Spoilers Picard 1x1, "Remembrance"

[Danny99]

I'll be honest. I didn't/wasn't going to go back through 123 pages of previous thoughts from other posters, so if there is duplication, so be it. This is the first time in three years since Trek returned to television that I have seen a new episode at the same time as others.

Patrick Stewart is still a master of his craft. His speeches, his presence: he still commands the room. I was happy to see that they, like they did with Shatner in TWOK, showed that Picard has aged. My first thought when he and Dahj were running up the stairs was that he was going to somehow be able to keep up. I was happy to see he was out of breath and not the younger man he was even during Nemesis.

Speaking of age, I understand Brent Spiner has aged as well, but his makeup was really caked on. I also don't remember his contacts looking that certain way. His First Contact era uniform also looked frumpy and made from a different material. Yes, Spiner is older and I think we would've expected him to look it, but these things could've been addressed.

This was by far the best pilot of a Star Trek series since Emissary and may even take that crown once the dust settles. One of its strong suits was building the universe Picard now lives in. Having Picard, a man who had always believed in the loftier ideals of Starfleet and the Federation and preached it, resign over those ideals being betrayed was a strong reason for the character and can be linked to our current lives with governments turtling back inside their borders.

I was glad to see the destruction of Romulus was not retconned from Star Trek 2009 and is a driving force in this new world. I'm no time travel expert, but one thing that did bother me that Nero's interference during that movie hadn't seemingly affected this timeline. It's not going to damper my enjoyment of this series, but got me thinking.

I am interested to see how the two Romulans living with Picard came to be there, knowing he will also have a Romulan in his band later on. Have his attempts to save the Romulans and his subsequent resignation from Starfleet when they give up on the rescue given him some kind of special standing with the Romulan people? Is it a situation akin to the relationship with the Klingons being mended by the destruction of the Enterprise-C?

Yes, we only saw ten seconds of a Borg cube, but I am cautiously optimistic that the Borg will finally be laid to rest as big baddies. Voyager and to a lesser extent Enterprise had weakened the Borg and their defeat in Endgame hopefully seems to have some lasting effects. Perhaps the destruction of the Queen has bcaused the remaining Borg to become lost or disconnected, maybe abandoning vessels, which make them easy pickings for Romulan refugees looking for a home.

Bruce Maddox was such an ass in his one actual episode that they have spent each subsequent mention trying to rehab his image and I was impressed to see the writers remembered the handful of lines from Measure of a Man and that the character took Data's advice and didn't give up on his work and became a huge member of the robotics community. I hope they don't make him a big villain, but I'm interested to see his connection to Dahj and her twin.

One thing that did occur to me was the question: did Star Trek need a caretaker, a strong personality to come in and demand it be done properly for Trek fans? We've seen that JJ Abrams decided to reboot the whole universe instead of trying to do something in the canon that fans like. We've seen Discovery do the Klingon War and the mirror universe, but then shoehorn it into the timeline sloppily. Stewart had said previously that this needed to be special to bring him back and perhaps it made the writers actually write something new and decent to bring him back. At least the inclusion of Picard got us out of the prequel rut.

 

[Noname Given]

I want them to give me a reason to like both. Picard got off to a strong start. Discovery brought it Anson Mount as Pike. I would like to see Season 3 of Discovery start to stand on it's own without "Trek fan service".

Seriously? Please tell me what Star Trek Picard is " standing on " at this point? Hell they opened with absolute TNG nostalgia by having Picard and Data sitting in 10 Forward playing cards. Not to mention that opening shot of the 1701-D.

But yeah somehow Star Trek Discovery is just using nostalgia yet somehow Star Trek Picard isn't...oh, wait...

 

[Trekker4747]

does it really matter when Picards point was the Romulans asking for help after the supernova and the Federation abandoning them? Besides the interviewer was not good with history, hence the Dunkirk SnapBack so if the truth did come out I would think it’s irrelevant at this point.

Is Dunkirk even an apt analogy for what was going on, or was this Picard's attempt at a "gotcha" with the reporter woman? Wasn't Dunkirk about rescuing Allied soldiers using Allied resources? How does this equate to the Federation pooling its resources to save an enemy or at most someone they're on kind-of okay grounds with following the events of Nemesis?

And is it that much of a thing that this reporter living in 2399 wouldn't be familiar with an event that happened 420 years or so before she was born? How much do you know about events that happened in the late 16th century? Picard is more of a historian than this reporter likely is.

 

[thribs]

If I had one criticism, it was Picard not snapping back at the interviewer where she said that the Romulans were the federations oldest enemy, and Picard's response should have been "Well, they did help us win the Dominion War". It's simple, and it throws a bone to the DS9 fans that yes, the Dominion War is still part of the Federation's history.

Not only that, the end of Nemesis seemed to have opened the door to a alliance between the Romulans and Federation.

 

[thribs]

Is Dunkirk even an apt analogy for what was going on, or was this Picard's attempt at a "gotcha" with the reporter woman? Wasn't Dunkirk about rescuing Allied soldiers using Allied resources? How does this equate to the Federation pooling its resources to save an enemy or at most someone they're on kind-of okay grounds with following the events of Nemesis?

And is it that much of a thing that this reporter living in 2399 wouldn't be familiar with an event that happened 420 years or so before she was born? How much do you know about events that happened in the late 16th century? Picard is more of a historian than this reporter likely is.

Difference is at Dunkirk, they just used what was available to rescue them. They didn’t build new ships. They were also constantly under attack on the island. I don’t think the Romulans were.

 

[Alan Roi]

Is Dunkirk even an apt analogy for what was going on, or was this Picard's attempt at a "gotcha" with the reporter woman? Wasn't Dunkirk about rescuing Allied soldiers using Allied resources? How does this equate to the Federation pooling its resources to save an enemy or at most someone they're on kind-of okay grounds with following the events of Nemesis?

