Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 1x05 - "Stardust City Rag"

[XCV330]

9, would maybe be an 8 but I love Joplin especially that piece Solace.
I'm not going to say anything anyone else hasn't but Icheb's murder was horrifying.
On the brighter side, I really like space Legolas. Was fun to have a reference to Quark. So I guess he moved back home. Maybe his brother's still in charge.

Picard warning someone off a revenge killing after First Contact seems a bit hypocritical, but maybe he learned his lesson or something.

I really like the entire cast. It was nice to get away from the NotDahj/Guy-who-Looks-vaguely-like-DiscoSpock thing. Frakes knows how to make a plot move with the script he's given.

This is a really crappy future for the Federation, though. The Sisko needs to get himself out of the wormhole and yell people back into normalcy.

 

[Gov Kodos]

It takes a lot to shock me, but what happened to Icheb is traumatising. I guess it because the last time we saw him he was just a boy with a Kirk fixation and dreams of becoming something more. What makes it worse that the majority of Icheb's life is a tragedy but he'd found happiness on Voyager and later made his dream of becoming a starfleet officer come true. For Icheb to die under such horrific circumstances is just wrong. I'm usually not affected by the deaths of fictional characters, but this one is really haunting me.

I wonder if the reason Seven seems to be isolated from the Voyager crew is because she blames them, specifically Janeway in some way. I wonder if Seven took out some of that rage on Janeway for tampering with time and bringing the crew home early. Maybe in the timeline Future Janeway wanted to avoid Icheb lived and Seven knew this. I doubt we'll get a call out to this but it would be nice to have a flashback to Janeway trying to comfort Seven but only receiving unreserved anger for the loss of her surrogate son.

I think she might have a lot of anger toward Janeway regardless. She made becoming human seem an imperative but Seven found a humanity that was much less than was promised.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

I kept waiting for the part where they time-travel to fix this reality.

 

[fireproof78]

Multiverse will solve all your problems.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

Multiverse will solve all your problems.

It’s funny how VGR made you expect that sort of thing. We’ve seen any number of dystopian episodes which culminated in some sort of discovery that led to a timeline reset or un-brainwashing.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I'll be honest, this is not a criticism but this episode does feel like they briefly stepped over into STAR WARS rather than STAR TREK. The two universes aren't nearly as different as some fans think but here I do think that it adopted the, "universe is full of things exactly like our world or parts of our world but in space" with Space Vegas being visited by the crew. I've also mentioned it does feel a bit like they're channeling equal parts Firefly and Farscape at various times.

It's the deliberate Pulpy tone too with the fact we have a beautiful Femme Fatale crime boss who was also an evil (Space) Nazi surgeon with a score to settle with their ex-lover/friend for killing their son. Again, this is not a criticism but I felt like Picard wandered into a different franchise for an episode. The rest of the series is perfectly fine Star Trek. Star Trek with a dash of Blade Runner but very recognizably so.

Patrick Stewart always loved being an action hero in later Trek seasons and it's clear he's hamming it up - Picard also enjoying it in-universe.

I don't have any objections to the villain, over-the-top evil doer as she is, because I think a lot of people do forget that terrible people do exist and revel in their terribleness. It's just in Gene Roddenberry's Trek, she would have been a Cardassian or Romulan rather than an evolved human.

And yes, I totally think she was Seven's ex-girlfriend.

 

[fireproof78]

It’s funny how VGR made you expect that sort of thing. We’ve seen any number of dystopian episodes which culminated in some sort of discovery that led to a timeline reset or un-brainwashing.

I really don't want that reset button hit. It is a drama killer for me and is something Trek relied very heavily upon in creating that expectation.

I get it-not everyone wants a Federation that is struggling. But, the Federation was never perfect, especially in the outer colonies, and having corrupt officials, rape gangs on colonies, etc. I don't have to like it, but I do like consequences being explored.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

If this was a book, I would turn to the ending to see how the story ended and never pick up the book again.

 

[Crewman6]

I'll be honest, this is not a criticism but this episode does feel like they briefly stepped over into STAR WARS rather than STAR TREK.

Felt more like the stepped into cheese-tastic worlds of the 70s era BSG or Buck Rogers. Just so, so bad.

 

[cooleddie74]

Even TOS made allusions to the Battle of Axanar having played a critical role in keeping the Federation together and allowing Kirk and Spock to serve together as brothers, so even in the earliest years of the franchise the Federation wasn't without its problems - some of them apparently threatening to its very existence and before DSC even happens in the chronology.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I really don't want that reset button hit. It is a drama killer for me and is something Trek relied very heavily upon in creating that expectation.

I get it-not everyone wants a Federation that is struggling. But, the Federation was never perfect, especially in the outer colonies, and having corrupt officials, rape gangs on colonies, etc. I don't have to like it, but I do like consequences being explored.

I don't think we've actually hit "reset" button territory because I don't think the Federation is struggling. The Federation is fine, it's prospering even. It's just the Neutral Zone is a hellhole and the Federation has banned yet another branch of trahshumanism.

We're just appalled because Picard got the cold shoulder from them and there's a conspiracy of bad guy admirals.

