode 2! Seems like there was a bit of clarification of questions that rose out of episode 1. I'm looking forward to seeing where they're going with this.

[rushy]

I really didn't care much for episode 1, but episode 2 did capture my attention a lot more. Stewart himself is perfect in it and I love the development of Picard, I'm just not sure about the Romulan/Borg/Data plotline.

And as much as I don't care for nostalgiawanking, I can't deny that I would have much rather had Picard get the old crew back together again as his housekeeper suggested.

[Blake00]

My thoughts on what's led to some peoples frustrations with ep 1 & ep2 (once again has spoilers):

Spoiler:

It's funny. Am involved in a number of Picard forum discussions around the net and I see some people complaining about too much exposition yet I see others complaining about being confused due to not enough info lol. Makes me think they probably should have just done Ep 1 & 2 together as a pilot movie (that would have avoided some of the anger about confusing things in ep1 that were explained in ep 2) then they could have had the big trailer at the end of the 2hrs showing that the adventure kicks off next episode. Instead we got a ep1 that confused people and an exciting trailer at the end of it that implied the adventure was about to begin when in reality the next ep was still farting around on earth lol. So yeah I reckon a combined double ep pilot would have pissed off/confused far less people.

Anyway I'm still enjoying the show but am still unsure as to whether I actually really really like it or not. Still need to see how story pans out lol.
Episode 3 seen: (spoiler alert)

Spoiler:

Not thrilled about how they continue to make Picard look slow, weak & frail. You watch him on talk shows and he zips around just fine lol! But I love the fact that in ep 3 it appears writers are trying to address one of those funny never explained issues from old trek.

When I was young it always annoyed me how in TNG supposedly a Borg who got his individuality somehow broke a friggin cube and caused a rebellion on it of sorts when assimilating individuals is what the Borg do lol. Voyager & FC ended up adding a lot of info on how the borg worked, how they connect, and made it pretty obvious that assimilating ex borgs (eg 7 of 9, the borg kids, locutus etc) back into the fold wasn't going to break anything lol, in fact they wanted them. Yes Hugh was a Borg test tube baby and not a previous individual unlike those others I mention but it shouldn't really matter HOW they became an individual when you're grabbing someone and pumping nanites into their blood and connecting them to the hive lol.

However it looks like the new trek writers are carving a story where in reality, Hugh went back to the Borg they reassimilated him no probs but then a few hours later on the trip back to delta they found a nice little yummy Romulan intelligence vessel on the way to assimilate, they start 'processing them' and then 'something' goes wrong (Romulan virus? weapon? racial nanite rejection like the Denobulans?). Hugh presumably wakes up and pops out of his alcove again thinking its somehow caused by him (hence why he later tells Picard in Descent that it was his fault), all the other borgs who don't know how to be individuals start goin nuts and they kick off a nice little rebellion which then at some point Lore arrives on the scene and takes control of them and they escape on the light cruiser which we see in Descent (small borg ships inside big borg ships is nothing new). In fact this new obvious Romulan ex-borg fears of Dahj's sister (ie synthetics) could very well be relating to trauma from what Lore did to many of them when he took over things which once again gives me hope Lore will somehow come into this new story at some point. Probably a long shot though haha..

Am I way off.. we shall see haha.

[P-90_177]

I honestly don't see what's been so confusing thus far.

[VampyreWraith]

I honestly don't see what's been so confusing thus far.

I have to agree with you. Maybe people are finding plot points that aren't immediately resolved confusing? But I feel that the only things unresolved are the things that are meant to be revealed as the season goes on.

[Xaeden]

Spoiler:

When I was young it always annoyed me how in TNG supposedly a Borg who got his individuality somehow broke a friggin cube and caused a rebellion on it of sorts when assimilating individuals is what the Borg do lol. Voyager & FC ended up adding a lot of info on how the borg worked, how they connect, and made it pretty obvious that assimilating ex borgs (eg 7 of 9, the borg kids, locutus etc) back into the fold wasn't going to break anything lol, in fact they wanted them. Yes Hugh was a Borg test tube baby and not a previous individual unlike those others I mention but it shouldn't really matter HOW they became an individual when you're grabbing someone and pumping nanites into their blood and connecting them to the hive lol.

Spoiler:

Here's what was said about this in "I, Borg..."


CRUSHER: But if we erase his memory, who he is or who he has become would be destroyed.
RIKER: Isn't that the point? He'd be reassimilated into the hive without any questions.
LAFORGE: Does that seems right, to help him become an individual and then take that away from him?
CRUSHER: Is there any danger that the Borg might destroy him if they find out what's happened?
PICARD: I doubt it. There'd be nothing to gain. It's more likely that they would simply wipe out his memory of those experiences.
RIKER: Then either way, his memory would have been erased.
PICARD: But perhaps in that short time before they purge his memory, the sense of individuality which he has gained here might be transmitted throughout the entire Borg Collective. Every one of the Borg being given the opportunity to experience the feeling of singularity. Perhaps that's the most pernicious programme of all. The knowledge of self being spread throughout the Collective, in that brief moment, might alter them forever. We leave his memory intact.

My takeaway from this is that the difference between re-assimilating Hugh and re-assimilating someone like Seven of Nine is that in the latter case they know the person has regained their sense of individually, so they would take steps to wipe that from Seven's memory before letting her re-join the collective. In Hugh's case, however, they had no idea that he had been de-programmed, so they accepted him back into the collective without reprogramming him first.

[any_gopher]

Hello! This is my first post in eight years. I've been feeling nostalgic lately and wanted to check back in on this community. I'll probably stick around from now on, as I've been missing the forum life. Anyway, I can't wait to get up an hour early for tomorrow's episode. It's becoming a bit of a morning tradition for me.

[P-90_177]

Watching Picard brings into focus just how much of a tragic figure he actually is.
His best friend was killed on a mission he ordered him to go on. His brother and nephew died in a house fire. Another very good friend of his (and in many ways his protoge) died while saving his life. He's lost countless number of crewmembers besides. He's had multiple passionate romantic relationships yet none have lasted. He's lost two ships under his command and was forced to resign from one of the highest ranking posts in the Federation and in so doing failed the greatest mission of his career. He's been assimilated, tortured and humiliated. And to top it all off he has a syndrome which will eventually kill him... After making him lose his wits and faculties which have been his key strength over his long career.

Honestly this man was never destined for a happy ending.

[planet_tv]

Una McCormack Ushers in a New Chapter for Jean-Luc Picard

Apparently this novel, Star Trek: Picard: The Last Best Hope, will take place between Nemesis and Picard.

[mad_gater]

I saw an external view of the ship they're on come up in my FB feed from one of the ST-related FB groups I'm in.....the design reminds me a lot of the SR-1 Normandy form the Mass Effect games LOL

[P-90_177]

I saw an external view of the ship they're on come up in my FB feed from one of the ST-related FB groups I'm in.....the design reminds me a lot of the SR-1 Normandy form the Mass Effect games LOL

I've heard a number of people say that and I just don't see it.

[planet_tv]

Jeri Ryan will be on The Talk, Thursday Feb. 20, on CBS to talk about Star Trek: Picard.