Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 1x05 - "Stardust City Rag"
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I don't know, but I'm not imaginative enough to be a fiction writer. Presumably it would have to be something that would be a foundational shock to all these civilizations.
The best thing about this episode is Manu Intiraymi’s meltdown in his Twitter. He’s really not doing okay 
After siding with a pedo against a fellow Trek actor, begging on Twitter for a year to be cast in PIC, only to have his character recast and killed off before the main credits. I mean, that’s a brutal ‘h*ck you,’ if that’s what the intention was.
After siding with a pedo against a fellow Trek actor, begging on Twitter for a year to be cast in PIC, only to have his character recast and killed off before the main credits. I mean, that’s a brutal ‘h*ck you,’ if that’s what the intention was.
The best thing about this episode is Manu Intiraymi’s meltdown in his Twitter. He’s really not doing okay
After siding with a pedo against a fellow Trek actor, begging on Twitter for a year to be cast in PIC, only to have his character recast and killed off before the main credits. I mean, that’s a brutal ‘h*ck you,’ if that’s what the intention was.
I hate to be that guy who says that mean thing, but I just looked at dude's Twitter and he really needs to move on with his life. Good grief.
"excuse me, I've got to get down to waste extraction"
The best thing about this episode is Manu Intiraymi’s meltdown in his Twitter. He’s really not doing okay
After siding with a pedo against a fellow Trek actor, begging on Twitter for a year to be cast in PIC, only to have his character recast and killed off before the main credits. I mean, that’s a brutal ‘h*ck you,’ if that’s what the intention was.
Not to mention his excessive habit of following every single Trekkie he could find on Twitter and relentlessly re-following them over and over again (some of my Twitter friends made it a habit to soft-block him to cause an unfollow because they simply didn't want to be anywhere near him, only to have him follow them AGAIN a few days later - this went on for weeks and weeks). He's definitely the obsessive type, which adds yet another "yikes, no" when it comes to him, at least for me.
I'm really glad the show didn't cast him. I don't care how many times he now claims "I didn't mean it when I sided with Spacey, I didn't have enough information at the time" (like, dude, the info about what Spacey is like was out there, had been out there for many years, and the way he tried to slam Anthony Rapp down for speaking up REALLY didn't set well with me AT ALL).
I don't know if they did what they did to his character intentionally or not, but if it was intentional I can't help but nod in a "you wouldn't have HAD to rub it in like this, sure, but hey, on the other hand it's fine with me, I really would have hated it if you had cast him on your show" way.
Synthograms! (possibly some for Mongo if deemed appropriate).
My two cents on the recast of Maddox. Brian Brophy hasn't a really impressive résumé. Really, these are his last entries from IMDB:
2014 Black Friday (Short) Russel
2009-2011 Southland (TV Series) Photographer / Crime Scene Photographer
Cop or Not (2011) ... Photographer
Unknown Trouble (2009) ... Crime Scene Photographer
2004 A Day Without a Mexican Barney Montana
2003 A mi amor mi dulce (Short) Gorky
2001 Impostor Military Official
2000 Picking Up the Pieces
Now, if the character had only had a small cameo with a couple of lines, I could imagine that the production would have called him. But his role was quite substantial in the episode and any actor they called would have had to show a wide emotional range (he was hurt, he was frightened, he was happy and in love in the recording etc). I could imagine the casting director saying something like "let's see what the guy did in the meantime ...'Crime Scene Photographer' more than 10 years ago..? Ok ...".
This would have been the most important role for Brian Brophy after I don't know how many years. I can't really imagine a production taking similar risks just to make happy a handful of fans. And I don't remember anyone ever saying, "Do you know what really made 'Measure of a man' shine? The incredible Brian Brophy's performance!"
2014 Black Friday (Short) Russel
2009-2011 Southland (TV Series) Photographer / Crime Scene Photographer
Cop or Not (2011) ... Photographer
Unknown Trouble (2009) ... Crime Scene Photographer
2004 A Day Without a Mexican Barney Montana
2003 A mi amor mi dulce (Short) Gorky
2001 Impostor Military Official
2000 Picking Up the Pieces
Now, if the character had only had a small cameo with a couple of lines, I could imagine that the production would have called him. But his role was quite substantial in the episode and any actor they called would have had to show a wide emotional range (he was hurt, he was frightened, he was happy and in love in the recording etc). I could imagine the casting director saying something like "let's see what the guy did in the meantime ...'Crime Scene Photographer' more than 10 years ago..? Ok ...".
This would have been the most important role for Brian Brophy after I don't know how many years. I can't really imagine a production taking similar risks just to make happy a handful of fans. And I don't remember anyone ever saying, "Do you know what really made 'Measure of a man' shine? The incredible Brian Brophy's performance!"
Well that was wild.
I totally thought Bjayzl was a Betazoid too, though she probably wasn't.