THERE'S ALWAYS A CONSPIRACY OF BAD GUY ADMIRALS.

Felt more like the stepped into cheese-tastic worlds of the 70s era BSG or Buck Rogers. Just so, so bad.

I think the difference isn't much there as well, save in budget.

I even called the villain, "Sexy Jabba" at one point.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

We also learn that Picard’s acting skills are cringeworthy.

 

[Charles Phipps]

We also learn that Picard’s acting skills are cringeworthy.

He used to be a fairly skilled covert operative. Mind you, he's been out of the game for a few decades.

 

[cooleddie74]

Well, it's not like he and his acting troupe had much time to rehearse in 1893 San Francisco.

 

[Yistaan]

After thinking on it a bit, no matter how valuable Borg tech might be, was dissecting Lieutenant Icheb really worth it even for the villains? I didn't get the impression Bjayzl was exactly starving before kidnapping Icheb.

I get the logic, while evil, of harvesting those random ex-Borg nobodies that no one cares about, as seen on the Artifact and Hugh's group, but both Seven of Nine and Icheb were people with powerful connections with Admiral Janeway. It obviously just happened to work out for Bjayzl for 13 years as seemingly no one other than Seven ultimately cared about justice for Icheb apparently, but how could Bjayzl have known that at the time? Wouldn't just grabbing a Starfleet officer to harvest risk undermining their whole operation (which Starfleet probably wouldn't even know about until Icheb was nabbed). And ultimately, the whole scheme did cost Bjayzl her life.

 

[DaveyNY]

I just realized what Bjayzl's outfit very much reminded me of ...

... This particular Lovely ...

 

[Charles Phipps]

After thinking on it a bit, no matter how valuable Borg tech might be, was dissecting Lieutenant Icheb really worth it even for the villains? I didn't get the impression Bjayzl was exactly starving before kidnapping Icheb.

I think we're having a bit of disconnect because of the Borg's treatment by, ironically, Voyager. Here, the Borg tech is being treated like the Lovecraftian super-tech that makes the Federation look like they're playing with making fire and the wheel by comparison that it was in "Best of Both Worlds"

It's super-tech and invaluable beyond comprehension.

It's just in other shows, the Borg regularly got its ass kicked and rings run around them so it's hard to be suddenly jerked back to, "This stuff is scary like the Reapers in Mass Effect."

I get the logic, while evil, of harvesting those random ex-Borg nobodies that no one cares about, as seen on the Artifact and Hugh's group, but both Seven of Nine and Icheb were people with powerful connections with Admiral Janeway. It obviously just happened to work out for Bjayzl as seemingly no one other than Seven ultimately cared about justice for Icheb apparently, but how could Bjayzl have known that at the time? Wouldn't just grabbing a Starfleet officer to harvest risk undermining their whole operation (which Starfleet probably wouldn't even know about until Icheb was nabbed). And ultimately, the whole scheme did cost Bjayzl her life.

Well, they're under government lockdown. Bjayzl apparently was involved with Seven or close friends and saw a chance to harvest a free Borg on the move.

Also, my headcanon until proven otherwise is Bjayzl is a warped psychotic Betazoid. She has the look.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Even TOS made allusions to the Battle of Axanar having played a critical role in keeping the Federation together and allowing Kirk and Spock to serve together as brothers, so even in the earliest years of the franchise the Federation wasn't without its problems - some of them apparently threatening to its very existence and before DSC even happens in the chronology.

Take away the goofiness of The Way to Eden, there are a lot of folks looking to escape the planned civilization of the Federation. The Eden folks were one group but Spock made it an easy inference that there are a lot more than a few kooks. Later in the episode we find Severin is host to a super disease that is a result of diseases evolving in the highly sterilized environments the Federation maintains.

You've got shady guys like Mudd trading in women and folks like Cyrano Jones living in the grey area of the law probably on planets like Freecloud. The Federation was never a perfect world when looked at too closely.

 

[Yistaan]

I think we're having a bit of disconnect because of the Borg's treatment by, ironically, Voyager. Here, the Borg tech is being treated like the Lovecraftian super-tech that makes the Federation look like they're playing with making fire and the wheel by comparison that it was in "Best of Both Worlds"

It's super-tech and invaluable beyond comprehension.

It's just in other shows, the Borg regularly got its ass kicked and rings run around them so it's hard to be suddenly jerked back to, "This stuff is scary like the Reapers in Mass Effect."



Well, they're under government lockdown. Bjayzl apparently was involved with Seven or close friends and saw a chance to harvest a free Borg on the move.

Also, my headcanon until proven otherwise is Bjayzl is a warped psychotic Betazoid. She has the look.

Bjayzl didn't display any of the telepathy of a Betazoid and Seven specifically has guilt over telling her about Icheb, which would be meaningless if Bjayzl could just read her mind about him.

By the way, you're [removed by mod] right? sidv88 here , I just don't use that screenname on this board

 

[The Old Mixer]

As the kids say these days, some of you didn't watch BEWITCHED growing up and it shows.

Blanket excuse: Witchcraft!

but both Seven of Nine and Icheb were people with powerful connections with Admiral Janeway

Guess Bejeezus just wasn't afraid of an unnecessary name drop.