And is it that much of a thing that this reporter living in 2399 wouldn't be familiar with an event that happened 420 years or so before she was born? How much do you know about events that happened in the late 16th century? Picard is more of a historian than this reporter likely is.

I think the script was using short hand that audiences could understand since we just had a Dunkirk film. However, I can't really think of any other kind of rescue mission of scale myself other than Dunkirk.

 

[Alan Roi]

Difference is at Dunkirk, they just used what was available to rescue them. They didn’t build new ships. They were also constantly under attack on the island. I don’t think the Romulans were.

Was the Federation actually building many or any new ships? Or was it a mass refit of mothballed vessels, like we saw of the Disco era ships in docks?

 

[Turtletrekker]

Buildings get torn down. Others put up. Federation architecture is going through a minimalist phase?

Was Paris attacked by the Breen during the Dominion War? I think the only image we saw on Deep Space Nine was the attack on San Francisco and Starfleet HQ, but as the seat of government, I imagine Paris would have been a target as well.

 

[Lord Garth]

Was Paris attacked by the Breen during the Dominion War? I think the only image we saw on Deep Space Nine was the attack on San Francisco and Starfleet HQ, but as the seat of government, I imagine Paris would have been a target as well.

They could've been but I don't think they were. Paris is where the President is. That would make even more news than Starfleet Command being attacked.

 

[tomalak301]

Seriously? Please tell me what Star Trek Picard is " standing on " at this point? Hell they opened with absolute TNG nostalgia by having Picard and Data sitting in 10 Forward playing cards. Not to mention that opening shot of the 1701-D.

But yeah somehow Star Trek Discovery is just using nostalgia yet somehow Star Trek Picard isn't...oh, wait...

oh I don’t know, Picard just started as a series and Discovery is on Season 3. I give Picard a wide birth in that respect.

also I saw Picard more of a continuation rather than sequel of sorts.

 

[thribs]

Was Paris attacked by the Breen during the Dominion War? I think the only image we saw on Deep Space Nine was the attack on San Francisco and Starfleet HQ, but as the seat of government, I imagine Paris would have been a target as well.

No. Just Starfleet headquarters at San Francisco.

 

[picardjean-luc]

As I said yesterday anything is possible.

I remember reading a book where Data is the commanding officer of one of the later Enterprise ships with the rank of Commodore, possibly the J but I think that was the Shatner books and they are not canon, even so it always felt very appropriate to me.

I really will not be surprised if he is alive in some form by the end of this show, cant say the same for Picard though.

It may not be Brent Spiner playing him though, the actor may not want it long term, still they recast Spock in film and TV and that worked out great so I dont see why it cant work for Data.

Perhaps a spinoff with him at the centre even.

Which then begs the question, have we already seen him.

I think we already see Data in a new host's body. He's now inside Dahj. Remember Dr Jurati said before he disappeared Maddox theorized that he could recreate Data by just installing a tiny fragment from his positronic brain into the body of a new android.

I guess he managed to put the fragment inside the body of Dahj and her twin sisters. Also noted that in Picard's dream Data holds five Queen of Hearts cards indicating that there could be as many as five Dahj-type androids out there.

One is the one who met with Picard and then destroyed by the Romulans. The second one is Sonji the scientist above the Romulan vessel. The other three is roaming the galaxy and not discovered yet. Picard's new adventure is likely to find these Dahj copies before a nebulous evil force - rogue Romulans, Section 31, or all of them working in cahoots - manages to find them.

 

[Jadeb]

And is it that much of a thing that this reporter living in 2399 wouldn't be familiar with an event that happened 420 years or so before she was born? How much do you know about events that happened in the late 16th century? Picard is more of a historian than this reporter likely is.

I doubt the average person today could tell you about Dunkirk, even with the recent movie.

 

[BillJ]

I wonder if there is more to Starfleet withdrawing. Perhaps they know something Picard doesn’t.

I hope this isn't another case of Picard is always right, and Starfleet is always wrong.

 

[Lord Garth]

I hope this isn't another case of Picard is always right, and Starfleet is always wrong.

That's completely what it's going to be. It's just a matter of filling in the details.

 

[BillJ]

That's completely what it's going to be. It's just a matter of filling in the details.

I figure as much, and I won't mind if it is entertaining. It just feels like Picard shouldn't have the best read on the situation since he's been out of Starfleet for a decade or so.

 

[cooleddie74]

Kirk often had the same role even in his later years. Starfleet goes awry and even conspires with its enemies and Kirk - despite his own deep-seated prejudices festering over the years - rides in to save the very soul of the Federation by reminding it that there are more noble goals and aspirations than maintaining the status quo and fearing our enemies. Kirk. Sisko. Archer helped defeat the plans of Section 31 during the Klingon Augment incident and thus went against an agency of his own government.

 

[BillJ]

Kirk often had the same role even in his later years. Starfleet goes awry and even conspires with its enemies and Kirk - despite his own deep-seated prejudices festering over the years - rides in to save the very soul of the Federation by reminding it that there are more noble goals and aspirations than maintaining the status quo and fearing our enemies. Kirk. Sisko. Archer helped defeat the plans of Section 31 during the Klingon Augment incident and thus went against an agency of his own government.

I know the history of the franchise.

Some days I dream of getting something a little more complex. I guess I just don't need a replay of Michael Burnham telling everyone that genocide is bad, which everyone should've already known.

 

[cooleddie74]

DAMMIT, I'M ON A ROLL, NERD.



But yeah, it would be nice if the protagonist weren't always the smartest one in the room.

 

[Nerys Myk]

genocide is bad, which everyone should've already known.

If only that was true.