Brutal offing of Icheb! It makes sense to quickly establish Seven's motivation, though I'm not quite sure I buy vigilante Seven. She's going to go crazy when she finds out what the Romulans are doing on the artefact. Nice cortical node continuity!
So Maddox dispenses his plot function and is offed by Agnes. For some reason. I'm not surprised after her meeting with Oh, but there must be something pretty dark to have made her do that after establishing they were in a relationship.
Another decent episode. More of a backseat for Picard this time, but the eyepatch and comedy French accent killed me.
So next week it's onto the cube where hopefully the plot should move on apace!
I totally thought Bjayzl was a Betazoid too, though she probably wasn't.
Brutal offing of Icheb! It makes sense to quickly establish Seven's motivation, though I'm not quite sure I buy vigilante Seven. She's going to go crazy when she finds out what the Romulans are doing on the artefact. Nice cortical node continuity!
So Maddox dispenses his plot function and is offed by Agnes. For some reason. I'm not surprised after her meeting with Oh, but there must be something pretty dark to have made her do that after establishing they were in a relationship.
Another decent episode. More of a backseat for Picard this time, but the eyepatch and comedy French accent killed me.
So next week it's onto the cube where hopefully the plot should move on apace!
Not if more of his Face had been gored out than the Icheb they wound up with.
Here's what we learned this week: Picard is getting his sense of humor back, Rios is not a hologram, Seven has become a latter-day Maquis equivalent, Agnes loved Maddox but was willing to kill him for some mysterious greater good, Elfwich is the naive innocent comedy relief of the team when he's not beheading people, and Raffi is a hypocrite.
The episode itself was not bad. It was, in a way, a callback to all those classic Treks where the landing party dressed up like the locals to fit in and botched it. I loved Picard's scenery-chewing as an over-the-top, eye-patched Frenchman, and the pimped-out Rios was pretty funny, too. Agnes's first triggering of the EMH with her panic attack was pretty funny-- the second time was pretty disturbing.
And Seven of Nine is now the Lone Ranger or Zorro of the unincorporated spaceways. Not exactly the future I would have preferred for her-- and where is Janeway during all this?-- but not everybody becomes an Admiral. Icheb's fate strikes me as the gratuitous death of a known character for no purpose, since it wasn't really necessary for Seven to become a champion of ex drones-- just necessary for her to wreak merciless vengeance on the villainess, which also seemed kind of a throwaway plot. Her conversation with Picard about helping people who have no one else to help them would have been enough to establish her hero cred. But, since she gave Picard her calling card, it seems likely she will return by season's end.
I got a kick out of Rios and Raffi chatting about Seven and Picard. "The ex-Borg drone from the Delta Quadrant who is now a Fenris Ranger. Oh, and I forgot Picard was a Borg."
And Raffi. She complained about Picard not being more sociable, but she abandoned her family even longer ago-- abandoned them to help Picard with the Romulan evacuation. Because she believes there was some conspiracy behind the Synth attack on Mars. Unfortunately, her son is even less forgiving than she is. I wonder if Picard knows about the family.
Poor Maddox. The Picard Brigade didn't quite reach him in time-- just enough time for him to drop a few clues, and say something that made his girlfriend let him die. Ouch. What did Commodore Oh do to Agnes, anyway? Mind meld with her? Lie to her. Or tell her an awful truth that made her betray her love and her morality? I'm really tired of conspiracy stories. And how does she think that she's going to cover up this murder? Deactivating the EMH will not wipe its memory.
But all in all not a bad episode, if not outstanding. A nice adventure in the lawless frontier, where Pike dreamed of lavish harems and characters like Harry Mudd make a living smuggling contraband. Plenty of strong characterization and humor, if a bit much blood. There were lots of nice nods to continuity from Voyager and Deep Space Nine, which will hopefully continue (along with more from TNG). And our gang now knows how to reach the next level of the game: The Artifact.
The episode itself was not bad. It was, in a way, a callback to all those classic Treks where the landing party dressed up like the locals to fit in and botched it. I loved Picard's scenery-chewing as an over-the-top, eye-patched Frenchman, and the pimped-out Rios was pretty funny, too. Agnes's first triggering of the EMH with her panic attack was pretty funny-- the second time was pretty disturbing.
And Seven of Nine is now the Lone Ranger or Zorro of the unincorporated spaceways. Not exactly the future I would have preferred for her-- and where is Janeway during all this?-- but not everybody becomes an Admiral. Icheb's fate strikes me as the gratuitous death of a known character for no purpose, since it wasn't really necessary for Seven to become a champion of ex drones-- just necessary for her to wreak merciless vengeance on the villainess, which also seemed kind of a throwaway plot. Her conversation with Picard about helping people who have no one else to help them would have been enough to establish her hero cred. But, since she gave Picard her calling card, it seems likely she will return by season's end.
I got a kick out of Rios and Raffi chatting about Seven and Picard. "The ex-Borg drone from the Delta Quadrant who is now a Fenris Ranger. Oh, and I forgot Picard was a Borg."
