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Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x08 - "Mercy"

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But he did try to get Renee to opt out of the mission. Why?

Because he wanted Picard to talk with her.

I discussed my theory of the season upthread, but I basically think that Q has decided the "lesson" he taught Picard in Q Who? was wrong, and he wants to undo it, since it ultimately led to Picard killing himself and blowing up the Stargazer rather than giving the Masked Queen a fair shake. So the whole scenario this season is trying to teach the characters not to jump to conclusions and see monsters where none exist.
 
Q is a LOT more prepared without powers than he was that one time he lost powers in TNG. Did he make contingency bases and plans between that episode and Picard as a backup if he ever lost his powers again?
Guys, I have a new theory: Shran was the ancestor to both Brunt and Weyoun...somehow.
Instead of that genetically engineered nonsense they saddled on Bashir to give him a mystery secret for DS9's gimmick of the week, his actual secret should have been that he's part El Aurian and the nephew of Tolian Soran, the hated villain who killed James Kirk.
 
So Emory Erickson wasn't some pioneering inventor but just copied transporter tech from the Vulcans. And the Vulcans didn't even intervene when Erickson started experimenting on his own son to "invent" a transporter, even though it was meaningless as again the Vulcans already had the tech.

NX-01's fear of transporters now also seems even more absurd if the Vulcans had been using them safely for centuries.

Maybe it's better to retcon these guys as Romulans who secretly had transporter tech rather than actual Vulcans. Or the Vulcans were time travelers.
Not at all. I would assume several different races through the universe let alone the alpha and Beta Quadrants come up with similar technology that is no referred to be the same name like Warp Drive or transporters. Just like I would assume that others invented their versions of automobiles, telephones and planes and just had different names for them.

And why wouldn't humans fear transporters? Even if they knew other races had similar technology, that doesn't mean the technology they created would have the same accuracy and effectiveness. That would be utterly irrational. And since the Vulcans were shown to not encourage human advancement, I assume that they didn't help develop the human transporter. Of course that's just an assumption.
 
Q is a LOT more prepared without powers than he was that one time he lost powers in TNG. Did he make contingency bases and plans between that episode and Picard as a backup if he ever lost his powers again?

I think it's pretty clear Q has some powers still, just not omnipotence. He seems able to persuade people he's someone else, can hack into any computer system, and can generate genetic cures very quickly. All of this suggests he's still more than just a man.
 
Bingo. The Vulcanians were not into sharing their tech with the aggressive Humans.

It would seem the Vulcans invented their transporter in those 67 years, or they would not have chanced detection by sending a shuttle down for T'Mir and Stron.
Perhaps not all ships have transporters? Just like we have seen not all Federation or Starfleet vessels have the ability to transport. Or perhaps they feel having a ship at times has benefits that just beaming down doesn't provide in all situations. It's irrational to assume no other criteria are factors.
 
Because he wanted Picard to talk with her.

I discussed my theory of the season upthread, but I basically think that Q has decided the "lesson" he taught Picard in Q Who? was wrong, and he wants to undo it, since it ultimately led to Picard killing himself and blowing up the Stargazer rather than giving the Masked Queen a fair shake. So the whole scenario this season is trying to teach the characters not to jump to conclusions and see monsters where none exist.
I'm thinking about your theory. Trying to evaluate its merits. There does seem to be a theme about monsters not being what they seem. Shoot, even Kore is similar to Frankenstein's monsters in some ways but yet she's clearly not a monster at all.

However, there's a big stumbling block I have with your theory. Picard talking to Renee has nothing to do with monsters and would not teach him the lesson that you're describing. The coma dreams he had touched on that, but that was an unintended consequence of the mission.

So, while I think there is a theme about monsters, I don't think that's what Q is trying to teach Picard. Picard talked to Renee but it was very much him passing wisdom on to her, not the other way around.
 
I am quite irritated that Terry Matalas tweeted that his PIC team opted to ignore the Eugenics Wars. Come on! There is no need because the Eugenics Wars should have happened in the 1990s before 2024, and the Shenzhen Convention in PIC is a perfectly logical aftereffect!

I think it's a defensible thing. However, they directly referenced other things this season which happened in Trek's past, but not our present (like Nomad) or things which can't plausibly happen by 2024 (like a manned mission to Jupiter) in the real world. If you're going to go down the route of firmly establishing Star Trek as an alternate timeline, just go the whole nine yards.

On the other hand, I'm quite happy that it's likely they won't refer to World War III starting in two years (which is fuzzy in canon anyway) because the fan theory that they need to make sure World War III happens has to be one of the worst thematic ideas I've ever heard.
 
On the other hand, I'm quite happy that it's likely they won't refer to World War III starting in two years (which is fuzzy in canon anyway) because the fan theory that they need to make sure World War III happens has to be one of the worst thematic ideas I've ever heard.
2026 is vague enough that it could be a regional conflict that ultimately leads to WW3. Admittedly if they went into that now that'd be hitting a little too close to current real news I think, albeit unintentionally as obviously this was scripted over a year ago.
 
I'm thinking about your theory. Trying to evaluate its merits. There does seem to be a theme about monsters not being what they seem. Shoot, even Kore is similar to Frankenstein's monsters in some ways but yet she's clearly not a monster at all.

However, there's a big stumbling block I have with your theory. Picard talking to Renee has nothing to do with monsters and would not teach him the lesson that you're describing. The coma dreams he had touched on that, but that was an unintended consequence of the mission.

So, while I think there is a theme about monsters, I don't think that's what Q is trying to teach Picard. Picard talked to Renee but it was very much him passing wisdom on to her, not the other way around.

Yeah, that's the one part where I can't square the circle yet. However, the story there isn't over - Picard & company are going to have to ensure that Adam Soong and his borgified private army don't fuck up the launch. And the advance clip from Episode 9 suggests they're trying to uncover emotional vulnerability even in the Queen herself. So we will see where this goes.
 
Probably most Trek fans don't think this but this is probably the most approachable Trek for the general audience. The Voyage Home acted as such all those years ago, but the tech there in the 1980s ultimately ended up being dated and time moved on. However, our tech right now has kind of plateau'd over the past 10 years. There's not a lot of difference between 2022 and 2012 tech wise other than raw speed. This 2024 Picard might hold up for some time as something that the general audience can relate to being set in our world.
 
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