Spoiler: Enterprise F The instagram logs say that the is being decommissioned early due to damage from some incident. Damage looks to be internal / systemic rather than external / physical damage to the space frame.
I have a new theory based upon recent developments. I think that perhaps the Founders/Changelings are now the victims and the tables have turned against them in a big way with them being framed by conspirators within Starfleet and beyond in a genocidal act of vengeance. A galactic conspiracy in scale that would eclipse the story in The Undiscovered Country. I believe that Vadic and her crew are being coerced or threatened and that Changelings are being hunted down by a group of people who want vengeance against the Founders for the Dominion war 20 years ago in which millions of people lost their lives. The Maquis were also wiped out by the Dominion, so it would be a natural character progression for Ro Laren to be a part of this conspiracy as she had a passionate belief in the Maquis cause. It would be a bit like when Valeris was exposed as a conspirator in The Undiscovered Country. Did you know that Valeris was supposed to be Saavik in the original script of TUDC, but the writers were not daring enough to make that connection to Spock’s protégé from the earlier films, who was also potentially the mother of his off screen child. Ro has been painted out to be very much a protégé of Picard, this will make the news all the more shocking to him when he finds out. Laren may have survived the shuttle craft explosion as the bomb which was left by the Changelings took a long time to go off, but luckily leaving just enough time for her to pilot the shuttle craft in to the enemy ships nacelle… and possibly for her to have beamed off and escaped. Just like in TUDC, some of the Changelings could be on the side of the conspirators as was the case with the Klingons. Terry said that we would have sympathy for Vadik and her plight, even though she is an ‘enemy’, so my theory would make sense. Of course, Ro Laren would not be working alone, another possible co-conspirator could be Captain Shaw. Shaw has shown prejudice against ex Borg as a result of Wolf 359… perhaps he also has a hidden prejudice against Founders/Changelings as a result of the massive losses in the Dominion War in battles such as that depicted in Sacrifice of Angels. There could be a conspiracy within Starfleet to enact revenge on the Changelings and whatever has become of the Dominion, with Founders being hunted down and framed for the attack on the Starfleet Recruitment center. The Changelings could also be framed for the upcoming attack on Frontier Day. Picard and the TNG crew could also be being framed as Changelings too, part of Captain Shaw’s revenge for Wolf 359 against who he still sees as being Locutus. Shaw may have something bad in store for Seven of Nine too. The Changelings in Picard do not quite look themselves in their gelatinous state, it is possible that they have also been infected with something in a similar way as to how Section 31 infected the Founders/Changelings with a virus once before in season 7 of Deep Space Nine. I have no idea as to how Picard’s son fits in to all of my speculation yet though. Seeing as the Bajoran’s are back, Jack could always be possessed by a Pah’Wraith with those red glowing eyes…
Could tie into the theory that Jack is a bioengineered weapon designed to wipe out changelings. Basically Section 31 changeling genocide weapon 2.0 after the DS9 virus. Doesn't explain the mystical tone of his visions or the visions themselves though.
Still think what Terry said about having sympathy for Vadic, because of her plight, might have something to do with her (and most likely all the changelings working with her) unwillingly possessed by Pah Wraiths forcing them to do things they actually don't want to do. Also explains why she seems to fear the hand entity.
So... Spoiler ... did they get Annie Wersching (RIP) for S3 as well? Presumably this isn't Queen Juarti.
I was seeing on reddit yet another discussion about the implausibility of Odo/Kira and was wondering in light of the revelation that changelings are now somehow mimicking entire organs, etc. inside of them, was Odo somehow getting a head start on this in DS9? We know he never made a digestive system for himself (thus his reference to trying to eat as "messy") but in his eagerness to try to fit in with solids, could Odo subconsciously have been generating humanoid hormones in himself? That would explain his bizarre unrealistic attraction to Kira. It would be interesting if the future episodes explain this changeling development and if it can retcon Odo's DS9 arc in that way.
Spoiler maybe it was in my head. But I coulda sworn I heard the voice of the Suzanna Thompson Borg Queen during Jacks visions. But reading this spoiler last week could just be messing with my head
Spoiler This would seem to indicate that Beverly herself is a changeling, meaning all her interactions with Picard were for show and that the emotional argument test that worked so well with Ro in fact didn't work with Crusher. That seems to be a stretch. If they want to make Beverly a villain, the obvious answer is she bioengineered Jack as some kind of augment and the changelings are after him for what he can do to them. Her character already took extreme actions in hiding Jack from Picard and this might help explain them, and if they are going to make Crusher unlikeable might as well just go all the way and get some shock value out of it. I think we should all remember that Matalas said that Vadic and her group have sympathetic reasons for doing what they do. As destroying a Starfleet recruitment center and impersonating whole swaths of Starfleet are horrific actions in themselves, for Matalas to make that kind of statement in regards to the changelings means the Federation must have done something really, really, really bad for anyone to remotely sympathize with Vadic and the Changelings.
Random implausible theory of the week: Beverly Crusher is a Changeling and has been from before the time she and Picard were briefly together. Perhaps she was one of the first of these 'new breed' of Changelings that can simulate internal organs, and thus could conceive and carry a child fathered by Picard. Jack is the next step in whatever kind of biological experiment they were conducting - some sort of hybrid, maybe a bioweapon to use against the Federation - which is why he's a valuable asset they want to recover, since they haven't had success trying it again. This is why Vadic is pursuing him, and also why he's experiencing strange visions, perhaps from genetic memory from his Changeling mother in particular her whispering 'Find Me' might even be an echo of the real Bev Crusher. It would also explain why he can sense other Changelings, a skill we know they have. At some point, Bev Changeling went off script because she found herself feeling protective maternal instincts, and so went rogue and hid Jack to avoid whatever the Changelings intended to do with their 'project'. This provides a far stronger justification of why she hid him from Picard, and why both of them hid from everyone. Perhaps Jack himself has no shapeshifting ability, and since Changelings have no actual DNA, we'll find that he is actually genetic clone of Jean-Luc. Although not sure on that part. Bev Changeling will be exposed, and we'll find out that the real Bev has been dead all these years, which won't be the happy ending Picard perhaps wanted, but he will now have his son, who he will form a relationship with for the rest of his life. I just made this up, but let's see if I'm anywhere close in 5 weeks time!
Could be. It would explain why she just cut everyone off and disappeared 20 years earlier. We shall see!
Well, you could either leave it open (she's 'still out there') or perhaps she's been a prisoner of the Changelings this whole time and there'll be a tearful reunion.
I've noticed Ed Speleers is credited as part of the main cast and not a guest star. Do you think he will become Jack Picard?
I mean he's part of the main cast because he's probably in every episode (or maybe 9 out of 10 if they do a Worf/Raffi as a counterpart to Ep 4...)
Yeah, it would mean the first time she got anything significant to do besides fuck a candle can't count since it isn't actually her.