And Raffi. She complained about Picard not being more sociable, but she abandoned her family even longer ago-- abandoned them to help Picard with the Romulan evacuation. Because she believes there was some conspiracy behind the Synth attack on Mars. Unfortunately, her son is even less forgiving than she is. I wonder if Picard knows about the family.
Poor Maddox. The Picard Brigade didn't quite reach him in time-- just enough time for him to drop a few clues, and say something that made his girlfriend let him die. Ouch. What did Commodore Oh do to Agnes, anyway? Mind meld with her? Lie to her. Or tell her an awful truth that made her betray her love and her morality? I'm really tired of conspiracy stories. And how does she think that she's going to cover up this murder? Deactivating the EMH will not wipe its memory.
But all in all not a bad episode, if not outstanding. A nice adventure in the lawless frontier, where Pike dreamed of lavish harems and characters like Harry Mudd make a living smuggling contraband. Plenty of strong characterization and humor, if a bit much blood. There were lots of nice nods to continuity from Voyager and Deep Space Nine, which will hopefully continue (along with more from TNG). And our gang now knows how to reach the next level of the game: The Artifact.
That was a pretty gory scene with Icheb …and I watch a lot of horror movies. Not nearly as gruesome as it could have been, but it kind of took me off guard in a ST episode.
This is my fav ep of the series so far... Seven got to kick some ass and I love Rios pimping it on Freecloud.
This is my fav ep of the series so far... Seven got to kick some ass and I love Rios pimping it on Freecloud.
G
Gonzo
Guest
I have now seen the full episode.
I liked Seven in the episode and the scene where she grants Icheb a quick death as she knows he won't live without that implant, clearly she thinks she is playing Mass Effect 2 and is going for a full Renegade run, personally I would have finished Bjayzle with a nice Mortal Kombat Fatality as well.
They have really front loaded the big secret, the secret that the Zhat Vash would kill to keep yet Commodore Oh just casually decided to give to Jurati who quite frankly has difficulty holding her own water so I am wondering if she was shown the whole thing or just the part of it that would ensure her compliance.
I can only assume that the Commodore wants her to tell Picard because that is what should happen next, I really do hope they don't just roll with it and assume he died as he was not seriously injured, Bjayzle saw him as a commodity and you never damage valuable goods.
Personally I would like it if we see that they tricked her and Maddox was a hologram (I don't think she ever actually physically touched him in the scene), it would at least show that they are not complete idiots, it would also explain why the EMH did not sound the alarm but it may just be wishful thinking on my part.
At this point the big secret has Borg origin written all over it, happy to be proven wrong though and I do hope it ends up being something meaty instead of a cop out.
Another solid 8 from me.
I liked Seven in the episode and the scene where she grants Icheb a quick death as she knows he won't live without that implant, clearly she thinks she is playing Mass Effect 2 and is going for a full Renegade run, personally I would have finished Bjayzle with a nice Mortal Kombat Fatality as well.
They have really front loaded the big secret, the secret that the Zhat Vash would kill to keep yet Commodore Oh just casually decided to give to Jurati who quite frankly has difficulty holding her own water so I am wondering if she was shown the whole thing or just the part of it that would ensure her compliance.
I can only assume that the Commodore wants her to tell Picard because that is what should happen next, I really do hope they don't just roll with it and assume he died as he was not seriously injured, Bjayzle saw him as a commodity and you never damage valuable goods.
Personally I would like it if we see that they tricked her and Maddox was a hologram (I don't think she ever actually physically touched him in the scene), it would at least show that they are not complete idiots, it would also explain why the EMH did not sound the alarm but it may just be wishful thinking on my part.
At this point the big secret has Borg origin written all over it, happy to be proven wrong though and I do hope it ends up being something meaty instead of a cop out.
Another solid 8 from me.
That's what Picard kept waking up to in "Cause and Effect."
Very dark and moving opening scene. I can see why Icheb's death transformed Seven to become a 'female Terminator' who sought to avenge the death of her 'child.'
RIP Icheb
.
RIP Icheb
.
I could see her not being totally on board with it, but they seem to be using proper medical procedures there...e.g., anesthetic...which makes you wonder why Soji is talking to them. If they're properly out, they'd have no awareness of what was happening even subconsciously.
Not you, too, man!
On that last note...if Seven is coming back, then this whole story could have been setup for her role in the main story.
Yeah, it occurred to me the second viewing that maybe she was projecting a little with her reaction to Picard showing up at her iconic rocksstep.
For me, the Raffi scene was the closest thing we got to a Borg cube scene in this episode...it seemed a little too "coulda been on any other show"...but I expect it to inform her storyline down the road.
There was a shot of Jurati with a mind-meld hand on her face.
Her being a cyberneticist, I think that second option might be right up her alley.
Even if they suspected she was a mole, they wouldn't necessarily have seen her murder of Maddox coming. Nobody here seemed to.