Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x02 - "Penance"

[Guy Gardener]

Q never does anything.

He tricks idiots into causing their own calamity while fighting him.

 

[Yistaan]

He tricks idiots into causing their own calamity while fighting him.

He pulled that off in All Good Things to devastating effect almost.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

My prediction is that Elnor was shot so that he can't sneak off of La Sirena like he did in S1 and run amok and scare all of the humans in 2024.

 

[SG-17]

Do we know for sure of any other species that are confirmed to have been on Earth in the late 20th and early 21st century beyond a stray Vulcan or a random El-Aurian?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Do we know for sure of any other species that are confirmed to have been on Earth in the late 20th and early 21st century beyond a stray Vulcan or a random El-Aurian?

Well the Dax Simbiont was there in 2024 for about a week.

And I'm fairly sure that David Cronenberg is playing Flint from TOS in Discovery.

Robert Lansing fom Assignment Earth died in 1994, but Teri Garr is still alive.

J. Paul Boehmer who played Mestral during the 1950s in Enterprise is still alive.

 

[Finn]

^along with a Trill host....


I was thinking about how there wasn't an Enterprise...as this...General Picard never commanded as suggested by the episode. I wonder what Kirk was like in this....timeline.

 

[TheMadCloner]

If this season goes really well I wonder if they give Matalas a lot more responsibilities within the entire franchise.

 

[thribs]

I hope we see the CSS World Razor at some point. Might give the Vengeance a run for it’s money

 

[Weyoun 251]

I hope we see the CSS World Razor at some point. Might give the Vengeance a run for it’s money

I assume you mean see it in action?

Assuming the World Razer (assuming it is derived from "raze" as in "to destroy a building, structure, etc. completely") is the Galaxy class variant seen in the painting based on it being shown as the discussion between P and Q (never before noticed that they are adjacent letters - I know, what a moron - could this have been a sneaky writers thing to imply just how similar Picard and Q are?) was happening.

If it is then I would expect it to put AGT Ent and Vengeance to shame

 

[jackoverfull]

Do we know for sure of any other species that are confirmed to have been on Earth in the late 20th and early 21st century beyond a stray Vulcan or a random El-Aurian?

a couple of ferengi! Spock. Kevin Uxbridge. Redjack.

 

[StarMan]

If this season goes really well I wonder if they give Matalas a lot more responsibilities within the entire franchise.

I haven't seen 12 Monkeys but had a glance over his Twitter feed - like his vibe. Season 2 is off to a blistering start. If they give us a strong season and stick the landing -- then hell yes.

 

[thribs]

If this season goes really well I wonder if they give Matalas a lot more responsibilities within the entire franchise.

He certainly has a better grasp on the franchise. They should let him handle SNW as well

 

[Markonian]

It’s past 9am in the UK and there’s fuck all on Amazon.
Is the episode up for anyone in Britain yet?

 

[thribs]

It’s past 9am in the UK and there’s fuck all on Amazon.
Is the episode up for anyone in Britain yet?

I had a look as well but couldn’t see it.

 

[Hythlodeus]

I really hope the Bell riots will be mentioned. Same city, same year, they'll have to adress it

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

I really hope the Bell riots will be mentioned. Same city, same year, they'll have to adress it

With the year they chose I’m sure there’ll be a mention, but it’s worth noting they’re not in the same city. The Bell Riots were in San Francisco, and the divergence they’re looking for is in Los Angeles.

 

[Scionz]

Apologies if someone has already put this theory forward.

Q explicitly states that in the past, we were killing our planet before working out how not to and going on to be the harmonious Federation we all know.

He says that in this timeline we didn't solve it (cutting to the planetary shield which would seem to be not for defence from aliens but in place of the Ozone layer/atmosphere).

The Bell Riots can tie in here with them bringing social justice to the foreground and the combination being what allows UE to develop and so we save the planet etc etc

Possibly there is something with the Europa mission that if not solved causes the environmental destruction?

The attitudes to the Borg in Ep 1 show that humanity hasn't really gotten over its inherent biases and prejudice and so Q calls an audible, decides humanity hasn't passed the test (in spite of the positive start shown in 2024) and so screw them all, here is was the world would look like.

My guess is that Q putting the Fed on a collision course with the Borg originally was meant to be to show whether humanity could reconcile its differences with them when they one day came looking for help in the way they seemingly had with formerly opposed nations on Earth.

So the road not taken is that rather than seek unity and to improve the world, the world's leaders push back, we don't solve climate change, wars continue until we discover warp, vulcans show up, world unites against the "pointy earred bastard(s)" and we go on to subjugate the galaxy.

That's more or less my theory. Something changed in 2024. World War III didn't happen in the 2050s. No United Earth emerging from it's ashes ready to create a new day for all humanity. Just another century of wars and climate change until we get war travel, and then build our own version of the Klingon Empire.

Except we're so good at it because of our human qualities that serve the Federation so well, that we've destroyed the Klingons, the Cardassians, the Romulans, the Vulcans, the Andorians, the Borg and are waging a war against the Dominion. There is no more successful a conquering empire anywhere in Star Trek. It is humanity united in common cause: empire. It's amazing and horrifying at the same time. As I wrote above, it's Soval's fear of what humanity could become, and Quark's immortal speech about our true nature, realized to the n'th degree.

 

[thribs]

If anyone is curious, That was Euler’s Identity that Annika wrote on the mirror.

 

[Weyoun 251]

That's more or less my theory. Something changed in 2024. World War III didn't happen in the 2050s. No United Earth emerging from it's ashes ready to create a new day for all humanity. Just another century of wars and climate change until we get war travel, and then build our own version of the Klingon Empire.

Except we're so good at it because of our human qualities that serve the Federation so well, that we've destroyed the Klingons, the Cardassians, the Romulans, the Vulcans, the Andorians, the Borg and are waging a war against the Dominion. There is no more successful a conquering empire anywhere in Star Trek. It is humanity united in common cause: empire. It's amazing and horrifying at the same time. As I wrote above, it's Soval's fear of what humanity could become, and Quark's immortal speech about our true nature, realized to the n'th degree.

The only thing no one (other than you) has mentioned is that this feels like a direct climate change allegory - allowing the planet to die, keeping the corpse on life support, the shield (cosmic rays, artificial atmosphere etc).

It feels so on the nose! My idea is that the ecological disaster prevents the Bell Riots being the key point of the 2020s and so WW3 gets pulled forward/different parties are allied than are meant to? Or a civil war breaks out in the US due to the Sanctuary districts not being shut down allowing Russia to take over unopposed?

 

[thribs]

It’s up now on Prime